Lineage II Warcryer Overview Guide

Lineage II Warcryer Overview Guide by AndreasK

This is an overview of the Warcryer class I wrote sometime ago. After the changes in Hellbound and Gracia updates I decided to rewrite this old guide. Many things changed and some reviewing is required. Also, I added some DC related info. Many of the things here (especially on the statistics) also apply to the Overlord class. Their roles and game play though, are diversified due to the different buffs and skill sets. Needless to say that this is my personal experience of my class. Someone else might have different experiences. Take this post as what it is intended to be: a simple point of view.

WARCRYER


INTRODUCTION

Any class’s role ingame is defined by its stats and skill set. Tattoos and equipment may change things a bit, but only to certain extend. So what does the game give to WC? What are our strengths and weaknesses?

PHYSICAL STATISTICS

Let’s begin our overview from the class statistics. WC is a mystic class, primarily considered a buffer. What is obvious with the first look is that its statistics can be characterized as extreme. That means it has everything very high or very low. Its physical statistics (CON, DEX, STR) are in total much higher than any other mystic’s. This is why WC are called a hybrid class (a mix of fighter-mystic). Not only that, but they get all armor masteries (including heavy). This fact, along with their buffs/skills makes them able to solo decently (mainly using a melee DD weapon).
The magical statistics are still characterized by extremity. INT and WIT are the lowest of all mystics (this balances the high physical statistics), while MEN is the highest ingame. That means in simple words that you will not hit hard with magical attacks or cast fast, but you will have high magical defense, high MP regeneration rate and more MP than other classes.

UNIQUE ABILITY

NC tries to give every class some sort of unique ability or skill to make them different from other classes. In WC’s case, this is party buffing and some high level buffs (76+). A WC is the most efficient MP-wise buffer when it comes to large parties (OL can actually buff more people but they have to be clan related). There are many advantages to mass buffing:
-Saves MP from other buffers, which they can use to heal and recharge.
-Buffs are made really fast for the entire party
-It’s easy to track the buff duration and rebuff time
Only downside of party buffs is that they cost a lot of MP (this is balanced after level 70 when we start to learn the combo buffs which conserve a lot of MP).

SKILLS

WC gets several offensive skills:
-Hammer crush, an attack that does damage and has also a chance to stun an opponent (blunt weapon is needed). Orc mystics are the only from all mystic classes that get it.
-Steal essence. This is a strong magical attack that damages the enemy and restores a (large) percentage of damage dealt as HP to the caster. Only downsides to it are the MP cost and the low INT (which can’t be changed by dyes).
-Burning chop is a skill added in CT Final. It does damage and has possibility to land a DoT (like freezing flame).
-Soul Cry is a toggle skill that greatly boosts your Patk but consumes mana for as long as it is on. The good news are that mana consumption for this skill was greatly decreased in Hellbound update. It is now (with the new mana regen passive) possible to keep this toggle on all the time.
-Freezing flame is a Damage Over time Attacks (DOT from now on). It is a debuff that gradually lowers target’s HP. Freezing flame can be useful some times (really few times) but it consumes rather big portion of MP considering the damage done.
-Venom is a poison DoT attack similar like freezing flame. It used to be completely useless (did too little damage) but poison got boosted last update. Problem for WC is that the skill stops leveling at 52! Never figured out why. Only NC knows. I suggest to skip learning venom unless you can spare the SP.
-Aura sink burns instantly some MP (like mana burn) and also acts as debuff reducing it over time. This skill uses are limited to PvP (although it is still viewed by many as waste of MP).

The problem with DoT skills lies with their effect vs the Over Time part. Currently, a lot of classes can deal big amounts of damage in very little time, thus making anything that works Over Time almost useless (unless it has very big effect). CT1 brought an increase in DoT’s damage, but the real impact was insignificant.

WC has also a healing skill:
-Chant of life is a Heal Over Time skill (HOT from now on) that restores some points of HP over time. To be precise, CoL doesn’t ‘Heal’ like a Bishops heal, rather it is a 15 sec buff that greatly increases HP regeneration. That is why using a bsps doesn’t affect it’s ‘healing’ effect. It affects all party members but has some serious downsides
i) it costs a LOT of MP,
ii) it is cast really slow (even with best casting equipment)
iii) it requires a buff slot
iv) it is not as effective (vs. the MP required) as other heals in amount healed as well as the time it takes t work.
This skill can be used in some cases to relieve a healer’s burden in places where many party members take damage (e.g. when fighting mobs that use AOE attacks) or when a cardinal in party is using balance life (quite effective in this case, if you can spare the buffslot).

The are also 3 are crowd control skills (CC from now on). These are:
-Dreaming spirit (sleeps the target). Sleep casting time was increased in C5 but did not apply to dreaming spirit skill. That makes an orc mystic the fastest sleep caster ingame (trance might be faster, but has shorter duration). Dreaming Spirit can be used both for PvE and PvP.
-Fear (makes an enemy run away in fear) can be used both for PvE and PvP.
-Madness (makes an enemy attack a random target), doesn’t work on PvP. Madness has a very poor landing rate so nobody really uses it. But it is by far the FUNNIEST skill. Imagine two monsters A and B near each other. You land Madness on monster A. It then attacks monster B that then attacks you. You end up fighting monster B with monster A helping you by beating on monster B! Really funny (even though you get less exp!). Wish it landed more.

BUFFS

WC has one of the best buff sets for physical combat characters ingame. It is a general conception in the game that the best and most efficient way to kill (physical combat) is by scoring as many critical hits possible in the less possible time. WC gets all the ‘good’ offensive damage dealing buffs that increase attacking speed (haste) and critical hits efficiency (versions of accuracy, focus and death whisper). But also gets good defensive skills (a version of evasion, vampiric rage and magic defense increase). WC also learns war/earth chant that further (additional to might/shield buffs) increase either Patk or Pdef (only WC and prophets get this) as well as a reflect damage skill (throws some physical damage received back to the attacker). At levels 70, 72, 74 you get to learn combo buffs which: a) replace 2 buffs in 1 buff slot, b) this happens for significantly less MP c) they last two times more (40 mins) and d) they cost no SP to learn, you just need an amulet. These buffs help to conserve a lot of MP allowing the WC to save it for other usages.

ROLE

What is your role in L2 world? You are a support character that performs better in a party. That is where you shine. Warcryer is one of the most versatile classes. Your buffs and skills assign you the following tasks in a party: buffer, crowd controller, secondary damage dealer, healer (usually with this order). If you are in a clan or party with friends these will be expected fr
om you, so I suggest building your character in that perspective (mainly for buffer), especially after C-grade. If you solo all the way you can stick to melee damage dealer setup (and get a great wolf).

GAMEPLAY

Setup is the way a character is built in order to fulfill certain tasks. Setup includes one’s weapon, armor and dyes. Setup is decided by the aspect one wants to focus (PvP, PvE), the style (solo, party) as well as the money available. My advice is to focus your setup to the thing you do more often (solo/party), even that causes you trouble for the rest of the cases.

Weapon: If you party more than solo, a magic blunt (to use hammer crush/burning chop) with acumen is the best option. If you solo more than party, then a good damage-dealing weapon is needed. Anything like a 2-h blunt/sword or duals or dagger will do (with dagger being mostly favored after B-grade). I suggest getting both (magical and damage dealing) if it is financially viable. Favoured SA’s for DD weapon (depending on weapon of course) are focus and haste.

Note: Personally, I used duals pre-56 and dagger with focus afterwards. I was forced to change it at 76+ with a Soul Separator with accuracy due to the changes of evasion in recent updates. Mobs evasion increased while my accuracy stayed the same; that led to a very high number of misses. Additionally, a large numbers of mobs that have high evasion was introduced.

Armor: CT Final brought a drastic change in orc mystic’s setups. Robes were always the undisputed party armor, but now light armors are an equally good choice, especially in PvE parties. MP is not an issue anymore; all it takes are a few hits with soul cry on and you are back to full MP. PvP is different, since you may need to buff fast and more than one time in short intervals, so robes remain the best choice.
If you solo more than you party, then the choice should be heavy or light armor (depending on grade and the mobs you fight). For example, I would use Full plate for pure soloing in C-grade but I would prefer Plated Leather for duo’s. Special mention should be made to BW light (with some compromises, you can do everything with that set!) and it is sad that it is not followed by something as good in A or S-grade (S80 light for enchanter looks like an equally good set though). For A-grade Dark Crystal robe or majestic (even tallum if money is an issue) is the set to go for parties with NM light a good soloing option. S-grade not many choices: Arcana robe is the way to go, draconic if you still solo (but why would you?).

Dyes: The +4 WIT/-4MEN is the undisputed tattoo in order to increase casting speed. Beyond that most WC I know put a +1 WIT/-1MEN (for even more casting speed) to the second slot while other prefer a +STR/-CON tatto. Last slot can be +4 STR/-4 CON at low levels and reverse it at higher levels. Some people increase DEX instead to obtain more running speed. Personal taste is more of a factor here.

UPS

-WC is wanted in parties, be it exp or raids. Finding a party is usually not a problem. Additionally, you don’t face the group restrictions an OL has in order to be efficient (clan group)
-Soloing is a viable option (and I mean soloing, no OOP buffers), especially after the introduction of herbs and the decrease of soul cry consumption. All you need is proper gear. A wolf may also be of help.
-Clans are willing to take you in, even if they already have another WC. Few people box a WC, so they are usually needed. But even when there are boxed WC, people often prefer live ones for PvP.
-You are the faster and most efficient buffer for parties.

AND DOWNS

-Buffs level up later than any other buffer’s. This can be frustrating at early stages, but turns out to be a good thing later, since you have something to expect.
-You need different armor setup for solo and party (of course there is always space for some compromises, so this can be solved too). Also you need two weapons (melee, magical) and ss as well as bsps to be most effective. But it is not a must have.
-Everybody makes fun of you because you are green and run really slowly. :P

DOOMCRYER

Getting there was not easy. It took time and effort. What are your rewards? What are the changes compare to WC?

BUFFS

DC gets some great endgame buffs:
-Lvl 76: Health (increases resistance to poison and bleed) and wisdom (increases resistance to sleep, hold, mental attacks). Both are passive skills. Don’t take them. You’ll need the SP for other things.
-Lvl 77 Chant of spirit (protects against debuffs and buff canceling) Very good buff for PvP if you pair it with CoV. Skill Mastery is a skill that can affect reuse time. I didn’t get it myself but other DC’s say that it hardly fires, so I suggest to leave it aside and keep your precious SP. Spell force allows you to transfer some of your Matk to another party member. The effect is small (around 100+ Matk) on a mage class. Don’t bother, keep SP.
-Lvl 78 Chant of Victory is considered by many the best buff ingame, almost for every class. It is not as good as it used to be, but still it gives a big boost to all statistics additionally to existing buffs and only running speed is lowered. It is very important for PvP and PvE. Get it as soon as you become 78 (that is if you listened to my advice and kept your SP). Chant of Gate is a buff unique (maybe the only true unique) to DC that teleports your party to your location. It is very good for PvP and very practical for PvE. This skill is even more useful if you are a noble (extra porting spots). After CoV your next priority. Arcane wisdom is a toggle skill that reduces MP consumption of magic skills and casting speed while draining your HP. It is a nice skill that helps conserve MP. Divine lore is a passive that also decreases MP consumption of magical skills. Good to have. If you learn these 2 last skills in 78 or save SP for 79 skills is matter of choice and priorities you set.
-Lvl 79 Chant of Magnus is a version of CoV for mages. It is very good for both PvE and PvP. Chant of protection is a buff unique to DC that reduces amount of received critical damage. A must have in PvP. Each skill cost 80 M SP. Choose wisely.
-Lvl 81 Turn to stone an 8 sec invulnerability skill and Enlightment a 20 sec buff that greatly increases you statistics. Both have big reuse timers. Skills are ok but nothing that will turn your head around or make you look forward to go to 81. (both tested on PTS)
-Lvl 83 Great Fury a party buff that triggers when using burning chop skill (doesn’t matter if it lands or not). When this skill triggers, it increases all party member’s attack speed 50% for 8 sec. It is maybe the only reason why a DC should go past 79. Many classes get max attack speed when this skill procs. Players love it, raid bosses hate it.

Hint: If you are in a clan and get to 79, I really hope that you didn’t do any excessive skill enchanting. Clans usually appreciate a DC with chant of protection or chant of magnus more than one with +7 steal essence and +6 Dreaming spirit).

SKILL ENCHANTING

After lvl 76, the game provides skill enchanting options to the skills, passives and buffs. This helps keep the pre-76 skills on par with the character (and it’s opponents) as well as modify them to a certain extent. Unfortunately, NC Soft decided to limit DC’s role strictly to buffer. All the versatility that WC had, is now gone. The skill enchanting options are simply very poor. Skills that leveled up to 70+ can’t be skill enchanted (thus becoming obsolete at higher levels).

From the pre-76 offensive skills, only Steal Essence can be enchanted. (and not for fire element). From the CC skills, only Dreaming Spirit and F
ear can be enchanted. Sadly, it becomes really hard to land on high level players (even mobs!) due to buffs, jewels, passives, etc. They need to be really highly enchanted to be effective. Chant of life can also be enchanted but as I said earlier, it’s uses are limited.

I left for the end, the options of buff enchanting. You would expect that since DC’s role is only buffer now, at least the buff enchanting options would be something good. Surprise! There are two options to enchant buffs: Time (make buff last longer) and Cost (make buff cost less MP). Both options have very little use for DC since our mana pool with robes is rather big, and we cast the buffs for all party members at once. I hardly see any benefit from these 2 options for a DC (a recent enchant option for CoV is an exception; it got an option of enchanting it to decrease running penalty). As this was not enough, NC didn’t include the combo buffs in the enchanting options but left all the replaced skills there! As if someone would spend EXP/SP to enchant Chant of Battle AND Chant of Shielding for some more time or less MP when he could use the combo buff (double time, 1 buff slot, considerably less MP, etc). Right. NC’s devs are very lazy.

There are also some options to enchant passives and masteries but they usually provide little effect so it’s more matter of personal taste (as well as available EXP/SP). An exception is Soul Cry. I leveled it for power to +4. Lvl 1 was +43 Patk, Lvl 2 was +13 Patk, Lvl 3 and 4 was +2 or +3 extra Patk. Lvl 3 and 4 is not worth the cost but up to 2 is quite nice.

PvP

Discussing PvP is always difficult since many factors play role. Class, buffs, gear, party setups (example Exp vs PvP party), individual PvP skill/experience, personal style, etc. play a big role. I will try to express my views being as a general as possible taking into account average players (i.e. gear appropriate for level, no special OE weapon/armor, no boss jewels).

The general concept for WC/DC is this: PvE is more physical melee oriented but PvP is more mystic oriented. As I mentioned before, DC’s ability to PvP is severely hit by the lack of skill enchanting options. Thus in PvP it’s role is mainly support (buffs) and assist (with drains/stuns) as secondary DD if having enough MP. Crowd control is almost not existing limited to a lucky sleep/stun.

1vs1: Damage dealing class will kill you easily. Our drain costs too much MP and CP/QHP pots outheal our damage. We’ll be out of mana before opponent runs out of pots. Case closed. Before inquisitor stance, we could at least kill any other buffer. Now things are changed (more balanced now).

Party vs Party: Our main task is to assist with drains/stuns/freezing flame. Occasionally you may try to sleep someone. If any hero poles (cancel sticks) are present then you should stay back and try to rebuff fast any canceled party member.

Mass PvP (sieges): These are prolonged fights and may require many rebuffs due to canceling. Our priority in this case is keeping our MP as high as possible (no drains) and most of all stay alive . Staying near (not in front) of ranged DD’s (archers/mages) during combat is a good tactic.