Erick_Stormfu
01-16-2005, 04:25 PM
<DIV>We'll overall, I'm still pretty happy with my choice of class. Most skills are very effective, however some skills just don't seem to work right, or just aren't worth it to even cast. Here is a detailed list of all the skills on my hot bar, and my analysis.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Coup De Grace</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, its on the same timer as forced swing and can be used when stunned. however, the secondary ability of causing the zerker a "short" beserk after the enemy is slain doesn't seem to work. Note: this skill does not say there is a CHANCE, it says it GRANTS a short duration beserk. I can say for sure, it does not, I have tried everything from timing the killing blow to be performed by coup de grace, to just spamming it on a mob, to everything in between. doesn't seem to work.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Maul</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 3, its one of my bread and butter skills and hits for 100-150 points regularly. It causes an interupt as well, which is nice against casters.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Vicious Blow</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, causes a 30 - 50 point hit, and does damage over time at 76 points of damage for 3 or 4 ticks. each tick you have a chance of going beserk. This along with maul is another one of my bread and butter skills.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Concussion</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, and does a 30-50 point hit, and then does power damage for 3 or 4 ticks. decent skill against casters.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Beserker Barrage</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, and is an AoE attack (maximum 2 enemies) that does 180-320 points of damage to each target. Nice skill that I use even against solo mobs.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Knee Break</FONT> - This skill I have at Apprentice 4, it does 70-100 point hit that also causes an interupt, very nice against casters, but still use it against just about everything unless i'm getting low on power.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Raging Strike</FONT> - This skill i have at adept 1, its supposed to reduce damage, but have a chance to beserk with each hit. I don't notice any reduction in damage, the chance to beserk is for about 1 or 2 hits, and VERY VERY rarely causes a beserk. In my opinion this skill should be active for more then the 1 second that its active for.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Furious Onslaught</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, its supposed to be a AoE that puts the beserker in a beserk state. (note NOT A CHANCE, but PUT IN A BESERK STATE) this skill is an effective AoE attack that hits ALL enemies around you for 50-70 points of damage, however it does NOT put you in a beserk state ever. In addition, it takes an extreamly long time to cast (3 seconds) so unless your fighting 3 or more mobs, its really not worth using. because you'll pause to cast and give up more damage then what you gain from it unless your fighting 3 or more mobs. even with 3, its really not worth the power it costs to cast this.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Fury</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, it gives you a chance to strike back (doing 74 points of damage back) on any hit that hits you. This is a great skill, and I try to keep it up any time im in a fight. The timer seems to be screwed up on it however, because after it runs out, the re-use timer resets and you have to wait the 90 seconds a second time in order to refresh it. if you catch it just before it goes out, you can keep it up perpetually though. (this is a 3 minute buff)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Bloodlust</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, its a group offense buff that also gives a chance to beserk. I try to keep this up any time im in a fight as well. (this is a 3 minute buff) </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Battle Tactics</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, This is a group hit point buff, and I use it any time I am about to fight a "tough" fight. (this is a 3 minute buff)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Battle Chant </FONT>- This skill I have at adept 1, This is a group strength buff. I usually keep this up anytime i'm fighting. (this is a 3 minute buff)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Havoc</FONT> - This skill I have at apprentce 3, This is a group strength buff, I buff my group during HARD fights only, as its only a 40 second buff, and just doesnt seem worth the effort unless were in for a very hard fight.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Toughness</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, This is a self ac buff, and i use this whenever i'm fighting a hard fight. its only a 60 second buff so doesn't seem worth the effort unless were in for a very hard fight.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Stand Firm</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, This allows you to shield someone in your party from attacks. I find it pretty hard to cast effectively because on the rare occasions i lose aggro, I find it rather hard to get the person targetted, cast it (3 second cast which is an eternaty) and then get back to trying to taunt the mob off. I never really use this skill because i find it more effective just to bash my taunts and high damage, and short casting buffs, then casting this spell. This skill would be much more effective if the casting time was shortened significantly.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Intervene</FONT> - This skill I have at adept 1, long term buff that allows you to take damage instead of the person that you have intervine on. You take damage as if you were wearing what the person your intervining is wearing, so if your intervining on a caster, when they draw aggro and you take the hits for them. you take damage as if you were wearing that crappy armor. This skill is frustrating to me, because it randomly drops for no reason. It seems like any time I would have this on, when i really need it, its just happened to "drop". I rarely use it now.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Blood Rage</FONT> - This skill i have at adept 1, this does a bubble of damage, and for 35 seconds, you have a chance to proc a aoe (Actually all of group not just area or all enemies, just a single group) DD hit that does 74 points of damage to all in the group. its pretty effective against large groups of enemies. this skill is pretty irratic, and can be very effective one time, and may not proc at all the next. i think its worth it against a large groups of mobs, if i'm not in health trouble.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Taunt </FONT>- This skill I have at apprentice 3, its your first level taunt. yes i still have it on my hot bar, because its effective when you just need to advance the HO wheel, and your low on mana. only takes 8 power, and advances the wheel without fail.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Balok's challenge</FONT> - This took my anger adept 1's place its a specialty skill that takes angers palce, works just as well as my anger, taunt, but it supposed to cause the zerker to beserk (doesnt say chance, says causes to beserk) however, it seems as if it flashes as if its proc'ing a chance to beserk, and i never see it actually put me in a beserk state. I dont think its actually working.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Rescue</FONT> - I have this skill at apprentice 3, This skill is supposed to cause you to raise one spot on the hate list of the mob. I've never actually had it work. I'm not sure if the only time i lose aggro is when theres some sort of aggro bug, therefore it doesnt work, or its just broken. again, i only try to use it (because of the long recast on it) when my healer (who i normally group with, as a two-some) gets aggro, and so far, its never worked.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Hold the line</FONT> - I have this skill at Adept 1, this freezes you in place, but causes a constant taunt. this skill is way grey to me, but i still have it up as an emergency measure if i need to get aggro off my healer. basically i mash every possible taunt including this one if i somehow lose aggro.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Enrage </FONT>- I have this skill at Adept 1, this is a AoE group taunt, that gives you a chance to beserk. honestly this one I think ALWAYS puts in you beserk. i use this skill all the time, even against solo mobs, because it puts you in zerk mode.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Sunder</FONT> - I have this skill at appretice 3, this skill is just a mess. It seems this should have been our group taunt for the 30's but instead we received this the same level we got enrage, and we dont get a group taunt in our 30's. In addition its supposed to do an AoE taunt (Which it does) and knockdown your opponents. well, it used to knock them down, but now it doesn't. of course when it DID knock them down, it was a visual effect only, monsters continued to attack you from thier back, and half the time it would knock you down as well, but again, it didnt matter, because you'd continue to attack from your back.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Taunting Blow</FONT> - I have this skill at Adept 1, a low damage hit that taunts as well. very grey, but part of my emergency taunt group of buttons.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Focus Rage</FONT> - I have this skill at adept 1, and it gives you a chance to go beserk when your taking damage. this is a very long term buff that i have on at all times.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Soldiers Stance</FONT> - I have this skill at adept 1, this is a long term buff, that reduces your offense by 5, but adds 5 to parry and defense. I pretty much keep this on at all times.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Stifled Rage </FONT>- I have this skill at adept 1, this is a 3 minute buff, that reduces your attack speed and buffs your defense by 6 points. however, it doesnt stack with soldiers stance, so basically this is a useless skill. the one point of defense increase is not worth the decrease in speed. this skill should stack with soldiers stance, and then it would be effective.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ff0000>Hunker Down </FONT>- I have this skill at adept 1, this is a 1 minute buff, that reduces your attack speed (even more then stifled rage) AND you cant use any attacks or buffs, but it buffs your defense by 5 points. however, again it doesnt stack with stifled rage, or soldier stance, so all it does it make it so you cant use any of your other skills, and slow your attacks down, this is a useless skill. again this should stack with soldiers stance and stifled rage, then it would be an effective skill.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I notice that we seem to be capped at 2 rages active at any time. I used to get 3 or even 4 for a brief moment back before bloodlust was nerfed. this doesn't seem to be too bad, like i said i'm still happy with my character, and can usually get two two rages active at once at least a couple times a fight. but i'd really like to see some of the skills that are supposed to put you in rage but arent working at least give you a chance to rage. like i said, as long as i'm main tank, i can usually get a couple rages going, but other times i am completely out of rage, and have a hard time getting back in. my biggest beef though has to be our defensive abilities. we have 3 primary skills to buff defense at my level, but they dont stack, stifiled rage and hunker down both are useless at the moment.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>well thats what i have up on my hot bar, the others i've pretty much retired, and dont use. any feed back on differences, or the use of skills, i'd appreciate.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Erick</DIV>