Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Sam's Argent Tournament Strategy

A lot of people seem to be struggling with the Tournament. Jousting is not easy, but it's also not as tough as some make it seem.

I've read several other guides, and nobody seems to use my strategy.

There's Gnomer's guide, which is great for high-latency players or those who have extreme trouble reacting. It works, but it's a little too slow and doesn't always work.

Then there's Stop's guide, which is awesome, but a little on the difficult side.

What about the in-betweeners? Fear not, Sam's got your back.

This guide assumes you at least understand the basics of jousting. If you keep dying to the training dummy (looking at you, Junior) you may want to do a little research.

Step 1: 3 stacks of Defend. Standard.

Step 2: Engage

Step 3: As soon as your opponent gets to range, Charge.

Step 4: A second or so after making contact (about 2 strides), start veering to the left or right, depending on terrain. Yes, use your keyboard.

Step 5: As you come around, hit Shield Breaker repeatedly until it fires.

Step 6: Rush back to melee range and start Thrusting.

Step 7: Reapply Defend as necessary.

Step 8: Repeat steps 3-7 until victory.

OK, here's how this works. At Step 3, your Charge will carry you THROUGH your opponent, and you will be behind them. Apparently, the NPCs are keyboard turners and will be unable to attack you for a couple seconds until they get back around. In this time, you will exploit the range where you're far enough for Shield Breaker, but to close for Charge.

The key is to get your timing right, and it may take a little practice.

If executed PERFECTLY, you will get behind your enemy, come around and still be in Shield Breaker range. You will fire that off while they're still turning and get back to melee range before they can do anything. You have removed 2 stacks of their Defend and they've done nothing.

If executed WELL, you will get behind your enemy, come around and still be in Shield Breaker range. However, your opponent will also be able to come around and fire a Shield Breaker. You have removed 2 stacks of their Defend and they've removed one of yours. As soon as your cooldown is up, you can easily reapply and stay at 3 stacks.

If executed POORLY, you will get behind your enemy, come around but be too close for Shield Breaker by the time you get him in your sights. Your opponent may have been able to fire a Shield Breaker of his own. Worst case scenario, you each lose one stack of Defend, which you can again easily reapply. Your opponent will probably reapply as well.

If executed MISERABLY, you will get behind your enemy, but will run too far away, into his Charge range. He will possibly Shield Breaker and definitely Charge while you're running around trying to find your target. You have removed one stack of Defend, while losing 1 or even 2 of your own. You will have to try to regain your full stacks.

The key to Jousting is not killing your enemy. It's a game of chess involving wearing down your opponents defenses while keeping your own up. Of these two, your own well-being is more important. You will have plenty of opportunities to take down your opponent's shields, but may have a hard time fitting multiple Defends into your cooldowns.

If you practice my method even a LITTLE, you can definitely achieve the "POOR" result, and should often get "WELL" and "PERFECT." You will keep your stacks up while taking down your opponent's.

I have been able to take down all 4 Champions WITHOUT using a single Refresh Mount in between. I take 15-20% damage each fight. If I'm not paying attention, I may suddenly find myself with NO shields in the middle of a fight because they wore off without me ever needing to reapply.

Happy Jousting!

1 comments:

M said...

Glad you posted this method, I was thinking the same thing the other day. I feel like a button masher a bit as I'm repeatedly clicking the shield breaker while I'm flirting with the range and the facing, but when I'm in the zone I hardly take any damage and just destroy them.

Sometimes, I will admit I just start sucking and have to focus in to pull out a victory. It is unforgiving if you can't find that sweet spot range.

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