Battle for Dazar’alor is the second raid in Battle for Azeroth. The raid covers a lot of different fighting styles, pure Single Target (ST), small and medium cleave, as well as an actual two target encounter. Depending on the actual amount of cleave, this raid suits Assassination more than the other two specs. Subtlety might not be too bad either, especially on the ST oriented fights in the raid. High downtime obviously favors Sin more and hurts Sub a lot.
Usually the number of adds spawning, the interval in between spawns, and their health pools will determine what traits you’re going to run. For example, for Assassination, Shrouded Suffocation won’t be good if adds die in a few seconds because Garrote won’t tick more than 2-3 times. Echoing Blades is most likely not a thing, since it barely does any damage unless you fight huge packs. Scent of Blood might find a spot on longer cleave fights. Other than that we’re most likely looking at the usual ones, Double Dose, Twist the Knife and the new trait, Nothing Personal.
In terms of Subtlety traits, it’s most likely gonna be a mix of traits, depending on the fight.
All of the info in this guide is subject to change, I will update it as soon as something changes! Some of the stuff will be coming after the actual release of the raid, since I haven’t been able to test bosses properly yet. I’ll add details asap!
Updated 29th January 2019
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[accordion active=”” title=”Abbreviations Used”]
Before I go further into all the fights and what traits/talents etc to use, here is a list of the abbreviations I will use throughout the guide.
TTK – Twist the Knife
SoB – Scent of Blood
SS – Shrouded Suffocation
DD – Double Dose
NP – Nothing Personal
TC – Treacherous Covenant
Inev – Inevitability
TFD – The first dance
EB – Echoing Blades
BitS – Blade in the Shadows
PB – Poison Bomb
CT – Crimson Tempest
TB – Toxic Blade
MA – Master Assassin
Subt – Subterfuge
WM – Weaponmaster
FW – Find Weakness
DS – Deeper Stratagem
MFD – Marked for Death
ES – Enveloping Shadows
SecTec – Secret Technique
MoSh – Master of Shadows
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[accordion active=”” title=”Fighting Styles in Battle for Dazar’alor”]
Champion of the Light – Small Cleave (Low HP adds)
Grong – Small Cleave (1 Add periodically, high focus)
Jadefire Masters – 2T Cleave
Opulence – Pure ST (Addwaves on the actual boss, nothing to focus on)
Conclave of the Chosen – Multitarget fight, however bosses heal to full after killing one aspect
King Rastakhan – Medium Cleave (Add phases, multiple adds + high hp)
Mekkatorque – Pure ST
Stormwall Blockade – ST (Split ships, Add spawns)
Jaina – Pure ST
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[accordion active=”” title=”Gearing”]
The general type of gear you’ll hunt won’t change compared to Uldir, you still want haste, especially with the loss of the Reorigination Array (750 haste @10stacks) , but also depending on your current gear, your talents and your traits, stat weights will change. However, you can pretty safely say, haste >crit/mastery is your go to stats priority, just as usual. Going beyond that, we’ll look at trinkets/Azerite items. With BoD you’ll have a raid where every single boss drops an azerite item, which really helps getting at least some of them.
So, regarding Azerite items first, here’s a list of them in terms of strength:
UPDATE: With the fixed simc values of the Nothing Personal trait, some azerite items might have increased in value.
Helmet:
- #1 Cowl of Righteous Resolve (Champion of the Light)
- SS/DD first ring, NP/TC 2nd row, so you’re good to go in any situation.
- #2 Tidemother’s Cover (Stormwall Blockade)
- NP/TTK first ring, DD 2nd Ring, not as versatile, but in terms of ST strength, just as strong as #1 while also having a better defensive trait.
- #3 Crown of A’akul’s Dark Reign (Opulence)
- TTK/SS combination possible, might see some use, worse T3 tho.
Shoulder:
- #1 Mestrah’s Singing Spaulders (Jadefire Masters)
- DD/NP + TC, works for all fights
- #2 Admiralty’s Ceremonial Epaulets (Jaina)
- SS + Scent/Seductive Power, might work on some cleave fights
- #3 Phantom Stalker Shoulders (King Rastakhan)
- Scent + TTK, rather avoid those if you can.
Chest:
- #1 Mekkatorque’s Bomber Jacket (Mekkatorque)
- NP + DD/TC, solid overall choice again.
- #2 Vestments of Indomitable Will (Conclave)
- TTK + SS, a good substitute if you’re not lucky to get the other one.
- #3 Grongpelt Vest (Grong, the Jungle Lord)
- DD/SS + Scent, not too bad, but definitely not ideal.
Trinkets:
In terms of trinkets you can always check herodamage.com to have an overview of how much a trinket is roughly worth, however to be sure you should always sim your own character to be sure if it’s an upgrade or not. There’s a total of 3 trinkets in this raid, all 3 being pretty solid and one being top end even.
Kimbul’s Razor Claw: Bleeds your target for some good damage, while having a nice little side effect with the leech if you’re behind your target.
Variable Intensity Gigavolt Oscillator Reactor: Crit cycle trinket, really good overall trinket, definitely worth picking it up
Invocation of Yu’lon: On use damage dealing trinket, pretty mid-tier, nothing fancy.
Other than that, the usual trinkets come into play: Harlan’s Loaded Dice, Lustrous Golden Plumage, Doom’s Wake, Galecaller’s Boon, Dead-eye Spyglass.
The new trait, Keep Your Wits About You, allows some interesting gear choices on aoe content, but our ST choices in this tier are quite clear. Additionally the new ring allows us to stack our 2 strongest class traits (Ace up your sleeve, Deadshot), and further pushes down any of the off-BIS traits since they do not stack as well with the BIS ones. This means you will generally aim for traits with Deadshot and/or ace on them or wits for cleave/aoe. Remember that you only need/want 1 wits piece for BF enabled content. As always, sim yourself!
Here’s the Outlaw Azerite Armor list for Battle of Dazar’alor ranked:
Helmet:
- #1 Cowl of Righteous Resolve (Champion of the Light)
- Deadshot or Ace + TC, very strong piece.
- #2 Tidemother’s Cover (Stormwall Blockade)
- Wits + Deadshot, solid piece in any situation where BF can be used.
- #3 Crown of A’akul’s Dark Reign (Opulence)
- Wits + Ace, Not as solid as #2, but still a great piece for BF enabled fights.
Shoulder:
- #1 Mestrah’s Singing Spaulders (Jadefire Masters)
- Deadshot +TC, very strong piece.
- #2 Admiralty’s Ceremonial Epaulets (Jaina)
- Ace+ Brigand’z blitz, decent combination.
- #3 Phantom Stalker Shoulders (King Rastakhan)
- Brigand’z blitz + Wits, not a great piece, but an acceptable choice for your wits piece if you need one.
Chest:
- #1 Mekkatorque’s Bomber Jacket (Mekkatorque)
- Brigand’z blitz + TC/Deadshot, overall a decent piece, but there are some dungeon items that are better. This is the slot I would recommend aiming to get from residuum.
- #2 Grongpelt Vest (Grong, the Jungle Lord)
- Deadshot/Ace + Brigand’z blitz, overall a decent piece very close to #1.
- #3 Vestments of Indomitable Will (Conclave)
- Wits + Ace, Very strong piece to pick for your Wits slot in dungeons or BF enabled bosses. Other than that this piece should be avoided.
Keep in mind that this list does not include dungeon gear, and any dungeon piece you find can shift the piece you want to aim for in raid.
Trinkets:
In terms of trinkets you can always check herodamage.com to have an overview of how much a trinket is roughly worth, however to be sure you should always sim your own character to be sure if it’s an upgrade or not.
Kimbul’s Razor Claw: Bleeds your target for some good damage, while having a nice little side effect with the leech if you’re behind your target. Thanks to our innate haste bonus from alacrity this trinket is extremely strong and BIS by a significant margin. However this trinket does become worse as the target count increases which can cause other trinkets to surpass it for dungeons or cleave/aoe raid fights.
Variable Intensity Gigavolt Oscillator Reactor: Good trinket, comparable to many of the normally recommended dungeon trinkets.
Invocation of Yu’lon: A mid-tier trinket with the added problem that it gets worse as the target count increases due to splitting damage.
Due to the new version of The First Dance for Sub, Haste is no longer a thing really. The ~1.1k Haste you get is all you need to perform well. Other than that your focus is on Crit + Mastery/Vers, while pretty much ignoring Haste. If you’re really unlucky and you can’t get your hands on even one of the TFD traits, you might want some Haste to make your gameplay smooth and enjoyable. As always, sim yourself!
Moving forward, here’s the Subtlety Azerite Armor list for this tier:
Helmet:
- #1 Cowl of Righteous Resolve (Champion of the Light)
- Inev + TC, very strong piece.
- #2 Crown of A’akul’s Dark Reign (Opulence)
- Perforate + Inev, solid piece.
- #3 Tidemother’s Cover (Stormwall Blockade)
- BitS/Night’s Vengeance + Replicating Shadows, rather avoid this piece
Shoulder:
- #1 Mestrah’s Singing Spaulders (Jadefire Masters)
- BitS + TFD/TC, really good piece.
- #2 Admiralty’s Ceremonial Epaulets (Jaina)
- TFD/Inev + Perforate, depending on your other traits, definitely not too bad.
- #3 Phantom Stalker Shoulders (King Rastakhan)
- TFD/Perforate + Night’s Vengeance, mid-tier piece, definitely the worst choice in the raid.
Chest:
- #1 Vestments of Indomitable Will (Conclave)
- TFD+Inev, top tier piece.
- #2 Mekkatorque’s Bomber Jacket (Mekkatorque)
- BitS/Perforate + TC, solid choice if you already got 1 Inev/TFD.
- #3 Grongpelt Vest (Grong, the Jungle Lord)
- Inev + Perforate, good piece, might be better than #2
Have in mind, this list might not be the same for you, as it heavily depends on the amount of Inevitability and TFD traits you already got, since the first of both has a lot more value than the second and third one, due to the additional effect.
Trinkets:
In terms of trinkets you can always check herodamage.com to have an overview of how much a trinket is roughly worth, however to be sure you should always sim your own character to see if it’s an upgrade or not. There’s a total of 3 trinkets in this raid: Oscillator Reactor and Kimbul’s are both a really good pickup, with several dungeon trinkets being ahead or close to those. Invocation is rather mid-tier here, so try to avoid it if you can, unless you really haven’t got anything better.
Kimbul’s Razor Claw: Bleeds your target for some good damage, while having a nice little side effect with the leech if you’re behind your target.
Variable Intensity Gigavolt Oscillator Reactor: Crit cycle trinket, really good overall trinket, definitely worth picking it up
Invocation of Yu’lon: On use damage dealing trinket, pretty mid-tier, nothing fancy.
Other than that, the usual trinkets come into play: Harlan’s Loaded Dice, Lustrous Golden Plumage, Doom’s Wake, Galecaller’s Boon, Dead-eye Spyglass.
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[accordion active=”” title=”Talents”]
Next up, we’re going over into the talent section. For Assassination, the builds are rather standard. Either TB or Exsanguinate – Subterfuge or MA. TB provides more frequent burst windows, due to the lower cooldown and high average. Exsanguinate has insanely high burst windows if paired with several SS traits and Subterfuge, however a non-buffed Exsang is rather weak. Subterfuge also has some great value for Multitarget fights, whereas MA is pretty much pure ST and a really uncommon choice.
So the standard cookie cutter build is like this: 2212021 or 2212031 if you’re into Exsang. Sim yourself to know which one works better and compare it to the fight you’re about to do. E.g. a fight like Vectis favors TB a lot more due to more frequent add spawns, even though Exsang might be slightly higher for you personally.
There aren’t really any bosses that require a different talent build, there’s not enough AoE to make CT viable and everything else, be it ST or Cleave is done with one of the 2 standard builds. Grong might favor TB over Exsang, due to more frequent add spawns that have a high priority.
For outlaw you will be using the general cookie cutter builds for most fights 211XX22 or 212XX22 with enough ace traits. That being said Killing spree likely will see use on fights with add waves for the added burst as well as on Jadefire Masters where you can use it to generate wits stacks. As for the Slice and Dice it is still terrible, and the new set bonus from Jaina is not sufficient to make it good.
Update: With the nerf to TFD, the amount of talent choices has gone down a bit. WM and FW being really close, it’s down to personal preference mostly, with FW being a better choice if you can funnel damage into one target while abusing adds, like on Zul. Nightstalker has pretty much no scenario anymore, apart from AoE and “maybe” with 2 TFD + 1 BitS, other than that I think Shadow Focus just wins. Deeper Stratagem and Marked for Death are down to personal preference again, but also what kind of fight it is, MFD might come ahead a lot if there are some adds to use it on a lot. Looking at the Level 90 row, it’s Enveloping Shadows vs Dark Shadow, both being really good, Dark Shadow is usually picked up if you have some kind of aoe during the fight and/or you need higher on demand burst. Both talents might see some kind of play during this tier. For the last row, it’s usually MoSh, however higher AoE fights definitely make SecTec a good choice, probably not this tier though.
The usual “cookie cutter” build here is the following: 2322031 , but have in mind that different encounters can change this build really quickly.
Looking specifically at bosses, most fights will be done with the standard build, however you can swap to something like Dark Shadow instead of ES for higher burst on Grong add spawns, Dark Shadow for Champion of the Light (Maybe even SecTec if your group has trouble killing off the adds), maybe also on Conclave, but that’s about it. I’ll update if I have a different opinion after heroic week.
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[accordion active=”” title=”Traits”]
With the addition of the 5th ring on Azerite items, this opens up a lot of space for new combinations. SS + SoB for cleave fights, DD + NP/TTK for pure ST and so on. Since BoD has a lot of ST oriented fights, DD/NP/TTK and the new Raid Trait Treacherous Covenant (Have in mind the 2nd effect where you take additional damage) will have very high value. Even though some bosses have the possibility of having some cleave, most of it won’t be worth to focus on. Surely, having a second Rupture up on a target will have some nice value in terms of energy returns, but it might be only that, without any effective damage done. Therefor, most bosses will end up using DD + NP/TC combinations, maybe 1 TTK for the effect and only a few will see SS traits, with even less seeing any use of Scent of Blood.
So, regarding the specific bosses (this is not tested, just an assumption):
Champion of the Light: 1 SS might find some value for the phase where you actually hit adds. Otherwise focus on DD/NP/TC
Grong: Definitely high ST focus, DD/NP/TC combinations all the way
Jadefire Masters: Depending on the actual outcome of the fight, how close they are being tanked and so on, you might find use for 2 or even 3 SS with TC/NP, I doubt 2 targets will make SoB a thing already
Opulence: 100% ST, DD/NP/TC, no reason to use any aoe traits, even for the “add” phases
Conclave: Spread targets, small adds throughout the fight, multiple SS traits possible, depends on the actual add hp, how spread they are and so on, otherwise just focus mainly on ST again.
King Rastakhan: Definitely worth picking multiple SS traits here, Add Phase in P1, Add Phase in P3, so there’s definitely room for SS, while still being competitive on ST in the other 2 phases.
Mekkatorque: Full ST, nothing else to worry about
Stormwall Blockade: Full ST again
Jaina: Another Full ST fight
Update: TC nerf doesn’t change a lot, it’s still a really good trait, probably top 3 even post nerf. Have in mind that you might not have close to 100% uptime on some fights. But as you can see, there’s not a lot of room for cleave traits, surely they might see some use here and there, but the main part of the raid is gonna focus on ST.
Coming soon!
Update: With the amount of ST fights in BoD, your trait choices will mostly be around that type of fight. That being said and the class tuning being in now, you’re most likely looking at MAX 1 TFD, since the 2nd and 3rd one will have a lot less value and could be covered by better traits. 1 BitS has a lot of value and as I said in the talent section already, might be needed if you want to make NS work. 1 Inev is definitely a must have. Apart from that, Perforate (with the right talent build), Night’s Vengeance and TC are the traits you’re looking to get in the new raid.
Specifically about the bosses in BoD:
Champion of the Light: 1 Inev + 1 TFD + TC/BitS/Perforate combinations
Grong:1 Inev + 1 TFD + TC/BitS/Perforate combinations
Jadefire Masters: 1 Inev + 1 TFD + TC/BitS/Perforate combinations
Opulence: 1 Inev + 1 TFD + TC/BitS/Perforate combinations
Conclave: Might see some use of Replicating Shadows even, otherwise just focus on ST
King Rastakhan: 1 Inev + 1 TFD + TC/BitS/Perforate combinations, maybe 1 RS/NV
Mekkatorque: 1 Inev + 1 TFD + TC/BitS/Perforate combinations
Stormwall Blockade: 1 Inev + 1 TFD + TC/BitS/Perforate combinations
Jaina: 1 Inev + 1 TFD + TC/BitS/Perforate combinations
In terms of traits, Subtlety doesn’t have a big difference, since the strength definitely is in the ST area which you should be focusing on. I highly doubt any of the AoE/Cleave traits will make the difference, it will mainly be in your choice of talents.
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[accordion active=”” title=”Tips and Tricks”]
Champion of the Light:
- Stand inside the hitbox of the boss, with your back turned towards the adds. That way you do not get hit by the disorient or the Wave of Light
- You can re-apply garrote/rupture to the Boss during P2 with a mouseover macro (don’t autoattack) without the boss gaining any Zealotry stacks
- Use Cloak of Shadows to avoid damage from the Divine Mallets during Prayer for the Fallen
Grong:
- Apetagonizers spawn every 2 minutes, so hold your Vanish for them. Running multiple SS traits, Subterfuge and lining up vanish with the spawn will ensure high add-DPS.
- If your raid is struggling with killing the adds in time, re-apply rupture to the boss shortly before they spawn, then vanish>garrote the boss, shadowstep/run to the adds and garrote both of them too for maximum DPS.
- Rogues are a good candidate for carrying the second orb spawned by the Apetagonizers, since we can use Cloak of Shadows to avoid the damage and debuff from the first Tantrum, while also being able to feint any Reverberating Slams
Jadefire Masters:
- Even though the fight is a cleave fight in the first place, your target is always to finish one of them quicker. So SS traits are an option, however your focus should be towards ST traits (DD/NP/TC/TTK)
- Prey on the Weak is a great choice here, since we can always stun one of the 2 spirits of Xuen for 6 seconds, increasing the entire raids damage on them by 10%
- Rogues can cloak and soak multiple traps without getting knocked up in the air. The Magma Trap debuff will still be applied, so make sure to not step into any traps after your first soak, unless you have Cloak of Shadows ready again
- If the raid is struggling with killing the barrier during the Ring of Peace phase, hold your vanish for this part and triple-garrote three sections after they’ve been made vulnerable with the orbs. Step onto pets if possible to reach the barrier faster.
- If you’re killing the mage second, try to have CoS ready for the soft-enrage phase in order to soak additional magma traps.
Opulence:
- Jewels: Rogues are very good at maintaining the ruby debuff since we are melee and our GCD aligns with the 1second inner cooldown. We can also cloak mechanics and use our ranged ability to make sure it doesnt run out during heavy-movement situations. If your guild has enough rubies, go opal instead.
- If you’re running SS and Subterfuge, you might wanna hold onto your vanish and use it right before you get teleported. This allows you to apply a buffed garrote on both Golems. Make sure to refresh your dots before you get teleported.
- Focus on singletarget traits/talents, there’s only very little AoE going on (2 waves of adds, boss dies before the third) and it heavily favors burst AoE.
- Make sure to rupture one or two adds while applying the ruby debuff with FoK, and use the additional CP/Energy gained to deal even more damage to the boss.
- You can stack the lightning debuff on top of each other, since they only pulse every ~3seconds. That way you save space for your ranged DPS.
- Drop the Liquid Gold outside in the hallway, you can cloak the debuff but it will drop it on the floor so make sure to not cloak too early
- Important note: While the 100% Crit buff is running (Topaz carriers), do not rupture any adds, spam envenoms into the boss instead for Max Damage.
Conclave:
- Multidotting on this boss is rarely worth it, unless you have to leave melee-range on your priority target you will not see a significant singletarget DPS increase by multidotting the second boss. Go for full singletarget traits/talents instead.
- Prey on the Weak and Internal Bleeding are both very good choices here to help with the raptors. Internal Bleeding for slightly more damage, PotW for your raid to deal more damage. Keep in mind that even a 1CP Kidneyshot will still apply the full effect of PotW.
- Hold your Cloak of Shadow for bad overlaps to get rid of the Cry of the Fallen. You can also help the raid by baiting Kragwa during Pakus Wrath while CoS is active (targets 1 of the 3 furthest targets).
- Careful while refreshing the 2nd boss during Kimbul’s/Akunda’s Wrath
King Rastakhan: Most of this is based on the assumption of the P2 strategy that has all melee upstairs, and ranged stacking downstairs at the door
- SS+Subterfuge are very good here and highly recommended if your raid is struggling with the Adds in P1 and P3
- You can cloak the Frogs by running over them immediately after they spawn. Hold Sprint as well to get all 5 of them. Prioritize the Frogs that would jump towards the Deaths Door drop-spot.
- Make sure to use Blind on CD during P2. When mindcontrolled the game will occasionally blind other people, including the tank, which can cause major issues.
- You can cloak Deaths Door without it spawning. Do not do this if you’re using the aforementioned strategy unless you already have 4 Deaths Doors that block any incoming Orbs at the Entrance. (You have to pre-cloak when he’s casting it, so you immune the debuff itself.)
- Hold Vanish for P3 when Melee are using BL to kill the adds. Prioritize the adds over the boss at all times (unless they’re still CCed).
- Make good use of Feint+Crimson Vial in the last Phase, the Boss is not a DPS race and helping out healers here greatly increases the chances on a kill. Feint will be ready for every single Scorching Detonation.
Mekkatorque: Use Spark Bots for additional ressources on Normal/Heroic, only if close in range. Have a Step ready for the Wormhole phase.Other than that, there’s nothing special to do.
Stormwall Blockade: Reapply dots when they swap positions on the boats. For most add spawns, you won’t have to hit them or only slightly. You might want to save a vanish for later spawns if it gets a bit messy and hectic to ensure that those adds won’t reach the boss. Pretty straight forward apart from that, hit the boss and don’t get hit.
Jaina: Nothing really special, Dot blocks/barrels for additional ressources/energy returns. Cloak Ring of Ice to stick to the boss a bit more. Maybe save the 2nd cloak for the intermission so you can speed run to one of the further images and interrupt that while not getting frozen. Dot the Water elemental a bit while you’re running down for extra energy in p3.
To be honest, most fights are pretty straight forward and don’t give a lot of options to do something special. Especially on heroic I haven’t gotten the possibility yet to test around different traits, setups etc. Will update this every now and then when I come across something new!
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Update: With the recent Sub nerf on TFD and Sin being untouched, Sin will be the clear winner of this tier again. Sub might still see some value on ST fights, will see how Mythic ends up being. Outlaw has good potential on Jaina due to the ability of cleaving the Ice Blocks nicely and even gain ST from it due to the Wits trait. Personally, the only bosses where I could see Sub having value are Grong, Opulence (Shs->Evis during add waves) and maybe Stormwall Blockade.
Battle for Dazar’alor is looking to be a great tier for rogues, opening a lot of trait combinations that will make the playstyle a lot better. Also the fighting styles you’re coming up against look like rogues will find a lot of value, not only in the regard of soaking stuff, like on Jadefire Masters. ST and Cleave fights definitely are the area of Assassination, with Subtlety having a shot at pure ST fights. With the release of the tier in the next few days and Mythic starting the week after, I will try to update this guide as soon as possible, with talent/trait choices, but also with any small things I can find, that might give you an edge over others.
About the Author
My name is Tisumi, former Moderator of the Rogue Discord (Ravenholdt) and Raider in Myst on Draenor (~#50 World). I’m currently playing rogue, while focusing on Sub/Sin mostly. I will try to cover as much as possible in terms of gear, traits, maximizing DPS in general and maybe some special tactics in the new upcoming raid. During the first few weeks I will mainly focus on whichever spec is best for that specific encounter, however I will update it to cover all specs later on when I get the chance to play it. To have a second opinion, I will have Seliathan (Multiple R1’s and world firsts in M+ during Legion and BFA and currently in Familiar with Drama) to go over everything with me. For the Outlaw things I got some help from Loktark, also former Shadowblade on Ravenholdt, author of the Ravenholdt Outlaw guide, and a big community figure, especially among the Outlaw players.
For any further questions or feedback, feel free to PM me or Seli on discord: Tisumi#6156 // Seliathan/Incarnated#3477
