First and foremost, welcome to RoR.
I will here, give you some of the knowledge and perception I gathered about Return of Reckoning, especially Order side.
This little guide will touch a broad variety of subjects, ranging from classes, to RvR in general, and Scenarios.
The purpose of these lines, is to introduce new players to classes and mechanics, in maybe a bit more expanded way than what can be addressed in video format (and older players as well, maybe you can find some interesting stuff here or share your experience).
However I will provide no specialisations. There’s a character builder here, and plenty of peoples share their specs on this forum.
And while I will certainly provide a base, it’s by no mean a finished work, and can only get better with your input as well, so feel free to share and discuss.
…
Important Words and Acronyms :
Funnel (act of positionning players to take advantage of a structural or natural bottleneck to canalize enemy players into a killing zone)
Grab/Pull (spell that send you flying toward the user)
CC (crowd Controls)
Buffs (short or long duration effect that improves one or multiples statistic)
KB (KnockBack, send you flying through the air)
KD (KnockDown, can be referred to Stun as well)
Mezz (Sleep spell, break on damages)
Silence (prevent spell casting)
Disarm (prevent melee ability usage)
Root (prevent movement only)
Snare (reduce movement speed)
Imun (Immunity, 30-40s effect that prevent any CC, there two types, Silence-KD-Mezz are on the same immunity timer, KB, Disarm, and Root are on another timer.)
GCD (Global CoolDown, is accepted to be between 1.2 and 1.5s ? When you press a key, all of your abilities goes on cooldown, that is the GCD.)
AP (Action Points, essentially your Mana)
PBAoE (point blank area of effect, essentially AoE effect at your character’s feet)
LvL (refer to your career level, max is 40)
RR (renown rank, max is 80 ((max is actually 256, but it stops giving renown points at 80)))
Assist (Multiples peoples picking the same target by using a /assist macro)
Frontline (tanks and melee dps are in front, healers and ranged hide behind)
HoT (heal over time)
Decurse (healer spell that cleanse curses, hex, etc…)
Proc (effect based on a chance of happening in case of, damages done, taken, heal, etc.)
HPS (heal per seconds)
GTAoE (ground target area of effect)
STR (Strengh)
Tough (Toughness)
WS (Weaponskill)
BS (Ballistic Skill)
Will (Willpower)
Int (Intelligence)
Init (Initiative)
Soft Cap (a point when statistic start giving diminishing returns)
RA (Realm Ability, passive or actives you buy with your Renown pts earned with your Renown Rank)
1) CLASSES
A) TANKS
I will only touch on their defensive aspect, as to my opinion, offensive tanks are only viables at low lvl <31, or high rank >RR70 and require a good game knowledge and teammates to be exploited to their fullest and not just be useless.
Their fundamental role is to be a force multiplier. At high lvl, pur defensives tank are masters of supporting their team, through various abilities.
They have a variety of CC that can be used to control the flow of battle and relieve your teammates, all tanks can snare and have to.
They also provide buffs to their groups, and have access to the Guard, and Hold the Line. The guard essentially split the damages between you and your guarded target and is a toggle-able ability, all guard damages can be mitigated, blocked, and parried, and hold the line buffs everyone’s dodge and disruption stat behind you during the channeling.
And last but not least, they have access to the Taunt and Challenge abilities. Taunt interrupt any ongoing cast when used, challenge doesn't, taunt improve your damages on one target, challenge reduce any affected enemy’s damages on everyone but you, both wear off in 15s or until you’ve got hit 3 times by anyone affected.
I will stress one thing in particular, the guard ability of the tank, make him the second, and even third, life bar of his team. In large scale RvR (and in general) you want to guard melee DPS and AoE specced bright wizards and Engineers. Slayers are a no brainer, they should ALWAYS have a guard. This makes the difference between DPS that explode in 2seconds and can't be healed, and DPS that can be healed, stay alive, and massacre the enemy warband. Guarding healers by default is a terrible error of logic a lot of new players makes. It certainly has a situational value, but in general, healers are safe as long as the frontline is alive and not out-flanked.
The 3 Order tank classes are :
Knight of the Blazing Sun (Human)
The KotBS is a jack of all trades, master of none. However, due to it’s straightforward and varied toolkit, it’s a great tank to learn the mechanics.
He has access to :
-Toggle-able Auras (+resists, +AP, +Strengh, +Toughness, +healdebuff(out), +dmgpulse, +dmgreflect, +(ondefense)AP+hot)
-3s KD
-Short KB (+tactic ((Banish Darkness)) that transform it on a high arc, send flying longer and further)
-Conic Mezz (40ft max range)
-At 13 in the Vigilance tree get access to the strongest tank CD, Vigilance. (50% dmg reduction for 10s, 30s CD.)
-A second interupt (Vicious Slash, baseline ability, melee range)
Stats you want :
++Armor (once you reach 75% mitigation, should be around 3900+ armor (? need confirmation) anything above is used to mitigate armor penetration. Stack as much armor as you can)
++Block, Parry
+Toughness (~900 is a good place to be as a tank i'd say, more is always better, soft cap is 1050 (?))
+Wound (as much as you can. 1wound = 10hp~, soft cap is 1050 (?))
+Dodge, Disrupt
+Resistances (Resists naturally reach their soft cap with decent gear and buffs, however you can always improve one resist over the others with gear selection, potions, or talismans, for specific reasons. It shouldn't be your focus however, and only a last resort kind of thing, for exemple to counter a FotM class that use a specific damage type.)
+Initiative (225-275 is a good place to be, and 350 a "max", as the reduction of chances to be critical hit, start giving a hefty diminishing return at this point and make it not worthy to invest more into the statistic itself, you're better off investing into the Futile Strike RA, this is of course applicable for (almost?) every classes of the game.)
Realm Abilities you want :
+Futile Strike (reduces chances to receive critical hit)
+Defender (+% to block)
+Reflexes (+% to parry)
+Deft Defender (+% to dodge & disruption)
Anything else beside that is up to you.
Potions :
+Armor (mandatory)
+Toughness (Or whatever if you deem to have enough Tough)
Talismans :
Up to you really, look where you're lacking depending the gear you currently wear.
My opinion : 1 KotBS per group is almost mandatory. You can do without but you'll have to compensate with other classes somewhere, and even then i'm not sure you can fully replace what a KotBS can bring to a group.
IronBreaker (Dwarf)
The IB provides little in the way of group buffs, however he’s great at pocket guarding someone squishy and making it tough as a Dwarf nail. I don’t know much of it, but if i’m not wrong, he’s the order tank that passively reduce most of the damages, he can buffs armor, strengh, willpower, toughness, corporeal resist, and maybe more. However, each buff require a GCD. Can KB the furthest of the 3. Other than that I can’t say more to sell the class, except that playing 2 handed at low level (until you reach lvl 31) is a ton of fun.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
Sword Master (Elf)
I know very little of the swordmaster so i’ll just throw some general knowledge here. All I know is that he deals mostly spirit damages (so ignore armor and essentially deal the same damages regardless the target as everyone cap resistances out at 40-45% with buffs, instead of armor that can go up to 75% mitigation I think, any % above that mark being used to mitigate armor penetration, if i’m not wrong.)
The SM also has some interesting self buffs and group effects, but as I understand it, doesn’t come close to the group utility of a KotBS, and isn’t as good at pocket guarding as the IB.
However he has access to a PBAoE KB, and is great for clearing a group of peoples too close to a ledge, or breaking a frontline.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
B) HEALERS
I will here only touch on the healing aspect of the classes, as I also think that exactly like the tanks, their dps path are only viables at low lvl <31, or high rank >RR70 and require a good game knowledge and teammates to be exploited to their fullest and not just be useless.
They are the blood and life of your group. They provide buffs, and of course, heals. They have some CC abilities, however they are far fewer than what the tanks can have access to, and oftenly are “last resort” kind of abilities, you either use to secure your position or temporise. They have access to detaunt ability, that NEED to be mastered as a healer, using it on a foe, reduces all damages he does by 50%, doesn’t cumulate with the tank’s Guard.
They have also access to some debuffs. (more depending the specs, but we’re focusing on healer path)
I will stress one thing in particular, the HoTs (heal over time) and their importance on Warhammer. Preemptive HoT(-ing) is a skill you need to master, because the GCD is actually fairly long, you can't decide to throw a hot to someone that is low on life, chances are by the time the GCD end and you start casting your direct heal, he's ded. HoTs are important, and nothing to be sneezed at.
The 3 Order healers are :
Warrior Priest (Human)
The WP is the tankiest of the three, but also the less mobile. His output per direct heal is lower compared to his two other colleagues, however his casting time is halved. Which make him a great healer to mitigate burst and morale dump. While he's good at keeping a group afloat and quickly fixing damages, he lack the focused single target healing Archimages and Runepriest can do, and can run out of juice faster if you're not careful. You will have 3 Auras you can use to buff your group, and while the armor one looks good on paper, in reality it goes to waste most of the time. The other two are far superior in just every situations, and never goes to waste.
He has access to :
-Auras (+armor, +(onAttack)heal, +(onAttack)dmg)
-Wound Buff (at 9 in Grace tree, only class that can do it Order side, mandatory for healing specs IMO)
-AoE Detaunt (baseline tactic)
-Group HoT (Salvation tree ability)
-Group Decurse (Salvation tree Tactic)
-Group Absorb (Salvation tree ability, rarely picked until high rank and the extra career pts that come with)
-4s Silence (baseline ability, melee range)
-Conic KB (30ft range, baseline ability)
-PBAoE Heal (30ft radius, 3s Channel, 13s CD, heal out of group)
Stats you want :
++Critical heal % (stack as much as you can, 20-25% is a good place to be)
++Armor (75% mitigation is a good place to be, should be around 3900+ armor (? need confirmation) anything above is used to mitigate armor penetration.)
++Willpower (800 is "decent" for a WP, more is always better, soft cap is 1050)
+Wound (as much as you can. 1wound = 10hp~, soft cap is 1050 (?))
+Toughness (~350-450 is a good place to be as a WP)
+Dodge, Disrupt
+Resistances (Resists naturally reach their soft cap with decent gear and buffs, however you can always improve one resist over the others with gear selection, potions, or talismans, for specific reasons. It shouldn't be your focus however, and only a last resort kind of thing, for exemple to counter a FotM class that use a specific damage type.)
+Initiative (225-275 is a good place to be, and 350 a "max", as the reduction of chances to be critical hit, start giving a hefty diminishing return at this point and make it not worthy to invest more into the statistic itself, you're better off investing into the Futile Strike RA, this is of course applicable for (almost?) every classes of the game.)
Realm Abilities you want :
++Spiritual Refinement (+% of critical heal)
+Futile Strike (-% to receive critical hit)
+Reflexes (+% to parry)
+Deft Defender (+% to dodge & disruption)
Anything else beside that is up to you.
Potions :
+Armor (mandatory)
+Toughness (Or Willpower)
Talismans :
Up to you really, look where you're lacking depending the gear you currently wear.
My opinion : Like the KotBS, you want at least one per group. No other class has the wound buff. No other class has the group decurse. No other class can heal ~900 to 1200hp to a blob of player every 10s.
Rune Priest (Dwarf)
The RP is by far the most mobile healer of the 3. He can keep a decent HPS while moving, and have some access to runes. They are GTAoEs you place that provide a buff around them to your team. The most used two are the AP ritual and the Heal ritual, the AP one as the name imply, makes you regen AP based on a chance of happening whenever you cast a spell, and the heal ritual heal your group a small amount every 3s.
Can self-resurrect.
He also has access to varied rune long duration buffs he can put on his allies, that improves stats and give an additionnal ability.
They get access to the most varied CC selection of the 3 healers.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
Archimage (Elf)
The AM is a good all around healer. His mechanics (balance) can be exploited to oftenly cast boosted heals, faster, and better, than if you were casting it normally. It’s in my opinion the jack of all trades master of none of the healer archetype. Maybe i’m biased, but I tend to prefer WP+RP so I very rarely played with AMs.
His good point is that the DPS path is fun to play, and can be really rewarding to master. Is bad points is that DPS archimage are basically shunned upon. But if you want to solo, I think it’s viable. He also has access to a GTAoE snare that is really strong if used well. Has also access to an Instant - Resurrection ability.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
C) DPS
Here’s the biggest part of all. All classes have paths that are better suited to either small scale PvP, or large scale PvP. Both game ““mode”” play essentially differently, and require different way of playing your character. Knowing that, I will only scratch the surface, so I strongly advise you keep on digging on the forum if you want more precision about a path of another, or ask away !
In essence, an AoE specced Bright Wizard, will be far less efficient in scenario than in RvR. (depending the situations, of course there is some scenario where it can be strong but for the sake of the argument, let’s ignore the situational exceptions that will happens once in a blue moon).
Their role… Is to kill muddafukkazz.
They have access to few CCs and can’t perma-snare like tanks can.
The Order DPS classes are :
Witch Hunter (Human)
The WH is Order’s stealther. Essentially, a Destruction’s Witch Elf eco+. Doesn’t really play well in Warbands fight. More useful on the side of battles to pick up stragglers, kill isolated peoples, bypass keeps posterns and decimate AFKers. It can be good in scenario in a melee assist, which basically never happen Order side. (understand in Pick Up groups, premade is another thing) In essence, it’s a solo class.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
Bright Wizard (Human)
The BW is with the slayer Order’s most important DPS in RvR. However, like the Slayer, it’s a pure glass cannon and need to be babysitted by it’s team to do well (also heavily rely on situational awareness to not die, and healers to be able to actually dps). His 3 paths has to be learned, as each are very situational and have their use in either RvR roaming, Sieges, or Scenarios. In general, Conflagration path for RvR and Incineration/Immolation paths for Scenario, are safe bet. If you like 15 incineration builds, then you won't have to worry about needing it's M4 for forteresses. But really, how you spec this character highly depend on what you are going to do and your group composition, so be prepared to respec, often.
If you are not at 100% combustion during combats (BW's special mechanic), you might as well be AFK, it's the same. If you reach a moment where you think "I need to empty my combustion" then you're already dead, you just don't know it.
He has access to :
-(onDirectDamage)+chances of dmg
-(onReceivedDamage)+chances of dmg
-additional self damage buff (5 in Incineration Tree, Funnel Power)
-PBAoE Root (Baseline, 30ft radius)
-PBAoE KB (13 in Conflagration tree)
-3s KD (13 immolation tree, consume Ignite DoT, to be used)
-Awesomesauce AoE DPS in conflagration.
-Awesomesauce Incineration M4 that drain enemy Moral and nuke everyone within 30ft for when destro want to funnel the pre-city forteresses.
-Awesomesauce Single Target DPS with Immolation Incineration hybrid. (Can be countered by brainy healers that know where their decurse button is, so you may need some "dot cover" by an assistee to really reach peak efficiency against decent players)
Stats you want :
+++Crit chances % and Crit damages %
++Intelligence (until 1050.)
+Wound (as much as you can. 1wound = 10hp~, soft cap is 1050 (?))
+Armor (as much armor as you can if you plan on being a melee wizard)
+Dodge, Disrupt, Parry
+Resistances (Resists naturally reach their soft cap with decent gear and buffs, however you can always improve one resist over the others with gear selection, potions, or talismans, for specific reasons. It shouldn't be your focus however, and only a last resort kind of thing, for exemple to counter a FotM class that use a specific damage type.)
+Initiative (225-275 is a good place to be, and 350 a "max", as the reduction of chances to be critical hit, start giving a hefty diminishing return at this point and make it not worthy to invest more into the statistic itself, you're better off investing into the Futile Strike RA, this is of course applicable for (almost?) every classes of the game.)
Realm Abilities you want :
+++Focused Power (+% to crit)
++Acumen (+Int)
+Futile Strike (reduces chances to receive critical hit)
+Reflexes (+% to parry)
+Deft Defender (+% to dodge & disruption)
Anything else beside that is up to you.
Potions :
+Armor (mandatory)
+Intelligence (Or whatever if you deem to have enough Int)
Talismans :
INT or Armor, or a mix. You want 1050 int anyway, unless you plan on being mostly a bomber and only do that, then you can dedicate some slots to armor, i'd say.
My opinion : Needless to say, it's my favorite class. It melt through everything, and it's (onDirectDamage)proc is really good, making it a really strong addition to any warband's group on top of the WP's one. I won't say mandatory, but between a SL, a BW and an Engi, the choice is hard, all three are equally usefull and complement each other well.
Slayer (Dwarf)
I don’t know much of the SL, except it’s supposed to be Order’s frontline destroyer and funnel master, and that almost no one plays it (also heavily rely on situational awareness to not die, and healers AND tanks, to be able to actually dps). Like the BW, it’s heavily reliant on his team to do well, but even more so because regardless your path, you need to be in the thick of the melee to do anything.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
Engineer (Dwarf)
I don’t know much of the Engi, except it has access to a GTAoE Grab and is great in conjunction with BWs and SLs for warband fights due to a large selection of AoE dots. It also has the biggest range of all ranged order DPS, and has access to various turrets of various effects, that provide various buffs to you if you stay near.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
White Lion (Elf)
I don’t know much of the WL, except that destruction cry a lot about it. They are highly mobile, they are decently tanky (for a dps) they can Grab/Pull a single target. They have a high DPS on single target, and are “Ok-ish” in AoE. They are really strong in scenario if supported correctly.
They have their place in a melee train, but i’d rather have a Slayer instead in RvR.
The pet keeps dying and is (almost?) totally useless in funnel situations.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
Shadow Warrior (Elf)
The SW is a mystery for me.
I’d be glad to have more insight on this class from players that actually plays it.
2) CRAFTING JOBS
Crafting jobs come under two forms, making job, gathering job.
There is two making job, Talisman-maker, and Potion-maker.
There is 4 gathering job, Pillager, Salvager, and Butcher, Cultivator.
Pillager and salvager, as well as butcher and cultivator, provide common crafting materials from different sources, however, they also have exclusives. For instance, armor talisman can be obtained only through pillaging.
A) Talisman-maker
Allows you to craft gemstones you can put on gear with talisman slots. It is mandatory to have talismans in your free slots as the stat increase is nothing to sneeze at.
Pillaging allows you to gather materials from humanoids monsters
Salvaging allows you to gather materials by deconstructing gear
B) Potion-maker
Allows you to craft a wide variety of potions that highly improve your efficiency in combat.
They are also mandatory for end-game PvP. At least the basic ones.
Butchering allow you to gather materials from beasts
Cultivating allow you to grow materials with time.
3) HOW TO LVL-UP.
Of course, the goal of the game is to reach max lvl and pit yourself against the others in the ORVR areas and Scenarios. But just reaching max lvl, is only a small part of your journey.
All gear in this game is gated by your Renown Rank, that is in essence, a PvP leveling system. Each RR will give you a point to spend in the Renown Abilities. Also at RR50, 60, 70 you get extra career points to spend
So you don’t want to level your career too far away from your renown rank. As such, PvE grinding isn’t a wanted thing on this server, unless RvR is quiet and you want to quickly grind a lvl or two.
My best advice would be to take advantage of T1 to try a bunch of different classes, get the flavour of each. And once you’re set on one, head to lvl40’s RvR once you hit lvl16, and alternate with scenarios. This way you will ensure yourself a good renown rank relative to your career lvl (allowing you to wear better gear as soon as you hit lvl40, than if you didn’t) and hopefully enough medals rewarded that you can essentially have the best gear for your level at any time.
That is the general idea, how you do then is totally up to you !
The War Quarter in Altdorf (Order’s capitol) have plenty of merchants with tons of essentially free highly decent gear. (don’t be fooled by the green color, it’s basically = to blue loot that doesn’t have talisman slot) And it’s also there you will find the RvR and Scenario Sets, as well as the mount merchants.
4) NOW WHAT ?
Now that you are LvL40, and that you have all the crafting jobs you need, what is left for you to do ?
Well, the development team is hard at work to reintroduce all the original dungeons in their best shape. So if PvE is your thing, you can try these, I can guarantee you’ll get a run for your money.
However, that’s just a side dish honestly, the meat of the game is the PvP. You want to reach higher renown rank, to improve your character, and be the strongest ! Ain’t that the premises of any good MMO ?
A)RvR
RvR is a form of PvP that pit two (or more) faction against each other. It’s oftenly large scale, and open-ended. (in the sense that there’s no restriction on the number of peoples that can join, beside server limit)
fighting against the odds, or being in surpopulation, is something you have to deal with in RvR.
And Warhammer provide tools to fight against the odds, but it require at minima, that everyone actually understand his role and is playing the correct path for what they are doing. And at best, someone giving orders on VoiP and everyone following as one.
These tools take the form of specifics specs and warband compositions. It is in essence a rock paper scissor game.
b) Scenarios
Scenario is a more controlled form of PvP, usually 12v12 or 18v18. There is one 6v6 scenario. In essence, it’s wow’s battlegrounds, in warhammer.
5) MODS
https://tools.idrinth.de/addons/ have fun.
Mandatory ones : Enemy, buffhead.
Nothing to add.
Hope you enjoyed the read. Feel free to participate and give your opinion, I will come from time to time to take into account criticism, correct, and add to the “guide”.
Crepuscule.
