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Dark Age of Camelot
Albion Tank RvR Guide
By Wayne Pellegrin
alias Drake, Grayald
Two time level 51 merc of Albion Percival
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Table of Contents
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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Legal stuff
1.11 Copyright
1.2 Updates
1.3 About Dark Age of Camelot
1.4 What is RvR?
1.5 Notes
2.0 About Armsmen
3.0 About Paladins
4.0 About Mercenaries
5.0 About Reavers
6.0 Modifiers
7.0 Legend
7.1 Example
8.0 The Guide
9.0 Albion
9.1 Plate
9.2 Chain
9.3 Studded
9.4 Leather
9.5 Cloth
10.0 Hibernia
10.1 Scale
10.2 Reinforced
10.3 Leather
10.4 Cloth
11.0 Midgard
11.1 Chain
11.2 Studded
11.3 Leather
11.4 Cloth
12.0 Credits
13.0 Contact Information
14.0 Websites
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1.0 Introduction
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As a long time player of DAoC, I have spent much time on the battlefield
killing and being killed. One thing many people forget to pay attention to,
or completely ignore, are the bonuses and penalties that weapons and armors
have versus other armors and weapons. When I was looking for info on this I
found myself having to ask various people and looking through various
websites to find the modifiers. So I decided to compile the info I gathered
and turn it into a reference sheet for my personal use on my two handed
armsman, but I decided to go ahead and do it for each Albion tank so more
people can make use of it. The bonus/penalty can be pretty harsh and certain
classes using certain weapons just aren't great against other classes using
certain weapons. This is not a full fledged walkthrough. It is a small guide
for Albion tanks. It is based only on the factors listed below. Lastly,
weapons that can be used but not specced (cleric with mace for example)
will not be included as a legitimate threat. Remember. This is a guide
written by a fighter, for a fighter. And that is what it is mainly for.
However, I have tried my best to give a measure against other classes as well.
Some classes I couldn't use the exact same method for so they may seem a
a bit off. This will generally be on non-tank classes though.
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1.1 Legal Stuff
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What you MAY NOT do with this guide. You may not, under any
circumstances reproduce this guide for personal profit. You may not, under
any circumstances alter this guide in any way. If you see something that
should be changed, e-mail me and it will be addressed.
What you MAY do with this guide. As long as you follow the do-nots,
you're ok. Read it, post it, print it, burn it, use it for toilet paper for
all I care.
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1.11 Copyright, 2002. Wayne Pellegrin
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1.2 Updates
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10-2-03. The Albion Tank RvR Guide is completed.
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1.3 About Dark Age of Camelot
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Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC) is Mythic Entertainments well known PvP
oriented MMoRPG. It's defining feature is it's un-equaled PvP system designed
so players can participate in large scale battles such as group versus group,
guild versus guild, realm versus realm, or whatever possible way to mix and
match it. The very heart of the game is its RvR system and is what has kept
it alive where other new games have failed. It also has it's share of large
scale PvE encounters for those who like to fight monsters as well. How are
the armies divided? By realm. The DAoC world consists of 3 realms.
Albion, the basic knights and wizards type of realms. Hibernia, the mystical
realm where creatures like elves and firblogs dwell. And Midgard, based on
Norse mythology, the muscle realm that hardy dwarves and hulking trolls call
home.
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1.4 What is RvR
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RvR is the common term used for Realm versus Realm combat, the heart of
DAoC. Here's how it works. There are 3 realms as I have explained above.
Each realm is at war with the other 2 realms. Each realm has a safe home zone
where players don't have to worry about attacks from enemy realms. These home
zones are protected by 2 border keeps that are located at the realms frontier
zone. The border keep sare protected by VERY powerful guards. Players aren't
meant to be able to get into an enemys home realm. Once a player steps out of
those gates at the border keep, however, he had best be prepared. Anything
goes in the frontier. Kill or be killed. You can be attacked by an enemy
antwhere, anytime. Players in one realm can not directly communicate
verbally with players from another realm due to their difference in language.
They can, however emote to eachother and use third party means to communicate
such as chat rooms and message boards.
RvR is a step above standard PvP offered in other MMoRPG's, however.
Literally hundreds of players can fight it out at the same time in massive
warlike battles in the field. Furthermore, each realm has outposts set up
throughout their frontier. These outposts are generally safe. However, the
purpose of these outposts is to provide even more flavor to the RvR scene.
Outposts can be attacked and taken over by enemy realms. These battles can
be very short, or hours long depending on how many players defend the
outpost. And lastly is the core of RvR. The relics. Powerful items that
grant extra strength to whichever realm holds them. Each realm has 2
relics. Each one protected in a seperate castle in a seperate frontier
zone. One relic brings strength and the other brings magical power.
Castles are a much tougher battle and require many more players than
keeps. The guards here are very strong and numerous, depending on how many
keeps the realm has. All of this dumped into the pot cooks up into what we
call RvR, the heart of DAoC.
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1.5 Notes
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This is just a small guide intended for Albion tanks. It is simply a
compilation of info I dug up from various places. I then made a small
numerical system to gauge each classes odds versus other classes. PLEASE
keep the following in mind. I can't stress this enough. This guide is NOT
a set in stone representation of which class can beat which. It is meant
as a reference guide for the Albion tank to see how he stacks up against other
classes. Obviously, against some classes such as archers and casters, this
guide will be 95% useless. It should, however, give the Albion tank a fairly
accurate measure of his capabilities against more fighter oriented classes
based on mechanical factors that players can't change such as weapon bonuses
and penalties. Factors that depend on the player himself are not included.
If you really suck and go try to fight someone who you are rated 8 against
and he beats the crap out of you, it's your fault. Practice your class.
Learn how to play it efficiently and try again.
Please do not e-mail me saying "You're numbers are all wrong, No way can
a 2h armsman beat a pbaoe chanter" or whatever class. I am well aware of
these things. This guide is not written in that mindset. It is meant as a
tool for you to see how the class stacks in terms of damage type versus armor
type. CERTAINLY do not pester me with emails saying "lololol n00b j00
suxx0r!11!one!!1one!oNe!1". I will not waste my time humiliating you and
will simply delete your message and block you. What I will accept is
corrections to mistakes I've made or to wrong info that I've obtained. If
you do e-mail me with corrections please send me a link to the documentation
where the info can be found.
In a few places I have taken some class balance issues into account, so
if the number seems off that may be why. It might also mean I screwed up.
This is my first guide ever so it's bound to have some kinks in it.
Nothing is perfect the moment it is first completed, however. It will change
with time. As a 2 year veteran of DAoC, I feel the opinions and descriptions
are fairly accurate. I don't want to hear about your uncle who works at
Squaresoft who solos purples without downtime using his 2h pally.
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2.0 About Armsman
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The armsman. Albions resident meatshield. Not quite the knight in
shining armor. Closer to the war-hardened footsoldier. The armsman is
considered albions main tank, although they aren't as good at soaking up
damage as the paladin. Armsmen are generally thought of as good damage
dealers who can take their fair share of punishment. They have three
different choices available to them for weaponry. The basic sword/shield
fighter, the 2 handed weapon user, and the polearm specialist. A sword/shield
armsman is not known so much for his damage as his consistancy. They have
the highest survivability of the 3 paths, but the lowest damage. Next is the
armsman who chooses to ignore that shield and take up a larger weapon such as
a giant axe axe or a claymore. This type of armsman has a higher damage
output than his sword/shield counterpart but he can't fight as long because
without a shield he will sustain more hits. Last is the polearmsman.
These guys are human can-openers. Or troll can-openers. Well you get the
point. Probably the most common type of armsman around. They do massive
damage per hit with their large polearms such as halberds or bills.
This comes with it's drawback though. As you can imagine, using such a weapon
isn't as easy as using a sword. Polearms take quit awhile to swing, and when
they miss, it can really cost the user. 2-3 misses with a sword is just an
annoyance whereas 2-3 misses with a polearm can ruin the armsmans day.
Whichever path you choose, they all have their ups and downs.
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3.0 About Paladins
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This is Albions knight in shining armor. A knight who serves the church
and is endowed with holy powers. The paladin is not a damage dealer. They
are DAoC's paragon of defense. A strong paladin can solo multiple mobs
stronger than himself and come out with most of their hp left. With their
weak damage output however, such a battle can take a long time. The paladin
can can use either sword/shield or 2 handed weapons. Almost all paladins
go with the former. The bread and butter of a paladin are chants.
Chants are a group ability the paladin can use to increase defense, offense,
regain health, regain endurance, or increase resists. Well played and
equipped, paladins can accomplish truly amazing feats, but they still hit
like a baby.
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4.0 About Mercenaries
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The mercenary. A fighter for hire? I wish. In DAoC nothing more than a
guy who uses 2 weapons. Still the most fun class I've played. Great damage
output, but lacking in the defense department. They don't have the whopping
damage of a polearmsman, but their strength is in their reliability. You can
pretty much count on a merc for damage because missing isn't a big deal for
them. They hit fast and can hit with both weapons. They have the ability to
throw dirt in their enemys eyes, causing them a 50% chance to fumble their
attacks for 10 seconds each time they hit for a total of 40 seconds. They
also have a fluff ability called flurry. A direct damage shout on a 2 minute
timer that used dual weild to calculate its damage. Mercs are albions best
tank for taking out casters and support classes, or at least keep them
running so they can't heal their friends and blast yours.
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5.0 About Reavers
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Albions fighter/caster hybrid. Kind of the opposite of a paladin. They
serve Arawn, lord of the underworld. Powerful fighters that get magical
abilities to damage their enemy and steal their life as well as make them more
vulnerable to attacks. They have the choice to spec in a new weapon type
unique to them. Flex, which has possibly the most painful positional styles
in the game.
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6.0 Modifiers:
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The following modifiers are the ONLY ones that apply to this guide. Such
things as class, race, spec, good/bad gear, % resist from sc, realm rank are
not factored in.
Bonus and Penalty - The bonus or penalty applied for certain damage types
versus certain armor types is said to be 10%, however there are players who
swear that the number is actually more like 20%. Either way, it is a
powerful factor.
Type of armor - Plate, chain, studded, etc.
Damage modifiers - Damage type of the character versus armor type of the
opponent. Will vary from person to person.
Armor modifiers - Armor type of the character versus damage type of the
opponent. Will vary from person to person.
Weapon size - Large weapons have 1 modifier. Using large weapons halves
your opponents chance to parry.
Shields - Shields have 1 modifier. Someone using 2 weapons gets a 50%
bonus versus shields.
Keep in mind that there is no numerical modifier for large weapons versus
shields. However it is generally accepted that large weapons are not
the best choice to tackle a shield user due to their slow attack speed.
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7.0 Legend:
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I will give the character a number for each class that he goes against.
The higher the number the better. The range will be 1-10, though you probably
won't see any extremes in this guide yet but in future versions I will add
more factors.
1 - You'd have a better chance to win the lottory
2 - Awful
3 - Bad
4 - Poor
5 - Average
6 - Good
7 - Great
8 - Excellent
9 - Terrific
10 - Fish in a barrel
The base number will be 5. This means that based on damage type versus
armor type the 2 are completely neutral to eachother. For each advantage
or disadvantage I will add or subtract 1.
Here are some terms you may see used in this guide and their meanings.
DAoC - Dark Age of Camelot
lvl - level
dw - dual weild
cd - celtic dual
la - left axe
alb - Used to refer to the realm Albion and its inhabitants.
hib - Used to refer to the realm Hibernia and its inhabitants.
mid - Used to refer to the realm Midgard and its inhabitants.
lol - laugh out loud or lots of laughs
suxx0r - "d00dspeak" for suck or sucks. Frowned upon by decent players.
I use it to make fun of those who seriously use it.
arms - armsman
merc - mercenary
pally - paladin
infil - infiltrator
champ - champion
bm - blademaster
vw - valewalker
ns - nightshade
chanter - enchanter
rm - runemaster
sm - spiritmaster
zerker - berzerker
sb - shadowblade
fluff - something that is added to the game that was not needed that
they think will satisfy the players.
2h - two handed
The format for the table is as follows. The classes you can fight are
listed vertically. Your class will be listed horizontally next to it.
Locate you're class in the list below. Next to it will be a figure such
as 1a or 2b. Once you have found the figure that represents your class/spec,
Proceed to the table. Choose the enemy you want to measure yourself against.
Finally, find your figure in the list next to the class. There will be a
hyphen next to it. The number right after the hyphen is your rating against
that particular class. Alternatively, you can use the "Find" function
(ctrl+f) to jump directly to your figure.
Here's an example. If you are a 2 handed slash armsman and want to check
yourself against a spear using hero you can do it one of two ways. First,
you could just go down to the Hibernia section, find hero, and locate your
figure next to it. Or you hold the "ctrl" button and press "f". A box
will come up. Type in 1a and press the "Find next" button.
It will jump to the next figure that says 1a. Keep pressing the button
until you see your figure highlighted next to the spear hero.
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7.1 Example:
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Player 1 - Armsman using 2 handed sword and wearing plate.
Player 2 - Hero using a celtic spear and wearing scale (chain).
The armsman starts with a 5. Let's look at his weapon first. 2 handed
sword does slash damage which is strong against scale. Armsman gets 1 point
bringing him to 6. Armsman is using a large weapon which halves enemies
chance to parry. Armsman gets 1 point bringing him to 7. Now on to the
armsmans armor versus the heros weapon. Plate armor is strong versus thrust
damage. The hero is using a spear which does thrust damage. Another point
for the armsman bringing him to 8. We aren't quite finished yet. The hero
is also using a large weapon, so the armsmans chance to parry is halved as
well, so they even out. We will take one of those points away. The armsmans
final score versus the hero is a 7. His chance to beat the hero is great.
Simple, no? Now on to the guide.
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8.0 The Guide
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Now we get to the good stuff. Here you will find how your two handed
armsman stacks up against every class in every realm. Remember these three
things. First, I have included every class for the sake of completeness.
This guide will actually be pretty much useless as a measure against caster
type classes. Against another fighter of equal level, however, this guide
should indeed provide a fairly accurate measure of your capabilities.
Second, this guide does not take into account things like realm rank. If
you go out and attack a realm rank 10 with your realm rank 2 armsman because
you have a high score against him, you're asking for trouble. Last, the
higher the number, the better chance you have of winning, just remember
the above.
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9.5 Cloth
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Cloth wearers
Everyone gets a 5 here.
(Before you freak out go read sections 1.0 and 1.5 again)
-
Healer
See Warrior/Thane/Skald. Weapon skills not applicable.
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11.2 Studded
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Berserker/Hunter (Disregard Axe, Hammer, and Left Axe for Hunter and Spear and
non 2h sword for Berserker)
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12.0 Credits
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The Camelot Herald
Allakhazam's Magical Realm
Zavco, Wizard of Albion/Percival
Kiliandra, Infiltrator of Albion/Percival
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13.0 Contact Information
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If you see an error in my guide that has to do with wrong information and
such, please e-mail me telling me what is wrong, the correction, and any
documentation backing your claim. Until I see documentation or hear it from a
trusted source, nothing will be changed.
As I stated earlier, do not waste my time sending me e-mails ridiculing
me or my work. Such messages will be deleted, you will be blocked, and I
will have a good laugh at you're expense for willingly proving your idiocy.
In addition, don't bother e-mailing me with grammatical corrections. I read
this guide over and was able to understand it perfectly. Do not contact me
asking "what class is better" questions.
If you follow these guidelines and consider you're email to be within
them, send it here.
shadowblade78@hotmail.com
If you want to talk about something, you can contact me via icq or
aim. Don't worry, I don't bite and am generally a really nice guy. A gamer
just like you. You can reach me here.
http://www.camelotherald.com - The best site out there to keep
up to date on DAoC
http://camelot.allakhazam.com - A great site with lots of info. This is
one of the places I got the armor resist information.
http://www.elementsofavalon.com - The DAoC guild I am in.
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End of Guide
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