A
Ardwan
Guest
Anyone know of any good merc guides...or can anyone offer any tips on them....speak up Hendrick 
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old.mili
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- Thread starter
- #2
dunno if its goodmerc guide
A
Ardwan
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- Thread starter
- #3
arrggghhh nasty text document....need pictures and colour
Cheers, will have a proper read in a minute
Cheers, will have a proper read in a minute
A
Ardwan
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- Thread starter
- #5
OOooOoo really nice site
S
SFXman
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- #6
Well, go crush...
S
SFXman
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- Thread starter
- #7
Y35, u5 14m3r5 c4n'7 74k3 7h3 1337 .7x7 d0cum3n75.Originally posted by Ardwan
arrggghhh nasty text document....need pictures and colour
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old.Hendrick
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- Thread starter
- #8
Please post here if you need any more hints, will answer tomorrow from work, when I am less knackered and have had time to read that link posted here earlier.
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old.Hendrick
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- Thread starter
- #9
You asked for it
Ok, here is the view of a not so tired Hendrick:
Race
Totally up to you, any race will do, be it Briton, Highlander or Saracen. Saracen should go for thrust, Briton and Highlander can choose any weapon they like (yes, Highlander are as good as Saracens with thrust!). I personally would go for Saracen thrust now, and put 10 points in strenght, con and quickness (for faster hitting), but that's just me and whatever you do will be ok, as long as you don't invest in charisma
weapon choosing
Any line is good, given you know how to use it. The only thing slash users will like: You get special crafted weapons. The jambiya is the only craftable special weapon that is usable in left hand, and it is slash. I am using two now, and they are pretty cool. Still, go for thrust or crush if you like.
I always use two weapons of the exact same speed, as this seems to be the optimal way of maximizing your damage output. I tried using bigger weapons in the main hand and a faster one in the offhand, but it just does not feel the same. I tend to be much slower in doing damage, and I dont like that. Constant flow of fast mean nasty little stings is what we do, not hit big, hard and slow. This can be a problem in RvR though, as people wielding two-handed weapons will blast you to bits in far less hits, and you cant parry their styles. I have yet to face off against a yellow con warrior, thane or hero, but once I tried soloing an orange dwarf thane, he killed me pretty easy (had half hits left after I died). Must say that I wore crap armor and rings etc. at that time.
Speccing
I am aiming for the following template:
Slash 50
Dual Wield 50
Parry 27
Shield 10 (mainly because it seems I will miss one spec point to bring parry up to 28)
I am putting my trust in the character builder at stratics here.
I brought both slash and dual wield up quite evenly, but always saved some points up to lvl 17, so I could get a good parry skill right from the start. That will save your hide many times in PvE, but seems useless in RvR, where styles can not be parried. The rest is fairly straightforward. You have exactly 2 skills that need speccing, and whenever you fell like it you can dump some in Parry. I brought shield to 7 (or was it 9?) for engage in RvR. This aint very helpful though, as it requires you to carry a shield all the time. You have to switch your weapons from the inventory as the shield sits in your left hand slot, this takes time and leaves you open to enemy attack. Still it can save your hide from the occasional arrow.
How to do it
You will deal a lot of damage, often more than an armsman, but with less protection (still as good as any middie though). Your evade is nice but not very effective. You will find that you can solo yellows with ease, and even the occasional orange. For levels up to 20, the standard solo tactic of grove nymph genocide works well, as you can pull with you shortbow and execute them pretty easy with superior weapon skill. After that, you have to go get groups and learn to play the role of "support tank". As a merc, this requires:
1. Positioning
2. Detaunt
Most good dual wield skills and chains are position based, often executed from behind or at the side of the enemy. Use /stick on foe, then strafe in position with "q" and "w". You will now hit pretty hard and often outdamage an armsman. If you have aggro, detaunt immediately, so the plate guy can get aggro back. Oh, and don't forget you too have protect and intercept.
Keep in mind that your normal attacks give constant damage output and are much faster than an armsmans. You dont need to style all the time, especially if you are doing it solo. When soloing, I like to wait for the rare evade to happen and then use the evil "dark tendrils" style.
The dirty trick
This can be a real life saver. You get this ability at lvl 20. If you cast it, the enemy will fumble a lot. Depending on the level of the enemy, this trick will last longer or shorter. (I used the dirty trick on above mentioned orange thane, didnt help much). Should help a lot when fighting yellow enemies though, and it should be used in PvE as well. When soloing, this can help you test the strength of never before fought enemies. When grouping, it may turn the tide if a pygmy pull goes wrong. Do not hesitate to use the ability, but keep in mind that it runs on a 30 minute timer.
That's basically it, any more questions, feel free to PM me or /send ingame.
Ok, here is the view of a not so tired Hendrick:
Race
Totally up to you, any race will do, be it Briton, Highlander or Saracen. Saracen should go for thrust, Briton and Highlander can choose any weapon they like (yes, Highlander are as good as Saracens with thrust!). I personally would go for Saracen thrust now, and put 10 points in strenght, con and quickness (for faster hitting), but that's just me and whatever you do will be ok, as long as you don't invest in charisma
weapon choosing
Any line is good, given you know how to use it. The only thing slash users will like: You get special crafted weapons. The jambiya is the only craftable special weapon that is usable in left hand, and it is slash. I am using two now, and they are pretty cool. Still, go for thrust or crush if you like.
I always use two weapons of the exact same speed, as this seems to be the optimal way of maximizing your damage output. I tried using bigger weapons in the main hand and a faster one in the offhand, but it just does not feel the same. I tend to be much slower in doing damage, and I dont like that. Constant flow of fast mean nasty little stings is what we do, not hit big, hard and slow. This can be a problem in RvR though, as people wielding two-handed weapons will blast you to bits in far less hits, and you cant parry their styles. I have yet to face off against a yellow con warrior, thane or hero, but once I tried soloing an orange dwarf thane, he killed me pretty easy (had half hits left after I died). Must say that I wore crap armor and rings etc. at that time.
Speccing
I am aiming for the following template:
Slash 50
Dual Wield 50
Parry 27
Shield 10 (mainly because it seems I will miss one spec point to bring parry up to 28)
I am putting my trust in the character builder at stratics here.
I brought both slash and dual wield up quite evenly, but always saved some points up to lvl 17, so I could get a good parry skill right from the start. That will save your hide many times in PvE, but seems useless in RvR, where styles can not be parried. The rest is fairly straightforward. You have exactly 2 skills that need speccing, and whenever you fell like it you can dump some in Parry. I brought shield to 7 (or was it 9?) for engage in RvR. This aint very helpful though, as it requires you to carry a shield all the time. You have to switch your weapons from the inventory as the shield sits in your left hand slot, this takes time and leaves you open to enemy attack. Still it can save your hide from the occasional arrow.
How to do it
You will deal a lot of damage, often more than an armsman, but with less protection (still as good as any middie though). Your evade is nice but not very effective. You will find that you can solo yellows with ease, and even the occasional orange. For levels up to 20, the standard solo tactic of grove nymph genocide works well, as you can pull with you shortbow and execute them pretty easy with superior weapon skill. After that, you have to go get groups and learn to play the role of "support tank". As a merc, this requires:
1. Positioning
2. Detaunt
Most good dual wield skills and chains are position based, often executed from behind or at the side of the enemy. Use /stick on foe, then strafe in position with "q" and "w". You will now hit pretty hard and often outdamage an armsman. If you have aggro, detaunt immediately, so the plate guy can get aggro back. Oh, and don't forget you too have protect and intercept.
Keep in mind that your normal attacks give constant damage output and are much faster than an armsmans. You dont need to style all the time, especially if you are doing it solo. When soloing, I like to wait for the rare evade to happen and then use the evil "dark tendrils" style.
The dirty trick
This can be a real life saver. You get this ability at lvl 20. If you cast it, the enemy will fumble a lot. Depending on the level of the enemy, this trick will last longer or shorter. (I used the dirty trick on above mentioned orange thane, didnt help much
). Should help a lot when fighting yellow enemies though, and it should be used in PvE as well. When soloing, this can help you test the strength of never before fought enemies. When grouping, it may turn the tide if a pygmy pull goes wrong. Do not hesitate to use the ability, but keep in mind that it runs on a 30 minute timer. That's basically it, any more questions, feel free to PM me or /send ingame.