V Rising - Guide to Weapons (PVP)

Contents

Understanding Weapons

Understanding Weapons

Hard CC = Enemy can’t move.
GS = Greatsword.
Autos = Primary attacks.
Iframe = A duration where you can’t get hit.
Stun = Hard CC not breaking by damage.

Incap = Like a stun, but breaks upon taking hp damage. This means if the enemy has a shield while uncapped, and you damage it, it doesn’t break the incap as you were damaging the shield only.

Tempo PVP = PVP while constantly staying in range, where if you don’t use your cooldowns in a superior manner compared to your opponent’s, you will lose the trade or even battle.

When you’re reading about a weapon and I just for example say Q, it refers to that weapon’s Q.

Slasher

High importance weapon. While it might seem its abilities are tailored towards pvp, it also plays a big role when enemy npcs are into the mix.

A tool for avoiding damage but also dealing damage while having iframes. This ability might seem to be all positives. High 140% total damage, hard snare and iframes!? But it does have negatives to exploit.

When your enemy uses this ability, he will return to the spot he casted the ability from. This makes it possible to time an attack the moment the animation ends and hit before they can use another ability.

Counterplay examples:

Note: Since the ability is of the fast type, you will most likely get hit by initial part (70% dmg), so you do the counterplay for tackling the return part of slasher Q

Dash to side of cast location, and then auto when possible with spear
Pistol E to side, the bomb shot can hit enemy as he returns to cast spot
Heavy hitting Q such as mace/greatsword Q, if you don’t mind facetanking, he misses or aimed slasher Q at your teammate
Counter spell
Barrier. You can anticipate the slasher Q, enemy goes through you, and then you cast barrier the opposite direction of their cast location, to catch them on their return part of slasher Q. Not doable if you’re at max range of the Q.

A flexible tool.

Control: If you’re doing pvp with mobs/bosses into the mix, it can be useful to lose aggro so the npcs focus on the other players instead to your advantage.

Pressure: Can use it close to an enemy and delay the incap attack, making them burn certain cooldowns such as counters. If their only answer was counter you can still incap as it ends. Just be careful about them having Q cooldown available as reaper Q is a strong response.

Recovery: If you find yourself to have messed up your cooldowns, maybe you burned them too fast, it can sometimes help to slasher E and dance around a bit. Maybe go a bit towards them pretending to incap, if you’re lucky they use something to get a bit away from you, then you walk back. Now they lost their window of vulnerability on you and you got your cooldowns back.

Slasher Synergy

The Q is a standalone ability. It’s not tailored for combos. Though it is still one of the most used Q’s in pvp due to it being an iframe and possible 140% dmg. E on the other hand gives many possibilities. After E incap you apply the lube.. ahem. You do whatever combo you want where some notable ones are spear Q, mace/greatsword Q or a hard hitting spell such as Lance which even applies freeze for stacking cc.

Axe

Medium-high importance weapon.

Speed. An ability your opponent can not see and THEN react to it. Good for varied Q usage and being unpredictable.

Comfy for dealing with crowds of mobs. Otherwise medium range high damage. It’s easy to react to if you don’t fake cast, but good to fake cast with in order to bait an enemy cooldown. Amazing to use if the enemy doesn’t have an answer ready.

Axe Synergy

The Q is more tailored towards builds focused on dealing physical damage. A very deadly attack you can do is blood rage or power surge, axe Q where you get a big attack speed boost, and then auto attack with greatsword which has the best melee value, but requires a notable opening on the enemy.

E is still good to land without combo’ing, but better with combos. If an enemy is hard cc’ed then you can axe E on top for high dmg and cc to then chain into a strong Q such as spear/mace/gs.

Reaper

Low importance weapon.

Ultra speed. A very fast ability good for turning trades into your favor, though becomes irrelevant if your enemy is trying to run away, as in this case GS Q is favored due to its “chase-power”.

A good example usage can be that enemy uses slasher E, you use counter, they try to wait the counter duration to then incap, you punish by doing reaper Q before your counter ends. In general, it’s a nice tool when the enemy is within booty grabbing range.

Mostly left in the dark in pvp. Typically only seen on the rare merciless charge + reaper E + spear Q combos or in raiding to damage golems. As long as golems can get snared (which they shouldn’t be able to imo), it’s viable for them. Otherwise slept upon in pvp.

For pve it’s nice against clumped up mobs and triggering static debuff for a lot of damage.

The E has an inner and outer circle. The outer circle functions as aoe so it doesn’t trigger counters. But if the inner circle touches a counter/barrier then it triggers the defensive spell.

Reaper Synergy

E onto enemy player is only good if you have a way to force the enemy to stay inside the E. Damage doesn’t break stuns so you can stun + E + spear Q to lock the enemy in place while E does it’s job.

Q applies a snare which chains well into pistol autos, forcing the enemy to facetank or burn a cooldown. Q + axe E is also a nice combo to have in mind.

Spear

High importance weapon. Most effective with lube.

Most lethal tool for damage as it also prevents your enemy from doing anything. Typically used after a hard cc on the enemy. Can be used as a surprise tool in melee range as it’s too fast to react to. The downside is that it takes “a lot” of time to perform and you’re standing still being vulnerable to the enemy’s ally close by the one ur ass stabbing.

Rarely used and weak in itself. Typically only seen during raiding situations to move the enemy closer to a position that’s beneficial to you. But not a bad idea to use on an enemy about to transition into wolf form! It’s just not that fast compared to xbow E, so beware.

Crossbow

Medium importance weapon.

You’re overall trolling if you use this. Could maybe be used to tickle an enemy behind cover to stop their healing or wolf form. It’s typically only seen during raiding situations just to do annoying poking.

On the other hand, it’s a safe teammate helper from range as it’s AOE, though still weak. When your teammate is in melee range of an enemy player, it can be dangerous to try help your teammate. If you do something like GS Q into the enemy and they use counter, punishing both you and your teammate, it can mean your demise. That’s why it’s important to think before you try help your teammate. Though be careful about Q breaking your teammate’s incaps, so not entirely a safe helper.

High speed disruptive tool. Good for sneaking in raw damage and canceling whatever animation. Good even if you’re playing aggressively at close range. A trap players can fall into is being too eager to use this spell, then the enemy applies pressure for tempo pvp, and then suddenly you find yourself wishing you had an E available to come out on top of the trade.

Crossbow Synergy

Even if you slasher E and don’t have any other cooldown available it’s still fine. Going for landing a hard hitting xbow auto instead can suffice, which is also a good move if you want to hold a certain cooldown as a response for what the enemy will do AFTER the CC. Cooldown management is a key factor for good pvp.

The E has a hidden effect which is the disruptive part. It puts a small delay onto the enemy before they can do another action. So if both of you are pistol auto’ing each other, you can xbow E + pistol autos to turn the trade in your favor, as you will begin shooting before they do.

Pistols

High importance weapon.

You’re trolling. Almost never seen used. Can be good for pushing enemies back as your teammate is running towards you, though you better pray they don’t respond with one of several defensive spells

Most heavily used E among the weapons. Incredible tool for avoiding whatever dangerous attack as it’s an iframe. Just be mindful about the bomb shot, whether or not to go for hitting it, as the enemy can use a defensive spell against it.

Pistol Synergy

The autos work even better with spells buffing physical prowess such as aegis/rage/surge. It’s a notable standalone weapon as it’s irrelevant regarding combos.

Sword

Low importance weapon.

Good for speeding up the tempo, making the enemy burn his cooldowns faster than he wants to. This can happen when the enemy uses counter and then instead of waiting it out, you deal raw dps with Q, making the enemy burn a cooldown or facetanking it for a lot of damage (especially when paired with static debuff).

A good thumb of rule for using this is to not attempt it if your enemy also has Q, as they can hard counter your sword Q with a reaper Q.

Niche usage. Generally weak for pvp if not combo’ed with. Can be used to change position by using on an npc at max range, or launch enemy into air to then spear Q as they land. It’s possible to for example E and then time a lance spell hit as they land but the timing is quite tight. It can be an annoyance for your teammates as it can make them miss their attacks on the enemy you sent up in the air.

Greatsword

High importance weapon.

Flexible tool. Good for running away but also chasing simply due to its range. Very powerful tool to fake cast with considering its speed when you don’t cancel it.

The knock-up can be chained into a GS auto as a true combo to maximize damage. Using pistol auto after this Q can also work well. If you want to chain an ability during the knock up it’s popular to use mace E, where the incap allows for another true combo such as heartstrike (ult) or fast spells. Beware that using Q and E is very quick succession like this, where your mace E dealt little damage, you can be vulnerable to pressure as you lack responses. It’s not a no-brainer to GS Q + mace E.

A longer iframe than pistol E.

99% of the time you’re better off using pistol E. A situation where GS E can save the day is if an enemy uses arctic leap and is gonna land right onto you, then you can avoid the whole ultimate by using GS E from the center where pistol E would otherwise struggle.

Greatsword Synergy

Works well in melee range with spells buffing physical prowess to go oonga boonga monke mode with the autos for a lot of possible damage.

If you hit a max range axe E incap then you can chain into Q.

If your teammate slasher E incaps an enemy, be wary of using Q as the knockup can ruin your teammates spear Q. Get in range to stack your spear Q with your teammate’s, hold the cooldown as a response to when the enemy most likely uses an ability when possible, or use non disruptive stuff like slasher/axe Q.You can STILL GS Q though, don’t get me wrong, but it needs to be at the end of your teammates spear Q to not disrupt it.

If your dash has high trigger value such as blood dash where you’re healing 50 hp, it can be nice upon slasher E incap to blood dash + GS auto for a sweet dash trigger.

Mace

Medium priority weapon. It’s the only weapon in the game that combos WELL with itself (E + Q).

A brother to GS Q. The difference lies in shorter range and being able to curve your trajectory. Good for reaching your enemy if there are obstacles between you and him as you just leap past whatever is in your way.

Very fast flexible tool you barely can react to. Useful for running away. Mainly used as a tool for combos. Combos can be:

E + Heartstrike.
E + Q / GS Q.
E + Spear Q (If pushed into a nearby obstacle so they’re in range).

Auto Attacks

Assuming endgame weapon loadout, if you’re using anything other than spear, GS, xbow or pistol autos then go uninstall the game. The rest of the weapons just can’t compare due to questionable sls design.

When you dash, spear auto is the best way to trigger the dash effect as it’s fast and has good reach.

GS autos are more tailored towards physical damage builds.

Pistol autos you mix in whenever you feel it’s relevant. It’s good to use in between cooldowns so you don’t spam abilities as much as otherwise. Filling in the gaps.

Xbow autos for being pokey pokey and as “combo” onto cc’ed enemy if you want to hold a cooldown or don’t have one available. Xbow autos compared to pistol autos are typically seen more during raid situations where the pvp is more oriented about standing your ground.

Brief Summary of Combos

Spear/mace/gs Q are abilities good to use as true combos upon hard cc’ed enemy, where this cc from other weapons will come from E’s from like slasher, axe, mace and niche sword E.

On the other side you got soft combos that won’t work if the enemy has proper response like dash or counter. Examples are reaper Q into axe E or ranged autos, or axe Q into GS autos. Even axe E into slasher Q can be something good (especially if you iframe an attack). Options are plenty!

So What Should I Use?

My opinion is that you should use 7 weapons minimum, which is all the weapons except sword and mace as they can be discarded from your weapon loadout most easily. It can of course feel very overwhelming to start using many weapons from the get-go, so it’s recommended to start with however many you feel like handling for a start, and keep adding more as you get used to it.

Here is everything I’ve talked about, but in action. Watch for a demonstration of how pvp can look like when using many weapons.

I hope you found this useful!

V Rising – Guide to Weapons (PVP)