Shattered Kingdoms

So, I played 5 years ago, didn't PK much, did more RP than PK and now it seems to be going the same way for me(More RP less PK). I don't have the experience to PK and I can't for the life of me figure out a tactic to combat a well organized veteran group who can crowd control your entire group and pick you off one at a time...

So, instead of rage deleting(which I so want to do) I want to ask this: How can I learn to PK? The learning curve is so steep, even more since most of the veterans are joining the same group(I believe I heard that?). Where can I go to learn to not suck at PK? Practice won't do it. Getting steam rolled by veterans isn't teaching me anything. I have a life, getting married in May, so I don't have hours upon hours to pour over logs and figure out how so and so gathered this staff and used it to own me.

My main question, I guess, is "Is there an efficient way to learn to PK here, or should I leave it to the veterans and just delete and not look back, since I have too much of a life?"

You can read logs on the log site by vets. Try to pick something up. My tips?

Two things to consider before entering PK:

-Do I know (and recognize) everything that I have at my arsenal? Scrolls, vials, enchants.. mastered/superbed spells/skills? If I dont, what is my escape plan (always have an escape plan!!!)? Being a second/third row class such as necros, sorcs, warlocks etc.. always be watching your group -info- and leave before poo hits the fan.

-Preparation. Preparation. Preparation.
Could range from having 20 heal vials on hand, controlling the weather in your favor, or getting buffs/help.

PK is really pretty simple, don't engage unless the odds are stacked in your favor, or at the very least even. Always be at least second row, third if you can manage, so that when a group rolls in that severely outnumbers you, simply leave.

As long as you always walk around with the assumption that someone out there wants to gank you, you'll be a lot better off. Take it from me, there's always someone out there that wants to gank you.

Survival is the first lesson in PK, once you can survive an attack, you can build on that.

If you ever do get around to reading logs of veteran PKer's you'll notice all of what I just said, 99% of them don't engage when the odds aren't in their favor, they'll leave to either gather more allies, buff more extensively to turn things in their favor, or they'll result to hit and run tactics with law NPCs/charms/instant kill spells.

That's how I always PK'd, I made damn sure I had a significantly higher chance of winning any engagement I instigated, than my opponent. When things weren't in my favor yet I still had to engage(for instance if you're in a tribunal and have to defend your city), I always made damn sure I had an escape plan incase things got nasty. Sometimes you'll pull off an upset and rout a superior force, in which case you feel like a badass, but there's no shame in living to fight another day. Always make sure you're not in a position to be bashed/tripped unless you're fairly certain you'll win in that situation, and always keep a WoR vial on you.

Honestly the rest you just pick up as you go along. Concentrate on surviving first, the rest will come in time.

I fully agree with what Sypher said. A lot of it is just knowing when to not engage (this can be difficult for lighties at time, but convince yourself ICly that suicide isn't Courageous and you'll be fine).

A lot of it is confidence and keeping a cool head during the action. I find dueling to be helpful. Learn what tricks other classes learn against your class and how to combat it. Try different things, look for different tools. This helps more with 1v1 PK though.

For the big group PKs it's harder. Having a good group where everyone knows their job is indescribably valuable. High pressure PVE trips can help with group confidence and cohesion. But really it's going to come down to which group works the best together and who spent the most time prepping. It's hard to go up against a well prepared group of veterans. Take pride in small victories, such as killing a few of them before you have to retreat or they wipe you out.

I'm by no means a PKer, though. This is just stuff I picked up when grouped with people like Peso.

All of this assumes a couple things.

You are familiar with the world.
You are familiar with the classes/skills.
You can make friends.

There are two major factors in PvPing successfully.

A) You have to know what you are capable of.

B) You have to know what your opponent is capable of.

Everything that happens in PvP stems out of knowing these two things, and ensuring that you have the proper tactics accordingly. This means learning the skills and spells of each class and what tactics are good countermeasures for those skills and spells, and then being able to quickly and decisively form a battle plan against an opposing group given a group of your own: The less you know about your enemy and what they can do, the larger chance that you will end up getting hit by surprise with a tactic and crumbling to pieces.

One of the biggest things that stems from this, as has already been stated, is to not get into a fight that's over your head: If you know of a tactic that your opponent can utilize that leaves you no options other than death, then its best to avoid that fight (Unless, of course, the fight is unavoidable due to RP reasons, at which point you have to throw out the best tactic you have and hope for the best). Another thing is to enter into a fight with the entire possibilities of the fight laid out in your head, so that you aren't surprised and forced to think up new tactics mid-combat: Usually this means precious seconds that end up either leaving you dead or missing the chance to win a fight.

Another very important factor is to fight to kill, not to wound. All the best escape plans in the world will never net you a kill unless you're proactive in preventing the escape plans of your enemy. Some form of overhwhelming damage, bash/trip or a swashbuckler is necessary to avoid letting your opponent escape with his life. In addition, ensure that whatever tactic you choose will do more than just -most- of your enemy's HP in damage: Too often I've seen people run off to fights without really thinking through their battle plans, and as such ending up being little more than an annoyance.

Take a sorceror, for example: A few of the key spells in a sorceror's arsenal are acid blast, charm person, sleep, color spray, and etherealform. Scrolls, staves, and wands are also huge for a sorceror. I for one will avoid fights with a sorceror without some source of dispel magic or etherealform, because then at best, a sorceror will just recite/zap/cast etherealform and leave me sitting there. If the sorceror has a charmed NPC then I may try to A) Cancel the charm, or B) attack the sorcerer directly, given my current character. If I were a rogue, for example, I'd be much more inclined to stand behind a NPC trying to use a crossbow with hasted attacks rather than backstabbing/circle stabbing the sorceror and hoping I went through his mirror image. On the other hand, if the sorceror didn't have a charm, I'd make sure (unless I was very confident in my will save) that I didn't stay in the same room with them for more than the casting time of charm person.



Everything that you know about yourself and your enemy, however, is useless without preparation. There's absolutely no comparison between a buffed up PC and a non-buffed PC. Make sure that you're always ready to quaff whatever potions/eat whatever herbs necessary to make yourself combat viable, or just avoid fighting: That's my advice.
All of this theory, however, is really useless without practice. Get a feel for PvP, be willing to lose a few fights and learn from each one of them, trying never to make the same mistake twice. Above all else, don't get too attached to your gear, because rage deleting is really easy if you're not willing to lose. To this end I might suggest rolling a character with either no less than "wise" WIS, or stacked with will mods, and learn the ropes through a trial by fire. It's my opinion that you can read logs all day, but nothing can really replace experience.

You really shouldn't even attempt to PK if you don't qualify for any of those three things.

That's exactly my point. Thank you.

re: titus03, no advice for you, but

I've found that with the right attitude, pk skills will come sooner than later, you seem to be the right type, asking and eager about it

most of the stuff is covered, from my experience, I've found that the best pkers are the ones that are most familiar with surroundings (or more specifically in mud terms = directions)

knowing how many times to hit north and door here, how many times to go east and open gate etc, is huge

players like peso, algon, tedster etc seem to carry this trait, real quick reactions and que up directions from the heart

Walk around for minimum 20 hours of play time, while actively doing things, with a pet in front of you. Keep a word of recall vial in your inventory (not in your container). Wimpy 90.

Follow those three directions and you will be far, far, far better at pk than you are now.

Yes, you might try to come up with idiotic exceptions to this -> OMG I play a swash, I can't have a pet in front of me!!! Sorry. Even swashbucklers should keep pets in front of them. Everyone should keep a pet in front of them. OMG but wimpy 90 ruins it when I blah blah blah.

Those three tips will save you from nearly every pk.

If you're asking how to WIN pk, that's a different story - but this is how not to die.