TheDans And Zanryu's Guides to Endgame PVP

Viktorian - Archosaur

TheDan's End Game Blademaster PvP Guide

I have been requested by the BM community to put together a PvP guide so I will share with you my knowledge of the BM class in PvP as a demon BM and also a former Sage BM. The following guide will be of my personal thoughts and professional opinion of the class. I am not going to go into extensive detail over builds because there is already a million threads out there discussing builds. If you have anything to add you may do so by replying here and I can update the main post.

Table of Contents

Post 1 - Overview

A. BM Stats
B. BM Basics
C. PvP Preparations
D. Cultivation Paths
E. General PvP build information
F. Genie skill analysis

Post 2 - Advanced PvP Guide

A. Class Specific PvP Set up
B. Advanced PvP Knicks and Knacks
C. Territory War PvP Analysis
D. Nation Wars PvP Analysis

Overview

Let me start off by telling you I cannot emphasize enough that a BM is not easy to play in end game mass PvP, but it is for sure a very under-rated class and they definitely play a huge role in mass PvP. A BM will neither be the main tank nor the main DD in any given PvP situation. Your main role resides with being a support class. BMs arguably get the best control skills for mass PvP due to the low chi cost of roar of pride and it being AoE. A good BM will be able to turn this under-rated class into an over-powered class with the right set up. So if you were expecting to start off PvPing as a BM and have a godly K/D ratio you are playing the wrong class, or your opponents just plain suck.

End Game BM Stats

Player difficulty - ☆☆☆☆☆
Survivability - ☆☆☆☆
Damage Output - ☆☆
Supportive Control Skills - ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall Mass PvP viability - ☆☆☆
Overall 1v1 Viability - ☆☆☆☆

What you need to know as a BM

1. Stun-Locking

The number one thing a BM needs to know how to do in order to be a good BM in PvP is to be able to stun-lock reliably. It usually takes some practice to get it down but when you get this down you will be glad you play such an important role in PvP. Not only are BM buffs are vital buff for your DDs in squad, you will also be the one deciding when

2. Marrows

Observe your opponents and get your marrows down for every class, this is integral for survivability as a BM.

3. Leap forward/back

Utilize them, they will save you loads of times when you are getting stun-locked

4. Timing HF with squad members/Assist Attacking

This needs to be done through voice communications. There is no use landing an HF on someone if you are going to be the only person attacking. Usually if you are with an archer, psychic, wizard you will want to stick with these as your first picks when deciding who to assist the HF on.

What to Bring

Properly equip yourself with an HP charm, elixers from divine order quests, lots of mage def charms, phys def charms, attack charms if you are fist build, ironguards, sutra orbs, white tea, attach runes, and crab meats etc. Most importantly, always do mass PvP fully buffed. BMs are very squishy without buffs, we are nothing like barbs that can tank with invoke etc with no buffs.

Cultivation

Before we get into the specifics of PvP, there are some decisions you have to make as a BM that will affect your genie up in PvP, your survivability, and effectiveness.

Sage

The main reasons people go this route is because of the chi conservatism (sage 50 chi, reduced chi cost roar, drake bash, tiger maw), sage bell, and sage cleave. The masteries only truly add 2-4% more base physical damage depending on weapon.

People going this route can give you the viable option of eliminating a chi regen skill on genie such as cloud/chi siphon which to open up Faith as a viable option for sage BMs

Demon

The main reason people go this route is because of the superior locking skills of Roar never missing, drake bash is extended to 7.5s, demon HF extended to 9 seconds, and demon bell giving a spike 75% phys def boost. Demon marrows + Bell spam help with resistance balance in mass PvP going against melees / archers / casters.

Benefits also include chi suppression in 1v1 as demon taunt reduces 50 chi every 30 seconds vs sages regaining 50 chi every 60 seconds.

Going this route can give you the viable option of eliminating the use of occult ice on the genie, which better suits BMs going into a dex genie path instead of a pure strength genie path.

My thoughts

I am a huge supporter of going demon; there is no doubt about it. I converted to demon from sage for PvP reasons, skip the APS talk here. The main reason I am in favor of demon is because of the more potent skills. There is HF, drake bash, non miss roar, at the opportunity cost of 50 chi every 60 seconds. I find the trade well worth it.

For the second reason, as a demon I found myself surviving longer with demon bell proc and mage marrow in mass PvP. Archers were my worst enemy when I was sage, and now I can safely tank them in mass PvP with magic marrow up. Magic users never really hurt me because I could magic charm tank them, but the archers with the high APS with quickshot with magic marrow up is game over for most sage BMs. If you are asking, yes, you should spam demon bell every 15 seconds in mass PvP as it will put your p def to where it would be if you were not magic marrowed.

Edit 3/27/2013: There's been some changes and re-balances to Sage / Demon lately, and my conclusion on the matter is:

With all the changes and re-balances Sage and Demon are a lot closer than they ever were before, however a lot of the re-balances of Sage focus on follow up, but not the inception. HF still costs 2 sparks to cast, Drake bash still costs 1 spark to cast; the main thing casting them apart is the given situation you're in.

A lot of times in TW or PK I'm in a kill or die situation so Demon really suits the "go big or go home" play-style so I'm never alive for a follow up after dropping Hf on a group of R999 JOSD opponents that might require the 9 seconds of HF to kill whereas you can't tank them either so you either kill them or die.

However if I'm heavily out-gearing my opponents or have a cleric spam healing me and know I will survive for a follow up then Sage HF might have been more useful to drop combo bombs more often, however this may or not be consistent with chi regen of your allies. If your allies are unable to drop ultis again as fast as your HF cool-down spam it might be useless either way.

It really depends on what you and your squad need compared to what your opponents are... If your server is anything like mine where all the R999 opponents are all in 1 OP faction and all other factions in our server are too weak to last more than 20-30 minutes against them in TW or 1 push in PK then you'll probably want to be the less conservative play-style (demon) whereas if you're destroying your opponents so badly (which I doubt would be the case) you could play conservatively and do more combo bombs.

Just depends on the situation, but if my server can relate to any other server I'd still stay with demon knowing Sage re-vamps only affect follow up, not inception, and I probably won't stay alive long enough for another bomb rush. I can see sage being more useful if you have the gear or allies to keep you alive for multiple follow ups, whereas demon being more useful if your opponents are strong and you either need to kill them or die trying.

PvP Gear

We all know that R9 3rd cast is the best end game gear for mass PvP. But if you cannot afford it, I would suggest G16 lunar nirvana gears as it is unbound and resellable later if you wish to upgrade. I strongly advise against R8 recast because the re-rolling on that gear will wish you got R9 3rd cast if you do not have the greatest luck.

Two sets of gear is recommended if you also have fists you use to swap out. Always mass PvP in full HA; this should be one of the golden rules engraved on every bald BMs head. If you PvP with fists then PvP with 3.33aps HA, 4.0 is not necessary due to needing LA or heavy r8 recast re-rolling. Fists tend to be a viable choice to regen chi between fights on NPCs in world map PK or TW totem poles.

For sharding I would recommend not putting in any high level event gems into anything less than R9 3rd cast. Reason being Jades / Vit stones are highly expensive. You may as well go R9 3rd cast with that money if you have enough to full shard a set of gear with jades/vit stones.

For BMs, the best shards under normal conditions would be in this order: Jades, Vit stones, Citrine and Sapphires. No other shards should ever touch a BMs gear for PvP, especially not DoTs. I would take shabby defense shards over DoTs.

Genies

You may wonder what kind of genie you want to use for PvPing. I am not even going to go into the details of a PvE genie because there are so many PvE instances out there you could go with almost anything as long as it has holy path / chi regen / Extreme poison or tangling mire / Frenzy

In-Depth Analysis of Genie skills

I put together a comprehensive list of the most commonly used BM genie skills and my personal thoughts of them as genie skills.

Faith: Excellent skill but with the affinity costs it is pretty much only viable for sage BMs to get AD / Faith together. I do not value faith above AD so I advise against getting this skill for demon BMs out there

Absolute Domain: Must have skill, no excuses, for str/dex genies alike

Holy path: Must have skill, only exception would be in a 1v1 situation where it's deleted temporarily

Whirlwind: Must have skill, it aoe paralyzes people for 1 second and you need to close the gap on people before you can roar or bash so this is the best way to do it from a distance. This may change as soon as the reckless rush is available for BMs in the future

Occult Ice: This is a high priority skill for str genies, but not always required for demons with their abilities to close a 15 second loop stunlock without aoelian blade

Cloud Eruption/Chi siphon: This is a must have skill for demons, not always required for sages with their ability to gain 50 chi every 60 seconds

Mantle ripple of death : Epic skill for 1v1 on a str genie, this combined with virulent poison is a deadly combo for 1v1. Edit: 5/28/2013 Less useful than Dissolve against R9 3rd cast purify weapons

Virulent poison: Same as above, drains percentage of enemy chi

Tree of protection: Medium priority for str genie, it is an ok survivability skill for str genies, but is not the most reliable compared to AD or faith. The heals are delayed 3 seconds so it has to be timed early

Wind shield: Must have skill for dex genies, low priority for str genies (aps users) multi purpose skill, good to have on a dex genie, but not so much on a str genie as you have cyclone heel

Extreme poison: Medium priority for dex genies, if you have the spare slots on your genie get it, but otherwise it is less important than survivability skills for BMs

Tangling mire: High priority skill for str genies, as it is an aoe and can be combed nicely with HF, it is not a must have skill, but has priority over other skills

Oxygen Bubble / Soul of Fire / nullify poison/heart of steel: Low priority, I generally advise against these because they are so situational, I have had better luck with a multi-purpose wind shield lv 10, the only except may be nullify poison to resist nova which I would still consider a medium to low priority for either dex/str genie.

Fortify: Must have skill, keep it at level 1, you need this to be able to IG without chi and saving the immune stun for after the IG wears off since you cannot be stunned anyways with it up

Badge of courage: Must have skill for dex genies, great skill against sins and mass pvp when you are really in a bind

True Emptiness: Medium priority skill for str genies, It is more useful for those with less gear, but does not do much against R9. It is a decent survivability skill when your genie has no energy left on it anyways, and spammable

Balance: Low priority for str genies, it simply costs too much energy to be worth it. You have to raise your phys def significantly before using it and the affinity requires too high of fire points to make it useable with other str genie skills

Dissolve: I previously felt this was a low priority skill because of the chi you give up, but it can't be purified like mantle from r9 3rd cast casters and is instant. Medium priority in 1v1 situation above mantle.

Expel : Do not even put this skill on your genie, if I see you with this skill on your BM I will Sparta kick you out of the game. It costs way too much energy and as a BM you should never die to another melee, with the exception of zerk crit armas and zerk dagger sins, in which case AD is much more useful

Law Breaker: High priority skill in 1v1 against wizards for str genies, but any other time, it would be a medium priority for mass pvp

Will surge: Medium priority for 1v1 str genie, against psychic if fist user, otherwise law breaker is more effective against psychics for R9 users. Low priority in mass pvp

Frenzy: No, just no. This a pve skill only, unless you are looking to get one shot by r9 mages I would advise against it, also read description for expel

Second wind: Do not even get this, this is for low level BMs usually with little refines

Bramble Rage: Do not get this either, there is no reason a BM should have this , it costs like 167 some energy and leaves you as a BM completely wide open to attacks

Reflective Aura : Only ever tried this skill once, it does not work in PK. Never tried it in TW, but can imagine it being low priority because there are more important skills you could use in TW for survivability

- Gonna down rate this back to low priority, costs too much energy and your main role is to survive as long as possible not be a live bomb

Remove Paralysis: Medium priority for 1v1 against sins, but otherwise low priority for mass pvp, only useful in air fights where you get stuck or the 1v1 sin fights. Any other time you can pretty much leap out of them (unless you are sealed too)

Viktorian - Archosaur

Class Specific Advanced PvP genie set up and strategy

My personal stance of what are must get skills for 1v1 against R9 opponents for each class that have been effective against top players on my server

Archer

Absolute domain, virulent poison, mantle ripple of death, occult ice, tangling mire, whirlwind, dissolve, cloud eruption in that order of priority

Fairly easy class to beat as a demon, with demon bell and mage marrow up, spam phys def charms and always stay up close to them (leap if necessary) as they deal half damage at close range with their physical attacks.

Assassin COD Sage R9

Fortify, Badge, AD, Extreme Poison, whirlwind, windshield lv10, holy path, chi siphon or cloud eruption in that order of priority

Very hard class to kill even for R9, often 30 minute + fights. You will not be able to kill them reliably until their tidal protection is off, just tank them until then. Keep phys marrow up/demon bell

Assassin demon R9 or G15 5.0 zerks

Fortify, Badge, AD, Extreme Poison, whirlwind, windshield lv10, holy path, chi siphon or cloud eruption in that order of priority

Easy to take down as a R9, hard as an interval build. Same strategy as above. Keep phys marrow up/demon bell

Barbarian

Virulent poison, mantle ripple of death, occult ice, dissolve, fortify, tangling mire,whirlwind, AD in that order

You do not really need a dex genie for this, HA vs HA is gonna come down to executing reckless rush at the proper moment after they go human form or have solid shield in cool down.

Blademaster

virulent poison, mantle ripple of death, occult ice, fortify, tangling mire, whirlwind, AD, cloud eruption in that order

This is pretty tricky. It is going to come down to who is better skilled or geared. Time your Fortify and leaps at the right times and use fist build for 1v1. Keep phys marrow up / demon bell. Watch out of elemental pots, reckless rush where appropriate to finish.

Cleric

virulent poison, mantle ripple of death, occult ice, dissolve, tangling mire, whirlwind, heart of steel, cloud eruption in that order

Not much to say here other than to use immune stun and continue chi draining and get them stun-locked. I have never had a problem killing a cleric before. Keep mage marrow up.

Mystic

virulent poison, mantle ripple of death, occult ice, dissolve, tangling mire, whirlwind, AD, cloud eruption in that order

Same strategy as cleric. Avoid getting novad and use nullify poison appropriately. Keep mage marrow up.

Psychic

Will surge, virulent poison, dissolve, occult ice, mantle ripple of death, fortify, tangling mire, oxygen bubble in that order

They can be pretty deadly at high soulforce and refines. I would recommend playing defensive until you can catch them in black voodoo and HF them. It can be a long process to catch them in black voodoo. Stay alive until then and continue chi draining. Always fortify when they have their soul of stunning up.

Seeker

virulent poison, mantle ripple of death, occult ice, dissolve, tangling mire, whirlwind, heart of steel, AD in that order

Triple spark and occult ice with interval gear. Do not even think of using HF, they can quid quo pro it back onto you. I recommend just using plain demon bell, no marrows, spam mage def charm. Execute with reckless rush.

Venomancers

virulent poison, mantle ripple of death, dissolve, occult ice, nullify poison, tangling mire, whirlwind, AD in that order

Similar to that of mystics. Avoid purge if possible and if you do get purged, nullify poison to put mage marrow back up.

Wizard

Law breaker, virulent poison, mantle ripple of death, dissolve, occult ice, tangling mire, whirlwind, AD in that order

Hard fight, with their spark undine BT, they can one shot on crit. Best advice here is to continue chi draining so they cannot cast BT very often unless they white tea. Reckless rush as usual to finish. Blade Hurl if they fortify and use sutra or spark combos.


Other Advanced BM PvP Knicks and Knacks

Other general things I have picked up over the years...

BM Leap Lock Glitch

If you PvP regularly on un-even terrain, you'll notice that at times when you get paralyzed (the purple circles swirling), you may get stuck. This happens often and the only way to get it un-stock is to re-position your character aiming directly toward your opponent. This is quite easy as a Demon BM because you can mo zun taunt from your character will be directly facing the opponent again. Using leap forward will automatically work after the character is re-positioned.

My theory of why this glitch happens is because of un-even terrain. At times, when you get aim lowed by archers, or silent sealed by clerics or etc, your character on your game client will register you as being on the floor, but the server side client will register your character in the air. The above instructions will get you out of the leap lock 95% of the time, the only time you will not be able to get out is if you actually are in the air, both game side and server side client. In that case, you are f***ed until the paralyze runs out and you can drop to the floor.

Stun-Locking over fortify AND Absolute Domain

This is a must know lock for advanced PvPers. A lot of times an opponent will use fortify or AD to get out of a BM's stun-lock. Well, you may be wondering, "Hey, Einstein, how do we BMs learn to stun-lock if all our opponents are using fortify and AD?!"

Good news, there is a way around this. You can easily do this with one of two options. Option one is to use whirlwind. As you know, AD and fortify both make you immune stun, but this does not hold true for paralyze. BMs utilizing whirlwind + smack can over-lap a fortify or AD for 3 seconds. When an opponent is both silenced and paralyzed at the same time, it is essentially a stun, you cannot use apoth, cannot use HP food, or anything except certain genie skills to save them.

Example scenario - > Roar of Pride .... 5 seconds later, enemy uses fortify = immune stun for 3 seconds, - > whirlwind -> smack -> fortify wears off -> drake bash. = win. This will not work however for dex built genies which fortify can last up to 6 seconds at 90 dex.

NOTE: Wizards and other BMs can leap out of a single paralyze, this is why the smack is very necessary to make the lock work.

This is the same case for Absolute domain except your whirlwind and smack cannot happen until the yellow invincibility aura runs out first. For stun-locking through AD, you are most likely going to want to go with option 2 for locking, this is Bolt of Tyreseus (BoT). Opponents usually AD when their health is very low and before charm ticks. I love using BoT after their invincibility wears off and the BoT does the final blow.

Evade Roar from other BMs

This is actually quite simple. In mass PvP you may find yourself a good target for another opposing BM to Roar of Pride you. With enough experience you can predict with this happens as soon as a BM red sprints near you, you should leap back as soon as you see their Roar of Pride channel. It will consume their cool down as well as their chi and the Roar of Pride will miss.

This will also work vice versa. If you notice an opponent has just popped an immune stun buff, you may also cancel your own Roar of Pride by spam pressing escape before the channel finishes to save your own chi and cool-down for when it wears off. This is something a BM will pick up as they gain more PvP experience.

Dealing with R9 3rd cast Casters (new)

This seems to be a problem for a lot of BMs with recent updates. There are a couple of ways to deal with this. In mass PvP you're unlikely to be able to solo a fully buffed 3rd cast Caster, in a 1v1 situation it's much more simple.

In mass PvP, depending on your objective, Blade Tornado, Blade Hurl, Purge, Dragon Bane and Reckless Rush are very effective against them. Stun-locking is more difficult because of their ability to purify it. Blade Hurl removes their weapon which prevents it from proc'ing, Blade Tornado does not proc it, Purge makes them vulnerable, Dragon Bane will let you increase damage output naturally without giving them another chance to proc weapon, and Reckless Rush for execution.

In 1v1, they're vulnerable to Chi Drains, Dragon Bane, and Reckless Rush. They're not as hard to deal with when self buffed because reckless rush isn't down played by buffs. They will kite a lot, but if you keep the chi drains up, they'll be pretty useless. Setting up a good lock with dragon bane will usually get them dropped assuming their weapon doesn't proc.

BM TW Catapult Game Design Flaw (new)

Not sure if this is a glitch, or a game design flaw, but it's been done pretty commonly. BMs can now use Blade Hurl to reduce barb soulforce, then Reel In, whirlwind, Roar of Pride, and the barb will drop their catapult. This is EXTREMELY effective in base races and / or tough fights.

Territory War PvP Analysis

As of late, you may already have noticed that more and more Blademasters are gearing towards full R9 or even full R999 for TW. Hybrid APS builds have become less popular due to how easily obtainable R999 has become since the Nation wars update.

There also have been some noticeable Territory war changes; for example the totem poles don't lose HP anymore, meaning free chi bags every time you re-spawn out of a totem. As a result of this, I have been much less reliant on cloud eruption / chi siphon. Chi reduction on leaps have helped tremendously as well. I would definitely recommend getting Faith + AD at 105 if you are level 105. For those not 105, AD + cloud eruption is still a viable option.

Now with the towers being much stronger, it's advisable to stay out of range of both towers on a lane otherwise you'll be taking 5k damage every 2-3 seconds (depending on turret type). I've found it effective for Blademasters to stay on the right hill and camp near the enemy totems to roar stun and HF the spawn points, or other priority targets. Investment in whirlwind on the genie is a must here.

If your BM is more squishy and you aren't able to be the more aggressive type, playing a defensive role might be more your thing. If this is the case, I still recommend getting whirlwind on your genie, and focusing on things such as dropping enemy barrages, dragon's breaths, or killing weaker clerics , venoes, and wizards. Investment in blade hurl and using smack often is suggested.

I'm not going to recommend air fights whether or not you're tanky or squishy because your roar of pride is less effective if you can't aoe stun multiple targets. I would say venoes are the most important class to kill as a BM, next to wizards and clerics as they're always on the floor purging your barbs.

Some of you may be wondering what to do when you're in the enemy base. Well that's simple; you don't want to stand under where the barbs are because that's going to be the most targeted spot. If your barbs are doing their jobs correctly, you should have taken at least 1 crystal tower down before attending the HQ. From there it's wise to rush out in front to aoe stun people that are re-spawning and still un-buffed for some easy kills. As much of an *** move it may sound, using ironguard to spawn kill is an effective strategy to hold enemies back during a crucial moment in base, but try to make it out alive.

Pick Up Catapult?

Only do this if you are somewhat tanky enough to hold onto it for your barb to rez and take control of it again. Most the time you will die trying to pick it up as by this time most your support is probably wiped.

Base Racing - Attack or Defend?

This kind of depends where the enemy is. If you notice you're in enemy base and NO ONE from the other side is there, that's a clue you should teleport back to base and defend. This comes down to judgement most of the time; whether or not your defense can handle it or not. If you see a ton of people re-spawning, it means your defense is winning. If not, they're most likely losing and need your help.

Nation Wars PvP Analysis

With this instance being out for a while now, I'll give everyone my insights on what to do to maximize your supply token count. I've had a lot of success with my R999 +10 gears and average 250-300 on winning nations, 125-175 on losing nation. As with Territory Wars, I also recommend tanky gears and axe spamming unless your better refined gears is an interval hybrid set up. Tangling mire and Whirlwind are excellent genie selections here as they both slow enemies down and Tangling mire has an Aoe Phys def reduction.

As you may already know, each time you die, you spawn with a roughly level 10 barb buff and a magic shell, as well as 1.5 sparks. There are also multiple totems on the opposing side to gain chi from so I've had a lot of success with a Faith / AD genie here. Blade Tornado is an excellent skill here because the majority of people walking around in Nation Wars are one man armies, and usually don't have full buffs. You can get away with a lot of kills with tangling mire and Blade Tornado on people without too much danger so long as you don't get purged.

As a BM, you are an excellent class to carry the flag on when your nation is really in a bind. If you holy path right before your dig is up, you can charger orb and sprint to capture the flag in roughly 45 seconds.

Kill? Or Capture Flag?

That depends. If you have charger orbs, this is always an option, however your contribution won't be as high if you don't take or deal much damage. I've had good luck gaining 2-3K contribution per 20v20 instance just killing. The way I see it, if your war is going in your favor, there's no need to rush a victory. When your nation is losing in firepower, it would be advisable to try to win by flag carrying otherwise you'll lose by default once your re-spawns run out. I'll usually start camping the flag if I die 2-3 times or know my side of people are significantly weaker than the others (this usually happens when trying to get out of base).

If you do decide to capture the flag, double jumping in air with the charger orb / sprints is pretty effective at avoiding damage. Especially since melee won't be able to target you, and if they do, it's 50% damage.

Attack or Defend?

The name of the game is to always win, and never lose. No joke. The first time you lose and get sent to base, and your nation is base locked, you're losing precious supply tokens. Always choose a fight you have high odds to win in. For example, don't enter a 0 vs 20 after the battle has been going on for 5 minutes already. It's likely they're just about to end the instance and if you port in you'll get sent back to base.

I've had more success attacking than defending lands. The large majority of defenses are going to consist of the so called "OP squads." You're more likely to win an offense than a defense. The only time I'd recommend defending is if you are confident in you and your squad's ability to face the opposing attackers. Expect more of a fight in defense wars directly right outside your base.

Also as a bonus, if you get a really good squad together and make it to enemy base, you'll most likely continue facing the same 20 you've already beaten before. This provides for a consistent flow of contribution until your numbers dwindle and you don't get any more reinforcements.

General Strategy

It's usually easier to view objectives from above using aerogear; if you're looking to capture or scout for flags or you're not as tanky built, you might want to stay in the air more often. If you do have the gear to back it up however, tanking people outside spawn areas on the ground will rack up your points big time. You can have big success with Blade Tornado in large groups right outside spawn points. Other ways to earn yourself more points tanking are staying in the middle of the field when your opponents are evenly matched with you.

If you're heavily out-geared or out-numbered, it's easier to win the instance from west or east capture points where you can split the enemy up. Just be sure to watch your re-spawns carefully and if you have a squad with you be sure to stay with them for buffs and assist attacks on HF / other CC skills.

Viktorian - Archosaur

In depth Genie setups:


I will be listing different genie builds, the different skills you should carry for certain situations, and how to use them against certain classes. I'll also be listing which genies are best suited to dealing with certain classes.

There are three general genie build types:

Vit/Mag:
100 Magic with the rest of your points invested in Vitality.

This genie offers incredible skill use due to the sheer amount of genie energy and energy recovery. This is the best type for group PvP, though it has viability in 1v1 fights as well. This genie has two sub-types, genies with Faith and those without.

Both types of genies are best used in group PvP, with Faith genies being your best option against Assassins and Clerics in 1v1. There's not really any opponent you "can't" fight with this type of genie.

A regular Vit/Mag genie functions more or less the same as a Faith genie, only they lack the ability to run Faith and Balance. They do have access to Cloud Eruption and Expel though, as well as the other skills a Faith genie can use, so they're still a very solid option.

Str:

50 Magic with the rest of your points invested in Strength.

This genie excels in 1v1 fights.

It is best used against Seekers, Barbarians, and Archers. Be wary of classes that have access to strong crowd control, due to lacking a defensive genie you become susceptible to them should they break or resist your stunlock. You should never use this type of genie against an Assassin or Psychic. Clerics and other Blademasters can also be threatening if they run a genie that can break your stuns or debuffs, though you can ruin another Blademaster's lock by chi draining them.

Dex:
50 Magic with the rest of your points invested in Dexterity.

This genie is mainly for 1v1 fights against Psychics and occasionally other Blademasters. Faith genies are viable against Psychic, however outside of Faith they have no reliable stunbreak. Most Psychics will camp White Voodoo until they get a good stun in, which is when they switch to Black Voodoo and go on the offensive. Without a way to break the stuns reliably and counter attack they'll swap back to White Voodoo when they can no longer CC you. A Dex genie's Badge of Courage is most likely to allow you to catch them in Black Voodoo and go for a kill.


Genie Build Breakdowns

Vit/Mag (Faith) Genie

Base genie skills:

Faith
Absolute Domain
Windshield
Will Surge
Fortify

Group PvP -



Assuming you're 105, a Faith genie is definitely best for group PvP. I believe the best basic setup is Faith, Absolute Domain, Fortify, Wind Shield, and Will Surge. The last two skills can be interchanged depending on what it is you need, skills that can take these slots are Whirlwind, Holy Path, Balance, Tree of Protection, and in some cases Heart of Steel, Extreme Poison or Tangling Mire.*


A general group PvP genie should look similar to this:

Faith
Absolute Domain
Windshield
Fortify
Whirlwind
Will Surge
Holy Path

This setup allows you to be prepared for most situations without any need to change out skills, it's especially useful in NW and TW. It's also good in most group PvP situations, however against certain enemy team setups you can replace Holy Path and Whirlwind for different skills.

This comes down to player judgement, due to the amount of variables in group PvP.

1v1-


Vit/Mag (Faith) Genie

For 1v1 PvP the story is a little different. It's much harder to have overall coverage, especially when you aren't using a 91+ genie. Base genie skills are the same as the group PvP build, with the last two skill slots being determined by who you're fighting. I'll only be listing possible variations for the last two skill slots unless specifically stated otherwise to keep this part of the guide simple.



Assassin:

There aren't many effective options with a Faith genie to be honest. Adrenaline Surge looks appealing but 80 energy to prevent a status that can be applied every 13-15 seconds is a very bad deal. Will Surge will prevent the far deadlier status, as well as waste over a spark in the process since most Sins won't seal you until after they've slept you. ToP is also quite costly, and though it can be helpful it requires excellent timing to be truly effective.

Whirlwind: This skill is invaluable when combating Assassins. Once Tidal Protection is off and you're out of their lock they WILL kite you. This allows you to stall them for that one second you need to catch up and begin your lock. It's great once you've forced their Expel, you can stall them for that one second and catch them with Roar, and due to their lack of genie energy as long as your lock is solid they'll go down.


Extreme Poison: An extra 20% damage is a great boost, and it can give you the extra power needed to get through an Assassin's charm. I choose this over Tangling Mire due to a shorter cooldown, as well has being more effective thanks to the indirect nerf Tangling Mire got from the New Horizons update. Only to be used when Tidal Protection is cooling down and you believe you can get the kill.


Cleric:


There are a fair amount of options when it comes to genie skills for fighting Clerics, though Heart of Steel is one I'd consider irreplaceable. Because Clerics have no access to Stuns, it is best to always replace Fortify for fights against them. The last slot can go to a handful of skills, depending on how you prefer to deal with Clerics. You could remove Will Surge and add add an extra skill, though it makes SoG a little more troublesome to deal with as you can't combo Will of the Bodhisattva and Will Surge.


Balance:To be used when Magic Marrow expires from being Cleric locked, you should use Balance when the Cleric is about to attack through their sleep. It'll give you a shield that will absorb at least one hit, enough to get your Magic Marrow back up.

Whirlwind: Used when your opponent activates Fortify or there may be a gap in your lock, you can combine this with Smack to psuedo-stun the Cleric and continue your lock or just stop them for a second in order to catch up and begin your lock. This CAN activate Purify Spell, so it isn't something to depend on.

Heart of Steel: The ability to resist all but two of the Cleric's attacks for only 80 energy is a major asset. Full resistance to the most threatening of the Cleric's arsenal combined with a Bladermaster's naturally high defenses makes this a must have skill when fighting Clerics.

Adrenaline Surge: Very useful against Clerics, this can prevent the Cleric from setting up a full combo on you. When used correctly this will allow you to break the Cleric's lock and counter attack, or at the very least refresh your Magic Marrow. Once the Cleric's lock has begun it becomes fairly predictable, but smarter Clerics will change up how they apply their lock once they notice you're running Adrenaline Surge. This skill is arguably better than Whirlwind due to its ability to soft counter a Cleric's lock and the fact that it can't activate their Purify Spell.

Tree of Protection: Can be used to negate a portion of the Cleric's Arrays, though it will usually only remove about half of a max stack. It's put my charm in a good spot on many occasions, though it has a high energy cost and can't be used haphazardly. If misused it's essentially wasted so be cautious when bringing this into a fight against a Cleric.



*The reason Balance is not a base skill that all genies should have is because its use is limited. It's best used immediately after being purged or once Magic Marrow has worn off while fighting a Cleric. During group PvP Absolute Domain is the better option after a purge, as Balance's shield won't help much against the incoming damage you'll take once you've been called out as a purged target. It's also very likely you won't have the genie energy if you've been using it to support your team or mitigate damage throughout the fight. While you could run balance, I don't recommend it due to its high energy cost and cooldown. Once I've tested it more I may revisit this, but so far it's served very little purpose in group PvP for me.

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