Understanding Melee Mechanics

[Clymene]

<p>Hullo, I recently created a guardian on a PvP server and am wondering about a few melee mechanics, and am hoping a more "seasoned" guardian could possibly help me out. My first question deals with riposte...what affects the chances of riposting? it's not shown in the avoidance number when you scroll over, i've heard some talk about it being based off of parry, but no one seems to say definitively. My second question deals with shield effectiveness...does this increase the percentage chance to outright block an ability? Or does it just affect the base defense? reason I ask is because in PvP I need to acrue as much uncontested avoidance as possible, and defense doesn't work. My 3rd question is about the delay on the primary weapon...I know the mythical is 3.0 seconds, but am wondering, being a firm believer in the INT line if I would be better suited to a slower delay weapon to shell out more dps. My fourth question is regarding parry...I know you can acquire points of parry on the INT line and from several other adorns, but how much avoidance does 1 point of parry yield exactly? and is it based off of level? My fifth and last question is how much extra damage does a critical hit give? If it's not over 30 pct, it may be beneficial to go down slaughtering line since several of these AA's increased the base damage amount of CA's by 20-30 pct, rather than persue STR line for melee crit first.</p><p>Any input is appreciated, and PvP guardian input is invaluable to me at this point.</p>

[steelbadger]

<p>Riposte:  Your Riposte 20% of your Parries.  So if you parry an attack you have a 1 in 5 chance of riposting.  +riposte gear gives you a parry bonus and a flat riposte bonus as well.</p><p>Shield effectiveness increased the protection value of the shield you are using.  This in turn increases your Block portion of avoidance.  Block avoidance is less contested than other forms of avoidance, only being effected by mob level.  Any increased hit rates the mob may have have no effect on block percentage.</p><p>The benefit you gain from a point of parry or defence is dependant on your current avoidance level, skill level and how near cap each is (so yes, it varies with level, and with lost of other things too).  I've spent a little time trying to work out a way of testing the benefits of each stat but there's so many factors and very little info on how it all works together.</p><p>A crit is 30% extra damage.  The minimum crit is max dmg +1.  As a result you can think of a crit actually giving closer to a 35% bonus to damage on CAs and more like 45% bonus to auto-attack (dependant on the weapon you're using).</p>

[Clymene]

<p>You sir, are a godsend, rarely do you find a reply that caters precisely to your question on the first attempt. The forums need more people like you. Thanks again.</p>