Minstrel Battle Spec

[cruhar]

Im leveling a minstrel and is pretty close to RvRlevels now..
But Im having a hard time finding a good spec...

so I wish some minstrel out there wants to share his experience with me...

im concidering following specs:

44I/44S/21S < Last DD, High Slash, acceptable stealth
50I/43S/01S < Last WoS in 1.6b, High slash
50I/39S/18S < Last WoS in 1.6b, Medium slash, Medium stealth
44I/39S/29S < Last DD, Medium Slash, acceptable stealth
50I/30S/30S < Last WoS in 1.6b, Medium Slash,acceptable stealth

therefor I ask, how often do you Stealth, does High stealth make it up for the lost points in Slash ?

the specs are written up in line of which I like best, so as you can see I don tthink highly of stealth, but is that wrong of me ?

thanks for your time

 

[-Nxs-]

Interestingly, im working on a Mins at the moment.

Im also not sure on the final spec, but know my minimum spec points will cover :-

25 stealth, with patch 1.60 we can climb keep walls then
29 slash, great high damage any time style
45 instruments, last shout and AE mezz

I guess my final will be something like
28 stealth
39 slash
45 instruments

but not 100% sure yet.

 

[Danya]

I am 44 ins, 40 slash, 28 stealth currently. Is the stealth worth it? Yes, it is to me. If you want to solo you'll need access to buffs or IP (or both) though unless you like being ripped up by SBs.

With 1.60 I'll probably respec to 50/30/30 for the final ablative and safe fall 3.

BTW, as coren said before in one of these threads, give a good reason to go 45 over 44 or 50 instruments.

 

[beck-uk]

My current spec is 50Instr, 39slash, 18stealth .. Which serves me well for my pet abilities, which is what I do in RvR if I am not grped.

My main aim now though with 1.60 is to respec to 50instr, 29slash,31stealth. So I get the last wall of sound which will help in general guild PLing and RvR grps. I also get climb walls and safe fall3 which will add more fun for me in rvr keep takes and defence.

If you are interested in climb walls I would definitely reccomend going at least to 30 stealth for safefall 3 as this will mean you can drop off keeps and MGs with no dmg (or very little dmg) which will be fun

As with all templates though, it all comes down to how you want to play your minstrel. So once you know that you can make yer decision on specs.

Beck Beastly

 

[lofff]

since i made this alt about 7 months ago T_T i decided for 44inst 34slash 35stealth

stealth is still usefull imo, and neither the last AEmezz or the last WoS is worth going for 50inst --->IMO<---

however i recently decided to go for 45/34/34. The last AEmezz aint worth a shit but will cap stealth at rr6 instead of rr5... not losing anything really.




( 39slash prolly improves ur dmg output but at the cost of ur stealth, guess its all about liking, i wont roll a gimped skald ps: nerf see hidden >.< )

 

[-mk-]

I'm aiming for 44 I/39 Slash/29 Stealth

Backslash is a very nice style IMO, better style bonus than Amethyst. I also noticed once my slash skill was > my level i did a ton more damage.

And a minstrel with ablative chant is far better than a gimped skald ;p

The last AE mezz is really not worth it, don't know about the WoS yet.

 

[case-rigantis]

is there any confirmation we get a full respec with 1.60?

 

[dweam]

No respec

Answer from Mythic 'Go kill the dragon'

 

[Danya]

Indeed, my respec comment is because I have a full respec in hand.

 

[datruth]

Well, my current spec is 45/43/21
with a respec still available -- hmm with patch 1.60 we get new goodie's in the instrument line and stealth so prob dropping slash is an option, but as said 39 slash= backslash = most dmg you'll ever do. I think for a battle minstrel strongest spec would be 44/39/29 after 1.60 (old cookiecutter if anyone remembers and for a group/stealth minstrel 50/30/30 - If you ´think your gonne be grouping a lot - then 50 instruments is well worth it.
ps. agree with coren - 45 instru is nowt but good for a laff -- lookie mids all huddled up - aemezz (all mezzed) /dance (a few seconds later)...erm /release

 

[Danya]

TBH backslash blows. My amethyst hits harder most of the time, for half the endurance and with no positional requirement. I'm really not convinced on it.
Most damage you'll ever do = riposte anyway.

 

[datruth]

well with our bag 'o 'tricks backslash is certain in a fight, and really I am certain it does more dmg than amethyst - substantially more > ofc riposte owns - but then again riposte is the main style and amy backup style for frontal fights. Dan try backslash a bit more, I think you'll find it does nice dmg NEway for a high (sorry mean consistent) dmg you really do need that 50ish slash ); which means with a high RR a spec such as 50/3x/25+ stealth will be very effective

 

[Danya]

I have 40+10 slash. I have tested backslash in several duels. On balance I can't think of any examples where it outdamaged my amethysts. Given the large endurance cost I'd expect significantly more damage than I get.

 

[-mk-]

I'll be doing some test with Amethyst vs Backslash and I'll post the results here.

 

[Wibbler2]

I've noticed that none of you have mentioned Thrust for weapons... One word, why?

The main reason I ask is I have a slash Paladin and didn't particularly want another char with Slash styles....

 

[Nightchill]

i'll be going, like a few people, 50/30/30.

the reason minstrels dont use thrust is (iirc) 2-fold:

1) the main line comes off evade
2) Amethyst Slash

I found thrust excellent for pve due to the stun chaining off block (and thrust tending to be faster weapons) but respecd at 40 to slash.

 

[<Wels>]

Backslash is good if you hit your damage cap often with amethyst, since backslash has a higher cap, but as a minstrel you won't do that anyay.

(no buffbots comments Danyan please )

Here is one lucky hit with backslash
http://www.student.bth.se/~pt00awa/weee.jpg

 

[Danya]

Nerf backslash. I still think it sucks though.

As for thrust, the styles are really poor. As a minstrel you tend to rely on your anytime because your defence sucks so you can't use reactives. Thrust has really bad anytimes so is nothing like as good as slash.

 

[old.linnet]

The other nice thing about amethyst slash is that it has a high to-hit bonus, which will make up for a less than stellar weapon skill (While you have end left, at least.)

I'm not seeing the point in going for safe fall 3 though. I'd be more tempted to get back to my old spec of 50 instr, 34 weapon, 26 stealth.

 

[Danya]

Safe fall 3 = 0% hp loss off a keep wall or milegate. That's the reason to get it. With safefall 2 you'll take damage leaping off walls.