The
first four Parts of Warsteed traiting had a lot of information. Now, I want to take
it apart and making some comparisons.
Part 1: Trait line Overview (Part 1)
Part 3: Medium Traits (Part 3)
Part 4: Heavy Traits (Part 4)
Part 5: Comparisons (you are here)
It
is important to not only understand where you are but where you are trying to
go and how to get there. When optimizing any of these systems (relics,
legacies, traits, etc), make some decisions on where you would like to be and
that will help drive your decisions.
A
very important piece of information is that when your Warsteed is at maximum
level of 50, he will have 77 points
worth of traits to spend. As we saw in Parts 2, 3, and 4, all the Light
traits will cost 94 points, the Medium will cost 95 points (corrected 11/19/12), and the Heavy will
cost 95 points. That means you will have to make choices.
Rider buffs:
Hmm… which traits to choose… Many of the warsteed traits are “rider buffs”.
Read through them… they enhance YOUR Evade, Block, Finesse, Critical, etc. So
really, “who are you” will determine what traits you will likely want to choose.
Class helpful: Not
all traits are equally beneficial to you. Let’s take a good example of me as a
Runekeeper. I deal in “Tactical” skills. LMs and Minis are the same, and you
weapon slingers are Physical types. Traits that buff Tactical are good… traits
that buff Physical have no real benefit for me. Similarly, traits that offer
bonuses to Block would have no value for me since I have no shield.
Discipline oriented:
Notice that all the capstone traits start with the text, “While in xxxx
Discipline…”. Here is something you will have to understand about the way you
play while on your Warsteed. What do these capstones do? Do you change
Disciplines often? How do these Disciplines affect your SKILLS?
This
last part is important. For RK, Red is great for general damage, but Blue
switches all skills to healing. Yellow will shock, and stun, and dismount
enemies. As you learn to ride, learn how to use your Disciplines to your
advantage. That said, look at the capstone traits and decide what is important
for you. My trait sets use at least 2 capstone traits; I will go into detail
below.
Stat modifier traits: There
are 5 warsteed traits for stat modifiers: Agility, Strength, Power,
Endurance/morale, and Armor.
This
table shows what Warsteed Agility and Strength are doing to your character and your
horse. Power, Endurance, and Armor are modified by traits, skills, and LIs
only; there are no dependent relationships such as you see in Table 5A.
Table
5A: How Warsteed Agility and Strength affect secondary stats
|
Stat
|
Calculated…
|
Personal
|
Physical Mastery
|
Strength * 1.0
|
|
Tactical Mastery
|
Agility * 1.0
|
|
Block
|
Strength * 1.5
Note that if you don't have a shield, you cannot block
|
Warsteed
|
Turn rate
|
Agility / 20
|
|
WS Evade
|
Agility * 1.5
|
|
WS ICMR
|
Agility * 0.54
|
|
WS nCMR
|
Strength * 0.60 + Agility * 1.20
|
|
WS ICPR
|
Strength * 0.54
|
|
WS nCPR
|
Strength * 1.20 + Agility * 0.60
|
|
Acceleration
|
Modified by traits, skills, and LIs only
|
|
Fury Bonus Rating
|
Modified by traits, skills, and LIs only
|
I rarely
ever run out of Power, however, my Warsteed will. I traited for bonus WS Power
on all three warsteeds. Second, since WS Agility modifies Tactical mastery and steed
control, this one is an obvious choice for tactical classes. Third, if an
enemy does manage to track me down (usually ranged attackers) having spare
Endurance is a good thing so I chose Endurance as well.
Because
I am a RK, I preferentially do not choose Warsteed Strength or Warsteed Armor
as stat improvements. WS Strength improves my Block (I have no shield), my
Physical Mastery (I am Tactical), Warsteed ICPR, Warsteed nCMR, and Warsteed
nCPR. The regens are nice but what would I give up?
Warsteed
Armor is for damage reduction to the warsteed. It is an interesting question.
As a RK, I have little interest in getting hit so I stay out of harm’s way.
With any of the horses, I play with similar tactics. I cannot stay in front of a wall
of enemies taking shots even with the horse absorbing part of the hits. So, I
will trade Armor for getting-the-heck-outta-the-way with faster steed hooves. There are some good protections for Medium and Heavy also and I will go into those throughout this article.
Light Warsteed Traiting: Please keep in mind that
these are some decisions I am making for myself and what works for me may not
work for you very well. You know who you are. I will explain what traits I
would take or leave while Light Warsteed traiting.
Ok,
at max warsteed, I have 77 points available and there are 94 points worth of
Light traits. To make things easier to explain, I will list the traits I did
NOT chose. I will find 17 points to
leave off.
Look
at all the tables on Part 2 for Light traiting.
I took every trait except:
- Strength. Saved 5 pts.
- Armor. Saved 5 pts.
- Deceptive Appearance 3rd pt – Red line.
To continue with the chain I had to take 2 points worth. It is for threat
reduction. Saved 1 pt.
- Feign Injury – Red line. It is a skill
that causes the enemy to stop attacking you. Saved 2 pts.
- Defensive Riding – Blue line. It is a
buff to your B/P/E. No shield equals no Block, and RK’s are not built to Parry
or Evade much. Saved 3 pts.
- Invigorating Presence – Blue line. To
continue with the chain I had to take 2 points worth. It is a bonus to incoming
and outgoing healing rating. Saved 1 pt.
Medium Warsteed Traiting: Same caveats as light, these are some decisions I would make
for RK, a tactical class. If you are a hunter, you would clearly need to adjust
to a Physical mastery build.
Again,
at max warsteed, I have 77 points available and now there are 95 points (corrected 11/19/12) worth
of Medium traits. Here are the traits shown in Part 3 that I did NOT chose. I need to cut off
18 points from the total.
- Strength. Saved 5 pts.
- Armor. Saved 5 pts.
- Physical Specimen – Red line. Physical
mastery. Fortunately, the tree is setup to choose either Physical Mastery or
Tactical Mastery making choices easy (you physical types will probably want to
drop Tactical Genius instead). Saved 3 pts.
- Keen Instincts – Blue line. Block and
Parry. Saved 3 pts.
- Patience - Blue line. -10% character power cost, took rank 1, not rank 2. Saved 2 pts.
Heavy Warsteed Traiting: You know the drill… applies
to me as a RK. I expect a tank to care more about things like Block and Strength
and increasing threat so this build will not fit everyone, but is well suited for me.
The
Heavy Blue set is really fascinating. Whereas, the Light Blue had a morale and
power healing theme, and the Medium Blue had a power conservation and
Sacrificial tank theme, the Heavy Blue focuses more on Armor and Morale regen.
Its build does not think like a RK, but that does not condemn it as a RK horse.
It is just a different approach.
In the Yellow set, had I been able to
drop Coax (forces an enemy to ride in melee) I would have. However, it was part
of the chain, and the Trample skill (further down the chain) is fun.
Max warsteed has 77 points available and
there are 95 points worth of Heavy traits. Here are the traits from Part 4 that I did NOT chose. I need to cut off 18 points from the total. (corrected 11/19/12).
- Strength. Saved 5
pts.
- Armor. Saved 5 pts.
Even on a Heavy horse, I am not wearing enough armor to “stand and tank”. The
horse might not fall as quickly, but I would get pummeled.
- Instigate – Red line. Increases threat over time. Saved 2
pts.
- Flexibility – Blue line. Evade and Block. To continue with the chain I had to take 2
points worth. Saved 1 pt.
- Positive Thinking –
Blue line. Skill toggle for personal morale regen. Saved 2 pts.
- Benevolence – Blue
line. RK specific capstone: Boosts incoming and outgoing healing. Saved 3 pts.
Comparisons
of my trait choices:
Do note that these are MY choices for
how best to make a Warsteed for me, a Runekeeper. As a RK, I must stay in
motion; no armor + stationary RK = flattened RK. Thus, even my Heavy WS is as
mobile as possible.
Stats
– observations:
- Endurance of a Heavy steed is much
better than a Light.
- Light steed turns much sharper with
quick Acceleration and generates Fury quicker.
- Light steed is going to have better
WS Evade; the heavy has much better Armor (if I had taken armor).
Note1: These stat numbers were taken from my
level 44 Warsteed; I will need to check to see if WS Power and Endurance are variable
up to level 50. (I believe the Endurance changes slightly and the WS Power does
not.)
Note2: The WS Turn rate information does not
match the character sheet; it appears there might be an error in the addition
of the “Agile Movement” trait to the character sheet.
Note3: Caveat emptor. These data were taken
from RK on warsteed, and I haven’t cross checked it for other classes. I will
change it or flag it if errors are found.
Table
5B: Warsteed Stats as modified by my Trait choices
|
Light
|
Medium
|
Heavy
|
WS Agility
|
690
(300
base + 390 mod)
|
550
(200
base + 350 mod)
|
420
(100
base + 320 mod)
|
WS Strength
|
100
(100
base + 0 mod)
|
200
(200
base + 0 mod)
|
300
(300
base + 0 mod)
|
WS Endurance (morale)
|
2125
(1450
base + 675 mod)
|
2780
(2030
base + 750 mod)
|
3435
(2610
base + 825 mod)
|
WS Power
|
3256
(2176
base+1080 mod)
|
3365
(2176
base+1200 mod)
|
3496
(2176
base+1320 mod)
|
WS Armor
|
100
(100
base + 0 mod)
|
130
(130
base + 0 mod)
|
160
(160
base + 0 mod)
|
Steel Skin skill
|
X
|
X
|
Skill
toggle: +600 Armor
|
WS Acceleration Rate
|
39
(17
base + 22 mod)
|
35
(15
base + 20 mod)
|
33
(15
base + 18 mod)
|
WS Turn rate
|
205
(155
base + 35 from agi +15 mod)
|
185
(145
base + 28 from agi +12 mod)
|
165
(135
base + 21 from agi +9 mod)
|
WS Evade
|
1650
(450
base + 1200 mod)
|
1300
(300
base + 1000 mod)
|
950
(150
base + 800 mod)
|
Regens modified as
shown in Table 5A which I won’t bother to calc:
|
|
|
|
WS ICPR
|
+324
|
+270
|
+243
|
WS nCPR
|
+756
|
+648
|
+594
|
WS ICMR
|
+243
|
+270
|
+324
|
WS nCMR
|
+486
|
+594
|
+702
|
|
|
|
|
WS Max Speed
|
15.0
|
14.5
|
14.0
|
Dash skill (speed)
|
+3
|
+3
|
+3
|
Dash as Toggle
|
Toggle
dash
|
no
|
No
|
Offense – observations:
- Light is more conducive for Tactical
Mastery and Critical.
- All three cut through armor well:
Finesse, reduce enemy armor, reduce Evade and Block.
- Light has trait for dismounting enemy.
- Heavy has the Trample skill.
- Heavy, and to a lesser extent Medium,
have a lot of stacking bonus damage possibilities. Check out turning on skill
toggle +25% critical chance, hitting an unmounted enemy (+30% damage), from
behind (+45% damage), with full Fury. Owch.
Table
5C: Warsteed Offense dictated by my Trait choices
|
Light
|
Medium
|
Heavy
|
OFFENSE
|
|
|
|
Max range
|
+10
distance
|
+10
distance
|
+10
distance
|
Tactical
Mastery
|
+2100
|
+1800
|
+1500
|
Physical Mastery
|
+1500
|
X
|
+1800
|
Finesse
|
+1200
|
X
|
X
|
Enemy armor
|
-2400
|
Red
only: greatly reduce enemy armor while using skills
|
X
|
Enemy Evade chance
|
X
|
X
|
-30%
|
Enemy Block chance
|
X
|
X
|
-30%
|
|
Skill:
Enemy forced to ride at range off flank
(30s
CD, 10s duration)
|
X
|
Skill:
Enemy forced to ride in melee off flank
(30s
CD, 10s duration)
|
Critical
|
+1200
|
+1200
|
+500
|
Critical chance
|
Red
only: +25%
|
X
|
Skill
toggle: +25%
(20s
CD, power cost)
|
Critical multiplier
|
X
|
+15%
|
|
|
Yellow
only: 50% chance to dismount target on critical
|
X
|
Red
only: slows enemy movement speed on critical hit
|
Bonus
damage:
|
|
|
|
vs Mounted
|
X
|
+15%
|
X
|
vs Unmounted
|
X
|
X
|
+30%
|
attacking from behind
|
X
|
Moderate
DoT to skills
|
+45%
|
Misc offense
|
Moderate
DoT to skills
|
Red
only: Inflict heavy bleed damage while using skills
|
Trample:
knockback and damage enemies
(20s
CD, 10s duration)
|
Misc offense
|
X
|
Yellow
only: +7s duration for attack skills
|
X
|
Misc offense
|
-6s
CD reduction for 2 skills
|
-10s
CD reduction for 5 skills
|
X
|
Fellowship
skill:
- There is just the one Fellowship trait
and skill for each horse type. They are all great. Even if you are travelling
alone, it is useful. The duration is 1 hour, so each time you mount up, turn it
on.
Table
5D: Warsteed Fellowships
|
Light
|
Medium
|
Heavy
|
Fellowship skill (1 hr
Duration, 30s CD = always on)
|
+500
WS power,
-10%
attack duration,
+3%
evade
|
+500
WS morale,
-1s
skill CD,
+3%
parry
|
+500
WS Armor,
-20%
WS power cost, +3% Block
|
Defense
– observations:
- There is no denying that the Heavy
warsteed is much better of a defender than the Light. It improves your
mitigations, evade, parry, resistance, and of course, the WS has better armor
and more morale.
- The Medium is a beast of a tank though.
At least for the way I ride, the Skill “Sacrifice” where the WS takes no damage
while the skill is toggled is just amazing. Tank down in Blue skills allowing
the trait Survivability to put up protection bubbles and the Medium is well
suited to tank.
Table
5E: Warsteed Defense dictated by my Trait choices
|
Light
|
Medium
|
Heavy
|
DEFENSE
|
|
|
|
Physical mitigation
|
+750
|
+1050
|
+1350
|
Tactical mitigation
|
+750
|
+1050
|
+1350
|
Evade
|
X
|
+320
|
+200
|
Parry
|
X
|
X
|
+500
|
Resistance
|
X
|
+600
|
+600
|
Critical defense
|
X
|
X
|
+60
|
Misc defense
|
-20%
Threat (damage and healing)
|
RK:
Blue only: 25% chance to apply damage preventing bubble for skills
|
X
|
Misc defense
|
Skill:
Enemy stops attacking
(5
min CD, 5s dur)
|
Skill
toggle: WS takes no damage.
(power
cost)
|
X
|
Misc defense
|
X
|
Skill:
Enemy forced to flee for a short time
(30s
CD, 10s duration)
|
X
|
Healing
– observations:
- The Light steed is the healer’s steed,
at least for traiting. Skills in Blue set are made for healing so I am sure
that any of them could be fine. Light provides a Heal skill that heals more
Endurance than my WS actually has.
Table
5F: Healing dictated by my Trait choices
|
Light
|
Medium
|
Heavy
|
HEALING
|
|
|
|
ICMR
|
+270
|
+270
|
Skill
toggle: +210
|
nCMR
|
+540
|
+540
|
Skill
toggle: +420
|
Incoming healing
rating
|
+1000
|
X
|
X
|
Outgoing healing
rating
|
+1000
|
X
|
X
|
WS Healing
|
Skill:
WS morale restore
(3
min CD)
|
X
|
X
|
Power
management – observations:
- As seen in Table 5B, the power of each
Warsteed type is approximately the same; the Heavy has slightly more. The Light might have the best ability to handle WS power consumption. The Medium is the best at
protecting rider power (though that should not be an issue for a RK).
Table
5G: Power Management dictated by my Trait choices
|
Light
|
Medium
|
Heavy
|
POWER
Management
|
|
|
|
ICPR
|
+270
|
+270
|
+270
|
nCPR
|
+540
|
+540
|
+540
|
Power reduction
|
X
|
RK:
-30% power cost
|
Yellow
only: -25% power cost for skills.
|
WS power save
|
Skill:
-100% WS power cost
(3
min CD, 10s dur)
|
RK:
only -20% power cost for most WS skills
|
X
|
WS power restore
|
Skill:
WS Power restore
(3
min CD)
|
Skill: WS 10% Power restore (update 8.1 on 11/14)
|
X
|
Summarize It Dana!
(1)
Light – Maximum maneuvering and fastest, best Tactical Mastery,
best Warsteed Evade, good at dismounting enemy, good damage, best for healing
and power restore.
(2)
Medium – Good middle ground between Light and Heavy, good damage,
Excellent tanking defense while in Sacrifice.
(3)
Heavy – Best defense, best Physical Mastery, most Endurance,
Excellent situational damage + Trample.
UPDATE 11/27: Ok, it is not a "Part 6", but I got some graphical shots of what the Trait screens look like once all these decisions have been made for Light, Medium, and Heavy (rohan-now-at-85-more-fun-begins).
Overall, I think they are all great and
you could definitely win with any of them. The Light warsteed is built like a
Runekeeper (not as much defense, made to run while attacking
from a distance, and can heal endurance and power well). I am drawn to the
Light warsteed but could justify any of them as good choices. Choose your
traits correctly for your class and I am sure you will have a great time!
