Vongard's Inquisition

Witch Hunting in the Gates of Ekrund

2008-09-12T06:20:00.005-06:00

The Gates of Ekrund is the Teir 1 Scenario for the Dwarf/Greenskin conflict. Like Nordenwatch, this is a territory control map, but it is very, very condensed. Each Realm's starting area has access to both sides of the gate, with Order being nearer to the Supply Room and Destruction being closer to the Ammunition Room. Both of these areas are raised above the central capture point, the Gate Switch.

This layout usually has RDPS such as Engineers and Squig herders, and Ranged Healers standing on the upper platforms that overlook the Gate Switch lending support to the melee fighters in the center. This usually works out fairly well, though some enemy players will run below the RDPS platform, shielding them from attack.

For a basic opening strategy I'd say send most of the RDPS and RHeals to cap the supply room and set up suppressive fire over the Gate Switch, though an engineer and his turret under the overhang.

Tanks and Melee should head straight for the Gate Switch and try to take it then set up their defense.

Once the initial rush is over you usually end up with a see-saw effect over the middle ground, with some harrassment of the other two rooms. RDPS tends to begin trading shots over the center with the opposing RDPS and heals across the gap.

I'd suggest having the RDPS focus on any enemies on the ground level, while any MDSP that can either run up the ramp from the middle to harrass the people on the platform, or once they respawn, take the back route and attack the Ranged careers from the rear.

Witch Hunting the Gates of Ekrund

The Gates of Ekrund is probably the least friendly of the three Tier 1 scenarios for the Witch Hunter. Fights are tight and compact with little room to maneuver or escape. But on the plus side, it isn't that far to break los and escape RDPS that have dialed you in.

My preferred strategy as a WH in GoE, is to harrass the upper tier of RDPS and healers. I generally approach from the rear and can usually kill of one Healer and make my escape clean as long as Order forces have good control of the Gate Switch area. Once you have broken los and incognito is up again you can head up the ramp to strike again.

If the RDPS are too well protected you might think about holding back and protecting your own RDPS and heals from Destruction forces trying to do the same thing you did to them.

Witch Hunting in Khaine's Embrace

2008-09-12T06:18:00.003-06:00

Khaine's Embrace is the Tier 1 scenario in the High Elf/Dark Elf conflict. This scenario is something of a mix between territory control and capture the flag. The Goal of KE is to capture both flags and hold onto them for ten seconds, which triggers Khaine's Embrace and scores points. This effect is en explosion that radiates out from both flags and will instantly kill anyone caught in the blast wave, whether they were the ones that triggered it or not.

Due to the placement of the flags a large portion of the fighting tends to take place in the center of the map, with smaller skirmishes happening in the tunnels.

The trick to winning this scenario is finding the right balance between offence and defense. In matches where it's PuG Zerg vs PuG Zerg you'll likely see the timer run out before the point cap of 500 is reached. However if one of the groups is more organized than the other, the match can go very quickly.

In most of my experience as Order, Chaos tends to go on the offensive the hardest, which leaves their flag very vulnerable early on. This means that a small strike group that gets through to their flag will find it very vulnerable, and will hopefully be able to capture it quickly.

For a general overarching strategy I'd say keep the RDPS along with most healers and tanks on defense. Have the tanks & healers watch the three approaches (Tunnel 1 tank, Center 2-3 tanks, back path 1 tank). Also form a strike group of Melee DPS and some support (at least one strong healer) to use for flag assaults. If the Chaos forces pull more forces back to defend, strengthen the assault team and push forward through expanding the defensive tanks, but I would suggest always leave at least three or four people behind to defend which can buy time for reinforcements if a larger Chaos force gets behind the front lines.

Witch Hunting in Khaine's Embrace

Whether you are running solo, or as part as a strike force Witch Hunters make an excellent flag capturer. Especially once they get Incognito it is very easy to get to the flag before any defenders are aware you are there.

My favorite opening move as a witch hunter is to take the path that goes behind the Altar of Khaine (see video below). Most people run for the flags to capture then continue on through the tunnels or across the center field. Thus the back path is the safest and quickest way to the enemy capture point until more people begin using it.

This isn't a guaranteed move. Sometimes the defense fails to hold onto the order flag, sometimes chaos leaves some people behind to defend the flag. But usually the Chaos flag is ungaurded, or might have 1 person defending. Also as you come out on the chaos side, keep an eye above you as well. I've seen some defenders hiding above the path to catch runners unaware.

When all goes right you will capture the point and score Order an early point advantage, and possibly be able to capture the point one or two more times before finally being killed or run off. If all goes wrong you'll die horribly.

Eventually though there will be some enemy players to clue in, so this run won't work for the whole fight if you are doing the run solo.

If you don't want to run the back route or that has become innefectual, the central field is still open enough for a witch hunter with incognito to work around to healers and RDPS to put pressure on them as they tend to get spread out.

You can also help on defense by hanging close to the tunnel exit and jumping enemy healers that come through that way. Also use Snap Shot to help keep Chaos players from capturing the flag.

Here's the video showing the back run at the start of a KE match. Even with me wasting time due to thinking I had seen a Witch Elf stealth, I beat an Order attack band that had used the tunnels by a few seconds.

Come back tomorrow for a look at the final Tier 1 Scenario: Gates of Ekrund.

Witch Hunting in Nordenwatch

2008-09-11T13:08:00.007-06:00

Nordenwatch is the Tier 1 RvR Scenario for Empire vs. Chaos.

This is a basic territory control map, with three control points: The Lighthouse, The Fortress, and The Barracks.

The Empire forces start off on a dock (lower right in the map) closest to the Lighthouse, while Chaos starts off at their beach head near the Barracks.

Points are gained through capturing and holding one of the three objectives and through killing enemy players.

The Scenario generally starts as a race to the Fortress, with a few members of each realm holding back at the capture point nearest their starting point. The first realm to get inside the fortress holds the advantage as they can stall the enemy advance at one of the two natural chokepoints (the bridge or the slope).

One opening variant is when one of the realms opts to give up control of the fortress and heads en-mass to the enemy's initial capture point, which is often lightly guarded or totally ungaurded. This can be a quick way to gain a point lead early, though map position is tenuous and the enemy can wipe out your advantage if they capture your starting capture point and the fortress quickly.

Once the opening gambit has played out this scenario usually turns into a game of swapping the lighthouse for the barracks while most people fight for controll of the fortress.

Tips for Witch Hunting in Nordenwatch

For the most part I would suggest avoiding the Fortress zergs as a Witch Hunter. At the very least wait until the Empire forces have pushed past the bridge and are fighting a skirmish with Chaos in the center of the fortress around the flag, then pick on any squishies who have gotten too deep into the Empire mass.

Don't run into the back lines unless you have Incognito up. Generally there is enough open ground that the Chaos will see you as you try to close ground and will burn you down quickly. Plus, with good groups, some healers will shift their heals to your target making your attacks pointless. This is less likely to happen on the front.

If you choose to go to the fortress (and some times you will need to, depending on group make-up) expect to die. The chokepoints that keep people out also serve to keep people in, making escaping a bad situation hard (unless you are healthy enough to jump off a cliff and survive fall damage).

Also while in the fortress keep an eye out on the fortress walls. Ranged DPS and Healers like to hide up on the wall and cause trouble for those in the courtyard.

Where a Witch Hunter can shine in Nordenwatch is being part of a strike group that roves between the Lighthouse and the Barracks, picking off stragglers and capturing lightly defended points. Especially right from the opening charge, if you break off and run straight to the barracks you will usually arrive just after Chaos captures the point. The capturers run off to help in the Fortress fight. This means that you will have an open window for capturing the Barracks quickly. To ensure sucess in most scenarios there should be at least three people doing this, one of them a healer.

Inquisition helps greatly in this roll, as you can approach capture points easier and catch any defenders off-guard.

Once you have captured the Barracks attack can come from two directions, respawning Chaos from their beach head, or people falling back from the Fortress. If you are the only one guarding the Barracks, I'd suggest hiding on the north side of the buildings. If there are more of you (and especially if Chaos controls the fortress) move up to the top of the hill. There is a tree and a bush there that are perfect for hiding in, right next to where most RDPS and Healers stop to support the melee around the flag.

Finally, keep in mind that there are a ton of alternate routes to get places in this scenario. From a lower path around the back of a keep, to hopping down rocks on the way to the Barracks. Most of the zergs take the straight lines between objectives, so learn how to use these paths to get around them and strike where it hurts.

Tomorrow I'll talk about Witch Hunting in Khaine's Embrace.

Open Beta Inquisition

2008-09-10T16:03:00.002-06:00

The open beta has been going on for a few days now and I've been spreading my time over all the careers getting a feel for how they play. It's been quite fun seeing the different tactics needed to be employed by the different careers.

So far my non-witch hunter favorites have been the Shadow Warrior, White Lion and the Squig Hunter.

I've been a fan of pet classes in my past MMOs and the White Lion and Squig hunter scratch that itch, though the pets can be non-responsive enough to keep me from going that direction as a main. Mostly this comes through switching targets and calling your pet back. Hopefully Mythic will get the pets under control by release or shortly after.

As far as the Shadow Warrior goes I found it a nice change of pace to be able to sit at range and lay down the DPS. Haven't gotten high enough with one to experience much of the stance dancing, but apparently they can be fairly formidable in melee while in Assault Stance. This will probably be my go-to class for when I need to take a break from witch hunting.

The client and combat has been much more stable during the OB period so far. I've had a few times where combat starts to lag, but I think that might have been my connection as it usually smoothed out if I restarted the game.

The Witch Hunter remains fun even after going through the same content yet again. The Snap Shot snare is useful, but is limited in use due to the minimum range on the skill and needing to be used from the rear.

I'm also really missing Incognito in the early levels of Scenarios as it's much harder to close on targets when visible. I've found it best to hang back a few seconds before entering combat just to make sure most people are engaged to help last longer.

I've also shifted my thoughts on my initial career build to run down a path with more debuffing and armor ignorance. Now planning on this build at R40 moving to this build at R40RR80. I'm skipping the Tier 4 Morale abilities because as it stands right now I'm not sure how often a Witch Hunter will acumulate Morale to that level. Not totally sure on a Renown build, but i'm thinking something along these lines, focusing on strength and weapon skill to maximize how much of my damage gets through to the target.

Leading up to the Head Start I plan on looking at Witch Hunter strategies for the 3 teir 1 Scenarios and basic Open RvR area thoughts.

The Drought is Over

2008-09-05T08:41:00.003-06:00

While the real feast is still a few weeks out, another appetizer has arrived in the Preview Weekend Plus, offering a quick look right before the Open Beta.

There have been quite a few changes, making the UI a bit sleeker. One of the biggest improvements is the Tome of Knowledge, which has gotten a lot easier to navigate through. There's also a new "Death" release box that looks so much cooler than the old menu box.

There have been quite a few changes to the Witch Hunter skills. I haven't gotten a look at all of them yet, but here are a few that stood out to me:

Snap Shot: A quick pistol shot that deals 75 damage, and can be used on the run.Your attack will snare the enemy if used behind your target, reducing their run speed by 40% for 5 seconds.

The addition of the snare on this basic skill means that Witch Hunter can keep enemies from running away without needing any accusations built up with a specific blessed bullet buff built up. This is especially helpful since our main targets do tend to turn and run once we start hitting them.

Blessed Bullets of Cleansing: You load your pistol with bullets designed to fragment on impact, causing your Executions to deal an additional 150 Spirit damage to the target. The victim will lose 10 Action Points, and you will gain 10 Action Points.

This is the first Blessed Bullets buff that you gain at level 4. In the previous build this buff had the snare element that got moved to Snap Shot, which made it just about the only buff used by the Witch Hunter in RvR/Scenarios. The new mechanic of an AP leech seems like it will be useful in PvE now, especially public quests where you are going from target to target and burning through your AP faster. Though there are times in RvR where you might get on a hot streak and go through your AP fast enough to warrant this.

Blessed Bullets of Purity: You load your pistol with bullets of purest silver, causing your Executions to deal an additional 150 Spirit damage. The victim's Initiative will be reduced by 80 for 10 seconds, and your Initiative will be increased by 80.

This bullet buff is gained at Rank 9. The old build used to return 50% of the execution damage as healing, and was mainly used as a grinding tool. Now it is an Initiative leech. Initiative increases your chance to dodge ranged attacks, detect stealthed opponents and makes it more difficult for enemies to critically hit you. Not bad, but not exactly stellar either. I imagine mostly using this to debuff a target that will be focus fired by RDPS or to help your next execution to hit. This may apply mostly when fighting other MDPS or tanks. On the up side it will also help you hit harder through more crits and last a bit longer due to taking less crits.

Blessed Bullets of Confession: You load your pistol with bullets doused in holy water, causing your Executions to deal an additional 150 Spirit damage. Any healing abilities that the victim uses over the next 5 seconds will become 50% less effective.

This bullet blessing used to simply reduce the target's AP for a set ammount of time. It has received a wonderful change that will make it the best blessing to use against any healer class. Take special note that it is the healing ability the victim uses, not healing applied to the victim. This means that it won't be that effective against careers that don't heal themselves regularly, but it will be terror against careers like shamans, zealots and disciples of khaine, making them less able to heal through our DoTs and burst damage. Even if they don't focus on healing themselves and continue to heal the front line, their effectiveness will be cut for the few seconds they stay alive. The downside is that this skill isn't obtained until Rank 35.

I imagine that these new Blessed Bullets skills will mean that Witch Hunters will no longer just apply and forget the blessing, but instead began shifting through them depending on their target of opportunity, though the 20ap cost of the blessings will keep you from swapping constantly.

Can't wait to see these new bullets in action.

Witch Hunting Builds & PvE Thoughts

2008-08-27T19:59:00.003-06:00

To start off, Elge over on the Warhammer Alliance forums posted a few good build ideas for varied roles on the battlefield.

During my limited time in the closed beta and the preview weekend, I spent a good amount of time going through the PvE content as a Witch Hunter. Though due to the fact that I was playing Scenarios and questing in the down time I was usually at least 2-3 levels higher than the content I was in, which meant I had no downtime and burned through my enemies very quickly (uner 30sec per fight).

One of the perks of this is that in Public Quests Witch Hunters help the early stages go very quickly as you kill x of y. Even if you are the only one doing the PQ you can finish stage one relatively easily without too much time spent, which can be a great way to farm influence.

The downside is that we can't take on Champions. Period. Even champions half my level would kill me before I could finish them off. So don't plan on going any farther in a public quest without one or two other people backing you up.

But when you are with a group and have the Champions and Heroes attention focused on tanks, it is your time to shine as you unleash your blade and bullet to take them down fast.

In PQs I suggest trying to keep up 5 accusations right before the last stage begins. That way you can start off the last phase with one of the DoT Executions (Like, Burn, Heretic!) then start stacking them all over again.

Work it right and you'll almost always be near the top in participation ranking.

Witch Hunting Withdrawl

2008-08-26T17:53:00.005-06:00

Time is ever moving and always seems to go by too fast and too soon. With the closed beta over we all have to wait until the start of Open Beta on September 7th before we can scratch that WAR itch again.

Until then the best we can do is watch videos and play with the Career and Renown Builders (linked in the left column) and reminisce about our experiences this far.

I never got high enough in level to get to really test out the Mastery Paths, but I think that the Confession path will match my playstyle best. So I currently plan to try this build first.

I'll also be stacking Strength ( Increases your melee damage and makes it harder for enemies to parry or block your attacks. ) and Weapon Skill (Increases your chances to parry melee attacks and allows your melee attacks to bypass a portion of the enemy's armor. ) as my main two stats. Followed by wounds ( health ) and toughness ( damage mitigation ).

My main thoughts on this is that while the Witch Hunter is already very good at taking out light armor Healers and RDPS they also need to be able to at least contend with the medium DPS. I'm hoping that this build will stack into that functionality, while also buffing up the already deadly dps vs a Witch Hunter's Primary targets.

I'm hoping this build will help my Witch Hunter be a good skirmisher as well as a decent infiltrator, able to at least put up enough of a fight to engineer an escape if caught in unfavorable position while roaming behind enemy lines or sabatoging siege weapons or harassing an enemy keep.

Witch Hunting the Preview Weekend

2008-08-25T15:27:00.004-06:00

This past weekend was the big preview weekend wich saw thousands of players flooding into the game. Put some stress on the servers and I spent much of the time battling combat lag that would keep me from damaging creatures or players for up to five seconds. But it was still quite fun.

I spent most of my time following the PvE Quest lines while doing scenarios. The server I was on (Forest of Shadow) didn't feel like it had much RvR going on. The times I went into the RvR zones I only saw one enemy player take the field. I'm hoping that was just bad luck.

One thing that I wish was implemented is the ability to easily swap between the Teir 1 Scenarios without having to go to the 'host' zone. Nordenwatch is fun, but I would love it if I could switch it up without having to fly to another zone.

I also never got to try the tier 2 Empire scenario as my que never came up (had it up for over an hour many times).

This is a good forum post over at warhammeralliance.com to get an overall feel for the Witch Hunter in PvP/RvR.

So far I have definetly found the Disciple of Khaine to be one of the most annoying targets in RvR. They definetly require focus firng to take down quickly.

Here's a video of my Rank 11 Witch Hunter fighting a Disciple of Khaine bosltered to 8, (I think his regular rank was 4). Not the best skill on display for either party, but it shows just how long it can take to drop the health of the DoK (notice it's not Me that lands the killing blow, but a shot from a Shadow Warrior seen near the pillar at the start of the movie).

On the bright side, WAR really isn't meant for players to be going 1on1 in PvP/RvR. It's all about group tactics, and even just 2 DPS on a DoK will take him down fast. I really wish I had Sudden Accquisition for that fight though, all that running would have killed him faster. (Assuming it had hit before my Incognito broke, unlike in the video).

Welcome to the Inquisition

2008-08-22T06:55:00.016-06:00

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.