cequia wrote...
How good are battle mages against pure melee characters in PvP? Anyone happen to know?
This depends. Let me give you the lowdown from longtime DNF experience on what other pure melee classes have that can generally provide advantages over battlemages. However, speaking liberally, experienced battlemages do very well against pure melee characters due to their speed.
Your best friends are phase shift and mana shield. Never forget that.
By the way, whenever I mention "damage scaling", I mean the system DFO uses for when someone takes a certain % of their HP in damage, they change positions (on the floor -> standing up, vice versa).
Striker - The two fastest classes in the game are striker and battlemage. Battlemages have the benefit of range in this match-up, while strikers can deal a lot more damage with about 3 hits than a battlemage deals in about 6. Battle mages can ground combo for a lot longer time, however. Both have high critical rates, assuming the battlemage uses a spear. A pole battlemage has more advantage against the striker due to the speed of a pole.
Monks - A good monk is a nightmare. These guys can combo you infinitely, and while other classes have damage scale drop, these people at high levels have the perfect counter and can kill in one combo. They have huge damage and hitstun. Their quick parry skill is also a nightmare, as it provides a high evasion rate when ducking and dashing (which is what they do primarly). All classes have trouble against experienced monk players, and battlemages are no exception. They only get better after the priest patch.
Weapon master - All blade master sub categories are a pain in the ass to fight. Each of the following can: Great Sword - Super Armour galore. Short Sword - Ground combo forever. Katana - Air combo (but scaling will kick in). Light sword - very long combos, generally considered the best subtype. Against these guys, you just need to get a good hit in, and they're dead in most cases, due to their fragile nature and battlemage's high critical rate.
Grapplers - Just avoid their grabs (because that's almost all they have), and you're safe. If you don't have phase shift and you get caught in a grab, get ready for a world of hurt.
Berserker - Come in fast and slow variety. Katana and Great sword. These guys will deal heavy damage, so it's best to come in fast and kill them ASAP. They have a number of proximity counters, so it's best to watch their cool downs and the range they have. Battlemages can easily hit and run for this class.
Brawler - Poison hurts. That being said, watch out for this class. You need to hit them without being touched, or you're going to take hefty damage in poison and possibly bleeding. A battlemage caught without phase shift in a good brawler's combo is as good as dead.
Crusaders - The status as a true melee class can be debated. Should be easy to fight as long as you watch their super armour and range. They only get dangerous after the priest patch.
That should be all the pure melee classes out in DFO so far.