Cadebrennus wrote: ↑Wed 29 Apr 2020 10:06 AM
Thrust Mercs are one of the best peelers in game. In a smallman/8man there's no reason for a Merc to be anything other than Thrust specced. Properly specced a Merc has an anytime snare that can be combined with positional Shield stuns or Numb to set up snares/etc. Dirty Tricks will absolutely ruin a Vendo'ed Zerker's day. It is pure hilarity to watch a Vendo'ed Zerker just whiff half of his swings and completely waste his timered ability.
The problem with this game aren't the classes or the realms. The problem with this game are the players.
Learn the intricacies of your class instead of complaining about the generalities of it.
(Long) part of a conversation via PM, posted here by Cade's request, slightly off topic:
Thrust Merc:
I agree that the thrust snare combo is a nice tool, providing a nasty tool for peeling. But there are a few problems that occur with this specc. Tbh, I don't play merc myself, but I have a guild group in which we used to run with mercs, so I'm taking the experiences from my friends into consideration, not my own on this server.
As a peeler, Merc brings, if thrust specced, a decent enough snare style to the group. But the two-part chain comes with a few disadvantages, first thing beeing that there is no to-hit bonus on the opener, resulting in a miss chance of 15%. This is comparable to the hammer snare in midgard, but this is a back style, easier to land than a two-part chain and possible to back up with the side snare, which has a medium to-hit bonus.
Especially vs a Hib group that, at least in an 8man scenario, always runs a warden with red bladeturn, the chain can be difficult to land, because you need to get off three hits in a row (bladeturn, opener, snare), or four if you want to use the numb trick. When engaging mids, it is easier, because they normally run blue pbt. But still, you have to hit at least three times in a row. Imagining the standard savage with evade buff up, peeling him with a chain is difficult. On top of that comes already mentioned lack of a to-hit bonus on the opener. So, peeling comes with a few disadvantages due to the chain, but the reward is high if you manage to land it.
But if we are talking peelers, merc needs to be compared with other possible peelers, arms or paly.
Paly brings chants, 2h-peels from side and back with decent to-hit bonuses, and the possibility of thrust specc to the table, but has no Stoicism and is therefore easier to CC. Regarding snares, he is at a better spot than merc, because he has access to the long thrust combo, as well as the positionals in 2h that allow for decent dps while peeling. So, he has the same styles than the merc, some utility with the resists/da/af chant and the possibility to dps a target he is peeling at the same time, but is easier to cc.
Arms has access to the anytime snare crippling blow with a short snare duration, but it is ridiculously easy to land. Only thing you have to do is make sure you destroy the bt before switching to pole to land the snare, so you don't have to wait for the next swing. In addition, the back chain offers a long peel with high dmg. In general, arms offers a lot of dps with its snare styles, very likely forcing a tank to retreat if hit more than 2 times. He has access to the same thrust styles, although it is not as popular. One of our armsmen is thrust/pole specc, but uses the chain rarely, mostly vs. mids. In other 8 mans it is literally nonexistent, because in most scenarios, a direct snare is better than a long snare after a chain, because you have to be quick getting those tanks of your squishy casters. On top of the good pole styles and the possibility to specc the same snare than thrust merc, Arms brings a ton of utility to a group, being able to specc Dashing Defense and Soldier's Barricade.
Taking all this into consideration, merc is actually the "worst" of the three peelers, mainly due to lacking the one-part snare, but also because he has not much built-in utility except dirty tricks, while paly brings a lot of goodies with the chants and arms brings dps while peeling, in addition to powerful defensive ras.
Another thing that has to be taken into consideration when talking about mercs is that they are albs light tanks, offering - in theory - high melee dps. If you look at other light tanks, most of them will chase their targets around using positional snares, ensuring that they don't get away. Once prevent flight proccs, they can start using follow-ups to give more dps. A thrust merc can't spam snare, because you break it every time you reapply the first part of the chain, and solely relying on prevent flight is not viable in an 8man scenario. That way the merc lacks offensive capabilities that bms and zerkers bring to the table.