Classes/Mercenary
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Description
One of the three "light tank" classes (along with the Blademaster and Berserker) available on Gaheris. Mercenaries are one of two classes (along with the Infiltrator) with access to Albion's Dual Wield specialization line.
Aside from basic realm specialization line differences, Mercenaries differ from their Hibernia and Midgard counterparts in a number of key ways:
- Mercenaries are capable of wearing Chain (27% absorb) armor. Berserkers/Blademasters are limited to Studded/Reinforced (19% absorb).
- Mercenaries are limited to Evade I, while Berserkers and Blademasters receive Evade III.
- Mercenaries (and Blademasters) receive the highest available level of Protect (Protect III). Berserkers are limited to Protect I.
- Mercenaries receive the Dirty Tricks ability, in contrast to the Blademaster's Triple Wield and the Berserker's Berserk ability.
Despite these differences, Mercenaries typically serve the same purpose as the other light tank classes: dealing melee damage. As a dual-wielding pure tank, Mercenaries (along with Berserkers and Blademasters) have the potential to deal the highest sustained melee DPS of any class in the game. (Correction: Savages have the potential to deal more melee DPS with their self-buffs, but are considered to have significant drawbacks in endgame PvE.)
One of the Mercenary's distinguishing characteristics is the availabilty of Dual Shadows, a 50 Dual Wield, front positional style that inflicts a 25-point bleed. Unlike melee and DD spell damage, bleed damage is very rarely reduced in proportion to target level, making the Mercenary capable of contributing significant DPS against mobs that are highly resistant to spells and general melee.
Although most Mercenaries choose to specialize fully in Dual Wield and a high in a weapon line, a number of alternate specs, including Shield, high Parry, and multiple-weapon specs, are not entirely uncommon.
Character Creation
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Effects of Specialization
Testing and documentation by members of the DAoC community has led to the following general conclusions regarding weapon specializations:
Main Weapon (Slash/Crush/Thrust): - Increases weapon skill - Decreases unstyled damage variance - Increases style bonus damage for Slash/Crush/Thrust styles
Dual Wield: - Increases chance to swing with offhand weapon (Chance: 25% + [0.68% * DW spec]) - Increases style bonus damage for Dual Wield styles
For more detailed information, see the information from Wyrd and Pete Waterman at Spydor's website: http://daoc.nisrv.com.
Generally, because Mercenaries in particular rely on offhand damage for a significant percentage of their DPS, it is usually preferable to spec Dual Wield as high as possible.
The mechanics of Dual Wield (and Celtic Dual) differ significantly from Midgard's Left Axe specialization line. See the above link for more details.
The Dual Wield specialization line contains a number of noteworthy styles:
[25] Reflection + [44] Hypnotic Darkness (stun): Parry reactional chain with good growth rate (0.90 each) contains the only stun in the Dual Wield line.
[29] Flank (hinder) + [39] Shadow's Rain (slow): Side positional chain is the most damaging style combination in the Dual Wield line (0.85 + 1.05 growth rate). Unfortunately, its usefulness is often limited, as Flank has no to-hit bonus.
[34] Dark Tendrils: Although sometimes listed only as an Evade reactional, this style is actually a Parry reactional for Mercenaries. Inflicts the second-highest bleed damage in Dual Wield, delving at 15 per tick.
[50] Dual Shadows: Front positional with decent growth rate (0.80) inflicts 25 damage-per-tick delve bleed (see above).
Suggested Specializations
50 Dual Wield, 50 Weapon, 28 Parry: Cookie-cutter non-autotrained spec. Slashing, Crushing, and Thrusting each have unique benefits and are largely subject to personal preference.
50 Dual Wield, 44 Weapon, 37 Parry: Trades some weaponskill and style damage for increased defense.
44 Dual Wield, 44 Weapon, 44 Parry: Gives up Dual Shadows, some weaponskill, and some style damage for even more Parry.
PvE Utility
Dual-Wield Mercenaries play a defined, if somewhat one-dimensional role in bringing melee DPS to endgame PvE. Their bleed and melee damage is extremely useful against opponents with high resist rates and when petspam is impractical or not very effective. On the other hand, Mercenaries typically are not considered an "essential" role in general PvE play, where shield tanks, PBAE, and healer/buffer classes are usually prioritized.
"As one example, we almost always have a merc with us when we bring a tank group to take down an ML .10 mob, like Chimera or Cetus. We've brought two theurgists with us against Chimera, and they weren't able to reliably break the to-hit code. A merc is far less useful in a situation like Darkspire, where most of the damage against the mobs is going to come from casters, and where the mobs do so much damage that everyone needs a shield." - Raelinne 11/7/05
"I guess I'd claim that pbaoe's, animists, theurgists and MERCS are the four best dps classes to have in a group on gaheris. Take those 4, throw in 2 shields, 2 buffers and you've got a thoroughly optimal dps group." - Tmaaatoe 11/7/05
"I made my Mercenary 50 Crush, 50 Duel Wield, and 28 Parry. I got my Mercenary to rr5 now, I agree that the defense is nothing great, but with a shield tank gaurding me my mercenary can do alot of dmg. I chose crush for the anytime stunn styles. Personally I think Mercenaries can be great on Gaheris, but thats my opinion. Also, In my opinion, Mercenaries are great to have along on keeps now." - Zakiera 11/7/05
"Gotta agree with Zakiera, Mercs are good for keeps.
Gotta disagree with Raelinne, Mercs are good for Darkspire. For one thing, a lot of the damage in Darkspire is from the AE DoT, so not having a shield is not an issue. For another, there are parts of Darkspire (like the end boss) where unlike virtually every other PvE encounter out there being able to frontload your damage > defense." - Asberdies 11/7/05
[Originally posted by Rynas on 28-Nov-2005]
