Armsman

[Brackus]

Atm my armswoman is 50+14 shield, mob4, dex3 (rr4L1)

It has epic armour and various random rog items on it so that it has some okish stats

atm its got 101str, 101con, 101dex, 85 quick from items

and about 1850 hits (unbuffed)

its ml3 warlord and am highlander

With the new love that arms will get im wondering what I would be best doing, staying as a Highly Defensive blocker (going battlemaster) and bg'ing for a grp.

Or if im best going something like 2H and staying warlord.

Atm in duels I can beat just about any tank / light tank (excluding mercs) however I guess in real rvr this probably wont be the case.

So my question is really, what would be most beneficial solo and grp (staying 50 shield + 50 slash, 42 shield + 50 2h, 50 pole + 42 shield, etc) bearing in mind of the new love arms get (will they be that much more groupable?)

I have a rr7 merc, so as an assist train tank I guess it would be better for me to play a merc. So maybe the key would be to be more defensive, however thats the job of the friar / pally (bg bot).

Any suggestions / comments would really be appreciated

 

[mikke]

two handed bg bot is out of the picture?

 

[Baron]

Get some artis ya tart

 

[Kagato]

The problem with groupability is that guard is not worth much in RvR compared to Bodyguard, and you can Bodyguard just as easily with a 2H weapon as you can with a shield.

Being pure s/s spec is possibly nice for solo in one respect in that it will be difficult for a melee class to kill you, however the same goes in vice versa, it will take you a long time to melee someone else down in that spec, and the longer a fight lasts the more dangerous it will be as theres more chance for them to decide to escape instead or for adds to come by for them to call for help.

Caster fights will also be more difficult as again it'll be harder to interrupt and the spellcaster will get more QC's out on you if moc is used already.

To be honest, if the Armsman TL succeeds in fucking up the polearm line like he seems to be trying to, then i'd probably try pure s/s spec myself, but there will be problems in real RvR. What I suggest you do is plan a cheap and nasty template barely costing a few plat just to be 'workable' and try it for a couple of weeks. If you like it, make a proper template.

What i'd suggest personally is getting a very nasty reactive proc on your shield like a lifedrain or DoT, and get damage types on all armour to increase your damage potential and carry plenty of end regen barrels.

I'd drop the sword personally though and go 1H crush malice with a 2H battler for the charge only.

 

[Rub]

Being pure s/s spec is possibly nice for solo in one respect in that it will be difficult for a melee class to kill you

but then if u meet a dual wielder he cuts your block chance in two :touch:

 

[Kagato]

I said pure s/s spec, not hybrid, as a pure s/s spec you'll be at at least 50 weapon 50 shield and 28 parry with +11 +RR to all.

That means with a minimum of 39 effective parry at RR1 even DW should be easy to beat. Parry suffers no penalty at all vs DW. So even with half block chance and full parry chance I doubt you'd have any real problems.

 

[Sollac]

great i respec to full pole, well 50 pole, 39 parry 39 slash some xbow, and the MAN says go s/sh......bah...

must admit fighting with pole is pretty good fun, on mobs using crippling blow and mangling whatever.

dr is good but obviously better in rvr,

any other suggestions.

 

[SoulFly]

50 pole, 3x base skill (+itam+rr->51, slash is great for ame), 42 shield rest parry.

Dump the rest in xbow

 

[Olly]

compare the 2h with pole guys! please, id love to see the difference on "paper"

 

[Bracken]

I said pure s/s spec, not hybrid, as a pure s/s spec you'll be at at least 50 weapon 50 shield and 28 parry with +11 +RR to all.

I don't agree with this. S/S isn't worth it once you get a few rrs under your belt. At rr5 you can go 50 2h, 42 shield, 35 weapon and 18 parry (more with auto train). Thats 4% less chance to block and 5% less chance to parry, but what you gain in the 2h (or pole if that's your preference) in damage output can make a huge difference to a group. It also gives you much greater versatility for your group. Having played both I can tell you hybrid >>>> pure s/s for a group. The real choice is whether to go for 42 shield (i.e. slam) or not - which ofc depends on how you want to play.

 

[Drav]

Im a 2H hybrid have no problem with stealthers even those with 7 rr's on meh, IP2 ftw

Hoping with the new shout love inc I can start caster killing and have built my temp high resists etc to try and do just that.

Tried all 3 specs on my arms now, pole was nice until they started screwing about with the styles, s/s I was never really that impressed with, 2H I just love for onslaught really.

Real problem soloing as an arms is the amount of fg's that steam roll ya as if your a nuclear equiped lunatic who could pwn their entire group....Almost as if they all really need to hit ya just to give you a feeling of depression for the evening, I suppose for more widely known soloing arms like Kagato it might be a bit easier and such ppl would leave him be or at least take him 1 on 1.... but for those of us who are not "famous" its a mass of gettin steamrolled till you get that 1 worthwhile fight.

Best time for RvR least on my non-stealth chars is 3amish.

 

[Brackus]

I guess then until im rr5 I could go solo / duos and respec 2h

reaver + 2h arms could be nice

 

[Kagato]

great i respec to full pole, well 50 pole, 39 parry 39 slash some xbow, and the MAN says go s/sh......bah...

Im not saying s/s is any better then full pole, im debating the virtue's of s/s itself to answer his questions seeing as thats how he is spec'd.

I don't agree with this. S/S isn't worth it once you get a few rrs under your belt. At rr5 you can go 50 2h, 42 shield, 35 weapon and 18 parry (more with auto train). Thats 4% less chance to block and 5% less chance to parry, but what you gain in the 2h (or pole if that's your preference) in damage output can make a huge difference to a group. It also gives you much greater versatility for your group. Having played both I can tell you hybrid >>>> pure s/s for a group. The real choice is whether to go for 42 shield (i.e. slam) or not - which ofc depends on how you want to play.

I do not see what that has to do with my answer at all. What you quoted of me was me answering about the defensive capabilities of s/s spec vs DW. Something that hybrid spec has next to nothing off. I was not comparing spec's to one another though, just listing the s/s advantages.

compare the 2h with pole guys! please, id love to see the difference on "paper"

Polearms vs 2H specifically (i.e nothing to do with hybrid or full) the main differance is in advantages.

The style make-up is virtually identical in options, both have the reasonable anytime chain, the 2 style reactionary, the 2 style positional stun and snare. So options are very similer.

The differances is in the strengths, Polearm has an anytime 40% snare style, and all other pole snares are 40%, the 'standard' is usually 35%. It also has the brilliant reactionary style with the highest growth rate in the game. And the positionals are very nice.

By contrast 2H has good positionals, but terrible reactionary styles and the only good snare is positional, not anytime.

The distinction most people make is that for solo pole is better and for grouping 2H is.

For hard facts i'll try and find out my test list I made last year, but for a summary nearly every single pole style did slightly more damage then its 2H counterpart though the differance was not huge except with the pole reactionary which leaves all styles standing.

 

[Bracken]

I do not see what that has to do with my answer at all. What you quoted of me was me answering about the defensive capabilities of s/s spec vs DW. Something that hybrid spec has next to nothing off. I was not comparing spec's to one another though, just listing the s/s advantages.

Then I misread it (don't think I was the only one though)

Having said that, it's not correct to say hybrid has next to nothing in defence once you get to rr5+ as you can significantly up the parry while maintaining the shield. I know I didn't do that for a long time and suffered as a result, but that was pure laziness in not getting it sorted