Destroyer PvP Talent Guide [Blade & Soul]

1. BASIC TALENTS

As a Destroyer, here are the basic talents that you will need to participate in Player versus Player (PvP) combat. A few talent modifications will be required against specific classes, primarily Gust and Blitz which will be briefly explained in the specific talent abilities below. Other aspect of playing a Destroyer class is to use Fury for offensive and Persistence for defensive play-styles.

 

2. ANIMATION CANCEL

The most basic knowledge that you will need to know to play a Destroyer is to know how-to animation cancel (ani-cancel) that involves clicking your right and left mouse button rapidly with the correct momentum to deal massive damage. This is your bread and butter and will require a lot of practice and timing. You can learn more from this YouTube video.

2.1 WRATH

Wrath will be the first ability to choose in order to perform ani-cancel appropriately in PvP and it will be available after using either Fury or Power Slam ability. This ability deals a ton of damage if executes correctly.

2.2 CLEAVE

Cleave will be the second ability that you will need to choose to perform ani-cancel and this selection (Tier 4 Stage 2) will allow you to do additional damage if the target is knocked down or grappled. It's a good practice to perform ani-cancel after doing a crowd control move such as Ram, Blitz, Power Slam, etc in order to maximize your damage in combat.

3. CROWD CONTROL ABILITIES

Destroyer is one of the classes in Blade & Soul with the most crowd control abilities such as leap, charge, grab and punch an opponent for a duration of time, stun, axe-toss grip and even kneeing an opponent. These crowd control abilities will be briefly explained below.

3.1 BLITZ (STUNLOCK)

Blitz is an ability that allows your character to leap to an opponent to either stun or lower defenses depending on the talent you choose. The stun lock talent is recommended against Assassin, Force Master, Warlock and Summoner. The Stun Lock allows you to chain stun an opponent usually after stunned by Ram and use ani-cancel as fillers in between stuns.

3.2 BLITZ (ANTI-DEFENSE)

Against classes with block and parry such as Destroyer, Blade Dancer and Kung Fu Master, it is recommended to use Blitz anti-defense talent since they will be able to resist your stun abilities.

3.3 RAM (CHARGE)

Destroyers mobility will be depending on this talent and getting the increase charging speed, resist damage and status effects as well as mantain stun, daze and knockdown for 2 sec is really an option that is definitely worth choosing.

3.4 DRAG (AXE-TOSS GRIP)

The most popular talent to choose from is the Drag (Axe-Toss) ability which allows you to hurl your huge axe and pull your opponent towards you which gives a window to perform a quick ani-cancel into a Grab.

3.5 GRAB

You can grab your enemy every 18 seconds after using the ability. The selection grab talent will decrease your opponent defenses which will stack up, gives you additional focus damage and blocks frontal attacks during grab.

 

3.6 KNEE

You can cancel enemy defensive abilities using knee which gives you additional focus and stun the enemy which give you the opportunity to ani-cancel and perform a grab.

3.7 STONE SHIELD  

The selection (Tier 4 Stage 4) Talent allows your Stone Shield ability to apply stun on top of recovering 20% health for 4 sec and extra focus during block. An additional stun is useful to get an opponent escape ability (Tab or Trinket) which allows you to perform burst combo without allowing any chance of escape.

3.8 SCORHING STRIKE + PILEDRIVER

Scorching strike is an ability that lunges your opponent into the air which you can then be followed up by Piledriver. It will be activated if Searing Strike, Fury or Retreat is on resist.

4. AREA OF EFFECT ABILITIES

Destroyers area of effect (AoE) arsenal of abilities ranging from the most powerful Typhoon (Red Spin), Hurricane (Blue Spin) and Emberstomp.

4.1 TYPHOON (RED SPIN)

Typhoon (Red Spin) with the stun selection talent is recommended for additional crowd control in your toolkit which proves to be really deadly. It can catch anyone offguard with a sudden stun while trying to escape from this deadly spin ability. Typhoon is best use against summoners which will allow you to cleave their pets and if enemies kept attacking you during red spin, they'll basically feed your fury/rage bar which allows you to spin non-stop.

Against other classes, you can use it on cooldown to scare them away when you see them popping offensive cooldowns.

4.2 HURRICANE (BLUE SPIN)

Hurricane (Blue Spin) is the most beneficial ability that damages as well as provides parry from anyone that's attacking you. In addition, with this talent selection (Tier 2 Stage 3), when casting Hurricane, if an opponent perform an attack during the first 0.5 second , they will be stunned which gives you the chance to grab and perform your offensive abilities.

4.3 EMBERSTOMP

You stomp the ground which inflicts a ticking damage over 8 seconds. This ability is usually being used when wedging (punching) an enemy during grab and end it with a power slam into ani-cancel or burst combo (Fury + Smash).

5. ESCAPE ABILITY (TAB OR TRINKET)

Destroyers escape ability is called Gust which should be used wisely to escape from opponents burst combo.

5.1 GUST (DAZE)

Choose this ability against classes without grappled and grab, with the extra daze it's effective against Blade Dancer, Assassin, Force Master and Warlock.

5.2 GUST (SUPERIOR ESCAPE)

I personally use this against  Destroyer and Kung Fu Masters to escape from grapple and grab. Blade Master's Phantom Grip would not be a huge threat as it is better to daze and reduce their over the top mobility.

6. BURST COMBO (GO-HAM)

Bursting as a Destroyer involves using one of your crowd control ability, followed by Fury (Offensive) or Persistence (Defensive), Smash and Animation Cancel. It is vital to ensure that you opponent's escape ability (Tab or Trinket) is down before doing a burst combo.

6.1 FURY 

Fury is the talent for offensive choice of play and if executed properly, you're able to do over 10k damage with a single Fury + Smash combo and more damage with a follow up animation cancelling.

6.2 PERSISTENCE

If you choose to play defensive, Persistence will be a better choice, resisting stuns and other crowd control effects for 5 sec and acts as your second escape ability (removes stun and daze) which proves to be very useful indeed. This ability is usually used when you're anticipating a burst from an opponent and is followed up with Typhoon (Red Spin ability) since it has similar 1 minute cooldown. Persistence is best used against classes such as Kung Fu Master and Destroyer.

6.3 SMASH

This ability is on the same cooldown as Fury and is recommended to be used in parallel as both abilities will be available on the next use. By choosing this talent, you will be able to do more damage on a stunned,dazed and grabbed target which is really deadly against any opponent out there.

7. WATCH DESTROYER CLASS IN ACTION

You can view Destroyer gameplay available in this article here.