How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Velk.5240

Velk.5240

Love the warrior. Amazing class.

Love melee and the ranged options that the warrior has.

I’m starting to run into a lot of mobs (mid 30’s) that knock me flat on my face and its getting old fast. I try dodge rolling but I can only do that twice right now. Eventually I have to stand up and attack. Some of these knockdowns are unavoidable and not all mobs have an obvious “tell” that they’re going to knock you flat on your butt.

I really enjoy the warrior’s ranged options but I don’t want to be ranged 24/7 just to avoid getting knockdown all the time.

Does it get better? Worse?

How do you deal with it/avoid it?

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: hype r.5431

hype r.5431

well my warrior just shouts Shake it off! and gets back up

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: incisorr.9502

incisorr.9502

im 80 lvl and im still using greatsword cuz its just so much better than ranged crap, which has bad damage as well.

Naturally that won’t work if you go around with 5 signets, which is just plain stupid. I have endure pain and shake it off for pve, because they’re both required at level 80 if you wanna be a hero. If you wann get downed every 5 min be my guest and get 5 signets. I keep my 25 stacks of either luck either bloodlust all teh time cuz i dont ever get downed unless i slack a lot (IN PVE THAT IS).

Shake it off is a must for high level pve anyway, you need to cure bleed/poison stacks all teh time

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Qbert.4197

Qbert.4197

im 80 lvl and im still using greatsword cuz its just so much better than ranged crap, which has bad damage as well.

Naturally that won’t work if you go around with 5 signets, which is just plain stupid. I have endure pain and shake it off for pve, because they’re both required at level 80 if you wanna be a hero. If you wann get downed every 5 min be my guest and get 5 signets. I keep my 25 stacks of either luck either bloodlust all teh time cuz i dont ever get downed unless i slack a lot (IN PVE THAT IS).

Shake it off is a must for high level pve anyway, you need to cure bleed/poison stacks all teh time

well my warrior just shouts Shake it off! and gets back up

Unfortunately for both of these posters, knockdowns are a Control status, not a Condition status, and “Shake it Off” will do nothing for Controls except breaking stun (which is available on all Stance abilities).

Knockdowns are intentionally designed to be a weakness for Warriors. Your best bet is to go overkill on ‘Stability’ boons; i.e. Battle Standard, Dolyak Signet, Balanced Stance, and the Last Stand trait (when it is fixed). Then, go 30 pts into the Tactics tree and socket 2 Superior Runes of the Monk (these are hard to get), 2 Major Runes of Water, and 2 Superior Runes of Water.

This will give you the maximum + 70% boon duration which will increase those ‘Stability’ boons from the Stance/Signet from 8 seconds to 13.6 seconds each. When Last Stand gets fixed, use Endure Pain during the first knockdown then Balanced Stance when that first ‘Stability’ wears off, then the signet after that. That’ll give you 40 seconds of ‘Stability’ with a 40 second cooldown (until the 2nd signet) use. This is all without using the Elite Banner which you’ll probably save for when 2+ party members go down.

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Vlo.9587

Vlo.9587

“Unfortunately for both of these posters, knockdowns are a Control status, not a Condition status, and “Shake it Off” will do nothing for Controls except breaking stun (which is available on all Stance abilities)."

I’m sorry but you obviously haven’t played a warrior, Shake it Off does indeed instantly pick you up from knocked down status and can confirm this as I use it all the time to get up from knocked down status.

As for the rest of the post, I applaud your theory crafting / research ability, but theory and no practice doesn’t mean much. In reality, In what situation would you possibly need that much stability?

To the OP, if knock downs are a pain you’ll simply want to learn mob attacks and when to dodge, I know you’ve already addressed this but its simply looking for the small details. Given that you’re level 30 I’m guessing you’re talking about centaurs and ettins constantly knocking you down. Centaurs have a charging attacking that knock you down, but you can see it coming if you watch when they stand up on their 2 hind legs, that’s the starting animation for the charge. For ettins they USUALLY have a charge up animation that leads to a knockdown, however I have sometimes been knocked down by their auto attacks. The best way I found to counter them would be to have either a counter ability or a stun of some sort to stop the charge up. As for the auto attacks I would say bringing some form of stability would be your best bet.

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Qbert.4197

Qbert.4197

I’m sorry but you obviously haven’t played a warrior, Shake it Off does indeed instantly pick you up from knocked down status and can confirm this as I use it all the time to get up from knocked down status.

If it removed a knockdown and not a stun, then congratulations you found another bug. I can assure you I’ve played my 80 Warrior plenty. Not everyone is using the same 3 utility skills.

(edited by Qbert.4197)

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Vlo.9587

Vlo.9587

If it removed a knockdown and not a stun, then congratulations you found another bug. I can assure you I’ve played my 80 Warrior plenty. Not everyone is using the same 3 utility skills.

Taken from the notes section of the wiki page about stuns
“Skills that break stun can be used while suffering from other control effects, e.g. knockdown.
Stun shares its effect with knock down. "
They should really change the wording of these things, a knockdown is just a stun but in a different animation.

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: kal.4350

kal.4350

Interesting. I didn’t know knockdown was the same as a stun. Good to know!

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Qbert.4197

Qbert.4197

Would like an AN confirmation on that … and if true then they really need to stop listing the effects separately in tooltips. There are a lot of examples of this distinction.

e.g. Last Stand lists both Knockdowns and Stuns, whereas Turtle’s Defense lists only stuns.

There are Stun duration Sigils that could be valuable or a waste depending on if they effect knockdowns.

It could just be a bug that stun removals remove knockdowns and it translated to the wiki, either way this is a big deal and AN needs to clarify.

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Qbert.4197

Qbert.4197

OK I just tested this pretty thoroughly and can confirm that all abilities that “Break stun” DO remove knockdowns.

Pretty surprised by this. Will be adding “Shake it Off” to my bar immediately.

Can also confirm that Last Stand is now working properly.

Endure Pain is still broken and ~3.5 seconds.

(edited by Qbert.4197)

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: JFetch.8932

JFetch.8932

Knockdowns don’t hurt so if I miss a dodge or block than I just wait and continue my murder spree as soon as I get up.

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: ZenBones.1759

ZenBones.1759

Wow, this is really good to know. I’m adding some stun-breakers to my bar ASAP. Bye-bye signets!

——————-
-ZenBones

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Proeliator.8740

Proeliator.8740

I have no idea why every warrior isn’t running with balanced stance

40 sec cooldown

stability for 8 sec
breaks stuns

Get knocked down? Pop balanced stance and get right back up and be immune to control for 8 sec.

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: incisorr.9502

incisorr.9502

vlo , you must have never heard of the ‘dodge’ button, or whirlwind from greatsword, or running around a mob

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Velk.5240

Velk.5240

Thanks for all the replies guys. I really appreciate the info.

Vlo, I’m in Lormir’s Pass (the huge skyrim type zone with 40 POI’s). There are some mobs there that don’t have an obvious tell like centaurs or ettins.

My issue was is that I was running a greatsword for the last 10 levels. I was axe/axe up until that point.

I was getting frustrated by having Hundred Blades being interrupted by being knocked down. I went back to axe/axe to do some testing on those same mobs. Since I can be very mobile with axe/axe and the other skills hit for a lot of damage(aka auto attack on axe) what I was doing was waiting until they did the knockdown on me, then I’d get up, pop frenzy and whirling axe. I didn’t really have this luxury with greatsword due to the lame auto attacks.

I think my play style was meant for axe axe. I like moving around, dodging, kiting etc.. That channel skill from greatsword is just not my style. (even though it hits like a truck)

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: capnbishop.3927

capnbishop.3927

I ran into the same problem when I started encountering more enemies that would knock me down around level 30. After getting frustrated, I started playing around more with control weapons: hammer, and mace/shield. Essentially, control them before they control you.

Using a mace/shield combo has 3 different skills to interrupt and stun the enemy. Not only that, but blocking skills (of which there are 2 in this combo) block knockdowns. You can take this even further with utility skills that perform knockdowns. Combined with traits that promote adrenaline gain, this can be really effective, and you can prevent the enemy for performing any knockdowns and barely getting any hits on you.

The mace/shield combo lacks in damage, when compared to greatswords and axes. A great way to play this is to have the greatsword as your secondary weapon. I like to run in, stun/interrupt the enemy once, twice, use the burst skill to stun them for 3 seconds, then switch to the greatsword for damage. Switch back, and do it all over again.

The downside, of course, is that while the shield/mace combo is great for a single target (which was amazing when I used it in a dungeon- but I’ve only run a dungeon once), it’s lacking in AoE effectiveness (which is a bit of a must during many dynamic events). That’s where the hammer comes in. Sometimes I like to keep the hammer as my secondary weapon of my mace/shield. It’s still lacking in damage; but, when you’re playing with a large number of people, sticking exclusively with control isn’t a bad strategy at all.

(edited by capnbishop.3927)

How do you deal with the knockdowns in PVE?

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Posted by: Vlo.9587

Vlo.9587

Inscisorr, Sorry if I didn’t add more options but the simple idea is to not get hit by them, you can do this in many ways including dodging and movement skills, I just posted what I found to work for myself (I run Mace/Sword and Mace/Shield so I have plenty of ways to stop attacks without having to move or dodge.)
Good to hear you’ve found a new build that works for you velk, I’m sure with a more active playstyle dodging stuns/knockdowns shouldn’t be as big of a problem anymore, but Id still suggest you carry “Shake It Off” and learn to love it as later there will be many conditions flying around the battle field.