The Vanguard- Basic Analysis:

Introduction:

Hello guys this is Zachary Snow bringing you a basic analysis of the new Vanguard class in the Free to Play game Nosgoth. This will go over the pros and cons of the Vanguard to see if he is a good class and so you can know if he is worth using an artifact or runestones to unlock. Also, you should not need any prior experience with this class(including viewing his skills) to understand this analysis, but you may so be prepared for that. Also, thank you again to my friends Tryer and Shadow for h

Pros:

Strong at Mid-Close range combat:

The vanguard is no stranger to close range combat at all. With his skill line-up and his weapon he defiantly excels more at close range and mid range combat. All of his skills have short-medium ranges and his throwing kamas are quite easy to hit at close range and somewhat easy for medium range. He also can use his shield to reduce melee damage he takes by 90% and can block a few vampire skills such as the Reavers pounce.

This picture showcases a range where the Vangaurd can use almost all of his skills effectively and should have no problem landing hits with his throwing kamas. He does however have one skill that requires him to be in melee range to land successfully since it is a close range shield bash that staggers vampires, but even if that is the case this range can let him get in some nice hits before he gets to use that skill. His medium distance travelling charge can hit close and mid range plus knocks them down, and his AoE move can hits vampires in a medium AoE around him and instantly kills them if they have 30% HP or less. So as you can see his moveset allows him to excel in closer quarter fights.

Good healing/support/offensive skill:

Now there is one other move that I did not mention in the previous pro and that is his Rousing Cry ability because it provides a strong mix of healing,support and offensive potential for your team. This move gives yourself and allies around you 3%HP/Sec and increases movement speed by about 15% for 5 seconds.

Firstly, the move heals 15%HP for all allies assuming they do not die before the effect ends. This allows you to heal allies and yourself after taking a small or moderate amount of damage such as after a Air Strike from a sentinel, and allows your team to not have to worry about supply stations as often. Also, it increases movement speed which has 2 possible benefits being either to run to a better location/regroup with other humans, or it allows you to chase down vampires that are either out of position or are trying to run away.

Can stagger,knockdown, or execute vampires:

The vanguard has some very strong CC and team-fight potential depending on what primary ability(Q) he decides to use. He can either do 275 damage and stagger(brief stun) a vampire at close range, do about 150 damage and knock-down a vampire at close-mid range by charging at them, or do 200 damage to all nearby vampires and instantly killing them if they have 30%HP or less.

In this picture I knock-down a Tyrant by charging at him, and if you think about it doing that or using the other moves can provide very strong outcomes in fights. Firstly, the shield bash can do a strong 275 damage, stagger a vampire stopping them from doing anything for a quick moment, and give you or team-mates the needed damage/stun to finish off a threatening vampire. Secondly, the charge can provide the knock-down to further stop a vampire and allow your team-mates or yourself to finish off the vampire at the cost of about 125 less damage from the skill. Lastly, the execute can take down vampires instantly if they have 30%HP or less, which can be great especially if your team is using a lot of AoE abilities.

Strong against vampire melee attacks:

I will be honest this was one of the things I was looking forward to with the Vanguard and so was my friend Tryer. Anyone who plays Nosgoth knows how annoying it can be to spammed to death by a vampires melee especially when you are very new to the game. Well stop the presses baby because the Vanguard can hard counter vampires who like to spam their melee attack all day everyday. Instead of aiming down sights the Vanguard holds out his shield to reduce damage from melee attacks and certain skills by 90%, but he can only block a few attacks before his guard is broken and it does recharge over time while not in use.

In this example I am able to block several attacks from this beefy Tyrant and I only take about 86 damage from several melee attacks! This can be great to do things such as stalling to get your abilities off of cool-down, stalling to wait until your team can help, or even wait out melee enchaining abilities such as the Reavers haste and the Tyrants enrage. All of this also allows him what seems to be the best odds of winning a 1v1 amongst most humans.

Cons:

Fairly poor at long range:

This one likely comes as no surprise given one of his pros is he is strong at close-mid range combat. Now in the right hands he can be pretty ok at long range combat but that is only his throwing kamas and not his skills. Also, just like Alchemist grenades the Vanguard has an arc to his kamas so they are nearly impossible to hit at long range for most players.

In this picture I found it some-what hard to hit this Tyrant due to his elevation and due to the fact his quite the far range away from me. If the vampires are using elevation and distance frequently you will likely not be throwing your weapon until they break out a fight.

Unable to block certain skills:

Earlier I mentioned that the Vanguard can block some skills;however, as far as current testing goes he is unable to block a fairly large chunk of skills. This can be quite the problem especially in team-fights where the vampires will likely use most or all of their abilities.

An example here shows that he is unable to block the Tyrants charge ability which means he must roll out of the way unless he wants to be at a disadvantage. He is also unable to block skills such as Choking Haze and Abduct/Kidnap. If you want to get good at Vangaurd I reccomend you test out fully what skills can and can't be blocked so you know in real games what to do. From what I have tested it seems he can block most likely just under half(40% i'd say) of vampire skills that intend to do damage. So make sure to do your testing!

Slightly-Moderately slower than other classes:

This con is not extremely noticeable but can make the difference in certain situations. From testing the vanguard seems to move slightly slower than most classes expect the Tyrant by about 5-10%. If this is the case this means the Vanguard needs to keep even more an eye out of where the team is since he will have a slightly harder time catching up.

In this example I was able to keep fairly close to a team-mate if we were both walking or sprinting. However, I was never able to get very close to him and sometimes found I would fall behind a fair amount. So keep close to your team or you might be a lone wolf or have to pop your Rousing Cry just to catch up!

Conclusion:

Overall, I would say the Vanguard is a very strong class if used right. He can provide plenty of healing,utility,and damage to your team if used properly. However, he is fairly slower, unable to block certain skills, and can not contribute much to long range engagements. So all in all I would say he is a could pick if your team needs someone with good short-mid range damage,utility and healing, but if you do not need that choose another class. Also,if you love a closer range minded Humans this man is the way to go! Thank you for reading this analysis of the Vanguard and I hope to see you soon!