lasmrah
08-19-2008, 12:52 PM
Hey guys, I hope you're ready for info now that the NDA is down! First, I'm going to say a couple of really general things some of you are probably wondering.
All Swordmaster attacks (except maybe Throw) are improved only by Strength. Intelligence is entirely useless to us. Again, all abilities, including Hoeth, are improved by Strength. Yay, we don't have to spread our stats!
The difference between using a greatsword and a shield is smaller than you may expect. Abilities only do a small amount of additional damage with a greatsword compared to a shield. However, your white auto-attack damage is MUCH higher with a greatsword. Shields also do not generally have any armor on them, just stats and a block rating.
The balance mechanic is plenty of fun, though you cannot use improved balance abilities while in perfect balance. You can however always use normal balance moves. All perfect balance moves are FREE, as in NO COST, so there is plenty of reason to do full chains. Also, all perfect balance moves always have their effect, they got rid of the 50%/100% thing.
All three mastery paths are definitely viable in both PvE and RvR. No, really! For a quick summary, Path of Khaine has great single-target damage and decent AoE damage, Path of Hoeth has great AoE damage and decent single-target damage, and Path of Vaul has decent single-target damage and great defenses.
Okay, hope everyone enjoyed that! I'm not going to go into more detail about the three paths. Allow me to first say a disclaimer: I personally almost always use a greatsword, and prefer Path of Hoeth to the other two paths, so I will have more detail about that tree.
The Path of Khaine! This path really must be used with a greatsword, as two of its abilities require one. The three abilities you can purchase are all very useful and worth getting and form the main combo you will use. Gryphon's Lash deals a decent amount of damage and cannot be blocked or parried. Phoenix's Wing deals a large amount of damage in a frontal cone, and generates extra threat. Ether Dance is a 3 second channel that deals almost twice as much damage as the next best perfect balance move. I also believe Ether Dance is immune to setback, though I could be wrong.
The Path of Khaine is worthwhile as Ether Dance just deals such a ludicrously large amount of damage, and Phoenix's Wing is the highest damage AoE. This enables you to deal large amounts of single target damage, and also play as an offtank who can gather up large numbers of non-champion mobs and tank them at once with Phoenix's Wing, as it generates extra threat. I also should say that our 40% 10 second snare, Quick Incision, is in this tree so having more damage on that is always nice. The perfect balance move for Khaine that you get just by leveling is Blurring Shock, and it kindof sucks on its own; pure spirit damage, but least damage of any single target finisher. However there is a tactic that gives it a knockback effect, and it is spammable every third move! You can still use that tactic if you spec somewhere else, you just won't do as much damage.
The Path of Vaul! This path *should* be used with a shield, though it is not as vital as the greatsword is to the Path of Khaine. If you aren't using a shield you can skip 2 of the 3 abilities, as they require a shield. In the mastery you get Redirected Force: deals a large amount of damage and generates tons of threats, requires a block before you can use it. Crushing Advance: deal some damage, interrupt your target, and buffs your armor fairly significantly for I believe 5 seconds. Requires a shield. Crashing Wave: High damage finisher (distant second highest to Ether Dance, tied with Dragon's Talon) that knocks down the target.
In the standard abilities you get from leveling, the notables are Dragon's Talon which reduces your target's damage output by 20% for 5 seconds, Eagle's Flight, 25% parry increase for 5 seconds, and graceful strike, aggro generator and highest damaging normal balance ability (after counting the 5 second DoT). Due to graceful strike and dragon's talong being high damage moves, the path of vaul does decent single-target damage and if also using Eagle's Flight drastically increases your survivability; they do 20% less damage and you parry 25% more of the time. This path is of course perfect for tanking in PvE, and viable in RvR as you still output a decent amount of damage. This is still enough damage to, with a greatsword and taunt, solo-kill some healers. They can't heal through the damage alone, though maybe they could if you wear a shield, I'm not sure.
Path of Hoeth! My personal favorite! In the mastery you get 2 great abilities, 1 useless one. Whispering Wind is a 5 second silence finisher which does slightly less damage than dragon's talon, though still more than blurring shock. And aethyric armor is badass. A 30 minute self-buff (so always on) which increases your disrupt chance by 5% and drastically increases your armor, taking me from about 60% damage mitigation to about 80% damage mitigation (in RvR gear). Best single point spent ever. The path also gets just from leveling gusting wind, a full 360 degree PBAoE that does decent damage, and the finisher Wrath of Hoeth: 30 foot PBAoE that does good damage and reduces all opponent's spiritual resistance by a large amount. They also have the normal balance starter Ensorcelled Blow, which does pure spirit damage.
Path of Hoeth has amazing AoE, as 2 out of 3 moves in every chain can be an AoE. Their single target damage is also good almost entirely because of one tactic: Ensorcelled Agony. This tactic adds a 5 second DoT to Ensorcelled Blow that brings its damage up to total awesomeness. I unfortunately am forgetting right now, and I'm at work so I can't log on to check, but I'm pretty sure it causes Ensorcelled Blow to deal more damage than any other move, barring Ether Strike. As it deals entirely spirit damage, it is also enhanced by Wrath of Hoeth.
Okay, from now on this is going to be *very* much just my opinion. Firstly I have no idea how well you fare in RvR with a shield and defensively specced. But, offensively, a swordmaster can function as a heavy melee dps; less damage than mdps certainly, but enough to kill RDPS and healers if they aren't defended for sure. So as a swordmaster I can charge into battle and survive for a long, long time if I have healing and keep whoever is healing me from dying. Even alone I can survive a long time spamming Eagle's Flight and Dragon's Talon, long enough for reinforcements to arrive in scenarios. This is true from tier 1 to tier 4, in my experience. I love this class.
However, one thing is key to playing offensively as I just described: stacking strength. If you are Hoeth, you can ignore weapon skill as you deal spirit damage, otherwise get that too. I find just being a tank and just wearing str focused gear (though not to an extreme; 7 str 7 toughness is better than 8 str 3 toughness still) I get enough defensive stats to survive burst damage in RvR. Just to say it again because for an offensive tank it is key, STACK STRENGTH! If you do that, you will go far.
Okay, I'm going to lunch, but I'll be back later to answer any questions you have. Cheers!
Edit: I forgot a couple basic things to say. In PvE it takes about 4-5 moves to kill someone if str stacking and wearing a greatsword, so 1 combo and a bit. At level 35 I could take on 4 level 37 mobs at once Hoeth spec and win...barely.
All Swordmaster attacks (except maybe Throw) are improved only by Strength. Intelligence is entirely useless to us. Again, all abilities, including Hoeth, are improved by Strength. Yay, we don't have to spread our stats!
The difference between using a greatsword and a shield is smaller than you may expect. Abilities only do a small amount of additional damage with a greatsword compared to a shield. However, your white auto-attack damage is MUCH higher with a greatsword. Shields also do not generally have any armor on them, just stats and a block rating.
The balance mechanic is plenty of fun, though you cannot use improved balance abilities while in perfect balance. You can however always use normal balance moves. All perfect balance moves are FREE, as in NO COST, so there is plenty of reason to do full chains. Also, all perfect balance moves always have their effect, they got rid of the 50%/100% thing.
All three mastery paths are definitely viable in both PvE and RvR. No, really! For a quick summary, Path of Khaine has great single-target damage and decent AoE damage, Path of Hoeth has great AoE damage and decent single-target damage, and Path of Vaul has decent single-target damage and great defenses.
Okay, hope everyone enjoyed that! I'm not going to go into more detail about the three paths. Allow me to first say a disclaimer: I personally almost always use a greatsword, and prefer Path of Hoeth to the other two paths, so I will have more detail about that tree.
The Path of Khaine! This path really must be used with a greatsword, as two of its abilities require one. The three abilities you can purchase are all very useful and worth getting and form the main combo you will use. Gryphon's Lash deals a decent amount of damage and cannot be blocked or parried. Phoenix's Wing deals a large amount of damage in a frontal cone, and generates extra threat. Ether Dance is a 3 second channel that deals almost twice as much damage as the next best perfect balance move. I also believe Ether Dance is immune to setback, though I could be wrong.
The Path of Khaine is worthwhile as Ether Dance just deals such a ludicrously large amount of damage, and Phoenix's Wing is the highest damage AoE. This enables you to deal large amounts of single target damage, and also play as an offtank who can gather up large numbers of non-champion mobs and tank them at once with Phoenix's Wing, as it generates extra threat. I also should say that our 40% 10 second snare, Quick Incision, is in this tree so having more damage on that is always nice. The perfect balance move for Khaine that you get just by leveling is Blurring Shock, and it kindof sucks on its own; pure spirit damage, but least damage of any single target finisher. However there is a tactic that gives it a knockback effect, and it is spammable every third move! You can still use that tactic if you spec somewhere else, you just won't do as much damage.
The Path of Vaul! This path *should* be used with a shield, though it is not as vital as the greatsword is to the Path of Khaine. If you aren't using a shield you can skip 2 of the 3 abilities, as they require a shield. In the mastery you get Redirected Force: deals a large amount of damage and generates tons of threats, requires a block before you can use it. Crushing Advance: deal some damage, interrupt your target, and buffs your armor fairly significantly for I believe 5 seconds. Requires a shield. Crashing Wave: High damage finisher (distant second highest to Ether Dance, tied with Dragon's Talon) that knocks down the target.
In the standard abilities you get from leveling, the notables are Dragon's Talon which reduces your target's damage output by 20% for 5 seconds, Eagle's Flight, 25% parry increase for 5 seconds, and graceful strike, aggro generator and highest damaging normal balance ability (after counting the 5 second DoT). Due to graceful strike and dragon's talong being high damage moves, the path of vaul does decent single-target damage and if also using Eagle's Flight drastically increases your survivability; they do 20% less damage and you parry 25% more of the time. This path is of course perfect for tanking in PvE, and viable in RvR as you still output a decent amount of damage. This is still enough damage to, with a greatsword and taunt, solo-kill some healers. They can't heal through the damage alone, though maybe they could if you wear a shield, I'm not sure.
Path of Hoeth! My personal favorite! In the mastery you get 2 great abilities, 1 useless one. Whispering Wind is a 5 second silence finisher which does slightly less damage than dragon's talon, though still more than blurring shock. And aethyric armor is badass. A 30 minute self-buff (so always on) which increases your disrupt chance by 5% and drastically increases your armor, taking me from about 60% damage mitigation to about 80% damage mitigation (in RvR gear). Best single point spent ever. The path also gets just from leveling gusting wind, a full 360 degree PBAoE that does decent damage, and the finisher Wrath of Hoeth: 30 foot PBAoE that does good damage and reduces all opponent's spiritual resistance by a large amount. They also have the normal balance starter Ensorcelled Blow, which does pure spirit damage.
Path of Hoeth has amazing AoE, as 2 out of 3 moves in every chain can be an AoE. Their single target damage is also good almost entirely because of one tactic: Ensorcelled Agony. This tactic adds a 5 second DoT to Ensorcelled Blow that brings its damage up to total awesomeness. I unfortunately am forgetting right now, and I'm at work so I can't log on to check, but I'm pretty sure it causes Ensorcelled Blow to deal more damage than any other move, barring Ether Strike. As it deals entirely spirit damage, it is also enhanced by Wrath of Hoeth.
Okay, from now on this is going to be *very* much just my opinion. Firstly I have no idea how well you fare in RvR with a shield and defensively specced. But, offensively, a swordmaster can function as a heavy melee dps; less damage than mdps certainly, but enough to kill RDPS and healers if they aren't defended for sure. So as a swordmaster I can charge into battle and survive for a long, long time if I have healing and keep whoever is healing me from dying. Even alone I can survive a long time spamming Eagle's Flight and Dragon's Talon, long enough for reinforcements to arrive in scenarios. This is true from tier 1 to tier 4, in my experience. I love this class.
However, one thing is key to playing offensively as I just described: stacking strength. If you are Hoeth, you can ignore weapon skill as you deal spirit damage, otherwise get that too. I find just being a tank and just wearing str focused gear (though not to an extreme; 7 str 7 toughness is better than 8 str 3 toughness still) I get enough defensive stats to survive burst damage in RvR. Just to say it again because for an offensive tank it is key, STACK STRENGTH! If you do that, you will go far.
Okay, I'm going to lunch, but I'll be back later to answer any questions you have. Cheers!
Edit: I forgot a couple basic things to say. In PvE it takes about 4-5 moves to kill someone if str stacking and wearing a greatsword, so 1 combo and a bit. At level 35 I could take on 4 level 37 mobs at once Hoeth spec and win...barely.