Defenses against Archers

[Borg]

PROTECTING AGAINST ARCHERS

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We've heard of a lot of confusion and dismay about the relative power of archer classes in PvP, especially against Mages.  For those who aren't aware, "Bladeturn" spells (which Theurgists, Wardens, and Runemasters receive) work against arrows (as well as any other type of non-magical attack as well). Bladeturn spells nullify an attack - and can be cast on any player. It would behoove a group going into PvP to have bladeturn protection spells on all their spellcasters.

A NOTE ON SHIELD USE

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If you are a shield user, you have always been able to block arrows with your shield; however, we never properly documented how to do this. Here's the scoop:

To use a shield to block arrows:

a) Enter combat mode

b) Face in the direction of the archer

c) To dramatically increase you block chances, use the Engage skill, if you have it.

The base chance to block a same-level archer is 30%, if your shield specialization is maxed for your level this can reach 60%. Quality and condition act as modifiers to this chance, if your skill-based chance was 50%, your Shield had a quality of 90% and a condition of 88%, then your actual chance to block would be 40%.

Using the Engage skill gives a base 95% chance to block arrows fired by your target.  How many archers you can block attacks from is determined by the size of the shield, the same as Melee targets. You can Engage one archer and still get normal blocking chances against other archers you are facing, if you have a Medium or Large shield. Essentially, Engage works exactly the same against arrows as it does against melee attacks.

[Velhayl]

Nice advice, (heh a rhyme) Thanks, Borg.