1.8 pvp: The devourer, a clerics worst nightmare

[jerwel]

Since trion did not like us playing in defensive specs at all, this post will cover several builds which have the single minded purpose to go out of your way and ruin the other sides caster's day. The Idea behind these builds is to pump out as many devouring blows, at as high a power, as humanly possible. These specs are almost exclusively physical damage, and pretty much depend on munching on blue bars, so if you use these and are not going after blue bars your doing it wrong (not to say some dont do well vs rogues, but fellow warriors you should just ignore).

Champion/Para/vk's

The following builds all use weapon master to get out devouring blows in 1 less gcd. THEY ARE ALL 2H.

The Eater (27/28/11):
build link: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...zzqRMh.gc0o.-5

Pros:
reckless strike
fleet of foot
way of the mountain
shifting blades
lots of crit boosts and crit for high damage devouring crits
spell sunder
just about every ap enhancing ability you can get
predictable movements and bend like the reed (50% damage mod yum)
3 ogcd attacks
vk gifts for extra survivability

cons:
Doms turn you into breakfast
limited aoe
rising waterfall tickles with a 2h in 1.8
elemental warriors destroy you
pact maintance on non-mana users is rough

Play style: You should always start by purging to build pacts (and use your purge to refresh em if you need) and using your armor debuff if the target is a cleric. As the goal is to eat as much mana as humanly possible, your rotation should be builder->rw->devouring blow. The builder in question for this build varies depending on your pact count. At 7-8 pacts, reckless strike should start hitting harder than power strike, so once you hit that point you should switch over to reckless from power strike. Or you could just be lazy and just use reckless strike or power strike, the difference is not all that much. A few other things to note: firstly this build should be almost impossible to kite. With fleet, bull rush, way of the mountain, and ruthless pursuit you should have little trouble catching bunny hoping clerics. Further bend like the reed is a really nice cd, remember that it can be used both defensively AND offensively for the 50% damage mod. Also note that some points can be moved around to fit personal taste.

lazy mans macros (optimize em yourself, only one really as your finisher is situational):

builder:
#show reckless strike
cast rising waterfall
cast reckless strike
cast frenzied strike
cast turn the blade
cast inescapable fury

build 2:
Voidstorm (29/21/16):
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...Mhhz.Ec0k0z.-5

A variant of the much loved ragestorm build, this build works much the same as the eater, but is a bit more survival oriented, and should fair better against doms of all these builds.

Pros:
Ragestorm
spell sunder
spell breaker
vk gifts
proper timing
predictable movements and bend like the reed (50% damage mod yum)
3 ogcd attacks
fleet of foot

cons:
much the same as before but now you have ragestorm for a little aoe and fair better vs dominators

Playstyle: much the same as with the eater build, this build doesnt hit quite as hard but is a little more durable and friendly with dominators running around. Macors are much the same as before.

[jerwel]

51 champ variants:

All 51 champ variants will put out the highest number of devouring blows per a minute of any build (thanks to disruptive strike, which is also likely our hardest hitting builder in 1.8). They also have access to cornered beast, which a couple of warriors using in tandum could create a really nice kill zone. They are likely to be the best mana drainers in the game baring a dom and a stupid team against him. These builds will hit like trucks but will have several drawbacks to them that the para builds wont. One thing to note is that these builds will generally not like dominators in the least.

Nightmare (51champ/11vk/4rb):
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...RrGudz.gc0o.-5

Pros:
Fastest output of devouring blows of any build
purge (best way to keep your pacts up)
damage is pretty hefty
3 ranged abilities

cons:
extremely kitable, you get 1 gap closer and thats it
dominators will mess you up

playstyle: Start off on a cleric with your purge and your mark. Get to 10 pacts with purges/manabar beating. Only use proper timing with devouring blow, and make sure you use disruptive at 1 ap only. Kiting can be an issue, so watch out.

The Devourer (51champ/13rb/2vk):

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...RrGudz.gc0o.-5

This spec is designed around pumping out devouring blows as fast as you can, doing as much damage as you can with them, while being marginally less kiteable thanks to avatar of the wind. With the ap changes, the nightmare build might do more damage, but this build certainly is harder to kite with a ranged snare and avatar of the wind. It should also fair better against other warriors with rb burst spells. The draw back is this build is much more squishy.

The Twilight zone (51champ/13wl/2vk):

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...RrGudz.gc0o.-5

This build is something that just looks fun to play and should do a lot to harass your target. You also get the call to battle, hp aura, spotters, and battlefield distraction. But the most fun with this build is taking sergents order + pin target and pulling unsuspecting ranged players into your group and rooting them with the longest root in the game (unless dr gets you....). This build wont be as good as other for damage or mana draining, but should make for an interesting support/dps spec .

[Mechar]

Interesting ideas, thanks for posting them.

A couple of thoughts:

I prefer Blood From a Stone over Energy Retention in the VK tree. I'd rather have a better chance to randomly add a pact and most importantly refresh the entire stack than add duration. Of course you have to have 2 pts in Energy Retention, but the rest I'd put in Blood From a Stone.

I like your Twilight Zone concept, but the build you linked isn't right. I'd have a tough time playing a build that didn't have either Rift Summon or Sergeant's Order personally.

A couple of questions:

1) Is there some consensus on how to spend 10 or 12 points in Warlord?

2) I'm having a difficult time deciding on whether or not to use the new SLI in PvP. For PvE, I'd imagine its still a dps gain, but I'm having a tough time deciding if its worth it in a purge-filled, disconnected, chaotic pvp environment. I think an argument can be made hitting things more often and more consistently might be superior given we're only losing a 30% modifier from our massive list of additive modifiers.

I'm planning to go 44para/22vk/0wl at least to start in 1.8 and see how it goes. I'd consider 44para/10 or 12wl/something also, but the vk subspec seemed to flow together the easiest.

[faxE]

we are not rogues stop giving stupid names to builds

[jerwel]

Interesting ideas, thanks for posting them.

A couple of thoughts:

I prefer Blood From a Stone over Energy Retention in the VK tree. I'd rather have a better chance to randomly add a pact and most importantly refresh the entire stack than add duration. Of course you have to have 2 pts in Energy Retention, but the rest I'd put in Blood From a Stone.

I like your Twilight Zone concept, but the build you linked isn't right. I'd have a tough time playing a build that didn't have either Rift Summon or Sergeant's Order personally.

A couple of questions:

1) Is there some consensus on how to spend 10 or 12 points in Warlord?

2) I'm having a difficult time deciding on whether or not to use the new SLI in PvP. For PvE, I'd imagine its still a dps gain, but I'm having a tough time deciding if its worth it in a purge-filled, disconnected, chaotic pvp environment. I think an argument can be made hitting things more often and more consistently might be superior given we're only losing a 30% modifier from our massive list of additive modifiers.

I'm planning to go 44para/22vk/0wl at least to start in 1.8 and see how it goes. I'd consider 44para/10 or 12wl/something also, but the vk subspec seemed to flow together the easiest.

linked to the wrong build somehow on the last one, heres the correct build:
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...sdqRrGudz.b.-5

As for your thoughts:

I take pact retention over blood from stone because your pacts should always be up/refreshed due to your purge. IMO its better to have them potentially last through to the next encounter. Further you should never be hitting stuff without a blue bar if you can help it. The entire point of this build is to pump out devouring blows as fast as you can.

for the wl build, theres no real consensus. For the first tier the armor is better imo as a tiny amount of focus will negate your resist. For the second tier I would always pick up call to battle and then go into dodge (dodge>block). You will get sergeants order (10 pts in) as well as pin target which is fun to macro together.

SLI is definitely not worth it in pvp imo. Our damage mods are just too high these days.

we are not rogues stop giving stupid names to builds

Cool story bro. Hows life in moms basement? If you have anything to add to the thread please do so. Otherwise ****.

[faxE]

Cool story bro. Hows life in moms basement? If you have anything to add to the thread please do so. Otherwise ****.

ok so let me try to understand your logic
thinking that the name you gave to your build is stupid=living in my mom's basement?
seems legit

[jerwel]

ok so let me try to understand your logic
thinking that the name you gave to your build is stupid=living in my mom's basement?
seems legit

No the fact that you have time to troll someone elses thread like that makes you a basment living troll. Again if you have something to offer to the thread please do, if you dont move your worthless self elsewhere.