WildStar Basic PvP Guide

WildStar Basic PvP Guide by BicSkylighter

CC’s:

This game is not nearly as CC intensive as WoW or some other popular MMO’s have been in the past(you wont be on a 25 second CC chain…but that does not make them useless… in a sense it makes using them correctly more important.)  Timing is everything.

Knowing when the right time to use a CC can depend on a few factors:

1. The classes you are facing and the abilities they have on CD
(With the limited action set you will not be certain of what abilities a player has or doesn’t have, however there are staples that each class will use in PvP, outside of that be observant of what they are doing and know how to counter it)
2. The health of their team members
(As simple as setting up kills, When applying pressure to the other team you manage to get a player to 15% health.  Now is the time to throw a CC on their healer and or other party members to avoid interference from his certain death.)
3. The health of your team members
(Know when to play defensive, live to fight another day.  In relation to the previous example if you or your teammates are near death now is the time to CC and peel players off.)
4. When you can get the most bang for you buck
(Sometimes teams put themselves in bad positions, in a game that is more about position than most of the common MMO’s, take advantage of their stupidity of grouping up and get a full team stun and commence AOE damage.)

5. In cases when players over extend their healers or remove themselves from LOS.

(Sometimes an over aggressive player may chase you or a teammate out of his healers range or behind a pillar… Keeping players out of range or sight of healers is a good time to lock them into place)

Be aware of Diminishing Returns

Many types of CC: Stun, Knockdown, Blind, Subdue, Root, etc… all suffer from diminishing returns.

When a player has previously been hit by multiple CC’s of the same type over short periods of time the effects of the CC will be reduced and eventually the player will develop a temporary immunity to those type of CCs.

To counter this, coordinate with teammates to carry a wide arsenal of CC types and develop a rotation that reduces the drawback of diminishing returns on the other team/player.

Some forms of CC do not suffer Diminishing returns… Pulls, Knockbacks and, correct me if i am wrong, Snares do not suffer from diminishing returns.

How to break out of CC’s (Breakout Gameplay)

Stun – Spam your F key until you gain control of your character

Knockdowns – Using a Dash charge in any direction will bring you back to your feet

Subdue(Disarm) – Run to your weapon and the ground and your character will automatic pick it up and you will be able to cast again

Roots, Blind, Pulls, Knockbacks and Snares – Do not have an active breakout mechanics(depending on your class, LAS and ability tiering certain abilities do allow a character to break free from these CC’s)

Interrupt Armor

Interrupt armor is a mechanic that works as a shield from CCs. Different classes have a variety of abilities that can grant a character(s) interrupt armor.  Different CCs can break multiple interrupt armor depending on ability tiering or the ability itself.

Example 1: You hit a player with a stun that has been upgraded to break 2 interrupt armor. The character you hit only has one interrupt armor active. The player will lose his interrupt armor, be hit by the CC and suffer the effects.

Example 2: You hit a player with a blind that breaks 1 interrupt armor. The character you hit with the blind has 3 interrupt armor.  The player will lose 1 interrupt armor reducing his interrupt armor to 2.  The player will not suffer the effects of the CC.

Knowing which CC’s to use.

When deciding which CCs to use you should factor in what it takes to get out of the CC.  None of them are overly difficult to break free of, but some are certainly more affective than others.

Personally i find knockdowns and blinds the easiest to deal with.  A simple dash charge gets you up from a knockdown and if you are showing all nameplates you can still deal damage or heal during blind.(maybe slightly less effectively)

Stuns and disarms are typically the ones that eliminate a players ability to cast for the most amount of time…

While stuns are a few f spams away from freedom, a player will typically take 1.5-2 seconds before being able to start his first cast.(This sounds small but the PvP is fast pace and 2 seconds can kill)(Also on stuns, upgrading them with your ability tiering actually increases the f spamming threshold needed to break free as well.)

Subdue depend on how quick a player spots and gets to his weapon.  If the weapon is tossed to a good location i feel this can be the most powerful single CC.  Typically taking 1.5-3 seconds before casting again.(Subdue also often leaves players facing the wrong direction which can take a half second for a player to adjust his position and LOS.)

But now to the nitty gritty.  How to properly CC in a game that makes it simple to break out of CC’s individually.

Using them in succession.

One of the forms of CC not yet mentioned is root.  Roots do not have an active way of breaking free.. however many classes have ways of escaping.  If the player has an ability tiered or use a certain ability on their LAS.  Roots alone also do not prevent a player from continuing healing or doing DPS… When rooting a player use his inability to move to your advantage…

But how about this…

You Subdue a player throwing his weapon aside.  While Subdued the player can not cast.  You/teammate then root him in place.  You are now forcing him to eat the duration of the root and then run to pick up his weapon if the max time has not yet expired.  Needless to say… This greatly increases the effectiveness of your CC’s.

After the root is up maybe a snare to further delay his walk to his weapon.

The point is knowing how the CCs affect the player and use them in conjunction to further disable and harass the opposing team.

How many CCs should a player carry depends on your class, role and comp.  But as a basic rule I would say healers need at least 1, DPS should carry at least 2 and Tanks should likely carry at least 2-3 for harassment purposes.  But again… that is just a general rule and my opinion.  As mentioned before it can vary depending on the Comp you are running.

Limited Action Set (LAS)

Wildstar limits you to 8 abilities, a gadget and a path ability, so choosing the right ones are very important.

(The gadget slot is not yet covered in this guide. I will update it soon)

Selecting your abilities

Each class has what I’d call their “CORE” abilities.  These are the abilities that a specific class filling a specific role will carry no matter what.  Most classes in any role have a minimum of 2 of these.  Even a hybrid will typically have some sort of a builder and spender ability.

For example, a Medic uses emission(Builder) when healing to generate actuators.  The actuators are then spent on casting Crises Wave(Spender).

Now it is possible to have more than 2 of these core abilities. The same medic may also carry Shield Surge(Spender) in conjunction with Crisis Wave for a total of 3 “CORE” abilities.

Things to think about

1. What stage of PvP we are playing in?  (BGs? Arena? Warplot? Open World?)
2. How many allies will I have?
3. How many enemies will there be?
4. What classes are playing with me?
5. What abilities are my teammates using?
6. What is the abilities cooldown?
7. What are your classes weaknesses?

To the abilities themselves

You can have a variety of types of skills.

Freeform heals, Targeted heals, Some heals that heal 4 players, some that heal 10, some that only heal the player with lowest life, some that heal shields.  That’s just types of heals.

Then you may have offensive CD’s, defensive CDs, CCs, gap closers, abilities to create distance etc…

Knowing which ones to use in the right environment is important.

For example… you are in a 3v3 arena as the healer.  Would you bring ability A or ability B?

Ability A – Heals yourself and 4 allies for 2000 hp, focus cost of 34, 10 second CD
Ability B – Heals yourself and 9 allies for 1300 hp, focus cost of 45, 10 second CD

In this arena Ability A is way more cost effective.  Even though Ability B has the ability to be the more efficient heal it’s potential is not there in a 3v3 arena.

Using the same abilities in a Warplot match, which is 40v40, Ability B now becomes the smarter choice due to it’s increased efficiency.  Keep in mind all the same applies to damaging abilities and CC’s… they all have a number of affected targets.  Keep that in mind.

So now we have determined the “CORE” abilities and we have distinguished the number of allies you will have and the number of foes you are facing.

CCs

Now you need to determine what CC’s can I provide vs what my teammates can bring.  How do these abilities work together?

You do not want to have a 3v3 arena where all 3 members are only using stuns… the diminishing returns on your stuns will soon turn your stuns into wasted global cooldowns and deem them useless.

Make sure you have diversity among your teammates and work on putting together the best combination of CC’s your comp can provide.

Offensive and Defensive CDs

When selecting your CDs keep in mind the benefit they provide and how it will benefit yourself and your team in the environment you are in.

Selecting a Offensive CD that buffs your party with increased Tech damage when you are paired with an Esper that is not dealing Tech damage this CD might not be the best choice.

If your class does not posses a offensive CD that benefits the group you are in do not force them onto your bar.  Remember you have a limited number of abilities, choosing a Defensive CD that does benefit the entire group might be the better option.

How about cooldowns and how long are they?

When being limited to 8 abilities having an ability with a 45 second CD is a LIFETIME.  If you decide to go with an ability with such a long CD be sure of its value to the group and limit the number of long CDs you have.  Reducing yourself to 5 abilities for 45 seconds can put you and your team at a disadvantage.

There is plenty more in considering what abilities you bring, how you tier them and how they relate to your teammates.

Just know… You have limited abilities, Know the encounter, know the cost and CD of the abilities and how they benefit you and your team.

Bringing the wrong ability is equally as bad as not casting the right ability when you need it.

POSITIONING

Plays a much bigger role in Wildstar than in WoW.  Those of you who also played Tera may know the value of positioning in PvP where it was no where near as critical in WoW.

In WoW, outside of pillar humping and making sure you remained in LoS of your healer when you needed heals or dispells, positioning did not mean all that much.

Positioning is going to be a big adjustment for mostly those playing DPS roles in PvP.  While healers certainly have to make some changes, the DPS are the players who will find themselves moving into position the most.

In WoW or similar tab targeting games… it was easy for a 3v3 comp of a melee range and healer to have the melee on the focus target, range dps staying at max range and the healer can stand nearly anywhere and reach both teammates at a moments notice.  This does not happen in Wildstar.

Things to be aware of about your positioning

1. What class is my healer?
2. Do you know this classes range?
3. What classes I am facing?
4. What other classes am I running with and their range?
5. What are their AoE and CC abilities?
6. What is the width and the range of their abilities?
7. Where am I standing in relation to my teammates? too close? too far?

These are just the basic things you need to ask yourself. 

A SS needs to think… I am running with a Medic healer who’s ranges is relatively short my teammate is a Warrior who needs to be in melee range.  With this information alone the SS should know right away the goal is to stand about 10 meters behind or the the side of the warrior.  this should allow the medic to heal both at the same time.  If the SS stood at max range.  The medic will spend twice the focus healing both members and will constantly be running and turning around to reach his teammates.

In this game the DPS can do far more to support their healers than just CC and peels.  By using smart and intelligent positioning alone you will save a healers focus, reduce the number of deaths and ultimately increase your chances of going HAM on the enemy.
 
The idea is to stand in a way you take the least amount of AoE damage and the healers gets the most out of his heals.

I think the sweet spot is standing about 8-10 meters apart.  This prevents players from absorbing all of the AoE damage and CCs but allows the healer to still heal all members at once with ease.  The distance apart can be further depending on the class of your healer and the skill of the healer.  But keep in mind the further you stand apart the more and more likely a wall or column will LoS the healer from his teammates.

My general rule is the healer is the center piece, and the DPS should move in relation to the healers position. 

The DPS needs to be smart… they obviously need to be able to move freely enough to do damage to the enemy, all while knowing the position of the healer in relation to your teammates.  This game in the high end arenas will rely heavily on positioning, baiting players into a poor position and baiting them to LoS their healers.

Don’t get baited into poor position, don’t LoS your healer unless you know damn well you are not going to die or it wont get your teammates killed.

Healers also have increased responsibilities.

It’s often going to be on the healers to put themselves in a position so the DPS can max their effectiveness.
If the enemy is near death and runs LOS from your DPS you should move into position to allow your DPS to chase.

PvP will be a dance, and which teams move the best as a unit will prevail.  This will take time and there is a learning curve, but knowing what good positioning and poor positioning will win you games even when out geared and out played in other aspects of the game.