The Art of War - Sun-Tzu's Guide to Combat in Vanguard
Sun-Tzu was a Chinese general who wrote a military treatise called The Art of War. Although written about 2400 years ago, it is still arguably the most important work on the subject of military strategy. The Drunken Dwarf examines how Sun-Tzu's maxims apply to combat in Vanguard!
Volume V - 12/30/05 - Welcome to this week's installment of The Art of War! In The Art of War, I take Sun-Tzu's wisdom and apply it to the world of Telon. This week I examine the benefits of using multiple heavy fighters in your group.
There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colors (blue, yellow, red, white, and black), yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen... Sun-Tzu
...in combination they produce more... - Synergy. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You hear it in business class. You hear it in sports locker rooms. You hear it from drug manufacturers when they make a "cocktail" to treat an illness that was previously unresponsive to the individual drugs involved. And now, you're hearing it from Sun-Tzu as interpreted by The Drunken Dwarf!
There are not more than five... - In Vanguard, there are four heavy fighter classes. But when used in combination, they can provide a defensive barrier that cannot be penetrated.
We know that Paladins can buff and heal. We think that Inquisitors can counter spellcasters. Speculation is that Dread Knights will debuff their opponents through debilitating fear. Warriors can... well, we don't have any idea what a Warrior's secondary ability is, so we'll use the World of Warcraft model where Warriors use shouts that buff their group and debuff the enemy.
A party may encounter a creature that does so much damage that the group cannot keep their single Warrior alive. Augment that Warrior with a Paladin and now you have the Paladin's buffs and healing helping to keep him alive. Why not just add another healing class? The Paladin (or any other heavy fighter) has a trump card... he can also use his "rescue" ability to block attacks directed at the Warrior, further reducing the incoming damage.
Lets look at some of the possibilities.
Combine a Warrior and Paladin and you have debuffs, healing, and two types of buffs.
Combine a Paladin and Dread Knight and you have healing, buffs, and two kinds of debuffs.
Combine a Warrior and Inquisitor and you have debuffs, buffs, and anti-caster ability.
With two tanks in a group, without duplicating classes, there are six possible combinations of secondary abilities... and we haven't even looked at the special abilities for each class (e.g. the Paladin's Gifts of Virtue).
Summary - When you combine such a variety of defensive ability combinations with the added benefit of "stackable" tanking provided by rescues you find yourself with many compelling reasons to have multiple heavy fighters in a group. If you build your group around multiple tanks you'll soon be hearing the same sweet music that Sun-Tzu wrote about.
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-The Drunken Dwarf
Art of War Archives
Volume I - 11/25/05
Volume II - 12/02/05
Volume III - 12/09/05
Volume IV - 12/16/05