This HD video is narrated PVP footage of my level 50 Rank 3 Warrior in the MMORPG Rift in Patch 1.11.
The video includes multiple 1v1s, a chain 1v1, and 1v2s against various opponents from my battlegroup:
- Assassin Rogue
- Champion Warrior then Riftblade/Paladin Warrior
- Riftblade/Champion/Paragon Warrior + Marksman Rogue
- Pyromancer/Archon Mage
- Pyromancer/Dominator Mage (+ 2 Assassin Rogues)
- Pyromancer Mage
- Warlock Mage
- Warlock/Necromancer Mage + Assassin Rogue
- Assasin Rogue + Champion Warrior (+ Marksman Rogue)
- 1H Justicar Cleric
- 2H Shaman/Justicar R5 Cleric
Here is the 1H Riftblade/Paladin / Vindicator spec used in the video:
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cLht.eGo0dsMGtdz.xxouos0o.i
Tips / Comments
- For bubble-capping, you should try to build up to 3 AtPts and then use Reverent Protection + Stoneshield right before clicking the flag to maximize your chance of a successful pickup
- If a Pyro Mage does not have Ground of Strength up, it’s sometimes advisable to not interrupt a Fireball cast because if they’re spec’d into Archon tree’s Double Tap, you’re giving them the opportunity to instantly cast GoS
- In terms of Planar Essences, for boosting survivability I recommend Corrupting Faesource and Crystallized Stonesource
- Effective kite-strafing and circle-strafing technique can give you an significant advantage against other players, as demonstrated in the first clip against the Assassin Rogue. After the Rogue’s opening stunlock, I did not give up my back to the Assasin Rogue for the remainder of the fight and was able to consistently gap him using CC, CC counters, and strafing. For information on strafing, please check out my video guide on strafing and keybinding setup
If you have feedback/comments/questions, please post ’em below.
Taugrim's MMO Blog 
Did that guy yell ‘kill me’ the entire game of the codex at 5:00?
LOL. Initially I thought he was just another idiot with an annoying yell macro in a warfront, but it turns out he was stuck and couldn’t move.
Did you just pick-up a Divine Defender (epic 1h tank mace)? I use your present spec at rank 2 and was considering that mace for the defensive stats. Only downside is the lack of +physical crit since our abilities don’t seem to scale with strength or dexterity.
Yes, I picked up the tanking mace over the weekend.
http://rift.zam.com/en/item/BCD7FB7301010101/Focus-of-Second-Chances
a trinket that some might think worth getting. has a very regular drop in Expert IT, I recommend it.
I see that you’ve changed some of your macros, what is Focus,Last, Aoe Bij and Bow?
Your advise on macro(build AtPts) has been very helpfull thx. Love the vids.
Another great video Taugrim! Brutally close fight against that other Riftblade, very tense, good show! :D
I was wondering if you had any opinions about the patch that is currently in the works. There are a LOT of changes, and more keep getting added! The CC reworking is huge by itself, but adding on all the changes to various souls/classes/gear (valour) it seems like we may be playing a very different game soon. I can’t say I’m a big fan of mega patches such as this one, I would much prefer smaller, more regular, incremental steps. This somewhat blunt approach to balancing seems at odds to Trions previous patches (which I quite liked). The sheer number of Rogue buffs are insane, and imo in plenty of cases completely unnecessary.
I thought that Trion might have finally been an MMO company with a good approach to balancing, but this current patch smacks of the first death drop in an everlasting rollercoaster of nerf/buff balancing. I sincerely hope I’m proved wrong.
I was wondering if you had any opinions about the patch that is currently in the works
I am intrigued by the VK changes, it might make a worthy secondary tree for PVP.
The CC reworking is huge by itself, but adding on all the changes to various souls/classes/gear (valour) it seems like we may be playing a very different game soon.
The addition of Valor gear seems unnecessary to me, but I am glad that Valor gear is being made available at lower ranks, which should help fresh 50s.
This somewhat blunt approach to balancing seems at odds to Trions previous patches (which I quite liked).
1.2 in terms of scale of changes seems on-par with 1.1. The main thing is the game has only been live for 10 weeks or so.
Taugrim, I’d love to have a post on what specs you are thinking about for alts.
I’ve tried mages but the gameplay doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve tried rogues and clerics but haven’t settled on a good pvp spec.
In particular tho, since you are a famed rift warrior, I think alternative rift warrior specs would be an awesome topic to post for you. I’ve loved your pal/rb spec, but the honest truth is that I am at heart a 2hr champion type. I can’t stand the idea of dual wielding, i.e. paragon, but it seems everyone assumes they go together. I’d like to find a way to make champion 2hr work, but I just can’t do it at anything other than high end gear levels. Your take on alternate warrior specs – even if you just think they are interesting and have potential would be an awesome post.
The best part of Rift is the amazingly flexible soul system, and puzzling over all the specs. Share some of your insight into whats interesting for warriors!
Champion is great paired with paragon whilst still using a 2 hander. It’s the follow ups and crit boost with SLI that make it worthwhile. Keep in mind tho, it sux defensively. U just get blown up quick.
I’ve been playing around with a 51 RB/ 15 Paragon/ 0 Vind I was intending to use strictly as a PvE DPS build. I found it very useful in PvP. The burst damage from your bursts(sic) is quite noticable when paired with SLI. I found I had to use Blade of Elemental affinty to give me a little more staying power but you still have a good range of CC, path of the wind and raptor give you two more 4 sec cd ranged attacks to pair with flamespear to keep at range and kite melees and you can get in close and burst down clothies and rogues. Take some getting used to as MM and mages can really hurt you due to lack of the shield and hps. Its fun for now, though I’d liek to try moving some points out o Avatar of the Rift and go more into paragon or vindi.
51 Riftblade/15 Paragon/0 Vindicator is exactly what i’ve been using for PvP for quite a while now too. I found that it’s utility in a group situation is much more versatile than the build that Taugrim uses – whilst I leveled using Rb/pally, I pretty much just use that for rift farming now.
I do however still use Sword and Board with the 51 Riftblade build, because i found that my survivability really didn’t decrease dramatically with it, it just helped me finely tune the way i PvP. I am also hitting for 1.5k burst crits, ~800 Rift Surge crits (which is a rogue killer!) and ~500 Flame Burst crits per tick, and thats only with P3 gear. I’ll be intrigued to see how the proposed changes to the scaling of Avatar of the Rift, as well as things like Valor, will effect the viability of this build.
Nice to see you’re still enjoying Rift and haven’t fallen in line with the complainers Taugrim! :)
James
I do however still use Sword and Board with the 51 Riftblade build, because i found that my survivability really didn’t decrease dramatically with it
Hey James, not following you here. Is this what you mean to say?
1.5k burst crits, ~800 Rift Surge crits (which is a rogue killer!) and ~500 Flame Burst crits per tick, and thats only with P3 gear
One thing: AotR has no effect on Rift Surge AFAIK. It only buffs Elemental Burst abilities.
Sorry, what i meant to say was that when i changed from Riftblade/Pally to 51 Riftblade/Para, i kept using a 1 hander and a shield, beause that way my survivability didn’t dramatically decrease, and my damage was still high.
Yeah i know AotR doesn’t affect Rift Surge, i just included that because it makes me laugh when i get jumped by a Rogue or two :)
Hey mate. Love your vids, very informative, followed them since pally days on WoW. A little off topic considering this is about your champs :) but I was wondering if you or anyone in the community know dalla’s spec?
Ozsa, something smiliar to this:http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=00nrj.Ved0tM.euMooec0o.E0L
Though Dalla appears to have a few more points in the shaman tree, as she opened with Battle charge:) This is my spec on my cleric, have tried it out a few times and seems to be effective, slow but sure.
Thanks so much for your build. People may laugh but I’ve been using this for pve also and I love it. I’m a creature of habit so I only have two builds right now. Yours for pvp and pve and Pally/Warlord for tanking dungeons.
Sorry, forgot to add I use same build with 5 points in Reaver for pve and pvp.
Hey Taugrim! Love your videos and blog. Its what has convinced my friend and I to play Rift. We will be rolling healer/dps with our focus on PvP in this game. I am wondering if you would recommend a different build with a dedicated pocket healer?
First impressions of 1.2…… Not good. My dmg is probably up against rank 1’s but after that it seems negligible. My rank 3 rogue mate can consistently burn through my 7k hp before I getout of the stunlock. Insta death (51 pt assassin). Hurts and now the stonespear/windspear and stun are on same DR.
Paravain im having an opposite expierence than you are. Are you running Taugrim’s RB/PAL/Vindi build or a different one. I am running 38 RB/16 Pal/ 12 Par. The points in paragon have really increased my DPS while I havent sacrificed much in defense capablity. The 3% increase to critical hit and an extra ranged attack paired with SLI means I can keep consistent damage on target, even if their a MM. The true strength of the build is y 2 points into Weapon Mastery in the paragon tree. it allows me to quickly build AP, and coupled with SLI I can burst down healers in many cases, or at the least pressure them into giving up heals on their group.
I noticed big increase on the damage mitigation of Valor gear. All my equipment haas seen an upgrade. I have seen a mysterious drop in my health, I can only assume that it comes from a reduction in endurance from Valor gear. I think the game play more failrly now. The changes with Pyros, Step into Shadows, and Defer Death make some of the cheap build less exploitative now, but they still have utility.
Nice videos, love the Paladin/Riftblade combo… You reckon that 1.2 still makes it viable with the CC change. I find myself less effective but everyone says it effects them the same. Your opinions?
Nice videos, love the Paladin/Riftblade combo… You reckon that 1.2 still makes it viable with the CC change
The CC immunity has changed the dynamics of PVP. As such, CCs are not as powerful/useful as they were pre-1.2. That being said, ranged capability such as what RB has is even more valuable now IMO, because any class can kite.
About 10 days before 1.2 launched, I had been experimenting with an 11-pt VK build (38 RB / 17 Pally / 11 VK), and given some of the changes to VK, I am now running with the following 32 RB / 18 VK / 16 Pally build:
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cLgh.ehs0bsMMtz.xf0ac.xLouoo
I’m collecting footage and when I have enough good clips, I’ll post a video.
That’s an interestering build. I usually see the 18 VK in phyiscal damage specs to get the 50% Str boost proc with full pacts. Are you moving reckless strike and Devouring blow into your roataion to pressure casters? The 50% str also is a boon to your Block % so i can see big defensive gains there as well.
Have you lost any DPS with the loss of Riftstrike?
I have a hard time parting with it in any RB build. If your not seeing a significant decrease in DPS, those 6 points can really be useful elsewhere. This build seems to be a nice caster pressure build using mana drain/purge/cc.
Are you moving reckless strike and Devouring blow into your roataion to pressure casters?
Reckless Strike even with 10 Pacts does less damage than Searing Strike, and Reckless Strike is Physical damage. So the mechanics favor Searing Strike.
Have you lost any DPS with the loss of Riftstrike?
VK Str buff provides a nice DPS increase, along with Discharge and Ragestorm which are great abilities.
The biggest issue with not having Rift Strike is the loss of 5% Crit, which causes Planar Blade not to proc as much, leading to Power starvation.
I became very interested in your blog in 4.06 when you were playing your prot paladin in pvp, I was however very disappoinred when I came back to check in on how you were handling the wog in 4.1. I found it really sad to see you left the game right when things became a little more challenging, im not sure if it just happened to be coincidence that you left right at that point or if you just felt like you didnt have enough skill to play prot without the op wog. Hopefully you give 4.1 and prot pvp another chance and drop that stupid game (rift is supid, tried it) Lookinf forward to seeing you back in wow and see how you handle the real challenge.
I made the decision to de-sub from WoW right before 4.1 patch was announced.
I predicted people like you might misinterpret my motives, so I posted this:
….Speechless with that one Diiesel. You might want to re-read what you just said.
My main pvp (and pve) is your build of RB/Pally/Vind (only 5 points in vind though) I have been playing a VK/RB build with 40 points in vk to understand the dynamics of VK, and as much as I love some of the capabilities VK has (such as fusion of flesh or 6 sec immunity to magic dmg – yeah you have to see how that annoys pyros :) ) I found that I am doing less dmg as I am giving up riftstrike and the boost to burst dmg). I think putting 18 points into VK is going too deep just to get 50% increase in armor, which anyway doesnt really help against magical dmg, without really getting the good capabilities of VK like catalize or unstable reaction AND giving up great capabilities in Pally/RB. I still think RB/Pally is ideal with a great dps/survivability/CC balance. I want to explore moving 8 points from vindicator/pally, to VK to get the str bonus as this boosts DPS & block (as someone mentioned before). This means I am giving up the heals fro disarm and retaliation and giving up the bubble rev protection (which saved me so many times and helps cap). Tough choice :)
Dont advertise this spec it destroys my little squishy marksmen ;)
I’ve been pretty interested in Melee Clerics so far also, and I’ve read through your blog and I’m glad we share the same affinity towards them. Dalla’s build seems amazing, and I’m just starting Rift as a Cleric, but I was wondering if you knew her build, just for something to use as a example to build towards.
I personally really love this build, I find that it’s very well-rounded and versatile. I tested the champ/riftblade/paladin spec, but I found that my results were not as successful, even though I definitely abused battlefield intimidation and had lingering wounds to pack on damage to healers. I’m thinking about trying riftblade/paladin/vk since clerics seem to be the dominant calling on my battlegroup. The presence of well-geared clerics alone makes the difference of whether the opposing team wins or loses. Lingering wounds is invaluable, but I started to miss bubble caps and a near unlimited amount of cc breakers. Fear and squirrel seem to run rampant now and I find it hitting me a lot, even with the new DR system.
Oh and I hope they release the hotfix for riftblades soon – bursts don’t proc on any of the melee attacks I use except aggressive block. :(
macros pls.