Beside Slamming, do Armsmen use their shields a lot during RVR?

It just dawned on me that if Armsmen use their sword/shield a lot during RVR fights, I'll need to keep two separate weapon styles on my hot bars.

Do Armsmen use their Polearms most of the time during RVR?

Tue 5 Feb 2019 3:50 PM by Gatlgard

You swap a lot. Pole has some excellent positionals and a slam stun is a good way to set them up. You're also going to have a shield out if you're guarding someone, or if you're on the defensive, or approaching an archer or bolt caster.

Tue 5 Feb 2019 3:55 PM by DinoTriz

So is it just better if a noob casual like myself just roll a Warrior instead? One hand and two hand use the same styles, so it's less hot bar clutter.

Dammit, but I like Albion so much. Midgard is so cold and gloomy.

I need some sunshine.

Tue 5 Feb 2019 4:42 PM by Dimir

DinoTriz wrote: ↑
Tue 5 Feb 2019 3:55 PM
So is it just better if a noob casual like myself just roll a Warrior instead? One hand and two hand use the same styles, so it's less hot bar clutter.

Dammit, but I like Albion so much. Midgard is so cold and gloomy.

I need some sunshine.

Eh you should be totally fine to put all your styles on a single bar, you won't use that many. Use your mouse/keyboard program of choice and make a macro that tries to do for example, both the Pole and 1h weapon anytime style at the same time and the correct one will succeed. And before you ask yes that is allowed.

Tue 5 Feb 2019 4:48 PM by DinoTriz

Dimir wrote: ↑
Tue 5 Feb 2019 4:42 PM
DinoTriz wrote: ↑
Tue 5 Feb 2019 3:55 PM
So is it just better if a noob casual like myself just roll a Warrior instead? One hand and two hand use the same styles, so it's less hot bar clutter.

Dammit, but I like Albion so much. Midgard is so cold and gloomy.

I need some sunshine.

Eh you should be totally fine to put all your styles on a single bar, you won't use that many. Use your mouse/keyboard program of choice and make a macro that tries to do for example, both the Pole and 1h weapon anytime style at the same time and the correct one will succeed. And before you ask yes that is allowed.

This is a good idea. Really at end game RVR, you won't need to use a lot of 1 hander styles either, correct? Shield slam and an anytime, the rest should be Polearm styles?

Tue 5 Feb 2019 4:55 PM by Dimir

DinoTriz wrote: ↑
Tue 5 Feb 2019 4:48 PM
Dimir wrote: ↑
Tue 5 Feb 2019 4:42 PM
DinoTriz wrote: ↑
Tue 5 Feb 2019 3:55 PM
So is it just better if a noob casual like myself just roll a Warrior instead? One hand and two hand use the same styles, so it's less hot bar clutter.

Dammit, but I like Albion so much. Midgard is so cold and gloomy.

I need some sunshine.

Eh you should be totally fine to put all your styles on a single bar, you won't use that many. Use your mouse/keyboard program of choice and make a macro that tries to do for example, both the Pole and 1h weapon anytime style at the same time and the correct one will succeed. And before you ask yes that is allowed.

This is a good idea. Really at end game RVR, you won't need to use a lot of 1 hander styles either, correct? Shield slam and an anytime, the rest should be Polearm styles?

Except for a snare style and maybe any time style yeah.

Tue 5 Feb 2019 6:23 PM by DinoTriz

Thanks for the help, one more thing:

How would you setup those macros?

Slash and Polearm both have side snares, so it would be nice to macro two anytime styles and two side snare styles together.

I think that could work.

Tue 5 Feb 2019 8:26 PM by Dimir

DinoTriz wrote: ↑
Tue 5 Feb 2019 6:23 PM
Thanks for the help, one more thing:

How would you setup those macros?

Slash and Polearm both have side snares, so it would be nice to macro two anytime styles and two side snare styles together.

I think that could work.

It depends on what mouse or keyboard you have. If you have a generic version of both you can use AutoHotkey (a program) but you'll have to search around for an example because I don't use it, though the general principal is the same:

You take a single button/key and have it press two keys at the same time. So if this was a mouse with side buttons you would change one of those side buttons to try to press say, 4 and 5 at the same time, where 4 is your 1h side snare and 5 is your 2h side snare.

Tue 5 Feb 2019 11:15 PM by boom-mug

Use the in game qbind feature so you can map keys like R, T, G, H, X, Z etc to styles.

Tue 5 Feb 2019 11:20 PM by Cadebrennus

You definitely want to swap to sword & board with a really fast mainhand weapon if you want to apply style effects (hinder/snare, ASR, etc.) quickly and aren't too concerned about damage.

Tue 12 Feb 2019 4:56 AM by Kaozium

Use Polearm anytime snare + shield Slam correctly and you'll be an above average peeler already.
Don't worry about other styles until you get comfortable with them, that would be my advice.
When you feel alright with swapping, start using polearm back style (phalanx) and maybe Thrust style basilisk fang to reduce the dps of an attacker while guarding a buddy.
The mastery of an armsman is more about your position, assist, defense-offense trade-off an knowing who/when to slam and who/when to snare, than it is about mastering weird reactive styles. In a group that is. Dueling is another story.

- Paw, rr6+ arms

Tue 12 Feb 2019 3:22 PM by Cythraul

Shield question so I thought I'd add it to this thread.

What size shield are you rocking in RvR? I assumed large was simply the way to go to block vs multiple attackers, and the Dragon shield is 3.0 spd meaning I can throw out the slams more quickly. Someone in my guild mentioned that a small shield would be better due to lower end usage of slam, which was determined by shield size alone.

What are you guys using?

Tue 12 Feb 2019 3:27 PM by Durrty

Shield size doesn't matter when guarding a player, however it affects how many attacks you can block onto yourself.

Use a small shield for rvr, if they target you swap to a large shield.

Tue 12 Feb 2019 3:36 PM by Cythraul

Didn't realize size doesn't matter for guard, that changes a lot. Thanks for the info!

Wed 13 Feb 2019 7:49 AM by Cadebrennus

Small shields also have a shorter delay between Slam and whatever weapon you are swinging after the Slam.

Wed 13 Feb 2019 10:39 AM by Sepplord

Durrty wrote: ↑
Tue 12 Feb 2019 3:27 PM
Shield size doesn't matter when guarding a player, however it affects how many attacks you can block onto yourself.

Use a small shield for rvr, if they target you swap to a large shield.

How many attackers do there need to be to be worth swapping to the large shield?

Is it like PvE if you are targeted directly? And if yes, is small -3 / medium - 6 / large - 9 targets correct?

Wed 13 Feb 2019 2:51 PM by Durrty

Sepplord wrote: ↑
Wed 13 Feb 2019 10:39 AM
Durrty wrote: ↑
Tue 12 Feb 2019 3:27 PM
Shield size doesn't matter when guarding a player, however it affects how many attacks you can block onto yourself.

Use a small shield for rvr, if they target you swap to a large shield.

How many attackers do there need to be to be worth swapping to the large shield?

Is it like PvE if you are targeted directly? And if yes, is small -3 / medium - 6 / large - 9 targets correct?

Yes