Skald spec ??

[mrmiagi]

If i would get hold of a respec stone after patch i would spec
50 sword 43 bs rest parry what do u other skalds think of that ?
(will only be using him for rvr)

 

[froler-mid]

50weapon, 43 bs is teh win

 

[Gurthaur]

Im gonna go 46 BS, 44 Hammer and rest in parry. Hope it will be good.

However I have heard that 50 weapon and 43 BS is a nice spec aswell. Its just that im a sucker for dmg add.


Edit: The reason I can see with 46 BS is that in a full group the dmg add will increase overall dmg quite nicely. Maybe 50 weapon, 43 BS is better for soloing tho...

 

[mrmiagi]

Yeah i was thinking sinc my gimp skald got worse defence than a healer 50 weapon would do him good =) (atleast i might do some damage)

p.s. killed Edelia 2 times solo yesterday w/o using IP and i was unbuffed / pwned baby (like those relics matter skalds still pwn mincers)

 

[Garh Khartari]

50 weapon, 43 bs, 2 parry.
If you're good at getting positional styles off often I guess 50 axe would be better than 50 sword.

I'm not, so I'm gonna go 50 sword.

 

[mrmiagi]

Sword has god enough positional styles and i´ve been used to it for too long, i also like the damage i do on hib tanks its always 350 + =)

 

[braudristin]

In my oppinion they should give Skalds same spec points as other viking classes (x2.0) So you could go something like this:

BS: 50
Weapon: 50
Parry: 28

or:

BS: 46
Weapon: 50
Parry: 34

 

[noaim]

Do second best dam add + 50 weap outdamage best dam add + 44 weap?

 

[mrmiagi]

imho the skald dmg add suxx only adds 20-40 dmg at 46 bs (2h)so using second best wont be a prob.

 

[zoia]

Those few extra points in weaponspec wont make you do a lot more damage.
The only reason for going 50weapon is for the level 50 style.

I've read a lot of threads about 50 vs the usual 44 spec and although the level 50 styles does good damage,
it pretty much evens out with the loss of last damage add and last DD.

The last damage add may not be such a big loss.
It also has a short range, so it's not that usefull in groups either.
However you're trading a lv 44 DD for a lv 26 one.
Not only will it do less damage, but it will be resisted a LOT.

You'll also miss out on the 20% resists chants. (Body, spirit and energy if specced 46 in BS)
You mentioned fighting minstrels. When you do, body resist is your friend. Spirit is also good against those pesky necros

As for the Ragnarok style, you will mostly use it when chasing someone.
If they keep running, you will probably kill them no matter what style you use. If they don't run, you can't use it.


Myself, i'm 46,46,10 and hammer and i like it
It all depends on your style of play, if you want 50 sword, go for it.

You can see how much bonus each style gives here: http://home.nc.rr.com/obsidianguard/wyrd/Styles.htm

 

[jarl]

Im different

Im thinking about respecing 43BS 44Hammer and 23or what ever u can get poarry up to.

Liike parry alot.

 

[mrmiagi]

Why dont get Mastery of parry then m8 ? put it up to 2 and u have the same as putting 12 lvls in parry =)
anyway parry is kind of gimped in large rvr battles
Hmmm thx for advice zoia =)

If i ever get to repec ill go 50 axe 43 bs 2 parry
Cause of the good positional styles.

 

[Jerelyn]

41 sword, 46 bs 23 parry, that's a nice defensive spec, and along with mastery of pain and mastery of parry (both at lvl 2) you will get far, not to mention the augmented con, dex, str and quick, also at lvl 2

-Jerelyn

 

[mrmiagi]

Imho parry is a whaste, id rather make up for the loss in parry by RA:s than loose weaponskill and such =)

 

[bacardi_skald]

Well axe50 have bit of a disadvantage as a skald, cause axe50 style 'Tyrs Fury' have a bleed effect which makes mezz useless.

Sword 50 style 'Ragnarok' is pretty useless to as its not often you get up behind your enemy.

The lv50 hammer style is a 3x combo starting with block.
You will do less damage than before with a worse dd and worse dmg chant in trade for 4 xtra in weap.


So imo weapon to 50 is pretty useless as a skald.

but ofcource thats just my opinion

 

[Aussie-]

never had an opponent who tried to run away from you Bacardi?
you must be a very difficult player to beat then

 

[Garh Khartari]

I think as Skald you'd like to get up behind your enemy rather than face him.
Cause lets face it, we're no match for a shield weilding tank class, or any real tank class really. And its those classes that tend to want to face you so you can get frontal based style off.

The classes we want to hunt down and kill are usually the ones who want to run away from you.
So I see more use in a back positional style than a frontal.

Just my thoughts on it..

PS.: hadn't thought about bleed from 50 axe style interrupting mezz, good point there Bacardi =)

 

[thorey]

lyl ur a skald, u are taxi and nothing else.
on the specc matters according to the test's i read by dem crazy americanos u iwll gain approx 1.2% dmg raise from speccing 50 weapon in theory if u land all pos styles etc including using your dd shouts as soon as they recharge.

since it was my first melee char since 1.48 i myself decided to choose the to me most viable specc
44 axe for good back pos chain.

46 bs for a retarded dmg'add, but mostly because of the resists chants which are in aug healers table and are still semihard to find.

17 parry as then i can solo yellows with some luck

but because skalds melee performance is so useless nowadays
u have to use ur leet grp support abilitys .. so stay behind with your healers and snare inc threats every 30 sec as mythic intended.

 

[bacardi_skald]

Aussie if they run away ( like thats ever gonna happen with a skald :uhoh: ) their dead meat anyway hard to escape a skald

 

[aavarn]

Yep I think peeps are right here about not speccing 50 weapon. A skald with 50 weaponskill seems a little skewed and unbalanced to me. Your unique ability as a skald (the reason that you chose this class over a warrior) is battlesongs - if you want to max weapon out and max your damage output roll a warrior, they have much better base dmg anyway.

I think people tend to get stuck in this rut of thinking it is sooo vital to have 50 in weapon because weaponskill is important and because parry doesn't work so well against multiple opponents.

But lets face it if you are overwhelmed by multiple opponents you are dead anyway, so lets worry about the things we can influence.

A bit of parry is going to help you while solo, in PvE and in most battles that are going to be won as it will be you (and others) against a single opponent. I don't think it makes much sense to ignore it completely. Its not going to be much above 20 (at best) but you can always complement it with some RA. As a skald your role is not that of a main tank - leave worrying about tanking multiple opponents to the warriors.

Basically don't get so hung up on the 50 weapon thing - you will by far exceed 50 weaponskill with item bonusses and RR bonusses which will put you in the 100-150% dmg range anyway. If you assess a character's usefulness in RvR purely in terms of damage dealt then everyone would be playing Zerks, Warriors, RC RMs and SMs and there would be no other classes. Its not all about damage unless you are playing a class that can ONLY do melee damage (Warrior, Zerk and to some extent SB).

Skald often take the role of caster killer, you really don't need 50 base weaponskill to hit and kill a caster - especially not if it (or any other class) is running away from you - as Bacardi points out.

I think Thorey's (and other's) spec is nice:
44 Weapon (axe)
46 Battlesongs
17 Parry

 

[aavarn]

Only thing I would say in mitigation about the usefulness of the 50 Axe bleed style is this (and Ragnarok - 50 sword).

If I am charging towards my target (speed chant) and am planning to hit them with both shouts and then mezz with the changes to mezz lately I get to position myself behind them (and change to dmg chant) in my own time for a hefty back move. On the whole I tend to use the mezz less after I have taken a big chunk of dmg out of my opponent already.

but I still go with what I said ^^

 

[braudristin]

Combat styles - Axe:

lvl: 29
Name: Havoc
Prerequisite: In front of target
Attack bonus: Low bonus
Defense: Low penalty
Fatigue cost: Medium
Damage: High
Effect: x

lvl: 50
Name: Tyr's Fury
Prerequisite: Havoc
Attack bonus: High bonus
Defense: X
Fatigue cost: Medium
Damage: High
Effect: Bleeding ( Damage per tick: 7 for 40 seconds )

Combat styles - Sword:

lvl: 50
Name: Ragnarok
Prerequisite: Behind target
Attack bonus: Medium
Defense: Low penalty
Fatigue cost: Medium
Damage: Medium
Effect: Slowed ( Decreases the target's combat speed for 20 seconds )

nuff said

 

[Garh Khartari]

Add this

Name: Havoc
Style Multiplier: 0.75

Name: Tyr's Fury
Style Multiplier: 0.94

Name: Ragnarok
Style Multiplier: 0.90

edit: Taken from the site Zoia linked to.

 

[Jerelyn]

Parry (with Mastery of Parrying skilllvl 2) has saved my ass a lot of times, so, with my relatively "high" parry skill (23) i don't do that good dmg with my 41 sword. With mastery of pain skilllvl 2 also, i get a nice chance to crit eventually, which also can save my ass. and finally with 46 BattleSongs, you get the last dmg chant, wich adds a bit more dmg to my attack-with-chance-to-crit and my 2 lovely DD's. and if everything get's messed up, snare and run away.
the few times i use mezz actively, is when i'm up against multiple targets. mezz one, eventually snare another and kill the third.

-Jerelyn

 

[Armalite]

I have followed the team skald boards since i started out this game


The damage increase in weapon from spec is better than from chant SOLO. If you consider a group, the overall damage with the best damage chant is better (Provided the group dont run out of chant range...)

Don't spec sword. Crap styles. Spec hammer for best styles, spec axe for best damage. Oh, and don't spec hammer cause it's good vs plate, you will never win against a plate user anyway, you are after all...a skald... (gimped).

My advice, spec 50 axe/43bs, You not only after the 50 style, your after the increased weaponskill and less damage variance.

With the new buff rules coming, you should roll troll as your str will not be capped.

Get bs to 50 with rr & sc for less damage variance on shouts, dont bother going over 50 as the points over 50 have no effect.

Run in, hit hard, get the hell out of there (this don't work if you are grouped as your run chant will be down then)

 

[osy]

Disclaimer: My char is dwarf, and my spec is gimped.

44 bs (dmg add ?... right. Just gimme my last DD.)

46 weapon (Hello, im the one that likes his dmg in the higher end)

17 parry (add Mastery of Parry 2 to this, and the next enemy you meet will go: Wtf, 4 consecutive parrys ?)

Best thing about my spec is that I use 30 gold dyes, wear un-emblemed cloak and look good while running. I do it with .... class, if you like. Not something you'll meet at most skalds.


Ps: Zoia ownz me.