First Impressions - Shadow Warrior

Nicotine the Shadow Warrior didn’t stand much of a chance with me.Bows and arrows, whoop-de-do.The SW is a high-dps class that offers a unique choice to players – do you want to be the long-range bow-and-arrow dps player, the short-range shoot-on-the-run fighter, or the in-your-face-with-a-pointy-sword guy?Heck, why not all three?Shadow Warriors have the ability to switch between Scout, Skirmish and Assault stances, with corresponding mastery trees depending on your lifestyle.And playstyle.It all boils down to how you want to do a butt-load of damage – I can see Skirmish as being particularly useful in PvP.

Although I’m never too thrilled to be playing Virtual Archery (I prefer shotguns, thank you very much), the SW’s handling of the bow felt a bit different and more authentic.For instance, the Eagle Eye shot skill had my guy lean back and shoot an arrow at a nice fat arc, with resulting twang and thunk.Nevermind that at this point in the beta you couldn’t see the string or arrow when he was pulling back, it still carried some weight to it.Later on, I got a quicker DOT arrow that I could shoot instantly, so it felt a bit more kickbutt to do an Eagle Eye followed by an instant shot and see both arrows land at the same time.Later on, at level 4, Nicotine got a damage boost skill that I’m sure would’ve come in handy if I had not already fed him to the woodchipper.

I did a couple rounds in scenarios, which was nice when I could shoot at a distance without anyone actually attacking me, but direct assaults usually ended badly.As I said, I would probably prefer a Skirmish attack style, just to be able to run and gun a bit more in heavy RvR.

All in all, if this class is what will fill your gullet, then you already know that.It’s not overly complicated – you just need to decide which of three ways you want to pour red hot damage down your enemy’s throat.

Quick Notes:

• If you get snared or disabled, you get an “Unstoppable” buff that makes you immune to snares for a short time thereafter.

Report Post