Shield Mercs

[Axecleaver]

Was it Noreen asking about this earlier this week? Anyway... they make some pretty compelling arguments for why shield merc is a viable option. It's essentially a warrior with advanced evade, dirt, and no access to Mastery of Blocking:

http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=53547784

[Kirin]

if youll notice the 4th post there is mine .....
/brag

[Zutroy]

Mercs don't get free 2hand spec like Warriors though. Might be a fun PvE/Dueling build, but I can't imagine it being that great in real RvR.

[Axecleaver]

mm true, warrior weren't exactly topping the nerf-me charts either.

[Lifesbane]

also the advanced evade is evade 1...which isnt increadible. though you could get a few lvls of dodger to boost it mebbe

[Sodom]

So in your opinion, do the 8 extra points in Dex compensate for a lack of MoB at lvl 50?

The shield Merc seems to be tailor-made for someone speccing in Crush - the last 5 crush styles include a block reactionary chain, a parry reactionary, and a positional chain (perfect follow-up for your Slam or Brutalize). Assuming you were going for a shield Merc (not a dual-wielding hybrid), which template would you use?

50 Shield, 50 Weapon, 28 Parry
44 Shield, 44 Weapon, 44 Parry
42 Shield, 50 Weapon, 39 Parry

[Axecleaver]

If I ran in groups mostly, the first one, parry isn't so useful in groups. If I ran solo or dueled a lot, probably the last one.

8 points of dex < 1 level of MoB but not by much... I'd say each MoB is probably worth about 10-15 dex, maybe a bit less. However it isn't insignificant.

[Rosslyn]

And as I heard mentioned last night, a crush-wielding shield merc would look suspiciously like a cleric in RvR.  

(Edited by Rosslyn at 10:36 am on July 22, 2003)

[Tydd]

Shield Mercs blow.

Not that I know what I'm talking about but ya'l are use to that from me right?