Lavi's Class Mechanics Guide

[Lavi]

I made this guide for people to understand better about every career’s mechanic and also I hope to get feedback from players to improve my understanding of WAR. Well let’s start with the basics. There are currently 2 main opposition forces in WAR, the Order and the Destruction. There are overall 6 races (3 on each side), 4 archetypes (1 per each race) and a total of 20 careers currently (not including the ones that are pending). The 6 races are Dwarf, Empire, and High Elves on the Order side and Greenskins, Chaos, and Dark Elves on the Destruction side. The 4 archetypes are the Tank, Melee DPS, Range DPS, and Healer/Support. Each career has a mirror on the opposite side; although they use the same mechanic, but they are very different in ways that I will explain later. Lets get to the meat of this guide.

(Still need many corrections in guide so please don’t hate or flame me x.x)
(Will frequently update)

Ironbreaker and Black Guard (pending career)

The Ironbreaker is a Dwarf and the Black Guard is a Dark Elf. They are both Tank careers that specialize in having a grudge and hating their enemies. They earn grudge/hate points by getting hit or when their friend gets hit. The more they have a grudge or hate their enemy, the more their power overflows them which boosts certain abilities’ power. Some abilities also use grudge/hate points to work.

Hammerer (pending career) and Choppa (pending career)

The Hammerer and Choppa’s mechanic is very similar. They are both Melee DPS careers. Their mechanics work as the following, “the more you are into the juice of the battle, smashing and chopping heads off, the more crazy your power gets.” So their mechanic is actually like how everyone’s morale builds, the longer you are in a battle, the more their power increases. However, if they lose control of this wild power they have to start over from scratch and pain a price for it.

Runepriest and Zealot

The Runepriest and Zealot are one of the true healers/supporters in WAR. Their mechanics deal with the use of Runes and Marks. These Runes/Marks are attached to their teammates to grant them power boost and extra abilities. They have many Runes/Marks in their disposal but they can only have 1 active at a time.

Engineer and Magus

The Engineer and Magus are Range DPS careers. They are also called an area-defence ranged DPS character because of their specialty. They can build/call forth turrets (engineer) and daemonic fiends (magus) that are stationary and protects an area while attacking enemies within their range. They have a few different types of turrets and fields that are deployed depending on the situation of the battle.

Knight of the Blazing Sun (pending career) and Chosen

The KotBS (in short) and the Chosen are both tank careers that gives buffs to allies and places debuffs on enemies. They are support-tank careers that rely on their heavy armor to protect teammates but also they hold the special ability of commands or auras. These commands and auras are AoE buffs/debuffs that increases all teammate’s ability within range or debuffs their enemies with devastating negatives that might change the battle inside out.

Witch Hunter and Witch Elf

The Witch Hunter and Witch Elf are Melee DPS careers that use combo point system where you chain attacks till your finishing move. They build Accusations (WH) and Frenzy (WE) during battle which increases their power, unlocks abilities, and also spent by finishers. They are also the only class that currently have cloaking abilities.

Warrior Priest and Disciple of Khaine

These 2 careers are considered Healer/Support careers but also has a good chunk of Melee DPS in them. Their mechanic makes them great healers during RvR and also great fighters. When they fight, they build up Righteous Fury (WP) or Soul Essence (DoK) which is used to heal/buff yourself or your defensive target (teammate). Note that even some attacking skills spend Righteous Fury or Soul Essence.

Bright Wizard and Sorceress

The Bright Wizard and Sorceress are Range DPS careers that specialize in destructive magic that can blow a whole cliff off. They have powerful AoE and single target spells and less powerful DoT spells. The drawback is the backlash from using the powerful AoE and single target spells. They build Combustion (BW) and Dark Magic (Sorceress) points when using the powerful attacks that increases your critical rate and damage but also includes a self destruction button. The higher the point, the more likely you will blow yourself up causing damage upon yourself. Its best to use a variety of powerful and less powerful spells together.

Swordmaster and Black Orc

The Swordmaster and Black Orc are Tank careers that also have a combo system (different from WE and WH’s). Think of their combo system like old arcade games that require you to use less powerful attacks at first and builds up till your ultimate finisher. That is how they work, the Swordmaster uses Balance while the Black Orc uses Plans. There is 3 stages in total and the first stage of combo skills leads to the second and then the third. The third set being the best attacks.


Archmage and Shaman

The Archmage and Shaman are Healer careers that also does Range DPS. They have an unique mechanic that mimics a circle. Their mechanic is called High Magic (AM) and WAAAGH! (Shaman). When they cast a damage dealing spell, their Tranquility (AM) and Mork (Shaman) points will increase (max 5). The tranquility and mork will decrease the casting time of your next healing spell while 5 points spent will make it instant cast. Also, when you use a healing spell, their Force (AM) and Gork (Shaman) points will increase (max 5). This allows their next damage spell to get the same decrease in casting time. Note, if the spell is already instant cast, their potency is then increased by 5% per point.

Shadow Warrior, Squig Herder, Marauder, White Lion.

The Shadow Warrior and Squig Herder are Range DPS careers while the Marauder and White Lion are Melee DPS careers. Some of you might wonder why I put them in the same section. This is because their mechanics are very similar and many people argue which one mirrors which. The Shadow Warrior and Marauder’s similarity is their Stances and Mutations, these configurations are used depending on the situation of the battle. They give extra stats and boosts and also unlocks many abilities only usable in that Stance and Mutation. The similarity of the Squig Herder and White Lion is that they both have pets; these pets are used to distract the enemy and also engage in combat with them. The confusing part is here… The Shadow Warrior and Squig Herder’s bow attacks and paths are also very similar while the Marauder and White Lion’s paths are also pretty similar. But, the main thing that puts them all together is that their stance/mutation/pet are used during situational times and also gives similar stat buffs.

Well that is all I have currently…I hope you enjoyed my guide and also give some pointers where I can fix this guide.

Thanks

-Lavi

[Lavi]

[Reserved for updates]

[Lavi]

[Also reserved for updates]

[Klesp]

The Bright Wizard and Sorceress are Ranged Magic DPS careers that specialize in destructive magic that can blow a whole cliff off. They have powerful AoE and, single target spells and less powerful DoT spells. The drawback is the Backlash (Sorceress) / Explosion (BW) from using the powerful AoE and single target spells the majority of their spells. They build Combustion (BW) and Dark Magic (Sorceress) points on a scale of 1 to 100 when using the powerful most attacks, that which increases your critical rate and critical damage but also includes a self destruction button mechanic. The higher the point, the more likely you will blow yourself up causing damage upon yourself the higher the damage will be and the more likely it'll hurt you. Its best to use a variety of powerful and less powerful spells together.


Nice guide, will be handy for some people trying to figure out the class mechanics and needing a "nutshell" overview.

Just gone through the Sorceress and Bright Wizard paragraph. It doesn't explain things as much as it could and implies certain things are different to what they actually are. The gray parts are bits which I think should come out, and the orange parts are bits that I think should go in.

[Lavi]

Thanks for the reply and feedback. I will fix the BW/Sorceress mechanic section when I get back from work.

[dirtyjawa]

Great job!

[Toecutta]

Nice thread, good to have reference for the the mirrors in one place and nice to see the whole Shadow Warrior, Squig Herder, Marauder, White Lion thing explained. It really is not immediately obvious what is going on there

[Zyzus]

Great post, but in my opinion the SW, SH, Marauder, and WL should not be stuck together. I understand the differences between the Marauder and WL, but the SW and SH seem to be close enough to be able to be compared to their counter-part in their respected Archetype.

The Shadow Warrior's stances and the Squig Herder's pets net these careers similar bonuses. There are three stances for the SW, and three squigs for the SH. Each of these abilities mirror each other, like how the Scout Stance and the Gas Squig provide a 10% bonus to the player's maximum range. The differences lie in the fact that Stances are passive, and provide an additional statistical bonus, and that the squigs are active pets, which also provide the SH extra utility. You could consider the SW and SH's to just have different "modes", but have different methods of invoking them and their using them.

Just my humble opinion.

[beercan845]

Great guide, thanks for taking the time to explain things for us noobs.

[Gorban]

Ironbreaker vs Black Orc

Black Guardian vs Knight of the Blazing Sun


besides that, pretty informative for newcomers

[RandomJules]

The way the DoK and WP work is that they essentially get 2 energy bars, and their abilities split in half. Both bars refill out of combat, but in-combat, the class uses melee attacks to convert AP into Fury/Essence to power their heals.

Note that it's impossible to spend Fury/Essence without doing some healing, and that it's very inefficient to get Fury/Essence without dealing damage. These classes are forced to both dps and heal to even approach their full potential.

Their actual damage is significantly less than a dps class, but their healing is just different. They don't get a single-target "nuke" heal, which makes it very difficult to keep a tank on their feet the way the other healers can, but they get convenient AOE heals that suit their role on the front lines.

In general, their melee attacks cost AP, deal (melee) damage, and convert their AP cost into Fury/Essence.

In general, their heals cost Fury/Essence, and tend to be very fast to cast.

There are several notable things in these classes, and most people will spec for one or two of them:
Rend Soul /Divine Assault: A channeled ability that uses Fury/Essence to deal damage and heal an ally according to the amount of damage dealt. It does pretty good damage, and allows the class to focus more healing on one target. Without tactics, it is interruptible, however.
Divine Light /Khaine's Vigor: A very efficient instant-cast aoe heal-over time. An ability from their healing tree, this ability lets this class pump out a solid stream of healing to their whole party. If the enemy focuses on one group mate, this ability will not keep them alive, but it will generate a remarkable amount of healing, and keep the party topped up if they're close.
Consume Essence+Transfer Essence/Divine Strike+Sigmar's Radiance: These are melee attacks that use AP but generate aoe healing according to damage dealt. With tactics, the amount healed can be dramatically increased, allowing these classes to stack strength instead of willpower to increase healing.

Disciples willing to give up some of their healing potential also get two debuffs that people get excited about:
Curse of Khaine and Covenant of Celerity+Bloodthirst

Warrior Priests don't get such vicious debuffs, but they do get access to some excellent abilities that will keep themselves alive longer.

That's probably more information than you need for your summary, but take any of it that you want.

[PhroX]

Originally Posted by Gorban

Ironbreaker vs Black Orc

Black Guardian vs Knight of the Blazing Sun


besides that, pretty informative for newcomers

Eh? Not quite sure what you're after here. Lavi got it right. BO mirrors (shares a mechanic with) the Swordmaster - Balance/Plan, Ironbreaker shares one with BG (given what info we have on the latter) - Grudge/Hate, and Chosen matches KotBS - Aura/Commands

[lillis]

Originally Posted by Gorban

Ironbreaker vs Black Orc

Black Guardian vs Knight of the Blazing Sun


besides that, pretty informative for newcomers

[Dutchie]

Fantastic guide Lavi. Thank you.