Atlantica Guides - Stun/DoT pressure team : Atlantica Online Guides | Free ATL Guides

The mods are gonna kill me for such a long post but... here it goes.





First I'll tell you something about me in this game. I'm not a professional player so I won't ever say that my tactics are flawless or that they are by any means the best ones. However, I'm currently in the lower levels needed to reach DIV6 and i usually own (and i really mean OWN) players with around 15 levels more than me.

First of all, I'm gonna say what are the strong and weak points of any stun/DoT pressure team.



Strong:

-ANY mistake an enemy monk do will cost him very dearly.

-Possible to LOCK 7 or more mercs every turn making then unable to either act or to use magic.

-Due to many DoT's having secundary effects it will mean you will be debuffing the enmy team to hell, mainly reducing damage on you or reducing the enemy defense in large amounts.

-In case you do make amistake, due to DoT's lasting more than 1 turn its usually possible and relatively easy to recover.

-Can easily mantain itself even with 7 vs 9 (vs spike teams this situation its common)


Weak:

-this team, as the name describes, relies basically on stuns and/or DoT's which means any player who smartly uses his monk(s) is gonna be a trouble to you, luckily, most people right now are either newbies who do some dumb moves or don't know the basics of this kind of team and as such do mistakes.

-If you are unable to stop awakening or purifying scrolls it will decrease your team performance in a great amount.

-Requires A LOT of tactics and microing your mercs...




So if you believe this kind of team is the right for you, go ahead


Ok, im not gonna say exactly my formation but instead i'll tell my opinion about each mercenary and how you can use them to build your own stun/DoT pressure team.


I'm gonna rank each merc with * to ***** being that the more the better

Sword Mercenaries:




-Swordsman

-This is probably the worse merc you can get to a team like this, sure it adds a lot of defense in your front row but there are better tanks if you really need it and both his atack and his skills aren't really useful for this teams.

skills:
Flame sword - Spike skill, not worth unless in lower divisions before you get higher mercs

Dark Seed - although the -Vit is quite good, getting a swordsman just for this is kind of a waste in my opinion although some will say otherwise because it can combo with oracle vortex, I'll leave this to your choice but i wouldn't get it.

deadly Strike - again, spike skill


rank: *




Exorcist:

-I cannot express how important this guy is to keep the enemy monk under control, basically even though it wont help much to the pressure it will disable staff mercs magic so its a godsend to this formations.


skill:

Mana Burn - This skill is actually quite decent if coupled with a witch to completely drain a front row from the enemy, however it's mainly used in late game as in early game your skill points should be used on other skills.

Mana Seal - This is probably your only counter to a double monk formation and as such it's a must have skill if you own an exorcist,. This skill basically stop all staff users magic for one turn. This means 1 less awakening or holy guard which in turn might cause a stun or an extra turn of DoT's.

Seal Staff - This skills isnt that usefull, basically it reduced the power of staff users but staff users usually dont attack anyway

Speed Cast - This one is a passive that gives healing and action points to your staff mercs which will means that you can sue your staff mercs more times, I consider this to be the second skill to get on an exorcist as it really adds up to your casting power


rank:*****



Lady Knight

- this is mainly an improved version of the swordsman so even though it's a better tnak and her skill hits 2 targets it's still pretty much a tnak and nothing else.


skills:

Light Slash - not much to say, it hits 2 guys in a line and does decent damage, no extra effects at all...


rank: ** mainly because it is probably the best tank ingame...

Sailor

-The best spike damage in the game hands-down, it can nearly kill one enemy merc in one turn if it isn't a frontliner and if it gets a decent combo... however, it's jsut that... a spiker.

skills:

Toxic Sword - A pretty decent passive skill, it proc every once in a while and the mercenary that gets affected loses a hell of a good amount of AP for 2 turns which indeed is a good way of stopping a troublesome merc, however it need to be a front row enemy and it's still a gamble...

Blood Vengeance - a uber spike skill, it sacrifices some life to deal a huge one to the enemy, again, much like flame sword and light slash, nothing more than pure raw damage...



rank: *** in case you need a 4th melee to rotate, i don't really recomend it as he cant tank for long and skills arent that usefull...





Staff Mercenaries:



Shaman


- Your first healer, with a good array of skills important in most formations and this one isn't a exception, however can be replaced with an oracle later on depending of your playstile...


skills:

Brutal will - a buff skill that effects a row, it basically removes control of the affected units from you as they allways attack a random target, however they get extra attack power and action points, i found it quite useless to this team as its better to do 1 attack on a certain target than 3 on the wrong ones and the no-magic part gets you on a disadvantage.


Blessing of Life - Your main heal skill, max it the earlier possible as it can heal around 3~4k on some mercenaries and heals a entire row...

Hex of Darkness - although the damage is decent, it only affects 2 mercs and unless you use a swordsman for the combo it really isn't enough to waste the healing you could do instead...

Noble Sacrifice - This is where a shaman shine... whenever your shaman is near dead you can sacrifice him for the greater good and give all your mercs a huge defence and healing boost for 2 turns... this of course may mean nothing if the enemy left your shaman to kill last


rank:*** (pretty useful in its own way but most smart enemies will focus others earlier so his noble sacrifice gets useless, also, oracle heals a lot more)



Monk


your defensive staff user, this one is in my opinion a must for ANY team, it can remove stuns, remove debuffs and DoT's or simply give your main a huge advantage trought is passive, definitely a must have.

skills:

Protect - This skill can be either awesome or horrible, it gives your main character a huge defense and heal boost every turn however if you use this you can't use shield of protection and as such it is better mainly vs teams without sniping capability.

Shield of protection - This is the counterpart of Protect, it basically gives health to your main everytime it is PHYSICALLY attacked which means against a DoT team for exemple it will do you few or no good...

HolyGuard - your all-in-one skill, this skill basically gives your mercenaries a relief of spellcasting as it turns them immune to magic for it's duration. This must be closely controlled though as it can disable your ability to heal them (you can't cast magic inthem either ) or awaken them to avoid stuns... This skill also heals a small bit.

Awakening - Tis is what makes the monks the best support for any team... This skill removes all stun counters a merc can have (from a certain level on, at level 1 it only removes 1 counter...) so it basically can and should be used whenever you feel a merc will be stunned if you dont act...


rank: *****

Witch


This merc, appart from it's appearance it's quite powerfull and has one of the best AoE's in atlantica. Also, its the only flying merc so you can use it for scrolling.

skills:

Mana drain - This skill is quite good in 2 ways, it can deal a decent amount of damage/mana drain and also recover your mana in case you for some reason (although i find dificult) used it all...
It can be used in cunjunction with the exorcist mana burn to drain a front row mana in as much as 2 turns...

Meteor Strike - This is what makes a witch a good merc, this skill is without doubt the most damaging skil in all atlantica as it can easily deal over 3k damage to all mercenaries in lower divisions, it loses part of this effectiveness in higher levels though also, the high cooldown makes it prohibitive. What most people do is using other skills/scrolling untill later in the fight where the AoE will be far more devastating as msot mercs are allready weakened...


Mana Recharge - useless in pvp unless you want to give mana back to a drained front row... i only recomend 2 or 3 levels of it...

Mana trap - although in theory it sounds good, this skill does minimal mana degeneration and unless you are fighting a team of seth will/brutal will it's completely useless in a batlle.



rank: ****





Princess


This is a anti-ranged mercenary and as such its situational which makes her a lot less appealling to a team like this...


skills:

Imperial/Royal/Family Sgnet - All 3 of this signets are meant to reduce the damage of cannons/guns/bows respectively and as such, unless you know you are fighting those kind of mercs it ends up being useles or a gamble skill...

Princess Order - this is the only thing that makes a princess not be the worst choice for this kind of team... It basically gives a health/mana/accuracy/defense boost to all your ranged mercenaries so it might actually be good to some formations, however, i will never use it unless you have at least 4 or more mercs that can use it as it would mean having a princess just for this...

rank: **




oracle


This is a mainly an improved version of the shaman in all terms except that it doesnt have noble sacrifice.

skills: All skills are just better versions of the shaman ones. Seth's will is the same as Brutal will, healing is the same as Blessing of Life and Vortex is the same as hex of darkness...

rank: **** (i beleive that noble sacrifice isn't enough to overcome the extra stats and better skills the oracle has to offer and as such i find it to be betterthan shaman. I leave it to your choice though )




Elementalist


This is the Badass anti-melee grade-B mercenary and unless oyu have other ways of dealing with your enemy frontline it's nearly a must...


skills:

Freezing Atmosphere - This skill disables all magics from melee mercs and also does some damage to them so its a good skill to spam whenever you feel like a viking freezing axe or a exorcist mana seal is gonna screw you


Blazing Earth - This skill reduces damage from melee mercs and also greatly reduces theyr life so it's a great way of softening the enemy front row


rank:**** (not 5 stars because i feel that if an enemy only has the 3 melee front row and mainly defends with them this emrc becomes kinda useless... this is common in many spike teams...)






Axe Mercenaries:



Viking


This is your best solution against the enemy frontrow if you dont own an elementalist, geat merc which can also be used to tank and deal some stun pressure, really weak to magic though.


skills:

freezing axe - This skill disables completely for 2 turns the row it affects, however it can only affect a merc without noone in front so it's usually their front row


Ice ridge axe - its basically a better version of the freezing axe but you only gain acess to it at level 100 when you level the viking into a northern viking.

Deadly strike - pointless skill that gives spike damage, not worth getting in my opinion.

rank:**** (only real problem is that if you front line him, hes gonna get down quickly from spells...)

Beast Tamer


This is a decent tank and also a good stunner since it has a pretty god action points gain, not much in the magic department however

skills:

Beast Summon - this is your only spell in this merc and althoug it can be spammed, the damage is not THAT great and also doesnt have any secundary effect and as such it's usually better to just attack than to use the skill...


rank: ***




Spear Mercenaries





Spearman


This is a mildly decent tank at best since it's defense is rather weak compared to most melee characters and also because it's life isnt that high... I'ts pretty decent to a stun team however as it hits 2 guys with the normal attack and it can be used to deny ap to enemy mercs with his skill.


skills:

Lightning Spear - This skill hits 2 targets and at level 80 it starts hitting 3 and although the damage isn't great it drains a decent amount of AP to all the mercs it hits, usually there are at least 2 of these mercs together as they can effectively drain 1 lane out of ap while 1 alone usually isn't enough.


Deadly strike - Again, useless spike skill




Spartan


One of the best if not the best mercenary in this game, defense, attack power and skills are top notch and even his normal attack hits 2 targets which maske him very powerfull...

skills:


War cry - This Debuff last for so damn long it almost seems you only need to use it once and it actually hits 5 mercs in a cross shape pattern. This debuff, even after the decent damage it does the effect is stupidly powerfull as it lowers the combo rate of all mercs it affects making them most of the times only attack once instead of twice or thrice...


rank: ***** (come on, who doesnt want a perfect tank who can lower the damage of enemies while doing huge damage? )




Gun Mercenaries



Gunner


The most basic gun mercenary, pretty straight forward, it has no strong but also no weak points... Not really recomended since there are better gun mercenaries.


skills:

wild shot - spike skill that hits 3 targets for some raw damage... not really that helpful unless you need to deal some damage to finish an enemy line/merc

deadly shot - just like the deadly strike but it can hit any enemy, a bit more useful but still useless in my eyes.

rank: *** (just because his normal attack is quite good both for damage and for stun pressure)




Inventor


The king of kings in stun matters... no other merc can do so much pressure as an inventor specially because it has 2 ways of attacking, his own which is 3 targets in a line and his machine which can be either a cannon or another gun that means at least 3 stun counters every turn just from him... and that can escalate up to 7 stun counters


skills:

summon machine - the inventor summons his machine, the catapuls attack in cross shape, the ballistas in a line, even after the damage it does which can be quite good) it does an amazing stun pressure on the enemy team... i strongly recommend geting this merc if you want a stun/DoT pressure team.


rank: *****





Janissary


This is a huge damage dealer and also a decnt stunner since the damage he does comes from his normal attacks so it's quite a good asset if you want to dekliver some damage without losing any of the stun pressure you've been doing.

skills:

Shooting Stance - This skill basically enhances your next attacks by a lot, so in fact it's a auto-buff, of course it means you'll lose some ap without attacking but since the extra damage is so high and since it's done basically by it's normal attack enhanced it pays off very well.


rank: **** (only thing i don't like about him is that he wastes too much ap sometimes on his magic which leaves him unable to attack so it requires extra attention)




bow mercenaries




Archer


This is your main bow user, it's a preety decent merc for a stun/DoT pressure formation for 2 main reasons. First, it can hit ANYONE in the enemy formation, sometimes it's better to disable a certain unit than disable other 3 (monks mainly). Second, because he can effectivelly silence an entire row. It's also a decent sniper so you can as well use it to effectively kill a weakened merc.

skills:

Silence - This skill is what makes the archer a better choice for this build than the other bow mercs. It completely silences and as such disables magic in an entire row, shame it can't hit the last row unless you kill someone in the first or second row.

Deadly shot - again, crappy spike skill

Multy arrow - This skill is only available at level 100 but it's well worth it as it puts a good amount of damage on up to 5 enemies. Only problem is that you have to choose between this one or silence, which sometimes is a hard choice...


rank: ****

Prophet


This mercenary is the counterpart of princess when it comes to debuffs, it basically have a debuff for every melee except Saw ones, so, just like princess, it is a very situational character and unless you know what you are up against it should be avoided.


skills:

Shattered Sword/Broken Spear/Rusty Axe - This are self explainatory, they reduce the damage of the weapon they are designated against. Again, just like prophet it's a situational skill yet, easier to predict as nearly everyone has a viking for exemple or a spartan(high level pvp) and as such you can at least reduce those.

Concentrate - This skill shines a lot on a formation made of a good amout of melee characters, it acts as a passive heal and also gives them accuracy and attack power... although its a great skill, sinvce you'll be focusing mainly on disabling and DoT'ing the enemy team it's pointless.


rank: ** (mainly cause bow is allways a decent weapon)



Hwarang


I'm not gonna lie to you, i've never used him but I do talk to lots of people in high level pvp and as such i do know how it works. It's mainly used for it's extra bonus to long-range mercs however it can also be used to disable musicians and to use as a "bait" for the greater good All in all, not usually a great merc for this kind of formation...


skills:

Seal Instrument - In the end it's just a instrument version of the elementalist freezing atmosphere... It reduced intrument attack damage and disables their magic... of course, sine right now there isn't many instrument mercs/mains it is way too situational to rely on it... pretty decent if you know what you are up agaisnt though

Hwarang's Aura - this skill is pretty damn good, however its not exactly what we can call perfect for this formation... It boosts in a good amount the attack power and combo rate of ranged mercs which of course is pretty damn good for spiking however, in this build (even though damage is allways good ) we don't really need spiking capability and as such it ends pretty much any use this sklll could have for us. The good redeming thing about this skill on this build is that it can be used to more easily stop scrolling due to the combo rate and as such it can actually help you win some of the battles...

Hwarang's Fury - This is what really makes an Hwarang a decent adition to this party in my opinion, sure we don't need spiking capability, but when the enemy is all stunned or disabled we don't lose anything in striking with all we have...
This skill permits us to sacrifice the Hwarang in order to give a HUGE attack bonus to all our mercs. and i really mean it... a viking doing around 2.3K damage to a front line every hit is something to be feared, specially if he combos 3times, it just devastates a front line... Also this skill is commonly used later in the fight where msot mercs are weakened enough that you only need a bit extra power to bring them all down.


rank: *** (no DoT's make him a little harder to put in this team, however it really shines in finishing up an enemy formation with his "fury")




cannon mercenaries




Artilleryman


This is one of my favourites, he hits 5 targets, has a awesome debuff/DoT and also has mildly decent stats, i strongly recommend this one merc.

skills:

Deep Insight - This is perhaps one of the most usefull skills in the game, not because of the decent DoT it applies, neither because of his secundary effect of reducing defense of enemies greatly but because it actually shows you how much hp is left in all the emrcs it affects. Sure it might not seem a big deal, but when in late game you know which mercs ou can bring down instead of guessing that it really helps.

Deadly shot - again a crap spike skill however this one, since it's the only skill besides deep insight should be leveled as it can actually help in those closer games where you need in the last seconds to do some massive damage, avoid using before that time though as it completely wastes your action points.


rank: ***** (most may disagree with me but i found this guy ability to be nearly indespensable)



Cannoneer


This is the cannon king, it has better stats than the Artilleryman and also has a DoT with more damage however it's his only skill and that feels a little too straightforward sometimes.

skills:

Smoke Bomb - This has one of the most powerfull DoT's in the game and it also reduces the enemy accuracy. In the description it says it also reduces attack power by i can assure you it doesn't as i tested it myself. This skill only problem is that it can be nearly negated by a prophet sicne they will diable both the dmg and the accuracy loss.


rank: ***** (even though it has some problems this guy has the best cannon stats and also a pretty good skill, i find it to be a great addition to any formation)

And this finishes my introduction on the mercs (phew, it was a damn lot... ) now I'll just say some litlle hints that might actually save your !@#$%^&* many times...


1st- avoid at all costs losing your frontline earlier in game, this team relies on time to build up counters and DoT damage and as such you can't let an enemy kill your main stunners/DoT'ers before at least turns 6~7 (and that is allready too early)

2nd- your greatest enemy is the enemy monks... focus him with bows, stun him to hell with cannons and seal him till oblivion with your exo... it MUST GO DOWN!!!! A good strategy is waiting for a turn where he doesnt awaken himself after the 1st stun counter, and when you hit him the 2nd time do a seal magic with xo as well, that ensures you a 3rd counter. also, if you keep doing the same, after he gets rid of the stun he allready has 2 counters and you can do seal magic again so it's perma sealed/stunned. That usually means you won.

3rd- scrools of awaken and purification are dangerous to you, avoid letting them be used at all costs as well, a awaken scroll will release the monk of any lock, and will also remove all your other stun counters so be careful... same goes for purification but for DoT's.

4th- do not try to kill one merc at a time, its very common to lose 3~4 mercs before killing even one but then they all die in the next 2~3 turns...

5th- your main can and will probably be spiked by many teams, try to keep him awakened and also free of DoT's, same goes for your monk.

6th- lastly, every team needs time and training to become perfect, do not go out and think you'll win all games, it will probably take a few before you even get the hang of this kind of team.




I thank you all for reading this guide, sorry if it's too large but i did believed it was needed all this space to really explain all the goods and bads of this gamestyle.


best of luck to all atlantians:


shadow_drinker lvl 9x musician, Argos Player



ps: if this doesnt get me a premium nothing will

Premium Granted and moved to confirmed keep up the good work.