So, Hastur is in need of a weapon specialty, and I'm wondering about the potency of the different specs for an unartifacted Aslaran Sentinel. I'm leaning towards Axelord right now just out of the feel of the skills, but I'd like some experienced input. Oh! And I took Hunting out of the Portal, but I'm also interested in the differences in combat between Tracking and Aeonics. Thanks!

Quick rundown on general consesus-ish stuff, without going into each too much.

On weapon specs:

Blademaster is considered very viable, and probably the most popular among the big name knights, overall. Its been viable and solid a long time, and is probably the "safest" spec. Its signature love/hate move is pinleg.

Bonecrusher used to be immensely popular, because of how stun worked, and because of wind. Since these mechanics were altered, it has dropped off dramatically in popularity.

Pureblade has gone from being considered a poor choice to being considered a rather viable one. It doesn't have that one "oh what the hell" abilitiy like Blademaster, but it is very well rounded and has a fair amount of flexibility.

Axelord was popular due to something players termed "doubletap", which consisted of using an easy-to-land wound that stunned and proned a target, and being fast enough to land a second hit before they recovered from the stun. Since the stun was changed to a balance loss and people can cure through it, it's lost a lot of popularity.

Without artifacts, blademaster is probably your best bet right now, or pureblade, depending on what you want to do.

On tertiaries:

Tracking is a skillset that will make you much loved in groups, due to traps (primarily pits, and springtraps pushing people in to pits, though others have their uses!). Seeking can be very useful for questing and other applications, but the downside for you is a lack of DMP, which reduces damage, compared to other options. Its a love/hate skillset.

Thanks for the help! Yeah, the hound is the main reason I took Tracking. I just wanted to make sure that Tracking wasn't a completely terrible choice that would cripple me if I ever wanted to get into combat. I was hoping that the Constitution boost from Lowmagic coupled with Surge, fullplate, and boosted regen would give me enough weight to offset the lack of damage protection and relatively small Aslaran health. Is that viable or will I get squished by the first Igasho warrior that takes a swing at me?

Hi, I'm your fellow Aslaran Warrior in the Sentinels! I took Blademaster and Aeonics, mostly because people said it had no synergy and I didn't believe them. I hate to dock what anyone says, but take what's said on here with a grain of salt. I've found that Aeonics and Blademaster have immense amounts of synergy, and Aeonics by itself can kill people if you get clever.

I have an Aslaran friend who is an Axelord and they still seem to hurt pretty bad. The main problem I've found with Blademaster is that people can just apply health over and over and regen the damage you do, unless, again, you get clever. So, Blademaster is fun but you certainly have to know a thing or two (which I didn't when I started).

I'm not going to tell you what to do, because everyone has a different style, and I could be wrong, of course, but choose a spec that gives you a lot of flexibility if you're looking to get into combat. There's nothing worse than an inflexible skillset that has one or two gimmicky skills in it, and not much room for innovation. I can't provide insight into anything other than AL/BM and Aeonics.

EDIT: Concerning damage mitigatory effects and survivability as an Aslaran Sentinel: Transmute, regeneration, quick thinking, and your offense are going to be your best defense. You won't have any resistances but a level one cold resistance which, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't help all that much. You'll be relying on your offense to keep you up, and using transmute with that larger-than-average mana pool of yours. Plate does help a lot for physical damage, but as your wounds increase, the damage will hurt more and more, and eventually you won't stop it.

OK, I think I've decided on Blademaster since it seems the least painful to fight as without runes, but I have one more question. Exactly how much more survivability would I have 1v1 if I took Rituals/Aeonics instead of Hunting/Tracking?

It's not something that can be defined "exactly," but it's pretty significant. Aeonics is a defensively oriented skillset.

How does that cat not get hurt?


Also, I'm not so sure I'd worry about survivability. Plus, Aeonics has some greaaat offensive maneuvers that people greatly understimate .

One interesting thing I could see aeonics used with is weapon/shield combat because if you raze quickening +pause+ then aeon tick + shieldstun should give you a chance to land a slitthroat (under stun so no parry IIRC) followed by a shieldstun + paralysis application to remove parry throughout aeon (again IIRC perhaps they have changed prone states to make only true prone block parry but I don't think the have)

At that point it's game over.

I haven't played in forever but the skillset looks pretty fun.

I really, really like Axelord still... even though nobody thinks I'll be able to kill anyone :/

How long do you guys think it will be until Axelord gets some kind of buff to bring it up to par? If it's likely within six to ten months I'll bother putting some lessons into my spec beyond what I need for hunting

I know it's not going to happen, but.....

Monk aslaran specs. GO GO.

Ahh, I was wondering when a Monk would come in here and derail it. Hi Sahmiam!

Could be next month, could be never.

Something like this:

- 2 intelligence
+1 constitution
+1 strength/dexterity


Oh. And hi!

Obligatory "Delete Monks."

Back on topic: It's not that you won't be able to kill anything as Axelord. There's advantages and disadvantages to every spec, and I think Axelord has quite a bit of potential if used correctly, just like the rest of the specs.

It really doesn't if the target can cure decently.

We'll see .

We've seen and seen and seen, even with Thoros and I as AL, is what I'm telling you.

None of what you hear, half of what you see is what I'm telling you.

When you've got it down pat perfectly, I'll be sure to afk against you and have 0 wounds when I return.

You're also a knight in full plate, which rather hampers Axelord's potential.

Now that the double-tap is gone it's harder to build up the high wounds on full-platers.