fencing sampire and ubws swords?

[[JD]]

im loving this serpents fang for spawns; granted i'm low level so i don't have whirlwind access yet..

how well would the serpents fang fare at 120 fencing, and then i'll Use Best Weapon Skill for weapon specials later?

If I went 120 Fencing I'd get Leafblade for Feint/AI, I'd get the serpents fang for low level spawn/trash ownage, and then I can UBWS on a Radiant or some other swords weap later for whirlwind.

Thoughts?

Please tell me from your experience; I'm going by web pages of data, while you'd be going from your skill and experience. teh two are not necessarily the same.

Thansk

 

[sirion]

Good to see more fencers around! Try the Kama for Swirldwind; it's a 2-handed version of the Kryss, same speed and damage. I used to detaste 2-handed wep, but since I am a vampire, I leech enough life that I dont need to drink pots often. I use it at low level of demon spawn. It works great, plus you dont waste Imbue Intensity points on UBW/SSI if using a Radiant.

At the end of the day, any wep that works for you in any situation is a good wep. But eventually, Leafblade will be your destiny. I have recently retired my collections of kryss and replaced with Leafblades and Kamas. To swing leafblades as fast as a kryss, you'll want to modify armors/rings/stats to increase Stam.

 

[[JD]]

fencing seems pretty easy to max out to 1.25 swing speed because they're all so fast. in some cases all tahts needed is 30% or 40% SSI and 100 dex...

thus you can raise STR instead of dex..

however, you'll want to raise dex so you have the 4 sec bandages, if you have healing (I do)... so you cant raise STR that high

so the compromise seems to be able to use a slow heavy hitter, and swords has the slowest, heaviest hitters, which will give the most DPS, based on high ssi/stam/dex. plus JOAT Lumberjack gives a slight damage increase

so basically im left needing to decide: at spawns, would whirlwind be better (with sword) or would the serpents fang be better?

kama seem to have very poor dps. they do less dmg than a Kryss, and are 2h so they prevent potion use. unless stratics is wrong. thus my suggestion of ubws whirlwind weapon. look here:

http://uo.stratics.com/content/arms-armor/arms.php

 

[Stupid Miner]

You could do fine either way. That said, Radiant Scimitar is a better WW weapon.

 

[Farsight]

My fencer-sampire was looking through my old weapons for a kama I could imbue when I found this gem of a radiant scimitar:
46% Hit stamina leech
46% Hit mana leech
30% Swing speed increase
40% Damage increase
Use Best Weapon

My search for a kama ended right there.

I'm a big fan of use best weapon, but in reality, you could do better with a kama, since that slot can then be used for a slayer property or hit lower attack.

 

[[JD]]

so when you use whirlwind (as opposed to using an AOE spell like the serpents fang 100% poison), you actually hit each creature, so you vampire lifetap each creature, HLD, and HLA each creature?

or only the one you're actually hitting

 

[Farsight]

Yes, all the specials apply to everything you touch. It's very handy in the twisted weald where you can hit one of the spider traps while fighting Irk and be up to 100% life in no time flat.

 

[ZidjiN]

My fencer-sampire was looking through my old weapons for a kama I could imbue when I found this gem of a radiant scimitar:
46% Hit stamina leech
46% Hit mana leech
30% Swing speed increase
40% Damage increase
Use Best Weapon

My search for a kama ended right there.

I'm a big fan of use best weapon, but in reality, you could do better with a kama, since that slot can then be used for a slayer property or hit lower attack.

You cant Evade with UBW though

 

[[JD]]

You cant Evade with UBW though

Are there any other weapon specials which don't work on a weapon with UBWS?

 

[Divster]

evade is tied to bushido so not really a weapon special. You will be able to use all weapon special unless they require a specific skill such as armour pierce (not armour ignore) or defense mastery or block. these need bushido/ninjitsu. There are others but those sprang to mind

 

[Lynk]

I'd rather use counter attack over evade anyways, get that extra leech off of a parry in the emergency situations.

 

[Obsidian]

I was having a similar discussion in the craftsman forum on creating a nice black staff for my macer to use as a whirlwind weapon. I can imbue this on a non-exceptional black staff (purchased from NPC):

20 SSI
45 DI (45 gets me to 100 on my suit)
49 HLL (scaled due to the SSI; could be HML but I'm building a Wammy ATM)
44 HSL
44 HLA (or a slayer)

With a 2.75s weapon, according to the swing rate charts, extra SSI doesn't get me to the next swing speed tier so there is no point in putting extra imbuing intensity to imbue 25 or 30 SSI. I wish I could enhance the black staff with ash wood, but I can't figure out a way to enhance a black staff.

I think I have 4 options:

1) Go with mace fighting and use the above black staff; Diamond Mace for heavy hitter
2) Go with mace fighting and use a 2.0s UBWS kama with no SSI (so I can run UBWS, DI, HSL, HLL, HLA or slayer); Diamond Mace for heavy hitter
3) Go with fencing and use a Kama with no SSI (DI, HSL, HLL, HLA, and Slayer); Leafblade for my heavy hitter with feint
4) Go with mace fighting and use a UBWS radiant scimitar but only get UBWS, DI, SSI, HLL, HSL (no slayer or HLA possible) on the blade

I plan to use the char as a spawner, primarily focused on Arachnid, Abyss, and Undead spawns. He will be a pure Wammy (I'm testing this out) so he will only have 40 necro (thus no vamp form or swamp dragon). I know this is a little bit of an experiment, but I want to test it out. And I need to mention that I am trying to avoid spending 7.5M on a 120 Swords scroll when I already have a 120 Mace and worst case a 120 Fencing costs 2M. I'm trying to save a little gold for gear. Conjurer's Trinkets have gotten expensive (but I digress...).

Thanks guys. I'll report my results. I'm on the verge of training his weapon skill now so I want to nail down mace or fencing.

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[Obsidian]

I crafted a UBWS Kama and imbued it with HML, HSL, and HLA for my sampire ti test. I was unimpressed. It just didn't deliver enough damage to make it worthwhile even with the whirlwind special at max swing speed. I'm going to try the blackstaff next.

I guess I got my answer on the fencing... might as well keep the 120 mace fighting unless the black staff is a total bust. It's going to be either a black staff (20 SSI, 45 DI, 44 HSL, 44 HML, 44 HLA) or a UBWS Radiant Scimitar (UBWS, 20 SSI, 45 DI, 44 HSL, 44 HML) for whirlwind.

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[[JD]]

I crafted a UBWS Kama and imbued it with HML, HSL, and HLA for my sampire ti test. I was unimpressed. It just didn't deliver enough damage to make it worthwhile even with the whirlwind special at max swing speed. I'm going to try the blackstaff next.

obs, most of the fencing weaps are so damn fast they cap out at 1.25 swing speed so theres no advantage to taking dex and sta super high. they max out much easier. so maybe its fairer to say if you cant easily get 150 dex/180 sta that fnecing would be better. if you can max out however, you want a SLOWER weapon which will take advantage of all that speed and ssi. which would be swords. maybe maces i didnt pay too much attn.

I guess I got my answer on the fencing... might as well keep the 120 mace fighting unless the black staff is a total bust. It's going to be either a black staff (20 SSI, 45 DI, 44 HSL, 44 HML, 44 HLA) or a UBWS Radiant Scimitar (UBWS, 20 SSI, 45 DI, 44 HSL, 44 HML) for whirlwind.

at 100 anat/tac. 110 str/150 dex/20ssi, black staff reports 41 dps and radiant scimitar 37 dps. again, a weapon too fast, which maxes out dps too easliy. yet, it is a 1hander so you can drink pots so there is value there


in any case plug in your stats to this link and it basically confirms what you said: kamas are unimpressive for DPS compared to other weapons. quite horrible in fact. the best whirlwinder once you max sta appears to be a double axe (2h) at 46! dps. JOAT lumberjack adds .4dps

http://uo.stratics.com/content/arms-armor/arms.php

 

[[JD]]

im quickly coming to the conclusion fencing isnt gonna be the endgame skill for me. most of the weaps are just too fast and cant take advantage of high ssi/dex/sta

im curious though, is the concussion blow on a diamond mace BETTER or WORSE than AI (say on a war axe) for endgame critters.

it says the extra concussion damage is unresistable. if thats better than AI, that sounds great for peerless and champ.... can even drink pots

if AI is better, no need to worry about diamond mace and concussion.

thoughts please?

 

[Lynk]

Concussion won't really be helpful, but crushing will be with the diamond mace. It really depends what the lowest resist of your mob is. Crushing is 1.5x dmg. AI hits for I think 90% of the damage listed in your status bar.

If the mob has an insanely low resist crushing is better with CW. If not.. AI is better.

 

[Stupid Miner]

I was having a similar discussion in the craftsman forum on creating a nice black staff for my macer to use as a whirlwind weapon. I can imbue this on a non-exceptional black staff (purchased from NPC):

20 SSI
45 DI (45 gets me to 100 on my suit)
49 HLL (scaled due to the SSI; could be HML but I'm building a Wammy ATM)
44 HSL
44 HLA (or a slayer)

With a 2.75s weapon, according to the swing rate charts, extra SSI doesn't get me to the next swing speed tier so there is no point in putting extra imbuing intensity to imbue 25 or 30 SSI. I wish I could enhance the black staff with ash wood, but I can't figure out a way to enhance a black staff.

I think I have 4 options:

1) Go with mace fighting and use the above black staff; Diamond Mace for heavy hitter
2) Go with mace fighting and use a 2.0s UBWS kama with no SSI (so I can run UBWS, DI, HSL, HLL, HLA or slayer); Diamond Mace for heavy hitter
3) Go with fencing and use a Kama with no SSI (DI, HSL, HLL, HLA, and Slayer); Leafblade for my heavy hitter with feint
4) Go with mace fighting and use a UBWS radiant scimitar but only get UBWS, DI, SSI, HLL, HSL (no slayer or HLA possible) on the blade

I plan to use the char as a spawner, primarily focused on Arachnid, Abyss, and Undead spawns. He will be a pure Wammy (I'm testing this out) so he will only have 40 necro (thus no vamp form or swamp dragon). I know this is a little bit of an experiment, but I want to test it out. And I need to mention that I am trying to avoid spending 7.5M on a 120 Swords scroll when I already have a 120 Mace and worst case a 120 Fencing costs 2M. I'm trying to save a little gold for gear. Conjurer's Trinkets have gotten expensive (but I digress...).

Thanks guys. I'll report my results. I'm on the verge of training his weapon skill now so I want to nail down mace or fencing.

-OBSIDIAN-

The blackstaff is nice, but Hit Life Leech is even less important with Curse Weapon than it is with a Vampire. I'd treat the HLL slot as a free slot to change as needed. You'll want 50% hit area effect in there for Levels 1-3ish of champ spawns.

You may want to consider higher Necromancy for Corpse Skin: -15 fire resist, -15 poison resist, +10 Phys, +10 Cold (assuming you still have Chivalry, right?). Which is useful on almost all enemies, notable exception being Rikktor.

Personally I think Leafblade with Wraith form alternating AI and feint is particularly enticing. And remember certain enemies with large mana pools can be chain AIed until they're dead. Succubi area a good example. Several others can be AIed quite a while as long as you time it right so you're not getting the timer-increased mana cost.

Oh, and you'll need Protection (or 2 FC) so your Curse Weapons don't fizzle. And remember not NEVER let Curse Weapon go down. Though it's not hard to keep up, 1 cast every 30 seconds.

 

[Mistura]

I decided to try fencing out on a sampire type build and I love using the leafblade, seems to combine awesome damage with awesome defence.

The lack of a good fencing whirlwind weapon has been a slight bone of contention for me though. I have been using an imbued Kama and while I can still leech enough life to comfortably stay alive in most situations, it just takes too many swings to kill even low hit point monsters like skeletal mages or rat mages...

I have been putting off imbuing a radiant scimitar with UBWS because I really hoped I wouldn't have to give up on evasion at the higher levels of champ spawns, but i'm going to have to bite the bullet becuase the damage output of the kama just doesn't seem to be enough.

Loving the leafblade though. AI and Feint with Lightning Strike in the mix is just stupidly nice against the bosses.

 

[Obsidian]

I broke down and acquired a 120 swordsmanship scroll. A friend gave me a good deal (half of what I would have paid in Luna). Thanks for the Wammy tips, Miner. I'm going to try running with protection at first. The thought with HLL was it would reduce the need to use curse weapon at lower levels of the spawn and therefore help me significantly with karma management. The Wammy template I am trying is this:

120 Swordsmanship
120 Bushido
120 Tactics
100 Anatomy
100 Spirit Speak
60 Chiv (Raised to 73 via jewelry)
60 Parrying
40 Necro

It gets the benefit of 300 points to reduce weapons special (namely whirlwind) mana costs and then wraith leeches the rest back. I lose about 13% off the parry success chance (still about 20% parry and I have 120 weapon and 45 DCI) which I think is acceptable for spawning. Now I don't want to derail JD's thread on whirlwind weapons, but I think this will work best with a radiant scimitar for whirlwind for levels 1 to 3/4 and then I will probably switch to a runeblade or an ornate axe for the last level and champ. My weapon thought was simply to think the same way a sampire does, except replace HML with HLL to allow me to easily avoid using curse weapon too often. I honor everything I can. I have all of my 100 DI on three pieces total (weapon, ring, gloves) which does not include the talisman so that frees me up to use ML slayers (vermin, mage, flame). I'm trying to put SSI, DI, HSL, HLL, Slayer or HLA on all of the weapons. I toyed with FC but didn't fit any in on the template plan so I will start with just FC 0 and run protection. I over built the suit in wraith form to account for the changes in resists.

I just wanted to find something that could do an abyss spawn and I had to figure something out with my sampire being a male. I'm going to give this a try.

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[Obsidian]

How is hit area damage determined? Does the percentage affect the damage or only the chance to create the area effect?

I'm thinking of this for my wammy for use at abyss spawns (imbuing intensity in parenthesis):

Agapite Radiant Scimitar (50% Physical / 30% Cold / 20% Energy)
- 20 SSI (74)
- 45 DI (90)
- 50 HSL (100)
- 50 HCA (100)
- Demon Slayer (130)

Thoughts?

-OBSIDIAN-

 

[Stupid Miner]

I'd rather use counter attack over evade anyways, get that extra leech off of a parry in the emergency situations.

a small chance to get a weak leech, over a very good chance to avoid getting hit altogether.
... why?

Especially with enemies that do ~70 damage hits.

 

[Stupid Miner]

I broke down and acquired a 120 swordsmanship scroll. A friend gave me a good deal (half of what I would have paid in Luna). Thanks for the Wammy tips, Miner. I'm going to try running with protection at first. The thought with HLL was it would reduce the need to use curse weapon at lower levels of the spawn and therefore help me significantly with karma management. The Wammy template I am trying is this:
-OBSIDIAN-

Actually, Champ spawns are the one place you don't have to worry about karma loss. You can kill dozens of weaker enemies with 1 curse weapon. Champ spawns are actually one of the best ways to raise karma.