Warhammer Online: Choppa Career Guide

The wait is over! Mythic has finally filled out its lineup of character careers by adding the much awaited slayer and choppa careers to the game. By now you've either done the Bitter Rivals event and unlocked your slayer early or have been granted access to the career with the rest of the player base. But what now? How should you play the choppa? What are its weaknesses and strengths? And most importantly, what on earth should you choose for tactics and masteries? Well worry not. This guide will take you through the ins and outs of playing the choppa?

This is what Warhammer Online has to say about Choppas: “Orcs are always itching for a fight, and at the best of times their insatiable bloodlust is barely restrained long enough to form some sort of rudimentary plan of attack. Choppas don't even have that minimal self-restraint. Ornery and savage, their one-track mind is dead seat on getting stuck in and bashin' heads! Chopping is what they live for, chopping is what they are best at, and this one-track focus makes them ferocious fighters. As such, a Choppa who lives long enough quickly turns out to be the most elite fighter of the Greenskin horde, wreaking havoc throughout enemy lines purely for the sake of satisfying their own self-indulgent bloodlust.”

The choppa is a bloodlusting warrior of immense strength and power, and much of this comes from the rage he carries within. As soon as a choppa enters combat, his enrage bar starts to build. While it is in the first zone, Normal, (0-24) he has no combat bonuses or combat penalties. While in the second zone, Furious!, (25-75) the choppa receives a 25% damage bonus and has no defensive penalties. Upon reaching Furious!, many of the choppa’s most powerful attacks, called exhaustive blows, are unlocked. Using these attacks will remove all the choppas rage points – proper management of these skills is important to playing the choppa. The player must decide whether or not to use an exhaustive blow or allow the choppa to build into the final rage zone, Berserk! (75-100). While in Berserk!, the choppa does 50% extra damage, but also has his armor and resists reduced by 50%.

Playing a choppa is all about walking the dangerously thin edge of control. While in Berzerk!, a choppa does a frightening amount of damage, but he is also extremely vulnerable. Proper management of rage through exhaustive blows and other abilities is essential to being a good choppa – it doesn’t matter how much damage you can do if you don’t live long enough to dish it out. Choppas have some of the most powerful AoE abilities of any melee DPS class, so its important for them to be aggressive and take the fight right to the heart of the enemy whenever possible. Keep in mind that Choppas have the worst defenses of any melee DPS class, so almost as much effort has to be put into staying alive as is put into dealing the hurt. A dedicated healer or guard will make your job as choppa significantly easier.

Da’ Savage is all about utility and survivability. Many of the choppa’s most useful talents are in this tree, and many choppas choose this path as their secondary path even if they put the majority of their points elsewhere. Wot Rules? Is a tactic that many choppas claim to be essential, as it allows you to use exhaustive blows without removing your rage. The second to last learned skill in this tree, Furious Choppin’, heals you as you do damage, and is one of the best tools a choppa has for surviving a long fight. While perhaps not as high damage as the other two paths, for the beginning or jack of all trades choppa, this tree is essential.

The path of Da’ Hitta is all about dealing powerful exhaustive blows, and followers of this path are given new ones to work with and talents to make those blows more powerful. Da’ Hitta also requires the use of a great weapon, which does slightly less overall damage than duel wielding, but has greater burst potential. Follow this path if you want to take down healers and casters quickly, before they have a chance to flee or heal. The two exhaustive blows learned in this tree put huge debuffs on your enemies, so its hard not to recommend this path to people who like getting killing blows and wreaking havoc on RvR back lines. If you like two-handed weapons and you don’t mind a little damage inconsistency, then this path is for you.

The path of Da’ Wrecka is all about dealing huge amounts of AoE damage, and it is arguably the most powerful tree. It fits the closest with the choppas playstyle and many of the skills in the tree are immensely powerful. Git to Da Choppa allows you to do damage and simultaneously pull your victims toward you while you prepare to unleash one of your many other powerful AoE abilities. Extra Choppin’ makes a good skill amazing, allowing Lotsa Choppin’ to hit three times as many targets. If you want to top the damage charts by large margins and cause your enemies to flee in fear when you approach, then this is most definitely the path you want to follow.

As a brand new class, expect the choppa to undergo some changes as Mythic works out all the kinks and bugs. Playing melee DPS is not always easy, and as a choppa, you are one of the easiest to kill, so be prepared to die a lot, or make friends with a healer. The class itself is a blast to play - powerful and dynamic, its hard not to enjoy taking your green powerhouse out onto the field of battle. Not to mention that the choppa has some of the funniest lines and abilities - Get to Da' Choppa, anyone. This class has staying power, and lots of potential to be fun so be sure to check it out.

Be sure to check the MMO channel and it's RSS feed for more Warhammer Articles and the guide to the Choppa's mirror class, the Slayer: Warhammer Online: Slayer Career Guide

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