Gambits

Post Update 6.01 Warden Thoughts

2
1 month ago
by DocHoliday in , ,

I’ve been playing around and trying out all the new toys we’ve gotten with both Update 6 and the first patch for update 6 and I am overall VERY happy with the class and how it plays.

To do a little re-cap, if you’re wondering what’s supposed to be fixed with that first patch Orion summed it up pretty well on the forums.  I think the only remaining major item is the bug with the Terrible Visage trait which puts us in threat easy-mode.  The other issue that I haven’t fully checked out is with our stun immunity, some believe it should prevent knock-downs, but lots of time in the Roots of Fangorn instance is showing otherwise.  I seem to remember something regarding this but can’t find anything nor remember either way.

For those trying to catch up on what all the new gambits do, a new Gambit Chart has surfaced on the forums and it does a good job of showing the new order of achievement and how things change in Assailment particularly.  Another good forum resource is Asto’s Gambit Compendium with good descriptions of each gambit in each stance.  Finally if you’re trying to figure out what the deal is with all the legacy’s, there’s a good forum post for that as well.  There’s also some other good links in the post I made previously.

Overall, I’m still in the process of digesting all these changes myself and am trying to figure out all the new little tricks and tips.  I do find myself doing some stance dancing, and have keys mapped for the stances to make switching easier.  Primarily it is either working with Assailment while in groups, then to Determination if I need to tank or Recklessness to Determination if I pull a few too many mobs Winking smile  However, the new AoE leeches work VERY well with Recklessness as I find myself having some real fun in some of the areas with lots of mobs.

As for group and raid tanking, for the most part I’m ok with holding agro but I do find myself reverting back to the PB/Aggression rotation, which doesn’t work quite as well.  I have grouped with some folks with maxed out First Agers, and they have pulled things off after big crits, but I can pull it right back pretty quickly.  I’m not sure I’ve found a good and quick agro catch-up although, Spear of Virtue seems to work pretty well and is somewhat quick.  I’m also finding that I’m using Potency MUCH more to store gambits for future use.  The two main two I’ve used are either an interrupt or big threat gambit.

Other than that, I’m still working on getting my gear up to snuff, and I’m just shy of 11K morale but I think my biggest issue Is dealing with Knockdowns.  I’m hoping I was just doing it wrong and my gambit was just poorly timed, but there’s a chance that could be another bug.

What have you all found while either playing your Wardens or grouping with them?

 

Community Take on Wardens in Update 6

6
2 months ago
by DocHoliday in , , ,

Due to a crappy hotel connection and Bullroarer coming down early (again) I didn’t get nearly as much time with the new changes as I would’ve hoped.    However, the forum community has been quite vocal about the changes so I wanted to pull together some of their thoughts while I attempt to piece mine together.

From a first glance and the little play-time I had, the changes look pretty good.  For the most part, we came out of this update better then we were, but many are still concerned about our viability as an end-game raiding tank.  For that part, I think we’ll have to see how groups on Live fair, but in many other areas, the Wardens have been improved.

Two quick points that I wanted to stress:

  • Make sure you visit the Warden Class Trainer!  The new Assailment gambits (ranged gambits) are waiting for you and you have to learn them before you can use them
  • Like other revamps, it looks like Orion did a great job of evening out the leveling curve, especially when it comes to the Masteries.  So while I tend to mainly focus on the end-game, this is a good update for leveling Wardens as well.

Orion has been pretty good about keeping us in the loop, but if you haven’t read it already it probably would be a good start to check out the recently released Developer Diary on the update.  There is some decent discussion in the official feedback thread, but I think much of the debate has been going on in some of the various other threads that popped up once Update 6 hit Bullroarer.

Harperelle had a pretty good summary post which walks through the good news and bad news of the Update, which touched off some good discussions.  For the most part I agree, although I’m not sure how big the “nerfs” are that she mentions (threat change, and Master of Spear change).  However, I think it is pretty universal that the biggest concerns are around what she points out as not getting – mitigation and BPE cap changes.  We did get all sorts of new things and quite a number of them that do stack so testing them thoroughly can be a bit challenging but I’m sure there will be many posts and test from people running instances and raids with their new builds.  In a follow up post, Harperelle does a great job of outlining and showing some of the new stacking buffs we get with their appropriate durations.  One thing is for sure, Warden’s will definitely be incentivized to keep active and vary up their rotations!

And to continue the trend of linking to Harperelle’s good posts, she put up 2 other amazing posts explaining how things change based on your stance.  For the most part, gambits continue to do what they always have done but obtain slight tweaks or buffs depending on what stance you’re in.  The biggest changes come from the Determination (tanking) stance and Assailment (ranged DPS) stance and Harperelle was nice enough to take TONs of screenshots of all the gambits and what they do.

I don’t think these have changed terribly since Orion’s blog posts which I put together some tables for showing how the gambits will change based on your stance:

No matter how you look at it, the class has changed and for me this is still overall a very positive thing for the class.  While maybe our main role wasn’t buffed as much as some would like, I think the introduction of solid secondary roles will help us out quite in the long run.

As for those wondering how to best get adjusted to the new class, I suggest taking some time to read through the changes, and then hop into an easy skirmish (after you see your trainer) and play around with your normal rotation switching up your stances to see how things change.  As you fight, make sure to pay attention to not only your bars but also the bars of your enemies and continually mouse-over pop-ups to see what’s going on.  While doing this, I’d suggest easier pulls such that you can pay attention to what’s going on without having to worry about dying Smile

 

Warden Update 6 Dev Post #2

7
3 months ago
by DocHoliday in , ,

Orion has the second part of his Warden updates posted and this walks through the Shield and Spear line gambits.  If you missed Post #1, head over here :)   As a follow-up to that post, Orion also responds to some of the comments on the forums as well:

  • Clarification on buff Tiering
    • Essentially higher tier buffs have shorter duration, but bigger magnitudes.  But, if lower tier is active that duration is used instead.
  • BPE bonuses for builders are partials
  • Sadly War-cry is just a normal HoT, not an AoE HoT
  • Fist gambits will also be ranged, but AoE gambits will still be close proximity
  • Way of the Warden isn’t a stance, but a stance buff – see below :)

Here’s the gist of Post #2 from Orion:

Gambit Always Determination Assailment Recklessness
Defensive Strike Low Weapon + Potency Increased Block Rating Threat Reduction Increase Physical Mastery
Impressive Flourish Low damage + low DoT Low HoT + crit defense + armor +1% Ranged Damage Minor Light DoT
Persevere Low Weapon HoT + Block & Partial Block Minor Lifetap Minor DoT
Maddening Strike Main-hand Damage Small Threat Transfer + crit defense + armor +2% Ranged Damage (stacks to 3%) Low Light DoT
Safeguard Low Common Damage HoT + Block & Partial Block Threat Reduction + Lifetap DoT
Shield Up ?? :) +BPE for 30s Fellowship Agro Dump Reflective Damage Shield +% slow
Deflection Decreased Threat
Celebration of Skill Main-hand Damage HoT + Block & Partial Block +3% Ranged Damage (stacks to 4%) DoT
Dance of War Increased Evade Moderate Threat Transfer + crit defense + armor Threat Reduction Lifetap
Shield Tactics +Tactical Mitigation + Stun Immunity On Crit, Daze for 3 seconds
Shield Mastery ?? :) +BPE for 60s Large Fellowship Agro Dump Reflective Damage Shield +% slow
Restoration Main-hand damage + HoT
Conviction AoE Heal AoE Threat Transfer, AOE HoT Nearly Negates Fellowship Threat for 10 seconds 10s +Physical Mastery Buff

I really like what’s going on with the shield line, especially with all the buffs and threat mechanics going on.  I also like the continued way he’s incorporating stacking of tiers as you go along.  It is really looking like the Assailment stance will be quite handy for group mechanics and will allow the Warden to do some fun Agro tricks :)

Continuing on with the Spear line, remember these turn into Ranged attacks if you’re in the Assailment stance.

Gambit Always Determination Assailment Recklessness
Deft Strike Low Main-hand + Potency
Offensive Strike 2 Minor Main-hand Increased Threat DoT (Assuming) Nominal Pulsing Lifetap
The Boot Low Main-hand + Interrupt 25% Daze 25% Root DoT
Power Attack Good Main-hand + Harder to Block Applies Low DoT
Combination Attack 2 low Main-hand DoT (stacks with Offensive)
Onslaught 3 low Main-hand + Interrupt
Mighty Blow Good Main-hand + DoT + Difficult to Parry DoT (stacks with Power Attack DoT)
Wall of Steel 3 Main-hand + Interrupt +Parry Reflective Damage Shield Reflective Shield + chance restore 2% power on hit
Boar’s Rush Main-hand Chance to Daze DoT (Stacks with Combination) KD chance and Refresh Crit Strike
Adroit Maneuver Main-hand + 20% Attack Speed Buff
Unerring Strike Good Main-hand HoT DoT DoT (stacks with Mighty Blow DoT)
Warden’s Triumph Great Main-hand + 10% damage
Dark Before Dawn 2 Good Main-hand + power + PoT

It appears as though the DbD morale requirement might be gone, if so that would be HUGE for Wardens, although I’m expecting the power return to be significantly lower.  Overall this line doesn’t seem too different with just some nice additions.  Of course, being able to do this stuff from range will be quite interesting, that’s for sure!

Finally, Orion does touch on two of our Legendary skills and probably the two most controversial ones:

  • Defiant Challenge
    • 5s Forced Attack
    • 40% Mitigation Buff for 15s
    • Reflective Damage Shield for 30s
    • 3 minute 30 second cooldown
  • Way of the Warden
    • Enhances stances with bonuses for 180 seconds
    • 600 seconds (10 minute) cooldown.

 

Orion Outlines Update 6 Warden Changes

3
3 months ago
by DocHoliday in , ,

Orion’s starting to open up a bit more as he gives us some pretty hard details about what’s coming for the Warden class with Update 6.  While these are posted on his my.LOTRO blog, they’re still subject to change based on feedback.  Also, keep in mind this post is titled “Blog #1” so there will be more coming.

First up, he describes how Battle Preparations will work which sounds pretty slick.  Essentially, using the skill will turn builders and masteries no longer require a target and as such can be used outside of combat.  This will allow you to build and store a gambit pre-fight for up to 30 seconds.  I’m a little curious to see if there will be a cool-down for this skill.

He then tackles the stances, which I think are the meat of the change for the class:

  • Determination becomes THE tanking stance
    • Bonuses to both regeneration rates, crit chance reduction, as well as increased BPE
    • Gambits are all tweaked to focus on tanking
  • Assailment becomes the ranged DPS stance.
    • Reduces BPE, increased iCPR, increases ranged damage
    • Spear Gambits become ranged attacks!
    • Gambits tweaked to focus on ranged damage
  • Recklessness remains the melee DPS stance
    • Increases melee damage and iCPR, reduces BPE, lowers attack duration
    • Gambits tweaks to focus on melee damage

Orion then walks through how the builders will change based on the stance you’re in.  The ideas of the builders are still the same but there are different tweaks and bonuses available as you switch stances.

Base/Determination Assailment Recklessness
“Spear” melee damage, +2% BPE, 5% reduce miss 30m range damage, +2% ranged, 5% 10s bleed melee damage, +2% melee damage, 5% increase warden DoTs
“Fist” short range light DoT, +2% BPE, 5% slight taunt 30m light DoT, +2% ranged damage, 5% increased ranged crit melee DoT, +2% melee damage, 5% chance reduce cry resist
“Shield” melee damage, +2% BPE, 5% 15s block increase 30m range damage, +2% ranged damage, 5% chance lower threat main-hand damage, +2% melee damage, 5% chance increase lifetaps

Overall some really interesting stuff here but the main ideas remain the same.  Determination/no stance pretty much stays the same while the others stay similar but reflect their appropriate role.  I also really like all the buffs in there!

In this first post, he just focuses on the Fist line gambits:

Gambit Always Determination Assailment Recklessness
Goad AoE DoT, Potency SI Threat SD Threat
Precise Blow Low Damage Threat + ToT +1% ranged damage fellowship buff on crit, applies DoT
War-cry AoE DoT AoE HoT + evade buff +1% tactical damage fellowship buff on crit, lifetap
Brink Victory AoE Light DoT SI Threat + evade buff +1% tactical damage fellowship buff (stacks to 2%) on crit, lifetap
Fierce Resolve AoE Lifetap
Piercing Strike MH Damage + Light damage Threat Increase +1% ranged damage fellowship buff (stacks to 2%) on crit, applies DoT
Resolution AoE lifetap
Surety of Death MH damage + DoT Bonus Threat + evade buff +2% tactical damage fellowship buff (stacks to 3%) on crit, lifetap
Spear of Virtue MH Damage + Light damage Increased Threat +2% ranged damage fellowship buff (stacks to 3%) on crit, applies DoT
Aggression Low Damage AoE Threat +3% tactical damage fellowship buff (stacks to 4%) on crit, pulsing lifetap
Desolation AoE DoT w/Fear chance
Exultation of Battle AoE Pulsing Lifetap Increased Threat, ToT +3% ranged damage fellowship buff (stacks to 4%) on crit, applies DoT

When you actually break this all out, it really isn’t as intimidating as I had feared.  The gambits are more or less staying with what they currently do, but can apply a secondary stance dependent buff:

  • Determination –> Threat or Evade
  • Assailment –> party damage buffs
  • Recklessness –> more DoTs or lifetaps

The nice part for me about the Assailment line is it looks like it might also fulfill a side-roll of fellowship damage booster.  Depending on the range of the buffs, I could see this as being potentially VERY helpful in group settings and allowing Wardens to find group roles other then just tanking.

So far, I’m loving the concepts Orion has laid out and I can’t wait to see the other two gambit lines as well as what’s in store for our traits!

 

Orion Teases Warden Changes with Update 6

2
5 months ago
by DocHoliday in , ,

Orion has a couple of quick posts up on the forums talking about the Warden changes coming for Update 6.  Nothing huge, but some indications of where he’s headed, and of course nothing is finalized yet.

His first post lays out 3 key ideas:

  • 3 distinct modes and a fourth generic one
  • Some sort of Battle Preparation which sounds like a combination of the current Battle Memory and the revamps of the gambit system
  • Masteries moving into the trait set specs, which I’m not totally sure what that means since they’re already there.

He also does talk a bit about what’s coming for gambit builders and how Battle Preparation will work.  Essentially there will be a way to use builders outside of combat such that you could instantly start off a fight with gambits ready.  In addition, the gambits are further being improved to boost efficiency while in combat.

I’m still in a wait and see mode with these changes as he’s done great stuff with the Champ and Minstrel classes but so far the Warden has been minimalized in many ways.

For those curious, check out the full thread on the forums.

 
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