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Thread: How to Guide: PvP v3

  1. #1

    Post How to Guide: PvP v3

    Okay, wow, after starting this in March I have finally now just completed a full update of revision 3. Given how long it has taken me to finish writing this revision, some things are a little out of date already, however, this revision is far more up-to-date than revision 2. As always, I will update this revision more as I have free time to include the newest items and tips. All feedback is welcome! If you see something missing, wrong, or otherwise retarded, please don't hesitate to mention it here! My PM box fills up very quickly, so unless it's a fairly detailed or private point, please post feedback here instead of sending me a PM. Thanks!

    My aim in posting version 3 of my PvP guide is two fold. (1) I want to update every aspect of the guide to take into consideration the massive mechanic changes and new items added since posting version 2. (2) I want to trim down the guide, ramble less, and structure the guide better so that it's more useful as a reference.

    Here is an outline of the guide:

    - The Basics
    -- Breed Choices
    -- Nano CC based vs. Stun Proc based vs. Damage based
    -- Our Basic Toolset (Nanos/Pets)

    - Nano CC Setups
    -- Weapon Choices
    -- Equipment
    -- Perks
    -- Strategies

    - Stun Proc Setups
    -- Weapon Choices
    -- Equipment
    -- Perks
    -- Strategies

    - Damage Setups
    -- Weapon Choices
    -- Equipment
    -- Perks
    -- Strategies

    - Perks
    -- "Must Haves"

    - Important items
    -- Defense
    -- Nano
    -- Healing
    -- AR/Damage
    -- Miscellaneous

    - Symbiants & Implants
    -- Symbiants
    -- Implants

    - Strategies
    -- Mass
    -- Team
    -- Solo
    -- Duels

    - Strategies Continued: Profession Encounters
    -- Adventurer
    -- Agent
    -- Bureaucrat
    -- Doctor
    -- Enforcer
    -- Engineer
    -- Fixer
    -- Keeper
    -- Martial Artists
    -- Meta-Physicists
    -- Nano Technicians
    -- Shades
    -- Soldiers
    -- Traders

    - Miscellaneous
    -- PvP Videos
    -- Past PvP Guides v1 & v2


    - The Basics

    In this section I will tell all about the basic things you will want to know about rolling a pvp oriented bureaucrat. This section is geared at answering the most common questions that people have about bureaucrat pvp. I will cover the biggest advantages and disadvantages of each breed, and I will introduce the three main contemporary styles of bureaucrat pvp, and lastly, I will briefly cover what I feel defines the bureaucrat toolset and makes us unique in pvp. As with v1 & v2 of my guide, this guide is aimed at TL7 pvp only, although some of it may apply to lower twink levels as well.

    -- Breed Choices

    - Nano Mage
    -- Advantages:
    NM have the easiest time putting in ql 300 symbs and implants; highest nano skills; access to a 5k absorb that can be coupled with Take the Bullet for a 9k limited absorb. *NOTE* The absorbs do NOT stack, however. You must use one timely after the other runs out, as they will overwrite each other.
    -- Disadvantages:
    Less evades, AR, AS than other breeds.

    - Solitus
    -- Advantages:
    Solitus can use the Survival perk to heal more than the other breeds; have more HP than NM and Opifex, and if you're omni, you get the "best" shadowbreed (a root that is only breakable by a clan SB).
    -- Disadvantages:
    Less nano skills than a NM, less evades, AR, and AS than an Opifex.

    - Opifex
    -- Advantages:
    Opifex have the highest evades, AR, and AS skills.
    -- Disadvantages:
    Less nano skills than a NM, less HP than a Solitus or Trox.

    - Atrox
    -- Advantages:
    Troxes have the highest HP, and can perk Mongo Rage for interesting alternative setups.
    -- Disadvantages:
    Least nano skills, less natural evades, AR, and AS than other breeds.

    - Nano CC based vs. Stun Proc based vs. Damage based Styles


    -- Nano CC based setups

    Choose this option to maximize your crowd controlling effectiveness. Using a CC geared setup, you will land roots, snares, calms, stuns, and initiative debuffs easier than other setups. NM is the most natural choice if for this style of pvp, and you will want to use items that maximize nano skills as much as possible. To really make good use of a CC geared setup, you will sacrifice most if not all of your personal damage and you will count on superior crowd control abilities and pet damage to get kills.

    -- Stun Proc based setups
    Choose this option to maximize your chances of landing stun procs. All breeds are good candidates for this choice, although Solitus might be the best choice for heals, and Opifex will have more AR which is useful for increasing your odds of landing a hit that procs a stun. You should not expect to do great personal [pvp] damage, but you will do more than a CC based setup (as you will likely use pistols, this is the best choice if you are concerned about retaining high pvm damage). To make good use of a stun proc based setup you will want to hit as fast and as often as possible, and you will count on a combination of pet damage, minimal personal damage, and frequent stuns to get kills.

    - Damage based setups
    My personal favorite--choose this option if you wish to maximize your own personal damage to supplement your pet damage and to allow some independence from your pets. All breeds can go this route, this it is worth noting that opifex will get the highest AR and AS. (Whether having the highest AS is worth losing out on heals and absorbs is probably a matter of personal playstyle). To maximize damage you want to maximize AS and nuke damage and find as many alternative sources of damage to complement those two primary sources. You will likely sacrifice some nano skills, and will have a slightly harder time landing nanos than the CC setup and the stun proc based setups, however, you will not need to rely as heavily on lucky stun procs, or pet damage to get kills. You will have the most dependable personal damage, and ideally, you will also have the highest "alpha" ability to get quick kills.

    -- Our Basic Toolset (Nanos/Pets)
    Above all else, the defining feature of bureaucrats both in pvm and pvp is our ability to crowd control. We have the most diverse toolset for crowd controlling, and crowd control will be the biggest component of any crat's repertoire. Crats use a combination of area roots, snares, and calms, along with single roots, snares, calms, stuns, and initiative debuffs, to control their opponents both in encounters versus many people and in solo encounters. Bureaucrats can be very resilient and can survive fairly impressive beatings, however, to achieve great survivability you will have to twink harder and practice more than most other professions. Bureaucrats are arguably one of the hardest professions to truly master in pvp, because of our diverse and complex toolset. Most players believe that bureaucrat pvp amounts to stun procs--but learning the rest is what separates the men from the boys. Bureaucrats also have very few options for mitigating damage. Lastly, regardless of your setup, pets will also be a fundamental part of your damage, so be sure to get Carlo and the CEO pet, and look forward to constantly looking after them.

    - Nano CC Setups


    -- Weapon Choices

    The trend these days is to use either pistols or the remodulator weapon, with more people favoring the remod than anything else. For pistol based setups, one will likely want to use the Dreadloch Balanced Freedom Arms and either an upgraded Ofab Peregrine Mk 6 or a Onehander. Pistol setups allow the crat to maintain good pvm damage and usually result in a better chance of getting stun procs. Pistol crats will also do more personal damage than the remod ones. Alternatively, a crat can use a Dreadloch Remodulator which checks mechanical engineering vs. time space skills, and gives a 100% proc that does -750 to all evades, regardless of whether you hit or not. The remodulator seems to be the superior choice at the moment for CC crats that are not worried about losing pvm damage.

    -- Equipment
    One could arguably go many directions for armor, including bumping up HP or general defenses to go along with high nano skills, but likely you will want to use a nearly complete set of Combined Scouts armor. I would recommend also wearing a Special Edition Ofab Bureaucrat Headgear and an OFAB Bureaucrat Protective Gear regardless of which style you choose, as the HP and AAD mods are simply too good to pass up. Additionally, you might want to substitute in Enhanced Dustbrigade Notum Gloves, and Enhanced Dustbrigade Flexible Boots. You will take a hit to defense and a 5 point loss to nano skills, but you will gain a lot of neat extra mods.

    You should also consider getting a Nano Controller Unit, and Alien Augmentation Device - Nano Technology, a Research Attunement Device - Nano Technology, and Infused Ancient Nano Enhancer, and a Communication's Relay. Although it's worth keeping in mind that you will sacrifice a considerable amount of AAD and evades by using all of these items together, and for that reason you might want to pick and choose which ones you like best, but you will certainly want to at least mix and match these items with AAD ones at the least. This is not an extensive list of every way to maximize your nano skills, but this should get you going as you design the best nano based setup for your crat.

    -- Perks
    Usually give priority to nano skill adding things over anything else, unless you are taking a huge hit to defenses by doing so. This means training up Nano Perks such as: Loophole, Starfall, Nano Doctorate, Champion of Nano Combat, Nanomorph, and any other nano lines you can afford.

    -- Strategies

    Other crats can probably speak better on this than I can, however, your general strategy will be to keep your opponent(s) as still and as debuffed as possible. Snares are most effective, since they do not break as easily on damage, but once you land a snare, you might want to double up and root your opponent as well. AoE roots are almost always more useful than single roots. Timely use of a stun nano will also kill a lot of people, just be prepared for a long nano bar recharge. As soon as you have someone effectively still, debuff their initiatives using Malaise, the three Red Tape debuffs (the fourth for another -30 if you're really anal), and the Workplace Depression nano. All in all, a crat can easily debuff over 2250 initiatives, which is very handy versus most professions. Once your opponent is snared, rooted, and initiative debuffed, your pets will be sure to make quick work of them, especially if you land a lucky stun proc or if you use the remod to debuff their evades. And of course, use calms as necessary. I personally cannot think of any uniquely CC crat based tricks to share, except to repeat again that the remodulator debuffs -750 100% of its hits, even on misses, so I guess you can call that a trick of sorts.

    - Stun Proc Setups

    -- Weapon Choices
    Each stun proc has a 5% chance of going off on any hit. Because the effect of either stun proc is more or less the same, you end up with about a 9.275% chance of stunning on each shot--10% or a bit less than 1 in 10 shots for the sake of simplicity. The minimum stun proc lasts for about 10 seconds, so the most optimal setup results in firing at least 10 times in under 10 seconds, which, putting bad luck aside, could potentially lead you to keep someone chain stunned for quite a long time. *NOTE* Due to a small nerf, stun proc stuns do not overwrite and start a new stun if a previous proc is already running, this makes it harder to keep someone chain stunned, but the object of hitting as frequently as possible does not change. Undoubtedly, dual pistols of some sort is the best choice, because you gain a 33% boost to hits per minute by duel wielding. Having tested many alternatives, I would personally recommend using a Dreadloch Balanced Freedom Arms and either an upgraded Ofab Peregrine Mk 6 or a Onehander. The Onehander seems like a more obvious choice because you would get at least one sure hit every 10 seconds on any profession, because AS is unevadable. Using this more traditional pistol setup, you will have an attack and recharge time of about 2.2 seconds on both hands, meaning you'll average 7-8 shots per ten seconds, with an added AS, Burst, and Fling. An alternative route would be to ditch damage altogether solely for speed. You could, for example, use a Premium Aero Borealis Corona, and a Majestic Soft Pepper Pistol. Both pistols have a total attack and recharge time of 1 second or lower, and the Corona has AS, which means that although you won't do much actual damage with this alternative setup, you will get in several extra shots per 10 seconds as compared to a Dreadloch/Onehander/Ofab combo. However, despite the damage loss, this is the fastest possible combo in game at the moment to my knowledge, and it seems that if your goal is to maximize stun procs, then this one possible way to do so.

    (Stun Proc setups continued below)
    Last edited by Sterva; Dec 29th, 2008 at 22:52:04. Reason: Updating

    Prouver que j'ai raison serait accorder que je puisse avoir tort.

  2. #2
    (Continued)

    -- Equipment
    A stun proc based crat falls somewhere between an all nano based crat and a damage based crat. You won't want to go completely nano armor and items, because if you don't have enough AR in the weapon of your choice, then the only hit you'll get is one aimed shot per ten seconds on most professions. I recommend mixing a combination of Combined Sharpshooter's, Special Edition Ofab Bureaucrat Headgear, OFAB Bureaucrat Protective Gear, Enhanced Dustbrigade Notum Gloves, and Enhanced Dustbrigade Flexible Boots. In particular, you will also want to use the Penultimate Ofab Bureaucrat Gloves for its sweet AR and evades. For Hud and Util items, an optimum setup will likely include a few of the highest nano adding items from the nano setup posted above, but you might want to substitute in a few key different items. A Vision Enhancer is great for increasing your AS if you are using a onehander. Although I probably wouldn't bother trying to get a really great AS out of the Corona, as even the onehander is notoriously unreliable. You might also push AR by using items such as the Masterpiece Ancient Combat Tuner, a Dreadloch Aiming Apparatus, an Aim of Libra, or a Quick-Draw Holster of Aries. Remember, the priority for equipment on a stun proc based crat should be AR followed closely by Defense skills and Nano skills, the setup depends on landing lots of regular hits and having fast recharges on specials, so keep that in mind when you pick and choose what to put in each slot.

    -- Perks
    As AR is your priority, you will want to train Pistol Mastery and Champion of Light Artillery for sure. After that, prioritize AAD and evade perk lines, then nano perk lines.

    -- Strategies
    To maximize stun procs, a bureaucrat must land as many regular hits and specials as possible. This means that the crat needs to be standing still as much as possible to allow regular shots to fire, and that the crat should avoid casting long nanos or using items that jam up firing as much as possible (like the blind ring for example). Many crats unwittingly sabotage their chances of really landing a lot of stun procs by constantly spamming nanos and running around while they pvp. While there are times where this is certainly necessary, the goal of a stun proc based crat should be to engage the enemy in situations where they can stand as still as possible and maintain a steady firing rate. AoE roots, snares, and calms can help setup the right environment for a crat to really land a lot of stun procs.

    - Damage Setups

    -- Weapon Choices
    There are two popular weapon styles for damage based crats. I will discuss each style briefly, but know that either choice is perfectly viable and competitive. The first route is to use a Sapphistic Bow and hot swap it for extra heals and damage. The reason for using a Sapphistic is because it has an equip/dequip time of .1 seconds along with fairly reliable AS damage. This bow has been the standard for Martial Artists for over five years because of its reliable qualities and hot swap ability. To complement the Sapphistic's quick swapping potential, most crats also raise Dimach and train the Kungfuu Master perk line for more damage and healing. The alternative route is to maximize AS damage by using something like and EC3 or a Tiger mk6. While it probably unrealistic to expect to equip a ql 300 EC3 or Tiger, either weapon could potentially yield a higher and more reliable AS than a Sapphistic, making these among the best choices for maximizing personal damage if you do not go the Sapphistic route. Here, obviously try and equip the highest ql that you can keep from being OE selfed.

    -- Equipment
    Combined Sharpshooters is the most likely choice of armor for this setup, although one could possibly go with Combined Commando for more damage but significantly less defense (the trade off is gaining 180 more Dimach and some add damage for 180 evades). The Ofab Helmet and Back item are ace, and you will want to use a ql 275 Vision Enhancer or a ql 200 ELLTS as a rule of thumb. For hud and utils, try and strike a balance between maximizing defenses and aimed shot while keeping enough nano skills to cast your top buffs and debuffs. A good way to go here is to use a Dreadloch Survival Predictor, NCU, Scope in the hud, and then the crat nanodeck, and an Infused Ancient Vision Preservation Unit and an Infused Ancient Defender. It is possible as an Opifex to get over 1720 selfed AS skill using these hud/utils items and only six pieces of sharpshooter (leaving the helm for Ofab). For any AS crat, 1720 AS is a magical number and what you should be aiming for. At 1720 AS, you get a 19th AS multiplier, and the Sapphistic along with EC3 and Tigers start pumping out some really nasty damage. If you cannot get 1720 AS self using those hud and utils items, you might consider picking one of the def slots and substituting in an additional AS item such as the Dreadloch Sniper's Friend.

    -- Perks
    Prioritize evades and aad perklines first. The only significant difference here from the perklines that you would train on other setups is if you use a Sapphistic. If you use a Sapphistic, you will most likely want to train the Kung-fu Master line for a sweet heal perk (1437-3328) that also gives a short 6% crit decrease buff (recharge 3 minutes). The Kung-fu Mastery line requires five perks to get the heal, leaving you with a few extra perks to play around with after you've trained all of the standard defense perk lines. You could spend these remaining perks on Freak Strength to get a few extra stuns, or the First Aid line for a small additional heal--or train both, even. If you go with an EC3 or Tiger you will likely end up putting those extra perks into nano skill lines to make up for your inability to hotswap the Sapphistic with nano buffing items.

    -- Strategies
    One key difference in having high personal damage is that you can split up your damage output easier--and by that I mean it actually makes a difference if you attack someone and have your pets on another person. With other setups it's hard to muster enough damage for there to really be a point in attacking someone other than what your pets are DDing, but with a high AS and Nuke setup, you can usually pump out enough damage to actually kill quite a few profs without any pet help at all. For example, you might send direct your pets to a soldier while ASing down a supporting doctor to keep him healing himself so that he does not have time to dot you or heal the soldier. With regard to Sapphistic setups: Martial Artists often swap a Sapphistic on briefly to gain a bit of extra damage, but as a crat, you will want to reverse that process, learning to occasionally swap the bow off for heals and damage. Your goal should be to learn how to hotswap without interrupting or jamming up your nanos and perks. One good tip here is to constantly make sure that your Sapphistic is reloaded, it only has a 5 arrow clip, and reloading can easily jam up everything if you try hot swapping while it's started a reload. In case of an emergency, it's often best to stop attacking entirely before hotswapping or as you are reloaded, this is the best way of ensuring that perks and swaps go off in a timely manner. With a little practice, it will all come second nature. With a Tiger MK6, you might also consider upping bow special attack to use Ice of Albtraum - Special Arrows. The ice arrows require 1201 Bow Spec (which you can easily get implanting bow spec in the right wrist and right hand slots without sacrificing aimed shot, only at the expense of some TS), and at a 20% dodge check, they make a very nice supplement to AS for those users lacking dimach.

    - Perks

    -- "Must Haves"
    There are a few perk lines that are essentially must haves for crats. Regardless of your setup, you would be doing yourself a grave disservice not to train these lines. The lines I am referring to are as follows: Bureaucratic Shuffle, Careful in Battle, Commanding Presence, and Loophole. The total cost of training these lines is 30 shadowland perks and 10 AI perks, the gain is

    MaxHealth 200
    AddAllDef 300
    NanoC.Init 51
    NPCostModifier -4%
    PsychologicalModification 51
    SensoryImprovement 51
    DodgeRanged 40
    EvadeClsC 40
    DuckExp 40
    CritialResistance 80

    plus 5,300 total AAD and 450 NR in very short lasting perks (3,800 of it lasting only 15-18 seconds).

    - Important Items
    This is a compendium of all of the general items that you will want to have as you pvp. The items are fairly self explanatory, so I'm just going to list them out. Hopefully I have already covered many of these items, but for those of you that would like a laundry list of items to collect, here it is (some items may appear more than once):

    -- Defense
    ---Hud/Utils
    Infused Ancient Defender,* Infused Vision Preservation Unit,* Research Attunement Device - Defense Level Three, Dreadloch Endurance Booster - Nanomage Edition (if Nanomage), Dreadloch Survival Predictor, Protected Safeguarded NCU Memory Unit, Alien Combat Directive Controller.
    ---Armor/Rings
    OFAB Bureaucrat Protective Gear, Special Edition Ofab Bureaucrat Headgear, Omni-Tek Award - Exemplar/Clan Merits - Paragon, Combined Sharpshooters/Combined Scouts, Masterpiece Ancient Bracer, Perfected Infused Dust Brigade Bracer, Bureaucrats' Ring of Order, (ring) Ring of Summoned Terror, Mystical Force Tight Shirt
    -- Nano
    Infused Ancient Nano Enhancer,* Communication Relay, Research Attunement Device - Nano Technology Level Three, Nano Controller Unit
    -- Healing
    ql 275 First-Aid Stims, ql 275 Battle Prepared Treatment Kits, Battle Station Enhanced Health Laboratory/ql275 HQ Health Laboratory, Hacked Blister Pack with Basic Policy Skim
    -- AR/Damage
    ql 275 Targeting Scope - Vision Enhancer, ql 200 Extreme Low Light Targeting Scope, 5 gem Bracers of Aural Saba, Modified Ancient Combat Bracer
    -- Miscellaneous
    Might of Revenant, Corrupted Flesh, Battle Station Battle Prepared Virus Scanner, Battle Station Virus Scanner, Hacked Boosted-Graft: Playful Cub, Hacked Boosted-Graft: Lesser Deflection Shield (Extended), (ring) Twilight's Murder, (ring) Ring of Sister Merciless, Veterans L33t Transformation, Guardian Conductor of Focus (+Evade/Dodge/Duck/Tradeskills), Guardian Conductor of Plunder (+Bow/BowSpec), Guardian Conductor of Transfer (+AAD), Guardian Conductor of Life (+HP), Guardian Conductor of Ransacking (+AS/Ranged Weapon Skills)

    - Symbiants & Implants

    -- Symbiants
    Pending changes since the new patch will change symbiants, Control symbiants are generally preferable to Exterminator.
    -- Implants
    AS users are probably the most likely to use custom implants. If you're using a Sapphistic, you'll want to prioritize AS first and then Nano Skills. If you're going to use a Tiger, you'll want to prioritize AS first, then Bow, then Nano Skills, and then maybe Bow Spec if you're going to use alba arrows (if you can avoid implanting bow in your Right Arm slot for a tiger, you'll gain some nano delta). For RE users, the order is AS, then RE, then Nano skills. The most common implant slots are Eye, Right Wrist, and Right Hand (these are the AS slots). Pistol users will most likely want to implant burst (if using the peregrine), which goes in Right Wrist, Right Hand, and Right Arm.

    (Continued below)
    Last edited by Sterva; Dec 29th, 2008 at 20:03:04. Reason: Updating...

    Prouver que j'ai raison serait accorder que je puisse avoir tort.

  3. #3
    (Continued)

    - Strategies

    -- Mass
    Bureaucrats are critical to any side during notum wars. Having a couple of good bureaucrats on one side over another can easily tilt the favor of a war, even for a significantly outnumbered side. AoEs are the most important tools in NW. Bureaucrats can and should AoE Root, Snare, and Calm as much as possible, along with using AoE Deroot/Desnares for their own side. Assisting the caller to get stun procs on callers is good, so is init debuffing doctors if possible. A bureaucrat's main duty, however, is to keep the other side immobile and keep his side mobile.

    -- Team
    Teaming for bureaucrats usually comes down to crowd control and selecting the appropriate targets for a team to focus on. Remod and nano setups particularly shine for team pvp, however a bureaucrat with any setup will be a great asset to any team with the team auras and buffs. Of course every situation differs, but in general, if an opponent will go down in less than a few seconds, cast the stun nano, if not, cast snares first (snares don't break as easily as roots), aoe roots next (to immobilize attackers and pets in the area as well as pop anyone around out of conceal), use your init debuffs to slow down healers, and use aoe calms and the stun nano appropriately. Make sure to have your single deroot and desnares handy for your teammates, they will work much faster than using the slow aoe deroot/desnare on a team, and your teammates will appreciate not having to spam free movements. Also, watch for pet agro on your teammates, if needed, you can use LMN to permanently calm pets for 30 seconds (the calm will break on damage, but is unbreakable to the pet owner). Timely stuns are very helpful, so try and synchronize your stuns with your teammate's damage/alphas.

    -- Solo
    Surviving in solo pvp is more difficult than in team pvp. Use snares and aoe roots to immobilize your opponents, and kite if needed. Save your defense perks for when you need them, and remember to use CiB! Many crats never actually use CiB because it has such a long recharge that they are hesitant to use it in case they need it later on. My rule of thumb is that if more than two or three people are attacking me, or if someone that frequently tries to MR alpha me attacks, I will hit CiB. 1k def for two minutes is a huge boost to defense, and you should use it as often as possible. For example, if you aren't using it at least once every BS, you aren't using it enough! It's far better for it to be down when you need it (again) than for you to be dying and it to always be up.

    -- Duels
    I swap a lot of gear for duels. Sometimes I will swap my scope off for more defense and occasionally for more HP if I know there will be an inevitable MR alpha that I might not be able to save my perks for. Be fluid with your equipment and keep in mind what kind of offense and defense will work best versus your opponent. Do not let others convince you that there are any arbitrary rules to duels. It's common to do duels self buffed (and most people will specify), but beyond that, there are no hard and fast rules. Lots of people will complain if you sneak during a duel, or if you kite. Unless specified before the duel, do whatever helps you survive and win and shrug off whatever childish insults people will send your way. They are going to do everything in their power to win, and you should too.

    - Strategies Continued: Profession Encounters

    -- Adventurer
    Snare first to keep them from running off and kiting your pets. Then init debuff them as much as possible. Cast your nemesis nano, and start spamming the stun nano. Most Adventurers go down pretty easy once they are init debuffed. With melee adventurers, keep in mind that one good SA/Dimach combo can easily finish you off if you get too low on health, so be sure to keep out of range if you can.

    -- Agent
    Fighting agents is a race against time. If you can land init debuffs quickly enough before they have time to AS you to death, then you should do very well against most agents. Init debuff first, then snare to give your pets a better chance (as most agents will start kiting as soon as init debuffs land). Use your stun nano a few seconds after they CH to maximize their recharge time. If an agent UBTs your pet, have a second CEO in your inventory ready to pop out. Hopefully the agent will be too busy with your damage and your carlo damage that he won't be able to reUBT your CEO quickly, and this might give you the edge.

    -- Bureaucrat
    Bureaucrat vs Bureaucrat duels are so varied that it's hard to provide one specific strategy for winning these fights. In general, it usually comes down to pet control--whoever can keep their own pets free and keep the other crat's pets out of commission will usually win. There are loads of exceptions, though. AS users will almost always beat non AS users. AS/Damage users (bow/RE/etc) will usually beat pistol AS users (onehanders). Sometimes it's better to try and stun the other crat instead of worrying about his pets. Sometimes it's also better to just spam AoE calms and not worry about if your own pets are calmed (for instance, if you have a heavy AS weapon, you will easily beat a remod crat even without your own pets as long as you keep their pets calmed and the crat from running away). One trick you can try versus other crats, or any other pet user profession, is to start out with LMN. You'll have to single target every pet, but your opponent will not be able to uncalm their pets for 30 seconds, and often times it will really confuse them also. Sometimes I've won fights versus other pet users just because they panic because they don't know why they can't uncalm their pets. This is a good trick to know, and is even useful on occasion versus people that understand what's happening.

    -- Doctor
    Hit Overrule when the doctor starts dotting/blazing. You should have enough nano init that UBT doesn't slow you down much (if at all), so don't waste the NR until you start getting dotted heavily. Use an IS rod to break the doctor debuffs if need be. Debuff a doctor's inits straight away. If they don't UBT your pets, you should do fairly well versus most doctors. If they do UBT your pets, like agents, you should have another CEO shell ready to go. If you're having a hard time killing a doctor even with all of your init debuffs going (this will happen if a doctor has enough HP, the tipping point for me being ~24k HP and up), you can try spamming your contemplation calm over and over as you attack. Although the calm will break on the first point of damage, if a doctor happens to start his next heal before the calm breaks, then he will be forced to cast under the total init debuff of your calm and other init debuffs even if the calm is broken before he finishes healing, OR he must cancel the heal by moving around or jumping and start recasting. This can be extremely helpful versus doctors with high HP, as you can debuff something in the neighborhood of -4.5k inits if you spam the calm. This same tactic can be very helpful if a doctor is pocketing someone you're trying to kill. Without switching targets, you can init debuff and calm the doctor, and then re-focus your efforts on your original target. Often times, the doctor will be slowed down so much that you can finish off whoever you've been working on. In BS, if you can't kill a doctor at all, you can try luring them into a very empty space (in between teleports for example) and root and snare them there. If they don't have free movements, they'll be stuck there for a long time. If they do have free movements, it'll just annoy them for a minute or so. The more HP you have the better.

    -- Enforcer
    Versus troxes, start out by using the nano drain ring, init debuffing, and then spamming deadman. It's usually possible to completely drain most trox enfs of nano completely, if you can afford to spam deadman for a bit on top of using the nano dot ring. Draining an enforcer's nano pool completely will help disable a good deal of his offense and defense, allowing you to crowd control him better and helping your pets eat through his defenses faster. Sometimes it is helpful even for an AS user to swap your scope for the hud3--a longer fight is better than dying, and sometimes the extra 150 def makes the difference. Versus other breeds of enfs that not as easily nano drained, keep init debuffs up and running, kite as needed, and try and keep healed enough that a sudden dimach (or SA) won't finish you off. The more HP you have the better.

    -- Engineer
    Calm an engie's pets and nuke as much as you can. Keeping an engineer's pets calmed can be a challenge sometimes, but you can start out with LMN and then move to AoE calms afterwards. Keep out of range from his pets and him to avoid his offensive auras, and try and keep your own pets unsnared. Stunning at just the right moment can often prevent an engineer from getting off bio, and let you win the fight a lot sooner.

    -- Fixer
    Focus on keeping your pets unsnared and unrooted as much as possible. Don't worry about derooting and desnaring yourself so much, unless you use a onehander too, the fixer will have a much shorter weapon range than you will, meaning he'll have to stay in range of you to hurt you. If your pets are free, nuke with workplace depression as much as you can, and (if applicable) be ready to use your stun nano to prevent them from meeping away. Fixers are one of the few professions that are almost "alpha-able" depending on your setup, since they remain one of the lower HP professions. Sapphistic users can try this progression: Send in pets, AS, swap off, Nuke, Dimach, swap on, AS. If your pets proc or hit at all, and you get all of those other things in during a short 11 second time span, most fixers will be dead or very close to dying. Tiger users can try using alba bows along with nukes, but for the most part, other setups will need to count on spamming nukes more to really finish a fixer off. The stun nano and a blind ring usually works better for CCing a fixer than snares and roots.

    -- Keeper
    Snare first and be prepared to kite around for a while while you wear down their defenses. If you're not going to kite a Keeper, init debuff and sit down. Your extra HD will help outheal their damage, and assuming they can't land most perks on you, you should be able to outlast most keepers. The more HP you have the better.

    -- Martial Artists
    Init debuff MAs first thing. Then snare, and be prepared to snare a second time after they burn UAWOS and their SD perks. Most MAs are unstunnable, so it's usually not prudent to waste time trying to land your stun nano, but with init debuffs and a little kiting, you should be able to beat most MAs fairly easily. Watch out for a weapon swapping MA, however, a well executed AS/SA/Dimach combo is often more than enough to kill even good bureaucrats, so keep out of range!

    -- Meta-Physicists
    Tigress MPs are pretty difficult. The general strategy is to calm their healpet and then spam nukes and hope that your pets do enough damage to kill them before they AS you to death. You will usually need to target their healpet specifically and use a single calm. I don't know why, but if you AoE their other pets, it rarely will calm the healpet. Usually I start out with LMN on the healpet, and then LMN on the mortiig. After LMN runs out, I go for contemplation on the healpet and AoEs on the other two. (Sometimes an AoE on the healpet works, but since AoEs occasionally will not effect your actual target, this is risky, and versus tigress MPs, any mistake usually means losing). Be prepared to make full use of any healing and absorb capabilities you have. Versus non-tigress MPs, the same general tactics apply, except you'll probably have a much higher chance of winning as long as you keep their pets controlled.

    -- Nano Technicians
    Sneak. Most NTs forget (or don't know) to attack when they nuke, so if you get into trouble with an NT, sneaking can save your life often times. Remember, if an NT starts executing a nuke before you sneak, it will land after you sneak (and I think it pulls you out of conceal as well, if I recall correctly). Usually if you sneak, an NT will start calming your pets. Wait for him to calm both, then if you have enough HP, hit whatever heals and absorbs you have, decalm your pets, and try and alpha down the NT. If you see an NT first, try using embalming to alpha him down. Most NTs don't have much HP, and if you can get off a stun and get your pets in range fast enough, you might be able to kill him before he poses a real threat. Use Overrule--the extra 450 NR is invaluable versus NTs.

    (Continued below)
    Last edited by Sterva; Dec 29th, 2008 at 22:16:12.

    Prouver que j'ai raison serait accorder que je puisse avoir tort.

  4. #4
    (Continued)

    -- Shades
    If a shade isn't NR, root and snare them and you're pretty much guaranteed an easy kill. Many shades won't even bother trying to heal off of your pets or hitting cocoon, since they know the situation is pretty helpless. If a shade is NR, or if you get surprise MR alphed, RUN. If a shade is NR, you don't have to worry about being root grafted and a stun or a root will help you get away before they can empty a whole alpha into you, if they are NR, use MOR and keep running. As soon as an MR shade pops out next to me, I hit immediately hit shuffle and begin hitting my heal perks and stims. It takes a few seconds to get all of my heals off, just like it takes a few seconds for them to get an entire alpha off, so if you start healing before all of their perks hit you, your heals will actually hit as you begin taking damage. Work on the timing, but if you hit heals and shuffle quickly, combined with running in an unexpected direction, most shade alphas are avoidable, even the ones coming from experienced MR gankers. The more HP you have the better.

    -- Soldiers
    If a soldier does not pre-AMS, quickly hit them with the nano dot ring and spam deadman a few times. Most soldiers, especially trox soldiers, are easy to drain and will not have enough nano to AMS. If the soldier uses a dshark and you see him AMS, you can time his AMS perfectly by using your CiB at the same time. As soon as your CiB runs out, his AMS will run out. If the soldier has no AR, you can usually tank with just CiB. If the soldier has decent AR, you can usually init debuff and sit in front of him, allowing your pets to work on him until AMS runs out, using your sitting HD and stims to keep yourself alive until his AMS runs out. If the soldier has too much AR for you to handle, then pull your pets off of him, root and snare, time his AMS with CiB (or make yourself a macro: /text AMS TIMER! /delay 120000 /text AMS DOWN!), run just out of range and keep spamming roots and snares, and then come in for the kill once his AMS drops. Nano range was boosted semi-recently, and it's now fully possible to have slightly more nano range than a soldier has weapon range, which makes it easy to keep them put while you wait on AMS. Remember to keep your pets off of them while you're trying to keep them rooted, though. Also, if you get the jump on a soldier, sometimes you can alpha them down using your stun nano and a well timed freak strength perk. If a soldier is ec3, you'll almost certainly want to wait until his AMS is down, then you'll want to let him AS once and mentally count down for his next AS so that you can time your stuns to lengthen the duration of each of his AS'es.

    -- Traders
    In my experience, if a trader GTHs you, you're pretty much boned. But a lot of traders have low hp, so if you can get off a stun at the beginning of a fight, you stand a pretty good chance of killing a trader before he has time to debuff you much. Use Overrule for the NR boost, of course, and pray that GTH doesn't land. Otherwise, if GTH doesn't land, and your initial burst of damage fails, the trader will likely try draining you next, or calming your pets. As long as your pets are on guard or already on attack, you do not need to have the nano skills to control them for them to keep attacking, which is great as long as you don't issue any pet commands after you've been drained (this is only applicable if it is possible for a trader to drain you beyond the point where you can control your pets).

    - Miscellaneous

    -- PvP Videos
    Reids has kindly introduced a new PvP video website as a substitute for filefront, since filefront deletes inactive videos after a period of time. You can find some videos at this new website (and I encourage everyone to transfer their videos over and make use of his generous contribution).

    http://www.aopvp.co.uk/index.php

    Here are a few of my own videos: Sterva PvP Videos

    And here's a link to the Official Crat PvP video thread. (many video links are broken thanks to filefront, but there are probably still a few good links there). As an incentive for re-uploading your videos to aopvp, if you do so and then PM me or note me here with a link to your videos via a tag like I've done on mine, I'll add them to this post!

    -- Past PvP Guides v1 & v2
    For posterity's sake, here's a link to revision 1 and revision 2 of my previous bureaucrat pvp guides.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A final note:

    Learning how to be a really good bureaucrat pvper takes a lot of time and commitment. You will probably die a lot and you will probably get very frustrated at times. I could go on forever about very subtle tips and strategies for how to do this or that, but these things are generally better learned through experience. As a bureaucrat, timing is everything, both offensively and defensively. Learn what to do and when to do it well enough that it becomes automatic. I will gladly answer specific questions both ingame and out, so if you are struggling with a particular thing, and you've read through this guide, please don't hesitate to ask. I am never too busy to help other crats with pvp questions, and it's no trouble or bother to me if you have a question, or even if you just want to chat in general. Myself and others find bureaucrat pvp very rewarding and interesting. It's rewarding because it isn't easy to be really good--the enjoyment stems from its difficulty. So please don't whine about this or that, know what you are getting yourself into ahead of time and strive to take on the difficulties as challenges that you can conquer instead of subject matter for future whining.

    For people that wish to contact me on RK1: unfortunately, my name was changed and my crat is no longer named Sterva. IF YOU HAVE FOUND THIS GUIDE HELPFUL, AND YOU APPRECIATE THE TIME IT TAKES ME TO CONTINUE TO UPDATE THESE GUIDES, I would appreciate it if you would send a short complaint email to funcom about my name change. You can send emails here: nameappeals@anarchy-online.com and cc them to here as well: support@anarchy-online.com. Just write that you are complaining on my behalf, and you don't think it's right that my name was changed. Be sure to include that you do not find the name Sterva offensive, and that you think I should get my name back on my main. (I'll really appreciate it, it's annoying to have a name taken away after you've worked for years to build up a reputation and become a household name).

    However, until further notice, my name is now Thelibertine. (Many people have asked, and no, it's not named after the UK band with Doherty or the movie with Depp, the term predates both, and I got the idea for the name from studying and being fascinated with these guys).
    Last edited by Sterva; Dec 29th, 2008 at 22:47:51.

    Prouver que j'ai raison serait accorder que je puisse avoir tort.

  5. #5
    ok that ought to do it.

    Prouver que j'ai raison serait accorder que je puisse avoir tort.

  6. #6
    jk, i might need one more after all.

    Prouver que j'ai raison serait accorder que je puisse avoir tort.

  7. #7

  8. #8
    The minimum stun proc lasts for about 10 seconds, so the most optimal setup results in firing at least 10 times in under 10 seconds, which, putting bad luck aside, could potentially lead you to keep someone chain stunned for quite a long time.
    I'm not sure, but I beleive this was changed a while back. Can anyone confirm this (by testing, not by saying "OMGZ I GOAT CHANI STUNZ BY CRATZ!")?

  9. #9
    I can confirm that you will never refresh a running proc on someone. That doesn't prevent you from landing it right after 10 seconds, but before, it won't affect the player at all.
    RK1 - Malaxia - NM Bureaucrat (220/30/70) - Master of soloing
    RK1 - Telbruk - Solitus Soldier (220/30/59) - Mostly harmless
    RK1 - Telbewbs - Solitus Doctor (220/30/65) - Raiding assistant
    RK1 - Telbot - Atrox Adventurer (59/4) - Lovechild raid bot
    RK1 - Sumonia - NM Meta-Physicist (83/6) - Mochies totem
    RK1 - Coustaille - NM Engineer (52/0) - Totw Twink
    Test - Mala - Solitus Agent (220/30/70) - Council of Testers

    President of Cosmic Forklift Inc. & General of Primal Evolution & Live Liaison of Council of Testers

    Everything you need for your crat is here
    Testlive fun : MMOATP and more! Join us!

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Malaxia View Post
    I can confirm that you will never refresh a running proc on someone. That doesn't prevent you from landing it right after 10 seconds, but before, it won't affect the player at all.
    well.. you can land other type proc, so in theory if 1 type starts when other (type2) is about to end and again land it while type 2 is still running you get chain, but it has sooooo little chance to happen, you can say it doesn't exist. some brainiac can calculate it, i'm not too good at statistics.

    P.S. wonder why i posted here if TEXT IN BOLD AND CAPITAL LETTERS IS STILL AT TOP
    i R not spik engrish

  11. #11
    no one cares to read instructions these days.

    everyone might as well just post whatever suggestions and corrections they find here and I'll repost a new thread once I've got it done if I need more space.

    anyways, thanks for the current feedback all, the update is going pretty slow 'cause I'm still bogged down defending military historicism and the subtleties of reason responsive compatibilism. anyways, I'll finish it up as soon as I have time.

    Prouver que j'ai raison serait accorder que je puisse avoir tort.

  12. #12
    "NM have the easiest time putting in ql 300 symbs and implants;"

    I love my NM and would not trade him but wish he was a bit more agile tbh. Anything that requires agility is a total pain in the backside.

    Would it not be Opifex that has the easiest time with symbs and imps?
    Geniuses think alike and idiots make the same mistakes…

  13. #13
    well, you certainly don't have to think about agility as an opifex, but intel, and especially psychic is a bit of a trouble. And generally speaking, buffing one skill (agil) is easier than buffing two. Plus the agil rings aren't nodrop, etc etc...

    anyways, these are just generalizations. depending on your gear, your org, your resources, etc, some things will vary.

    /will try and finish this or at least update it this weekend.

    still gotta write a midterm, and another two essay. bleh. the work never ends!

    Prouver que j'ai raison serait accorder que je puisse avoir tort.

  14. #14
    Mmm agil for NM, you can buff agility a lot. When i was trying to get high symbs i stopped at 1070 agi, but it was before db sleeves (+44), pants (+22), bracer (+25), alb bracer (+25), research (+25), burden that i didn't have (+30), and probably more that i forgot.
    RK1 - Malaxia - NM Bureaucrat (220/30/70) - Master of soloing
    RK1 - Telbruk - Solitus Soldier (220/30/59) - Mostly harmless
    RK1 - Telbewbs - Solitus Doctor (220/30/65) - Raiding assistant
    RK1 - Telbot - Atrox Adventurer (59/4) - Lovechild raid bot
    RK1 - Sumonia - NM Meta-Physicist (83/6) - Mochies totem
    RK1 - Coustaille - NM Engineer (52/0) - Totw Twink
    Test - Mala - Solitus Agent (220/30/70) - Council of Testers

    President of Cosmic Forklift Inc. & General of Primal Evolution & Live Liaison of Council of Testers

    Everything you need for your crat is here
    Testlive fun : MMOATP and more! Join us!

  15. #15
    We only have won 105 agil from LE, the lowest gain of all profs

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Sterva View Post
    ...


    /will try and finish this or at least update it this weekend.

    still gotta write a midterm, and another two essay. bleh. the work never ends!
    I feel for you. I've been spending some of the Easter break configuring routers and PCs.
    I am looking forward to more in your PvP v3 guide. I originally thought I would go CC Remod setup for endgame but want to see your damage setup ideas before I decide.
    GL with the school work

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by SSK View Post
    well.. you can land other type proc, so in theory if 1 type starts when other (type2) is about to end and again land it while type 2 is still running you get chain, but it has sooooo little chance to happen, you can say it doesn't exist. some brainiac can calculate it, i'm not too good at statistics.

    P.S. wonder why i posted here if TEXT IN BOLD AND CAPITAL LETTERS IS STILL AT TOP
    I can confirm that type2 and type1 procs stack. Hell, I even had one crat proc both stuns on me, on the same shot.

    I would go for Peregrine Mk6 combined with Onehander for a stunproc setup - procs seem to have much more chance of firing when using Burst.
    Lupusceleri L220/30/70 Agent -- Advisor of Spartans -- equip endgame AR setup endgame def setup <3 Azs wearer of Cheree's pants
    Arrowsmith -- Arafellin -- Alphacenta -- Aesculapias -- Wolfseye -- Lysdexic


    TL5 enf twink: im out those MPs are to overpowered

    crattey: The Balance Discussion forum. Where common sense goes to die.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Lupusceleri View Post
    I can confirm that type2 and type1 procs stack. Hell, I even had one crat proc both stuns on me, on the same shot.

    I would go for Peregrine Mk6 combined with Onehander for a stunproc setup - procs seem to have much more chance of firing when using Burst.
    I know both types stack, they belong to different nano lines.

    No need to use peregrine, craphander has burst too, with a lot less twinking to cap burst cycle. Ofcourse it comes with less dmg, but if you're aiming just for proc trigger ratio it should be ok.
    i R not spik engrish

  19. #19
    Nice Guide and dont forget the hallooween Shoulder pads malaxia

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by ragerayden View Post
    We only have won 105 agil from LE, the lowest gain of all profs
    That's why opi crat wtf. xD
    But even opi has some probs with agi if you use minimal buffing stuff. (Got 300s et on w/o bracers and burden)

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