Beginner's Guide to Warrior PvP
From Helbreath Portal
Written by flowar on the forums
Contents |
Introduction
Not only are warriors great for defeating monsters, but they are also good when fighting other players if played right. This guide will focus on the basic elements to get you started. Be aware that outside of Promiseland, it can be quite rough unless you are level 180, so practicing in Promiseland or on Bleeding Island is preferred. The points of this guide will be illustrated by in game footage.
Attacking Leveling Players
If you are raiding monster pits in the hopes of finding an enemy who can help you increase your enemy kill count, then there are a few things you should be aware of and do if possible. It really depends which class you are attacking, so let us just talk about a few guidelines for each class.
Attacking Leveling Mages
Assuming that you are not going to use an activation item, there are two ways to go about this. Before approaching a mage, you should have berserk, protection from magic and invisibility (you can determine if there are some of those you do not need).
Paralyzing
If you have 50 mag, then your best bet would be to paralyze the mage when he or she is casting (beginning to cast). This is easily possible because there is a small movement delay after casting and mages usually cast two spells at monsters without moving. The rest is pretty obvious; use your criticals on the mage.
If you do not have 50 mag (and 100% magic) and still wish to paralyze, then this is obviously harder. Since your casting is slower, then a decent mage would be able to spot your paralyze in time and get away - if you use the above mentioned approach that is. The alternative is a bit of a gamble and slightly more advanced, but often works if you know how mages lure the monsters. Basically your first task is to determine when a mage would typically start casting spells on the group of monsters. So try to understand how mages think when they are leveling. If you are completely unfamiliar with how mages level, then you could go to Rocky Highland (for Elvines) or Eternal Fields (for Aresdens) and follow a town mate for a while.
As a main rule, blizzard mages will cast in lines (vertically or horizontally), because that makes the spell do more damage. You should consider this when preparing to paralyze; you must wait until (or a split second before) the mage is in either one of those positions. See the screenshot below.
If the mage has lured all or almost all of the monsters in the pit, then he or she will most likely go to either one of those positions to cast. Once you have determined which way he or she is headed, you should begin loading paralyze a half second before you believe the mage will cast. This will compensate for your slow casting and due to the previously mentioned movement delay, you will have enough time to land a paralyze on the mage. At that exact moment, the mage is focused on his or her next move (blizzing) so he or she will not have time to evade your paralyze (given that you "read his or her mind" correctly). Again, this is a bit of a gamble but I find it the best way to paralyze a mage with less than 50 mag and I have personally had great success with this in the past.
Other Uses
This technique can also be used in group fights. When you are hunting a player and he or she pulls out a wand (or takes off a shield), just wait a second or two and then start loading paralyze or DS/PFA (even if the person is still running). This will make sure that your cast is started first and if the person you are hunting does indeed begin to cast in that moment, you will have a clean shot at him or her. It is a gamble, but once you get the hang of it, you will land a lot of spells on people like this, simply by understanding when they are going to cast.
Useful Trick
If you have successfully paralyzed a mage, then you probably won't want to do the whole spike field thing if you are alone. Instead, you should be aware if the mage is attempting to cast invisibility or recall while you are blasting your criticals. If he or she is, then quickly let go of your Alt key to stop critting. The reason for this is that if you do 40+ damage, then people would normally fly, but when paralyzed, they do not. A person's casting is therefore not interrupted and unless any of your criticals hit for less than 40 (which is unlikely since the mage is not wearing any shield), then he or she will indeed be able to get the spell off. If you stop critting, then it is more likely that one of your hits is less than 40 (even if you are berserked) and that will interupt the mage's casting. It is still possible to mix in some criticals here and there, but that really depends of the situation you are in (or more precisely the mage's next move).
Without Paralyzing
If you do not want to paralyze the mage, then you should try to use as many critical attacks as possible when he or she is casting a spell. A simple trick is to be aware of where you are flying the mage; if the mage is about to cast spells on a group of monsters, try to fly the mage in the monsters' direction instead of away from them. This limits the mage's escape possibilities and the monsters will most likely stun and/or bump the mage, hence improve your chances of killing him or her. See the screenshots below.
The "you" is where your character is thought to be located and it does not mean that the mage is you.
Attacking Leveling Warriors
You will undoubtedly be best off paralyzing warriors. You should, however, think of where they are standing compared to the monsters they are fighting to reduce the chances of you hitting the monsters instead of the warrior. See the screenshots below.
The screenshots above are just examples of good and bad positions.
Before approaching a warrior, you should also make sure that you are berserked (and obviously invisible), because it might save you a few seconds once you have initiated your attack. This is really the hardest part of warriors' PvP, since it is extremely hard to kill a warrior without a xelima weapon (unless the enemy is lower level than you). If you have successfully paralyzed the warrior, you should watch out for him or her casting recall or invisibility (the same precidure as earlier mentioned).
I am personally not very experienced fighting warrior to warrior for obvious reasons, but I should tell you that you can cast spike field on a paralyzed person to prevent them from casting fire field/wall or a damage spell on themselves (this cancels the paralyze spell). I am, however, not sure how effective this is 1vs1 because while casting that spell, you are giving the paralyzed warrior every opportunity to cast a damage spell on him or herself, recall or cast invisibility. I personally think that you should not do this unless you have 50 mag or you are fighting a "high-end" warrior that should not recall. But if the warrior has equipped a tower shield, then sure, go for it, because then that has gotten you a bit of extra time to work with (he or she will have to take it off to cast).
Fighting Against Mages
There are a lot of things to write on this particular subject, most of which is really based on surviving. Things will still remain relatively simple, because this is something a lot of warriors do not master, despite the fact that it is so fundamental.
Being Chased by a Mage
Should you feel the need to run for the hills, then there are a few simple things you can optimize. First of all, if you are still within the mage's cast rage and your PFM/AMP has run out, then you should keep on running... and if the mage is casting spells at you frequently, you should be ready to PFM immediately after a spell has hit you. This will usually only make you take in one spell that hits badly because it is not a direct hit (refering to Blizzard and Earth Shock Wave). The reason why this is a good little trick is that when you are running, the mage is pretty much forced to run between each cast because he or she is expecting you to keep running. But when you cast instead, the mage loses a few steps worth of time, which will be enough for you to finish casting a spell.
If the mage is casting MIM (Mass Illusion Movement), then you should be prepared to move your mouse in his direction in the moment it hits you, so you will not run a few steps in his or her direction, which would allow him or her to get a free shot at you.
Dodging Spells
New players are often harder to hit than people who have played for a while, because they are quite unpredictable and while you can quickly figure out what the pros' next moves will be, this can be pretty hard with new players (sometimes you expect people to dodge your spells and they don't). A key element to dodging paralyzes when you are running away from someone is pretty much... randomness! You should be sure to variate your moves to make it hard for the opponent to figure out where you are going next. In other words, do not use the same technique every time!
When dodging paralyze or cancellation, you should dodge as late as possible (wait till just before the spell comes out). If dodging damage spells, you should do it a bit earlier, because those hit more than a single square (especially Blizzard to avoid the freeze effect, assuming that you do not have an Ice Elemental Necklace). After dodging a few times, I would suggest double-dodging, because the mage would have figured out what you are doing by that time. If you are still on the run after that, then I can pretty much guarantee that you can save a second by not dodging one time. If you have been dodging 10-15 times, then the opponent is expecting you to do it again for sure and going for a random hit (because it can be hard to know where you are going). This is still a bit of a gamble, but I have done it multiple times and it has not failed yet. And in general, try not to run in straight lines when someone is casting something at you.
If you are not running away, it is entirely different. Again it is all about doing the unexpected, which is demonstrated by the screenshots below. It is assumed that the mage is trying to paralyze or cast cancellation on the warrior.
The most "natural" way for new players to get to the mage is obviously the shortest way. This is, however, not a good idea at all. By running in a straight line, it is much easier for someone to hit you with magic. It is suggested that instead of running onto the gold (in reference to the screenshot above), you run onto one of the meats and also break your line on the way there. As long as the mage is not casting any damage spells, he or she will wait for you to hit you, so you pretty much have all the time you need to confuse him or her. In general you should just run around the mage for a few squares. This is just one of the ways to do it, but the mage will figure this out pretty fast, so it's really all about variation! Be creative, just move your right hand randomly. In the situation above, a good alternative to the meats would be to move one step up on your way to the gold and then run behind the mage and hit him or her. It's all about practice, and please, do practice as this is one of the most important parts of warrior PvP.
Using your Criticals Wisely
Now this is extremely important and I have personally noticed countless of warriors who make the same mistake. This does not just apply for new players, but a shocking number of old players waste their critical attacks too - even people with rare items.
As a main rule, do not, and I repeat, do NOT, use your critical attacks on a running mage. It doesn't matter if he or she has shield on or not. There are a few exceptions, but assuming that you do not have a Storm Bringer, then you should only crit a running mage if you believe he or she has very low HP and is close to a safe zone. In group fights this can be slightly different depending on the situation; sometimes the stun effect can be very deadly rather than the damage itself. The thing is that your hits are very bad on running people, with or without tower shield. It is simply not worth it. Instead I would suggest critting two times every time the mage casts a spell. To me, three times is too much because the last one will be on a flying mage, which will make the hit hurt less. I, myself, can crit two times before the mage flies, but that might just be because of my ping delay.
Warriors tend to believe that two crits are not hurting a mage. Well, this is very wrong. It is true that the mage will not drop within seconds, but eventually it will hurt him or her if he or she keeps fighting back. If you crit a running mage who has a Tower Shield on, then he or she will just be able to laugh at you, so don't do it! Using your criticals wisely is extremely important, so learn to be patient and use them at the right moments.
Final Notes
I have a few other tricks in my mind, but they are a tad too advanced for this guide, since it is meant for beginners to learn the basics. Most of the above comes from experience, really, so you might not find it useful at first, but stick to it and I am pretty confident that you will eventually. I have probably forgotten some things, but I also left a few things out intentionally (things that are not very important). I hope you found some of it useful. Good luck and have fun!
See you on the battlefield!
