Thursday, November 8, 2012

Rohan: Warsteed Traiting, part 5



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 2: Light Traits (Part 2)
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!



8 comments:

Zyngor said...

Thanks for the series, Dana - excellent job with each stage!

I have only played a little with the heavy steed + Trample on my guard's ~20 warsteed, and it definitely seems like a hit or miss skill. I think I had her agility/yellow line leveled through, and I really only had enough time to make one or possibly two passes, as making the turn and building up enough speed for it to actually trample seemed a bit difficult on the heavy WS.

In any case, I look forward to bringing my other characters into Rohan and playing around with the many combinations - cheers!

Unknown said...

Thanks Zyngor! :D

I totally know what you mean about Trample. It is very situational and can only be used every so often. I like it because it is funny and not because it is the most useful thing ever, lol!

I hope all the information and comparisons shows to be useful to you and others. /cheer!

Ravanel said...

Great effort, Danania, and I *love* the pictures!

And you'll have to show me how you make those pro tables! (They always become a bit ugly at my blog and I struggle to get them right.) :D

Unknown said...

Thanks Ravanel! :D

Blogger is not the best at creating its own goodies... I copy/paste the tables from Microsoft Word. I've tried importing from Excel but they don't look as pretty when Blogger gets ahold of them (and both look better than what Blogger comes up with on its own).

Anonymous said...

Fellowship skill (1 hr Duration, 30s CD = always on) Light Horse:
+500 WS power, -10% attack duration, +3% evade

All Mounted skill I know ( RK, Mn, LM ) are instant, Instant -10% seems useless ?

Unknown said...

Great question, Anonymous... I think that will take longer to explain than I have comment box. :)

The short version is that "attack duration" does not affect Inductions. The "instant use" to which you are referring means no skill induction.

I am not the all-knowing concerning "attack duration", but I believe it is referring to a global skill timer that dictates how long skills take to execute (and it is not animation speed).

So, to answer your question, the "-10% attack duration" is not useless for RK/Min/LM, but I do not know the actual affect without doing some testing. Sorry that wasn't more helpful.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this excellent write-up. I've been in the dark about warsteeds and just threw points here or there and left my LI native, not really understanding the legacies.

Im an RK too (fire) and have been riding the heavy for the crit chance. Now that I understand how the light works, Ill try it. I also understand bundles more about just about every aspect of it! Thanks so much for you time in writing up this guide!

Lavender (Landroval)

Unknown said...

You are very welcome Lavender!

Do note though that there will need to be some slight modifications. Since this series of articles was written, Update 11 revamped the yellow line and made each yellow line class specific.

I have not gone back and rewritten the articles yet, but they are directionally correct still. :D

Thanks for the comment!

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