Sampire Advice Request

[Igg A Pie]

Good morning all.

i have been reading thru this forum the last few days and found alot of great info. Maybe i am over-thinking this, but it seems like the more i read....the more I find it difficult to narrow down what i desire to "maximize" this template. I have played UO for almost 19 years. the last few i have spent just poping in and out of game not being very active at all. I have recently returned to Great Lakes and rejoinded a guild there. They are pretty active and I am planning on getting more involved. What would I like?....where should i start lol


WHAT I WOULD LIKE MY SAMPIRE TO BE ABLE TO DO:

I guess this is the most basic question and give some direction. I would like to start going along on guild hunts. I am not planning on doing alot of solo hunting but more of a group effort type thing. What does my guild like to hunt?

Scalis
Exodus
Navery
Lady Mel
Medusa
Event Bosses
Doom(more recently)

If i had to narrow down what the like we like to do.........this would be the list. Id like to make my template able to do these things, preferably without having to change skills. I understand this may not be possible. If thats not the case, I can/will make the adjustments. i understand that doing mobs such as doom or oaks spawn in ilsh is different than solo fighting dreadhorn for example. i would just like to minimize switching out skills. If i have to.....i just assume make seperate sampires, one for mobs and one for solo boss fighting.


WHAT IS MY CURRENT SAMPIRE TEMPLATE:

ELF
120 Swords
120 Tactics
120 Resist
100 Bush
100 Necro
100 Chiv
60 Parry


MY EQUIPMENT THOUGHTS:

1) I plan on using mace and shield glasses, crimmy, boots of escaping and epaulette. I have open spot for the cape, sash and earings

2) I plan on using enchantress cameo
* 5 ssi
*10 hci

3) I am planning on using a double ax.
* i like the double strike and whirlwind specials. for single and mob use i feel like this is the best choice
* what mods should i have crafted on this wep?
100% elemental slayer with hml, hsl, di, and ssi for solo monsters i would assume.
100% elemental slayer with hml, hsl, di, and hit area effect for mob monsters
because of the mace and shield i dont think id need hld.

4) because of the wep being 2 handed i realize i can not use potions or apples. generally speaking i assume chiv enough to off-set this. remove curse, heal and cure. because of this, i dont feel i will need EP on the jewels

5) jewels(imbued)
* is there a thing of to much ssi? where am i going with this? i plan on using imbued jewels for this char. i have some blank 10 ssi. soooooo 5(cameo) + 30(wep) + 20(jewels) = 55 ssi. if i have 150 stam or 180 stam........is all that ssi necessary? if not, how much ssi should i have total on the suit at 150 and/or 180?
* if i dont need ssi on the jewels because of the calcuation above, what do i have imbued on ring and brac? i assume:
dex, str and/or intel
di
dci 15(ring) + 15(brac) + 5(crimmy) + 5(epaulette) +5(suit piece) = 45 dci
hci 15(ring) +15(brac) + 10{cameo) +5(suit piece) = 45 hci

6) suit(crafted) vs suit(legendary)
* i know there is a difference of the imbue weight on legenday pieces vs crafted armor. am i better off having a suit crafted or buying legendary armor pieces? my concern really comes down to repair. I dont want to build a suit around certain legendary pieces and then have to replace them shortly after because of duribility issues

7) i was not planning on using healing because of no anat on the temp

8) i am not planning on using skills on my jewels


i know this is alot of questions and i am not asking anyone to answer all of them in one shot. any help and advice would be much appriciated. i just like to try and do things right the first time and have a go big or go home mentallity. once again..........none of this stuff is set in stone and i am willing to tweak and make adjustments. if there is something i left out please feel free to ask for clairifaction and ill do my best to answe...........thanks in advance

 

[Merlin]

Even on a sampire, tanking Scalis or Exodus will be not only extremely difficult (even if you have healers on you 100% of the time), it's going to completely wreck your armor. Almost everything else you said should be doable.

I like your template. Personally, I have 100 Parry and then only 80 Chiv and 100 Swords (I get to 120 with the Capt Johns hat), but that's just me. The beauty of the sampire is that you can change up your skill set for whatever fits your preference.

1 & 2) - Good. If your budget can afford some better no-name legendaries, go for it. Otherwise, those items are fine.

3) Double axes should have on there whatever you need. For example, my sampire suit is mainly plate, so I have a lot of Stamina protection and do not need Hit Stamina Leach. Someone else may feel differently. I have a full set of Cameos, so I also do not need slayers on any of my double axes. So I have 100% elemental, Hit Life, Hit Mana, Hit Spell, Hit Area and then either Hit Lower Defense or Hit Lower Attack.

I also have some specialty weapons, such as a Dragon Slayer Daisho for Rikky, etc.

4) I don't use pots or apples on my sampire. If you need to rely on pots for this template, then you aren't doing it right. You will have plenty of ways to heal (HLL, Confidence, Close Wounds, Vamp Form), and then other Chiv spells like Remove Curse and Cleanse by Fire. You can still use Orange petals and Trinsic Rose petals.

5) I prefer my sampire to have atleast 181 Stam and 30 SSI on jewels. You will be swinging at max speed with a fair amount of stam protection. Rest of your jewel mods should go towards whatever you need on your template to get max HCI, DCI, DI, and so on. If you're already good on most of those areas, you can add in extra Intel and Strength.

6) Should be a mix of both legendary and crafted pieces. Find a few Uber legendary no name pieces and then craft others around those. You can craft a full suit, but it will take time to get all the mods right and resists perfect. You have more options if you find a few good no-name legendary pieces that have over capped mods on them.

7) If you need healing on this template in addition to Vamp Form, HLL, Confidence, Close Wounds... then you aren't doing it right. You should be leaching back enough life from Vamp Form and Hit Life Leach alone that you should only even need Confidence and Close Wounds in rare situations.

8) It doesn't look like you need skills on your jewels. My template runs 100 natural Resist and then gets +15 from jewels because I had the open room on the jewels. As long as your main mods are covered by your jewels, you can do whatever suits you best with the open imbue intensity you have.

Hope that helps. Also keep in mind... sampires are probably the most asked about template. Look through the warrior forum here for some more information and see other discussion for what people are doing with their sampires. There is a lot of information already at your finger tips! Good luck!

 

[Igg A Pie]

hey merlin...thx for all your advice. makes me feel like i am on the right track. a few things just for clarification.

scalis and exodus.....i didnt even consider the fact it could "NOT" be done with a sampire. i assumed it could. the last time i did exedus i used a myst mage in a group of 10 and it went smoothly. no sense in trying to fix something that is not broken. i just will use a different character for those bosses.

as far as the gear goes....its only gold. like i said id rather it be done right, or best can be done the first time. i have spent more time talking about playn in the last 10 years than actually doing. i have sold 90% of my belongings and narrowed it down to thing i really love. this way i can just focus on what i want to do....which is play.
forgive me if this sounds silly but what exactly is an example of "no-name legendaries". i would just like to be certain so i can keep an eye out if i see them for sale. if you got extras maybe we can work out a deal. :}
the cameos will be a long term investment as well as the suit but that is the end game. to have a flexible suit and template to just play and enjoy the game without dying every other few minutes. and the slayer being on the cameo was an oversite on my part as far as i can take that mod off the wep. once again that will be an end game upgrade.

i loved the comment about

If you need to rely on pots for this template, then you aren't doing it right.

and

If you need healing on this template in addition to Vamp Form, HLL, Confidence, Close Wounds... then you aren't doing it right.

its a good way to put the usefullness or lack of its necessity in perspective

you said:

I prefer my sampire to have atleast 181 Stam and 30 SSI on jewels.

just so i am clear on this....i would like to work toward 181 stam but with crafted armor seems impossible but i can work on it with no name pieces. also 30 ssi on jewels........10 on the ring + 10 on the brace + 5 on the cameo = 25 total ssi? so 5 ssi on the wep for now until i get to endgame status or would 25 ssi and 150 stam be enough to accomplish the swing speed i am looking to achieve?

i didnt mention this before but the reason i had chive as high as i did was to cast chiv spells with no fail. same with vamp form. i had bush at 60 to obtain some benifit because of extra skill points i thought i had those numbers right. like i said i just want to maximize the template. would i better off, if its mathmaticaly possible, to raise bush and parry higher and drop chive and/or nerco alittle? and lastly if i am not fighting mobs, in doom for example, i assume i could stone off resist and replace it with what......120 anat or 100 lumberjack....maybe even focus

as i mentioned.....thank you for all the advice. it was a HUGE help! i am looking forward to my new template and playstyle.

 

[Merlin]

hey merlin...thx for all your advice. makes me feel like i am on the right track. a few things just for clarification.

scalis and exodus.....i didnt even consider the fact it could "NOT" be done with a sampire. i assumed it could. the last time i did exedus i used a myst mage in a group of 10 and it went smoothly. no sense in trying to fix something that is not broken. i just will use a different character for those bosses.

as far as the gear goes....its only gold. like i said id rather it be done right, or best can be done the first time. i have spent more time talking about playn in the last 10 years than actually doing. i have sold 90% of my belongings and narrowed it down to thing i really love. this way i can just focus on what i want to do....which is play.
forgive me if this sounds silly but what exactly is an example of "no-name legendaries". i would just like to be certain so i can keep an eye out if i see them for sale. if you got extras maybe we can work out a deal. :}
the cameos will be a long term investment as well as the suit but that is the end game. to have a flexible suit and template to just play and enjoy the game without dying every other few minutes. and the slayer being on the cameo was an oversite on my part as far as i can take that mod off the wep. once again that will be an end game upgrade.

i loved the comment about

and

its a good way to put the usefullness or lack of its necessity in perspective

you said:

just so i am clear on this....i would like to work toward 181 stam but with crafted armor seems impossible but i can work on it with no name pieces. also 30 ssi on jewels........10 on the ring + 10 on the brace + 5 on the cameo = 25 total ssi? so 5 ssi on the wep for now until i get to endgame status or would 25 ssi and 150 stam be enough to accomplish the swing speed i am looking to achieve?

i didnt mention this before but the reason i had chive as high as i did was to cast chiv spells with no fail. same with vamp form. i had bush at 60 to obtain some benifit because of extra skill points i thought i had those numbers right. like i said i just want to maximize the template. would i better off, if its mathmaticaly possible, to raise bush and parry higher and drop chive and/or nerco alittle? and lastly if i am not fighting mobs, in doom for example, i assume i could stone off resist and replace it with what......120 anat or 100 lumberjack....maybe even focus

as i mentioned.....thank you for all the advice. it was a HUGE help! i am looking forward to my new template and playstyle.

In the event you do not already have full set of cameos (which are expensive, so its understable if you don't), my suggestion for your weapons would be to have Slayer, HLL, HML, Hit Area and then either Hit Lower Defense or Hit Spell.

You can get an additional 5% SSI if you are loyal to a particular town that utilizes the SSI Town Bonus. For example, I am the Governor of Trinsic on Atlantic and 5% SSI is our town bonus. If you are on Atlantic, I have enough ingots to get you to "respected" if you wanted to declare loyalty to Trinsic and utilize the SSI bonus.

As an additional reference, here is the link to the various town bonuses on Atlantic:
CITY LOYALTY - Listing of Town Trade Buffs and Active Governors

Also here are two links which may help you gain an understanding of the effect of Stamina and SSI on your template with your weapon:
UO Stratics - Combat
Swing Speed Increase - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

I wouldn't touch Necro at all if you move any skill points around. You need 99 at a minimum to maintain Vamp Form. I know some people swap Anat with Resist spells... I used to do it too... but most spawns do have casters and I just find it absolutely necessary to have the Resist Spells to prevent being paralyzed. An untimely paralyze and blood oath can equal a quick death, especially if you have using Enemy of One and have other curses on you.

Also if you're on Atlantic and looking for a guild... UWF would be glad to have you! (Sorry - I needed to make the shameless plug there )

Good luck!

 

[CorwinXX]

120 Swords
120 Tactics
120 Resist
100 Bush
100 Necro
100 Chiv
60 Parry

Rise Bushido to 120. You need 300 points in Swords+Bushido+Parry for special moves mana cost reduction.
You can rise Parrying to 80 instead. It's much easier but your Bushido spells will be less effective (compared to 120 bushido).
You can get some skills on jewels. If you don't want then drop Resisting Spells to 100. You needn't 120 RS in PvM.

100% elemental slayer with hml, hsl, di, and ssi for solo monsters i would assume

Don't add SSI because it reduces HML/HLL numbers.
You need 20-35 SSI. You can get 20 from jewels, 5 from talisman, 5 from cloak, 5 from city bonus.
With 195+ stamina 20 SSI is enough.

dci 15(ring) + 15(brac) + 5(crimmy) + 5(epaulette) +5(suit piece) = 45 dci
hci 15(ring) +15(brac) + 10{cameo) +5(suit piece) = 45 hci

Sword mastery gives you 5 hci and 5 dci.
Crimmy doesn't give you dci, tangle does. If you get 15 hpi on armor you can use tangle. You can get 5 dci from corguls sash. But there is even better idea: you can go with 25-35 dci but increase your resists caps to 75/75/75/75/80 - 75/75/70/70/80.

suit(crafted) vs suit(legendary)

I suggest you to get as much legendaries as you can. And probably add 1-2 crafted pieces to adjust mods.
I suggest to get 5 metal pieces to reduce stamina loss. There is metal version Mace&Shield.

 

[Igg A Pie]

Rise Bushido to 120. You need 300 points in Swords+Bushido+Parry for special moves mana cost reduction.
You can rise Parrying to 80 instead. It's much easier but your Bushido spells will be less effective (compared to 120 bushido).
You can get some skills on jewels. If you don't want then drop Resisting Spells to 100. You needn't 120 RS in PvM.

does this apply to elves? my char is not a human

Sword mastery gives you 5 hci and 5 dci.

is this a permanent buff?

and one last question i forgot to ask yesterday............whats up with the proxy dragon? is that something i should even bother with?

thank you for the advice CorwinnXX. i will def take all these things you mention into consideration and use them as reenforcement from things Merlin mentioned as well.

 

[CorwinXX]

does this apply to elves? my char is not a human

Yes.

is this a permanent buff?

It's a passive buff from the mastery. If you are going to use sword mastery you always have this buff.

whats up with the proxy dragon? is that something i should even bother with?

You needn't it. It's gives you 12% damage reduction while normal one in exceptional armor gives you 20%.

 

[Zalan]

Igg I will give you my 2¢. If you're doing this for Guild Hunts don't roll a Sampire.

Sampire is a soloist and not a group hunter. I'm just speaking from my own experience. If you're guildsman die you can't res them. Not can you cross heal each other. For group hunts I'd recommend a sword and board paladin, archer, thrower, or a Samurai.

Now if you still want to build a Sampire that's cool to.

 

[Igg A Pie]

Igg I will give you my 2¢. If you're doing this for Guild Hunts don't roll a Sampire.

Sampire is a soloist and not a group hunter. I'm just speaking from my own experience. If you're guildsman die you can't res them. Not can you cross heal each other. For group hunts I'd recommend a sword and board paladin, archer, thrower, or a Samurai.

Now if you still want to build a Sampire that's cool to.

this is an intresting take on things. i will certainlly consider this. thank you for all the help everyone!!

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

I agree with Zalan a sampire is not the best build for group play and other templates can still solo the other stuff.

Like many though, you're probably falling into the paralysis by analysis trap, hoping to build the 'one template to rule them all' that you won't have to change. It depends how much you want to invest in the build time, effort and money wise.

I would go Human or Gargoyle. Gargoyle if using Mace or Throwing otherwise Human.

I would use VvV versions of any items there's an equivalent for.

I would build the character specifically with the use of Onslaught in mind, and use Double Axes and Bladed Staff's, the easiest threshold to build for is 20 SSI 180 Stam (any more than 20 will be a waste as you have to work it out in relation to your Stamina which works in intervals of 30). You can do that with a Ranger's Cloak Of Augmentation (5 SSI), and 15 between your jewellery. Having the Swords Mastery active will give you the passive ability Warriors Gift which gives 5 Str, 5 HCI and 5 DCI. I would also intend to use Armour Refinement to get to all 75's and 20 DCI cap. So with Warriors Gift you would only need 15 DCI on suit.

Weapon mods will vary fight to fight, but for example Doom could be done with as little as two weapons, I currently do it with a Conjurer's Trinket (Undead Slayer) which I swap my Soldier's Medal out for, and a 100% fire Demon Slayer, to keep it simple (not needing Whetstones) I use DI on the weapon, slayer and the three leeches (or you could use two and another mod such as Hit Area. You don't need HLD. You can use pots with your weapons if you want to, as you can Imbue Balanced on two handed weapons, and can EquipLastWeapon between them if/when you need potions. It's mainly an idea for if you want extra stats and are happy using/carrying consumables that you semi rely on. I personally don't most of the time.

You can build a complete suit with just Imbuing, the wear and tear is not an issue, it's not essentially to use Legendaries, I do for my Dragoon on the jewellery mainly so I can fit an extra skill on the template to achieve 6x120 Swords/Tactics/Bushido/Parry/Anatomy/Chivalry and 65 Poisoning (which auto cures him like Vamp Form). Currently I changed the 65 Poisoning out for 65 Resist for a little Blood Oath protection in Doom.

If you build the suit with Studded or Bone you can get 55 LMC with 5 pieces. Most people seem to go for Plate for Stamina protection, but HSL works fine for me and I find the LMC more useful as it affects specials/Chivalry/Bushido.

 

[Igg A Pie]

I agree with Zalan a sampire is not the best build for group play and other templates can still solo the other stuff.

Like many though, you're probably falling into the paralysis by analysis trap, hoping to build the 'one template to rule them all' that you won't have to change. It depends how much you want to invest in the build time, effort and money wise.

I would go Human or Gargoyle. Gargoyle if using Mace or Throwing otherwise Human.

I would use VvV versions of any items there's an equivalent for.

I would build the character specifically with the use of Onslaught in mind, and use Double Axes and Bladed Staff's, the easiest threshold to build for is 20 SSI 180 Stam (any more than 20 will be a waste as you have to work it out in relation to your Stamina which works in intervals of 30). You can do that with a Ranger's Cloak Of Augmentation (5 SSI), and 15 between your jewellery. Having the Swords Mastery active will give you the passive ability Warriors Gift which gives 5 Str, 5 HCI and 5 DCI. I would also intend to use Armour Refinement to get to all 75's and 20 DCI cap. So with Warriors Gift you would only need 15 DCI on suit.

Weapon mods will vary fight to fight, but for example Doom could be done with as little as two weapons, I currently do it with a Conjurer's Trinket (Undead Slayer) which I swap my Soldier's Medal out for, and a 100% fire Demon Slayer, to keep it simple (not needing Whetstones) I use DI on the weapon, slayer and the three leeches (or you could use two and another mod such as Hit Area. You don't need HLD. You can use pots with your weapons if you want to, as you can Imbue Balanced on two handed weapons, and can EquipLastWeapon between them if/when you need potions. It's mainly an idea for if you want extra stats and are happy using/carrying consumables that you semi rely on. I personally don't most of the time.

You can build a complete suit with just Imbuing, the wear and tear is not an issue, it's not essentially to use Legendaries, I do for my Dragoon on the jewellery mainly so I can fit an extra skill on the template to achieve 6x120 Swords/Tactics/Bushido/Parry/Anatomy/Chivalry and 65 Poisoning (which auto cures him like Vamp Form). Currently I changed the 65 Poisoning out for 65 Resist for a little Blood Oath protection in Doom.

If you build the suit with Studded or Bone you can get 55 LMC with 5 pieces. Most people seem to go for Plate for Stamina protection, but HSL works fine for me and I find the LMC more useful as it affects specials/Chivalry/Bushido.

thanks for the suggestion..i am glad to hear all these different perspectives and take them all into consideration

 

[chester rockwell]

i run with 48 chiv, just so i can run and SJ. Plus, if u carry +chiv items, you can res peeps. 120 resist, no anat....much better.

 

[Kavookavala]

I also have some specialty weapons, such as a Dragon Slayer Daisho for Rikky, etc.

Merlin,

I have a question: why Daisho specific for Rikky? Im building my Sampire again and your infos that you posted is helping me a lot!

 

[Merlin]

Merlin,

I have a question: why Daisho specific for Rikky? Im building my Sampire again and your infos that you posted is helping me a lot!

Rikky has a power Area of Effect stomp that can wipe you out in one or two hits.

Daisho has two specials: Feint and Double Strike.

Feint - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

Feint will cut damage taken in half for five seconds. The downside is that it limits damage output during the period it is active as well. When I fight Rikky, I keep feint active the entire time so that my life never gets low enough that I have to run off and heal, thus wasting time and risking he will run off or agro someone else. You can then hit the double strike while feint is going. If you have a 100% Cold Daisho with Dragon Slayer... it will do very good against Rikky.

So in short, I use Daisho on Rikky for survivability. Especially if you are soloing him, this is crucial. If you have help of a dedicated healer, you might not need the Daisho. Even with the best gear, Rikky will output a good amount of damage, so I have found this to be the most consistently reliable way to fight him, no matter if I am solo or in a group.

Hope that helps!