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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Combat Explained (A min maxer / solo player POV)
The_Hippo
Member, Alpha Two
I want to start off by saying I loved the A2, and felt the strongest point by far was the combat.
That being said after watching 40+ hours of combined videos and streamers, I feel none of them are doing justice to explain the intricate systems of debuffing that can REALLY change your gameplay.
A vast majority of the streaming content, and the content creators in general just stuck to groups and raids and did their basic damage combos.
However, the combat has a lot more to explore beyond the basic.
I'll break it down for you step by step, because I've seen people on these forums bring up this exact point.
Fighters do have CC, they just require set up to utilize.
So you might notice in any class, that their skills have additional effects when certain debuffs are applied.
Great right? Then you read on and realize none of your base skills actually apply those debuffs.
Most people stop there, and most of the combat guides on youtube don't really delve past the "feel" of the combat.
However, if you read it in depth you'll find some intricate in depth combos that work for most classes.
I.E as a fighter a combo would be, starting combat with a longbow and applying the "Stagger" debuff with a weapon combo, then using your snare kick move that trips staggered opponents, and finally utilizing the trip mechanic to min max some of your other abilities with strong synergies against tripped foes.
Using this combo alone, I was able to solo 3,000 HP goblins at level 5 by kiting and using my bow.
Later using this same ideology I was able to pull 10 mobs at a time and efficiently level.
It reminded me a lot of mage AOE farming in WoW tbh, and honestly it might be a sleeper min max way to hit max. Considering I wasn't getting too sweaty I still hit 17 easily solo while only figuring out this method on the last and most unstable day (sunday).
I have 2 main points here
1. Combat is A LOT more intricate then what most streamers / content creators are showing you.
2. A solo player can definitely thrive (and maybe outperform) on certain classes once you figure out your combos.
Remember all the weapons are interchangeable, so there are A LOT of debuffs and combos you can gain access to.
Also I will say, this might not work for every class. If no content creators start covering it I might try to, either way I wanted to give some good news to my fellow min maxing / solo playing enthusiasts.
If anyone wants advice on how I managed to unlock my solo fighter to aoe farm feel free to DM me.
That being said after watching 40+ hours of combined videos and streamers, I feel none of them are doing justice to explain the intricate systems of debuffing that can REALLY change your gameplay.
A vast majority of the streaming content, and the content creators in general just stuck to groups and raids and did their basic damage combos.
However, the combat has a lot more to explore beyond the basic.
I'll break it down for you step by step, because I've seen people on these forums bring up this exact point.
Fighters do have CC, they just require set up to utilize.
So you might notice in any class, that their skills have additional effects when certain debuffs are applied.
Great right? Then you read on and realize none of your base skills actually apply those debuffs.
Most people stop there, and most of the combat guides on youtube don't really delve past the "feel" of the combat.
However, if you read it in depth you'll find some intricate in depth combos that work for most classes.
I.E as a fighter a combo would be, starting combat with a longbow and applying the "Stagger" debuff with a weapon combo, then using your snare kick move that trips staggered opponents, and finally utilizing the trip mechanic to min max some of your other abilities with strong synergies against tripped foes.
Using this combo alone, I was able to solo 3,000 HP goblins at level 5 by kiting and using my bow.
Later using this same ideology I was able to pull 10 mobs at a time and efficiently level.
It reminded me a lot of mage AOE farming in WoW tbh, and honestly it might be a sleeper min max way to hit max. Considering I wasn't getting too sweaty I still hit 17 easily solo while only figuring out this method on the last and most unstable day (sunday).
I have 2 main points here
1. Combat is A LOT more intricate then what most streamers / content creators are showing you.
2. A solo player can definitely thrive (and maybe outperform) on certain classes once you figure out your combos.
Remember all the weapons are interchangeable, so there are A LOT of debuffs and combos you can gain access to.
Also I will say, this might not work for every class. If no content creators start covering it I might try to, either way I wanted to give some good news to my fellow min maxing / solo playing enthusiasts.
If anyone wants advice on how I managed to unlock my solo fighter to aoe farm feel free to DM me.
5
Comments
https://www.twitch.tv/ludullu/clip/WonderfulWimpyHeronKippa-P_IqhNkZrCiShSge
I'm sure there are efficiency gains to bother with the system even while in a big group. Whether it be for faster kill times, lower mana use, or preventing mobs to leave a certain area. Maybe, in these early times, players are not familiar enough with the global archetypes synergies to really put the system to use.
I don't know, you tell me. But I'm glad to hear it"s a worth mastering, especially since I tend to play mostly on my own.
I'm also assuming that except for the spell casters like shamans, the enemies all have better physical than magical mitigation. So the casters achieve higher effective damage on everything, except the Shamans who are a priority kill for everyone anyways.
There was a way to trigger hemo with the a 2nd tier ability Rupture.
https://ashescodex.com/planner can be used to get a good idea of builds, but like I said without explanations it's SUPER easy to miss a lot of these combos.
I just wish more content creators delved deeper into it.
I only played in a group for about an hour of play time, but my general experience is things died pretty quickly with the exception of bosses.
There was a big drive for single target damage due to bosses taking a while actually, but you still don't learn HALF your CC kit if you focus on group play.
I still think some archetypes will find it 10x more efficient to level with groups, but man I'm telling you this is the BASE experience.
Imagine adding secondary classes that augment all your base skills / maybe give you new ones. The solo player min / maxing dream is NOT dead.
I know the forums have had a lot of debate of the role of solo playing, so I hope this post gives them hope that it can be a hidden gem.
Appreciate the link thank you, I'll definitely check it out and have a play with some builds. Will also see how your stagger/trip would work paired with the bleed/lethal blow.
As I said I hope, when the Devs have time, will give us some more info on all the status effects and how to proc them. I'll definitely be looking forward to testing them out.
Blown past falling sands…