The Bubble & The Blade: A Solo Warden Guide

Wardens are one of the classes in DAoC with the most spec options, especially looking at Battle Warden specs. In this guide I'll go over the pros and cons of the most prominent specs, as well as some more experimental specs that I've tried through the years. Common with each of them is that you want to have at least 40 Blades (for the absorb debuff chain) and 32 Nurture (for the fatigue reduction buff).

This guide will also provide some tips for RA progression, abilities, as well as equipment and other general tips. I hope that this guide can provide some useful insight, as well as showcase some of the many options available to Wardens, to hopefully inspire new creative takes on the class.

This guide is based on my own experience with over 4100+ solo kills on the Warden, playing the class as my main, on and off, for more than 18 years. Videos found here: YouTube channel

This is more of a brawling-type spec, where you give up better casted heals for the red PBT, making you better while in melee combat, but making your heals heal for roughly 220 less. This spec suffers when fighting ranged classes, where kiting and breaking line-of-sight (LOS) to heal can often be the difference between a win and a loss.

Option d:

36 Nurture, 40 Blades, 35 Shield, 32 Regrowth, 6 Parry.

This retains yellow PBT, while giving up some Parry for a better casted heal, to fight better against ranged classes.

III: 44 Regrowth specs

Another route you can go is 44 regrowth, this gives you the red HOT which lets you have excellent sustain in-combat, as well as a greater heal that can heal in the neighborhood of 850, depending on heal bonus. It is worth noting that these specs are rather reliant on RR to compensate for low defense spec, and can struggle with damage output.

Option a:

32 Nurture, 40 Blades, 23 Shield, 44 Regrowth, 9 Parry (my personal favorite spec)

This spec gives up yellow PBT as well as some Shield, but retains the 23 Shield back-stun, while giving you the aforementioned benefits of 44 Regrowth. This spec excels at higher realm rank, where you can get more Block/Parry to make up for the lower Shield & Nurture spec. 44 Regrowth makes you very hard to kill in fights with both melee and ranged classes, between heals that heal for roughly 850 and a HOT that regenerates roughly 900 health over 15 seconds.

This spec was demonstrated in my Umodian 11 video, found here as well as Umodian 12.

Option b:

36 Nurture, 40 Blades, 18 Shield, 44 Regrowth, 5 Parry.

This spec gives up the back-stun in exchange for yellow PBT, this will basically be better for 1v1 melee fight, but giving up the back-stun can hurt vs casters and fighting multiples.

IV: 49+ Nurture specs

If you really want to maximize your burst damage potential, you can go for 49 Nurture. At 49 Nurture you get access to Fury of Nature (Old Warden RR5 ability) which doubles your style damage for 15 seconds, letting you do massive damage, especially when combined with high Mastery of Pain.

This route generally sacrifices your healing in exchange for all of the best Nurture abilities (Red PBT, Haste/Celerity, Fury of Nature). Make sure to get Ghostly Slicer to really maximize damage with this spec. This spec shines at higher RR where you can get things like MoPain9 and TWF5 or higher defensive RAs to make up for your lower Regrowth.

Option a:

49 Nurture, 40 Blades, 29 Shield, 14 Regrowth, 12 Parry.

This spec was demonstrated (along with other specs) in Umodian 5 & Umodian 10.

Option b:

50 Nurture, 40 Blades, 29 Shield, 14 Regrowth, 7 Parry.

By giving up 5 parry (2,5% parry chance) , you can get the best offensive heal proc at 50 Nurture which gives you a bit better in-combat healing. I personally tend to value the parry higher, but this is an option.

Option c:

49 Nurture, 44 Blades, 23-29 Shield, 2 Regrowth, 4 Parry.

If you absolutely want to maximize damage, this is the spec for you. As previously mentioned, 44 Blades is the highest damage anytime style, letting you make the most of Fury of Nature.

Option d:

49 Nurture, 44 Blades, 23 Shield, 14 Regrowth, 11 Parry.

By giving up the 29 off-block stun you can get some Regrowth so your heals aren't completely embarrassing (14 Reg heals for approximately 300) and slightly more Parry.

V: Hybrid Blade/Blunt specs

This is a more experimental route, but one that can be highly effective in the right situations.

23 Blunt gives you access to a heal-buff style that increases all your heals by 50%. This style is special and affects just about any heal you can think of, from casted heals, item procs, potions, realm abilities to HOTs. This spec is skill intensive, as you're swapping between Blade and Blunt, and have to juggle both keeping the ABS debuff chain, and the Blunt heal buff style going, neither of which can be refreshed, meaning they have to run out before they can be reapplied (plus Essence Flames!).

While this spec can let you have excellent in-combat healing, making you very hard to kill in melee, it does suffer against ranged classes, where you sometimes can't land the Blunt style before needing heals, it also suffers some consistency since you will sometimes struggle to keep all the styles up, meaning your damage and general effectiveness suffers.

If using this spec you really want to maximize the amount of high value heal procs in your template, ideally with Curse armor and a shield with a reactive heal proc. At higher RR it can also be powerful to combine the setup with higher levels of Mastery of Healing.

Option a:

36 Nurture, 40 Blades, 23 Blunt, 23 Shield, 25 Regrowth, 15 Parry.

This spec was demonstrated in my Umodian 12 video found here, as well as in Umodian 5.

Option b:

32 Nurture, 40 Blades, 23 Blunt, 23 Shield, 34 Regrowth, 1 Parry.

This spec gives up yellow PBT as well as 14 Parry points for better heals and HOT, I'm not sure I'd advise going for this, but it is to illustrate the wealth of options available to Wardens.

Option c:

32 Nurture, 40 Blades, 23 Blunt, 35 Shield, 19 Regrowth, 9 Parry.

This spec gives up yellow PBT as well as some Regrowth for 35 Shield.

Option d:

38 Nurture, 40 Blades, 23 Blunt, 35 Shield, 14 Regrowth, 13 Parry.

I used this spec in Umodian 6. The 38 Nurture makes templating easier and retains the yellow PBT. Goes down in Regrowth but retains a decent amount of Parry.

Final notes on the spec: You may be tempted to try higher Blunt, I personally don't find this worth going for after trying it out, but maybe you can find a way!

VI: Realm Ability progression & priorities

Starting out, you should focus on defensive RAs, up to MoB4-5/MoParry4-5, then get Purge2, then (as you prefer) IP3, TWF1, then AoM5, inbetween put points into AoM, MoPain and Aug Str.

Later on you can get MoB6, MoPain6-7, TWF5 (I'd say at RR10, but you can do it sooner).

As an example, RR5 can look like: Purge2, IP3, MoB4, MoParry4, LW1.

RR10 can look like: TWF5, Purge3, IP3, MoB5, MoParry5, LW1, AoM3, MoPain3.

RR10 without TWF5: TWF1, Purge3, IP3, MoB6, MoParry5, LW1, AoM5, MoPain6, Aug Str3.

I personally am a big proponent of TWF5 when you can afford it, but it is a costly RA that can sometimes do very little when timed or placed wrong. You can gain more overall consistency by investing in passives.

High Nurture specs (41+) can save on LW1, while Low Nurture specs (32-38) may want LW2 depending on preference.

You should also make sure to adjust your defense RAs depending on the spec, low Shield/Parry specs will want more MoB/MoParry.

VIb: Thornweed Fields tips

Even TWF1 can be quite useful to get early on, to interrupt and to snare especially enemy casters. I don't particularly advise getting any levels between 1 and 5, but it's not without merit.

TWF5 uses:

You really want to use TWF5 at a time when you can land a stun right away, in 1v1 ideally you use it when your opponent's purge is down, allowing you to maximize damage. You can also use it in a pinch to get your opponent off you, allowing you to heal up and get back in the fight.

Another good tip for using TWF5 is using it when you appear weak, for instance when you're at low health, but you have a way to regenerate, such as with IP, with loyalty cloak, with Cursed Blood Gloves/heal pots, etc. This can lure your opponent to stay inside TWF for longer, again letting you maximize TWF.

Placing TWF is of great importance, it really shines in close quarters when your opponents can't easily run out of TWF, such as keep/tower areas, maze areas, ruined structures on Ellan Vannin. When placed right you can essentially lock a path down, forcing your opponent(s) to make tough decisions. Barring such environments, if at all possible you wanna put it where one side is blocked by an obstruction. You also ideally want to maximize the useful area of your TWF, essentially you don't want any area of your TWF to be inaccessible: make it hard to get out of the TWF, not hard to stay inside of!

Another tip if you're in very dire straits is to use TWF5 with Grapple (BM lvl4) to immobilize your opponent for the duration, taking extra damage, bonus points when stacked with regen from your HOT/Medal of Valor/Traitor's Dagger mists. NOTE: You will be stunned for roughly a second after grapple ends on your target, meaning they can line up an easy stun as they come out of grapple, making this a risky maneuver best used to finish an opponent.

I find it useful to both have a macro set to ground target 0. [in-game command: /macro 0 /groundset 0] as well as using the key to set a ground target (check /keyboard for this), this allows you to place a ground target with your cursor wherever you want it. You should also make sure that your ground target is visible, and not stuck inside or behind terrain.

VII: General tips

VIIa: Weapon styles
Your absolute bread and butter as a Battle Warden is the 32 and 40 Blade styles (Stone Shaper and Stone Temper), these styles are not refreshable, meaning you need to wait for them to run out before you reapply them. If you can get yourself in the habit of applying these as close to when they run out as possible, you will greatly increase your effectiveness. This should always be your main priority, with the exception of a few edge cases mentioned below.

Anytime styles:

Essence Flames (Battle Master 5 style) for most specs this will be your main anytime style, it applies a 15-second 10% chance to proc an Essence-based damage effect.

Essence Sear (Battle Master 7 style) this chains off of Essence Flames (EF), debuffing essence resists by 15% in a small radius, very good for debuffing for both EF, TWF and Astral Conflagrant Short Sword.

Prismatic Blade (44 Blades) the most damaging anytime style you can get as a Warden, hits for roughly 20 more damage compared to EF.

Power Leak (Battle Master 3 style): Drains Power from your enemies in a small radius, excellent for fighting MOC (one situation where you don't want to use ABS debuff chain, just focus on power leaking until they run out of power) as well as interrupting, this is one of your best ways to fight enemy casters. Be aware that it deals very little damage, in some situations you will just want to ABS debuff and spam EF.

Essence Dampen (Battle Master 9 style): Debuffs your opponents' Dex/Qui in a short radius, useful for reducing damage.

Essence Shatter (Battle Master 10 style): Chains off of Essence Dampen, removes a random effect from your target. This can remove both beneficial effects as well as negative effects on your target. Meaning it can remove your enemy's str/con buff, but also things like debuffs you've put on them (Such as Essence Dampen or the ABS debuff!)

I see many Wardens put emphasis on using ML9-10 Battle Master styles to shear buffs, while neglecting more important styles like dehaste, bleed, ABS debuff chain, often losing because of it. This ML10 chain is powerful, but the floor is a style that gets resisted or shears a useless buff, while the styles themselves deal very little damage.

Dehaste styles:

25 Blades gives you a 26% value off-parry dehaste (Kinetic Blade), very important to slow down high damage melee classes, this is another effect you should prioritize to always have applied to your target.

39 Blades gives you the Fire Blade-> Spectrum Blade chain which applies a 30% dehaste, this can be another very good dehaste option, but takes more effort to apply, and while in effect, will make your off-parry dehaste not apply.

Bleed styles:

21 Blades gives you a 20-value off-block bleed (Horizon Blade), this not only deals damage, but stops all health regen on your target. This is another effect you should prioritize to always keep on your target.

Other styles:

40 Blades Stone Breaker, this chains off the 32 style, and deals massive damage, however it removes both the weapon skill buff and ABS debuff from the other styles, so in theory it's best used when those effects run out. In practice I personally find it too much to juggle, and rarely use it.

VIIb: Key Class Abilities

Pulsing Blade Turn (PBT):

One very important use of PBT is to double-tap to block a hit at will. Sometimes you can't let chance decide whether an opponent lands their next hit; let's say you're fighting a light tank who just landed their off-parry style, if they land the stun follow-up you could face a loss. Double-tapping the PBT will make sure that the bubble will be up to block their next hit. Make sure that you reapply the PBT if you cancelled the pulse!

Offensive heal proc (Nature's Keeper/Stewart/Sentinel in Nurture):

You will want to keep this effect going at all times, be aware that all but the level 50 spell will overwrite your Essence Flames, but if you apply EF afterwards they will both stack. There is a similar effect in Regrowth, however all of these values are lower than the ones in Nurture, and should be avoided.

VIIc: Champion level abilities

I advise all solo Wardens to grab the CL accuracy buff in the figher line (Champion's Accuracy) as well as casted Damage Over Time (DoT).

This takes up all your points, so you do give up things like casted disease, but I think it is well worth it, since your most important styles (ABS debuff chain, shield stuns) all have low or no hit bonus, meaning they can and will miss, A LOT. If the ABS debuff doesn't miss, it can still be resisted. Any miss on these styles is disastrous, as without them you are basically one of the least dangerous melee classes in the game, swinging a 1h weapon on healer damage table. Miss is the last check, after you've fought through your enemies defense, or you have your target stunned/hitting from a flank. These styles missing or being resisted is one of the number one complaints I hear from new solo Wardens, with good reason, so it is worth biting that bullet and getting the CL accuracy buff!

Lastly, these styles missing can be very costly on your endurance, especially if you are running 32-38 Nurture, which leads to the next point.

VIId: Endurance

Wardens have the best fatigue reduction buff in the game, they're the class that can most easily use Battle Master styles, however even with this buff, the combat styles in Blades and Blunt will be very endurance intensive. This is especially true if you're running 32-38 Nurture, where 5 Mythic Endurance Regen is a must-have, you may also want to run LW2 with these specs.

I am generally a proponent of running crafted shields for their utility, but also since you can run a reactive omni-drain, which again helps with your endurance (and power). Yes, endurance is that important for Wardens.

VIIe: Equipment

There's a lot of equipment that is useful to Wardens, I will only cover items mostly specific to Wardens, but of course items like Medal of Valor and Tournament Ring etc. are also great for Wardens.

Jewelry/Misc items:

Bracer of Zo: This is excellent for a solo Warden, mostly for the pets, which allow you to bypass defenses more easily, as well as interrupt enemy casters/healers, letting you focus on another target, or close the gap to them etc. The /use2 fumble/miscast has some utility as well however, for instance in facing burst damage from high dps classes, or MOC where the miscast can be a big help (the miscast can also make your opponents fumble things like RAs, even purge).

Otherworldly Stalwart/Hardy/Resilient cloaks (mostly used for ablative proc):

These are generally useful items for many classes, but especially good for Wardens since they help in your most vulnerable situations (when stunned, or when flanked by enemies).

Cloak of the Loyal Warden: This is another excellent cloak option, and really your only other option besides Otherworldly cloaks, the /use1 offers a big instant heal which can effectively be a secondary IP, note however that it is greatly diminished from Disease, to the point where you should almost never use it if diseased. Should you find yourself fighting with others, the /use1 can also target your allies!

The /use2 gives a 10-minute pulsing 10% block+10% parry buff, this is a hugely powerful buff which appears to go above normal caps and (seems to) act as a flat increase, not diminished by things like dual wield. This will also affect your group, should you find yourself grouped. Very effective against high DPS melee opponents!

5 Mythic endurance regen mythirians: Mentioned before but it bears repeating; you will need this with lower Nurture specs. 45+ Nurture specs can make due without.

Weapons:

Traitor's Dagger - The old classic, this is still a great weapon for Wardens. It's very good to give you some lifedrain, as well as to interrupt enemy casters. The mists will also help bypass enemy defenses, however the weapon doesn't deal much damage, and there's generally better options for dealing damage.

Astral Conflagrant Short Sword - My main go-to weapon for dealing damage, these essence procs are great combined with ML7 essence debuff, and lets you dish out a good amount of burst damage.

Ghostly Slicer - The slowest and thus most damaging weapon for melee hits, best option for consistent damage. Do note that you will need high quickness/Nurture spec and/or celerity potions if you're running lower Nurture specs.

Fine Steel Long Sword (FSLS) - Borderline essential for fighting high DPS melee classes, the 40% attack speed reduction (ASR) helps greatly in reducing damage, while the celerity buff is great at counteracting enemy ASR styles. Once this procs you can swap to other weapons.

Legendary weapons: Great for lower Nurture spec damage options or targets with high melee resists.

Cuuldurach's Fang: Good defensive weapon, omni-drain+10% damage conversion makes it good to use vs high DPS classes.

NOTE: Avoid weapons with ABS debuffs, as these will counteract your own 50% ABS debuff and will be inferior.

Crafted Bow with DD /use - Very good to carry this around to interrupt enemies, for convenience you will want 886 Alchemy to recharge this yourself (along with liquid arcanium renewal), otherwise you can carry several, and get a friendly alchemist to recharge them for you.

Shields:

Crafted Shield: Great for utility, can also be very good with a reactive omni drain to help retain endurance+power, especially for 32-38 Nurture specs.

Proector of Weary Souls: Best shield for heal procs, the ones I've tried also procced quite well, making it a solid option.

Conjured Bulwark: Comes with a reactive 40% ASR debuff proc, very powerful, but I generally dislike it since it's very hard to tell when this procs, it doesn't last long, and can lead you to use your other dehaste styles in vain.

Armor:

Dark Defender's Scalemail (curse vest) is generally going to be your best vest, it gives you the best overall procs for staying alive, and comes with 2% mythic block and conversion, not to mention 5 mythic power regen which does come in handy.

Freezing/Shrouded Defender Vest is quite good against snare and root effects, as it gives you immunity to these effects, in addition you can carry and swap to Vine Covered Chestplate (Galladoria vest) for a heal proc+ablative proc when you don't need snare immunity. (These all have the same stats.)

I hope this guide has been of help to you! If there are areas you'd like to see covered in more depth, or areas not mentioned that you'd like to see brought up, please let me know by either contacting me on Discord (Umodian), commenting here, or dropping a comment on YouTube.

Thanks and happy hunting!

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