If we keep targetting the poor monks of the other team, as usual, and employ the following Tactic skill;
"Fear Me!" (availability) (Shout)
All adjacent foes lose 5 energy. (tactics = 10)
Casting cost: 4 adrenaline
Casting time: 0 sec
Recharge time: 0 sec
Relevant attribute: Tactics
2 warriors,
- Fear Me
- 100 blades
- Flurry or Frenzy, situational
=> 10 mana loss every 5 seconds
=> 60 mana loss every 30 seconds
=> -6 mana regen
=> team collapse
The collapse would be two dimensional in the way that
- monk is the main target, with poor armour, if no enchantment aid, soaking up a lot of mana for healing from monk 2. (But thats the way it is anyway?)
- monk is deprived of mana which is the life blood of the party, (as long as his teammies dont bring some self healing mechanisms like ViM or HSignet, which you all so happily despise, allowing some diversity in survival mechanisms)
1 warrior,
- Fear Me
- 100 blades
- Flurry or Frenzy, situational
=> 5 mana loss every 5 seconds
=> 30 mana loss every 30 seconds
=> -3 mana regen
Obviously, the said warriors would still happily churn out 600+ damage per 15 second cycle at the same time if they go the W/E route+ViM+Immolate as quoted earlier.
Heck, if Nash added this skill to his Battle Rage cycle, he would put the said monk at -8 mana/5 seconds, haha, but then he at least would need say 6 tactics to drain 4 mana per 4 adrenaline.
What is the success probability?
The counters are obviously there, but how probable are they, and how robust is this attack. The only thing that would stop this would be adrenaline deprivation or killing the said warriors, obviously.
Note that any melee coming to the rescue would immediately dive to 0 mana too.
PS: In fact, the Tactics line offers another skill, although looking weak, stacking with above;
"To The Limit!" (availability) (Shout)
For each adjacent foe (maximum 4 you gain one strike of adrenaline.
Casting cost: 5 energy
Casting time: 0 sec
Recharge time: 20 sec
Relevant attribute: Tactics
Doesnt look worth it though, too situational.
Any comments on above tactic?
Fear Me, Monk?
torry
Nash
I wouldn't touch Tactics with a 10 foot pole.
cpukilla
I think fear me looks like a great skill especially if used with a couple wars for stacking effects. Get a mesmer with energy drain and some shutdown skills and healers will be unable to cast very quickly.
Sausaletus Rex
Ah, Fear Me! Another skill that often gets overlooked and ignored thanks to being in a subpar line. Always liked that one although it's dropped off my radar a bit.
But you're quite right that it can be extremely devastating to your enemies energy pool. As an adrenal skill all you need to do is swing your weapon to charge it and as a Warrior that's what you'll want to be doing anyway. As an instant cast shout it's pretty hard to defend against and four adrenal charges means it's blindingly fast - well, for sword/axe Warriors - although, of course, the more adrenal skills you have the longer it takes to charge. But, by itself, alone, it will charge in four hits which is roughly 5.33 seconds with a sword/axe. Draining 5 energy then is roughly draining a point of energy a second or Ranger degeneration. For free, as a bonus to your pounding on your target. But wait, it gets better. Using an attack speed buff like Frenzy or whatever your attack speed drops and that increases the rate at which you gain adrenaline. That drops the amount of time it takes to get four strikes of adren to about 4 seconds. You'll be able to drain 5 energy every 4 seconds or almost enough to completely prevent a caster from regenerating at all. Those Mesmers who go gaga over Ether Lord need to look at a skill like this to understand just what an effective hammer to someone's regeneration looks like - yeah, you need melee range or thereabouts but you're a Warrior, you're already built to stay close. It's AoE, too. And, as torry points out, stackable.
It's a great skill for those Warriors that are caster-hunters or are more concerned with disruption than damage. It involves dipping into Tactics to make it well and that's probably the only real konck against it but, really, if you can spare the points, Tactics does offer some nice options. Not a lot of options, sure, but how many skills do you need from a line to make it worth considering?
To the Limit! is less so, though, as it's 5 energy every 20 seconds. Against a single target for a single lick of adrenaline you've, at best, bought yourself 2 seconds of recharge time once every 20 seconds. It's only best when you can get a bunch of people together. That applies to Fear Me!, too, but I don't think your enemies will bunch up for long once they realize what's happening, and even then you only get to supercharge your recharge once every 20 seconds. You'll cast Fear Me! at best 5~6 times instead of 4~5 over those 20 seconds. I'd instead look at something like For Great Justice! which increases adrenal gain over a longer time. It's only 33% effiicient as you'll have 15 seconds of duration for a 45 second recharge but it will let you cast a few more Fear Me!s than To the Limit! even if you only have a single target. Battle Rage works, too, but the timing could be tricky.
But you're quite right that it can be extremely devastating to your enemies energy pool. As an adrenal skill all you need to do is swing your weapon to charge it and as a Warrior that's what you'll want to be doing anyway. As an instant cast shout it's pretty hard to defend against and four adrenal charges means it's blindingly fast - well, for sword/axe Warriors - although, of course, the more adrenal skills you have the longer it takes to charge. But, by itself, alone, it will charge in four hits which is roughly 5.33 seconds with a sword/axe. Draining 5 energy then is roughly draining a point of energy a second or Ranger degeneration. For free, as a bonus to your pounding on your target. But wait, it gets better. Using an attack speed buff like Frenzy or whatever your attack speed drops and that increases the rate at which you gain adrenaline. That drops the amount of time it takes to get four strikes of adren to about 4 seconds. You'll be able to drain 5 energy every 4 seconds or almost enough to completely prevent a caster from regenerating at all. Those Mesmers who go gaga over Ether Lord need to look at a skill like this to understand just what an effective hammer to someone's regeneration looks like - yeah, you need melee range or thereabouts but you're a Warrior, you're already built to stay close. It's AoE, too. And, as torry points out, stackable.
It's a great skill for those Warriors that are caster-hunters or are more concerned with disruption than damage. It involves dipping into Tactics to make it well and that's probably the only real konck against it but, really, if you can spare the points, Tactics does offer some nice options. Not a lot of options, sure, but how many skills do you need from a line to make it worth considering?
To the Limit! is less so, though, as it's 5 energy every 20 seconds. Against a single target for a single lick of adrenaline you've, at best, bought yourself 2 seconds of recharge time once every 20 seconds. It's only best when you can get a bunch of people together. That applies to Fear Me!, too, but I don't think your enemies will bunch up for long once they realize what's happening, and even then you only get to supercharge your recharge once every 20 seconds. You'll cast Fear Me! at best 5~6 times instead of 4~5 over those 20 seconds. I'd instead look at something like For Great Justice! which increases adrenal gain over a longer time. It's only 33% effiicient as you'll have 15 seconds of duration for a 45 second recharge but it will let you cast a few more Fear Me!s than To the Limit! even if you only have a single target. Battle Rage works, too, but the timing could be tricky.
torry
I dont think Battle Rage would be tricky to time, as Fear Me would trigger twice as fast. Meaning 2.5-3.0 seconds. If your cycle then runs 5 or 6 times in the 15-16 secodns Battle Rage is up, is not so important.
However, as said before, Battle Rage and Fear me are indeed in two different lines and that probably means little synergy.
However, as said before, Battle Rage and Fear me are indeed in two different lines and that probably means little synergy.
Nash
Using Fear Me! in the Battle Rage cycle would end Battle Rage, screwing all your combo and wasting your elite slot.
Sausaletus Rex
Yeah, Battle Rage ends on a non-attack skill so you'd basically have to use Battle Rage to shorten the recharge on Fear Me!, use Fear Me!, rebuild Battle Rage, and then do it all over again - you'll lose all adrenaline from Fear Me! by using it to end Battle Rage anyway, so it's no big deal. And since Battle Rage is adrenal and instant cast, too, you're not losing anything but the two strikes it takes to recharge it. The net effect is that you'll shorten the recharge time on Fear Me! (From 4 strikes to 3, essentially, but that's not that bad if you're draining 5 energy each and every time for a cost of nothing.) as you spam it. Not by a lot but enough that it adds up over time. The best part is that because you're planning to have Battle Rage end early you don't have to pump Strength for it at all - and, if you're not worried about damage you don't care about having Strength, anyway, not if you're pumping Tactics for Fear Me! you can pick up a Tactics shield instead of a Strength one and penetration doesn't help with disruption except by making it easier to kill your foe (the best kind of disruption) - you can use Battle Rage unlinked.
Battle Rage also doesn't play nicely with skills that will buff your attack speed, like Frenzy, unless you use them beforehand - like I said, timing can be a little tricky. Not difficult, but not something you can just do brainlessly, so it takes a bit of getting used to as does when exactly to start using Battle Rage - do you pop it as soon as you get two strikes? Do you wait until you get four strikes so you can use that first Fear Me!? When you start using it can be important, especially on those first few drains. So I'm not sure if you'd actually see any increase to your energy denial by using Battle Rage+Fear Me! over, say, Frenzy+Fear Me! If you do, it's not much, maybe a pip's worth and, of course, you're doing it without having to spend any energy as opposed to using Frenzy. Now, is that worth an elite slot? Beats me. But that's how you'd have to combine the two of them. You'd also pretty much miss out on using any and all other adrenal skills.
Nah, on the whole I think I'd rather stick with something like Frenzy, Fear Me!, Disrupting Chop, and Distracting Blow if I was going to try and get a lot out of Fear Me!. Need a sprint or a snare, too.
Battle Rage also doesn't play nicely with skills that will buff your attack speed, like Frenzy, unless you use them beforehand - like I said, timing can be a little tricky. Not difficult, but not something you can just do brainlessly, so it takes a bit of getting used to as does when exactly to start using Battle Rage - do you pop it as soon as you get two strikes? Do you wait until you get four strikes so you can use that first Fear Me!? When you start using it can be important, especially on those first few drains. So I'm not sure if you'd actually see any increase to your energy denial by using Battle Rage+Fear Me! over, say, Frenzy+Fear Me! If you do, it's not much, maybe a pip's worth and, of course, you're doing it without having to spend any energy as opposed to using Frenzy. Now, is that worth an elite slot? Beats me. But that's how you'd have to combine the two of them. You'd also pretty much miss out on using any and all other adrenal skills.
Nah, on the whole I think I'd rather stick with something like Frenzy, Fear Me!, Disrupting Chop, and Distracting Blow if I was going to try and get a lot out of Fear Me!. Need a sprint or a snare, too.
Zrave
I posted this in another thread, but since you are still discussing ways of using "Fear me!", I thought I'd repost it. :P
1) Cast Zealot's Fire, Balthazar's Spirit, and Life Bond your monks
2) Attack enemy monks
3) Spam adrenaline skills of unmitigated doom
Mo/W
Smiting 10+2
Tactics 10
Sword 11
Protection 1+1
Life Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Skull Crack
Riposte
Fear Me!
Rush
Flurry
Zealot's Fire
There is some room for improvement but I'd like to run it once before tweaking.
1) Cast Zealot's Fire, Balthazar's Spirit, and Life Bond your monks
2) Attack enemy monks
3) Spam adrenaline skills of unmitigated doom
Mo/W
Smiting 10+2
Tactics 10
Sword 11
Protection 1+1
Life Bond
Balthazar's Spirit
Skull Crack
Riposte
Fear Me!
Rush
Flurry
Zealot's Fire
There is some room for improvement but I'd like to run it once before tweaking.
torry
I would bring "Watch Yourself", or whatever that 20AL skill is called. It will stop 30% of the incoming damage on you.
Flurry has little value:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ead.php?p=8180
Ah, no time to post more, Skull crack is an AWESOME skill!
Go Axe and use that disturbing Chop or whatever its called.
Pure interruptance
Shield stance so you can survive for 15 seconds through the wildest melee attacks?
Flurry has little value:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ead.php?p=8180
Ah, no time to post more, Skull crack is an AWESOME skill!
Go Axe and use that disturbing Chop or whatever its called.
Pure interruptance
Shield stance so you can survive for 15 seconds through the wildest melee attacks?
Zrave
I tested the build I suggested above. I'm happy to report that Zealot's Fire works with those skills, despite what naysayers suggested.
However, Fear Me has had a 50% nerf in effectiveness, and Balthazar Spirit gives less adrenaline than I thought it would. In good news, Balthazar's Spirit activates on a 0 damage hit.
I only tested briefly and in the arena, but I could tell the build needs restructuring - the DPS was hardly stellar. Perhaps the idea might work better as a compliment to weapon damage on a W/Mo.
However, Fear Me has had a 50% nerf in effectiveness, and Balthazar Spirit gives less adrenaline than I thought it would. In good news, Balthazar's Spirit activates on a 0 damage hit.
I only tested briefly and in the arena, but I could tell the build needs restructuring - the DPS was hardly stellar. Perhaps the idea might work better as a compliment to weapon damage on a W/Mo.