Advanced Guide to Playing a Warrior

Related topics: New Player Guide, Advanced Guide to Playing a Mage, Advanced Guide to Playing an Archer, Beginner's Guide to Playing a Warrior, Character Templates

General Skills

Core Melee Skills

1. Specialized Weapon Skill : This is almost always Sword, UA or Axe, in that order of frequency. The other weapons don't do enough DOT to really support being a Melee.
2. Specialized Melee Defense: Although some templates shirk this until later levels in favor of buffs and Life Magic early, in the end everyone who can get Spec Melee Def does. That +29 is way too important at higher levels.
3. Item Magic: High Level play assumes full buffs, banes, and tinkered armor. It is impossible to find perfect weapons with all the spells on them, and impossible to find armor with all the right Banes on them. Ergo, you must have Item Magic to play the game at higher levels. The dozen or so recall spells/points it gives you are also an immense help.
4. Healing: This is how you heal, even with Life Magic. It's faster, more effective, and cheaper.

Elective Skills

1. Creature Magic: Virtually every Melee ends up with this, because it's very, very hard to get a full suite of Creature buffs when you're also pining for Epic Cantrips and Wards. Plus, it's nice to be able to buff others when they need it.
2. Life Magic (specialized): Melees specialize this because getting Life Magic just for buffs is rather dumb. To use it offensively, you need to specialize it, because your Low Focus/Self generally means you're starting out at 40 point handicap vs a Trained Mage! To use Imperils and Vulns offensively, Specializing becomes mandatory.
3. Arcane Lore (specialized?): So you can use all those jewelry and odd armor bits with multiple spells on them that you want to. Since Arcane Reqs can now hit 400, Specializing in Arcane is actually useful.
4. Lockpick: Yes, it's an 'other guy' skill in fellows. For solo play, and not liking to be slowed down by locked doors on quests, it shines. More Melees take it then the other classes.
5. Missile Defense: It doesn't really work except for PK (stops machine-gunning archers) and for qualifying for odd bits of (covenant) armor, but why not?
6. Magic Defense (specialized): Pricey, but the +29 helps tank casters all the more. Makes you about as tough to hit as a Trained Mage.
7. Missile Weapon (Specialized?): This is the obverse of a Life Spec Melee. You instead have a Missile weapon to perform as a slightly subpar Archer instead of a subpar Life Mage. Crossbows and Thrown Weapons are used for this, the latter highly useful if you want to toss Vials at critters.

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Basic Builds

1. General Melee: A General Melee build has the core skills, plus Arcane, Creature, and Lockpick. It often has points left over to pick up other useful skills, as well.
2. Life Spec Melee: The Life Spec Melee chucks extra skill for use of offensive Life Magic. The UA Life Spec is the most common of these, having a good weapon and skill points to spare, if Sho. THe Life Melee Imperils and Vulns stuff, often from a safe point, using a highly tinkered up Melee Defense Mod'd wand, and then equips weapon and shield to slaughter them all. They are also able to self-buff, and this frees up equipment slots for more cantrips and wards.
3. Melee Tank: This is a General Melee who has specced Magic Defense. Usually UA...this is a 12 pt skill, and takes a lot from other potential abilities.
4. Melee Adventurer: The Melee who takes a spec Missile weapon is an Adventurer, and they will also have Lockpick. Without resorting to magic, they can still perform all the combat functions in a group, and go anywhere and do anything.
5. Tri-Spec Archer: This is the old Dagger/Bow/Life Magic/Melee Defense build, back when Dagger was awesome. Exclusively Aluvian, the low cost to spec a weapon could actually be fit into the build, and the ability to dump str allowed 100 pts to be put into focus. Extremely strong and versatile builds. Due to the revision and weakness of Dagger, few bother to spec Dagger nowadays.
6. Tri-Spec Tank: Mostly for PK, this build is specced in Melee, Missile and Magic Defense, mostly to counter-act Trained non-mage debuffers and machine-gun archers.

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Tactics and Gameplay

• 1) Love Thy Shield.

Shield Arc. Melee defense bonus. How a shield works.

• 2) The Melee Defense Penalty to Melee Characters.

-20% from behind...Melee only!

• 3) You can't fight and hold a position.

How Sticky works.

• 4) You're the only ones who Lure.

Others Pull. You Lure.

• 5) Health is your God, but Stamina is your King.

Stamina and combat.

• 6) Carry two shields, and have a Hollow Armor set.

Normal + Hollow Shield, Normal Armor, Hollow Set.

• 7) Tools for every occasion, you pick the occasion. (Weapons needed)

Different weapons required Quest weapons - Silifi of Crimson Stars, Shadowfire, Soulbound, Shimmering Isparian, Sword of Lost Hope, Skeletonbane/Shadowbane swords, Regal weapons, Royal Runed Weapons, Red Runed/Silvaran weapons;

• 8) Other Permanent Gear you need.

Royal Runed Wand; Focusing Stone; Healing Heart or Healing Orb (Mana healer optional); Scepter of Portal Currents;

• 9) Consumables you need.

Philtres; Beers/Ales; Dispel Gems; Pages of Salt and Ash; Grael Gems; Peerless Healing Kits

• 10) Imperil is your Shield Maiden./ Vulnerability to Imperils.

How Imperil works. Negative AL and SL.

• 11) Wear a decent set of pants.

Viamontian Trousers cover the girth, lower and upper legs.

• 12) Melee are the brains of the fellowship

Magic and weapons don't always have the same elemental supremacy. Tactics to use in fighting.

• 13) Use Your Power Bar Wisely.

What to use fast attacks on. When to use Full Power. The 'best' setting for Stamina usage.

• 14) Use Peace Mode.

Better Healing; Drinking potions; swapping weapons; looting; auto target acquisition; regen and rejuv rates.

• 15) Know the Math of Imbues and Debuffs.

Imperil, fixed effect. Vulns, exceed Renders.

• Crushing Blow
• Critical Strike
• Armor Render
• Resistance Render
• Armor Cleaving/Resistance Cleaving
• Biting Strike
• Crippling Blow
• Slayer Effects
• Iron
• Granite
• Rabbit's Foot
• Mhoir Forge Weapon Gem

Miscellaneous Gameplay, tips and tricks

• --Healing Kit and backpack next to one another on the hot keys.
• --Potions and Dispel Gems on hot keys.
• --To break out of a 'stuck' attack mode suddenly, tap jump. It releases the target lock. This stops you from charging after a creature or breaks a lag-lock so you can go to Peace Mode.
• --Going from Peace Mode to Attack mode auto acquires an enemy without having to target it.
• --You can attack through doors. Mages can only do that with Drain and Harm, both very suboptimal damage. Archers get to sit and twiddle their thumbs.