Back after 3 years; gear and template help please

[Bort of Atlantic]

The template is archer sampire and will be used for SOLO BOSSES, not spawns, but I'll go into skill choices later on.

First off, can someone confirm the following spells are wiped upon death? My assumption is you now use a soul stone to swap magery and inscription on, cast these two spells, then swap out. Seeing as better gear is now available, it may be possible to not worry about inscription and just case these flat-out, though.

Magic Reflection
Reactive Armor

Gear -- Are there any items that are pretty much best-in-slot and must be bought? I think I have ~200mil to spend to get back to peak gear. Previous gear was 170-ish stam with 150 dex, 125 HP, all 70's with 75 energy resist, 45 hci, 45 dci, 100 damage increase (this was possible with a 2-hander that had 40% damage increase)

Talisman - The Undead Slayer appears to be a viable option against almost everything (looks like this was a halloween reward at some point)
Tinker Legs - Swing Speed Increase - Is there a cap to swing speed increase (Edit - I just found 60% is the character max, so maybe 35% on a weapon plus 5% on ring plus 10% from leggings of insane tinker)? 10% damage increase would work with 25% ring 25% bracelet and 40% on a weapon, too)
Gladiator's Collar - I was using Jackal's. My assumption is this is the upgrade (better resists and HCI); I can drop str by 20 (due to +10hp on this) and bump dex by 15 to make up for the lack of dex from Jackal's with 5 stat points left over, probably going right back into str.
Robe and Cloak -- I'm assuming there's better than the 3% phys resist items from years ago
Earrings - I think there are earrings out there with slight bonuses to a specific resist. Are there other options?
Boots - Are Snake Skin Boots the way to go?
Jewelry - It looks like imbued items may be best (e.g. I saw a ring with 5% SSI 15 hci 15 dci 25 DI plus 25% enhance pots for example)

Weapon: I was previously using a crossbow with 30+ ML 30+ SL 45ish HLD 40% SSI 40% DI; I'm not sure if there are better item properties out there now but am thinking about swapping to a balanced, imbued short bow with similar stats to allow for potion chugging.

Now to the template for solo mobs, not champ spawns (although I may swap to that at some point):

120 Archery
120 Tactics
120 Anatomy
120 Spirit Speak (or 90)
100 Necromancy
90 Chivalry (or 120 depending on changes)
50 Bushido

I was able to solo Dread Horn, Paroxy, and Grizzle much more easily than when I tried as a melee character (previous template made use of healing). I believe the above template will be better able to handle the heavy-hitters due to curse weapon. I tried 120 bushido for lightning strike but didn't find the damage output to matter much. The suit already has 45 HCI, so LS was only for the random big hit. Spirit Speak could be dropped by 70 to allow for 120 bushido, though.

Adjustments to the above template are welcome, but I can swap to melee if it's a lot better. I have 120 bushido, 120 parry, 120 fencing, swords, and mace-fighting on stones if needed. It sounds like the big debate is parry vs anatomy, and vamp vs wraith form. I've tried both and am open to opinions.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bort of Atlantic]

Adding another question - what is the "Heartwood gear" people are referencing in other posts?

 

[kRUXCg7]

Adding another question - what is the "Heartwood gear" people are referencing in other posts?

Armor crafted with wood. Either crafted with heartwood or crafted with normal wood, then enhanced with heartwood. Elves can wear it, humans probably with faction earrings. Might or might not include artifacts like the Mace and Shield Reading Glasses.

High end heartwood gear afaik means:

1. Crafted with wood.
2. Durability boosted with Powder Of Fortifying.
3. Altered with the imbuing skill (resists, Lower Mana Cost etc.).
4. Enhanced with heartwood (will break your armor piece often times if not under the effects of a Forged Metal Of Artifacts).

According to UOGuide enhancing with heartwood will not only give you better resists on your armor pieces (with known numbers), it will also give you one of the following random properties:

Armor - Luck 40, Durability 50%, Lower Requirements 20%, Damage Increase 10%, Lower Weight 50%, Hit Chance Increase 5%, Mage Armor

People usually are looking for Damage Increase or Hit Chance Increase. So if you have bad luck you end up with "Lower Requirements" and that is not necessarily the enhancement you were looking for.

----

If anything above is wrong feel free to comment.

 

[Ender]

I've enhanced 10 pairs of gauntlets successfully, I've got 0 with HCI and 1 with DI. The rest are useless properties.

I need a pair with HCI. :/

 

[Bort of Atlantic]

I've enhanced 10 pairs of gauntlets successfully, I've got 0 with HCI and 1 with DI. The rest are useless properties.

I need a pair with HCI. :/

Dang. Out of curiosity, what talisman do you use? I'm looking at the Conjurer's Trinket - 10% HCI and 20% DI, which means Collar (10 HCI), Talisman (10 HCI), and 25 via ring and bracelet is enough, so no HCI needed on armor, but SSI would be nice.

 

[Ender]

I use the Conjurer's Trinket, but take it off when I'm fighting repond type creatures.

If I get the 5 HCI gauntlets (I have enough gold to buy a 5 charge Forged Artifact tool if I see one for sale, I shouldn't have THAT awful of luck), I'll have 40 HCI without the talisman. 45 DCI with Quiver of Infinity and 40 with the 5 SSI cloak. 150 Strength and Dexterity, without potions. 45 mana with 10 intelligence, so that will go up by 2-4 if I get the detective boots replica. 150 HP, 180 stamina. 100 damage increase with 40 on weapon. Only 30 LMC though, and my fire resist will drop to 60 if I get Corpse Skinned. Poison will be a bit over 60. Cold will probably be around 64. Physical is a bit over 80, so I can cast Protection if I ever stone on Spirit Speak. Energy is 70 minimum. May get slightly higher depending on the base resists on the gauntlets I craft.

 

[Obsidian]

This method won't get you the best-of-the-best Heartwood items, but it will guarantee you will get your desired mod.

1) Craft wood armor pieces using Heartwood
2) Select all of the pieces with your desired mod (usually 5 HCI or 10 DI)
3) Pick the best base piece for your suit
4) Fortify using POF to 255/255
5) Imbue

If you enhance after imbue you can get a piece with 6 mods and higher resists. The above method gets you 5 imbued mods, slightly lower resists, but there is 0 chance of breaking it or enhancing for the wrong mod.

At least, this is the method I use for my Heartwood pieces. I usually use 1 heartwood piece on my warrior suits to get to 45 HCI. I get 15 from the ring, 15 from the bracelet, 10 from the Conjurer's Trinket, and 5 from the Heartwood armor piece.

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[Lynk]

This method won't get you the best-of-the-best Heartwood items, but it will guarantee you will get your desired mod.

1) Craft wood armor pieces using Heartwood
2) Select all of the pieces with your desired mod (usually 5 HCI or 10 DI)
3) Pick the best base piece for your suit
4) Fortify using POF to 255/255
5) Imbue

If you enhance after imbue you can get a piece with 6 mods and higher resists. The above method gets you 5 imbued mods, slightly lower resists, but there is 0 chance of breaking it or enhancing for the wrong mod.

At least, this is the method I use for my Heartwood pieces. I usually use 1 heartwood piece on my warrior suits to get to 45 HCI. I get 15 from the ring, 15 from the bracelet, 10 from the Conjurer's Trinket, and 5 from the Heartwood armor piece.

-OBSIDIAN-

Obsidian's method works well, and I did build 1 suit using this method. The end result is a mana pool of closer to 60/70 (assuming you go for the same mods I do).

 

[kRUXCg7]

This method won't get you the best-of-the-best Heartwood items, ...

1) Craft wood armor pieces using Heartwood

I have heard people sometimes craft with normal wood, then immediately enhance with heartwood - so no PoFs and no imbuing materials are lost when breaking an armor piece.

Do I get more resists when enhancing or doesn't this make any difference if enhancing before imbuing?

 

[Ender]

It's really not any different, just an extra step. The only real benefit is saving heartwood. Figure out the resists you want on the piece, subtract the bonuses from heartwood, and look for those base resists before enhancing.

 

[Bort of Atlantic]

This method won't get you the best-of-the-best Heartwood items, but it will guarantee you will get your desired mod.

1) Craft wood armor pieces using Heartwood
2) Select all of the pieces with your desired mod (usually 5 HCI or 10 DI)
3) Pick the best base piece for your suit
4) Fortify using POF to 255/255
5) Imbue

If you enhance after imbue you can get a piece with 6 mods and higher resists. The above method gets you 5 imbued mods, slightly lower resists, but there is 0 chance of breaking it or enhancing for the wrong mod.

At least, this is the method I use for my Heartwood pieces. I usually use 1 heartwood piece on my warrior suits to get to 45 HCI. I get 15 from the ring, 15 from the bracelet, 10 from the Conjurer's Trinket, and 5 from the Heartwood armor piece.

-OBSIDIAN-

Excellent information, thank you. I think I'd rather know I'm going to get the stats I need at this point than go through roulette with pieces and possibly wind up with the wrong heartwood mod. The pieces I can see myself needing are chest, sleeves, and gloves (if anyone knows of set-stat, e.g. artifact, pieces that would work well, I'm open to suggestions).

I could use some clarification on how imbuing works, though. Do I need to pick items that already have high stats, or do I just need stats I can't imbue (e.g. turq ring has 5% swing speed, so I'd start with that as a base)? POF, and after that, I believe I get to pick the intensity level, and then is it just the process of imbuing (and possibly failing) until I get the mods that I want on the item? Sorry to ask, I'm at 6 character slots and haven't had a chance to try the skill, and nowhere can I find it clearly explained. I read properties have weights and can't go over 450 I think, but I'm not sure what determines that cap on an item or if you could technically imbue the same final stats onto a crap piece of armor that you could on something that started off decent.

 

[kRUXCg7]

I could use some clarification on how imbuing works, though... I read properties have weights and can't go over 450 I think, but I'm not sure what determines that cap on an item...

I cannot answer all your questions. What I know is this:

• Items that are exceptionally crafted can be imbued up to the limit of 500.
• Items that are not exceptionally crafted (including monster loot) can be imbued up to the intensity of 450.
• In any case up to 5 mods can be imbued.
• You can imbue an item up to 20 times.
• Some imbued modifications can be changed. Example: Jewelry. If you have a skill in skill group 1 and you imbue another skill, which is in skill group 1, too, then the first skill is lost and the new skill is added.

A hint for exceptionally crafted weapons: If it is exceptionally crafted you get a Damage Increase on a non-magical weapon like a kryss. With GM in arms lore you can reach up to 40% Damage Increase.

Software that is often used: spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice spreadsheets - or even google docs. You could craft 20 or 100 pieces of each armor slot and enter all their resist values and then look for the perfect combination of resists. UOAssist's vendor agent can help you there. You might possibly find a combination of armor pieces that makes you reach resists way below 60 each - and you might also possibly find a combination of armor pieces that already gives your your desired maximum in two or even three resist types. So if you find a combination that gives you your desired 70 points in energy resist and also your desired 70 in cold resist, you know that you don't have to imbue any energy resist or cold resist on your armor suit any more. Remember the maximum of 5 imbued mods on each armor piece: That means if you don't have to imbue energy and cold resist, you have two "open" imbuing slots at least - which you could use for Mana Increase, Stamina Increase or even more fire resist. Your spreadsheet should also contain the artifacts you want to use. Warriors often use the Mace & Shield Reading Glasses.

You might want to take some consideration with the order in which you imbue your armor pieces. There are three 'basic' types of ingredients with imbuing:

1. Magical Residue: Very common and cheap.
2. Enchanted Essence: Still not hard to come by, but a bit more expensive.
3. Relic Fragments: Not very common, a lot more expensive than the other two.

Each imbuing attempt requires one of the three basic ingredients. If you have less than 100% chance to imbue a modification on your armor piece then there is a chance that you lose some of your basic ingredients (and gems, too).

This means you might want to start your imbuing process per item with modifications that require the higher valued relic fragments because the first modifications will give you a higher chance to succeed (it depends on how much of the 450 / 500 cap is already reached).

The later modifications should use enchanted essences or magical residues: If you lose some of them it's not as expensive as losing relic fragments.

------------
I hope posting this link is ok:
You can always play around with the knuckleheads' imbuing calculator:
Knuckleheads.dk • Imbuing Calculator

 

[Bort of Atlantic]

Thanks KRUX! Is there any reason to use a barbed runic kit or valorite hammer for the baseline item, or just create an exceptional one? Based on the success chance decrease and resources, I'd have to guess it would be best to try to craft an item with two to three of the properties I want prior to imbuing the rest.

Edit: If anyone can provide a link to an existing spreadsheet for building suits, I'd appreciate it (I already started one, but I'm sure there are some out there already).

 

[Gorbs]

Unfortunately, if you use a barbed or valorite you are unlikely to have any room for imbues on the item. A number of posters here are advocates for burning spined runic kits as base armor items. For weapons, using dull copper (or shadow) runics can often times yield the base weapons with some properties you wanted. For example, I wanted a dragon slayer broadsword with SSI. I crafted a bunch with a dull copper runic and one had the dragon slayer property. I then imbued that with SSI. The imbue was successful on the first attempt, so I spent 5 relic frags to get a 30% SSI dragon slayer broadsword rather than 10.

Runics are like playing the lottery. You may get lucky and have more than one expensive or relic requiring mod rolled. However, taking only relic/ee/residue consumption cost into account, you do not want the 4th or 5th property imbue to use relics as the failures can get costly.

 

[Bort of Atlantic]

Thanks Gorbs, I think I finally get it now.

1) Use a dull copper/shadow runic in order to both try to not have to imbue all the mods you want and to help prevent extra useless mods as you can't trade/remove them
2) Craft a number of ornate axes for example
3) We'll say I'm going for an all-elemental damage ornate axe b/c I can't imbue that part. I finally get one with 100% fire and 10% SSI
4) Imbue HSL, HML, HLA, and bump up SSI (I'm not going to check which order would be best based on ingredient price at this time, though)


Final Result :

Ornate Axe

HSL
HML
HLA
SSI 30%
DI 40%
100% Elemental Damage

Now for the kicker...could I drop damage increase to bump HLA higher (up to max) for example?

 

[Khoga]

No slayer property?

 

[Gorbs]

Yes, you have the idea. Also, yes, you can lower the DI to allow for more intensity in one of the other properties. Generally, when I'm creating a new weapon I craft with dc runic until I get a weapon with either the expensive mod(s) that I want or elemental damage that I want with no wasted properties. I then POF the item up to 250+, then imbue DI down to 1. This increases the chances of the other imbues succeeding. When my other properties are set I imbue DI back to the value I want (generally 40). The materials for DI imbue are the cheapest of any I would put on a weapon, so this works out in my favor in the long run.

 

[5% Luck]

You can lower the DI down to 1% to bump the other mods but you cannot remove it altogether.

 

[Obsidian]

Everyone has already covered the big stuff, but here are some added thoughts. Go to Luna bank one night and pull up everyone's paperdoll that walks by. You'll get quite a few ideas for ways to build suits and weapons doing that. You can't see beneath the robe to look at the tunic, arms and legs, but you'll get the idea. Sometimes people put their template in their journal which tells your more about how they setup the character.

I build all of my suits out on an Excel spreadsheet before I start. Then I craft base pieces that fit my exact suit. Then I get the ingredients required and go imbue. Sometimes I'll craft out of a base material (normal leather, iron, or plain wood) and then use a Metal of Forged Artifacts for a guaranteed enhance (usually horned/barbed leather, verite/valorite ingots, or bloodwood, respectively). I do not use runics to craft base armor pieces.

I craft weapons last once I have the full suit built as I make specific weapons for various encounters to match the mob's weakest elemental resist, the most efficient slayer, and the best other mods for my character. I use dull copper and shadow runic hammers for metal weapons. I don't use any runics for bokutos as I just imbue/enhance those.

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[Bort of Atlantic]

Excellent information, thanks everyone for your input.

No slayer property?

I think I'm a little behind the times; pretty much none of the bosses I'm sued to (e.g. the original peerless) were vulnerable to slayer weapons. Should I really look at the slayer bonus for bosses instead of HLA? If that's the case, is there actually a use for HLA on any weapon I'll imbue?

Along the same lines, is it worth it do do specific slayers (dragon vs. reptile for example)? I'd assume EoO, 100% DI on the Suit, Reptile Slayer, and Perfection would easily hit 300% damage increase cap unless slayer damage bonuses have nothing to do with that cap.

Thanks again for the replies. I'll have to buy a house ASAP (let my old large tower decay...ouch...and get imbuing up to 120 so crafting isn't too expensive).