38 VK, 20 Champion, 8 Paladin. Unyielding PvP Build

[TheKomissar]

Been playing around with specs to try to squeeze as much utility into a warrior build as possible. I ended up with 38 VK, 20 Champion, and 8 Paladin. This build is really interesting to play, to say the least. I'm not sure if this build is already well known or not, so if it is, I'm sorry.

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...tcdqckiudz.VMo

You get your bread-and-butter toys like Lingering Wounds, in-combat Bull Rush, Touch of Life, and of course your wonderful VK goodies. This build works best with a 2h, but can easily be modified for use with SNB, if that's your preference. To be honest, your damage output is so miniscule with 2h, that the extra defence of SNB is probably a really beneficial tradeoff. But I like the image and sexiness of a 2h, so whatever. The point of this build isn't to be a hero, but instead to be a team player and basically to win games at your own stats' expense. An advantage to this build is that it isn't very gear dependent. While, of course, P8 gear is always preferred, a lowly P2 can still silence and suppress everyone well enough to pull their own weight, which is FAR more than can be said with any other warrior build at P2.

You can easily suppress 2+ healers and put Lingering Wounds on their entire team in just a few seconds with your abundant AoEs. The power to this build lies in that it's a force multiplier, meaning it lets you suppress the effectiveness of enemies while empowering your own to an extent that the Warrior effectively becomes worth multiple players.

But you have to keep in mind that a dead VK is a useless VK, which is why this build allows for effectively 3 health bars. The first time you get low, use Fusion of Flesh, and go back to full while everyone attacking you rages. Next time, Touch of Life! It's really fun, not gonna lie. Add a potion to that and you've just given half the enemy team an ulcer. I expect to take some flak for having Thunderous Kick, but think of it like this: It's another interrupt, and I can always just pull them right back. Or just kick them off of Codex, or the bridge to Vault.

It's effective at what it's intended to do: take enemy healers out of the fight and keep them quiet while your allies execute them. This has essentially become my go-to build when things are looking bad, and it's amazing at turning the tide of battle and giving your team the edge. But don't think that this means it can't hold its own in 1v1. Quite frankly, I'd say this build might be the most powerful warrior spec for dueling with Clerics and Mages, and is just as amazing against other warriors and rogues. Once it's 3v1, though, you can kiss your odds goodbye. At that point you should try to just survive as long as possible to keep them off your team.

Here are the macros I use. If anyone has any suggestions, please tell me.

BUILD:
#show Spell Sunder
suppressmacrofailures
cast Frenzied Strike
cast Inescapable Fury
cast Spell Sunder
cast Soul Pillage
cast Tempest
cast Ragestorm
cast Airburst
cast Discharge
cast Mighty Blow

INTERRUPT:
#show Bash
suppressmacrofailures
cast Bash
cast Thunderous Kick
cast Disrupt

SELF-CLEANSE:
#show Spellbreaker
target yourname
cast Spellbreaker
targetlasttarget

(I have another Cleanse macro for my pocket healer when I play with her. I have another for general use for other players)

GAP CLOSER:
#show Rift Summon
cast Bull Rush
cast Rift Summon


The rest of the abilities don't play well with others, or else I'd macro Catalyze together with Shock Burst. I'd post some screenshots of scoreboard results, but those are worthless at displaying the effectiveness of a utility build like this. (Low damage done, high damage taken. Doesn't show how many silences, or else I'd be #1.)

But there IS this, which should speak to the effectiveness. Holding off 3 enemy players for 2 and a half minutes is extremely powerful for my team, because now my comrades aren't dealing with them and it effectively gimps the enemy team by 2 people (assuming me vs one of them cancels out). That's a good advantage no matter how you look at it. That's what this build does. Multiplies force.





All input, recommendations and suggestions are encouraged. If this build already exists and is well known, just say so and we can consider the thread dead.

[Mopain]

One of my favorite all time utility PVP builds was 38VK/20Champ/8Reaver. Something you may want to check out. That 8 Reaver is there to spread LW like the Plague. You basically get aoe silence, aoe fear, aoe LW, and are tough as nails. It's a great group based spec. I ran it on and off for a long time.

8 Pally a little more attractive now that Touch of Life is 5 mins, however if you looking for utility I spread the best debuff in the game as much as possible.

not sure it makes a difference but /cast @self Spellbreaker will make it cast on yourself in the simple line. If I recall the target last target got screwy for me in the past.

SELF-CLEANSE:
#show Spellbreaker
/cast @self Spellbreaker

[iZemi]

One of my favorite all time utility PVP builds was 38VK/20Champ/8Reaver. Something you may want to check out. That 8 Reaver is there to spread LW like the Plague. You basically get aoe silence, aoe fear, aoe LW, and are tough as nails. It's a great group based spec. I ran it on and off for a long time.

8 Pally a little more attractive now that Touch of Life is 5 mins, however if you looking for utility I spread the best debuff in the game as much as possible.

not sure it makes a difference but /cast @self Spellbreaker will make it cast on yourself in the simple line. If I recall the target last target got screwy for me in the past.

SELF-CLEANSE:
#show Spellbreaker
/cast @self Spellbreaker

power in the blood

[Celke]

Thanks for sharing this with us.

Will def try this!

[bear_on_the_job]

http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-gene...8-paladin.html

This build actually did respectable damage before the 1.4 nerfs as well. But now, it's pretty much just utility with no damage potential. Still very usefull in a group though.

I really like the Reaver alternative to Paladin as well. You lose some survivability, but if you are well geared, your utility probably makes up for it.

[PAstripmine]

Just wondering...where did you get frenzied strike from to put in your macro?

[TheKomissar]

One of my favorite all time utility PVP builds was 38VK/20Champ/8Reaver. Something you may want to check out. That 8 Reaver is there to spread LW like the Plague. You basically get aoe silence, aoe fear, aoe LW, and are tough as nails. It's a great group based spec. I ran it on and off for a long time.

8 Pally a little more attractive now that Touch of Life is 5 mins, however if you looking for utility I spread the best debuff in the game as much as possible.

I think I'll give that a whirl, thank you.

[TheKomissar]

Just wondering...where did you get frenzied strike from to put in your macro?

I'm not sure I get what you mean. Where did I get it? It's an ability acquired from putting points in Champion. If you're wondering why it's in my spam macro, it's because of all of the AoE in this build you get crits very often, and Frenzied Strike is your only real hard-hitting (all relatively speaking, of course. This is NOT a dps spec) Single Target ability, to be honest, so it's your only real ability for that purpose. And for that reason I like it to go off constantly. I could save it for timing with a finisher, but it's not like the burst damage would be significant enough to even matter. I'd rather just hit as many times as possible for the passive mana draining and pact generation.

[mattya802]

Just wondering...where did you get frenzied strike from to put in your macro?

20 Champ...

[Verchiel]

I was playing with a very similar build a little while ago, and it works wonders against casters in particular with all the VK in there. My primary tactic was to first burn the mana, eat their shield (invariably thrown up after mana was gone), silence, then hack away while continually eating mana. You take a long time to burn down... but so do they. No one is capping the dps or kill count with this build =)

[TheKomissar]

No one is capping the dps or kill count with this build =)

Interesting you should say that. It's odd, but there are games where this build actually will end with top damage done simply from all of the AoE. Admittedly it's rare and relies on the other team being baddies, but it has happened a decent number of times for me.

[mattya802]

Interesting you should say that. It's odd, but there are games where this build actually will end with top damage done simply from all of the AoE. Admittedly it's rare and relies on the other team being baddies, but it has happened a decent number of times for me.

Yah, it's all fluff damage though, not KB damage. Still fun to see!

[TheKomissar]

Yah, it's all fluff damage though, not KB damage. Still fun to see!

Oh definitely. I mean my DPS is in no way contributing to the war effort besides the mana drain, and even then that's pretty fluffy unless I really bunker down on one mage/cleric and give them my all. But spreading the Lingering Wounds is glorious.

[Garethe]

I rarely play my warrior these days, but when I do this is the build that has been my go-to for pugging for quite a while. Lots of utility and annoyance, and great survivability.

[Verchiel]

The reaver is great for a "trickle charge" heal, especially if you can get behind the line of casters. My comment about not topping dps/kill charts was more meant to imply that if your epeen needs stroking, this is not the class for you =) If you want to help your team by foregoing your kill count, then this is an option.