Hey all!

Let's do a PvP seminar this month. Come out and discuss, ask questions, and exchange ideas about how to PvP as a Warrior Mage. Here are some notes to consider:

The gold standard WM PvP base strat (according to me) is the following. You will want to vary it sometimes but this is more or less your best set of moves.

Have all your defensive buffs up, plus Substratum.
Have Rimfang up.
Have Blumfar Garaen (BG) and Dragon's Breath (DB) precast.
Have Ice Patch (IP) Pre-prepped.
Open by engaging your target and casting IP.
Prep BG at 100 mana immediately.
Spam all your BG attacks. (removes Manifest Force and cuts into the vitality shield, hopefully)
Spit DB. (probably a couple seconds too early to recast BG before spitting) You should be at melee range by this point, or a little before.

Hopefully you've procced a stun with the Dragon's Breath or a blade from Rimefang, for more hard CC.

Cast BG, and target LB.

Unload the second set of BG attacks, then cast LB.

Best case, your target died some time in that process and you can stop. Failing that, your target's somehow alive but in no condition to put up a fight and you can mop them up. If neither of those two things is true and you did all the steps, you know you are at a big deficit in this matchup. Retreat to another room to recast BG and get set to play cat and mouse until you can take the initiative again.

Successful PvP as a Warrior Mage is all about seizing initiative with hard CC and then abusing every tool you have to dump a ton of damage on your opponent while they can't move to stop you. Any spells that do't fit into that plan are either bad for PvP (that is, you would be in a stronger position just following the plan) or a response to a situation that shuts that strategy down (opponent is a Warrior Mage using Aether Cloak, has lots of stealth, is a Cleric, etc).

There can be variations. One variation could be opening with Vertigo since a capped Vertigo will give the target pulsing balance hits, an OF penalty, and will likely knock them down several times - and the effects can last over a minute. You potentially sacrifice the initiative but you gain some breathing room if things don't go as well as you'd like. You could also replace Lightning Bolt with Vertigo in the chain above since it's soft CC and won't trigger diminishing returns. Lots of good options with Vertigo.

Another variation would be opening with an area cast Shockwave instead of IP. You could do that when fighting a Thief to, if your timing is good, stop them from getting to melee in hiding and bring them out so you can attack. If you have any business fighting the person you're fighting you should be able to hit them with a fully targeted Shockwave, so it's a reliable way to get them out of hiding. If you can't see them coming at you you're in a bad spot and relying on your sense of timing and some luck, but this is at least an option.

If you're facing a cleric, you're mostly hoping they mess up or that you outclass them a lot. Good luck, I guess.

We'll talk about all that in more detail plus much more at the meeting!

Mazrian

>>Is it worth closing to melee? Is it just to hold engagement, or to attempt to use our (secondary skillset) weapons?<<

Closing to melee is to get an accuracy bonus, maybe hit with Rimefang, and make it harder for them to leave the room if they jump up and try to run. I would only try to use weapons if I had like...really good Light Thrown to throw blades or really good Crossbow to drop another bomb while the target is disabled.

>>What role does a TM focus play over weapon use?<<

If you have one and have all the tools to execute the above I'd use the focus.

>>What are your thoughts about throwing out a Tremor on the room, since the effect pulses for a substantial amount of time? Seems to be an oft-forgotten spell. Similar question with setting up MAB for more passive attacks.<<

IDK. Each of those things kind of ties you to standing and fighting in one room, which is dicy for a Warrior Mage in an even match. If you're going to stand and fight and your opponent is hiding then the balance debuff from Tremor is good. MAB has to be aimed by hand and reloaded by hand. You could maybe make it work but to me it seems more like a gimmick play.

Mazrian

>>If I'm fighting as a WM, going for the throat, I arrive with EE up, PW the enemy to melee, grapple, Ice Patch, LB until dead.<<

That will work if you outclass them enough to land a grapple and tank whatever they can throw at you. But if you can do those things you're going to win with whatever.

Mazrian

You can shove, you can brawl back, you can cast spells at the person grappling you, you can straight up slip yourself out of the grapple, etc.

Mazrian

TBH, maneuvers against a grapple are impacted heavily by balance, so being prone prevents more than you'd expect. Plus, that flat defensive penalty also impacts defending if I remember right. Having someone prone, nerves shot, and grappled will make rather quick work of them with LB, though going in with DB and BG precast is never, ever a bad idea.

Each success on EE increases the margin of the following success, so while you might not be getting max success on your first pulse or two, you can rapidly climb to max damage per pulse very quickly. And lets not act like this is 2.x pvp. Evenly matched fights last TOO long, now, if anything. EE has time to climb.

>>I mean, the run-away and tag your opponent while never going melee tactic is annoying, too, from my perspective (paladin), but it was less annoying than the lol, I melee better than you and you can't touch me tactic.<<

That sounds hilarious. Though if he was making that work against a Paladin, he had a pretty solid numerical advantage.



Mazrian