Quick Slayer Impressions.

All right, just hit Rank 11 on Khazgar. Here’s a few quick personal notes on the class:

1. Zomg DAMAGE! This little ball of fury really puts out the dps, whether is be dual-wield fury or with a hefty two-hander. The AoE is great too, when you get a small gang of these guys together and toss out AoE in a coordinated manner, people die. I think this aspect of the class really shines, kudos to Mythic for giving us the capability to be “linebreakers” We break the enemy line all right, we break it dead.

2. That hurt! Man I feel squishy sometimes. I understand it’s the price we pay for putting out so much hurt, but I can’t help but wonder is the 50% armor/resist debuff in full zerk is too much. Especially in T4. With certain specs relying on being in full zerk most of the time, I can see waves of Slayers/Choppas getting cut down by random AoE before they ever reach the battle lines. Of course, it’s still early in the life of the career, and perhaps we will see an adjustment to this mechanic. Let’s hope Mythic is listening.

3. I really wish some skills were not restricted to Dual-wield or 2-Hander only. For example, Deathblow. I love it. Hits like a truck, and when used after a Rank one morale it can cut down almost anything that’s not a tank. However, the 30 sec cooldown is a bit long, and I wish I could use it even when dual-wielding. Also, most of the good stuff in the Skavenslayer path is DW only, while Giantslayer is 2-hander. I’d like to see a bit more synergy between the paths, I guess.

4. In general, I find the class super enjoyable. So much so that I’m considering just focusing on RvR, with PvE being my thing to do when it’s slow. As a mostly solo player, I tend to play PvE more, but this guy is so fun I’m making it my goal to earn the Devastator set in T3, which requires I hit Rank 28 with 25RR. Something tells me that’s easier said than done, but I might be up to it. Heh.

I should hit 12 tonight, and once I do that, I’m going to finish up the T1 Dwarf area quests before I head out to the Marshes of Madness. Once I get to 14, I’m starting the RvR drive once again. Sweet Mourkain Temple, how I’ve missed you.

Khazgar, the Slayer.

I raced home from work last night, palms sweaty with anticipation. I wasted no time in getting online, logging on, and officially rolling my Slayer. Khazuk! Khazuk Khazuk-ha! I’ve been preparing for this for a long while, beginning with the name. 

I’m a huge fan of the lore, and so I didn’t want to use some unoriginal, derivative name, like Gotreck, or something similar, heh. At the same time, I wanted to pay homage to Slayers past. The Slayer I wanted to reference was Azgar Grobkul, doomed brother of Uthor Algrimmson, both from the novel Oathbreaker. 

Azgar failed to prevent Skaven assassins from poisoning their father, the Lord of Karak Kadrin, as he was asleep on guard duty in a drunken stupor. I’d tell you more, but I suggest that you go ahead and purchase the book. It’s a good, although bleak account of Dwarfs and oaths in the Old World. 

Anyway, I didn’t want to just swipe the name, so I came up with Khazgar. A name that can stand on its own as being particularly Dwarfy, while having a small reference to earlier lore. Yes, I can be one of those pretentious d00ds that overthinks things like this. So anyway, my Slayer is Khazgar, the…um, Slayer.

In all seriousness, I had a blast in Tier one, just hit Rank 9 this morning, and I just trained Deathblow. I can’t wait to find someone to uh..practice it on, heh. I’ve been dual-wielding most of the time, as 2-handers don’t do significantly more damage as compared to dual-wield, assuming you are stacking similar amounts of strength. But still, I’m willing to give it a go again. Also keep in mind that these damage numbers were tested using tanks, switching between sword/shield and 2-handers. Melee dps careers might get different results owing to being a different archetype. 

I had a few great moments in Khaine’s Embrace, in the tunnels. A group of mostly Slayers would turn the corner and run into a group of mostly Choppas and the screen just explodes! AoE flying everywhere from both sides, the sounds of battle, the screams of the dying, and the fight is over in less than three seconds. And strangely enough, when this occurred, it would be the Slayers left standing. Most of them, anyway. Maybe we just had better heals. 

At this point, I’m kind of torn about what to do. Should I power through the levels, getting to the next tiers as fast as possible? Or should I hang around and open RvR in Emskrank and up my RRs? In any case, I think I’m gonna be having some fun. See you guys on the front lines.