Runes of Magic US / AU

Intro:

First off, this guide is extremely long, if you have been playing Warden for a while and only have specific things you want to learn, feel free to skip to the sections that sound like they might be useful. It might seem intimidating, but it took me months to learn all this, so if it takes you a month per section to really get it, you’ll still be doing better than me.

The goal of this guide is to help anyone who is looking to get into endgame content as a dps warden. There are other secondary classes that can be used in very interesting ways (warden/druid in particular is very good for siege), but the only two real endgame dps warden combos are Wd/s and Wd/w. This guide aims to help maximize dps in instances at the expense of almost everything else (wardens have a lot of inherent survival abilities, so even full dps builds will leave you with the ability to survive).

Wd/w versus Wd/s:

Both Wd/w and Wd/s are very viable in endgame instances, but they play very different roles and should be used differently in instances. Wd/w is a pure burn dps class (As in, it can do damage outside of burns, but it's damage drops off heavily after 30 seconds or so). It is ONLY effective with the level 70 elite, which gives 50% damage for 30 seconds and reduces everyone in the party’s aggro by 50%. Using the elite, Wd/w has one of the highest burn dps capabilities in the game, but it also generates a huge amount of aggro and with the debuff it can be a huge strain on any tank, so often times parties have to be arranged around the Wd/w.


Wd/s on the other hand is a class that largely hinges on the use of its level 40 elite, Morale Boost, which can raise all party member’s physical and magical damage by a very significant amount. This means Wd/s is extremely wanted in parties, even when under-geared. Wd/s in endgame gear can also do very respectable damage in a party given the right gear and buffs, so having a real person playing wd/s over an alt is usually desirable to most parties.

Summary:

Wd/w is the class to play if you intend to make insane gear, have the party buff you, and do insane dps. There is a lot of responsibility to do good dps as a Wd/w to earn your spot in a party. As a bonus it is also the best warden tank combo.

Wd/s is the best class for people who don’t have the time/money to make the absolute best gear, or for people who already run with a lot of good dpsers and want to benefit their party with an amazing buff. They also do very respectable dps when geared well, and it can also tank endgame content but that requires a different set of gear and extremely good statting, imho.



Skills:

(Skills in order of importance)

If you have time, this section is the longest but worth the read if you are short on tp and need to figure out where best to put it, or just what the skills do. If you are a hardened Warden veteran who’s really seen some stuff, skip this section and see first reply.

General

Charged Chop (Referred to as CC) – MAX THIS SKILL. USE IT, ALWAYS. More on this later when I get to rotations, but it’s just the best skill.

Briar Shield – Max.This skill used with Spirit of the Oak can make even the worst geared warden a tank, it’s way too good not to max.

Savage Power – Big part of pre-boss rotation, max to 50.

Enhanced Accuracy – As with all passives, just max to 50.

Power of the Wood Spirit – Leave this skill at 50. It’s good, but shares a cooldown with Charged chop so most of the time I only use it to conserve mana on trash. One of those skills thats worth maxing though if you find yourself with too much tp on your hands.

Elven Amulet – Good tanking skill, decent siege skill, not much else to it. Just use it to keep yourself alive if a boss does large % health skills.



Warden Primary

Two-Handed Weapon Mastery – Just look at the skill, enough said. Max to 50

Power of the Oak –Essential pre-boss skill, max to 50

Protection of Nature –Another thing that makes wardens pretty tanky, max to 50

Explosion of Power – Alot better on wd/s than wd/w, still max to 50 if you have the tp (you should)

Natural Lifeline – This skill scales well with gear. It’s one of those things you max if you can, but you should definitely at least have it at 50. Max after CC, briar shield, and your combo-specific elite skills.

Frantic Briar – The only really good aoe wardens have access to (cross chop is ok too), it’s also very good for dps rotations because it doesn’t trigger global cooldown. Level it as high as you can afford to, while keeping in mind that it’s a huge mana drain at higher levels.

Cross Chop - The other aoe besides frantic briar, also costs way too much mana, but essential for tanking. Leveling this one very much depends on how much mana you have and whether you have everything else maxed or not. But its a good part of a rotation.

Banish – Can be used for some mobs in instances, but I max to 50 mainly for siege

Heart of the Oak – I just refresh this whenever it’s off. Keeps you alive if you take aggro on a mob, or a boss, or anything really. Great skill.

Energy Absorb – See dps buffs

Movement restriction –great for siege

Elven Guidance – Wd/w tank buff, get to 50+ if you want it for siege or tanking on wd/w

Damage Transfer – Use sparingly?? Idk man, if I use this skill it’s probably an accident

Thorny Vines – Just the worst.




Wd/w useful elite/general skills:

Feral Leader – Literally the only reason Wd/w is in this guide. 50% damage is just too good. Make sure that you are either in a different group from the tank, or that the tank can remove the debuff it gives (The german addon ASBW on curse forge will do it automatically).

Berserk – Max to 50, essential part of the wd/w burn

Brute strength (warrior general) – Get to 50, and then max if you can. I leveled this together with slash as both are important.

Pulse Mastery – The highest dps filler skill, really good for dps, really good for tanking. Can only be used with a Beast Sigil on the target. MAX RIGHT AFTER BRIAR SHIELD

Beast Chop – The second highest dps filler skill, but also has a huge aggro multiplier. Max after pulse mastery, but make sure to watch threat meter before using.

Slash (warrior general) – max this, doesn’t use warden tp, great filler dps skill

Double Chop – Don’t use this, it’s too much aggro and not enough dps. Unless you are wd/w tank, in which case this skill is great for aggro. Honestly I still use CC because the extra dps for the party is more useful and aggro is ezmode.

Immortal Power – Basically similar to Heart of the Oak, just use this to keep yourself alive in a sticky situation, or to watch with glee as mages try desperately to get one of their instant casts to hit before you CC them in the face.

Coat of Arms – Great tanking skill, can also be cast on the tank if it’s not you and you’re some kind of super try hard or something.

Ire – Short range piece of garbage auto-aggro skill, unfortunately also the only one wd/w’s get, probably only useful to get aggro back if you have like a k/w debuffer toon in the group.




Wd/s useful skills:

Morale Boost – Honestly, just max this skill before charged chop. You can get into an endgame raid in level 55 quest gear if you
have this skill at max level. It’s broken, use it.

Untamable – Max after Briar Shield, pretty much the only skill that even comes close to CC damage for wd/s. CC-> untamable will kill just about any squishy ever in siege.

Secret Agreement – Max to 50

Joint blow – cheapest focus skill, great to spam in looooong fights, max if you can

Vampire Arrows (scout general) – Max if you can, great for siege and mobs and when you run out of mana in long fights.

Throat Attack – The only interrupt Wd/s has access to, great for boss fights.

Scout passives- max em just cause

Shot – Siege? I guess? meh

Anti-magic arrow – I use this in siege cause it hits through obstacles. Whoopie

Set skills I use

Tranquil Wave (Nabod Klein sells set skills), Pet Mastery (Don't have tosh iss), Energy restore, Animal Spirit Eclipse (GC set skill)
The rest are pretty meh, and not really used (except passives from other classes)



Pets

Spirit of the Oak – I don’t level punch. I just use this guy for defense. I use him on all trash mobs to stay alive, and in siege he is da bomb.

Chiron – Wd/s only, apparently his skills are bugged so DO NOT LEVEL THEM... He can do some real damage if you summon him when your patk is fully buffed, but only with the 60 elite and only in long fights. The 70 elite also gives a stacking aspd buff, which is the primary reason that he is so useful in long fights with wd/s.

Note: I never use chiron anymore as wd/s, because wd/s is much better as an assist class and nature crystal is perfect for that.

Oak Walker – I always use this pet to dps with Wd/w because of the passive 10% crit damage and crit rate. Usually does like 1% on the boss too, which is like a big deal or whatever.

Nature Crystal – This is the best pet for wd/s in instances, as the buffs to your group are much more important than anything chiron will do (until fights become 2 hour affairs then maybe chiron wins out). Try to ask whether or not the group wants crystalline protection, as sometimes the extra buff isn't appreciated and just annoys people. But always use crystalline acceleration, its too good.

(see first reply for the rest, will have to add tomorrow)

Gear and Stats:

Stat priority: Pdam> Crit (need at least 70+%)> Patk > Str > stuff

Recommended Gear setup:
There is way too much stuff out there, and honestly you can be viable with a lot of different gear setups, so I'll just menton Best in Slot:

4-piece grotto set (or CoE if you're server ever runs that, which they dont)
4-piece PoM set (or Veiled Crypt, if they ever fix that, which they wont)
HoE accessorie set (if you can convince a bunch of strangers that you're worth them farming the set for)
Otherwise Patk/crit accessories are everywhere, just find the ones with the most patk and crit...
Patk/crit cape, can be POM pull or crafted they're both good

Whatever the best hardmode axe you can get is, all of warden's axes are OP

Whatever bow gives you the highest patk is the best for wd/s, basically.


Statting:

Just use 6 str/patk. It's literally much better to add in a bag stat str/patk than it would be to use the best str/sta in the game. Whatever the best 6 str/patks you think you can reasonably get for every piece are, those are the ones you should use. Never put stamina on any of your dps gear, you will eventually regret it even if you don't know it yet.


Runes:

Enigma >>> Massacre >> Aggression > Madness = Tyrant >= Assasin (lots of math here, but madness assasin and tyrant are all very similar)

Dont waste money on other runes, they just aren't as good.


Macros and Addons

The only macros I can’t live without are rage cape, summon pet, and put pet away. They’re all over on the forums, and this guide is too long as is, so go find em if you want em.

Must have addons for dps:

Scrutinizer – If you don’t have this addon, you’re a healer. I don’t care if you are hitting the boss for 10 mil every charged chop, you can’t prove it, so you’re a healer. This is the number 1 way to improve your dps. After every fight you should analyze every skill, see how much you crit, how hard you crit, what skills did the most damage, and then every once in a while fall into a fit of depression when some noob w/m wrecks your dps in Bethomia cause it’s a dumb instance.


Pbinfo – Threat meter, real health values, probably the most useful rom addon out there for all players.

Charplan – If you don’t spend 6 hours a day making completely broken, unobtainable gear, you’re just not doing RoM right.

Asbw – German addon, all in german, and stuff. Pm me @Heimdallthewise on Artemis if you have questions about how to get it to work, necessary for wd/w and cool to have for wd/s.

Smartbuffbar – I use this to track buffs. It’s a much easier way to see the length of cooldowns, so I know when my burn is up and im useless again.

Autorepair – Your gear will be broken at least 30% of your RoM play time if you don’t have this addon. Guaranteed.

DIYCE is cool, I use it for wd/w because it helps to make sure you get off pulse mastery more often (especially with other wd/w in party), but for wd/s I just manual cause it's more fun honestly. That might change soon.


Pre-Boss and Burn Buffs

Pre-Boss/Long term Buffs:

• · Grassland/Pdef food – They don’t stack, just use pdef for rogue-heavy sieges and mobs when off-tanking
  
• · Fish/Ribs – Patk food vs. Pdam food is a toughy. It depends on how much patk you have, and how well the bosses are being debuffed. I always use patk food in endgame instances (pom+) on wd/s because they dont get as much patk, and for wd/w i usually use pdam food.
• · Hero Potion – Be a hero, not a zero
  
• · Elegant Cuisine Delicacy/Vanilla Strawberry Dessert (Wedding foods) – These buffs are the most commonly forgotten, and they add up. Get the item shop ones if you can.

• · Level 50 Holy Light pet with 100 aptitude or whatever you can get, try to get all the passive buffs. This makes such a ridiculous difference for everything you will be shocked. Earth pet is a good alternative, but the extra mana from light pet is almost certainly worth it over the little bit of extra strength and dex.

• · Housekeeper Patk buff – you should try to have 2 patk housekeepers so you always have the 6% patk buff, and if they aren’t too tired, try to get the 210 crit buff after you get the patk buff because 210 crit>> 1050 patk
  
• · Amplified Attack from priests or Awakening of the Wild from d/w
  
• · The best patk/strength title you can get (storytelling troupe helper if you have it)
  
• · Tranquil Wave (if your recons suck or you need the aggro)
• · nature crystal for wd/s, Oak Walker for wd/w
  

Countdown Burn Buffs


Do them in this order, skipping any you don’t need/have


Caviar Sandwich (housekeeper can make @lvl 39 cooking) -> Instrument (do the next 4 buffs during instrument if you are playing it, stop before the instrument finishes playing) -> Explosion of Power -> Savage Power -> Power of the Oak -> Strong Stimulant -> Feral Leader (Stop here and let instrument finish) -> Extinction Pot (crit pot, crafted or mem vendors) -> rage cape macro/rage pot -> Berserk -> Siege title macro -> Defense cooldowns if you have time incase you take aggro.

For wd/s, just replace the feral leader with Morale boost and don’t rage cape/berserk. Use tranq powder right before instrument on wd/w if you take aggro a lot.

Edit: As pointed out, there is a lot of flexibility in the order of the buffs. Some people prefer to do them with feral leader/morale boost at the end, others use rage cape later for more rage. I personally do them in this order from longest to shortest to make sure I have full buffs for my burn for as long as possible, but moving around strong stim/extinction pot and maybe using a different rage generator at the end of your rotation may improve your dps. Please feel free to experiment.

NOTE: Some Wardens use energy restore to get the rage for berserk, and then rage cape right before the fight. Technically, this is better. I dont do it because im lazy.



Boss Rotation


Warden dps revolves around the fact that Charged Chop does not activate global cooldown. This means that we essentially charged chop, IMMEDIATELY use another skill, and then charged chop again as soon as it’s up (every second). This means 2 skills a second, and although the filler skills don’t hit as hard as charged chop you won’t be hitting your maximum potential if you aren’t weaving skills between CC’s.

Here are the rotations:

Wd/w:
Energy Absorb -> CC -> ASE (GC set skill, potential aspd buff) -> CC -> Beast Chop -> CC -> Pulse Mastery -> CC -> slash -> CC -> frantic briar -> CC -> slash And beast chop should come off cooldown so you can repeat.


Just continue to CC, slash, and beast chop/ pulse mastery. If you know a fight will be long, consider leaving out frantic briar, as it’s a huge mana sink. There are plenty of other skills that can be thrown into a rotation, but unless your group burns bosses in less than 5 seconds you will regret wasting your mana. And again, leave out Beast Chop/Pulse Mastery if you have a lot of aggro, as beast chop generates HUGE amounts of aggro.



Wd/s:
Energy Absorb -> CC -> Untamable -> CC -> frantic briar -> CC -> cross chop -> cc -> vamp arrow/Animal spirit eclipse


Wd/s filler skills suck, which is part of why it’s not as good as wd/w. Just try to always have enough focus for untamable when it’s up, use vamp arrow if you have a good bow (Or if you're group has a s/r, then do it first) with good damage, Animal spirit eclipse if you have the GC set skill.



Siege Guide:


Watch a lot of videos. I have videos, maimed has videos, everyone has videos. That and playing lots of siege are the best ways to get good at siege. ALWAYS BURN BUFF BEFORE TEAM FIGHTS, DONT BRING A POOL NOODLE TO AN AXE FIGHT!!!!!!!!


Conclusion


If you do everything I say here, gear extremely well with good stats and endgame gear, use all the buffs, and your party is using all the siege titles (fire training/soldiers attack/tactical smash/ midnight ritual) and instruments (lute/tambo), you will do extremely good dps and be extremely capable of doing 1/5th or more of a boss’s hp over the course of a 30 second burn, even on wd/s. The number one factor for a Warden’s burn dps is the attack speed buffs you get. Even just lute which gives 25% attack speed will basically give you an extra 200-300k charged chop damage every crit. Don’t forget that your skills are based on % dps, which is (damage/attack speed), not just damage.


If you have ANY questions (seriously though, really?) please feel free to PM me in game @Heimdallthewise on Artemis server, send me a mail, or just leave a reply here.



TL;DR: No, just no. Read it, or go play w/m and double click the boss.

Did you really not catch the sarcasm in the Thorny Vines post? Lol, of course it's a terrible skill.

And yeah, wd/s can tank anything in the game if you overgear it, but it's just worse than wd/w. It can't wear plate, it doesnt have aggro multipliers, it doesn't have even half the defensive CD's. It would be like using a K/p or K/s over a K/w at the moment, I just don't think it's nearly as useful. That being said, if you are way overgeared with chain gear and your healers can keep you alive, then having Morale boost as a tank would be a bigger benefit to the party, so I can agree with you that if you can do it well it might be better utility.

Also I know nothing about chiron/pets other than how to buff to summon them, so I believe you when you say the skills are bugged.

When you tank as wd/s, what are your patk and pdef, and do you have to compete against wd/w and w/m's with staffs for aggro? Because that also makes a big difference

@Xamd
I pretty much agree to everything you are saying. With regards to tanking, I just don't do it often and this guide wasn't for the purpose of tanking, I just mentioned as a bonus that wd/w has an easy time switching to tanking, and it's nice because you don't need much extra defensive gear.

Yup, you are correct about brute strength not maxing at 50. Wrote this at 4am in like an hour, sorry

Didn't mention aggro multipliers cause you can read it on the tooltip and cause I wasn't trying to write a tank guide, but I DID mention in the rotation section to leave out beast chop/pulse mastery in the rotation if you are close on aggro. Also according to the Pulse Mastery tooltip, it doesn't actually have any bonus aggro, which left me under the impression that only beast chop actually has an aggro multiplier.

I explicitly said Frantic Briar doesnt trigger GCD, I think? Lol ill edit it in if i didnt. Edit: Nope I totally did, underlined it for you

I use joint blow cause my bow is like +8 or something, but I also agree that it is a terrible skill if you have any other option at all.

The wd/s being better in long fights I will mention explicitly in the intro, but I mainly just implied it by saying that wd/w was a burn class that falls off hard once burns are up.

I don't use energy restore because I don't have room in my item set skill thing, I like tranquil wave, pet mastery, and Weapon guard way too much. But I mentioned all of your suggestions about changing up rotations in an edit because I agree.


I just want to mention again that this guide wasn't aimed towards the Xamd's or Maimed's of the world that are already doing more dps than me, I'm just trying to help people to figure out how to move up a few spots on the scrutinizer. Hopefully it's useful to someone in that regard =/

I went in and editted in almost everything you guys said b/c I generally agree with it

Yeah I just learned something new about item set skills today... gonna change that section xDD

The primary reason I dont use buffs for nature crystal is that I lag out pretty bad when I use them. That being said, it has it's uses. Edited that part of the guide