subarctic wrote: »

Tired of playing NB, so enjoy sneaking around as a necro vamp, level 1, since vamp fits the class, but I get wrecked if discovered. Have tried to run away, but get killed within seconds by players who hit hard, even though I have 1400 cp. Retreating manouver, caldrops, vigor, expunge and even invisibility potion have not been enough to get away. Nice if anyone has more advice on how to survive being hunted by gankers when carrying 5000 TV in the tunnels under IC. Best monster set for example?

For convenience I want to use front bar for offensive skills when farming TV and backbar for skills that make defense and escape easier.

• On PC, get Miat's PvP Alerts addon. It makes a sound when you get attacked out of nowhere. Whether it's from behind or with some skill that makes little noise, doesn't matter. Miat's always warns you with the same sound. Your reaction should be to block or dodge roll (or both).
• I've always found 1H+S the tankiest backbar option. The Master's 1H+S, though, is more a PvE weapon, unless you want to play an outright (troll) tank, in which case you might use it (on a DK with Cinder Storm and very low block / skill costs). Pay attention to your block cost. 1H+S in medium armor gets you to around 1.2K, I think. That tends to be OK, but if you're using Rallying Cry to cover the crit resistance, I would go so far as wearing some or all Sturdy gear on top.
• Tankiest / universal PvP gear setup I run: Rallying Cry + Mara. Mara both bars. Rallying Cry only on one bar is OK.
• You might slot Radiant Magelight for gank protection. Not sure exactly what that does anymore, since I rarely use it, but you might look that up.
• You might use Sea Serpent's Coil (mythic).
• Always have detection potions on your quickslot bar, to be used after NB attacked and while you see the NB, so you might hunt them. Using these potions speculatively is usually a waste, though.
• Queue for a Cyro campaign to get out of IC and save Tel Var from anywhere.
• Have 35K health, maybe even 40K. It's a turnoff for nightblades. You get ganked less. I'm not kidding. High health doesn't necessarily mean you're tanky. You could be high health / low resistance / high weapon / spell damage for a rounded build. All the NB sees is the high health, which makes them think you're probably a tank or that they can't kill you one way or the other. So they won't even try.
• A set I've used in the past is Juggernaut. The heal from it has been nerfed, but it's still half-decent. If you're unlucky, though, a nightblade can hit you to just above the proc threshold, then kill you in the next GCD. The set also procs randomly for no reason sometimes (incurring a long cooldown), especially from IC NPC flag guards. Another set in the same vein is Meridia's Blessed Armor. The problem with those sets are the cooldowns. They solve your immediate problem, but if you are not experienced in subsequently duelling a nightblade, that's only a temporary reprieve.
• Fred's DK special option: Back bar Steadfast's Mettle (overland set), all medium armor, all Sturdy, possibly some block cost reduction. I've had block cost as low as 400 with this and, as a DK, you can spam Cinder Storm to get back 1K stamina per second. This allows you to lock down and tank players completely, at least on DK. You can't really be killed, unless you get CCd and focused by more than one good player. I was experimenting with this, because medium armor has the damage, but also the block cost reduction. You are not an actual tank. In fact you are possibly quite squishy when not blocking, but you can sit on your back bar and go into full lockdown, if you so choose, because blocking costs so little stamina. It's not something I plan to continue myself, because outright tanking just tends to attract more players until you die. In the sewers against a single nightblade it may put them off, though. I'd look for an addon that can quickly queue you for Cyro, while you sit there blocking maybe. Not sure such an addon exists, though.