Any viable R19 Melee PvP builds?

My current thoughts. These will be pretty basic:

1. Locked and Unlocked combat should be different, not better or worse.

2. Melee attacks would better benefit from being added to the next auto-attack so they can be Charged. This would create variation and add levers for power control in melee.

3. We could benefit from some specific blocks and counter-attacks from blocks.

A few ideas for the above points:

1. Locked cannot combo or stack. Why not allow hybrid decks to drop unlocked cards onto locked cards to create a combo in the locked slot until used? The combo still can't be stacked but the locking makes the combo process more reliable. (these could place the locked ability on a longer cooldown if necessary)

2. Some "natural" combos could encourage locked slots in a deck. For example, performing a block (mentioned above) could allow for a free use of certain locked abilities that are classed as counter attacks, awarding a lower focus cost and no cooldown. Maybe simply refreshing any cooldown it currently had. (offering just the lower focus cost when the ability is unlocked)

3. Clutch defense or cleansing abilities are good candidates for locked slots as they benefit from reliable access. Make sure that while an unlocked version can appear more often, the locked version isn't overly punished by the cooldown.

4. Starting cooldowns on some utility and defensive spells are very high when locked. Abilities need separate cooldowns when entering combat compared to their cooldown on-use.

5. Melee abilities could have two general effects for charged and uncharged use. For example, Crushing Blow is Damage + a Stun chance. The damage and stun duration could remain the same regardless of if you charge it or not, but charging it could increase the stun chance. At the same time, you could partially charge abilities gaining better effect depending on the level of charge before release. So a Crushing Blow could have a 100% stun chance when fully charged, but obviously cost time and damage that the quicker swing would not. There are numerous abilities this could apply too. It would also be a good way to increase the power or utility of abilities as you can use the charge time as a limiter to it's power.

6. If abilities could be charged and were used on the next auto attack it would mean we could see the symbol for the ability (over the enemy's head) prior to the actual swing. This would let us have reactionary blocking abilities. As mentioned above we could then have counter-attacks in the form of certain locked abilities.

 

Yep...level makes you do more damage, but so far it never allows for a big battle in cloth. I am still raising int as much as possible...I just wish I had more control over my characters progress...it feels really generic...Also, my mage should have some more effective crowd control.

I did add fire now...and the burning effect is helping a bit...I can take down the patriarch bears one at a time...Can't wait till I hit 40 to see if I can start fighting more than 1 at a time!

 

-_-'

 

One strategy that has, at least in the past, worked well against NPC mobs is to hit each mob member with a combination of damage over time spells and run circles around them while doing so. It is really easy to take down a number of Patriarch Bears this way. For several releases I used Flame Fist, Fire Arrow and the combo Fiery Decay almost exclusively because they didn't require reagents. Now Death Ray, a component in Fiery Decay, does require reagents to be completely reliable.

The new Fire Circle spell is extremely effective.

 

Not so much that level creates more damage, but it lets you get certain skills that are necessary to stand and take damage so you don't have to run around. But getting int up really helps with damage output.

Did you watch Themo's video about grinding xp? It will give you a lot of tips on how to build out your deck so that you can beat up on multiple mobs.

 

Chris stated that it is getting reworked but I posted my thoughts on my pole arms build which worked really well against PVE but in PVP I could barely do any + damage to a naked mage once their heals were factored in...

That was with a very nice crafted halberd, STR at 106 and an attack skill of 189. It just wasn't enough and even if they didn't heal, they still would have won the DPS battle.

 

Yes...Kiting is the only way to mage...Standing still to try and gain the crit hit bonus/focus reduce will get me killed alot...but i try to do it when i get lucky and have 3 arrows rotate into my bar. I do anywhere from 5 - 90 damage with ice arrow...seems quite impossible to determine how to cast since spell damage is soooo varied. Fist attacks do 30ish damage as a general rule and are more reliable for consistant damage. BUT...I don't like having to fight up close with a mage. A mage is supposed to be able to fight from a distance...between nuking and slowing mobs...Here...nukes don't exist...slows don't slow enough. Yes, I've tried ice field but it really should allow me to distance cast it if we wanna call that an effective slow for mobs.

I do not use death magic...I just use fire/ice...I have tried fire/sun and ice/wind. I am playing an elemental mage...or I call it PURE mage since I wear cloth, but so far cloth is a bad idea. I am going to try leather in r20 once I can get a fresh start and hopefully some new features in combat will help us.

Thanks for the good feedback!

 

Right now I am at 47 int...and plan to beef up even more at level 40. I haven't added any points to dex or str...and yes it's hurting my hp and my carrying capacity...but heck that's a mage...Low hit point...High damage right? Some magery takes dex...but I haven't heard if it does here...so I'm sticking with creating higher DPS by raising int.

I did watch Themo's Vid...good stuff...but not the way I fight...I don't use death magic Once we can use a locked bar with no penealties for mana and cooldown, I will be able to line up the spells I need at all times...In the meantime I do not expand my bar because 4 spells is all I need.

 

just a thought and it would take some doing im not a programmer so it may be way to much work. in ultima online mages hit way harder but melee hade healing with band aids and magic reflect items and my favorite deadly poison. maybe melee needs a new skills and not a rework of old skills. a skill that makes the pay big time if u get close so as a mage u have to back off and heal up then start attacking again. also I am 58 now and would like to start trying pvp I went to grunvald shardfall for about an hour today and saw no one is there a heavy pvp zone or is there pvp tournaments like the ones we hade on top of towers in ultima online