Shattered Kingdoms

Rank the classes in terms of how effective they are in solo pvp. You can include tribunal/cabal membership when making the list. Assume that they have allies who help them with the prep work outside of the actual pvp.

1: Necros
2: Sorcs
3: Everyone else
4: Swashbucklers

Solo pvp as in 1v1, or being pvp ready without grouping with other players?

Ranking in terms of "most effective solo PvP" is very silly, as there are a million possible interpretations of that. However, I'll play along. I'll place my ranking with an emphasis on who can engage their enemy with the greatest chance of securing kills, with a secondary emphasis placed on being able to get to the point of securing a kill on your opponent without placing yourself in a vulnerable position.

1. Hammer merc.
2. Hammer barb.
3. Hammer swash.
4. Hammer melee.
5. Tribunal ranged (warlock, merc or scout).
6. Any tribunal member that isn't fighting the Empire.
7. Druid ranged (warlock, merc or scout).
8. Sorcs.
9. Necros.

The list falls off after that. Also, I haven't played every one of these, nor have I played every cabal/trib that exists, so I'm probably missing a lot of OP builds. It's also very important to note that no matter your build, you -have- to make yourself vulnerable if you want to actually land kills solo, and there is ALWAYS a counter-build to you. I tried to organize my list by who counters the most people/groups without having a lot of counters themselves.

Dude, Edoras, I can't handle your crying anymore. Just delete your necro that is oh so useless now because of the wimp bat that ruined your gaming experience, and roll something else. Please? Pretty Please? I only ask because listening to you cry is now getting to the point of making me physically sick.

Hey Baldric, how would your rankings look?

Addict, I've made a handful of posts in the last few days. You must be very easily nauseated if my post about what builds I think are strongest discomforts you.

E,

Don't make me pull up EVERY POST you've posted since the necro wimp. It's all you post about.


Am I doing it right?

Remember that time that Baldric owned h0l0gram because he pulled up every thread where he said he was quitting SK? Best thread of all time.

Sorry I couldn't contribute to this thread in a helpful way. I'd probably pick sorc over necro, but I think an MR barb could own both in solo PVP

No.

I made all those posts in threads about Necros.

You are just derailing this thread.

It's a challenge to come up with the precise top five combinations of class, race, and faction. I think it looks something like this though:

1. MC Sprite Necromancer
2. MC Human Necromancer
3. MC Halfling Necromancer
4. MC Delf Necromancer
5. MC Sprite Sorcerer

The decision between Human and Sprite is very close. It may be that Human is 1 and Sprite is 2. You probably have to go through all combinations of necromancers and all MC sorcerers or deep-elf or human tribunal sorcerers before you get to the next contender, which is the MC warlocks, Crucible warlocks, and then various other non-giant warlocks. Non-casters rank lower down on the list. I would say MC giant mercenary, MC human mercenary, MC human barbarian, MC giant barbarian are next, but the mercenaries in particular require some finesse and are hardest to play well. In the hands of expert players they are very good. Hammer non-swash melee guys, Fist giant mercenary, and Harlequin giant barbarian are next.

Rogues and shamans are wildcards. Rogues rely heavily on opponent ineptness/unpreparedness to be maximally effective, but they can rack up huge kill counts from backstab alone. If you consider voodoo "solo PvP" then shamans are potent. If you don't, they're still good, but not on the level of the previously mentioned classes though, as with rogues, they can destroy less skilled opponents with ease. To a lesser extent, hellions also fall into this category. An MC human hellion is undeniably good; it is stronger overall than a rogue but cannot as reliably rack up kills against weak opposition.

So, if you strip away everything and just take the average for the class, in solo PvP I guess the top five looks like this:

1. Necromancer
2. Sorcerer
3. Warlock
4. Mercenary
5. Barbarian

In all cases MC is the best choice for faction, for obvious reasons. Race is more debatable. All of this list reflects that PvP on SK is largely a game of NPC wars and, in that department, necromancers are the undisputed kings, followed by sorcerers and then warlocks. No strategy on SK racks up kills as hard as "order all bash". The top three classes can back that up with tremendous additional firepower such as finger of death, petrification, and magma spray and, if everything goes horribly wrong, these three classes can make escapes pretty well. They have the lowest risk for reward and the best chance of landing kills. Mercenaries don't have to take big risks if they stick to ranged combat, but to have a good chance of landing kills they often have to come in and bash. Barbarians have no choice but to take big risks by going right into melee, but they have the tools to do it well.