The Dragoon (Bushido Paladin V.2.3)

[Duncan Drake]

Greetings fellow Warriors,
finally I managed to update my previous equipment with some better gear and I wanted to share this.

As most of you know my favorite template is the so called bushido paladin template. It is an improvement of a sampire but without the need of necromancy. Bushido paladins most often fight with Hit Life Leech weapons. In battles where HLL is not an option (e.g. tainted life aura) we can use confidence or chivalry healing spells. It is some kind of allround template and from my personal point of view it is far superior than most sampire templates.

For further information plz read the following threads:
Paladin Template and Gear
Bushido Paladin Gear (updated)

Some thoughts:
- I got tired of just naming this template bushido paladin. You will see that the main AI (armor ignore) weapons are now bladed staffs so I thought... well... this is somehow like the weapons a Final Fantasy Dragoon uses. And the description dragoon refers to some kind of mounted infantry in history. And thats just like this template. Using bladed Staffs while riding on an armored swamp dragon smashing through enemy forces. I think perfectly matched.

- Aside from things like slither, shanty´s waders or castle blackthorn rewards (those all have static stats) most parts of this equipment is craftable. I did not use any "uber ultra legendary far 2 expensive" items with random stats here. I wanted a suit of equipment that can be totally calculated and replicable. The only thing that might be a bit difficult to get is a 10 ssi bracelet with the right mods. But its doable (I have a couple of em). (Well and slither but I heard medusa has some of em )

- This updated gear comes with FC 2 / FCR 6. Really an improvement to my previous equipment

- Essence of Battle is great. With 30% DI and imbuable you get that FC1/FCR3 STR and Dex Item that is needed here (DI 30 + DI 50 from weapons and DI 20 from divine fury)

- I don´t like paroxymus swamp dragon, I always prefer the 20% DR from dragon barding. And with shadow iron the dragon barding has a duarbility of 17k dmg.

- This gear is calculated for using the protection spell as a human. Normally I run with 120 Resisting Spells when fighting casting monsters. In other cases when this is not needed I use protection. It comes very handy because your casting cant be interrupted when taking damage. Always depends on the fight and sometimes its good to have more options.

- Right now I'm using the bushido vol II mastery so 10 more mana passive.

Ok enough talk, here come the numbers and screenshots. Against boss monster i use greater strength and agility pots with a 50 ep ring. Numbers shown here are when fully buffed including divine storm.

 

[Tabin]

Woa. How did you get all those invun refinements? They are pretty rare and expensive on Atlantic. 5-8 mil each! That's a lot of gold spent on refinements when you aren't guaranteed +1s for all five resist.

Oh and what's the buff icon with the star? Based on the 90 phy resist, it should be protection but mine icon looks different.

 

[Duncan Drake]

Well i didn't buy them. Most of them i got with doing t-maps and stealing in fel shops.

This symbol showing is the passive from bushido mastery. I didn't have protection active at that time

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

1. I strongly approve of/agree with the use of Drgaoon (FF is awesome!).
2. I'm not personally a fan of; the 'E'C, multiple jewellery sets, relying on EP/pots, least of all when needing two handed weapons, town bonus, Divine Fury bonus... but that's personal choice and it's clearly working for ya.
3. You have the M and L the wrong way around for Hit Mana Leech in your spreadsheet.
4. You seem to be carrying a lot of weight though I'm guessing that you're carrying at least 50 stones of Str/Dex.
5. Surprised you went for Plate and lower LMC while using Stam Leech and Divine.
6. Surprised to see a Slither on a dexxer.

Just my observations, not meant negatively or anything, I think it's a really solid looking setup. The only potential drawback I can see is against stuff where you're frozen like the Slasher/Meph/Navrey or as a male against Semidar.

 

[CorwinXX]

multiple jewellery sets

With this template you can't just drink potions because you use 2H weapon. So you need press a key 'switch equipment' (to 1H or Balanced 2H weapon). Since there is no difference between switching to 1H weapon and switching to 1H weapon + EP jewels there is no any profit in having EP on your main jewels.

Surprised you went for Plate and lower LMC

Casting more DF means some delay before you get stamina by casting DF and sometimes you haven't enough time to activate your special move. With 75+ HML on your weapon it's better to reduce stamina loss over HML.

Slasher/Meph/Navrey

Meph and Narvey are easy even with 60 Parry. Against Slasher you need 120 Parry. As to my experience 120 Parrying without Healing is about the same as 60 Parrying + 120 Healing. All you need is to drink one GH while stunned under Stone Shower.

 

[CorwinXX]

Essence of Battle

It's excellent idea to use it. I myself use one woodland item with 10 DI to get 100 DI just with one jewel. With BT metal Glasses I still have 5 metal items.

ow I'm using the bushido vol II mastery

With level III sword mastery I use Double Ax as my main weapon. I use Bladed Staff very rare.

 

[CorwinXX]

P.S. I think your Dragoon is the best melee template now days.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

With this template you can't just drink potions because you use 2H weapon. So you need press a key 'switch equipment' (to 1H or Balanced 2H weapon). Since there is no difference between switching to 1H weapon and switching to 1H weapon + EP jewels there is no any profit in having EP on your main jewels.

Casting more DF means some delay before you get stamina by casting DF and sometimes you haven't enough time to activate your special move. With 75+ HML on your weapon it's better to reduce stamina loss over HML.

Meph and Narvey are easy even with 60 Parry. Against Slasher you need 120 Parry. As to my experience 120 Parrying without Healing is about the same as 60 Parrying + 120 Healing. All you need is to drink one GH while stunned under Stone Shower.

I think you missed my point on points 1 and 2, and I completely disagree with point 3.

 

[Duncan Drake]

1. I strongly approve of/agree with the use of Drgaoon (FF is awesome!).
2. I'm not personally a fan of; the 'E'C, multiple jewellery sets, relying on EP/pots, least of all when needing two handed weapons, town bonus, Divine Fury bonus... but that's personal choice and it's clearly working for ya.
3. You have the M and L the wrong way around for Hit Mana Leech in your spreadsheet.
4. You seem to be carrying a lot of weight though I'm guessing that you're carrying at least 50 stones of Str/Dex.
5. Surprised you went for Plate and lower LMC while using Stam Leech and Divine.
6. Surprised to see a Slither on a dexxer.

Just my observations, not meant negatively or anything, I think it's a really solid looking setup. The only potential drawback I can see is against stuff where you're frozen like the Slasher/Meph/Navrey or as a male against Semidar.

Thx for the feedback.
1st point: yea
2. with ec client not really a problem and the only way to max out everything. With fc2 fcr6 it runs quite smooth
3. no its the right way. I go for 100 hml. 75 /81 hll is more than enough for me
4. i carry some weight though i swich out some weapons. E.g. Doing peerless i dont need hit area axes so they are left at home
5. hard hitting monsters like rikktor or stygian dragon still lower my stamina quite high. Spamming df reduces my dmg output so metal armor is the best option here.
6. this i dont understand. Slither is one of the best dexxer talismans out there. Compare the stats with other trinkets and you will see for this equipment there is no other option available.

Other points:
Sonething to mention, this thread is all about equipment and not skills because for every fight you have to change a couple of things. Only the core skills stay the same.

Slasher/meph/navrey are one of the easier boss monsters i can do.

- Slasher: check this thread. Warrior Challenge (Sep 2014): Slasher of Veils I did it with a much older and less good equipment: the skills are the key. I go here with discord jewelry. Equipment stays the same. + pot for stone raon
- semidar: i go there with 67 magery and 53 anstomy for polymorph
- mephitis. I dont see a problem here. Short paralyzing effect with 120 parry and confidence... More of a trash mob
- navrey: one word: stone boots

There are mobs that are quite difficult to handle lke ossireidon

 

[Duncan Drake]

It's excellent idea to use it. I myself use one woodland item with 10 DI to get 100 DI just with one jewel. With BT metal Glasses I still have 5 metal items.


With level III sword mastery I use Double Ax as my main weapon. I use Bladed Staff very rare.

As soon as i get my hands on this primer i think ill go for the same. Axes are already crafted with 100 % elemental dmg

 

[Duncan Drake]

ah one error in my equiment. The hit area weapons only have 45% di. i recycled them. I didnt want to craft new ones... Guess i need some more crystal shards

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

3. no its the right way. I go for 100 hml. 75 /81 hll is more than enough for me

What I mean is you've got HLM instead of HML.

 

[Tabin]

Dexxers don't usually run slither because not a lot of dexxers spam DF. You can get 45% HCI, 35%DCI(after refinement), 100%DI, and 35%SSI on your armor thus eliminating the need for Divine Fury and FC/FCR. Spaming chiv spells seem to slow down my DPS and takes up mana so I completely dropped casting anything other than confidence and the occasional heal when I wiffed a few too many times (bosses with 200+ wrestling...) It all comes down to playstyle though so yours is certainly a nice alternative to the typical sampire build.

One other note, you imbued resist on your suit 5 times. Why not find a nice legendary with 20/18/17/18/17 resist? That's what I did and I only imbued resist once. That means all my crafted armor pieces have +5 HP instead. This will also let you add 8 LMC to all your armor so you don't waste a value ring/bracelet imbue for it, which is what you currently have.

Have you soloed Belfry without running off the platform? That's my current goal and I'm tinkering with different builds/gear to try to achieve it. I'm half way there (got it to 50% before running off) so it would be interesting to see if any other melee builds might work better for that encounter.

In any case, thanks for sharing and its nice to see alternatives. I think my next toon will be a thief so I can get those darn refinements. =)

 

[Duncan Drake]

What I mean is you've got HLM instead of HML.

Ah ok thats a typo.

 

[Duncan Drake]

Dexxers don't usually run slither because not a lot of dexxers spam DF. You can get 45% HCI, 35%DCI(after refinement), 100%DI, and 35%SSI on your armor thus eliminating the need for Divine Fury and FC/FCR. Spaming chiv spells seem to slow down my DPS and takes up mana so I completely dropped casting anything other than confidence and the occasional heal when I wiffed a few too many times (bosses with 200+ wrestling...) It all comes down to playstyle though so yours is certainly a nice alternative to the typical sampire build.

One other note, you imbued resist on your suit 5 times. Why not find a nice legendary with 20/18/17/18/17 resist? That's what I did and I only imbued resist once. That means all my crafted armor pieces have +5 HP instead. This will also let you add 8 LMC to all your armor so you don't waste a value ring/bracelet imbue for it, which is what you currently have.

Have you soloed Belfry without running off the platform? That's my current goal and I'm tinkering with different builds/gear to try to achieve it. I'm half way there (got it to 50% before running off) so it would be interesting to see if any other melee builds might work better for that encounter.

In any case, thanks for sharing and its nice to see alternatives. I think my next toon will be a thief so I can get those darn refinements. =)

As i previously said i wanted some kind of gear thats totally calculatable and replicable. Sure a max resist 8+ si,mi hci, dci, lmc legendary armor part would be better but thats too rndm in my opinion here. If i get one some time i might include it. But so far the combination of stats here is everything one needs in my opinion.

I didn't try the roof yet. I wanted as soon as i have the right primer but luck is not on my side right now

 

[ysolt]

Have you soloed Belfry without running off the platform? That's my current goal and I'm tinkering with different builds/gear to try to achieve it. I'm half way there (got it to 50% before running off) so it would be interesting to see if any other melee builds might work better for that encounter.

Best way to kill belfry is to not run at it when he push's you,wait for him to run at you,then when you are near the edge run to other side of him,rinse reapt, with this method i solo belfry in 2 mins with disco or 3 mins with staying on the roof platform the whole time.

 

[Tabin]

Have you soloed Belfry without running off the platform? That's my current goal and I'm tinkering with different builds/gear to try to achieve it. I'm half way there (got it to 50% before running off) so it would be interesting to see if any other melee builds might work better for that encounter.

Best way to kill belfry is to not run at it when he push's you,wait for him to run at you,then when you are near the edge run to other side of him,rinse reapt, with this method i solo belfry in 2 mins with disco or 3 mins with staying on the roof platform the whole time.

Yup that's what Im doing. Basically joisting him. Eventually he fireballs me AND hits me, Im down to 50hp with low stam. I have almost no choice but to run off. One miss at 50 hp and im dead. So what do you do then?
Tried again with a new weapon and got it down to 30% before running off.

 

[DuckSix666]

Concerning the Chara bushido has an impressive effect in physical damage.
Once the mana discerns that a intensive mana pool is available i.e. LRC FMR the character can develop the paladin greatly. From experience the spell leveling will introduce spells that need to be recanted in order to win major melee. All in all summoning several vortex and casting regen will do al the work.

Wraith form is the first spell that a Palay can learn although stay with it through Necromancry and Licht for is way Boss. This would be the righteous path because there are many short cut that involve Notorious reputation and bad reputation I can tell you right now the level once red is through several murders and pks of other reds.

All of which involves large amounts of corp por and flame strike. Once that happened many players I have met often continue a series of red karma kills into a chain quest of nortoriety. If interested I have watched an noted the best party strategy is to summon and constantly reheal. By the time the mana restores provoke with mana drain or just create obstacles until there is enough to poison and then vampire. Ok.

 

[vegasy]

What is the skill template?

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[Pretzl]

What is the skill template?

First link in OP's post, in the spreadsheet image:

For further information plz read the following threads:
Paladin Template and Gear

 

[Duncan Drake]

Right now i play with Basic Template:
120 Swords
120 tactics
120 parry
120 chiv
120 Bushido
120 anatomy (or 120 resisting spells against casting encounters)

 

[vegasy]

Right now i play with Basic Template:
120 Swords
120 tactics
120 parry
120 chiv
120 Bushido
120 anatomy (or 120 resisting spells against casting encounters)

With this build what type of boss you can do?
is dificult without healing?

 

[Duncan Drake]

Peerless, champion spawns, stygian dragon
Healing is not needed. Confidence and hll from weapon is enough

 

[vegasy]

Peerless, champion spawns, stygian dragon
Healing is not needed. Confidence and hll from weapon is enough

i remember magina have an ability that block heal from others player ability. Confidence can be blocked with this method?

EDIT: if u need heal out of combat? only potions?

 

[CorwinXX]

Confidence is not healing - it's increased regen. It isn't blocked by Mortal Strike. (By the way you can remove Mortal Strike using Chivalry spell Remove Courses)

Out of combat you can use Confidence and Chivalry spell Close Wounds to heal.

 

[vegasy]

For Out of mana in combat? Sorry for all my question but its a interesting build and maybe i switch my pure pala with this template - when uo give me a soulstone

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[Tuan]

With HML on the weapon you should never be both out of mana and in combat.

 

[CorwinXX]

For Out of mana in combat?

When you are out of mana in combat you are probably in trouble.

 

[Garrisons Rage]

Hey Duncan,

I've been reading over this build and trying to come up with a game plan to get close ....

I moved some skills around and added here and there .... this morning I finished
the "basic template" below ....

Right now i play with Basic Template:
120 Swords
120 tactics
120 parry
120 chiv
120 Bushido
120 anatomy (or 120 resisting spells against casting encounters)

Right now I have 115 STR, 125 DEX, and 20 INT .... can you tell me what you found works best with the Dragoon build? Your screenshots looked like there were adders and maybe potions ... figured I'd ask.

Thanks ....

 

[Duncan Drake]

I use greater str and agility pots while having a 50epot Ring equipped

 

[Garrisons Rage]

I use greater str and agility pots while having a 50epot Ring equipped

Thanks .... are my stats good where they are?

BTW .... found out my Tinkerer has the recipe for the Essence of Battle .... who knew

That one doesn't have the +50 epots ... must be a different one then in the screenshots

 

[Duncan Drake]

How much mana do you have?

The ring im using doesnt have epot on it. I have a macro that changes to a 1 h weapon + epot ring then uses the potions and then i reequip. There is no use in wearing the ring during combat

 

[Garrisons Rage]

How much mana do you have?

The ring im using doesnt have epot on it. I have a macro that changes to a 1 h weapon + epot ring then uses the potions and then i reequip. There is no use in wearing the ring during combat

Right now I got NADA .... only the 20 I get from INT .... I'm starting from scratch .... building from the ground up

 

[Garrisons Rage]

Excuse me if I post really basic stuff that I learn here .... but I'm gonna learn allot ....

So I made a ring and a bracelet with +25 epots on each (I couldn't see a way to get +50 on a single piece ... maybe another thing that I don't know) .... and I made some greater str and greater agility

Added note: I did find an Ecru Citrine Ring that has a "rare" 50% epots... strike the "rare" ... found a bunch for 50,000 each ... even better .... I crafted 5 of them .... 2 had only 50% enhance potions and can be imbued with 4 other properties ....


Then I used my guy with 115 STR and DEX 125 .... and glugged the potions ....

STR went to 148 ... a gain of 33 ... and drug HP up to 123 along with it (str/2+50)

DEX went to 150 .... probably the same gain but topped off ... and Stamina to 150 too ...

They both lasted for 3 minutes 10 seconds .... are there any factors that cause the effects to last less or more?

 

[Duncan Drake]

Well you need more mana. Otherwise you cant spam special moves and thats vital.

For the pots. Thats right they only last that long. Duration is shorter if you dont use epot ring but longer is not possible.normally you only need pots against bosses. For doing spawn e.g. they are not needed

 

[Garrisons Rage]

Hey Duncan,

I understand I need more mana .... and everything else .... the STR (115), DEX (125), and INT (20) are all standing there in my drawers with nothing equipted .... the rest will come with equipment, weapons, etc .... I should be able to get pretty close to what you have in your Dragoon Spreadsheet for my final skills and stats.

Got a question .... what exactly is the city buff .... please explain what that means ... never heard of it

Thanks

 

[Garrisons Rage]

Found the "City Buff" .... at least info about it under City Loyalty ..... got to read some more to understand what it means .... but I'm on my way

 

[Duncan Drake]

City Loyalty - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

 

[Garrisons Rage]

Thanks ... that's the info I found too .... guess the only question I have to figure out the answer to is what trade agreements align with what citys today? I also saw that Divine Fury didn't give me as high of bonuses as you ..... gotta raise my karma .... playing with Vamp Embrace killed it.

I think my stats are good and I've got all the Arties .... didn't have/get the cool looking Crest of Blackthorn versions .... but all in due time.

I'm going to start crafting today .... I spent allot of time last night looking over the Dragoon spreadsheet .... pretty much everything is there to tell me what to put where .... thanks .... TONS of help

 

[Duncan Drake]

Im very glad that the information of my post is of help. It is really a fun and very strong build and took many hours of optimization. But thats a part of uo's magic. A complexity no other mmorpg has.

You definitly need more karma. You need max chivalry bonus. For the city trade buff you need to find a city where the gouvernor kepps the asassins guild buff. On europa its minoc

 

[Garrisons Rage]

Hey Duncan .... I didn't die ....

Been working on my Armor ..... and working on my armor, and working on my armor. I'm still trying to get the right combo to get all my resists over 75 ... I craft a piece who's numbers look good ...and of course when I try to add HCI or DCI I don't get the right thing ... and then once I get the basic piece done .... with DCI or HCI where I need it ... I fall short of the total 75 for something ....

I'm using a spreadsheet to keep a running tab on things as I craft them .... but in the end I'm having a hard time hitting that 75 in all categories ....

Got any advice on the right way to go about it? Is there some way that betters my chances or is it just a matter of doing it until you get the right combo ....

Thanks ...

 

[Garrisons Rage]

Thought I'd give you a chuckle .....

I'm shopping on Atlantic .... just bought 95 shadow runic hammers (cleaned out the whole shard) and 430,000 ingots

 

[Tabin]

Garrison, if you're on Atlantic and can afford 95 shadow runic hammers, you should just spend 5-10mil on a maxed resist legendary and build around that. Your gear will be more optimal since you'll only have to imbue resist on one or two items... It doesn't take anything even close to 95 runics to build it that way. It should only take 5-8 runics.

If you insist on building your entire suit by crafting, then by all means go for it. Just thought I'd offer up an easier alternative.

 

[Garrisons Rage]

The thing that kills it for me is ReForging the HCI and DCI on the pieces once I create this. I seems to either add something that I don't want ... or raise two resists .... or fall short .... I'm using a shadow runic powerful either Aegis or Slaughter .... might be me

 

[Tabin]

Ahhh. I made mine with studded leather and spined runics has 1-3 properties. I usually hit 1 property 5% HCI/DCI pretty easily that way. Shadow runic is guaranteed two properties so you'll always end up with something else. My guess is....you need to use 8 charge per attempt and select the second name to reduce the randomness of your 2nd property.

I notice you mentioned Vampiric Embrace in another comment. Remember to add +25 fire resist for that. If you want to run protection, you need more physical resist for that as well. My recommendation: choose either VE or protection (not both) and design your build/gear around that.

 

[Duncan Drake]

Well i did it this way. Start crafting pieces with minimum number in one type if resist. E.g. Platemail basically has 5 3 2 3 2 (p/f/c/pois/e)
So craft as long as you get lets say fire resist 3. then use a shadow runic (not powerful) so 3 charges. You pretty often get your 5 hci dci this way.
After that go for the next item. This time chose another minimum resist, cold. This way youll get the most out of it.

I dont think you will need all those hammers if you use 3 charges.

 

[Garrisons Rage]

HOORAY ..... Armor is all set ..... Still have jewelry and weapons to do .... but I am on my way ..... didn't even need any of the new shadow runics .... don't mind having them .... I'm on GL .... they never have much of anything ... that's why I shop on Atlantic .... Thats how I went about it ..... BUT I did use powerful .... maybe thats why I got extra properties ..... casting focus was a real PITA .... again .... thanks for the help.

Duncan ... got a question ..... how come your character sheet shows 75/75 while mine shows 70/70 .... even though all of my resists are over 75?

 

[Tuan]

Got any advice on the right way to go about it?

Thanks ...

The right way to go about it is almost certainly to understand that 75 resist in poison and cold aren't worth it. I've written at length about the topic multiple times. The number of things that can do > 100 cold or poison damage is basically 0, so the difference between 74 and 75 resist there amounts to rounding error.

Maxxing cold and poison resist at the expense of some other property (like DCI) is not the right thing to do for a character not using ranged weapons.

 

[Duncan Drake]

You Need this
Armor refinement - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

I like having 75 in all resistances just for versatility. You never know what might come.

As im doing tmaps too i like having max frost resistance against Frost Dragons. Other Problem is that more dci is needed if you have less max resistance and this can ve problematic with crafting the suit

 

[Garrisons Rage]

I now understand partially why I was having such a hard time making my Armor .... I got a REAL 75 (or more) in each resist category without "Armor Refinement". That caused me to need an additional 25 total points across my armor. DCI and HCI will be at cap anyway .... I'll know better once I have everything crafted whether or not I had to "give anything up" .... it wasn't wasted time .... I learned allot about how to go about putting together a suit .... knowing more is a GOOD THING. Thanks for the link to Armor Refinement .... I'll take a look and see what it's all about.

I just read over the Armor Refinement Stuff ... and saw this


There are two methods of refining armor:

• Reinforced - Increase max individual resist while lowering max defense chance increase by one.
• Deflecting - Decrease max individual resist while increasing max defense chance increase by one.

I see here that it seems that I will loose some DCI Points .... think I'll play with some "test pieces"