Thread: Sparring a Rune-Keeper?

I can't seem to beat my RK buddy in sparring.

I am traited warrior-skald and I have good DPS legendary items, but I can't do it! The best I can do is get him down to 1/4 health before I'm dead. He hits so hard that he kills me in under 10 seconds EVERY TIME.

We tried 4 times and he beat me every time. It didn't help that he stunned me every time, whereas my Piercing Cry failed to stun him any of the 4 tries.

Anybody have the secret to how to beat an RK in sparring? I need to beat this guy!!!

If the RK is exceptional, then you're not going to win. That's not an indictment of you, that's just the skillsets the two classes have. The closest I ever came was getting my friend down to about 300 morale, and I had to pop Fellowship's Heart to do that. Or, you can "cheat" and spar in the Ettenmoors with your brand up! >_< That said, if the RK is poorly-played, poorly-traited, or lagging badly, you can probably win.

RKs are one of the most difficult sparring classes. You're definitely not going to win every time. Your only advantage is you can get big crits much faster than they can with the atunement system.

To give yourself the best chance, start from a distance (if you start from melee, they can open with Shocking Touch), use Cry of the Chorus or Song of Aid to tier up ballads before the fight, then hit Piercing Cry as soon as the fight starts. You have a chance if Piercing crits. Hit Anthem of the Wizards next (mostly for the -attack duration debuff), then begin a standard attack sequence (though you may want to ignore TEoB, since it's a quick fight and they won't resist often). While you're attacking, start side-strafing a reasonable distance away, preferably 20-30 meters, so you're out of range of their lightning attacks. Keep this distance as long as you can, but once they're obviously in range, run into melee and hit Call of the Second Age.

You have a good chance of winning with a little luck.

Just curious, some of the Virtues give +tactical defensive ratings. Are those "defensive" virtues worth it? Some give +poison resistance, wound and tactical defense and melee/range defense.

I was wondering maybe it is better to equip those defensive ones against RK so you don't die too quick?

My kin once held a sparring contest. When I sparred the RKs I did trait high tactical defence, tactical crit and morale.

I rellied on PC stun and crits on my opening rotation. That is all you can do against an RK.

Res
Swiftness
PC
BoW
Orome
Wizardss
Second Age
Call of Fate

Hopefully there is a dead RK.

I've beaten plenty of RK's, both in and out of WS.

The secret is to kite through them so they can't get their skills off, just make sure you stay behind them at all times. Anthem of the Wizards is an absolute must as well.

I've been beaten by a kin minstrel good buddy on my RK but they weren't in skald. The one minstrel I have trouble beating runs only one or two skald traits.

They stun me with a yell and bolster intermittently. I note that they're still healing for around a thousand and criting for around 1500 on bolsters even in warspeech that way.

As an RK, before I spar anyone I have a look at their traits. It did surprise me that I found the unskalded minstrel to be the bigger challenge. Until she educated me a bit on how ws works. I was under the impression that minstrels "couldn't heal" that way... a bit OP I would complain but that's another thread

If it makes you feel any better, I sparred a burg and got exactly 0 hits on him before I died.

Originally Posted by RGilthanas

I've beaten plenty of RK's, both in and out of WS.

The secret is to kite through them so they can't get their skills off, just make sure you stay behind them at all times. Anthem of the Wizards is an absolute must as well.

Oh yeah, I was going to ask if RK needs time to "cast a spell" like Lore Master's fire ball? One thing I've noticed is that Minstrel can cast on the run which means you can literally run in circles or jump towards him so he is facing "away" from you, which also means he can't cast spells.

That's why I enjoy my low level Minstrel so much 'cause I can literally just run/cast. lol

Our lightning skills have no induction and can be cast on the run.
Our fire and cold skills have inductions and should not be used in a spar unless the opponent is stunned.

Edit:
Our fire and cold skills have a further range than lightning. If your skills have a further range than our lightning, as long as you stay out of lightning range I think you'd be OK.

Originally Posted by ShammWoww

Our lightning skills have no induction and can be cast on the run.
Our fire and cold skills have inductions and should not be used in a spar unless the opponent is stunned.

Edit:
Our fire and cold skills have a further range than lightning. If your skills have a further range than our lightning, as long as you stay out of lightning range I think you'd be OK.

Oh I see. Man, I thought it's something unique to Minstrel! hehe

So I guess Lore Master sucks in pvp? I haven't tried. I did a little sparring with a Burg at lvl 13 (he was 14). We had a LONG fight. My Raven woke up him twice after I stunned him to get away. Pets are supposed to ignore "stunned" target but I guess Blinding happens right before the pet attacks.

I found my RK v Min sparring matches to be quite equal. It is all a matter of crits. I always start the fight with Piercing Cry because the crit-stun allows me a big head start in damage. However, if it doesn't crit, no matter what class you are sparring, you are usually toast or in for the fight of your life. The other extreme is a crit Piercing Cry, Ballad of Resonance, crit Call of Orome, crit Call to Fate and crit Call of the Second Age and the guy is dead before the stun wears off. Its all luck.

Originally Posted by jibikao

Oh I see. Man, I thought it's something unique to Minstrel! hehe

So I guess Lore Master sucks in pvp? I haven't tried. I did a little sparring with a Burg at lvl 13 (he was 14). We had a LONG fight. My Raven woke up him twice after I stunned him to get away. Pets are supposed to ignore "stunned" target but I guess Blinding happens right before the pet attacks.

In the current SoM era, LMs are probably right behind guards as being the toughest free people (freep) class to kill when on the forces of angmar side (creep).

During SoA, before diminishing returns(which halves roots and mezzes everytime they were applied), LMs were god-mode and basically impossible to kill.

In short, LMs are very good in PvMP