Allods Online Forum

Index
1.0 Introduction
2.0 New Rubies
3.0 The Build
3.1 Talents
3.2 Rubies
4.0 The Full Build
4.1 Why Hawk's?
4.2 The Build's How To
5.0 Conclusion

The Guide to the New Way of the Melee Warden - Enjoy!



Hello, Snuffy here.
I am the companion to the most awesome owner Upstage.
We have been together for 5 years on and off since I’ve been left at the shelter a few times.
We have been through many changes, patches, buffs and nerfs, server changes and guild changes.
And now we have ended up where we are now, a brand new us.

Being a warden’s pet is lots and lots of fun, there is no
limit to what we can do. I tank while she kills stuff and she heals me when I
get hurtsies. Together we are one strong unit.
It is so simple for us, we know to do what we do and it feels easy, like
we were born to do this.

We returned along with the newest patch, so the changes from
55 cap to 65 is not something we are completely sure of. But since the time we
have been playing we have learned what is needed to be known. I, Snuffy, am
aware of what the new rubies are and will tell you about them.


New Rubies


First Strike

If no Combat Wit or Static Charge is active this ruby will make your first
melee attack give you 4 stacks of Combat Wit on rank 3. For builds using more
melee than lightning. Does not affect your pets melee damage.

Static Electricity

If no Combat Wit or Static Charge is active this ruby will make your first
lightning attack give you 4 stacks of Static Charge on rank 3. For builds using
more lightning than melee.
This ruby also makes, as I will explain in this build, the use of Hawk's Strike
as main melee damage-dealer a viable option.

Grasping Roots

Immobilizes enemies for short period of time while in Nature’s Grip. Nature’s Grip
is good even without these rubies, so they are more for PvP.

Stone Soup

Enables you to brew potions without having to go to Kingdom of Nature. But it
increases mana cost of brewing potions by 400%. Don’t get this one, you will have
to refill on mana so much it’s probably faster to grind ingredients in KoN.


The Build

Our previous melee build has been different, and that’s why
we are brand new. From the traditional
melee to the searing pain melee. Searing pain used to be something that wasn’t
to trust, it didn’t always proc. But that was long ago, nowadays it is the
meat. We prefer melee as it’s more natural and does more damage, and after all,
we have always been melee since the start when it was the only viable build.

Stats
Proficiency - Get it as high as you can, priority.
Determination - Since we are melee you need a bit of this. Around 10% is fine. A bit less or more can go too.
Brutality - Also try to get this as high as you can, but after proficiency.
Anger - For PvP only, no need for PvE

Talents

We choose Hawk’s Strike instead of Clout because with the
new rubies it can do the same damage as clout does. And this saves talents for
elsewhere. Using Clout and Hawk’s Strike is viable of course, but it is a bit
more complicated and easier to mess up. Sticking only with Hawk’s Strike is
simple, easy and fun, and it works!

And here is Ups for explaining the rest.


Wolf’s Blow/Clout – The usual melee damage talent. Not used as per explaination before. Keep it unranked.

Lightning Strike/Flash Lightning – Flash Lightning is a must on rank 3, it is high damage and spammed. Needed for good dps + slowing mobs.

Maul/Grab! – Also needed on rank 3. The pet’s main damage.

Boars’ Blow – I prefer to have this on rank 1. A fast easy knockdown is great to have. To interrupt mobs in PvE or annoy people in PvP. No higher rank needed if you are pure PvE.

Great Hunt – I personally decided to veer away from these talents and rubies (Thrill of the Hunt) since they only increase pets basic attacks. Basic attack damage is ok, but its not the main damage. If you got the rubies/talents to spare it is an ok way to go. Definality not as great as before.

Vibrant Health/Healing Burst – Wardens new healing spells.Good for offheals and full healer builds. Can be used for solo as well as PvP. A rank or 2 on it shouldn’t hurt.

Vortex – The main thing needed for caster wardens. I take this on rank 2, as many times being melee just isn’t the greatest. So you can still maintain some of your damage when ranged.

Rip! – Does a great deal of damage. Used to deal extra damage under searing pain, but doesn’t at the moment. Mostly used for PvP. I’d rather not take these talents as pet can do more damage with Grab with those energy points.

Bark Shield – Much better now than it used to be. I’m not gonna go in length here as it might confuse newer players. Must have on rank 3, as you are melee you need all protection you can get.

Hawk’s Strike – Our new bread and butter. Rank 3 needed.

Bee Swarm – A skill that has always been so-so. I don’t take it but you can if you like to PvP.

Renew – Our party healing skill. Definitely take it on rank 2, rank 3 if you can.

Bear’s Blow – Melee AoE skill. I love this one, but you don’t have to love it. Edit: Loving it less for this build. Noticed it doesn't do enough aoe damage for my liking without Combat Wit. So do not take it, check edit further down.

Chain Lightning – Long cast time great damage AoE spell. I don’t like it much since I focus more on fast dps.

Natural Force III – Get it if you can, preferably have Ferocity on at all time though. Can be needed if a party is without anyone else to provide it.

Chomp – Pet AoE skill. If you want it, use it, not too needed since AoE pulls are done by other classes much better and faster.

Secret of Aqua Morte – A PvP skill mostly. Reduces targets healing. Not needed for PvE.

Unity With Nature – I grab this on rank 2 or 3 since it increases healing and damage while you let your pet rest.

Rip Up! – Another pet skill, stuns enemy. Not that great for PvE, has its uses in PvP.



Rubies

I’m not gonna go too in dept here since there is so much.
Just explaining what is useful and needed. Rest I hope you can figure out on your own.


Wolf’s Grid

Savagery – Critical Melee strikes damage increased by 14%. Definitely take this even though Hawk’s Strike melee damage isn’t as high as Clouts, obviously.

Encouragement – Determination rubies. Get them if you can. Pure stats are great.

Enchanted Reflexes – Dodge Rubies. Can always be good, get if you can.

Aura of Ferocity III – Get this on rank 3 if you get Heightened Senses minimum rank 2 as well. Don’t want to take more damage when you want to deal more damage.

Bestial Synergy – Get them! Get them! Since luck is so low nowadays you need all you can get. These are all needed. It gets your luck up to 17% in combat.

Steady Feet – Optional to get. Can be good both PvE and PvP.

Pilgrim’s Way – Get this atleast on rank 2. Reduces cooldown of melee skills.

Iron Fist – This is needed as well on rank 3. Pure melee damage increase. Will help your damage.

Shock Wave – Very optional. Increases Bear’s Blow damage by 9% on rank 3. They aren’t the greatest rubies. Better to spend these rubies on more survivability.

Lightning Grid

Force of Nature – Get this! No excuses. Increases vigor by 9%, which is your damage as well.

Static Electricity –These are needed for this build. You get 4 stacks of Static Charge which both Hawk’s and Shred uses.

Lightning Master – We need this. Increases damage of Flash Lightning, which we use, a lot.

Vital Source – Increases your vitality. Get if you can.

Shield of Nature – For PvP mainly. Reflects damage back to enemy when Bark Shield is used.

Natural Harmony – Reduces cooldown of Renew and Aqua Vitae/Herbal Tea. Definitely grab this if you use Herbal Tea.

Secret of Aqua Vitae – healing potion you can use on yourself or other players. Rank 1 without any other rubies is healing about as much as a healing potion. So better put this ruby on something else if you don’t have more healing rubies.

Nature’s Touch – Increases healing effectiveness by 15%, very optional.

Secret of Lethargy Potion – PvE or PvP CC. The more ranks you grab the better. Optional.



Maul Grid

Shred! – get this rank 2. Highest damage dealing skill we got.

Restoration – Needed as well. Pet restores much faster in ethereal plane.

Natural Rage – Pet basic attack damage increase. These rubies are not the greatest. Don’t grab them unless needed.

Combat Sense – Needed, increase damage of Maul, Grab, Rip and Chomp.

Master of Nature – Aren’t the greatest rubies. But they are better than nothing since it restores pet energy during combat.

Severe Wounds – Needed. Open wound is very powerful with these.

Battle Training – Decreases cooldown of pet skills? Check! Grab these.

Innate Rage – Critical strike damage of all pet skills increased. Very much needed.

One and All – If you use Shred, get these. Remember though, use Lightning before shred to get at least minimum those 4 static charge stacks.

Bulwark – Very nice ruby. Increases your suvivability. Get them if you can.

Heightened Senses – Increases armor and reduces penatly under your use of Aura of Ferocity. Get them.

Nature’s Grip – Can be good if you got ruby to spare. Slows movement speed of all mobs in it. Good for certain aspects in PvE and great in PvP.

The Full Build


(Edit: Bear's Blow Not recommended anymore. AoE Damage does not outweigh single target dps. Shockvwave rubies are a do not take as well. Just leave this talent out of this build. It is a really really good AoE if you are Clout and Combat Wit melee.)

Now, let me explain this. Green are what I think are essential. The more to red
you are getting, the more optional it is. Those that aren't marked in any color
at all can generally be ignored.

Green - Grab these for this buid
Yellow - Good idea for this build
Red - Optional for this build
Purple - PvP skills, not for the PvE build. Very, very optional.


Why Hawk's Strike instead of Wolf's Blow/Clout?

With the new implementation of the Static Electricity rubies, (Gives you 3 stacks if you had no Static Charge, which will give you 4 Static Charge stacks with your next lightning skill), Hawk's Strike will do more damage than before, since you can more easily use these stacks to your advantage.

I don't have all the data at this moment, will update later once again if needed. But I did some testing and it turned out like this;

○ If your Clout would do around 20% DPS
Clout (Physical) 20%
○ Hawk's Strike would also do around 20% DPS
Hawk's Strike (Physical) 10%
Hawk's Strike (Lightning) 10%

Hawk's Strike with 4 stacks of Static electricty does about the same (if not more) damage than Clout with 8 stacks of Combat Wit (Included building up to those 8 stacks).

That's why I chose this build. It is simpler and more fun, at least for me!


The Build’s How to
Now for the important part. How to use this build

♠ Start with Lightning Strike/Flash with this you will get Static Charge x4
♥ Use Maul/Grab! right after.
♠ Target should now have the Open Wound effect.
♥ If it does, then use Hawk's Strike
♠ When Hawk's Strike is used on Open Wound it receives the Searing Pain effect. It also uses those 4 (or more) Static Charges and turns them into lightning damage.
♥ If you happen to be ranged at that moment, use Vortex instead.
♠ Your target should now have the Searing Pain effect,
♥ Use Lightning one more time to get 4x Static Charge effects use Shred

Target will receive a huge amount of damage. Rotation complete. Do remember to use Lightning Strike/Flash before Shred, since we have the rubies that will increase the damage Shred does under the Static Charge effect.

♦ Until you can cast Shred again, keep using Lightning, Grab! and Hawk's Strike for maximum output of damage!
Make sure that you use lightning damage to get Static Charge before using Hawk's Strike, or you will get stacks of Combat Wit, which will actually decrease our dps a bit.

AoE

AoE roation will be;
♠ Lightning Strike/Flash
♥ Maul/Grab
♠ Chomp and Bear's Blow (Read Edit) Chain Lightning.
When your pet needs to rest, sent it to the Ethereal Plane and Get it out of there with Kanian Warden ability (Restores Pet Health and Energy by 30%) or use Unity with Nature for Tears of the Dragon, you will do more damage and healing during the time it puts your pet to rest.


Conclusion
Being melee you have to be very agile, moving away from danger and watching out for yourself mainly. Melee wardens do a lot of damage, but you also take a lot of damage.

To pull this off you need to be able to spam your skills, in both single target and AoE. Melee uses a lot of fast spells with steady damage, so you have to keep up with that. If you like to sit back a bit and be more aware of when and how to help teammates, caster might be better way to go.



Hope this helps you on your journey to your very own melee warden, any other questions are welcome! Snuffy needs to rest now, he is a cat after all

Updated:
15-04-08 (Fixed Coloring and Wording)
15-04-17 (Added some text about stats)
15-06-24 (Edit about Bear's Blow)

True, you need to be very agile as melee, but it's fun as well when you figure it out. Also, that's why you sort of need vortex for some bosses + great damage boost when precasted. Whatever floats your boat anyway!

Thanks

Thanks a lot bro!
Appreciate it!