TheDan's End Game Blademaster PvP Guide

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.

Man - Raging Tide wrote: »

Virolent poision and that ripple skill on strength genies are lockdown 1 v 1. Probably will end up no one killing anyone, but hey at least they are not killing you. However the exception is probably sins.

As a barb i find a sin can really out sustain me with their skills, chi, cooldown, my own lack of anti control skills like anti stun is 10 sec 60 sec cooldown. My question is do bms have the same problem, a sin wins the war of attrition?

BMs can counter lock sins when their tidal protection runs out so it isn't as bad, but if it's a full R9 jaded sage sin it's a war of attrition, usually in the sin's favor.

Blows - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Really nice guideb:victoryb:victory

But what do you think of a vit/magic genie with Faith faith on it for sins???

Against sins? or as a sin? Against sins no, you need a dex genie with badge on it. As a sin Faith is nice for sins as they have no chi problems with their 2 spark re-gen skill.

Sakubatou - Sanctuary wrote: »

Nice guide, this is gonna be loaded with people looking for more advice. A few tips I would add is demon marrows are a great reason to go demon, because they're more balanced. I also would mention use of chi suppression as a tactic, considering sage can put on 50 chi every 60 seconds and demon's can pull 50 chi off every 30 seconds. Suppress a person's chi and you force them to utilize their genie for chi skills instead of survivability.

Get those mp/hp pots from the Divine Emmisary. They don't put your hp pots in cooldown but will add an extra 1500 hp regen and are instant, as well keep your mana full.

Actually I had a question. A while ago I was having a problem where if I got stunned and the stun wore off I could not leap forward or back until I moved in a direction first. I notice this seems to be fixed but I've seen the wizard forums are having problems with their distance shrink doing the same thing.

Also, I was practicing a stunlock with a friend and my stun icon never went away between some of his stuns. He said its because of server lag I'm not unstunned yet even though my time is up, and he can replace the stun before the server realizes I'm unstunned. Yet when I try this prefect stunlock I'll see the stun land after the previous stun wore off but the stun will be blocked because the server was reading like the person was still stunned even though their icon was gone. Seems a double standard that he lands stuns before my stun icon is even gone and leapback is available, but I can't land a stun sometimes after their stun icon has disappeared because its too close. Must be something I'm missing, any advice?

Will add your tips, forgot to mention it.

As someone already mentioned, it's the terrain bug. When you leap back sometimes on a hill or something or even the slightest slope downward, your character is recognized as being in the air so you cannot leap forward or back.

BloodyNero - Raging Tide wrote: »

I'm considering the essential skills for a TW genie
1)Absolute Domain Metal 4 Water 4 Earth 4

2)Chi siphon Water 7 Earth 7

3)Holy Path Metal 2 Wood 2 Water 2

4)Badge of Courage Metal 4 Fire 3

so clearly a lvl 100 genie can only take either holy path or Badge of Courage. Which one would be considered more essential?

Holy Path. Don't get badge unless you can get fortify first.

Before using badge you need to max out your LP of your genie as much as possible, 81LP is ideal with minimum dex of 80 to even use badge. Fortify is by far a much more useful skill than badge in TW, so if you are making your genie and have to choose between those, skip badge unless you've met all the prior conditions. Badge is just a nice filler if you have the extra skill slots available.

I didn't add chi siphon to my genie until my genie was 103; it costs too much affinity at the start to be worth it, so get cloud instead as well.

Nigoshi - Raging Tide wrote: »

Isn't keeping phys marrow up just gonna tell them to activate condensed thorn then occult ice>**** after a charm tick?

that's what would usually happen to me if i got caught out flipping marrows for chi in range of a sin.

You will take slightly more damage from the 50% water damage with phys marrow up, but you'll be reducing the physical damage you take significantly.

A sin's zerk crit multiplier is going to hurt most from the physical damage you receive (include the base physical damage + weapon masteries and you're looking at well above the 50% from the water damage), most sins you fight will spark you thus increasing it's physical damage by up to 500%; water damage would not be affected by spark.

You'll want the phys marrow up at all times, especially if the sin you fight uses tangling mire / subsea together.