Been discussing balance with a friend and it always comes up how STSF+SomeElf = Win. It's pretty apparent right now given their strength in the hero range: Marintok constantly schools groups of villagers, Liantae will raid against groups of Imperials and not blink an eye, and Xeneth can probably beat anyone 1on1 in the game. Some of it is the gear they can get, others are the powers and secondary legacy they get to compliment their builds, but in all essence.... I really don't think any of them fear anything in the game which seems wrong. Every build should have something that beats it or at least gives it a run for their money. Half the time they don't even have to get protections...

So what beats them?

-Almost every other warrior build doesn't work against them - you will not hit them enough in melee, most have geared for saves/stats so you're not dropping their weapons or dexterity. We've seen RBWs get handed their ass left and right... and their output of damage is pretty insanely high. Flurry + riposte, plus whatever their second spec gives... it's not gonna happen. When they run into groups of 3-4 without protections and kill a few, it shows.
-Large APs don't exist anymore... I guess you could just spam cleave and be a dick.
-Assassins probably have to rely on assassinate, I don't see martial trance doing anything here.
-Thieves... maaaaybe a binder or poisoner, but they don't exist right now and take a crazy amount of luck and/or prep. Even with that luck, I don't see them actually beating someone like Xeneth who even barehanded will wreck you.
-Transmuters might have a shot here, but landing neuro spam on these guys is pretty much a huge gamble. If you look at their gear, most have -100 or more saves or even have things like Flow to make it worse. Locking people in who can dodge spells, with crazy saves, is a gamble you won't win most of the time. Some of it could be just following them around catching them with their pants down.
-Shamans, same problem with saves. I can't think of a path that handles them well and I've tried nearly all of them. Even when the venom path was crazy strong before changes I had a very very hard time as Soviatos.
-Necros... mummy gets his ass beat regularly by them. Maybe a Lich but again, doesn't exist.
-Invokers probably have a small shot, but invokers in general are never much of a threat for killing. Most of them have this covered somehow (crushing hand, pincer, etc) and I doubt the output of an invoker beats pure melee ownage the whole time you're fighting. In a group, you might get it while someone keeps them busy, but have you ever tried keeping a STSF-elf in place when fighting a group versus one? Anti-gank code is incredible with this.
-Paladins... a lot like the invoker, just spam wrath... probably won't kill them and you're risking a lot sticking around while STSF builds up.
-Orcs ironically have a lot of promise here. Trek did fairly well, but it's a lot of RNG to see what lands and when.
-Rangers have not done much here... I seem to remember that felar reaver with insects/wasps doing ok, but most get their ass beat - you can't win in melee.
-Conjurer hasn't shown itself in a long while, not sure what happened here. I guess a super buff elemental/demon could maybe break through but you have to actually survive long enough for it to matter.
-Bards, I haven't seen much from them on this front. I remember Kregan trying to distort without much luck and you're not doing enough until STSF builds up.
-Shifters.... you don't win in melee. I can't think of a form that'd do well here, even with a/b/s.
-Druid has some power here, the beetle/etc can bring some pain and you've got spells that do a lot of pain. As long as you prep like crazy, probably got more luck here than a paladin.


Anyways, this was more of just a mental exercise for myself. I guess a few classes have some chances but it's few and far between. The most dominant pkers as of late have mostly been STSF warriors - even with the recent changes, I highly doubt we're gonna see a polearm giant dominate them... STSF charges just generate quicker and you will not win in melee. So I guess at this point, I'll hear a bunch of people say "you're wrong, play one!" but I really don't enjoy warriors... think my last one was Mubs. The limitation on what you actually do is too much for me to enjoy (same reason I don't do paladins who spam wrath).

So what's your build/combo that you think would beat them regularly?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2015 03:53PM by torak.