Strategy & Guide

"The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand." - Sun Tzu

This is my idea of a thorough plan & guide that will get us through PvP well and on top. This plan will tend towards uncertainty in some areas, granted the uncertainty of our numbers at launch and at 50. Therefore I will try to put most focus on general plans on how to take over a keep, how to maintain it, and how to be successful on the battlefield. This is by no means a done work, and I will keep working on it as we progress as a guild, and it becomes more clear what size we are working with. I will start out by covering the basics of PvP as I see them, and hopefully for those who has had little to no chance of exploring PvP in the BETA, this will make you prepared for the oncoming war for control over Cyrodiil. Afterwards I will cover the plans that I would like us to use in order to take over keeps, and to defend them. I will then be covering a tactical plan for how a Squad should look like, including general guildelines for builds / needed abilities, how to synergize abilities and situational uses. Last but not at least, I will cover specific strategies for gaining control in Cyrodiil. That entails mapping out potential targets and how we will work our way around the map of Cyrodiil.

1. Basics
1.1 Cyrodiil
You have probably all seen this map somewhere around, and getting to know it is going to be vital in the upcoming war. Anyone who seeks to do a lot of PvP must become aware with not only the significance of everything that is controllable, but also of their names. Fast communication will be a key during the zerging war that is inevitable to happen. At any given time, there will be low levels and unorganized people, trying to do PvP as in WoW, or waiting for their guild to do something organized. These people will communicate through in-game chat and will strike territory on the map in a slightly uncoordinated fashion. In order to prevent these, as well as planned attacks to be succesful, we will need to communicate with

the masses and eachother. This requires knowledge about the map. So head onto a website where you can study the names of especially the keeps and get acquainted with them.

2.2 Keeps & outposts

Keeps are scattered around the map, with every alliance starting out with 6 keeps in their possessions. Keeps are different from each other. There are two types of keeps, and most keep have a slightly different cosmetic element, but that has no tactical importance. There are 3 outposts, 1 for each alliance. They function as a kind of forward camp (spawn point) for an alliance, and is placed at the three points at which the alliances territory most obviously crosses. Outposts: Outposts are small keeps that are not defended by walls. You simple need to penetrate either a wall or gate, and take the two flags inside to capture it. Once it is captured you cannot spawn at it, but if you spawn at your alliances base, you can teleport directly to it. This is either a fault, or just really stupid design. Either way for those who are aware of this, it is almost as good as an instant spawn point (except for the double loading). I sadly do not have a picture of the inside of this "keep" (which as any other keep is claimable for guilds), but I know it has been shown in recent videos after NDA lift. It consists of a rectangular wall and on top it has an oval balcony above the main gate, where ranged like to pick off people trying to operate rams. The inside is basically just one long hallway that contains 2 flags, one in the middle and one in the back. There are mages on each side of the main gate when you enter, and honor guards at every flag. The Small Keep: Their base is made up of the standard walls that goes for any keep. There is only one front gate, which is the single gate that will take damage from the ram. The ram makes a huge amount of damage, and from what I have seen, you will need a good amount (maybe 6) trebuchets, to make the same amount of damage - which is also consistent with the amount of members that can at maximum contribute to its damage (covered later). Therefore attacking the front gate will often be the best tactic, unless you have a huge numbers advantage and don't want to be spotted, in which case it might be easier to smash in a wall. There is also the fact that the walls have less guards posted outside and inside of them than the main gate (this should be little hindrance in lvl 50). The inner keep is equivalent to the outposts. The Grand Keep: This keep is slightly different as it holds an inner keep with much more rooms and more defensive NPC's on guard. While the previous keep has a kind of hall-like design to it, this is more oval and more spacious, while their flags are placed in a linear fashion equal to the forward keep. Granted the fact that these spacious rooms and defensive NPC's (which are on both floors for this keep), make up a larger threat than in other keeps, it will most likely be advantageous to make a hole in the side of the keep, and clear it room for room. Entering the front gate will get almost all of the NPC's after you, while entering a room let's you control the pulling of these guards much more, meanwhile bringing you closer to the flags than the main gate.

2.3 Resources
At the start of the beta, people were charging castles with their siege weapons and complaining that taking keeps was insanely hard and needed to be looked at. Well the meta quickly changed when people realized how huge an effect the resources of a keep had on its defenses. Not to point out that if you want to get a keep, you have to control the resources eventually if you want it to be functional anyway. Every keep has three different resources; The Mine, The Lumber Mill & The Farm. A resource has 5 levels, each of which grants a specific bonus. When you take a resource it is reset to level 1, and will level up with time. It seems as if the rate of a level is about an hour, but this is not guaranteed. The Mine: This resources allows your masonry to repair over time (granted it will take many hours before a wall repairs by itself), while also granting fortitude buffs to your defenses. As you can read from the bonuses, it adds quite a bit of defense, and if it is taken before a siege it is quite a disaster for the defending part alliance. Level 1: Guards have thicker armor. Walls get 150.000 more hit points. Level 2: Walls will regenerate hit point when not in combat. Keep corners get an extra build out section (this is part of what creates the difference between the two kinds of keeps). Level 3: Various Wall sections will have more protective locations (this is part of what creates the difference between the two kinds of keeps). Walls get 150.00 more hit points. Level 4: Keep honor guards will gain more powerful abilities. Walls regenerate 50% more hit points. Level 5: Walls get 150.000 more hit points. The Lumber Mill: This resource allows your doors to repair over time, while also granting buffs their fortitude and buffing the healers and ranged defenders of the keep. These bonuses are quite important, and will especially weaken a small keep, as these greatest defenses are ranged defenders and doors. Level 1: Doors get 150.000 more hit points. Level 2: Door will regenerate when out of combat. Level 3: Keep mages will gain more powerful abilities. Doors get 150.00 more hit points. Level 4: Keep menders will gain more powerful abilities. Doors regenerate 50% more hit points. Level 5: Walls & doors regenerate faster. Doors get 150.000 more hit points. The Farm: This resource grants a general buff to all guards, which includes all the placed defenders, the outside perimeter defenders and the resource defenders. The keep defenders gain no stats from these buffs (except the ones that are placed). Therefore if you plan to do a sweep of the resources, take the farm first. Level 1: Guards are more resistant to magical damage. Level 2: Guards do more damage.

Level 3: Melee guards will gain more powerful abilities. Guards have more hit points. Level 4: Nothing -.Level 5: Mage Guards abilities have longer range.

2.4 Defenders
You will be able to purchase two different kind of mercenaries in order to defend. These will remain in the position at which you place them, until they die. When enemy players get close to them, they will react as any other guard, and engage the target. These have about the strength of an ordinary guard, and therefore should be placed strategically - alone they will be nothing more than a momentary distraction. The price of a mercenary is 1.000 alliance points. There two different kinds are the brigand and the mage. The Mage: You often see these on the top of walls or on strategic locations. If you buy one, they should most likely be placed in corners where they can wreck damage before they are noticed, on top of walls where they are hard to reach, or in a group of honor guards where they can help defend before they are killed by AoE (they will however get healed by the mender there). These guys hurts, and should always be targeted when attacking a keep. The Brigand: Different from most other guards, who carry shields or two-handed weapon. He charges ahead at enemies, and therefore should most likely be placed in a group with other charging NPC's or should be kept at the back of a keep for the last line of a defense. A good strategy for these could also be to place them just behind walls/doors to let them charge just as it is broken and give the defenders some ground. The Mender: This NPC will stand his ground, healing his comrade NPC's and dishing out damage once in a while. He also provides his comrades with defensive buffs, so he is a good target to take out before the heavy armored defenders. The Guard: This guy carries a shield, and has abilities to knock people down. He will usually stay close to his defensive perimeter (though not always), and will go for a target until he deems another target more necessary. Of course he is susceptible to any kind of taunt and cc, just as any other NPC. These guys roam the outer walls of any keeps and are sometimes in smaller groups of defenders. The Honor Guard: These guys aren't honorary for nothing. At low levels, these guys will take out 10 players if they are uncoordinated, maybe even more. They are in groups of 4, two two-handed heavy armored defenders that are tough to kill and deal good damage, and two ranged casters with mender capabilities. These guys are famous for their 1-shotting... so watch out. This group will stand defensive of flags, and will in most situations not leave their flags, especially not the casters. Their objective is to defend the flag, not kill intruders - they just do that for fun ;).

2.5 Siege weapons