People have always asked me to write up a post about how I pike and why my preferred method of piking is the support style/agi piker. I will start with the why and hope that it helps people understand the ‘how’ better, with a dash of Ravens of Valhalla clan play style information tossed in as well. I hope you enjoy the read. Note: All this information I am posting is not the absolute best way to be a piker, I do not presume to be the best piker ever or even that others should only use my style, I am just putting up my thoughts about piking and general play style info in hope that people will enjoy the read and maybe glean some information they can use from it. I hope you enjoy the read.
Why I am a support piker:
I like helping my teammates. It’s really that simple. The fun in this game is not necessarily winning but seeming like I and my team have accomplished a goal. In Raven we generally try very basic tactics to accomplish some random goal, “Hold the doorway” or “Push the archers”, it really just depends who is on and what weapons/loadouts we have at our disposal.
Why Raven play style makes me a better piker:
Raven is all about teamwork. Back to the very beginning of Norse Horde, teamwork was emphasized over everything else. Defend the guy next to you, do not fight alone, and try to stick with the plan. Those three “rules” are the basis for every single Raven member, except the piker. It was decided very early that the piker would be the floater. The go between of the members as they separate on the field, fighting in pairs, it is the pikers job to jump in and out of the fights hitting the enemy when you can and distracting when you cannot.
Why speed makes it happen:
You have to be able to get to the men fighting quickly and dart in and out. Higher speed equals more of the field you can cover, which has the pleasant side effect of making enemy cavalry feel like more area is off limits to them. With higher speed, I can pick and choose where and when I want to hit the enemy. If I notice teammates getting destroyed nearby, I will zip over and poke the enemy flank, seeing if I can get some pressure off them.
Side note on cavalry: Heavy cav are the bane of my existence. Unless they are charging straight at me and I get a gigantic speed bonus to my stab, they take forever to kill. I can stop them in their tracks but the rider just stares at me as he turns and rides off, giving no fucks to my pathetic attempts to kill his horse.
Let’s move onto the ‘how’ now. This section explains the in-game applications of the above information.
How to find the “right” target and battlefield positioning:
Is the enemy engaged with a teammate? Can you position yourself to the immediate right flank of your teammate? Are enemy cavalry not nearby? If the answer is “yes” to all three of these, then you have your target. Now you are probably asking yourself, “Relit, why be on the right of your teammate, what does it even matter?” Well the easy answer is that if you are on the right side of a teammate, you are less likely to accidentally to stab him in the back/shoulder when you try to stab around him.
When you are holding a pike stab in this game, you hold it down and to your right side. If you are standing to the back and left of a friendly, you will have to put the pike “through” your teammate to hit the target. Teammates and enemies are constantly moving. The reason I stay to the right is because a “stab through” is extremely hard to pull off in the chaos of battle. If you are literally humping the ass of the guy your supporting you can easily pull off one (due to weapon length) but what if he/she moves forward unexpectedly? Now you just stabbed him/her in the back as they are actively fighting somebody.
When shit really hits the fan, then I will sometimes try the more risky stuff like a “stab through”, but I generally avoid them. I really dislike stabbing my teammates and try to not do it ever. I noticed very early in my “piking career” that many pikemen teamwound a lot. So I decided to find a way to still be effective and not take unnecessary risks with my teammate’s life bars.
Side note for people who want to make it easier for a piker to help them: Do your own thing and let the piker react to help you. Nothing makes me more annoyed than a teammate who constantly spins around to check on me or tries to stay directly next to me. You do your thing, be it shielder/2h hero/pole spammer/whatever, I will try to find a way to help. It sounds strange honestly but I prefer a teammate who is self-confidant and not holding anything back. In Raven it is sort of a unspoken agreement that the piker is considered “less valuable” on the field, so it’s better to concentrate on doing your own job and let the piker fit in where needed.
How to “Hit the weak point for massive damage”:
No helmet? Stab in the face. Leather boots? Stab in the ankle. It always brings a smile to my face when I kill a tin-can with a foot stab. The pike is good at hitting a precise target, so do it. Aiming low at the ground can sometimes backfire though, the cursed “ground bounce” is always a possibility but stabbing that tin-can in the chest 5 times gets tiring.
With some of the recent changes to polearm stabs, hitting specific spots was made slightly harder. It is a little harder to “slide” your stab into hitting an enemy without a glance. So when aiming for a head shot I sling the pike to the immediate right of the head and twitch it into their face. For hitting that cloth legging fool, aim at the space between their feet and slide it into their ankles. The ankle stab is also really fun to pull off when you are 1v1 versus an agi-heavy character, jump at them and to the right, then stab almost immediately down and slightly left. Even if they are down blocking you have a chance of hitting their trailing ankle, thereby going “around” his block.
How to "stop cavalry and hopefully piss off the rider":
When you see a horse bearing down on you, just go for the stab to the front chest area to cause it to rear up. More than likely the rider is just going to magically block the stab by holding down block but atleast you stop the horse for a moment. Next circle the horse in the direction he turns it, while backing up slightly. Then when he starts to move in the direction hes going to escape, rush in and stab the pike slightly in front of the horses nose. This often causes it to rear up, even if it sometimes does not even look it even hit the horse. Ive been told its the netcode on the pikers POV and that the rider sees the pike nail the horses head but whatever, it still looks hilarious.
After hopefully rearing that horse for the second time, begin stabbing the legs of the horse (or just go for easy hits if you do not want to chance a ground bounce). Alternatively, completely ignore the horse now and start scanning around you for the second cavalry player who you did not even notice, who is about to run straight over you from the side. Ive often found that cav players are like raptors. There is always one waiting to rip your face off if your distracted. As mentioned above cavalry make me upset. Even as a piker I have to constantly be aware of where they are so when they are not nearby I can concentrate on helping the infantry around me. So just try to mentally track where the enemy cavalry is and see what you can do to help the team.
How to "hide like a little girl when the enemy team has a ton of ranged":
This one is pretty self explanatory. Be aware of your surroundings to protect yourself from the swarm of arrows, throwing axes, bees, or other hurtful flying objects. Raven shielders are a honorable group and will try to interpose themselves between unshielded friendlies and ranged, so remember to return the favor if you see cavalry bearing down on them. Sadly, there are are maps where you can not hide anywhere or you are stuck in a open field and about to turn into Leonidas. If you can go down fighting do so, rush their positions and try to be a distracting asshole. The gigantic pike in your hands is very distracting so wave it around and shout at your screen. Whatever it takes.
How to "pole dance in a crowd of 5+ enemies who really want to kill you":
The art of the pole dance is forged on the field of battle when you find yourself completely screwed. Maybe its the end of the round or you were a idiot and ran off by yourself. Either way, you are surrounded by large, sweaty and angry men who want to hit you with things. So begins the dance. Run into the crowd of them and start doing figure eights around them, luckily we are a agi heavy build so we can move. When in a crowd like that, the enemy is likely to try to overhead a lot (exception 1hers will try to stab you), so be prepared to hold that pike block high and proud. Now hopefully you can cause at least one team kill in the dance, or maybe even a lucky stab on some poor sap who perhaps stopped to watch the dance. Shove a pike thrust in his face.
The chance of you actually making out of this clusterfuck alive is low, so try to have some fun. But if you somehow do make it out, it is a great feeling. I like to call for help on Raven TS in this situation by saying "help, oh god please help me". Other ways of calling for a adult are acceptable.
Loom guidance and gear selections:
So I have very few looms myself. Besides the Masterwork Pike, I have a +1 mail hauberk because I got bored and retired on a alt. The pike +3 I believe is really essential, you glance a lot less and the damage bonus is just good overall. Armor looms are not really needed but honestly they couldnt hurt. As the NH founder Diggles used to tell us all (constantly), "Wear more head armor". Now for gear selection if you are wanting to be more of a support style like myself, I highly recommend medium armor, you have got to stay below 20 total weight (armor+pike). Speed is the key here and if you weight too much you will not be able to preform very well in this style. Also it slows down your pole dancing, which is just sad. Imagine a ballet dancer in full plate, that is just silly.
Conclusion:
So there you go, just a little insight into how I personally play in my role as piker in the Ravens of Valhalla. I have been a piker since about a week after I started playing this game. I have never used another weapon except as a joke. I do not use a side arm/backup weapon because I believe if I did, I would come to rely on it and honestly getting rusty with the pike is not something I want to put myself through. Also any extra weight from that backup will just slow me down even more. I hope you enjoyed this brief look. In the future I will be posting up other random thoughts I had about piking in this thread, so keep your eyes peeled for the updates.
Thanks for reading.
Wait until hill sees this nice job though relit what's ur build out of curiosity (im expecting 12-27 or 12-30)
I actually respecced to a split build a few months back to try out the effectiveness of 7 PS. I am liking it so far but the vast majority of my "piking career" has been under the standard 18/24. Since I wear medium to light armor weight I can get away with not having to go higher than 24 in agi. The general rule that I follow is: Be faster than the guys you are supporting.
How to "slap that shaft around like a wet noodle":
The Pike is a weapon of strange properties. For one, it is the longest weapon in the game and second, the sweetspot for hitting your target occasionally appears to be halfway down the shaft. As talked about earlier, remember to keep your enemy to your front and right, it makes for easier attacking and less likely to hit friendlies nearby. Stab and then sidestep to the left and it will almost instantly hit a lightly armed enemy in front of you. It will glance off the higher armor guys. I use this attack to surprise the quick, light armor guys who try to close in fast with me and spam me to death.
Now this 'technique' is very iffy and I try to use it sparingly due to its high chance of glancing. To the enemy player it looks like you are slapping them with the shaft aka hilarious.