Kodax's Updated Warrior Guide

[Kodax]

Warrior Guide to Allocating Stats v_1.2
Last update 05.01.2010

This guide has been reposted here because I ran out of editing space on the last guide so rewrote it here reserving more space for future changes. If you find errors or omissions to this guide please post below and I will fix.

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac174/kodax123/f2f1c0bd.jpg


The Numbers

For strength

Strength versus health: for 2 points in str. get 1 health
Strength versus armor: for each ~20 points in str. get 1 armor
Strength versus hit: for each ~19 points in str. get 1 hit
Strength versus crit: does not affect
Strength versus dodge: does not affect
Strenght versus dps: not enough information to tell but effect is very minimal


For Dexterity:

Dexterity versus health: does not affect
Dexterity versus armor: for each 41 in dex. get 1 armor
Dexterity versus hit: for each 2 in dex, get 1 hit
Dexterity versus crit: for each 6.7 dex, get 1 crit
Dexterity versus dodge: for each 20 in dex, get 1 dodge
Dexterity versus damage: for each 6.9 in dex, get 1 dmg
Dexterity versus dps: for each 5.7 in dex, get 1 dps


Conclusions
Stat allocations:
Strength should be allocated based solely on the gear requirements.

Dexterity: After gear requirements have been met via their strength requirement then all other points should be placed in Dexterity.

Intellect: 0. While putting points into intellect does increase mana pool and mana regeneration getting mana regeneration from gear, and carrying around lots of mana pots is probably better then allocating points here.

Why not strength:
The most important stat for survival of a tank is armor. And while Strength is almost twice as good for armor as dexterity both are fairly poor in increasing armor. Thus armor should be obtained through items not allocation of stats.

Strength is obviously a good source to increase health pool but the extra health that strength affords does not justify putting extra points into it.

Why Dexterity: While dexterity does not increase health it does increase dodge (by a small amount) but more importantly, it increase hit, dps and crit which all increase threat.

Equipment choice. Your first priority as a tank is armor which is good since all gear made for tanks has armor. The second priority is to reach at least 3 mana regen per second (mps) - you can get by with 2 mps but you will be potting to some degree. After getting the correct mps there is a lot more leeway in stat choices. Warning personal bias here -The one stat I'm not particularly thrilled with is hps (health per second). A tanks biggest issue is spike damage (damage that comes in very quickly). As a tank your first priority is to minimize spike damage which is why armor from gear and dodge from skills is so important. Hps does not lessen the damage coming in it just offsets health loss. While hps is nice to offset the small amount of dmg we do take, it's effect does not do much to counter the spike damage that kills us.

[Kodax]

Skills:
In looking at are skill tree most of our skills either reduced dmg, or generate threat. Thus, the following build is based on the class roll of tanking which our class seems designed to do.

Note 1: It appears that the first time you place a point into a skill you get twice the benefit. So for example, for evade you get +5 percent dodge per skill point but for the first point, it is +10 (this was test for both evade, iron blood, and rage). This is important to know because, if you were only planning on taking evade and not taunt, you would be better off taking 4 points in evade and 1 point in taunt (which would give you the +5 dodge and an extra taunt).

Note 2: Refresh/duration effects timing accuracy is effected by lag. Assume times are accurate within ~1.5 seconds for buffs.

Note 3: Italicized grey skills I have not updated since the original writing of this guide so are assumed out of date.

Iron Blood: +5 point: Armor, currently is our number one survival stat and this increases armor +8 per rank. While the description says +4 armor per rank at level 28 with a base armor of 57 I am getting +8 armor per rank. So the item description is wrong. Duration 14 seconds / refresh 33 seconds.

Evade: 5 points Excellent source of dodge (+5% per point), gives twice as much dodge as does taunt. Duration 20 seconds / refresh 30 seconds

Rage: increase damage/crit per point. Very nice for generating extra threat and increasing dps. Duration 20 seconds / refresh 30 seconds

Beckon: +5 points taunts enemies, pulls them into you and with a chance to stun them for several seconds. The more points placed into this skill, the higher your chance to stun. Stun 3 seconds/ refresh 11.

Taunt:1-5 points. While the the threat generated does not increase per rank (which btw it should) dodge is increased which is significant in regards to survivability. Taunts dodge increase is considerably less than evades (evade gives almost twice as much dodge as taunt) so if you are pressed for skill points placing one point in taunt and the rest in evade is a wise choice. Though do note, the two effects stack so getting both can be advantageous. Also nice if as a second taunt when beckon is on cooldown. I originally had this skill listed on my essential skill list but because its threat generation is a bit week I have downgraded it. If you find you are having issues keeping threat this is nice secondary aoe threat skill. Dodge duration 12 seconds/ refresh 16 seconds.

Stomp: 1 point: Has two purposes, one generate threat and two, allows to help mitigate some dmg coming (melee are out of range thus not hitting you) Stomp is also a combo move with a enchantresses ice storm.

Hell Scream: Reduces damage coming in. This skill is pretty nice but assuming you have taken Iron Blood and Taunt it is not essential.

Restore: Increases health regeneration. This skill is actually pretty nice but if you have a healer behind you, or plenty of health pots, can be skipped. I found myself using it after Iron blood wore off and I was waiting for it (iron blood) to come off cool down.

Crippling Slash: This is currently where I have put all my points after maxing out the essential skills. Its a decent damage boost (threat) and also keeps the enemy from fleeing. Refresh 6 seconds.

Vengeful slash: has some decent dmg and knock-back. I would prefer this skill to skip the knock-back and just be a dmg modifier. If you are using this skill it is probably single target and the need for knock-back is not as pertinent.

Super Mega Slash: Stuns the target and does extra damage. With each point in the skill has a higher chance to stun. With 5 points in has 100% chance to stun. Stun 3 seconds/ refresh 6 seconds.

Crushing Blow: Word for word the same as Hell Scream except its not an aoe affect and it cost -5 more mana (which is not great considering its only single target). While I can see if having uses on bosses (couple it with Hell Scream and you are taking very little dmg) but at this point in the game not necessary, perhaps later on.
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Footnote: Calculations for how str and dex affected the various indicated stats were performed as follows. After a reroll on stats I charted how each point in str and dexterity affected the various stats. At the time I was pretty sure it was linear (as I had assumed when I first wrote this guide), but figured I would check. After charting and creating a trend line for the data (all data btw was linear so I am very confident in my conclusions) I found the rate of change for each stat versus str and dex.

[Kodax]

Sample Build:
This is my current build. To see how stats and skill points are allocated look at the included photo in this guide. Since we are currently stuck with one spec this spec this spec is geared for several types of play solo and group tanking. Because its being used for several purposes it is not ideal for either type of play but instead a compromise.

Solo play
Large groups of mobs. Initiate all pulls making sure Iron blood is up. Keep iron blood up as much as you can. If fight looks like it will take a lot of time and there is still a lot of potential incoming damage, when Iron Blood is about half way from being refreshed hit evade. This will keep your dodge up during your most vulnerable period (when the increased armor buff is gone). After mobs are engaged hit rage. This will take down mobs quickly thus decreasing potential incoming damage. These three skills alone can get you through most aoe type pulls. Use beckon to pull ranged attackers to you and stun.

Single target/bosses. Again the pull is the same, initiate the encounter with the armor buff. Next hit Super Mega Slash and for the rest of the encounter use it every time it is off cool-down. This will keep the mob stunned for half the duration of the fight. If Beckon is off cooldown and Super Mega Slash is on cooldown use Beckon for a second stun. These skills couple with rage will make easy work of bosses.

Group play: Tanking

Your job is to initiate all encounters and keep all incoming damage focused on you. Since most encounters are quick the pull becomes all important. Make sure when you initiate your first mob that Iron Blood has been cast. Next hit Beckon (use this every time it is off cool-down). This brings all mobs to you and focuses their attention on you. If mobs start to pull away from, hit taunt. A lot of time at the beginning of a pull, you will take a lot of damage even with the Iron Blood Buff, if that is the case you can start your pulls with iron blood and evade. For the most part the encounters will not last 15 seconds so the danger of not having dodge after iron blood has worn off is minimal. If you have decided to grab the skill stomp and are teamed with an Enchantress, after the pull and after she has used Ice Storm, hit stomp for extra aoe threat and damage.

[Splurd]

1)Iron blood. The spelling is discrepancy.
And as for the reason why its not accurate, the skill got improved. Read =
http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?623-1.0-Content-Update-(45929)
2)Stomp 5 points. Why? improved chance to stun. See content update again.
3)Restore 0 points. why? A potion is faster, easier (no need to open skill book) and more reliable.
4)Rage increases damage. you ought to mention this.
5) hps is valuable. Personal opinion, but I think its unfair to say its unimpressive. Get a hps build with a enchantress buff, walking around with 7-8 hps and you'll see how awesome it is.

[Kodax]

Fixed the rage description. Thought I had mentioned the damage modifier originally thanks for catching that. I have not used Stomp since the skill update which is why I left it italicized. Its description is outdated. In regards to restore as you can see from my build I don't use it and have not updated its description. I agree that hps has value, again I stick to the notion that what kills us is spike damage which hps does not deal with. Can it save you from dying - sure but honestly, because health pots are cheap I will use them liberally.

Again, there is no single right way to play. And since stat points and armor attributes are limited you have to make choice that have both a benefit and a cost. For my style of play I choose gear that focuses on armor and mana return.

[Biggest]

Awesome work Kodax!!!!!

[Azrael]

Good work again, but your update of Super Mega slash is not accurate again. It does not knock back at all. It stuns 100% of the time with 5/5. And again, It is an essential skill imho.

Stomp and Beckon have considerably less stun chance, but that chance improves with points spent on the skill

[Kodax]

Good work again, but your update of Super Mega slash is not accurate again. It does not knock back at all. It stuns 100% of the time with 5/5. And again, It is an essential skill imho.

Stomp and Beckon have considerably less stun chance, but that chance improves with points spent on the skill

Fixed. Did not realize that I had not corrected Super Mega Slash thanks for catching that (when I tried updating my original post the first time and found out that I was over the word limit for a post I accidently hit cancel when asked to save post before copying what I had written. So when I rewrote the post did not remember to refix the skill description). Have not changed Stomp's description since I have not used it since the game (though since it is a popular skill would like an accurate description of it) first came out and am still murky on its description:

My description would be: A aoe move that causes all enemies to be knocked back with a chance of being stunned. Each point increases the chance to stun targets for 3 seconds. Skill refresh time ??

[Azrael]

ill log on my warrior later and tell you the refresh time, the damage improves with more points i believe as well as the stun chance. Its also like a slash in that it can crit, which combined with rage makes it quite powerful.

Also what you tell people to put points in is somewhat vague and might confuse players reading it. Better to say that something improves with more points.