The Basics of Zerg vs Zerg

By SWEATPANT

This guide will be split into two parts. The first section will talk about ideal party
composition and some general zerg tactics EVERYONE should read this section. The second
section will be in-depth tips and tricks for each of the roles in a zerg make sure to read your
overall role and your specific weapon for more information.

ALWAYS LISTEN TO CALLS, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

If half of the people don’t listen to a call to push, you’re splitting the zerg in half
and putting both halves at a disadvantage. Listen to calls at all times, no questions
asked. If it was the wrong call, callers will figure it out afterwards.

BASICS
Shut the fuck up unless you’re a caller
DON’T randomly use abilities
ALWAYS have food and potions
Don’t wear soldier helmets
PREPARE BEFORE EVENTS. Go get a tome and get t4 wild staff and longbow
right fuckin now

TO DECREASE LAGGING IN ZVZ:

VIDEO TAB
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NAME TAG TAB
TURN OFF:
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Guild and alliance members; name/guild
All other players; name/guild
INTERFACE TAB
TURN OFF:
Show for ally damage
Show for enemy heal
HUD TAB
TURN OFF:
Damage Numbers
 BUILDS
Melee Tanks

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● Morning Star: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: medium] The morning star uses the
“snare charge” spell so when the shot-caller says so you can quickly engage on
enemy players and then root prison to keep them in place so the damage dealers
can finish them. There is a secondary playstayle for morning star where you use
the W ability “air compressor” with the mage sandal ability “delayed teleport” that
allows you to teleport into the enemy lines and suck in a large group of enemies
to a single location then root them so your damage dealers can very easily finish
them off

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● Grovekeeper: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: High] The Grovekeeper uses the
ability “slowing charge” this allows for greater mobility so when called to engage
you can pop your boot ability along with your W spell and cover a huge amount
of distance then you can use your “ground pound” spell in the middle of the
enemy zergs damage dealer and healer group.

Ranged Tanks
 Ranged Tanks will use either the Knight’s Armor, Judicator Armor, or Demon Armor.If
you choose Knights armor you will use your “wind wall” spell to stop enemy tanks that are trying
to engage upon your zerg and to cover the zerg when they need to maneuver to a new location.
The Judicator ability “Force Shield” is used to increase the survivability of your raid. If you see
the enemy tanks get a good engage on your damage dealers and healers try and place the
force shield on top of them or if you see your tanks getting beat up as they pull back after an
engage drop the force shield to assist your healers in healing them back up. It is a very powerful
combination when used with the rampant staff or wild staff special ability as they are both very
large ground targeted heals that you can place your force shield on. The Demon Armor ability
“Protection of the Fiends” is a channeled spell that makes it so you take increased damage but
everyone else around you takes less damage during the channel you cannot be interrupted by
any means and you reflect 60% of all damage dealt to allies back at the source of that damage.
Against a lot of damage dealers this will just instantly kill them as they are hitting multiple targets
in the reflection zone. This is especially effective vs Longbows and Seigebows.

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● Soul Scythe: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: High] A soulscythe should have the
abilities “Cartwheel” and “Stun Run” selected these two abilities give soulscythe
the greatest mobility of the tank weapons allowing you to quickly traverse the
battlefield and find the perfect angle for engages. The soulscythe unique ability
fires a giant tornado that slows everyone nearby and knocks up those people it
touches. The knock up is canceled by knights helmet but the slow is not. As a
soul scythe you will be trying to use your extreme mobility and range on the
tornado to go to the sides of the enemy zerg and when the shot-callers call for an
engage you will unleash your tornado from the sides of the group into the healers
and damage dealers this will slow them down and knock up some of them so the
melee tanks can get better clumps on there stuns and roots.
 ● Icicle Staff: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: High] An Icicle staff should have the
ability “Frost Nova” selected this allows them to have a MASSIVE amount of area
of effect crowd control. The primary job of an icicle staff is once the melee tanks
get a stun you run up and drop your icicle staff a little bit past the group of
stunned people. They will slowly start to run away your icicle will last about 5
seconds and by the time the icicle is over you want to be standing inside of the
group of enemies you then frost nova past them freezing them all for 2-3
seconds. Once that is over they will try to run into you and you use the chest
ability wind wall to knock them back during this entire time your damage dealers
should be on top of them.

Healers
All healers should be using a cleric chest piece. The idea behind this is damage in a
ZvZ setting is so high that you have to be invulnerable to survive. Use the cleric chest
piece ability often and whenever you think damage will be incoming.

Nature Staffs
All nature staves should have the Q ability “rejuvenating mushroom” and the W
ability “cleanse heal”. Rejuvenating mushroom allows you to apply your heal over times
to multiple people and will be what allows you to keep the zergs alive over time.
Cleanse heal removes all debuffs including stuns and roots from your target and
everybody near the target. This is one of the most powerful spells in the game when
used quickly and effectively. When the enemy melee tanks charge into your team and
get that big stun or root it's your job to cleanse those people before the enemy damage
dealers can follow up and kill your team.

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● Wild Staff: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: low] As a wild staff user you want to
see the direction that your melee tanks are engaging in and you want to
drop your “Well of Life” in a location that it will hit as many players as
possible. It can only heal five players at once but if there are twenty
players in the ability it will heal the five with the lowest health.

● Blight Staff: [Skill level: medium Efficiency: medium] As a blight staff user you
will want be more aggressively positioned you will be inside of your
damage dealers as they engage. While you are channeling your E ability
“Ruthless Nature” you will be immune to all crowd control effects this
includes all stuns and roots from melee tanks. You will be looking for the
enemy tanks to engage and then use your E before they crowd control
you and you will be able to heal up your team as the enemy team is
engaging.

● Rampant Staff: [Skill level: low Efficiency: High]The Rampant Staff E ability
“Spirit Animal” does a MASSIVE amount of healing if used on a large
group of allies. If you see a large group of allies that are about to be
engaged upon use your E first and then cleanse them out of the crowd
control with your W. Proper use of a rampant staff will single handedly turn
fights.
Holy Staffs
All holy staffs should use “Generous Heal” as there Q spell as this ability allows
you to be mobile while it is on cooldown and allows you to put as much healing into the
target as fast as possible. Most holy staffs will use the W spell “holy orb” as that is there
best form of multi-target healing drastically better then “sacred pulse”

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● Great Holy: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: low] The great holy’s unique ability
“Holy Explosion” heals all allies within range for a LARGE amount. The
best way to use this is to find large groups of allies that are low and use
the ability near them if they are low they will come to you. You don't have
to put yourself in danger by going to them. I would pretend this ability does
not actually knock enemies back there is NO circumstance in a zerg
where you will want to use it offensively as a knock back. Make sure that if
you are fighting in a castle and your zerg is attempting to kill the elite
guards you do not use the holy explosion ability.

● Fallen staff: [Skill level: medium Efficiency:High] The fallen staff special
ability “Salvation” creates an area on the ground and people in that area
will be healed for a massive amount and all of there debuffs will be
removed this includes stuns and roots. This is best used as a preventative
measure. When you see a group of your own healers and damage dealers
get caught by an enemy melee tank you know they are going to take a lot
of damage and be caught by the crowd control from the enemy tanks. So
you lay down your salvation ability on them as soon as you see them
getting caught and it will free your allies and heal them up if they have
 taken damage. I can't stress enough that this ability needs to be used
before they take damage as soon as they get caught by the enemy taken
this needs to be placed.

● Divine: [Skill level: medium Efficiency: high] The divine staff is the exception
to the sacred pulse rule divine staffs use the W ability “Holy Blessing” as
this amplifies all healing the target receives including the shield from the
divine staff. Divine staves job is to keep priority targets alive this can
include shot-callers and high quality tanks. When a high priority target
comes to you for healing you use the “Holy Blessing” skill first and then
the shield and then your q and they should be good to get back into the
fight.

Primary Damage Dealers

 Primary damage dealers all use the cleric robe chest peice so they can be
invulnerable to incoming damage while delivering their own. Primary damage dealers
are the workhorses of the zerg. You will be the person getting the kills and you will be
the person the enemy zerg wants to kill. When a shot-caller calls for an engage you
need to use your knight helmet if you are wearing one and use your run ability on your
boots and run right at the enemy constantly looking for your melee tanks to see if they
got a good group of enemy players. Once you see a good group you throw your most
powerful spells quickly and then turn around and run back to your healers as quickly as
possible. Dropping your damage on the enemy team AND immediately running back to
your healers are both equally important you can't kill any enemies if you are dead. It is
also very important that you use your powerful abilities only on the enemy healers and
damage dealers and not the enemy tanks as they are designed to absorb damage from
you.

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● Wailing bow: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: High]Wailing bows use the W
ability “Explosive Arrows” this will add to the damage of your E ability
when used before it. This is by far the most effective and most mobile hit
and run weapon. You sprint to the enemy line you use your W ability then
your E ability and then you are back to safety before they even know you
are there.

● Longbow: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: high] Longbows use the W ability
“Explosive Arrows” this will add to the damage of your E ability when used
before it. The longbow is much less mobile then the wailing bow because
once you find the group of enemies you want to kill you much stand there
and channel your e ability into them but it makes up for that by doing a lot
more damage. A good trick with the longbow is once you activate your W
 activate your chest ability “Everlasting Spirit” and then begin channeling
your E as most people will try to instantly damage you once they see you
standing still.

● Brimstone: [Skill level: medium Efficiency: medium]Brimstone staffs use the

W ability “Fireball” which adds to the multi-target burst damage they have
along the massive damage from meteor. Brimstone staffs are the
exception to the cleric chest piece rule. You will typically use the scholar
chest piece for the special ability “Speed Caster” this will allow you to use
your E and W combo very quickly and then back off to friendly healers. A
trick with the brimstone staff is to have the weapon passive “Aggressive
caster” which counts the number of spells you have already cast and then
speeds up your cast time. While waiting for the shotcaller call for the
engage use your W ability once so that puts you at 1 stack then when he
calls for an engage you sprint for 2 use your knight helmet for 3 use your
scholar robe for 4 and you will then receive the cast speed buff for your E
and W spells.

● Siege Bow: [Skill level: medium Efficiency: high]A siege bow should have the
Q ability “Explosive Bolt” and the W ability “Sunder Shot”. The explosive
bolt allows you to deal area of effect damage on a low cooldown and you
are able to maintain a lot of mobility while poking allowing you to find the
best position to setup your E. The reason to have sunder shot selected is
when you see an enemy tank inside your zerg you can sunder shot him
and he will take a LOT more damage from every other person in the zerg.
Your job in a zerg is to control an area of the map and put out so much
damage in that area the enemy zerg can't push through it however if the
enemy zerg finds themselves already in that area then they all die a
horrible death. When the shot-caller calls for an engage you want to
spread out away from the rest of the other damage dealers and try and
engage from an angle so they can't counter attack into you. Make sure to
trigger your knight helmet ability before you start your E so that it is harder
to interrupt you.
Secondary Damage Dealers
Secondary Damage dealers wear the cleric robe chest piece so they can be
invulnerable to damage when the enemy tanks engage onto them. The role of a
secondary damage dealer is to control areas of the battlefield and discourage enemy
tanks from engaging. You will NOT engage when the shot-caller asks for the primary
damage dealers to engage. Your job is to throw your E and W abilities when either the
enemy tanks are engaging into you or the shot-caller specifically asks for them.

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● Glacial Staff: [Skill level: medium Efficiency: high]As a glacial staff you use
the W ability “Shatter” your job is to throw your E followed by your W into
the oncoming enemies making them think twice about walking into a death
field. A trick with the glacial staff is to have the weapon passive
“Aggressive caster” which counts the number of spells you have already
cast and then speeds up your cast time. While waiting for the shotcaller
call for the engage use your W ability once so that puts you at 1 stack then
when he calls for an engage you sprint for 2 use your knight helmet for 3
use your scholar robe for 4 and you will then receive the cast speed buff
for your E and W spells.

Melee Damage Dealers

Melee Damage dealers are looking to exploit the enemy zergs healers and
damage dealers by jumping on top of them right after they use there spells before they
start backing up. The timing of this is very precise and in an ideal zerg you want very
few melee damage dealers with high amounts of precision and coordination or they will
be very ineffective.

WE DON’T NEED 10 OF YOU. 2 HALBERDS AND 1 GALATINE PER GROUP OF 20

MAX. There’s certain high specced and skilled people who run these builds. If you see
more than 2-4 bruisers in your party SWAP. I’d rather have a T4 wild staff, longbow,
infernal staff, or glacial staff. Melee dps is dogshit compared to ranged dps in zvz.
You can get massive claps that create insane pressure, but if half the zerg is melee dps
you’ll get kited and rolled by ranged dps.

● Halberd: [Skill level: medium Efficiency: medium]Halberd uses the Q ability

“rending swing” and the W ability “Internal Bleeding”. This will maximize
the amount of area of effect damage that a halberd can do. A halberd
uses an assassin jacket to stealth deep into the enemy lines before doing
massive aoe damage on top of the enemy healers and damage dealers.
When you stealth with assassin jacket it buffs the damage of your next
spell so make sure to use your E ability out of stealth as that does the
most damage. Another trick is you can use an invisibility potion to stay in
stealth longer and sneak up on a zerg from further away. Make sure you
are sneaking up to a zerg from a direction that is not there direction of
attack so you don't get hit by the area of effect damage directed at your
zerg.

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Support
● Damnation staff: [Skill level: easy Efficiency: medium] Damnation staffs use
the W ability “Armor Piercer” this in combination with your E reduces the
enemy armor by a large amount and will buff the entire damage of your
zerg. For a damnation staff you want to use the scholar chest piece with
the ability “speed caster” selected. Because of the long cast time on your
E and the fact that your damage buff has to be applied before your
damage dealers hit the enemy you need to be engaging before the call is
 made to engage your E will take about a second and a half to cast so you
must engage a second and a half before the damage dealers.

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● Malevolent Locus: [Skill level: high Efficiency: high]Locus is the most

important and overpowered role in a zerg. Locus users should have either
the W spell “Empowering Beam” or the W spell “Motivating Cleanse”. I
think motivating cleanse has better synergy as it leaves you more time
channeling your E. Coordinate with your shot caller or party leader to
decide if you will either be a defensive locus or an offensive locus. An
offensive locus will drop your E on top of the enemy zerg as your damage
dealers engage. This will stop all of the nature healers from being able to
heal and will purge all of the invulnerability from the enemy cleric chests.
This helps secure a large amount of kills. A defensive locus will drop your
E on top of your damage dealers and healers when the enemy melee
tanks engage this will prevent all of the stuns and roots and will increase
the resistances of your zerg allowing them to absorb more damage. Locus
has the standard helmet slots as well as the assassin hood which allows
you to lower the cooldown of the locus E this will change the cooldown
from 40 seconds to 25 seconds so that you can align it better with the
engages of your Zerg.

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● Occult Staff: [Skill level: medium Efficiency: medium]Occult staffs will greatly
increase the efficiency of your zerg. Occult users should have either the W
spell “Empowering Beam” or the W spell “Motivating Cleanse”. I think
empowering beam has better synergy with the E. You speed buff your
allies and you have the target you want to damage buff already selected
as they approach the enemy zerg use your knights helmet and then begin
your channel. When the shot-caller calls for an engage you place your
time corridor in such a way that a majority of your damage dealers can
use it to get on top of the enemy zerg quicker. Ideally you have 3 to 4
occult staffs that can coordinate with each other. It is very important that
they coordinate because if you overlap the speed buff zone and someone
walks over that overlapped zone they will lose all speed buffs.

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Summary
Listen to callers and ONLY callers. Shut the fuck up unless you’re a caller or you
have VERY important information about a blob etc.
If a shot caller says go in, you have no fear and follow that caller in. If a shot caller says
zone, you zone.