To Anyone wanting to build a TL5 for war: Version 2

[noobas]

I am sometimes wrong about things, so I'll address this topic again.

First off, I'd like to encourage anyone who wishes to participate and help the org in TL5 war or below to first consider a few things.

TL5 war is cutthroat - there is no shortage of extremely well put together twinks both on clan side and Omni side

There are many people who have trod this path, who have learned what works and what doesn't, and by all means we should attempt to use what knowledge has already been discerned in our builds.

TL5 PVP is one of the last level ranges where mass PVP is dominated by class diversification, and not individual cookie cutter builds of specific highly overpowered profs. Tl5 is limited to some extent to level limits due to Omni activity and TL7 support.

Clan, for the most part, has a strong contingent of 150-158's who can overpower, with sheer numbers, some of Omni's higher level twinks that, 1 on 1, would most surely destroy any 150.

Here is the basic level breakdown:

150 - the lowest TL5 level: a poor choice in general for a war twink due to lack of IP, inability to max key skills (duck), access to NR gear, and access to S7 belt. But, useful if you intend to participate in 101-150 battlestation, farm/spend time in S10, and do duels against other PVM twinks.

158 - the highest level that is still out of range of level 200's - a good choice as the lowest level war twink in your stable - has access to the 158-200 battlestation, has access to S7 gear and items, and has access to living symbs which for any artillery /support prof is major boost.

164 - the highest level that is still out of range of 207's. A good choice as the highest level war twink in your stable. Has a lot more IP than 158's, has access to 1 more SL perk (and easy shot for traders), and has access to persisting symbs which for infantry and artillery profs is a big boost


So what prof do I choose????

At 158, some profs work better than others.

Traders - level 158 is probably as close as you can get to being the last best level for traders - they are short on IP at 150, which means by 158 they can flesh out some key components in their toolset, have access to living support brain, living artillery RW (if wanted), and a few other key slots for symbs that will greatly enable a stronger defensive build, while retaining reasonably strong offence. A standard setup for a trader might be 264 CS paired with all high NR adding gear (dalja skirt/mystical force/mark of kingfisher/shroud of darkest night/S7 ring/ etc, with a scope to bring down AS recharge)

Doctors - a strongly supportive doctor is the norm these days: marebit0, dokkie (small one) among others come to mind - these builds focus on defence HP and nanoskills to ensure survival. Perks go exclusively to specialist healing and anything adding nanoskills to either remove drains, enable casting while drained, and HP. Damage dealing is irrelevant in war, as other profs will provide kills. (If you're rich, you can use a arbalest with a scope for very decent kill support, but it's not "expected")

Crats - crat can either go offensive or support and both setups work. offensive means CSS armour with a dreadloch pistol paired with a onehander and scope - which is nice killpower, but seriously lacks NR and nano AR for landing roots. The alternate setup is CS armour with NR and aims to have high dodge/NR and high nanoskills to land roots. This setup can use a briefcase (undrainable attack skill of psychology), or an Ithaca for AS and a bit of evades. Other very decent options are union arbalest+scope for decent AS/kill support which retaining good root/snare AR

Soldiers - primary offensive profs for making kills in war. use standard AR setup for soldier with a scope/yatamutchy for reasonable kill capability even while rooted. Use OFAB armour in chest/hands/legs for good HP/AR balance, khaeler sleeves are fine, CC in Boots/hat. Alternate setups are good (full CC with scope for rifle burst/FA/AS swap), supernova swap for ofab setup

Agent - Agent can opt for FP doc and use a cheaper (reactive armour) support setup with a scope and some nano adding gear to ensure casting of top doc buffs (LC). SPS will always do reasonable AS's and skill to cap recharge is 945 AS skill I think, which you can get in your sleep, An AS totem setup is ok, but really isn't ideal, an FP doc agent is completely disabled with one debuff (drain/UBT). So probably the better way to go is with an all out offensive setup with full/close to full CSS, scope and a 225-250 cobra, and use either no mimic for best agent stun/root AR, or trader mimic with minimal IP spent in nanoskills, maxed sharp objects to increase alpha power (fling/AS/feast/fuzz/SO), with so-so agent stun AR/drain AR and root AR.

Fixer - very strong at 158 with appropriate buffs and setup. Many good options exist, but popular ones are: fantaghiro (burst FA) best IP wise, CSS/scope with onehander paired with EITHER a MK5 hawk (very hard to do), or a Kyr'ozch machine pistol - a very good choice which gives steady hits, frees up loads of IP, and still has AS (but the AS here is weak, whereas the fantaghiro FA has low AR but can do nice dmg vs towers.... a reasonable tradeoff) at 164 the onehander/KMP/hawk becomes more applicable IP wise.

Enforcer - can do 300 ofab at 164. at 158 is ok but significantly stronger defensively at 164.

Keeper - can do 300 ofab at 164. at 158 keeper can be good - offers good team buffs, and have decent AR with a 264 CM+275 Ofab armour, but I don't know any that have done this build.

Advy - doesn't gain that much from 158 to 164 and still locked on howl of the wolf (until 165 unfortunately), strong defensively as melee or ranged, ranged probably a better bet overall for war and has a fast recharging special alpha. A good prof to take to 170 to gain significantly defensively and offensively, but only as a second toon, ie. play on advy till dead by twink killer then log your lowby.

NT - OK, better to play as glass cannon and go all out for MC skill and high NI, and just blast doubles and hope to eliminate a few people before getting called. Defensive builds are ok, but don't add a lot of survival. If you have NS2 and defensive nanos from school quest you can pay defensively just using blinds and roots... but I've heard there are many exploits to get rid of the blind 'effect' which means the blind only affects AR and not player vision.

Engi - a great toon at 150 through to 164 has many different setups, but can build AMEP, or just use a 200-225 peregrine and do great pistol dmg. pets add a lot of damage on towers and blockers are extremely useful (casting before fight).

MP - good defensively, but really only useful then as a debuffer. Offensive setups aren't as strong as other more offensive classes like soldier/agent/advy/enf. Pets can do decent DPS on towers even in a defensive setup.

Shades/MA's short range on weaps mean extremely limited in war, MA using bow swap can be effective. Shade dmg on towers is near unbeatable (275/225 viper possible which with some dmg buffs (sold/keeper) can put serious hurt on people in range and towers), in general you don't see MA's or shades at TL5 war.

[Crash]

Very nice post, noobas.

edit: So if I wanted to shoot for a 158 WarDoc, would I be expected to sink IP & cash into weps, or is it better to just go Fist?

[noobas]

definitely not fist.

The best bet for a war doc is defensive setup with lots of HP.

This can mean a bit of expense on AI armour (CM is best), paired with 2 of these:

http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=249016

The setup is still remarkably cheap.

But, this is an ideal weap because the 40+40 = 80 AAD really helps on avoiding big capping hits like full auto.

the 80 evade close will make less of a difference, but it'll fill a hole if you use stuff like

http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=224083

the benefit of a setup like this is that you can really load up on HP and evades without really sacrificing much, meaning, lots of perks spent in defensive lines, lots of staying power with really good NR, good evades, and good HP.

you won't kill anything, but that's not the point.

[Crash]

I may have misspoke when I said "Fist". (?) I meant an MA Doc, sans weps.

I get that Docs are a 100% support class in war, but is it viable to absolutely ignore all offensive weps, or will I regret that when I try to solo PvM for social reasons or in support of a PvP habit?

I've read about MA Docs, but all the posts are soooo old. Dunno if they can be trusted to reflect current state of AO.

edit: Ok, I think I'm being a little dense. Maybe shotty until 158, then IP reset for war twink?

edit2: Yeah, I'm being dense. After looking at those items more closely & thinking about it, makes sense now.

[noobas]

Well, look, there's two different PVP setups: there's war setups... and non war setups.

War setups are quite simple, basically you make your toon for a specific purpose, and that's all it's good for: support is healing/survival only.

In Tl5 war, a doctor who can stay alive for say 3 minutes while being called, could EASILY be the reason why your side wins.

Whereas, a doctor who contributes to a kill using an arbalest (more offensive setup), but dies in the first minute of play due to focussing on helping make the kill is cannon fodder.

See, I am planning to make some cannonfodder - exactly that. a doc with an arbalest. why? because I will play my trader with a few cannon fodders on follow so there'll be a better target than my trader to aim at initially.

If I can make a kill with him before he dies, great. but I can't heal on a doc, drain on a trader, and fight well on 2 other soldiers as well all at the same time, it's just too much.

But if it's your only toon, you might want to go the route of an arbalest. Imamedic built a very nice 150 doctor with an arbalest who was pretty hard to kill, and was also good one on one - but he spent a lot of time just PVPing for fun, so he got good at that kind of thing.

Most people who built war toons build the toon for the specific purpose of the role they choose in war - and outside that venue the toon might not see a lot of use.

Take my trader for example: she's mostly useless, except in war due to a heavy NR/nanoskill setup that really only works when loaded with OSB's and rolling with a group.

[Crash]

Yep. Got it now.

I'm still trying to internalize that AO is very different than SWTOR & TSW in how leveling happens, as well as the relationship of PvE to PvP. In both of those games you can (and I did) level almost entirely from PvP.

That's part of why I'm having a hard time getting engaged in AO atm. PvE just ain't my thing, but it's a pre-req to PvP in AO. Combine that with very intense work demands & I just don't log into AO when getting home. There is no "log on for 3 PvP matches", then go to bed. I did however meet a mountain lion at work today, so at least there's that.

[tommytanker]

Couldn't explain it better Noobas
Don't forget to also is to make sure that you can cast the best heals even when double drained. You will never die! (unless you get zerged lol)