Melee Saves

1 and 3 apply to warriors, although the lag from charge isn't one round, but two. I think that's for any charge though. The only thing different from the zerk charge is the free round of axe smashing.

I've always found it's the maledictive saves you need.

BUT your hit/dam is important. Around a 45/40 hit/dam minimum.

Your greatest challenge is going to be their protective shield/flying abilities which any smart caster/communer will have up. Trip is okay, but ultimately they should be able to land enough to put a hurtin' on you.

So, this is my simple, but some say, ultimately stupid method.

Make them chase you. Wait for that protective shield to drop. Preferably use a detect magic and watch your ticks. Make sure you have your consumables for your health and detect invis. Use your bash and hopefully sanc will drop along with protective shield forcing them to put up not one, but two key spells.

shrug Just my idea. I've never actually executed it though. Only played one warrior to 50. And it was only a medium size character that I thought had great potential, just not in my hands yet.

It can be -very- hard to get a suitable 'one-size-fits-all' EQ suit (as in, one that has good saves across the board whilst having great hit/dam), so tailoring it to your most common opponents usually works well (except when you're going to be fighting multiple different casters, like say, an active invoker/shaman in the same cabal). It's harder for a warrior, who will probably be using their 4 inventory rare slots to keep different weapon types (their strength) but there are some decent pieces of non-rare saves EQ that can be kept in a sack for when they are needed. Doublesheath also displays one of it's more subtle strengths here, but I won't tell you what if you haven't figured it out. Think about how you would story rare weaponry in your inventory and how doublesheath will help.

Here's two very different caster classes:

If the Invoker is properly dressed, you'd better have at -least- some mental saves present, because sanctuary is what bides your time to lay the pain down, and without mental saves, you will lose your spells fast. Ice storm and call lightning are two spells that can tear through higher afflictive saves, but both of those can be negated at times with clever fighting meaning that you can sometimes get away with having lower afflictive saves if you are forcing them to use other spells that you can save against easier. I killed so many Warriors as my invoker through dispel magic. I fought plenty of giants/Ogres as Enellelisell who went all hit/dam, and it was a simple case of dispel and ice storm/hellstream. With a fully charged staff and a good EQ set (Enellelisell had upwards of 1100hp max at point point, as a Faerie, and had room for a little more) an Invoker has the capability to tear down Warriors that lack in saves, just thanks to dispel magic. The same can stand for battlemages and clerics (as far as dispel magic is concerned). Now, putting me up against a Warrior (even one with a vuln) that had good mental and afflictive saves, I got the hurt laid on me fast, because the damage I was dealing was nullified some, whilst he still tore into me. Just ask Zehava how much he owned Enellelisell, pre-WM, as a WM, and post-WM. He always had a good mix of saves whilst wearing the right weaponry (that will tear through an invoker's measly one defence).

For a shaman, well, it's a given as to what saves you need here. If you're an Ogre, I would aim for at least -45 mal saves, and that's only if you've got a powerful hitdam. Deteriorate, curse and that grasp spell will lower this considerably - one (or two) of those can be circumvented, if you're clever. Analyse the core shaman skillset carefully if you want to know what I mean, it's sneaky but it works a treat when fighting against shaman.

So there's just two classes, both of which will force you to have very different EQ for each fight unless you have an Uber-Suit of EQ. Now throw into that, the fact that the more saves gear you wear, generally speaking, the 'worse' you'll do against melees as you comprimise your hit/dam, and you can see the benefits of EQ switching. Don't disregard non-rare saves EQ, even though it is quite little, because you can carry a LOT of it in sacks. It's fine wearing two uber-rare necklaces that grant you tons of mental/afflictive resistance and +3 to your damroll, but when you come up against a shaman you can bet you'd be better off wearing a couple of non-rare, low level cloaks that are kept in a sack that grant you an extra -6 (or - maladective saves for the pair.

I would say, don't always be too afraid to sacrifice hitroll for saves, especially against say an Invoker, who has just one defence that you'll tear through easily enough anyway with the right weaponry.

Of course, the above is only my own experience. There are always other instances and exceptions to the rules, where it's sometimes better to cram everything into having beastly hit/dam and the like.

Play a Paladin, they can have a surprisingly high hit/dam figure even for an Elf whilst maintaining good saves, WITH most of your spare rare slots available for a couple of really good pieces of saves EQ. Plus you can cure.

Dey

This thread is so demoralizing to me and my warrior . Playing a warrior seems too much hard work and no fun!

Whilst other types of classes can focus on just/mostly defensive equipment, characters that rely on melee damage have to focus on defensive and offensive equipment - and we haven't even brought consumables into the equation. In that respect, it can be hard work, playing the balancing act.

If you can find that balance and keep ontop of consumables however, you'll find that Warriors are immensely strong. Being truly ontop of your game and keeping up with the rest requires you to be wearing tip-top EQ.

I personally am a big fan of melees over casters/cc's/rogues but they can be frustrating to play if you're constantly having to resuit and regain consumables. Played properly however, they are a force to be reckoned with. I haven't really ever done well with a melee. I just like their playstyle.

Dey