Brawler Archive

I'm not sure how long Intimidate I lasts, but I use it often with Warcry (when it was working). Maybe 15-20 seconds? Berserk I slows my attack down, so I'm not sure how much more I'm gonna use that. The only specials I use noware Unarmed Hit I and II and Unarmed Stun I along with the above. I'm gonna keep a close eye on these combos as Selwyn says that they're much more effective at the second level.

I do enjoy my ranged weapons (being a hunter primarily), but they are used for pulling 90% of the time. I could do that with a well-built DLT20a. I did finally purchase a very nice set a VK's (14-148 dmg, 1.7 sec.) and the difference over my old set (23-94 dmg, 3.3 sec) is ASTOUNDING! Man that's some fast action. I can take on a few white cons, one yellow and will try a red con soon.

Thanks for the input.

"What sealed it for me though was having to give up my exploration tree in order to get what I would want in Doctor. If there's one thing a melee can't afford to be, it's slow on his feet."

You shouldn't have to..

Now check me on this, but you should be able to get TKM, Doctor Crafting Knowledge IV, Medicing knowledge IV and Wound treatment II (which you have to have to apply buffs) and still have points left over for like... exploration III or IV and some in harvesting or survival...

You're right though, if you go Master Doctor, I can only squeak out Exploration I.

Call me crazy, but if I'm going to delve into a profession that much, then yes I like to master it

Well, that would only be to satisfy ego.

The only think the fourth line of doctor gets you is faster wound treatment speed - big deal. The "Master" doctor has the highest secondary stat buffs, at Crafting IV I get the second best secondary stat buffs and the best stat buffs.

Seriously, you can't really provide any good justification for why you would want to "master it" other than for that warm fuzzy sense of accomplishment I guess. I already got that by mastering TK, which I finally did today.

I just dropped master brawler to start my progression up the doctor line. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the plan I indicated, in fact in many ways its probably the smartest TK supplementing plan out there.

I agree. I was at first going for Mater Brawler, with defensive trees of Fencer and Pikeman, but then, after finally getting enough apprentice experience to get Master Brawler, I went out to play around with my new skills. As others have already pointed out, the only skill worth getting now in Master Brawler is Intimidate 2 and maybe Lunge 2 now that KD2 is acting all funny (knocked down enemies no longer suffer the "stun" effect after getting back up, but do stay down a few seconds longer, and the dizzy effect going all bonkers). The problem with Intimidate is getting it to land, and against Torton Bulls and Giant Dalyrakes, I had to cast it about 2-3 times before it would stick.

On the other hand, if I were to get the Doctor buffs, I could enhance my secondary stats so that I could wear composite armor without sacrificing too much of my primary stats. That's a constant ~50% protection against most AP1 weapons in addition to the reduced cost of specials.

Adownside of this build is that now you can't get any additional protection against"debuffing" attackssuch as posture change, knockdown, stun, blind. I see this as more of a problem with PvP, in which case, the build that Sin-tor suggested a while back would work better (Fencer and Pistoleer defensive tress, Carbineer knockdown to close in, finish with TK). As a PvE template, however, this is probably the best TK combination without resorting to pets.

Note Doctor is great with just about any combat profession. You could substitute TKM with any other master elite profession and still be just as effective, if not more so.

Weise

Lunge 2 is still very useful in PvP, even if it can't be spammed anymore (which was admittedly cheap). Also, you should be aware that Lunge 1 and Lunge2/KD are on SEPERATE delay timers, if you weren't already. So after you've used your KD and that marksmen gets up to resume kiting you, hit him with Lunge 1 and catch him again.....that is, if he isn't "out of range" when you go stand on his face. If that happens either run away or find a nice building and make him come to you.

The best are riflemen that follow you in to engage you pointblank....they never even realize what hit them.

Lunge 2 is still marginally useful in pvp - however for 48 points worth of skill investment, to me its not the deal breaker anymore. The real issue is how a person feels about intimidate 2. I'd be intersted in to start seeing how intimidate 1 works. If the only real different is a decrease in time of the effect, and no real drop in overall effectiveness, that would be very nice. But somehow I think that's unlikely.

Lunge 2 is my bread-and-butter move (unless they're stupid enough to just stand there as I charge them, in which case they just get the KD2 to the head) to start a fight. I agree with you though that the choice between lunge2/intimidate2 and doctor for the buffs is a tough one. What sealed it for me though was having to give up my exploration tree in order to get what I would want in Doctor. If there's one thing a melee can't afford to be, it's slow on his feet.

Also, IMHO intimidate 1 just doesn't last long enough. The extra duration on intimidate 2 IS worth it to me. Although the resist rate on it does drive me absolutely bonkers in PvE.

Master brawler, although I have never had it, is far more worth having than settling for lunge 1...in addition to your 21m knockdown, you can also reduce an enemy's damage output by 75% (intimidate 2). Comes in real handy for a Blade..err...Gaffimaster.

TKM = Near invincibility if you wear good armor.