Basic Scenario Tactics

I am never really sure the value of "winning" the respective scenarios but I try to compulsively, even at the expense of my own numbers. As a result though, I am always looking for ways to get the tactical advantage. Here are a couple things (standard fare really) that I have found effective. (T1 & T2)

1. If there are flags, be on one.
Defense = on your flag
Offense = on their flag
With a clarification that around ≠ on, that only on = on.
If you are ranged, then be at your minimum range, and when you are hurt, don't run away. Stay on the objective.

2. Be Offense or be defense or switch between. Know which one you are at each moment and then see tactic 1.

3. Don't retreat to their objective. If you are losing a fight, running to the place where they get to capture your flag, or attack the relic holder etc. is probably not the best place to die.

4. "/sc Help our flag" , "/sc flag unguarded" etc. Meaning communicate.

5. Telling the rest of your team they suck (or equivalent) never helps. And by that I mean it never helps. Never. It never helps. Ever.

6. If a healer isn't healing you, there is a reason. Asking for heals mid fray is not going to help. If you are the fc, or the rc, say so. Macro "/sc fc is dying" or the like. And yelling at healers for not healing you . . . see tacic 5.

7. Establish the running game early. Make sure you have at least some offense going after objectives. This prevents them from dedicating their entire group on offense. In Nordwatch, sending one or two to Barracks or Lighthouse respectively will pull forces from the fortress. In Phoenix, I always do a ninja flag run right off the bat, just to let them know they are going to need defense.

8. Attack healers. I don't think I have ever killed any healer outright (not including hybrids) but hitting them limits the amount they can heal their defensive target. And ironically they seem to always run away even though I am not really a threat to them.

9. Dog race. When a large opposing force is approaching an objective, I will often charge into, then through them. I am constantly amazed how often this pulls half or more of their offense with me, and I will lead them right back to where they started. If a few teammates follow, this can easily result in a capture or cap.

10. If you are part of a large offensive, don't go chasing the one guy who charges into, then through you.

I know there are many other tactics and I hope folks will add and if they like rebut. I intentionally didn't mention turtling. Even though it may be effective its kind of cheap and more than a little boring. I don't join RVR matches to avoid RVR.

Realm vs. Realm (RvR) in Warhammer Online

One of the more unique features of Warhammer online is it's Realm vs Realm system pitting players against each other in meaningful PvP combat. Fighting for control of territory across the entire game, each contribution adds to the whole ending in a siege of one sides capital city. If you haven't had what we'd like to call "pleasant" experiences with player vs player or are new then we are here to help. We'll examine the elements of what RvR is, what tactics you can use to keep yourself alive longer, and how you can participate in the overall fight.

What is RvR?
Realm vs Realm content is a unique form of play that has only been seen in Dark Age of Camelot before. Mythic Entertainment states the following in their FAQ:

"Realm vs. Realm, or RvR, is a term trademarked by Mythic during the development of Dark Age of Camelot. RvR is team-based Player vs. Player (PVP) game-play where each realm works together toward a common goal. Players choose a side by selecting a race and, in the case of Warhammer online, they battle it out in areas and work toward goals provided by the game, including Scenarios, Keep Siege, and City Siege. It means that a player never has to fight alone because there is always an army of allies that has his back. Players can choose to level up in RvR areas, or stay in safer, Player vs. Environment (PvE) areas until they are ready to jump into the real battles of Warhammer online."

That is a pretty good definition, but the most important component of that is this is not a one on one PvP system. There isn't a significant advantage for one player to fight on their own and in most situations that would put them in a severe disadvantage. There is strength in numbers and large groups are pushed to certain areas of the game. While there are scenarios which will put a set number of players against each other, these aren't arena fights where it's five vs five. The RvR areas are completely open combat and can contain theoretically dozens of people.

What Benefits do I get from RvR?
Ignoring that RvR combat is the cornerstone of the game and the entire purpose of your existence in Warhammer online is to participate, let's look at what RvR can do for you. First is the Renown gear made available based on your rank. Renown gear merchants are located across the land allowing players to purchase, for a nominal fee, equipment unavailable elsewhere. Now granted, early on you can work your way up through PvE and Chapter quests for comparable gear, but the level requirements are higher. The Renown gear is always available to you earlier so there is always that motivation.

It's almost important to remember that you will have 80 Renown Ranks meaning PvE gear is only going to get you so far. Mythic has stated the best gear is always available from RvR and while it won't give players an overwhelming advantage, it will be noticeable. If that isn't enough? All the cool kids will be doing it.

If you are participating in a guild, this is also a great way to increase your rank effectively. One of the major benefits of Guild rank provides a Battle Standard which can be carried on the field. This Standard can give all sorts of bonuses to things like damage and experience depending on the guild preferences.

How Does my Side Win?
Nobody likes a grind, and Warhammer online has an ultimate RvR goal for Destruction and Order players that should alleviate that. The sieging of a capital city is the end game and requires a series of victories throughout the different Tier zones. Not happening often it will require coordinated attacks that could take weeks to accomplish but provide unrivaled bragging rights to the winner.

What can you do? There are two ways you can contribute to your side as early as level 2 or 3. The first is helping take battlefield objectives on the battlefields in every Tier area. These are clearly marked on your map but are usually next to a warcamp hub. Taking all of them gives your side "control" of that area and a hefty bonus to your renown. The other is participating in scenarios which are quick 5-10 minute battles inside an instance and available from any location in the zone. You can join one by clicking the symbol next your mini map in the upper right corner.

Beginning in Tier 2, taking control of an area will require the siege of Keeps. Unoccupied Keeps have nothing more than meager enemy NPC's which guard the structure and end with a fight against the Keep Lord. Any large group can quickly break through the door and clear the building with little effort. Occupied however and siege equipment becomes available which can chew right through clumps of enemies and will provide a significantly harder fight.

Do I have to RvR All the Time?
Warhammer online has two different types of servers available for play. The first called Open, has no limitations on PvP other than the chicken system which keeps higher level players from ganking lower levels. The other called Core, provides clearly marked areas of RvR which start off small in first tier but increase as you get higher. Entering these areas will give you a brief warning then flag you for RvR meaning you can be killed by any flagged player even in safe areas. It is advisable you consider how much you want to PvP when selecting a server at launch. There will be safer areas such as cities in Open but in order to have a no gank PvP experience, you might want to choose Core.

There is only one other way you can be flagged for RvR which is by healing or assisting a flagged player. If their name is bolded in yellow carefully decide the risks in helping out as it only takes one Destruction player in hiding to punish you for being a Good Samaritan.

What do I need to know?
Now that you understand a few of the basic terms and how RvR works it's important to know just how you fit in. There are a few simple strategies and practices you can implement in your RvR gameplay that can increase your survival odds at least 300% (which is a number we just completely made up). While we can't guarantee success, all of the following are critical to playing effectively.

Groups
In traditional MMOG's we've all had "that" experience where you've been in a group so unbelievably horrible that you swore to never talk to strangers again no matter what kind of candy they had. Many of us have spent much of our time playing solo and only banding together with good friends to accomplish what we couldn't alone. While there will always be the poor groups and annoying experiences, Warhammer online is the first game in awhile to heavily encourage grouping.

Battlefield RvR is designed for large groups to duke it out over objectives. When solo, even if you are running around with others, there is a lack of cohesion inherent with disorganization. One group with a single objective can quickly route another twice it's size with little effort. This means you should certainly take every effort to join up with other people whenever possible. In areas with heavy activity you can usually find a Warband (group of 24) which is ideal for coordinating large scale assaults.

Battlefields
Every battlefield has certain variations setting it apart from all the others. First it is important to know the terrain. If you are playing on a core server, where are the lines that flag you for RvR? Where can you run for safety from the five people that decided to chase you? Are there mountains or rivers that will slow your progress? Where is the Warcamp that has quests, merchants, trainers, and everything else you could possibly need?

Finally, where are the objectives you need to capture? They could be in a town square that needs defense on 3 sides or in a building with only one way out. Where are the most tactical areas around them? Perhaps there is a roof you can jump on to fire down on invaders or a rock you can stand behind that obscures you a little. Knowing your way around the area is not only strategic but generally wise.

Know Your Class
This particular piece of advice cannot be stressed enough. It is of the utmost importance that you understand your class and it's role in battle. Countless groups have been torn apart because a healer charged into battle or a DPS got a little too anxious to fight. This isn't to say there won't be a learning curve as you start out, but if you hit Rank 40 and are still trying to go melee with a Bright Wizard, you might want to consider a different career choice.

Fortunately all of Warhammer online's classes fall into one of four categories: Tank, Healer, Melee DPS, and Ranged DPS. As a tank you should be on the front lines pulling attackers off your healers and making charges into the enemy lines. As a healer your role should be fairly clear, to keep everyone you possibly can alive including the casters and ranged DPS huddling around you. Melee DPS should pick their attacks carefully by hitting tanks who charge the lines or casters/healers standing off to the side. Ranged DPS is one of the most simple of all, stay back and keep shooting as long as possible.

Learn more about RvR in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

Squig Herder Overview

The squig herder is the ranged DPS class for the greenskins. Small and quick, his job is to slip in and lay some hurt on targets. With a squig at his side, the herder can tackle just about anything that gets thrown at him, given he's at the range to plink away with arrers. The class can be compared to in mechanics like the hunter class in daoc or in WoW, but has it's own unique abilities. Without learning how to become one with your squig, you can't unlock the full potential of the Squig Herder.

Squig Herder Masteries
This is your bread and butter line. It deals the most damage, and will be where most Squig Herders spend their points. This line specializes in stationary archery that can hit for big numbers. You'l need some good coordination with your squig as well as getting to know when to use your detaunt ability. You must be mindful however, that you do most of your damage sitting still, so be on the lookout always for any monsters (or players) that may be coming a little to close. The role of someone who specializes in Big Shootin is to pump out Big numbers for damage. In PvP, pick a target that's occupied with something, such as one concentrating on attacking. They'l notice much later that they're being hit than someone who is not engaged in combat. The gas squig from this specline gives a 10% bonus to range. Your primary skills used will be lots o shootin, Poisen Arrer and Plink.




The abilities granted through the Big shootin line are:

• 3 mastery: Aimin Quickly(tactic)- reduces the cooldown by 1 second on "Plink"


• 5 mastery: Shrapnel arrer- (2s cast, 10s recast)Hits your target doing X damage then doing Y DoT damage to enemies near the target


• 7 mastery: I Feelz your pain(tactic)- Critical hits will recover your action points by 50


• 9 mastery: Poison Arrer- (3s cast, 5s recast)Deals a large amount of corporeal damage to your target


• 11 mastery: Clever shootin(tactic)- All path of big shootin abilities cost 35% less Action points


• 13 mastery: Finish em off- Deals a large amount of damage if your target is below 20% health, or a small amount if they are not


• 15 mastery: Lots of shootin(rank 4 morale)- Deals an extreme amount of damage to all enemy targets near you

The abilities enhanced by mastery in the Big Shootin line are:

• Exploding Arrer- (2s cast, 10s recast) Does a small amount of damage to your target and those around it, then also hits them with a small DoT


• Choking Arrer- (1s cast, 30s recast)Deals a small amount of damage and silences your target for 5 seconds.


• Plink- (2s cast) Deals a moderate amount of damage to your target
  Lots o Arrers- (3s concentrated cast, 7s recast)You concentrate for 3 seconds on your target sending a barrage of arrows at them


• What Blocka?- (1.5s cast, 5s recast) An undefendable attack which deals a medium amount of damage.


• Gas Squig

Path of Stabbin'
Despite how the official description may sound, this mastery line has limited use. Squig herders have a low melee damage potential that is improved only moderately by spending mastery points. While melee may work out alright when you're doing pve and fighting some weakened monsters, getting into melee range of a MDPS in PVP means you're going to be eating dirt before know what happened. Squig herders have light armor, but the horned squig provides a 100% armor bonus effectively giving you about the absorbsion of medium armor. It's not a very good idea to engage a tank or mdps, especially if they see you coming. In pve and against light armor classes like the bright wizard, you can tear them up fairly quickly combined with your squig. The horned squig is powerful against melee damage and deals the 2nd highest damage of the squigs. Your squig is absolutely vital to your success, don't sacrifice it carelessly and always keep it by your side as if it's too far away your bonus disappears. You will have a multitude of quick attacks to use and your primary attacks will be Stabbity, cut ya, don't hit me, spin n slash and Drop That.


Path of Quick Shootin
This is the line of the mid range skirmisher. The benefits of this line can be most appreciated for the PvP oriented player. If you're planning to go solo or in a smaller 3-6 man group in pvp, this is the spec for you. This is just an unrivaled spec line for the pvp player. However, for it's great effectiveness in pvp, comes a cost for PvE. This line is not quite as useful in pve as the Big Shootin line, but it can work for group play. The role of someone who specializes in the Quick shootin line is moreso of a harasser than one putting out big damage. Your job is to fling around DoTs and snares as well as damage while you persist as a less deadly, but highly mobile threat. Abilities in this line are mostly instant cast or will continue to build while you are moving. This line is great for chasing down the enemy, as well as snaring enemies so your friends can get away(or so that your enemies can't). The spiked squig does the highest damage of all the pets and will help your damage. The learning curve for this spec is different than your average caster and may take time getting used to the kind of tactics and movement necessary instead of standing still and blasting. The spiked squig gives a 5% bonus to your critical hit rate. Your primary abilities used will be Stop runnin, Yer Bleedin, Run N Shoot and Shoot through ya.

The abilities granted through the Quick Shootin line are:

• 3 mastery: Splintering arrers(tactic)- Run N Shoot will now hit all enemies within 20 feet of your target


• 5 mastery: Run Away!-(instant cast, 45s recast) You command your squig to taunt all enemies near you, and knock yourself forward


• 7 mastery: The Waagh is Strong(tactic)- Increases duration of Yer bleedin to 24s, as well as the durations of Stop runnin and not so fast to 15s


• 9 mastery: Rotten Arrer- (instant cast, no recast) Deals a large amount of damage to your target over 9 seconds and incoming heals to them are 50% less effective. (usable only on a target that is ailing)


• 11 mastery: Shootin wif da wind(tactic)- All quick shootin abilities have their range increased by 50%


• 13 mastery: Behind Ya- (instant cast, 10s recast) You deal a moderate amount of damage to your target and they must be facing away from you


• 15 mastery: Arrer of Mork- (rank 4 morale) Deals a very large amount of amount of damage to all targets within 40 feet in front of you, then a very large amount of damage over 10 seconds..

The abilities enhanced by mastery in the Quick Shootin line are

• Stop Runnin: (1s cast, 2s recast)deals a small amount of damage to your target and snares them for 10s. Usable while moving


• Yer Bleedin: (instant cast)deals a moderate amount of damage over 15s to your target


• Run N Shoot: (1s cast)Deals a small amount of damage to your target. Usable while moving


• Not So Fast: (1s cast, 10s recast) Deals a small amount of damage and reduces your target's initiative for 10s. Usable while moving


• Shoot through ya: (2s cast) deals a moderate amount of damage to all enemies in front of you up to 65 feet away. Usable while moving


• Spiked Squig

Note about masteries:
Mastery abilities must first be unlocked. A mastery ability like Splintering Arrers has a lv3 requirement. That means you must spend 3 points in the line to unlock it. You must then spend a 4th point to purchase the ability if you choose to. So Effectively if you wanted the Shootin Wif da wind tactic in the Quick shootin line, you must spend 16 points to acquire it if you also purchased all the abilities in the line before it. Hopefully this will clear up confusion for people thinking they should have the ability but it's not on any lists.

Stats
I've decided to divide stats into tiers, noting their importance.

Tier 1
Ballistics skill: Nothing is more important than this. This is the sole stat that determines your damage with a bow. Value this over anything else

Wounds: This increases your HP by 10 for each point. It's also important to get this up if you can, as it increases your survivability greatly. One of your top 3 stats.

Elemental resist: Most important magic resist. This will bring down those big number bright wizard attacks

Tier 2
Strength: if you plan to melee, put some points into this, otherwise it's not that important. You will be doing some melee in pve

Toughness: Reduces the amount of melee damage you take. Useful for pve, but if you get hit by melee in RvR you're going to be dead anyway

Initiative: Increases your dodge rate and reduces your chance to be critically hit.

Corporeal: second most important magic resist

Spiritual: third most important magic

Tier 3
Intelligence: You shoot arrers, you don't cast spells. This is a worthless stat.
Willpower: increases chance you'l disrupt a magic attack, and also increases healing amount(we don't heal) this stat isn't really worth pursuing
Weaponskill: this increases armor penetration for melee weapons. You're much better off getting ballistics because it's a lot more beneficial

General PvE Advice
The class in PVE plays similar to a hunter in World of Warcraft. This is not to say you're going to have the same experience. It has much different abilities and will still be a refreshing change. As you are leveling up, you'l want to try out every ability in combat for a decent amount of time, even if what you have is working for now. You will often find incorporating this new ability that sounded like it wouldn't be much use will make you much stronger and more effective. Give everything a chance and you will find a skillset that suits your playstyle best. There are a very large number of abilties, and you'l be swamped with trying to pick out the ones you like best or will use the most so it's important to go into the UI tab and make 2 action bars available. Between the 2, you should be able to fit everything you're going to be using on them.

Now, for quite possibly the most important thing for Pve. Gathering skills. Training up skills costs money, and a lot at that. You're going to be very poor while leveling and will find it hard to just keep up with skills. This is why you need to get a gathering skill. I personally reccomend the Scavenging skill. What it does is it allows you to scavenge and loot the bodies a second time of a sentient monster. Sentient meaning something that has at least some limited thought or self awareness like a human, dwarf or troll. A majority of the monsters you will be fighting will fall under this category. Items gained through scavenging however, are not normal loot items, but instead crafting materials. That doesn't mean however that they won't sell to vendors and give you a bit of extra cash. Bodies can only be scavenged after they've been fully looted. You can identify bodies that can be scavenged because they will have flies buzzing around them. You can also scavenge bodies that don't belong to you. It is impolite to do so if someone is also scavenging themselves, but if they aren't, then it's fair game. A good way to get this skill raised is in public quests where large amounts of monsters are being killed. You can first aquire a gathering skill In the second town along the road you will find from your starting area with your starting town being the first. This will be home of the Chapter 2 public quests. keep in mind, that if your scavenging skill isn't kept up to date, you won't be able to scavenge the higher level monsters.

Overall, PVE works the way you want it to. Experiment with your abilities with trying different combinations or casting orders and you'l be fine. You won't start getting master points until rank 11 and by that time you should have a good idea of what kind of Squig Herder you'd like to be.

General RvR Advice
Playing a squig herder can be a lot of fun, especially chasing down someone for that kill or inching just a bit closer to be able to shoot at that bright wizard. Because of this, people tend to get focused and lose sight of your surroundings. This is an often fatal mistake. Often people are trying to flank you from the side, so make sure you're always panning the camera with your mouse to identify threats that may be coming. It's also a good idea to keep in mind that just because you can't see anyone, doesn't mean there isn't someone there. Witch Hunters have the ability to stealth and love to position themselves to hide in the spots casters are most likely to sneak up on. A Witch hunter will almost always wait for the right moment and catch you off guard while you are busy fighting. They will tear you up generally before you get the chance to react. Squig herders are also a favorite target of Empire casters, and likewise they should also be your favorite target. This is why it's very important to be watching your own health bar as well as your enemy's. Sneaking up a couple of feet will likely spark some bright wizards or engineers to sneak up a bit and focus their fire on you rather than the tank you're standing next to. Be aware of the movement of your enemy's front line. If you see a caster moving towards you... assume it's you that they want to kill.

Many people view the squig herder as an easy kill because you are a Ranged DPS type. So it's important to be paranoid and assume that everyone is out to get you. Pre kiting is a vital skill that will often save your life. If you see a tank running in your direction, Pop off a Stop Runnin shot and run a bit away. Often, this will trigger the tank/MDPS into thinking you have no intention of fighting and they likely won't catch you. So they will turn their attention to whatever may be closest to them at the time, which often can be another tank. Don't wait for them to get to you and start hitting for you to decide you want to keep your distance as this will often lead to you eating dirt. Even if they're hitting someone else near you like a marauder, if you're close, they may decide that you're an easier target and turn their aggression to you. It's best to try and keep a distance of around 70-80 feet between your enemies, in particular if you're spec is Big shooting. You want a bit of an extra buffer for some extra shots when your target decides to start running away, as well as to give you some space to pre-kite.

Conclusions
A squig herder is a fun and interactive class. There are many different ways to play one and all of them provide a unique experience.

Just keep an open mind while staying hidden and keeping on eye on your surroundings and you should be successful with whatever you do.

For a Squig Herder leveling guide click here!

Get Top Healing With Any Career

As you may have noticed when you complete a scenario you can sort ranking by different categories: DPS, Healing, XP, KB's etc. As some of you have surely noticed some classes will have about 3k healing (T1) and not be a healing class (WE, WH etc). This is because of the bolster. When you participate in an SC under level 8, you are "bolstered" or boosted to the stats of a level 8. This means your health goes up each time you leave the starting area.

There is a boundary around the starting area in an SC, at which point if you cross you get the "bolster" effect. Crossing this line repeatedly will raise you + healing no matter your class. The easiest way to get up there is to enter the SC as soon as it pops, and then flee toward the boundary, you will be reset to the starting position each time you cross the boundary. I saw an IB with over 10k healing and was like wtf? Then I saw him just running back and forth across the boundary line.

Using this I have racked up over 4k healing before the SC even starts (Rank 1 Zealot) and ended up top heals for the entire match. Just a little FYI for anyone who wants boost their healing.

Dwarf Engineer Overview

As a race of tinkerers and builders, no career comes more naturally to a Dwarf than that of Engineer. Using a combination of machinery, ingenuity, and brute force they are able to harness technology to defeat their enemies. Sturdy and reliable, the Engineer provides damage support on the battlefield making him a valuable ally.

An Engineer carries quite an arsenal with him, which can include turrets, mines, hand grenades, and a large wrench. His automated turrets bring fire support to combat by using bullets, grenades, and even a flame thrower. A long rifle allows Engineers to fire at a distance keeping them away from danger but doing significant damage to his enemies.

Strengths:

• Automated turrets that can fire without assistance


• Long range attacks


• Area of effect damage through grenades and turrets

Weaknesses:

• Vulnerable to melee


• Light armor


• Turret setup requires time

PvE Overview
An Engineer depends heavily on his gear and well placed turrets can be key to survival. If placement weren't enough the Engineer must carefully choose what type of to use, as a stray grenade blast or burst of flame could easily turn their one problem into many. Turret fire mixed with a few shots from their long rifle will significantly reduce enemy health long before they are in attack range allowing a few swings of a hammer or wrench to finish the job. While they can stand on their own against single targets, when working in harmony with a tank class, the Engineer is a versatile addition to any PvE party. They are not built to withstand heavy amounts of damage however, so direct conflict with multiple foes requires a hasty retreat.

RvR Overview
In RvR combat, the Engineer moves from a sturdy damage machine to a support role on the battlefield. Concentrated attacks from casters or a rush from a tank can make short work of Engineers thanks to their light armor. You will see many rush forward to drop a turret and run to the back lines with casters to fire off rifle shots. One of their best roles is in defense of a battlefield objective where they can set up defensive positions and damage enemies attempting to move in. Their grenades and mines also make nice additions to large concentrations of enemy forces.



Engineer Mastery Paths

Path of The Rifleman: This path focuses on long-range attacks, and taking your time with carefully aimed precision shots. A master of this path prefers to stand back away from the hectic front lines of battle, and dispatch his enemies quickly and cleanly from behind defensive cover.

Path of the Grenadier: This mastery is primarily focused on grenades and bombs, powerful explosives which may be quickly tossed into the middle of a fray to wreak havoc on enemies. While their effective range may be shorter than a gun's - after all, Dwarf arms aren't exactly build to throw for distance - grenades make up for this through sheer stopping power and swift arming times.

Path of the Tinkerer: A specialist in this path is concerned mainly with his deployable contructs, preferring to fight from near the safety of his turrets while he lays out his foes with swings of his heavy steel wrench. Master tinkerers have also been known to use additional deployable devices above and beyond turrets as well, and many are the Engineers who've been banned for life from a blacksmith's forge after trying to test and improve the heat thresholds of land mines.

Zealot Overview

While we've all made fun of the early screenshots of the Chaos Zealot who looked like Lemmy from Motorhead, these fanatics are no laughing matter. The healer class for the Norse followers of the Raven God, the Zealot is a healing machine. With strong offensive casting capabilities, their great sense of fashion (each Zealot has a belt whose buckle is made of of a human face, possibly right off the skull he holds in his/her left hand) and incredible healing powers, it's not hard to see why this class will be a popular healer. There may be a reason why the Zealot looks like Lemmy, because much like the Motorhead song goes, pick this class and it's time to play "The Game".

Strengths:

• Distance. Zealots can hurl heals and spells from a huge distance, allowing you to stay out of the thick of things while still doing your job... which is looking good.


• Zealots don't need to be directly in combat to fuel their healing abilities.


• Zealots are a good cross between caster and healer. Their offensive spells do pretty good damage and their heals are, of course, their specialty.

Weaknesses:

• Zealots don't have a lot of hit points to begin with and can be melee'd to death easier than some of the other healers in the game.


• Zealots tend to lack a high level of damage mitigation, which makes them weaker against physical attacks.


• Zealots can run out of power quickly if they're not careful since they have no mechanic in place that replenishes it on the fly.

PvE Overview
The Chaos Zealot can be an unstoppable force in PvE play. The ability to hit from long distances and powerful heals that can be used during combat give the Zealot the space and time he needs to whittle foes down with his offensive spells. Their powerful healing spells can even help them outlast multiple attackers and even take down Champion class foes a few levels lower than they are.

In a group, the Zealot has got what you need baby and he's happy to give you your healing/buff fix. The first taste is free, but after that you have to protect him from harm of else he'll cut you off, cold turkey. Mainly because they'll probably be dead.

RvR Overview
If the Zealot was a element on the periodic table of RvR, it would be Ze for "Zerged". As a Zealot, your ability to cast heavy duty heals from range as well as do a decent amount of damage with your marks makes you the #1 target for everyone in RvR, and much like the Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker core, they love to gang up on you. The key to a long and healthy life is stay out of combat, but close to the Black Orc and Chosen tanks. These classes get hooked on having their heal-orin fix and as such, will usually work to keep you alive.

If you manage to get in combat, you're not totally without a way to defend yourself. You can do pretty well in one on one by spamming the heals interlaced with a few specific debuffs and your insta-cast damage and DoT spells. If you are up against multiple people though, you're in trouble, so don't stick around and wait for the "Order Friends" to show up.



Chaos Zealot Mastery Paths
Path of Alchemy: This path is all about the healing. You hook players up with the candy that makes life worth living and now, it's much more potent. While they'll not be an offensive juggernaut, the player who specializes in the path of Alchemy will become the healer extraordinaire and be known as "Dr. Feelgood".

Path of Witchcraft: Not simply happy to keep others healthy, the follower of this path wants to cause pain and suffering in mass quantities. The Path of Witchcraft bolsters the offensive capability of the Zealot and can make him a stronger caster than healer.

Path of Ritual: The Path of Ritual is about boosting your allies and tearing down your enemies. Enhancing your buffs and Debuffs, this path gives you sway over the tide of battle and how quickly it will turn in your favor. All hail Tzeentch!

Magus Overview

A Magus of Tzeentch is a devoted follower of the Raven God, and spends his entire lifetime studying pure sorcery with a fevered intensity. Desperate for even a bare glimpse of Tzeentch’s great plan, the Magus has learned through his research that Tzeentch’s daemonic minions are creations and reflection of the Great Changer, and he focuses his search for knowledge obsessively on this fact – for perhaps, by understanding the servant, he may better understand the master.

Class Mechanic

Daemonic Fiends
The Magus can call forth several different types of daemonic fiends, but can only maintain the concentration needed to restrain a single one at a time. A clever Magus therefore makes sure to best fit his summoning to his need: a Pink Horror which flings bolts of fire corruption at distant enemies, a Blue Horror which spews out waves of warping energy around itself, or a Flamer which spits blasts of fire at groups of enemies. All the base daemons are summoned within a circle of binding and are unable to move outside that circle (they don’t move at all.) Daemons can be set to be passive, aggressive, or defensive in nature.

Daemon Abilities
Each of the Magus’ daemons have two abilities that essentially proc at random. The first ability fires at a rate of 90% and the second fires at 10%. At this time it is not possible to micro-manage these daemon abilities. You can toggle one or the other on or off, but it does not affect the proc rates. This is apparently due to balance reasons as the secondary abilities are considerably more impressive than the primary abilities.

Pink Horror
The Pink Horror is a long range, single target daemon. The primary weapon of the Pink Horror is Daemonic Fire (long range DD) and the secondary ability is Daemonic Consumption (long range DOT).

Blue Horror
The Blue Horror is a short range, area of effect daemon. The primary weapon of the Blue Horror is Warping Energy (short range Cone AE) and the secondary ability is Coruscating Energy (short range PBAE + Snare).

Flamer
The Flamer is a medium range, multi-purpose daemon. The primary weapon of the Flamer is Flame of Tzeentch (medium range single target DOT) and the secondary ability is Flames of Change (short range PBAE DOT).

Uncontrolled Pets
An Uncontrolled Horror is summoned as a random proc when killing a victim is killed using Indigo Fire of Change (Path of Change Spec Ability). A Firewyrm of Tzeentch can be summoned using the Path of Daemonology Morale IV abiity.

Magus Masteries

Path of Havoc
This path focuses on long-range attacks, and primarily focuses on destroying a single target at a time. A master of this path will typically call forth a Pink Horror to help him slaughter his enemies from a safe distance.

The Path of Havoc’s primary focus is long range, single target damage. Spending points in Havoc enhances the baseline abilities Summon Pink Horror, Glean Magic, Surging Violet Fire, and Mutating Blue Fire, earns access to the new abilities Warping Blast, Bolt of Change, and Perils of the Warp, new tactics such as Fiery Winds, Changer’s Blessing, and Chaos Unleashed and ultimately the Morale IV ability Soul Leak.

Path of Changing
A specialist in this path understands that change waits for no man, and that Tzeentch demands speed and swiftness in those who serve. The cost of this decision is that his spells dissipate more rapidly into the Winds and therefore are only effective at moderate ranges, but a master of this path is a quick and adaptable sorcerer who uses a summoned Flamer to great effect.

The Path of Changing’s focus is medium range damage but also includes some area of effect damage in trade for the lost range. Spending points in this path enhances the existing abilities Surge of Insanity, Summon Flamer, Rend Winds, Dissolving Mists, and Infernal Blast, grants the new abilities Seed of Chaos, Tzeentch’s Firestorm, and Chaotic Rift, access to the tactics Infernal Pain, Lingering Mist, and Wild Changing and ultimately the Morale IV ability Daemonic Scream.

Path of Daemonology
This path is primarily focused on exploiting the warped and twisted daemonic Disc that the Magus rides, tapping into its power to unleash massive blasts of power at close range. In conjunction with a summoned Blue Horror, a specialist in this path can rend and shatter everything around him, leaving a trail of ruin and destruction in his wake.

The Path of Daemonology is focused around enhancing your daemons and point blank or very short ranged damage. Spending points in Daemonology enhances the existing abilities Summon Blue Horror, Aegis of Orange Fire, Agonizing Torrent, and Swat Aside, grants the new abilities Exchange Vitality, Instability, Indigo Fire of Change, access to the tactics Chaotic Attunement, Daemonic Pact, and Daemonic Contract, and ultimately the Morale IV ability Firewyrm of Tzeentch.

Character Stats
There are eight stats the affect your character as you level and find better gear. In addition there are eight more stats that are defensive in nature. Not all the stats are effective for all the classes so I’ll try to outline what are the important ones to think about for your Magus.

Stats at Character Creation
When you first create your character, you have 50 points in each of the offensive stats. You are not able to allocate them, you just get what you get and start leveling from there.

Stats as You Level
At this time, all of the eight main stats do increase each time you level, though they all appear to increase at a different rate.

How Does Each Stat Impact Your Magus?
Since all of the careers get the same sixteen stats, they all have a varying degree of impact on each of our careers. Since the Magus can be short/moderate/long range damage your choice of stats may vary slightly from one spec to another.

Intelligence: Increases magic damage and reduces the chance that your attacks will be disrupted. Magi earn 4.5 points of Intelligence per level. Willpower: Increases healing and increases the chance that you will disrupt a magic attack. Magi earn 3.5 points of Willpower per level.

Initiative: Increases your chance to evade attacks and reduces your chance to be critically hit. Magi earn 4 points of Initiative per level.
Wounds: Increases hit points. Magi earn 9 points of Wounds per level.
Toughness: Reduces all damage taken. Magi earn 3 points of Toughness per level.
Strength: Increases melee ability damage, melee auto attack damage, and reduces the chance that your melee attacks will be blocked or parried. Strength has no noticeable effect on Magi.
Weapon Skill: Increases your chance to parry an attack. Increases armor penetration. Weapon Skill has no noticeable effect on Magi
Ballistic Skill: Increases your ranged damage and reduces the chances your ranged attacks will be blocked or dodged. Ballistic Skill has no noticeable effect on Magi.

Defensive Stats
Armor: Reduces physical damage.
Corporeal Resistance: Reduces damage from Corporeal school damage.
Spiritual Resistance: Reduces damage from Spiritual school damage.
Elemental Resistance: Reduces damage from Elemental school damage.
Block: Chance to parry melee attacks. Magi have no block ability.
Parry: Chance to parry melee attacks. Magi start with 8.3% chance to parry.
Dodge: Chance to evade attacks. Magi start with 8.3% chance to dodge.
Disrupt: Chance to disrupt magical attacks. Magi start with 8.3% chance to disrupt an attack.

Initial Abilities
Flickering Red Fire: Summons a chaotic bundle of red flame that flies toward your opponent to inflict 46 elemental damage. Range:100 ft. Cast Time: 2s. Cost: 40 AP.
Daemon Lash: An ethereal tentacle swipes the target in front of you for 45 damage. Range: 5 ft. Cast Time: Instant. Cost: 45 AP. Cooldown: 5s.
Flee: You run away from the battle in a mad panic, increasing your run speed by 30 for 10 seconds. You immediately lose all of your action points and your morale will begin to drop, and you will not begin to regain action points until 10 seconds have passed.

Early Life as a Magus
In most cases you can pull mobs from range using Flickering Red Fire and once in melee range and Daemon Lash. You should also be experimenting with your pets (the Pink Horror is earned at level 3) and learn how they are affected by their agro radius.

General Combat Tactics for Magi
Magi aren’t the squishiest of casters, but when it comes down to it, they are casters. Certainly, early in the Magus’ life, the majority of damage will want to be dealt from range just to keep yourself out of danger. Pet’s can be tricky in heavily congested areas so try some solo experimentation before you start dropping pets in a group so that you understand how your pets will interact with the environment around them.

Choosing a Path for Your Magus
The Magus can be specced for short, moderate, or long range damage. Speccing for long range damage limits you to mostly single target damage while speccing for moderate or short ranged damage allows for some area of effect or point blank area of effect damage respectively. The closer you end up to your targets, the more you are going to want to concentrate on Wounds, Toughness, Initiative, and Corporeal Resists since you will likely be in the thick of melee. It also seems that the Path of Changing and Path of Daemonology offer more crowd control options than the Path of Havoc.

Overall, the daemon pets seem a bit on the week side, however when properly geared, specced, and the right traits, the PBAE damage can be pretty impressive and the pets become instant cast so you just drop them when you need them. The Path of Daemonology is likely to be a powerhouse spec at max rank, but is difficult to manage as a leveling spec.

I’m not a big fan of the Havoc tree simply because the cast times are so long that any melee will have closed the distance gap at around 1.5 spells cast and quickly make minced meat of you. I know a lot of people liked this spec, but I couldn’t make it work for me.

The Changing line seems to be a nice sweet spot if you can’t make up your mind. You get ranged AE damage and the most crowd control available to you while only giving up a small portion of your range. I think this will be the most common leveling spec and could be played even without the deamon summoned.