▲ Divios on the Orbita Castle Throne as the first Edana

[GM]Maslan

Congratulations on becoming one of the first Edanas here on the North American servers! Could you briefly introduce yourself?

Divios

Heya! I'm Divios! Longtime Striker/Succ Sage and most recently Wukong. I love all forms of progression and coordinated PvP. Been playing all 3 since release so about 8 years now for Striker and since official 2016 release before his release. ^^

DBM

Of course, so my name is Adam but in the world of BDO its DBM. I've been playing on and off since the game released but took a long break at the beginning and didn't really play for real until the Awakened Warrior was released. It's the only class I've ever played.

Fluous

I play Awakening Lahn and enjoy open world PvP a lot. I played briefly when the first season was released and it was really fun, but stopped and returned like a year ago. When the first season came out I remembered Wizards were really OP and I had to min max stats to try and be able to beat them. Now I have 4 NOV armors and like the min / maxing and trying different builds

 

▲ Fluous, in front of the Aetherion Castle

[GM]Maslan

Could you briefly discuss your class and what drew you to that class?

DBM

I seem to be drawn to whatever class has the biggest sword in any MMO I've played just like many other people. The combos and the way the class really has no downtime is fun, it feels very good mixing in the mainhand and doing cool stuff that you don't see many other Warriors do. The fast reactive gameplay is rewarding and there always seems to be a way to make a play in any situation. Always style > practicality.

▲ DBM, demonstrating Warrior skills

[GM]Maslan

DBM, reaching the position of Edana with an Awakened Warrior is truly impressive. What was that like?

DBM

Unfortunately I think 3 people no-showed the first FFA and the 2nd one.(punish them please!) but for the first one it was fun, I'm always excited to see some sort of new PvP mode. It came down to me and a succ ranger and I could be wrong but he may have gotten caught on some terrain which helped me catch him for the win but the chaos beforehand and seeing people hide in bushes was very amusing.

[GM]Maslan

Was there a particular reason or motivation that led you to challenge for the throne of Edana?

Divios

DBM

I think everyone wants it as an ego thing. It doesn't prove who is actually the best but it's fun to always prove people wrong and show that it is possible, especially when it's on a class that cant run and iframe away. The icon above your head all the time was pretty cool 🤣
The Cartian castle is looking pretty nice....

Fluous

I just enjoy PvP content, and Awakening Lahn is pretty strong in smaller scale fights but not that great at larger scale fights so it seemed like a good opportunity to engage in some new content. The concept is really good in my opinion, you have up to 10 people and a free for all where people only have 1 life but multiple chances to reset their health with V , DR tendons, and 5k Tteokguk heal. So you'll be able to make a mistake or two and not be eliminated instantly. I was going to do Orbita castle but I liked the way the Jordine castle looked and the castle room is really aesthetic. So it was fun to fight there

▲ Divios by the Orbita Throne

[GM]Maslan

What are your current AP/DP stats (combined gear score)?

Divios

Currently at 395/451, Definitely confident gear wise just had to worry about certain class matchups. Making sure to have all the buffs I could ready was honestly the most important thing at this gear point.

DBM

So I was too poor to get the Khan's Heart to be able to do the Enslar boss the first week so I was stuck going there. I was a little above the caps at the time but as of now I am 395/448. I'm always confident. Even years ago I was always undergeared and still did better than most "hardcapped" players back then. Recently I got pretttttty rng carried.

Fluous

My current gearscore is 882, 395 AP and 487 DP, I have the second highest gearscore on NA. I looked at the rules to the fight and knew I could play passively and wait out time, but I didnt think that was really a good strategy because I could get Black Spirt Rage injuries which capped my health under 100%. So my strategy was to just try to win by eliminating the other players, but I could fall back on my gear if the composition of players were disadvantageous to engage directly - such as multiple Rangers/Archers/Deadeyes

▲ DBM, resting near the Nymphamaré Castle

[GM]Maslan

Which buffs did you end up using for the challenge? Also, did you aim specifically for Orbita Castle from the beginning?

Divios

I made sure to have all sets of buffs ready as they are the only changes you can make mid battle. Swapping between a tankier setup with khalk perfume/damage reduction buffs and big damage with courage perfume/AP buffs. Also making sure to have plenty of whale tendon potions in case things get scary. As for castle I just went for the one that gave the most Edana Fragments. Personally the Jordine castle crown/area is my favorite but I need those Edania Armors.

DBM

No, I would've liked to go to Orbita Castle at the time but I wasn't able to. Ive always had my eyes on the 4th castle just for that area in Edania, also the cartian crown might be my favorite. Now I just hope I get picked!
Would be very cool if more people could be involved or at least make sure everyone selected is actually participating

Fluous

[GM]Maslan

What was the actual battle for Edana’s throne like? Could you describe the situation in detail?

Divios

Fight started with 8 participants. I knew from watching EU and other regions people were planning to hide on the towers so I climbed on top of one to clear them out. While up there I saw an poor awakening witch so i chased them down. My main targets after that were the Deadeye and the Succession Maegu's as I thought they would be my hardest fights if it came down to health. Couple minutes left there was only 4 remaining. Myself (Awakening Striker), Awakening Lahn, Succession Berserker and a sneaky little Awakening Maegu that I completely lost track of. With 40 seconds left I realize fight is going to end to health and not kills so I save my ultimate for when 2 others get a catch. The Lahn grabs the Berserker and I wound both with my ult. Only then the Maegu flies in with the final few seconds I hide and win due to wound on the other 3 enemies.

DBM

Since it was the first castle fight I didn't have to 1v1 anybody for the throne. The FFA was very hectic in the beginning but next thing I knew I was with a witch in a corner somewhere and after I killed them the ranger appeared out of nowhere and after alittle bit of chasing and watching the ranger flip through the air it was over.

[GM]Maslan

Did you have any specific strategies or plans prepared in advance?

Divios

Main strategy was just play super aggressive because i know everyone will most likely be trying to run for their lives and won't want to commit on me early. Plan was take out the classes that im worried about losing to later match first so i can leave the easier matchups for last. Only so much can prepare though with week 1 zone being so large I expected fight to go to time.

DBM

I'm always playing to win by killing everyone. I'm not a fan of stalling or running away but the biggest thing with warrior which goes for many other classes.... Don't let anyone behind you.

Fluous

I was just going to try to eliminate players one by one. Awakening Lahn has a good 1v1 combo where you can add or remove certain unprotected skills like Blood Moon Twist or Eradication based on whether other people are around you. But my AOE is very small and I have to be right on top of players in order to get off damage which leaves me in a static position. So I knew I'd have to have a lot of DR to soak damage if I CC'd someone and then modify my combo accordingly. I thought that most people would play passive at the start so if I could kill someone early I'd have less people try to intervene and I could get off a full combo and force a V or elimination. I didnt build any accuracy so I would have probably struggled if someone ran a lot of evasion and would have had to resort using BSR abilities to cap their health

[GM]Maslan

How did it feel when you realized you won? Also how did other Adventurers/chat react?

Divios

Was extremely excited because i couldn't wait to be the first to mess with/try out the system and show it off on stream. Lot of players were very surprised the Striker was me because shortly before the match i swapped XP with my Striker so he was 2 levels higher going into the fight and wore a very basic outfit. Guild was very supportive and I was very promptly flooded with DM's congratulating me after >.<

DBM

As confident as I am it was still pretty surprising. A lot of people were surprised and the messages were great. I think it caught people off guard since no one wants to see me win but the guild was happy and that's all that really matters. Shout out to all the roleplayers calling me king and people dming me for buffs every 10 minutes. Love you all.

Fluous

It felt nice to win, I was pretty excited. People were really nice and congratulated me so it was cool to have that feeling of accomplishment. I went to PvP in the region shortly after I won and the first player I encountered popped an AP Pure black stone on me so that was pretty hilarious. I think I PvP'd in my region a lot more than other Edanas. Whenever someone would kill me I would pop the buff for them but it was rare unless they were grinding as a guild in all the spots together. It was probably the most fun I've had on bdo being able to fight a guild 1vX with instant respawn and immortals. Not a lot of people would go into the marni zone so I would rarely kill a person more than once if they just wanted to grind and they thought it was cool they were killed by an Edana and the unique colored text I had

▲ Fluous by the Aetherion Throne

[GM]Maslan

When it was time to defend your throne, did you go in to it with confidence or was there a bit of uncertainty since it was your first defense attempt?

Divios

Went into fight very confident I wouldn't die in the fight but knew it was very losable with rules setup. With all the consumables and cooldowns fight was very unlikely to come to a kill. Was very fun watching the FFA from the sidelines just waiting to see who will become the Challenger

DBM

I was confident but also pretty rushed, I got home only a few minutes before it was happening so i didn't have a lot of time to prepare but I'm very happy my best friend hero_play took the throne. I matched up with him again the next week also but after me being tilted I kinda gave up, but now we move on to bigger and better castles.

Fluous

I had something planned for a long time so I wasnt able to actually make it to defend the throne the second week. The person who won is a good player so it would have been a good fight. With the lower time limit of 3minutes per round I would have played a lot differently than the free for all. I would run full glass so that if I got a catch I would be able to force a V / DR tendon instead of an elongated fight. I think thats the best strategy for a 1v1. Playing passive and going for time is definitely a valid strategy but with BSR abilities I think its a bit too much variance if you wanted to consistently defend

[GM]Maslan

Do you plan on fighting for the throne every week if you are not the current Edana?

Divios

Yea I plan to sign up every week. Will be pretty rough to get in at times with the current signup method as I'll need to get in through RNG roll but I'll keep going for the highest castle I can. Hopefully to Cartian or Caphras castles next!

DBM

Yeah I'll be there every week. Need that Cartian crown!

Fluous

Yeah definitely, I'm going to try for the Caphras throne this week, and over time I'll probably try some of the other thrones if people have held them for a long time because I think that'd be fun content to dethrone someone who has held it forever.

[GM]Maslan

Are there any classes you’d particularly like to avoid when facing challengers?

Divios

Succession Ninja is probably the scariest class to fight in current ruleset due to his bleeds. In general assassin classes with grabs are usually the most scary classes to fight as a Striker. Things like Awakening Hash/Awakening Ninja/Awakening Tamer and the likes are very difficult fights.

DBM

Ninja and Awakened Lahn are the most miserable classes to fight as a warrior. Please give ground smash a CC again so I have a chance 🥲

Fluous

The only class I really wouldnt want to fight would be an Awakened Sage, and maybe a Hashashin. Their movement abilities and iframes in combination with their high damage causes me to run out of stamina and have to soak up too much damage lingering super armors waiting for stamina regen. I have to rely on timing a really good grab vs them but its tough given their movement abilities. Also fighting a good Sorc 1v1 would be a little rough. Every other class I think would be atleast a semi-fair matchup