Sadok's Sampire Template

[sibble]

I'm making this because I end up repeating it over and over again, this way I can just link to this thread.

About this template:
I've done a lot of theory crafting and testing out weapons/skills in the past 2 years. This is hands down the strongest all-around tank template in the game. People will argue, their template is better or whatever, every template can be tailored to specific encounters. This template is an all-around tanking template. There will always be encounters that you can adjust your skills for and be more effective. For example, you don't need Resisting Spells fighting Unbound Energy Vortexes. You can stone off Resist and put on Anatomy for extra damage.

Quick note on damage increase: There is a 300% damage increase cap for dexers in PvM. Your suit, weapon and any buffs you have are included in the 300% damage cap. Anatomy, Tactics and Lumberjacking are not subjected to the 300% damage increase cap. For more information on damage formulas: Damage Calculations - UOGuide, the Ultima Online Encyclopedia

FAQ (more to come):
Q: Whammy's can do a lot of damage, especially with throwing and can leech more life, so why use Vampiric Embrace?
A: Whammys are in wraith form. If you're in wraith form you can't use a swamp dragon. If you're not using a swamp dragon you're missing out on some great damage mitigation. Many of the new encounters have extremely hard hitting abilities that can take someone down in 1 shot. For tanking purposes, damage mitigation is more important that leeching life. The less damage you take, the less life you'll need to recover. Vampiric Embrace + armor ignores will leech plenty of life.

Q: Why not go higher with chivalry to do more damage with Enemy of One?
A: Enemy of One is a buff. Any buffs are subject to the 300% Damage Increase cap. Your suit should be 100% Damage Increase, Super slayer will add 100%/Lesser slayer will add 200%. Perfection will add up to 100% depending on consecutive hits. With all that in mind, you really don't need too much more. Enemy of One is more of a backup damage increase for those encounters that don't have slayer vulnerabilities.

--------------------------------------

Stats:
With a one-handed weapon you can chug pots. If you're going to chug pots then factor in Strength and Agility potions. You'll want a total of 25 hit point increase on your suit. Make sure you're at 150 hit points after chugging a strength potion - if not, increase your strength. You want at least 80 Dexterity for maximum block chance - this does not mean your stamina.

Skills:
120 Fencing
120 Tactics
120 Bushido
120 Parry
100 Resisting Spells
99 Necro
80+ Chivalry


Suit:
Head: Mace and Shields (preferably Blackthorne's so you can reinforce)
Neck: studded or bone only
Tunic: studded or bone only
Arms: studded or bone only
Gloves: studded or bone only
Legs: Animated Legs of the Insane Tinker
Talisman: Conjurer's Trinket, Primer on Arms (pref VvV)
Cloak of Life
Crimson Cincture (pref VvV)
Corgul's Enchanted or Lt. Sash
Unicorn Mane Wooven Sandles (damage eater)

Jewelry:
Ring and Bracelet: 15% Hit Chance Increase (must)
Ring and Bracelet: 25% Enhanced Potions (must)
Ring and Bracelet: +15 Chivalry (must)
Ring or Bracelet: +10 skill (I did parry)
Use the rest of the space to cap out whatever you're lacking in this order of importance:
Resists, Damage Increase, Lower Mana Cost

Crafted Gear:
You need to cap your resists (don't forget you need to overcap fire resist for vampiric embrace), get max hit points (+25) and add to any stats (str, int/mana, dex/stam.) Regens are nice but are not necessary. Whether you reforge, imbue or are lucky enough to find some nice loot that you can use, doesn't matter. All that matters is that it's studded or bone and you reach your resist and hit points cap.

Bone and Studded armor will add +3 LMC and goes over the 45% cap. It's a nice trade-off for wearing armor that is not medable. Since you're using tinker legs and mace and shields, you can't get to the 55% LMC cap. Your LMC cap will be 53%.

Looted Gear:
Legendary gear is preferable as it will have more stats than crafted gear. If you're reading this guide, you probably don't have viable looted gear. The same principals go with crafted gear only with legendary gear you're boosting stats like str, dex, int, mana, stam.

Weapons:
Leafblade: This is our main weapon for solo encounters. Properties in order of importance: Mana Leech, Slayer (if neccessary), Damage Increase, Life Leech, Hit Lower Attack

Lajatang: This is our secondary weapon for AoE (area of effect, attacking all monsters around you.) Properties in order of importance: Mana Leech, Slayer (if neccessary), Damage Increase, Life Leech, Hit Area Attack

*Note on weapons: If you're making your first weapon, it'll just be a regular physical damage weapon. Later on you're going to want to make more weapons for each type of spawn you're doing. Using a Shadow Runic Hammer will get you 100% Elemental Damage. You'll learn more about what kind of weapons you need when you start playing and get a feel for what you're doing.

*Note on 2 handed weapons: With 2-handed weapons we actually have a higher chance to parry an attack (with this template) over a 1-handed weapon (without a shield.) However, we can't drink any potions. Balanced is an item property allowing a player to drink potions with a 2-handed weapon. Unfortunately the trade-off is that, if you have a 2-handed Balanced weapon, you will not parry an attack. For this reason, you never want to use a 2-handed balanced weapon with this template.

Abilities/Rotation:
Armor Ignore / Feint
Counter-Attack / Evasion / Confidence
Enemy of One / Consecrate Weapon

If you're reading this guide and already have a sampire, but never used Counter Attack then you're in for a treat. Counter attack will use whatever ability you have que'd (armor ignore, for example) on a successful parry. In other words, you can get a double armor ignore. Since we did our best not to put any DCI on our suit we will be parrying as much as possible. This will result in more damage done and more life leeched. In instances where you are killing many monsters at the same time (AoE) using your Double Axe (whirlwind) counter attack will go off almost constantly. The beauty of it is that if you start to miss with your regular hits, counter attack has your back and will go off when you need it most. Ever since I started using counter attack I've noticed that in big packs when I get really low on health and I'd normally die, a counter attack will go off saving my life.

Use evasion at 50% health. If you're not using Evasion then Counter Attack should be up 100% of the time with an armor ignore ready to go off. If you start to drop below 50% health, back off and use confidence if you have the option to.

If you're tanking something that hits like a truck, try to keep Feint up as much as possible. If you hear a dragon breath, or know some strong ability is coming, go ahead and use feint.

Advanced Tactics (soulstones required):

Anti-Life Leech Encounters:
You have no choice here but to switch to whammy. Take off Vampiric Embrace and switch to Wraith form. Possibly switch your melee skill in favor of archery so you can kite. More than likely if you are a new player and you are at an encounter that has anti-life leech, then there will probably be other people with you. Healing also gives people looting rights. Be nice to those around you and they will heal you We don't run spirit speak on this template and I'm making these template variations as quick and easy as possible.

Encounters with no spells:
If you're not getting cursed, corpse skinned or blood oathed, it's more than likely you're in an encounter that doesn't require Resisting Spells. If you're going to be farming this for quite some time, you may want to stone off Resisting Spells and put on Anatomy in favor for more damage.


I'm sure there's stuff I forgot so I'll probably be editing this later.

 

[Tuan]

In your Q/A you have an answer that is simply not correct, and your quick note is not, correct either.

 

[sibble]

Well if you specify what it is I'd be happy to debate it with you or make any corrections.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

I think this is very good advice for anyone who doesn't (for whatever reasons) re-tailor their characters frequently or want to build for specific encounters.

Not personally what I'd do, because I do frequently re-tailor, but I have advised others to do similar builds to this as I know they don't, and even completely new to sampires and dexxers in general they did very well with it.

Edit, and both the notes are correct.

 

[Tuan]

There is not a 300% damage increase cap. It is actually uncapped, but it limited by skills points and stat points. Damage Increase comes from items, anat, tact, str, LJ, and maybe 1 or 2 other things. This is the number that takes the weapon base damage, and shows in your character stats sheet.

Damage Modifier has a 300% cap, this is Chiv, Slayers, Honor, Quivers, and maybe 1 or two other things.

I am not sure off the top of my head which category the bard mastery falls into.

Logically this has to be true. I can do 200 damage to a monster with an AI, but my weapon base damage is 14-17 skill is. Mathematically a 300% increase is equivalent to saying "times 4". 17x4 != 200. Damage Modifier is another tripler (300% modifier is equivalent to "times 3"). 17x4x3 = 204... Hmm

 

[sibble]

There is not a 300% damage increase cap. Damage Increase comes from items, anat, tact, str, LJ, and maybe 1 or 2 other things. This is the number that takes the weapon base damage, and shows in your character stats sheet.

While my wording may be incorrect, I purposely wrote this template (as the title suggests) as newbie-friendly as possible so that there is no confusion. However, nothing in my post is incorrect. Did you read the entire note, like the part that is in bold?

Quick note on damage increase: There is a 300% damage increase cap for dexers in PvM. Your suit, weapon and any buffs you have are included in the 300% damage cap. Anatomy, Tactics and Lumberjacking are not subjected to the 300% damage increase cap.

Nowhere in this statement does it say that Anatomy, Tactics and Lumberjacking are "Damage Increase." All it states is that those skills are not subject to 300% damage increase cap. This is less of a guide and more of a template with simple explanations. Didn't really get into Stats too much other than needing 150 HP and using space on armour for increased stats. You are correct.

EDIT: ...this might as well be a full guide now for all the writing im doing, ive updated the post with a link to damage calulations

 

[sibble]

Updated OP

 

[Riply]

Thank you for taking the time to write this up for the players interested in learning more from your acquired knowledge. I was a bit confused though when you associated the samphire skill and counter strike. I am assuming that you are referring to the life leeching ability in vamp form and that counter strike a Bushido skill would be very usefull.

 

[Ender]

Yes your assumptions are right. Counter Attack is pretty useful, I use it whenever evasion is on cooldown.

 

[sibble]

Counter attack should be your second most used ability. Second to armor ignore. That is if survivability is not pertinent at the time.

EDIT: Correction... When you use counter attack you will see a buff and a timer pop up with the remaining time left to counter an attack. Also your button should be solid red while this buff is up (that's how it is in Enhanced Client.) As long as the buff is up or the button is red, you're prepared to counter an attack using the next ability that you have que'd. If you do not have an ability que'd the counter attack will just be a normal auto-swing.

 

[CorwinXX]

This template is an all-around tanking template.

There are some monsters that you can't tank if you use leaching to heal.

 

[sibble]

There are some monsters that you can't tank if you use leaching to heal.

...and there are some monsters you can't do weapon damage to.

EDIT: Monsters that have anti-life-leech are anti-sampire. This is a sampire build.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

There is a 300% damage increase cap from Chiv, Slayers, Perfection.
There is a 100% Damage Increase cap from Item Property.
Damage increase from Tactics, Anatomy, LJ are not part of any cap.
Damage increase from Bard Masteries is part of the 100% Item Property cap.

 

[Vexxed]

There is a 300% damage increase cap from Chiv, Slayers, Perfection.
There is a 100% Damage Increase cap from Item Property.
Damage increase from Tactics, Anatomy, LJ are not part of any cap.
Damage increase from Bard Masteries is part of the 100% Item Property cap.

OR... From the horses Mouth...

Logrus Said: Post #7
https://stratics.com/community/threads/120-chiv.286917/


There are 2 Caps, there's the damage Increase cap, and the damage multiplier cap.
You are at the damage increase cap. Enemy of One and Consecrate weapon act like slayer damage which is modifier damage. They will multiply that 300 you already have by up to 300% more. If you have other modifiers in effect (Slayer, Perfection, Bard) you only need enough chiv to get you to 300 multipliers to hit max damage. If you don't have bushido/perfection, then 120 Chiv will get you close (98%) to the damage you'd do with perfection, without the headache of worrying about honoring the target.

The formular for damage is like this
Damage = (X + W(X) + T(X) + A(X) + S(X) B(X)) * M
X is your base weapon damage
W is your Damage Increase (Capped at 100)
T is your Tactics Damage Increase Factor
A is your Anatomy Damage Increase Factor
S is your Strength Damage Increase Factor
B is your Bards Inspire Damage Increase factor (up to 64%)
The Cap % for W,T,A,S is 300% (Your damage increase cap)

Your base Modifier is 100%
Super Slayer is bonus 100% to your multiplier
True Slayer is bonus 200% to your multiplier
Perfection is 10% bonus per level up to 100% to your multiplier
Enemy of One is up to 82% bonus @120 Chiv to your multiplier
Concecrate weapon is up to 16% bonus @ 120 to your multiplier
Honor self is bonus 25% to your multiplier
Bard Inspire Damage Modifier is up to 15% bonus to your multiplier
Grapes of Wrath is 10% bonus to your multiplier. (edit: Forgot this)
The Cap for all your multipliers is 300%


Hope I didnt overload you there.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

I don't see the point in that. All you need to know is there are Skills, Items, and Spells. Things fall into one category (although it's not always obvious which such as Slayers = Spell) and are subject to it's cap.

 

[CorwinXX]

The formular for damage is like this
Damage = (X + W(X) + T(X) + A(X) + S(X) B(X)) * M
X is your base weapon damage
W is your Damage Increase (Capped at 100)
T is your Tactics Damage Increase Factor
A is your Anatomy Damage Increase Factor
S is your Strength Damage Increase Factor
B is your Bards Inspire Damage Increase factor (up to 64%)
The Cap % for W,T,A,S is 300% (Your damage increase cap)

W,T,A,S is not capped. You can get over 300% DI.

 

[CorwinXX]

Have you tried Rend (in the Labyrinth) with your template?

 

[CorwinXX]

Have you tried a Classic Paladin template to compare?

 

[CorwinXX]

Here is my sampite template... but I don't use it now since it is not so good tank.
https://stratics.com/community/threads/my-sampire.309736/

 

[sibble]

U know they say about opinions......

 

[sibble]

Oh btw, this is the highest damage mitigating template in the game. There are many variations and other things I haven't added to the post yet, but this is the basis of it.

Have you tried Rend (in the Labyrinth) with your template?

Would you like a list of baddies I've tanked?

EDIT: Correction, putting max DCI on your suit would make it the highest damage mitigation template. I chose to keep DCI off in favor of counter attacking for more DPS and more life leech.

 

[Ender]

How did you get refinements? I don't want to use my suit until I have them but I don't want to wait THAT long.

 

[sibble]

How did you get refinements? I don't want to use my suit until I have them but I don't want to wait THAT long.

Find yourself a fisherman/treasure hunter, they will gladly sell their lower ones. Combine them with that uh.. thingy =/ forget what it's called... or make a treasure hunter yourself you can get like avg of 4 per chest. They start to add up.

2 of defense = 1 protection
3 of protection = 1 hardening
4 of hardening = 1 fortifying
5 fortifying = 1 invulnerability

I played with a suit on LS for a couple weeks, then moved it to ATL. I've had it on ATL for a couple weeks as well. 4 pieces are Brittle, I just repaired them 254/255.

They will last a long time and you may even find an upgrade while collecting refinements.

 

[slippjeem]

Ok here's the noob's question from a returning player, my warrior is already 120 swords so I have no interest in changing to fencing so what are the order of weapons that you would suggest?

 

[sibble]

Ok here's the noob's question from a returning player, my warrior is already 120 swords so I have no interest in changing to fencing so what are the order of weapons that you would suggest?

Broadsword for a 1 handed weapon to chug pots with - this is the safest to go with
Bladed Staff for max DPS single target encounters where you don't need pots
Double Axe for AOE whirlwind, make sure to fit in a hit area as it will do crazy amounts of damage.

Unfortunately there is no AI/Feint sword. Swordsmanship is more for DPS. I've been using swordsmanship for the past year or so. I haven't had a need for fencing since the town invasion back in 2013. Fortunatley, this template has enough damage mitigating abilities to make up for missing feint. Evasion is your best friend when you think you're going to die.

Try out the bladed staff first with counter attack.

 

[CorwinXX]

Would you like a list of baddies I've tanked?

not the full list... just few examples

What could you say about your experience against:
Fend
Envasion masters: sampire, macer, swordsman
Slasher
Stygian Dragon

 

[Tuan]

Oh btw, this is the highest damage mitigating template in the game.

I am pretty sure that is not correct. Drop necro to 0ish, and carry scrolls of curse weapon, plus orange petals. Take SS up to 99. Curse weapon gives you 50% damage leeched vs 20% in VE. Lasts 30 sec at 100 SS. Pretty sure 50% leeched > 20% leeched. Plus the petals give you the same poison resistance as the VE does. Since it looks like you don't use DF, you don't really care about keeping karma > 20k, so the fact that casting curse weapon every 30 secs will drop karma like a stone won't matter.

So in this way, you're leeching 2.5x as much hp, the same amount of mana, and everything else stays the same. Then, I'd say you retool your weapons to scrap the HLL idea entirely, and instead have HSL as high as possible. It's definitely a harder template to play, since you need to keep track of more things, but with a properly tooled EC, this is not a problem.

 

[sibble]

I am pretty sure that is not correct.

Fact: Life leech is not damage mitigation. Being able to mitigate damage comes before leeching any life.

Opinion: This is why it's more important than life leech.

EDIT: It is correct, however as @silent pointed out below, we're purposely not running DCI in favor for parrying more attacks, thus getting more counter-attacks off.

 

[silent]

this template has enough damage mitigating abilities

This is the one statement that is curious, what specific to this template makes it a damage mitigating template? Use of Bushido specials? Feint? I would think a true damage mitigating template would have max DCI on it. I used to use the leafblade and switched back to swords since like you mention above I like putting out more damage which in turn leeches more life back. In addition I wasn't crazy about the lajatang, it's woefully slow... and without stamina leech you're going to slow down really fast...

I also played around with counter attack last night and found it didn't always go off when I parried.

 

[sibble]

not the full list... just few examples

Well I noticed that you mentioned in another thread about tanking captains. Before I post anything, I just wanted to add one thing. If you're an archer, you're more than likely kiting. Not saying they can't tank, I'm just saying it would be silly for an archer to stand next to a monster and take it's damage while attacking it. So, if you're kiting a monster, you're not tanking it.

Here are videos of tanking invasion captains back in 2013. This is back when my suit was not what it is now and I was still playing with the build.

Tanking Fencer Captain:

Tanking Swordsman Captain:

Why is tanking even important? Why bother taking damage when you can just stand away from it and not take any? I'm not saying there aren't any other effective templates for farming baddies, I'm not even saying this is the best template to solo everything. Being able to sit on a mob and tank it gives you more control over the encounter. Monsters aren't roaming around doing damage to multiple players, they are focused on one person. Eventually said player who picks up this template may join a guild and go hunting with them (more than likely to happen.) A big bad monster focusing one person let's the rest of the group focus on what's important: damage and healing.

Have you ever seen an inexperienced group do Shadowlord?
I brought bards to this fight as you can see. Not being able to bring a swamp dragon makes it a bit harder to mitigate the damage the Shadowlord does.

Rend: It's been a long time since I killed Rend, can't really comment too much other than "I killed it."

Slasher: I've never killed slasher solo, never really had desire to. I have killed him in one of our lovely Community Hunts on Lake Superior and did my best to tank him (pretty much spamming feint and keeping evasion up the entire fight.)

Stygian Dragon: I don't know anyone who stands and takes this damage to the face when you can simply kite it through teleporters.

Exodus: Another encounter I don't have much desire to do. From my understanding I don't think any melee character can do this fight and I'd normally switch off my melee skill for archery if I really "had" to do it. However, when he first came out (for the event) I did melee him, basically "stick and move" tactics. Also, I'm pretty sure he has anti-life leech, which makes this encounter anti-sampire.

Cora: I can almost AFK this fight if I wanted to. No I will not post videos as there is a strategy to her I'm simply not willing to share at this time. (Strategy courtesy of @CovenantX )

Corgul, Scalis: Both anti-life leech, anti-sampire. Switch to whammy (go wraith form, switch fencing/swords for archery.) That's all that's needed.

Greater Dragon: Stand toe-to-toe and take this damage all day. Breaths are no problem, either evade or feint when you hear it coming. Can fight two at once.

Night Terror: Keep feint up, back out and use confidence when needed.

Unbound Energy Vortex: Tank/spank.

 

[sibble]

I would think a true damage mitigating template would have max DCI on it.

My apologies!!!! That is the only exception, having DCI on the suit. This got dropped in favor for getting more counter attacks to go off. I completely forgot about DCI and I don't use it in PvM encounters, ever. I will edit the post. I had a feeling after posting it I'd probably miss something and someone would point it out Thank you

I also played around with counter attack last night and found it didn't always go off when I parried.

A counter attack has the chance to miss just like a regular swing does.

 

[CorwinXX]

Here are videos of tanking invasion captains back in 2013. This is back when my suit was not what it is now and I was still playing with the build.

Tanking Fencer Captain:

Tanking Swordsman Captain:
Rend: It's been a long time since I killed Rend, can't really comment too much other than "I killed it."

Slasher: I've never killed slasher solo, never really had desire to. I have killed him in one of our lovely Community Hunts on Lake Superior and did my best to tank him (pretty much spamming feint and keeping evasion up the entire fight.)

Stygian Dragon: I don't know anyone who stands and takes this damage to the face when you can simply kite it through teleporters.

Fencer is not so difficult to tank. I asked for Macer/Sworsman/Sampire. I can tank them with my Classic Paladin (even without swamp dragon cos it a garg).
Swordsman - you didn't tank it. The most of time it attacked someone else... and when it attacked you you usually were forced to run away after few hits.
Rend - it takes just few minutes to try. I wanna know are you able to fight it standing on one place.

Feint doesn't help you against Slasher. Most of time you needn't it and when you need it you can use it because you are stunned.
I believe it's possible to tank Stygian Dragon but never did it myself. Why tank it? You have written it yourself (difference between tanking and kiting).

I used almost the same template and I know it has some big drawbacks.

It easy to try Rend or a Master (Macer/Sworsman/Sampire). Could you try and tell us results?

 

[silent]

Ok, so by increasing the number of opportunities to parry (no DCI) the end result is more damage to your target through counter attack? Interesting... Also if I have AI up will the AI apply to both my normal swing and the CA?

 

[sibble]

Fencer is not so difficult to tank. I asked for Macer/Sworsman/Sampire.

Actually pre-nerf the Fencer was the hardest hitting invasion captain when he switched to his Lajatang. Not sure if he still is or not. If you noticed, I brought his paperdoll up so you can see when he switched to it and you can see how hard it hits (50% of my maximum hit points.) The difficulty in fighting the swordsman and mace fighters is that they parry all the time which in turn gives you less life leeched, nothing to do with their attacks.

Swordsman - you didn't tank it. The most of time it attacked someone else... and when it attacked you you usually were forced to run away after few hits.

Not sure which video you watched, but you should probably go back and watch it again. I did tank it, most of the time it did not attack someone else and when I had to, I retreated to use confidence as the tactics I've posted above suggests. Again, swordsman and mace fighters parry often which results in damage done and less life leeched. How can you say most of the time it attack someone else when it's clearly on me for 90% of the fight. You're obviously unsatisfied with the video as it doesn't help any point you're trying to make.

I believe it's possible to tank Stygian Dragon but never did it myself. Why tank it? You have written it yourself (difference between tanking and kiting).

This encounter has teleporters which gives players options for different tactics and strategy (as I've already posted) making the encounter very easy.

It easy to try Rend or a Master (Macer/Sworsman/Sampire). Could you try and tell us results?

Swordsman video posted above.

 

[sibble]

Ok, so by increasing the number of opportunities to parry (no DCI) the end result is more damage to your target through counter attack? Interesting... Also if I have AI up will the AI apply to both my normal swing and the CA?

Correct.

 

[sibble]

Unrelated PvP trick...

You can counter ranged attacks (archery/throwing.) Counter attack uses whatever weapon ability you have up ready to use.

Scenario: Archer is chasing you with moving shot, you are running away with disarm up. You parry an attack, he gets disarmed half way across your screen and calls you a cheater

Scenario: Archer is chasing you with moving shot, you keep death-strike up. You parry an attack he gets death striked but continues to pursue you with moving shot. He takes another death strike and dies chasing you.

EDIT: Gimme a sec I'll post a video and explanation.

 

[sibble]

​

 

[Riply]

How did you get refinements? I don't want to use my suit until I have them but I don't want to wait THAT long.

Make a thief and steal them out of the gold chests in various shops in fellucia, I acquired a few hundred that way. If your after specific ones bounce around the differant shops till you find ones which are usefull. Or empty out the chests so they respawn new ones. Faster then treasure hunting and fishing, I may go back and hunt for some more to make a new suit, after reading some info here.

 

[sibble]

Make a thief and steal them out of the gold chests in various shops in fellucia

COMPLETELY forgot about this. By far the easiest method.

 

[sibble]

One more quick note before there's another post with more criticism that I need to write up a lengthy reply to.

Again, this is an easy to build, cheap to make all around tanking template for new players coming into the game. Exodus, Stygian Dragon, Invasion Captains, Slasher, etc. are end-game encounters. I do not expect new players to walk into the game and get to Exodus within a week. If those expectations seem reasonable, then basically you're saying the developers aren't doing a good job at making end-game encounters difficult enough.

This build is so that someone new from Steam (when we get there) with 1,000 gold to come into the game and just get going killing stuff in dungeons. It has guidelines for gear that they should follow, but don't necessarily need to have to make the build work. Yes, no one walks into the game with 99 necromancy, no one walks into the game with a conjurer's trinket. These are just basics that new players should know and work towards so that they can get going farming gear and building up other characters.

 

[A-tron]

Quick question since 120 bush 120 parry 150 des = 40% chance to parry with 2 handed weapon. And 60 parry 120 bush 150 dex = 22%. We run lower parry so the game mechanic goes through all the defense checks first then to parry check last this is what sets off CA on an unsuccessful parry? If the theory is more about mitigation of damage doesn't running 120 parry make more sense? Or does the CA do enough to leech? I have been going back and forth in my head about 120 or 60 parry and see advantages both ways. Your input would be appreciated.

 

[sibble]

Quick question since 120 bush 120 parry 150 des = 40% chance to parry with 2 handed weapon. And 60 parry 120 bush 150 dex = 22%. We run lower parry so the game mechanic goes through all the defense checks first then to parry check last this is what sets off CA on an unsuccessful parry? If the theory is more about mitigation of damage doesn't running 120 parry make more sense? Or does the CA do enough to leech? I have been going back and forth in my head about 120 or 60 parry and see advantages both ways. Your input would be appreciated.

We are running 120 parry not 60 parry. Counter attack will only go off on a successful parry. We're running low Defense Chance Increase (DCI http://www.uoguide.com/Defense_Chance_Increase ) so that we will have more chance to parry resulting in more chances to counter attack.

Defense Chance Increase check comes before parry. If parry came first, we wouldn't have a need to run low DCI. DCI is basically one of the factors that determines whether the monster is going to hit you or not. Your enemy's HCI and your DCI are what determine if your enemy is going to hit you or not. After that parry is checked and you will either block the attack or get hit by it.

Sorry I'm not understanding what you're asking Hope I answered your question

 

[Tuan]

Fact: Life leech is not damage mitigation. Being able to mitigate damage comes before leeching any life.

Opinion: This is why it's more important than life leech.

EDIT: It is correct, however as @silent pointed out below, we're purposely not running DCI in favor for parrying more attacks, thus getting more counter-attacks off.

You are technically correct in your criticism of my statement. You're not correct in your statement about damage mitigation.

Trade 120 tact, 100 necro, and 80 chiv in for 120 music, 120 peace, 60 weaving. Run the peacemaking mastery to get 10%(? or 8?) damage reduction and then run attunement for the 50% damage soak - up to some calculation of weaving skill modified by arcane circle level of damage absorbed.

Alternately: trade 120 tact, 100 necro, and 80 chiv for: 120 mystic, 120 focus, 60 spell weaving. Run stone form for all 80s I resist, and then run attunement for the 50% soak.

At this point, you're no longer actually doing much damage... but you're also not really taking much either.

Again, I admit that you're right , having 100% hp leeched (cursed weapon 50%, VF 20%, and 100 HLL leeching the max 30%) doesn't mitigate the damage itself, it mitigates the effect that having taken that damage can have.

 

[sibble]

Wait what!? There's a couple things here hehe

You can't feint if you don't have at least 90 tactics. That's a flat 50% damage reduction which works with any and all damage.

Attune Weapon only soaks melee damage. You'll still take spell damage and attacks that some bosses do aren't even considered melee damage to begin with which will bypass that too.

Perseverance can give you a maximum of 30% damage reduction. This is a great thing if you're not the one taking damage. Spell songs can be interrupted, if you're taking damage they will eventually turn off. Then you have to turn them back on again and can be interrupted in that process as well.

NOTE: I bring bards to all the tough fights, they are very useful. I know there are some sampire templates that include bardic skills, and they do work out great. Also I'm not bashing anyone, their ideas or their templates in this thread sorry if I came off that way!

 

[Tuan]

Hmm, valid point on feint. So then, I guess the only real way to become more damage mitigating would be to drop necro for 'weaving and run attunement. I'm not sure about everything, but it seems to me that many bosses/big baddies melee is still how they deal most of their damage... I've never tried it myself, and the info on UO Guide and UOSS is quite a bit different.

 

[CorwinXX]

Feint is not so good as it looks on the first glance.

1. You need 120 Bushido for 50% reduction
2. The effect lasts too short
3. You must hit to activate it
4. Feint weapon does low damage
5. Feint reduce damage from one monster only

#1 restricts templates that could use it
#2,3 make it much less effective against some monsters

There are too common technics of using it - keep it always on and activate it on low hp.
1. To keep it always on you must use it every third swing. This dramatically reduce your damage output especially when the monster has high (physical) resistance.
For example, with a leafblade you do 150+150+30, while with a bladestaff you do 180+180+180. So with a blade staff you take 2x more damage but you do 65% more damage and leach back 65% more life and mana.
And when a monster has high wrestling or some blocking then situation becomes much worse. For example, if you hit 2/3 of swings with a leafblade you do 150+30, while with a bladestaff you do 180+180. So though you take 2x less damage you also do 2x less damage and leach 2x less life... and you leach 2x less mana that may be not enough to chain specials.
2. To activate it on low hp you must hit. But when you just got large damage you usually have low stamina and this delay your swing. You also may miss or your swing may be blocked. You may have not enough mana at the moment. And so on. This way is better because you does more damage but it is more risky.

So when a monster have high wrestling or blocking feint became much less effective. Also when you don't have max damage bonus (for example, haven't slayer for the monster) and do less damage you may leach not enough mana to chain specials.
And if you use Feint you can't use HLL on your weapon to heal. You can't have both HLL and HML on a leafblade. If you go with 90 HML then you can only have 60 HML - not enough for Feint.

 

[A-tron]

Feint is not so good as it looks on the first glance.

1. You need 120 Bushido for 50% reduction
2. The effect lasts too short
3. You must hit to activate it
4. Feint weapon does low damage
5. Feint reduce damage from one monster only

#1 restricts templates that could use it
#2,3 make it much less effective against some monsters

There are too common technics of using it - keep it always on and activate it on low hp.
1. To keep it always on you must use it every third swing. This dramatically reduce your damage output especially when the monster has high (physical) resistance.
For example, with a leafblade you do 150+150+30, while with a bladestaff you do 180+180+180. So with a blade staff you take 2x more damage but you do 65% more damage and leach back 65% more life and mana.
And when a monster has high wrestling or some blocking then situation becomes much worse. For example, if you hit 2/3 of swings with a leafblade you do 150+30, while with a bladestaff you do 180+180. So though you take 2x less damage you also do 2x less damage and leach 2x less life... and you leach 2x less mana that may be not enough to chain specials.
2. To activate it on low hp you must hit. But when you just got large damage you usually have low stamina and this delay your swing. You also may miss or your swing may be blocked. You may have not enough mana at the moment. And so on. This way is better because you does more damage but it is more risky.

So when a monster have high wrestling or blocking feint became much less effective. Also when you don't have max damage bonus (for example, haven't slayer for the monster) and do less damage you may leach not enough mana to chain specials.
And if you use Feint you can't use HLL on your weapon to heal. You can't have both HLL and HML on a leafblade. If you go with 90 HML then you can only have 60 HML - not enough for Feint.

I have to agree with you Corwin. I run fencing cause I'm too lazy and have too many fencing weapons to switch right now. I tried feint vs som champ bosses and some peerless. With slayer and max DI against seminar for example my damage output was abysmal. Sure damage took was less but who wants to stand around in a fel champ spawn taking 20 minutes to kill the boss. Great way to get raided. Against a boss with a spear chaining AI cuts the fight down by a third for sure. My results running no feint with evasion/confidence on higher damage weapons seems to be the best for me. I will say this though, on leaf blades I made awhile ago I ran HLA also and with feint and HLA it seemed like the damage I revieved was really minimal.. My two cents

 

[sibble]

You're both missing the obvious.

This is an all around tanking template. You drop fencing, you lose Feint/AI weapon. This template is built for as much damage mitigation as possible and the only thing the last two posts are relative to is doing more damage.

If you want to do more damage and take more damage, there are other templates. This game has almost endless possibilities for templates; this is one of them.

EDIT: Also, Feint lasts 6 seconds. You swing at 1.25 so every 5th swing needs to be feint in order to keep it up.

 

[A-tron]

I hear you sibble, for some encounters I really love feint. I may have to go back and really look at my weapons and reevaluate how I have been crafting them. Could you post a leaf blade that you might typically use? Also out of curiosity which baddies so swap out resist for anatomy? Seems like if you are going the feint route you could minimize damage taken and bump up your damage a little more.
Thanks

 

[CorwinXX]

Since you use leaching to heal your ability to tank depends on your damage output. And against some monsters with Feint your ability to tank is less than without it.