Plague Thumper Build - Comments wanted

Hi there. If you could take the time to comment on my build it would be appreciated - good or bad comments .

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/W/N_Plague_Thumper

Use the discussion tab at the top then edit to leave your opinion once/if youve tested.

Thanks!.

The build is descent, yet does not take full advantage of one thing hammer users are best at... Knockdowns.

I suggest a few things to improve such as: drop Power Strike, take Bull's Strike instead. With BUll's you get longer recharge for better chances of using all 3 energy attaks with flourish AND another anti-kitting/KD skill. Thats 2 conditional KD skills, and one adrenaline KD skill.

Also, rez sig can obviously be dropped for heal sig in ab, just dump rest of points into tactics and it should be enough.

Lastly, your attribute spread and rune usage...no bueno! It looks like you WANT to hit that breakpoint at 14 strength to get 7 energy for Flourish, so here is the suggestion: Instead of 2 major runes, use a Strength helmet, with a +1 Strength rune, then simply get a Superior Hammer Rune and put it on your armor to get that same attribute spread...

Hammer Mastery 15 (12 + 3)
Strength 14 (12+1+1)
Tactics (Dump the rest in here)

Also, your usage description is a bit... well, don't take this wrong, but its just plain wrong. Dont start off with crushing blow since you want to take full advantage of the Deep Wound on a KD'd target. Since you should now have Bull's Strike, start off with that since the squishy will almost 100% chance be kiting. Thats the kd target, THEN crushing blow, then irrisistable blow since by now a monk has put guardian on him, or he is using some evasion/blocking stance... THEN flourish.

So, with that you got another kd skill, that is more efficient recharge-wise for Flourish AND rune usage that doesn't hurt your hp quite as much (small difference, but might as well since you have no real defense). And there you have it, one skill change and a slight change in rune usage, and the build is 10x better.

cheers!

1st You got no healing

2nd I agree with the Bull's Strike since you got Rush

3rd No speed enhancing which makes your hammer attacks very slow

4th I play Monk and I don't use guardian or any other blocking skill

5th A Thumper is a R/W with pet this is just a Hammer Plague Touch Warrior

6th Nice job on the energy management Thats really something, that I was like: Wow nice, now you can nearly spam plague touch.

Hi, thanks for both your comments.

I will try out Bull's Strike when I get home (Im at work) and see how it goes, but the 10s cd has me sceptical . Also you get no bonus on stationary targets.

Roger that on the rune management, ive changed it to your suggestion.

I dont mean to be rude but the usage description is quite correct :/. You see the build as its shown there is based specifically around that combination for continous 100% energy regain and attack spamm from synchronised cooldowns, changing it gives high risk of losing 100% regain or leaving you with longish delays where you have no +dmg skill to use.
I cant stress enough how with that combo you can spamm +dmg skills non stop which is big sustained dps, the conditions are just bonuses on top. The build is carefully constructed around the timing of those 3 skills, if you havent tried it already go see how neatly it fits together on a target dummy .

But I will try your combo with Bull' Strike tonight to see if it can work or not and post my findings!.

To Flashy

A Bunny Thumper has no healing either and walks around in lower armor . Also you can just swap in a Healing Signet

While I gave the option in varients of putting in an IAS, honestly its not needed imo. You are non stop spamming +dmg attacks there is no need for IAS. Also peope tend to run from warriors and when people run the value of IAS plummets especially on Pressure builds like this. The evolution of this build came from me playing the BT and finding it lacking.
Bunny has IAS but it has no room for run speed increase, its sad watching bunny's uselessly chasing people for half a game with thier 3 pips regen and IAS both completely wasted by long and continual delays in contact.

I used the name Thumper because I thought it descirbed well the constant +dmg attacks :/.

Thats about it, ill get testing when I get home, thanks for your input!.

Ok ive just tested it with Bullstrike and it is workable .

The sequence is:-
Crushing Blow > Bull's Strike > Irresistible Blow > Flourish
Bull's Strike > Irresistible Blow > Crushing Blow > Irresistable Blow > Bull's Strike > Flourish
Then repeat the second continually.

The combination works as well as the original with 100% energy regain

The downsides are there is a slight delay due to the 10s cd of Bull's Strike where you have no attack skills ready to use and that Bull's Strike is weaker than Power Strike on non moving targets.

At this point im not ready to replace PS with BS in the standard version of the build but I am adding to the varients the inclusion of the skill.
I want to test this more later in some team games with guildies to get a full comparison of its effectiveness against the raw damage of PS.
If I find it to be better overall ill swap PS out of the standard version.

Thats kewl that you actually tested it.

My line of thinking was that since you now have another 10 second recharge skill instead of the 4s recharge, you now have more leeway in when to time your Flourish. Since you should always be on a caster you will be dealing with constant movement and therefore don't deal with stationary targets all that much. With that in mind, if a target moves at the START of a chain, you are left with a few second gap to hit off all 3 attacks before using Flourish. By using Bull's Strike, you not only have a longer opening/durability in the combo, but your opener can immedietly KD your target, making your use of Crushing Blow (also 10s recharge) THAT much more effective.

I do not know how much PvP experience you have, but most competant casters will always be kiting/moving if a melee foe is on them. With that line of thinking, you should always be able to open with a Bulls Strike > Crushing Blow > Irrisistable Blow > Flourish, combo, followed by the same combo with intermintent Hammer Bashes for even MORE kd. DPS will be same if only a small bit less due to another 10s recharge skill, however they will be on the floor more often, meaning you can hit them more often, AND you have more durbability with teh skill combo gaps. Since they will be floored more often this setup MIGHT have even better DPS.

Either way you choose, i would suggest going to the Isle of the Nameless and test the Bull's Strike setup on the Master of Enchantments. They seem to kite a good amount, so you will be able to see how effective this build is compared to your primary Power Strike setup.



Just some more ideas and suggestions, hope they help! I played around with this the other day on the Master of Enchantments, and its quite fun!

cheers!

Might wanna start with Bull's Strike then Crushing Blow to add a Deep Wound