87 réponses à ce sujet

[capn233]

As per topic.  I did a search but didn't find much info.

 

edit:  I guess that was a little short so...

 

In the prologue I ended up going for the war cry upgrade to get bonus armor.  Although it seemed like it was basically impossible to actually solo anything since you don't have control of the team until it is nearly over, and at that point you can sort of hide them for the pride demon, but the npcs do most of the work regardless.

 

I went into the Hinterlands, respec'd to Grappling Chain+, Mighty Blow+, and Block n Slash and cleared the crossroads with the world's slowest cheese tactic of chaining a guy to a place where I could 1 v 1 them.  The Barbarian Axe I had did ****** poor damage and this took a while, but I could at least do it without dying and using all my pots.

 

So that where I am at.  Wondering if my tedious cheese tactic is what I can expect for a few more levels, or am I missing something?  I don't think I would have been able to clear the Crossroads with a build using War Cry, Charging Bull and Mighty Blow because the character seems pretty fragile so far.  I suppose I would have had enough points to just go into SnS tree for damage reduction only, but then I would have 0 actives and no knockdowns.

[PapaCharlie9]

What difficulty and Trials?

I haven't run a solo warrior, so I can't give any practical advice for solo, but I can for low-level 2H warrior. Go down the left side of the 2H skill tree first. It's better to run with Pommel Strike as your only active, if it means you can have Flow of Battle right away. BTW, Pommel Strike is great for setting up a solo combo, if you follow it up with Mighty Blow or Whirlwind.

Craft for crit to fuel Flow of Battle.

Cheesing and kiting is fine, what else are you going to do at low level? If you really want to cheese, take Combat Roll/Coming Through and spam it for easy 500% damage.

If all else fails, run away. Or use Charging Bull to advance to the rear.

[capn233]

I don't have Trespasser so no trials or Coming Through.

 

I have Pommel Strike now, and am at Level 6.  Was going to get Combat Roll next.  Mostly I have just been grabbing enemies with chain / boot, hitting with MB, and then trying to keep them stunned / knocked down.  This works fine 1v1, but the character can't really do very many at a time.  Max so far was just the three Terrors in the rift where you can pick up Berand and Anais.

 

Haven't fought too many really elite enemies yet, the Templar Knight in their encampment was the highest.  Also finished the horse quests for Dennet.  I need to work towards Redcliffe, and / or clear the mages next.

 

It has been a while since I played Inquisition and so far what has annoyed me the most is how bad Block and Slash is, other than the clang sound effect (which is practically the only redeeming quality).

 

[capn233]

I'm starting to wonder if the left side of 2H isn't actually a mistake since BnS is the most half assed block in the game, and Pommel Strike effectively costs 3 points.  Might have been better to just spend two of them on damage mitigation (either turn the bolt or BMTW) from weapon and shield, and have Combat Roll already.

 

That said, East Road Bandits are yet another group that is easy with chain and mighty blow lameness, and I threw a jar of bees on the leader.

 

Redcliffe needs a respec or more levels because I can't beat 1000 Wraiths with my crappy character yet.

[PapaCharlie9]

I'm starting to wonder if the left side of 2H isn't actually a mistake since BnS is the most half assed block in the game, and Pommel Strike effectively costs 3 points.  Might have been better to just spend two of them on damage mitigation (either turn the bolt or BMTW) from weapon and shield, and have Combat Roll already.

What exactly is the trouble with BnS? The low damage? Or the difficulty timing it? It took a little practice for me to get the hang of the timing, and frankly, the AI does a better job of it than me, but I still found it useful 1v1. The upgrade doesn't hurt, either.

In any case, if you are finding BnS pretty useless, spending points on S&S instead will also give you an active you can't use, unless you switch to S&S.

Crafting for guard on Hit seems a must. Chicken-and-egg, though. The easiest Guard on Hit mats are in Redcliffe and require glitching to boot. If you don't want to glitch, you can steal one from the dragon with a horse, but it will take a few reloads to accomplish. You already cleared the bandits. Personally, I just glitch.

Not having Trespasser upgrades makes this a bit of a challenge. My go-to build for low level warrior is Horn of Valor/Fortifying Blast. I don't take any Vanguard until I've filled out some attack abilities. There's no need, with HoV giving me all the guard in the world.

I dunno, temporarily switching to S&S is sounding better and better, at least until you have Redcliffe Village open.

[Gya]

I'm starting to wonder if the left side of 2H isn't actually a mistake since BnS is the most half assed block in the game, and Pommel Strike effectively costs 3 points.  Might have been better to just spend two of them on damage mitigation (either turn the bolt or BMTW) from weapon and shield, and have Combat Roll already.

 

That said, East Road Bandits are yet another group that is easy with chain and mighty blow lameness, and I threw a jar of bees on the leader.

 

Redcliffe needs a respec or more levels because I can't beat 1000 Wraiths with my crappy character yet.

 

BMTW is amazing. If you see a high damage output attack coming, you just turn around and it does 1 damage. Abusing a cheesy/bugged mechanic, sure, but that's what it still does after over a year and 10 patches, so....

 

I'd disagree that BnS is all that terrible, generally speaking. Sure, it's awful if you compare it to any blocking mechanic in any vaguely competently designed action RPG, but this is DA:I, the game that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be an action RPG or a tactical RPG, and in the end managed to be neither. Block and Slash has it's uses, mainly for team gameplay with friendly fire on. In that situation, it gives you a handy, quick mechanism to control annoying enemies, in particular the shield morons. It doesn't have a cooldown, so unlike many of the other CC options available early on, it's quite handy.

 

Obviously, in a solo environment, the FF from mighty blow or charging bull doesn't matter, so.... Yeah, if soloing, early game, BnS is not gonna be worth it. Long periods of time spent holding your sword up waiting, whereas you could have just smashed them into the ground with grappling hook, charging bull or mighty blow. That said, since it's on the way to flow of battle, still worth getting, I think. Just later on.

[PapaCharlie9]

BTW, Gya, capn233 does a lot of FF. You had some FF questions earlier than no one could answer, but capn233 might be able to.

[capn233]

What exactly is the trouble with BnS? The low damage? Or the difficulty timing it?

 

I'd disagree that BnS is all that terrible, generally speaking.

 

Actually the reason I don't like it is that the stamina cost to block much of anything ends up being so high that you can't really use any other active.  And you also can't end up blocking more than one hit on anything more than the most basic mook.  Parry (upgraded at least), is god tier in comparison since you can actually deflect every single hit from a 2H warrior if you get the animation canceling down.

 

In any event, I also agree that I don't mind it so much in a team game, but it hasn't been of much value so far in this solo except as a prereq for Pommel Strike.  For the basic mooks I can keep them locked down nearly indefinitely cycling MB, Chain and Pommel.  Was even able to do that to the Greater Terror in a hut in Witchwood.

 

That is why I hadn't actually respec'd again to remove BnS, as that would take out Pommel, and I would have to do something slightly different against mooks.  Of course a lot of enemies have a predefined little area they want to stay camped in, and if you chain them out of it they won't even fight back most of the time.  Exploits are fun I guess.  I hit Level 7 after clearing Witchwood and got Combat Roll, then went to the Merc Fortress.  Although with Roll I could fight the 2H guys straight up and not take damage unless I messed up, it takes forever to kill one with my crappy maul.  So I think I will get some Paragon's Luster and try to make a better weapon.

 

BTW, Gya, capn233 does a lot of FF. You had some FF questions earlier than no one could answer, but capn233 might be able to.

 

Yeah and this solo has FF on, although I am not sure what I could even hit myself with other than a grenade. Unlike Mage who can get the only uncontrollable ability in Chain Lightning.

[Gya]

 

Yeah and this solo has FF on, although I am not sure what I could even hit myself with other than a grenade. Unlike Mage who can get the only uncontrollable ability in Chain Lightning.

 

That's exactly what I thought before doing my 2h warrior solo bits. I thought I might as well leave it on, what's the risk, right?. As it turns out, you can hit yourself with the WB masterwork. But only sometimes. With no indication.  At least, I think that's what's going on. 

[capn233]

That's exactly what I thought before doing my 2h warrior solo bits. I thought I might as well leave it on, what's the risk, right?. As it turns out, you can hit yourself with the WB masterwork. But only sometimes. With no indication.  At least, I think that's what's going on. 

 

Strange, I thought the masterwork procs never did FF.  I have used that one on bows for NPCs before, and don't recall ever getting damaged by it.

 

I was thinking some more about Block and Slash and my build in general, and probably I am just at too low a level to have a build that is good against most enemies yet.  Maybe Block and Slash would work out a little better as the main power against melee mooks if I had the upgrade, but I don't know where I would take the point from.  I want to clear the merc fortress next and I need Combat Roll for it, although I don't really need much else for 2H enemies as there isn't a lot of time to hit them in between rolls (2 auto attacks if you scan-cancel).

 

If panic in this game was more like Horror from DAO, I might have tried to b-line to War Horn.

 

edit: actually, I think I will respec out of the left side of 2H and pick up Charging Bull and throw a point in Shield Wall en route to BMTW.

[capn233]

Wasted a lot of time in Forbidden Oasis getting all the shards, and a while 4% spirit resist.  Also picked up some paragon's luster.  Made a Tier 2 axe with it.

 

Respec'd level 7 build to be

 

Mighty Blow+

Grappling Chain+-> Crippling Blows -> Combat Roll

War Cry -> Charging Bull

Shield Wall (useless)

 

Then did the Merc Fortress in Hinterlands.  New axe hit the 2H mercs for nearly twice as much damage per hit as the last maul, so that was nice.  Fortress was straightforward as a bunch of duels vs single 2H guys.  Hit hit roll, hit hit roll, then Mighty Blow when they are enraged, Charging Bull whenever.  Went to Storm Coast and recruited Blades of Hessarian.  The fight against the boss was interesting in that I didn't realize that Chain / Boot will CC that guy (never tried it before), and the two mabari were the toughest part of that encounter.  Went to Haven and spent a perk on Tempered Glass Flasks instead of More Healing Potions.  Thought more grenades would be more helpful than health pots.

 

Then picked up shards on the way to Redcliffe and hit 8 which allowed me to get BMTW and equip the armor the merc leader drops.  The rift at its gate was probably the hardest fight for me so far since I don't know how my character is supposed to kill wraiths in a timely manner, and you can't get decent spirit resistance until after Skyhold.  I used the "throw a bunch of grenades and use a lot of health pots" tactic to get past it.

 

What is the best way to solo this rift as a 2H Warrior (or any melee really)?

[Gya]

Wasted a lot of time in Forbidden Oasis getting all the shards, and a while 4% spirit resist. Also picked up some paragon's luster. Made a Tier 2 axe with it.

Respec'd level 7 build to be

Mighty Blow+
Grappling Chain+-> Crippling Blows -> Combat Roll
War Cry -> Charging Bull
Shield Wall (useless)

Then did the Merc Fortress in Hinterlands. New axe hit the 2H mercs for nearly twice as much damage per hit as the last maul, so that was nice. Fortress was straightforward as a bunch of duels vs single 2H guys. Hit hit roll, hit hit roll, then Mighty Blow when they are enraged, Charging Bull whenever. Went to Storm Coast and recruited Blades of Hessarian. The fight against the boss was interesting in that I didn't realize that Chain / Boot will CC that guy (never tried it before), and the two mabari were the toughest part of that encounter. Went to Haven and spent a perk on Tempered Glass Flasks instead of More Healing Potions. Thought more grenades would be more helpful than health pots.

Then picked up shards on the way to Redcliffe and hit 8 which allowed me to get BMTW and equip the armor the merc leader drops. The rift at its gate was probably the hardest fight for me so far since I don't know how my character is supposed to kill wraiths in a timely manner, and you can't get decent spirit resistance until after Skyhold. I used the "throw a bunch of grenades and use a lot of health pots" tactic to get past it.

What is the best way to solo this rift as a 2H Warrior (or any melee really)?

With SnS you can shield wall-attack cancel by keeping yourself correctly aligned with all the other wraiths, but for 2H.... IIRC there's not much cover, and wraiths are the toughest enemies for a 2h warrior. Not sure how to do it without combat roll + coming through.

[PapaCharlie9]

I think you've got the optimal approach, grenade spam, given you don't have Trespasser. Not a lot you can do about spirit damage without something to generate barrier, like the Amulet of Barrier.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to craft for max health, max healing benefit, and Heal 15% of damage taken over 10 seconds from FT Iron. Have you farmed iron in Haven? Do you have any high Tier Armor you can Golden Nug?

Chain/Boot is awesome. I think I did a whole XP level just doing Chain/Boot and Mighty Blow.

What's the plan for Champions of the Just vs In Hushed Whispers? Both are going to be pretty tough for a 2H warrior, unless your craft OP gear. I think Champions (Envy demon) might be a bit easier. If you can stay out of its weakness/stun AoE attack circle, you can just let Bees do most of the work.

[PapaCharlie9]

I just had a thought. If you can level up for 2 more ability points, you can get Livid and it's upgrade. That should help a ton with everything, even rifts, since you get damage reduction per nearby enemy. The upgrade gives you guard for every nearby enemy.

Might be worth doing prior to CJ/IHW. On the other hand, the sooner to Skyhold and specializations, the better.

[capn233]

With SnS you can shield wall-attack cancel by keeping yourself correctly aligned with all the other wraiths, but for 2H.... IIRC there's not much cover, and wraiths are the toughest enemies for a 2h warrior. Not sure how to do it without combat roll + coming through.

 

 

I think you've got the optimal approach, grenade spam, given you don't have Trespasser. Not a lot you can do about spirit damage without something to generate barrier, like the Amulet of Barrier.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to craft for max health, max healing benefit, and Heal 15% of damage taken over 10 seconds from FT Iron. Have you farmed iron in Haven? Do you have any high Tier Armor you can Golden Nug?

Chain/Boot is awesome. I think I did a whole XP level just doing Chain/Boot and Mighty Blow.

What's the plan for Champions of the Just vs In Hushed Whispers? Both are going to be pretty tough for a 2H warrior, unless your craft OP gear. I think Champions (Envy demon) might be a bit easier. If you can stay out of its weakness/stun AoE attack circle, you can just let Bees do most of the work.

 

Yeah I was thinking SnS would probably have a better chance at using less pots or nades, but it would still be a pain.

 

The crafted armor I was using had +40 health, the armor from the merc fortress is +30.  I also have a blue health belt now (I think that actually came from loot in the Redcliffe chantry, not sure).

 

I haven't really farmed any mats for the most part.  I picked up Paragon's Luster on the way to get the shards in Oasis, partly because I like to get the shards before that map has enemies.  I picked up iron for some of the requisitions, but I haven't been trying to grab a whole bunch of it.

 

I just had a thought. If you can level up for 2 more ability points, you can get Livid and it's upgrade. That should help a ton with everything, even rifts, since you get damage reduction per nearby enemy. The upgrade gives you guard for every nearby enemy.

Might be worth doing prior to CJ/IHW. On the other hand, the sooner to Skyhold and specializations, the better.

 

I already started CJ, and Level 8 with this build gear was basically invincible in the first part.  I'll get to the fade part and the end later.

 

I had originally wanted to do Hushed Whispers, then remembered that it forces Dorian.  If this was DAO, I would just do it anyway with him set on Passive with no tactics and Hold.  So I went with CJ.  Of course you get NPC helpers in CJ with invincible Barris at the beginning.

 

Also one thing I forgot to mention earlier with respect to Pommel.  That power was what allowed me to actually finish the ram meat side quest since I could slide and stun the rams before they ran off.  Chain didn't work on them, sadly, although it works on dogs and hyenas.  Mighty Blow's animation was so slow that it was really hard to get one with it, although I got 2.  This was the first time I ever tried that side quest melee only, usually just have Varric knock it out quickly.

[PapaCharlie9]

I had originally wanted to do Hushed Whispers, then remembered that it forces Dorian.  If this was DAO, I would just do it anyway with him set on Passive with no tactics and Hold, but I can't get any NPC's to actually hold far enough away from me in DAI that they won't auto attack if they are ranged.  So I went with CJ.  Of course you get NPC helpers in CJ with invincible Barris at the beginning.

FWIW, if Dorian is just a regular party member (I don't remember, I haven't done IHW for ages), you can disable his AI altogether in the Behavior screen. He won't attack and he won't even drink health potions, he'll just die until combat is over, then limp along after.
 

Also one thing I forgot to mention earlier with respect to Pommel.  That power was what allowed me to actually finish the ram meat side quest since I could slide and stun the rams before they ran off.  Chain didn't work on them, sadly, although it works on dogs and hyenas.

That's cool, I never tried that on critters.

[PapaCharlie9]

If you want FT Obsidian for guard on hit without glitching, here's a video that shows how. Requires a lot of tries, but if you can slip past the dragon, it's totally legit.

Start at 31:08:



If you are willing to glitch, you can do this instead. The chest is behind a Deft Hands lock, but you can glitch through the roof. This is what I used to do for low level builds. As of Trespasser, this is no longer necessary, since you can use HoV instead.

Start at 50:00:



I should mention it's also possible to legitimately open the lock with Deft Hands, shortly after attaining Skyhold, by recruting 4 Secrets agents: Speaker Anais, Ritts, Tanner in the Hinterlands, and Jana in Crestwood.

[Gya]

A thought about BMTW abuse... it works to reduce all melee damage from flanking attacks to 1, but interestingly enough a dev informed us in the MP forum that melee vs ranged attacks are purely distance based, 3m is he cut off IIRC. So if an archer is right behind you and attacks, it counts as "melee" and does 1 damage. I think this also works with magic attacks, since when I solo'd Gurd, if I turned away when he used his cold blast aoe bullsh*t, it did 1 damage while at point blank range.

Skip to 1:03.

Spoiler

Not sure how practical it would be vs wraiths outside of negating the snot from a wraith you're engaging at point blank range, since they tend to move out of range and spawn in numbers, but certainly could come in handy with arcane horror beamspam or terror enemas.

[capn233]

FWIW, if Dorian is just a regular party member (I don't remember, I haven't done IHW for ages), you can disable his AI altogether in the Behavior screen. He won't attack and he won't even drink health potions, he'll just die until combat is over, then limp along after.

 

I disabled the AI for all the party members, but the ones with ranged weapons would still attack if enemies were in range.  In the prologue, I had to make them hold position behind the tower so Solas and Varric wouldn't shoot the Pride Demon. 

 

I ended up taking Solas to remove the barrier in front of the Apostate Hideout in Witchwood after I cleared the enemies in front of it (wasn't possible for me to bash it), and he would shoot at them if he got LOS, and when I tried to get him to hold position hidden behind a rock, the game would seem to decide the he was too far away and he would show up again.  It was frustrating trying to keep him away from the fight, and I don't know why he would show up after set to hold.  Ended up going back to camp after he removed the barrier so I could kick him back out of the party.  That was why I was hesitant to try Hushed Whispers with Dorian in tow.

 

There isn't a setting besides the AI checkbox that I also need to turn off to prevent them from auto-attacks is there?

 

If you want FT Obsidian for guard on hit without glitching, here's a video that shows how. Requires a lot of tries, but if you can slip past the dragon, it's totally legit.

If you are willing to glitch, you can do this instead. The chest is behind a Deft Hands lock, but you can glitch through the roof. This is what I used to do for low level builds. As of Trespasser, this is no longer necessary, since you can use HoV instead.

I should mention it's also possible to legitimately open the lock with Deft Hands, shortly after attaining Skyhold, by recruting 4 Secrets agents: Speaker Anais, Ritts, Tanner in the Hinterlands, and Jana in Crestwood.

 

I've gone past the dragon before myself actually, and it was a pain, mainly to avoid getting knocked off the horse by dragonlings.  I think I ended up killing a couple, and you can actually save at the back of the first area when you drop out of combat.

 

I wasn't aware you could jump through the roof of that house, I doubt I will bother with that.

 

A thought about BMTW abuse... it works to reduce all melee damage from flanking attacks to 1, but interestingly enough a dev informed us in the MP forum that melee vs ranged attacks are purely distance based, 3m is he cut off IIRC. So if an archer is right behind you and attacks, it counts as "melee" and does 1 damage. I think this also works with magic attacks, since when I solo'd Gurd, if I turned away when he used his cold blast aoe bullsh*t, it did 1 damage while at point blank range.


Not sure how practical it would be vs wraiths outside of negating the snot from a wraith you're engaging at point blank range, since they tend to move out of range and spawn in numbers, but certainly could come in handy with arcane horror beamspam or terror enemas.

 

Interesting info.  I think your assessment is probably right, it would end up being usable against the single wraith you are engaging.

[Bigdawg13]

I don't really want to read this whole thread, but I can give a few tips.  For starters, take a look at one of these two builds.  Both with different ideas.

 

http://forum.bioware...skyhold-builds/

 

http://dragoninquisi...uild_Early_Game

 

As for block-n-slash.  It can block a lot of attacks, even dragon attacks.  Or those dreaded charging shields.  Really just decide between combat roll or block-n-slash.  It's the only form of avoiding damage you really have. 

 

*EDIT*  Added more info

 

The thing about block-n-slash is it only takes an investment of one point.  You need a minimum of 3 to get combat roll.  Really it boils down to being able to knock enemies down and use upgraded mighty blow.  Knock them down with block-n-slash, grappling chain with give them the boot, or charging bull.  Charging bull (when upgraded) is amazing because it gives you zero-cost mighty block.  You charge, knock 'em down, and then slam them with mighty blow getting extra bonus damage.

[capn233]

I've seen the first thread before (and posted in it) but wondered if it would work decently with a solo before I got into Hinterlands as the thread was written more for standard runs to my recollection.  I did see that near the end he seemed to revise his opinion on Charging Bull a bit.  The second link I saw before the last patch probably because I don't recall seeing builds with Livid there.

 

I used Block and Slash as the go to against the shades that spawn from the rift at the end of the prologue.  For mook tier melee enemies it is pretty good for knock down.  I was not having success with it against anything higher tier than that.  Also I have not seen it block any charge melee attack whether it be from the shield bearers or the 2H enemies.  Of course it does knock down the shield bearers if you counter their standard attack with it.

 

***

 

I finished Champions, and the Envy fight was sort of strange.  It was a lot of Charging Bull, Combat Roll and some Chain / Boot.  Since I didn't have upgraded Roll for CC cleanse I needed to make sure I didn't get knocked down or panicked (although health pots would work).  Also I had managed to forget to refill Antivan Fires before the mission so it was Bees only.  Mighty Blow I used a couple times, although it was largely simpler to just use CB to run through him.  Combat Roll was to avoid the pop up attacks and the melee swings when he went into mirror mode.

 

I don't know if Cole died or glitched, but when I was fighting the mirror form, Cole was just standing in the middle.  I left him alone since this is supposed to be a solo anyway, but when Envy went back to his normal form for the last phase, Cole started attacking again.

[capn233]

I loaded up my first save in the Hinterlands to quantify some of what I was talking about with Block and Slash.  Level 3, Crossroads fight.  Block and Slash, MB+, Chain+. Used the attribute page to help quantify stamina cost.  I don't know if someone has posted the formula for how it is scaled, perhaps similarly to shield wall despite the description.

 

Sword Mooks in Apostate Wave - blocking their melee cost a little over 30 stamina, which was incidentally similar to the random templar mook the inquisition npcs were fighting when I first arrived.

 

Templar Defender - the shield guy's melee swings cost a bit over 40 stamina to block.  Using the Dragon Maul, and mixing in auto attack to regen stamina, you might be able to get in three blocks in a row each time he has recovered, at which point the next block will not prevent damage, but will stun him.  Alternatively, if you use Mighty Blow after your first block, then you can probably only regen enough for one more block before your go to dud blocks.  Damage taken by the Inquisitor in failed blocks were in the low 60s.

 

Templar Knight - blocking his melee cost over 60 stamina (left 37 to 38ish from full), which meant you would block him once and then need to regen significant stamina before you could actually block successfully again, and in reality you can't fight him this way without running away or chugging a bunch of health pots as the stamina cost of BnS is too high to mitigate more than a couple of his swings.

 

Not going to load it up, but 2H guys in the Hafter's / Merc Fortress area are a similar story.  You can block some of their mundane attacks, but once you do you are essentially in a stamina deficit where you need to auto attack to regen, making you a sitting duck essentially.

[Gya]

Interesting, I didn't notice that there was an extra stamina cost to blocking beyond the stamina drain from holding the block. If it works like shield wall, then it scales based on enemy rank, with boss enemies taking up about 1/3 of your bar.

Either way, the main use I got from BnS was not the blocking itself per se, but the CC it causes on sword mooks and shield morons, which leaves them open to attacks. Chaining between BnS, grappling chain, charging bull and mighty blow can keep basic mooks and shield guys constantly incapacitated, though auto-attack is needed to keep up stamina. BnS is especially useful against shield morons as an opening CC if MB is still on CD, because they're hard to flank and block grappling chain and charging bull. I never use it on bruisers because as you say, it only blocks 1 attack and they often follow up with 2 more hits that leave you in a lot of pain.

[Bigdawg13]

Block n Slash definately consumes more stamina when you block.  But that's what upgraded Charging Bull is for.  It only takes a few stamina and you can cast ANY ability.  It will help you moderate your stamina consumption.

 

And, in my signature there is a link for DAI: [GUIDE] Documentation for Combat Mechanics

and it says the following about Block n Slash:

 

Block and Slash

• Only blocks melee attacks from the front.
• The resulting counterattack after blocking an attack strikes all enemies in melee range in a wide arc centered on the enemy whose attack was blocked.
• Costs 10 stamina to activate and 3.9% of max stamina per second to sustain.
• When an attack is blocked, the caster loses up to 20 stamina. If the caster has less than 20 stamina, the attack will still be blocked and the resulting counterattack made, and the caster's stamina will be reduced to 0.
• [Mistake/Bug - Patch 5] In-game description fails to mention the stamina penalty when an attack is successfully blocked, and incorrectly lists the stamina cost to sustain as 5 stamina per second.

 

I would never use Block n Slash as an offensive tool, but rather to negate an enemy attack.  A dragon swipes at you, use block and slash (or roll).  Personally, I never really found a place for combat roll for a 2H warrior.  You get charging bull (upgraded) and block n slash.  Those two abilities give you mobility, regulates stamina, and damage avoidance.  And yes, block and slash will stop a charge.  It makes killing those shield guys in Emerald Forest so much more enjoyable.

[Gya]

Block n Slash definately consumes more stamina when you block. But that's what upgraded Charging Bull is for. It only takes a few stamina and you can cast ANY ability. It will help you moderate your stamina consumption.

And, in my signature there is a link for DAI: [GUIDE] Documentation for Combat Mechanics
and it says the following about Block n Slash:

Block and Slash

• Only blocks melee attacks from the front.
• The resulting counterattack after blocking an attack strikes all enemies in melee range in a wide arc centered on the enemy whose attack was blocked.
• Costs 10 stamina to activate and 3.9% of max stamina per second to sustain.
• When an attack is blocked, the caster loses up to 20 stamina. If the caster has less than 20 stamina, the attack will still be blocked and the resulting counterattack made, and the caster's stamina will be reduced to 0.
• [Mistake/Bug - Patch 5] In-game description fails to mention the stamina penalty when an attack is successfully blocked, and incorrectly lists the stamina cost to sustain as 5 stamina per second.

I would never use Block n Slash as an offensive tool, but rather to negate an enemy attack. A dragon swipes at you, use block and slash (or roll). Personally, I never really found a place for combat roll for a 2H warrior. You get charging bull (upgraded) and block n slash. Those two abilities give you mobility, regulates stamina, and damage avoidance. And yes, block and slash will stop a charge. It makes killing those shield guys in Emerald Forest so much more enjoyable.

I should have known better than to trust the tooltip!

I certainly got knocked onto my butt against the shield charge, maybe I wasn't positioned entirely correctly? Regardless, I personally got plenty of use out of BnS as a CC tool, especially while I was limiting crafting and didn't have combat roll+coming through.

Also, I can see why people don't like the new combat roll, it is incredibly cheesy, but I'm all for that!