[Melkorus]

Sorry for double post, but here is a question I have for the lot of you.

Why do you open with Overreach instead of Counterstrike. It makes much more sense to open with Counterstrike. For one, when you open with Counterstrike you give your counterstrike time to really kick in and start working it's magic even when you are being hit while executing combos that follow it. And also, you avoid 10% dmg penalty until the very end.

Or am I overlooking something here.

[Crow]

Originally Posted by Melkorus I would like to point out one mistake that you made in your Advanced Tactics update. You said that different ranks of Counterstrike are on the same cooldown. That's false. All ranks are on their sperate cooldowns and they all stack.

Sorry, I worded it a little funny didn't I? I meant that it is possible in the future that overreach will be placed on the same cooldown just as counterstrike probably will. I have adjusted the wording in that portion of the guide to squash the confusion. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

-Crow

[Melkorus]

Yeah I have a feeling that they will put counterstrike and overreach combo ranks on the same cooldown (and yes, CS and OR will always remain on seperate cooldowns, just to clear out any confusion there ). Wording can be a bitch sometimes hehe.

[Belzec]

Great write up.

One thing I'd like to throw in is that I've started three seperate Guards for different reasons (different servers etc.) and feated each one a little differently out of the gate.

By far the easiest of them was when I went Recovery first then Toughness.

Recovery gives you a bigger regen bonus then toughness. Granted, Toughness gives you invulnerabilities, but it's at a very small amount to start off with. At lower lvls I feel you benefit much more from higher regen.

Therefore, I recommend for starting characters who will be solo PvEing a lot: Recovery > Toughness > Lifesaver.

This isn't anything major, but it was a noticable improvement in my soloing.

[stormygale85]

This is how I chose to level as well. Currently you can stack counterstrike, and farm mobs 6-8 levels above you.

[Baikanour]

I wanted to make a contribution to this guide and did some testing on my own time.

Things to add:

#1: If using 1hb weapon, your fastest strike is overhead, not left... left is the fastest strike if using only 1hs.

NOW. The MOST important part I've been working on for a while.

I'm a lvl 43 guardian who is in Old Tarantia Noble's District. During the quest where you find the Tarantian Murderer, you have to break through walls to get to him. I spent my time during the quest portion figuring out some numbers on the re-popping walls. Since our strikes dont have actual numbers, I thought I'd give them percentile relations to each-other instead, so people know how they scale.

First thing to know. Walls are NOT affected by your stances. As my test showed. And they have NO positional shields and do not move, so they were the perfect test subject.

During this test I was not in any stance, stratagem, or any affect, including food or buff.

The Following Numbers are out of 100%, as the walls health starts at 100%. These are my primary strikes as a lvl 43 Guardian.

DURING REPETITIVE TESTING IT SHOWS THAT STRIKES VARY BY 1%-2%, but NO GREATER. THE NUMBERS BELLOW ARE THE AVERAGE BETWEEN THE HIGH AND LOW STRIKES.

Regular Directional Swing = 12% of wall life in one strike on average.

Shield Sweep II = 15% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Enraging Strike III = 76% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Brutal Enraging Strike = 76% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Overreach I = 69% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Overreach II = 92% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Plexus Strike I = 48% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Counter Strike I = 34% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Counter Strike II = 48% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Brutal Enraging Wound I = 44% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Dulling Blow III = 34% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

Guard Destroyer I = 49% of wall life in one combo completion on average.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THESE ARE NO DAMAGE NUMBERS BUT PERCENTILE POINTS WITH HOW THE COMBOS RELATE TO EACH-OTHER.

Why did I write a sentence worth after each percentile above? .. because i tried explaining the same in chat and either I ran into a bunch of idiots, or the people in the Noble's district never held an abacus or learned percentiles and averages.

[MathirUthGan]

Originally Posted by Melkorus Sorry for double post, but here is a question I have for the lot of you. Why do you open with Overreach instead of Counterstrike. It makes much more sense to open with Counterstrike. For one, when you open with Counterstrike you give your counterstrike time to really kick in and start working it's magic even when you are being hit while executing combos that follow it. And also, you avoid 10% dmg penalty until the very end. Or am I overlooking something here.

Generally, because grind/quest groups are very fast paced. Almost never, will you have a group that will sit back and allow you to slowly build up aggro. If you do a Stunning Charge, Cunning Deflection, and Overreach you'll hold and maintain aggro immediately, and when your groupmates go bonkers right off the bat on DPS, the mob won't ping pong.

Counterstrike is not frontloaded enough to grab aggro when your healers already have Heal Over Time buffs on you as you pull. So you whack em with the big guns, then you try and get your Counterstrike up.

[kd47]

The cooldown on stances is 3 seconds, not 4.

[kd47]

Originally Posted by Sabbathius Interesting. I'd be interested to see the next installment, past 50. I really don't feel that for solo levelling, going beyond Brutal Overreach really gains anything. Drive Them Back negates Counterstrike (a knocked back mob don't hit and doesn't get Counterstriked), Bloody Vengeance doesn't stack solo, etc., etc.

After level 56 (i.e. OverReach III), all the counterstrike/dulling blow feats are meaningless, since you can just kill mobs in a few seconds.

[sumfortis]

Originally Posted by kd47 After level 56 (i.e. OverReach III), all the counterstrike/dulling blow feats are meaningless, since you can just kill mobs in a few seconds.

Unless you are grinding on mobs 5 levels higher than you. After 4+ level differential, all of a characters direct damage attacks, (read not counter stikes or bleeds) suffer a huge effectiveness lose. For example, at level 70, grinding on groups of three lvl 75s will only work with counter strike and dulling blow (and associated feat). Since bleeds and counterstrikes currently can't be mitigated, the defense bonus mobs receive from the level differential are useless.

Mind you, they might fix this at some point, which will slow grinding down horribly.