23 réponses à ce sujet

[Zahnen]

I think we can all agree that party AI and tactics in this game leave much to be desired.  So I've been trying to find builds my intellectually challenged brethren can use effectively without me holding their hands - I don't want to spend 80% of my time in combat paused.  I don't mind if I have to pause on boss fights or Dragons (the important baddies) but trash shouldn't require tedious micromanagement assuming I build and gear optimally.

 

So this is what I've been toying around with for now:

 

KE Mage Inquisitor

Blackwall as Tank

Vivienne as second mage

Either Varric or Solas

 

We all know KE is very beefy so if I can get the AI to work right both my Inquisitor and Viv should be "set it and forget it".  I hate using Viv b/c she is so annoying but she is easy tactically.  I set Spirit Blade and Fade Cloak to Priority and then the only other two skills they are set to use are Firemine and Barrier.  I want to set Firemine to priority as well but Ive discovered doing so means they start each fight with Firemine then proceed to auto attack.  Sometimes after a few second they will run in for some Spirit Blades but I'd rather they just lead with spirit blades.  Fade Cloak still does good damage and they will fire mine just not as often.

 

Blackwall has no issue keeping himself up of course.  I just have to make sure to keep good armor on him and he is fine.  I lead each fight by Bull Rushing in and getting off a good AOE taunt with him before swapping to my 4th character to manage.  After that he does fine on his own for the most part.  Occasionally I will have to reposition him or make him peel a mob for my 4th character but not often.

 

The last character I'm unsure of.  Melee DPS suck in Nightmare so that only leaves me with a mage or archer.  I like having Varric b/c of his personality and because even the AI is pretty good about keeping him out of danger (between stealth and leaping shot).  Solas is a weak link but as I can assume direct control of at least one person I can micromanage him if I decide to bring him.  I just have to go back to unlock things with a rogue.

 

I'm currently level 17 but I've yet to find that party comp/build I like.  Whoever I'm controlling ends up doing the lion's share of the DPS and I simply refuse to pause for 2 seconds out of every 3 - it's just not fun.  Playing on hard tho is boring so that's not an option.  I don't mind if the damage is split 40/10/25/25 or something similar but currently its more like 70% whoever I manage.

 

So I've come to the community!  What builds and tactic settings have you found that allow the AI to make the most of a character?  As long as I limit the party to only 1 squishy I havn't required too much micromanagement keeping everyone alive but I can't find that happy place where they actually contribute a reasonable share of the damage.

[Ganen]

KE is beefly but it doesnt require gear and advanced level (skill points) to be so, so you will need a strong setup most of the game.

any shield and sword warrior will serve well as a maintank, Ill assume you know what AI needs to have in terms of abilities to do so, as KE you will be a good off tank and CC with frost or off tank and dps galore with fire.

so I recommend an archer assassin rogue for single target pew pew (ai doesnt use it very well tho so you may need to pause somewhat to position him and use evasion skills/pots) and the second mage to be what you were not (meaning either pure dps with fire vivi or frost solas, frost rift mage solas is very good for ai tbh, better than fire vivi) 

[Thrakkemarn]

Out of curiosity, what exactly ARE the tactics/behaviors you need to set up for a tank?

 

Also, are there any that will keep your archers and mages out of melee?

 

I really want to play a DW nightmare dagger rogue in real time (cause it's fun, I don't care about optimization, I know you can solo it with a KE etc etc), but I'm getting frustrated with the AI.

[Basheda]

I use Casandra/Blackwall as tank and play the tank active. They are only for NPC control and support. DPS come from KE Inquisitor, Vivi and Sera. Casandra is used on regular gameplay if I face mostly lower level npcs. Blackwall is for the harder stuff (additional taunt + invul).

 

The skills are trained in  the written order.

 

From Vanguard...

Active: Warcry + Upgrade (AE Taunt + 200% Armor = 300% Armor)

Active:Challenge + Upgrade (Taunt + 8 * 15 stamina)

Passive:Untouchable Defense (+25% Guard)

Passive:Trust the Steel (+20% Armor)

Passive:Cutting Words (+20% Damage to taunted NPC... All NPC should be taunted)

 

From Weapon & Shield...

Active:Shield Wall (only to get down the tree... is not used)

Passive:Bear Mauls the Wolves (Cant be flanked and less staggered) .. this passive is golden if you stay at maxed guard

Active: Shield Bash ... I use them only against NPC guard and it has lowest priority

Passive: Turn the Blade (20% Damage Resistance)

 

Templar (Casandra):

All Skills except "The Last Sacrifice" because dying is not an option.

The active skills are not upgraded except "Wrath of Heaven" for +2 seconds stun.

 

Champion (Blackwall):

All skills and upgrades except "And no Further)

 

Battle Master:

The complete left side down to "Horn of Valor" and its Upgrade

 

Mapped skills for Casandra

1. Challenge

2. Warcry

3. Horn of Valor

4. Blessed Blades

5. Wrath of Heaven

6. Spell Purge (mostly used to dispell rifts)

7. Shield Bash

8. Rally (Focus)

 

Mapped skills for Blackwall

1. Challenge

2. Warcry

3. Horn of Valor

4. To the Death

5. Walking Fortress

6. Crappling Chain

7. Shield Bash

8. Counterstrike (Focus)

 

Both KE's mages are skilled identical. I skilled some inferno skills until KE was available and reskilled them after getting KE spec.

 

Spirit:

4 Points on the left side down to Rejuvenating Barrier

Revival (will be untrained if Vivi gets her KE focus skill)

 

Winter:

Winter's Grasp (not upgraded)

Mana Surge

 

Knight Enchanter:

Complete left side down to "Fade Shield"

Nothing from the right side, No Spirit Blade upgrade, No Disruption Field

Vivi gets the focus skill, The Inquisitor use his Mark and do not train this focus skill.

Fade Cloak (+Upgrade) from right side is not used by AI, so I do not skill them

 

Inferno:

Immolate + Upgrade

Flashpoint

Clean Burn

Pyromancer

Fire Mine + Upgrade

 

More Spirit (for passives)

Complete right side down to "Strength of Spirits"

 

Storm:

Energy Bombardment (Upgrade later)

Conductive Current

Chain Lightning (Upgrade later)

Stormbringer

Gathering Storm

Chain Lightning Upgrade

Energy Bombardment Upgrade

 

Mapped skills

1. Spirit Blade

2. Winter's Grasp

3. Fire Mine

4. Immolate

5. Chain Lightning

6. Barrier

7. Dispel (not used by AI, so its alway available to dispel rifts)

8. Focus (KE Rezz & Heal for Vivi, Mark for Inquisitor)

 

AI for KE...

Prio: Fire Mine

Use Immolate

Use Barrier (only for Vivi)... Inquisitor Barrier is used manually if needed

Use Winter's Grasp

Use Chain Lightning

Use Energy Bombardment

Use Spirit Blade

Do not use Dispel

Do not use Mind Blast

Do not use Focus skill

 

Sera:

 

Subterfuge:

Stealth

Easy to Miss

 

Archery:

Everything except Rolling Draw and Stunning Shot

 

Tempest:

Complete right side with upgrades down to Quicksilver including Focus skill

Only flask of frost from the left side

 

Sabotage only for the passives...

Right side down to "Cheap Shot"

 

More Subterfuge only for the passives...

Left side down to "Ambush"

Right side down to "Mercy Killing"

 

Mapped skills

1. Stealth

2. Fire Flask

3. Lightning Flask

4. Frost Flask (not used by AI, only "Ohh ****" button)

5. Long Shot

6. Leaping Shot

7. Knockout Powder (if needed)

8. 1K Cuts (Focus)

 

AI for Sera...

Prio: Fire Flask

Use Stealth

Use Lightning Flask

Use Long Shot

Use Leaping Shot

Use Full Draw

Use Explosive Shot

Use Hidden Step

Do not use Caultrops

Do not use Knockout Powder

Do not use Focus skill

Do not use Frost Flask

Do not use Focus

 

As written above, I control the tank and DPS is complete on AI. This works very well and the mages destroy anything. Sera is mostly used to unlock doors and as third DPS. Cole as Archery is also very good but I prefer Sera because of 1K Cuts.

 

I play on PC and use tactical cam for fights but most time without any pause. I use tactical cam only to made the tank attack on right click and move to the target.

 

The tank runs in.. use AE taunt... Challange on ranged npc ... War Horn ... Blessed Blades ... Wrath of Heavens to Stun... rinse and repeat.

 

The combat behavior is 50% reserve stamina/mana, Everyone assist Inquisitor (he primes the target), potions are used at 30% with 5 potions reserve.

I override the target of my Inqusitor with "Everyone attacks my target" if the tanks target should die.

 

The success comes from controlling the npc's with my tank. This works very well and both KE's will also survive in melee range. Sera is almost always far far away from any trouble. Loose npcs will be put on sleep with Knockout Power but this happens 1-2 times per hour.

 

The first 6-8 levels are hard but the train was rolling at Lvl10+. Blackwall is only used on Dragons and certain quests when Casandra struggles. Dragon fights require more attention but most of the time AI is fine with this skillset.

[SomeoneStoleMyName]

I prefer cass as my nightmare tank atm. Cass offers a 10% all resist for your party, and has another dispel. Dispel is very important on higher difficulties. I also find rally to be superior to counterstrike.

[konfeta]

The only thing skill I let my AI tanks use is Shield Wall or Block/Slash. They have fantastic reflexes for those.

 

They are absolutely horrible at timing/aiming the taunts, if they try to use damage they run dry on stamina at the worst times, etc.

[Thrakkemarn]

@konfeta But then you have to manually taunt things right?

 

...

 

I feel like most of the replies in here aren't really answering the topic.

The question is: what is the best way to set up AI tactics and behaviors so that you don't have to constantly pause to manually control them? Saying "control the tank" is not a useful response. Saying "there is no viable setup" would be fine, assuming you've exhausted all possible combinations of skills, parties and AI settings =P

 

I'm still experimenting, but so far having taunts on preferred and shield wall on preferred for an AI tank set to Defend: mage, while having the mage and dps set to defend: tank is working okay (level 7). Mostly able to control fights using just the quick commands with occasional pauses to reposition etc.

 

But I can't figure out which abilities to use and it takes forever to save/load, respec and go out into the field to test over and over, so any feedback would be wonderful!

[konfeta]

If you want a party set up that plows through all things without pausing, you are going to have to turn off Friendly Fire because AI is incapable of using most abilities without blasting your own team. You can always do some OP build that can pretty much solo Nightmare, but you seemingly don't want that solution.

 

You could also try grinding up some fade touched crafting stuff like Obsidian for freebie guard generation to see if it improves the AI survivability.

 

Well, there is also Solas + Magequisitor double Rift Mage combo. Stone Fist and Veil Strike spam doesn't Friendly Fire as far as I can tell (neither does Firewall and I remember people saying Static Cage as well? Didn't try it.); so by giving them both decent crit chance for cooldown resets you can pretty much stunlock everything that's not immune to crowd control with your eyes closed; and they will never run out of mana.

 

 

But, otherwise, yeah. If the ability has friendly fire, or is extremely timing sensitive due to long cooldown + small AoE, forget about AI using it anywhere near competently, let alone optimally enough for Nightmare. This dramatically limits your AI party faceroll options to pretty much overgearing/leveling content in most cases.

 

 

edit:

 

http://forum.bioware...e-test-results/

 

O.K., yeah, Static Cage works. So you could try something like double Barrier, Fist, Veilstrike, Energy Barrage, Static Cage and/or Firewall; then pilot whatever fits your taste.

[Basheda]

I feel like most of the replies in here aren't really answering the topic.

The question is: what is the best way to set up AI tactics and behaviors so that you don't have to constantly pause to manually control them? Saying "control the tank" is not a useful response.

 

 

Why is "control the tank" and let handle DPS by AI not an useful response? You can and must control one character. I choosed the tank because its nessesary and AI fails handling the tank.

 

I listed all tactics settings and used skills for each AI controlled character. I guess this should be good enough to give an start for discussion.

 

My setup is running almost 100% without pause. I start each fight with scrolling the mouse wheel to activitate tactical cam and pause. Set the first target (and only the first target) for my Inquistor (all DPS assist him) and than I unpause the game.

I set the initial target only to start DPS because AI start attacking only if my tank get the first damage or hit something. Warcry, Challenge, Wrath of Heaven don't start AI attacking the enemies. The remaining fight is played unpaused in tactical cam mode controlling the tank.

 

Pause is only used on ...

• new rift spawns -> Dispel
• Dragon takes an deep breath to start something bad -> Check positions of DPS
• 2H brute start his AE attack and my KE's are in melee range with low barrier -> Move the KE's out of melee range
• Watched an npc rogue on stealth -> Assign as priority target

 

Thats the only 4 events I can remember where I use pause and it works.

[Manki]

Well, I'll throw my hat in this ring.

 

I do not use Tac Cam, I also play on Nightmare w/o FF, because its broken.

 

Here is how I set my stuff up. With this setup, the only time I have to switch party members when people are not moving away from melee, or when then need to drink a tonic.

 

Tank - Mana/Stam Threshold 0% - All Guard related abilities on Preferred, all others on normal - Potion Threshold 0 - "Follow:Controlled Character"

 

Mages - Mana/Stam Threshold 10% - All defensive on Preferred (if Support) All CC/DPS on Preferred (if DPS), all others on normal - Potion threshold 2 - "Defend:<Tank>" (for both)

 

Other DPS (Warrior or Rogue) - Mana/Stam Threshold 0% - All offensive (and non-taunt guard) on preferred, all defensive on normal - Potion Threshold 2 for ranged, 0 for melee (they need the extra sometimes) - "Follow:Controlled Character"

 

Thats the bare bones, obviously individual abilities and stuff is your discretion. 

[Thrakkemarn]

Nobody said anything about friendly fire, we're just talking nightmare here. Turning FF off is well within the scope of what we're talking about.

 

@Basheda I didn't mean to discard your whole post, it is useful, but there are people who CLEARLY state they have AI tanks on nightmare, so saying "you have to control it" without saying why is not as useful as it could be. But yes, thank you for your in depth reply!

 

@manki Does your tank maintain enough Guard without shield wall on preferred? What character are you controlling that you have the tank/DPS set to follow?

 

I've found that an archer rogue with Leaping Shot set to preferred is actually really good at staying out of melee. I have less success with mages, although setting the tank to Defend: mage works as a stopgap.

[abearzi]

So I am currently playing much like you described Zahnen.

 

I don't want to be constantly paused or in the abysmal "tactical cam", so I have been running a variant of Tank/Rogue/Mage/Mage

 

As an aside, I am currently tabbed out with blackwall soloing Hivernal, since my whole party died, and it can't hurt him. I estimate it will take him ~1 hour to actually kill the stupid dragon, but hey, whatever. He's just on auto-attack and is generating guard about 100x faster than the dragon can deal damage. So eventually his 50-75 dmg hits will slay the 226k hp dragon...

 

Blackwall is my tank of choice as his Champion tree offers the best survivability skills. Cassandra is slightly more offensive, so she just comes along when she needs a quest done. He is set to auto-cast everything except  "Line in the Sand", is it usually just causes collision problems and gets my guys killed.

 

I have Varric and Sera specced very similarly to one another. Both full archery, Poisoned weapons, and Conceal. Conceal is set to be off, so I can use it manually if I need to get them out of trouble, but everything else is just on auto. Their respective specializations are kinda "meh" in my opinion, so those weren't a priority, but as I am now level 19, those trees are more or less filled out as well. Varric's is better in terms of his passives, which benefit the team, though Sera has better DPS with her Flask of Fire.

 

All the NPC mages are all specced identically, so they can be swapped out interchangibly. Full Spirit, everything on auto-cast. Then most of the Frost tree for some additional CC, along with all the survibability talents which lets me just ignore them in combat for the most part.

 

My Inquisitor is a Fire/Rift mage, though now I am starting to pick up some Storm skills, mainly for the passives.

 

Nearly every fight has just been as follows;

 

Gather enemies, AoE enemies, Loot. Rift Mage + Fire is just horrific AoE dps. I haven't tried the KE build yet, but since I'm on a PC, I don't want to bother with trying to use Melee attacks, but it shoudl word about the same.

[Manki]

Nobody said anything about friendly fire, we're just talking nightmare here. Turning FF off is well within the scope of what we're talking about.

 

@Basheda I didn't mean to discard your whole post, it is useful, but there are people who CLEARLY state they have AI tanks on nightmare, so saying "you have to control it" without saying why is not as useful as it could be. But yes, thank you for your in depth reply!

 

@manki Does your tank maintain enough Guard without shield wall on preferred? What character are you controlling that you have the tank/DPS set to follow?

 

I've found that an archer rogue with Leaping Shot set to preferred is actually really good at staying out of melee. I have less success with mages, although setting the tank to Defend: mage works as a stopgap.

 

I use Cassandra and yes I find she keeps enough guard to survive in between barriers from the mages. The only point I run into trouble on auto pilot is when fighting multiple enemies that are at least 2 levels higher than me. That seems to be the limit that the AI tank can handle while maintaining guard. Also sorry if I was unclear, but Shield wall is on preferred since it is technically a guard generating ability.

 

I typically am always controlling my Inquisitor, so I can tab through target that Cass doesnt have threat on, with her on "Follow:Controlled Character" that will also become her top priority. However I leave the "Follow Controlled Character" on in case I have to switch to my mages for any reason, that way the party will still be following whatever I'm targeting, regardless of who im controlling.

[Zahnen]

I don't mind controlling the Tank if that's the best option.  I would prefer controlling a DPS IF i could get my tank beefy enough to not only survive but also keep agro.

 

Controlling the tank tho does have it's advantages.  For starters it makes agro management much better.  Between Warcry, Taunt, and Chains I can keep everyone on me and grouped up.  Secondly it makes him much tougher - both because I can generate more guard and also because I can avoid a LOT of damage.  Usually I use  bull rush every time its up to knock everyone down, get a little distance, and then turn around to keep them in front of me.  When they walk up they can get 1 or 2 hits in then bull rush is up again and then I can rinse and repeat.

 

This means things die slower though.  If I directly control the DPS I can make better use of my abilities as well as set up more combos.  It's kind of a trade off I think... Controling the tank makes combats much easier but slower.  If I could make my tank beefy enough and smart enough to stay up AND keep threat i'd be very happy.

 

I've also been toying around with the idea of Static Cage.  It's a great CC and Damage spell all in one and the AI seems to be able to use it fairly well.  65 Mana on a 30 second CD is painful but 50% damage on each hit is amazing when used correctly PLUS it causes paralyze for easy combos.  I didn't use much of the lighting tree before b/c I felt many of the skills are lackluster on paper but the magic debuff plus paralyze is much stronger than I thought. This was my inspiration.

 

I play with FF off.  I'd like to play with it on for the challenge but it requires WAY to much micro management currently for me to enjoy the game.  I don't like spending 5 minutes on every trash pull... and that's just trash.

[Thrakkemarn]

Also sorry if I was unclear, but Shield wall is on preferred since it is technically a guard generating ability.

 

I typically am always controlling my Inquisitor, so I can tab through target that Cass doesnt have threat on, with her on "Follow:Controlled Character" that will also become her top priority. However I leave the "Follow Controlled Character" on in case I have to switch to my mages for any reason, that way the party will still be following whatever I'm targeting, regardless of who im controlling.

 

I'm an idiot for some reason I read "guard" as "taunt" >.< Thanks for the reply! I'll give your setup a try.

 

@zahnen yeah that's basically my entire reason for making this thread. I made a rogue and want to actually play as my rogue (i will try a tank playthru and mage too, but want to actually fight as my inquisitor) and constantly pausing on trash just takes too long

[Manki]

I'm an idiot for some reason I read "guard" as "taunt" >.< Thanks for the reply! I'll give your setup a try.

 

@zahnen yeah that's basically my entire reason for making this thread. I made a rogue and want to actually play as my rogue (i will try a tank playthru and mage too, but want to actually fight as my inquisitor) and constantly pausing on trash just takes too long

 

No problem! Good luck! I hope it works as well for you as it has for me.

[Basheda]

Also sorry if I was unclear, but Shield wall is on preferred since it is technically a guard generating ability.

 

l do not use shieldwall at all because it burns all stamina away. Cassandra burns all stamina and normaly I can get more/enough guard with abilties from vanguard. Guard generation is only an problem if I face an single enemy, but they deal mostly physical melee damage and Cassandra is highly resistant to melee damage and has now nearly 800 armor full buffed.

Most single target enemies (including dragons) will reduce her guard from 100% to 80% until the guard generating abilties are ready to use again. Both taunts generate around 40% guard, so the missing 20% are refilled easily.

 

Thats currently endgame at Lvl21/22 but this was also the case at Lvl10+ as soon as I had 7 points in vanguard and 4 points (complete left side) in S&S.

 

Additional, Blackwall is much more relaxed which can help at Lvl10-20 if you face realy hard fights. He generate more guard but has less utilities. I has him not used since lvl18 because Cassandra is now good enough and Stun + Cleanse is an very nice combo if you have an 150 stamina pool.

[abearzi]

Using a Rift Mage to Pull of the Abyss all the mobs back onto your tank is also wonderful. Then the tank can use their Grappling Chain to hook in archers and mages.

[Thrakkemarn]

l do not use shieldwall at all because it burns all stamina away. Cassandra burns all stamina and normaly I can get more/enough guard with abilties from vanguard. Guard generation is only an problem if I face an single enemy, but they deal mostly physical melee damage and Cassandra is highly resistant to melee damage and has now nearly 800 armor full buffed.

Most single target enemies (including dragons) will reduce her guard from 100% to 80% until the guard generating abilties are ready to use again. Both taunts generate around 40% guard, so the missing 20% are refilled easily.

 

Thats currently endgame at Lvl21/22 but this was also the case at Lvl10+ as soon as I had 7 points in vanguard and 4 points (complete left side) in S&S.

 

Additional, Blackwall is much more relaxed which can help at Lvl10-20 if you face realy hard fights. He generate more guard but has less utilities. I has him not used since lvl18 because Cassandra is now good enough and Stun + Cleanse is an very nice combo if you have an 150 stamina pool.

 

Again, this is so not relevant to the topic at hand (although it IS a nice tip for people who are controlling the tank)! Unless you are saying "tank AI burns up all stamina using shield wall" this is not helping! AFAIK the AI uses Shield Wall perfectly timed to counter attacks, but is less efficient that a player using taunts, therefore shield wall is actually BETTER than taunts for generating guard on the AI (although of course you need the taunts for the aggro).

[Manki]

l do not use shieldwall at all because it burns all stamina away. Cassandra burns all stamina and normaly I can get more/enough guard with abilties from vanguard. Guard generation is only an problem if I face an single enemy, but they deal mostly physical melee damage and Cassandra is highly resistant to melee damage and has now nearly 800 armor full buffed.

Most single target enemies (including dragons) will reduce her guard from 100% to 80% until the guard generating abilties are ready to use again. Both taunts generate around 40% guard, so the missing 20% are refilled easily.

 

Thats currently endgame at Lvl21/22 but this was also the case at Lvl10+ as soon as I had 7 points in vanguard and 4 points (complete left side) in S&S.

 

Additional, Blackwall is much more relaxed which can help at Lvl10-20 if you face realy hard fights. He generate more guard but has less utilities. I has him not used since lvl18 because Cassandra is now good enough and Stun + Cleanse is an very nice combo if you have an 150 stamina pool.

 

Not having Shield Wall on seems like you're playing the game on hard(er) mode. If your party has a decent amount of CC your tank should be running out of stamina really ever. Do you have all the passives that improve regen and gain rate on stamina? They aren't really hard to pick up and I find them a great boon for tanks in particular.

[Basheda]

AFAIK the AI uses Shield Wall perfectly timed to counter attacks, but is less efficient that a player using taunts, therefore shield wall is actually BETTER than taunts for generating guard on the AI (although of course you need the taunts for the aggro).

 

Than I must run in some heavy bugs. Cassadra on AI with enabled shield wall in tactics turns her shield wall on, burn her stamina and won't switch it of if she sits dry and has no aggro. She stands there holding her shield and do nothing. Maybe the difference is shield wall with or without the upgrade. I never speced the upgrade and tried only the normal version.

[Basheda]

Not having Shield Wall on seems like you're playing the game on hard(er) mode. If your party has a decent amount of CC your tank should be running out of stamina really ever. Do you have all the passives that improve regen and gain rate on stamina? They aren't really hard to pick up and I find them a great boon for tanks in particular.

 

I use both taunts, horn of valor, blessed blades, wrath of heavens and spell purge (wrath + purge as combo) as rotation. Blessed Blade with upgrade reduces CD on wrath & spell purge, so I get more combos. Thats an heavy burden on stamina and I have all the passives including some from the other classes and an stamina pool of 150. It works well without shield wall.

 

The stamina burn is not the only reason why I dont use shield wall. The more important reason is, I do not need it. Cassandra stayes permanetly above 50% guard and most of the time between 80-100% guard. She drops below 50% only if I fail to dodge an dragon breath or face 3 archers or an horde of ghosts from an rift. The dragon breath is normaly no problem because she close up fast and generate new guard easily. The other problem with 2+ archers are not very common and most of the time I burn them down fast and refill the guard with an warcry and 3-4 melee enemies in range. The rift ghosts are more common but their damage is spread out over the team (2 KE + Archer Sera with barriers on everyone) and they die fast.

 

My opener is Challenge + Horn of Valor, charge in -> Warcry -> Wrath -> Spellpurge -> Blessed Blade as soon as stamina allows. The first 10 seconds are with 200% armor buff and most groups are thinned out after this 10 seconds. The Wrath + Spellpurge combo plus 2 KE inferno mages give you an good boost on start. After 10s its most time only the clean up. My mages fire mines hit for 8-9k and immolate plus all burning dots make short work of most normal groups.

[Manki]

I use both taunts, horn of valor, blessed blades, wrath of heavens and spell purge (wrath + purge as combo) as rotation. Blessed Blade with upgrade reduces CD on wrath & spell purge, so I get more combos. Thats an heavy burden on stamina and I have all the passives including some from the other classes and an stamina pool of 150. It works well without shield wall.

 

The stamina burn is not the only reason why I dont use shield wall. The more important reason is, I do not need it. Cassandra stayes permanetly above 50% guard and most of the time between 80-100% guard. She drops below 50% only if I fail to dodge an dragon breath or face 3 archers or an horde of ghosts from an rift. The dragon breath is normaly no problem because she close up fast and generate new guard easily. The other problem with 2+ archers are not very common and most of the time I burn them down fast and refill the guard with an warcry and 3-4 melee enemies in range. The rift ghosts are more common but their damage is spread out over the team (2 KE + Archer Sera with barriers on everyone) and they die fast.

 

My opener is Challenge + Horn of Valor, charge in -> Warcry -> Wrath -> Spellpurge -> Blessed Blade as soon as stamina allows. The first 10 seconds are with 200% armor buff and most groups are thinned out after this 10 seconds. The Wrath + Spellpurge combo plus 2 KE inferno mages give you an good boost on start. After 10s its most time only the clean up. My mages fire mines hit for 8-9k and immolate plus all burning dots make short work of most normal groups.

 

Interesting, I assume this is on Nightmare? I may have to play with some things when I get home from work.

[Basheda]

Interesting, I assume this is on Nightmare? I may have to play with some things when I get home from work.

 

Its on NM without friendly fire.