Which, if any, of the weapon runes are nessicary to enter effective combat (not to be top-tier, just effective against other players with few artifacts)? Which runes are important and which are not?

Against a set of splendours, I'd recommend lvl2's of knight and champ (1100cr total), if you want to make any progress when stance/parry/dodge is factored in, and even then it has to be against a class you can outcure solo and win via attrition. Against an opponent that you can't survive indefinitely against, get the lvl3's (2400) or die.

Good luck affording pliers if you ever wanna switch specs.

It depends, are you talking 1v1, or in group combat?

While nice for groups, and you'll obviously do better with them than without them, they are hardly a requirement for group combat. Especially if there is somebody proning for you, or other warriors on your side.

That is of course assuming your group has competence in group targetting, etc. Which if you don't have the runes won't help anyways.

Only thing you need in group combat is decapitate, scent, a web enchant, and faith in god.

Which one?

Faith in lag.

PhantasmalKiller:

Only thing you need in group combat is decapitate, scent, a web enchant, and faith in god.

And serpent.

Ixion:

Faith in lag.

In Lag we trust.

Well, I'd say the level 2 wounding and stat runes do you good, though you also want to have a decent mix of strength and dexterity as well.

I really can't remember what life was like without my lvl 2 runes, but I just remember they were dark and sad days.

If you get the level 2 stat runes (I think they're +10?), provided you already have decent speed, just toss those extra stats into precision (so the rune nets you a total of 20 more precision).

I feel like this question gets beaten to death n the forums...

To be effective at combat you don't need any runes. You need to have a curing system or type really damn fast. You need to transcend your skills and know how to use them...and you need to practice practice practice. I was doing fine in combat against Demis when I was really trying and caring. Once you are effective in combat withhout runes, they help you reach that extra bit of wounding or bleeding you want to get off your attacks easier.

To many people lean on runes to make them good at combat, they are excuses to be lazy and not learn how to effectively out maneuver your opponent. in group combat they are worthless...just HACK DOWN and DECAPITATE . :)

"Good in group" is never an excuse to leave a class broken. A guildless newbie with a web enchantment is "good in group".

And when I say you need runes to fight, I mean fight people who are actual threats, not lolpitcap fodder. If someone actually knows how to stance/parry effectively, has a properly configured curing system, keep up rebounding, and has combat-viable robes... then without runes you will NOT kill them.

I'm not saying this to excuse poor fighters, I'm saying it because it's true. Without cheese tactics (ala pitcap, or the massive outlier status of being an aslaran paradigmatics templar or orclach night pb) it just ain't gonna happen. Even if you're really good.

Sometimes even Arti's aren't enough, especially against other players who are actually cognizant of what to expect from the different flavors of warriors and swap s/p modes accordingly. Welcome to being hardcountered by anyone who has taken the time to configure their system properly.

It's not that warriors are viable, it's that warriors suck so bad that people think they shouldn't even need to learn how to stance/parry or bother with rebounding.

No you don't, yes they're nice but they're in no way essential. Celina pulls off some rather awesome kills against very decent people without being anywhere near Omnitrans and with no weapon runes. She's also not a Paradigmatics user and I don't believe she's tracking at the moment.

The real tweak needed is one to the RNG for swings which should be addressed by the special report. Once that's done, hopefully things will improve.

Chade:

No you don't, yes they're nice but they're in no way essential. Celina pulls off some rather awesome kills against very decent people without being anywhere near Omnitrans and with no weapon runes. She's also not a Paradigmatics user and I don't believe she's tracking at the moment.

I assume that was a joke.

Tell you what, with this new lesson sale, I'll make a newbie, circle for a week (ie, get demi), trans combat and put on some splendours. If I can't AFK cure any warrior without runes, I'll shut up on this issue forever. Any warrior without runes, except said two outlier exceptions of course. They're the only ones I'd remotely worry about. Maybe krokani BC paradigmatics too.

(The reason they're exceptions? Chaosaura and choke, for templar and ebonguard respectively.)

At the moment, I feel like my 3150 credits worth of weapon runes are worth more like 800 credits for the benefit I see from them. I'm sure I'm just ineffective for any number of other reasons, but the runes really don't seem to do much for my combat on their own.

Zarquan:

At the moment, I feel like my 3150 credits worth of weapon runes are worth more like 800 credits for the benefit I see from them. I'm sure I'm just ineffective for any number of other reasons, but the runes really don't seem to do much for my combat on their own.

Of course not. BC's a rough spec, and it still takes skill, even with runes. Runes just make it -possible- if you have good synergy with your other skills. <.<

Don't worry Iasmos, you'll kill someone solo someday. I'm still keeping the faith for you.

PhantasmalKiller:


I assume that was a joke.

Tell you what, with this new lesson sale, I'll make a newbie, circle for a week (ie, get demi), trans combat and put on some splendours. If I can't AFK cure any warrior without runes, I'll shut up on this issue forever. Any warrior without runes, except said two outlier exceptions of course. They're the only ones I'd remotely worry about. Maybe krokani BC paradigmatics too.

(The reason they're exceptions? Chaosaura and choke, for templar and ebonguard respectively.)

No joke, and you have a deal, go set the character up. I don't have Weapon Runes, I won't use ChaosAura or any of the other Paradigmatic skills. You stand there and AFK cure/stance/parry and we'll see what happens. Or we could set Celina on you and make her promise not to use choke. I'm sure she'd be willing to re-educate you.

<- AFK'd Celina when she was Nekotai. She's not really a good example to be harping on, given melee really doesn't seem to be her strong suit. Celina was good as a bard, but since going melee, she's pretty ignorable. Unless you're going to argue that a warrior without ChaosAura or Choke can outperform a Nekotai. In which case, I think I'm pretty much gonna wander out of this discussion.

Since I learned how to stance/parry effectively, Ixion's the only warrior I've died to 1v1. When you add in the standard shield/grip rune, it becomes a complete wash. The entire archetype is pretty screwed up, as a whole. The arti'd/outliers are survivable against as any archetype with some form of hinder, and the non-arti'd are fully AFKable. Only via tert synergy do warriors get kills otherwise.

Just sayin.

Edit: Edited to fix gender confusion.

Celina is a girl you nitwit.

Ooer, sorry. Apologies. Thought otherwise. My bad. Never really paid super-close attention.

I'll let Celina provide her own answers there, since I'm not going to speak for her. But I'm more than willing to take on this bet of yours, go create the character and leave it there afk parry/stancing and curing. I think the issues you have with Knights may stem from being an ineffectual one yourself? I understand the frustration, but most of my frustration comes from hitting chest on a hackdown. I'm still sure I'll be able to kill your AFK splendor wearing Trans Combat Demi using either Pureblade or Blademaster and no terts.