1 Attachment(s)
PvP Guide: Builds, Skills and Powers
I am writing this guide as a general insight to PvP builds for all new players who want to start PvPing.
First of all, there is NO one build that works for everyone, but many different builds that can be equally as good depending on who uses them. So, if you have platinum and you can respec (change) your power points (Menu/Lair/Powers/Respec Power Points) it is a good idea to try different builds and see which one suits you best. All the information below depends on my experience and what most players use, but remember that things can always be done differently!
Stats
There are 5 build statistics for DL players: Attack, Defense, Health, Damage, and DPS (damage per second). These depend on two things: the gems and weapons you are using and the Passive Power points you have assigned.
The passive points are shown in the figure below in the blue box, and are from left to right:
- Wrath: Points to this increase your Attack
- Shield: Points to this increase your Defense
- Strength: Points to this increase your Damage
- Vitality: Points to this increase your Health
Attachment 109272
It is generally a good idea to spend as many points on these Passive Powers as you can, but of course that will also depend on how many active powers (the powers on the tree above the passive ones) you want to use, and how many points you can spare for your passives.
All Passive Powers are rated from 0 (no points) to 6 (maximum points). Since there are four Passive Powers, most DL pvpers refer to their build by four numbers, each representing the amount of points in each passive power from left to right. For example, in the above screenshot, 0161 represents 0 points to Wrath, 1 to Shield, 6 to Strength, and 1 to Vitality.
Depending on how you distribute these passive points, your build stats will change. Note that the uniqueness of your builds depends on this much more than the gems and weapon you use, since most lvl 36 players use exactly the same gems and weapons (see below on Gems and Weapons for those).
Below are some tips on how to use the passive powers and how to arrange your stats:
- As a rule, it is a good idea to maximize the Strength Passive Power. This is used by most pvpers on level 6 to maximize their Damage and DPS stats, which are very important in landing good hits on your opponents. For two-handed weapons, most pvpers have a DPS stat of about 200 or more, while the Damage stat is at least 120. Note that one-handed weapons and the Relic Serrated Wing Axes drop the DPS to about 130 while at the same time increasing the Defense stat.
- The Health stat should also be as large as possible, especially since the widely used nuke and brim builds (see below on Common Builds) drain A LOT of health very quickly. The larger your health value, the more your chances of staying alive long enough to kill your opponent. Thus, the Vitality Passive Power is usually given at least 1 point by most pvpers. The Health stat for lvl 36 pvpers should be at least 1700 and preferably more than 1800.
- While most pvpers agree on Health, DPS and Damage, Attack and Defense points are controversial. In my opinion, the Defense stat should be higher than the Attack or at least equal to it. This makes you more able to survive attacks and kill your opponent before he kills you. Others though use higher Attack than Defense, so this really depends on the player's style and the active powers he uses. But, generally speaking, it is good for both Attack and Defense to be at least 200 for lvl 36 players. Also, most pvpers will assign at least 1-2 points on the Shield Passive Power to boost their Defense.
Gems and Weapons
Most lvl 36 pvpers use the same weapons and gems, that is the best ones. Of course, they switch them around depending on their passive powers in order to get the best results on their stats.
Weapons:
- The best weapon for PvP is the Glacial Sabres. Unfortunately, while it offers great stats, it is a platinum weapon which is no longer available, even though it might appear again during the winter.
- Viper Twins come in 3 different versions, with each version giving a boost to one stat (Health, Attack, Defense). They are a cheap choice for a great PvP weapon. Mostly I use the Health version, since you can never have enough health!
- Other two handed weapons commonly used are Firebrand (platinum weapon) and Elegant Death. Firebrand boosts your DPS, while Elegant Death maximizes your Health.
- One-handed platinum weapons are also widely used. These drop the DPS to almost half but increase the Defense stat. Due to this change, one handed weapons may require a change in your game style.
- The relic Serrated Wing Axes, while two-handed, also change the stats exactly in the same way one-handed weapons do. They have a unique bleeding effect that has a chance of stricking the enemy when he is hit, but they also have a bug which causes the enemy's death to appear as a suicide if he dies due to this bleeding. They can therefore reduce your kills.
- The relic Hargyth's Infused Hammer is the rarest weapon in the game and also has a special stun effect, which also has a chance of stricking similarly to the Axes bleeding effect.
Gems:
There are four gem slots in the inventory, the Blood, Shadow, Moon and Beast gems.
- The best Blood gem would either be the platinum Crimson Blood Ruby Gem (red bracelet) or a simple Blood Crystal of Tonicity (Legendary Health gem for lvl 35). If you would rather boost another stat instead of Health, you can use the Bloodgem of Dispatching (Attack) or the Bloodstone of Fortress (Defense).
- The best Shadow gem is widely considered to be the Kriegberg Stone of Dispatching, which gives a nice boost to all your stats except for Health. If however your build needs a Health alternative, you can use the Legendary Shadow Health gem for lvl 35, Shadow Crystal of Tonicity.
- Similarly, the best Moon gem is the Moontear Gemstone, a relic gem. If you prefer something else, then the Harvest Moon Remnant of Tonicity (Health boost) is probably the best alternative. Harvest Moon Remnant of Dispatching (Attack) or Fortress (Defense) can also be used.
- As for the beast gem, the best option is the new relic Petrified Fang gem. Again you can use the simple Legendary Tonicity, Dispatching and Fortress alternatives or the cheaper relic gem, Obisidian Crystal.
- No matter how you assign your gems, you must always use one Shard of Form gem. This is a rare lvl 31 gem, which does not offer much in terms of stats but adds a 215% dodge stat which is necessary in lvl 36 PvP, if you hope for some attacks (especially the brimstone combo) to miss you. Depending on where you decide to use it, you can use a Claret (Blood gem) Umbra (Shadow gem) Crescent (Moon gem) or Savage (Beast gem) Shard of Form. Most pvpers use the Claret Shard of Form so they can use Kriegberg, Moontear and Fang gems on the other three gem slots, however this depends on your build and the stats you want to end up with. For example, it might be better to use the Umbra Shard of Form instead of the Kriegberg Stone as a Shadow gem, and a Crimson Bloody Ruby gem as a Blood gem. Finally, there are also Form weapons, such as the Ebon Katana of Form. Any Form weapon can be used instead of a gem, but players prefer to use a good weapon and use a Form gem instead, since weapons boost the Damage and DPS stats.
Active Powers
You can only use four Active Powers, so think carefully which those will be. When you decide, bear in mind how many points you will need to spend for them. If for example you are between Rats and Dark Binding, and you already have Fatal Burst but don't have Hellblade, then you will need to spend 2 points for the Rats and 3 for the Dark Binding. It may be better to choose Rats then so you can spare some points to use in your Passive Powers. So make a plan of which powers you want and how many points you will need before you assign them, so you can avoid spending platinum in order to respec.
Like the Passive Powers, Active Powers also have multiple levels and sometimes it may be helpful for your build to assign more than one point on the same power.
The Active Powers most widely used are:
- Fatal Burst: This is used in the charged version to immobilize an enemy. It is EXTREMELY useful and a must have. Besides freezing them for a few seconds, it also knocks them back a bit, along with all other enemies that are close to them (very useful to prevent enemies from reaching you or your flagger). Most players keep it charged and use it first as soon as they encounter an enemy. It can also be used in combination with Brimstone for an overpowered combo (see Common Builds).
- Rats (Vermin Swarm): Can be used both charged and uncharged, hits multiple enemies at once, pushes enemies back, and damages their health over time (it keeps doing damage for a few seconds AFTER it has hit). The higher the DPS, the higher the damage. Can also be used on level 2 for more damage.
- Brimstone: Is used mostly in charged version in combination with Fatal Burst for a combo (see Common Builds).
- Fire Aura: Hits enemies close to you. Can be used charged or uncharged, hits multiple enemies, does damage over time. Can be used in combination with Unholy Blessing (see Common Builds).
- Unholy Blessing: Another must have, since it is the only way to stop the Fatal Burst + Brimstone combo from killing you instantly. It is used as soon as the Brimstone combo hits by most players in order to stop their health from dropping to zero, but needs very careful timing. If used before Brimstone hits, it is useless, if used too late, you are dead. High level Unholy Blessing (2, 3 or 4) is used to land a rain of critical hits on the enemies, which in combination with Fire Aura kills instantly. On the down side, it recharges very slowly and drains a lot of health when used.
- Leap: Knocks down and damages all enemies around you.
- Shadow Dance: Makes you jump ahead to closest enemy or a certain distance if no enemy is present. Can be very useful for flaggers who want to run away fast, or for players chasing other players that are too far ahead. Should be used carefully because it will take you to the closest enemy even if the enemy is behind you, in the wrong direction, or a zombie. Can also be used in combination with Unholy Force for a bleeding combo.
Some players may also use Ghost Strike, Unholy Force or Hellblade, but I think most pvpers will agree that Curse and Dark Binding are useless for PvP.
Common Builds
By far the most commonly used builds are two: Brim and Nuke. More than 90% of lvl 36 pvpers use one or the other.
- Brim users (or as I like to call them, britches) use charged Fatal Burst immediately followed by charged Brimstone on the same enemy. This combination kills almost instantly, and even if it is stopped by the opponent's Unholy Blessing, it still almost certainly drains over 50% of their Health. If the enemy doesn't die, most britches run away until these two powers recharge so they can try again.
- Nuke users use a high level Unholy Blessing (lvl 3 or 4 usually) along with Fire Aura in order to hit every enemy close to them with a rain of critical hits that usually kills them in seconds. The Unholy Blessing usually is uncharged, because it takes too long to charge, while the Aura can be charged if there is enough time. Since most players will run away from a nuke or face certain death, many nukes also use Shadow Dance to prevent them from escaping. Some nukes also use a high level (level 2 and above) Fire Aura. Since Unholy Blessing recharges really slowly, and most nukes have no other significant way of killing an enemy, they usually run and suicide in the windows as soon as the Blessing runs out so they can respawn and repeat the combination again.
- Some users use both Brim and Nuke (hybrid build). I call these britchukes, and I consider them to be relying far too much on overpowered combinations, which is just overkill.
- Other players (such as myself) may use neither Brim or Nuke, but rely on other strategies or powers. Personally, I rely a lot on my Rats, and sometimes I charge my Aura and use it along with Blessing for a mini-nuke effect (Remember that level 1 Unholy Blessing and level 1 Aura does not classify as a Nuke build). Each player may use different powers, which are also related to his stats and his playstyle.
Well, this is it for PvP builds, hope you found this guide useful! Remember, try different builds, keep practising and don't forget that a build isn't everything!
