[Guide] Complete In-Depth Ironbreaker Guide [Archive] - MMOMaven

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09-11-2008, 08:01

<DIV style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 6px"><DIV align=center>Siyx's Complete In-Depth Ironbreaker Discussion Version 1.5 </DIV><DIV align=center>Written and compiled by: Siyx</DIV><DIV align=center> </DIV><DIV align=center>: Disclaimer : </DIV><DIV align=center>Warning – opinions may be involved. </DIV>Table of Contents <OL style="LIST-STYLE-TYPE: decimal"><LI><DIV align=left>From the desk of Siyx: A note on 'Tanking' in Warhammer Online</DIV><LI><DIV align=left>The Ironbreaker's Role(s) in WAR</DIV><LI><DIV align=left>Popular Mechanics for Ironbreakers</DIV><DIV align=left>a) Grudges</DIV><DIV align=left>b) You and your Oath Friend</DIV><DIV align=left>c) Mastery Discussion</DIV><DIV align=left>d) Tactics and Morales</DIV><DIV align=left>e) Character Stats</DIV><LI><DIV align=left>Ironbreaker VS. The Sword Master</DIV><LI><DIV align=left>Questions and Answers</DIV><LI><DIV align=left>Strongest Mastery Choices For RvR - A Review </DIV></LI></OL>1. A note on 'Tanking' in Warhammer Online (RvR) Before I get started on the rest of this, I feel this is an area I need to address since the biggest question or concern I've received is regarding the viability of the timeless “Tank” Archetype in a game focused largely around Player VS. Player encounters. First of all, we can thank World of Warcraft and EverQuest for the negative stereotype surrounding the word 'tank' when we are talking about on-line games in this day and age. Both aforementioned games have put a very large emphasis on PvE (Player VS. Environment, commonly known as raiding) and designed their tanking classes to be very PvE oriented as well (pretty much exclusively). Thankfully Warhammer Online: The Age of Reckoning (WAR) breaks this trend and, by association, the widely accepted opinion that “Tanks” are only useful in PvE. To truly enjoy and succeed at playing an Ironbreaker (or any of the other three “Tank” careers in WAR) you have to break away from that very narrow-minded way of thinking, of course, this is very easy to do since the developers over at an exceptional job with the 'tanking' mechanics in Warhammer, many of which will be discussed in the remainder of this article. Tanks are very viable in PvP (Player VS. Player) although you won't be “tanking” in a traditional sense. I'll explain more as we go along. 2. The Ironbreaker's Role(s) in WAR This is a pretty hot topic at the moment. I've done a great deal of theory-crafting and debating on this subject and the conclusion I've come to is that Ironbreaker's have one “main role” or focus, and several “sub-roles” falling under that, mostly dependent on Mastery choices and play-style. The main focus, or role, of the Ironbreaker is to be a TANK! - Yes. You are playing a TANK archetype. You are playing the IRONBREAKER (reference Warhammer lore, Ironbreakers being very tough defensively). Your number one priority, no matter how you choose to play or spend your Mastery Points is to protect your team. You are there to control your opponents via snares, roots and knock backs, and mitigate incoming damage for yourself and of course your allies. Now you can carry out this role a couple of ways. Sub-Role #1: Playing Offensively – So you've decided that lopping some heads with your shiny two-handed axe is the right way to protect your team? Perfect. This line will probably pop up again since I believe it holds very true for Ironbreaker's (and WAR tanks in general) “the best defense is a strong offense”. If you're pressuring opposing healers or casters to the point where they cannot do what they need to be doing, or controlling enemy melee off your healer or Battlefield Objective (BO), in a round-a-bout way are very defensive maneuvers, if you force the opposing side into a position where they have to be babysitting you, thats ideal. All the arguments against playing a Vengeance Ironbreaker have mostly been based around not being able to “tank”. This is completely false, while chances are you won't be babysitting a healer or caster in this role, you will have other MDPS fighting at your side, most of which can't take a lot of hits. When I've played this angle I found myself usually picking a Witch Hunter or White Lion as my Oath Friend as they seem to be high priority targets (at least the ones I play with, keep in mind who is getting attacked will be based on what everyone is doing at any given point in time) so you will get Grudge from the hits they take and so you can easily toss them a little extra on demand avoidance through Guarded Attack and Vengeful Strike. In addition, when the defense isn't needed and an opportunity for some melee burst arises, Ancestor's Fury (60 Strength and 10% Critical Hit Chance for you and your Oath Friend) provides some powerful melee synergy. So to sum up the main focuses of playing a Vengeance / Offensive / two-handed Ironbreaker... > Keep your melee line alive. Rotate Oath Friend to focus targets and use Guarded Attack / Vengeful Strike with Guard to severely cut down the damage they are taking. > Pressure opposing healers and casters, if you can force your opponents melee line to have to back off to peel you off their healers, they aren't on offense anymore. > Use control as much as you can! > When the opportunity opens up, use some of those nifty “big numbers” abilities and drop a melee assist train on some unlucky sucker. Be sure to employ Ancestor's Fury to maximize the melee synergy. Sub-Role #2: Playing Defensively – Just as playing Vengeance with a Great Weapon is very viable and holds value on the battlefield, as is playing running around with the trusty old sword and board. While most of the Ironbreaker remains pretty baseline across all three Mastery trees, going from Vengeance to Stone/Brotherhood you are basically trading offensive pressure capabilities for increased survivability and the ability to mitigate and absorb damage for your group. One thing we need to realize here, is that WAR is not a solo game at the best of times, this is about PvP as a team, and more importantly actually working for and with your team. The BEST way to benefit your fellow players, is to stop them from taking damage, and keep your enemies in check for them. The thought that as a sword and shield Ironbreaker you will be sitting in the back next to your healer doing nothing until someone rolls up, this is totally wrong. No matter how you decide you're going to play the Ironbreaker, you should ALWAYS be right up in the action, you are the front line! Often you can prevent your squishies from taking damage by simply using collision detection to block them. This does take some practice and side-stepping skill but once you get good at it, you can keep someone from moving anywhere for sometimes ridiculous (relative term) amounts of time. This is also a good strategy if you're trying to build Grudge but everyone seems to be ignoring you, I couldn't count all the times someone who was trying to ignore me just started attacking me out of sheer frustration of being blocked for so long. The way I see this angle being played to maximum potential is to be a big enough pain in the to the point where your opponents will feel the need to kill you just to get you out of their hair, and in the process ignoring others. This can be accomplished through good use of snares, stuns and knock backs. I have been able to keep melee opponents off my healers with a great degree of success, eventually your targeted melee will get tired of being kited around while you're harassing him and decide that it would be better to attack you than run around like a chicken with his head cut off, not being able to do anything offensively. Either way they are DPSing you, who can take an amazing amount of hits with the shield on, or trying (and failing) to chase down a high priority target with you controlling them the entire time, they are basically useless to any offensive your enemies are trying to mount in both situations, exactly the situation you want. The last point I want to raise is the use of Hold The Line! (HTL – 45% dodge personally, 15% to allies behind you, 12 second duration ), to me this reads like a clutch ability for the times where an ally is in desperate need of that little extra defense but there is no time for a peel, or you are sitting on cool-downs. With it you can give all of your allies behind you an extra 15% dodge passively simply by standing there and channeling the ability and can provide some very clutch avoidance for those last second heals to land, use it wisely (can also be able to provide the same clutch defense for yourself if you have no other options. So to sum up the defensive roll... > Be a pain, harass! Keeping your opposing players under control is a top priority. > Watch for focus fires. Use Guard / Oath Friend (Vengeful Strike / Guarded Attack) as much as you can, reducing incoming damage makes healing much easier. > Learn how to peel effectively. By this I mean timing your control abilities with your allies escape mechanisms to ensure he gets away, and you are back in a position to continue the control if needed. > Hold The Line! Use it wisely, very, very potent ability when used to clutch situations. > Don't forget collision detection is in this game for a reason, practice your side-stepping to stay directly in front of someone, and block like crazy! *Note: Most of the preceding “roles” segment is mostly opinion (of myself / other BETA testers) and things I've tried out and seen done. It is in no way the “be-all-end-all” list of ways to play or definitive. In addition, most strategies, and situations described were performed with an organized group. 3. Popular Mechanics for Ironbreakers A) Grudges – The driving mechanic behind the Ironbreaker career is of course the Grudge system. Some have compared this to the inverse of World of Warcraft's Warrior mechanic; Rage, and while the two systems have a few very limited similarities, the two are as different as night and day. Lets look at a few core points of the Grudge system. > Grudge caps out at 100 (you can not build your Grudge past this point, you must wait for it to fade or spend some). > You gain 5 Grudge every time an enemy attacks you and 10 Grudge every time your Oath Friend is attacked. Additionally if you have the Career Tactic “Rising Anger” slotted you will gain 5 Grudge every time YOU attack an enemy. This Tactic seems to an internal lockout of roughly one second, so using a faster weapon will not see any real added benefits over a slower one. > The Grudges you have built up will begin to fade after being out of combat for thirty seconds. > A handful of offensive (Vengeance) abilities grow stronger with Grudge, by this I mean certain abilities gain added bonuses based on how much Grudge you have when casting the ability; the more Grudge, the better the bonuses. However most Vengeance abilities that improve with Grudge do not cost Grudge to execute. Here is an example:<BLOCKQUOTE>Rune-Etched Axe You whirl your Axe around, dealing X damage to all enemies within X feet. At 25 Grudges: Ignores 25% of the victims armor. At 50 Grudges: Ignores 50% of the victims armor. At 75 Grudges: Ignores 75% of the victims armor. At 100 Grudges: Ignores 100% of the victims armor.</BLOCKQUOTE>> Most defensive (Stone) abilities cost Grudge to use, and contrary to the offensive abilities these abilities do not gain any strength based on how much Grudge you have built up. So just to recap on the offensive / defensive aspect of using Grudge, your offensive capabilities is augmented by saving and building your Grudges, while your ability to perform and execute defensive skills is based on spending Grudge. B) You and your Oath Friend – The presence of the Oath Friend ability within the Ironbreaker career path tells me one thing, Ironbreakers were meant to group! This ability is much to useful to pass up, for any situation, so while soloing is perfectly viable I suggest taking advantage of this incredibly potent option. I'm sure at least one person out there is asking themselves “What exactly is Oath Friend and why should I be excited about it?” Heres how the ability reads directly from the game:<BLOCKQUOTE>Oath Friend No Cost / Instant Cast / 160 ft Range *Only usable on group mates You select a single groupmate to be your sworn Oath Friend. Each time they are attacked you gain 10 Grudges, and some of your abilities will affect them as well. </BLOCKQUOTE>As far as abilities that benefit your Oath Friend go, there are a ton of them. Everything from DPS buffs, to defensive bonuses, to healing, you can do a lot for your Oath Friend, just as he can do a lot for you. As far as picking and switching your Oath Friend goes, I find this to be very situational. If you're job is to protect specific healers or soft casters, selecting them for your Oath Friend is a great idea as the defensive abilities you are using to peel your opponents off that person will be buffing them at the same time. Alternatively, if you are filling an MDPS roll, your Oath Friend should almost solely be another MDPS for Ancestor's Fury (covered in the 'Roles' section). You are able to switch your Oath Friend whenever you need to (save the 15 second ability cool-down) and can do it when moving if needed as long as your target is within range. C) Mastery / Path Discussion – The easiest way to describe the Masteries or Paths of WAR would be to just call them “Talent Trees” (WoW reference), however the workings of the Mastery “ladders” as I am going to call them are significantly different. While putting points into a Mastery Ladder gives you additional abilities, tactics or morales (will touch on these two a bit later) much like WoW talents give you passive buffs to your spells or class, putting Mastery points into a specific Ladder buffs the effectiveness of all abilities from that path. Two quick points on all Mastery Ladders and Mastery Points: > Every Mastery Ladder in WAR has 15 “rungs”. One point allows you to climb one rung of that ladder. Certain rungs on the ladder posses abilities, tactics or morales that you have the option of applying an additional Mastery Point to gain that particular ability. It is possible to spend 22 Mastery Points in any one Ladder, therefore gaining every possible benefit from that Ladder. > At Rank 40 (maximum rank currently supported by the game) you will have accumulated 25 Mastery Points to spend. You begin to accumulate these points at Rank 11. > Each career in WAR has three Mastery Paths (much like each class in WoW had three specific talent trees) and obviously the Ironbreaker is no exception. As an IB you have access to the following three paths: Path of Vengeance – “A mastery focused on offense.” This ladder buffs your damaging abilities and compliments the offensive-defense role I described earlier. There isn't much more to say about this ladder than what has already been said or described, you will have a respectable damage output, with the increased ability to offensively pressure the other team into a defensive position. Also allows for a high amount of melee synergy during assist trains. Path of Stone – “A mastery focused around defense and protection.” The Ladder focused on reducing incoming damage not only to yourself, but certainly your Oath Friend and your group as well. This will certainly be the Ladder of choice for PvE tanks as the added damage reduction from this Ladder is pretty intense, particularly through Block and Parry. I've debated Stone's RvR / PvP usefulness many, many times and still stand by my belief that the heavy defense Ironbreaker will be one of our strongest PvP paths. Right from the get-go all Ironbreakers have a number of controlling abilities (stuns, snares, roots and knock backs) and these are the bread and butter of playing a tanking career in RvR. You “Control Tank” the enemy players by peeling them off whomever you are watching, and you can certainly give your opponents offensive line a difficult time with well timed use of Morales like Strength in Numbers during a melee rush. Bottom line is while you won't be DPSing in RvR (or PvE) mastering Stone, you will still be a control machine with a power pack of on demand defensive options. Path of Brotherhood – “A mastery path focused on supporting and bolstering you and your allies.” The purpose of this Ladder needs no explanation as both the name and quoted description tell you everything you need to know. While I don't see Brotherhood being a primary Ladder, it contains many high points that compliment both Vengeance and Stone. *Note: Most of the preceding “Mastery Discussion” segment is mostly opinion (of myself / other BETA testers) and things I've tried out and seen done. It is in no way the “be-all-end-all” list of ways to play or definitive. D) Tactics and Morales – I know this aspect of the game is not specific to the Ironbreaker career choice, but it seems to be a POI for people I've talked to so I decided I would do a quick section outlining what exactly these two mechanics are all about. Tactics – Tactics are passive buffs you gain access to through ranking up, both in traditional experience, and renown points. There are three types of Tactics, Career, Renown, and Tome. Career Tactics are specific to your career (Ironbreaker or whatever you are playing) and will enhance your general abilities. Renown Tactics will benefit you in RvR and, of course Tome Tactics will cover the PvE side of things. You can have a total of 6 Tactics slotted (active) at once, which are made up of 4 Career Tactics, 1 Renown Tactic and 1 Tome Tactic. Unfortunately that formula is set in stone and you cannot trade one Career slot for lets say an additional Renown slot. You do have a number of Tactic Bars available to you, so you are certainly free to set up multiple combinations of Tactics for different situations and then switch between them. An example of a Career Tactic for Ironbreakers is:<BLOCKQUOTE>Rising Anger 1 Career Tactic Slot / Passive Each time you hit an enemy you gain 5 Grudge. This effect will not trigger more than once per second. </BLOCKQUOTE>Morales – In addition to Grudge, and Action Points we have one last combat resource available to us. This final mechanic is called Morale. Morale is measured by a meter in the bottom right hand corner of the UI (User Interface) and builds as you fight in battle. The Morale meter has four ranks (25%, 50%, 75% and finally 100%) each rank having abilities of increasing power as you rise up the meter. As you progress through the game you will access Morale abilities (ranked 1-4) and you can place them in the Morale slots above the meter in the corresponding rank slot. Morale abilities require Morale built up to use, relative to their rank. Rank 1 Morale abilities require you to have at least 25% of the Morale meter full to execute, Rank 2 will need 50%, and so on up to Rank 4 requiring 100% of the Morale meter full to pull off. All Morale abilities regardless of rank will use all available Morale points when used. There are also three different types of Morale abilities (just like Tactics) and they are Career, Archetype and Racial. Career Morale abilities are only available to your specific career, “Archetype” Morales are shared across your career type, so for example all of the melee DPS classes can access a shared set of Morales. Similarity Racial Morales are shared within your race (Dwarves, High Elves, Greenskins, etc). An example of a Rank 1 Morale ability:<BLOCKQUOTE>Grapple Rank 1 Morale / Instant Cast / 5 ft Range Both you and your target are held tightly in place for 10 seconds, and neither one of you can move. This effect cannot be dispelled or broken.</BLOCKQUOTE>E) Character Stats – Every MMO (or RPG for that matter) in the history of games has had a “Stat Point” system through which your playable character gains “Stats” (Vitality, Wounds, Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, etc) and most often these “Stats” provided certain bonuses to your character (increased Block, Parry, Hit Points, Damage, Mana, Healing done, etc). Warhammer is of course no exception. In this section I will be running down what each “Stat” in WAR does, what benefits it provides and maybe even a little math! Strength - Increases melee damage and reduces your opponents chance to block or parry attacks. Ability Damage (+DPS) = ( Strength Value ) / ( 5.0 ) Auto-Attack Damage (+DPS) = ( Strength Value ) / ( 10.0 ) Ballistic Skill - Increases Ranged damage and reduces your opponents chance to block or evade attacks. Ability Damage (+DPS) = ( Ballistic Skill ) / ( 5.0 ) Auto-Attack Damage (+DPS) = (Ballistic Skill ) / ( 10.0 ) Intelligence - Increases Magic damage and reduces your opponents chance to block or disrupt attacks. Ability Damage (+DPS) = ( Intelligence Value ) / ( 5.0 ) Toughness - Reduces damage dealt to you by opponents. Damage Reduction (-DPS) = ( Toughness ) / ( 5.0 )<BLOCKQUOTE>Damage Reduction Theoretical Example At 182 Toughness our DR (Damage Reduction in DPS) is 36.4 DPS (182.0 / 5.0) taken away from our opponent (-DPS). For the purpose of this example we are just going to assume an opponent with 122.7 DPS.</BLOCKQUOTE><BLOCKQUOTE>The DRx (Damage Reduction in %) is as follows: ( 36.4 DPS ) / ( 122.7 DPS ) * 100% = 29.7% Reduction </BLOCKQUOTE>Weapon Skill - Increases your chance to parry attacks and penetrate an opponents armor. Armor Penetration (%) = ( Weapon Skill ) / ( 11.28 ) Initiative - Increases your chance to evade attacks, detect stealthed enemies, and lowers your chance to be critically hit. Chance to be critically hit = *I was unable to determine a mathematical link between Initiative and critical reduction. If anyone has run the math and come up with something definitive let me know! Willpower - Increases your chance to Disrupt attacks and increases healing dealt to allies. Ability Healing (+DPS) = ( Willpower ) / ( 5.0 ) Wounds - Increases the amount of Health you have. Increases Hit Points by = ( Wounds ) * ( 10.0 ) This leads us to the conclusion that 1 point of Wounds is equal to 10 Hit Points. So your probably asking what does all this mean to an Ironbreaker and which stats are the most important right about now, yeah? Well all of the various stats in WAR are designed in such a way that everyone gets use out of every stat to a certain extent. So to summarize, if I had to categorize these stats, Strength, Ballistic Skill, Weapon Skill, and Intelligence are centered around offensive views, Toughness, Initiative and Wounds are of course focused around defense and Willpower could fit into either grouping as healing can be looked at as either offensive or defensive, and chance to disrupt is on the fence as well, depending on how you want to look at the situation. 4. Ironbreaker VS. The Sword Master: Similarities and Differences Since the removal of the Knight of the Blazing Sun, people set on playing Order in WAR now only have two options for tanking classes. The Ironbreaker (duhhh) and the High Elf Sword Master. The first thing we need to realize when comparing these two classes, is that while they both fall into the category of “Tank” they are played and worked quite differently. It is blatantly obvious right from the start that the Ironbreaker class was designed with defense in mind (even looking back to Warhammer lore the Ironbreakers were “immovable objects”). The Sword Master, on the other hand is “a cross between a U.S Marine and a proto-Jedi” (quoted from Paul Barnett), and we see right from the name of the character SWORD Master that they will be a more offensive tank. This theory holds true, when looking at the Order tanks the Ironbreaker is the hardcore physical defensive tank, determined to hold his enemies back and protect himself and his allies. Then we have our Sword Master who is a swift and cunning warrior, using her perfected balance (see what I did there, balance is the main Sword Master mechanic!) to put herself in the perfect position to strike down her enemies with a powerful barrage of magical and debuffing attacks. Now don't get the idea that the Sword Master has no defense, because they are after all part of the tank family. The Path of Vaul has a handful of defensive options focused around group protection (once again the main focus of a tank in RvR is to protect his/her allies) but I feel the real defensive strength of the Sword Master comes through her offense, remember that line “the best defense is a strong offense?”, yeah. Many of the Sword Master's abilities involve, to some degree, applying a debuff to her target. If you debuff an opposing DPS player to the point where they are temporarily useless, or at least severely disadvantaged, is that not a defensive move? The other major point I thought I would bring attention to is the ability to mitigate magical damage (mostly through resistance Tactics). The Ironbreaker has two abilities to counter incoming spell damage but that is not nearly as potent as a ton of passive resistances. I can see the Sword Master being the Anti-Magic tank (especially since the Black Guard got cut), at least for Order. So is the Sword Master better than the Ironbreaker? No. No one career is “better” than another, they all serve different purposes, and perform their own roles well. So lets sum quickly sum up what this little essay has covered... > Sword Masters have an offensive-defense, while Ironbreakers live by the defensive-offense. > Sword Masters have a greater ability to mitigate magical damage, while Ironbreakers take the cake for physical. > In terms of damage-dealing capabilities, the Sword Master feels stronger. > In terms of personal / group / ally defense, the Ironbreaker feels stronger. That concludes my look at the Ironbreaker class, the last section will involve some Q/A for questions I've been asked that aren't specifically covered in this report. Thanks for reading. 5. Questions and Answers! Q: In what situations have you found it useful to physically block opponents via collision detection? A: The situation that has lead me to blocking someone most often is when I am being ignored by DPS pushing straight for a healer or ranged DPS. When I get in front of someone and prevent movement for a bit, it usually leads that person to turn and attack me out of frustration of being denied. Q: How would you rank stats in order of importance for an Ironbreaker? And how much difference does gear actually make? A: I covered the ranking of stats in my report, it really depends on what role you intend on filling. I have yet to even touch gear at all though so I could give a little insight there. I'm not going to lie to you and say that gear doesn't matter, this is after all an MMO and gear progression will add longevity to the game, however gear is not as game-breaking as it was in WoW (best example), having somewhat sub-par gear does not put you at a severe disadvantage. Q:Is there any Destruction class you had particular difficulty in defeating? Not necessarily a counter, but the class you struggled the most against? A: First thing to keep in mind here is that this game isn't balanced around 1v1s. So if I had to answer this question, healing / support classes are tough since they all have some degree of offensive capability as well as the ability to heal themselves. Opposing tanks can also be a handful if they choose to play the defensive card. Q: Are there disadvantages to being an Ironbreaker from a PVP perspective? Specifically, do Dwarf Ironbreakers take up less 'real estate' in-game, thus making them less desirable for collision detection 'walls'? A: I get this one a lot. Disadvantages for Ironbreakers in PvP? I guess that depends on who you ask. IN MY OPINION our biggest disadvantage in PvP is also our biggest advantage, sometimes you come across good players who are absolutely intent on denying you from gaining any Grudge by ignoring you all together, and target switching off of your Oath Friend faster than you can re-cast it. Sometimes this can lead to getting caught Grudge starved in a bad spot. Q: Are we able to tank PVE encounters in Renown reward gear effectively? A: All PvE I've participated in was easily tank-able in a mix involving mostly Renown rewards, yes. Not to say this will hold true forever, however. Q: Is there a set 'threat' rotation of abilities that Ironbreakers use to maximize threat on a particular PVE encounter? A: Grudging Blow is basically your bread and butter for tanking, threat-wise. For PvE tanking you should have the Menace (100% additional threat) slotted. Other than that I find myself weaving in Vengeful Strike and Guarded Attack in as my Action Points permit for the defensive bonuses they provide. Not to forget, Guard also halves the targets threat with you, so placing that on potential high-threat group members will help. Q: We've heard about the taunt mechanic, just how effective is it? What is the multiplier there on the damage? Is it to the point where another player is going to say, "Well, , if I don't hit this guy, he's just going to wipe me out"? A: Once again, the answer to this one might vary depending on who you ask. The modifier is 30% damage taken (your opponent) for 15 seconds or until he hits you three times. In my experiences, other tanks tend to ignore the Taunt effect and continue on what they were doing but softer classes have been more partial to dropping the debuff quickly. Q: How fair are the contribution points, or are we going to be a little undervalued in that regard? Perhaps overvalued? A: If you play hard (you actually have to participate!) throughout the entire PQ, you will be fine in terms of contribution points. I often place first in contribution points, and I don't really do anything special. Keep in mind, placing first in contribution points doesn't guarantee you loot, I've placed first then placed 5th on the roll for the chest. Q: Since the Hammerer was cut, we've assumed the Mastery trees have changed to allow for a more offensive-style of game-play. How is that working out? A: As I've said probably 784 times, the offensive-defense potential of the class (mostly focused around the Vengeance Mastery Ladder) is invaluable, when played correctly. Q: Can the 'Oath Friend' be changed 'on the fly', or is there a cool-down associated with designating it? A: 15 second cool-down, but other than that, you are free to change your Oath Friend whenever the situation calls for it. Q: First, do you know the actual buff you get for storing up your grudge to 100% and keeping it there? A: Well if there is a buff for holding 100 Grudge, then I've completely missed it. However, the Career Tactic “Sweet Revenge” will increase your Critical Hit Chance by 15% if you are over 50 Grudge. Q: What are the three Ironbreaker Masteries? A: If it isn't already obvious, Path of Vengeance, Path of Stone, and Path of Brotherhood. Q: Are Ironbreakers flexible enough to spec into dps/support, and still be able to provide effective defense to the team? A: Yes, covered above. Q: Lets say I was the only tank class in my RvR team and used the spec mentioned above. Will I be just as effective as using a defense/support spec? A: Having only one tank is going to hurt, period. The group I play with (out of about 15) rolls with four tanks minimum. If for whatever reason I was put in that position, my spec would depend on if the team was melee or ranged heavy. If melee heavy then you would be more useful playing the offensive angle trying your best to protect your fellow melee. Same deal with ranged heavy, only you will be pushing them into focusing you instead of your team by being really annoying, and then being able to take all the hits. 6. Strongest Mastery Choices For RvR - A Review So I've been seeing a lot these posts, and have received a lot of questions personally about this topic so I figured I'd do a mini-writeup with my feelings on the subject. For the purpose of this discussion we will be looking at abilities from three perspectives, Defensive Mitigation (Group and Self), Control, and Offensive Damage. Lets start by looking at the Vengeance Mastery Path. Please note that I will be referring to the Mastery abilities as V3, S5, B7, etc, depending on which position in which tree they hold (V - Vengeance, S - Stone, and B - Brotherhood). I will be grading each Mastery ability based on the three above categories. Vengeance V3 - <A id=spell_1406 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1406" target=_blank _relatedID="1406">Overprotective</A> - I've had mixed feelings over the usefulness of OP for a long while now, and I still have not fully made up my mind on the ability. This ability is very early in the Vengeance path so its a very open choice to any spec, but I don't see it being of any real use to a more defensive play-style. To me it seems way to situational (and a pretty low chance to proc) with fairly low yield. In my experiences, the only time I actually saw some real use out of it was playing deep Vengeance, me and a White Lion were training down on this Shaman, since he was the only melee up with me at the time I had him Oath Friended for Ancestor's Fury. So we tear him down, and he almost escapes, hitting my White Lion Oath Friend one last (and fatal) time as that last hit proc'd OP and the damage killed him. Outside of that, I'd say its not worth a whole lot. Offensive Damage: C- V5 - <A id=spell_1383 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1383" target=_blank _relatedID="1383">Ancestor's Fury</A> - If you are playing an offensive Ironbreaker, this spell is absolutely brilliant. Playing this role you are going to be putting offensive pressure on your enemy caster lines, and dropping assist trains when the opportunities open up. I've been saying all along it is the offensive IB's job to keep the squishy melee alive so you *should* be Oath Friending melee who are taking the hits, not only for Grudge building but so you can build their personal defenses with your abilities. During a focus fire, Ancestor's Fury is practically amazing, and with an <A id=spell_1364 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1364" target=_blank _relatedID="1364">Inspiring Attack</A> thrown in there as well, the melee synergy is intense. Offensive Damage: A+ V7 - <A id=spell_1407 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1407" target=_blank _relatedID="1407">Powered Etchings</A> - I was pretty impressed with this one actually. The cooldown reduction (30 seconds to 10 seconds) is a pretty significant buff to an already decent ability and the added multi-target knock back is just icing on the cake. This just has so much utility, for both big damage (read: armor ignore on <A id=spell_1366 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1366" target=_blank _relatedID="1366">Rune-Etched Axe</A>), and for the sheer situational power of a multi-target knock back, its made of pure win to deny an entire melee assist train from the kill with one big knock back. Control: A Offensive Damage: B+ V9 - <A id=spell_1384 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1384" target=_blank _relatedID="1384">Cave-In</A> - An ability specific to the Vengeance Mastery and a fairly potent stun / damaging ability. The real power of this ability lies in the cost : effectiveness ratio. At base it costs 20 Action Points and the damage improves with Grudge. Definitely another great pickup for those going deep Vengeance. Control: A Offensive Damage: A V11 - <A id=spell_1408 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1408" target=_blank _relatedID="1408">Greataxe Mastery</A> - Just as it sounds, this Tactic improves your characters proficiency with Great Weapons. This is pretty much a no-brainer, as 5% parry and 10% increased damage done from all abilities you use is hard to pass up. Offensive Damage: A+ Self Defensive Mitigation: B V13 - <A id=spell_1385 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1385" target=_blank _relatedID="1385">Grudge-Born Fury</A> - To me, this ability seemed a little underwhelming unless you held off using any other abilities until you had 60+ Action Points ready and we're at 75-100 Grudge. Using it at anything below that seems to be a waste of Action Points as the ability will not last the whole duration and even with the increased chance to critical the yield is weak. Usually if I am attempting to "save" for an ability I have to ignore other things going on around me that require attention (friendly eating a focus fire would could use an Oath Friend / buff sequence) and it seems you lose to much for little gain in the end. On the other hand though if you find yourself in a situation where you do have 100 Grudge and a full Action Point bar ready to go and your melee line is setting up for a focus fire, this ability is really fun to use, and can produce some respectable numbers. Offensive Damage: B V15 - <A id=spell_1425 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1425" target=_blank _relatedID="1425">Axe Slam</A> - BIG NUMBERS. This ability hits home, and it hits hard, no question about that. In my opinion Axe Slam is our best Mastery gained Morale ability (followed by Earthen Renewal) and is certainly worth grabbing at the top of the Vengeance tree. My only real gripe with it (and most rank 4's in general) is it takes awhile to build a full Morale bar, and you at times will have to ignore using lower rank Morales in situations where they would really help out in favor of building up your bar, and in small scale RvR, battles will often end before I have a chance to fill even 3/4ths of my Morale meter. Offensive Damage: A+ Stone S3 - <A id=spell_1403 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1403" target=_blank _relatedID="1403">Furious Reprisal</A> - A nifty little benefit to our little counter-attack here. Activated after a Block or Parry you slam your opponent for some decent damage and build 30 Grudge, and with this Tactic out, force any abilities used within five seconds to have an additional five seconds added to the cooldown of that ability. With all of the added Block / Parry from the Stone tree you will activate <A id=spell_1369 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1369" target=_blank _relatedID="1369">Shield of Reprisal</A> often enough for me to classify this ability a consistent form of control, since if your opponents important abilities are on cooldown he can't do much of anything. Offensive Damage: C+ Control: B- S5 - <A id=spell_1380 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1380" target=_blank _relatedID="1380">Oathbound</A> - A powerful, on-demand situational defensive mechanism. The bonus Initiative provided gives you dodge against ranged attacks, and a nice chunk of critical reduction. Additionally the 25% Parry is invaluable and adds another very useful ability to use when building up defenses on a target who is eating an assist train. Self / Group Defensive Mitigation: B+ S7 - <A id=spell_1404 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1404" target=_blank _relatedID="1404">Oath of Vengeance</A> - Designed for additional defense of your Oath Friend, and a decent grab if you are going this far up the Stone Path. Once again, useful in situations where you switch Oath Friends to a target taking the focus, and use your abilities for the sole purpose of the defensive connection OF provides. S9 - <A id=spell_1381 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1381" target=_blank _relatedID="1381">Avenging The Debt</A> - Basically an offensive-style attack, if you trigger the killing blow on something with ATD then you and your Oath Friend will get a nice little heal. Personally I've never been a fan of this ability as 20 Grudge for a small heal is sketchy at the best of times, then if you take into account multiple people attacking the same target in RvR, server latency etc, you might miss the killing blow simply because another attack registered with the server first, and you are out 20 Grudge for a simple melee swing. Self / Group Defensive Mitigation: C- Offensive Damage: D S11 - <A id=spell_1405 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1405" target=_blank _relatedID="1405">Shield Mastery</A> - If you're this deep in Stone and aren't using a shield most of the time I don't know what to tell you. 5% overall damage reduction and 10% Block passively when using a shield is well worth slotting this Tactic, and this is one of the main highlights of the Stone Path right now, in my opinion anyways. Self Defensive Mitigation: A S13 - <A id=spell_1382 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1382" target=_blank _relatedID="1382">Oathstone</A> - To me this is an "OH SHI-" button, you're taking damage, maybe getting low on health so you pop this to buy your healer a little extra time to get that next heal off on you. Being this deep in Stone, I honestly don't think it should be an "Improves with Grudge" ability, at least not to the extent that it is. If you happen to have 100 Grudge when you use this, you can effectively do roughly 1000 damage to the person if they're attacking fairly quickly and don't realize the damage reflection. Chances are though you won't be, and the small damage deflection won't be enough incentive to back off from hitting you. Self Defensive Mitigation: B S15 - <A id=spell_1424 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1424" target=_blank _relatedID="1424">Strength In Numbers</A> - Again, the same deal with rank 4 Morales applies here. If you're lucky enough to have enough Morale built up in a situation where Strength In Numbers will help, then its actually a great ability, but that won't happen very often. The biggest strength to this ability is the lack of a concentration factor to it, so you can slam it and move, it simply buffs you and your group with the extra defense for 10 seconds. Self / Group Defensive Mitigation: A Brotherhood B3 - <A id=spell_1409 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1409" target=_blank _relatedID="1409">Avalanche</A> - This is a great compliment to the Vengeance path, lets say you're pressuring a caster and land a disrupt, in my experiences when at a disadvantage like that people try and retreat, with the speed buff you can easily keep up and keep the pressure going. Situations like this are the ultimate defense, putting your opponents in a position where they can virtually do nothing but run, and why the offensive Ironbreaker is so valuable to a group. Control: B+ B5 - <A id=spell_1386 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1386" target=_blank _relatedID="1386">Runic Shield</A> - Good timing of this ability can effectively cut the Grudge cost in half, so thats not really a factor for me. If you have good situational awareness (which all tanks need) and spot your opponent casting on you, and use RS past the point of no return (the point in a spell cast where the casters reaction time will not be fast enough to cancel the spell) and you will gain half the cost of the ability back as well as absorbing a decent amount of magical damage for yourself or Oath Friend. This is a great pickup. Self / Group Defensive Mitigation: A B7 - <A id=spell_1410 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1410" target=_blank _relatedID="1410">Punishing Knock</A> - As if we needed another reason to make Inspiring Attack any better. This is a great Tactic, even with the strong diminishing returns (severely shortened stun durations after the first use leading to immunity) its well worth the tactic slot. With this Tactic, we can effectively make Inspiring Attack into an interrupt for stopping spell casts, talk about a versatile ability. Control: A B9 - <A id=spell_1387 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1387" target=_blank _relatedID="1387">Earthshatter</A> - Ah here we go, one of my favorite Ironbreaker abilities. Only costing Action Points, and on a relatively short (20 second) cooldown this is a very potent ability. The snare alone is nice, but if you are in the upper echelons of Grudge at the time of use you can have a pretty powerful AoE (read: Area of Effect) on your hands as well. Control: A Offensive Damage: A B11 - <A id=spell_1411 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1411" target=_blank _relatedID="1411">Told Ya So!</A> - Not a bad Tactic, not a great one. If you are playing offensively chances are you can find a better Tactic for the slot, but I can see this being beneficial for those Ironbreakers who are going for a full group benefiting build. Self / Group Defensive Mitigation: C+ B13 - <A id=spell_1388 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1388" target=_blank _relatedID="1388">Grumble An' Mutter</A> - In its current state I would classify this one as useless. basically it translates into 20 Grudge for about 200 healing. Not even close to worth it. When I tried this ability in my builds I neglected to use it at all just because you can't afford to drop that much Grudge on a very small amount of self-healing. B15 - <A id=spell_1426 href="http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=1426" target=_blank _relatedID="1426">Earthen Renewal</A> - A decent heal over time effect applied to your group, and since the only reason one would be this deep in Brotherhood in the first place would be to get as many support abilities as they could, this one is a decent addition situationally. I've found the usefulness of ER goes up if you have a full group people who need it to use it on, otherwise its mostly wasted. If you the crew you're going to play with has enough other tanks to take care of the other needed roles and you are interested in trying a more support-ish style of play then this might be worth your while. Self / Group Defensive Mitigation: B</DIV>