PvM Ninja Template

[Solikos]

I've recently started up a PvM Ninja, and am shooting for the following template:

120 Fencing
100 Tactics
120 Ninjitsu
100 Hiding
80 Stealth
100-120 ?????
60-80 Chivalry

Obviously the biggest concern with this template is healing. However, taking 200 extra points means no Chivalry (a must just for getting around) and reducing my Ninjitsu. What would be a good skill to drop in the above template for some extra survivability? I've though about the following:

Meditation: Quicker Mirror Images = Less Damage. Also allows me to get out of animal form and cure/heal, etc, then get back into animal form faster.

Spell Resist: Mainly for resisting poison, since I will have to rely on Chiv for curing.

Parry: I don't know if using a shield as a Ninja is even an option... For now I've been using a short spear, but could use a kryss/warfork and improve my defense quite a bit (can you parry in animal form? I assume so?).

Spirit Speak: I don't know much about this skill, but I guess it can be a decent heal in combination with dog/cat form. Though I may be out to lunch on that thought.

Bushido: Some of the stances are interesting and could extend my life, if they actually work in animal form.

Please, let me know what you think of the options... I'm not anxious about dropping the skills already mentioned, but feel free to educate me.

Thanks!

~ Solikos

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

You can't spirit speak in cat/dog form. It can be a handy stand alone skill on some templates but I wouldn't bother with it on this one.

I wouldn't bother with parry as with 120 Ninjitsu you will have 90% melee divert anyway and you can't parry spells (without Bush/Evasion anyway).

None of the Bushido stances work in Animal Form.

I would go:

120 Fencing
90 Tactics
120 Ninjitsu
100 Hiding
80 Stealth
100 Resist
65 Chiv
45 Med

With 4/6 casting so you can change in and out of forms quickly and re summon images etc.

You can also use shirukens/darts with parasitic/darkglow poison.

If your really not bothered with resist then I'd have 120 med 90 chiv, or lower chiv and bump tactics to 120.

 

[Solikos]

Thanks for your post Lord GOD; very informative. Normally I'd not be concerned with resist, but poison could quickly become an issue. However, 120 med sounds great, and cure potions are fairly easy to come by.

I'll start with your suggestion on the last line:

120 Fencing
120 Tactics
120 Ninjitsu
100 Hiding
80 Stealth
120 Meditation
60 Chiv
720 Total

If later on I decide resist is more worthwhile than Meditation, it's a quick skill to jump to GM.

Thanks again,

~ Solikos

 

[TheScoundrelRico]

Stealing.

Could be placed into factions for a lot of fun...la

 

[Solikos]

Question about Meditation:

When I go into animal form and actively try to meditate, it says I cannot in that form. Does this mean even passive meditation will not work? I do gain meditation skill while 'passively' meditating in animal form, though. Anyone know?

Edit: I *do* have a full medable suit, and can actively meditate outside of animal form.

 

[CKTC]

passive med will still work buddy, animal form just hinders uh everything cept bandages/images/animal forms i think oh and pots id get another 5 chiv if i were you too failing sacred journey when you intend to hide before you get there is a pain lol

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

Yeah I'd have at least 65 chiv too, take 5 out of med save yourself some gp on the scroll hehe.

The only thing with poison is if you stay poisoned diverting to mirror imageswill be fairly pointless as everytime it ticks the monster will start swinging for you again, but I know a lot of people play without it so thats really down to your own player skill/preference.

 

[Solikos]

The only thing with poison is if you stay poisoned diverting to mirror imageswill be fairly pointless as everytime it ticks the monster will start swinging for you again, but I know a lot of people play without it so thats really down to your own player skill/preference.

What do you mean by every time it ticks the monster will attack me? Do you mean poison will kill off my mirror images? I tried it today (very briefly) but my images did not divert any poison damage. Cat form with 65 Ninjitsu skill also completely negated the effects of a Scorpions poison.

Anyway I've currently got about 75 meditation and am certainly noticing the difference in my mana pool. However, I'm in animal form almost 100% of the time, so I honestly don't actually use up my mana pool anymore since the only spell/skill I use is Mirror Image... I suppose I need to start taking more advantage of Human form for some of the other Ninjitsu and Chivalry combat abilities.

I'll fight something with a nastier posion to see how I handle it.

~ Solikos

 

[athlon]

Try the dreadhorn using mirror image and see if that works.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

What do you mean by every time it ticks the monster will attack me? Do you mean poison will kill off my mirror images?
~ Solikos

No, what I mean is if you divert a melee attack to a mirror image the monster stops fighting you (which is the whole point of using mirror images) but you keep swinging at the monster, if you stay poisoned with low level poison (that ticks very fast) the monster will aggro on you again quicker than if you cure straight away. This is only really a problem if you don't have casting/mana to sustain casting mirror images repeatedly. The point being that when you divert you get to swing several times at the monster while it just stands there (much like targeted peace). Hit spell on your weapon, specials like bleed (from you or the monster), auras and poison make the monster start swinging for you again so theres more chance of you getting hit which kind of (although 90% is still a pretty awsome deflection rate) defeats the purpose of diverting in the first place.

 

[Yalp]

Does anat assist at all with the weapon skill *fencing*? Or just tactics/fencing?

LORD Yalp of Zento, CTDM

 

[Solikos]

Sorry I'm a bit slow at understanding this... Do you have any good links to all this information? I can't find any such formulas under the UO Ninja guide.

if you stay poisoned with low level poison (that ticks very fast) the monster will aggro on you again quicker than if you cure straight away.

So if *I* am poisoned he will attack me faster? Is there a set number of "hits" for each diversion?

The point being that when you divert you get to swing several times at the monster while it just stands there (much like targeted peace).

You say I get to swing several times once an enemy is diverted... Is that a set number of swings, a set amount of time, or just until that specific Mirror Image dies (which is what I had assumed).

Hit spell on your weapon, specials like bleed (from you or the monster), auras and poison make the monster start swinging for you again so theres more chance of you getting hit which kind of (although 90% is still a pretty awsome deflection rate) defeats the purpose of diverting in the first place.

Fairly lost here. If I or the monster use any of these abilities I increase my odds of being hit? Regardless of diversions? Or are you saying that I will pull aggro of the Monster from the Mirror Images if I attack them with any of these things?

Does anat assist at all with the weapon skill *fencing*? Or just tactics/fencing?

LORD Yalp of Zento, CTDM

Yes, Anatomy does increase weapon damage, but not at the same rate as Tactics does. UO Stratics has a damage calculator which explains it in detail.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

Anatomy gives a damage boost, though it is less than tactics.

Your weapon skill is your base hit/defend chance (not to be confused with HCI/DCI properties)
Tactics is a damage modifier based on the base damage of the weapon (tactics + 50 = the % of base damage that is applied) So 50 tactics is 100% of base damage, 100 tactics is 150% base damage, every 10 points in it is another 10% DI.

Anatomy I'm not entirely sure on how it's calculated, though I think you get a 65% damage boost and the skill itself only affects your chance of getting that boost per hit. So at 100 Anatomy you get 65% damage increase every time and it doesn't increase above that... Anatomy is also for defensive wreslte and for use with healing to cure/res and boost the amount healed.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

No, I don't mean the monster attacks faster. When you divert it stops attacking you, if a poison tick goes off (or a delayed spell/special/lasting damage effect) a fraction of a second after you divert, the monster resumes swinging for you, i.e wasting the purpose of diverting.

Theres no set number of hits it just depends how long before the monster retargets on you, if the monster has poisoned you and you don't cure he is going to retarget on you as soon as the poison ticks.

 

[Solikos]

No, I don't mean the monster attacks faster. When you divert it stops attacking you, if a poison tick goes off (or a delayed spell/special/lasting damage effect) a fraction of a second after you divert, the monster resumes swinging for you, i.e wasting the purpose of diverting.

Theres no set number of hits it just depends how long before the monster retargets on you, if the monster has poisoned you and you don't cure he is going to retarget on you as soon as the poison ticks.

Crystal clear this time, thanks!

Just one more question about diversion... Say you are fighting 2 things at once (a Scorpion and an Earth Elemental) and you get poisoned. The scorpion will basically *not* be diverted, I understand that. However, will you continue to divert normally against the Earth Elemental, or does the poison damage screw up your diversion against all enemies?

Regardless, I guess I'll make sure to carry around plenty of cure potions. With all of my extra mana, I can always hop in and out of combat and drop Chivalry cures and heals.

~ Solikos

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

You can still divert both but staying poisoned by the scorpion will mean that if you try to kill the earth ele you will likely keep changing targets back to the scorpion.

Poison ticks/bleed/strangle/auras/delayed spells and probably half a dozen other things will always redirect your attack (& that works both ways from the monsters point of view too) (redirect as in you will be swinging for that target now - not talking about images)