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As a fledgling
Dragon Knight, my battle style all but consisted of hitting the monster until it dies…or I do, whichever comes first.
Having reached Level 30 recently, I’m happy to say that I’ve developed five battle strategies that I use regularly. These techniques are the result of many hours of battling it out with hordes of undead ghouls, vile creatures, and other assorted monsters.
A disclaimer however: I use a hammer (and thus no shield) that dishes out high damage but is a bit on the slow side in terms of attack speed. I’m partial to these kinds of weapons so I haven’t had much experience trying out these techniques using sword and shield. You guys out there who use the sword and shield combo might have varying results and thus might have need to modify the techniques for your own specific situation.
With that said, following are the five most often used techniques in my bag of tricks.
Melee Attack 1
This technique is the one I use when dealing with monsters whose numbers I consider manageable (around 4-6 monsters for level 20-25
Dragon Knights or 6-8 monsters for level 25-30
Dragon Knights) and cannot inflict a high level of damage to my character.
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I start off with 2 Angry Strikes to generate the needed amount of Rage to launch into a
Paralyzing Onslaught attack. After stunning the enemy (remember: they only stay stunned for 2-3 seconds) I deal out another two Angry Strikes and finish it off with a Mighty Swing (depending on your level, weapons, and your items' properties you may need to do another 1-2 Angry Strikes to finish the monster off).
Melee Attack 2
I use this technique when there's a sort of urgency involved in a battle (either when there's more monsters coming and I need to dispatch the first wave quickly or to prevent the enemy from building up steam and using a devastating attack).
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Instead of starting off with 2 Angry Strikes, I start off with a Furious
Battle Cry to generate the needed Rage to use the
Paralyzing Onslaught.
After stunning the enemy, I use 2 Angry Strikes to generate more Rage
then use a Mighty Swing and then another Angry Strike (in the event that the
monster is still standing).
Shock and Awe 1
This technique is pretty fun to use and is quite nifty in rescuing on of your party who has gone off without the rest of the group and gotten himself stuck in the middle of a horde of monsters.
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Start off from the edge of the horde and generate the needed amount of Rage by using the Angry Strike (Required: 20 Rage) as many as necessary to use the
Paralyzing Onslaught and the Mighty Wild Swing (Required: 60 Rage) or Bloody Swing (Required: 30 Rage). If the situation is dire you may need to throw in a Furious Battle Cry to generate the necessary Rage faster.
Once the needed amount of Rage is available, launch into a
Paralyzing Onslaught into the middle of the horde (preferably, the monster nearest your team member in trouble and stunning all opponents in between) and then unleashing a Mighty Wild Swing or a Bloody Swing.
Depending on your level and the monsters your fighting, this move might not be enough to kill all of the creatures you're fighting but it just might give you and your trouble team mate a fighting chance (at least until the other members of your party can execute a more coordinated rescue).
Shock and Awe 2
This is a good technique to use when surrounded with low level monsters and one (1) mid to high level monster capable of inflicting some serious damage.
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At this point I'm assuming you've already built up your Rage points to the necessary level to execute a Scream of Rage (Required: 60 Rage). In case you've forgotten, Scream of Rage allows a
Dragon Knight to enter in to the frenzy of battle for 6.0 seconds. At this time use their skills and basic damage is improved depending on the
level.
Dragon Knights' attack and travel speeds are also increased by 35%.
Once you've done a Scream of Rage, let loose a Might Wild Swing or Bloody Swing to dispatch the low level monsters then use up you remaining Rage to take advantage of your faster attack speed and let loose a barrage of Might Swings at the top dog in the horde. Hopefully it will be enough to take it down but in the event that it's not, there's an escape option available.
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After you've used up your Rage, do a couple of Angry Strikes to build up Rage and use the
Paralyzing Onslaught to high tail it out of the horde of monsters which I assume will have you boxed in and trapped by this time.
Make sure to aim for the monsters at the edge of the horde otherwise you're not going to get far and remain trapped until the skill cycles up and you can use it again (but chances are you'll be dead by this time).
Last Stand
Compared to the other techniques, the Last Stand is pretty straightforward. I use it most frequently when faced with a monster who is seriously hurting me, escape is not an option, and my hit points are dwindling fast.
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Assuming your Rage points are at the required level, use the Scream of Rage (Required: 60 Rage) and then just go to town on your opponent with a barrage of Mighty Swings. You're either going to 1) die (most realistic), 2) deliver enough damage for one of your party to finish the monster off, or 3) actually kill it (it can happen).
I use a combination of these in succession just to mix it up a bit.
If you guys have your own special moves, I'd love to hear about it if you care to share.
