HCI and Sampires?

[Mazulat]

This is a pretty basic question but I haven't been able to find anything on it. If I'm running 120 bushido spamming lightning strike, do I still need to bring HCI to cap on my jewelry/armour?

I ran a basic sampire a few yrs ago, when they were still a pretty new template. I've recently returned and I'm retuning the char to be more effective along the current lines of sampire builds.
120 bushido
120 parry
120 sword
110 tactics( might go 120 since I'm scrolled for it but tight build)
100 necro
150 points between chiv and resist ( still haven't locked down the exact amounts)

I'm going the hard route and building a suit around the Helm of Insight. Terrible resists but an outstanding mana boost (23 mana total plus lmc and mr). As a result I'm extremely limited for space on my jewelry. I can cap hci but if it isn't required, there are some other bonus's I'd love to add. So.... what's the consensus?

 

[Klapauc]

In theory, if you only spam ls, you can go without hci. In practice, some monsters require feint special and then you need the hci. I run 43 or 38 ( trinket or mana phasing orb ) and find it sufficient. If i start to miss, i found i miss ls as well then.
Also if you want to spam doublestrike or armor ignore to kill lesser stuff faster, some hci helps.

But really , Helm of insight ? You want it for a specific look ? 35 resist points less then Mace and Shield glasses, that alone will eat 3 imbuing slots on your suit. Then you need to put hld on weapon and cant use hla. And you miss the 15 points to useful stats it gives. If you are on limited funds, aegis of grace, ancient samurai helm or even reading glasses of the arts may be better.

 

[Mazulat]

The hci while using other specials or when mana is low is exactly what I wasn't factoring in. I knew I was missing something.

As for the Helm of Insight... Yes I know the resists are bung. And building the suit around it has been a bit of a challenge, not to mention expensive, but having an extra 23 mana is pretty significant bonus. That's an extra AI..maybe 2 if timed right. I looked pretty hard at the various glasses, as well as the crown of arcane temperament and the 30 hci orc helm replica. The mana boost and lmc/mr just seem to outweigh it's insanely low resists. I may well have to redo the suit if it turns out that it just doesn't work but it seems to be feasible for now. Any problem can be solved if you throw enough gold at it. lol

Has anyone else used the HoI on a sampire effectively? If it's been tried and there is something specific I am not factoring in, please speak up. Rather know now than when I'm finished and have retool everything.

 

[Obsidian]

I've toyed with suit plans with the Helm of Insight. You are right... the mods are nice. There are 2 problems though:

1) It's a helm and using the HoI means you can't wear the Mace & Shield Glasses. For me, the only suitable alternative to the M&S Glasses is the Spirit of the Totem, and even that is no where as beneficial to your overall effectiveness. The M&S Glasses have HLD which saves an important mod from your weapon.

2) The resists are poor. You need raw resists of 70/95/70/70/70 or 85/95/70/70/70 if you run with protection. It will be very hard to reach those total with the HoI's measly resists. Your only alternative will be to put resist on your ring or bracelet which also prevents putting more effective mods onto your sampire suit.

Anyways, my 2 cents. I like to spam AI so i try to put at least 40 HCI on my suit (15 ring, 15 brace, 10 conjurer's trinket) plus the 30 HLD from the glasses. Welcome back and Merry Christmas!

-OBSIDIAN-

P.S. Have you looked at the sampire suits thread? Some good ideas on suits here: http://vboards.stratics.com/uo-warrior/223709-show-me-your-uber-sampire-suits.html

 

[[JD]]

If you are going to use any special besides LS you need HCI. Weather you need to cap it is up for debate, but around 40 should be enough, capped is best.

Also splitting 150 pts between resist and chiv isnt a good expendature... you probably want 60-75 chiv. Which leaves you with resist so low, pretty much why bother. If you want resist, get 100, and shave points elsewhere.

Personally I have been going without resists on most things, and playing very carefully, using selected slayers or EOO i can run in, kill 1-3 casters, run out, and not get bombed

 

[Mazulat]

The issue of resist spells has been bothering me, which is why I haven't quite figured out how to balance it. I can run it at GM but it will cost me elsewhere. Is it possible to use apples/trapped boxes/remove curse to do all the things resist would do for me? I'd like to keep chiv 65-85, take tactics up to 120, and then use the rest of my points in focus or med to help with regens. Any thoughts?

And after the various opinions here and in-game, looks like I'm retooling my suit tonight and tracking down some Mace & Sheilds. That HLD really is too handy to pass up..I'll just have to keep my mana increase and mr as top mods on the suit. TY for all the help so far guys. It really is such an excellent template but it has to be done right or its just a waste of a char slot and insurance money. This will be mostly focused on PVM but being able to pvp again once in awhile will be nice.

 

[AxiamInc]

As to your original question, my opinion is to cap out your HCI if you possibly can. The HCI woodland suits make it quite easy to get to 45 if you want to take the time (and resources) to craft and imbue one of these suits yourself.

I have run the numbers through my suit spreadsheet using the HoI, and as mentioned above, it really just doesn't work all that well with the sampire build. HLD on the M&S glasses can be an absolute "save your life" ticked from time to time. And it saves a mod on your weapons for something else, big bonus. Not to mention, with tactics and anatomy in the template you 'should' be doing enough damage that you won't run out of mana unless you you go on an AI frenzy.

As for the template, I'm still and always will be a little old school when it comes to the build. At 120 tactics you get a 81.25 damage increase bonus vs 68.78 at 100 skill. Anatomy at GM gives you an additional 55 damage. So my opinion is to drop tacts to GM and load anatomy in there also. Would give you 60 base chivalry, which I boost to 75 using one of my jewels.

Other thing I like about having anatomy in there at 100 is that it makes it really easy to swap other skills in depending on what I choose to hunt. While running around with anatomy, I carry a trapped box with me as well as apples etc. But I can swap for GM Resist if I decide to do a doom run as an example. Spirit Speak is also an amazing skill in some instances thanks to the ability to have ~30 second curse weapon spells. Lots of flexibility.

Just my pennies..

 

[[JD]]

I make liberal use of trapped box, and remove curse from chiv if I do any spellcasting spawn. Poison will autocure. Close wounds also comes in handy if you don't have healing and want to top off before charging a group with a few too many casters in it.

From your build you can either get a +15 chiv ring and use the 10 pts of tactics to add 100 anat and keep 120 parry. Or drop 120 Parry to 100, not need the ring, get GM anat, keep 110 tactics, and have good chiv. Note: Anat can be dropped for 100 resist for certain spawns/applications.