Pommel Strike

Pommel Strike grips the blade and drives the hilt into a foe. The smash damage is almost beside the point: everything the strike hits is stunned, unable to move or act. It is the only hard control the Vanguard has, and the reason the class can fight without a shield.

Effect

The stun is subject to diminishing returns, so repeatedly stunning the same enemy yields progressively shorter windows before it becomes briefly immune. That makes Pommel Strike a tool for interrupting a specific dangerous action rather than a permanent lock.

Its reach is the shortest of any Vanguard ability, so you have to be on top of the target.

Strategy

• Stun the Goblin Warlock as it winds up a lightning orb; the cast dies with the stun.
• The stun is long enough to land Sunder on a target that would otherwise have moved.
• Diminishing returns mean the second stun on the same enemy is much shorter, so spread it across a pack rather than chaining it on one target.
• It costs little, so there is rarely a reason to hold it.