User:Shaia/AB

So, have you been called a Noob at Alliance Battles (AB)? Perhaps then this explanation and strategy based on playing a lot of AB can be of help to you. Having written that, let it not be said that this may be the only way to play AB, as a number of variants keep AB a slightly more interesting than annoying thing to do, when doing one more dungeon AGAIN will just make you cry!

Ancestral Lands:

The busiest outpost for the Kurzick forces, because in theory it is the easiest place for the Kurzick forces to win and hence more people want to play here, which is a little sad because then there are fewer Kurzicks that learn how to play on the other maps.. Making fun of the Luxon forces when you win here is not the nicest of things to do, considering that they have succeeded in pushing the Kurzick forces all the way back! It all means that the Kurzick forces have been vastly outplayed across a number of maps.

From a Kurzick Perspective:

Generally not too much that the Kurzicks need to do to win here, except maintain a shrine capping rhythm. If the Luxons do decide to invade the fort the best thing to do is cap the Equipment Shrines and repair the gates to lock the Luxon forces inside, no need to get carried away with 'Oh no, they're in the base!'

From a Luxon Perspective:

The most important thing here is for the team not starting on the resurrection shrine, to not pick a portal where the Kurzicks are going to stream out of with the Elite Ranger and/or Elite Warrior as extra manpower. Advanced tactics require any AOE elementalist to nuke the Kurzick N/E/ME that guard the fort doors on the wall, this can be done at any time that one is passing by the fort. No matter what anyone says, entering the fort is NOT a bad thing, as long as it is done in an intelligent manner. This requires that the AOE elementalist has done his job to make it quicker and safer to breach the fort. So, you get in the fort - only one team is required whilst the other two teams are capping or holding up the remaining Kurzick forces - and cap the two inside shrines. Then you get out! And recap the shrines you lost in the process. The other teams need to watch if the doors are repaired and blow them open again if the one team inside is trapped. Repeat as necessary. This process maintains a huge amount of pressure on the Kurzick forces as they have to break away from the battle to recap the shrines inside, it breaks their rhythm.

Grenz Frontier:

The next outpost for the Kurzick forces fighitng back from Ancestral Lands. Also the next stop for maurading Luxon forces as they push through the Jade Sea into the Kurzick Lands. This outpost maintains the Kurzick advantage with the placement of shrines and the rhythm of battle.

The strategy on this map is simple: cap in teams and avoid the mob. If you're going to fight, fight over a shrine or on the way to one otherwise there is no point in being in a battle. Some of the shrines have inherent effects built in to them, use these to your advantage eg: Battle Cry. Controlling the Resurrection shrine is of importance as it allows your forces to resurrect closer to the battle front. In this manner, it also allows you to control how near to the battle the opposing forces are going to be returned. Rushing the Resurrection shrine is not the best of ideas, at Grenx Frontier, the Kurzicks have a proximity advantage.

Saltspray:

Neutral land, the layout of the map favors neither side, certainly there is method to the manner in which one should fight here, and on this map there will be more confrontation than on any of the other maps because of the map's design. You will say that more fighting occurs in the other maps, but this is not because of the inherent map design but more because of the way that players think they should be playing - more on that elsewhere.

Again, shrines here that will give you an advantage. The Ritualist shrines will allow you to use the Shielding Urn if your forces own the shrine. This urn has got significant damage reduction qualities and will reduce a total amount of 500 damage. This is cumulative damage so if the urn is affecting your whole party or more people, that 500 damage reduction is spread across those players, it is not an individual thing unless you used the urn when no-one else is around - which is a stinky thing to do and completely silly if you are capping on your own. A nice thing to do is drop the urn on the shrine npc's to boost their defences and frustrate opposing forces. The Dragon Roost is well...self explantory really. The ranger shrines give you a movement boost which is great if you're fighting over a shrine and the monks are kiting.

Etnaran Keys:

The next outpost for the Luxon forces fighitng back from Kanaai Canyon. Also the next stop for maurading Kurzick forces as they push through the Jade Sea into the Luxon Lands. This outpost maintains the Luxon advantage with the placement of shrines and the rhythm of battle.

The strategy on this map is simple: cap in teams and avoid the mob. If you're going to fight, fight over a shrine or on the way to one otherwise there is no point in being in a battle. Some of the shrines have inherent effects built in to them, use these to your advantage eg: Battle Cry. Controlling the Resurrection shrine is of importance as it allows your forces to resurrect closer to the battle front. In this manner, it also allows you to control how near to the battle the opposing forces are going to be returned. Rushing the Resurrection shrine is not the best of ideas, at Etnaran Keys, the Lurzicks have a proximity advantage.

Kanaai Canyon:

The busiest outpost for the Luxon forces, because in theory it is the easiest place for the Luxon forces to win and hence more people want to play here, which is a little sad because then there are fewer Luxons that learn how to play on the other maps.. Making fun of the Kurzick forces when you win here is not the nicest of things to do, considering that they have succeeded in pushing the Luxon forces all the way back! It all means that the Luxon forces have been vastly outplayed across a number of maps.

From a Kurzick Perspective:

The most important thing here is for the team not starting on the resurrection shrine, to not pick a portal where the Luxons are going to stream out of with the Elite Ranger and/or Elite Warrior as extra manpower. Advanced tactics require any AOE elementalist to nuke the Luxon N/E/ME that guard the fort doors on the wall, this can be done at any time that one is passing by the fort. No matter what anyone says, entering the fort is NOT a bad thing, as long as it is done in an intelligent manner. This requires that the AOE elementalist has done his job to make it quicker and safer to breach the fort. So, you get in the fort - only one team is required whilst the other two teams are capping or holding up the remaining Luxon forces - and cap the two inside shrines. Then you get out! And recap the shrines you lost in the process. The other teams need to watch if the doors are repaired and blow them open again if the one team inside is trapped. Repeat as necessary. This process maintains a huge amount of pressure on the Luxon forces as they have to break away from the battle to recap the shrines inside, it breaks their rhythm.

From a Luxon Perspective:

Generally not too much that the Luxons need to do to win here, except maintain a shrine capping rhythm. If the Kurzicks do decide to invade the fort the best thing to do is cap the Equipment Shrines and repair the gates to lock the Kurzick forces inside, no need to get carried away with 'Oh no, they're in the base!'

General concepts to be aware of - Most of the 'real' pvp'ers consider AB to be a joke and believe that there is no intelligence or strategy required to play AB. Mind you, this is also why the true AB'er laugh at a shock axe W/E that tries to succeed in AB. In any case, your build in AB is very important. You cannot bring your PVE skill bar into AB, not even a monk, ranger or elementalist should, and these are possibly the only three classes that can run their builds across all forms of the game. Tanking builds do not belong in AB, not the Wammo or the Terra Tank or the Shadow Form one. Why do I say this?

AB is about guerilla warfare - hit em fast, hit em hard. It is also about creating a balanced team and about understanding how to move on the map. Traditionally, the person forming the team is the team leader and the other 3 players in the team should be following his/her cue as to where to go. Of course this implies that the leader does indeed know enough about AB and the maps that are being played on and how to create a balanced team. Generally your team should consist of:

Warrior/Dervish - good armor, at least 2 anti-block attacks, a couple of weapon sets, self-healing of some sort to take the pressure of your monk

Monk - standard WoH healing, condition/hex removal, protective spirit and some sort of melee protection

Elementalist - not much to say here general fire aoe spiker, earth is good too. Water and Air are sadly underpowered for single elemental teams in AB. When they work in conjunction with more elementalists, then it works well.

Ranger/Necromancer/Mesmer/Ritualist - degen, weapon spells, interrupts, curses, channel spike/spirit support

You will notice that no Assassin or Paragon was listed. Sadly - you can flame me if you want - there are not that many good assassin players in AB. Generally assassins tend to leave their teams and go on their own pointless missions, which (a) result in their deaths more often which means points for your opponents, and (b) weakens their own teams as it is now a 3-man team vs 4 or more opponents. This holds true for another thing in AB, solo cappers. They may be able to kill the shrine npc's easily enough, but still have to wait on the shrine transfer which takes much longer with only one person. The best course of attack when capping a shrine is for the elementalist to nuke it. If you come under attack from another team, then the warrior/dervish's job is to either take care of the opposing monk/caster or to protect his monk if he/she comes under attack by either engaging the melee or attacking the caster that is targetting his/her monk. Paragons...well their primary attribute line is pretty much useless for AB, the spear attacks are all blockable save for may be two and the recharge time on those is cumbersome. Using anthems and chants in AB is also cumbersome. R/P's do a better job sadly.

Always to remember, team build is about one thing: SYNERGY. Use your class's skills to support each other and you will succeed more often than not. --Shaia 22:49, 30 August 2008 (UTC)