Adari
Part of the furniture
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2003
- Messages
- 1,649
Hi thar
Since lots of ranjurs asked me some bm questions over the last few weeks i just thoguht id post my views on the battlemaster ML utility for ranjurs! ~
1. Sapping Strike
I don't use this much, not at all actually, the end costs are too high for it to be effective in stealth rvr.
2. Faultfinder
...
3. Power Leak
This is said to be good vs. moccing mages, however as it drains too much endurance it'd only be effective if this mage has less than 50% power in total, it's never been useful to me in RvR yet.
4. Grapple
Grapple has been very very useful the past few weeks, it's almost the only BM ML I use in tougher fights (apart from bodyguard), but when soloing it can be great to spam as well.
A few things clarified about grapple;
When ranger (X) grapples infil
...
...Y gets a 100% funny kinda root for 10 seconds (ie. is immobilized but can use ranged attacks/abilities)
...Y cannot melee
...Y cannot be melee'd
...X is stunned for 12 seconds (ie. is immobilized and cannot use ranged attacks/abilities)
...X cannot melee (blatantly)
...X can be melee'd
Now here cometh the funnay part;
When ranger (X) has been stunned and therefor has stun immunity, and grapples infil (Y)...
...Y gets a 100% funny kinda root for 10 seconds (ie. is immobilized but can use ranged attacks/abilities)
...Y cannot melee
...Y cannot be melee'd
...X is not stunned for 12 seconds (ie. is not immobilized and can use ranged attacks/abilities)
...X can melee
...X can be melee'd
- Grapple effects cannot be purged by neither players.
- Grapple does not give stun immunity.
- Grapple does not or barely cost endurance.
- Grapple range is _very_ short (150).
I don't want to say too much about this, it's rather obvious what I'm on about but albs are clueless anyway. If you get stunned in a fight, 1vs1, and either wait for the stun to wear off or purge it, grapple should be as good as FZ, you should be able to switch to bow and keel with arrows whilst grapplespamming. This works very well vs retard infils and RR5 or lower mincers (go out of DD range [700] or use sureshot) because of the fact this isnt done much. I'd say that grappled infils repeatedly spamming purge (probably going "doube u tee ef mate, dragonfang dragonfang!") deserve an 8 on teh funnay scale.
When playing with another ranger (or more) grapple is wrong in a lot of ways on non-tank soloers, ranger X just grapples whilst ranger Y just shoots. Me and sly/gegge killed rr9-10's like this without them even remotely scratching me - it'll make you lol irl.
When playing vs more targets as a soloer grapple is nice to have after you get stunned, no obvious explanation needed.
When playing vs more targets in a duo or group grapple is excellent CC, even without stun immunity.
Dirty trix (!);
- Use Ceremonial Bracers stun feedback thingy (lvl 10 charge) to block the stun effect when you grapple someone (only works for 1 grapple, it blocks the stun spell you get once and does not give immunity).
- When fighting infils (or sb's) it's important you get stunned in the beginning of the fight rather than in the end for grapple to be effective, you'd like some hp's when going over to bow. Qbind a key to a weapon in your 2h slot; battler (necessity when battlemaster _imho_ !!) when you're pierce spec, some piercer when you're blades spec. When you fight an infil you quickly swap to your 2h slot to try and hit with a weapon type you probably have specced to lvl.. 1, by doing this your weaponskill drops to 600-800 and you get insta evaded for teh winz by infils most of the time, who happily dragonphang you for the win and leave you with stun immunity in the middle of the fight.
- Use your speed shout and sprint when targets you want to grapple are sprinting away.
5. Essence Flames
Same as the other styles; too high end cost for it to be useful. AFAIK has a chance to proc an essence dmg dd. Can be nice with end regen.
6. Throw Weapon
Excellent style to keep people from stealthing or drop them out of speed. When groupped with a ML9 ns get the ns to put mezz poison on a separate weapon, keep this in you inv and equip it when you feel like having ranged mezz 4tw, it'll make you lol irl as well.
7. Essence Sear
Same as the other styles; too high end cost for it to be useful.
8. Bodyguard
Bodyguard! Bodyguard is such fun when grouping with two or more players, I reckon this is mainly because none of the stealthers you fight play much vs bodyguarded hibs, they just stand there looking silly with their weapons out while you're beating them down and whoever you're bodyguarding is using bow or melee. I wish I could express in words how bodyguard has saved my life and my teammates' lives so, so many times, and how all this has made me laugh reely reely hard irl, or how bodyguard has made me annoy guildies on teamspeak a lot by allowing myself to constantly go "OMG LOLZ LISTEN TO THIS AHEHEHEHHEAHEAHEAAHEA" and, and... but I can't.
Please note that...
..whoever you are bodyguarding can _not_ move around, if the 'bodyguardee' does anyway, bodyguard will work like 1-3 seconds after the 'bodyguardee' stopped moving.
...the bodyguarder can move around in a very small radius around whoever is bodyguarded
...rangers/mages/whatever can use ranged attacks when bodygarded if not interupted
...bodyguard has the same timer as camouflage. IE. If you havent been in combat (as in hit someone) camouflage is up, it works the same for bodyguard, you will be able to bodyguard someone. If you have been in combat however camouflage will be down for 10 mins, bodyguard will have the same timer. IE. If I hit someone I will not be able to camo or bg someone for 9 minutes x seconds and counting. This is kinda annoying, I guess, cos youc ant swap bodyguard in/after fights, and when you forget to set bg before you go in combat you'll be annoyed as well. However, despite of all this bodyguard is still excellent to have, the issue is known at mythic and I hope they'll fix it soon. Please note that when bodyguard is up, it wont go down after you get hit, unlike camo. Also note that if you die / the person you are bodyguarding dies and you do not zone upon release, bodyguard will stay up (so get people to bind in DL and bind there yourself).
I think it is important that a bodyguarder makes sure his character is optamilizati0red for bodyguard/battlemaster. I personally respecced my RA's to IP/Purge/AP2, this combined with the SOM lvl 10 charge, AF charges when SOM is down, heal proc vest and most importantly the battler lvl 10 charge makes you a very hard opponent to kill in stealthwars before whoever you are bodyguarding can be touched, if people manage to kill you in the first place.
9. Essence Dampen
This style does a small dex/qui debuff, however it takes a shitload of end as well. It's still fun to use because it looks cool (all bm styles do look kinda funky really), and using this is a prerequisite of;
10. Essence Shatter
This style randomly removes a buff, I always try to pull off this chain when I have end regen or heal pots/crystals or end chant from bard running. It can either leave you without end and remove some stupid buff like AF or you can be lucky and remove spec AF, but more importantly dex/qui and str/con. Bearing in mind that the first style of this 2style chain debuffs dex/qui, removing a dex/qui spec buffs really fooks up your target. Not very practical, imho, but good to have when lucky and in the right situations.
Overall I think battlemaster is the ultimate ML choise for grouping rangers who like to play supportive roles, or rangers who like to different / have a more challenging ML path. Grapple/BGing takes some practise and will be very stressful in the beginning, but you should be picking it up after a few days RvR. Bear in mind that I personally only play with people whose playstyles I know, and more importantly, who know how I play and what needs to be done for me to be effective. We also use voicecomms. I think that it will be very hard for a ranger to be a good battlemaster without duo'ers/groupies who haven't been spammed and shouted at for days to get it in their thick frikken skulls that they HAVE TO STAND STILL FOR BG AND HAVE TO STOP TRYING TO MELEE GRAPPLED PEOPLE FFS, *cough*.
For soloers I think having grapple and a bunch of styles is not as good as having FZ / Phaseshift, and not the mention all the practical cool stuff you get as a sojonour (merchant, (group) gateway, water breathing thing).
That's about it then heh, if I forgot anything or learn something new I'll probably add it in the future, I hope this has been of help to someone, else it'd have been a bloody waste of my time tbh. :/
Keke la ^^
Since lots of ranjurs asked me some bm questions over the last few weeks i just thoguht id post my views on the battlemaster ML utility for ranjurs! ~
1. Sapping Strike
I don't use this much, not at all actually, the end costs are too high for it to be effective in stealth rvr.
2. Faultfinder
...
3. Power Leak
This is said to be good vs. moccing mages, however as it drains too much endurance it'd only be effective if this mage has less than 50% power in total, it's never been useful to me in RvR yet.
4. Grapple
Grapple has been very very useful the past few weeks, it's almost the only BM ML I use in tougher fights (apart from bodyguard), but when soloing it can be great to spam as well.
A few things clarified about grapple;
When ranger (X) grapples infil
... ...Y gets a 100% funny kinda root for 10 seconds (ie. is immobilized but can use ranged attacks/abilities)
...Y cannot melee
...Y cannot be melee'd
...X is stunned for 12 seconds (ie. is immobilized and cannot use ranged attacks/abilities)
...X cannot melee (blatantly)
...X can be melee'd
Now here cometh the funnay part;
When ranger (X) has been stunned and therefor has stun immunity, and grapples infil (Y)...
...Y gets a 100% funny kinda root for 10 seconds (ie. is immobilized but can use ranged attacks/abilities)
...Y cannot melee
...Y cannot be melee'd
...X is not stunned for 12 seconds (ie. is not immobilized and can use ranged attacks/abilities)
...X can melee
...X can be melee'd
- Grapple effects cannot be purged by neither players.
- Grapple does not give stun immunity.
- Grapple does not or barely cost endurance.
- Grapple range is _very_ short (150).
I don't want to say too much about this, it's rather obvious what I'm on about but albs are clueless anyway. If you get stunned in a fight, 1vs1, and either wait for the stun to wear off or purge it, grapple should be as good as FZ, you should be able to switch to bow and keel with arrows whilst grapplespamming. This works very well vs retard infils and RR5 or lower mincers (go out of DD range [700] or use sureshot) because of the fact this isnt done much. I'd say that grappled infils repeatedly spamming purge (probably going "doube u tee ef mate, dragonfang dragonfang!") deserve an 8 on teh funnay scale.
When playing with another ranger (or more) grapple is wrong in a lot of ways on non-tank soloers, ranger X just grapples whilst ranger Y just shoots. Me and sly/gegge killed rr9-10's like this without them even remotely scratching me - it'll make you lol irl.
When playing vs more targets as a soloer grapple is nice to have after you get stunned, no obvious explanation needed.
When playing vs more targets in a duo or group grapple is excellent CC, even without stun immunity.
Dirty trix (!);
- Use Ceremonial Bracers stun feedback thingy (lvl 10 charge) to block the stun effect when you grapple someone (only works for 1 grapple, it blocks the stun spell you get once and does not give immunity).
- When fighting infils (or sb's) it's important you get stunned in the beginning of the fight rather than in the end for grapple to be effective, you'd like some hp's when going over to bow. Qbind a key to a weapon in your 2h slot; battler (necessity when battlemaster _imho_ !!) when you're pierce spec, some piercer when you're blades spec. When you fight an infil you quickly swap to your 2h slot to try and hit with a weapon type you probably have specced to lvl.. 1, by doing this your weaponskill drops to 600-800 and you get insta evaded for teh winz by infils most of the time, who happily dragonphang you for the win and leave you with stun immunity in the middle of the fight.
- Use your speed shout and sprint when targets you want to grapple are sprinting away.
5. Essence Flames
Same as the other styles; too high end cost for it to be useful. AFAIK has a chance to proc an essence dmg dd. Can be nice with end regen.
6. Throw Weapon
Excellent style to keep people from stealthing or drop them out of speed. When groupped with a ML9 ns get the ns to put mezz poison on a separate weapon, keep this in you inv and equip it when you feel like having ranged mezz 4tw, it'll make you lol irl as well.
7. Essence Sear
Same as the other styles; too high end cost for it to be useful.
8. Bodyguard
Bodyguard! Bodyguard is such fun when grouping with two or more players, I reckon this is mainly because none of the stealthers you fight play much vs bodyguarded hibs, they just stand there looking silly with their weapons out while you're beating them down and whoever you're bodyguarding is using bow or melee. I wish I could express in words how bodyguard has saved my life and my teammates' lives so, so many times, and how all this has made me laugh reely reely hard irl, or how bodyguard has made me annoy guildies on teamspeak a lot by allowing myself to constantly go "OMG LOLZ LISTEN TO THIS AHEHEHEHHEAHEAHEAAHEA" and, and... but I can't.
Please note that...
..whoever you are bodyguarding can _not_ move around, if the 'bodyguardee' does anyway, bodyguard will work like 1-3 seconds after the 'bodyguardee' stopped moving.
...the bodyguarder can move around in a very small radius around whoever is bodyguarded
...rangers/mages/whatever can use ranged attacks when bodygarded if not interupted
...bodyguard has the same timer as camouflage. IE. If you havent been in combat (as in hit someone) camouflage is up, it works the same for bodyguard, you will be able to bodyguard someone. If you have been in combat however camouflage will be down for 10 mins, bodyguard will have the same timer. IE. If I hit someone I will not be able to camo or bg someone for 9 minutes x seconds and counting. This is kinda annoying, I guess, cos youc ant swap bodyguard in/after fights, and when you forget to set bg before you go in combat you'll be annoyed as well. However, despite of all this bodyguard is still excellent to have, the issue is known at mythic and I hope they'll fix it soon. Please note that when bodyguard is up, it wont go down after you get hit, unlike camo. Also note that if you die / the person you are bodyguarding dies and you do not zone upon release, bodyguard will stay up (so get people to bind in DL and bind there yourself).
I think it is important that a bodyguarder makes sure his character is optamilizati0red for bodyguard/battlemaster. I personally respecced my RA's to IP/Purge/AP2, this combined with the SOM lvl 10 charge, AF charges when SOM is down, heal proc vest and most importantly the battler lvl 10 charge makes you a very hard opponent to kill in stealthwars before whoever you are bodyguarding can be touched, if people manage to kill you in the first place.
9. Essence Dampen
This style does a small dex/qui debuff, however it takes a shitload of end as well. It's still fun to use because it looks cool (all bm styles do look kinda funky really), and using this is a prerequisite of;
10. Essence Shatter
This style randomly removes a buff, I always try to pull off this chain when I have end regen or heal pots/crystals or end chant from bard running. It can either leave you without end and remove some stupid buff like AF or you can be lucky and remove spec AF, but more importantly dex/qui and str/con. Bearing in mind that the first style of this 2style chain debuffs dex/qui, removing a dex/qui spec buffs really fooks up your target. Not very practical, imho, but good to have when lucky and in the right situations.
Overall I think battlemaster is the ultimate ML choise for grouping rangers who like to play supportive roles, or rangers who like to different / have a more challenging ML path. Grapple/BGing takes some practise and will be very stressful in the beginning, but you should be picking it up after a few days RvR. Bear in mind that I personally only play with people whose playstyles I know, and more importantly, who know how I play and what needs to be done for me to be effective. We also use voicecomms. I think that it will be very hard for a ranger to be a good battlemaster without duo'ers/groupies who haven't been spammed and shouted at for days to get it in their thick frikken skulls that they HAVE TO STAND STILL FOR BG AND HAVE TO STOP TRYING TO MELEE GRAPPLED PEOPLE FFS, *cough*.
For soloers I think having grapple and a bunch of styles is not as good as having FZ / Phaseshift, and not the mention all the practical cool stuff you get as a sojonour (merchant, (group) gateway, water breathing thing).
That's about it then heh, if I forgot anything or learn something new I'll probably add it in the future, I hope this has been of help to someone, else it'd have been a bloody waste of my time tbh. :/
Keke la ^^
