Dueling Strats...

[SillySam]

Hey, wondering what strategies other zerkers use when dueling.

 

I'm lvl 50 zerk, and have yet to win one duel against same lvl toon.

 

Not sure what I'm doing wrong...able to solo super, but when I duel, I usually get owned.  Have read many posts on this forum from other zerks saying they kick butt when dueling...

 

I'm buffed, have str/sta/agi rings, use the pierce/crush mitigator buff, try to stun stun stun, but nothing seems to work.

 

Only adept 1 CA's maybe that's the issue?  Have decent armor, no fabled, no prismatic weaps, but use HQ weaps.  Been trying SBS to increase mitigation...no luck there either.

 

Ideas?

 

 

Blast

[Kaberu]

I've only dueled a few times, with my pally friend and a necro. The best part about dueling with friends is you can take the time to try out different combinations. Hre is what i picked up:

 

Against a Paladin (both of us 50):

 

He stopped me, not once or twice but like 3 or 4 times in a row at first.

 

First time, I had no stance and I dual-wielded. It was very close, but he beat me. I went with the "all out" method trying to lay out the damage quick and fast and was only using single target abilities. It might work, but it's not the best.

 

Second time I tried the defensive stance and 1-hand/shield. He beat me easier that time. Although I was more defensive, my overall offense was weakened so I could not land as many attacks. I was still using the fast and furios method.

 

Third time I tried the offensive stance with dual-wielding. My lowered defense gave him a better DPS ratio and he beat me. Yet again it was fast and furious on the attacks.

 

Those three attempts were me trying out different stances. Conclusion? Don't use a stance (against fighters at least) and I don't recommend using them at all dueling or for normal soloing. You can get a good gain on one hand but also have a serious disadvantage on the other.

 

The next try I stuck with the best stance option (no stance) and focused on using tactics. Paladins could heal, I can't. I have to find a way around that. He'd either try to stay topped off in which case he'd spend most of his time healing and not enough damage dealing or he'd wait till he was a little low (about halfway) before he healed.

 

I used the 1-hand/shield combo to utilize the extra fast cast stun from raging blows.

 

I clicked OK for the duel and I immediately cast anarchy for extra mitigation and weapon guard for reactive damage before the 5-second coutdown finished. I opened with raging blows (stun) and then hit him with the pierce/slash/crush debuff (relentless battering?) and Dot/attack speed debuff (wound?). I used the extra attacks (like kicking) as well as the debuffs mentioned already and raging blows to get him down to almost half. Once there, I hit him with Stunning Roar (stun), cast Rampage (for the damage boost) hit him with Vanquish (high damage + long stun) and then Frenzy (triple attack) and then unloaded with my other abilities. The important part is to watch for spellcasting. Anytime I saw a spell effect start, I used an interrupt (like the focus debuff or bully). The interrupt stopped his last two attempts at a heal before he died. I hit raging blows as soon as I could for the extra stun.

 

Just don't open with abilities you need to set up a combo. In this case, Vanquish, Frenzy, Rampage and Stunning Roar (all of which have a long recast). Also, keep remembering to click Weapon Guard, the reactive damage from that is adds alot. Use Rampage before Frenzy... if all of your 3 attacks hit, that is also 3 procs from Rampage. just remember to stun him before you cast Rampage (2 second cast timer). And don't forget to save an interrupt if you'll need it.

 

Those tactics should be sound against classes that can hunker down and tank (Guardians, SKs, Paladins) and probably against healers as well.

 

Against a Necro (both of us 50):

 

No stance, dual weapons. She annihilated the Paladin, but she droped in seconds to a Berserker. She had the caster DPS pet out which died from the reactive damage from my Weapon Guard. I opened with Vanquish, hit Frenzy and landed a couple other attacks, Stunning Roar and more attacks to finish before she went running trying to avoid certain death. Hit hard and hit fast is all I can suggest against casters. You may want to space out stuns just to be safe as well as hold an interrupt just to throw them off of any casting groove they might get in (although stuns do enough as it is).

 

Casters should be relatively easy prey with our stuns and decent DPS. They're only dangerous if they can get a spell off. It also helps if you treat your resist stats with a little respect... try ditching some of those old trinkets with decent stats but bad resists... it pays off in the end.

 

 

General Tips:

 

• Find a friend and practice! The point of practice is not to win, try to use different combinations! It's the only way you can find those hidden combos that give you an edge. For instance, I've found the best results I have soloing are with no stance (except sometimes against a ^).
• Pay attention to the abilities of yourself and other classes! Against a Wizard, what good is mitigation or defense or avoidance? But your defensive stance does give you a huge cold resist buff! Does that help against a Warlock? If you don't know, then find out!
• Keep going back for more! The more you fight, whether it was a win or a loss, the better you'll get. Don't get discouraged by losing... Even boxing great Mohammad Ali took his lumps and losses with the best of them.
• Try to be efficient with your abilities: Is there a point to debuffing a Guardian's Focus? Is there a point to DoTing and decreasing a caster's attack speed? If you are reaching for every once of damage then go ahead (like when a Pally is in the red), but don't waste mana early in the fight on abilities that don't make sense.
• Learn patience and try to control your panic response! This may sound silly, but practice juggling. Alot of people have a problem juggling in the beginning because too much is happening at once, the panic response kicks in and they try to save all three at once or can't get themselves to toss the third into the air.
• Practice combos on solo mobs to get the timing down. Try to maximize stun time and use the time the mob is stunned to use abilities with longer casting times (like Anarchy and Rampage). That way, you are not being attacked while you cast.

Bah, it's time for bed for me... hopefully this helps some!

[MillsFairchild]

Mages are cake.  Shouldn't last more than a couple seconds. Offsensive stance w/ 2 hander. Buff with Rampage during the countdown.  Stay close to them and keep spamming Vanquish till the fight starts.  Bam - they're stunned.  Immediately hit frenzy and a couple more CA's of your choice... they should be done for.

[scl]

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MillsFairchild wrote:Mages are cake.

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Except for Enchanter sub classes... They are rediculous! I fought a Coercer a few times on the weekend and spent about 90% of the time unable to do anything. It was not the most fun I've ever had.

Also fought a Templar (who had SM) for three fights. With offensive stance, DW and general hit hard and fast strat I got owned. I got him into the red before he knew what day it was, but once he healed it was like starting again with less power. Got him down again, he did the same thing. Rinse and repeat until I was out of power.

Tried again with 2h... got owned even worse. Then I tried defence with shield and 1h... much longer fight and thought I had him... then got owned! *laughs* Each fight he ended with 90%+ hp.

[Vathranen]

Haven't had a chance to duel with my zerker yet, but I've done quite a bit as a Paladin. Here's some tips I'll throw on for fighting priests:

1) Stun them when they cast, just like mages. Their nukes aren't nearly as scary, but their debuffs can be (Mystic / Defiler)

2) If you see the Templar cast his reactive (Sword and helmet graphic) just back off and don't do any damage. Stun him if need be. If you hurt him his spell will proc the heal and he'll back to full in no time. If you stand back for 30 seconds, however, the spell just wears off and you can resume battering.

3) This is also true for Mystic / Defiler wards (a glowing pyramid graphic, usually rainbow colored). All your attacks will just be absorbed, so either autoattack it down or wait for it to wear off. Again it's around 30 seconds. 

4) Furies and Wardens have regen which is tougher to combat, but it's not nearly as good as it used to be. Fast and furious is probably the best way to take them down, before their regen can fill back up.

Message Edited by Vathranen on 09-19-2005 07:29 AM

[kr8ztwin]

Yeah I've yet to lose vs a caster.  Fun stuff.  I do recommend that when fighting a Templar or Inquisitor that if they cast a reactive..ONLY use your hardest hit skills.  You have to over-damage that reactive.  Do not melee.  Turn off melee immediately and then use your big hit.  Then turn melee off again.  They will have to direct heal and it'll suck up their power over time.  Your interupt Taunt is also a great tool here.  They have slow cast times and if they have a reactive on this will not proc it.  Interupt that bugger heh.  The only issue here is that its difficult to tell when the reactive is off......counting down in yer head is partly effective but there are no gaurantees. 

 

if you go hardocre dueling it would be hellah fun to have sets of eq for specific classes.....for example finding all the high divine defense eq and then taking on a healer heh.

 

Also...for coercer.  I really didn't have trouble with one that  duel'd.  He would stop me alot but once I got moving and landed Vanquish it was pretty much over.  Vanquish + Frenzy + Stunning Cry + (insert big damage here).  I then toss in a whirlwind for the stun and knockdown (good range on this one heh)

[cr0wangel]

I wanted to know what the taunts are used for in PvP? Except for their interupt ability, taunts do no damage so they are not really useful in PvP right? Also I wanted to know if some of you try to do HO in PvP or if this is useless? Thank you

[kr8ztwin]

I only use the interupt taunt.  Also, I do use HO's and my initial attack is Vanquish, HO starter, Frenzy, (non interupt damage skill), Taunt for interupt (vanquish stun wore off by then), then wait for casting if caster then use damage+interupt. 

 

After this I proceed to place my interupts and stuns accordingly.  Stunning Cry and Whirlwind when useable.  The fights are usually over by this time. 

 

 

Of course other ppl have solid tactis as well so the trick is to land that vanquish and take control of the fight early on.  Now perma stun isn't an option because stunning cry has a very short duration and vanquisha nd stunning cry have slow recast.  Your main methodology will be constant interupts and high damage following your unnber stun frenzy. 

[MillsFairchild]

Oh, something else I thought of... Offending Defense.  Does anyone else use this when you duel? I try to use it, and toggle it on and off when needed (like, when a Paladin hits me with some knockback and doesn't come chasing right away).  Only problem is, it costs power each time you recast it.  So, I sugguest if you're going to use it when dueling fighters to try and get your back up against a wall.  It'll keep you from being thrown around and you shouldn't have to keep taking it off to reposition yourself.

[kr8ztwin]

I use it vs other melee classes.  Its a deathtrap vs roots and scouts that fight from a istance.  If you are quick with it you can toss it on whenever someone comes into close quarters but I tend to just skip it heh.