New Blackgaurd looking for advice!

[Bams10]

So I've currently made a blackguard and so far enjoying it. The class seems very difficult to master or use efficiently in mass pvp. I'm currently level 20 and was hoping someone could pass me some builds and tips so I am able not to be a typical destro noob ^^


Thank you.

[Aurandilaz]

BG is a tricky one.
It can do the best KD in the game, 5 sec with full 100 Hate, but it has a Shield requirement, which kinda sucks, because the best BG stuff comes when doing 2H.

I'd recommend playing with shield until r40, going for a build that looks somewhat like this
RoR.builders - Black Guard

There is no "absolutely best" spec, so you can often choose different tactics for different situations
Healdebuff is decent for some situations, same goes with toughness buffing, but maybe you might want to experiment with tactics like speed upon disrupt, or if you feel you are CC'd too often get the Juggernaut Cd reducing tactic, or even experiment with Swift Fury if you feel you are out of AP too often.

however DPS 2H is where the fun begins (at least for me)
RoR.builders - Black Guard
Again there is no correct build, different people might pick somewhat different skills/tactics
However the Parry tactic in mid tree is really awesome (you can parry guard dmg)
The armour buff in mid tree is a good panic button when you feel you are getting focused a lot.
Crimson Death is amazing, and your crit increasing tactic along with wounds reduction tactic make offensive 2H BG a very nice addition to any meleetrain.
Again there is no "best tactic" combination, meaning you might need to experiment what suits best to your current needs.
If you play defensively, maybe get toughness, if you need mobility, try speed upon disrupt/Juggernaut CD reduction
or maybe you feel squishy and want the toughness tactic in mid tree when playing with 2H and drop Enraged Beating (you won't AutoAttack when channeling, so it is easier to abandon than many other juicy choices from left tree)

Some people prefer to use renown to buy stuff like Parry, Dodge/Disrupt, maybe Block if you go SnB, some want MeleeCrit or Crit chance Reduction (Futile Strikes), some just want to feel Tough, and others might want to stack Strength up to the skies.
As for talismans, you either want to get Strength for more dmg, or you might consider Armour for greater defences, or toughness if you go for toughness maximizing tactic.

BG has a lot of options, and also a lot of trade-offs, what you gain in becoming offensive, you lose a bit with defensive stats... of course you could try aiming for a middle road and get some defensive stuff and some offensive stuff, there is no "correct spec".

But just remember, NEVER TAKE FOCUSED OFFENSE
(also your racial tactics suck, but whatever, when will this casual racism towards Dark Elf race end?!??)

[MistaJay1st]

Great information man, I wish everyone could reply with your level of detail!

Would you happen to have a buold that you favor for solo play in ORVR? Or a small 2-3 man gang?

[Aurandilaz]

Great information man, I wish everyone could reply with your level of detail!

Would you happen to have a buold that you favor for solo play in ORVR? Or a small 2-3 man gang?

that would again depending on the setup of the 3man; for example whether it involves you hugging a rdps player, or maybe you are pushing into enemy masses and guarding a mdps?
Considering how small parties usually operate; every member of the party must bring a lot to the table, and as a BG that involves active dmg doing, debuffing the target. Most your abilities are wasted if you just guardhug a ranged caster 100 feet away from the action.
If your party lacks snare, then maybe you will need to go up the mid tree and get the AoE snare.
If your party lacks healdebuff, you might need right tree for the healdebuff tactic.
Does your party need a Woundsdebuff? Then take it from left tree (tactic).

Would your small 3 man involve you playing BG deep into enemy group with a lot of focus on you? Then consider going high in right tree, maybe taking the ability that allows you to heal up. Though I myself consider left tree far superior to right tree, as other classes have easier access to healdebuff and your BG has so many other cool debuffs in your arsenal. The mid tree has easy to reach tactic that will increase your toughness, as well as the armour buff that makes you harder to kill.

What you need to keep in mind that clever people do not focus on hitting tanks, so if you face braindead pugs they might focus on you, but any serious opposition force will ignore the tank and just go for softer easier targets. So building extra defence is rarely worth the effort, especially in smallscale where you either finish the enemy fast, or they finish your party first. It rarely comes to "whose party has more defensive" tank, because as said, clever people know that hitting tanks is kinda stupid.

I myself would recommend sticking with the offensive play; kill the enemy before they know whats happening and before the fight enters a phase where defensive abilities are becoming needed. After all, the fight ends usually when one party or the other dies; and to accomplish this you need DPS. (plus you get that tasty renown rain from all those kills)

For solo playing BG... ehh, the class is a support character, meaning it kinda is very suboptimal for soloing. You could go for parry maximizing build and seek out 1v1 fights versus other melee dps, parrying and selfhealing them to death. (most players know to avoid fights with soloing tanks because killing them can be frustrating)
Or if your plan is simply to annoy enemy, you could try some weird max toughness max healthregen full deftard spec that makes you into a piece of metal moving in the battlefield. Someone might be stupid enough to try their lack against fully defensive tank, but again most intelligent players know to leave overly defensive tanks alone, as there are usually easier targets to kill.

Again, there is no "best spec", as you might be needing different tactics, different weapon (SnB/2H) and different jewels for different situations.

And remember, you won't win the WAR by stacking up defences, you actually need to kill something to win.

[Eathisword]

Spoiler:

Great information man, I wish everyone could reply with your level of detail!

Would you happen to have a buold that you favor for solo play in ORVR? Or a small 2-3 man gang?

that would again depending on the setup of the 3man; for example whether it involves you hugging a rdps player, or maybe you are pushing into enemy masses and guarding a mdps?
Considering how small parties usually operate; every member of the party must bring a lot to the table, and as a BG that involves active dmg doing, debuffing the target. Most your abilities are wasted if you just guardhug a ranged caster 100 feet away from the action.
If your party lacks snare, then maybe you will need to go up the mid tree and get the AoE snare.
If your party lacks healdebuff, you might need right tree for the healdebuff tactic.
Does your party need a Woundsdebuff? Then take it from left tree (tactic).

Would your small 3 man involve you playing BG deep into enemy group with a lot of focus on you? Then consider going high in right tree, maybe taking the ability that allows you to heal up. Though I myself consider left tree far superior to right tree, as other classes have easier access to healdebuff and your BG has so many other cool debuffs in your arsenal. The mid tree has easy to reach tactic that will increase your toughness, as well as the armour buff that makes you harder to kill.

What you need to keep in mind that clever people do not focus on hitting tanks, so if you face braindead pugs they might focus on you, but any serious opposition force will ignore the tank and just go for softer easier targets. So building extra defence is rarely worth the effort, especially in smallscale where you either finish the enemy fast, or they finish your party first. It rarely comes to "whose party has more defensive" tank, because as said, clever people know that hitting tanks is kinda stupid.

I myself would recommend sticking with the offensive play; kill the enemy before they know whats happening and before the fight enters a phase where defensive abilities are becoming needed. After all, the fight ends usually when one party or the other dies; and to accomplish this you need DPS. (plus you get that tasty renown rain from all those kills)X

For solo playing BG... ehh, the class is a support character, meaning it kinda is very suboptimal for soloing. You could go for parry maximizing build and seek out 1v1 fights versus other melee dps, parrying and selfhealing them to death. (most players know to avoid fights with soloing tanks because killing them can be frustrating)
Or if your plan is simply to annoy enemy, you could try some weird max toughness max healthregen full deftard spec that makes you into a piece of metal moving in the battlefield. Someone might be stupid enough to try their lack against fully defensive tank, but again most intelligent players know to leave overly defensive tanks alone, as there are usually easier targets to kill.

Again, there is no "best spec", as you might be needing different tactics, different weapon (SnB/2H) and different jewels for different situations.

And remember, you won't win the WAR by stacking up defenses, you actually need to kill something to win.

This guy speaks the truth. Damage wins fight. Defense wins championship though. If you wanna achieve any kind of success at small scale (i.e. win in 1v3, 2v4, 2v5, etc), you need to have some defense. Its a fine balance. Personally, my sweet spot is enough damage to burst a weak to average healer, then everything else in defense. If you are so defensive (there are plenty of pseudo solo tank like that) that you cant kill fast any but the worst of the worst healers, then you can never win versus 90%+ of small groups and will really hate small scale roam.

That being said, there is no ''perfect'' spec. The spec that lets you express your skill the most should dictate your final decision. The classes that give you the toughest fights should also influence how you gear and spec. And in my experience, it is different from players to players.

Finally, in very small scale (solo/duo), mixing up your play is I believe crucial to success. After long enough, you'll fight the same people over and over and they'll figure out how to beat you. So periodically, you should change how you gear and spec to adjust to how they play vs you. You should also adjust to the FoTM classes. For example, when the bazillions maguses and shammy appeared after their respective class buff, elemental resist suddenly became much more important for order tanks (before it was not at all). And so on. GL !

Volgo.

[Garner]

Awesome thread here. Thanks to all who shared information.

[Bams10]

Hey guys, i appreciate your time and effort spent helping me learn along with everyone who's viewed the thread.

One more question if i may:
-In realm vs realm how as a blackguard are you meant to approach it because obviously running into 400 enimes isnt going to work very well so how do you tackle it? Do you try and pick off strays or just hug your dps?




Thank you

[Aurandilaz]

Hey guys, i appreciate your time and effort spent helping me learn along with everyone who's viewed the thread.

One more question if i may:
-In realm vs realm how as a blackguard are you meant to approach it because obviously running into 400 enimes isnt going to work very well so how do you tackle it? Do you try and pick off strays or just hug your dps?




Thank you

Black Guard is a support career, which means you do whatever provides greatest support depending on the situation.
Often it involves maybe guarding a sorc within 30 feet range, or maybe pushing into enemy mass when hugging a choppa or a WE.
As I said above, BG is really bad choice if you going for soloplay, for that careers like WE/WH, or SH/SW shine.

If your ally is not in fatal danger, you might hit some "strays", or you play with a proper party that as a Main Assist, and focus on the targets that the MA calls out.
A BG that hits the focused target with a Snare, Armour Debuff, Toughness Debuf, AP debuff, Willpower Debuff, Wounds Debuff, Anti-Crit Debuff.... well, you learn to figure out which debuff to use according to the situation, but I prefer opening with snare, unless of course the target is already snared enough. It depends in situation.

Rarely does a good BlackGuard just push alone into a swarm of enemies.... because why???

BlackGuard fits well into any meleetrain, as their dmg can be really good (though 2nd to the raw power that Blorcs deal - then again a good Chosen will compete with BlackGuards due to their auras and different dmg types)

Also one of your best abilities does involve pushing slightly ahead of your allies into a swarm of enemies, and with good luck punting someone with a monstrous force into your waiting swarm of dps.

[Marsares]

Hey guys, i appreciate your time and effort spent helping me learn along with everyone who's viewed the thread.

One more question if i may:
-In realm vs realm how as a blackguard are you meant to approach it because obviously running into 400 enimes isnt going to work very well so how do you tackle it? Do you try and pick off strays or just hug your dps?




Thank you

Depends on spec, turtle BGs should absolutely be front line. 2h BGs feel like they missing something, though still fun and effective, which is why I make test abilities.



Dont get too excited, its mostly an intellectual exercise and it couldnt go to live without full client control anyway

BG version of SM's Wall of Darting Steel. Bring it on.

[anarchypark]

One more question if i may:
-In realm vs realm how as a blackguard are you meant to approach it because obviously running into 400 enimes isnt going to work very well so how do you tackle it? Do you try and pick off strays or just hug your dps?

you love big scale open-field battles ? tough tank is one of option.
all you need to do is standing with other tanks.
just 3+ defensive tank archtype, that will form the front line. ( which is easy for destro )
providing safety gap to back line, tank line can be both stopping wall and pushing wall.
that way enemy can't ignore you. pay them CC if they did.
but you may get a lot of 'u are playing it wrong' tells