• Hail Guest!
    We're looking for Community Content Contribuitors to Stratics. If you would like to write articles, fan fiction, do guild or shard event recaps, it's simple. Find out how in this thread: Community Contributions
  • Greetings Guest, Having Login Issues? Check this thread!
  • Hail Guest!,
    Please take a moment to read this post reminding you all of the importance of Account Security.
  • Hail Guest!
    Please read the new announcement concerning the upcoming addition to Stratics. You can find the announcement Here!

[Imbuing] Crafting my first weapon

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I usually depend on loot from t-hunts, but I think I have enough resources to try and craft something. But all the crafting instruction, while vast, is confusing to me, so I'm looking for a step-by-step. Let's say I want to craft a 100% Fire with area fire, and I want a 2-handed Double Axe for the Double strike / whirlwind specials.

I reforge first, correct? Information comes from here: Runic Re-Forging - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

a) Using Iron ingots and a copper runic hammer, craft the exception double axe.
b) Using Knucklehead's calculator, I reforge Exquisite / of Quality until I get 100% fire (do I understand from UOGuide that I also get Mage Weapon / Self-Repair whether I want it or not?)

Then imbue?
c) I go to Knuckleheads imbuing calculator, choose melee weapons. Are there several imbuing steps? I choose Double Axe, and DI/Max which require 5 enchanted Essence, 10 citrine, 10 crystal shards.
d) Then fire area / Max, which requires 5 magical residue, 10 ruby, 10 raptor teeth for a 2nd round of imbuing?
e) I see an option for "apply whetstone", I know you can get these from Shame but not sure when/how to apply.

Then POF, I presume. (edit: this comes before imbuing, I think)

Then enhance? What do I enhance with?

The refinement amalgomator is only applicable to armor, I presume?

For archery weapons, is it the same steps, but maybe start with regular wood and an oak runic?

I think if somebody experienced provided a walk-thru example like this, then somebody like me might figure out how to make something useful.
 
Last edited:

DJAd

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
1. Use plain iron ingots to craft the base weapon. Thats assuming its a metal weapon.
2. Use shadow runic hammer (Exquisite / of Quality) until you get the 100% elemental damage base weapon. I also use "powerful" when reforging.
3. If you want to remove the DI from the weapon then use a whetstone. This is optional.
4. Use the Knuckleheads imbuing calculator to workout what mods you want and if they will all fit.
5. POF BEFORE IMBUING!!!!!
5. Imbue the weapon.
6. Enhance if needed. I don't enhance my weapons unless its a bow then I would pick Ash for the extra SSI.

 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
1. Use plain iron ingots to craft the base weapon. Thats assuming its a metal weapon.
So, I crafted 3 double axes, all identical. No sense making more until I'm sure of what I'm doing.
upload_2017-2-20_19-46-38.png


2. Use shadow runic hammer (Exquisite / of Quality) until you get the 100% elemental damage base weapon. I also use "powerful" when reforging.
Well, I've been selling of hammers, got my first Valorite this week. I have a mix of copper, bronze and gold hammers available, but only 2 shadow runic hammers. Guess I'm no longer in the selling business. :p

I also didn't realize reforging used imbuing, so I transferred the axes to my gargoyle. I also used my soulforge at home since it doesn't appear soulforge bonuses are applicable to reforging. Um, first menu has powerful / structural / fundamental, I'm guessing I actually choose "Grand Artifice" here, then Inspire / Exalted but not Sublime (at least not for what I'm doing today).
upload_2017-2-20_20-11-31.png

Attempt #1:
upload_2017-2-20_20-8-38.png

Well, that's not at all what I was expecting. I'll try it two more times:
upload_2017-2-20_20-10-0.png

For the 3rd attempt, I de-selected "Exalted Artifice" and made one more attempt:
upload_2017-2-20_20-14-24.png

So for now, I'm stopping. Am I on the right track? Those axes are garbage.
 

Herp!

Journeyman
I make weapons in a different way than DJAD..

1: buy double axe/bladed staff from vendor (550 weight on normal tier 2h weapons, no need for 600)
2: use dull coppers to exquisite/of quality powerful reforging to get 60% fire or 70% or higher cold. Shadow runic is required for 100% poison because you cannot enhance the item to get 100% poison no matter how hard you try, and shadow is required for 80% energy to enhance to cap.
3: enhance the item with bronze for 40% more fire, agapite for 30% more cold, Verite/Copper for 20% more energy, psn is not enhanceable.
4: PoF item
5: Imbue it.

NEVER, EVER, EVER, enhance a weapon as the last step unless you are making luck weapons. You will waste your time and resources breaking it or wasting a charge on a forged metal tool for 0 reason. For gear, yes, you enhance last because the resists stack on top of imbued resists.

Now, if you still need the DI on weapons due to the fact that you don't have a 100% suit, feel free to make your own weapons with a BS & just have the wasted extra imbue weight. I make many many weapons & I hate farming Whetstones, especially when I think the only weapon I have that isn't capped on all 5 imbues has 44% instead of 50% HLD, so unless that 6% is just 100% necessary for you, I wouldn't recommend it.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
So I went to TC tonight and learned a) 100% must be really rare, I got 2 100% cold weapons out of 50, and b) imbuing failure rate isn't bad.

Thanks for the help, y'all. I have a better grasp of where to go from here.
 

Herp!

Journeyman
100% ele is ULTRA rare... that's why I generally try for 60 fire 70 cold 80 energy and just enhance them.
 

DJAd

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Yes you will need way more than 3 weapons to start with!! I've used a whole 90 charge hammer in the past and got zero usable weapons.
 

Herp!

Journeyman
If you are on Legends @Dizzy I can offer you 2200(half my current stocks) charges of Dull Coppers & just about any ingots you may need, I have 3m+ Iron and 100s of thousands of everything but Val ingots(only 55k currently cuz of bods)... I need to get off my lazy butt and do more bribing and bods to get restocked on a full chest of Shadows, I can't even remember what we used the last 125 80 charge hammers on :(.. probably making weapons for anyone who asked lol. I may or may not have been ridiculously addicted to bods for a bit there lol
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
Herp, that's so tempting, I almost want to cash in a vet reward shard transfer pick. Alas, no, I'm on LS.

I made a few 70% cold and 60% fire weapons and attempted to enhance them, but failed and lost them. I don't own one of those fancy no-fail tools.

Is there any use for these other hammers? I have Copper, Bronze, Gold and Valorite.
 

DJAd

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Try enhancing (before imbuing) with an ancient hammer equipped.
 

Herp!

Journeyman
Herp, that's so tempting, I almost want to cash in a vet reward shard transfer pick. Alas, no, I'm on LS.

I made a few 70% cold and 60% fire weapons and attempted to enhance them, but failed and lost them. I don't own one of those fancy no-fail tools.

Is there any use for these other hammers? I have Copper, Bronze, Gold and Valorite.
Ancient hammers should theoretically increase the enhance chance, as they can raise your skill beyond the 120 cap. I don't use a fancy no-fail tool on weapons either... I just have gotten used to the amount I break when enhancing them lol.

You could get 100% ele and other useful stuff using the higher tier runics, they will normally add unwanted properties in my experience though :(. I have gotten lucky before and gotten weapons with 100hll or hml, 100% ele, and 70% Hit Mana Drain or Fatigue by using coppers and bronzes.. I've never used a runic beyond bronze because I only ever made 1 of each and they are just there for display purposes, you can get lucky with them, but I just never wanted to "waste" a Val runic or anything like that that took me time to actually make the LBoD and get all the SBoDs for... Now with the new bod system I'm simply too lazy to do anything beyond copper because I can get copper and below with just small bods bribed up to x points value.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I'm getting closer. I'm thinking of converting my archer back into a Chiv/LJ, and he'll need some good axes, and I've made this so far. I haven't decided what to add to it yet; HML, HLL, maybe lightning:
upload_2017-2-22_6-30-10.png
 

Herp!

Journeyman
I haven't decided what to add to it yet; HML, HLL, maybe lightning
I typically run HML HLL HSL Slayer and Hit spell based on the weapon damage type. Or in the case of weapons made for spawning/aoe, I just replace the Hit Spell with Hit Area Effect and swap to a hit spell one at boss. Only downfall to hit area effect is that it will not hit the target you hit, thus it is worthless single target, but can go off from all 9 possible hits of a WW & just do silly amounts of extra damage at a spawn :)

However, if you are running a Chiv build that utilizes Divine Fury for stam regeneration, you can drop the HSL for DI, HLD, HLA or whatever you wish to run that fits your playstyle. I have troubles, even in full metal armor, with keeping my stamina up without HSL because I do not run chiv at all aside from throwing on skill jewelry to Sacred Journey. Glad to see you got a weapon though, energy works just as well as fire for spiders/arachnid in almost every case. 100% fire is by far the hardest to get(RNG is not my friend on crafting or drops) for some reason even though all you need is 60% to enhance to 100 :( I have like 10 cold, 10 energy, 15 poison, and only 1 extra fire waiting to be imbued when I break my current weapons.

I do have a question for anyone that may pass through the thread though. SDI, Eval Int, & Magery affect the damage of a hit spell/hit area effect... Correct? I may be thinking about fiddling with some things for pvp weapons & it's been since Pre-AoS that I have actually done pvp aside from running people off of my spawns with a friend :)
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
Yeah, I think I run out of imbuing slots fitting those in:

upload_2017-2-23_5-37-55.png

I'm thinking of dropping HSL and adding Hit Energy Area instead.
 

BeaIank

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
I'd make that one daemon slayer for quickly killing balrons in Fel Blackthorns and try to get a 100% fire double axe for arachnid slayer.
100% fire works great at the arachnid spawn and even better at Navrey.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
The arachnid is already imbued, did that yesterday, shown in the pick above. Just haven't decided on the other 3 mods. HLL seems a must, but between Hit Lightning, HML, and HSL I can only pick 2.

I learned a lot in this thread, y'all, at least for this weapon. I'm not sure yet what to do with my higher runics and ash fletcher runic and oak runic saw, but I think I understand finally the imbuing, if not fully the reforging process.
 

BeaIank

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
The arachnid is already imbued, did that yesterday, shown in the pick above. Just haven't decided on the other 3 mods. HLL seems a must, but between Hit Lightning, HML, and HSL I can only pick 2.

I learned a lot in this thread, y'all, at least for this weapon. I'm not sure yet what to do with my higher runics and ash fletcher runic and oak runic saw, but I think I understand finally the imbuing, if not fully the reforging process.
You can imbue daemon slayer and it will replace arachnid slayer without costing extra weight.
Do not waste that one on arachnid. It works best for daemon, since Balrons have decent gold, gate travel scrolls and give you tons of fame for building sacrifice and karma for your chiv. Also, random minax drops.
 

Herp!

Journeyman
You can imbue daemon slayer and it will replace arachnid slayer without costing extra weight.
Do not waste that one on arachnid. It works best for daemon, since Balrons have decent gold, gate travel scrolls and give you tons of fame for building sacrifice and karma for your chiv. Also, random minax drops.
This is very true. 880k/hr is about my cap for Balrons in Blackthorn at the moment & they typically die in 1-3 hits if you use an energy weapon, depends on how high their hp pool is on spawn.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I didn't realize you could change slayers. Huh. These rare resources are going to kill me; I used all my carapace to make the arachnid, now all the daemon claw to change it:
upload_2017-2-23_21-47-56.png

I think HML and area energy will be the other two attributes. What do you think?
 

Herp!

Journeyman
I didn't realize you could change slayers. Huh. These rare resources are going to kill me; I used all my carapace to make the arachnid, now all the daemon claw to change it:
I think HML and area energy will be the other two attributes. What do you think?
For daemon claws, if you have a musician/carpenter and a fletcher, you can do A Worthy Proposition it gives undying flesh more often than daemon claws but it beats killing Fire Daemons imo. Sadly the carapace I don't know a fast way :( I just go kill Navrey a bunch.

As for the imbues, HML is always useful, but Hit Area Effect spells do not work on the target you are hitting, only targets that surround it. So it really depends on if you plan on using it to AoE or to single target. Single target, I'd run Hit Lightning. Multi target, I'd run the hit area energy.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
Sounds like if I plan to start on Balrons at Blackthorn, then I should go with lightning...
 

BeaIank

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
HSL will be a bit better there than the extra tiny bit of damage hit lightning does. Onslaught + 4 DS in a row will deliver more than enough damage to dispatch them in less than 10 seconds per.
The balrons can hit you hard and cause your stamina to go down fairly quick though. You can refresh it with divine fury, but you can't DS while casting it.
 

BeaIank

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
Also, which shard are you at?
If you are around Legends, I will gladly share my stash of imbuing ingredients.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
Lake Superior. I farmed some Void Orbs last night, but rare resources are going to be hard for me.

I visited the Blackthorn Balron last night; my trip didn't go well. Part of it was my inexperience; I was a Chiv/archer until last night, and dropped Focus/Archery to pick up Bushido and Swords, but even though I've worked Bushido up to 90, I'm not familiar with it, so trying to use HLL effectively is very new. I'm used to jousting to stay alive, and not sure that's the right strategy anymore. And also now I know I need to craft a suit to go with this axe.

My skills:
120 Swords
90.3 Bushido (taking it to 120)
116.1 Chivalry (taking it to 120)
37.5 Focus (lowering)
116.1 Healing (taking it to 120)
120 Swords
120 Tactics
120 Anatomy

And my suit is built with treasure hunting stuff, not fine-tuned:
upload_2017-2-24_11-18-48.png upload_2017-2-24_11-19-13.png upload_2017-2-24_11-19-36.png upload_2017-2-24_11-19-52.png upload_2017-2-24_11-20-11.png upload_2017-2-24_11-20-27.png

I have barbed and horned kits, copper, bronze and gold hammers, so now I need to start a better suit than this. And now that my axe is complete, I think I'm stuck at 20 SSI total, so not sure what to craft next.
 
Last edited:

BeaIank

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
Your hit chance increase is way, way too low...
You need to bring that to at least 30 or 35, minimum.
And jousting is a bad idea there. Just stand up to him, hit onslaught and DS away. Only run away to a quick confidence heal if your health gets too low.
If your stamina drops too much, use divine fury to refresh and keep hitting.
With your tactics and anatomy, you will be killing them in less than 10 seconds for sure.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I'm currently using a Chiv III mastery - Holy Fist is the only ranged attack I have. My Swords mastery is only a II.

I dumped a bunch of antique jewelry recently, but I can drop some MR for better HCI.

I can change, but this old man doesn't have the twitchy macro fingers he used to. I'm using the EC and need to setup a better buff macro that includes onslaught, double strike, counter attack, and bandage, all in a single buff.
 

BeaIank

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
A swords II is already enough to increase your DS damage significantly. It will also give you 5 DCI and 5 HCI.
Don't bother with counter attack on your build since you don't have parry. In fact, you are also not benefiting from the 300 skill points to decrease your special attacks mana cost.
I'd drop Healing, Anat to 100 and raise bushido to 100 and add 60 parry to your build to do that. And it would also make counter attack sorta useful.

Also, try to get a hold of a despicable quiver for the 5 HCI unless you are using a ranger's cloak.
You can get a turn-in talisman with 10 anat, 5 HCI and 20 DI to help wit that as well, or get a mana phasing orb with 5 HCI since they now have 255 durability.

And forget about MR. You will be getting all your mana from leeching. So being able to hit more often > regenerating mana. You also need to max your DI.
Finally, are you wearing a mace & shield glasses or the blackthorn's equivalent? You don't have hit lower defence in your weapon, so you need it in your helmet.
 
Last edited:

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
Ok, switching masteries to Swords is easy enough.

The account with this character mostly goes 6x120 where possible, so I'd switch to another character if I was going 100/100/60. I'm a novice at Bushido. I'll start using Lightning Strike instead of Counter Attack.

I have a quiver with 5% DI (I'm outside in the back yard enjoying this beautiful 80 deg day, so can't be bothered to go inside and log in to check), but I thought it was an infinity quiver. I have a boat load of mana phasing orbs from my t-hunts, I'll find something more appropriate than the totem of the tribe I'm using. I might have a soldier's medal, I'll look.

Mace & shield? Nope, sounds like I'd have to go hunting for that.
 

BeaIank

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
In this case I suggest replacing healing with parrying.
With your current build, bushido is only bringing honour and confidence mini heals to the table. It is meant to be used along with parry, as you can use counter attack, confidence adds stam and HP with successful parry attempts while it is active, and you can use evade to get out of hairy situations. Lightning strike can't be used in conjunction with double strike.

For the mace & shield, it is a Britain Library turn in. Should be very easy to procure if you have 15 mil to donate to the library. The blackthorn equivalents cost 50 minax arties to secure.
Infinity quiver adds 5 DCI only. The despicable quiver brings much more to your build, but can be expensive to secure. Or you can get it at Andros. It will take a bit and it is a boring fight. I wouldn't suggest an infinity quiver unless you have nothing else equipped at that slot.
Jumu’s Sacred Hide - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia is a good one to have there too, since it adds a lot of DI to your suit.

And remember, you don't need an über, multi billion suit, with everything maxed out.
It is nice, but you can compete well with a properly build suit with the pieces that cater to the build you are running.
 
Last edited:

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I think that was my plan, to drop healing eventually (I wanted to add LJ but that just isn't going to work). I've just been too chicken to drop Healing and rely on Bushido for healing.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I'm OT now, trying to find a way to use this new weapon while also changing my skill set.

After like 30 deaths, I'm done with the Blackthorn balrons, at least for now. HLL isn't enough with what I have to keep me alive, especially with all those mage lords nearby. Gotta find a way to cure and heal with a two-handed weapon and no Healing skill and no Resist.

Sent from mTalk
 

BeaIank

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
If a mage walk in, use whirlwind or momentum strike, but ideally, you will position yourself at the end end of the room so they won't pester you.
And make sure to always honour them balron, since honour heals and refreshes mana and stamina once the target is dead and your perfection is high enough. And I am pretty sure that your problem is being the lack of hit stamina leech.
If you are not using an armoured swampy, they will hit you to 40+, and that will put a dent on your stamina and in your swing speed along with it.
Unless you keep casting divine fury, you will eventually be too slow for HLL to be enough to keep you alive.
 

Dizzy

Lore Master
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I can't tell you how much this thread helped, especially going through my old t-hunt loot. I found out I have a 100% physical repond halberd, not other mods, perfectly clean. I used to think it was junk, now I'm excited about the reforge possibilities.

I just need more void orbs, I go through those like tissue paper.
 
Top