Shadow Warrior
From TheWarWiki
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| Shadow Warrior | |
| Realm: | Order |
| Home: | Lothern |
| Zone: | Chrace |
| Type: | Humanoids |
| Subtype: | Elves |
| Levels: | 1-40 |
- "Since the time of the Sundering, the Shadow Warriors have served as an indispensable resource to the Phoenix King and the armies of Ulthuan. As the eyes and ears of Ulthuan's military, these Elves range far a wide. Any that claim the High Elves as enemies must remain watchful for these stealthy warriors. The Shadow Warriors have long since cemented their loyalty to the Phoenix King through ancient oaths and acts of bravery, they have come to be distrusted, if not out right abhorred, by some of the very people they strive to protect. It is said that when unleashed upon the enemy, the Elves of Nagarythe reveal a sinister nature, becoming just as brutal and merciless as any of Dark Elves they are obsessed with punishing."
Overview
When Malekith rose up in treacherous revolt against the Phoenix King and his servants, the majority of his followers came from the area of Ulthuan known as Nagarythe. Before the civil war that irrevocably divided the Elven people, Nagarythe is said to have been the greatest of all the kingdoms of Ulthuan. It was from Nagarythe that the first Phoenix King, Aenarion the Defender, held court. There were some Elves of Nagarythe that believed Malekith unfit to rule, and chose instead to support Bel-Shanaar as Aenarion's successor.
Though he was eventually defeated and forced to flee the lands of his birth, Malekith was not without resources. At the end of the civil war, the Sorceresses in the Witch King's service cast a spell that tore fragments of Ulthuan free, thereby forming the Black Arks. The resulting damage to the island continent resulted in most of Nagarythe being swallowed by the sea, and the Elves that lived there became disinherited nomads.
Since before The Sundering, the Elves of Nagarythe have always nurtured their martial traditions. In ages past, young warriors would receive their training from veterans of the first wars against Chaos. Much of the fiery zeal for battle that lingered in the heart of Aenarion flows strong in the blood of the Elves of Nagarythe. No stronger evidence to this exists than the Shadow Warriors themselves. Even in times of relative peace, the Shadow Warriors stalk the desolate lands of their forefathers, ever-watchful for the return of their wayward kin.
Mechanics
- Armor type: Light Armor
- Weapon types: Bow, Sword
- Main stats: Ballistic, Weapon Skill, Strength
- Secondary stats: Toughness, Initiative
- Mechanical equivalent: Marauder
Strategies
The flow of combat for a Shadow Warrior can be divided into 3 areas: Scout, Skirmish, and Assault. While often focused in one of the three, stance changes can help the Shadow Warrior fulfill different roles if the combat situation changes.
Scout
The Path of the Scout mastery and Scout stance focus on long range (80-100ft) stationary attacks. The mastery includes heavy single target "nuke" type abilities such as Festering Arrow and Rapid Fire, as well as two area effect abilities Glass Arrow and Flame Arrow. Along with Acid Arrow to reduce a target's armor in the case of tanks and Throat Shot to silence enemy casters,you will find all the tools to drop targets from afar.
The essence of this style is that range is your protection. Shadow Warriors wear light armor, and are extremely vulnerable to melee dps and tank classes if they are able to close the distance. A lot of care should be taken to remain out of sight, behind large crowds, or have room to retreat. This is also however one of the best style to use while attacking or defending keep doors, as the distances between the attackers and defenders are often in excess of 65ft.
Skirmish
The Path of the Skirmisher and Skirmisher Stance focuses on close range (5-65ft) mobile AoE attacks. Spiral-fletched Arrow can be chain-casted with the Split Arrows tactic to yield high amounts of area effect damage, while single target situation make use of Broadhead Arrow and Shadow Sting as strong damage over time and anti-healer debuffs.
Nearly all the abilities in this style can be fired while moving, and to live you will need to abuse this fact. The maximum range is about half of scout stance (less with the Charge forth tactic) and melee will be able to close the distance very fast, while ranged classes will often get one or two of their shots off before you can fire back. This said, the mobility will allow you to damage enemies while retreating, dart in and out of combat, dance around melee classes, and chase down fleeing enemies/flag carriers. In keep sieges you will only be able to shoot onto or from walls if standing in the exact right spot, but the AoE often damages large amounts of enemies due to the number of players involved.
Assault
The Assault Mastery path and Assault Stance focus on the melee high-burst damage attacks. This is probably the most under-rated of the three style due to misconceptions that a Shadow Warrior is purely a ranged class. Grim Slash,Brutal assault, and Swift strikes damage a single target faster than any of the other attacks mentioned thus far, especially combined with Draw blood a powerful dot. Other crowd-control abilities are only available in melee range, such as abilities to disarm, stun, or interrupt casting.
The assault stance itself deserves special mention, as it is the strongest buff of the three stances. The strength bonus is highly useful in melee, but it should be noted that the weaponskill bonus will often increase damage from ranged attacks more than the ballistic skill from Scout stance or the extra critical strike chance from Skirmish stance. As well, doubling armor is often more effective at helping a Shadow warrior survive than the increased toughness or initiative from the other stances. This means that even if you specced into the Scout or Skirmish mastery path, it might be worth fighting in assault stance a majority of the time, at least at low levels.
While using this style of combat, you should consider yourself a melee class that happens to be extremely good at ranged attacks. Every effort should be made to get into melee range of a low armor target (Sorceress, Squig Herders, Magus, and healers), and you should itemize for strength. Use ranged attacks until you can close the distance, but once that stage of combat is over you should be focusing on melee attacks. While you do have increased armor, Shadow Warriors are still soft targets and should try to single out targets a Witch hunter might feel comfortable fighting against. In keep sieges you are unlike other melee classes in that you can fire onto the walls, but the damage will always be less than if you were in melee distance.
How To Defeat
Shadow Warriors wear light armor, and while doubled if in assault stance, are still vulnerable to melee and physical ranged attacks. They have several forms of CC which vary wildly from each stance, but one constant AoE root spell with a 20 second cooldown. If subspecced into the Skirmish mastery, which is very common, they will have access to a 50 percent healing debuff.
Career Masteries |
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External Links
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| High Elf Careers |
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| Archmage • Shadow Warrior • Swordmaster • White Lion |
