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The prominence of the wraith shield warrior in pvp.

  • Thread starter duderominus
  • Start date
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D

duderominus

Guest
Contrary to the well established belief, a bushido template is not necessary to have a parry warrior in pvp. Also a widely unnoticed fact is that a well-geared shield toting warrior is very viable in pvp. My intent is to share with you what I've discovered with the wraith melee, non-bushido template.

The parry chance difference of 5% between a two-handed samurai and a shield warrior could possibly be noticeable, but not always game changing. Also, weilding a shield with a non-bushido template can greatly increase your survivability in pvp due to the fact that you do not always become vulnerable in the event of a successful disarm(like a samurai). Shields are powerful. A very common one has 15 hci/dci, which can clear up a jewelry slot.

My wraith-melee pvp template:
120 macefighting
100 tactics
100 anatomy
100 parry
90 healing
100 spiritspeak
40 necromancy
remainder: focus/med or chiv

FAQ:

You may be asking yourself, "Wraith form in pvp? Are you mad?"
It has it's draw backs, but possibly your most effective weapon in this fight is surprise. Your opponent doesn't know that you're a hard hitting bad ass that's about to dismount him and take all his mana for the simple fact that melee wraiths are very, very rare in pvp. This isn't a fad template and it never has been, on my shard at least. If you follow my gear guide for this template, you won't get taken down quickly or easily and before he knows what hit him, he'll be on foot and without mana.

"Why so much spirit speak?"
The more SS you have as a melee wraith, the more mana you're going to steal from your opponent and there's a nice fat bonus of mana leech when you hit 100 spirit speak. I find that having more then 100 spiritspeak is a waste of skill points for a wraith meleer.

"Ok, so you dismount and take his mana. What do you do, pain spike him to death? lol"
At the very end, it's a viable option, but the inbetween is much more beautiful then that. With a successful dismount, your opponent is on foot(on even playing grounds with a wraith) and he's losing mana because you're taking it from him. This is where concussion blow comes in to play. I can hit another player with no mana for about 80 damage per hit when lightning procs at the same time. Yes, I said 80 damage concussion blows.

____
The draw backs:
There are two things I hate when in wraith form:
Occasionally there is a mage with max parry and wrestling that kites me while I'm trying to dismount him. It's only happenned once in the hundreds of fights I've been in, but none the less, I was completely helpless.
The second thing is that keeping up with a crew that's moving all around a spawn or houses or whatever, you're probably going to be the last person to get to the next fight. Keeping up with your opponent is easy because you can dismount him, but keeping up with your friends is another story. Though, the smart PvPers pvp in groups and always stay near the dismounters.
____

Gear
This template allows you to effectively fight in wraith form. My shield of choice is the vesper museum's order shield for the 15 hci/15 dci. It is very effective with high strength(provided mostly by spirit of the totem and the voice of kings), making it so you don't lose your order shield due to a curse. This gear list is built to have 45 hci, 60 dci(for when the guy with mace and shield glasses comes around thinking he has the upper hand), 15+ hp regeneration and at least 120hp. This suit is also medable.

So here's the gear list:

My favorite pvp weapon is a diamond mace with high SSI and a hit spell.

spirit of the totem(more so for the +20 strength and medability than hci)

voice of the fallen king(+8 strength and +5 hp regen)

heart of the lion/violet courage: remember, you'll be stealing the enemies mana, so you don't need so much MR from things like rune beetle carapace.

bracelet of health: high hpr is extremely effective when grouped with your 120-140 hp.

Vesper Museum's order shield: the 95 strength requirement may seem daunting when considering curse with no magic resists, but you won't get it disarmed if curse just doesn't lower your strength far enough. I have 124 strength with no magic resists, so my shield stays equiped. 15 hci has become very rare on shields, especially grouped with 15 dci. The Vesper Museum order shield is rarely seen on the battlefield.

Ring: any ring you like with as close to 15 hci/dci. It should be easier these days with imbuing around.

Your totem is your choice.

As for arms, legs and sleeves, keep them medable. I suggest finding leather armor made with a barbed kit to fill these slots. Some DI gloves may be a good idea. So far, this suit is medable. Let's keep it that way. I used to use leggings of bane on this template, but it's not necessary given the fact that you already have three hci items(shield, spirit of the totem and ring) which should equal 45% hci.
____
My normal fight:
dismount > crushing blow > concussion blow til death.
Your opponent will lose mana at an insane rate. He won't be able to keep up. This template is an archer's worst nightmare!
____
Tips:
You can heal through poison with spirit speak and curse weapon. HP regen, curse weapon and spirit speak will keep you alive. I like having healing on my template because folks on foot can catch a lot of hell, so it's nice having that extra random heal. Catching a DP is not a death sentence! Not curing it is an option.

Consider things like curse weapon and pain spike. They are very useful.

You have exceptional survivability. I've easily beaten multiples of DP samurai at the same time. You won't run from groups. They run from you.

Nobody expects a character like this to be in pvp. Use the element of surprise to your advantage. People will under estimate you.
___
Thank you for reading! Comments and tips will be greatly appreciated.
This was written by Super Hamsters of Legends.
 

Sir Morder

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Mage on a mount = you're dead :) or maybe another comment. If you somehow do manage to dismount a mage, pray he doesnt disarm you otherwise = you're dead.
 
D

duderominus

Guest
Somehow manage to dismount a mage? I never have an issue dismounting except in the one instance I listed above. It's really worth testing a character like this to see what I mean.
I keep cavorting club to dismount, a UBWS warfork to disarm and a diamond mace is my beater. I have plenty of utility at my disposal.

This build has 4 healing methods available. Curse weapon is the most effecient. I always have aids running and a good amount of hp regen. Spirit speak is handy. I've gotten good at timing it inbetween FSs and swings and whatnot. And finally, if I'm blocked in or whatever, I disarm my weapon to pot. I'm rarely vulnerable. And mages have to stop to cast. They are always vulnerable to a dismount. And most people don't even see it coming.


edit:
I've had some pretty sweet battles on this character. I fought 5 guys at once before. It was fun. The fight took about 10 minutes because they kept going off to rez while I was taking out the others.

In the end, I lost, but over all, I killed each of them once. I kept interrupting their mounting and dismounting them while stealing every one of them's mana. One would run away and then I'd focus on another. My only regret in that fight is that I didn't have the reg for pain spike. It would have been an epic win, if only I came prepared.

You can't know what I'm talking about until you've fought a wraith meleer.
 
J

Jaimes

Guest
Would this character be better (or at the least, effective) if adapted to play as an archer? I always thought that a Necro/Archer would be a really effective character.
 
D

duderominus

Guest
Would this character be better (or at the least, effective) if adapted to play as an archer? I always thought that a Necro/Archer would be a really effective character.
The short answer is no. The idea of this character was to bring a wraith in to pvp for the mana leech. I believe you can still leech with bows in wraith form, but for pvp purposes an archer with this template wouldn't be nearly as effective. A lot of it's high survivability comes from never being badly hindered by a successful disarm because it wouldn't effect your parry. As an archer, you would die very fast with out that parry.

I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but the template and gear would have to be seriously altered.
 
C

Connor_Graham

Guest
Contrary to the well established belief, a bushido template is not necessary to have a parry warrior in pvp.
We already knew this. I don't get where you're getting this "well established belief" from.
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Contrary to the well established belief, a bushido template is not necessary to have a parry warrior in pvp.
We already knew this. I don't get where you're getting this "well established belief" from.
It's actually very common that people think that you NEED to have bushido on your dexxer in order to drink potions. Apparently, disarming a shield is too much effort for some.

In other words, what we know and what is common knowledge may be two different things.
 
D

duderominus

Guest
It's actually very common that people think that you NEED to have bushido on your dexxer in order to drink potions. Apparently, disarming a shield is too much effort for some.

In other words, what we know and what is common knowledge may be two different things.
And just to add, I suggest disarming the weapon and not the shield to pot on this template ^^
 

Lynk

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I can hit another player with no mana for about 80 damage per hit when lightning procs at the same time. Yes, I said 80 damage concussion blows.
No you can't.

Concussion blow was changed to deal 10 dmg on top of a weapon hit. It now does 10 dmg and gives your target a 50% temporary mana reduction.

I find it hard to believe that your weapon hits for more than 25 regularly, plus 10 from concussion, plus hit spell. Maybe a 46 damage hit but that's being a little generous with only GM anat and tact.
 
D

duderominus

Guest
No you can't.

Concussion blow was changed to deal 10 dmg on top of a weapon hit. It now does 10 dmg and gives your target a 50% temporary mana reduction.

I find it hard to believe that your weapon hits for more than 25 regularly, plus 10 from concussion, plus hit spell. Maybe a 46 damage hit but that's being a little generous with only GM anat and tact.
K, I didnt know that. I checked this out and it's true. Lame.

Your math is off though.
 

Lynk

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Your math is off though.
You are the one who spouted off a template claiming to concussion someone for 80 damage.

The damage is all speculative, to determine actual numbers I would need to know the opponents resists, your DI, etc, etc.

The numbers were an estimate, not exact science (though mine were a hell of a lot closer than yours).

As PvM your template may do fine, but it has no place in PvP.
 
D

duderominus

Guest
I admit I used it before pub 60. I didn't realize they nerfed conc blow. Still, don't knock it til you try it.

My numbers weren't speculative. They were old.
 
N

NickyDishes

Guest
so your going to be running around trying to 1v1 people all day?
 

Sir Morder

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
You would never, ever, catch a well trained mage on a mount in wraith form. This template has no viable chance in pvp.
 
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