Massively re-arms for WAR: Slayer (part 2)

Mastery paths

Path of Trollslayer: Long-term battles (IE sustained damage over time)

Path of Giantslayer: Quick exhaustive blows (IE burst damage)

Path of Skavenslayer: Area of effect offensive abilities (IE you really want to mess up clothies)

These three mastery paths are, much like the Enrage mechanic, also pretty easy to grasp, at least when you look at the two primary styles of play Warhammer Online: PvE and PvP.

Trollslayer is all about getting Enraged quickly and then sustaining it over the course of a drawn-out fight. While it's not really about greatly increased survivability, there is a little extra of that to be found here. Mostly though, dig into this tree if you're looking for a nice steady stream of damage. It's especially useful in PvE, where Public Quests offer up a nice variety of bosses to slash at to your heart's content.

On the flip-side we've got Giantslayer, which is all about taking a full Enrage meter and slamming hard on enemies. Of course, afterwords you're going to have to build it back up again -- so timing is more important here. Mostly, I found this to be an obviously choice for PvP, whereas Trollslayer seemed the better option for a PvE focused encounter. Although admittedly I spent much more time jumping Destro in Praag (Scenarios have been disabled on the PTS) than anything else.

Skavenslayer is both a great option to spend most of your points on, or blend with Trollslayer. At least, that's my opinion at this point. I'd probably have to spend a week or two really tinkering with a blend of Skaven/burst and Skaven/long-term until I could make a better call.

My primary reason for the blending of Trollslayer (sustained DPS) with Skavenslayer (offense area of effect) is the obvious boon of what's essentially a sustained area of effect skill set. To be fair, you're not going to get the full range of either mastery trees, but the ability to charge inside a nice cluster of squishy healers and casters just before letting loose a twirling vortex of steely, hairy death simply cannot be underestimated.

I'm not so sure I can speak too heavily on whether or not there are balance issues, since I've only spent about four days actively playing the Slayer, but I didn't run into any glaring concerns. That doesn't mean everything is perfect, as the crux of MMOs is that classes are being eternally 'balanced'. So while there's nothing wrong right now, that's not to say that later on problems won't arise.

All-in-all, the Slayer is a great addition to the Dwarven career selection, especially for players looking to dole out melee DPS without too much of a fuss. It'll certainly mean a rise in Dwarves running around once the class is free for all to roll up on, and that's never a bad thing in the world of Warhammer. Maybe it's just me, but I just can't get enough of Dwarves sporting bright orange, crazy-awesome mohawks.

	Mythic has announced the first expansion to Warhammer Online! Check out the announcement itself, the two brand-new classes coming to the game, and the enormous new dungeon/zone slated for a few months away! Plus, don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!