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Combat Guide
So now that you've learned a little bit more about Pillar Karok, It's finally time to put it all together and utilize Karok's skillset to stay alive on the battlefield and dish out some damage. This topic will be broken down in three categories; Dungeoneering tactics, Sandbag boss tactics and Mobile boss tactics.
(NOTE: all the names, combos and terms mentioned above will be used. Make sure you know them before you start reading this.)

Dungeoneering Tactics
In dungeons, mobs and bosses have lower HP than in raids. Karok's gameplay can be adjusted accordingly. When farming a dungeon, you often want fast navigation through the dungeon. Hence it is recommended sticking with Bison and Lion Form throughout the whole battle. Speed and stamina restoration really help clearing the dungeon faster. Use Bison Form when collecting luminaries and dodge-rolling through the dungeon. Use Lion Form when low on stamina.
There is also a little trick () that helps you climb over obstacles faster. When pressing E to climb, keep holding the E button to trigger Auto Clash. This will skip the climbing animation (Note: does not work for ladders). Mobs are really easy to kill on Karok. Use the skills that have the biggest area of effect (Mammoth skills work excellent). Bison charge is also a good mob cleaner, since it has a lot of forward movement.

Sandbag Boss Tactics
In sandbad situations it is advised to use the combo that does the most damage as much as possible.
A sandbag boss barely uses any attacks, and when he does, it are often easy avoidable ones. Out of all possible combo chains that Karok has, I have found that the following combo easily outdamages the other combos:

1) Activating Mammoth Form
Bison Charge-Mammoth Sweep-Mammoth Crush-Pulverize

2) Continuation of the combo after step 1
Pulverize Blitz-Jumbo Pounce-Warslam-Warslam(repeat 1-2 times)-Bison Charge

3) Note that after step 2, you can repeat step 1. However, your Mammoth Form is already activated, so there is no need to execute Pulverize anymore.

4) Don't forget to use SP: Whirlwind and SP: Earthquake whenever possible. Whirlwind recovers a bit of your stamina, and allows you to restart the combo chain from a new point of entry: Lion Smash. Earthquake simply does massive amount of damage.

5) Don't forget clashing for your party whenever possible. This is really important.

Mobile Boss Tactics
When dealing with small, mobile or fast bosses, dealing damage becomes significantly more difficult. When facing these kind of bosses, I recommend turning on auto aim, so that the smashes will land more often. Dodge Roll is also a skill that you should be using more often when dealing with fast multihits, since the absorb frames of Dodge Roll are by far the longest, and allow for more mistakes. Try switching between Lion and Mammoth Form to manage damage and stamina output. There are different ways to approach a fast/mobile boss:

1) Poke and Run: Hit the air until you get to your hardest hitting smashes (Mammoth skills), and hit the boss with them. Retreat. This is a good tactic to use when dealing with small bosses that are barely visible (Iset). This way, you avoid getting hit and still dish some damage. A really "safe" way to play. Use Earthquake as often as possible, use Whirlwind when boss is downed.

2)Infighting
This is a good strategy to use when dealing with a boss that has mediocre speed and some multihits. When using this strategy, you stick close to the boss, and try to trigger as many Pillar counters as you can. You can easily deal with one-two's by using Whale Bang->Whale Bang 2. This also triggers pillar counter twice. If you have a lot of speed, you can try chaining it into the combo for Sandbag bosses. Try maintaining your Mammoth Form for as long as possible. Switch to Lion Form when running out of stamina. Use Earthquake and Whirlwind as often as possible.

Videos
t.b.a

Top Deeps: Pillar Counter
To get the most out of Karok's damage output, it is recommended to use Pillar Counter as much as possible. Pillar Counter is a skill that deals additional smash damage. Pillar Counter is activated when the player lands a hit with a specific skill after or during an Absorb with that skill.

Pillar Counter can also be extended in some situations. When a player activates a Pillar Counter on e.g Lion Crash, but misses the target, the next Lion Crash will trigger Pillar Counter instead. However, this only works if you do not use any other skills inbetween. Pillar Counter can also be carried over to the next corresponding smash. This only works for specific combinations, which I'll let you find out on your own.

In general, Pillar Counter is affected by combo bonus and can really boost your overall damage. Not all of Karok's smashes can activate Pillar Counter. Here is a list of smashes that are compatible with Pillar Counter:
- Lion Crash
- Lion Smash
- Pulverize
- Pulverize Blitz
- Bison Charge
- Jumbo Pounce
- Drop Kick
- Mammoth Crush
- Mammoth Crash
- Whale Bang
- Whale Bang 2

Neverending Combos: Grizzly Uppercut
Karok has the ability to chain his smashes to other smashes. By doing so, Karok can unleash a never ending barrage of medium to hard hitting smashes. Please note that this does require a certain amount of time practicing, because certain combo chains have a specific timing. After maxing the skill Chain Combo: Grizzly Uppercut, Karok can chain the following smashes together:

Lion Crash→Bison Charge (Lion Crash-L)
Lion Smash→Mammoth Sweep (Lion Smash-L)
Bison Charge→Mammoth Sweep (Bison Charge-L)
Warslam (Repeated hits phase) → Bison Charge (Warslam-Tab)
Whale Bang 2 → Bison Charge (Whale Bang 2-Tab)

Hello guys, I thought it would be a good idea to port my Pillar Karok guide over from the EU forums. Since the skill names are different for NA/EU, I would appreciate someone from NA translating the EU skills to NA ones so that I can adjust them in the guide for both regions to understand.



Introduction
Do you like smashing things? Do you often find yourself being that one guy in the boat that always destroys all the crates, pumpkins and barrels? Are you sick and tired of being a skinny, small, insignificant peasant? And most of all, do you enjoy utilizing a diverse set of never-ending combos? You're at the right place. From unarmed combat to complex, long combo chains, Pillar Karok has it all. It might seem overwhelming at first, but once you memorize his skillset, prepare yourself to be amazed by how fun this fat ball of muscle can be!

Before we start
In this guide, only combat tactics will be explained. This is NOT a gear guide, or a skill levelling guide. The reason being that you can get AP really fast nowadays, thus levelling skills in a particular order is not really necessary anymore. When I have time; videos, skill icons and misc descriptions will be added.

Basic Skills
In this section I will explain the very basics of the basics, which include Karok's zero, first, second and third smash.

Whale Bomb (R)
Karok's zero smash. Headbutt. Do I need to tell you more? I will later.

Lion crash (L-R)
Karok's first smash. This smash can be executed by smashing after the first normal. Lion crash is an incredibly useful skill. Since Pillar karok does not have high attack speed, this smash works really well in situations where you're dealing with small, fast bosses or mobs. It also has a lifting effect. Lion crash can be used to trigger absorb and pillar counter, which will be discussed later.

Bison charge(L-L-R)
Karok's second smash. This smash can be executed by smashing after the second normal. Bison charge is where all the fun is at. Nothing feels more satisfying than charging through a cluster of mobs while simultaneously breaking every bone in their body. Bison charge is a really useful smash that can be used to deal damage while moving forward. Since the revamp, bison charge also does quite a lot of damage.

Mammoth Sweep(L-L-L-R)
Karok's third smash. This smash can be executed by smashing after the third normal. Mammoth Sweep is a buildup to some harder hitting smashes, that will be discussed later. Besides building up to bigger smashes, mammoth sweep can also be used to absorb a hit with Absorb shock. ​

Extended Basic Skills
In this section I will explain the extended smashes that Pillar karok has, which can be used after his basic smashes. This does not yet include the general smashes like dropkick and jumbo pounce. They will be discussed later.

Lion smash (Lion crash-R)
Karok's additional first smash. This smash can be executed by smashing after the first smash (Lion crash). Lion smash is much like its previous Lion crash. It also has a swift animation which makes it useful when fighting fast monsters.

Mammoth Crash(Mammoth Sweep-R)
Karok's additional third smash. This smash can be executed by smashing after the third smash(Mammoth Sweep). Mammoth Crash is one of Karok's hardest hitting smashes. The animation time of Mammoth Crash is quite long, and cannot always be used in every situation. Mammoth Crash has a really big hitbox, and can hit twice if you're standing close to the monster. Always try to hug the boss so that you will land both hits.

Mammoth Crush(Mammoth Crash-R)
Here is where it gets confusing. Mammoth Crush is an additional smash of Mammoth Crash. Mammoth Crush can be executed after you have performed Mammoth Crash. It does slightly less damage than Mammoth Crash, but hits quite hard nonetheless. The execution time is also slightly faster than its predecessor.

Whale Bomb 2(Whale Bomb-L(repeat))
Headbutt's additional smashes. These are swift swipes with the pillar that can be used to quickly absorb incoming hits. Damage is not really significant.

Warslam (repeatable) (Whale Bomb-R(repeat))
Headbutt's other additional smashes. These are swift stomps with the pillar that can be used to chain into other smashes or skills. Will be adressed later.

Additional Smashes
For the sake of explaining, I will refer to the following skills as additional smashes. Since pillar karok has many smashes, these can now be categorized easier.
So, you now know of Karok's basic smashes and extended basic smashes. Besides those, Pillar Karok also has additional smashes, which can be used after some of Karok's basic and/or extended basic smashes.

Jumbo pounce (press E after specific smash)
One of Pillar's additional smash is Jumbo Pounce. This skill has a short execution time, and hits quite hard. Here is a list of smashes that work with Jumbo pounce:- Lion Crash- Lion Smash - War Slam- Bison Charge- Dropkick- Mammoth Sweep- Mammoth Crush- Mammoth Crash- Pulverize- Pulverize Blitz

Dropkick (Press "kick button" after specific smash)
Another additional smash that Pillar can use is Dropkick. Dropkick is a very situational smash that cannot always be used. Just like Mammoth Crush and Crash, Dropkick has two hits. Try hugging the boss when using it. Here is a list of compatible smashes for Dropkick:- Bison Charge- Pillar Charge (When getting the animation after a certain amount of time of running) ---> Note: You do not have to activate Pillar charge to use dropkick. This is optional.- Warslam's additional hits ---> Note: Does not work for the first warslam

Pulverize/Pulverize Blitz (Rightclick after specific smashes)
The final two additional smashes that Pillar Karok can use are Pulverize and Pulverize Blitz. Pulverize is a medium-hitting skill that hits twice. Pulverize Blitz is a follow up of Pulverize. Blitz hits the target three times and does nice damage. There are some gimmicks to Pulverize which will be explained later. Here is a list of compatible smashes for Pulverize:- Lion smash- Bison Charge- Drop Kick- Mammoth Crash

Absorbing and Dodging
To survive in battles, you either need tons of graces and merc pots, or the ability to dodge/negate damage. There are four ways for Karok to dodge or negate damage.

Absorbing
Karok can "tank" incoming damage by utilizing his absorb frames. Absorb frames are animation frames that certain skills have. Absorb can be utilized by synchronizing these absorb frames to the boss attacks. Certain skills have longer frames than others. Absorb frame durations and their applications will be discussed in the tactics section.

Perfect Absorbing
Perfect Absorb is essentially the same as Absorbing. A Perfect Absorb can be executed by almost simultaneously taking damage from the boss and Absorbing. Using Perfect Absorb can be tricky, but has a really useful effect; it can "block" unblockable hits (like havan's ground punch AoE).

Getting out of the way
This speaks for itself. When your stamina is running low, it's best to simply step aside to avoid damage.

Invunerability Frames
Invunerability frames are animation frames that render it's user invunerable. When a play is invunerable, he can not be hit by attacks. There are three ways for Karok to become invunerable for a short time:
- Transform animation
- SP: Earthquake
- XE move

Both are fun and good in their own way. Here are my pros and cons for both:

Pillar Pros
- Lots of different combos
- Good survivability
- Fun skills and gimmicks
- Good damage

Pillar Cons
- Hard to hit small/fast bosses
- May feel really slow without enough attackspeed

Cestus Pros
- Superb Damage
- Naturally quite efficient due to skill buffs
- Satisying to master

Cestus Cons
- Stamina Issues
- Constant buff management (can be either pro/con however you look at it)

Hope this helps!

Hello.

I am Morghus, pretty much the best Karok EU. Hope to carry you guys in raids soon ;o)
Also, would you like to answer this poll for me while you read this?

Thanks in advance!

/end of banter