Skill Tree Question

[Gimlisk]

Hello! Again!

I have wondered now and for few days about the skill tree. Is having too many of the skills making your gladiator less likely to active in fights or worth getting? I have mostly, nearly every skill to 3-5 and most wanted ones heading up from 5+. I am thinking of experimenting on one of my new gladiator (5th one) to use skills that I want most and try to somewhat max out, and leave out skills that won't really be needed. But before I even think of that, I wanted to know if having too many skills will effect the gladiators fights.

I've notice in some fights (weather this is effecting from skills) that I get hit way too much and I can barely or not even get a hit in. Witch results me in losing and, when I fight another glad with same weapons & armor, I know that I'm going to lose for some reason.

Is having little skills from skill tree good? Or is it bad and missing out a lot? I've always thought on some skills I have are not that great for what I'm doing, but I still pick them out in case.

If I'm not making sense (habit of doing that..) I can try to re-say what I'm trying to explain.

Thanks!

Regards
Gimlisk

[Kuljem]

Hi.

Depends. Offensive skills will activate only with offensive strategies. Meaning Death from above will never activate if you run "tank" strategy. Defensive will activate with defensive strategies.
Next, more activated skills you want to use, less you will actually use. Like, if you have 4 activated skills, you wont trigger them all at once, or in the same round. You will use 1 skill, perhaps 2 per round.
Some skills have some kind of cooldown. Like Death from above. It can be used every third round. I think. Or every other? Nevermind, the point is that it cannot activate each round.

And btw, if you are losing more and more fights, it's probably not because of how many skills you have, but what strategy you use. Also do realize that the higher you climb in ranks, tougher it will get.

Hope I cleared at least something for you. :)

[weaw]

I think, there is no skills which may interfere to Your success.
Except offensive activated skills.
Some skills of this kind uses one attack as a "payment".
In other words: Your gladiator makes 1 attack per round (for example). If this skill triggered, Your gladiator will use skill and lose their attack.

So, skills like Barreling Attack (it may do nothing at low level, and not only), Signature Moves (it brings an opponent to some special conditions, but do no damage) each may be a pain for You even if these skills are trained at 1.
And especially if Your gladiator uses a heavy weapon or has a low Activity settings.

[weaw]

Offensive skills will activate only with offensive strategies. Meaning Death from above will never activate if you run "tank" strategy. Defensive will activate with defensive strategies.
That's not true.

[Adoede]

I have wondered now and for few days about the skill tree. Is having too many of the skills making your gladiator less likely to active in fights or worth getting? I have mostly, nearly every skill to 3-5 and most wanted ones heading up from 5+. I am thinking of experimenting on one of my new gladiator (5th one) to use skills that I want most and try to somewhat max out, and leave out skills that won't really be needed. But before I even think of that, I wanted to know if having too many skills will effect the gladiators fights.

You only get 100 total skill points to use. And each skill increases in effectiveness exponentially at every level. So a lvl 10 skill is much more effective than a lvl 9 skill. For example, let's say at lvl 9 Adrenaline Rush skill your glad resists damage at 28%. At lvl 10, they would resist damage at 52%. That's a huge difference...nearly double the effectiveness. That's why all the veterans generally choose 10 skills and max them all to 10.

It's a very good idea to map out what 10 or 11 skills you want your glad to focus on and only train in those skills.

As for why you've been losing without getting a chance to attack back - probably because the build you're fighting against is well-suited to beat your glad and has much higher agility/presence than your glad. Most likely, you're fighting a speed build that can knock you down or stun you in the first half-dozen attacks. By the time your glad recovers, they've already lost the match. Part of the problem is that your glad is still young and developing, so doesn't have the gear/skill/hp to effectively ward off the opponent. Not much to do about that but just keep developing them. At the highest levels of the game, nearly every style can be tweaked to defeat nearly every other style and it is all about moves and counter-moves (though some builds are much easier to run effectively than others.)

Some common build types:
Speed Theatrics
Skill Theatrics
Power Hybrid Theatrics
Defensive Wars
Balanced Wars
Offensive Hybrid Wars
Power Rage
Speed Rage
Hit'n'run Rage

* - Tip: Challenge the build types you have a decent chance to win against while you're still young and developing. That'll help your win/loss ratios even out.

[Kuljem]

That's not true.

Well I don't know about you, but i have defensive war in my stable and he has tank strategies and i NEVER EVER saw that he used Death from Above while "tank"-ing.
If you can show me any battle report where your gladiator uses offensive skill while "tank"ing, I'mma buy you 28k trophies pack.

[weaw]

If you can show me any battle report where your gladiator uses offensive skill while "tank"ing...


Ok.

>SETANTHA leaps toward FAE'LANE, brutally slashing with his PRIMEVAL RAPIER OF THE BLOOD GODS.
>SETANTHA paints a picture in the air with his weapon but suddenly the motion changes into something much deadlier! (-Feint-)
>SETANTHA goes for FAE'LANE's sternum and connects with his PRIMEVAL RAPIER OF THE BLOOD GODS inflicting prodigious damage! (+71 Damage)

http://puu.sh/eqAld/5f7431968b.jpg

I'm sorry: My "That's not true", perhaps, sounds too roughly...
In fact, we have no pure defensive style in the PoW. We have no pure offensive...
An offensive skill may works while a gladiator tanking, a defensive skill may works while his owner berserking. It's all what i meant.

[Gimlisk]

Thanks all.

But this is not just about my tank gladiator. It's also applying to all my other gladiators in general. Also, a part from the Offensive and Defensive skills, what about the passive ones? I read the "description"? and I'm not totally sure how they trigger in battle. Do they do the same as the Offensive and Defensive skills or completely different?

Also, as for not able to attack first, I do/have try to use "Opponent Attacks More" but doesn't seem to work that well/much? I've switch the activity level and blood lust around but still can't seem to make my gladiator have the upper hand while using it. I'm still learning the ropes of the Fight Strategy.

Yes, 2 of my gladiators are at a higher bracket and it's becoming a little difficult, trying to figure out what strategy is working and whats not. Gimlisk was doing well before heading into a new bracket, but is sort of falling back to the losing streak. Same with Gimlask, but does a little better than Gimlisk.

Thanks

Regards
Gimlisk

[Kuljem]

Interesting.
So, while tanking you make at least 1 attack per round?
Dayum, you got to tell me that hack. :D

[weaw]

So, while tanking you make at least 1 attack per round?


Yes. Using rapiers and Tank 10/5.
You may try it too.
Just wield a dagger from the Armory, set strategy to Tank 10/* and go to search Your Death from Above... In the Gauntlet.

[Stormcloak]

@Gimlisk,

As Adoede mentioned, you get 100 skill points to use for your build, and each rank you increase a skill significantly improves its effectiveness. Most managers of successful glads run them with 10 skills at rank 10, with a small minority that are running 11 skills (9 at 10 and 2 at 5). It greatly helps if you plan out your build from the start and know where you may want to go. Of course, that may change and evolve, but you should have a good idea for the core or chassis of your build. Make sure you read through the skill trees and understand how it works, and what the prerequisites are to obtain a particular skill (some are class specific, some require a certain number of points already invested in prior class skills). If you check in each of the class forums, you'll find a stickied thread that discusses on "how to make a xyz" where the skills are discussed.

Regarding your inactivity, again Adoede brought up some great points. Also bear in mind what your encumbrance and strategy is. If you are >50% encumbrance, you will be slow on the sands. If you're running all trugs or dunder, they have low initiative. If you're fighting superior glads, you may just be getting overwhelmed. It's also tough because at those mid brackets, some glads are further developed than others.

If you can post your glad race, attributes, skills, equipment, and fight strategy we can offer a little more focussed advice.

Passive skills are ones that are always "on". You don't see them trigger because the effect is always present.

[Kuljem]

Well, well, well... I look like an ass now. :|
My tank gladiator has like 900 battles, and I never seen him attack while tanking....

My sincere apologize, weaw.

[Gimlisk]

-Stormcloak

Thanks, learning more and more about the game. :)
With my first character, I wasn't able to choose a race. So starting race is obvious.

Race: Human
Attributes: 96/82/75/105/75/100/95
Skills: Axe&Maces, Grim Determination, Iron Jaw, Battle Hardened, Master of Arms, Armour Movement, Never Say Die, Called Shot.
Equipment: Heavy Armour, shield, Any Axe or Mace.
Strategy: (Not sure what parts of strategy you want.)

Well, I hope that's enough info? I appreciate the help from anyone.

Regards
Gimlisk

[Stormcloak]

Regarding your skills:
- Taking called shot means that you won't have access to Armoured Fortress (top level war skill). AF is a great skill, but it is perfectly acceptable to make a hybrid warrior and branch out into the other trees. If all you want to do is tank, you want AF, but otherwise you can take it or get skills from the other trees to supplement your offense.
- Weapon skill, Master of Arms (for shield), Battlehardened, Armour Movement are more or less considered as part of the standard warrior chassis.
- Death from Above is absent from your build. It is a great activated attack which deals a lot of damage. Most consider this necessary for a warrior. Your build lacks offense because of this.
- Grim Determination is a good skill, Iron Jaw has mixed reviews.
- Never Say Die is a good skill as well if you're traveling down the war tree.

The problem is I don't see too much focus with what you want to do with this build. Do you want a purely defensive fighter or one that has a bit more offensive capability?
If you want purely defensive, you need to drop called shot and figure out a plan to get Armoured Fortress (with all skills trained to 10). You will also want Intercepting Guard, Light as a Feather, and Create Distance in there. This will also mean dropping maybe Iron Jaw or Grim Determination.

If you want some balance and more offense, then I would suggest:
A&M, Master of Arms, Battlehardened, Death From Above, Armour Movement (that makes 5) and then deciding what else you want.
If you want Light as a Feather to use Heavy Armour, you need at least one more skill in the war tree - either Grim Determination or Never Say Die to give you 60 train points to meet the prerequisite 55. I believe you do, from your other posts, so the suggestion now becomes:
A&M, Master of Arms, Battlehardened, Death From Above, Armour Movement , Never Say Die, Light as a Feather. This gives you 7 skills total. You can then pick up:
-Intercepting Guard, Create Distance, Armoured Fortress
-Devastating Power, Blood Drunk, Brute Force (for offense and skills that work well with strength)
-Devastating Power, Called Shot, and another skill (DP and CS are suspected to work well together)
- (Or other combinations)

Regarding strategy, if you can post your triggers and what you're doing that would help.
What I means is something like:
1) Start, Tank 10/4
2) ....
3) ....
4) Opponenet is moderately tired, Bash 6/6
5) I am slightly injured, Parry-bash 8/4

That way we can see if any triggers are interfering with others.

[Gimlisk]

Well, I am going for more of the tank side, we're I exhaust them, than killing them or damaging them. So basically, my shield is the offensive. ;)

As for my triggers:
1) Start, Tank 8/3
2) I Am Moderately injured, Tank 9/3
3) I Am Moderately Tired, Tank 7/3
4) Opponent Attack More, Tank 6/3

Properly horrible setup, but it's what I've gone with.
But as for my gladiator tank, he will be (hopefully) a hard blocking machine

Regards
Gimlisk.

[Stormcloak]

With tanking, you may as well just set your bloodlust to 1. You're not really going to connect with many attacks, so you may as well save endurance.
There's nothing terrible with your strategy (although line 4 doesn't make much sense - if your opponent attacks more you would want to tank with a higher activity level).
Warrior's tend to be stronger towards the end of a match than the other classes, so as your opponent tires you may consider taking a few swings at him.
Something like this will put that idea into motion and get more aggressive as your opponent tires out:
1) Start, tank 6/1
2) For you to figure out
3) For you to figure out
4) Opponent is moderately tired, Bash 6/6
5) Opponent is slightly tired, Parry-bash 6/6

If you're still set on not attacking at all you could use something similar to what you have. You could also try adding in your opponent activity as triggers and match that up with your activity level while tanking. I don't run purely defensive builds, so perhaps someone else might have some better ideas.
Make sure your equipment matches up with your vision. If you want defense, then look for equipment that gives bonuses to the attributes related to the skills you're using as well as stamina or defense.

[Gimlisk]

Thanks, I will sort out and have a go.
I was mostly heading towards the most defensive style. But I'll take your advice and have a fiddle, and see what happens.

Regards
Gimlisk