The Shadow Warrior Survivalists Guide Part 1

Post By Mephs

A lot of Shadow Warriors don't know how to handle themselves under pressure (I.E. a witch elf jumped me! What do I do?).

You have to juggle three stances a lot of the time, regardless of your spec. Whether you're an SFA spammer, a ranged Scout, or even if you like stabbing folks up close. This guide is just a compilation of how to handle yourself in the flow of battle, and a lot of it requires a good sense of prediction.

1. The first thing in any situation, and I believe Douglas Adams would agree with me on this. Don't panic.

It's easy to get stuck in an OH SH-T moment before you realize what hit you. A lot of the time it's usually too late, but there's still a shot in hell that you can make it out of a melee zerg, or being the focus target of a sorceror nuke-train. Instead of getting stuck in these "too late" situations think ahead of time and observe your position and the enemy's line. If you're at the front of your line and everyone has long retreated, chances are everyone is looking at you and applying their forehead to the keyboard for the easy kill, way before you might have noticed it.

2. Distracting Shot. Live it, learn it, love it.

Every 15 seconds you can reduce a target's damage against you by 50%. Most classes have this detaunt ability, but many never use it, or don't know *HOW* to use it. Detaunts in this game reduce a target's damage against YOU by 50%, but the effect disappears if you hit them. If you're going to detaunt, use it on something you aren't trying to kill, or use it on a target you are not saving a CC for.

Distracting shot has more than just defensive uses. It can be used OFFENSIVELY as well.

Vs. Ranged (Offensive): When you're going toe to toe with a ranged caster, open with Distracting shot immediately, first and foremost. Why open with distracting shot if you're going to shoot them? DOT damage calculation is done when the DOT is applied. If they toss a bunch of DOTs on you with a 50% damage modifier, you will take considerably less damage in the long run, even once it wears off, the DOT coefficient maintains this debuff. Also, a sorc will usually get one nuke combo off on you before you get a good hit off on them. Assuming you're Scout spec, Distracting Shot before a Festering Arrow gives you an absolutely HUGE lead on them toe-to-toe. It also works good for Assault/Skirmish builds since you usually won't be in range before they start nuking. I've often 1v1'd sorcerors this way and come out with over 50% of my HP intact.

Vs. Melee (Offensive): It certainly doesn't hurt to open against melee with a distract. The same rules apply. Often, Mauraders or Welves will open on you with a stun of some sort, a knockdown, or another incapacitation that can give them a huge lead on you in the dps race. A preemptive distract will stop that initial burst, and you can have 1 or 2 DOTs up on them before the distract, without removing the debuff, which means you have a bit of an advantage on their opening. I cannot stress this enough, DISTRACT them before they get in range. Especially marauders and chosen love to open with a knockdown, because it typically guarantees they'll have you under 50% before you even get to react. This is especially useful for the Assault spec who want to go toe-to-toe with melee classes (though I never would recommend going up against a tank 1v1, and don't try to 1v1 a DOK in melee range, ever. You just feed him Soul Essence).

3. Assault Stance, Armor, and You

Assault stance, if you don't know already, increases your Weapon Skill and Strength. It also increases your Armor by 100%. For this very reason, every point of Armor you have is effectively worth double, 2 Armor per 1 point, which can become really handy if you prioritize Armor as an option in your defensive stat choices. I usually run around with an Armor pot and Ballistic Skill as my two RVR pots.

The average shadow warrior runs around with about 18% armor mitigation, which is 36% in Assault Stance. This may be because they didn't want to sacrifice 3 ballistic skill for an upgrade that might have another stat or two on it, but they ignore the Armor value of the item. This may require losing a little Ballistic Skill or other melee stat here or there, but it is really helping your survival out a TON.

I have about 44% armor mitigation in Assault Stance, and still over 600+ ballistic at level 28. I have maintained 40+% armor mitigation at every level. This puts you near and/or equal to White Lions and Marauders in armor value.

Now, uses for Assault stance are pretty much universal. I am always in Assault stance if:

• I think a Witch Elf is about, or about to jump me (see them stealth nearby)
• A melee zerg is getting dangerously close to me
• A Marauder is charging me and I have Takedown on CD
• I am carrying an objective item (like a flag or whatever)

This should be common sense, but there's a few good reasons to use Assault stance as your choice of mobile stances. One, you're less susceptible to a surprise attack (i.e. WElves), Two, you're obviously just more survivable in general, Three, Opportunistic Strike will save you 9 times out of 10. Your 5 second disarm is quite possibly your most useful tool and is only useable in Assault Stance.

Even if that witch elf you saw go stealth doesn't jump YOU, you can efficiently dispatch their assassination attempt on a teammate by smacking them with a disarm, and a root. Those 5 seconds are pretty much putting any squishy melee into an "OH SH*T" situation where your whole team has enough time to focus them into oblivion, and pretty much nulls their attempt to off one of your back liners.

If they DO jump you, you are a lot more survivable than a BW, and can tank them long enough for your team to react. A good Shadow Warrior is possibly a WElf's worst target. A bad SW, is pretty much a free kill. Don't be a bad SW.

Most of all, if you are prepared for the opener, you will almost never die, assuming you are opened on at full or nearly full HP. As soon as you see the green ring around you, TAB turn around and disarm them. Hit them while this disarm is active. If Assault specced, follow with a Stun and Swift Strikes. If not, stay in Assault stance, and distracting shot them (it has no minimum range), hit ESCAPE and detarget them. You don't want to hit them at all, but also stay facing them. This is about 5-10 seconds of easy tanking their melee damage. If they aren't dead by now, your team is probably dead, or terrible. If you need more time, now is your best time to Point Blank, and follow with a Takedown. The running debuff will be gone, and you can safely escape, flee, whatever is necessary. And usually you'll get away with most of your HP in this scenario. Just remember DONT MOVE while you tank them either, or you're just making your own life harder.

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