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Bladed Staff attributes

Zara

Adventurer
I have enough damage increase and ssi to not need them on my bladed staff. I also have hld covered on my armor (blackthorn's helmet).

I am putting on max mana leech and max life leech. I am also putting on max hit lightning.

That still gives me room for 2 more choices. This bladed staff is my general one on one weapon, so no slayers.

What would you recommend for my last 2 choices and why?

I am considering hit lower attack...but does that stack with hit lightning? I know you can't do hit lightning and hit fireball for example...so not sure about lower attack.

Then there is stamina leech but I hear some people say put it on and others not. I'll try it out and see if I need it.

Anyway, how would you finish up this weapon with its last two slots and why?
 

Xris

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
I have enough damage increase and ssi to not need them on my bladed staff. I also have hld covered on my armor (blackthorn's helmet).

I am putting on max mana leech and max life leech. I am also putting on max hit lightning.

That still gives me room for 2 more choices. This bladed staff is my general one on one weapon, so no slayers.

What would you recommend for my last 2 choices and why?

I am considering hit lower attack...but does that stack with hit lightning? I know you can't do hit lightning and hit fireball for example...so not sure about lower attack.

Then there is stamina leech but I hear some people say put it on and others not. I'll try it out and see if I need it.

Anyway, how would you finish up this weapon with its last two slots and why?
What template? And what do you plan to kill the most with it? I always put hit x area on my spawn weaps (most of the time)

Sent from my SM-J337VPP using Tapatalk
 

Zara

Adventurer
Yeah, HLA works with Hit Lightning. HSL is a must in my opinion, especially if you're fighting hard hitting mobs.
Great, thank you. I will add Hit Stamina Leech so I'll mana leech, life leech, and hit lightning. I have one space left.

I am thinking of thee choices:
-- Hit Lower Attack
-- Faster Casting 1
-- Something you feel is better

The reason for faster casting 1 is that 0fc and 0fcr but I am play a sampire type character with spirit speak and using Curse Weapon primarily. I've noticed Curse Weapon getting interrupted several times so I don't know if FC1 will help and is worth it. Of course, I am also still trying to deal with the karma loss from Curse weapon while keep Chiv...so maybe I shouldn't be casting it that often in the first place? I don't know...I really like using curse weapon, I can see the difference easily even with vampire form and life leech. Plus I'm new to the whole dexxer thing so all the extra life leeching really helps me a lot as I try to learn. But how do you deal with constant karma loss from it?

I would very much welcome your feedback and help if you don't mind.
 

Zara

Adventurer
What template? And what do you plan to kill the most with it? I always put hit x area on my spawn weaps (most of the time)

Sent from my SM-J337VPP using Tapatalk
This is for general purpose one on one combat (PvM only) so no slayers.

I also have a general purpose double axe and one of the things I am putting on that is hit x area.
 

PlayerSkillFTW

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Great, thank you. I will add Hit Stamina Leech so I'll mana leech, life leech, and hit lightning. I have one space left.

I am thinking of thee choices:
-- Hit Lower Attack
-- Faster Casting 1
-- Something you feel is better

The reason for faster casting 1 is that 0fc and 0fcr but I am play a sampire type character with spirit speak and using Curse Weapon primarily. I've noticed Curse Weapon getting interrupted several times so I don't know if FC1 will help and is worth it. Of course, I am also still trying to deal with the karma loss from Curse weapon while keep Chiv...so maybe I shouldn't be casting it that often in the first place? I don't know...I really like using curse weapon, I can see the difference easily even with vampire form and life leech. Plus I'm new to the whole dexxer thing so all the extra life leeching really helps me a lot as I try to learn. But how do you deal with constant karma loss from it?

I would very much welcome your feedback and help if you don't mind.
Yep, my Sampire has GM SS and uses Curse Weapon as well. Between Vamp Form+Curse Wep, there's really no need for Hit Life Leech on weps. Vamp Form+Curse Wep gives you 70% Hit Life Drain, which is far superior to even 100% Hit Life Leech. This here is my Sampire's general use AI Wep (originally designed for use against Khal Ankur). Without need for DI on your wep, you can use Hit Lightning instead. Between the FC 1 on the Bladed Staff, and FC 1 from Town Bonus, i can quickly cast Curse Weapon.
Caddellite Bladed Staff.PNG

Slaughtering the Goblin mini-champ spawn in the Abyss or doing the Primeval Lich Champ Spawn is a great way to get your Karma back up quickly.
 

Zara

Adventurer
Yep, my Sampire has GM SS and uses Curse Weapon as well. Between Vamp Form+Curse Wep, there's really no need for Hit Life Leech on weps. Vamp Form+Curse Wep gives you 70% Hit Life Drain, which is far superior to even 100% Hit Life Leech. This here is my Sampire's general use AI Wep (originally designed for use against Khal Ankur). Without need for DI on your wep, you can use Hit Lightning instead. Between the FC 1 on the Bladed Staff, and FC 1 from Town Bonus, i can quickly cast Curse Weapon.
View attachment 117887

Slaughtering the Goblin mini-champ spawn in the Abyss or doing the Primeval Lich Champ Spawn is a great way to get your Karma back up quickly.
Thank you! You have the exact expertise and knowledge I could really benefit from if you can stand a bunch of questions from a newbie dexxer! I am trying to read everything I can too to keep my questions down but this is so complex and I get conflicting answers so it still leaves with lots of questions. And I don't see many people with a template like yours that is so similar to mine.

So hopefully you won't mind too much if I kind of bug you for a while?

First, thank you about telling me about the town bonus FC1...I didn't know that was a thing.

Second, I'm kind of worried about not having life leech despite being in vampire form and using Curse Weapon. This is due mainly to my lack of skill and experience. I can take on normal Balron and succubus okay, though I feel I am being slow. But I'm pretty sure I'll die in any serious place like bedlam not knowing what to do at my current skill level. In fact, I already died to a group of boura 3 times in a row while they paralyzed me. I didn't know what to do but just watch myself die. So that's why I'm worried about not using life leech on the weapon. I thought it might be like training wheels for me.

So maybe I shouldn't have put hit lightning on it. I thought that was a safe bet. Hmm. I might have to make the weapon over from scratch. See right now I have hit lightning, hit mana leech, and hit life leech. I was going to hit stamina leech, but then I need to decide between hit lower attack and faster casting 1. Do you think hit lower attack is more important or fc1? I would have to check towns also to see if any town has FC1 has the bonus.

Third, more questions if you don't mind....

1. I am using a general purpose double axe. I have the following on it already. Mana leech, life leech (training wheels!), Hit Energy Area, and 15% SSI. I have 20% on my suit so need that extra 15% to swing double axe at 1.25 seconds. This leaves me with just one more space. What do you recommend and why? There seem to be so many good choices.

2. Curses. How do you deal with this???? I have to admit I don't even notice the curse till I see myself swinging slow. I have around 155 stamina total and curses take me below below 150. For the moment, I grabbed some greater agility potions to offset the curse. I could cast remove curse, but I worry about mana and being interrupted. I also worry if I remove curse, I will just get cursed again. I figure the agility potion allows me to keep going while under curse...though resists suffer, so far I haven't had trouble with that. But one on one I fought nothing harder than a balron/succubus.

3. Armor ignore on bladed staff. When using whirlwind on double axe, I don't seem to have problems chaining it. But I have problems chaining it with Armor Ignore. I have 51 LMC total but when you chain it without waiting 3 seconds, that doubles the cost and I can't keep that up though I can with whirlwind. So what do I do? Should I wait 3 seconds so I have lower mana costs for AI? What do you do? I'm doing minor changes to my skill template and even when I keep 300 points skills, that constant about 18 cost of mana when chaining without waiting 3 seconds is more than I leech back. Am I doing something wrong?

4. Could you help me with what I should put on a double axes with super slayers and Bladed Staff with super slayers? I don't need Damage Increase with either but I do need 15% ssi with the double axe. If you don't mind, could you give me two versions for each weapon? One with life leech and one without? That way I can use my training wheel version and then once I get better, move to the better.

5. Would you mind sharing your skill template? I want to keep chiv, busido, swords, tactcs, necro, and SS. I don't have any room on jewelry or elsewhere in my suit for +skills, so everything is real skill points. I have left over points depending on how high I make the other stuff. I've played with 60 parry for the lower mana costs on weapon moves (but it doesn't help me enough still with constant chaining of AIs) and I'm considering dropping parrying completely (since it isn't helping me enough to actually parry or chain AIs), raise stuff back to 120, and putting my leftover 40 points in either anatomy for more damage or 40 magic resist...but I don't know if 40 magic resist would do anything with my curses issue.

6. I plan on doing Armor Refinements soon when I can to get more resist. I think my DCI is only like 10 or 15 so it seems I might as well lower my cap to get even more resists. I don't see any downsides to it. Do you?

7. What about confidence and evasion? Counter attack I realize is pretty useless with such low parry. And I don't understand evasion well but I think it blocks 100% any one attack every 20 seconds? So should I use evasion when I can?

8. Confidence seems like a really good spell even without parry. I don't use it most times because at my skill level I'm struggling with remembering basic stuff like CW and weapon specials. But shouldn't I be aiming to use confidence all the time to keep my health topped off? Or do you never use confidence?

9. I don't use any other spells from Bushido, just perfection. Am I doing that wrong?

10. I've asked this in another thread but getting really confused about it. I have the 100 item damage cap already. If total cap is 300% and if super slayers give 200%...does that mean when using a super slayer I never need to use enemy of one or perfection? (Because 100% from items + 200 damage from a super slayer = 300% ... so anything beyond will be wasted?)

11. Any other tips, ideas, and suggestions you have...including maybe a path of where I should go to get my experience and skill up? I've done basically just the fan dancer dungeon so far (and bouras that kill me while I look helplessly at them paralyzed).

Sorry for the million questions!
 

chester rockwell

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Ooof. You need to join a guild, get in discord. Lot easier than typing all this out. Also, put HLA, not fc1. Fc1 is a total waste of a good mod slot on a wpn.

1. depends on what you are hitting. spawns? AoE.
2. drop your mana, raise ur dexterity, get +stam pieces. You want a good amount of wiggle room over the 120/150/180. Also, get magic resist skill.
3. reach your 300% cap (or close to), eoo, honor, slayers, etc. need to do more dmg.
4. too vague to answer. bottom line, you need specific wpns for specific encounters. my samp has a crap ton of wpns....usually at least 10 in my backpack at all times
5. drop spsp for resist. in general, resist is way better to have. specific situations might warrant spsp, but screw that.
6. dci is crap compared to resists. i run refined suits on my samps, keep counterattack toggled and you're good to go......more damage
7. counterattack and evasion are awesome. both have very definite advantages to a samp.
8. i really only use confidence when fighting a tough munster that rocks me a bit and i have to off-screen......or when i die and get res'd. otherwise, no.
9. no
10. you might wanna re-read the dmg cap stuff. then go test some stuff out. easier to fart around with it, then try to just read it.
11. join a guild. get in discord. watch a built sampire work something and ask them. way easier than this.
 

Merlin

The Enchanter
Moderator
Professional
Governor
Supporter
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
Campaign Patron
@Zara

1. You should have full set of double axes with different mods for different situations.
2. What Chester said. You should get to 180 Stam and add Resist Spells.
3. You're either not leaching back enough or you don't have enough mana regeneration on your suit.
4. With 180 Stam and 35 SSI, you should be swinging at max speed with enough stamina protection to go down to 150 stamina and still swinging at 1.25 clicks. Where else are you getting SSI on your build? As far as double axes go, you should have sets with several different combinations of mods. Maybe one will have all the leaches. Another will have HML, HLA and a Hit Spell. Another may have hit area and hit life leach. There is no 'one size fits all' set of mods that will work in every scenario. Test a few different axes out and see what works best for your play style in various scenarios.
5. Swords, Tactics, Bushido, Parry, Chivalry, Resist Spells, Necro. Some people prefer Anatomy over Chivalry. I don't personally believe Spirit Speak belongs on a true sampire, but that's just me.
6. What Chester said. Resists > DCI
7-8. I use Confidence as my main heal. With the Bushido Mastery, you will be interrupted less. Don't overlook this crucial Bushido ability.
9. Whirlwind damage is also bolstered by Bushido, as is your Parrying. You should be using Confidence, Counter Attack, Evasion.
10. There is a sticky post at top of Warrior forum that discusses damage caps in detail. Check it out.
11. Start off in some of the Anti-Virtue dungeons. Try some of the Champ Spawns in Ilshenar. Find a group to play with. If you're on Atlantic, I would be glad to add you to my guild. We have a dedicated Discord server and do nightly hunts. It would be an opportunity to get some more experience.

Good luck.
 

PlayerSkillFTW

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Thank you! You have the exact expertise and knowledge I could really benefit from if you can stand a bunch of questions from a newbie dexxer! I am trying to read everything I can too to keep my questions down but this is so complex and I get conflicting answers so it still leaves with lots of questions. And I don't see many people with a template like yours that is so similar to mine.

So hopefully you won't mind too much if I kind of bug you for a while?

First, thank you about telling me about the town bonus FC1...I didn't know that was a thing.

Second, I'm kind of worried about not having life leech despite being in vampire form and using Curse Weapon. This is due mainly to my lack of skill and experience. I can take on normal Balron and succubus okay, though I feel I am being slow. But I'm pretty sure I'll die in any serious place like bedlam not knowing what to do at my current skill level. In fact, I already died to a group of boura 3 times in a row while they paralyzed me. I didn't know what to do but just watch myself die. So that's why I'm worried about not using life leech on the weapon. I thought it might be like training wheels for me.

So maybe I shouldn't have put hit lightning on it. I thought that was a safe bet. Hmm. I might have to make the weapon over from scratch. See right now I have hit lightning, hit mana leech, and hit life leech. I was going to hit stamina leech, but then I need to decide between hit lower attack and faster casting 1. Do you think hit lower attack is more important or fc1? I would have to check towns also to see if any town has FC1 has the bonus.

Third, more questions if you don't mind....

1. I am using a general purpose double axe. I have the following on it already. Mana leech, life leech (training wheels!), Hit Energy Area, and 15% SSI. I have 20% on my suit so need that extra 15% to swing double axe at 1.25 seconds. This leaves me with just one more space. What do you recommend and why? There seem to be so many good choices.

2. Curses. How do you deal with this???? I have to admit I don't even notice the curse till I see myself swinging slow. I have around 155 stamina total and curses take me below below 150. For the moment, I grabbed some greater agility potions to offset the curse. I could cast remove curse, but I worry about mana and being interrupted. I also worry if I remove curse, I will just get cursed again. I figure the agility potion allows me to keep going while under curse...though resists suffer, so far I haven't had trouble with that. But one on one I fought nothing harder than a balron/succubus.

3. Armor ignore on bladed staff. When using whirlwind on double axe, I don't seem to have problems chaining it. But I have problems chaining it with Armor Ignore. I have 51 LMC total but when you chain it without waiting 3 seconds, that doubles the cost and I can't keep that up though I can with whirlwind. So what do I do? Should I wait 3 seconds so I have lower mana costs for AI? What do you do? I'm doing minor changes to my skill template and even when I keep 300 points skills, that constant about 18 cost of mana when chaining without waiting 3 seconds is more than I leech back. Am I doing something wrong?

4. Could you help me with what I should put on a double axes with super slayers and Bladed Staff with super slayers? I don't need Damage Increase with either but I do need 15% ssi with the double axe. If you don't mind, could you give me two versions for each weapon? One with life leech and one without? That way I can use my training wheel version and then once I get better, move to the better.

5. Would you mind sharing your skill template? I want to keep chiv, busido, swords, tactcs, necro, and SS. I don't have any room on jewelry or elsewhere in my suit for +skills, so everything is real skill points. I have left over points depending on how high I make the other stuff. I've played with 60 parry for the lower mana costs on weapon moves (but it doesn't help me enough still with constant chaining of AIs) and I'm considering dropping parrying completely (since it isn't helping me enough to actually parry or chain AIs), raise stuff back to 120, and putting my leftover 40 points in either anatomy for more damage or 40 magic resist...but I don't know if 40 magic resist would do anything with my curses issue.

6. I plan on doing Armor Refinements soon when I can to get more resist. I think my DCI is only like 10 or 15 so it seems I might as well lower my cap to get even more resists. I don't see any downsides to it. Do you?

7. What about confidence and evasion? Counter attack I realize is pretty useless with such low parry. And I don't understand evasion well but I think it blocks 100% any one attack every 20 seconds? So should I use evasion when I can?

8. Confidence seems like a really good spell even without parry. I don't use it most times because at my skill level I'm struggling with remembering basic stuff like CW and weapon specials. But shouldn't I be aiming to use confidence all the time to keep my health topped off? Or do you never use confidence?

9. I don't use any other spells from Bushido, just perfection. Am I doing that wrong?

10. I've asked this in another thread but getting really confused about it. I have the 100 item damage cap already. If total cap is 300% and if super slayers give 200%...does that mean when using a super slayer I never need to use enemy of one or perfection? (Because 100% from items + 200 damage from a super slayer = 300% ... so anything beyond will be wasted?)

11. Any other tips, ideas, and suggestions you have...including maybe a path of where I should go to get my experience and skill up? I've done basically just the fan dancer dungeon so far (and bouras that kill me while I look helplessly at them paralyzed).

Sorry for the million questions!
1. Stam Leech. With 35% SSI, you need to keep your Stam at 150+ to continue swinging at max speed. As a Sampire, your offense is also how you survive, so swinging at max speed is important. I'd recommend trying to get 35% SSI without the SSI on the wep, which can be accomplished with 10% SSI Ring+10% SSI Bracelet+10% SSI Morphius' Epaulete+Cameo or Town Bonus. This would free up an additional imbuing slot on your Double Axes, and allow their Leeches to go higher.
2. I regularly use Greater Strength/Greater Agility pots on my Sampire for +30 STR/+30 DEX (he has 50% EP on Jewelry). I'm 150 Health/180+ Stam with those. I also run GM Resist when fighting caster heavy mobs (i swap between GM Resist and GM Parry depending on what i'm fighting).
3. You want 100% HML on your general (no Slayer) Bladed Staff, which is achieved through Reforging. You also want to maximize the amount of damage you're dealing against the foe (EoO+Perfection) so that you leech back more mana. With the Bladed Staff i posted above and 55% LMC, i can non-stop spam AI against Khal Ankur (no Slayer) so long as i get Honor+EoO on him.
4. Better Double Axe: Super Slayer/15% SSI/HML/HSL/Hit Area (matching the weakest resist of the target group). Better Bladed Staff: Super Slayer/HML/HSL/HLA/Hit Lightning or FC 1.
5. My Sampire's template is...
120 Swords
GM Tactics
GM Necro
GM SS
GM Chivalry
GM Bushido
GM Resist or Parry (i swap between them depending on what i'm fighting)
6. I use Armor Refinements to raise my Physical/Fire/Energy Resist caps to 75/75/80 (Elf). I have a 30% DCI Cap then, which my Jewelry gives me.
7. Evasion raises your Parry chance by 1.5x what it normally is, and gives you that chance to also parry direct magical attacks. With 150 DEX/GM Parry/GM Bushido, you normally have about a 30% chance to parry, which goes up to 45% during Evasion. Evasion is best used in preparation for a big telegraphed hit (such as Dragon Breath), or immediately after taking such a hit to increase your chance to survive as you regain life through dealing damage.
8. When i have Parry on my template, i'll keep Confidence active when dealing with a group of foes, for each Parried attack will replenish HP/Stamina to me. When surrounded by foes, i Parry pretty often, and therefore trigger Confidence heals a lot. Confidence can also be used when running away to heal. It can also be used in combination with Spirit Speak for a big heal. If i take a huge hit and don't want to risk taking another, i'll back up from the boss, cast Confidence and then Spirit Speak, and usually heal for about 60 HP that way.
9. The "Stance" abilities, such as Counter Attack, Confidence and Evasion can be useful in different circumstances. I'll also use Momentum Strike at times when there's only two opponents.
10. Super Slayers give +100% Damage, Lesser Slayers give +200% Damage. The key word is +. With 100% DI on Gear and a Super Slayer, you're hitting for 200% Damage. With 100% DI on gear and a Lesser Slayer, you're hitting for 300% damage (the cap). With 100% DI on Gear, 100% Perfection from Honor (which goes down if you miss a swing), and Super Slayer, you're hitting for 300% Damage (the cap). For foes without Slayers, you need 100% DI on Gear+100% Perfection+120 Chiv EoO+120 Chiv CW+Lvl 3 Warrior's Gift (Passive Mastery ability) to reach 300%.


Also, put HLA, not fc1. Fc1 is a total waste of a good mod slot on a wpn.

5. drop spsp for resist. in general, resist is way better to have. specific situations might warrant spsp, but screw that.
FC 1 on a wep is useful for Spirit Speak Sampires. It allows for faster Curse Weapon/Corpse Skin casts, and Curse Wep is near instant with 2 FC, can cast it even with a group attacking you.
A SS Sampire can use Curse Weapon, which grants +50% Hit Life Drain that stacks with Vampire Form for a total 70% Hit Life Drain, self healing for 3.5x more than the average Sampire does. A SS Samp can take a 120 damage hit from Chief Paroxysmus, and just laugh it off as they regain their entire 150 HP healthbar in a single Double Strike (most other Samps would **** their pants and run spamming Confidence from such a hit). With Curse Wep+GM Resist, i can outheal Blood Oath damage. A SS Samp can also utilize Corpse Skin to lower the victim's Fire/Poison Resist by 15, which stacks with Onslaught (total of -31 Fire/Poison Resist with my build), making Double Strike incredibly powerful. SS Samps can also utilize the combination of Confidence+Spirit Speak for a big self heal.
SS Samps can also use Wraith Form instead of Vamp Form, gaining 21% Hit Mana Drain with my build, while being able to use Curse Weapon for 50% Hit Life Drain and still out healing other Sampires. Wraith Form makes male Sampires immune to Semidar's damage reflect, and makes Changelings (including Travesty, Irk, Guile, Spite, and Renegades) vulnerable to Undead Slayer when they transform into you.
SS Sampires require a bit more involved play to really see the advantages of them, so they have a higher skill ceiling (player skill) than the regular Samp builds.
 
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WonDumBaldGuy

Adventurer
Minor correction to #10 above (sorry Player SFTW, I deeply respect your knowledge). The suit DI applies to base weapon damage and is NOT applied to the Damage MODIFIER. Super slayers (including Cameo's) give 200% damage modifier. Specific slayers give 300. Damage increase is not the same as damage modifier, two separate calculations. This is the most confusing thing about the damage calculation, and keeps cropping up. It doesn't help that the Dev's themselves get it confused! Like Merlin and Chester advised, read that sticky at the top of the forum.

My personal inclination is to advocate using Broad sword / long sword for AI and chug pots. Use Halberd (with 60 SSI and 180+ stam) for whirlwind for truly big hits. Starting Sampires can rely on the Double axe and Bladed whip for WW, and Bladed staff / Broadsword for AI. I am beginning to wonder if, with your low parry, you might not actually benefit from using a shield. Most sampire builds make a shield a penalty because of the parry penalty to them from Bushido. BUt your build just might benefit, since you can get SSI, HCI, DCI and DI (but not all) on a shield. A shield with soul charge (mana leech), reactive paralyze, and SSI minimum just may help you out with some of the issues you identified.

1. Hit Stamina Leech is critical on most weapons. That is more vital than HLL in most situations if you are in Vamp form, as the base Hit Life Drain from it can cover your healing needs. I consider HSL and HML as mandatory on all my weapons.
Another option I am not seeing mentioned is using protection scrolls instead of FC to cast corpse skin with no interrupt. I use that to free up weapon slots. With what I am seeing from your build, Hit Lower Attack is MANDATORY.
You SHOULD have a general purpose AI weapon, as that is NOT dependent on targetting lowest resists.
You should have tailored Whirlwind weapons that are 100% of an elemental damage, Unless you want to spam consecrate weapon a lot. . If you are not using cameo's, then you definitely want them with slayers.

GIven the issue with getting hit more for more damage than most templates, I am thinking you might greatly benefit using a Daisho (feint + double strike) in single target situations. You will want them as 100% elemental damages, but the 50% damage reduction from feint will greatly help you out. And you can modify Sadok's tips around it.

My suggestion for your weapons:
Whirlwind weapon:
Slayer
HML
HSL
HLA
Hit area

AI weapon:
Slayer
HML
HSL
HLA
Hit fatigue (get this from reforging with shadow / DC hammer, then imbue up)

2. Enchanted apples, remove curse, or high resisting spells. It took me years, but once I started running 120 resisting spells instead of anatomy, I will never go back. Instead, I swap out chivalry and anatomy based on what I am hunting.

3. Lightning strike for when you are low on mana. One reason you are having mana flats (no returns) is the SSI on your weapons. You can't max HML if you have it. I consider rigging my suit to have 30 SSI and get me to 180_ stamina a priority so I can max the leeches on the weapons. Another is just the way HML works. No matter how high it is, the range for return always starts at 0. So 100% hml gives you a range of 0-100% mana return. The RNG just loves to get stuck in ruts and gives you less back than you used sometimes. It works best in Whirlwind situations because each hit is giving you an HML chance and the returns are additive.


6&7. WOW, this is a problem to me. Low DCI and No parry means getting hit a ton more than most templates. Most run EITHER DCI 45-60, OR 120 parry. Some do both. But NEITHER is something I cannot get my head around. HLA on a weapon in that case would seem mandatory as well. Getting hit less is (IMO) > Higher suit resists > Leeching more. With refinements I normally agree that higher suit resists is much more effective than DCI, but in this case I might reconsider.
My thread below discusses most of this, goes through a suit build, and gives a decision matrix. It might help you, might not. 17 minute, 48 second Rikki run, Sampire(ish) template, with gear/build/EC macroes

Also, read Sadok's thread, TONS of pertinent information there as well.

For your evasion understanding:

9. Confidence, Evasion, Counterattack are Bushido skills I rely on in all situations. Momentum strike for 2 MOBS. Like you say, practice using them! Your parry DOES make Counterattack less effective, but ANY extra damage is good damage.
Lightning strike is great when you hit one of those mana flats and can't leech enough back. The critical hit will boost you right back up.

11. Practice on Stygian mini-champs, and Ilshenar champs. The paragons will really help you fine tune your combos.
 
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Zara

Adventurer
Minor correction to #10 above (sorry Player SFTW, I deeply respect your knowledge). The suit DI applies to base weapon damage and is NOT applied to the Damage MODIFIER. Super slayers (including Cameo's) give 200% damage modifier. Specific slayers give 300. Damage increase is not the same as damage modifier, two separate calculations. This is the most confusing thing about the damage calculation, and keeps cropping up. It doesn't help that the Dev's themselves get it confused! Like Merlin and Chester advised, read that sticky at the top of the forum.

My personal inclination is to advocate using Broad sword / long sword for AI and chug pots. Use Halberd (with 60 SSI and 180+ stam) for whirlwind for truly big hits. Starting Sampires can rely on the Double axe and Bladed whip for WW, and Bladed staff / Broadsword for AI. I am beginning to wonder if, with your low parry, you might not actually benefit from using a shield. Most sampire builds make a shield a penalty because of the parry penalty to them from Bushido. BUt your build just might benefit, since you can get SSI, HCI, DCI and DI (but not all) on a shield. A shield with soul charge (mana leech), reactive paralyze, and SSI minimum just may help you out with some of the issues you identified.

1. Hit Stamina Leech is critical on most weapons. That is more vital than HLL in most situations if you are in Vamp form, as the base Hit Life Drain from it can cover your healing needs. I consider HSL and HML as mandatory on all my weapons.
Another option I am not seeing mentioned is using protection scrolls instead of FC to cast corpse skin with no interrupt. I use that to free up weapon slots. With what I am seeing from your build, Hit Lower Attack is MANDATORY.
You SHOULD have a general purpose AI weapon, as that is NOT dependent on targetting lowest resists.
You should have tailored Whirlwind weapons that are 100% of an elemental damage, Unless you want to spam consecrate weapon a lot. . If you are not using cameo's, then you definitely want them with slayers.

GIven the issue with getting hit more for more damage than most templates, I am thinking you might greatly benefit using a Daisho (feint + double strike) in single target situations. You will want them as 100% elemental damages, but the 50% damage reduction from feint will greatly help you out. And you can modify Sadok's tips around it.

My suggestion for your weapons:
Whirlwind weapon:
Slayer
HML
HSL
HLA
Hit area

AI weapon:
Slayer
HML
HSL
HLA
Hit fatigue (get this from reforging with shadow / DC hammer, then imbue up)

2. Enchanted apples, remove curse, or high resisting spells. It took me years, but once I started running 120 resisting spells instead of anatomy, I will never go back. Instead, I swap out chivalry and anatomy based on what I am hunting.

3. Lightning strike for when you are low on mana. One reason you are having mana flats (no returns) is the SSI on your weapons. You can't max HML if you have it. I consider rigging my suit to have 30 SSI and get me to 180_ stamina a priority so I can max the leeches on the weapons. Another is just the way HML works. No matter how high it is, the range for return always starts at 0. So 100% hml gives you a range of 0-100% mana return. The RNG just loves to get stuck in ruts and gives you less back than you used sometimes. It works best in Whirlwind situations because each hit is giving you an HML chance and the returns are additive.


6&7. WOW, this is a problem to me. Low DCI and No parry means getting hit a ton more than most templates. Most run EITHER DCI 45-60, OR 120 parry. Some do both. But NEITHER is something I cannot get my head around. HLA on a weapon in that case would seem mandatory as well. Getting hit less is (IMO) > Higher suit resists > Leeching more. With refinements I normally agree that higher suit resists is much more effective than DCI, but in this case I might reconsider.
My thread below discusses most of this, goes through a suit build, and gives a decision matrix. It might help you, might not. 17 minute, 48 second Rikki run, Sampire(ish) template, with gear/build/EC macroes

Also, read Sadok's thread, TONS of pertinent information there as well.

For your evasion understanding:

9. Confidence, Evasion, Counterattack are Bushido skills I rely on in all situations. Momentum strike for 2 MOBS. Like you say, practice using them! Your parry DOES make Counterattack less effective, but ANY extra damage is good damage.
Lightning strike is great when you hit one of those mana flats and can't leech enough back. The critical hit will boost you right back up.

11. Practice on Stygian mini-champs, and Ilshenar champs. The paragons will really help you fine tune your combos.
First, thank you so much for taking the time to share your expertise. And also to everyone else! I am learning so much!!!!

I've been waiting to write back generally because I decided I need to go practice a lot of the stuff I am hearing and then come back with more practical knowledge. So I am holding off on most of my questions as I take feedback and practice things and make changes.

I am actually using another whole concept that seems to be working really well but it makes my mana suffer even more due to it requiring max ssi on weapons.

I was wondering if I can ask a few quick questions on what you said to incorporate into my feedback.

Lightning strike is a spell I completely ruled out and didn't use. The tooltip and what I read (which is super little) on it said it just gives a large HCI but since I am at max HCI already, the spell seemed useless. So I don't know anything about what you're talking about with somehow getting mana from it? A critical hit? Do you have an up to date link on lightning strike with all the data?

I've upgraded my battleground to Shame level 4 and diseased blood elementals...something I know that challenges my pets. I've been practicing there everything (with an elemental slayer double axe). What I would love to know though is where I am compared to standard sampires? The standard sampire...how many diseased blood elementals can it take on with success each time? Also diseased blood elemental (one or two) with assorted other elementals joining in from waters to bloods. How many can an above average and skilled sampire handle? I'd love to know what I am shooting for.

I also would love other battlegrounds like this with criteria to aim for versus standard and above average sampires. I can try the Abyss, problem is I need to make more slayers with elemental base.

I'm using 100% energy for elemental slayer and I know undead must be 100% fire. Can you (or others) please list all the others from Repond to Fey? And I don't see a way to get super slayer weapons for Dinosaurs or Eoden, doesn't exist?

Also for my general purpose weapon, I am thinking highly too of the Daisho (feint + double strike). But I need to make it elemental for onslaught. I am thinking energy is the safest to use for general? Would that be true? It just seems if I made one for fire, I'd run into fire resistant monsters and same for all the others....but energy, most monsters don't have strong resists against it, right?

Also, I thought about one handed weapon with shield. I have 0 parry so I could use all the benefits from a good shield. Problem is finding a good one handed weapon to go with it. Radiant Scim has whirlwind but the damage is really low...but benefit would be the weapon speed is so fast, I could use it without SSI or DF (I have 20% in the suit for SSI). I haven't tested this combo out in say shame.

This brings me to AI. My current thought is to skip it with my mana issues for chaining it. Instead what I love is the double strike from double axe used with onslaught. Seems like a great one to one and my mana issues are much better with 2 strikes if they both hit. And I was doing like up to 100 damage two times or 200 damage to a diseased blood elemental at max if they both hit (with enemy of one and elemental slayer).

So I think I would a great one handed weapon with double strike to consider for use with a shield. Do you have suggestions? I do love the Daisho but if I can use a shield's properties for both whirlwind and double strike, I could change my entire suit to match it.

A question, with the Daisho, can I stay in Feint 100% of the time while also using double stike constantly? And does feint reduce damage by 50% from all sources even a dragon fireball?

Another question, does Onslaught work with Whirlwind? Will onslaught proc on all opponents with whirlwind?

And yet another question. What about Frenzied Whirlwind? I know everyone uses Whirlwind and the biggest reason I see is lack of weapons. Only one sword I think with low damage. But it's one handed and I am looking that with shield, I'd like to consider it too. How does Frenzied Whirlwind compare to Whirlwind? In a tamer's post, I saw someone saying that Frenzied whirlwind hits multiple times even against a single opponent and it adds up to almost armor ignore damage. If that's true and leeches proc with each other ...... seems like something to check out?

Thanks again to everyone putting up with my questions and helping me to understand this so much more deeply! :)
 

Merlin

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So I think I would a great one handed weapon with double strike to consider for use with a shield. Do you have suggestions? I do love the Daisho but if I can use a shield's properties for both whirlwind and double strike, I could change my entire suit to match it.

A question, with the Daisho, can I stay in Feint 100% of the time while also using double stike constantly? And does feint reduce damage by 50% from all sources even a dragon fireball?
If you decide to go the route of holding a shield, you need to take Bushido off your template. Your ability to Parry goes way down with a Shield if you have Bushido on your template.

See the Stratics Parrying calculator here:

For Daisho, Feint is a great ability. I have a couple of Feint weapons, the one I use the most being a 100% Cold Dragon Slayer Daisho that I use when fighting Rikky. However - just as the damage you take goes down significantly, so does your damage output. When your damage output goes down, the Mana you are leaching back also goes down. You should be able to keep up Feint 100% of the time - but not if you are constantly hitting double strike as well. You will have to manage your mana carefully if you intend on keeping Feint up 100% of the time using Daisho.
 

PlayerSkillFTW

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Lightning strike is a spell I completely ruled out and didn't use. The tooltip and what I read (which is super little) on it said it just gives a large HCI but since I am at max HCI already, the spell seemed useless. So I don't know anything about what you're talking about with somehow getting mana from it? A critical hit? Do you have an up to date link on lightning strike with all the data?
Lightning Strike costs 10 Mana (subject to LMC), gives +50% HCI for that attack, and has a chance to deliver a "Critical" hit (ignores 100% of opponent's Resists for 100% damage). At 120 Bushido, Lightning Strike has a 20% Critical Chance. Lightning Strike used to cost just 5 Mana (subject to LMC), but they nerfed it by doubling it's Mana cost to 10.
Personally, i think AI > LS since that change. On average, you'd have to deliver 5 Lightning Strikes (50 Mana worth) to get 1 Critical. That means on average you're spending 40 Mana on 4 attacks that deliver no benefit whatsoever if you're already HCI capped. AI is 20 Mana (with 300+ skillpoints, and subject to LMC), and 40 Mana if chained, for a guaranteed 90% damage hit that ignores resists. If you run low on Mana and can't AI anymore, then you're better off just saving the Mana and auto attacking for a few hits, until you can AI spam again. With below 120 Bushido, the Critical Chance for Lightning Strike is even lower, and makes it even more not worth it.

I'm using 100% energy for elemental slayer and I know undead must be 100% fire. Can you (or others) please list all the others from Repond to Fey? And I don't see a way to get super slayer weapons for Dinosaurs or Eoden, doesn't exist?
Repond = Fire. Undead = Fire. Reptile = Cold. Arachnid = Fire. Demon = Energy (sometimes Cold as well). Fey = Fire. Elemental is a toss-up, since there's such a huge variety of Elementals with varying resists. Dinosaurs are also vulnerable to Reptile Slayer. Oddly enough, the T-Rex has no Slayer.
I also have 100% Elemental Damage Double Axes that are very specific to farming certain mobs. Such as 100% Fire Demon Slayer Double Axe for farming Crystal Daemons for Scattered Crystals (Gorgon Lenses). I use a 100% Poison Damage Air Elemental Slayer Double Axe for farming UEVs for Void Orbs (Leeches). 100% Energy Damage Repond Slayer Double Axe for farming the Goblin Mini-Champ for Essence of Control (SSI). 100% Poison Damage Elemental Slayer Double Axe for farming Shadow Ore Eles for Shadow Ingots. 100% Cold Damage Double Axe with Harm/HLA for farming automatons in Exodus Dungeon for Exodus keys and Power Crystals (100 cleanup points per). Etc.
Sampires really do require a vast array of weapons to hunt effectively.

This brings me to AI. My current thought is to skip it with my mana issues for chaining it. Instead what I love is the double strike from double axe used with onslaught. Seems like a great one to one and my mana issues are much better with 2 strikes if they both hit. And I was doing like up to 100 damage two times or 200 damage to a diseased blood elemental at max if they both hit (with enemy of one and elemental slayer).
Some opponents however have very high Wrest/Parry, which makes it difficult to land both hits with DS. Such as Virtuebane, Anon, Greater Dragons, etc. In those cases, you're better off trying to land a single AI, then two hits with DS.

Another question, does Onslaught work with Whirlwind? Will onslaught proc on all opponents with whirlwind?

And yet another question. What about Frenzied Whirlwind? I know everyone uses Whirlwind and the biggest reason I see is lack of weapons. Only one sword I think with low damage. But it's one handed and I am looking that with shield, I'd like to consider it too. How does Frenzied Whirlwind compare to Whirlwind? In a tamer's post, I saw someone saying that Frenzied whirlwind hits multiple times even against a single opponent and it adds up to almost armor ignore damage. If that's true and leeches proc with each other ...... seems like something to check out?
Onslaught only lowers the resist on the primary opponent hit. You can't have Onslaught and WW toggled on the same attack, so you can't apply it's effect to all nearby foes.
Frenzied Whirlwind functions differently than Whirlwind. The primary hit benefits from gear properties, but the AoE damage from FWW is purely based off of your Ninjitsu/Bushido skill, dealing Physical Damage that does not benefit from any properties on your gear/wep, so no proccing Leech with the multiple AoE ticks of FWW. Slayer effects, Hit Effects, Leeches, etc do not proc on FWW ticks, when they do on Whirlwind's hits.
 
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Zara

Adventurer
If you decide to go the route of holding a shield, you need to take Bushido off your template. Your ability to Parry goes way down with a Shield if you have Bushido on your template.

See the Stratics Parrying calculator here:

For Daisho, Feint is a great ability. I have a couple of Feint weapons, the one I use the most being a 100% Cold Dragon Slayer Daisho that I use when fighting Rikky. However - just as the damage you take goes down significantly, so does your damage output. When your damage output goes down, the Mana you are leaching back also goes down. You should be able to keep up Feint 100% of the time - but not if you are constantly hitting double strike as well. You will have to manage your mana carefully if you intend on keeping Feint up 100% of the time using Daisho.
According to the calculator you linked, I currently have a 5% of parrying with 120 bushido, my dex of 125, and my parrying of 0. That 5% is with shield, also with 1h weapon, and also with 2h weapon. If I take off bushido like you suggested, then all drop to 0%.

I am not relying on my 5% chance of parrying which is the same shield or not...I don't understand why I would take of my Bushido and lose perfection, whirlwind damage bonus, and other benefits that don't depend on parrying? Confidence doesn't heal like me much like it does with someone with parry, but it still comes in handy many times. And I don't use counterattack, but I don't understand why you're suggesting I remove Bushido? What would I replace it with?

Regarding Feint, can feint block damage from all sources including magic and dragon fireball as well as melee? I assume it won't work stuff like poison? And is it only from one opponent? Or can I use it to reduce damage from more than one monster?
 

Zara

Adventurer
Lightning Strike costs 10 Mana (subject to LMC), gives +50% HCI for that attack, and has a chance to deliver a "Critical" hit (ignores 100% of opponent's Resists for 100% damage). At 120 Bushido, Lightning Strike has a 20% Critical Chance. Lightning Strike used to cost just 5 Mana (subject to LMC), but they nerfed it by doubling it's Mana cost to 10.
Personally, i think AI > LS since that change. On average, you'd have to deliver 5 Lightning Strikes (50 Mana worth) to get 1 Critical. That means on average you're spending 40 Mana on 4 attacks that deliver no benefit whatsoever if you're already HCI capped. AI is 20 Mana (with 300+ skillpoints, and subject to LMC), and 40 Mana if chained, for a guaranteed 90% damage hit that ignores resists. If you run low on Mana and can't AI anymore, then you're better off just saving the Mana and auto attacking for a few hits, until you can AI spam again. With below 120 Bushido, the Critical Chance for Lightning Strike is even lower, and makes it even more not worth it.


Repond = Fire. Undead = Fire. Reptile = Cold. Arachnid = Fire. Demon = Energy (sometimes Cold as well). Fey = Fire. Elemental is a toss-up, since there's such a huge variety of Elementals with varying resists. Dinosaurs are also vulnerable to Reptile Slayer. Oddly enough, the T-Rex has no Slayer.
I also have 100% Elemental Damage Double Axes that are very specific to farming certain mobs. Such as 100% Fire Demon Slayer Double Axe for farming Crystal Daemons for Scattered Crystals (Gorgon Lenses). I use a 100% Poison Damage Air Elemental Slayer Double Axe for farming UEVs for Void Orbs (Leeches). 100% Energy Damage Repond Slayer Double Axe for farming the Goblin Mini-Champ for Essence of Control (SSI). 100% Poison Damage Elemental Slayer Double Axe for farming Shadow Ore Eles for Shadow Ingots. 100% Cold Damage Double Axe with Harm/HLA for farming automatons in Exodus Dungeon for Exodus keys and Power Crystals (100 cleanup points per). Etc.
Sampires really do require a vast array of weapons to hunt effectively.


Some opponents however have very high Wrest/Parry, which makes it difficult to land both hits with DS. Such as Virtuebane, Anon, Greater Dragons, etc. In those cases, you're better off trying to land a single AI, then two hits with DS.


Onslaught only lowers the resist on the primary opponent hit. You can't have Onslaught and WW toggled on the same attack, so you can't apply it's effect to all nearby foes.
Frenzied Whirlwind functions differently than Whirlwind. The primary hit benefits from gear properties, but the AoE damage from FWW is purely based off of your Ninjitsu/Bushido skill, dealing Physical Damage that does not benefit from any properties on your gear/wep, so no proccing Leech with the multiple AoE ticks of FWW. Slayer effects, Hit Effects, Leeches, etc do not proc on FWW ticks, when they do on Whirlwind's hits.
Okay, I'm really confused. Can I not use uo.com's own wiki for info? According to Special Moves – Ultima Online AI costs 30 mana, not 20 and hence I assume 60 when chained...but you say it's 20 and 40? Don't they update their own wiki anymore? I've heard UOGuide is out of date on lots of things. So where can I go to get actual real up to date info?

UO's wiki also says Lightning Strike costs 5 mana and mentions nothing about this critical strike. Incorrect there too? Bushido – Ultima Online

Will lightning strike work with double strike? How about with Whirlwind?

Speaking of that, how about momentum strike? Will it work double strike and whirlwind?

Okay so onslaught will work with double strike but not with whirlwind? So basically onslaught is for one on one and whirlwind is for multiple opponents. I know hit area and hit effects from a weapon work with whirlwind? Will anything else?

If I have Blackthorn's helmet with HLD, that helps right with hitting those very high level wrestling opponents? I don't know what diseased blood elementals have, but I seem to do okay with them...though I have times where I just keep missing. I'll try to bring my tamer down and lore a diseased blood elemental. I can see if something has higher wrestling than that...it giving me trouble.. How do you handle super high level wrestling opponents when you can't hit them? Should I use holy light or wither there? Been trying to figure out where/if ever holy light might be useful. So far whirlwind seems to easily exceed the damage.

Wow...so that's why sampires never seem to use FWW attacks? Seems very underpowered if gets no benefits from your weapon and abilities.

"Repond = Fire. Undead = Fire. Reptile = Cold. Arachnid = Fire. Demon = Energy (sometimes Cold as well). Fey = Fire. Elemental is a toss-up, since there's such a huge variety of Elementals with varying resists." This is really useful, thank you! I seem to be going through a lot of dull copper and shadow runic hammers and get only a few that can be enhanced to 100%. But I can see it's value with onslaught. Ah, demon can be cold or energy? Can I just do energy and be very effective with it in both champ spawns and Doom? If I recall, the monsters in the gauntlet are weird and have lots of resistance to cold?

"Dinosaurs are also vulnerable to Reptile Slayer. Oddly enough, the T-Rex has no Slayer." Oh, great! Is there a reason to hunt T-Rexes?

"I use a 100% Poison Damage Air Elemental Slayer Double Axe for farming UEVs for Void Orbs (Leeches)." WOW! Thank you for that! I am so low on void orbs and yet I need them so much. I fought a UEV with my 100% energy elemental double axe using CW but it took a while. I had no clue they have a single slayer, the air elemental! Nor that poison is their lowest resist. When I chose energy for elemental, I just took my tamer and did a random sampling of the elementals I could find. Energy seemed like a good middle ground for them except UEV. But have single slayer weapon for them will help so much! Thank you!

"100% Energy Damage Repond Slayer Double Axe for farming the Goblin Mini-Champ for Essence of Control (SSI)" Am I missing something here? I attack them with my tamer before and they seemed incredibly easy, like the easiest of all. I guess I don't understand why they need a dedicated weapon? I just assumed they'd die from anything...but I haven't used my sampire there yet.

I don't know about some of the other things you mentioned like Exodus and shadow elementals (I've only seen them in the rat cave) but I get your point that the sampire can create dedicated weapons for content they like doing. A very good point.

One thing bothers me though with this and champ spawns. If you do random spawns in T2A, you need to bring your entire collection along as you don't know what you'll get. That is alot of weight there. How do you deal with all the weight carrying those weapons?

And oh another question -- any way I can get rid of Durability as a slot on my imbue from reforging? I got my very first 100% cold double axe but it also has durability bonus on it. Will PoF or some item remove that?

Thank you again for your help :)
 
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PlayerSkillFTW

Babbling Loonie
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Okay, I'm really confused. Can I not use uo.com's own wiki for info? According to Special Moves – Ultima Online AI costs 30 mana, not 20 and hence I assume 60 when chained...but you say it's 20 and 40? Don't they update their own wiki anymore? I've heard UOGuide is out of date on lots of things. So where can I go to get actual real up to date info?

UO's wiki also says Lightning Strike costs 5 mana and mentions nothing about this critical strike. Incorrect there too? Bushido – Ultima Online

Will lightning strike work with double strike? How about with Whirlwind?

Speaking of that, how about momentum strike? Will it work double strike and whirlwind?

Okay so onslaught will work with double strike but not with whirlwind? So basically onslaught is for one on one and whirlwind is for multiple opponents. I know hit area and hit effects from a weapon work with whirlwind? Will anything else?

If I have Blackthorn's helmet with HLD, that helps right with hitting those very high level wrestling opponents? I don't know what diseased blood elementals have, but I seem to do okay with them...though I have times where I just keep missing. I'll try to bring my tamer down and lore a diseased blood elemental. I can see if something has higher wrestling than that...it giving me trouble.. How do you handle super high level wrestling opponents when you can't hit them? Should I use holy light or wither there? Been trying to figure out where/if ever holy light might be useful. So far whirlwind seems to easily exceed the damage.

Wow...so that's why sampires never seem to use FWW attacks? Seems very underpowered if gets no benefits from your weapon and abilities.

"Repond = Fire. Undead = Fire. Reptile = Cold. Arachnid = Fire. Demon = Energy (sometimes Cold as well). Fey = Fire. Elemental is a toss-up, since there's such a huge variety of Elementals with varying resists." This is really useful, thank you! I seem to be going through a lot of dull copper and shadow runic hammers and get only a few that can be enhanced to 100%. But I can see it's value with onslaught. Ah, demon can be cold or energy? Can I just do energy and be very effective with it in both champ spawns and Doom? If I recall, the monsters in the gauntlet are weird and have lots of resistance to cold?

"Dinosaurs are also vulnerable to Reptile Slayer. Oddly enough, the T-Rex has no Slayer." Oh, great! Is there a reason to hunt T-Rexes?

"I use a 100% Poison Damage Air Elemental Slayer Double Axe for farming UEVs for Void Orbs (Leeches)." WOW! Thank you for that! I am so low on void orbs and yet I need them so much. I fought a UEV with my 100% energy elemental double axe using CW but it took a while. I had no clue they have a single slayer, the air elemental! Nor that poison is their lowest resist. When I chose energy for elemental, I just took my tamer and did a random sampling of the elementals I could find. Energy seemed like a good middle ground for them except UEV. But have single slayer weapon for them will help so much! Thank you!

"100% Energy Damage Repond Slayer Double Axe for farming the Goblin Mini-Champ for Essence of Control (SSI)" Am I missing something here? I attack them with my tamer before and they seemed incredibly easy, like the easiest of all. I guess I don't understand why they need a dedicated weapon? I just assumed they'd die from anything...but I haven't used my sampire there yet.

I don't know about some of the other things you mentioned like Exodus and shadow elementals (I've only seen them in the rat cave) but I get your point that the sampire can create dedicated weapons for content they like doing. A very good point.

One thing bothers me though with this and champ spawns. If you do random spawns in T2A, you need to bring your entire collection along as you don't know what you'll get. That is alot of weight there. How do you deal with all the weight carrying those weapons?

And oh another question -- any way I can get rid of Durability as a slot on my imbue from reforging? I got my very first 100% cold double axe but it also has durability bonus on it. Will PoF or some item remove that?

Thank you again for your help :)
AI costs 30 Mana with less than 200 total skillpoints in Swords/Macing/Fencing/Archery/Throwing/Parry/LJ/Stealth/Poison/Ninjitsu/Bushido. Special Moves cost 5 Mana less with 200-299 skillpoints between those skills. 10 Mana less with 300+ skillpoints between those skills. A Sampire with 120 Wep Skill/GM Bushido/80+ Parry qualifies for the 10 Mana discount, and so AI is 20 Mana then, which doubles to 40 if chained. With those 300+ total skills and 50%+ LMC, AI is 10 Mana, 20 if chained.
Lightning Strike used to cost just 5 Mana (3 with 40% LMC) years ago, but that was nerfed due to PvP (like most other Bushido abilities, almost every aspect of Bushido has been nerfed at some point due to PvP) and changed to 10 Mana (5 with 50%+ LMC). Since then, LS is no longer mana efficient compared to AI.
Lightning Strike or Momentum Strike cannot be toggled at the same time as a Special Move.

Slayers work with Whirlwind. Both Slayers on Wep, and Slayers on Talisman. Hit Area and Slayers pair particularly well on WW weps, due to Hit Area effects dealing a % of damage based upon the damage of the weapon hit.

There's a good mix of Demons weaker to Energy or Cold. The Putrifier (this guy is actually best done with an AI Weapon, due to his high Wrest/Parry), Bone Daemon, Balrons, Fan Dancers, and Ravagers are weakest to Energy. Semidar, Succubi, Onis, Fire Daemons, Devourers of Souls, and most Gargoyle types are weaker to Cold. The Abyssal Infernal and regular Daemon are weakest to Poison. Slasher of Veils (i don't recommend trying to melee this) and Abyssmal Horror are weakest to Physical. Crystal Daemons and Ice Fiends are weakest to Fire, but highly resistant to Cold. Impaler is immune to Energy.

The T-Rex can actually drop some pretty good Legendary Artifacts (including Eodon variety, such as Dragon Turtle Hide or Tiger Pelt) with Luck. He's just a pain in the ass to kill, especially because he likes to Stun players and target switch to them as they're helpless.

Yeah, when i farm UEVs for Void Orbs, i'll oftentimes pair my Sampire with my Disco/Tamer and his RC+AP Fire Beetle. UEV's lowest resist is Poison at 55-65%. My Disco/Tamer will apply 120 Disco to the UEV (lowering it to 41-51 Poison Resist) and sick his Beetle on it. My Sampire will tank the UEV and cast Corpse Skin on it (furthering lowering it's Poison Resist to 26-36), then hit it with Onslaught (even further lowering it's Poison Resist to 10-20), then start spamming Double Strike while keeping Counter Attack ready and using Onslaught every 5th hit. RC will further lower the Poison Resist to 5-10 during it. I'll deal 300+ total damage per Double Strike that way (i've seen 400+ during RC+AP debuffs), and just rip apart the UEV in under a minute.

I used to farm the hell out of the Goblin Mini-Champ for Essence of Control back when i was imbuing SSI on weps, so i made a weapon specifically for killing them as fast as possible. Was a 100% Energy Damage Double Axe imbued with Repond/50% Hit Energy Area/50% HSL/81% HML/45% DI, and paired it with a Goblin Slayer Talisman. That spawn is also a good way to regain Karma, when Karma dips low from casting Necro spells.

I usually don't do T2A Champ spawns on my Sampire. For casting Necro spells (like Vamp Form, Corpse Skin or Wraith Form), i wear Arcane Thigh Boots and carry a stack of 5 Arcane Gems (18 charges per Gem). I also carry five stacks of 20 Pig Iron (100 total) specifically for casting Curse Weapon. Five stacks of 20, so in case i die not all of it gets looted by mobs.

No, you can't remove the +Durability % property from gear. Which sucks, since the property is pretty useless ever since they introduced PoF, and eats up an imbuing slot.
 
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Zara

Adventurer
AI costs 30 Mana with less than 200 total skillpoints in Swords/Macing/Fencing/Archery/Throwing/Parry/LJ/Stealth/Poison/Ninjitsu/Bushido. Special Moves cost 5 Mana less with 200-299 skillpoints between those skills. 10 Mana less with 300+ skillpoints between those skills. A Sampire with 120 Wep Skill/GM Bushido/80+ Parry qualifies for the 10 Mana discount, and so AI is 20 Mana then, which doubles to 40 if chained. With those 300+ total skills and 50%+ LMC, AI is 10 Mana, 20 if chained.
Lightning Strike used to cost just 5 Mana (3 with 40% LMC) years ago, but that was nerfed due to PvP (like most other Bushido abilities, almost every aspect of Bushido has been nerfed at some point due to PvP) and changed to 10 Mana (5 with 50%+ LMC). Since then, LS is no longer mana efficient compared to AI.
Lightning Strike or Momentum Strike cannot be toggled at the same time as a Special Move.

Slayers work with Whirlwind. Both Slayers on Wep, and Slayers on Talisman. Hit Area and Slayers pair particularly well on WW weps, due to Hit Area effects dealing a % of damage based upon the damage of the weapon hit.

There's a good mix of Demons weaker to Energy or Cold. The Putrifier (this guy is actually best done with an AI Weapon, due to his high Wrest/Parry), Bone Daemon, Balrons, Fan Dancers, and Ravagers are weakest to Energy. Semidar, Succubi, Onis, Fire Daemons, Devourers of Souls, and most Gargoyle types are weaker to Cold. The Abyssal Infernal and regular Daemon are weakest to Poison. Slasher of Veils (i don't recommend trying to melee this) and Abyssmal Horror are weakest to Physical. Crystal Daemons and Ice Fiends are weakest to Fire, but highly resistant to Cold. Impaler is immune to Energy.

The T-Rex can actually drop some pretty good Legendary Artifacts (including Eodon variety, such as Dragon Turtle Hide or Tiger Pelt) with Luck. He's just a pain in the ass to kill, especially because he likes to Stun players and target switch to them as they're helpless.

Yeah, when i farm UEVs for Void Orbs, i'll oftentimes pair my Sampire with my Disco/Tamer and his RC+AP Fire Beetle. UEV's lowest resist is Poison at 55-65%. My Disco/Tamer will apply 120 Disco to the UEV (lowering it to 41-51 Poison Resist) and sick his Beetle on it. My Sampire will tank the UEV and cast Corpse Skin on it (furthering lowering it's Poison Resist to 26-36), then hit it with Onslaught (even further lowering it's Poison Resist to 10-20), then start spamming Double Strike while keeping Counter Attack ready and using Onslaught every 5th hit. RC will further lower the Poison Resist to 5-10 during it. I'll deal 300+ total damage per Double Strike that way (i've seen 400+ during RC+AP debuffs), and just rip apart the UEV in under a minute.

I used to farm the hell out of the Goblin Mini-Champ for Essence of Control back when i was imbuing SSI on weps, so i made a weapon specifically for killing them as fast as possible. Was a 100% Energy Damage Double Axe imbued with Repond/50% Hit Energy Area/50% HSL/81% HML/45% DI, and paired it with a Goblin Slayer Talisman. That spawn is also a good way to regain Karma, when Karma dips low from casting Necro spells.

I usually don't do T2A Champ spawns on my Sampire. For casting Necro spells (like Vamp Form, Corpse Skin or Wraith Form), i wear Arcane Thigh Boots and carry a stack of 5 Arcane Gems (18 charges per Gem). I also carry five stacks of 20 Pig Iron (100 total) specifically for casting Curse Weapon. Five stacks of 20, so in case i die not all of it gets looted by mobs.

No, you can't remove the +Durability % property from gear. Which sucks, since the property is pretty useless ever since they introduced PoF, and eats up an imbuing slot.
Oh my gosh....so that's how you do it! I lost 4 slots in my suit to get 100% lrc in it. I keep thinking if I didn't have then I could have maybe managed to fit in more stamina or hp or str. But especially stamina since my 158 seems to be on the low end compared to everyone else. I actually tried the template you posted in hopes curse wouldn't affect me anymore, but it does. I'm using a diseased blood elemental hoping nothing is more powerful than it when casting curses. When it casts curse at me, I lose 25 stamina at 0 resist. I went to GM resist and then I still was getting cursed for I believe 13 in stamina. I went back to my original template and then had to in max ssi on weapons and cast divine fury all the time to get the max 60 ssi. With 60 ssi, I would take the full 25 loss to stamina but still swung at 1.25 using a double axe. But I do sacrifice lower leech on my weapons for that.

If you don't mind, could you post your equipment? I don't think I'll be able to duplicate it lacking stuff like the cameo but it could help me figure out how to get closer. I spend a lot of time crafting my suit...but it could be worth it to make a 2nd suit and carry arcane gems and pig iron like you do. I have noticed I don't cast spells often. I love curse weapon but it's hard to get it off as I have no FC. When you say you carry a stack of arcane gems, you mean a stack of 20? How is the weight with all the pig iron and arcane gems?

Also, have you fought virulent spiders in Twisted Weald? I decided to go to them to both practice my skills and in hopes of getting some nice jewelry. I'm using the luck set from cleanup because it give 10% ssi, 30% hci, 60% damage increase and that's a tough combo I haven't been able to beat. Plus not having to worry about getting replacement jewelry is really nice as I hate to make my suit dependent on jewelry I may not be able to replace.

Anyway, I was kinda surprised. They were tougher than diseased bloods...though they are constantly swarming. I just stood in the middle of them. With silk, I had no problems. But virulent was hard. I died 3 times though I also stayed alive for quite a while. When I die, I'm not sure how it happens. I do get mortal striked and can't use my swamp dragon there (they dismount me), but vampire life drain goes through mortal strike, right? I also used a radiant scimitar with spider slayer on it and remember your earlier advice, no life leech on it. (I decided against double ax just so I could what fighting with the radiant scimitar would be like and so I could have a shield with soul charge).

So I'm still really unclear how I die, I'd be close to full life and doing well, then dead. I had the poison with bloods too so I know that isn't the issue. Is it because I do less damage than with a double axe? Or does mortal strike affect me?

Now if I used curse weapon with the virulent, I was fine, but recasting a problem without fc. Can you give me pointers on how I could have done better in that fight? And also tell me how you would have done it? I'm guessing most sampire find diseased blood elementals and virulent spiders not a problem, even in numbers?
 
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WonDumBaldGuy

Adventurer
*Disclaimer, I am primarily a macing specialist, and recommend following the advice of the more experienced Swords samps. However, I can see where you are trying to go and giving you alternatives that MAY work towards your goal. They, however, would know much better than I if it WILL work.

I don't understand why I would take of my Bushido and lose perfection, whirlwind damage bonus, and other benefits that don't depend on parrying?
I think Merlin did not see you had 0 parry, that is why he recommended you drop bushido. Like I said, it is a rare Sampire template that tries to go without it.

But I need to make it elemental for onslaught.
Quick note. For onslaught benefit, you do NOT need 100% elemental. Just higher 51% or higher will proc against the lowest resists matching that type.

Okay, I'm really confused. Can I not use uo.com's own wiki for info? According to Special Moves – Ultima Online AI costs 30 mana, not 20 and hence I assume 60 when chained...but you say it's 20 and 40? Don't they update their own wiki anymore? I've heard UOGuide is out of date on lots of things. So where can I go to get actual real up to date info?
If you have the buff icons up, you can hover over them and get more accurate descriptions. No, you can't trust anything that is written much. BUT you can contact mariah here or on the uo.com forums and she will try to get the information updated. She is very responsive.

Speaking of that, how about momentum strike? Will it work double strike and whirlwind?
There are a couple of reactionary stances, and primary stances in Bushido. Primary stances work the same as weapon specials and cannot be used at the same time. Reactionary stances, such as confidence and counterattack, can be used while using primary stances/abilities. Best answer : Play around with each stance and see if you can activate a weapon special without cancelling.

If I have Blackthorn's helmet with HLD, that helps right with hitting those very high level wrestling opponents? I don't know what diseased blood elementals have, but I seem to do okay with them...though I have times where I just keep missing. I'll try to bring my tamer down and lore a diseased blood elemental. I can see if something has higher wrestling than that...it giving me trouble..
UNbound EV's have end-game level wrestle. With the right weapons, they make for great practice in getting combo's down. And enduring whiff streaks... we all have them. Thats where your reactionary (gap filling) techinques come in. Divine fury / refresh pot if stam is low. GH pot/ SS/ Confidence if your HP is low. Use those to extend your combat time until the miss streak is over. OR . . . Use my method of Set, Stand, Reset (also in my 17 minute Rikki thread).
Having Hit fatigue / Hit lower attack on your weapons will help a TON with these gaps too. Hit fatigue quickly lowers their attack speed. HLA lowers their chance to land a hit. Both give you increased survivability.
So I think I would a great one handed weapon with double strike to consider for use with a shield. Do you have suggestions? I do love the Daisho but if I can use a shield's properties for both whirlwind and double strike, I could change my entire suit to match it.
For a WW one handed weapon, there is the bladed whip.

Katana is a (low damage) option for one handed DS and AI.
Pick axe is a good one handed DS weapon as well.

Broadsword (check the swing speed calc on stratics to get to 1.25 swings) is a great option for AI. I am with PlayerSkillFTW on this, I would much rather have the AI hit or miss than a double chance of hit or miss.


If you don't mind, could you post your equipment?
I think this was meant directly are PlayerSkillFTW, but here is my 2 gp:
I listed equipment alternatives in my 17 minute Rikki thread. For example, storm grip vice feudal grip.


Now if I used curse weapon with the virulent, I was fine, but recasting a problem without fc.
Use protect scrolls to avoid fizzles on curse wep. Rather have 100% chance but slow rather than roll the dice with FC. You will need to adjust suit to offset the physical resists penalty.


egarding Feint, can feint block damage from all sources including magic and dragon fireball as well as melee?
Feint lowers all damage received.
 

Cork

Sage
Professional
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
If you don't mind, could you post your equipment?
Not saying you need to make the same choices I have with gear but it gives you an idea of what kind of stats to look for. I could drop my SSI to 30 by replacing the tinker legs with something that has other stats on them but sometimes I like to use a two handed axe instead of a double axe. The stats on my character sheet are without di, ssi, hci on a weapon. One thing I forgot to take a screenshot of are the Minax Sandals I'm wearing for footwear. I also have 120 anatomy on a soulstone that I swap out with resist depending on what I'm doing and I have 20 dci.

Sampire Gear.jpg
 
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PlayerSkillFTW

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
If you don't mind, could you post your equipment? I don't think I'll be able to duplicate it lacking stuff like the cameo but it could help me figure out how to get closer. I spend a lot of time crafting my suit...but it could be worth it to make a 2nd suit and carry arcane gems and pig iron like you do. I have noticed I don't cast spells often. I love curse weapon but it's hard to get it off as I have no FC. When you say you carry a stack of arcane gems, you mean a stack of 20? How is the weight with all the pig iron and arcane gems?
I carry a total of 5 Arcane Gems and 100 Pig Iron on me at a time (15 stones). If i'm killing Undead like Liches, i can oftentimes loot even more Pig Iron. I also carry 20-30 Greater Strength/Agility pots though, which is a total of 40-60 Stones for those.
For Artifacts, my Sampire wears a Blackthorn's Mace & Shields Norse Helm (Metal), a Blackthorn's Crimson Cincture Woodland Belt, Corgul's Enchanted Sash, Lord Morphius' Epaulettes, Jumu's Sacred Hide, and oftentimes a Cameo. I don't have Gloves of Feudal Grip, if i did i wouldn't need any DI on my wep. I use 2 Legendary Artifact pieces (Bone Armor Tunic and Studded Sleeves) with +DEX/+Stam/+INT/+Mana/MR/LMC and high Resists. The other three pieces (Bone Leggings/Gloves and Studded Gorget) are crafted/imbued with +5 HP/+8 Stam/+5 Mana/8% LMC/Resist. My Ring and Bracelet are identical clean looted pieces that i imbued to 10% SSI/15% HCI/15% DCI/25% DI/25% EP.

Here's a screenshot of my Sampire's stats without wep equipped. This is with Greater Strength/Agility pots chugged, which i use whenever i'm hunting. He has 126 STR/134 DEX without Pots chugged, so overcapped 156 STR/164 DEX with them chugged, which helps protect against debuffs like Weaken/Clumsy/Curse. Also have FC 1 Town Bonus active.
Daedros' Stats.PNG

Need to finish Refining his Armor so i can have 75 Physical/75 Fire/80 Energy Resist caps.

Use protect scrolls to avoid fizzles on curse wep. Rather have 100% chance but slow rather than roll the dice with FC. You will need to adjust suit to offset the physical resists penalty.
You gotta remember though, that Protection also lowers your Resist skill while active. Not a problem if you don't have Resist on your template in the first place, but if you do, it lowers it. I'll swap between GM Parry and GM Resist depending on what i'm hunting. For most Champ Spawns, i run Resist. For bosses like Chief Paroxysmus, Stygian Dragon, UEVs, or AoE farming Raptor Teeth, i'll run GM Parry.
 
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Cork

Sage
Professional
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
I have never felt the need to run protection. I guess it wouldn't matter for those times that I've swapped out resist for anatomy though.
 

Cork

Sage
Professional
Stratics Veteran
UNLEASHED
Just out of curiosity, do you guys run elemental damage on your bladed staffs? Someone in game was insisting I should but I didn't think it's worth it since you are just chaining AI. I like to reforge for 50% hit fatigue and would it hard to get something that is both elemental damage AND HF.
 
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