PVP for dummies

Hey all, I have been snooping around for pointers when it comes to PVP'ing in AION and I'd like to this article I thought was helpful. You can find the complete article here, I recommend everyone to read it. For those of you who don't have the time to read the whole thing, I will excerpt some of the parts of the guide I think relate more to us as a legion, as well interjecting some of my personal knowledge.

All credit goes to the original author, obviously.

Quote :

Taken from section 2 - The Build

...you could build your character to be in a basic categories’: Offensive, Defensive, and Hybrid. Each one adds valuable options to the group. In addition, each comes with there own strength and weakness.

Offensive builds is where you want to take your opponent out before it takes you out. In that sense you most be able to react faster and out maneuver your opponent to use this build to its full potential. If you fail to do so, you leave your self vulnerable to a counter attack to your opponent. That being said these type of builds excel in spike damage in groups, so they have the time to prepare a proper assault on an enemy player, while haveing the time to retreat to the safety of the group to avoid being counter attack[ed]. These builds are generally more vulnerable (not always) to taking more incoming damage then say if you focused on hybrid or defensive attributes.

Defensive builds are the opposite in the sense that you try to outlast your opponent threw through your increased survivability. In order to bring this build to its full potential you most have the patience to deal with longer fights and not lose focus. Your objective as a defensive build is to interrupt your opponent’s combo flow as much as possible forcing them to make a critical mistake, wasting their opportunity to spike you down. If you can play the fight longer and stay focused, you can force your opponent to trip up. This build is especially common for healers in group fights. For their success largely depends on their ability to hamper their enemies attempts to spike damage them.

Hybrid builds are mix offensive and defense nature. For example crit has an offensive and defensive nature attached to it. When you land a critical hit, you will do more damage. In addition, you also stun your opponent. Thanks to this nature, crit makes a perfect example of a build that be used offensively or defensively. In groups hybrid builds are useful in that they play an offensive and defensive role at the same time. For example a sin or ranger could crit lock a DPS attempting to spike a healer. In this situation not only did you kill the enemy, In addition you stunned your opponent which saved your healer.

Manastone by categories:

Offensive manastones: Attack, Magic Boosting Power,
Defensive manastones: Shield defense, parry, evasion, magic defense
Hybrid: HP, MP, Critical, Max flight time, Acc, magic acc

Please note I would advise against using mp and max flight time normally, as both of these problems can be easily countered by a pot. [That i found to be extremely true.] In addition I would advise against using Acc or Magic acc, as the benefits normally do not counter the use of other manastones available. [This is mostly untrue for Sorcerers -- most people stack about 1,300 Magic Resistance either through their gear or manastones. We need to have a decent Magical Accuracy to punch through it. Magic boost is almost never off of it's cooldown when you really need it.]

Builds I would advise for classes as follows in no particular order of importance.

Templar: Hybrid, Defensive
Gladiator: Hybrid, Offensive
Cleric: Hybrid, Defensive [I agree with what the author stated earlier. HP+85 should be a priority here. If the Cleric dies, we all die.]
Chanter: Hybrid, Defensive
Ranger: Hybrid, Offensive
Sin: Hybrid, Offensive
Sorcerer: Hybrid, Offensive [Since I can only speak from a Sorcerer's perspective, I recommend investing a lot of slots to HP +85. Why? Because in PVP most people try to burst you in the first 30 seconds, so as a Sorcerer you will need to be able to survive the initial spike. A secondary priority should be either Magical Boost or Magical Accuracy. I prefer accuracy over boost, but that's just me.]
Spirit Master: Hybrid, Offensive

For enchanting offensively you will want to focus on increasing your weapon first as you level. Defensive will want to focus on a shield first (if you have one and are going for a shield defense spec), and then proceed to upgrade armor.

Quote :

Extracted from section 6 - Group Tactics



In a group you want all three builds to be present. This way you can cover a little bit of everything, making it easier to overwhelm opponent(s). In addition in group vs. group fights it is very important to stay in formation. If you thin out to much, you just make easy pickings for your opponent(s). [This happens to the groups I've been with, a lot.]

Now then the formation my legion has used in the past and has found to work, Is to bunch up and push as a group. I know this sounds very simple and stupid just asking to be aoed….but it works. There are several reasons why this is a valid tactic and essential for survival in group play.

The first reason is the limit on healing range. Unlike most games, Aion is not very forgiving in healing range. If you move out of heal range, the healing spell will interrupt, if it is not instant cast. In addition, the range of healing magic in this game is noticeably smaller compared to others. That being said if some one runs to far ahead of the group two things happen. They die to focus fire from the enemy team, or the healer has to run an expose themselves to hostile fire to heal them. Obviously that is suicidal in both situations.

The second reason is the limit of ranged damage in Aion. Just like healing, the range is quite limited. Meaning if your ranged dps move to far ahead of the group, they expose themselves to melee attackers. [This happens all the time.]In addition the same can be said about your opponents range. If you move as a group, you force your opponent ranged dps to expose them self to counter attack if they try to spike some one important such as a healer.

The third reason is to for retreating. If you retreat in a scattered formation, you will be picked off one by one and make it all the easier for a complete wipe. However if you retreat as a group, some of your opponent may get cocky and charge ahead of their group (you have no idea how often this actually happens…). In addition, backing off from the enemy group forces them to advance toward your groups new position to reestablish range. If they are unorganized, they will spread out a bit advancing on your groups position, making it all the easier to pick them off. Even better is if you retreat around a corner….. as you break line of sight of rangers and healers, leaving any melee dumb enough to charge ahead after your group with out support…. Usually leading to a very painful death. [Sadly, line of sight strategy doesn't apply to us. Damn lack of geodata!]

When moving as a group you ideally want your stronger melees up front, such as Templar and Gladiator. In the middle you want your healers (to prevent the enemy's melee ambush) and in the back you want your ranged dps and your sins.
Now the sin role is pretty important here as they have to pivot a lot in the flow of combat. If they notice some one trying to ambush there back lines, they can stealth and return the favor to them; all the while warning there team of the threat. If your back lines are clear of enemies, the sin should focus on hit and run tactics threw throughout enemy lines. Kill the squishest target you can find (cough sorcs) and proceed to run your pansy ass back to your group before you get focus fired.

[I thought I'd be nice to show you guys a visual of the formation. Excuse my fail-drawing.]



Blue: For melee classes. Your gladiators and your templars.
Cyan: For your support classes. Mostly Clerics.
Purple: For your Ranged DPS. Sorcerers, Rangers and Spirit Masters.
Black: For the Assassins. They are going to be moving from the front to the back.

[Of course that diagram is of a perfect group ratio. We all know that in AION there is never a perfect anything; sometimes we will have more melee than DPS, sometimes we won't have any assassins. The diagram is just to give everyone a sense of where they should be during a Group vs Group engagement.]

The Templar and Gladiator's job is to hold the front lines of your group, all the while pressing into the lines of your enemy group. They key is to not to press to far in, but enough to pressure your opponents group to spit up. If your front line succeeds in this, your enemy squishes and healers become easy targets for your dps to spike down. In addition though Templar should focus on cc any one trying to advance into there group, or pull away opponents trying to flee or hiding in the mass of another group. The Gladiator should spam his aoe is up to continue to put pressure on the other group’s healer.

The healer servers as a guide point for the group. Your group leader should make your own healers, so your group doesn’t get carried away and out run there heal distance. It is also a good way to keep tabs on what is happening on your healers. Not only that but they make great rally points for knowing when to stop the advance or retreating, since they are in the middle of the formation. The ranged dps know not to pass the healers, while the templar and gladiators know to stay in front of healers. Having healers knowing when to move and where to hold there ground is essential to moving as a group basics.

The ranged dps obviously wants to hold up the back of the line as far as possible to slow down the incoming of melee dps attempting to kill them. However if the lack of melee dps threat, it is safe to move a bit closer to the melee lines. However, staying at the front of the group for long periods of time should be avoided…. for obvious reasons.

And finally to what I think is the most important part of the guide. Key binding signs.

Quote :

Taken from section 8 - Key Bindings.

Sign Key Bindings



This is very important feature of Aion, as you can mark targets to make teamwork easier. The signs in Aion work on allies and opponents. What I would recommend is to mark your healers, your enemies’ healers, and your enemies’ glass cannons. You want to mark your healers as rally point as mentioned earlier in the guide, so your group stays in formation. You want to mark you opponents glass cannons (heavy dps, light defense) and kill them before they destroy your group. After the glass cannons are out of the way move on to enemy healers. In addition, you may want to assign some of your group members to cc/harass healers while you kill the glass cannons.

There is some other stuff in the article that is also pretty useful. If you want to seriously PVP and help out the legion during sieges I would recommend reading both this and surfing around the Infinite Aion class subforums to find the standard Stigma Builds as well as manastone builds that are best for your class.

I will keep my eye out for other useful PVP-related articles and I will be sure to post them for your reference. That is if the forces that be think this is a good idea at all.

-Sferzar


Limstella - Lvl 55 Sorcerer

The sooner we can do this, the sooner we can become better PvPer

Woooooow super old AE PVP tactics awsome dunno why im posting here QQ maybe cuz im stuck in test server BUT i dont know imma stay here in forums to amuse ppl who login so powah to santavantez