Curse

Deepjay · May 04, 2006, 03:55 AM // 03:55

Hi guys, before i say anything, i'll mention that i have been doing a lot of reading(when i should be working) up on everything, from builds, to tips and tricks from long time pvpers, and there are some things I just find difficult to grasp, or adapt to. Apologies in advance for what may become an essay.

I have been an avid WoW PvPer, and whilst im in no way here to compare the two games PVP, I did thoroughly enjoy pvp in wow. I have been playing GW for a number of weeks, have played a warrior/monk through to the end of the final mission of prophecies, and currently moving through factions.

Anyhow - i have found a build which I am quite happy with, and have been trying a few, but regardless of the build, I dont think it's neccessarily anything to do with it, but rather my inexperience in combat(in GW) that's frustrating me to a degree.

The build, which I have been chopping and changing, sometimes based on builds ive read in here, is currently this:

Battle Rage (Elite)
Standing Slash
Sun and Moon Slash
Silverwing Slash
Galrath Slash
Sprint
Healing signet
Rez

Basically, i find i can let out a heap of consistent damage, but obviously are completely crippled if im blinding or somesuch. I battle rage, get enough adrenaline for Standing slash, then can Sun and Moon, Galrath, then back to Standing->Sun->Silverwing->Galrath before battle rage ends. Ive found I can pretty much knock out any target 1 on 1 with this damage, even when they're being healed, but my problem is this:

This is all from playing random arena btw. I dont want to go into Team arena(which i have unlocked) until i feel more comfortable with general play.

The game starts, I cycle through the enemy team targets - Monk, Necro, Warrior, Ranger. What to pick? Obvious choice i would have thought would be the Monk -

I stay with my team, we sort of edge closer to the other team until someone engages, their warriors either charge at us, or we do it to them, basically both teams engage. I move to the monk, i start hitting on him, knock him down on HP and he heals, repeat - With the damage output i have, i CAN knock these guys out, but it depends on circumstance of course. But just for this example - he continues to heal, even if another on my team is against him also - basically it feels like im wasting my time by wailing on this monk - i cant kill him.

So do i change targets? To the necro? the Ranger? If i try and quickly nail the ranger, the now free monk is obviously going to keep him healed. If I try it anyway, hoping for a quick knock out but failing, i have to then run around and find another target.

Ive found in RA, groups often dont all concentrate on the one target - though it's great when they do.

Ive learnt that if the guy im trying to kill starts to try and kite me too far away, that it's often best to quickly run back to the main group and gang up on one of the others who hopefully wont get the kiters support for a few moments.

I guess what i am trying to ask here is - quite often i feel like what im doing in a group situation is completely useless to the rest of the team. Im either trying to take down someone who is healing faster than i can knock his health down, or is using a debuff on me making me miss, or them blocking or so on -

Can anyone reccomend general tips for how they(ideally from a warrior perspective), pick their targets? If you are trying to fight a ranger, do you wait out his debuff in the hope you can hit him as soon as it drops? Do you switch targets?

Do you always focus on a monk, or soft-target first? Are there times where it's a good idea to switch from a seemingly unkillable monk(for melee anyway) and try and knock out another soft target, like a mesmer or elementalist?

I just cant find any consistency to my game yet, and I dont neccessarily think it's how im reacting ingame, as I am quite experienced in pvp combat(admittedly not in GW of course) - but my reactivity is generally pretty sharp. THis is a whole new ballgame for me, and I really do enjoy it, but I just havent found that comfortable spot yet where I feel like I know what to do with my build, to really capitalise on it.

Sorry for such a long post, I hope what I have just written isnt too garbled, cheers.

bam23 · May 04, 2006, 04:09 AM // 04:09

Without a speed buff, you'll be attacking too slowly to be able to knock out a target all by yourself with a monk on the other team.
Here's what I would recommend:

Frenzy
Quivering Blade (elite)
Galrath/Silverwing Slash
Final Thrust
Sprint/Rush
Healing Sig
Disrupting Blow/Shock (if ele secondary)
Res

Quivering blade only has a 4a cost and does +43 damage. It's a good spam skill until you charge Galrath Slash and Final Thrust. Once that happens, shock your target, frenzy, and let loose Quivering>Galrath>Final Thrust. I've never actually tested it but I imagine a very nasty amount of damage on a softy. Of course, Final Thrust would be 2x effective if the target was below 50% health, so try to time your attack so that Galrath takes them under 50% health.

NoHomework · May 04, 2006, 05:56 AM // 05:56

My favorite part about GW PvP is no matter how well you are doing, you could be doing better. When you are a warrior I think it's best to think in terms of Damage Per Second or DPS. When choosing a target try and find a good balance between two things. First is helpfulness to your team (you want to hassle targets that will hassle your team, a shutdown mesmer for example, or a monk, or maybe an aoe ele will all have a huge influence on your teams effectiveness and with a warrior glued to them they will be forced to cast or attack less often). The second thing to consider is DPS, as a warrior you want to be dealing as much damage as possible so picking targets with weak armor and no dodge/evade or defensive enchants is a good idea. So for an example of balancing these two goals, say you are a warrior in RA fighting a team with 1 warrior 1 lightning ele 1 shutdown mes and 1 monk. The first thing I do is beat on the nearest weak target. Attack the lightning ele. If he blinds that counts as a defensive buff and your DPS is getting lowered, switch to the mes. If the mes is pure shutdown with no defensive skills you are in luck. Keep whackin him. If his character plays the prot animation and starts blocking your attacks, or if he gets prot spirited, your DPS is being messed with. Punish the monk

The best thing to do in RA with a prot monk is to keep switching between the soft targets, in this case the Mes and Monk. This way the monk is blowing energy on spells that arent lowering your DPS as much as they would if you were whacking on a guardianed/prot spirited ele while blinded and water hexed if you made the common mistake of sticking to the same target with a prot monk there (and a bad target to begin with). See what I'm sayin'? Eventually the monk will have blown all of his energy trying to save targets he thought you were going to dump adrenaline on, when you see the frequency of his heals drop, dump on whoever isn't enchanted

Just don't stop asking yourself 'Could I be doing more damage??'

As for condition and hex warrior hate, in RA there is little a player can do about this without sacrificing a skill on his bar. Nec secondary for plague touch or Mes secondary for hex breaker are common solutions, but obviously you can't beat everything all the time. Your best bet is incorporating your weaknesses into your decisions on target choice when going for the kill. In our example there are no hexes but there is a blinding flash ele. When you get adrenaline and have spent the enemy monks energy, you might want to try and cash out on any opportunities your team has given you in the form of a low HP elementalist.

Also, ya gotta fit frenzy or tigers fury on there man attack speed boosts on a warrior are a big plus

Deepjay · May 04, 2006, 06:46 AM // 06:46

Thanks for that info guys, that's really helpful.

I just hate wailing on target 1 - realising it's futile(he's healing faster than i can damage him, or evading/dodging etc), then changing to target 2, having the exact same problem, then onto target 3 etc etc

Really feels sometimes like im just bouncing between targets like a fool, as im not 100% sure how to break past their defences. Going to swap battle rage for frenzy and see what happens, cheers

torquemada · May 04, 2006, 07:44 AM // 07:44

For RA, in which I'm currently in (still feel inexperienced enough to go to TA) I use standard Shock Axe. I usually go for monk, but you also have to be sensitive about what's the other team doing to your's. That means you have to be ready to switch target to pressure that Necro or Mes that's degening you, or assist on a kill (seeing a target's under 50% HP) by unloading your adrenal skills on it.

In the first days of my PvP experience, I always flew straight for the squishies, running around (and they kiting like hell), in which time opposing team overpressured our team with me being useless. So yeah...as a warrior...be offensive as much as you can, but also be aware of counter-pressure from opposition. If someone's breaking your ranks, disengage from current target and get in his bloody face, sword slashin, axe swingin, raging lunatic. By no means should you try to finish off target like this (well, it depends, really) - just pressure him enough so he must disengage pressure - then go and reevaluate the next primary target.

EDIT: Oh yeah....Frenzy FTW!...but beware it CAN drop your health rapidly if attacked, but be sure to activate Sprint then (cancels Frenzy as ther both Stances) and kite (or whatever).

nightrunner · May 05, 2006, 04:51 AM // 04:51

- Read the forums, lots of useful information here. There's even a thread on tips for PvP beginners, IIRC.
-Play every class if you can. Not only do you get experience with the build and skills, but you also learn ways that it can be countered.
-Remember that CA is much different than any other type of PvP. Because it's random, you can't rely on your team having every kind of skill (inturrupts, condition removal, healing, ect). As a result, everybody tries to fit as many of these as they can into their skillbar, and you end up with 4 one man teams. Obviously, this doesn't teach you much about playing in a team where each player's skillbar works with the others and each character has specific roles. Get TS/Vent and a mic and try TA, you'll lose more but learn faster.