The flexibility of a Champion (Big Read)

[El Guildo]

I have not been a level 50 champ for long but because of the amount of people I come across who do not seem to know what clobber is I have decided to write how I use my champion, as both a guide and also an insight into the class in case you ever decide to try it. This guid eis more for a level 50 champion. That does not mean that the info here is useless to a lower level, but some of the skills and ways of playing may vary or be unavailable until you are at or near 50.

For the more experienced champs in the kin please feel free to correct me, add to this post, or to debate how I play the class, as unknown to some, the champ can be quite flexible and can be played in different ways.

First of all, let us go through the 'stances' of a champion as these determine the style of play.

STANCES

Fervour - The standard, most used stance, which enables..
+16% melee damage
+18.1 in-combat power regen
BUT AT A COST TO...
NO block or evade or parry.
1 fervour pip every 5 seconds (I will explain fervour pips shortly, do not mistake for fervour stance)

The idea here is that you do maximum amount of damage in the quickest possible time so you do not lose to much morale. The in-combat morale regen is at a sufficient amount so you should not run out of power. The best defense is a kick ass offense.

Glory - This is probably least used as it carries with it...
+60% threat generation
-15% melee damage
+12.7% in-combat power regen
(but you have full stats on evade, parry and block as you would do without a stance)
1 fervour pip every 12 seconds

Comparing Glory with Fervour, it seems this stance looks rather weak, and why does a champion need it at all. We will look into this a little later when we look at the two distinct styles of play a champion can do.

Ardour - Seems to be the middle of the road stance between Fervour and Glory, this stance provides....
+14.5 in-combat power regen
-50% chance on evade
-50% on chance on parry
0% melee damage (no bonus or hinderance)
1 fervour pip every 9 seconds

This stance seems to be a good in-betweener and is not as used as much (from what I have seen) as it perhaps should. We will go into its ideal use shortly.


Controlled Burn - A new addition, it just takes Fervour stance up a notch or two
+17% melee damage
+18.1 in-combat power regen
BUT AT A COST TO...
NO block or evade or parry.
You cast a fervour pip every 5 seconds.

Depending on the fight, depends on the usage of skills. Like the Hunter with its use on Focus, the Champion makes us of Fervour - Do not mistake fervour in this context for the stance. Fervour when it comes to skills is about 5 pips you can build up. The more pips you build up on the fervour bar from using certain skills, the more powerful skills you can unleash on your foes. Wild attack and swift strike are the two skills mainly used to build up the pips on the fervour bar.

There is no need to go into skills as most are self explanatory and will be rendered useful in certain circumstances as you go about the life as a champ. Just be wary of clobber. A skill which in my mind is the most useful to any group. It will prevent any mob with a successful hit from unleashing a special move or power. The right time to strike would be when the foe you are attacking has swirling red circle underneath them, clobber them and prevent them from doing more damage than necessary.
Sometimes you will see a green swirling circle, on a mob. This defines a healing action and I do not think clobber works on that but if you know otherwise please let me know.

CHAMPION STLYES

Now to the reason I have posted this info. How I actually play a Champion and how to use the flexibility of the class to better enable you in any solo or group situation. There are two most distinct ways to play a champion using all the stances and skills provided to you by level 50.

POWERHOUSE
I am going to call the first one powerhouse.
Be wary of this style, as at times when you are dishing out more DPS than others in a fellowship, you will be targeted.

Stance - Fervour, Controlled Burn (always use controlled burn when possible over fervour stance)

Items Equipped - one hand or two handed weapons, no shield.

Purpose - All out DPS, get the 5 fervour pips from and unleash the fury with your most powerful attacks.

Reason - Kill your opponent quickly before taking to much damage. When to be used - when others can raise more threat than you (so you can raise your DPS taking as little damage as possible) OR at times when you can be healed to compensate for the nil defense.

When not to use - In a fellowship with no tanks or a tank who has no idea how to tank (as you have no defense at all, and you will quickly lose morale when you create more threat thus take on more damage), In a fellowship with no captain or minstrel (see above on losing morale and threat). Higher level mobs.

Useful Skills - Relentless Strike, Ferocious Strike (legendary trait)
Flurry - Always use this skill, ALWAYS when on the Fervour Stance. You dish out the damage faster as it makes you unleash your attacks 20% quicker. Do not use if power is running low.
Exchange of blows - aggressor takes damage when they hit you.
Red Haze - adds fervour pips at an increased rate
Controlled Burn - actually a stance to replace fervour but not one that can remain active all the time. It adds 1% damage to melee and increased fervour pip generation so you can use more powerful strikes at a quicker rate. Lasts until you are under 20% morale or out of combat, 10 min cooldown. ALWAYS use instead of Fervour stance when damage is required above all else.
Fight On - This trait can be used in both styles of play. When morale is lower than 60% and power is running low, this will draw power from you opponent but they will gain +25% damage, handy if you need the power to quickly finish them off. Never use on a mob with full health.
Battle Frenzy - adds 3 fervour pips.
Ebbing Ire transfers 25% threat generation from you to another player.


CAUTIOUS AGGRESSOR (possibly the closes thing to the new class Warden which will come with the release of Mines of Moria)

This is one I have started to use from the rift after being left to take on the Seer when the tank went down. This is how to tank as a champion (CAUTION: A champion is not designed to tank but can be used in a defensive role to make up the lack of any tank in a group or when battling higher ended mobs when running solo, think of it as a way to survive for longer, rather than as a tank)
Not quite as simple to use as being a Powerhouse, but still simple enough to be useful at it after a couple of attempts. The main thing on this style is the flexible use of the stances depending on the situation.

Stance - Glory or Ardour. You can change between these stances if you find you are doing well on the morale but want more power and damage (ardour) or if you need to raise your threat generation if you need to keep the aggro on you and improve on the defense stats (Glory).

Purpose - as outlined above, to survive longer and add to your threat generation without having to max out on DPS. Why? Well certain situations call for a tanking role of sorts. most 6 man fellowships on quests will be fine with a champion taking the damage with this style, as will most solo quests, especially on higher level mobs. This is ideal in the rift as at certain points you can swap from a Powerhouse style to a more defensive style of play. For example when at times all you need to do is clobber or to slowly dwindle down a bosses morale, then you do not need high amounts of DPS, you just need to be able to reduce the damage you take from stray hits. The Seer for example should be tanked and the Champion does not want to create more threat with a high DPS, when all a champion needs to do is clobber. If the seer pops round to give you the occassional whack, and he will, you can take it quite easily and lose less morale. This is ideal as you do not want to have the minstrel waste precious power on you to give you morale when it should be going to the tank.

Items equipped - One handed weapon, shield (preferably Heavy Shield when you get the trait)

When to be used - At times when you need to limit the damage you take. To protect others from taking damage. To reduce the power output of a minstrel on you in favour of others. Soloing higher level mobs, particularly elites.

When not to be used - Lower level mobs, 6 man fellowships with a tank or minstrel, when damage is the key to victory, such as bosses that need to go down quickly rather than the Balrog where a more patient approach is needed and survivability is the key.

Useful skills - These define the style.
Fervour pips are not needed more than 2 or 3.
Sudden defence and blocking blades will increase your defense stats. Only use sudden defense when under increase pressure.
Rising Ire transfers 15% threat generation from another player to you.
Champions Challenge is a shout moving the aggro onto you.
Exchange of blows - aggressor takes damage when they hit you.
Fight On - This trait can be used in both styles of play. When morale is lower than 60% and power is running low, this will draw power from you opponent but they will gain +25% damage, handy if you need the power to quickly finish them off. Never use on a mob with full health.



IDEAL RACE???

I think the best race for champion is dwarf. There is a might bonus, and dwarves are the more sturdy creature. You will also receive a race bonus on using axes, both one hand and two hand and Endurance of Stone (+75% mitigation on shadow, fire and common damage for 10 seconds) - you use this baby in a tight spot with a good defensive stance and you are more or less invulnerable for a very short period of time, it is an excellent race trait for champion and guardian.
I have got little experience so far with other races and their race bonuses and traits so please add to this post if you are human, elf or hobbit, any race trait or skill that may be of benefit to this class.

Any Hints.
Well not really. The rest of the skills and traits can be explored by yourself. AOE is very handy. Perhaps one thing on Dire Need. This skill transfers power to morale. The more power you have the more morale you will generate. The hint would be, if you are low on morale ensure your power is at its highest. Take a celebrant salve or activate any item or clothing which will provide instant power and use Dire Need. The more power you have, the more morale you will receive.
I would also recommend out of habit always use the second wind skill after a kill to always keep your power topped up. This skill will grant you a small amount of power after a mob is killed. But also take note of other people in your group. If a minstrel is low on power for example, do them a favour and use the Heroics skill instead (after an enemy has been killed) to transfer some of your power to them, they may just use that power to save your life.

PLEASE add to this post. Offer any corrections or alternative ways of playing, highlight any mistakes in my logic and hopefully we can all put together a nice little guide on the Champion class for anyone who may want to read and perhaps try it. Thanks

[PhantomStorm]

Aug 30, 2008 22:27:53 GMT -1 El Guildo said:

I have not been a level 50 champ for long but because of the amount of people I come across who do not seem to know what clobber is I have decided to write how I use my champion, as both a guide and also an insight into the class in case you ever decide to try it. This guid is more for a level 50 champion. That does not mean that the info here is useless to a lower level, but some of the skills and ways of playing may vary or be unavailable until you are at or near 50.

For the more experienced champs in the kin please feel free to correct me, add to this post, or to debate how I play the class, as unknown to some, the champ can be quite flexible and can be played in different ways.

First of all, let us go through the 'stances' of a champion as these determine the style of play.

STANCES

Fervour - The standard, most used stance, which enables..
+16% melee damage (17% with vicious strikes trait slotted)
+18.1 in-combat power regen
BUT AT A COST TO...
NO block or evade or parry.
1 fervour pip every 5 seconds (I will explain fervour pips shortly, do not mistake for fervour stance)

The idea here is that you do maximum amount of damage in the quickest possible time so you do not lose to much morale. The in-combat morale regen is at a sufficient amount so you should not run out of power. The best defense is a kick ass offense.

Glory - This is probably least used as it carries with it...
+60% threat generation (70% with 3 rift gear)
-15% melee damage (-10% with full rift gear)
+12.7% in-combat power regen
(but you have full stats on evade, parry and block as you would do without a stance)
1 fervour pip every 12 seconds

Comparing Glory with Fervour, it seems this stance looks rather weak, and why does a champion need it at all. We will look into this a little later when we look at the two distinct styles of play a champion can do.

Ardour - Seems to be the middle of the road stance between Fervour and Glory, this stance provides....
+14.5 in-combat power regen
-50% chance on evade
-50% on chance on parry
0% melee damage (no bonus or hinderance)
1 fervour pip every 9 seconds

This stance seems to be a good in-betweener and is not as used as much (from what I have seen) as it perhaps should. We will go into its ideal use shortly.


Controlled Burn - A new addition, it just takes Fervour stance up a notch or two
+17% melee damage
+18.1 in-combat power regen
BUT AT A COST TO...
NO block or evade or parry.(you can block, parry and evade)
You cast a fervour pip every 5 seconds.

Depending on the fight, depends on the usage of skills. Like the Hunter with its use on Focus, the Champion makes us of Fervour - Do not mistake fervour in this context for the stance. Fervour when it comes to skills is about 5 pips you can build up. The more pips you build up on the fervour bar from using certain skills, the more powerful skills you can unleash on your foes. Wild attack and swift strike are the two skills mainly used to build up the pips on the fervour bar.

There is no need to go into skills as most are self explanatory and will be rendered useful in certain circumstances as you go about the life as a champ. Just be wary of clobber. A skill which in my mind is the most useful to any group. It will prevent any mob with a successful hit from unleashing a special move or power. The right time to strike would be when the foe you are attacking has swirling red circle underneath them, clobber them and prevent them from doing more damage than necessary.
Sometimes you will see a green swirling circle, on a mob. This defines a healing action and I do not think clobber works on that but if you know otherwise please let me know.

CHAMPION STLYES

Now to the reason I have posted this info. How I actually play a Champion and how to use the flexibility of the class to better enable you in any solo or group situation. There are two most distinct ways to play a champion using all the stances and skills provided to you by level 50.

POWERHOUSE
I am going to call the first one powerhouse.
Be wary of this style, as at times when you are dishing out more DPS than others in a fellowship, you will be targeted.

Stance - Fervour, Controlled Burn (always use controlled burn when possible over fervour stance)

Items Equipped - one hand or two handed weapons, no shield.

Purpose - All out DPS, get the 5 fervour pips from and unleash the fury with your most powerful attacks.

Reason - Kill your opponent quickly before taking to much damage. When to be used - when others can raise more threat than you (so you can raise your DPS taking as little damage as possible) OR at times when you can be healed to compensate for the nil defense.

When not to use - In a fellowship with no tanks or a tank who has no idea how to tank (as you have no defense at all, and you will quickly lose morale when you create more threat thus take on more damage), In a fellowship with no captain or minstrel (see above on losing morale and threat). Higher level mobs.

Useful Skills - Relentless Strike, Ferocious Strike (legendary trait)
Flurry - Always use this skill, ALWAYS when on the Fervour Stance. You dish out the damage faster as it makes you unleash your attacks 20% quicker. Do not use if power is running low.
Exchange of blows - aggressor takes damage when they hit you.
Red Haze - adds fervour pips at an increased rate
Controlled Burn - actually a stance to replace fervour but not one that can remain active all the time. It adds 1% damage to melee and increased fervour pip generation so you can use more powerful strikes at a quicker rate. Lasts until you are under 20% morale or out of combat, 10 min cooldown. ALWAYS use instead of Fervour stance when damage is required above all else.
Fight On - This trait can be used in both styles of play. When morale is lower than 60% and power is running low, this will draw power from you opponent but they will gain +25% damage, handy if you need the power to quickly finish them off. Never use on a mob with full health.
Battle Frenzy - adds 3 fervour pips.


CAUTIOUS AGGRESSOR (possibly the closes thing to the new class Warden which will come with the release of Mines of Moria)

This is one I have started to use from the rift after being left to take on the Seer when the tank went down. This is how to tank as a champion (CAUTION: A champion is not designed to tank but can be used in a defensive role to make up the lack of any tank in a group or when battling higher ended mobs when running solo, think of it as a way to survive for longer, rather than as a tank)
Not quite as simple to use as being a Powerhouse, but still simple enough to be useful at it after a couple of attempts. The main thing on this style is the flexible use of the stances depending on the situation.

Stance - Glory or Ardour. You can change between these stances if you find you are doing well on the morale but want more power and damage (ardour) or if you need to raise your threat generation if you need to keep the aggro on you and improve on the defense stats (Glory).

Purpose - as outlined above, to survive longer and add to your threat generation without having to max out on DPS. Why? Well certain situations call for a tanking role of sorts. most 6 man fellowships on quests will be fine with a champion taking the damage with this style, as will most solo quests, especially on higher level mobs. This is ideal in the rift as at certain points you can swap from a Powerhouse style to a more defensive style of play. For example when at times all you need to do is clobber or to slowly dwindle down a bosses morale, then you do not need high amounts of DPS, you just need to be able to reduce the damage you take from stray hits. The Seer for example should be tanked and the Champion does not want to create more threat with a high DPS, when all a champion needs to do is clobber. If the seer pops round to give you the occassional whack, and he will, you can take it quite easily and lose less morale. This is ideal as you do not want to have the minstrel waste precious power on you to give you morale when it should be going to the tank.

Items equipped - One handed weapon, shield (preferably Heavy Shield when you get the trait)

When to be used - At times when you need to limit the damage you take. To protect others from taking damage. To reduce the power output of a minstrel on you in favour of others. Soloing higher level mobs, particularly elites.

When not to be used - Lower level mobs, 6 man fellowships with a tank or minstrel, when damage is the key to victory, such as bosses that need to go down quickly rather than the Balrog where a more patient approach is needed and survivability is the key.

Useful skills - These define the style.
Fervour pips are not needed more than 2 or 3.
Sudden defence and blocking blades will increase your defense stats. Only use sudden defense when under increase pressure.
Ebbing Ire transfers 25% threat generation from another player to you.
Champions Challenge is a shout moving the aggro onto you.
Exchange of blows - aggressor takes damage when they hit you.
Fight On - This trait can be used in both styles of play. When morale is lower than 60% and power is running low, this will draw power from you opponent but they will gain +25% damage, handy if you need the power to quickly finish them off. Never use on a mob with full health.



IDEAL RACE???

I think the best race for champion is dwarf. There is a might bonus, and dwarves are the more sturdy creature. You will also receive a race bonus on using axes, both one hand and two hand and Endurance of Stone (+75% mitigation on shadow, fire and common damage for 10 seconds) - you use this baby in a tight spot with a good defensive stance and you are more or less invulnerable for a very short period of time, it is an excellent race trait for champion and guardian.
I have got little experience so far with other races and their race bonuses and traits so please add to this post if you are human, elf or hobbit, any race trait or skill that may be of benefit to this class.

Any Hints.
Well not really. The rest of the skills and traits can be explored by yourself. AOE is very handy. Perhaps one thing on Dire Need. This skill transfers power to morale. The more power you have the more morale you will generate. The hint would be, if you are low on morale ensure your power is at its highest. Take a celebrant salve or activate any item or clothing which will provide instant power and use Dire Need. The more power you have, the more morale you will receive.
I would also recommend out of habit always use the second wind skill after a kill to always keep your power topped up. This skill will grant you a small amount of power after a mob is killed. But also take note of other people in your group. If a minstrel is low on power for example, do them a favour and use the Heroics skill instead (after an enemy has been killed) to transfer some of your power to them, they may just use that power to save your life.

PLEASE add to this post. Offer any corrections or alternative ways of playing, highlight any mistakes in my logic and hopefully we can all put together a nice little guide on the Champion class for anyone who may want to read and perhaps try it. Thanks

i edited 1 or two things and will continue this post on with pictures and stuff =).

Layout of the champion skills

1.The 3 Champ Stances excluding legendary trait controlled burn. Fervour, Ardour and Glory. I keep Battle Frenzy in the same group because it instantly gives +5 to fervour with a 1 minute cool down.

2.Race buff gives 2% maximum morale to your fellowship. I also keep my equipment buffs in the same place. this helps me use my buffs faster while in the middle of a battle.

3.Pots Standard Wound, Disease, Poison, Fear, Power, Morale and hope pots i usually have these for rift and other large instances.

4.Strenth of Morale and Dire need. Strenth of morale is a racial trait of men it gives 2200-3000 morale to yourself when you need it. it has a 1 hour cooldown and costs 342 power. Dire Need is a class trait also gives morale but only so much depending on your total power, Dire need trancefers half power to morale, and has a 30min cooldown(25minutes with certain traits)

5.Champion speed boost sets run speed to 125% for 15 seconds with a 5 minute cooldown.

6.Standard Champion skills Swift strike, Blade wall and wild attack, Swift strike and wild attack provide +1 fervour and blade wall is a quick and easy area of effect skill hitting maximum of 5 targets with a 4second cooldown requires no fervour.

7.Clobber the most important champion skill used in the rift and other instances like helegrod. this skill costs 1 fervour point and has a 3second cool down. I use this skill along with the skills Swift strike and wild attack from number 6, they provide 2 fervour points while i use 1 every 3 seconds, its very helpful as i don't run out of fervour this way.

8.Misc Skills Crafting, hobbies and mount

9.Legendary skills, Controlled Burn and Ferocious strikes, the best champion skills you can have.

10.An area of effect stun causes 200-400 damage before target is stunned and stuns for 3s, a good skill to use when you want to cause damage while waiting for another skill to cool down.

11.Champions challenge, this is the skill you use when you want to take the Argo of a team mate. works best while using glory

12.Rising ire and ebbing ire, Rising ire takes 15% of the threat from a fellowship member and gives it to the champion, while ebbing ire takes 25% of threat off the champion and gives it to a fellowship member, i use this skill when I'm in a group with a player i don't like, just kidding.

13.After defeating an enemy champion skills. Second wind, Red Haze and Heroics. Second wind gives you 200 power after a defeating and enemy it has a 10 second cool down. Red Haze gives you an additional fervour pip every 15 seconds as long as you stay in combat and Heroics gives your fellowship 200-300 power at the cost of sacrificing 513 of your own power, this skill can only be used every 10 Min's.

14.Bracing attack this attack does some damage to your target as well as giving you 350 morale back, it has a 30 second cool down and costs 3 fervour points.

15.Cleave this skill puts a dot(damage over time)mark on the enemy.

16.These are the champion parry and evade buffs. Sudden defense and blocking blades. Sudden Defense gives 9.2% to evade and parry, lasts for 30 seconds, and blocking blades gives 2% to parry and expires if out of combat for 9 seconds or more.

[El Guildo]

Thanks Phantom for an excellent addition and reply.

[PhantomStorm]

List of Champions Skills and there descriptions


Ardour– This is the second stance achieved as a Champion. It doesn’t provide any bonuses to damage but does provide decent ICPR, though much less than Fervour stance. Parry and Evade are dropped to 50% and the Fervour point generation is slower than that of Fervour stance, only generating one every 9 seconds. This stance converts Flurry of Blades to Ardent Flurry which can only be activated as a kill-response-skill and will last until combat ends.

Battle-Frenzy– Instantly grants 3-5 Fervour points and has a 1min cooldown. Always nice to quickly reach those high Fervour skills immediately.

Blade Storm– This is one of the Champion’s primary AoE skills. Able to strike 5 targets within range (this can be increased by a class trait) and providing a nice bonus damage amount, it comes with a 10s cooldown and requires a 4 Fervour points (can be reduced to 3 with class trait)

Blade-Wall– This is the Champion’s first AoE skill though limited to frontal attacks only. It can strike 5 targets and has a fairly fast cooldown. This skill does more damage than Swift Strike and, with a class trait equipped, can be used to generate 1 Fervour point. As long as crowd-control isn’t an issue for those targets within range, this skill is great.

Blocking Blades– Here’s one of those kill-response-skills and it’s effect lasts until combat ends. This skill grants a bonus of 2% to Parry however, if you’re in Fervour stance you still get no benefit from this skill, and in Ardour stance, this equates to 1% parry

Boast– This is primarily a role-playing skill. It has a fairly long cooldown and no combat benefits. When activated, other players around you, join you in a cheer animation.

Bracing Attack– This is the Champion's only attack which actually heals you (as long as you hit your target). It costs 3 Fervour, can only be used every 30s, but at 50th level, this skill heals for just under 400 morale. It’s no miracle heal by any means, but like most Champion factors, it’s the little things that all add up. Additionally, with a class trait this skill can heal for a slight bit more.

Brutal Strikes– Most dual-wielding Champions either go with this skill or Relentless Attacks for their single-target attacks. This is the favored single-target attack by many two-handed weapon wielders. This skill has three attacks which each have a chance to crit, includes a fairly quick recharge timer, but requires 4 Fervour points (removes 3) and a small amount of power.

Champion's Challenge– This is the Champion’s one and only Taunt skill. It works effectively and pulls the target’s focus on you but with a 30 second cooldown this has to be used with careful planning and strategizing.

Cleave– This AoE skill actually benefits two-handed weapons over dual-wielders as it’s based only on the main-hand weapon. It provides decent damage plus a chance to cause a DoT on targets. This skill recharges quickly and can strike up to 5 targets but requires 2 Fervour points.

Clobber– No other class can interrupt a mobs skills/casting as often as a Champion as this skill recharges every 3 seconds. It can interrupt any skill/spell with an induction timer and costs very little power. This skill costs 1 Fervour point and is based on only the main-hand weapon.

Controlled Burn– In my opinion, the greatest of all Champion stances! All the benefits of Fervour stance plus you keep all of your P/E/B. Full offense and full defense – what’s not to love? First, this requires completion of your lvl 50 Class Quest (starts at lvl45) and is definitely a challenge in your Champion’s life. This stance requires a Legendary trait (of which you can only equip two at any time). This skill ends immediately upon leaving combat, or if you switch to a different stance, or your health goes to 20%. Additionally, it comes with a 10min cooldown making it difficult to use this in every battle. This stance can make a huge difference in large, lengthy, and boss-fight battles where both damage-output and damage-mitigation are integral.

Dire Need– Definately an emergency skill, but to benefit the most from this, you’ll want as much Power as you can as it converts 50% of your power into morale. This quickly can turn a nearly dirt-nap situation into a fully renewed Champion ready to continue or make a strategic withdrawal from the battle. This has a 30min cooldown so use it cautiously. With a class trait, the cooldown can be reduced by 5mins and grant 5 Fervour points when activated.

Ebbing Ire– In a fellowship, this skill can be very helpful in aiding your tank in maintaining his place at the top of the threat meter. This skill transfers 25% of your total threat to your target. The target must be in the same fellowship as you and this has a hefty 20 second cooldown which is shared with your other threat-juggling skill, Rising Ire.

Exchange of Blows– This skill can boost your damage output if you’re being attacked. This skill has a 50% chance to deal minor damage to attackers and lasts 30 seconds plus has an instant cooldown. This skill costs 2 Fervour points to activate. This skill can be boosted by a class trait to generate additional threat and hit more often. In Glory stance, this becomes Glorious Exchange and is a kill-response-skill which lasts until combat ends.

Ferocious Strikes– This skill requires a Legendary trait obtained by acquiring a Champion class book and all of it’s pages. This single-target attack cannot be parried or blocked (only evaded or miss), generates a moderately high amount of threat, requires 5 Fervour points, and is arguably the most damaging single-target attack in a Champion’s arsenal. It also has a 30s cooldown which can be quite considerable.

Fervour– This is a Champion’s first stance achieved. This stance is your highest DPS stance and ICPR stance (both tied with Controlled Burn) granting the Champion the greatest damage output bonus (+15%) and a steady supply of power. If that wasn’t great enough, it also grants a Fervour point every 5 seconds which is the fastest of your stances. All this comes with a steep penalty. While this stance is active, your P/E/B are all reduced to zero. What this means to you is, unless a swing actually Misses you, it’s going to hit and you’ll quickly be losing morale. It’s a trade-off of defense in exchange for heavy offense.

Fight On!– This skill can greatly boost your damage output for a short duration but has some steep penalties to consider. This skill requires a Legendary trait obtained by acquiring a Champion class book and all of it’s pages. It can only be activated when the Champion is under 50% health but steals a chunk of power from surrounding opponents, provides a very large boost to your damage output for a short time, and can be used to hopefully end a fight very quickly. When the effect expires the Champion’s ICPR is severely crippled, until combat ends.

Fighting Dirty– I’m not really sure why this skill deserves such a name but in any case it can provide a nice boost to your AoE damage. It provides 1 Fervour point, adds 25% damage to your next AoE skill if used within 30s, costs very little power and a very fast cooldown. The catch is, this skill is only available if your target is under 25% morale. This is another of those skills based only on your main-hand weapon thus dealing more damage for the two-handed weapon wielders

Flurry– For those that wield slower weapons, and to a lesser degree those that wield fast weapons, this skill can completely change the flow of your attacks. Granting a 15% reduction to your attack speed for 20 seconds and has an instant cooldown. This is a very noticeable speed increase but costs 2 Fervour points. This skill’s duration and speed can be boosted with a class trait.In Ardour stance, this becomes Ardent Flurry and is a kill-response-skill which lasts until combat ends.

Glory– This is the third stance a Champion achieves. This is considered the tanking stance as, compared to Fervour and Ardour stances, this allows you to keep your full P/E/B as well as granting a large bonus to the Champion’s threat generation (50%). As a trade off, this stance offers the lowest boost to ICPR and damage output – it actually reduces your damage output by 25%. Additionally, there is no automatic Fervour point generation available in this stance.

Hamstring– The only snaring effect the Champion has, this skill recharges quickly, costs only 1 Fervour point and costs very little power. The targets movement speed is decreased by 30% and lasts for 20sec. This skill is based only on the main-hand weapon and is subject to the target’s Wound resistance. Definately a great skill to keep your opponent from escaping your wrath or from catching up to any ally escaping.

Hedge– The name for this skill isn’t very fitting but this skill can certainly pull you out of a difficult situation. This skill removes the Disarmed effect which otherwise effectively stops any DPS from the Champion as well as slightly boosting your Wound resistance for a brief amount of time. The downside is, it has a 3minute cooldown so if another mob disarms you immediately afterwards and your Wound resistance doesn’t counter it, expect to wait out the duration or activate a Wound pot. This is another skill based on main-hand weapon only however, if you’re disarmed, you won’t be able to juggle weapons around anyways.

Heroics– This kill-response-skill grants no direct bonus to you, costs a very large amount of power, and slightly recharges the power of up to 10 nearby allies. With a 10min cooldown you certainly won’t be keeping your fellowship’s power pools full with this skill, but at least it’s some help.

Let Fly– This is the Champion’s only skill which rely’s on a bow to be equipped. With a relatively fast induction timer, this fires an arrow and doesn’t interrupt your auto-attack timer (an auto-attack bow shot will always fire immediately after this shot goes as long as it hasn’t closed into melee range or gone beyond your auto-attack range). It can be used to squeeze in a slight bit more damage when pulling your target into melee range.

Merciful Strike– This skill can be useful for ending a battle quickly. It provides two Fervour points, costs very little power, and hits fairly well. The catch? It can only be used when your opponent is under 25% morale and comes with a 30 second cooldown, so this won’t be a skill that you’ll be spamming.

Raging Blades– This skill requires a Legendary trait obtained by acquiring a Champion class book and all of it’s pages. It provides an additional AoE attack hitting up to 8 targets and having a greater range than other AoE skills. This comes with a high threat gain in each hit, requires 5 Fervour points, and has a 10s cooldown

Red Haze– Definitely a favorite amongst Champions, this kill-response-skill instantly grants 1 Fervour point and an additional point every 15 seconds plus it’s a nearly instant recharge time. Even when this effect is already active, activating this skill in another kill-response still grants an instant Fervour point. This effect ends when combat ends

Relentless Strike– Most dual-wielding Champions either go with this skill or Brutal Strikes. This skill can only be Evaded – it will never miss, be parried, or blocked as long as the target’s level does not exceed yours. It costs 4 Fervour and recharges almost instantly.

Rising Ire– This skill can be very helpful in tanking or just providing abit more of a buffer for the squishies that are high on the threat meter. This transfers 15% of your target’s threat to you. If you’re tanking and you just picked a high-threat target, this should nearly seal the deal in keeping you at the top of the list. Although this can reduce the threat that a Hunter or Minstrel has built up, keep in mind that a Champ managing their aggro well, is likely just below the tank on the threat meter – this skill will likely move you to #1 on the threat meter. This skill shares it’s 20 second cooldown with your other threat-juggling skill, Ebbing Ire.

Savage Strikes– Duel-wielding Champions potentially benefit slightly more from this skill however, it has a very long attack animation and I tend to avoid it. It recharges quickly, costs 2 Fervour points, has relatively low power cost and swings with 2-3 attacks (3 for duel-wielders). You could use this skill in conjunction with Brutal Strikes to utilize a full 5 Fervour, but since this attack has such a long duration to attack, I can’t recommend it except in the starting career of a young Champion.

Second Wind– Incase the Champion’s high ICPR doesn’t keep us full enough in power, this kill-response-skill provides a moderate boost to the power pool and has a 15s cooldown.

Sound the Attack– Other than the crafted Champion Horn, this is the Champions only stun skill – not only that, it’s an AoE stun. It deals a fair amount of damage (based on main-hand weapon only), effects up to 5 targets and has a low power cost. It does require a full Fervour meter of 5 points and only stuns it’s targets for 2-3s. Additionally, this skill cannot be resisted, but the sound of this horn is subject to block/evaded/parry – don’t worry, every Champion out there is likely just as baffled as you on this one. If it is B/P/E’d, the target doesn’t receive damage nor the stun. This can be useful in a pinch if your Clobber misses an interrupt, if multiple targets are casting, or just to halt a group of opponents for a brief moment.

Sprint– Here’s the Champion’s ability to briefly ignore any movement impairing effects and race towards, or away from, your adversary (25% run speed increase) lasting for 15sec. This skill has a cooldown of 5mins and is more often used as one of those emergency buttons when you need to increase the distance between the angry mobs and your precious life.

Sudden Defense– Though not exactly an emergency skill, it can definitely help a bad situation. It requires at least 1 Fervour point but will consume all Fervour points built up at the time you activate this skill. In exchange you gain a nice bonus to Evade and Parry for 30secs. With a cooldown of 5mins, this won’t be a skill you’ll be able to constantly have up. For even greater defense, “turtle up” while using this skill to avoid and mitigate even more incoming damage.

Swift Strike– This skill generates 1 Fervour point, it can be used almost instantly (is not affected by auto-attack sequence) and almost instantly recharges. However, this skill has a very high power cost which can quickly deplete your power. Blade-wall, if the trait is equipped for it, is both cheaper in power costs, hits harder, and is a frontal AoE skill however, it’s not as fast. If you have the power, feel free to use this skill, if not, you may want to avoid excessive use.

Wild Attack– Probably the most commonly used skill by any Champion. It grants 1 Fervour point for a small cost of power and recharges quickly. It’s not a fast animation compared to Swift Strike, but it makes up for this in it’s other bonuses. If a trait is equipped, this skill can generate a decent amount of threat when it hits, therefore boosting the Tank/Off-tank role.

[Demonjay]

I am amazed by the great job you guys did

Gareth

the way you understand your class is amazing you play the champ fantastic!
i got a lvl30 champ and the tips and pointers you gave me back then were great! and really helped me out because i was going to the instance of GA and we had no tank so i took over the role as tank
i did really good with a shield and 1 handed axe
and with the tips you gave me

the build/tutorial about the champ you just made is so wel explained
and very clear! im certainly going to use this in my adventures as a champ , ty

i haven't seen such a god build explanation in a while m8
ty so much m8 you did a outstanding job !! bravo BRAVO!!

PhantomStorm

also your layout ( love your layout screenie ) and explanation of he skills really helps other players on how and when to use a skill and what they all mean
im surely going to Read up on it when im lvling my champ
ty so much for posting it m8 , good info for every one to know
amazing post!!

ps.
so thats the layout of the mighty champion PhantomStorm


Gareth & Phantom

great job guys, you both are trully amazing champs that know how to play their class

[PhantomStorm]

Thanks for the comments demon, and for anyone that wants it im happy to go over any questions you may have, by replying on this topic, or i can talk on teamspeak

[shivered]

hehe I am bored and trolling ;p

To add some things about champ I love:


Champ + Mins = best two man combo in game IMO. Threat generated by champ is huge and you can opverheal a champ pretty easy. Plus sound the attack equals a nice pause in events if they going wrong.

Heroics: I have been in instances in MOM where minsers and huntters are running low on power and where you have more than one champ this skill can be a real godsend.

Glory: I love this stance as it is a good get out of jail card when overheals are not gonna cut it...

Champ UI: Have shield and weapons hotkeyed like so (left to right) thusly; Shield, 2handed weapon (any 2H will suffice), main hand weapon, off hand weapon. This allows you to pull shield in tight spot and then by clicking on 2H, then main hand, then off hand you can be back in dual wield without opening packs or character panel. Try it, it is lovely

Sound the attack: This 3 second stun calms things down a treat and can bail out the fellow if the healer is getting iterupts.

Stun and burn: One of my favourite things to do solo. I have traited the trait which allows blade wall to give a fervour pip bonus and start fight like this. Run in to group of mobs hit blade wall, then wild attack, then swift stike, then hit sound the attack, mobs freeze, hit blade wall then fervour skill then legendary skill (ragings blades). You get about 2k on every mob before they have barely got an attack off.

Ebbing ire: Love this skill in MOM as can pass agro to tank to permit me to do my job better -)

Still don't buy the hype from the ardour lovers, fervour 90% of the time and glory 10% of the time.

I have tanked every boss in hard mode except the lost one before the exploits surfaced so with right build champ makes for an awesome all rounder. I personally role with -3% incoming melee damage pocket item from the gaurds faction rep vendor as I think this helps (a dead champion will not put out the same DPS as an active one ;p)



Nice write up Odin. My 2 pence worth.

[Demonjay]

great post m8 i love it
always good to see other champs point of view about things

wel i must say a tank and a minstrel together is a save way to go to m8
might not kill stuff as fast but pretty solid duo

the UI thing is pro i always do that m8

stun and burn sounds like good fun hehehe

my champ is at lvl 35 atm preety good build has the best critted gear for the lvl and jewls for that matter
but i jumped over to my tank..why...wel i loved playing with my champ dont get me wrong but i love being the shield and keeping people save in fights
i will pick my champ up again in time

ty for your post m8 good stuff

[PhantomStorm]

nice post shivered, i like your fighting style. Will post up some new stuff i have discovered with MoM soon. =)).