Playing a Warrior

Related topics: New Player Guide, Playing a Mage, Playing an Archer, Character Templates

Why Play a Warrior

Note: There are no true classes in Asheron's Call. However, characters generally stick to one form of attack: close-combat (Warrior/Melee), archery (Archer/Missile), or offensive magic (mage).

Warriors, generally called melees in game, are usually considered the easiest or simplest class to play. Combat is fast-paced but rather simple - with your available combat options being aiming high, medium, or low, with a slider bar to shift between speed and attack power. Melees are easy to play, only requiring basic supplies like potions and healing kits for long durations of combat. Melees are the only class allowed to use shields (with the exception of some weaker thrown weapons). Shields can greatly reduce physical damage taken - damage dealt with melee or missile weapons. In addition, there are special shields that offer little or no physical protection, but will greatly reduce magical damage taken. The simplicity of recovering health and stamina, along with the damage reduction of shields, give melees high survivabilty. This makes them ideal for new players who are inexperienced with the combat system.

Disadvantages

• Melees do not have ranged attacks. This makes some creatures that archers or mages can easily pick off from a distance very difficult for melees.
• Innate attributes are an issue for melees. See Attribute Importance below for more details.
• Melees cannot deal damage to multiple targets (unless you have chosen 2-handed combat), Only mages have this ability.
• Melees generally do not deal as high damage as mages or archers, but attack faster.

Choosing a Weapon Skill

There are seven melee combat weapon skills. Three of these are innate heritage skills, four not. Here is a brief summary of the advantages and disadvantages of each skill, and the characteristics of weapons themselves.

All weapons have 4 innate ratings: Damage, Speed, Attack Bonus, and Defense Bonus. They also have a Burden default.

Damage varies by weapon type. Look under each weapon type to find the maximum and average damages. Damage spread (the difference between highest and lowest damage) also varies by weapon. Mace and Staff have the tightest weapon spread, while Daggers, Spears and UA tend to have the worst. Spells that increase weapon damage increase the high end, while the spread percentage stays the same (a 20-40 weapon with Blood Drinker 6 on it will go to 30-60, a 30-40 dmg weapon will go to 45-60). Damage is modified by Iron for maximum damage, and Granite for tightening the spread. Critical Hits happen 1/10 hits, on average, and default to 200% of maximum normal damage. Both frequency and amount of damage from Criticals can be modified by Imbues (Black Opal and Fire Opal, respectively).

Weapon Speed varies by weapons, and tends to go hand in hand with Burden. Weapon Speed subtracts from Quickness in determining how fast/frequently you swing. A high number is a poor number, but strong Item spells (Swift Killer can generally reduce all but the heaviest of Quest Weapon Speeds to 0 (waving the sword like a willow wand.). It is modified by Oak, but rarely used.

Attack bonus starts at 0 and goes to 20 for Tier7 weapons. It directly modifies your Weapon skill against an enemy's Melee Defense. It is modified by Velvet.

Defense bonus starts at 0 (+4 for UA) and rises to +20. It directly modifies your Melee Defense against incoming enemy melee attacks. It is modified by Brass.

Burden is the statistic that interacts with stamina. Your combined Weapon and Shield burden affect how much stamina you burn every time you swing. 'Heavy' weapon categories, such as Axes and Maces, burn more stamina when you swing them, a subtle cost to their usage, and also weigh much more when you carry numbers of them, decreasing the amount of loot you can safely haul! Lighter weapons, such as daggers and UA, burn considerably less. Likewise, a Buckler adds little to this combined number, while a Tower Shield's massive weight sends you screaming down the stamina loss path as you swing. See Stamina for more details. Burden can be decreased with Pine (very rare to do so).

Axes and hammers are heavy hitting melee weapons. Though the weapons do not do as much damage as swords, the skill is cheaper, costing 6 to train / 6 to specialize. Axe lacks a loot generated weapon capable of piercing damage, but has mainly slashing damage, and the highly valued bludgeoning damage via hammers. (A Piercing weapon exists as a Quest weapon, but is inferior). Axe shares with Mace as being the heaviest weapon category, burning more stamina then any other weapon types while wielded. Axe has a fair amount of decent quest weapons at all stages of play.

Daggers are quick and light weapons. Dagger's damage capabilities are among the lowest of all the melee weapons. However, the skill is one of the cheapest to acquire. Dagger is the free heritage weapon for Aluvians, costing them no credits to train and 4 to specialize. Other heritages must pay 4 credits to train it. Dagger is unique among melee weapons - Dagger's formula is (quick + coord)/3, where all others are (strength + coord)/3. This means dagger users do not need to invest any starting attribute points into their strength, because their damage with Dagger is ALSO based on Coordination, and as the stats dovetail with Melee Defense, Dagger users get to extremely high Melee Defense in a much shorter time then other weapon users! Dagger has access to slashing dmg, and piercing damage at 1/4 power (full power with Bandit Weapons). Dagger has a fair amount of quest weapons at all stages of play. Dagger is also the lightest of all weapons, meaning you burn very little stamina when swingng a Dagger. Dagger makes a superb secondary weapon for Aluvians, especially archers, but lacks true hitting power for a mainline melee.

Maces are another heavy melee weapon, similar to Axe. Maces do slightly less damage than axes, but have tighter potential damage variance (the low end damage of maces are generally better than axes). Mace costs 6 to train / 6 to specialize. Maces have access to the best bludgeoning dmg, and also piercing attacks at full power. It shares with Axe the unwelcome distinction of being the heaviest of weapon categories, insuring a high amount of stamina burn in combat (and lots of burden for toting around multiple maces!) Mace has a fair amount of quest weapons, but most of these weapons are for low to mid levels of play, and the skill lacks in high end quest weapons.

Spears are the cheapest non-heritage weapon skill, costing 4 to train / 4 to specialize. Being cheaper, it does not inflict as much damage as Sword, Axe, or Mace. Spears can have similar top end damage to maces and axes, but come with poor variance, bringing the damage over time down, and the average burden of spears tends to be slightly above Swords. But its lower credit cost provides more skill options and faster character development. Spears are capable of piercing and slashing damage. Spear has relatively few useful quest weapons.

Staffs are basic and less powerful weapons. Staff is on the low end of damage capabilities. Staff is the free heritage weapon for Gharu'ndims, costing them no credits to train and 4 to specialize. Other heritages must pay 4 credits to train it. Loot generated staves are now cabable of only elemental and bludgeoning damage, with average weight and stamina burn. Staff has few quest weapons, and most are aimed at low and mid levels of play. Staff is generally considered the worst melee weapon. Still - it can make a useful secondary weapon, for example, a Gharu'ndim sword user may want to invest some points in staff to gain access to bludgeoning damage.

Swords are generally considered the best of the melee weapons. But it comes at a price - costing 8 to train / 8 to specialize - the highest cost of all melee weapons. Sword has access to slashing damage at full power and piercing damage at low power, with no bludgeoning - its one shortcoming. Stamina burn is average to low for Swords. With Dagger, Sword shares the distinction of being able to change damage types by moving the power bar, doing Pierce-style damage at Fast animation (1/4 bar or less) and Slash damage at higher Power, without having to switch weapons! Quest swords are numerous, appear at all levels of play, and usually have decent capabilities.

Unarmed Combat weapons are light, fast, and hard hitting. While its damage is similar to dagger or staff, it has a much quicker animation, bringing its damage over time (DoT) closer to axe. Unarmed Combat (UA) is considered one of the best melee weapons, despite its low cost. It is the free heritage weapon for Sho, costing them no credits to train and 6 to specialize. Other heritages must pay 6 credits to train it. UA has many advantages. It is a cheap skill for Sho, and the only truly decent Heritage weapon skill for a mainline melee. It has the fastest attack animation. It has access to all three physical damage types. There is no animation delay when switching weapons or shields. WIth Dagger, it burns the least amount of stamina when being used due to its light weight. UA has a fair amount of quest weapons at all stages of play.

Attribute Importance

Strength is very important for all melees except dagger. The rest of the melee weapons are based off of strength and coordination, so the higher strength the better. Dagger is based off of Coordination, while UA damage is split 50% between Strength and 50% to UA skill. Strength also increases the amount of burden units (weight) you can carry, something useful for warriors with heavy shields, armor, and weapons, and interacts with Endurance in determining rate and frequency of stam burn when wielding weapons and avoiding blows.

Endurance is important in that your health, stamina, and innate resistances are based off of it. However, the only skill that uses endurance as part of its formula is Armor Tinkering, which is considered an unimportant skill to have on main characters. A high Endurance means not only do you have more stamina, but that you spend less when swinging a heavy weapon, and also that you may not spend stamina when evading an enemy's attack. Endurance is also the primary attribute for figuring your Natural Resistances to damage.

Coordination is the most important attribute to melees. All of the melee weapons are based off of strength and/or coordination, with Dagger bonus damage being based off Coordination alone. In addition, melee defense, missile defense, and a wide range of secondary skills like healing and cooking are based off of Coordination.

Quickness is a fairly important attribute for melees. Melee and missile defense are based off of it, along with run. So higher quickness will increase your ability to evade and if needed escape. However, some argue that since melee characters already greatly reduce the physical damage they take from having armor and shields, that evading attacks is irrelevant (something that comes back to haunt them with high damage creatures at later levels, that ignore shields and/or item magic buffs!). If you choose to play a character with lower magic usage, melee and missile defense are useful beyond their evading - both skills are used as activation requirements for built-in armor enchantments, and as wield requirements for the powerful Covenant Armor. Quickness is also the defining characteristic for how fast you swing a weapon...a high Quickness attacks and recovers more quickly. It interacts with Weapon Speed (a high Weapon Speed number subtracts from your Quickness, making you swing slower).

Focus is a fairly important attribute for melees. This is primarily because the Healing skill is dependent upon it, and Melees tend to use Healing extremely often! Magic defense is also based on focus and self, so higher focus will increase your resistance ability (and any damage not taken from spells helps you tank longer). If you are magic heavy, all the magic skills are based off of focus and self. Higher focus will allow you to more effectively weaken enemies with magic, and it will give you access to self-buffing faster than someone with low focus. If you are magic light, focus is still important, because Arcane Lore and Alchemy, two important skills for a low magic user, are based off of focus.

Self is not very important for melees. Self is only useful for the magic skills and magic defense - and melees can usually get by having 10 innate Self if they invest some points into focus.

Magic Dependence

Dereth is world full of magic. The benefits of magic use are so great that nearly everyone has at least one school of magic, and most have three. There are however alternatives to magic that will grant you the same or similar benefits.

Playing with 3 Schools is the easiest way to go. With Life, Creature, and Item enchantment trained your character has full access to Self and Other buffs. If you specialize one of the skills you will have a much easier time casting debuffs on your enemies. With all three schools, acquiring spells is fairly simple - you can buy level 1-6 spells at scroll vendors in towns, and 7s are found as treasure on creatures. You also have the advantage of not depending on equipment for your standard buffs - this makes it much easier to create a suit of armor and equipments with cantrips, or stacking buffs. But having all three schools has disadvantages. First, it is a huge skill credit investment. Second, you will lose much of your carrying capacity, with either 3 side packs taken up by Foci or varying space taken up by the old complex component system. Third, if you depend on casting all your buffs, these can be removed by dispelling traps and creatures. And last, at lower levels before your skill is high or you have acquired special augments, if you die, your buffs are removed and you have to recast them. You also gain a vitae penalty when you die, temporarily reducing your skills, which could sometimes knock you down a tier in spell levels.

Playing without Creature Magic is the next easiest. You can cover your skill and attributes buffs fairly easily with built-in enchantments on equipment and certain consumables such as Beers. The only thing you lack is the ability to buff other players' or debuff creatures' attributes and abilities. However debuffing creatures skills and attributes are not nearly as important as the life magic defuffs. There are disadvantages. It can be quite difficult to get together a nice suit of armor and jewelry that covers all the creature enchantment buffs you need, and there is the additional challenge of creating a suit that covers both standard buffs and cantrips.

Playing without Life Magic is difficult but can be done. Without life magic, you lack the ability to buff others or debuff creatures. You can cover your life buffs in a similar fashion to creature enchantment, but be aware that life protections only come on clothing and jewelry. Debuffing with life is critical, and luckily there are several options that have the same or similar effects. First, there are weapon imbues: Physical and Elemental Rending imbues mimic the effects of life vulnerabilities, and the Armor Rending effect is similar to an imperil. Second, there are Runed Weapons. The level 100+ and 120+ versions of these have a special cast on strike ability that allows them to sometimes cast the Imperil spell on your target. Third, there are Alchemical Throwing Phials, also known as grenades. These grenades are thrown weapons that cast on strike the vulnerability and imperil spells. They do not require thrown weapons skill to use but they do require high alchemy skill to wield. The restoration abilities can be covered with various special quest orbs, healing skill, and simply potions.

Playing with only Item Magic is a difficult task, but rewarding. You merely have to combine the methods above for playing without creature and life magic. But this creates its own problem - you must rely on your armor, jewelry, and clothing for all of your creature and life magic buffs and any cantrips you need as well. This makes creating a fully functional suit a long process. However, once you have a suit, you have some distinct advantages over your casting friends. Your buffs can never be dispelled, and will never disappear when you die - unless you lose a piece of your equipment upon death (a rare occurence). The other advantage is that instead of spending 28 credits just to train the 3 schools, you only need 10 credits to train Arcane Lore and Alchemy, and 18 credits to specialize them both. This allows you to pick up many secondary skills like lockpicking and cooking.

Playing with no magic at all is a very difficult role to play. You have the same advantages and disadvantages as playing with only item in terms of buffing and credits. But without Item Enchantment, everything is harder. Since you have no item enchantment, you cannot buff your own armor. This means in order to have decent physical protection, you must use Covenant Armor, or its new loot tier 7 varient Olthoi Armor. That makes completing a working suit of armor very time consuming. In addition, you cannot buff your own weapons. This means you have to rely on self buffing weapons, a rare occurrence in loot, but a somewhat common trait in quest weapons. You also lack the ability to use Portal Magic, a branch of item enchantment. This makes travel difficult - you must rely on numerous portal summoning gems and your own knowledge of the portal network system. Playing with no magic is only recommended for experienced players.