I'm Desperate!

This is a fun little build I've been toying with:

PvP W/N

12 Tactics
9 Strength
9 Swordsmanship
the rest in curses

you can use any runes you want, but I use minors in all three attributes, a Sup Vigor, and a minor absorption

I wear full gladiators except the boots (knights)

ok heres the fun part:

1. Sever Artery
2. Gash
3. Desperation blow
4. This is my switchable skill (Bonnetti's, sprint, wild blow, whatever makes your day)
5. "Victory is Mine!"*
6. Plague Touch
7. Rend Enchants
8. Res Signet (or another skill for those who think its worthless)

I do pretty much competition arena only since I know better than to drag along so many conditions into any other arena.

The only major problems I face are curses, massive condition removal, curses, other necros with plague touch (trust me plague touch fights are NOT fun) oh, and did I mention curses?

Fun points of note:

Back when fragility builds weren't nerfed I would really tick off the fraggers by plague touching the deep wound from PP... then they would run.

It's fun to run headfirst into a trapper ranger who has set a barbed trap: I target them and hit plague touch while running towards them, when the trap springs, I get bleeding and cripple in that order, however if the ranger is foolish enough to NOT run out of his trap before I reach him or her, the cripple goes onto them almost instantly, shortly followed by the bleed and my sword .

Rend is extremely useful if timed correctly, and butt worthless is timed incorrectly (can't tell you how many times I rended a Me/W's Illusion of Weakness only to see them cast IW right after -_-) on the other hand its really funny seeing them swing their swords going: 42, 42, 0, 0, 0... "OH CRAP"

Plague touch is a key skill for this build: it removes the bad stuff off of you (except hexes) and gives it to your opponents, thus turning the tide, as an added bonus, each condition you remove with Plague Touch helps your ViM (which keeps you alive)

I feel that this build does very well on its own, but it lacks killing power. For people who believe that tanking is worthless: you are correct, however if tanks can actually deal decent amounts of damage, then they can be very effective.

BTW recently I have toyed around with IWAY (yes i know its cheap, but it works really well in my 4th slot when a teammate dies)

I would like to hear your comments, flames, or suggestions on this please... don't hold anything back.

EDIT: I might add: its really funny to hit someone with a desperation blow and fall on your ass shouting "Victory is Mine!"

Umm tactics... just plain sucks. Basically use balanced stance. Should always have more in your weapon attribute. I mean how much dmg are you actualy doing? Why no sprint??? people usually run from warriors its pretty much a given. Stop trying to tank and do some more dmg!

Well...do you actually want to win?

If you just want to mess around with it and have fun its fine, since you seem to recongize its just for comp arena...if you wanted to get serious it needs to be scrapped, sorry (ViM really isn't meant for a Warrior primary).

A PvP Tactics Warrior normally uses the Balanced Stance > Desperation Blow > Thrill of Victory for spike damage. Tanking is not a good idea.

ViM is very possible on a Warrior primary... >_>

This build (and builds like it) aren't meant for really anything but griefing other people as such in Competitive Arena. I once ran into a High Tactics Warrior using Healing Hands...none of us had enchant removal, so needless to say we couldn't really take him out, but on the other he was doing 0-2 damage to me with his sword and keep in mind I was a Ranger at the time.

I failed to mention: my original intent was for this build to be fun and effective for generating faction. Obviously, this build can't kill very fast... It's a sword build with no final thrust, not even a galtrath slash in it, but when people start making mistakes in competition arena (which happens very often) this build begins to shine. (rangers who try to poison me or blind me actually make this build very effective) I might reiterate this isn't a tanking build, but it isn't pure offense either, you can ALMOST never rely on a monk to heal you in random.

I might also point out that the stats listed above are for the IWAY setup... any other skill for that slot can allow you to dump some of the points from strength into swordsmanship.

For me this is the only PvP build I've been successful with. I would however like to see a few suggestions to alter the build, or reccommend a similar build. I stand by my build, but changes can be very good. any other thoughts?

Well, let's see... I think you should have balanced stance in this build, since there's absolutely no reason to knock yourself down with desperation blow when you can avoid it. It will just let your target run away. If you want something that packs a little more punch, how about switching to axe and taking:

Eviscerate {E}
Executioner's Strike
Axe Twist
Axe Rake
Plague Touch
Sprint
Your choice
Your choice

This gives you a nice bit of spike damage, and you still pick up deep wound, weakness, and cripple for your condition work. If you really want to keep victory is mine, you could drop Eviscerate for Dismember. If you want to power up your spike more, take desperation + balance stance, then do your combo as Balance Stance, Desperation, Eviscerate. Alternately, if you REALLY want to pile on the conditions, you might want to look at virulence. I was thinking Chillibans would be nice for this build instead of Rend Enchantments since it gives poison that you could transfer away, but the energy cost is 25, so that's out.

I see absolutely no reason for either build to run tactics at 12. You're going to get the 5 energy/condition from ViM regardless of your tactics score, and I think you'd be better off investing in your weapon skill to increase your overall damage, rather than just the damage from Desperation Blow.

Rico