What to include in decks

Hi all,
just wondered if anyone had some ideas for newbie deck builders out there, I've read the various guides (very good) out there but wanted a more general principled ideas chat.

So what are the must have glyphs for the various decks

Sword and shield

Dual wield

Armours

Bows

What sort of balance between buffs/defences and offence is recommended?

Are the ones I'm mainly interested in. All thoughts welcome.

 

For shields and armours, I would say that the main defensive skill is a must for each (Deflect, dodge or Glancing blow). These have a very high defensive result making them very useful.

For swords ( I don't use them, maybe someone can add onto this) Thrust is the bread and butter skill, and I heard Rend is very important. Coup de grace is very strong also.

Next off, dual wield, has only 1 output skill : Offhand attack. I would basically call this a must for a dual wield skill considering it costs no focus, has no global timer when it isn't locked, and is the only way to get damage from your second weapon (a part from enchants and masterworks)

Finally Bows would have 2 main skills also. Aimed shot, which is fast and powerful, and cheap and Rapid fire which can kill an enemy extremely fast.


This doesn't mean other skills are useless, they are just more situational, meanwhile the ones I named are useful anytime and should be incorporated in every build.

Feel free to ask more questions, or even get ahold of me ingame when you see me. Same name as on here!

 

Also as a 2 handed axed wielder I usually lock "fortify defenses* on my bar and spam it as needed since it doesn't last long.

 

It really depends on what the deck is for, ie with swords thrust / doubleslash are the base dmg use anytime skills.
Rend is essential if your fighting high hp mobs as it will counter its healing , likewise coup de grace for fighting high hp mobs, ie over 6k hp.
And whirling blades or whatever its called if your making an aoe deck for fighting many mobs at once.

Playing in heavy armour and as a warrior I always have bodyslam for the ability to leap around and stun, and always have atleast 1 locked heal and 1 locked defensive buff then 1 slot with other buffs rolling.
Parry/glancing blow & fortify defenses as rolling buffs usually and a locked stance (either defensive or beserker)

Also as my alternate deck I have a buffing deck . On there Ill have my stat buff, shield spell and other defensive buffs to get them up pre fight then ill also have a heal over time spel on it and an aoe spell to cast prior to fight (and without 2hd sword in hand so cast is easier)

 

This one is situational in my opinion though. Since you can only have 2 avoidance skills up at the same time, if you already have Glancing Blow and Ice shield or Earth shield (with earth Spec) you are basically just overwriting a skill every time!

 

i'm lvl 40 at the moment so just getting started, I'll post what I have so far done deck wise when we get back in. Thanks for the responses.

 

it stacks with crystal shield and glancing blow, or it did even after the no 3 stack changes as the bonus to DA from crystal shield only is there if your earth specced.

 

Ohh so Earth Spec ignores this restriction? Neat

 

Ok so here is what my thoughts were so far for sword and shield,
left hand side is offence and offence glyphs rotate through the 3 unlocked slots hopefully increasing my chance of a combo or more powerful attack. The two locks are mind wipe and Riposte because its situational.
right hand side is defence and buffs so first two slots are random defence or buffs, then locked heal and a locked deflect, the last slot is for heals and purifies.

Does that make sense and is it moving in the right diresction?

Actual deck is
Sword/Sheild Deck lvl 40

Offence side
4 Thrust
4 Double slash
2 Rend
4 Body slam

1 Riposte - locked
1 mind Wipe - Locked



Defence side
2 Glancing blow

1 Absorbs impacts
2 inner strength
1 bolster balance
​

1 heal - locked
1 Deflect - locked

1 healing Ray
1 Purify

 

Try it and see how it plays, its all very much personal preference and playstyles also.

Personaly I also like to have 1 locked use anytime move ie thrust so its there all the time, then remove it from rolling ones and have double slash in rolling ones as that combos with thrust, you can combo a locked glyph with a rolling glyph.
ie if thrust was locked on slot 3 and double slash was rolling on sloth 4/5 you could press and hold 3 then tap 4/5 and it will make the combo on slot 4/5.

 

I will admit that rotating defensive buffs is something that I have found to be a bit less optimal. First off sometimes you want them on the spot which on rotation won't necessarily be the case. Secondly, if a glyph you draw can only go in a already filled slot (aka. You pull 2 defensive buffs in a row but haven't used the first one) it will slow down the hole process, even for slots that are free. I would recommend finding the ones you prefer and rolling with those ones! But like the other guy said, try it out for yourself first!

 

That's not a bad deck, Nevyn.

I agree with @Violette Dyonisys about unlocked defensive skills. I keep mine locked based on my experience of which skills have the greatest impact on my defence. Which skills you lock (activate for most/every battle) and leave unlocked (nice to have running if you have the opportunuty) will depene on your experience. In my own experience, if I want to activate a defensive skill, I want that exact skill, right now, and in the right now, and in the correct order. Inner strength has a very short duration, for example, so I want to activate that at the end of my buff string just before engagment.

Another case for locking skills is for situational skills, such as coup de grace and riposte. They're both situational but in different ways: coup de grace is situational insofar as you can use it in every fight but at just the right time. It should certainly be locked if you're serious about using it as often as possible. Riposte is situational as you can only benefit from it by using it at a precise time with precise timing. When you hear that TSHANG parry sound, you have just a moment to counter attack. If you're serious about riposte, you'll need to lock it. If you want to use riposte a lot (and relatively predictably), you might consider locking Parry, as well, because the maximum parry bonus is only available for 2 seconds.

Some people avoid skills of opportunity like riposte because they don't want to waste combat bar realestate on skills that require so much dedication to really make worth their while.

How you set up your deck also depends on your physiological capabilities as well. I cannot physically focus on my bar and the battle at the same time, so I rely on muscle memory to fight. I currently only have one unlocked slot in my primary deck (2-handed & heavy armor) which I use for combos, so I only need to glance down when stringing a combo or if I want to use rend/double slash individually.

So get out there and give your deck a workout! Only experience can tell you what works.