R&B is an Ardent-type mid-ranged Nuker. The interesting feature he holds is that his weapon attacks are fired at a targeted area, and do not overheat.

Because of the time interval between each attack and that fact that he needs to target a certain area to attack, landing hits can be much more difficult with R&B compared to other Masters. On the other hand, his weapon attacks have the advantage of dealing damage to multiple targets with one hit, making them effective in crowded teamfights or against unit waves.

His ultimate skill is quite unique. After 2 seconds of casting, he binds all enemies in the battleground for 2 seconds. The skill binds all enemies regardless of their location, making it very effective when teammates follow up on the bind.

Recommended Master options

Recommended Augments

Although his weapon attacks are effective against units, they do not fare very well in battles with enemy Masters. Therefore, Explosion Radius may make it easier to hit Masters.

Recommended skill combinations

This is the most common combination. Use Ram’s Well to pull enemies into a group and attack them with Bacchus’s Fist.

This is used to react to the enemies’ melee attacks. Ram’s Well and weapon attacks are used in normal situations and Bacchus’s Retaliation is for escaping from the melee enemy.

Nodes

His setup consists of two attack, one defense, and three auxiliary nodes. Movement speed for supplementing mobility or Skill Penetration and Skill Power for enhancing skills would be good choices.

Recommended Auxiliary skill

It is of utmost importance for R&B to know his enemy’s path in advance for the perfect timing of his ultimate. Titan’s Gaze would be the perfect to help keep track of enemy movements.

Trait priority

Penetration for enhancing skills is crucial for a Nuker like R&B. Mobility can also be selected to increase movement speed and stamina recovery speed.

Summary of R&B’s skills

Ram’s Well creates a vacuum and deals damage. Damaged enemies are dragged to the center of the well. Even though it has a small delay before the skill activates, the AoE is quite wide, making it easy to hit targets. The skill is used for pulling enemies together.

Just like his weapon attack, Bacchus’s Fist targets a certain area in order to deal damage. Although the AoE is relatively small, it is rather quick to cast and deals a large amount of damage. The accuracy is not so great during most teamfights, therefore it is recommended to be used after Ram’s Well or following your teammates’ CC skills.

On activation of Bacchus’s Retaliation, R&B is granted a 1-second window where Bacchus will nullify and retaliate against a single melee attack. Targets struck by the retaliation are stunned for 1 second. The retaliation is deactivated after the stun, and the skill does not work against monsters, units, or ranged enemy Master attacks.

Ram’s Impaler attacks in a line and moves the Master behind his target. If the attack does not hit a target, R&B does not initiate the dash. It is not always effective as his close combat is relatively weaker than other Masters’, therefore having a Master specialized in close combat and quickly switching after landing Ram’s Impaler is recommended.

Duality Slam, R&B’s ult, has a 3.5 second cast time before it activates. Once it activates, R&B becomes invincible, and binds all enemies on the battleground for 2 seconds. He recovers 20% of his HP and 300 MP at the same time.

The biggest merit of this skill is that it is a global skill. If used in a 1-on-1 battle, it is only so effective, but when used in coordination with your allies, it can be quite devastating. Even though the R&B becomes invincible while casting, he can still be CC’d, so don’t carelessly use it when enemies with hard CC skills are nearby. The impact differs drastically depending on how well you collaborate with teammates.

Vacuum Pulse allows your next weapon attack to slow enemies by 30% for 2 seconds. The cooldown is 8 seconds. R&B’s survival skill, Shift, causes the Master to leap 7 meters towards the targeted area, and grants weapon attack immunity for 0.3 seconds.

Using R&B - harass enemies and hunt units

In MXM, mid-ranged or long-ranged Masters usually farm units in the lanes. However, these Masters cannot perform AoE attacks with their weapon attacks, thus the speed of clearing the lanes is somewhat slow. On the other hand, Melee masters may attack a group of units at once but are weak against enemy harassment.

However, R&B possesses an AoE weapon attack. Even if he is mid-ranged, the AoE attack works effectively for farming units. This is the main reason why he is best suited to fighting in the lanes.

When fighting against enemy Masters, the Ram’s Well - Bacchus’s Fist combination is R&B’s go-to attack pattern. However, the damage from this combo alone is not enough to land a kill.

However, it’s a different story during teamfights. The appropriate use of Ram’s Well in combination with teammates’ skills can completely vanquish the enemy Masters. It becomes even more effective if one of your allies has a CC skill.

Bacchus’s Retaliation can only be used in close combat, and Ram’s Impaler creates a close combat situation, so while they are good when used together, they only do so much for R&B when used separately. However, they become quite useful if the tagged Master is one who specializes in close combat, such as Sizuka. You can use either skill and switch to the tagged Master quickly and finish the enemy off.