some advice is requested

[TimberWolf]

ok here is where we are at....I finally embraced the way of the Sampire.
present template:
120 sword
120 bush
120 parry
100 anatomy
100 tactics
99 necrio
71 chiv

125 health 135 HP
150 dex 176 Stam
40 intel 75 mana

Gear:
mace and shield glasses
Glads collar
tinkered legs
crimmy
turquoise ring ...Dex bon 8, hci 15, dci 15, ssi 5,
DI 25.
despicable quiver has poison res on it...hoping to trade for FR one.
mana phase orb MR1, HCI5, LMC6, DI15
Cloak of Death dci 3, hci 3
detective royal guard boots +4 intell
I need to tweak the other pieces of my suit to increase FR the goal will be straight 70s

weapons
Double axe
50 HL
55 HLL
55 HML
SSI 30
DI 50

or
a complete set of slayer kats
all with
34 HLL
44 HL
25 SSI
DI 40
Slayer
and shield with
11 HCI
11 DCI
FC1
resists
overall with axe equiped:
HCI 45, DCI 33, LMC 35, SSI 50 ( I get ssi 5 from trade deal)
overall with kat shield equipped:
hci 45, dci 44, lmc 35 ssi 45

So I just got the tinkered legs last night and added necro last night. So this is all pretty new.

Mostly what I have is template questions....but if you see anything with my suit or weapons that can be improved shout it out.

I am pretty happy with the damage i was seeing last night against mobs with Axe I show 54-65 weapons with weapon DI at 100.... and Kat shield combo is good too.


Should I drop Parry to 80 take tactics to 120 and anat to 120?
In a heavy pvp environment could I swap out 120 anat for 120 resist? and what effects would that have on damage in pvp?

thanks I feel like I am really close with this build just need some minor tweaks....

 

[Tuan]

Why waste SO many properties on SSI?

Katana = 2.5s swing speed. Each 30 stam reduces that by .25s so even with just your base stamina, you can swing at 1.25s - with 50 SSI.

Also, why put HLL on the katanas? That's kinda the whole point of the "pire" piece of "sampire" - effectively giving you 120 HLL from vamp form.

Also, what is HL - Hit Lightning? If so, then this is ... problematic at best on a slayer weapon, because when the spell triggers, Slayer doesn't - and you're almost always doing more damage bonus from the slayer property than the spell does... though if you went away from slayers, and just used the perfection + EoO + Consecrate tactic, then you're almost doing slayer damage without a slayer weapon.

Since you can't possibly have enough mana to chain weapon specials, I assume that you ... use Lightning strike on most hits? If so, then you have too much HCI, as LS gives the max 45% HCI at 120 bush...

Maybe someone like else can see what you're trying to do here, but I don't really see what you're trying to accomplish.

 

[Picus at the office]

I'd upgrade the kats to broadswords but it's been ages since I've played(if you keep the SSI). I never ran chiv on my samps as I made specific weapons for what ever I was wanting to hunt(100 fire ect) and I ran resist at all times(unless I was planning to do something that didn't cast at all) as nothing will kill you faster than a full mana vamp at a bad time.

I'd do some reading before you finish the suit and run a few spawns to see how everything works. As for the FR quiver I would just farm that spawn, it's so easy if you have 2 accounts and a bard on one.

 

[Duncan Drake]

Why do you use a shield with 120 bushido and 120 parry. You know you wont block anything?

Ssi on weapons is sth you should totally avoid. It lowers hll an hlm values. Not good.And as you are using a katana the 5% from your ring are way enough. You swing at max speed down to 120 stamina

And i would recommend radiant scimitars instead of double axes for whirlwind. Same speed as a katana so you dont need ssi on em too.

Edit: just saw that you have tinker legs so 15% ssi. Way enough for the katana. And for a 2h weapon i would recommend a daisho. Double strike and feint weapon speed 2,75 so you can swing at max down to 150 stamina.

If you manage to get a shame bracelet with 10 ssi or a bracelet with 5 ssi and a rangers cloak of augmentation you could perfectly use a bladed staff as well

 

[Duncan Drake]

Slower swinging weapons like double axes are best used with 35% ssi. But you need df here at 120 chivalry at max karma. Not the best choice for a sampire.

Can be done with 25 ssi too but then you have to be at 180 stamina all the time.

 

[TimberWolf]

well firstly.... the transition to the decision to go sampire from straight samurai was a gradual one. and I am still not 100% sure that is the route for me. for example...I was at 30 ssi total with a double axe....which seemed ideal. and then Tinkered legs dropped into my lap and my town did a trade deal....bam 50 ssi. I don't mind knowing that I can always WW at 1.25 sec with my axe.

when I switch to a 1 handed weapon as I have read I should when the mobs are gone and I am one on one...I chose kats for the AI and had a shield doing nothing and it topped out my dci and hci...so I figure why not....tes I know by using a shield at 120 parry bush I drop blocking to 5%....which is another reason why I was asking about dropping parry.

As far as chaining specials...I chained WW with my double axe for an hour non stop last night in shame...never ran out of mana... so I am not sure what you are suggesting.

I appreciate all the advice...keep it coming, I hope this answers some of your questions....really interested on thoughts about dropping parry down.

 

[Duncan Drake]

Sure with whirlwind and many mobs around you you can chain ww as long as you want. But the double axe also has double strike. Very handy against some tough mobs. But there you will leech much less mana due to ssi on your weapon and single target. If you can put the needed ssi on your gear you can even imbue 81 hml on your double axe useable against peerless like dreadhorn and chief paroxy. (Best weapon there)

If you go katana shield then you probably can drop parry to 80 and max out ana and tactics. But be warned you might have a hard time against monsters like putrefyers or paragon balrons. Maybe you should keep hll on your weapons. No idea if that works never tried

Edit: Ah yes i have question. Is it right that your slayer katanas have hll and not hml? I guess its a typo isnt it?

 

[CorwinXX]

There is no much difference between 50 and 35 SSI for you.
Don't use shield, don't use katana.
You may use a Double Axe for WW and DS. You may use a Bladed Staff for AI.
You need 35 SSI 150 Stam with a Double Axe (or 55 SSI 120 Stam). You need 20 SSI 150 Stam with a Bladed Staff (or 35 SSI 120 Stam).
You have 20 SSI without weapon. So you can use:
- Bladed Staves: SuperSlayer, HLA, HML, HSL, DI
- Double Axes: SuperSlayer, 15 SSI, HML, HSL, DI
You may reforge 100 HML. You also may go with max imbued ~75 HML (and reforge 100% elemental damage).

I believe you needn't drop parrying. But you may drop it as well. Both variants have their plus and minus.

 

[TimberWolf]

Sure with whirlwind and many mobs around you you can chain ww as long as you want. But the double axe also has double strike. Very handy against some tough mobs. But there you will leech much less mana due to ssi on your weapon and single target. If you can put the needed ssi on your gear you can even imbue 81 hml on your double axe useable against peerless like dreadhorn and chief paroxy. (Best weapon there)

If you go katana shield then you probably can drop parry to 80 and max out ana and tactics. But be warned you might have a hard time against monsters like putrefyers or paragon balrons. Maybe you should keep hll on your weapons. No idea if that works never tried

Edit: Ah yes i have question. Is it right that your slayer katanas have hll and not hml? I guess its a typo isnt it?

Yes they do have hll not hml. I didn't craft them a friend made them And I bought them at a charity auction it was for a good cause...and even if I never use them. Am glad I bought them.

 

[TimberWolf]

There is no much difference between 50 and 35 SSI for you.
Don't use shield, don't use katana.
You may use a Double Axe for WW and DS. You may use a Bladed Staff for AI.
You need 35 SSI 150 Stam with a Double Axe (or 55 SSI 120 Stam). You need 20 SSI 150 Stam with a Bladed Staff (or 35 SSI 120 Stam).
You have 20 SSI without weapon. So you can use:
- Bladed Staves: SuperSlayer, HLA, HML, HSL, DI
- Double Axes: SuperSlayer, 15 SSI, HML, HSL, DI
You may reforge 100 HML. You also may go with max imbued ~75 HML (and reforge 100% elemental damage).

I believe you needn't drop parrying. But you may drop it as well. Both variants have their plus and minus.

Great advice sir.....I will definitely try this out

 

[Tuan]

well firstly.... the transition to the decision to go sampire from straight samurai was a gradual one. and I am still not 100% sure that is the route for me. for example...I was at 30 ssi total with a double axe....which seemed ideal. and then Tinkered legs dropped into my lap and my town did a trade deal....bam 50 ssi. I don't mind knowing that I can always WW at 1.25 sec with my axe.

when I switch to a 1 handed weapon as I have read I should when the mobs are gone and I am one on one...I chose kats for the AI and had a shield doing nothing and it topped out my dci and hci...so I figure why not....tes I know by using a shield at 120 parry bush I drop blocking to 5%....which is another reason why I was asking about dropping parry.

As far as chaining specials...I chained WW with my double axe for an hour non stop last night in shame...never ran out of mana... so I am not sure what you are suggesting.

I appreciate all the advice...keep it coming, I hope this answers some of your questions....really interested on thoughts about dropping parry down.

WW uses less mana than DS or AI, and can do more damage ... way more. It's quite easy to do >1000 damage with a WW, so even if you have low HML, doing even 3-400 damage per swing is easy to keep mana topped up. PLus with the fact that you're doing 300 damage across, say 5 hits per swing, instead of 1. So you get to invoke the Law of Large Numbers to insulate you from the randomness of the RNG. Even at 100% HML I can do a 213 damage AI... and leech 0 mana. This happens to me about 1 in 30 swings. The liklihood of doing 3 hits and leeching 0 mana would be, assuming a uniform density of probability for any given leech amount, is 1 in 27000.

Comparing WW to AI in this case is somewhat like comparing 6 apples to 1 watermelon ... and trying to figure out who has more fruit.

I was really only thinking about chaining AIs or DS on boss type mobs.

 

[TimberWolf]

Ya I get what your saying Tuan, and the more I spawned with him yesterday the more I noticed what you were saying was making sense to me. I love that you have taken the time and crunched the numbers this way, you obviously no this $hit inside out and backwards. the first thing I am going to do is get my suit up to 70 fire when in vamp. Next I will be looking to craft some weapons like those recommended by corwin . Coming from a straight Sammy/pally HLL was needed on my weapons. I see now that with VE I don't worry about it so much.

Tuan what do your numbers say about dropping parry to 80 and taking tactics and anatomy to 120? Or can I drop anatomy and put on 120 RESIST SPELLS? I don't have these skills stoned so I would be making the changes to existing stats so I am curious what the numbers say before I take the plunge.
Thanks for the help and advice Tuan I appreciate it....we are lucky to have numbers guy like you around here.

 

[Tuan]

I am not sure that there's a blanket answer for you on the parry vs resist question...

First you need to decide how important melee damage avoidance is to you, and you should settle on your base kit: 2h weapons or 1h + shield. Base suit might not change much, but the damage avoidance question can change quite a lot depending on scenario.

I don't have bush in my build, so for me the question is a bit simpler, and as a result, I've not really thought too much about parry in the context of bushido.

Play around with the combat calculator from stratics to tell you your chance to block in various pairings of bush/parry/sheild/weapons.

There are relatively few monsters who hit truly hard in melee, and when I die, it's usually because I'm surrounded by things that can hit me from a distance, and that's usually magic users.

If melee damage avoidance is really your goal, you might even actually be better off to try for a build with a 70 defense chance cap by refining some resists away. I haven't crunched the numbers here, either.

 

[TimberWolf]

Ok Taun if I understand the numbers correctly...going from 100 to 120 tactics will increase my damage output by about 12%

Raising anatomy to 120 should increase damage out put about 10%???

Dropping anatomy totally will reduce damage output 25-30%???


But then 120 resist spells will probably save my life a lot more often then 40 points of parry will!

And definitely help in a pvp environment

 

[Tuan]

Yes, 100 -> 120 tact is 12.5% more damage, 100 -> 120 anat is 10% more.

Total DI from items and skills is capped at 300, but calculated as (Tactics bonus + Anat Bonus + Str bonus + DI items).

If all 120s and 125 str this is 81.25 + 65 + 42.5 + 100 = 288.75. if you instead get 0 bonus from anat, then you're at 223.75. This represents a ~22-23% decrease. Less if you're a human and get the JOAT bonus. Less even more is you're human, and using an axe, because you get the JOAT bonus from LJ and Anat. For me, dropping anat would mean ~37 less damage per hit on avg. when I'm doing AIs and I've got a slayer for that monster type.

Even in some PVM resist can save your life, expesially against necro creatures who'll blood oath you from time to time.

 

[TimberWolf]

Hmmmm I am an elf....I hadn't considered joat to help offset the anat loss. I was focusing on just increasing tactics. I did a riktor the other day and noticed my mana often dropped to 0 when I was cast upon.... And the boss himself was a real nightmare for me. But I suspect a good part of that was the low 50s fire resist my suit was running.....which fixing is my first task.

Thanks Tuan picking your brain has been invaluable

 

[Klapauc]

Having 120 resist instead of anatomy makes sampire easier to play, good bye mana drain and para spam. However , your damage will be lower and you might want to use daishos for feint sometimes.That sort of playstyle doesnt depend on gear that much and is basically failsafe but slower.
According to stratics calculator, average ai damage with bladed staff is 183 for 120 tactics and anatomy, 153 avg. with 0 anatomy.

60 vs 80 parry should not make much of a difference, against the true hard hitters it comes down to rng luck and playstyle anyway.

 

[Duncan Drake]

Resisting spells comes very handy against mobs that cast blood oath because dmg can very deadly here. I always switch anatomy for resisting spells when doing the primeval lich champion spawn or in doom.

As for fighting other mobs i think it isnt that necessary. Sure you get mana leeched but one or 2 autohits should be enough to replenish mana for another ai or ds.

 

[Tuan]

I find resist quite useful against the biggest, baddest casters too, like the Wizard master. I think she's got about 200 eval, so when she casts a curse spell, without resist, it's for sure going to drop be out of being able to swing 1.25.

 

[Duncan Drake]

right as a sampire without active protection spell probably true. As im running a bushido paladin with enough fc i simply cast remove curse if my ss goes down. Most of the time it doesnt as i use pots with a 50% epot ring.

Last time i played a sampire is some years ago. Often forget some details

 

[TimberWolf]

well I dropped Anat and added 120 Resist... dropping parry to60 to top up chiv and tactics.

modified my suit and got weapons that are better suited to my needs damage output seems a little low with no anat but tactics still has to come up to 120 before I can judge

 

[Obsidian]

well I dropped Anat and added 120 Resist... dropping parry to60 to top up chiv and tactics.

modified my suit and got weapons that are better suited to my needs damage output seems a little low with no anat but tactics still has to come up to 120 before I can judge

Go fight Necro casters with and without resist. Trust me, afterwards you will sing the praises of resist.

It isn't necessary in all cases, but I find it adds to my universal utility in many situations.

 

[TimberWolf]

So far I agree 100% guys that for all the great advice and helping to explain it so I understood the concepts involved....tactics has been slow to gain bit the template is solid and I like the survivability aspect.

 

[Ender]

Undead champ spawn is SO much easier with resist, even with lower damage from no anatomy. I would die a couple times as a sampire just due to mana drain and sometimes blood oath. Put on resist instead of anatomy and I just wouldn't die, some scares when there were more monsters stuck on ledges in Deceit than there were in reach but if you play smart it doesn't take much effort at all.

Also helps keep stats up which is nice if you're using a slower weapon.