Age of Conan Conqueror Guide

original post: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=61280

Some Information about me:
Contrary to popular belief, I DO have a job. Actually, part of the inspiration for this guide comes from my job. I will be deploying for about 8 months shortly, and before I leave I wanted to leave a bit of a legacy that will help other people enjoy the game. I have college classes as well, so that partly explains why I delayed a bit on posting this. That, and the fact my computer froze while making this which set me back a few hours.

I have played FFXI and WoW, and have always been at the top of my server in terms of endgame progression/pvp. I enjoy MMO's immensely, and I feel part of that comes from understanding all the nitty gritty details of the games, so I hope something like what I'm posting may help someone else partake in the same joy I experience.

1.1.0 Conqueror class expectations/impressions

1.1.1 Personal Experience - I have used dual wield, two-handed, and played with every single possible variation available in the feat tree. The only thing in common I distilled from my time playing is the unique playstyle that accomodates the spec. I'm very excited that this class doesn't have to be "a boxed set" of abilities, i.e. every conqueror wandering around with only one of two possible specs. Our class has a good survivability in any encounter be it pvp, pve, solo, leveling, etc. My impression will be offset by other people's experience, but I honestly feel the conqueror is the most versatilie - and heaviest dps - of the soldier archetype.

All of my videos can be downloaded for highest quality, or streamed if you prefer at http://hosted.filefront.com/aocconqueror

1.1.2 Dev posts
Class Interview: http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/20856
Conqueror Class Portal http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/33972
TenTonHammer-chosen class reps http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=27238

1.1.3 Player Posts
Tortage daytime quest guide http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/33424
Renuo has more PvP experience than I do, and that influences his information:
Renuo's Guide of sorts http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=27999
Renuo's Class Impressions http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=26717
Forum for other player's guides http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=489

1.2.0 Conqueror Combos and ranks
All varying ranks of effects stack (except GoDS)!

http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/31877
I link this in the hopes more accurate infaormation will be posted shortly. The cooldown times and stamina costs need to be updated. If you want to go and create a more accurate list, append it to this thread and I will add it in!

ALL DOTS ARE AFFECTED BY YOUR CHAR'S STANCE, NOTHING ELSE, NOT EVEN VOLCANIC RAGE
Slam = Possible bug or just tooltip change. Slam does not knock anyone back or cancel any spells i.e. stun.
Sweep = Additional attack, kinda pointless unless you don't like the color white. A bit more dmg than normal melee strike.

1.2.1 Generic Soldier combos and effects

Enraging Strike - Direct damage and aggro gain
Brutal Enraging Strike - Direct damage and aggro gain.
The difference: Direction and added number of weapon swings. Brutal is more.

Enraging Wound - Direct damage, aggro gain, dot. 17pts slashing per second for 3 seconds.
Brutal Enraging Wound, 49 pts slashing per second for 3 seconds.
The difference: Brutal Enraging ticks for more damage. No added stam cost.

1.2.1 Dual wield combos and their effects

Bloodbath (DoT Featable) - Direct damage and slashing damage dot.
Rank and damage over time: 1=17x3secs, 2= 28x3secs, 3=46x3, 4=80x3, 5=103x3, 6=123x3
Feated (Rend and Tear), 1=17x3, 2=53x3, 3=86x3, 4=149, 5=201x3, 6=230x3

Breach - Direct damage, Debuff.
Reduced enemy Slashing, Piercing, Crushing invulnerabilities and shielding bonus (will not increase/decrease bloodbath dot damage). EFFECT LASTS 6 SECONDS, 45 second cooldown.
Rank, debuff, duration. Rank 1 (-3%Invul, -4 Shield) Rank 2 (-4%invul, -5 Shield) Rank 3 (-5%invul, -8 shield) Rank 4 (-6%invul, -10 shield)

Bloody Hack (Combo Featable) - Direct damage, DOT.
Rank and damage over time: 1 (28x3) 2 (64x3) 3 (65x3) 4 (90x3) 5 (113x3) 6 (145x3)

Rally - Direct Damage, Slashing/Piercing/Crushing Invulnerability.
Ranks, bonuses, and durations. 1 (Nothing) 2 (+1%Invul/9secs) Rank 3 (+1%/10secs) Rank 4 (+1%/11secs) Rank 5 (+1.3%/12secs)

Whirlwind - Direct Damage, and a lot of it.

Rend Flesh, improved rend flesh - Direct damage, proc.
Rend flesh 3/3 hits for 21-33 damage, improved rend flesh procs in addition to rend flesh for ~70 damage. Hard to say exactly as the tooltip does not clarify.

1.2.2 Two handed combos and their effects

Hail of Furious Strikes (Featable) - Direct damage

Feint Attack (Featable) - Direct Damage, Debuff.
Reduced enemy slashing/crushing invulnerability.
Ranks, debuff, duration: 1 (no added effect) Rank 2,3 and 4 (-3%Invul/10secs)
Improved Feint Attack (Featable) - Direct Damage, Debuff.
Reduced enemy slashing/crushing invulnerability.
Ranks, debuff, duration Ranks 1-4 (-4%Invul,12 secs)
NOTE: If you actually put 5pts into brute tree, you have a chance to cast the self buff: Seasoned Soldier on yourself when executing feint attack. See 1.3.0, conqueror abilities, for more information.

Batter Aside (Featable) - Direct damage, knockback

Guard of Dancing Steel (Featable, both combo damage and retributive strike damage) - Direct damage, self buff.
Adds shielding bonus and retributive strikes.
Ranks, buffs, duration. Rank I-IV all give +5 shielding bonus/30 seconds.
Rank 1 (Retributive strikes occur for 34-50 damage)
Rank 2 (Retributive strikes occur for 50-74 damage)
Rank 3 (Retributive strikes occur for 125-187 damage)
Rank 4 (Retributive strikes occur for 139-208 damage)
Note: You have a chance to perform a retributive strike infinitely for the duration of the buff.
Note: Varying ranks of this effect do NOT stack.

Throat Slash (trained by feat) - Direct damage, stun.
Strikes multiple foes multiple times.

Burst of Aggression (trained by feat) - Direct damage, stun, aggro gain.
Strikes one foe with one strike.

1.3.0 Conqueror Abilities
1.3.0.1 Self buffs
FURIOUS INSPIRATION -
What it is: A proc that all conqueror's receive at level 5, and improve on at level 10, without you ever knowing about it.
How to get it: Be grouped with someone who is struck with melee damage, or pick up feat Angel Fury in Brute tree and successfully complete a 2handed combo. There is a chance on group member getting hit this ability will proc and show up in your buff bar. It can proc very quickly, and will at the most reach 10 stacks, or 'rank' 10. The buff lasts for 15 seconds.
It does FIVE THINGS!
First: Learned at level 5. After 4 ranks are built up, it has a chance to heal your group members when they do any type of damage. It will heal for increasing amounts of health based on the amount of stacks, the maximum of which are 10 stacks. Thus, the largest heals will be cast at 'rank' 10 Furious Inspiration.
Second: Learned at level 10. After 10 'ranks' are built up, there is a chance on successful melee strike for you to cast FURIOUS RESURGENCE. This will resurrect any dead group members in one cast, i.e. you have four group members, one furious resurgence proc will res them all. Resurrected group members will res with 10% hp, mana, and stamina.
Third: Adds a self buff of +% damage, 2% for each rank, thus +6% damage for rank 3, and +20% damage for rank 10.
Fourth: Once Furious Inspiration is 'active', i.e. in your buff bar, you can hit Defiance for an additional heal (FI must be active for this skill). You must put a feat in Defiance to learn a new ability... Defiance. This ability, fully feated, will heal your group members for 27 hp at level 80. Worthless. Improved Defiance not worth the feat either.
Fifth: Similar to Defiance, Bladeweave must have a feat spent in it for you to have it. Once FI is up, you use this feat to increase the hit rate of your offhand.

Furious Inspiration will heal more hp based on its rank:
Rank 10 (24-35) Rank 9 (21-31) Rank 8 (18-26) Rank 7 (15-22) Rank 6 (12-17) Rank 5 (9-13) Rank 4 (6-8)
Furious inspiration will heal even more if fully feated (Improved Furious Inspiration)
Rank 10


Defensive Stance : No feats, +5.6% slashing/piercing/crushing invulnerability. Feated, +8% invul.
Frenzy Stance: No feats, +60% magic damage/damage multiplier, -100% all invul. Fully feated, +70% magic damage/damage multiplier, -70% slashing/piercing/crushing/all elemental invulnerabilities.

Charge: Doesn't require any feat points. Provided the path is clear, you can charge your enemies and land an early blow.

Defiance: See furious inspiration. 45 second cooldown. Max heals for 223 health.

Cunning: Lasts 10 seconds, 30 second cooldown. Reduces threat generated by attacks by a substantial amount if 3/3.

Volcanic Rage: 20second +20% damage multiplier. 2minute cooldown.

1.3.0.2 Group Buffs
1.3.0.2.1 Defensive Auras - Only one active at a time
Marshal the ranks: -5% miss chance.
To the Death: +16.3 Damage reduction per hit CHECK THIS FEATED
Shield of Retribution: +15.3 Melee Shield. Essentially gives our character a 'false' shield value. Group members receive +7.6 melee shield. CHECK THIS FEATED
Inspire the Ranks: 85 stamina/ 3 seconds.
Vitalize the Ranks: 89 Mana /3 seconds.
Rally the Troops: 43 Stamina /3 seconds and 45 mana/ 3 seconds.

1.3.0.2.2 Offensive Auras (Only one active at a time)
Incite the ranks: +9.4 damage (melee) to yourself and group members.
Fire Weave: +3.2 fire damage (melee/ranged). Chance on damage, Fire Weave on target.
Fire weave does 69-114 points of fire damage, -1% fire invulnerability to target, and procs Lingering Wrath (if feated). Lingering Wrath does 18 points of damage every second for 8 seconds. The math: One proc of fire weave is (+3.2 fire melee/ranged dmg)(+144 fire damage)(+69-114 fire damage) = 216.2-261.2 damage, not counting negative fire invulnerability.
Rage of the Tempest: +2.1 electrical melee/ranged damage. Chance on damage, 45-104 electrical damage in a 3m radius. Unfeatable.
Hoarfrost: +6.6 melee/ranged cold damage. Chance on damage, -0.75% cold invulnerability and 12-22 points of frost damage done to target. Feated, 21-35 damage done to target. Feated more, debuffs target with -8 damage (melee)

All Commands, Orders, and Formations last 30 seconds, and are featable to 35 seconds. They cast their buffs once every 5 seconds, which all last 6 seconds. These buffs will last 36 seconds unfeated, 41 seconds feated.

1.3.0.2.3 Commands (Buffs for allies behind you)
Steadfast Command:
Effect (self): Renews 16 points of stamina / 2 seconds.
Effect (group members): Casts steadfast Command in 90 degree arc behind you, 6m radius
Effect: 47 mana and 47 stamina / 2 seconds for six seconds.

Barrage Command:
Effect (self): +5.0 Crossbow/Thrown damage
Effect (group members): Casts barrage command in 90 degree arc behind you, 6m radius
Effect: +72.3 Cold/Fire/Holy/Unholy damage (magic), +15.1 Bow/Crossbow/Thrown damage.

Cover Command:
Effect (self): Chance on receiving damage, heals for 62 health.
Effect (group members): Casts cover command in 90 degree arc behind you, 6m radius
Effect: Chance on damage, heals for 188 health.

1.3.0.2.4 Orders (Buffs for allies to your sides)
Battle Orders:
Effect (self): +1% damage multiplier.
Effect (group members): Casts battle orders 90 degree arc to either side of you, 6m radius
Effect: +2% damage multiplier.

Resolute Orders:
Effect (self): Chance on damage, heals for 4 health and renews 14 stamina.
Effect (group members): Casts resolute orders 90 degree arc to either side of you, 6m radius
Effect: Heals 8, Renews 27 stamina.

Skirmish Orders: 30 seconds.
Effect (self): Defensive stance, +2% hate. Frenzy Stance, -2% hate.
Effect (group members): Casts skirmish orders 90 degree arc to either side of you, 6m radius Effect: Defensive stance, +2% hate. Frenzy stance, -2% hate.

1.3.0.2.5 Formations (Buffs for allies in front of you)
Formation of Retribution.
Effect (self): Chance on getting damage, 14 points of slashing damage to target.
Effect (group members): Casts formation of retribution behind you, 90 deg arc, 6m radius.
Effect: Chance on getting damage, 42 pts of slashing damage to target.

Formation of Steel:
Effect (self): Absorb 5% of damage taken up to 10 points per strike.
Effect (group members): Casts formation of steel behind you, 90 deg arc, 6m radius
Effect: Absorb 15% of damage taken up to 30 points per strike.

Formation of Resolve:
Effect (self): Chance on getting damage, renews 36 stamina.
Effect (group members): Casts formation of resolve behind you, 90 deg arc, 6m radius.
Effect: Chance on getting damage, renews 110 stamina.


1.3.0.3 Two-handed (Brute specialization ) latent abilities (provided you spend feat points on them)

Seasoned soldier: Chance on execution of Feint attack and improved feint attack of receiving Seasoned Soldier (+1.5% slashing/piercing/crushing invulnerability)

Colossus of War: Increases your damage. Starts with nothing, 20 stacks at level 80 equates to Colossus of War (20) (+49.5 dmg to melee damage). Stacks are added upon successful melee strike, and have an increased chance to occur when Lumbering Hulk is active.

1.3.0.2 Dual-wield (Carnage specialization) latent abilities (provided you spend feat points on them)

Lacerate: Chance on melee strike, Lacerate cast on target
Lacerate is a DoT which does 12-19 points of slashing damage, or 19.2-30 damage with 5/5 lacerate.

Lightning Steel: Chance on melee strike, Lightning Steel on self.
Lightning steel is +17.5% offhand chance, and lasts for 8 seconds.

Quick Vengeance: Chance on receiving damage, Quick Vengeance on self.
Quick Vengeance is +5% damage multiplier, and +18% offhand chance.

Improved Inspire: Either the tooltip for this ability is broken, or the feat needs to be removed from the tree. You'll notice the feat promises a 35% increase to damage or healing added on top of the effect of Inspire the Ranks, however, spending three feat points on this skill does nothing to update the tooltip present in buff bar on yourself or group members.

War Lord: +40 renew mana, renews 42 stam/mana every 6 seconds.

Art of War: Fully feated, increase threat generated by 6%. CHECK THIS

For brief abilities that are only self buffs, read the following section under 1.4.0.

1.4.0 Conqueror Feats

1.4.0.1 Carnage -
Lacerate - chance on damage 19-30 slashing damage dot applied. You have to get this, so no point in commenting on it's usefuleness.
Secondary Laceration - On long encounters/raids, the damage here can end up making quite a difference. More dps possible if Annihilate is kept on cooldown, however.
Offhand Precision - All dual-wielders must get it. End of story. Stacking +hit adds a considerable amount of dps, just as in WoW.
Defiance, Improved Defiance - Freaking waste of a feat, heals for 223 once. Recovers 333 stam/mana.
Rend and tear - Do you like bloodbath - a commonly used combo - to do +87.5% damage on its DoT? 5/5 is +87.5%
Bladeweave - 15 second coodlown, consumes all current FI stacks for improved offhand chance.
Improved Inspire - Either the tooltip or feat is broken, no noted increase on this feat at the moment. Provided it works as intended someday, it would be incredibly effective as +35% increase to healing and damage is incredible.
Crippling Bloodbath - -25% target movement speed
Improved Bloody Hack - 5/5 = +35% to combo damage.
Art of war - FUNCOM WTF. Tooltip says increased aggro. Changed ability to SUBTLETY of war, -20% hate generated.
Reaping Blade - 100% for offhand to hit, lasts 7 seconds.
Combo - Flashing Defense - 45 second cooldown, lasts 10 seconds. +30% evade chance, -35% damage multiplier.
Annihilate - 3 min cooldown, 20 second duration. Significantly improves crit chance of next combo.
Fierce Opening - The damage increase gained by this feat has changed, and will probably continue to change. It is difficult to properly gauge the difference this feat offers, I had to settle for respeccing, hitting some mobs without it, and then putting three feats into it. I will need to put more time into this to further identify its effect, though I can say it increases the damage on the arrow attacks of a combo.
Improved Wrath - +65% damage to fire weave.
Lingering Wrath - Lingering Wrath does 18 points of damage every second for 8 seconds. Feated, the math: One proc of fire weave is (+3.2 fire melee/ranged dmg)(+144 fire damage)(+69-114 fire damage) = 216.2-261.2 damage, not counting negative fire invulnerability.
War Lord - +40 renew mana/ renews 42pts stam/mana every 6 seconds.
War Lord's March - Improves out of combat movement speed by 6%. Whoopdeefuckingdoo.
Blood Lust - -10 cd time for whirlwind, -5 cd time for breach I-IV and flashing defense, -3 cd time for Rally I-V, -1 decrease to cd time for bloodbath I-VI and bloody hack I-VI. It's my personal opinion that this isn't very useful. Use shift-# to switch between seperate action bars for different ranks of combos if you're seriously worried about cooldown.
Skirmisher - 60 second cooldown, +15% movement multiplier, -10% damage multiplier, -50 knockback resistance
Rend Flesh - 30 second cooldown, costs 43 stamina per proc, does 20-33 pts of damage.
Improved rend - procs with rend flesh, adds ~70 damage to the proc 5/5, stam costs triple.
Cunning - The tooltip is a bit confusing, this is just an aggro dump on your following attacks.
Quick vengeance - 5/5, chance on getting hit to receive +5% damage multiplier, and +18% offhand chance. Buff lasts 7 seconds.
lightning steel - Provides static buff of +12.5 to one-handed damage, chance on offhand hit to proc lightning steel - lightning steel lasts for 8 seconds, can be refreshed by subsequent offhand attacks, and gives +17.% offhand chance.
tactical Mastery
combo - whirlwind - Not as impressive as I wished it to be, though it is pretty flashy and fun to use. Doesn't crit very often, though. Comparable in damage to other feated combos, though it does add another direction for you to attack, and another combo if you're worried about other combos being on cooldown. Strikes fairly consistently for over 2k if in frenzy stance.

1.4.0.2 Brute (Two-handed specialization)

Guardsman Feint - Chance on execution of feint attack, any rank, to buff yourself with seasoned soldier. Seasoned solder provides +1.5% slashing/crushing/piercing invulnerability
Two-handed master - +11.4 two handed damage
Lumbering Hulk - +35% hinder movement, +7.3 damage +30.1 natural health regen
Power counterstrike - +87.5% to GoDS.
Improved furious inspiration average +50% on FI heals.
Devastate - +15.5% damage to batter aside, HoFS
Throat slash - Priceless. Get it. Stun, does way more damage than normal white attack, if nothing else it's an additional melee strike that's more powerful.
Deep wounds 5/5 - lasts 8 seconds, ticks for 12-20 damage. Procs fairly often.
Improved Lumbering Hulk - +35% hinder movement, +19.3 damage, +119.4 health regen
Burst of aggression - Very useful, particularly in the event you're offtanking/tanking and there's adds. For pvp, just another knockback, though it's easier to use as you can cook it. Click the button, run to target, and just swing.
Power Feint - +15.3% damage to feint attacks.
Crushing Onslaught - -25% all damage multiplier debuff, +95% hinder movement.
Heroic Call - +37.2 cold/fire/electrical/holy/unholy damage, +22.5 melee damage, +41.6 natural health regen
Remorseless Aggression - 6 cooldown time Batter aside I-IV, -2 cooldown time Feint attack I-IV, GoDS I-IV, and Imp Feint attack I,II,and IV, -1 cooldown time to HoFS I-VI
Frostbite - chance on hoarfrost proc to debuff mob with -8 damage (melee) (I think this is -4% damage)
Cold Steel - Fully feated, increases proc damage of hoarfrost to 21-35. Crap.
Improved Vitalize - +30% to mana regen effect of vitalize the ranks.
At death's door - adds +4% cold/fire/electrical/holy/unholy/poison invul, +0.03% immunity, and +20 magic shield
Improved shield of retribution - +15.3 melee shield, +25.6 melee shield, chance on getting damage, increases damage by GoDS strike by 15%. Group members receive +7.6 melee shield.
Mocking sneer - VERY useful for tanking/offtanking, if you get this all you have to worry about is landing dps combos pretty much, won't have to do general soldier combos for threat. Gives you a self buff that lasts 6 seconds, increases damage done by you.
angel of fury - FUGG THIS. Until this is adjusted and procs more often, I will never get this feat. By myself, never got above rank 4 FI, usually procs every 3-10 combos landed. Very unreliable.
Improved dancing steel - Increases frequency of GoDS retributive strikes. Very sexay.
Steel disciplines +12 duration
Colossus of war - each rank lasts 8 seconds, stacks up to 20 times for a total of +43.9 damage (melee)
Overcome the odds - +1% slashing/piercing/crushing invul, +1% for each additional mob, up to +10%. 30 second cooldown.
Blessed Conquest - Lasts 6 seconds, +200 damage deflection (100% damage deflection). 2 minute cooldown. After the effect wears off, -5%cold/fire/electrical/holy/unholy invul.

1.4.0.2 General (Tanking/DPS awesomeness)

Recovery - Who cares how good I think this is? You have to get it to go further down the tree. 5/5 provides +173.5 natural health regen, very sexay.
Stone Skin- up to +5% elemental resistances, feel free to add whatever extra feat points you want into this, though there shouldnt be many feat points left over.
Improved Frenzy stance - 5/5, increases EVERY point of damage you do by +70%.
Hateful Strikes - Depending on your ability to generate threat per second (TPS), this may/may not be needed, though it's always useful when shit goes wrong and you need the mob on you. Combined with goad, I can fairly guarantee the mob will hate you for life.
Goad - I didn't have a need for this really, and I wasn't very inclined to use it as on day 1-3 of release it was broken, and for the first few weeks often broke the interface. Both issues have been addressed, though I still don't feat it because I've never needed it. Level 80 conq TPS is pretty ridiculous, thought at 50's and 60's, in tordealbach's, main cistern, catacombs, etc will be fairly frustrating without it.
Improved defensive stance 5/5 makes defensive stance +8% slashing/piercing/crushing invulnerability, instead of +5%. Invaluable for any type of soloing/tanking.
Iron skin - Same as Stone skin, though a bit more important.
Burning vigor - Doesn't proc often. At all. You're better off spending points in improved FI or defiance. Heals for 82. I say imp FI is better because FI procs far more, far more often than burning vigor and surging health ever will.
Sustained rage - 3/3 +9.4 damage. Meh.
Counterstrike stance - +11.3 melee shield
Surging Health - Same as burning vigor.
Guarded Frenzy - soloing/grouping, very important. Everyone likes big numbers, so youll find yourself switching to frenzy often. Reducing -100% invul to -70% isnt enough to tank, but if it helps you stay alive, that makes all the difference.
Cunning deflection - I LOVE THIS ABILITY. 30 second cooldown, for about 3-5 seconds all melee/ranged hits receive retributive strikes When I'd pull a group of 10 mobs for my buddy to AE, I'd pop this and watch my combat log explode with the damage this did to the mobs. At the time, it struck each mob for 420-434 damage (this was at lvl 78, fighting lvl 76-78 mobs).
Anticipation - chance on getting damage to do 23 points of damage
Lifesaver - adds +93.5 Natural health regen.
Volcanic rage - +20% damage, ability has a 2m cooldown
Improved goad mob - AE taunt, range is just about the same as a polearm's striking range.
goad mob - Fairly useless to be used as an AE taunt unless supplemented with imp goad mob as its range is so limited.

1.4.2 COMING SOON. Recommended builds for soloing/grouping/tanking/offtanking/pvp.

For now, just put all feats until level 26 into general tree. I'm limited on time, will post very thorough info tomorrow.

1.6.0 How to play the class
1.6.1 Leveling (group/solo)

For solo play, either dual-wield or two-handed, make sure you have enough feats into survivability. This will be more difficult for dual-wielders, as there aren't as many feats available for incr. health regen and such, and the knockbacks have a bit of a delay with shift-r. Pulling mobs of similar level, you should be able to take on 3-6 at a time fairly often. Every weapon you use can hit other mobs in a close proximity, so make sure you're constantly adjusting to ensure your swings as many of them as possible. Double-tapping the arrow keys to reposition the mobs backwards works fairly well, but the downside is two-fold: you are not swinging your weapon, so this delay in repositioning allows extra unanswered swings to your face. Second, it costs quite a bit of stamina, which is something you'll definitely need to survive those long fights, or try to run away when you get adds/start to lose a fight.
I typically rely on body-pulling, though if you decide to use a ranged weapon after level fifty it is easier to line-of-sight mobs and have them actually physically come to you. I've noticed if I shoot my weapon but move out of line-of-sight before the arrow hits the mob, even casters will run to get within line of sight, which helps deter those adds that usually end up killing us.
For spec, I recommend you find a style that suits you. There is a LOT of grinding you'll have to do after level 60, so if you're playing a spec you don't enjoy it will seriously detract from your enjoyment of the game. If you find you're unable to chain-pull single mobs of a similar level, or if it's simply too difficult to survive against similar-leveled mobs, however, I would seriously recommend a respec as this would indicate you're not allocating feats in an efficient manner.

For group leveling, it's best to have an AoE caster with you. Little is gained or different from single play if you add in another melee. Provided you have a caster, it's a relatively simple matter of pulling a group of 3-12 mobs depending on level in defensive stance, swing a few times, then let your buddy blow them the !@#$ up. I ran most of my leveling with a necro, and after 60 we were able to chain pull TONS of mobs at a time without a healer, which made for very quick leveling. As brute spec has more survivability, I would recommend brute specialization for this kind of situation.

Always be aware that if you find yourself in the middle of a ton of guys, it's possible to select a straggler at the fringe of the group and simply charge them, and then continue to move forward if you need to get away. This has saved me quite a few times.

Other than that, I'm not really sure what to say here. I will need more feedback from you guys about what you think should be added here, and I will do so.

1.6.2 Tanking/Offtanking

I will speak mostly to endgame tanking i.e. atzels fortress, scorpion cave, onyx chambers, etc... as most of my tanking experience is there. I have yet to run one of those instances with a level 80 guardian, and therefore was kinda forced to main tank as the threat per second I generated was too ridiculous for a lvl 68 guardian, even apprenticed to 79, could keep up with. I ran one with a level 75 guardian, but the TPS he had was a bit low still.

That being said, if you're tanking in ANY capacity, make sure you have cunning deflection figured out, discovered what your X button does, throw stuns/knockbacks constantly, and have your action bar configured in a manner that allows you to click 3, 4, 5 or more buttons that serve 'oh shit' functions so if need be you can just click all over that general direction to survive. As you can see in my videos, I have life/mana regen and mitigation orders/formations/commands stacked next to each other, and below that I have my oh shit buttons - def stance, health pot, stam pot, cunning deflection, lumbering hulk, volcanic rage, etc etc... these buttons will change according to spec, but it's a good idea to stack them next to each other to ensure you have a quick response.

Active blocking. Perform this by holding the X button. It consumes a good amount of stamina, so it'd be a good idea to have inspire the ranks up if you plan on using this much. Essentially what it does is take half the normal amount of damage. Active blocking significantly increases your chance to parry, and has at times mitigated 100% of the damage a boss has tossed at me - a real lifesaver during those tough boss fights! Most people bitch and moan that this is hardly ever used. If that's true, I'm pointing the finger at YOU, not the devs! All heals pretty much are hots, anything you can do to give it time to increase your health will be helpful. Most bosses can't be stunned/knocked back, so active blocking may be the only respite you can find!

For threat generation, goad + hateful strikes can be used as a fairly consistent means to guarantee a mob's attention on you, provided you're not hitting him for 1 damage. Mocking sneer makes threat even easier to generate - the generic soldier combos typically do less/similar damage but without the utility of buffs/debuffs, so if I pick up mocking sneer, and never have to throw anything besides the combos I need to live, that makes my life much easier! Less buttons to click for the same performance is always a good thing - gives you more chance to do your job well. I don't ever use goad, and I haven't found a need to yet, though as my guildies gear up this may be more of an issue. Time will tell.

1.6.3 Contributor to a group (Endgame instancing)

The idea that we might do nothing other than throw an occasional battle rez to our group members is deliciously absurd. It's not going to blow away an assassin or barbarian, but we do have the best dps of our archetype - so if we're not tanking, let's represent that! There are benefits to both carnage and brute, though with improved inspire the ranks broken, brute tree has far more favorable group-friendly buffs (self buffs available there add to your group versatility - explained later). Improved furious inspiration is arguably one of the more useful things we can do for our group. If they fix the feat for imp. inspire, then I'd prefer carnage for buffs (war lord, imp. inspire the ranks, imp. fire weave), though this could hardly be looked at so one-dimensional..

This is what I mean: let's say there's a group of 5 people, looking to grab a 6th. Assuming they have a few strong dps classes, they may very well decide to opt for the group-friendliness and added dps/utility a conqueror has. However, if you're simply set on doing nothing but dps, most groups will think you're pretty gimp. And rightly so. We're not breaking records on dps with this class, guys. Understand there's going to be many situations where 1 tank just ain't enough. Especially when everyone is slowly getting to 80 their first time - no one's really going to have the gear to tank two or three level 81 elites. Most groups will expect you to be able to tank, and do it well, so keep that in mind when you spec. If you're specced nothing but dps into carnage, you're not just hurting yourself- you're hurting your group as well.

So yeah, know which feats get the dps you want, but make sure you don't exclude some degree of mitigation/survivability/tank feats as most every group will want you to step up and tank a bit. Also, don't split your feats evenly between the trees for the buffs, as this essentially makes you master of nothing. I tried it, and it just doesn't work very well.

1.6.4 Suggested builds (leveling solo/group, 5man endgame, tanking, etc.)

More to follow later.

1.7.0 Gear guide

The things we want most = +% hate, +% invulnerabilities, +str, +dex, +constitution, +health, though not in that order of priority. Keep in mind stats are a bit broken right now- take off a +str ring or armor piece, add it on, and look at your attack rating. It won't change. What exactly is occurring remains to be determined, I'd like to hear feedback on this. Until +str, +con, +dex are able to be quantified, it'd be difficult to prioritize which bonus you want, so for right now I'm not going to recommend one course of action as it will likely change soon.

At the moment I have 5 level 80 blue pieces, 1 lvl 80 epic, and 8 lvl 70-80 greens. Most people are asking where to get gear/what the gear looks like. Here's what I look like right now, with two different lvl 80 blue sets:
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/EwokPoacher/Creperum_picture007.png
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/EwokPoacher/Creperum_picture009.png

Where to get gear? I'm not going to answer this question completely, as there needs to be a bit of discovery involved in this, but I will say that if you get a quest for, say, the oasis of zaara, and go in there to kill the bosses not complete the quest, each of the three bosses will drop a random level-appropriate blue. The instance WILL change according to the level you are/ the level you were when you accepted the quest. The rest I'll leave you to discover.

1.7.0.1 Medium armor sometimes

This is pretty straightforward. Pick up medium armor if it's an improvement, don't just discount it simply because it's medium.

FAQs
addons http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=25406
2.1.0 Generic combat questions

2.1.0.1 Combos (1-hit vs. 5-hit and everything in between)
It's quite straighforward - maximize damage parsers by using max rank combos, though use shift-# to switch action bars to stack buffs/debuffs, or throw in lower-ranking combos to save stamina or if you're not fighting a mob that really warrants the use of a 5hit combo.

2.1.0.2 Combos (Generic soldier vs. conqueror specific)
I never use the generic soldier combos unless I feel like hitting a specific direction because of the mob's shield positioning. The stam cost isn't bad, and neither is the dps, but I prefer the dots offered by DW combos or the buffs/debuffs offered by 2h. As should you.

2.1.0.3 Stance-dancing explained further
Watch the video. http://files.filefront.com/Stance+Dancewmv/;10445311;/fileinfo.html
Essentially, stance-dancing simply means you are switching between defensive and frenzy stance to maximize effectiveness. Best time to use frenzy: when the mob is on the ground after you knocked him back/stunned him, right before the execution of a combo, or when you want to see big numbers (but keep in mind you'll see big numbers on the damage you take as well!). Best time to use defensive: tanking, fighting multiple mobs, surviving or trying to, or when crossing the distance between a caster's range and your own.

2.1.0.4 Dual-wielding and knockbacks, happy together
http://files.filefront.com/Dual+wield+fun+cooking+2hhavi/;10448845;/fileinfo.html
Just because you dual-wield doesn't mean you can't do knockbacks - it just means you have less at your disposal! Keep a 2hander in your alternate weapon slot and use shift-r to switch to that weapon for a quick knockback before switching back to dual wield.

2.1.1 Mitigation
2.1.1.1 Shielding bonus, shielding
Shielding bonuses essentially creates a false shield that acts the exact way a guardian's real shield would. The only difference is a guardian's shielding value on a shield is normally much higher than the +shield we can get from our buffs.

2.1.1.2 Double-tapping (dodge)
I don't like doing this at all. Like I mentioned before, this doesn't work 100% and you usually end up with a mob hitting you anyways. Dodging means you won't be swinging your weapon, which isn't a good thing if you consider you're essentially giving your enemy more time to kill you.

2.1.1.3 Active blocking (again)
Active blocking. Perform this by holding the X button. It consumes a good amount of stamina, so it'd be a good idea to have inspire the ranks up if you plan on using this much. Essentially what it does is take half the normal amount of damage. Active blocking significantly increases your chance to parry, and has at times mitigated 100% of the damage a boss has tossed at me - a real lifesaver during those tough boss fights! Most people bitch and moan that this is hardly ever used. If that's true, I'm pointing the finger at YOU, not the devs! All heals pretty much are hots, anything you can do to give it time to increase your health will be helpful. Most bosses can't be stunned/knocked back, so active blocking may be the only respite you can find!

2.1.2 Miscellaneous
2.1.2.1 Video of endgame feat abilities
Need more time to edit a video of nothing but bottom-tree feat abilities, but for now I have a vid with whirlwind in it... sorry. More to follow.
http://files.filefront.com/Dual+wield+fun+cooking+2hhavi/;10448845;/fileinfo.html

2.1.2.2 What kind of gaming pad, keyboards, mice, and mic do you have?
I use nothing other than a very average keyboard and mouse, with a shitty desktop mic. The only thing special about my setup is I have dual monitors so I can browse teh interwebz while getting bored grinding gold/power leveling guildies.

2.1.2.3 Conqueror vs. Guardian vs. Templar
This will be mostly feedback-driven information, as I don't feel like I have enough experience pvping to offer my opinion on this.

2.1.2.4 Does armor look like crap at level 80?
NO! Here's some pictures.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/EwokPoacher/Creperum_picture002.png
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/EwokPoacher/Creperum_picture007.png
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/EwokPoacher/Creperum_picture009.png