Here is my 6th Warrior PVP video, continuing as 1H Riftblade / Paladin:
This HD video is narrated footage of my level 35 Warrior in the Whitefall Steppes warfront in the MMORPG Rift. I queued for the warfront with Gaardarun, a 31 Paragon/Champion-spec’d Warrior.
I racked up 28 killing blows (a personal best) as we pulled out a victory in the last 30 seconds when Gaardarun made a clutch cap.
My intent for posting these videos is to provide helpful tips and tactics for other players of the same class / spec. That said, I do have a concern when posting a video like this, especially one where I am on a killing spree, is that they will be used as “proof” that a given class/spec is overpowered.
Before you make claims of imbalance, consider the following:
- I *do not* typically score 28 kb’s in a warfront. The norm for me is around 8-15 kb’s per match, depending on the quality and comps of players on both sides.
- I more than doubled the kb’s of two 36 Warriors *combined*:
– Buliwyf 2H 36 Warrior: 3rd damage, 11 kb’s, 5 deaths
– Nuircala 1H 36 Warrior: 5th damage, 1 kb, 7 deaths, 1 flag return
– Taugrim 1H 35 Warrior: 1st damage, 28 kb’s, 3 deaths, 1 flag return
If you remove me from the scoreboard table, there was fairly reasonable balance across DPS classes. - Some of my opponents simply weren’t particularly skilled or geared, which made them easy targets to finish.
Here is the 1H Riftblade/Paladin used in the video:
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cLhg.xrs0dsMrtzz.xrozo
If you are looking for my macros, check out the skeleton draft version of the Riftblade Warrior Guide.
If you have questions/comments/feedback, post ’em!
Taugrim's MMO Blog 
I haven’t watched the video yet (I’m at work and can’t), but I was wondering what sort of gear you’re sporting, Taugrim. I know you had some crafted stuff earlier–are you in a mixture of crafted and quest rewards? Do you have any specific PvP gear yet? Also, are you planning on getting the Vindicator soul anytime soon?
At the rate I’m going, your cleric will hit 50 before my mage does. -_- It’s hard to find time to play between a recent promotion, a parent having surgery to remove cancer, and house sitting for a friend. Hopefully stuff is settling down soon, so I’ll be able to get Doan’s other souls (Elementalist/Pyromancer/Stormcaller was really not a great idea for my first three souls) and start messing around with some mage builds. It seems like most of the information out there is for warriors and clerics so far–if you (or any of the readers!) have some decent mage resources, I’d love to see them. That way I’m not reinventing the wheel when I sit down and mess with different specs and ideas.
I know you had some crafted stuff earlier–are you in a mixture of crafted and quest rewards? Do you have any specific PvP gear yet?
At level 35, here’s my gear setup:
– blue PVP gear, with the exception of the Whitefall Steppes faction
– no blue planar gear yet from the Droughtlands zone (I haven’t done enough Rifts yet)
– some quest greens for slots
– crafted green armor for the rest of the slots
It’s hard to find time to play between a recent promotion, a parent having surgery to remove cancer, and house sitting for a friend
Grats on your promotion. I hope the surgery is successful and that your parent recovers swiftly.
It seems like most of the information out there is for warriors and clerics so far–if you (or any of the readers!) have some decent mage resources, I’d love to see them
I am almost completely ignorant when it comes to Mage specs.
I’ve been spending most of my time learning Warrior, and to a much shallower extent familiarizing myself with the Cleric trees.
“I have to resist the temptation to roll another spec and show how to beat Warriors”
With all due respect, I was just thinking that was a bit of an arrogant comment?
How can you think you will be instantly able to beat Warriors (I.E Champ or RB – the more popular ones) when you roll another toon?
You said it yourself that “I am almost completely ignorant when it comes to Mage specs”
I take pride in trying to know nearly every single ability in the game no matter the class;
If someone is channelling Soul Purge on you, how do you know how do counter it and be effective?
What is going to happen if a Shaman grows in size?
What’s going on if you’re bursting a Nightblade and he isn’t taking any damage?
You NEED to know every single ability in any MMO to competitively play in PvP.
You’re ‘gimping’ yourself by being ignorant of others abilities, specs and so on.
Maybe certain specs are too much of a cakewalk for some people that they don’t have to do the research?
Some food for thought.
“I have to resist the temptation to roll another spec and show how to beat Warriors”
With all due respect, I was just thinking that was a bit of an arrogant comment?
How can you think you will be instantly able to beat Warriors (I.E Champ or RB – the more popular ones) when you roll another toon?
This is not a slight to other players, including you, so don’t take it personally.
80+% of what people have told me was not possible in PVP is in fact possible, if you figure out to solve the problem creatively.
Here are some examples:
1. When I played LOTRO Creepside back in 2008, there were almost no Orc Reavers to be found in raids.
Most of the veteran Creeps with the exception of 1 Creep had “retired” their Reavers to play other classes (esp Warg and either healer class), since the popular opinion was that Reavers were fun but weak in PVP.
I went against the grain and spec’d my Reaver for survivability instead of DPS, and I was able to play as a tank-DPS, rack up kills, and survive some gnarly fights.
I was also able to kill a lot of Freep classes 1v1, including the best Champs/Guardians/etc from the other side. Ask Shadazar in our guild in Rift. He was far and away one of the best Guardians (Warzdak) on Landroval, and I watched him taking down multiple Creeps at the same time. But I could take him 1v1 with my Reaver, and after I beat him he said that was something that had never happened.
In the span of about 6 weeks there went from being 0-1 Reavers per raid to 2-4, partly because I started leading raids or acting as the focus-fire target picker, and people got to see a different way of specing that was very effective. I got some old-school Creeps to un-retire their Reavers (e.g. Maggotstew) and try to play them differently, to very good effect.
2. in November 2008 in WAR, 2 months after launch, I decided to switch from RDPS (Bright Wizard) to a tank, because Order faction and my guild badly needed one.
The obvious choice was Ironbreaker, which was an incredibly strong class. I had already played one to around level 20. I like many people thought Swordmaster was very weak relative to IB, Black Orc, and Chosen.
But I decided for the heck of it to roll an SM, and I figured out by level 10 that SM was actually quite functional, despite the lack of CC compared to IB, BO, and Chosen.
My guild mates were very surprised at the killing blow and damage numbers I was putting up in scenarios (battlegrounds) – literally double any other SM and more than “stronger” classes.
The secret? I played my SM to the strengths of its 1H mechanics. I did not play 2H spec while leveling like everyone else did.
I could give you other examples, but in my experience I have been able to have success playing with classes that the “majority” said weren’t that good.
Granted RB is not a weak class – it’s a very well-rounded class at least before 50 (at which point it will be interesting to see as its abilities do not scale well).
You NEED to know every single ability in any MMO to competitively play in PvP.
You’re ‘gimping’ yourself by being ignorant of others abilities, specs and so on.
Maybe certain specs are too much of a cakewalk for some people that they don’t have to do the research?
Hmm…
I’ve never played the majority of other classes in any game – I don’t have time for it. Nor have I spent much time reading all the abilities that other classes use. Again, I simply don’t have the time.
I end up learning the capabilities of other classes gradually, enough to be able to fight with or against them.
This has been the case in every game I have played.
You have stated to me on Skype that “you are going to get nerfed into the ground” but my simply response to that is this: do you believe that what you see from me is the appropriate benchmark to gauge the strength of a class?
I don’t, because I can’t objectively tell you I am an average player.
Is that arrogant? Some people would say so.
I do know that I do not exhibit some of the hallmarks of an arrogant player, who would typically be a condescending prick on forums and blogs and in-game to their opponents and allies.
You make some good points mate.
I know all about playing under used classes or specs too but I won’t go into detail.
I understand you have major time constraints and other stuff too.
To try and answer your question.
What you’re showing in your videos is what a fantastic group player with good synergistic value (yes, I said that) can do with a ‘better off’ class.
Now you’re being modest!
The Riftblade is strong, there is no doubt (at least in your level range) but the main reason you put up good numbers is that you *remain active*, are aware of your surroundings,and move accordingly.
These are things that benefit any class, but they are also things that can’t really be taught IMO. These are intangibles and you probably do these things without really even thinking about it.
Ever watch your clips and see something you did that was really good but you didn’t even realize you were doing it *as* you were playing?
What Cas is talking about is also very important of course. It is more technical, but is something that can be learned. However, it’s going to take time to learn all class abilities AND their animations and sounds. Hell, there are a lot of souls I haven’t encountered solo yet. I might know the name of the ability from researching the trees, but I have no idea what it looks like or sounds like and that is important if you expect to be able to react and counter the ability.
Also, you have to be careful when trying to gauge a soul’s power. What is powerful now, might not be so powerful at 50 when people are geared and have better builds themselves. From what I’ve seen there are other warrior builds that look more OPish at 50 than the Riftblade.
Brings back memories of following Maggotstew in a LOTRO Creep raid against the Freeps!!! So fun! I loved the high survival Reavers.
I may check out Rift pretty soon. Been playing League of Legends for a change, haha. Waiting on Guild Wars 2 and maybe SWTOR.
Yo Nam, long time :)
Rift rocks, simply put.
If you decide to play, for US RP-PVP servers you have Sunrest (a lot of ex-Phoenix Throne WAR players there) or Harrow, where I have rolled and other people who know me from WoW or from my blogging.
It would be awesome to play with you again. We have a good group of players and are having a blast.
Which are the most important stats to gear your Riftblade/Pally for?
My current speculation:
PVP: Endurance + Dex/Crit
PVE: Dex/Crit + Endurance
I know Pyromancer does well when you get up to Pyromancers Armour, near the top.
Warlock/Necro does okay.
Dominators are held in high regard and you will annoy the hell/render Clerics useless in seconds.
I played a mage up to 26, mainly a Warlock Necrc, with some Dom for instant casts and transmogrify and my opinion is that their simply too squishy. Some of this has to do with armor, which I dont think mages should be stacking plate, but like Taugrim demonstrated in his video its very easy to move behind a static target and burn them down in short order.
Add to that mages do not have a bevy of instant casts, and fewer off the GC, they routinely get closed upon and behind. I had some very nice results from the Warlock, but his hardest hitting nuke; Void Bolt had a 1.5 sec CT.
Your damage numbers can really top the charts, but it coems in the from of AoE damage which is easily negated by bards and clerics. On top fo that many of your most powerful abilites are channeled, rooting you in place and prectically screaming for a warrior or rogue to burn you down.
However the mage can be a terror when supported by a couple friends who can keep warriors and rogues at bay, and a healer who does good burst healing. Unfortuenly that is hard to achieve for a lot of people and hence the bad name mages are getting.
I’d like to see mages get a depletable damage sheild to help compensate for their squishyness. Nothing too outrageous but enough to keep the burst damage at bay and provide time to build charge enough to unleash some of the nastier charge ablities.
Great vid! Its WFs like that which call for the Unreal tournament sound effects… Multi Kill! Killing spree! Godlike! :P One minor point though, at the end you say RB is not a very popular spec, my experience is to the contrary, about a third of the warriors I meet are RB + something :P.
As I’m currently playing a MM rogue it is somewhat disheartening fighting RB warriors to find my spammable ranged attack is doing half of what theirs is. However I think there is a kind of sweet spot in terms of range where you I can hit them and they can’t hit me, its hard to find and maintain though. More practice required I guess.
One minor point though, at the end you say RB is not a very popular spec, my experience is to the contrary, about a third of the warriors I meet are RB + something
I think you misunderstood what I said.
RB/Pally is a very underrated spec, in particular the Pally component.
RB is a very popular tree.
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Do you think 34 points are needed in RB (I’m still experimenting so this certainly isn’t a rhetorical question)?
-How is Rift Storm?
-Do you use the two specialty spears enough to make use of 20sec cool-downs?
-How are Burning Blood and Elemental Deflection (good but better than what you could have in Pally)?
-Do you have enough energy without Elemental Flux? (At 15% chance to proc, on average that is 10 extra power every 6-8 seconds–3-4 seconds if you include instants and FB/RS ticks).
An update on mechanics:
Armor does appear to be working in PvP but a few tests have now consistently shown that armor penetration is broken. Both Champs and Sabs are hitting all targets for 100+% damage (when this is fixed Assassins should be a premier class since they already do great PvP burst and I’m pretty sure they aren’t benefiting unfairly from armor pen). Strength and dex work out to nearly identical DPS, which makes Dex a better stat in PvP since it gives us both burst and power. I’ve stuck to plate but focused on getting as much dex and phy-crit as possible.
Thanks for taking the time to post videos and commentary.
-How is Rift Storm?
Very good AOE damage, well worth 1 talent point.
-Do you use the two specialty spears enough to make use of 20sec cool-downs?
Absolutely.
-How are Burning Blood and Elemental Deflection (good but better than what you could have in Pally)?
These are basically acceptable talent fillers, nothing more.
-Do you have enough energy without Elemental Flux? (At 15% chance to proc, on average that is 10 extra power every 6-8 seconds–3-4 seconds if you include instants and FB/RS ticks).
That is an interesting idea, given that I have Planar Blade now.
I might try moving the 5 points from BB and ED into EF. Probably not, but maybe.
Strength and dex work out to nearly identical DPS, which makes Dex a better stat in PvP since it gives us both burst and power
For Riftblade, given that damage does not scale much with stats, Dex seems like the better choice, and it synergizes with Planar Blade.
Was hoping to get your thought on the elemental flux talent. Would dropping one point into it be worth it?
EF is garbage if the only blade spell you have is Storm Blade. The damage proc of SB (weapon damage over 6 seconds) is very weak.
However, if you have Planar Blade or Blade of Elem Affinity, I can see an argument for taking EF.
That being said, I plan to stop my investment in RB @ 38 points, to get Rift Strike, and because I don’t have to “waste” any valuable points on underwhelming talents.
Hey Taugrim, I had followed your videos back in Warhammer on your swordmaster and now this :D I appreciate all the information you’re giving me for my warrior. I was wondering one thing, what is your leveling build like and if you have decided to how your PVP build will look like at 50?
Um, this is my leveling build :)
I’m not clear what my build will look like at 50 as I am unclear how hard it is to earn talents points after reaching 50.
But I’m planning on sticking with RB/Pally with enough points in Vindicator to max out Improved Guard.
Most definitely. I’m leveling with that build as well and the AoE is insane now that we got Rift Storm and all of our other abilities. On top of that, we have the CC/Survivability with the pally IT’S AWESOME!!
Just noticed this on the forums, its worth a look: http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?135656-Upcoming-Balance-changes-vs-Hot-fixes.
Seems Trion are listening to their customers, which I imagine is a new experience for most :P. Good to see.
Thoughts?
I think Trion is taking a savvy approach by clearly framing the distinction between Hotfixes and Class Balance Changes.
I don’t know what the specific changes are, but my gut feeling is that they’re looking at the right things.
Thanks for linking the thread!
Yeah, it looks like they know what needs looking at.
People have been testing a few things and it seems some of the maths is a bit out of whack – e.g damage reductions stacking additively, armour penetration working additively in some cases and not in others. Hopefully Trion will make sure to address these issues so future balance changes aren’t built on shaky foundations.
As you have pointed out, Trion have launched a very polished game and seem to be looking after it well, so I have confidence in them making the right decisions for the game and its customers.
Also, wasn’t Gershowitz on the WAR dev team?
The new notes are out.. at least the “alpha” notes..
http://www.riftjunkies.com/2011/03/23/alpha-1-1-patch-notes/
Thanks for posting :)
A guildee did provide a link to the same content on another site (http://pastebin.com/wr5HfYyB) which I tweeted last night.
I’m going to continue to use Twitter for brief updates on Rift, and I’ll use my blog here for the “meatier” content I want to share and comment on.
Thanks again!
Read the patch notes. Rift Blade did not escpe unscathed with the cooldown to Flamespear being the biggest hit IMO. Im not panicking however. I rarely used Rift Surge more than once every 30 anyways.
My plan so far to keep my long range punch is to macro all my spear ablities together with Flamespear leading it. That will simulate my ranged ablities before the cooldown nerf. Of course I will have to fully invest in Unrelenting to achieve this.
I think the days of ranged DPS riftblades are coming to an end, but we still have a lot of punch at range.
And at least the Paragon got the same nerf :)
My plan so far to keep my long range punch is to macro all my spear ablities together with Flamespear leading it. That will simulate my ranged ablities before the cooldown nerf
I will be doing something similar by adding the Pally Shield Throw ability after the Flamespear in my spam macro.
Our ranged DPS and AtPts generation will go down a bit from range, but given that I actually play my RB/Pally as a MDPS, the FS nerf is not going to affect me much.
I rarely used Rift Surge more than once every 30 anyways.
I used RS a lot. I think that extending the cooldown from 10 to 30 seconds, but I am unclear about the remove curse mechanic that was also added – is that a Cleanse? If RS is Cleansable and on a 30-sec cooldown, it will be much harder to take down Healers.
Speaking of Healers, I have a level 12 Justicar/Sham/Druid melee Cleric and now I am wondering how the heck I was able to kill melee Clerics as much as I have as RB/Pally. Even at level 12, my Cleric can tank incredibly well in PVP. Much higher-level level players struggle to kill me.
Right I was just looking at sheild throw the other day, im going to have to incorperate that into my roatation. Im curious if it will deliever our burst attacks like the spear ablities.
As far as healers go I think I will be expiermenting with Void Knight as a way to burn down clerics mana pool as a way to reduce their healing.
I think with the overall buffing that mages are getting, its going to be a challenge to consistently down them. Our decrease in AP generation, combined with thier attack and defense buffs is going to make it hard for us to pressure them. Getting to higher levels now, im finding that im almost constantly snared, stunned or rooted, usually multiple times a fight. Riftwalk isnt going t get the job done alone, I think I need to look to adding more break out ablities going forward.
Right I was just looking at sheild throw the other day, im going to have to incorperate that into my roatation. Im curious if it will deliever our burst attacks like the spear ablities
My understanding is that any ability, regardless of tree, will trigger an already-cast Burst ability.
So we should be fine there.
Riftwalk isnt going t get the job done alone, I think I need to look to adding more break out ablities going forward.
Pally gets a CC breaker and a Shield Charge – that should help.
Now that I am level 38, I’ve finished my 38-point investment in Riftblade tree to get Rift Strike, I’m and thinking of putting at least 20 in Pally to get Shield Charge, Disarm, and AOE HP buff:
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cLhg.xGs0dsMGtdz.xgouok
hey watched all you videos and loved them, big fan of the way you use Endurance and paladin abilities while maintaining a very destructive arsenal of damage.
I don’t know how much you know about other warrior classes but I was looking into a similar combat style but instead of rift blade, was considering champion, I know that champions usually use a two handed weapon but i found that the utility of their reduce healing, and punt as you call it are looking extremely useful in terms of pvp, but i would really like to use sword and board for the survivability. Any ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated.
I haven’t tried Champ, but it’s commonly paired with Paragon at endgame for the massive CC.
Champ is a 2H spec and therefore the benefits of the weapon damage aren’t enjoyed as much with Riftblade abilities.
Important balance update: flamespear to have a 4 second cooldown.
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthread.php?140020-Balance-Update-25th-March-2011
Thanks Oozo!
I think 4 seconds sounds about right. Riftblade can no longer spam from range, but there will be solid ranged capability for both building AtPts as well as dealing damage.
Good for Trion.
As I’ve said elsewhere I think Rift Surge is overnerfed, but I’ll wait and see how it looks.
I’m still confident my particular spec will be quite viable.
Btw, I just got some great footage. Two jackass level 40 Warriors tried to gank me @ level 38.
Score: me 2, them 0.
Hey there
I really valued your advise as a prot pally in WOW. But now you have moved to rift I thought I would give that a go. With the new nerf to Prots in Wow it was easy to make the switch. Glad I did. Following your every word!
With the new nerf to Prots in Wow it was easy to make the switch. Glad I did. Following your every word!
So what are your thoughts on Rift so far? Is it meeting or exceeding your expectations?
I’m still enjoying myself, and the nice thing is I don’t feel “rushed” to get to endgame. I’m not sure exactly why that is, but the leveling process has been relatively more enjoyable than other games. I think it partly has to do with the ease of finding PVP, either in warfronts or in the World.
Hey Taugrim,
Found a sneaky/dirty trick for Warfronts that anyone can use. Apparently you can target and kill non-combat pets. With the average PVPer and their reliance on tab-targeting, there’s a pretty good chance that they’ll target your pet instead of you, buying you a extra GCD to unload death on them.
I’ve had my pet killed a few times in PVP now, so I’ve seen it work a few times. Pretty neat.