Welcome to the Inquisition

Welcome to my Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning blog, dedicated to the Witch Hunter Career.

What's a Witch Hunter?
The obvious answer is of course, one who hunts witches. But that doesn't really get any closer to knowing what a witchhunter from Warhammer Online is. Here's the official description from the Warhammer Online site:

The Witch Hunter is a tireless foe of Chaos, dark magic and witchery of all kinds. As the taint of Chaos continues to spread and more people are drawn to the dark arts, the Witch Hunters' role has become increasingly important to the Empire. Fast, cunning and deadly, they dispense merciless judgment upon any who serve Chaos. While the people of the Empire agree that the Witch Hunters' work is critically important, rare is the citizen who does not feel pangs of dread when they lay eyes upon one, for it is understood that most Witch Hunters would sooner burn an entire village to the ground than see a single follower of Chaos go free.

In gameplay turns this translates into a Melee DPS career that focuses on high, single-target damage. The trade-off for this is that Witch Hunters can only wear light armor, which severely hampers their ability to take a hit.

Tools of the Trade
Witch Hunters rely on a quick blade and their flintlock pistol to persuade the enemies of the Empire to confess.

The bulk of the damage a Witch Hunter does is with his Rapier, through skills like Razor Strike and Fervor. (Find the full list of skills at wardb.com)

These rapier skills build up Accusation points that are used to power the Witch Hunter's Executions. These are high damage abilities that make use of the flintlock pistol, such as Absolution.

How the Witch Hunter Plays:
The Witch Hunter is all about finesse. You don't last long running head long into the enemy. You need to know which of your skills are best suited for the fight you are about to take on.

PvE is a blazing whirl of blades and gunpowder as you slash enemies with your sword and finish them off with a well placed pistol shot. The fact that accusations carry over from one enemy to another (they last approximately 30 seconds out of combat) means that you can easily fall into a rhythm of building up accusations on one target to open up with a full execution on the next. This makes killing fast, fun and flavorful.

In RvR the Witch Hunter has to be very cunning and able to work well with others... or at least know how to use them as distractions. Due to the fact that Witch Hunters can only wear light armor, they are incredibly squishy and will drop fast if attacked, especially by multiple enemies. Due to the high DPS output, Witch Hunters are a priority target when spotted, since if left alone they can put the hurt on Healers and Ranged classes.

The key in RvR then is to not be noticed. This is made easier at Rank 10 when the Witch Hunter learns the skill Incognito. This short duration stealth makes it easier to get into position and strike with an opener that gives an immediate 2 accusations as well as a special effect.

Attacking with a good group is key as there will be more targets for the enemies to focus on, as well as more buffs and heals to keep your squishy vengance slaying the minions of Destruction.

I'll talk more about RvR Witch Hunting in an upcoming post.

For now I'll melt back into the shadows and leave this to distract you.

Witch Hunter In Action:
Here are two videos that show a level 11 Witch Hunter in action in the Tier 1 Scenario: Nordenwatch.