Allods Online Forum

Intro
Hello.

I've got a bit of suggestions that should improve certain aspects of the warriors. And I'm not talking about "boost warriors, nerf rest", well not entirely. I've been playing Allods as a warrior for 2 years now. I've always played as a tank, since it's the role that mosts suits me and I feel comfortable with it. Anyway the changes made to the class about a year ago did rise the class of a warrior from the point where every other class could just kite and spank and the allod tanking was slower than with the holy pally tank build. I actually started to resent paladins going in their "holy" build as dps since they overagroed me constantly. The barrier we were given during the patch had it's uses, but having the same impact on the dps warrior thus causing a lot of displeased comments about us being too op.
Considering the PvP aspect yes I can agree - the barrier that would reset each 10 seconds was op combined with the huge burst power 2-h
warriors have. But for the tanking aspect it was ok. Nowadays it's useless in PvE and kinda crappy in PvP since you can't be hit for 10 seconds and that's an eternity in both aspects. Anyway I'll talk about the barrier later on. The main purpose of those suggestions is to improve the tanking
capabilities of warriors and give paladins some competition. It's not good imo to have pallies as the "only best choice for tanking" as I've heard from time to time.

1. Combat advantage change.
Ok first thing I'd like to mention is that combat advantage for tanking sucks. Around 80% of people I've been on allods have a trigger-happy
syndrome. Once they see me charging in they open up the dps bag and pour it all over the battlefield. Now compared to them I have to make several long animated blows that hit 2 target (my "love" for rapid slash will be explained later on) acompanied by single target strikes every now and then, before I'll be able to use the whirlwind and spin myself in hope that the mobs that I think I'm hitting won't hit the mage that just unloaded a meteor and surge onto that group. Of course I could use crushing blow (aka jump) to gain a momentum of agro and then focus on
the spin, but to tell the truth the 2nd rank of it is too far in the ruby grid to even be considered as an option, and with 1st rank the cooldown is not effective enough. It would be good if we could use whirlwind regardless of combat advantage obtained.
The whole combat advantage should be removed and in it's place something more warrior-like
should be. We could call it Adrenaline. It could be a resource that would rise the more intense we fight and improve our energy regeneration. It's combined with my image of warriors as physical combat specialists that master their bodies and change them into weapons. Let's say each 20% Adrenaline would give us 1 energy per second. The amount would increase by 1% for each skill used with paired weapons, one handed weapons and parry, 3% for each skill used with a 2-h weapon, and 5% for each block while carrying a shield. The adrenaline would deteriorate by 1% each 2 seconds so it won't be always on 100%. Of course removing the combat advantage will require the increase of energy usage on harder hitting abilities. That would also make Bushido rubies useless and here's where the 2nd topic will come in.

2. Bring back stances.
Since warriors are masters of melee combat they could use different stances for different weapons they use. There could be 3 stances that would improve the current aspect of the role one of us wishes to play. Each stance would have a different impact on our skills. They would be learned with each level of Bushido, a new skill that would work like aspects of a priest. For the sake of argument I'll call those stances : Swashbuckler stance, Guardian stance, Brutal stance.

- Swashbuckler stance
A paired weapons fighting stance. While having them equiped it would improve the damage of Devastating Blow, Flawless Strike, Lunge, Agonizing Strike, Lethal Blow, Arcing Blow and Rupture by 10% and improves parry chance by 10%. Additionally would cause the Cautiousness buff which reduces threat generated by 20%. While in this stance Whirlwind has a 25% chance to cause Rupture on the hit target (Viscious Spin will only do damage) and a successfuly cast Bloodbath will be automaticaly followed by Arcing Blow. Each parry would give a buff called "Liquid Moves" that increases the attack speed by 2% stacking to 5 stacks

- Brutal stance
A 2h weapon stance what would reduce the energy cost of Devastating Blow, Flawless Strike, Lunge, Agonizing Strike, Lethal Blow, Arcing Blow and Rupture by 25%. It would give Arcing Blow an effect that reduces the armor of the target by 15% and stacks 3 times. In addition Crushing Blow while in this stance will stun for 2 seconds after the target hits the ground. Rupture would deal initial damage apart from the bleeding effect.

- Guardian stance
Typical tank stance, would replace Cruelty. With the shield equipped the stance would improve the threat generation by 300% and block chance by 35%. While used in this stance skills like Devastating Blow, Flawless Strike, Agonizing Strike, Fatal Blow and Rupture would hit a random nearby target (not counting towards adrenaline gain). Addotionally Shield Slam will hit one closest enemy to the target knocking both down. If Guardian stance is activated then it reduces incoming damage by 2% for 10 sec for each enemy hit stacking up to 5 stacks. The barrier will be lowered to max 5% of health and will remain as a constant damage reductor (more about the barrier later on).

3. Skill changes.
Ok so the skill tree would have to be changed also a bit. And here's my idea on how. First off Aura of Ferocity should be removed and put in the ruby grid instead of Controlled Rage (without the armor reduction). Die Hard would go to it's place making room for Bushido.

Bushido.
It's a skill that would give stances just like the Healers Master of Aspects. First one will be the Swashbuckler stance, then the Guardian stance and last will be the Brutal stance.

Double Strike/Rapid Slash.
I just "love" this skill. It's so bad compared to the previous version that was hitting 180 degrees in front of you with a chance of buffing either your attack or defense for each enemy hit. Now it hits 2 enemies. It's like a castrated version to me. My suggestion would be to give it a 180 degree range hitting all the targets not just 2.

Arcing Blow.
The skill would not require the knocked down effect on the target. It would cause the target to be stunned for 3 sec if it was hit while it has theknockdown effect.

Reasoned Aggression.
This skill would give 100% more adrenaline generation for 10 seconds.

Iron Skin.
It's a new skill I'm thinking about. It would be gained after completing Lab13/Castle Blight world mysteries. With a 2 minute cooldown it would have 2 effects. If used in Guardian stance it would double the barrier for 10 seconds. While in Swashbuckler/Brutal stance it would regenerate the barrier instantly.

4. The barrier changes.
The barrier would need a bit of changes aswell. It would be a passive that is obtained from the very start of the game. In Swashbuckler and Brutal stance it would work as the barrier works nowadays (disperses after taking enough damage and recovers if the warrior is not hit for 10 seconds), while in Guardian stance the barrier will remain static reducing incoming damage by it's value. Of course the barrier will then be 5% of max health and further rubies will increase to 8% (Pebble Wall) - while the normal barrier in Swashbuckler/Brutal stance would be up 15% with rubies.

5. Ruby changes.
There are several rubies also that would require to be changed.

- Daredevil and Lethal Blows.
First of all I'd change the location of these rubies since Determination is more of a tanking stat and would prove better there.

- Bloody Massacre.
Would add the effect from Bloodbath to Whirlwind if paired weapons are equipped.

- Counterattack.
I'd reduce the amount of energy gained through blocking to respectfuly 2/3/5

- Hexed.
Since the amount of damage reduced is so small I suggest removing these rubies.

- Shield Spike.
Would take place of the Hexed rubies and would deal damage according to the quality of the shield equipped with each hit the warrior receives (max. amount of damage : 12k). If the attack is blocked the damage is doubled. This ruby would be very helpful for maintaining agro on allods and a good counter for fast attacking melee classes.

- Might over Magic
The only change I'd give is that the warrior at rank 3 will have 5% chance to reflect the spell to the caster if the spell will be blocked.

- Pebble Wall
Improves the barrier by 5% for each rank of this ruby. While in Guardian stance the amount is increased by 1% instead.

- Stalwart Defense
The warrior would focus his gaze on one of his allies reducing their threat by 25%. For each hit the ally takes the cooldown on taunt is reduced by 50%. Unable to cast on warriors/paladins.

- Bushido.
Those rubies would be removed.

- Toughness.
Rubies will increase Tenacity by 3 for each rank. Those rubies would take place instead of Bushido.

- Low Flight
Instead of moving group members with the warrior I'd suggest this skill to move enemies to the epicenter of the jump.