Kyvum

A Chief Among Chieftains The Chieftain is a self-sustainable damage dealer capable of both strong single target and AoE damage, while also providing unique utility in both PvE and PvP. Before diving headfirst into the depths of this class, I want to begin with a few basic tips for any new players who are either thinking of trying Chieftain or recently have started their journey. It is a strong recommendation that you begin your journey as a Magic Power focused Chieftain, there are a few reasons for this, namely that it is cheaper but also your Bear Endurance skill will give you a very beneficial sustainability early on before you can acquire Health Steal. A luxury not all classes have. Two-handed maces are generally best for Magic Chieftains whereas dual wielding one-handed maces is generally best for Physical Chieftains. While leveling you might find it hard to come by equipment at all, especially if you are struggling to find a guild that can help you, but there is a saving grace - The Norlant Swamps, while this may be downright painful in the beginning while you learn each of the maps, a Magic Chieftain even at lower levels actually can excel here thanks to Bear Endurance and Wolf Alacrity. Most of the daily quests in this map have the chance to reward equipment and there is also a map in Lesser Ravva where a chest spawns that also has a chance to contain equipment. You can find an incredibly useful guide to the Norlant Swamps on the forums here; Norlant Swamps Guide. You do not need to 4/4 Cat Reflexes, ranking this skill up provides very little benefit when compared to Clan Support or Bestial Wrath, it also makes energy much harder to manage at higher ranks. Now it is time to teach you how to become a Chief rather than just a Chieftain, you will learn how to forge your own build within the tracks laid out for you by the Chieftain class itself. THE CHIEFTAIN'S DECISIONS When planning your Chieftain your first have to decide which skills and playstyle you like most, this will help with your decision of whether to go with Magic Power, Physical Power or even a Hybrid of both. Be aware however, I would recommend starting your journey as Magic Power based as it is more often than not significantly cheaper, you will have plenty of time before reaching your talent branches to save some gold to make the shift to Physical or Hybrid if you decide to. SKILLS THAT SCALE WITH MAGIC POWER Here we have the most powerful AoE in the Chieftain's arsenal, Swooping Army, this skill places a very large area of fire on the ground dealing large damage and reducing the Dodge of enemies within and when coupled with Eagle Eye you will output large AoE burst. We also have a powerful self heal on a short cooldown with Bear Endurance allowing for additional survivability and sustain while wearing low defense Cloth Armor. SKILLS THAT SCALE WITH PHYSICAL POWER The Physical Chieftain is capable of powerful Single Target damage, quickly building up DPS using damage over time from the bleeds of Wolf's Alacrity and Eagle Eye as well as the effect of Plague Curse then dealing quick bursts with Frenzy. SKILLS THAT SCALE WITH BOTH The Hybrid Chieftain's most powerful skills are almost certainly Blow of the Spirits and of course Eagle Eye as they scale with a combination of BOTH Magic Power and Physical Power rather than the dominant of either, or a single power type, however your strength lies within all of your skills being useful. Given the large amount of spread on attributes that this requires this option is quite expensive to acquire strong enough equipment to be up to par with the other options. EQUIPPING YOUR CHIEFTAIN Now you have decided your path, how do you build it? There are many different sets that will work for Chieftain, so rather than talking about specific sets of equipment, I am going to focus on showing you certain amounts of Attributes you will be aiming to achieve. MAGIC POWER A Magic Chieftain should focus on acquiring high Penetration and Skill Cooldown, even with all the boosts to our Penetration, achieving the cap of 50% is quite difficult, there is a handy Relic that can sometimes help however, Magic Relic of Cruelty, when your target dodges, parries or blocks your Blow of the Spirits with this slotted in, it increases your Penetration by 4% every 5 seconds for 20 seconds. As for Skill Cooldown, it's not likely you're going to be reaching the 200% cap, even if you are a Puma Chieftain, nor are the sacrifices you'd have to make in other attributes worth it. However this time we do have a somewhat reliable relic Relic of Nimbleness, this can be placed in Thrashing and when your target resists it, you gain 15% to your Skill Cooldown for 10 seconds. PHYSICAL POWER Generally speaking, Physical damage builds want high Attack Speed since your auto-attacks are also greatly improved by Physical Power. Ideally reaching the 70% cap, even with Bestial Wrath this can be hard to accomplish but we do have an unreliable friend called Relic of Agility, this can be slotted into both Bear Endurance and Wolf Alacrity for a 10% chance to increase your attack speed by 20% for 10 seconds. ATTRIBUTES Attack Speed - With a cap of 70%, achieving the limit is quite a difficult feat, however a Physical Chieftain wearing Light Armor or a Chieftain of the Rat Horde get a leg up in the game with Bestial Wrath, when 4/4 this skill will give a whopping 25% Attack Speed. Piercing Attack - Completely bypass all enemy defensive attributes with your auto-attacks. For a Physical Chieftain this can be exceptionally powerful, however it can be quite difficult to squeeze into our build but there is something that can help, the Icy Relic of Piercing can be slotted into the Defensive Relic slot on Eagle Eye, providing a 10% increase to Piercing Attack for 10 seconds when the enemy dodges, parries or blocks an attack made with the skill. Critical Hit - Between Cat Reflexes and Clan Support we are able to achieve the Critical Hit cap of 50% with minimal investment necessary from equipment. Accuracy - Again another Attribute that benefits from Cat Reflexes, however this time in more ways than one, for every dodged attack while the aura is active, you gain an Accuracy increase for 6 seconds! Penetration - For Magic Chieftains wearing Cloth Armor or Chieftains of the Rat Horde gaining a lot of Penetration is quite easy, thanks yet again to Bestial Wrath and Clan Support, with both of these 4/4 you gain a combined 18.5% Penetration. Very penetrative. Skill Cooldown - Truly where a Chieftain of the Puma shines, with an eventual 40% Skill Cooldown from Elusive Claws this can save massive amounts of required investment from gear. Energy Regeneration - Finding the perfect amount of energy regeneration is quite a difficult challenge as it entirely depends on the amount of Skill Cooldown you have, your candidates for Energy Regeneration are certain accessories and Enchants on your belt, rings and bracelets. You'll also find Energy Regeneration in your talent tree, being in a Level 6 or higher guild or the Power of Spirit book acquired out of the chest from Nocturna - A boss killed through guild events. Health Steal - Truly the most vital ingredient to any damage dealing class. But on a Chieftain there's something extra special about Health Steal and that is when it is combined with our large amount of AoE damage. As such, this should be enchanted on your Cape, Rings and Amulet, I don't think there is any exception to this rule. As Runes of Vampirism may be quite expensive, it's recommended you wait until you have gear that you are going to wear for a decent amount of time but also prioritize these pieces of gear early on. Rage - A very powerful buff that provides a 10% increase to both Physical and Magic Power, thankfully due to our large amount of layered attacks with Eagle Eye, Plague Curse, Swooping Army and Frenzy, we are able to have solid Rage uptime even with a small amount of Rage. There are a few ways to get this small amount of Rage to ensure you have access to this buff often, the easiest method is a Crystal of Fierceness that can be applied to your Armor an alternative route is using two pieces of World Creation equipment for the set bonus or a World Creation accessory that has Rage. Solidity - With the massive 50% boost to both Physical and Magic defenses from 4/4 Clan Support, even achieving high Solidity is hardly an issue, for Physical Chieftains reaching the 50% cap with this buff active is easy. UTILITY Something I've noticed very underused by many Chieftain players is their honestly very powerful utility skills, with the exception of Pack Support but even then it is rarely used on players other than themselves. THRASHING Roots the selected target and enemies within 1 yard in place for 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 seconds, reducing their attack speed by 8% | 12% | 16% | 22% | 30%, Physical and Magic Power by 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% | 30%. Affects up to 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 player targets, with no limit on monster targets. This skill is honestly incredibly powerful, it's most common use is setting up for a stun with Frenzy, however there is a lot more to know here. Generally left at level 1, affecting a maximum of 3 player targets or unlimited monsters; this skill reduces targets' attack speed by 8% as well as their physical and magic damage by 10%, it also roots the targets in place, the duration of this is 3 seconds. At Level 5, affecting a maximum of 6 player targets or unlimited monsters the skill will reduce targets' Attack Speed by 30% and both Physical and Magic damage by 30%. The duration is also increased to 6 seconds. The next important information about this skill comes from the relics it can hold. Notable relics include; Empowering Great Relic of Dispelling Grants a 20% chance to remove a skill buff from the enemy. Defensive Relic of Nimbleness Adds 15% to the character's Skill Cooldown for 10 sec when the enemy resists the effect of the skill. Offensive Relic of Physical Weakness Grants a 10% chance to reduce the enemy's Physical Defense by 15% for 10 seconds. Relic of Magic Weakness Grants a 10% chance to reduce the enemy's Magic Defense by 15% for 10 seconds. Terrible Relic of Sickness Grants a 15% chance to apply Pestilence to the enemy for 20 seconds, reducing their maximum Health by 2% every second while standing still. Terrible Relic of Apathy Grants a 15% chance to apply Apathy to the enemy for 6 seconds, reducing all healing effects on them and negating Health Steal. PACK SUPPORT Removes all harmful and control effects from the character or ally and protects from further harmful and control effects for 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 5 seconds. The effect is prolonged by 0.5 seconds (up to 3 seconds) with each effect removed. The most respected of Chieftain's support abilities, the ability to remove and provide resistance to control effects, any and all of your allies will love it when you use this to stop them running around feared or charmed. Not only that you can use it pre-emptively to stop the control effects from happening in the first place, learning the timings in PvE can allow you to avoid control effects for yourself or another important party member. SPIRITUAL PURIFICATION Removes 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 skill buffs from the enemy and applies Spiritual Purification to the character for 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 seconds, increasing the duration of skill and relic buffs by 5% | 7% | 10% | 15%. The most painfully underused utility skill of the Chieftain, in certain fights this skill nets more DPS than any damaging ability in both PvE and PvP since it can remove powerful buffs from your target, such as heal over time effects or defensive buffs. At higher levels this skill even removes MULTIPLE skill buffs from your target. A CLUSTER FOR THE CHIEF Within your talent tree you will eventually reach a cluster of talents, "3 for the price of 1" that you can swap between freely. Here is a basic rundown of what they do. Wildlife Ferocity This provides an incredibly powerful boost to your Clan Support, as well as making acquiring the buffs faster allowing you to maintain all three buffs with 100% uptime. Prolonged Howl A lasting increase to the duration of our Pack Support skill, however it does decrease the effectiveness of it's resistance over time. Beast Cunning A nice mobility skill, teleporting you to the final destination of your Plague Curse rat when it arrives there. THE BRANCHES OF THE CHIEFTAIN RAT HORDE EAGLE NATURE PUMA AGILITY The big decision, outside of equipment these make the largest impact on your build. Here we have three VERY different playstyles and options, while you can later swap between them the Knowledge cost of these talents is extremely high so when first making this decision keep in mind you will be essentially be locked to it for quite a long time. RAT HORDE The Rats offer us a powerful auto-attack build, with high attack speed you are able to maintain Resonating Strikes, after landing a successful auto-attack you gain the Resonating Strikes buff for 8 seconds which increases your Physical and Magic power by 12%., this buff is removed when you successfully land another auto-attack or use Blow of the Spirits, Bear Endurance, Plague Curse, Swooping Army or Frenzy. On top of this the Enragement talent boosts our Bestial Wrath buff by allowing it to give us the benefits as if we were wearing both Light AND Cloth, providing a large amount of Attack Speed and Penetration. A few other notable talents in this branch are increased MAXIMUM Penetration, critical hit strength talents, a bonus 2% critical chance to our Cat Reflexes and bonus penetration from Clan Support. EAGLE NATURE The Eagles bring us a powerful boost to our Eagle Eye skill with Bloody Rain, this makes it so the first time Eagle Eye damages a target it is guaranteed to cause a bleed, any successful attack that doesn't apply bleeding will also increase the chance to apply the effect by 15%, resetting when applied. It also increases the maximum amount of bleeds from Eagle Eye to 3 stacks per target. We also gain an increase to both of our Physical and Magic attack powers through Consonance which increases Base Physical Power by 14% of Base Magic Power, and Base Magic Power by 10% of Base Physical Power. Some other notable talents are a boost to our Rugged Hide, reducing damage taken based on character's missing health by an additional 0.1%. A talent for MAXIMUM Ferocity, a 2% bonus to Accuracy from Cat's Reflexes and a 3% increase to duration of buffs applied to you. PUMA AGILITY The Puma boasts an increase to Swooping Army with Ignition, this will apply a damage over time Burn to targets affected as well as a Slowdown effect. Additionally with Elusive Claws during combat we gain a stacking boost to our Skill Cooldown adding 5% Skill Cooldown every 2 seconds while in combat up to a maximum of 40%. The effect persists for 12 seconds after leaving combat. Some other notable talents are an increase to MAXIMUM Penetration, a 3% increase to duration of buffs applied to you and an increase to the duration of Thrashing. SOME FINAL TIPS A great Relic is the Great Relic of Refreshment, this can be slotted into Bear Endurance and grants a 10% chance to heal you for 20% of your maximum health. When it happens and you needed it, it feels great. Rugged Hide is your best friend, this Expert skill will improve your survivability significantly. You should fill gaps in your attributes with Potions and Scrolls, this is a great way to really boost your damage while doing difficult dungeons, or if you just want to do them a bit faster. The Spoiler below is just images I was unable to remove from the post.