Conqueror

From WikiAOC

With a standard strapped to their back, the Conqueror leads the charge into battle. Wearing heavy armor and using 2-handed weapons, the Conqueror relies upon evasion to avoid enemy attacks. The standard carrier being around provides a boost the Conqueror team, typically increasing damage. In times of need, the Conqueror is able to take the standard and plant it into the ground in a devastating attack.

[edit] Abilities and Feats

• Conqueror Abilities & Combos
• Conqueror Feats

[edit] Specialties

• One-handed Edged weapons
• One-handed Blunt weapons
• Two-handed Edged weapons
• Two-handed Blunt weapons
• Crossbows
• Thrown weapons
• Specialized combo lists
• Dual wielding for any combination of 1HE/1HB
• Group buffs

[edit] Available races

• Cimmerians
• Aquilonians

[edit] Preview

The Conqueror is the heart and soul of any party in Hyboria. Conquerors fill two roles, first, as an impressive fighter on the front lines soaking up the damage and dishing out damage of their own, and second, as an inspirational presence that makes the party prevail where it would normally falter. All foes that get within the conqueror's reach fall before their weapons, and all friends that stand nearby find themselves heartened, ready and eager to carry on the fight. A party without a conqueror may be mighty indeed, but a party with a conqueror becomes a band of heroes with almost legendary abilities.

To protect themselves from the dangerous world outside, conquerors have access to everything from the flimsiest of cloth armor to the stoutest heavy armor, but do not gain access to shields. Conquerors tend to be a bit more offensively-minded as a class, preferring to either dual-wield two one-handed weapons or to use a single large weapon to smite their foes. Unlike the barbarian—which focuses on putting out as much damage as possible in a short amount of time—conquerors are a bit more conservative. Their combat training focuses primarily on effects that help the group as a whole, though they remain fierce and deadly opponents in a one on one fight.

Conquerors wielding two-handed weapons make for tremendous fighters in their own right, and there's always the matter of that huge sword they're carrying, but they also gain a number of combos making them even harder to defeat. Some lower their foes' ability to inflict damage, while the powerful Dancing Steel combos make it easier for the conqueror to dodge and, if the timing is right, they can counterattack instantly when attacked with a melee weapon. Conquerors also learn to unleash multiple hits via their ferocious Furious Strikes, starting with a Hail of Furious Strikes and ending with a Barrage of Furious Strikes from the strongest conquerers. They also learn to knock their foes aside with Concussive attacks, making an opening for the advance, or knocking away a troublesome foe. Conquerors can also sound a Heroic Call, inspiring all of their fellows to strike harder at the enemies troubling them.

Those who opt for two weapons rather than one are no less vicious. Dual-wielding conquerors have twice the weaponry, but they also have several unique combos of their own. A Rallying Strike, and its stronger variations, lowers the amount of damage the group takes should an attack slip through their guard. These conquerors also gain abilities that hurt their opponents over time, be it one opponent—via Hewing, Hacking, Flaying, Carving, or Rending them) or be it whoever happens to be unfortunate enough to step into range of their Rhythm of War combo. Dual-wielding conquerors can also make it harder for their opponents to block and resist damage, Breaching their defenses and leaving them open to more deadly strikes.

The conqueror isn't just a deadly fighter, however. Rather than a magician's spells, the conqueror has beneficial auras that surround them, and all friends within range of these auras benefit. Conqueror auras can be either purely offensive—contributing to the damage and destruction sowed by their associates—or augmentative, providing a multitude of various benefits that keep the party fighting and make them fight better. Conquerors can have a single combative aura and a single augmentative aura running simultaneously.

Their Campaign Season aura increases the overall damage of the conqueror's fellows, while the Fire Weave aura grants bonus fire damage to all melee and ranged attacks of the caster's team, while occasionally inflicting instant fire damage on their targets. Other elemental auras include the Hoarfrost aura, which adds a chilling effect to any of their melee or ranged attacks, while the Tempest aura channels the power of the storms into the party members, damaging all foes who come near.

Augmentative auras include Triumph, which improves the attacking abilities of the party, as well as Sanctuary, which increases their resistance to magical damage should any rogue magicians be foolish enough to attack. The Inspiration aura is especially critical, replenishing the stamina of the group at an increased rate, while Focus does the same for magic users and their mana. Rally, the ultimate in this series of Auras, does slightly less stamina and mana regeneration, but does both at the same time, for when all members of the party require one last push for a particularly troublesome foe.

While an inspiring leader and a benefit to their team, the conqueror is also a ferocious fighter in their own right that's not to be trifled with, especially as conquerors are usually surrounded by several of their biggest and meanest friends.

[edit] Interview

[edit] Concept

The concept behind the Conqueror class was for a non-shield using offensive type tank. They were envisioned to be the warlord type of character, who led from the front by virtue of their martial might and inspiring leadership, a more rugged and raw fighter than the Guardian. Hence they focus on either dual-wielding or using two-handed weapons, forgoing the defense of a shield in favor of rending their opponents apart.

[edit] Dual Wielding

To expand a bit on the dual wield aspects of the Conqueror I think we have some cool approaches. For example, one of the feat spec options allows you to get guaranteed offhand attacks with each swing and have both your mainhand and offhand attacks do a proc each time they hit. So when timed right, they can generate a pretty significant burst of damage that is impressive to see (numbers flying everywhere).

[edit] Team Play

The Conqueror doesn’t have as much HP as the Guardian, but he deals more damage (the highest DPS output of the soldiers), and has a lot of unique strengths which makes him really strong in a group. As a part of this the auras of the Conquerors are very nice to have as a 'weapon' in group combat. The core auras are split into two main groups (you can have one from each group running at once). One group is augmenting offensive power, and the other is augmenting recovery/defensive power. None of the core auras are about health restoration though, but there are stamina and mana regeneration auras on the defensive side. The offensive type auras are therefore based around adding DPS to the entire team in various ways.

Battle Resurrection

As the only class that can rez people mid-battle, the Conqueror can be an invaluable ally, each time a Conqueror's party members are hit near him, he gains a Furious Inspiration buff. Once the buff stacks ten times, he can rez each member of the party. This rez occurs automatically, and the individual party member now has a five minute cooldown before he can be rezzed by the Conqueror again.

[edit] Auras

With his ability to dual wield and call up auras to buff himself and his allies, the Conqueror is the a formidable opponent on the battle field. The Conqueror does not have any in-combat spells unlike all of the other magic-using classes: they instead have long-duration aura buffs. One of these auras is Furious Inspiration. For the Conqueror, as this buff increases, he starts to get a proc that triggers a team heal, which in turn increases in power the higher his Furious Inspiration is. If let go to its highest level, his Furious Inspiration not only has a chance of proccing team heals with each attack, but also has a small chance to proc a team rezz each attack. This means that if you ignore a Conqueror they start to become REALLY troublesome!

• Triumph – Aura
  • The Conquerors leadership drives their group to greater feats of combat. All team members gain an attack bonus.

• Furious Inspiration
  • Chance to trigger a team heal on each attack, and a team ressurection at highest level

[edit] Feats

A player can also further enhance with additional auras through the feat system. One example is the Carnage feat tree. With this the Conqueror can actually pick up two additional innate auras if wanted, one that provides mana and stamina (War Cry), and one which provides an out-of-combat runspeed increase (War March). So, in theory, a Conqueror could have four team buffing effects going at once with certain feat specs. Both War Cry and War March are passive long-duration auras (some Conquerors auras run up towards four hours), and are not actual spells that you cast like some of the other auras.

• Lumbering Hulk
  • Sometimes battles are decided by attrition, foes standing toe-to-toe until one falls. By sacrificing mobility a Conqueror increases their damage, their health and regeneration.

• Overcome the Odds – Feat
  • A Conqueror literally gains protection by facing hordes of foes, gaining a measure of invulnerability for each nearby enemy.

[edit] Abilities

• Guard of Dancing Steel – Combo
  • The Conqueror wields their two-handed sword with dazzling speed to keeps enemies at bay, make enemy blows easier to avoid and threaten swift and brutal counterattacks.

• Hew – Combo
  • A slashing blow aimed at the blood vessels and arteries of an enemy. The strike causes extra damage, a spray of arterial blood and leaves their opponent bleeding.