Warhammer Online RvR Guide

Don't forget to read this Warhammer Online Guide if you want to learn more about RvR. It features a detailed chapter about various aspects of RvR, including how to get more renown in scenarios and tips for fighting other careers!

If you're only interested in leveling to rank 40 as fast as possible, check this page!

For a guide specific to gold making, I recommend Andrew's The Ultimate Warhammer Online Gold Guide!

Looking at the map, you will notice areas enclosed by red borders. These are RvR areas where you and your enemies can converge in total warfare. Each zone has an RvR area and near each are two Warcamps (one for each realm) which serve as staging areas.

When you enter an RvR area, you will receive a message informing you of this. Ten seconds later, you will be flagged for RvR (this status is denoted by a red WAR insignia on your character portrait.) This flag allows you to attack and be attacked by players of the enemy realm. This flag is only removed after you leave the RvR area AND the RvR timer runs down, so even if your opponent flees at the sight of you, you can still pursue and destroy him!

The rewards for RvR in WAR are many: items, money, renown, influence and experience are all yours for the taking! Currently, Renown is gained by killing enemy players , completing Scenarios and by capturing/defending objectives. Rewards for earning Renown points range from new abilities available from Renown Trainers to items available from Renown Merchants. Please Note: The defeated player does not lose any items upon being looted.
Within each of these RvR areas are Battlefield Objectives. You can claim the objective by right-clicking it and waiting until the timer runs down. Once you have claimed the objective, you must defend it as the capture timer runs down. After you have successfully captured the Battlefield objective, you are granted Renown.

• Tier 1 BOs grant 400 Renown per capture


• Tier 2 BOs grant 600 Renown per capture


• Tier 3 BOs grant 800 Renown per capture


• Tier 4 BOs grant 1000 Renown per capture

Capturing Battlefield Objectives also grants 5% Renown bonus per Objective owned to the entire zone. Anytime you gain Renown in open field battles, you will get more Renown based on how many Battlefield Objectives you own.

Defending a Battlefield Objective will also grant Renown. An Objective is considered defended when there are no more enemy player kills within the area of a Battlefield Objective after 60 seconds. You will earn at least 50 Renown from defending an Objective if you've killed at least 1 player in its defense.

Skirmish RvR is the foundational system that all other RvR within WAR is built on. Skirmish is simply the rules governing basic RvR fighting, including entry rules, combat rules and rewards. Skirmish RvR offers open field battles between potentially unbalanced forces within a well defined, yet open RvR space located persistently within the game world.

Battlefield RvR is a mechanism used to define hotspots and target areas within Skirmish RvR. These hotspots are areas that help to guide conflict within the Skirmish by giving objectives with rewards granted to the side that completes them.

Scenarios are timed score-based battles between opposing realms. Doing various things within the Scenarios will give your Realm points. The Realm with the most points at the end of the Scenario wins. Scenarios have a population cap. For this phase of beta, the ranges are 12-on-12 to 18-on-18. Within the Scenarios, Realms are represented by colors. Red is Destruction. Blue is order. White is neutral.
Completing Scenarios, win or lose, grants you Renown depending on your Score in the Scenario. Winners also get Renown on top of the Renown granted from their Score.

Talabec Dam

Talabec Dam is a 12 verse 12 or 18 verse 18 Scenario in Tier 3 Chaos vs. Empire battle. Players between the ranks 18 and 40 may participate in this Scenario. This is a bomb run Scenario. Both realms must deliver a single bomb to their intended bomb target. Order is trying to blow up a large Chaos Sigil that is infecting Talabec Dam. Destruction is attempting to blow up a Windmill that is a major production engine for a local town off the Talabc River.

Battle for Praag

The Battle for Praag is an 18 verse 18 Scenario in Tier 4 Chaos vs. Empire. Players between the ranks 23 and 40 may participate in this Scenario. This Scenario features a Tug of War mechanic where one capture location will be open at a time depending on other capture locations. There are five total locations to capture running north to south in this battle-strewn terrain. The central location is the first one that is open. Capture it by clicking the banner. The banner will switch over after being defended for a short period of time (this grants points toward winning the scenario). The next location towards the enemy camp will open for capture. The deeper you go into enemy territory, the more points you get for capturing an area. Conversely, recapturing areas close to your home base gives fewer points.

Grovod Caverns

The Grovod Caverns Scenario is a 12 verse 12 battle in Praag. It is a Tier 4 Chaos vs. Empire battle. Players between ranks 23 and 40 may participate in this Scenario and beat the snot out of each other! This Scenario takes place underground and is a straight forward Capture the Flag map. Capturing the enemies' flag will score points for your
realm, and removes the bridges that lead into your capture area, one at a time.

The Maw of Madness

The Maw of Madness is a 12 verse 12 Scenario in Chaos Wastes. It is a Tier 4 Chaos vs. Empire battle. Players between ranks 23 and 40 can hop in this Scenario and duke it out. This Scenario is known as a Murder ball scenario. It features a single object that both Realms have to grab and hang onto for as long as they can.

Reikland Hills

This Scenario is an 18 verse 18 battle in Tier 4 Chaos vs. Empire. Players between ranks 23 and 40 may participate in this Scenario. Capture locations will overlap each other slightly in this scenario.

Keeps are a focal point of pride for your Realm and worth the battle to defend or capture them.

There is at least one keep per realm, per zone in all Tier pairings except for Tier One. Tier Two zones have one keep each (two per pairing). Tier Four zones have two keeps each for a total of six keeps. Keeps are the most important objectives in open field RvR, and can swing the tide of Zone Control in an instant if you don't defend them!

Keeps and Siege objectives are quite simple: kill the Keep Lord. After you have successfully captured the Keep, you are granted Renown.

• Tier 2 Keeps grant 700 Renown per capture


• Tier 3 Keeps grant 900 Renown per capture


• Tier 4 Keeps grant 1100 Renown per capture

Capturing Keeps also grant Items from the Lord similar to Public Quests.

Defending a Keep will also grant Renown. A Keep is considered defended when there are no more enemy player kills within the area of a Keep after 60 seconds. You will earn at least 50 Renown from defending a Keep if you've killed at least one player in its defense.

• Dark Elf Ballista


• High Elf Ballista


• Empire Hell Cannon


• Greenskin Orcapult


• Empire Boiling Oil - will be available to Destruction players as placeholder weapons


• Empire Ram - will be available to Destruction players as placeholder weapons

Keeps and surrounding areas will have several locations where Siege weapons can be deployed and used by players. Some siege weapons will simply work by interacting with them for a period of time to damage pre-determined targets (such as a door).

There are three types of Siege Weapons:
Rams are used against Keep Doors or other pre-selected targets.
Ballistae are used against individual players or other Siege Weapons doing single target damage.
Cannons/Trebuchets are aimed to fire at a selected location, doing splash damage to players or other Siege Weapons.

Players who have a high armor rating will be able to withstand Siege weapon attacks better than players with little to no armor.
Siege Weapons must be built on Siege Pads found in the world or on Keeps. These are the only locations players can create/deploy Siege Weapons. Furthermore, Siege Weapons cannot be moved once placed, although they can rotate.

Siege weapons do not require a Trade-skill to build and can be deployed by anyone. They are purchased from the War Camps or from an NPC inside the Keeps. Once purchased, a siege weapon will take up a single inventory space. These items have no weight, and can
be carried and traded by anyone. Players can carry as many siege weapons as they want, as long as they have space in their inventory. When a player deploys a siege weapon, the item will disappear from the player's inventory.

A siege weapon purchased in a higher Tier cannot be placed on a lower tier Siege Pad. Only one Siege Weapon can be on a Siege Pad. Siege Weapons decay to 0 hitpoints after 10 minutes if not repaired, or until destroyed once they are deployed.

Siege Pads are pre-set location on which Siege Weapons can be deployed. They are physically represented in the world as large slabs of concrete, slate, or otherwise engraved pads.

Keeps will have one Siege pad per destructible door for placing Rams (for the attackers) and several pads for Ballistae and Cannons/Trebuchets on the Bastions (for the defenders). The surrounding area of a keep will have several locations to place ranged weapons. The amount of Siege Pads placed will depend upon Game-play testing and terrain.

To place a Siege Weapon on a Siege Pad, players simply right click on the pad to open an interface window. The window will display the siege weapons available to the player to be placed on the pad. Only one person can interact with the Siege Pad at a time.

Only tier appropriate Siege Weapons can be deployed on Siege Pads. Tier One Siege Pads cannot house Tier Two, Three, or Four Siege Weapons.
Players have the ability to destroy and repair Siege Pads. Siege Pads can only be destroyed by Ballista, Cannon/Catapult fire, or by beating on them with weapons and spells. Siege Pads have very few hit points but respawn after five minutes.

Gaining control of a Siege Weapon is done by right clicking on the Siege Weapon once it is built. Interacting with the Siege Weapon will give one player control of the Weapon. Releasing control of a Siege Weapon is done by moving away from the weapon, or simply closing the UI.

Rams
Rams are large siege engines used to batter down doors. Up to four players can be seated on a Ram. When players control a Ram, they are seated on the Ram itself and no longer have control of walking movement. To release control of the Ram a player may right click on it or click the Release button on the UI. If a player right clicks on the Ram and it has less than four players on it, the player will be put on the Ram. If the Ram already has four people on it, the player will receive the message "This Ram is full and cannot be operated by any more players".
The number of players on the Ram determines the damage dealt by the Ram. It is broken into 25% increments. If the Ram has one person, it does 25% of its maximum potential damage. If it has three people, it will do 75% of its maximum potential damage.

Ballistae (Direct Fire)
Ballistae are large bolt throwers used to skewer an enemy player or destroy Siege Weapons. They are mounted on rotating platforms on the Siege Pads to allow for precise aiming and inflict massive amounts of damage to a single target.
When using the Ballista, players will go into a "sniper mode" screen that functions similar to a riflescope. Moving the mouse controls where the reticule aims (note that camera controls on the Y axis are inverted). When a legitimate target is available, the reticule will turn read and begin to draw inward. The closer the crosshairs are to the center, the more accurate (and more damage) the ballista shot will do. Moving the aiming reticule will cause the crosshairs to snap outward, reducing accuracy.

Catapults and Cannons (Indirect fire)
Catapults and Cannons are Siege Weapons use a very simple User Interface at this time for firing and aiming. One player controls the Siege Weapon and it is placed on a rotating platform so it can turn to face its relative target. Right clicking on a Catapult or Cannon will give the player control and bring up the User Interface to repair, fire, and aim. Clicking on the Fire button will bring up the AE fire mode which takes into account Wind (changes each time you fire) and velocity. Velocity is controlled by scrolling the mouse-wheel up or down. Yaw is handled by moving the mouse left or right. When you're ready to fire, simply click the left mouse button.

When a zone is captured, the contested zone will shift from one zone to another, all the way up to the Fortress zones that defend the Cities of Altdorf and the Inevitable City. When the campaign shifts to another zone in Tier 4, all Scenarios, Battlefield Objectives and Keeps in the zone that was captured will be locked and unavailable. Players that complete Scenarios in the zone that was captured will have their points contribute to the now contested zone. If players continue to Skirmish fight in uncontested zones, the points from these kills will not contribute to the Campaign.

Tier 4 Chaos vs. Empire functions:
- Praag is captured by Order, the campaign shifts to Chaos Wastes
- Praag is captured by Destruction, the campaign shifts to Reikland
- Reikland is captured by Order, the campaign shifts to Praag
- Reikland is captured by Destruction, the Fortress zone of Reikwald opens
- Chaos Waste is captured by Order, the Fortress zone of Maw will open

Fortress Zones are last zones before a City. They have three gates that protect the inner Fortress. Siege Pads are available for the attackers and defenders to place Siege Weapons. Any gate can be broken down to gain entry into the Fortress walls.
Once inside the Fortress walls, a single structure must be broken into. The front door as well as two rear entryways into the Fortress can be broken down.

A Public Quest runs the zone and the campaign. Players must kill the Fortress Lord within 60 minutes in order to enter the city. The battle moves to the City if the players succeed in killing the Fortress Lord.

To deny the attackers' entry to the City, players must defend the Fortress Lord for 60 minutes. The Campaign will reset back to Praag if the Fortress Lord is successfully defended.

Once the Fortress has fallen, the City is open for capture.

When the City goes into a contested state, it will become an instance. Players inside the City when this occurs will be given a message asking them to either stay and fight, or go to safe ground. Players that choose to stay are placed in the Warquarters of Altdorf. Players that choose to go to safety are placed in Reikwald (the Fortress Zone). Players not in the city enter the Contested version of Altdorf by going through the main gate or alternate gates. Once inside, players are in a safe spawn location behind three gates. They may right click the gate to be teleported to the other side and begin the assault or defense of the City's Warquarters.

Control over the City is determined by battling over seven objectives in the Warquarters of Altdorf. Gaining control over these objectives will work via population disparity mechanics. The more players in the area of a capture location, the faster the capture will be.
Each Capture location will contribute points over time to a "Meta Pool". The "Meta Pool" tallies points from across all instances of the City. Population ratios are in place to ensure that instances with possibly imbalanced numbers will contribute differently than instance with even numbers.

Simply controlling over the seven objectives in your instance will not result in winning. Players must maintain control and continue feeding the "Meta Pool" until it reaches the predetermined amount of points. This results in winning control over the City.
The Zone Control Bar will display how well your Realm is doing as a race towards the center of the Control Bar. If the forces of Order defend the City, the City will remain in its Contested state for two hours before resetting back to the standard Altdorf. The Campaign will then reset. If the forces of Destruction take the City, it will be open for pillaging!

I hope you learned something new from this RvR overview!

Remember, if you're looking for even more information about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, check out some of these guides:

• Warhammer Online Strategy Guide


• Warhammer Leveling Guide


• Warhammer Online Gold Guide