How to slayer?

[Woldy]

I really hate to play slayer but i'm currently trying to get all 'Legendary' Costumes so i have to get through him.

I have no clue how to play him, i can get around 350 kills on avearage with him but that is at the expence of taking towards 800-1200 damage per match. When i play Ranger vet i get the same amount of kills but with maybe 200-400 damage taken. And Iron breaker can go even higher at 400 kills with 100-200 damage taken.

I use the Greataxe for Armor and boss killing and the 1handed hammer for hordes, but the slayer has such an abysmal health pool for a melee only Career alongside really bad stagger potential unless i put on a Great hammer (Which is an awesome weapon) but using that makes me lose out on almost all the good things about Slayer, his attack speed.

So if there is any Slayer Pros out there, could you give me some tips? because Slayer is frankly, Slaying my mood...

[Crystal meth enthusiast]

I'm a Slayer noob, but you fail from very beginning. Starting with weapons.
Look for real Slayer guide with perks and weapons, don't apply fantasy, they never work.
NEVER 1h weapon and 2h weapon. It's only 2 of 1h Chad or 2 of 2h Peasant.

Once you got items and perks "by the book", it will be easy to play. You only need to dodge grabbers.

[Genesis]

So i'll just start off by saying that I'm absolutely no slayer expert but i'm currently in the same spot as you are with going for all the costumes and a few things I've learned are:

-Go for either double 1h or double 2h weapons and pick the related talent for it (I prefer double 2h)
-Get the talent that helps your skill charge back up quicker (adrenaline surge I think?) so you can constantly use it during hordes for the mega steroid
-Learn to take kills that you can get safely or without taking that much damage, IB and RV have abilities and weapons that can give them more time to "think" during combat but slayer has very limited stamina shields and once you pop your skill then you've committed (more or less)
-Dodging in my experienced seems to be the better play than my usual block>push attack>repeat

[Woldy]

Originally posted by Genesis:

So i'll just start off by saying that I'm absolutely no slayer expert but i'm currently in the same spot as you are with going for all the costumes and a few things I've learned are:

-Go for either double 1h or double 2h weapons and pick the related talent for it (I prefer double 2h)
-Get the talent that helps your skill charge back up quicker (adrenaline surge I think?) so you can constantly use it during hordes for the mega steroid
-Learn to take kills that you can get safely or without taking that much damage, IB and RV have abilities and weapons that can give them more time to "think" during combat but slayer has very limited stamina shields and once you pop your skill then you've committed (more or less)
-Dodging in my experienced seems to be the better play than my usual block>push attack>repeat

I'm that kind of player who dodges non-stop (Handmaiden and Witch hunter scrub here!) but since Bardin has 0 ways to make dodge better he is very slow during combat...

[Crystal meth enthusiast]

Originally posted by Woldy:

Originally posted by Genesis:

So i'll just start off by saying that I'm absolutely no slayer expert but i'm currently in the same spot as you are with going for all the costumes and a few things I've learned are:

-Go for either double 1h or double 2h weapons and pick the related talent for it (I prefer double 2h)
-Get the talent that helps your skill charge back up quicker (adrenaline surge I think?) so you can constantly use it during hordes for the mega steroid
-Learn to take kills that you can get safely or without taking that much damage, IB and RV have abilities and weapons that can give them more time to "think" during combat but slayer has very limited stamina shields and once you pop your skill then you've committed (more or less)
-Dodging in my experienced seems to be the better play than my usual block>push attack>repeat

I'm that kind of player who dodges non-stop (Handmaiden and Witch hunter scrub here!) but since Bardin has 0 ways to make dodge better he is very slow during combat...

Slow down. He has "Barge" perk that pushes enemies from your way when you dodge. You can't be cornered with that. Should help you a lot. But it on same line with perk where Elites damage you only by 10 HP.

[Haggis]

The most important talent is the one that gives you CDR when you reach max stacks of your passive. Being able to spam your ultimate increases your DPS by a large amount, but more importantly provides both crowd-control and an escape tool.

That's pretty much it. Jumping off into a horde and facing it 1v50 is generally a bad idea unless you took dual-hammers or a coghammer or some other OP horde-slaying weapon. It's usually better to aim your F at your own feet, and to fight next to your allies. You essentially play the role of the 'tank' (in that you are the one who controls the the mass of enemies whilst the rest of your team can focus on specials or elites, and use YOU as the anchor which they can rally around). Your high attack speed and increase melee damage, coupled with an AoE stagger on a short cool-down makes you excel at this role.

Good luck.

[Maitre Malterre]

Big axe, alternatively the pickaxe or a big hammer, two small axes or 2 small hammers
(the ones from the BtU DLC), and you are a ramp pig who is not afraid of hordes or specials.
On the contrary: as a slayer you love hordes - you are even addicted to them,
and every waystalker turns green with envy...

Always tag all specials and elites so that others don't get bored. Then even the champion is
really boring. Add the right talents as well as meaningful properties and attributes in jewelry,
and you're good to go.

[Woldy]

Originally posted by Crystal meth enthusiast:

Originally posted by Woldy:

I'm that kind of player who dodges non-stop (Handmaiden and Witch hunter scrub here!) but since Bardin has 0 ways to make dodge better he is very slow during combat...

Slow down. He has "Barge" perk that pushes enemies from your way when you dodge. You can't be cornered with that. Should help you a lot. But it on same line with perk where Elites damage you only by 10 HP.

Barge is still pretty poop. Handmaidens spirit walk is straight up better, bardin has short dodges so even when cornered his model usually cant pass through more than 1 enemy when cornered.

[Emilia Tempest]

You can practically go whatever you like as long as you are skilled enough(except if you are on cata). I personally enjoy going Great Axe + Dual Axes (greataxe for big damage, Dual axes for movement).

I always go the L25 tallent which gives you 30% damage reduction when you land an heavy attack, Barge is not even an option(dont ever use it) and the other one is just "only recieve 10 damage or half(whatever is higher) from ELITES and MONSTERS".

If you need more stagger, go for the L30 tallent "Crunch" that makes the impact of your slayer jump 100% more effective(it even staggers chaoswarriors, you can basicly spam M1 on a CW by just jumping at him and there is no danger in it.. 9/10 that is).

On the "passive" upgrade tree, never go the "4 stacks" one instead of the other two. Adrenaline surge gives faster ult and the other gives movementspeed buff per stack. The movement speed is neat and the getting the ult faster for more Stagger(through L30 tallent) keeps you alive quite easily.

And ofc, you need to know how to dodge good and push and block and yada yada yada.
And "reciving damage" doesnt matter as long as you dont get downed/killed. Like just look at Zealot and his might 1,4k damage taken!
-------------------------
Beyond this point there are just builds I use and the gameplan behind them, feel free to just ignore them.
-------------------------
If you need builds(I just say the melee weapons because aint nobody got time for that text wall), here are some:
Build for 2 2h
Melee: Pickaxe + Great hammer
Tallents
1/2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2
With the jump you can oneshot CW's on command or do massive damage if you hit the charged attack on an monster.
Hammer to mindlessly spamm strong attacks since hammer op.
The Speed tallent helps by being able to move quicker from side A to B and makes you able to just 'dodge' by moving away.

Build for 2 1h
Melee: Dual Hammers + Dual Axes
Tallents
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1
No Escape isnt needed, movement speed through stacks makes you an "Gotta Go Fast" sonic that just speeds through hordes(if they had no collision lol).
Hammers for Hordes, Axes for just triggering the tallent and boss damage(you could use any other 1h weapon, but I just want flavor thats why).
Just dont do "run left, run right". Move in ONE direction with your movespeed, happened often enough that I ran into hits by 'dodging' with my speed.

(CW oneshotting is fun but this is the most successful build I had so far, and the most fun)
Build for flavor
Melee: Great Axe + Dual Axes
Tallents
2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1
You can delete one CW at a time with your ult alone(ult onto a CW and spamm attack with Great axe).
Spamm strong attack + strong attack + normal attack(and a few pushes here and there since Axe is just a worse Great Hammer ;-;) for hordes and if the hordes are small just clean them up with Dual Axes.
Dual Axes only job is to be a movement tool but spamming strong attacks on monsters IS pretty good damage(better then great axe M1 spam).
You move with them by spamming push attack and generally the attack button with them(I found out that block cancelling the first attack is actually faster then just spamming the attack button, but too fast cancels lead to slower results).

[RNG_Wizard]

Use two-handers; they're real Slayer's weapons, not those umgak one-handers.

Two-handed axe is great for single target and anti-armor, cog hammer does great crowd clearing and also has a somewhat slow anti-armor with massive damage, two-handed hammer is excellent at horde-clear, and the war pick is for masochists but is also good with Dawi Drop for one shotting Chaos Warriors.

As for talents, focus on raw damage. You don't have to do this, but this is what Slayer is all about. Slayer's Fury in row 1 to reward you for headhunting, Skull-Splitter in row 2 for a large power boost, Smiter in row 3 to make taking down big targets easier, Adrenaline Surge in row 4 because it's realistically the best for this row outside of Impatience for super fast meme Slayer, row 5 is preference but I like to run Barge for an additional source of stagger and in the process a damage boost, and finally Dawi-Drop for one shotting things in the last row.

Play like a rabid, suicidal death dwarf. Charge your big targets, shred them to pieces, then clean up whatever is left. Use leap to meet hordes at chokepoints or corners and lock them in place while you shred them to pieces. You have so much attack speed and raw damage that playing hyper aggressive usually kills everything or at least sends it reeling before it can hit you back.

[Woldy]

Originally posted by RNG_Wizard:

Use two-handers; they're real Slayer's weapons, not those umgak one-handers.

Two-handed axe is great for single target and anti-armor, cog hammer does great crowd clearing and also has a somewhat slow anti-armor with massive damage, two-handed hammer is excellent at horde-clear, and the war pick is for masochists but is also good with Dawi Drop for one shotting Chaos Warriors.

As for talents, focus on raw damage. You don't have to do this, but this is what Slayer is all about. Slayer's Fury in row 1 to reward you for headhunting, Skull-Splitter in row 2 for a large power boost, Smiter in row 3 to make taking down big targets easier, Adrenaline Surge in row 4 because it's realistically the best for this row outside of Impatience for super fast meme Slayer, row 5 is preference but I like to run Barge for an additional source of stagger and in the process a damage boost, and finally Dawi-Drop for one shotting things in the last row.

Play like a rabid, suicidal death dwarf. Charge your big targets, shred them to pieces, then clean up whatever is left. Use leap to meet hordes at chokepoints or corners and lock them in place while you shred them to pieces. You have so much attack speed and raw damage that playing hyper aggressive usually kills everything or at least sends it reeling before it can hit you back.

I am using 2handers, Dual axes have pisspoor damage and no cleave, 1handed axe is just the same, 1handed hammer is actually pretty good for horde clear. But i frankly don't see any reason to make myself use them since they are far enferior to a 2hander.

And like you say "Play like a rabid Sucidal death dwarf" that is exactly the opposite of my playstyle, i'm more of a team player who sets up kills CC or snipes Elites and specials. (When i play dwarf anyway) I hate Slayer but i'm currently trying to get all the legendary costumes...

[DEAD RaNgEr 888]

how to play slayer:

1. swing hammer/axe at your enemies
2. use leap when its ready
3. repeat

[RNG_Wizard]

Originally posted by Woldy:

I am using 2handers, Dual axes have pisspoor damage and no cleave, 1handed axe is just the same, 1handed hammer is actually pretty good for horde clear. But i frankly don't see any reason to make myself use them since they are far enferior to a 2hander.

And like you say "Play like a rabid Sucidal death dwarf" that is exactly the opposite of my playstyle, i'm more of a team player who sets up kills CC or snipes Elites and specials. (When i play dwarf anyway) I hate Slayer but i'm currently trying to get all the legendary costumes...

Try running the 1h or dual hammers with the 1h or dual axes.

For talents, pick up Doomseeker in row 1, Thousand Cuts in row 2, Mainstay in row 3, Impatience in row 4, Barge in row 5, and No Escape in row 6. You're basically stacking attack speed and movement speed for super fast stagger application and the ability to zip around quickly, letting you scoot around the battlefield and get revives, help allies that are being overwhelmed, or just stunlock hordes. This is really the closest Slayer comes to support, functioning like a faster but less tanky Ironbreaker.

[nyandit]

Originally posted by Crystal meth enthusiast:

I'm a Slayer noob, but you fail from very beginning. Starting with weapons.
Look for real Slayer guide with perks and weapons, don't apply fantasy, they never work.
NEVER 1h weapon and 2h weapon. It's only 2 of 1h Chad or 2 of 2h Peasant.

Once you got items and perks "by the book", it will be easy to play. You only need to dodge grabbers.

Wrong. 2h axe and dual axes with the correct talents is for example a cata-worthy build.

[General Income Tax]

Learn your weapons, get a feel for how many hits it takes to down an enemy, figure out a priority list for mixed hordes/elites so you know what to hit and when.

Some careers require a bit of a learning period where you eat ♥♥♥♥ for a bit before you get the hang of it. Trust me though, Slayer can become one of the most braindead careers where you spam LMB and do little else, second only to Zealot.

[Ripthejack3rTTV]

Originally posted by Woldy:

Originally posted by Genesis:

So i'll just start off by saying that I'm absolutely no slayer expert but i'm currently in the same spot as you are with going for all the costumes and a few things I've learned are:

-Go for either double 1h or double 2h weapons and pick the related talent for it (I prefer double 2h)
-Get the talent that helps your skill charge back up quicker (adrenaline surge I think?) so you can constantly use it during hordes for the mega steroid
-Learn to take kills that you can get safely or without taking that much damage, IB and RV have abilities and weapons that can give them more time to "think" during combat but slayer has very limited stamina shields and once you pop your skill then you've committed (more or less)
-Dodging in my experienced seems to be the better play than my usual block>push attack>repeat

I'm that kind of player who dodges non-stop (Handmaiden and Witch hunter scrub here!) but since Bardin has 0 ways to make dodge better he is very slow during combat...

make sure u are aware of how many times u dodge, every weapon has an effective dodge counter(most of them is 3) which means that after u dodge three times in short succession the enemies will continue to track u thru the dodge, how u reset the dodge counter is by either waiting or jumping, put a jump in once in a while, if u endlessly dodge u will take more hits.

dont use 1h hammer on slayer, yeah it can come in handy in high play cause it has great movement but not really necessary on slayer

The reason alot of people take damage on slayer is the same reason that makes him good in the right hands, his attack speed and movement makes him much faster than other classes which means u are moving around much more and arent paying as close attention to the enemies as you would at a slower pace, YES having the right build is good as others said but more importantly u need to be more aware of your positioning,
Never jump in the middle of a horde even if u have the talent that staggers when u ult, better to either right click out of the ult, or just aim at the ground with it to get the attack speed and stagger boost.

also just because he attacks fast doesnt change the fact that u must be more cautious when using slower 2h weapons, when using them never spam its heavy attack more than a couple times, always throw a push or push attack in, and with stagger talents u will do more damage anyway, put it into your rotation for hordes, say it was 2h axe u are using, do heavy, heavy, push attack repeat, get used to it and i guarantee u will take less damage. but if u are on difficulties less than cata u can be more liberal with it
https://www.ranaldsgift.com/6/131323/10,7,2,6/45,1,3,3/1,3,1/1,4,4/2,2,3

Here is a great build I really like,
trust me on the Ult talent, it makes coghammer amazing for horde, u can move around like a G, and also good for kiting
hope this helps!