Valewalker a good solo class? - Phoenix Freeshard

Is valewalker good for solo? It seems they are not played much.

Sat 19 Jan 2019 9:28 AM by Druth

Fine solo class, problem is the same as playing most non-speed visibel classes solo.

Groups will gank you.
Duos will roll you.
And stealthers will zerg you.

The few normal fights you get will depend on skill, but VW is pretty strong in those fights.

Sat 19 Jan 2019 6:32 PM by Renork

HardTechno wrote: ↑
Sat 19 Jan 2019 8:38 AM
Is valewalker good for solo? It seems they are not played much.

Instead of simply telling you that the class is not great in most environments in its current state, i'll just list the pro's and con's. This is from my perspective, I have played the class for a long time on live (not just simply i50 rr5/rr11).

Pros's

-Lifetap (obviously you won't be casting as fast as a true caster unless you invest heavily into aug. dex or MoA, but it's not really worth going heavy into those just for ----ONE spell)
-Absorb buff
-Disease proc (when/if it procs...)
-Side/Rear stun
-Good damage (damaging grasp has a very high GR).
-Ichor is nice

Con's

-LOW hp (hybrid problem)
-Abysmal AF (having 33 absorb is great, but your low AF is still a big problem. Plenty of times people will say you have "plate absorb"!! but you don't have the AF that goes along with that absorb. Wiz/runnie bolts will eat you very, very fast.
-No snare/hinder styles (if you're soloing you can use your insta-snare, but probably should avoid using it in a group). Being able to snare is not a "group" only problem, you can solo kite effectively on live with foxfire (backsnare, gain distance and LT kite away, impossible here of course).
-LONG style chains (Conflag = 4 styles, grasping roots = 3 styles, blizzard blade = 3 styles).
-The 3-second style window is awful here, so you should stick to fast scythes if you want to pull off your reactionaries.
-Blizzard blade is wonderful damage, but it IS lv29 (you'll need some MOF), and WILL break cc around you. If you're soloing, then breaking CC will not be a big problem.
-No Dodger
-In group play slam (9s) > a positional stun
-Arb. shield does not seem to block arrows 60% of the time.
-Recasting all your buffs is annoying :^)

Just like in Uthgard, valewalkers are in the top 3 least played classes in the game. There is no "skill" involved, the only thing you need to learn is how to run-through stun people, which is very easy to learn.

That being said, the class is still very much playable, it's just not very effective in its current state. If you want to solo, I suggest a reaver since nothing really beats a reaver that knows how to run through levi you (alternatively slam + levi levi levi levi levi if purge is down). Champ debuffs are painful in solo fights too if you want to stick to Hib.

Hopefully that helps!

Mon 21 Jan 2019 7:44 PM by opossum12

HardTechno wrote: ↑
Sat 19 Jan 2019 8:38 AM
Is valewalker good for solo? It seems they are not played much.

If you are able to land side stun chain in solo combat, VWs rock. You can 1v2-3 a lot of stuff out there. You also have ichor to root, get distance and lifetap.

It does take some dancing skills though.

Mon 21 Jan 2019 8:44 PM by Renork

opossum12 wrote: ↑
Mon 21 Jan 2019 7:44 PM
HardTechno wrote: ↑
Sat 19 Jan 2019 8:38 AM
Is valewalker good for solo? It seems they are not played much.

If you are able to land side stun chain in solo combat, VWs rock. You can 1v2-3 a lot of stuff out there. You also have ichor to root, get distance and lifetap.

It does take some dancing skills though.

Landing a3 part style chain on someone that is not stunned means not only are you dancing and hoping the other player doesn't know how to backpedal to stop you, but you also have to pray that you don't miss or get evaded, blocked, parried or simply get BB resisted. If you are winning fights against multiple players, I'm highly impressed. Especially because an i50 vw with a full template was sitting around 1350-1400 hp WITH buff bots/str con charge. Not sure what mediocre duo or trio wouldn't be able to burn through that a few seconds, but everything is situational. Ichor is also on a 10 minute RUT, but some people rely 100% on their actives and will just hide until they're up, so it is certainly possible to play that way I suppose. This game is 18? years old now, it is unlikely that you will face "fresh" soloers that won't expect you to try to dance/run through stun them.

Mon 21 Jan 2019 9:28 PM by opossum12

Renork wrote: ↑
Mon 21 Jan 2019 8:44 PM
opossum12 wrote: ↑
Mon 21 Jan 2019 7:44 PM
HardTechno wrote: ↑
Sat 19 Jan 2019 8:38 AM
Is valewalker good for solo? It seems they are not played much.

If you are able to land side stun chain in solo combat, VWs rock. You can 1v2-3 a lot of stuff out there. You also have ichor to root, get distance and lifetap.

It does take some dancing skills though.

Landing a3 part style chain on someone that is not stunned means not only are you dancing and hoping the other player doesn't know how to backpedal to stop you, but you also have to pray that you don't miss or get evaded, blocked, parried or simply get BB resisted. If you are winning fights against multiple players, I'm highly impressed. Especially because an i50 vw with a full template was sitting around 1350-1400 hp WITH buff bots/str con charge. Not sure what mediocre duo or trio wouldn't be able to burn through that a few seconds, but everything is situational. Ichor is also on a 10 minute RUT, but some people rely 100% on their actives and will just hide until they're up, so it is certainly possible to play that way I suppose. This game is 18? years old now, it is unlikely that you will face "fresh" soloers that won't expect you to try to dance/run through stun them.

I'm not a pro, but when you combine a 3.7 scythe with the 48 Arb haste buff (39%) and you focus on landing BB chain (and don't bother with the reactionary chains), it rips through stealthers really fast. Tanks (warriors/arms) will 3 shot you though, so better not let them get close.

Tue 22 Jan 2019 5:01 AM by Renork

opossum12 wrote: ↑
Mon 21 Jan 2019 9:28 PM
Renork wrote: ↑
Mon 21 Jan 2019 8:44 PM
opossum12 wrote: ↑
Mon 21 Jan 2019 7:44 PM
If you are able to land side stun chain in solo combat, VWs rock. You can 1v2-3 a lot of stuff out there. You also have ichor to root, get distance and lifetap.

It does take some dancing skills though.

Landing a3 part style chain on someone that is not stunned means not only are you dancing and hoping the other player doesn't know how to backpedal to stop you, but you also have to pray that you don't miss or get evaded, blocked, parried or simply get BB resisted. If you are winning fights against multiple players, I'm highly impressed. Especially because an i50 vw with a full template was sitting around 1350-1400 hp WITH buff bots/str con charge. Not sure what mediocre duo or trio wouldn't be able to burn through that a few seconds, but everything is situational. Ichor is also on a 10 minute RUT, but some people rely 100% on their actives and will just hide until they're up, so it is certainly possible to play that way I suppose. This game is 18? years old now, it is unlikely that you will face "fresh" soloers that won't expect you to try to dance/run through stun them.

I'm not a pro, but when you combine a 3.7 scythe with the 48 Arb haste buff (39%) and you focus on landing BB chain (and don't bother with the reactionary chains), it rips through stealthers really fast. Tanks (warriors/arms) will 3 shot you though, so better not let them get close.

Unlikely that a competent sb/infil will let you do that to them, especially since 9/10 times they’ll be the ones opening on you. Disease/backpedal is all you need to laugh at a vdub trying to dance. Also, unless you go for purge 5 and hide every 5 minutes, you’ll be eating plenty of DF’s.

Tue 22 Jan 2019 6:14 PM by Lanfear

all of that does not read like a VW is a fun class to play in RvR.

Tue 22 Jan 2019 7:00 PM by Renork

Lanfear wrote: ↑
Tue 22 Jan 2019 6:14 PM
all of that does not read like a VW is a fun class to play in RvR.

Fun is subjective. There's people that play smite clerics and have fun, so you can still play a vdub and have fun. But, realistically they are not a superior solo class. If you strictly want to solo, then I would suggest a sin. No speed makes soloing on a visible very hard in the first place. If you want to play a visible, then anything with slam (9s anytime stun) will work well.