Warhammer Online: Bitter Rivals - The Orc Choppa!

The Call to Arms: Bitter Rivals live event corresponding with patch 1.2 is centered around the innate and intense animosity between the Dwarves and the Greenskins. On each side of the conflict, the armies of each are bolstering their ranks with the most fierce and bloodthirsty on their respective realms. The Dwarves have summoned the those bound by the Slayer oath to come earn their attonement in viscious battle, while the Greenskin Waaagh! has managed to lure in the battle hungry Orc Choppas with the promise of a "Gud Fite".

Orcs in general are a bloodthirsty lot, and most are pretty much perpetually itching for a fight. That they have managed to muster up enough attention span and focused purpose to even form their Waaagh! army is a miracle in and of itself. That their brutal demeanor hasn't led them to indiscriminantly destroy each other in a green bloodbath is another. This makes the introduction of the Orc Choppa even more miraculous. If your average Orc is impetuous, then the Choppa is just an uncontrollable whirlwind of sociopathic, brutal, destructive, and murdrous tendencies. At the same time, there is a beautiful simplicity embodied in this warmonger, whose one-track mind leads them to indiscriminantly beat something until it doesn't move anymore, then wander off to find something else to beat. According to Mythic entertainment, "Choppas are driven purely by their unending and inexplicable thirst for battle, which compels them to throw themselves headlong into battle against any challenges who stand before them... or against anyone vaguely nearby... or against anyone trying to running away...or occasionally against rocks and trees if no one is nearby."

When it comes to actual gameplay, you can't expect gamers sitting at home to fully embody the mentality of the Orc Choppa - if they do, we're going to be hearing a lot from Jack Thompson. Regardless, the Orc Choppa career includes class mechanics that both assist in fulfilling the lore of the class, while keeping gamer's homes safe - at least for the time being.

In similar fashion to the Dwarf Slayer, the Orc Choppa makes use of a special mechanic called Berserk, which is essentially a level dial that starts to build when the Choppa enters combat. There are two important points on the dial to familiarize yourself with. The first happens when the meter is about roughly half full, and this state is called "Furious". When the Choppa reaches Furious, they gain a reasonable bonus to their attacks and the ability to drain their Berserk to execute powerful finishing moves. If their Berserk levels reach max, they are considered to be "Fully Berserk", and their attacks gain a considerable damage bonus. Combined with this, though, is a debuff to the Choppas defenses, as their uncontrollable desire to destroy their enemies makes them fully disregard their own well-being.

A player can balance these two sides to the Choppa by choosing among the Mastery Paths available to the Choppa, one of which centers around maintaining the more tactical aspects of the Furious state. Or, a player can opt for the blind rage path and bring some added utility and maybe even a little bit of defense to the Fully Berserk mode. Striking a balance, and knowing which situations to allow your Choppa to go Full Berserk and in which ones to exercise a little restraint is the beauty and tactics of the class, and I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time mastering them.