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If your guild decides to take control of a battle keep within the Border Kingdom you will inevitably have to defend it. In order to successfully defend against a siege you need to know the basics of defending your battle keep and keeping the enemy at bay as you maintain a point lead and try to wait out the siege attack window. Have some scouts keep a check on any areas near your Border Kingdom entrance in case a guild decides to launch an attack at the last minute rather than declaring early. If one does attack, you will be given a message, but don’t get caught with your pants down. Always expect an attack and then you are never surprised or unorganized when it comes.

Step 1: Assemble Your Army

The Ballista Builder can be found on the tower wall.

As the old saying goes, the best defense is a good offense stands true even here. As a defender your main purpose is to prevent the enemy from destroying your structures. In order to do this you will need an army to defend your keep. To successfully manage your army you will need to assign the appropriate levels to a given group and form a raid. Lower levels should be given someone within range that can apprentice them for the defense. The most important part of commanding your army is a clear line of communication. You can do this in text, but it is much more efficient and faster to use a voice chat server to aid in quick communication. Establish your communication method and be ready to give your raid orders and adjust your battle plan as needed.

Step 2: Perimeter Defense

Depending on where your keep is located you may have as few as one siege module on the outer walls or as many as three. Your goal for defense should be to disable your enemies’ siege engines at all cost. Even if your attacking group is wiped out. If they bring down the siege engine then you have achieved a victory if even a small one. You should have small attack groups ready with this general mission in mind. Every minute you hamper the enemy’s ability to bring down a structure brings you that much closer to victory.

Use your ballista to knockback the enemy.

Another method of keep defense are the ballista engines which any of your guild can acquire from the ballista builder located on the top of your keeps tower walls. A ballista will do no damage to the enemy but it does provide area of effect knockback to enemy units within its blast range. These small engines can be set on the walls and operate much like siege engines in an attack. These work much like casting an area of effect spell. You will be given a siege targeting module in your inventory to fire your ballista with. I have found it is often best to have any lower level members or lower DPS classes such as tanks who can’t do a lot from the inside of your defenses to man these and use them to beat back attackers.

Rangers and mages are excellent assets to have during any defense. Rangers can use their long range bow skills to take out enemies from a long distance giving you a very useful method for disposing of pesky units as your rangers rain down death from above along the walls. Mages while not having the range of a good ranger can still drop AoE spells on any cluster of enemies that get to close. Not to mention necromancers can drop their pets down on any nearby siege engines.

Step 3: Keeping Your Point Lead

When the siege begins the defender has the advantage. You will have over 3500 points and it is the job of the attacker to overtake your score. The only way to do this is for them to destroy your structures. All you have to do is stop them or delay them long enough for the two hour attack window to end. Your main goal should always be to take out any siege weapons as quickly as possible. Even if you suffer heavy loses while doing so. Anyone attacking your keep will need to bring down structures in order to win, so if you can stop them from doing so it won’t matter how many of your guild they kill. Stop their siege engines and you stop them. Anytime your enemy brings down one of your structures they will gain a fair amount of points and you will lose some. So the balance can shift quickly if you don’t stop their siege attacks. But do remember, people are the basic factors of attack and defense, if you lose too much of them, you may be unable to organize an efficient defense again.

Always end your battle on a good note.

The most important thing for the defender is to hamper or hinder the attacking forces efforts to bring down their structures at all cost. Without the points earned from destroying your structures no siege can succeed. Use your ballista weapons, set up hit and run groups, and be ready to go the distance. Time is your enemy and ally. Turn it against your attackers and you will be victorious and keep your battle keep for another day.

Step 4: Win or Lose

Always leave the field on a good note. This will not always be the case, but if you want your enemies to respect you, leave the field on a positive note in the face of victory or defeat. Otherwise you might become that guild that everyone hates and that target on your back may become just a bit bigger. Of course there are those that like that so the choice is yours. Be respectful and respected or don’t. The choice is yours.

There are many factors which can affect the results of the battle, and many of them depend on your game experience and luck, what you can only do is to get yourself fully armed, using all of your gold to buy the most powerful items, that’s the foundation of victory.
Good luck!

Author:Martuk

I started doing this guide at the level 30 part of the Destiny quest in Age of Conan. I hope it can help you.

Quest - The Phoenix of the south Part II - Level 30

Objective - Investigate the Blessed Caves

Go to Khopshef Province. At 717,981 there is a climbing point. I have 250 Climbing so I don’t know the exact number you need to climb this point. Climb up the ladder. Enter the cave and talk to the NPC on your left.

Quest - The Phoenix of the south Part III - Level 30

Objective - Get the Lotus from the supply room, Use the Lotus on the Altar - Level 30

Still in the cave, head deeper into it. The NPCs are level 30 with two bosses. The Lotus you need is scattered around the cave. After you picked up three Lotus, head towards the alter which is indicated on the map an orange X and is in the Upper part of the cave. Click on the alter three times.

Quest - The Phoenix of the South Part IV - Level 30

Objective - Slay the Blood Defiler , Collect the Atlantean Artifact

Head towards the lower end of the cave and kill Blood Defiler Guardian(30) boss. Next go and collect the Atlantean Artifact which was off to the left when you were facing the boss in his original location. It is guarded by two level 30 NPCs

Quest - The Phoenix of the South Part V - Level 30

Objective - Return to Sharak, Remember your Past

To leave the cave, jump down into the rushing water and keep swimming until it ports you back to Khopshef. Now head to Khemi. Turn in the quest and choose wisely which attribute you want to increase because as it stands now, you will be unable to choose again. Enjoy the ring.

Quest - Time to Fight Part I - Level 50

Objective - Talk to Sharak (level 50)

Go and speak with Sharak in Khemi after you hit level 50 to begin.

Quest - The phoenix of the North - Part I - Level 50

Objective - Talk to Niall in the Settlement of Dinog

Head to mountain Eiglophian. Go to the Settlement of Dinog and speak with Niall.

Quest - The phoenix of the North - Part II - Level 50

Objective - Kill Mithrelle, Collect the Northern Atlantean Artifact

Go to the Ice Caves. Head straight and destroy the ice wall and let Mithrelle talk smack. Now kill Mithrelle. Collect the Atlantean artifact from the guy holding the Gong.

Quest - The Phoenix of the North - Part III - Level 50

Objective - Return to Sharak, Remember your past

Head back to Khemi. Talk to Sharak. Choose wisely again.

Quest - The Phoenix of the North - Part IV - Level 50

Objective - Talk to Kalanthes

Go to Old Tarantia. Go inside Kalanthes’s house (door located at 950,569). Talk to Kalnthes and enjoy the cloak.

Quest - The Dark That Awaits - Level 60

Objective - Talk to Sharak at level 60

Go back to Khemi and talk with Sharak again.

Quest - Phoenix of the East - Part I - Level 60

Objective - Talk to General Tatius

Head to Thunder River.(this is a fun little walk from Khemi) Go to Aquillonian Town. Talk to General Tatius.

Quest - Phoenix of the East - Part II - Level 60

Objective - Kill Har Shebesh, Get the Phoenix of the East

Head to Blood Rite Subterrain. Pretty easy cave, a lot of one and two NPC pulls. Three total bosses in this cave including the objective boss. About half way down the cave you’ll see rocks on your right that looks like stepping stones. Hop up those and you will See Har-Shebesh. Kill the Lich Apprentices around his pad(don’t worry he wont aggro until you step until his pad). Kill Har-Shebesh. Grab the Phoenix of the East.

Quest - Phoenix of the East - Part III - Level 60

Objective - Give the Phoenix of the east to Sharak, Remember more of your past

Head back to Khemi. Talk Sharak again. Choose wisely agian.

Quest - Phoenix of the East - Part IV - Level 60

Objective - Perform the Phoenix Medallion ritual

Head to Lacheish PLains. Go to Crom’s Rock. Enter Field of Chiefs. No NPC’s in here. Head straight, click on Crom’s rock. Enjoy the show.

Quest - Phoenix of the East - Part V - Level 60

Objective - Enter King Conan’s Throne room, Talk to King Conan.

The last time to speak to the guy who this game is named after. Go to Noble District. Go to Conan’s Castle and speak with Conan.

Quest - To battle a god - Level 80

Objective - Talk to Kalanthes

Head to Kheshatta. Go towards the Lion’s Watch. He’s in a little cave by himself. Talk to him.

Quest - Ibis, Master of Hidden Secrets - Part I - Level 80

Objective - Find the Charm Seller

Go to Kheshatta city. Talk to a guy named Cha. Get the charm.

Quest - Ibis, Master of hidden Secrets - Part II - Level 80

Objective - Find information in Tuthnemtip’s Chamber

Go to Tuthnemtip’s Abode inside Kheshatta city. A few NPC pulls and your at the boss. Kill him. There is four books you are able to click on. Be careful, when you click on them a boss will spawn. After the second book I was able to complete the quest.(I clicked on the far right book)

Quest - Ibis, Master of hidden Secrets - Part III - Level 80

Objective - Give Notes to Kalanthes

Head back to Lion’s Watch and speak with Kalanthes.

Quest - The Grim Grey God - Part I - Level 80

Objective - Destory the Grim Grey God

Go to Onyx’s chamber. Use Charm of Protection. Run to the Orange X. (you should be able to make it with only one charge of the Charm). Enter Climbing wall. After you enter, you will go into a big open room. There is two mobs there, kill them. After you kill them you will notice there is six tombs on towards the side of the walls. Click on one, and go place the tomb where the blue glowing stand is. After each time you place the tomb on the stand, mobs will spawn. Kill the mobs and move onto the next tomb. After you have completed a tomb, you will be able to obtain the buff. Just simply walk near a completed tomb and grab the buff. On the sixth tomb a boss will spawn. Quickly kill the boss.

Quest - The Grim Grey God - Part II - Level 80

Objective - Talk to Conan

Go to Noble District. Go to Conan’s Castle and speak with Conan. Enjoy the nice epic Ring or Necklace.

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Author:tribex18

When you are attacked, what can you do? Be a dish of the ganker, or fight back to tell him you are not a lamb

THE BARBARIAN

Barbarians are a “I rolled this class to piss you off” kind of deal. Whether it’s a perma-stun or just plain one-shotting, the Barbarian is a force to be reckoned with indeed! I am trying to work on some strategies!

Step 1: when you see the Barbarian who just attacked you, you have many options on how to flee from the Barbarian. First, look around you without stopping and look for a nearby water source. If you find one I would advise you to sprint into the water and sit back at a far enough distance to type /shout NOOB GANKER HELP ME! While still avoiding damage. If there’s not then you only have two options:

Option 1: Let the Barbarian kill you and then use /tell -insert Barbarians name- and send him threatening messages and how much more skill you have than him and would kill him when you’re his level and put him on your KoS list.

Option 2: Zig-zag back and forth while avoiding damage and flee into a nearby shack and spam ‘H’ until your character turns slightly invisible. CONGRATULATIONS! You have entered hide mode successfully! Now, make sure you do not walk into the Barbarians line-of-sight because he will most likely be using Search to look for you because he is desperate for that one kill on account of his not being able to kill his own level.

Step 2: Get to level 80 and kill him.

THE NECROMANCER

The Necromancer is a very special class for a very special kind of person. If you are doubting your Necromancer ganker killing skills! Here’s what you can do:

Step 1: “Oh no! What just happened? Why am I taking damage?” This is what I see in chat when a NECRO GANKZOR happens to be killing people. Have no fear, though! Due to the gimpiness of the Necro chances are you can win this fight! Now, run up to him and smack him on the head with a two-handed weapon… if you don’t have one you can easily just put away any other weapon and uppercut him or headbutt him and it’s equally effective on the Necromancer. Now, the Necro will be extremely disoriented and wish to re-roll because you just smacked him across the face with your pimp-hands for 1,000 damage. This is not very uncommon. Be fast! Run and hide in a shack or behind a nearby tree. Once again, as before with the Barbarian, SPAM H! This cannot be stressed enough and if you do not have ‘H’ banded to ‘Hide’ then I would advise uninstalling the game. Now, unlike the Barbarian, Search does not matter because the only thing the Necromancer achieves from Searching for you is making you visible which is not a problem as he is squishy and the hide is just for the extra surprise. Run up to the Necromancer and one-two shot him.

Step 2: Camp him and make him quit his class and re-roll into a Barbarian. Refer to the Barbarian guide if he decides to get to level 80 in under 2 seconds and come back for you.

THE RANGER

All I have to say is traps are annoying and unnecessary. They make humans cry so many tears that we wish we were dead.

Step 1: A Ranger may first run off to hide and then he comes back while you are tanking 6 mighty mobs of elite own age and he hits you. You turn around and lift your mighty sword and four-five shot him and lop off his head. The Ranger comes back with a Necromancer. When he realizes that was the most idiotic thing he has done he comes back with a Barbarian and they triple finish you (It’s Super Effective!)

Step 2: Ranger spawn camps you for by hitting you as soon as you spawn so your regen is broken for 30 minutes until you log-off and cancel your subscription

THE ASSASSIN

Now, the Assassin is probably the most underestimated class. This may be because it’s broken! But, I have different views about the Assassin. I figure when you’re level 20 and a level 80 Assassin attacks you, your chances are a little less slim. That’s okay; you still have a 70% chance of winning the fight standing still with your hands tied behind your back only using Rest. The Assassin is a special case compared to the rest. You could compare the Assassin to the Necromancer! The Necromancer is a ranged caster class so you cannot! However, you can compare the damage mitigation because it seems more like the Assassin is wearing a thin layer of skin for his armour. Now, here’s what you want to do against the Assassin:

Step 1: Look him in the eye and used your most broken skill/feat that you decided to put points into not knowing it was broken. The Assassin should now be at less than half health, perhaps even a quarter. When I was testing out a Bear Shaman I decided to cast a heal on the Assassin. The Assassin died shortly afterwards and I laughed and sat on his body. This is perhaps the best way to take out an Assassin. But, there are other ways! Make sure you never ‘waste’ your most powerful skill on the Assassin because this is considered wasteful and unnecessary. Not only will you get an auto-fatality but you will have put your best skill on cooldown and wasted Stamina/Mana. Honestly, I do not even need to make a write-up on how to kill an Assassin as any deaf/blind/disabled person can defeat one.

Step 2: unnecessary, he’ll quit eventually.

Proposed amendment: After initial sneak attack by assassin (which may or may not have scratched your armor or snagged your robes) do the following:

1a. If Melee class: Turn, look at the assassin and give him / her your best war face. This should immediately take the assassin to half health. Hit once without using a cool down. Turn and walk away. They will die from the back draft.

1b. If mana burner: Root in place. Walk away calmly. Toast to a crisp at a safe distance. Or, if preferred, simply bake to a delicate crunch
THE BEAR SHAMAN

The Bear Shaman is honestly the class that makes me want to yell “PISS-OFF” the most. No matter how much damage you deal to it, it’ll always live. You may as well just refer to the escape methods above in the Barbarian section. Known for their smba tank skills and 1337 HEAL the Bear Shaman will NEVER die.

Step 1: Don’t bother fighting back, flee to the nearest water source or instance jump. This is the grandest method and works the greatest. I would advise instance jumping because the Bear Shaman is fairly annoying and will most likely water camp you. Talk in guild chat and advise your guild of the Bear Shaman camping you and they will come, however, if you’re stuck in the water and don’t have a baddie guild. If they say they are busy I would recommend using ‘/guild leave’ don’t ask what it does, just do it.

Step 2: Cry for a nerf on the forums. I know I will.

THE PRIEST OF MITRA

The PoM is known for his/her ability to go around the forums and OOC claiming that they are not over-powered and know how to play their class. Every time I see a PoM AoEing 10 mobs at once I ‘Exit Game’ and realize how crappy my class is. When I see priest classes dealing more damage than me I /emote burning and just… I wish I didn’t roll my class, you know?

Step 1: If the PoM gets the jump on you, run and ‘Hide’. They may be amazing but they are really squishy if you can perma-stun them and CC the crap out of them. Now, the PoM is searching for you, move closer to him while still keeping out of his line-of-sight. Jump him, totally rock him and when he starts casting ‘Repulse’ (which they all do) throw out your first stun because after ‘Repulse’ he will be using a Word of Life or whatever it is called. He’ll get up and try and heal and I would advise using a knockback or a fear if you have one. I know not all of the classes out there have a CC option so you may as well not even try and counter-gank if you don’t have one. Chances are, if you keep them stunned, they will lose.

Step 2: Attempt to spoil their regen and spawn-camp them because they aggravate you and you want them to feel vengeance for trying to gank.

THE TEMPEST OF SET

I honestly have no clue how to deal with this class. They always surprise me with their casting times and the fact that they can aim their CC and its AoE. I’d assume that to deal with them you could use the same method as you used on that filthy PoM that ganked you.

Step 1: This is a heavy nuker class. I want you to run circles around them and make it so they can get off as little attacks as possible. One time I was hit with some Lightning and I just imploded. It was not funny, AT ALL! I just vanished and he laughed like this was common. Anyways, circle strafe around the ToS only stopping to use some knock backs or stuns. Use as much white damage as possible and ignore those long time-wasters that you call a ‘combo’ . I believe that a ToS is a little harder to deal with on a 1v1 compared to a PoM because of their instant heal and invulnerability. After this dance he should be purty much dead.

Step 2: Start a petition about ToS and go on the forums under their class section and just basically post a screen shot of the ToS lying on the ground and you sitting on his/her face. Then message me and I can go in the thread and have a good laugh for an hour. Then track him down in real life and plant a bear trap in his bathroom. While he/her is trapped, set their house on fire. (Not advised)

THE GUARDIAN

this is the ‘Iron Wall’ class, you can hit them but they can’t hit back. Well, they can, but it’ll do 2 damage. You can out-potion that pretty hard-core like. Anyways, they’re pretty baddie now; I guess Funcom decided to make them tanks.

Step 1. The mighty Guardian charges you and opens up with an Overreach, which may as well be a back-scratcher now. You swat at him like a mighty fly swatter coming down to meet its poor, innocent, victim. He takes 1 damage and hits you for 1-10. You use a potion and laugh at the Guardian as he attempts to out-DPS your potion. Hell, he can barely out-DPS your food and that’s out-of-combat regen. The Guardian cries and wonders why he lacks so much DPS. He pulls out a Pole-Arm and pretends like he’s a Barbarian and circle strafes you while you’re tanking 5 mobs that are 3-4 levels higher than you. He pops Frenzy and you turn around, 3-shot him, and walk away with a giggle-snort held in your nose. Victory is yours.

Step 2. Guardian cancels subscription, thus giving you the victory.

By the way, if you want to survive from a ganker, you must need a good armor, furthermore, you may need a good weapon to fight back and kill the ganker, then you may need a lot of gold to buy them.

Author:Ikickbabies

In MMOs,the most attracting point may be PvP, but how to win a PvP battle, here are some advicesSetting the stage for PvP in AoC
Note that PvE skill does not correspond to PvP skill. This is the one of the most obvious facts to those who has played PvP before. Yet is the most common mistake players first make. I know we have been grinding for 80 levels and are used to charging in to 2-3 mobs and defeating them with over half our HP remaining. I know that Conan himself is used to killing armies while sipping latte (DON’T SIP LATTE!). PvP is different. Consider every other player like a elite mob …one wrong move and your dead.However AoC is a significant break from past MMOs. In those games as you gained in levels you significantly increased in power over those lower level that you. Not the case in AoC! You gain a level and you get a few more HP (perhaps 30) and that’s about it! No more superior evasion and huge damage bonuses because your 1 level over somebody else. Consider yourself potential prey to those 2 to 3 levels below you and stay on guard.

Prepare yourself
The best PvPers are the ones who are never out of the PvP mindset. Surprise is one of the biggest attacks out there and with everyone having the Stealth ability it is equal across the board (somewhat). You should always be ready for combat any time you leave the cities (where PvP cannot take place), entering an instance, speaking with a quest NPC, walking leisurely down the path smelling roses (DON’T SMELL THE ROSES!) and even when you rez. Attacks can and do come at all these times. Be ready!

Your ability BAR
The first thing you need to do is setup your PVP UI. You should have a BAR dedicated to PVP and a separate one for PVE (As a caster I had a third one just for buffs). Often I keep my PVP bar on Bar 0 (SHIFT-0), and PVE on Bar 1 (SHIFT-1). Use whichever works best for you. The PVP bar should be set up so that you can easily activate abilities and items as you see fit. I kept my attacks on the main bar (1,2,3,Q,E) and spot 4 and 5 were set for Potions.

Potions
Buy potions. Always buy potions. They’re cheap, and will save your life. Use potions, Always use potions. This is not like some other games where players say using potions somehow lessens the victory. Pots should always be used…and used early! Potions work over time, do not save them to the end, if you’ve been ATTACKED the first things you should hit (even before looking to see who attacked you) are your potions.

Using Health potions is obvious. For PvP, Stamina runs a close second. Even for casters stamina may make the difference between keeping distance from your foe and finding how well you don’t melee with that piece of bamboo you call a staff. Although it varies from player to player, I honestly don’t find that Mana potions are all that useful in PvP even for casters and obviously not for pure melee. Usually a fight over quickly and often with mana to spare (especially for one on one). The main exceptions are in Group PvP which last longer or if your a caster without a significant amount of burst DPS (priests). But, if your ability bar space is limited…If there is one potion you could do without, its likely mana pots.

Camera, keyboard, and graphics setup
At this point in time there is no way to macro sequences and moves. Keyboard binding is limited but you should make take advantage of whatever you can. Speed is a major factor in PvP. You want abilities bound to keys, accessible at a single push of a button and NOT have to visually search, select and click icons.

Go into Camera options and change the camera following mode to “NEVER” from smart. This way you can spin the camera at will and it won’t keep snapping back to the zero position by default. It is a handy way to immediately turn direction with a simple click of the mouse. Use and practice this.

For casters, work on moves like running, spinning the camera 180 degrees, targeting people chasing you, and then instantly turning around by clicking both mouse buttons at once + starting a spell cast. Then during your spell cast spinning the camera another 180 degrees and the second your spell finishes casting click both mouse buttons to run the way you were originally going again with zero time spent turning around.

For melee, Unbind “turn left and right” from the A and D keys and re-bind these keys to strafe left and right. you NEVER turn with your keyboard ever. It’s substantially slower than mouse turning. From here on out , steering of your character should be with the mouse. Using A and D strafing along with the mouse look will allow you to turn around your opponents in a circular motion …this is called circle strafe.

Many players, particularly in melee combat, use Circle Strafe. This seems to be an effective technique for both avoiding damage and keeping your opponent off balance. It takes practice and skill to pull off effectively. Melee classes should use and practice this.

Because the game is graphically intense, you do not want the system to lag you out as you are fighting. Make sure you set your graphics to the minimal amount of fluff yet the largest amount to see players at a distance. It may be a good option to maximize your view distance but minimize the high quality view distance and the particle effect distance in Advanced video controls. Also disable grass and foliage around your character. Increasing the contrast usually makes it easier to see foes in the shadows of night.

PvP Gear, Gems and Equipment
Gear and equipment are surely to change over the short and long term of this game. Right now there is a belief that gear does not effect PvP situations.However this is not entirely accurate. When people look at PvP equipment they mainly look at Attack Rating, Defense Rating, Magic Rating (this includes specialized Magic Ratings) and Magical Resist. However, the positive or negative damage multipliers normally associated with offensive and defensive rating comparisons are completely ignored. All other stats work normally in PvP. It is simply that “scalar” functionality which is normally in place to dynamically adjust game play based on level differences is removed in PvP to allow for a fairer match up of player skill and ability.

So in the end, +defense wont help you that much, nor will +attack. However, +health, +mana regen, +dex and all the other stats will work normally. This does cater to the more casual gamer. For those who does not have the time to run raids and pick up some of the higher tier items. The effect of equipment is lessened ..perhaps a little too much. This means your skill in play is going to be paramount.

The main gear for PvP is crafted gear with a lot of gems placed. I wont go into the specifics of each type of crafted weapons and armor (Consider it your homework…on my desk..Monday!). However its not the armor itself that makes it useful when putting your life on the line, its the gem sockets. Gems are how you load up on melee and magic resistance, damage modifiers, perception, stamina and more. Most PvP gears are set for high invulnerabilities and evasion. Some evasion gear was stacked so high that rumor had it Funcom banned players above 40%.

On to the Gems…following the visible spectrum of rainbows)

My recommendation is that even with the Nerf, load up on evasion, magic evasion, melee invulnerability. After that select the +damage modifier of your preference and load up as much as you can. IN the end, Green, Red and Blue are the gems of choice ..expect them to be costly on the Trader. You would think that perception would be a good PvP bonus to have, but in its current form its not.

Know thy Enemy
The most important paths to PvP success is knowing what you can about your opponent. You should want to identify his/her class based on first look. Knowing that, then you should know exactly what they are capable of. As in all MMOs, things change. I will work to keep up this list but it is ultimately up to you to stay on top of changes to your enemies class. I know there are some areas that are blank below. As I gather more information and review the comments made to this article I will update them. So check back!
Mage Classes

Priest Classes

Rogue Classes

Soldier Classes

Know thyself
It’s easy to think you have the edge in PvP if you know your opponent. And its true, however the best PvP players also know the limits of what they can do. Understand your class better than anyone else. Think outside the box. As in all MMOs, things change. I will work to keep up this list but it is ultimately up to you to stay on top of changes to your class. I know there are some areas that are blank below. As I gather more information and review the comments made to this article I will update them. So check back!
Mage Classes

Priest Classes

Rogue Classes

Soldier Classes

Key Strategy: The use of the generic STUN BUFF is rarely used by the melee classes. Double tap ‘W’ (as described below) and your next hit is very likely to stun. When charging a caster, hit the W twice before you arrive, and you have the chance to interrupt the spell that caster is trying to throw at you.

In the fight!
You are attacking!
There are a few things you should always know about the battle. First is that PvP should not be a “let’s see what happens” kind of experience. You should know what your going to do before you engage. Your moves should be as second nature as they are in PVE grinding. Practice your moves! Know your sequence, anticipate what your opponent may do and easily transition to plan B and C. Don’t worry about the ADD. If someone unexpected attacks you …it sucks, it happens. CC em if you got em otherwise keep your focus on your main target. Don’t ever switch targets (except for CC).

Hide, Hide, Hide. H is the default key for hide. You will drain stamina if you move while hiding unless you are a rogue class. But you can remain stationary in hide for as long as you want. The best way NOT to be targeted is not to be a target! This is especially true in group PvP. Healers and casters stay out of sight for the first seconds of combat. The first seconds is where everyone looks to find the healers and “easy pickings’ ..if you are either of these, staying stealthed even for a fraction of a second longer may mean you are passed over and that’s a VERY nice place for any caster (or ranger) to be. The best way to succeed is to choose your location and your opponent AND have first SHOT.

If you are fighting then you should be MOVING. This ain’t checkers! Dance around and move around. Stay still only when you have to. A stationary target is your foes best friend…DON’T BE HIS FRIEND! This is why stamina is so important.

Key Strategy: You can preload combos, hit the combo and then swing at dead air, then go in range for the last hit and then hit the person and the combo will land for full damage

You are attacked.
Oh no! What will I do…who, what, where, why…what about my children! Do I have enough insurance?!?! These are all questions that should NOT be going through your head (curse you MetLife!!)!! This is your time to shine…bear that evil grin…someone just made a mistake!

In AoC players have control over the chance to dodge, parry, active block, and missed attacks yet they are rarely used! This may come from our last 3 years of WoW’s Autoattack PvP ..where many fights were players walking up to each other and enjoying stationary autoattacking…then the one with the best equipment wins. AoC is striving for tactics >> class >> equipment. I’m not sure we are there yet. But you should use everything this game gives you to win…nothing is an automatic loss.
When you are attacked hold down ‘x’ to active block. Significantly cuts down the incoming damage, but you can’t attack, cast or move. This costs stamina and that’s being covered by your stam pot. Use this ability while you locate your opponent.

If you are attacked by a melee (Assassin, barbarian, tank), Double tap ’s’ (back) to get a short 5 second buff that increases your evade chances. It costs a small amount of stamina. Casters should sprint out of melee combat and zigzag with quick changes in direction, this requires a percentage of your stamina to use but does affects your melee attacker (whose sprinting to catch up) a LOT more than it does you.

Set your shields! We are all aware of PVE mobs have shields up to diminish the damage coming from melee. Well, so do we! Its defaulted to 1 shield  equally on the left, right , and top ..this is exactly what you DON’T want. Obviously you cannot anticipate every move and change your shielding before the next strike. However, you can put up three shields on one spot specifically to take away your melee opponent’s big move. Shields are easily and quickly set by hitting Ctrl-1 (3 shields left), Ctrl-2 (3 shields top) and Ctrl-3 (3 shields right). When you see someone melee-ing you, you want to quickly identify what class and set your shields to STOP their big move.

Dark Templar – Set shields UP (CTRL-2)
Conqueror – Set shields Right (CTRL-3)
Rangers –  Set shields Up if bow (CTRL-2), Set shields Right if Crossbow (CTRL-3)
Herald of Xotli – Set shields Up or to Left (CTRL- 1 or 2)
Assassins – Set Shields Up (CTRL-2)
Barbarians – Set shields Up or to Right (CTRL-2 or 3)
Guardians — Set shields to Right (CTRL-3)
Bear Shamen — Set Shields Up or to Left (CTRL-1 or 2)
Key Strategy: For me, As I travel about I always have my shields set as 3 up top Ctrl-2 to prevent as must damage from from Assassin’s major stealth attack. Also on average, it just seems a better choice.

If you are attacked out of stealth by a caster (Mage nuking from afar), Double tap ‘a’ or ‘d’ (left or right)  to get a short 5 sec immunity buff that increases your resistance. It also costs a small amount of stamina. If you’re a melee (muy machismo) fighter, I like to move in with a double tap ‘w’ (forward) to get a short buff that increases the change of stunning your target. Even if your already face to face with him. Costs a relatively small amount of stamina and stuns can be a difference maker.

PvP Server Insight
Travel in a pack. This one is probably the most obvious. There is strength in numbers, and four people in your group will make that ganker five levels above you think twice before trying to kill you. Make friends and get into a guild. Makes the above suggestion much easier to accomplish.

Hide early and often. While not every class gets Hide at an early level, it is the single easiest way to avoid unwanted confrontation.

Use nearby zone borders to escape. Often upon zoning into a new area you will encounter a battle already underway or someone waiting to try and kill you. If you feel overmatched don’t be afraid to zone right back out and run for it. Some might think it cheap, but it’s a better chance at survival.

Never stand still. All those stealthier around you don’t move very fast when hidden. Don’t give them a chance to line up that perfect strike!

Use the environment (trees, vegetation) to hideIf being repeatedly ganked when rezzing, change rez points, if still being ganked at all Rez points, change instances.If you have stances, always travel in a defensive stance

The Fugitive/Notoriety system
Now entering the ring in the Blue corner and wearing maroon boxers, sponsored by Wonder bread…The Fugitive System. This is a system to stem the rampant grieving that emerged soon after the games release…presented in a set titles defining your fugitive status. A player is flagged in three different ways using this system: innocent, criminal, and murderer.
Everyone is by default classified as “innocent” (and cuddly), but your actions as a player killer will affect your fugitive rating. Performing a hostile action on an Innocent player will flag you as a Criminal for 5 minutes. Any further Criminal acts during the 5 minute time will refresh your Criminal Status. However, attacking (and perchance killing) criminal players will not flag you as criminal and will not cause you to gain murder points.

If you kill someone way under your level, you will notice that you will very quickly move to murderer. So will actions such as killing someone repeatedly, or other general unfairness. The more serious the crime, the quicker you rise in fugitive. In a nutshell, if you kill gray players over and over you get a lot of bad karma points. Criminals and Murderers will have an icon showing their status.

There are several ways to lose some of these Bad mojo points.
You lose 1 point every RL hour
You lose 3 points if your killed and lose PvP XP (see below)
Grinding mobs which yield XP will reduce your murder score at a rate of 1 point per 1% of a level worth of XP (I expect some players are already scoping out a good grind spot)

Being a naughty boy murderer will be quite painful.
Murderers cannot access traders or vendors.
Guard NPCs will attack murderers on sight.
Dying while flagged as a murderer results in an increased loss of PvP XP, increased PvP XP for the person killing you (We in the biz call that …incentive), increased chance of dropping an item ( We in the biz call that …incentive)
Any players interacting or grouping with a Criminal or Murderer (that includes grouping with them or trading with them) will be flagged as a Criminal (We in the biz call that …disincentive).
Any team member performing a criminal act will flag the entire team in the vicinity as a criminal (We in the biz call that …/Boot )

PvP Levels
There are plans to  now activate PvP levels. Soon you will be able to gain PvP levels by simply engaging in such activities, and there will be 10 such PvP levels in total. Fighting other players will lead to gaining PvP levels, just like fighting Mobs will lead to gaining of XP levels. All players are worth 100 PvP XP when killed by a similar level player limit and there is a limit on how many times one player can gain PvP XP from someone. However, when you die in PvP, you lose PvP XP. You also gain PVE XP when you PVP kill (about 10% of the XP given by a mob the same level)

Once you have reached the 10th PvP level you will be able to earn special PvP ranks beyond that. These are supposedly hard to acquire, and you will lose ranks if you get defeated so it’s a constant battle to keep you rank up. And you will want to both gain PvP levels and keep your PvP rank up, as this will give you very exclusive benefits…which I have it on good authority they will be giving out exclusive Webkinz! Ok, Ok its actually PvP specific gear out a special vendor which I hate to say…sounds very much like World of Warcraft. PvP gear will come in all shapes and sizes and some will be class and race specific. You buy PVP items with normal money (The all powerful Aquillonian peso!). However, your PvP level will have to meet the requirements (if any) on any items you wish to use. I expect that PvP gear will be some of the most expensive in the game so time to make a lot of money (If you need help, you can contact us). I also expect players to rush to as high a PvP level as they can, abuy all the pvp gear and then never take it off.

Siege and Battlekeeps!
Expect something about the siege system here soon. However because there are still a lot of issues and its kinda developing as we play the game. No reason for me to write something and then have to change it/ revise it every week. Once things seem stable I’ll put something more involved together. Here are the basics you need to know.

Claiming a Vacant BattleKeep Lot
Your guild must have a tier 3 keep. Then your GM simply walks up to the unclaimed plot with the necessary T1 mats and clicks build. You now have a battlekeep. No keep plan is necessary, just the mats. Same for every structure.

Upgrading Battlekeeps
To get your battlekeep itself, and the other buildings to tier 2 and 3, you must wait a certain amount of time after claiming or capturing the keep. Currently it appears the timer is one week. When the timer is up, you are allowed to pay the necessary materials to upgrade your buildings to tier 2, and I assume eventually t3. No plans are necessary when upgrading.

Setting your Battlekeeps Vulnerability
Every three days your battlekeep is vulnerable. At the end of each vulnerability window, assuming you still control the keep, the guild leader may change the slot in which his keep will be vulnerable on the predetermined day. You cannot pick what day of the week, only what time your window starts. You can start your vulnerability at 7, 9 or 11 …

Attacking another guild’s Battlekeep
To declare an attack on another guild’s keep you open up the PvP tab by zoning into the border kingdom, or typing /set option massive_pvp_window 1. (type up to massive, then hit tab and it will autocomplete, then type 1 and hit enter). Assuming you own a T3 keep, you then have the option to click on a keep’s vulnerability window and declare an attack. You can not declare an attack once the window has started. It costs a guild pvp points to declare an attack.

The Siege Battle
The winner of a siege battle is determined by a point system. The defender starts with points based on the number of buildings, including walls, in their plot. The attacker starts with zero. The attacker gets points for destroying buildings, and for killing defending players (For example: Destroying a wall segment seems to give around 70 points, Killing an enemy player gives 1 point) . When they destroy a building they “steal” points from the defender, kill points are not “conserved”. The defender gets kill points as well. The attacker can build siege tents in predetermined plots from which he can spawn siege engines such as trebuchets and catapults.

Walls and buildings are difficult to destroy by hand so use siege engines. To build siege engines you purchase the plans from a siege vendor, which should be located in your PvE city keep. Then simply click on your siege tent and it constructs itself. Trebuchets and catapults can be built by the attacker. Ballista can be built by the defenders by talking to NPCs on towers. Walls and buildings have cool partially destroyed and destroyed models that change as they take damage.

At the end of the vulnerability window the side with the most points wins.

Summary
–Always be ready for a fight
–Always use potions in a fight
–Identify the class of your attacker quickly. Know the other classes strengths and weaknesses. Know yours as well
–If you are being melee’d, always set your shields to limit their burst damage
–PvP is better with friends. Groups are the best way to PvP success
–Don’t gank gray con players.
–Be Fearless. Nothing is won by the timid. Being fearful in PvP leads to your death from behind

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So, with that introduction, let’s begin.

Game play basics post 40
It is right about level 40 when you notice that leveling starts to slow down a lot. No more 3-4 dings a night, I’m afraid. The grinding starts to take hold and compared to the first 40 levels you start feeling like your running in mud (Good Cimmerian Mud …rich and fertile….er, dude…that aint Mud!).

However this is also the time where you are allowed to purchase a steed. All the horses are the same. There are no faster or slower models. Just different colors . Funcom recently decreased the cost of a horse from 2 gold to 75 silver. However you still need 1gold to learn how to ride a horse. 1.75G s not that hard to get, but if your like most players, you only have about 40silver when you hit level 40.
Note about horses, While riding through enemies if your hit from behind you may get ‘thrown’ off..Which basically means a big ol knockback while your enemies pound on your face (Improving the looks of several Barbarians). If you’re going to try to run through enemies, use sprint, the horse normally enhanced speed is not enough.

Key strategy: Even with a horse, the fastest way to travel through a zone is by dying and spawning at a resurrection point. The death penalty is negligible. So for every zone you go into, make sure you find all resurrection points. Most points will be found near major quest hubs and dungeons.

Level 40-45
It is time for you to head to the Old Tarantia Noble’s District. To get there you enter Old Tarantia and head to the Northwest corner of the zone, directly north from the traders you will find an impressive 10,00 feet tall bridge. This is a common place to find players, who no longer like AoC, throwing themselves off of. Cross the bridge while waving to the descending player base and zone into the Noble’s district.

The Noble’s District is not ‘Noble’ from the standpoint of being dignified, or from the standpoint of being gallant nor from the standpoint of being aristocratic. No ‘Noble’ in this case stands for the abbreviation (National Organization of Black Law Enforcement [NOBLE]) This place is in a friggin state of martial law. However, it is chock full of level 40-42 enemies to work through. Also quests abound a plenty.
Level 40-45 Quest NPCs

Key Quests: The Arena quest line is a very fun and very popular quest line to do. Its basically Hyborian MMA without all the SPIKE TV, Bikini wearing, card girls between rounds (A glaring oversight by Funcom!). However, although you can start this quest line, I recommend that you hold off doing this until Level 55ish (See below).

Villa Quests:
Villas abound in the Nobles District. However, each villa has been taken over by the scoundrels and demons of Hyboria (Talk about taking a hit on home price…we prefer to call them “Fixer uppers”). However what makes these quests so important is that they are repeatable! The quest timer is 6 hours long at which point you can redo the quests. This makes them PERFECT to use them to top off a level here and there. By my estimate, if you ran all Villa quests consecutively, you would gain about 50-70% XP needed for that level.

Villa Camillus
Quest NPC: Rabim, Located in the market District
Comments: If you were to choose one, This is the best villa to do. It has the most mobs inside, yet the mobs are not as tough, have less HP and don’t knockback/interrupt. At level 60 this will give about 4 bulbs a run.

Villa Verde
Quest NPC: Lady Verde’s Bodyguard located outside Villa Verde
Comments: This is the quickest villa to do, and likely the most popular. You can easily complete this quest within 5 minutes of entering because you do not have to fight your way to boss. The quest is quickly located immediately outside the instance. If you need a quick 2 bulbs to polish off a level, this is the one

Villa Amiel
Quest NPC: Marco located inside the Armsmans Tavern
Comments: I believe this is the worst of the villas. There are not a lot of mobs inside and they are a little tougher and love to knockback. The quest NPC is a long run and you have to zone into and out of the Armsmans tavern instance.

Villa Lentulus
Quest NPC: Sarrisa located inside the Armsmans Tavern
Comments: This isn’t too bad a villa. There are plenty of NPCs but several do knock back. To get to the boss there is a hidden vine you have to climb. It is located on the second level, on the opposite side of the courtyard you enter from. You may not be able to click on it to climb. Go near the vines and press ‘U’ to start climbing. Returning to turn in the quest also requires a long run and into the armsmans tavern instance.

Villa Paetus
Quest NPC: Gavion located inside the Armsmans Tavern
Comments: This villa has a series of 5 quests, the last of which is repeatable and deals with killing 20 guards (easily and quickly done). When getting the repeatable quest, use the second answer “And what would you have done?” when responding the second time.

Just questing in the Noble’s district above will get you easily to Level 45. I recommend you run each villa quest once to learn the layouts. However do not start repeating these quests..You will be doing the villas so often from now on, best to keep things fresh while you can. At level; 45, say goodbye to the noble’s district..For now <Insert ominous evil laughter here>.

Level 45- 50
At this point you need to go to The Field of the Dead. This is located in the tropical paradise we call Cimmeria. Head to Connals Valley and bring a book…its a long hike. Head all the way down, turn right and head to the end. There you will zone into Field of the dead. Plenty of quest NPC are here as well as the all important potion and food vendors. Also next door is the Lachish Plains resource zone. This is very handy because you can use it also to go to your Guild City (You are a member of a guild, aren’t you? ?your guild does have a city, doesn’t it?). The guild city allows you quick and easy access to the Traders for you to sell items. I recommend you use the wayfarer here and bind so that you can move easily between the two. There are level 40-45 quests will this village area …remember green and gray quests are good and easy XP…Do THEM. Grab all the quests and start Questing! The theme of the Field of the dead isn’t as much Killing the dead (Does that make sense?) as it is about Killing the wolves, werewolves, and several barbarians with copious amounts of back hair. It is now obvious that the FunCom designer is a cat person.

By finishing all quests and a small amount of grinding on a few mobs you will easily attain level 50.

Level 40-50 Quest NPCs

Key Quests: Take note of all the WANTED Signs. Some quests are repeatable and generally involved killing a bunch (15-20) of the various tribes.

Key Quest: Radi is a talking head on a Pike found in the southwest undead portion of the zone …nothing to see here, just your average skewered head spewing insults at you. Go speak with him as he begins a quest that takes you to The Spirit of Leannan (Found just a bit away from the Stream bridge). There you begin a long series of quests that take you through every boss of the undead area and then marching your across the zone. Lots of XP and the end result is several blue weapons and armor

Level 50-55
Level 50 Destiny Quest
You ding level 50…and miraculously the NPCs actually start talking to you again. The silent treatment that you’ve endured from the populace is over. It’s time to head back to your trainers in your original city hubs. Khemi for stygians, Old Tarantia for Aquillonians, and Connals Village for the sheep farmers of Cimmeria.
I will outline these quests in a future article.

The level 50 destiny quest is extremely short (compared to the novel you endured in Tortage), straightforward, and you ought to be decently into level 51 upon its completion.

Money Talks
Level 50 is the time you can start making real coin from resource Gathering. As such I highly suggest that you take a day off and make a gold or two (or 5). Head to the nearby Lachish Plains resource zone and zone in to it or your guild city. Armor and items are extremely cheap and common at this level. If you make just 1 gold (after your horse of course) you should be able to outfit yourself with mostly Blues. Invest in a good weapon you melee punks… Blood makes the grass grow!

Leveling up
Questing
It is now time for you to head into the Eiglophian Mountains at the northeast corner of the Field of the dead. The level 50-55 quests are located mainly at the base of the mountains. Plenty of quests are here. Do them all and you will easily hit Level 55.
Level 50-55 Quest NPCs

Level 55-60
The end game (er ..the end game for these levels)! The goal is in sight. You ding 55 and ready for a new zone and a new challenge….nope. Your keeping your butt right in Eiglophian Mountains. Its time for you to head up to the mountaintop and the hunting lodge. There you will find a small quest center surrounded by Worms. yes, those fierce mountain snow worms (As a blossoming Biologist let me tell ya…Invertebrates don’t do well in cold weather…somebody inform Funcom). Ok finish all these quests and you will find yourself hanging about 57-58. Make sure you find the Mammoths, its just a cool sight to see and besides its always fun to kill a gigantic creature by repeatedly stabbing its toe.

However You’ve run out of quests and your not 60 yet. Funcom said they plan to put some new ones in…here is hoping.

Level 55-60 Quest NPCs

My suggestion is now its time to head back to Old Tarantia and hit the Arena Quests. Yea! Remember them? Well at 55 -57 you can easily solo the whole lot of the single player Bosses in the arena. With a partner or two you can do the group bosses. Just send up a Message in the OOC or guild channel. The arena quests alone at level 57 can give you a full level and likely provide you with your first Purple epic (The sun shines through the clouds…a chorus of angels sing as you grip your first Purp….you have arrived!).

Several quest NPCs try to send you off to Thunder River and others send you to Atzels Approach…don’t bother until your at least 58 . Mobs are level 59-61 at the front part. However in Atzels they BAF a LOT and you’ll often see the wayward adventurer leading an enraged band of 4 - 5 Pickets (Ride that train!). In Thunder Canyon they are level 60 Boars (Enraged Bacon) found in packs of 1 or 2. However there are not as many mobs as in Atzels, if there is another player grinding them. There won’t be many left for you. If you want to grind it out, I suggest trying these Thunder canyon critters (Pissed off porkies). Follow the road west from the zone in spot through the hills killing all the pigs (hated hams) you find on either side, then turn around and work your way back. Once every so often head back to the Noble’s district and hit the Villas. Grind your way to 60!

If you have a guild and friends willing to help. Now is also the perfect time to head into Toirdealbach’s Tomb. There are 3 main quests for Toirdealbach’s located in the Field of the dead (Diarmad and The Spirit of Leannan X2). If you have the group (which looking at my guild basically means, you have a Priest of Mitra and 5 ToS) I highly recommend you move in and slaughter this instance. A lot of XP here will get you close to Level 60.

Summary
–Questing is a VERY quick way to get from 40-60. However certain areas lead to good grinding.
–Quests are good XP even if they are green and Gray!
–Use the Villa Quests in Old Tarantia to grind up, or top off a level.
–Make money gathering resources to buy your steed.
–Save the Arena quests till level 55ish then get a group and hit Toirdealbach’s

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