A Warden in The Rift

[ArKile]

I managed to get myself on a rift run on Friday and I have to say I was more than a little suprised at how well the warden performed.

Trash mobs were very easy to control maintain agro through the use of morale draining and morale dot. Shield Mastery was a must though, and I could really tell when I'd forgotten to re-buff it. Wall of steel and dance of war were almost as indespenaible.

I had the oppertunity to tank both Zurm and Zogtark. Zurm has always hit hard, but the warden fully buffed can easily stand up to his onslaught. The problem I found was maintaining buffs while still maintaining agro. Getting off a fist gambit was difficult since I fond the need to almost constantly drain or re-buff.

Zogtark was much easier, and also much better for me to tank from a raid perspective than a guardian. Gaining agro was simple as I built up a tier 4 fist gambit before a worm died, so as soon as he dropped from his platform he felt my spear's searing heat. With agro gained I could re-buff, but also interupt him healing the drakeswith ease. Usually my group would put a guard on him and a champ to interupt, now all you need is a warden.

I'm going to try to get on another run soon and try some of the other bosses, but for now I definately get the impression that we do have a market out there, and it's our job at the moment to step up and show what we're capable of.

[Arrgur]

Well done on Zurm, far harder than Zogtark who is the easiest boss in the Rift to tank and kill. The ability to clobber and tank Zogtark at the same time sounds good, although I'm used to seeing him tanked far away from the drakes so he doesn't even try to heal.

[MueR]

Offtopic but.. a 54 Warden? Have you slept? At all?

Oh wait, I count 8 characters.. bah, powerlevelling :/

[SFC1971]

Originally Posted by MueR

Offtopic but.. a 54 Warden? Have you slept? At all?

Oh wait, I count 8 characters.. bah, powerlevelling :/

Don't be such a whiner mate.

Some people are just smarter players. The first character you waste a lot of times because you don't know where mobs are or what quests share a mob/area. 2nd time, you know this and it becomes faster. 3rd time you should know have enough contacts to get good supplies. 4th time you know what you can skip and are more confident a player allowing you to say "nah, we can do this fellowship quest with 4 if we handle thing right".

Frankly when I see someone whine that someone else is powerlevelling I see a player who just is unable to learn from past experience. Is the OP fast or are you just slow?

[MueR]

Depends on your view of fun I guess. If some people find satisfaction in having their lowlevel character on follow with their level 50 or 60 character who does all the killing, so be it. It's just not my definition of fun. Every class has a learning curve and by grouping with characters who are just way out of your level range, you bypass this curve. I'm not saying the OP is one, but most players who do this end up being lousy players because they just haven't learned how to use and play their skills. Smart? Not in my book, but each their own game I guess.

[sinomiel]

the op is fast. no insomnia. happens to be in a good kin.

ark, have i missed anything?

[ArKile]

After leveling so many chars I know pretty much the beat questing roots, when to deed, etc... I also could utilize the 2nd account for some content where I couldn't find a group. A captain at the horsefields also helps for getting you back there quickly. From 38 onwards I had a lot of kin support too.

I wouldn't say I know the class yet though, and I doubt anyone can make that claim until they've hit the end game and worked up a good month or so of experience in the end-game content. However, I am taking every oppertunity to gain experience and to pass it on, which is what this thread and my other ones are all about.

[grinko-at]

Nice work!

One thing I'd like to know: How well did the threat transfers performed? Did Maddening strike, Dance of War and Conviction had any impact on your aggro or did you just used direct aggro generation? Did Mobs actually drop off the ministrel and attack you after using any of those?

[ArKile]

The effects of Dance of War was definately noticeable. However, the biggest problem with this was the actual time it takes to complete the gambit since the warden dances around a bit and therefor makes the gambit not spammable since you also need to get shield mastery off and wall of steel to maintain high avoidance.

Goad seemed to yield the best results for maintaining agro and I can definately see the benefit in traiting it.

I haven't unlocked Conviction yet, I think that's level 58.

I'll hopefully be tackling some of the Moria instances soon and since I've now unlocked Master of the Spear gambits are a lot easier to build. Master of the Shield and Master of the Fist should be unlocked by the end of the week. Both of these traits should radically change the way I build gambits in combat.

[Avassar]

Few impressions from moria instances...

trash mobs are paradise for a warden...few aoe drains and they all target us to death....
i was a bit low level in most times we tried it so i wasnt even trying to get aggro from level 60 hunters but wardens seem to be perfect class for off tanking...for example main tank keeps aggro of 3 elites on self while two defilers are rooted behind...warden keeps these two guys busy, interrupting all the heals they try to perform...

but against one tough boss with a minnie behind imo a guardian is absolutely better tank... still i made a mistake and havent use traited defiant challenge so my taunt ability was very limited....but the class shines with trash mobs and kite-tanking...