1. Legends of Camelot *

2. Feedback on this guide *

3. Introduction to the best tank! *

4. Level 1-50 and beyond! The short story. *

5. Monsters to hunt *

6. Your choice of weapons *

7. The hero skills explained *

8. Important commands explained *

9. Weapon styles *

10. Your equipment *

11. Fighting strategies *

12. RvR Combat *

13. Hotkeys and macros *

14. Links *

13. Thanks to: *

14. Disclaimer *

This guide was produced by the guild Legends of Camelot, Excalibur server, Hibernia realm. Our goal is to create a tightly knit (most important), experienced, and raid capable guild - without losing sight of two important things - being friendly and having fun. If you are interested in reading more about Legends of Camelot or perhaps even sending us an application to join the guild please visit http://www.akebono.cistron.nl/

We are interested in feedback on this guide to keep it accurate and valuable. If you find errors or have valuable additions you are welcome to mail them to Roca02@handelsbanken.se

This is my personal view on the hero class of Hibernia. You may take my advice or not, that is up to you. Just remember that this guide reflects my view on the hero. I believe that this guide will give you a versatile hero that does well in both PvE and RvR. In my opinion the Hero is the best tank class and a great asset in any group. Heroes are not very very suitable for soloing mobs and there are other classes that will let you get rp’s faster.

Early in the game other people might not appreciate the shield tank very much. You won't do much damage and other tank classes do more damage ( blademasters, 2H wielders , Nightshades ) but I assure you that later in the game you’ll be much sought after and appreciated. After level 30 and especially after level 40 any group really needs 1-2 shield heroes to get safe experience.

That means that your best asset is your defence. If you play defence well you’ll get loved in any group. Your job is to take pain, not primarily to deal it. There are other ways to play the hero, i.e. the pure offensive one but in my mind these are limited both in RvR and especially in PvE.

The hero’s role in a group is to pull aggro and take the pain from the mobs while the rest of the group kills the mobs and supports you. Sure you’ll do some damage as well but it's not your main task in a group. You have done your job well if the rest of the group lives. You have failed if the healers/nukers in your group should perish. As the strongest tank class it’s also your job to look after other tanking classes that could need a hand from time to time. You should be prepared to stay and take your death while the rest of the group runs for safety when things go wrong. This will give you lots of friends and credit. This all demands that you primarily spec in defence skills. You can choose to spec more offensively in the higher lvls to better suit you in RvR.

Until patch 1.52 hits us in Europe you have the option of going full defence as long as you pass lvl 40 before the patch day for 1.52. Then you can respec to a perfect RvR hero later!

4. Level 1-50 and beyond! The short story.

As a hero you can choose between playing a Celt or a Firbolg. In short the Firbolg is slightly better in RvR as the higher strength makes you hit harder and you are also able to carry more battering ram parts for taking keeps. In PvE the Celt is superior as the higher dex makes you hit/taunt more often and dex/quickness lets you evade blows more often. You can't really go wrong with either but I prefer the Celt. If your main goal is RvR and offensive play you should probably choose Firbolg and add 10 pts to Str instead of Quickness. When you rise in lvl the Str, Con and Dex will rise automatically.

Celt: STR=60 DEX=60+10=70 CON=60+10=70 QUI=60+10=70

Firbolg: STR=90 DEX=40+10=50 CON=60+10=70 QUI=40+10=50

To these I would suggest adding 10 points to Con, Dex and Qui. Str isn't really needed as it will rise fast when you lvl and youll find lots of +Str items. Quickness lets you attack faster and evade more often. Both are important for a hero and the quickness won't rise when you lvl.

You shall also select a size for your hero! Of course you are a big brute that stands there like a rock protecting the group! Despite this some people choose to play a small sized hero which gives you some benefits in cramped dungeons and makes you a bit harder to spot in RvR.

You start out playing a guardian. Run out from town and start killing mobs that con blue to you. You should very quickly rise to lvl 5 like this. You can train your weapon skills at the guardian trainer. When you hit lvl 5 you can go to Tir Na Nog or Howth ( see maps in link section below ) and visit the Hero trainer talk to him and tell him you want to be a hero. Your other options are to become a Blademaster ( wrong! ) or a Champion ( also wrong J ).

After lvl 2 you can help exping with doing kill tasks. You get the same number of kill tasks as your level and these earn you money and about 50% of the exp needed for a lvl + the exp from killing the mob. You get kill tasks from named guards around the towns. Select a guard and type "/say task" and he can give you a task to kill a certain mob near the town. He will indicate in which direction you should seek the mob. This direction is often not the closest mobs and it helps a lot to have Kirstena's maps printed to find the mobs quickly!

Not all guards give you kill tasks every lvl and noone will give you a task after lvl 20. If you got a kill task from a guard then you can visit the same guard in 4 lvls again as they cycle ( see the table below). You have to experiment on where in the cycle you are as this is random. If you find out that you are in cycle 3 when you are lvl 6, then you can visit a guard in the cycle 3 column on lvl 6, 10, 14, 18. Visit guards in the cycle 4 column on lvls 7,11,15 and 19.

Thanks to : Kirstena's Dark Age of Camelot Atlas ( http://www.io.com/~caladin/kirstena/ ), you have access to maps displaying where all the mobs are that you need for the kill tasks:

Connacht http://www.io.com/~caladin/kirstena/hibmaps/hib_connacht.gif

Lough Derg http://www.io.com/~caladin/kirstena/hibmaps/hib_lough_derg.gif

Silvermine Mountains http://www.io.com/~caladin/kirstena/hibmaps/hib_silvermine.jpg

Shannon Estuary http://www.io.com/~caladin/kirstena/hibmaps/hib_estuary.gif

Bri Leith http://www.io.com/~caladin/kirstena/hibmaps/hib_brileith.gif

These levels are suitable for kill tasks. This lets you lvl fast and quite safely. Don't turn any grouping offers down though as that will give you valuable experience and give you a chance of making friends your lvl.

At about lvl 12 it starts to take a loooong time for each kill task as the guards will send you all over Hibernia to find the mobs to kill. Try to team up with other in your lvl range. If they are within 1-2 lvls you should all get nice experience. Try to go for mixed groups where you have a few of every class. In a working 8ppl group you should be able to take on purple mobs with no problem. If you don't get a group you can always go solo. You should be able to solo most yellow con mobs.

See the list in next chapter for ideas on what to hunt!

Here are some tips on what you can occupy yourself with as lvl 50:

• Craft, perfect your crafting, use your high lvl character to farm gold to pay for your hobby.
• Help lower levels exp and complete quests. Very rewarding. You get a lot of love if you do this. Also a way to pay back all the help you hopefully got on your way to the top.
• RvR, This rocks when you are level 50 and will never become boring when you master it.
• Do quests. Your epics if you haven't done them. Other quests to learn the story of the land.
• Hunt items to perfect your outfit. Epic mobs in CF and Darkness Falls demand 1 or more groups of high lvl chars.
• Plan and launch raids on keeps, epic mobs etc.
• Help Bedroc complete his guide on Cursed Forest J
• Do a guide of your own. Very fun and helps other people enjoy the game.
• Stand around in Tir na Nog and look cool. Enjoy the admiration and respect from bypassers.
• Farm money for guild crafters, keep doors, siege equipment.

4. Monsters to hunt

If you solo you should go for monsters about your level or lower. This is strongly dependant on your attack bonus and the monster's bonus against your armour. If you choose a monster that has a big bonus against your armour you’ll die faster of course. Try to select monsters that give you a bonus for your attack type, and have a negative bonus against your armour type. The best you can solo is something that gives you +15 attack bonus and the monster –15 bonus against your armour type.

If you are in a full group of 8, with everyone about the same level and a nice mix of classes, you could follow this table to determine a suitable level monster to hunt:

Level: is the monster's level

Aggro: explains if the monster will aggro you.

Attack Speed: indicates how fast the monster's attacks are.

Social: explains if these monsters can act as a group. Call value means that the monster can call for help from its friends if attacked.

Your attack bonus: for crush/slash/thrust gives the bonus that your weapon does against this monster. The higher number the more damage you will do to the monster.

Their bonus against: Scale/Studded/Leather gives the monsters bonus against your armour. If this is a high number you'll get hurt more when the mob hits you.

If I get the energy I might add location to some of the monsters but that will be for another time. To find the monsters you can consult Kirstena's excellent maps: http://www.io.com/~caladin/kirstena/

6. Your choice of weapons

Your choice of weapons

In this chapter I'll discuss the different weapons you can choose from as a hero. For a detailed discussion about styles and style chains please see the chapter about weapon styles.

 

Shield

Yes, the shield is as much seen as a weapon as a tool for defence. You can use it to hurt and stun your enemies, often with great effect. Especially the lvl 42 long duration stun is very valuable for a tank! So valuable that even many 2H weapon users go for this skill. This skill is a must for a tank.

 

Blades

Blades is one of the three one handed weapons that suit a shield hero. Blades are well balanced, slower and harder hitting than pierce, but faster and weaker than blunt. Blade damage is based 100% on your strength i.e. the higher your Str the higher the damage you deal with your sword. For a hero this is good news as your Str will get very high over time. Monsters in general seem to be more resistant to blade attacks than to pierce or blunt, and blades don't get bonuses to invader scale or platemail. ( these things tend to change in each patch though ). One good thing about blades is that there seem to be many magical blades around and they look cool too! Perhaps this is why most 1H heroes go with blades. Blade is a very good choice for a shield tank.

 

Blunt

Blunts are slower than blades and do more damage. Blunt styles are nice as they often stun the mobs. The blunt taunt is special as it gives a medium bonus to hit ( hitting is important to taunt well ). There are not many good magical blunt weapons around though. Blunt weapons are also very effective as many mobs seem to be weak against blunt attacks, and this goes for Albion platemail too. The drawback is that your shield attack is a blunt attack and you sacrifice the possibility of using 2 different attack styles if you go blunt ( blunt/pierce or blunt/slash ). Blunt damage is based on Str only.

 

Pierce

This is a good skill for a shield-hero. Piercers are the fastest and weakest hitting weapon in the game. Attack styles for pierce often give large bonuses to defence ( most important ) they are also the fastest type of weapon which lets you taunt more often / use styles more often. Chainmail from Midgard and furry creatures are also weak against pierce attacks. Combined with your shield's blunt attacks you have a very strong combo! Damage for pierce is based on Str and Dex. This will be a disadvantage damagewise as your Str will rise faster than your Dex when you level. The sum of the weapon bonuses ( Im not sure that this is correct though ) indicates that pierce is not optimal to deal damage with.

 

Celtic Spear

Spears are big ugly unwieldy pointed sticks that you have to carry around in your hand when not in use. They are 2H weapons with damage based only on your Str. Being a 2 hander it's of low interest for a shield hero early in his career but it comes in handy at later lvls when you want to do some damage in RvR. According to the Prima DAoC guide CS has slightly better stats and ratios than any other class of weapon in the game ( exception is Albion polearms ) This means you'll do more dmg faster than with any other weapon. Drawback is that it makes thrust damage which yields penalties from nearly 2/3 of the Hibernian mobs ( i.e. most mobs are resistant to Spear attacks ). It works great against chainmail armor that Midgard tanks and Albion Mercs, Clerics and Minstrels wear ( 15% bonus ) and suffers only a small penalty ( -5% ) against Albion platemail. Therefore this is a great RvR weapon and a poor PvE one. If you follow my guide you should choose Celtic Spear as your RvR weapon of choice.

 

Large weapon

LW are slower and do less damage than Celtic Spears. The styles are a bit strange and hard to use ( many side positional styles etc ). The advantage is that they look very cool, you can wear them on your back, and you get 2 types of damage to choose from, blunt and slash, according to which type of LW you choose. The blades give bonuses to soft animals in PvE and leather/cloth wearers in the frontiers, the blunt gives bonus to Albion platemail ( +15%! ) and hard animals ( crabs , skeletons and stuff ). This would be important bonus if you chose LW as your main weapon for PvE. But you're not ( right? ) as you have your shield and blade. For RvR the Celtic Spear tends to be slightly better on average. I would therefore not recommend going LW. The level 50 Annihilation style LW is amazing though, giving lots of damage and a long stun that will let you get 2 free blows.

 

Bow

As a hero you are able to use a shortbow. This won't hurt the enemy but is very nice for pulling mobs. Always have a bow ready for when you have to do pulling duty in a group. Equip it with flight arrows if you can afford them, as they will give you the extra range you often need. Even if your not the main tank pulling the mobs you can use your bow to get aggro from the adds. This is very useful when you cant run to meet the mobs without risking to pull more mobs.

The bow is also very useful when the monsters you fight cast spells. You can use the bow to interrupt their casting. Just shoot the casters as fast as you can and the group will take a lot less damage from spells. After a while the casting mob will get tired of your arrows and charge you. Switch to your shield and 1H weapon and fight as you usually do.

 

Where should you put your training points

Max shield all the way up to lvl 42. That gives you the coveted slam shield style which really rocks!

Max blades till you get the lvl 6 taunt style which is important for a tank, after that you divide the rest of your points evenly between parry and blades till they reach lvl 35.

When you reach skill lvl 35 in blades/parry somewhere in your 40s I recommend that you start putting points into Celtic Spear. You'll be too weak in RvR if you don't. With this you'll end up with my hybrid template. Very useful in both PvE and RvR. My choice if I could not respec.

 

If you reach lvl 40 before the 1.52 patch is installed I would recommend you follow my defensive template instead. Keep maxing your shield to lvl 48. Stop putting points into blades when it reaches lvl 35 and put the rest in parry. This will give you a very strong defensive hero that can take pain from the highest mobs ( well not the dragon and Legion ) for longer than any other class. This will make you an invaluable asset for hunting down the strongest enemies. You will have problems taking out enemies in RvR with this template though.

 

If you plan to solo with your hero at times or if you want to be a perfect RvR hero when you reach the high levels you should follow the offensive template. . And then I'd recommend following the left template. Quickly get 6 points in blades so you can taunt. Max shield all the way to 42 and park shield skill there. Max parry till you get it to 39 and use spare points after this in Celtic Spear. Its better for your group exping to wait with Celtic Spear. If you plan to solo the low levels you should max Spear and Parry to begin with and do the Shield/Blade later.

 

 

7. The hero skills explained

Sprint

If you press the sprint button you will get an extra running speed bonus until you turn it off or your endurance runs out. It is very useful when you need that extra speed, i.e. when you solo and pull more than 1 mob you turn around and hit the sprint button. Or when a monster turns and runs for your healer or nuker, you push sprint to overtake it and pull aggro back where it belongs. Also useful in RvR when you sprint to overtake a fleeing invader!

 

Parry

This is a passive skill and thus you don't have to do anything to parry an attack. Some sources claim that parry has a 25% + 0.5% per skill level in parry. If this is correct it is probably the skill to parry against a yellow con enemy and thus you get a lower chance to parry against higher mobs. Parry only works against one attacker at a time and thus you won't parry attacks from mobs other than the one you are hitting. Parry helps a lot, as with high lvl mobs you'll welcome any attacks that don't land and when you are wielding your spear it's the only defence you have.

 

Shield block

Your shield is your best friend as a tank and the most important skill you have. Your shield lets you block attacks from one or more attackers and lets you attack and stun mobs. The shield block is a passive skill that is on all the time you carry a shield, you don’t even have to be in combat mode for this skill to work. A blocked attack won’t damage you or the person you are guarding at all. It will even let you block attacks with arrows and magic bolts ( a blocked bolt does half damage ).

You start out with the ability to use small shields, at level 5 you can use medium shields and at level 10 you can use the large shields. Following is a list of shield types and their stats.

Round Shield Small Defends 1 attacker 2.8 Atk Speed Damage Rank 4th (last)

Kite Shield Med Defends 2 attackers 4.3 Atk Speed Damage Rank 2nd

Tower Shield Large Defends 3 attackers 4.5 Atk Speed Damage Rank 1st (best)

Heater Shield Large Defends 3 attackers 3.8 Atk Speed Damage Rank 3^rd

What you really need is two shields. You should invest in the best heater shield you can find. You’ll be using this one most of the time. When fighting in groups it will defend you, and the person you are guarding, from three attackers at once, and it has a nice attack speed ( more is slower ). Attack speed is important when you use your shield especially for the stun attacks when you want to incapacitate the enemy. A tower shield is to slow for this purpose so it's not worth using even if it does more damage (remember, your main task is not to deal damage but to play defence). The heater shield is also the shield to use when you go RvR as there you have to defend as many attackers as possible.

A very good round shield is important when you are fighting only one mob and you don’t have to defend people, i.e. when you are going solo or when at higher lvls your group has crowd control so you only have to fight one mob at a time. The higher speed lets you use your shield more effectively in this case.

 

Shield attack

You can also use your shield to attack your opponents. They do some blunt damage but the main benefit of the shield attacks is that they stun and slow your enemies. The shield 42 level skill is very, very strong as it stuns your opponent for 9 seconds. The opponent is stunned even if you keep attacking and it works on invaders in RvR combat as well. Use at all times when you get this skill. For other shield attacks see the weapon style chapter.

 

Evade

Evade is another passive skill based on your dexterity and quickness. You can't train in evade. An attack that you evade is rendered harmless. This skill is the main reason you chose a Celt over a Firbolg. Remember, defence is everything!

 

Guard

Guard is a great skill and a real life saver. You should activate it 100% of the time when you are grouping. It lets you block attacks towards one member in your group, thus rendering that attack completely harmless! You use guard on a member of your group by selecting that member and then hitting guard ( have it on a quickbar that is easy to access ) while wearing a shield. A little green icon lights up at the top of the screen showing that guard is active and both you and the person guarded will get a text-message that guard is activated. From that point you will guard that person as long as you are in the same group if you are close enough to do so. If you are close enough to trade items you should be close enough. You can only guard one person and you can only be guarded by one and only one person.

You should use guard on someone standing next to you taking hits from the enemy. ( usually another tank J ). This will work great at defending weaker tanks ( all non shield hero tanks J ), Blademasters, 2h wielders, Rangers, Nightshades and Champions etc.

The best defensive combination available is to have 2 or 3 shield heroes guarding each other! Just imagine the array of defences the enemy has to pass. You can evade or parry the attack, you also have a high chance to block the attack and even against multiple attackers. In addition, you have your groupmates guarding you giving a chance to block the attack. If all these fail you have your strong armour and superior constitution to save you! Add to this a Warden, Bard and Druid to buff, heal, bubble and shield you and you get a hero that can withstand almost anything Hibernia can throw at you!

This is a tremendously powerful skill!

Protect

As you have guard to save your fellow tanks you get protect to save healers/nukers in the group and it is just as valuable! You protect a member by selecting him and then hitting the protect button. You can only protect one member of your team. You don't need a shield to use protect.

To understand protect you need to understand how "aggro" works in the game. Aggro is a term used to describe and measure how much a monster hates someone, and thus, comes after them. There are many things that can aggro a monster: Hurting it with spells or weapons, healing people whom the monster doesn't like (aggro'd on), and debuffing the monster. You can think of it as a list of people the monster doesn't like. The more you make the monster angry, the higher you go on its list. If you are at the top of the monster's list, then it will come after you. ( thank you to Jarkas Trolltosser for this great definition! )

The job you have to do as a tank is to keep the monsters mad at you ( pull aggro ) as you have the best defence and hit points. Nukers and healers will pull aggro by healing you and nuking the mob. If they heal or nuke enough they'll get to the top of the aggro list, the monster will go after them and kill them quickly. This will often lead to a total group wipeout. No healer will get the tanks killed for obvious reasons, no nuker will also get the tanks killed as it will take a lot longer to kill the monster and thus the healers may run out of power ( getting the tanks killed ). If the tanks die, the rest of the group soon dies to.

This is where protect comes in. By protecting a member of your group you make sure that person won't pull aggro from the mob you are fighting. After protecting someone it's a passive skill. Each time the person you are protecting does something that would make the monster angry at him ( healing, nuking, debuffing etc ) you'll see a message that you distract the monster's attention while your group member does his thing.

Often you end up protecting your main healer. There is no way the healer can stop healing you if you take a lot of damage. Nukers can hold back nuking when entering a fight until you have established your position at the top of the aggro list. Try protecting the main healer. If another person in your team gets a lot of aggro you can try swapping protect.

There are some rules to protect. The person you protect cant be engaging the monster in combat. Therefore it won't work on other tanks, Blademasters, Nightshades or Rangers ( arrows seem to count as engaging the enemy! ). Also, protect only works for the monster you are fighting.

Sometimes all this isn't enough and you have to instruct healers to use smaller heals and nukers to wait before blasting the mobs with their nukes, thus pulling less aggro.

 

Intercept

This is a defence mechanism that really will hurt you! But it can save the life of a healer/nuker if used right. Activate intercept by selecting a member in your group and hit the intercept button. Intercept will then be active until it triggers and you have to reset it. If the person you intercept for gets attacked there is a chance (risk?) that you’ll throw yourself in front of the blow and thus absorb the damage. This only works if the person you are intercepting for is quite close and I think you have to be turned towards the person. You also take rather a lot of damage yourself as you get defensive penalties for doing this and the evade/parry/block won’t help you.

Intercept can be a real lifesaver. I'd sugest you use it on your PBAoE nuker or other nukers that get in trouble often. Healers/druids can often take a hit or 2, a nuker can get killed in one blow. If the PBAoE nuker gets attacked and you make sure you always turn towards him you will save his life if he is attacked. For the ranged nuker you must see if he gets attacked and run towards him to intercept. This will be much faster than trying to pull aggro from the attacking mob.

Good use of this skill separates the truly great tanks from the good ones. Intercept takes a minute to refresh each time it is triggered.

 

Engage

This is a seldom-used skill, but can be useful under some circumstances. It is a shield skill you use against monsters by selecting the monster and hitting the engage button. This will cause you to use all your energy on blocking every attack from that monster without getting hurt yourself. You will sacrifice the ability to attack the monster, furthermore no one else can attack it, debuff it or heal you. You must also engage the monster before anyone else attacks it for this to work properly. If you make it work your just standing there blocking all attacks. Now what good is that you might ask?

Well it is a limited form of crowd control if you don’t have a bard (or a low-level bard) to mezz your monsters. If you get more monsters than you can handle, you can engage one monster while the rest of the group finish the other/others off. Useful if you get a high con add while fighting a mob you barely can handle and the extra monster would kill you.

There are some rules to this of course:

1) You can only engage a monster that is trying to attack YOU. So make sure you get its attention before trying to engage.

2) If the monster you engage is being attacked or cast upon by any in the group it will not work. If the monster is attacked it will be able to hit you a couple of times before engage starts working. If you plan to use this skill make sure the group knows how it works and tell them you're about to engage the add.

3) You’ll lose endurance for each attack the monster does, but the loss is not very large.

4) You must have a shield equipped to engage an enemy.

5) The monster can still aggro other people. I think it even can aggro people that don’t heal you or attack that monster. If the monster breaks to attack someone else you can forget about engage and try to save the day by taunting and pulling aggro the normal way.

6) Best thing is to hit engage from non combat mode. If your in combat mode you will probably hit the monster before engage kicks in and thus give the monster free attacks.

 

Spirit of the hunt

This is a skill that only the hero has. If you use it you will shapeshift into a stag for 30 seconds and you will get a HP bonus. The bonus depends on the level of the skill with 20% hp bonus for Initiate the Hunt (lvl 15), 30% for Member of the Hunt (lvl 25), 40% for Leader of the Hunt (lvl 35), and 50% for Master of the Hunt (lvl 45). Use this as a last resort when both you and the monster are very close to dying. This can give you the edge that saves the day. Don't waste it though, only use it when you think it will help. If you'll die anyway better leave it and save it for another time. The skill takes 30 minutes to recharge and it doesn't reset if you die.

 

8. Important commands explained

/Macro

This command lets you do a macro and put on your quickbar. Use it like this "/macro Name Command" i.e "/macro Stick /Stick".

 

/Stick or /Follow

This is an extremely useful command. If you have a character or mob selected and type this command you will stick to it, i.e. go where he/she/it goes. This is a command that you must put on a macro and place on the quickbar. A tank should always use /stick on the mob he is fighting. If someone in your group manages to pull aggro and the mob turns to run for that groupmember you will be on the mobs tail immediately. If you then hit sprint and your taunt style ( two other musts on the quickbar ) you have a good chance to overtake the mob and pull aggro before he hurts your fragile casters/healers.

This is also very useful when the group moves from the meeting place to the hunting grounds. Someone leads the way, the others /stick to that person. The rule here is to always stick to the bard ( as he has the speed ). But beware, if the person you follow runs up stairs, steep hills or into a forest, you risk getting unstuck and lost J .

/Stick and /Follow have a limited range. You need to be fairly close to the person for this to work.

 

/Assist

If you select a member in your group and type /assist, you will acquire that person's target. This is very useful when you fight in crowd control groups ( see below ) and you must make sure to hit the main tank's target. You can make a macro that lets you acquire a named person's target, i.e. if the main tank's name is Bedroc do your macro like this "/macro Assist /Assist Bedroc", and put it on your quickbar. When the mobs charge you and Bedroc attacks one of them you just hit your Assist macro, giving you Bedroc's target, and then press /stick. This will glue you to the right target and you can start chipping away on it.

Another use for /assist is to do the /assist somebody macro for your pbae nuker. If he gets hurt you can hit your macro button and thus target the monster hurting your nuker. Assist seems to have a built in delay which makes it hard to use at times.

 

/Face

This is a very useful command in RvR when casters or rangers hurt you from a distance. This will face you towards the target attacking you. You can then press /sprint, /stick and start fighting. The /face command has a long range so it works where /stick will not. Can also be useful in PvE in some rare instances. There are poachers ( kind of rangers that stealth ) in Cursed Forest. These can be very hard to find and target if you don't use /face.

 

/Who

This command lets you list persons online that are not anonymous. This helps when you try to make a group. The syntax is "/Who String Level" , where String is part of a name or class. Say that you are 7 people in your group around lvl 32 but you are missing a druid. You can do a "/who druid 32" and see those who are online, then you can send a message and politely ask if the person is interested in joining your group. You also see their location and can thus send to people near you.

 

/Send

Lets you send a message to a person. "/send target text" will send the text message to the player whose character's name is the target.

 

/Advice

If you are stuck ingame there are nice people who are willing to help out. If you type this command you will get a list of all the advisors online. You can then send them a message asking them for help. You see their level and class and this can help you select the most suitable person to answer your question.

 

9. Weapon styles

Key for reading the style tables:

Fat. : Fatigue Cost Dm. : Bonus Damage Hit : Bonus to Hit Def. : Defence Modifier

L : Low M : Medium H : High V : Very High

L- : Low Penalty L+ : Low Bonus M- : Medium Penalty M+ : Medium Bonus H- : High Penalty H+ : High Bonus

Use anytime.

 

Blades

Here is the complete blade style list. The one you’ll use most often is the taunting blade as it helps you pull aggro. The first chain that starts with returning blade is also nice.

Lvl	Style Name:	Fat	Dm	Hit	Def	Usage Restriction:	Special:
2	Shining Blade	H	M	-	-	Anytime	-
4	Return Blade	L	M	M	-	Use After Blocking Target	Minor Attack Speed Buff
6	Taunting Blade	M	L	-	M-	Anytime	Taunts Target
8	Enervating Blade	M	-	-	M+	Anytime	Detaunts Target
10	Glowing Blade	M	M	M	-	Use From Beside Target	Medium Duration Snare
12	Lunging Blade	M	H	M	L+	Use after Return Blade	Short Duration Bleed
15	Auroric Blade	L	M	M	-	Use after Glowing Blade	Minor Attack Speed Buff
18	Fire Blade	H	M	L	L-	Anytime	-
21	Horizon Blade	L	M	M	L+	Use After Blocking Target	Short Duration Stun
25	Kinetic Blade	M	H	M	-	Use After Lunging Blade	-
29	Dancing Blade	L	M	H	-	Use After Horizon Blade	Medium Duration Bleed
34	Revenging Blade	M	M	M	M-	Use From Behind Target	-
39	Spectrum Blade	M	M	L	M+	Use After Fire Blade	Major Attack Speed Buff
44	Prismatic Blade	L	H	M	-	Use After Dancing Blade	-
50	Brilliant Blade	M	H	V	-	Use After Revenging Blade	-

 

 

Blunt

The lvl 8 slam taunt style is really great! It's the only taunting 1H move that gives a bonus to hit, and that helps when you are fighting high lvl mobs. The bruiser-> Impact gives a little extra damage, but the others are not very useful.

Lvl	Style Name:	Fat	Dm	Hit	Def	Usage Restriction:	Special:
2	Contusions	H	M	-	-	Anytime	-
4	Bruiser	L	M	M	-	Use After Blocking Target	Short Duration Stun
6	Blunt Trauma	M	-	-	M+	Anytime	Detaunt
8	Slam	M	L	M	M-	Anytime	Taunt
10	Side Bash	M	M	L	-	Use from Beside Target	Minor Attack Speed Buff
12	Impact	L	M	M	L-	Use After Bruiser	Short Duration Bleed
15	Recovery	L	M	H	L+	Use After Fumble	Medium Duration Stun
18	Force of Might	H	M	L	-	Anytime	-
21	Unstoppable Force	M	M	M	L+	User After Side Bash	Medium Length Snare
25	Back Crush	M	H	M	M-	Use From Behind Target	-
29	Bone Crusher	L	M	M	L+	Use After Recovery	Medium Duration Bleed
34	Mauler	M	H	M	M+	Use After Unstp. Force	-
39	Stunning Blow	L	M	M	L+	Use After Parry	Major Attack Speed Buff
44	Crushing Blow	M	M	V	L+	Use After Back Crush	-
50	Devastating Blow	M	M	M	-	Use After Stunning Blow	Long Duration Stun

 

Celtic Spears

Celtic spear has many useful styles and chains. If you go PvE with your spear you'll use Forest Spear a lot as its the taunting move. The behind chain starting at lvl 6 with Hunter's Boon is very useful when you fight uber mobs where you are not the main tank and thus can get behind the monster. It does a lot of extra damage and gives a nice high bonus to hit. The Eagle Talon is very useful in RvR as it gives nice extra damage!

If you respec to a full offensive hero after you reach lvl 50 then the Dragon Talon and Cuchulainn's Revenge is very useful when you fight epic mobs for drops. You have a fair chance to stand beside the mob and the medium to high addition to hitting the target helps a lot.

Lvl	Style Name:	Fat	Dm	Hit	Def	Usage Restriction:	Special:
2	Hunter's Spear	H	M	-	-	Anytime	-
4	Entrap	L	M	M	-	Use After Evading Target	Short Duration Bleed
6	Hunter's Boon	M	M	M	M-	Use From Behind Target	Short Duration Snare
8	Hunter's Barb	M	-	-	H+	Anytime	Detaunts Target
10	Forest Spear	M	L	M	M-	Anytime	Taunts Target
12	Hunter's Largess	M	M	M	L-	Use After Entrap	Med. Attack Speed Buff
15	Hunter's Lance	H	M	M	M-	Anytime	-
18	Javelin	M	M	M	-	Use After Hunter's Boon	Med. Duration Bleed
21	Tracking Spear	L	M	M	L+	Use After Parrying Target	Med. Duration Stun
25	Hunter's Gift	M	M	H	L+	Use After Javelin	Med. Attack Speed Buff
29	Hawk's Talon	M	-	L	L+	Use After Tracking Spear	-
34	Eagle Talon	H	M	L	-	Anytime	-
39	Wyvern Talon	M	M	M	-	Use After Hawk's Talon	Long Duration Bleed
44	Dragon Talon	M	L	M	-	Use From Beside Target	-
50	Cuchulainn's Rvng.	M	M	H	-	Use After Dragon Talon	Long Duration Bleed

 

Large weapons

I'm not really that updated on large weapon styles. But the Celtic Fury taunt style will come in handy for PvE of course. The other chains are difficult to start due to the usage restrictions. If you get lvl 50 in large weapons I imagine that the lvl 50 style used from behind target is very useful! Very high to hit chance and a long duration stun! WOW!

Lvl	Style Name:	Fat	Dm	Hit	Def	Usage Restriction:	Special:
2	Celtic Might	H	M	-	-	Anytime	-
4	Celtic Rage	L	H	M	L+	Use After Parrying Target	-
6	Celtic Fury	M	L	M	M-	Anytime	Taunts Target
8	Hibernian Wrath	M	-	-	H+	Anytime	Detaunts Target
10	Hibernian Force	M	M	M	L-	Use From Beside Target	Short Duration Bleed
12	Hibernian Vigor	M	M	M	L+	Use After Celtic Rage	Short Duration Stun
15	Domination	H	M	L	L-	Anytime	-
18	Obliteration	M	M	M	-	Use After Hibernian Force	Med. Attack Speed Buff
21	Frontal Assault	H	M	M	-	Use From Front of Target	Med. Duration Snare
25	Gigantic Blow	L	V	H	-	Use After Hibernian Vigor	-
29	Ultimate Recovery	M	H	M	L-	Use After You're Parried	Med. Duration Stun
34	Demolish	M	M	H	M+	Use After Obliteration	-
39	Shatter	M	M	M	L+	Use After You're Blocked	Long Duration Bleed
44	Devastate	L	M	M	H+	Use After Ult. Recovery	Heavy Attack Speed Buff
50	Annihilation	M	M	V	M-	Use From Behind Target	Long Duration Stun

 

Piercing

The Bumblebee's Sting is your most important skill. Use it to pull aggro from the mobs. The chain lvl 12,18,34,39 is also very nice! Nice damage and defensive bonus!

Lvl	Style Name:	Fat	Dm	Hit	Def	Usage Restriction:	Special:
2	Dragonfly	H	M	-	-	Anytime	-
4	Wasp's Sting	L	M	M	-	Use From Behind Target	Short Duration Bleed
6	Bumblebee's Sting	M	L	M	H-	Anytime	Taunts Target
8	Hornet's Sting	M	M	M	-	Use After Wasp's Sting	Small Attack Speed Buff
10	Scorpion	M	-	-	M+	Anytime	Detaunts Target
12	Black Widow	H	M	L	L-	Anytime	-
15	Tarantula	L	M	M	L+	Use After Trgt. is Blocked	Med. Duration Bleed
18	Sidewinder	M	M	M	-	Use After Black Widow	-
21	Copperhead	M	M	M	L-	Use From Beside Target	Med. Duration Snare
25	Diamondback	L	M	M	M+	Use After Evading Target	Med. Duration Stun
29	Viper's Bite	M	H	M	M+	Use After Copperhead	-
34	Asp's Bite	L	M	V	M+	Use After Sidewinder	Med. Duration Snare
39	Cobra's Bite	L	H	H	L+	Use After Asp's Bite	-
44	Dragonspider	M	M	M	-	Use After Diamondback	Long Duration Bleed
50	Wyvern's Bite	M	V	H	L+	Use After Dragonspider	Long Duration Bleed

 

 

Shields

The shield styles are very useful, but I tended to only use Slam style when I got it at lvl 42. The lvl 8 Stun, lvl 18 Incapacitate and the lvl 29 Bash are also useful as they will stun the targets. If you get the lvl 50 shield skill you can use the Brutalize skill a lot, as you’ll block a lot of attacks!

Lvl	Style Name:	Fat	Dm	Def	Usage Restriction:	Stun Length:
3	Numb	M	M	-	Anytime	Short
8	Stun	M	M	-	Use After Blocking Target	Short
13	Disable	M	M	-	Use From Beside Target	Medium
18	Incapacitate	H	M	M+	Use After Blocking Target	Medium
23	Paralyze	M	M	-	Use From Behind Target	Long
29	Bash	M	M	-	Use After Blocking Target	Medium
35	Mangle	M	M	-	Use From Beside Target	Long
42	Slam	V	M	-	Anytime	Long
50	Brutalize	L	M		Use After Blocking Target	Long

 

10. Your equipment