First off, let me clarify that I've already read a good portion of the PvP guides here, so I'd be interested in player opinion on these matters primarily, not links to existing guides or anything, a legitimate discussion, or so to say. So I've come from a T2A shard where the halberd tankmage just ruled. No matter what for, if it's PvP, you just used a tankmage. So I can see that there was a lot of balancing done about the templates and things, so I have a few questions: Particularly, what do people use the tankmage for (as in dueling, ctf, or whatever)? Where could they excel at? How much does gameplay change without having insta-hit? Are explo-hit-ebolt and the likes out of question, or there's some other way of playing it now that I'm not aware of? Also I can hardly imagine swordsmanship's special blow being used for anything other than dueling and organized fights, but please prove me wrong on this one, I really want it to work (that *TINK* sound just makes it so cool how you bash someone's head in with a giant halberd on a mage... ooooh the feels). On the other hand, I see fencing being extremely powerful in everything not organized, something primarily for... everything. Para blow seems really powerful. Macing being kind-of inbetween this, but still feels a bit niche. Now I might have just answered my own questions for myself, but I'm interested in the opinions of the pvp gods here, or whomever having greater experience than me. I'm in no way a UO veteran who has all hotkeys in their hands from ~20 years ago. I'd really appreciate some links to good tankmage PvP videos from this shard if someone has a few to share. Thanks in advance.
Fencing is the best for group pvp, due to the stun. Spears are also good for punishing people who pull wands out in organized pvp. Swords is kind of niche, if you want a 7x dueling template that will annoy the shit out of your opponent by keeping him conc blowed, it's not a bad choice. It is not good for fighting out on the field however, and I do not recommend it for that. Niche dueling templates only. Macing is underrated here in my opinion, if you have a decent mace you can come close to an insta kill from a conc blow + exp/eb. Macing also gives you the option of pulling out a wand without the risk of being punished by another weapon user by it.
Swords offer a great variety of tactics you can pull off. Poisoned 1 hand Katanas, fast swinging axes for conc blows (works well against both mages and dexxers) and the heavy hitting hally for realy big damage. Fencing is considered the most viable option due to para blows however, and its nice in group fights and also 1v1 field fights due to the pure killing potential and damage it has (hit + parablow into explo ebolt for starters, later you can add explo pots) Id still advice everyone to roll with 2 swordsmages in a group.. get good hallys and preloade ebolts... wait for the lols
http://uorforum.com/threads/post-your-pvp-videos.17832/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDdl7op44e2BzQTI-KxotsA or search on you tube Pill-UOR or Ebola (there are many others that I could list) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7GZWqzv-FTRTgQJuA13eXJCHwCo3GgjB link to you tube UOR page that has a lot of linked UOR videos Stun heal mage for duels is best imo but it'll take you some time to adjust, always waiting on mana regen instead of cycling your halberd. Really up to how you want to play. Fencer tank, stun heal mage or "x" inscription mage is where it's at. Large group pvp you'll find if you over extend you'll be dropped unless you have clutch healers but even then 50/50. Test center is a wonderful deal. Ask someone decent in pvp to go on test center with you and try different templates. Combat logs are helpful.
@razfen http://www.uorforum.com/threads/public-resist-session-brought-to-you-by-treasureman-8-22-16.18224/ Get three accounts up and park three characters in the session.
Tank mages areplay pretty much like they did in T2A. You trade insta hit for a bit more damage because you can take anatomy instead of wrestling. Erza is the most knoledgeable tankmage player i have seen on these forums. You can take what she says to the bank. In my experience fencing is the more versitile weaponskill. A well timed paralyze can win a fight. That being said, if you want to paralyze with a spear you need to arm it, wait out the swing timer and close with your target, swing and land a hit, then pray for the 20% parablow chance. If that sounds like a ton of waiting, it is and it can be. If your purely looking to stun people, stun punch is a much better choice. Your fists are always armed and ready to swing so this cuts down on a LOT of that waiting. Plus you can pair it with another skill. You trade damage and poisoned weapons for a much more reliable and faster stun plus what ever skill you choose.
resisting the urge to be a hater you either equip a spear/short spear or you play a pure mage anything else puts you at a disadvantage here i know there's plenty of guys like crooks that will tell you hatchets and poisoned katanas are great but those guys are career losers that enjoy playing their template because it's different or cool/fun these kinds of templates only work when dueling in a box with rules tailored to give them an advantage (or when killing pvp novices who you would have beaten no matter what template you were on)
Not gonna lie, that hurt. It's not like my tank is 9th place lifetime standard pvp or anything... Swords is worthless, there is another skill to do better in any situation and it's fencing. Stopping people from healing and off screening is HUGE. Sure people will say to run with an ebolt up and whatnot but trust me you can easily get into trouble when you get para blowed with that ebolt up and now are getting dumped on with no way to heal it. Halberds are worthless here, I'd even take a warhammer over one when fighting in a box but even then, Para blow is just incredibly useful.
I have 1 swords Mage, 1 macer Mage, and 2 fencer Mages. My sword and macer are a ton of fun to play but, at the end of the day I still have a hard time getting that killing blow. I agree with Kane on this that fencers are just that much more OP because of paralyzingly blow. It makes all the difference in fights one good para blow with a explosion ebolt=a dead person. I am not trying to knock people from using a template that is fun to them but, if you want kills you go with fencing
Lol, im sorry. I didnt mean to step on anyones feelings. I dont frequent the boards religously and i cetainly dont check the leaderboards ever.
Scuba is right. I have different Tankmages too, and fencing is the most viable option.. hands down. Erza is just the one i enjoy playing the most because swords are the most fun to play imo. Also.. im pretty confident to say that every well played Tankmage (even Archers) have a lot of options to beast everyone in a 1v1 situation on the field and in the pits if played correctly. And a group of 2-3 tankmages... well, you better run from that lol
Pretty sure you should run from 2-3 anything, I'm not sure how that's useful information. Bottom line, if winning isn't what you came for take a different skill; if you want to be a contender take fencing. I don't know what's "fun" about playing a losing template personally, especially when both act the exact same way, except only one has a good chance of killing you; literally either way it's load a spell and equip your weapon, I don't see the difference based on "fun".
