Clueless Noob for PvM

[kennfusion]

Please help me figure out what gear stats I should be focusing on.

Right now my main character can do the ettins and rock elementals in Desipise, and the dull copper elementals in Shame, but the air elementals kick my behind.

My build currently is:
Anatomy 85
Archery 83
Focus 93
Tactics 93
Chivalry 40
Resisting Spells 52
Discordance 36
Musicianship 87
Provocation 57

My bow is just a regular bow that a nice person gave me in Luna. It has hit Harm 15%, Hit Mana Leech 2% and Damage Increase 18%.

What should I be looking for in a bow? Do I want a bow or a x-bow for PvM? What imbue stats should I be looking for on a bow? What about gear? What stats will help me survive? I am guessing since I am an archer/bard the idea is I don't want to be hit, so physical resistance should not be a priority?

And I seem to be stuck getting archery up more from 83? Where should I be hunting?

I greatly appreciate your advice. thanks

 

[Eyes of Origin]

wow for one, you have wayyy too many skills.. lol but thats just my opinion.

 

[canary]

wow for one, you have wayyy too many skills.. lol but thats just my opinion.

This.

If I were you, I'd scale the skills back a bit so you can get some of them higher and stronger.

 

[kennfusion]

wow for one, you have wayyy too many skills.. lol but thats just my opinion.

well yes. But I still have 100 points room at the moment to move around in. I find I don't use discordance very much, so that might go when I start to hit the cap, and I am still trying to decide then if musicianship/provocation are worth it if I don't have any other barding skills. So yes, I know I need to get down to about 7 skills.

But what about the gear questions?

 

[canary]

If you absolutely insist on your skill set, I'd personally do something like this:

Archer 100
Tactics 100
Anatomy 80
Healing 80
Chiv 80
Focus 80
Musicianship 100
Provoke 100

(this is based off a 4 year, 720 point template; if you only have 700, you could bring Chivalry, Focus or Tactics down by 10 points each on two of them). You can always try to get jewelry to offset your skills to boost them.

Tactics of 100 will allow you your weapon special moves (you get your first at 70, your second at 90). Healing and Anatomy of 80 will at least give you a chance to resurrect your allies. A Chivalry of 80 will allow you to cast Enemy of One without many fizzles. A Music and Provocation of 100 each will ensure that you can provoke most of the creatures in game decently (though not all). Some people use Focus, some do not. It helps with your mana and stamina regeneration. If you absolutely feel you do not want it, you could swap it out for Resisting Spells. Since this template above does not have Resist on it, you should carry some items that will help negate monster spells (ie Enchanted Apples for curses, Orange Petals for poison).

What bow you choose is up to you. Since this is PvM, I do not think you'll need a heavy x bow (no need to dismount as a special). Many do not favor it, but I personally like the lightweight shortbow, as it is the quickest in game. Many it seems like the Composite Bow due to its specials. The reason I like the lightweight shortbow is also due to the fact I use them with high fireball or lightning. The more shots you get off, the more times you activate those spell effects. And if I can do a potential 20 plus damage a hit above normal bow damage, that to me is a good thing.

As far as your weapon, its up to you. Leech properties (especially imo mana and stamina) are nice. SSI on a bow is pretty much necessary (as they are some of the slower weapons in game). High damage increase is nice but you can often get that off of other things, such as jewelry... same with DCI and HCI. As I've said I like spell properties on my weapons (fireball and especially lightning). Hit Lower Defense will assist you in hitting creatures better. As a PvM archer, Hit Lower Attack isn't (imo)a necessity as you are mainly fighting from a distance.

For your bardic skills, an 'exceptional' musical instrument is a must.

As far as stats, get yourself a nice DEX/ Stamina, as the higher it is, the quicker you'll be able to get off arrows. INT/ mana will assist with your specials, and STR/ hit points will enable you to survive longer (and STR will also provide a damage bonus).

 

[popps]

You need to think about long term.

Ultima Online has a total skill points CAP that limits skills to 720 points if your account is 4 years old or more or 700 points total if your account is younger.

This is important because, as you progress with your skills, you will find yourself needing to "focus" on some skills only rather than spread your points among too many.

The reason for this, is that the more points you have in a given skill, the better you do in that skill.

This can mean hitting more often, doing more damage, healing more per second, etc.

Some skills can be trained all the way up to 120 points. This means that, depending on the skills you are considering for your template, you can "excel" in about 6 skills.
Some, thanking to items that can carry skill points, strentch this to being able to excel in 7 and sometimes even 8 skills which, clearly, gives more abilities to count on when needed.

I see you are training archery and also bardic skills. To be more effective archery needs also tactics and anatomy and some chivalry. That makes 3.5 skills. Then bardic needs at least 2, musicianship is a must and then one among provoking, peacemaking and discordance. Many prefer discordance because it could make you be able to lower the stats of your targets and so kill them more easily and faster. But peacemaking could also be helpfull to help you out in dangerous situations. Just use area peace and you can walk out of danger......

Provocation, can also come handy because it can take monsters off of your back and force them to fight each other.

That is up to you, it is hard to say which could work best for you, it is something more personal to choose.

You are missing some better healing. Yes, close wounds can heal you and possibly it is enough for lower end monsters but as you will progress and pass onto fighting tougher monsters, you sill find yourself needing more healing so, taking up healing could be wise, long term.

Ultima Online is all about making choices when it comes to skills. It is not possible to fit everything in a template and something always must be left out.

Personally, I try to have focused templates like a Mage that stays with spellcasting skills, a warrior that stays with fighting skills and so forth. My Bard, for example, has all 4 bardic skills, some Magery and then Meditation. If I can handle it with skill items, I add some bonus Mysticism or Spellweaving and play a Bard who can cast a few spells when needed....

Ultima Online is a great game, it would have not lasted 13 years if it had not been..., and I hope that you will enjoy it.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Like others have said, you have too many skills to fight anything other than what you have already fought.

There have been warrior-bards or archer-bards in UO PvM and they have been pretty effective. But they have been more focused. Usually their music skills have been only Discordance and Musicianship, or only Provocation and Musicianship.

First thing is that you need to decide what your character primarily is and focus on that. So if your character is primarily in archer, first thing is to get the unused points into Archery and, to a lesser extent, Tactics.

I see no means of healing for you other than Chivalry; I didn't see Healing on your template so far. If you don't want to heal with bandages with the Healing skill, then you may drop Anatomy and make up the rest with Damage Increase items. That frees up 85 points right there. If you want to use bandages, you need the Healing skill and Anatomy and you need to get both at least up to 80 or 85 or 90 or more.

And if you want to rely on Chivalry to heal? Then you probably should have one of the two skills that regenerates mana: Focus (also known as Battle Focus) or Meditation. The latter limits your armor choice somewhat, to leathers or armor with the "mage armor" property. The former also regenerates Stamina in addition to Mana but regenerates Mana much slower than Meditation does.

Resist Spells, I think most would (accurately) tell you that you should either take it to at least 80 or not bother at all. With an Archer I think you can shoot it up to GM as I don't think you have to worry about Parry.

One of the better aspects of UO is an amount of flexibility that's almost alarming. Many templates can work depending on what you want to do and how you want to do it.

Templates that seem non-viable to some can indeed be viable to others.

However almost all of us would agree that your current template at present suffers from a lack of focus. (And I don't mean the skill Focus in this case. *chuckles*)

Good luck.

-Galen's player

 

[Sevin0oo0]

I'd personally do something like this:

Where do You set Str/Dex/Int at(w/ that template)? Since it seems there's 'levels' to many skills (healing for one),where often just a couple pts are better utilised on something else

 

[canary]

Where do You set Str/Dex/Int at(w/ that template)? Since it seems there's 'levels' to many skills (healing for one),where often just a couple pts are better utilised on something else

Well, it depends on how much he would use his mana supply. And it also depends in the end how his suit is built.

If he is focusing more on a simple chivalry spell here and there and has a lot of built in mana increase, LMC and MR in his suit, you don't require as high an INT stat.

I can say that, as an archer, you want a very high DEX stat. It's the other two stats that it gets a bit more nebulous.

For example, I have a pure archer with a primary focus on PvM (though I do PvP on occasion). My stats are:

STR: 114 DEX: 144 INT: 29
HP: 130 STA: 165 MANA: 64

This is without any potions or weapon, just the basics with wearing a suit. But I also have MR 13, LMC 35, SR 11 HCI 45 and DCI 20 (yes, I'm aware DCI is low, but I also am an archer on the run). So, yes... the actual build of the stats you should target do rely somewhat on what you choose to wear.

 

[Tjalle]

Since you seem new I guess you have 700 skill points to use.

I would probably go with:

Archery 110
Tactics 110
Anatomy 100
Healing 100
Music 110
Discordance 110
Chivalry 60

110 scrolls should be fairly cheap to get.

For stats assuming you have 230 points to use:

STR 90
DEX 100
INT 40

Try and get a bow with Swing Speed Increase (SSI), Mana leech, Stamina leech, Hit Lower Defence (HLD) and Damage Increase (DI).

If you have leech properties on your weapon you are less dependant on having regeneration properties on your armour.

See if you can find a suit with good overall resists (max resist is 70 on each unless you´re an elf, then you can have 75 in energy), stamina increase (allows you to shoot faster), mana increase (to get you up to 60 or so), hit point increase. If you can, try to add some Lower Mana Cost (LMC) as well.

On jewelry you want to have as much Hit Chance Increase (HCI) as possible. Also get some more DI on them.

Well, that´s what I can think of for now. And as the wise Grog would say: Have fun!

 

[Ganesh89]

Well like the others mentioned you are too heavy on the skills.....

If I were you I'd focus on a classic ABC archer.....then squeeze in the bardic skills...
Since you need a way of healing yourself it's very hard to do with a 700 skill template....

From your post I read you don't use disco alot so I suggest you focus on a pure archer first then as you get more advanced move in the bardic skills and drop Bushido and Anatomy....


A: Archery ->aim at 120
B: Bushido -> aim at 120
C: Chivalry -> aim at 65-70

Anatomy and Tactics increase your damage potential. These have to be maxed to 100. Look for cheap 110-115 scrolls while you progress. Depending on the shard you play, you find them at around 5k for 110 and around 50-60k for the 115. Use them early so your skill gains are easier in the high 80ies. Decide if you want to be a provo archer or a disco archer.. I would suggest on using disco first. Provocation is a nice skill as well but it's a lot more work to master and wield in combat. Additionally you really need Healing...

So to summerize:

First:
120 Archery
100 Bushido
100 Tactics
100 Anatomy
90 Healing
65 Chiv

Leaves you with 125 points to spend.....kind of a crossroad you hit there...it's now either drop Anatomy and raise 2 Bardic skills to 100-120 and spend the rest on Bushido and Healing or go to a pure Archer:

120 Archery
120 Bushido
100 Tactics
100 Anatomy
100 Healing
60 Chiv

Stats:
Dex 150 or as much as you can possibly get
Str 100 +
Int the rest you dont need

Which leaves you another 100 points to use. This I would either invest into bumping up
Tactics and Chiv or invest it into Resisting Spells.

For what it I learned playing this game for more then 10 years: it's better to focus on one speciality and really gear your char towards it then to mix in too many abilities and excel at none .....Don't get me wrong here... mixed chars work great, but tend to be very expensive gear and skill point wise....

Gear:

70 all resists... at least that's what you aim for.... (make friend with an imbuer....there are some really great people on the boards here, which are willing to help out new players with a basic suit...if you play Formosa or Drachenfels I can help you out)

Keep your eyes open for stamina increase on the suit parts, once you hit 150 Dex only way to hit more frequent is stamina....

Weapons:
For an archer it is SWING SPEED INCREASE all the way... no weapon should have less then 30....for starters i would aim for bows since the ammo is easy to get from rat man archers in Ilshenar. They always drop around 60-70 per kill....you even might get a couple of skill gains out of them while farming arrows...Magical short bow is a good choice since it's fast and the more you hit the more you gain in skills. Ask around so you get an exeptional bow...very easy to make for a gm-fletcher and it has 40 dmg increase.....the rest of the properties are not so important for starters but aim for mana leech and stamina leech....

With a bow close to what i mentioned those air-elementals should die in about 3 shots with your current skills.....no need to run anymore....

Have fun playing and good luck on your travels!


P.S.: Post the shard your playing on, so some vets can help you out a little

 

[Willard]

Please help me figure out what gear stats I should be focusing on.

Right now my main character can do the ettins and rock elementals in Desipise, and the dull copper elementals in Shame, but the air elementals kick my behind.

My build currently is:
Anatomy 85
Archery 83
Focus 93
Tactics 93
Chivalry 40
Resisting Spells 52
Discordance 36
Musicianship 87
Provocation 57

My bow is just a regular bow that a nice person gave me in Luna. It has hit Harm 15%, Hit Mana Leech 2% and Damage Increase 18%.

What should I be looking for in a bow? Do I want a bow or a x-bow for PvM? What imbue stats should I be looking for on a bow? What about gear? What stats will help me survive? I am guessing since I am an archer/bard the idea is I don't want to be hit, so physical resistance should not be a priority?

And I seem to be stuck getting archery up more from 83? Where should I be hunting?

I greatly appreciate your advice. thanks

Welcome to UO. Lots of good advice posted above. If you need help with a suit of armor and weapon, and play on LA or Atlantic, I have a 120 imbuer and can set you up with some decent gear. Send me a PM or ICQ (98110980). Be happy to help you out.

 

[kennfusion]

See, I named the thread correctly with "clueless".

Here I thought my problem was all gear related and it took a bunch of people to point out that it is template related.

Thanks Ganesh89 for some really detailed ideas of what direction to go in.

 

[aarons6]

what shard you play on?

 

[Tanivar]

I play a Paladin/Archer/Provoker with the following template. The additional skill points are due to account age and imbued skill jewelry. Without using powerscrolls your limited to 100 in a skill so using 40 Focus and 80 Resist Spells will fit it into your 700 skill points. Go for something like 100 Strength, 80 Dexterity, and 45 Intelligence for Stats.

120 Archery
120 Tactics
110 Anatomy
80 Chivalry
60 Meditation
81 Resist Spells
120 Music
120 Provo

Tactics & Anatomy add to the damage your weapon does. I went with Meditation instead of Focus for the faster mana regeneration. It does limit your armor choice to leather & mage armors though.

I went with Provocation because it lets me use other monsters to help wear down my target and also lets me use other monsters to distract my opponet while I heal up my character as it kills the other monster. It also lets you target two super high hit point monsters on each other so you can just stand back and watch while they wail on each other, saving you a ton of ammo.

As far as armor goes, go for resist totals of 70 on your armor pieces, which is the maximum resists you are allowed unless you are an elf which can have 75 Energy resist. Stamina Regeneration, Mana Regenration, Reflect Physical damage, and Nightsight are good to have on your armor.

For a bow, go for one with Damage Increase, a spell attack effect, and life leech to start. Later on you will want Swing Speed Increase, Balanced, and such, but to start, a fairly basic bow will do.

 

[WildWobble]

First goal focus on some gold! Once you have say 100 000 gold shop arround! Use UOGUIDE Or Stratics to find out info on items, Then make your own mind up unless your on seige i suggest if you want the quick way to get a 1/2 way decent suit and weapon would be to go to luna bank and become a beggar for a day ask for help many will happily dol out some junk they can spare. When i first moved shards and was broke i asked if anyone could spare some change and was gifted with a million gold check so just be nice and BEG!!

 

[Demonous]

First goal focus on some gold! Once you have say 100 000 gold shop arround! Use UOGUIDE Or Stratics to find out info on items, Then make your own mind up unless your on seige i suggest if you want the quick way to get a 1/2 way decent suit and weapon would be to go to luna bank and become a beggar for a day ask for help many will happily dol out some junk they can spare. When i first moved shards and was broke i asked if anyone could spare some change and was gifted with a million gold check so just be nice and BEG!!

i agree, beg, a mil is peanuts nowadays someone will toss you one, i remember those days fighting the types of monsters you are, im glad to see a new player giving UO a shot, you can go from a noob to average in seconds nowdays, convince a nice fellow to imbue you a decent suit and weapon and you'll be unstoppable, find a 100% poison damage weapon and train on a golem in luna or somewhere and u can gains kills fast, there are so many tricks to doing things in game that i take them for granted, given most of what i said probably doesn't make any sense to you but there is so much information i could give to a new player like yourself that it would literally take me days to say what i need to

 

[Tjalle]

Personally I don´t think the golem advice is good for a new player. It´s so much better if they gain while out exploring the world and learning about the game...