Rohan: Warsteed Traiting, part 4

Part 1 was a "sky view" of Warsteed traiting. Part 2 was for Light warsteeds, and Part 3 was for Medium. Part 4 is… Heavy! (yay for logical topic progression.)

Part 1: Trait line Overview (Part 1)

Part 2: Light Traits (Part 2)

Part 3: Medium Traits (Part 3)

Part 4: Heavy Traits (you are here)

Part 5: Comparisons (Part 5)

The Heavy Warsteed:

As seen in the other horse types, the options for traiting include (1) Stat Modifiers, (2) a Red trait tree line called Red Dawn, (3) a Blue trait tree line called Rohirrim, and (4) a Yellow trait tree line called Riddermark.

Stat Modifiers: You can allocate as many as 5 points per stat. The Heavy trait stat modifiers progress like the following table.

Table 4A: Heavy Horse Type – Stat Modifiers – 25 points

Agility	Strength	Power	Endurance (morale)	Armor
60	30	275	165	250
120	90	440	275	500
180	180	715	440	750
240	270	990	605	1000
320	390	1320	825	1250

The Heavy warsteed will have more potential stat upgrades in every category except Agility. Part 5 will go into more detail on comparisons.

Red Dawn:

The Disciplines are always the same across horse type. Here is the Red Dawn Discipline.

There are two skills associated with Heavy Horse – Red Dawn traits: Ride for Ruin (+25% crit chance) and Instigate (increase threat).

There are 25 points that can be spent in the Heavy warsteed Red Dawn line. The table reading is the same as Light:

• “Pts to get” are 1 unless otherwise specified.
• The Trait is Passive unless it is marked in the “Skill?” column.
• A, B, C for a skill refer to the skill having up to 3 points that can be spent on that skill.
• (A Pre-requisite reference of 5B, for example, means the trait opens up after the second point is added to skill #5).

RK Red line traits are Damage based (RK skills = Fire Damage in this Discipline). There is only one class specific trait, the capstone, “Spears will be Shaken”. (It is just a name, actual spears have nothing to do with it, you don’t need to have a spear.)

Table 4B: Heavy Horse Type – RED Trait line (aka RK warhorse Fire traits) – 25 points

Trait Name			Pre req	Pts to get	Function		Skill?
Long reach	1	A			+2 max distance of ranged skills
		B			+5 max distance of ranged skills
		C			+10 max distance of ranged skills
Well Rounded	2	A	1A		+300 Critical	+300 Parry
		B			+400 Critical	+400 Parry
		C			+500 Critical	+500 Parry
Precision	3	A	2B		-10% target Evade chance	+500 Tactical Mastery
		B			-20% target Evade chance	+1000 Tactical Mastery
		C			-30% target Evade chance	+1500 Tactical Mastery
Overwhelming Offense	4	A	2B		-10% target Block chance	+600 Physical Mastery
		B			-20% target Block chance	+1200 Physical Mastery
		C			-30% target Block chance	+1800 Physical Mastery
Mounted Advantage	5	A	2B		+10% damage vs Unmounted targets
		B			+20% damage vs Unmounted targets
		C			+30% damage vs Unmounted targets
Opportunist	6	A	5B		+20% Damage when attacking from behind
		B			+30% Damage when attacking from behind
		C			+45% Damage when attacking from behind
Ride for Ruin	7		6	2	+25% Melee/Ranged/Tactical Critical chance CD: 20s Cost: 196 power, 49 Mount power Toggle Cost: 25 power per second		skill
Instigate	8		6	2	Increases threat over time CD: 30s, Duration: 16s Cost: 196 power, 49 Mount power		skill
Spears will be Shaken	9		6	3	RK: While in RED DAWN discipline, Slow the enemy movement speed on critical hit for skills: Fixation of Flame, Oration of Embers, and Resolution of Fire

Rohirrim:

Here is the Rohirrim Discipline as it looks for RK. The skills will change to be Healing skills. It is the same for all horse types.

Rohirrim Discipline is for protection: mitigations, evades, and is the heart of your warsteed power and morale (endurance) management. Heavy warsteed with Rohirrim traits focuses more on the protection aspect, utilizing more armor and Block/ Parry/ Evade and less power boosts than the other two types.

There are two Heavy Rohirrim skills: Steel Skin (bonus armor) and Positive Thinking (morale regen).

Here is the Blue trait line. To get all these traits and cap the Blue line requires 28 points.

Only the cap trait, Benevolence, is class specific.

Table 4C: Heavy Horse Type – BLUE Trait line (aka RK warhorse healing traits) – 28 points

Trait Name			Pre req	Pts to get	Function				Skill?
Determination	1	A			+200 Resistance
		B			+400 Resistance
		C			+600 Resistance
Flexibility	2	A	1A		+100 Evade		+360 Block
		B			+200 Evade		+720 Block
		C			+400 Evade		+1200 Block
Fearless	3	A	2B		+450 Physical mitigation
		B			+900 Physical mitigation
		C			+1350 Physical mitigation
Strategist	4	A	2B		+450 Tactical mitigation
		B			+900 Tactical mitigation
		C			+1350 Tactical mitigation
Rehabilitation	5	A	2B		+198 Mount nCPR	+234 Mount nCMR		+180 nCPR
		B			+396 Mount nCPR	+468 Mount nCMR		+360 nCPR
		C			+594 Mount nCPR	+702 Mount nCMR		+540 nCPR
Cunning	6		5B		+200 Mount Evade		+20 Critical Defense
					+400 Mount Evade		+40 Critical Defense
					+800 Mount Evade		+60 Critical Defense
Battle Tested	7	A	5B		+81 Mount iCPR	+108 Mount iCMR		+90 iCPR
		B			+162 Mount iCPR	+216 Mount iCMR		+180 iCPR
		C			+243 Mount iCPR	+324 Mount iCMR		+270 iCPR
Steel Skin	8	A	7B	2	+600 warsteed Armor CD: 20s Cost: 196 power, 49 Mount power Toggle. Cost: 25 power per second				skill
Positive Thinking	9	A	7B	2	+210 iCMR, +420 nCMR CD: 20s Cost: 196 power, 49 Mount power Toggle. Cost: 50 power per second				skill
Benevolence	10		7B	3	RK: While in ROHIRRIM discipline, Boosts incoming and outgoing healing for skills: Fixation of Health, Amelioration Oration, Debate the People, Resolution of Enduring Life

Table corrected 11/19/12

Riddermark:

Here is the Riddermark Discipline.

The first four traits of the Heavy Riddermark have identical names to the other two horse types. The Acceleration and Turning numbers are certainly less than the other two types. The Heavy “… of the Herd” trait, which is also a skill, gives armor and reduced power cost.

Riddermark has four traits that offer skills: Dash (speed), Coax (forces enemy into melee), Resilience of the Herd (fellowship buff), and Trample (knockback and damage enemies). This trait line requires the least amount of points to obtain at 17 points.

The Riddermark is the Runekeeper’s Lightning Discipline (skills go to lightning attacks). The only one trait that is class specific is the capstone, “Conservative Combat”.

Table 4D: Heavy Horse Type – YELLOW Trait line (RK Speed/Lightning traits) – 17 points

Trait Name			Pre req	Pts to get	Function	Skill?
Fleet of Hoof	1	A			+5 Acceleration Rate
		B			+10 Acceleration Rate
		C			+18 Acceleration Rate
Born Sprinter	2	A	1A		+1.0 mps max speed
		B			+1.0 mps max speed (stacks)
		C			+1.0 mps max speed (stacks)
Agile Movement	3	A	2B		+3 warsteed turn Rate
		B			+6 warsteed turn Rate
		C			+9 warsteed turn Rate
Dash	4		2B		+3 max speed (up to 16.0 max) CD: 20s, Duration: 10s Cost: 196 power, 49 Mount power	skill
Coax	5		3B		Forces the enemy to ride close to your right flank CD: 30s, Duration: 10s Cost: 154 Mount power	skill
Resilience of the Herd	6		5		Fellowship within 40m: +500 warsteed armor, -20% warsteed power cost, +3% Block CD: 30s, Duration: 1 hour Cost: 196 Power, 96 Mount power	skill
Trample	7		6	2	Knockback and damage enemies when moving full speed CD: 20s, Duration: 10s Cost: 443 Power, 202 Mount power	skill
Conservative Combat	8		7	3	RK: While in RIDDERMARK discipline, -25% power cost for skills: Invoke the elements, Inspirational Verse, Fixation of Storms, Oration of the Bleak Sky, Debate the Land, Resolution of Storms

Dana, How would you build a Heavy horse?

The Heavy horse has slightly better stats. He can be built for standing between smaller warsteeds and the enemy and taking a beating. However, are you the rider built for tanking? Whether you are playing the Heavy for fun or building it as your main warsteed, you should try out the trait “Trample”. That might be the funniest thing there is to do on warsteed… run toward the enemy and plow through them pigeons in front of a locomotive! The Heavy horse moves like a big boat with very wide steering. He is more difficult to handle in town since he cannot turn on a dime like a small steed. To improve his handling, I would put effort into his handling traits and Agility.

That looks like a good place to break and I will pick up Comparisons between warsteeds next time in Part 5!