Warden Specs

[Cigies]

Forget the advice posted on here, most of it is total gash.

Go visit the Natures Wall forums :

Warden TL Forums

You will get decent advice there on specs based on their merits.

 

[Novo]

Thanks for all the adivce/links havnt decided yet, basically gonna keep blades at 6 and just kee putting points into nurture and reg for now untill im to high lvl and have to decide

 

[Thanatlos]

There's a lot of ways to play a warden, but people have always been kind of closed minded about wardens. They've always been the 'bubbleboys' (and girls) of the realm.

When I started to play I had the spec 45 nurture (resists were single target conc using buffs and dmg add wasn't insta cast, haste was a chant so no real reason to spec higher ), 26 regrowth, 39 blades and 5 parry. Now back then this was a fun spec, mainly because compared to most wardens back then I was a healing warden. People kept shouting at me why the hell I speced regrowth and said I was gimp till they grouped a bit with me. (but back then it was mostly pve)

After getting more involved in RvR and a few patches later (most specifically the one with the respecs ) I respecced to 49 nurture, 42 regrowth, 6 blades/blunt, rest parry.
This was mainly because my spec heal at the time (with 26 reg) didn't seem to be doing much more healing than my baseline heal. And this indeed was a great spec, best resists, best bubble, best heals and that's mostly what the more group accepted wardens are known for. (funny they get shouted at now for not being tanks instead of that they used to be shouted at for not being healers)
The biggest problem wardens had over time is that patches kept making tiny adjustments (small steps forward, insta pbt/dmg add, wider range of RA's, haste buff, resist buff changes) to wardens but then they'd slam back a nice lil nerf afterwards (big steps backward, penetrating arrow, savages , haste items in toa, 2.5s refresh interval) and mostly the role of the warden in a group has gone unchanged since the start. Which is passive bubbleboy that uses emergency heals and interrupts enemies.
So if you want to pick a group friendly spec indeed it should have 33+ regrowth.

But if you feel like playing around there's a lot of interesting specs out there because even though its function in RvR is rigid, it is one of the most versatile classes in the game that can be effective in many ways. True, there's a lot of problems with wardens (mythic not knowing what to do with them apparently is one of them.. erm, they're tanks.. wait, they're healers.. erm, no, they're neither! or both? dunno.. let's just pretend we never made them! YEAH!) but there's so many ways to spec one so you have fun.
First thing that if you want to have fun in RvR make sure you got a few openminded friends if you choose to dabble in a less accepted spec because people themselves are stubborn. (whaaaat's your spec?? omg, gimp! (although a lot of people don't know half about the class, i've known people that didn't know that wardens had personal end chant after a year of playing ))
Choose a spec you think is interesting.
You like healing stuff, go high regrowth.
You like hitting stuff, go higher weapon.
You like to be defensive, go high parry
One of the things people have also been saying is to go 49 nurture, although I agree this has a lot of benefits, they're not as profound as they used to be. The most profound reason used to be bubble and resists. Bubble however has been reduced severely in effectiveness by assist trains, dual wielders and the impending haste items from toa (Although i just read they'll get nerfed lol). The difference between 8 second bubble and 6 second bubble is 2 more bubbles every minute for the 6 second variant. That combined with that most people go down before the first refresh anyway with assist trains (although you used to be able to keep people alive quite well with nicely timed dmg add/pbt refreshes which basically gives your group 5 secs (is that fixed yet?) of dmg add and an instant bubble refresh).

My recommendation to you is to choose a spec, try it out, seek the aspects you enjoy the most and respec to adjust your character to that situation. Try things out. I've tried a lot of different specs (including 50 weapon wardens do have a 500+ dmg cap btw), my latest spec was 38 nurture, 42 regrowth, 21 weapon, 26 parry I believe. This combined with moparry 3, mob 3 allowed me to solo reds/low purples without losing health/endurance and only a little bit of power which could easily be offset by adding some serenity to the mix

Play your character, don't play the character other people want you to play

 

[Cigies]

Nice post Thanatlos, nice to see some good advice from a real warden on this thread

 

[Novo]

yeah thanks a lot mate, good advise!

 

[Ensceptificamuralya]

A Wardens job in rvr is

I think this is the key difference between your view on the game and mine ( ; There are no jobs in this game. There's tons of ways to balance a group too, and a warden has just as many possible specs to go with it. Spec how you want to spec, and like Thanatlos said - find some people who don't mind having you experiment with your spec and what that spec might help you contribute.

If anything makes the warden fun to play imho, it's the versatility. When I say that a spec is boring, I mean that you miss out on some of the things a warden could do because you limit the versatility. Wardens with different specs can do totally different things for their group - and solo.

 

[Aeicaan]

what i've heard wardens are getting grp cure disease and cure mezz etc (toa artifact) so a battle warden isnt worth it imo.. 10 blades/blunt is enough cuz ur job is to heal and interrupt, not to kill in grps that is

 

[Xanthian]

Like I said, for balanced groups certain specs are required..

 

[Ensceptificamuralya]

ur job is to heal and interrupt, not to kill in grps that is

Again: there are no jobs in RvR. Not for any class. Spec how you like, and see how you can make use of that, instead of speccing in 1 way for people who aren't smart enough to think up more than 1 or 2 group templates.

If I'm in an assist train on a savage, hitting him for 100-200 a swing with my swing speed is quite a big help. And that is with 34 blades. Wardens make quite ok support tanks. And they can step out and heal when needed, or branch off to interrupt that healer or mage that escaped the mez or wasn't spotted by the MA. And they can take quite a beating + fend for themselves if tanks go for them. You can spec a warden to be a little better at healing, or a little better at doing damage, or a little better at defending, but the extreme specs for a warden imho don't really make up for the loss of versatility.

 

[Novo]

somebody tell me where to put my fucking spec points

NAh, thanks for the advice guys im gonna do a lot of research into warden abilities before i tie myself down, i got another 20 lvls yet before i really have to decide! Warden seem like a really intresting class i just have to decide if i really wanna play when toa comes out... looks nice.. but i dont have the time to be uber leet TOA power lvler...

 

[Aeicaan]

Again: there are no jobs in RvR. Not for any class.

so a cc chars job isnt to cc? a healing chars job isnt to heal?
ofc everyone got a 'job' in daoc

 

[zRRR]

if a warden with one spec is rr11, he must be doing something right so use stephs spec xD

 

[Ensceptificamuralya]

if a warden with one spec is rr11, he must be doing something right so use stephs spec xD

Yeah, put a lot of hours into daoc. Time played and having a steady group to play with are the only factors that determine rps. A warden with 50 parry and 26 regrowth could just as well play 10 hours a day with a bunch of friends and get rr11.

 

[Ensceptificamuralya]

so a cc chars job isnt to cc? a healing chars job isnt to heal?

If a bard wants to spec regrowth and blunts, or a druid wants to spec nurture and nature, then they can still be useful in a group. And I'd love to get em into a group and see how they can make themselves useful.

 

[Coccas]

If a bard wants to spec regrowth and blunts, or a druid wants to spec nurture and nature, then they can still be useful in a group. And I'd love to get em into a group and see how they can make themselves useful.

that's the spirit
play to have fun and try out different things, not to be best, uberest or whatever

 

[Faeldawn]

If a bard wants to spec regrowth and blunts, or a druid wants to spec nurture and nature, then they can still be useful in a group. And I'd love to get em into a group and see how they can make themselves useful.

Problem is that in the group rvr set-up, groups expect certin basic things from a class.

Druids have 2-3 recognised specs for example.

You join a random rvr group as a warden and are unable to cast a 6-sec bubble or magic resists, you watch how fast you are kicked out.

A warden without nurture spec is pointless, wardens weapon spec or regrowth spec just isnt strong enough to make them group viable (in fact a warden with no nurture spec would be hopeless in pve, let alone rvr).

A druid specced nurture/nature is 10x as effective in rvr as a warden with no nurture spec because druids spec lines are decently balanced, wardens arent.

 

[Behmoth]

A Warden with less than 33 reg would not be of any major use to a BALANCED rvr group.

Without trying to sound leetist, gimp specs are ok for random groups, but balanced groups require a certain spec.

A Wardens job in rvr is to interupt casters/healers and also provide good heals as back up to the druid.
They are not intended to do major damage, so therefore no more than 6?7 (however much taunt is) is needed.
49 nurt is a must for resists ofc, 33 reg or 42 is upto you,
I went 33 reg as I wanted my Warden for PvE purposes and possibly to solo (heh what a joke), using the 4.4spd Claw from Galla, the damage is acceptable, but certainly not comparable to any tank.

just one thing i don't want to be the perfect warden with the perfect rvr set up i want to play it as i enjoy it people know i'm not the healer i am back up healer back up tank can help in both fields people don't moan about bards with 16 regrowth so why wardens


mine is nurture 49
regrowth 16
blunts 40
parry 9
1 point left over

 

[Behmoth]

what i've heard wardens are getting grp cure disease and cure mezz etc (toa artifact) so a battle warden isnt worth it imo.. 10 blades/blunt is enough cuz ur job is to heal and interrupt, not to kill in grps that is

u don't get it do u if i wanted to be a healer i'd would have made a druid
if i wanted to be a tank hero/blademaster

i don't want to be either i like to be bubble guy who can hit a bit help with resists help with healing ect ect ect

 

[Knudden]

just one thing i don't want to be the perfect warden with the perfect rvr set up i want to play it as i enjoy it people know i'm not the healer i am back up healer back up tank can help in both fields people don't moan about bards with 16 regrowth so why wardens


mine is nurture 49
regrowth 16
blunts 40
parry 9
1 point left over

just make sure ur base heals are stable (with +to spec)
and i guess it can work as long ur playstyle fit with the rest of the group

 

[plomien]

just one thing i don't want to be the perfect warden with the perfect rvr set up i want to play it as i enjoy it people know i'm not the healer i am back up healer back up tank can help in both fields people don't moan about bards with 16 regrowth so why wardens


mine is nurture 49
regrowth 16
blunts 40
parry 9
1 point left over

i have a similar spec nur 49, blu 34, reg 17, parry 22 with 1 point left over,
just a query why did you go to 40 in blunts?
when i looked at the high weapon spec it was either go for 34 or 39 and put the rest in parry. not saying that yours is a bad spec just wondering how you came to this.

 

[Behmoth]

i have a similar spec nur 49, blu 34, reg 17, parry 22 with 1 point left over,
just a query why did you go to 40 in blunts?
when i looked at the high weapon spec it was either go for 34 or 39 and put the rest in parry. not saying that yours is a bad spec just wondering how you came to this.

just for the style you get after parring works gret pve not really used rvr yet normally assist train on your ass don't get time to use it

 

[Thorinn]

When i made my warden, peeps had alot of ideas how i should spec her.
I dident listen, but chosed the best all around spec i think there is.

49 Nurt, 33 Reg, 25 Blades, 14 Parry.

Im now r6l8 and still i like the spec

My advice will be that u gather some information urself, and then chose spec from what u want ur warden to be

 

[plomien]

just for the style you get after parring works gret pve not really used rvr yet normally assist train on your ass don't get time to use it

would be nice to see how we both duel but i don't have a spare 4 hours to do it

 

[Behmoth]

would be nice to see how we both duel but i don't have a spare 4 hours to do it

LOL i agree

 

[Mastade]

would be nice to see how we both duel but i don't have a spare 4 hours to do it

i dont understand why you think warden duels take so long as a warden hit extremly fast.. i have done duels vs s/s heroes that took waaaay longer.. anyhows.. my 6 points in blunt will rock you all.. detaunt -> all