Chains and specials?

[Nhyx]

Hi,
I already searched in different places but by now I think that either there is nowhere an explanation
for it or the keywords I used were all the wrong.
Could anyone please explain or point me to a link where there is described what chains and specials
exactly are, how I trigger them and when they are triggered? Since I started open beta those three small
icons on the extra taskbar nearly never lit up. Today after the last patch they lit up after every other ability
I clicked. This left me totally confused...
So, what´s up with chains and specials? How do they work?
Thanks in advance,
Nhyx

[Lightning]

Any ability that causes a critical hit can start a chain, and counter attacks are caused by you blocking / parrying.

If you want to try your hand at counter attacking, select a mob that you can solo easily and just hit it once and turn off auto attack - let it beat on you and wait for a counter.

[Nhyx]

thanks for your answer lightning.
but it still makes me wonder why i (lvl13 warrior)
can use decimate after nearly every other attack
(brutal strike, kick, rend armor...). is it bugged
or is it meant to behave like this?
Nhyx

[Lightning]

It's got to be bugged - been playing around with this tonight and it seems you can activate a chain without getting a critical attack. The whole "I can do obscene amounts of damage" thing makes me believe it is a bug, at least. No other class I have played can do their finishing moves after every special, so it doesn't make a huge amount of sense.

Hopefully we'll see it fixed shortly.

[Nhyx]

thanks again for clearing things up for me. though i already regret the day they´ll patch my nice dmg away...
Nhyx

[Serihon]

I have a lvl 12 Dwarven Warrior and my experience with the finishing move is that it only becomes available after a critical strike. I get it quite often but I believe that it is because I get a decent amount of critical hits as well. This is usually because I am fighting things my level or lower.
I have attacked npc's two to three lvls higher and don't get the finishing move nearly as much so it is possible that it is working correctly.

[Lightning]

I've been getting the same behaviour up to white con 2 dot mobs, very odd...

[XeroKill]

Are you getting it after every ability still? As in even if it doesn't crit? When I fight even 2 dots or lower I tend to crit a lot, but certainly not every attack sets it off. This of course is as a Dread Knight, so for us it is working as intended at least.

[Lightning]

Yes, every single attack - it's madness. If I exploit it, and I try not to, I can score some massive damage by alternating between conventional abilities and a finisher.

I've bugged it in game, but if there aren't many people getting this it could just be something about a few people's characters...

EDIT: looking at the beta forums, seems it's a known issue - phew

[XeroKill]

That is just plain nuts... I couldn't even begin to imagine the damage I could if Wrack opened every time I hit Vexing Strike.... I would say that it would be awesome, but in all reality it would get boring really fast.