[KotBS] Builds, gearing and playstyle

[perroplut]

Hi all,

I recently reached rank 40 with my knight and started thinking of new ways of playing it, since always went for a deffensive s&b high survival builds, which is damn pretty satisfactory, but also gets soooo boring when it comes to solo pvp playing (due to low damage, and some people would also say skills) most of the time i can only watch how a few enemies get down my health bar in about 5-7 minutes with no option of killing any of them. Also at this point I'd like to try new things.

I know kotbs is focussed on taking damage and I have abandoned the idea of being a hard damage dealer, but trying 2h (always tank oriented) gives it some fresh air since you can actually kill some folks (even if they wear superior gear). So my point is, have you guys explored balance between damage and the defensive roleplay, and can give some examples of it? Also, is there a way the bonus damage of 2h swords is worth renouncing the shield block and defence bonusses?

Cheers!

P.S: No, I don't want to play a SM either.

[Collateral]

Going 2h as kotbs is very strong. I'm definitely no expert, but my guess is the same as any other dps tank. Spam str talis, and try to get as much crit from rr. You also have a crit tactic afaik.

If played right, kotbs can actually beat most classes without a weapon. Yes you read that right. Without a weapon. Seen it with my own eyes. Obviously there are people who know much better than me, so they will be of more help.

[BreezeKicker]

If you main goal is to be an asset to the group only go for 2h if you are to provide AoE WOU debuff [Arcing Swing], AoE DEF debuff [Staggering Impact] and offensive crit [Encouraged Aim], otherwise stick to shield with pt crit buff [Dirty Tricks] and pt heal buff [Focus Mending] or secondary auras as a 2nd KN in pt.

If you gonna do RvR within wb scale, you need to stack DEF as 2h KN or you will explode. For small scale you need to be tanky enough to carry your guardie portion of dmg from guard and not be a weak link in pt.

IF you insist of going solo, you gonna always find someone with advantage over you. Forget about killing any decent healer unless they screw up horribly for example. Unless you wanna bank on other order saving your ass you want as high dps as possible for solo or you risk more enemies adding in before you can finish your target [And KN is not really that good on quick kills]. Your best quarry will be melee dps due to On Your Guard and Shield of Sun combo.

In the end getting a regular likeminded grp of ppl in your time zone [aka a guild] is the best time investment you can make. As a tank you should not be the main dps source but more of a Utility/Assist DPS and for that you need a grp to both support and get support from.

[GodlessCrom]

Stack defensive stats with renown and talis IMO. You get a massive boost in str from your aura and from Runefang and possibly from Emperors Champion if you slot that as your M2. So you don't necessarily need to stack strength like other 2h tanks may. If you have 500-550 strength unbuffed, you're fine. Put first 40 rr points into parry and dodge/disrupt. Stack armor and wounds talis. Grab vigilance and Smashing Counter from mid tree, Encouraged Aim and Slice Through from left tree. Slot super punt tactic, Runefang, Encouraged aim, and Slice Through. Voila, you're good. Focus on getting your CC off at the correct times, using your 2 interrupts at the correct times (interrupting a rez, or a Marauder pull, or a sorc rotation), learn when to switch guard (super important, literally one of the most important skills a tank can have) and make an assist macro for your dps.

Remember: you're always a tank first, damage assist second. 2h tanks can work, but they're tougher than shield tanks, especially in rvr. 2h knight is surprisingly viable due to the sheer amount of stats you get from auras and Runefang, and the sheer utility of 100% uptime aoe snare, 100% uptime crit aura, and the only wounds debuff on Order that commonly sees use (no one goes 2h slayer really, whom posses the mara mirror wounds debuff).

[Telmorial]

Stack defensive stats with renown and talis IMO. You get a massive boost in str from your aura and from Runefang and possibly from Emperors Champion if you slot that as your M2. So you don't necessarily need to stack strength like other 2h tanks may. If you have 500-550 strength unbuffed, you're fine. Put first 40 rr points into parry and dodge/disrupt. Stack armor and wounds talis. Grab vigilance and Smashing Counter from mid tree, Encouraged Aim and Slice Through from left tree. Slot super punt tactic, Runefang, Encouraged aim, and Slice Through. Voila, you're good. Focus on getting your CC off at the correct times, using your 2 interrupts at the correct times (interrupting a rez, or a Marauder pull, or a sorc rotation), learn when to switch guard (super important, literally one of the most important skills a tank can have) and make an assist macro for your dps.

Remember: you're always a tank first, damage assist second. 2h tanks can work, but they're tougher than shield tanks, especially in rvr. 2h knight is surprisingly viable due to the sheer amount of stats you get from auras and Runefang, and the sheer utility of 100% uptime aoe snare, 100% uptime crit aura, and the only wounds debuff on Order that commonly sees use (no one goes 2h slayer really, whom posses the mara mirror wounds debuff).

That's some great info, thanks. I was just wondering re talismans though. I always thought for a Knight that Toughness was better (not based on experience, just what I read). What are the advantages of armor and wounds talis for a 2H Knight? Thx.

[Njaguar]

Going 2h as kotbs is very strong. I'm definitely no expert.

This

[Razorfoot]

Stack defensive stats with renown and talis IMO. You get a massive boost in str from your aura and from Runefang and possibly from Emperors Champion if you slot that as your M2. So you don't necessarily need to stack strength like other 2h tanks may. If you have 500-550 strength unbuffed, you're fine. Put first 40 rr points into parry and dodge/disrupt. Stack armor and wounds talis. Grab vigilance and Smashing Counter from mid tree, Encouraged Aim and Slice Through from left tree. Slot super punt tactic, Runefang, Encouraged aim, and Slice Through. Voila, you're good. Focus on getting your CC off at the correct times, using your 2 interrupts at the correct times (interrupting a rez, or a Marauder pull, or a sorc rotation), learn when to switch guard (super important, literally one of the most important skills a tank can have) and make an assist macro for your dps.

Remember: you're always a tank first, damage assist second. 2h tanks can work, but they're tougher than shield tanks, especially in rvr. 2h knight is surprisingly viable due to the sheer amount of stats you get from auras and Runefang, and the sheer utility of 100% uptime aoe snare, 100% uptime crit aura, and the only wounds debuff on Order that commonly sees use (no one goes 2h slayer really, whom posses the mara mirror wounds debuff).

Could you mention an ideal gear scenario for this type of build, i.e. sets to use?

[forsa]

Stack defensive stats with renown and talis IMO. You get a massive boost in str from your aura and from Runefang and possibly from Emperors Champion if you slot that as your M2. So you don't necessarily need to stack strength like other 2h tanks may. If you have 500-550 strength unbuffed, you're fine. Put first 40 rr points into parry and dodge/disrupt. Stack armor and wounds talis. Grab vigilance and Smashing Counter from mid tree, Encouraged Aim and Slice Through from left tree. Slot super punt tactic, Runefang, Encouraged aim, and Slice Through. Voila, you're good. Focus on getting your CC off at the correct times, using your 2 interrupts at the correct times (interrupting a rez, or a Marauder pull, or a sorc rotation), learn when to switch guard (super important, literally one of the most important skills a tank can have) and make an assist macro for your dps.

Remember: you're always a tank first, damage assist second. 2h tanks can work, but they're tougher than shield tanks, especially in rvr. 2h knight is surprisingly viable due to the sheer amount of stats you get from auras and Runefang, and the sheer utility of 100% uptime aoe snare, 100% uptime crit aura, and the only wounds debuff on Order that commonly sees use (no one goes 2h slayer really, whom posses the mara mirror wounds debuff).

First of all steer clear from the Wound talis, they are plain bad for you and stop working when you hit m2 EC.
Also you will need to swap Slice for Rugged, if you want to live. Everything else that GodlessCrom says is 95% true *cough* 100000% uptime aoe snare *cough*.

Another point - any Guard damage ignores your tough&armor but can be Parried, for RF proc. So guarding (even tanks if they take damage) is good for damage burst, not mention its value as PTFO.

Now for playing 2h KN (and be useful, no just funny colored rooster running around) you need RR 50+ (40-45 if you have all the needed equip) as you also need some regeneration combined with def and anticrit to live. So you will have to do some SnB first.

Weapons: "Unmasking the Enemy" epic quests reward Dawn for defence ( If possible try to use it with Overlord you will like it) and Subjugator (purple bag or you can use High Sun dwarwen qest reward with haste) for offense, or go for SC 39->45 RR weapon.

Jewelry : The Winds Impervious + BL, later swap Winds with blue/purple + morale & spirit resist, add some regen (some people go with 4 of them, i prefer 1-2).
*Genesis is not that good, and takes precious slots, on top of being hard to collect full set.
Cape: use blue tough +4 morale(or +3 barrel) later swap for BL.
Belt: any + morale will do, later swap for Cnoq/Dom.

Armor: Beast Lord. You definitely need BL as it is almost Best In Slot for 2h KN on various levels: m1+ proc synergy, parry and ws, good resists, mixes perfectly with other sets AND is easy to get. Just add various gloves, boots and belts ftw.
For that you need any SnB (green/blue/whatever) and Ruin set(gloves and boots can be mixed with BL for armor bonus).

Annihilator - you can buy chest for additional regen, add boots & gloves (ah/ loot) for 3 item spirit resist to mix with unfinished BL or just chest for Cnoq.
Full set is crap compared to BL but cheap and easy to get so can be considered as a placeholder and mixed with Ruin.

As for Mercenary - stay away from it and use medals for weapons/officer pots.
Use Dominator instead preferably in party as it will literally turn you into a lionless, pounceless WL with guard and auras - combination of proc and Taunt (+60% - non penis canina) +crit from set, str tactics and sc/subj weapon, RF + EC, deny enemy guard with your superpunt - all it grants you ability to dish out 1k+ crits regulary (~2k on WE and Choppas are inspiring). Non crit PS hits for ~700, tanks get their fair ~500, 300+ on deftards.
Using challange, chains and knock you kill a WE faster than she kills that 31+ sl/wl/eng/sw/bw/whatever nerby she jumped on.
! Set has almost no toughness on it !
Also Dom boots, gloves and belt mixed with BL are the go to as full set takes long time to grind. Looks great btw (Warlord).

Conqueror - 5 item set bonus +100 wound heals you for 1k hp every 20+ sec of fight and stacks with m2 EC = you can get 800++ tough and almost 12k hp for 20 sec every min.
Combined with regen of RR, SF, items, pots + good timing of vigilance (mask it with SoS) and you can absorb HUGE amounts of damage and survive without a healer (not a small fit for any order player),sometimes even longer than other SnB tanks while dealing adequate damage.
With latest personal rolls it is somewhat ok to collect if you dont have full set. Also you will look like a young rooster in it.

Talis: Go for tough if you want def (especially with dom), ws for off. Armor is ok if you have 800+ resists but pricey and hard to get.
Try not to fall below 750 tough , ~650 for conq.
Str becomes useless if you use RF+EC after 500

Pots: hot Hp regen + RR Hp pot .
Blue AP pot to change Flee into Charge, RR AP pot if blue is on cd (1 min) .

Now take it all with a grain of salt as my main 2h Kotbs is only 72rr.

TL;DR: BL +3 Dom = BIS for 2h kotbs. Add Winds FTW

edit: thx Shaggy, fixed

[orillah]

Really nice information for a guy whos just started this game. Thanks all and Forsa very much!

Can someone recommend build for 2h knight at low rr(im currently 46rr and using bl+3Dom+Winds)? For myself im doing it with vigilance and kd + stagger and focused mending from glory tree.

P.S. Im running with toughenss(and rugged) + resist aura and str+armor potions = 430ws 630 str 580tough with 1k resists 4300+ armor, am i doing everythin right?

[shaggyboomboom]

@forsa

You want to have the punt tactic all the time, not just in scenarios.