Perfecting the Sampire build:
There is no one single way to build or play the Sampire build. However, this post will concentrate on the more traditional build with tips on a few variations. The key to successfully playing a sampire is a combination of ideal skills, equipment, items, timing of abilities, and pre-emptive preparation for death situations.
Skills:
View attachment 6325
It is vital to legendary, at the minimum, Bushido, a weapon skill, and parrying. There are variations which use healing or resist in place of parry. But, I have been unsuccessful with these. I find my template ideal for my play style. You will want to test different skills out to match your play style. Soul stones make this easier than ever.
My template:
120 Swords
120 Bushido
120 Tactics
120 Parrying
99 Necromancy
65 Chivalry (I like never failing concentrate weapon)
76 Anatomy (All remaining points are used here for the extra damage bonus. Or you can use spirit speak in its place for the use of curse weapon. This is very handy when fighting hard hitting creatures and when you need the extra boost in health leeching)
150 Strength with 150 Hit points (This is a must as I have survived several times by just 1 Hotpoint).
150 Dexterity with 171 Stamina (High stamina is key for max swing speed increase - see 'uo stratics combat' via google search for handy combat calculators).
10 Intelligence with 30 Mana (Leeching keeps your mana full...most of the time. This is the area you should aim at increasing as much as your crafting will allow).
45 DCI and HCI
100 DI with weapon equipped
40 LMC
25 HPI (This is the maximum the game allows for Hit Point Increase on items).
Weapons:
UO gives the choice of more weapons than ever before. If there is any one single vital part to a sampire it is arguably the weapon. My recommendation of weapons is by no means the only option. It is merely what I find ideal. I like swordsmanship. Always have and probably always will. However, as long as the weapon you use against tough beasts has feint and either double strike or armor ignore, and your weapon of choice against numerous odds has whirlwind, and you have 1.25 to 1.5 swing speed, then who cares what weapon skill you have. Ideally you want as high damage per swing as possible. The best choice for swordsmanship is the Dashio, Radiant scimitar, and double axe. Additonally, I carry a elven spellblade with use-best-weapon to fight certain spawn like fey or non slayers. I find this weapon's abilites of amoror ignore, feint, and the ability to chug heal pots helpful in certain situations.
My weapons:
View attachment 6324
The first is one of two primary weapons I use against creatures with no slayer. The other being almost identical except with Hit Lightning and it is made from valorite.
The second is a variation of each slayer weapon I carry. The only difference with my other slayer weapons is simply the slayer type.
My armor:
View attachment 6322
A little difficult to see, but basically it gives me maximum everything except no faster casting.I cannot stress enough Defense Chance Increase (dci), Hit Chance Increase (hci), Lower Mana Cost (lmc), Damage Increase (DI) must be maxed out.
Tips and trick:
1. Having 65 DCI allows you to cast divine furry without any negative effects. This is a good tactic for replenishing stamina on the fly.
2. Utilize the sacrifice virtue as this will allow you to self-resurrect. Note that self-resing through the sacrifice virtue places everything from your corpse to your pack without the need to return to your corpse.
3. Carrying and macroing an arcane piece of clothing and a +20 necromancy ring or bracelet will allow you to cast necro form without reagents. This is especially handy if you can't access your corpse and you don't use the sacrifice virtue to self resurrect. Having a +20 necro item just means you fail less and saves charges on your arcane clothing. Remember, you need a skill cap of 120 to use this trick.
4. Having 45 HCI negates the need to use lightning strike. Thus, allowing you to spam your weapon ability double-strike or armor ignore.
5. Using Enchanted Apples allows you to quickly remove Blood Oath on the fly and without having to use remove curse.
6. If possible, having faster casting designed in your suit of 2 to 4 will allow you cast chivalry spells like remove curse and cleanse fire without disruption.
7. Carrying a few cooked birds will help replenish needed stamina quickly in odd situations.
8. Double strike is your best friend because it leeches twice as much and does twice the damage.
9. Having lower attack 50% on your Two-handed weapon, combined with legendary bushido and parry makes your sampire the hardest character to hit in the game.
10. Using a one-handed weapon slightly lowers your total defense chance, but enables you to chug heal and refresh potions.
11. The whirlwind ability combined with legendary bushido and hit area effect on a weapon will do an immense amount of damage to everything around you. Thus, leeching constantly and keeping you alive against unlimited odds.
12. Evasion should be used when you need the extra time to regain health and avoid death. There is a long cool down timer on evasion. Therefore, use it only when necessary.
13. Momentum strike not only kills secondary spawn, but it also allows you to leech even more damage.
14. Feint is beyond reproach. Using this ability cuts all physical damage in half for 6 seconds from target mob. This means hard-hitting creatures like Dread Horn and Riktor will do half their normal damage to you. Therefore, it is vital you constantly chain Feint when standing toe to toe with these beasts.
15. Always, always, ALWAYS have confidence enabled. There is no cool down timer to this ability. Having it enabled will keep you from the death robe.
16. Spam confidence when you are in desperate need of health. Do not run when near death; trust you leeching and ability to utilize the sampire abilities. Your weapon will leech mana constantly, feeding your ability to spam confidence. Additionally, vampire form will steadily raise your health. Utilize double strike to gain an extra boost in leeching.
17. Running instead of staying and fighting most often leads to death.
18. Honor everything, especially large creatures. This gives you an immense increase in damage and a nice boost to luck.
19. Use Honor on yourself when you need to get past tough spawn in order to reach your destination.
20. Work towards achieving an arsenal of super and lesser slayer weapon. Know lesser slayers do 300% percent damage and super slayers do 200% damage.
21. Use a swamp dragon with an exceptional dragon barding deed. Keep an additonal deed insured and in your pack incase he runs out of armor while you are hunting. If you die, just log out asap. When you res, log and re-log and he will be there alive and ready for more action. "Swamp dragon wearing exceptional barding deed armor provides 20% damage reduction. There are varying degrees of the armor as it pertains to how much damage it will absorb before it 'breaks' (I believe the max is 17k in dmg absorption), hence his recommendation to keep one on ya. A Paroxysmus dragon provides a constant 12% reduction, and never requires barding deeds for armor."
22. Using Honor on yourself is extremely handy when you need to avoid spawn in order to get to peerless keyed creatures (e.g., twisted whelm). This ability can be used every 5 minutes and lasts plenty of time in order to lure the creature you want.
There is no one single way to build or play the Sampire build. However, this post will concentrate on the more traditional build with tips on a few variations. The key to successfully playing a sampire is a combination of ideal skills, equipment, items, timing of abilities, and pre-emptive preparation for death situations.
Skills:
View attachment 6325
It is vital to legendary, at the minimum, Bushido, a weapon skill, and parrying. There are variations which use healing or resist in place of parry. But, I have been unsuccessful with these. I find my template ideal for my play style. You will want to test different skills out to match your play style. Soul stones make this easier than ever.
My template:
120 Swords
120 Bushido
120 Tactics
120 Parrying
99 Necromancy
65 Chivalry (I like never failing concentrate weapon)
76 Anatomy (All remaining points are used here for the extra damage bonus. Or you can use spirit speak in its place for the use of curse weapon. This is very handy when fighting hard hitting creatures and when you need the extra boost in health leeching)
150 Strength with 150 Hit points (This is a must as I have survived several times by just 1 Hotpoint).
150 Dexterity with 171 Stamina (High stamina is key for max swing speed increase - see 'uo stratics combat' via google search for handy combat calculators).
10 Intelligence with 30 Mana (Leeching keeps your mana full...most of the time. This is the area you should aim at increasing as much as your crafting will allow).
45 DCI and HCI
100 DI with weapon equipped
40 LMC
25 HPI (This is the maximum the game allows for Hit Point Increase on items).
Weapons:
UO gives the choice of more weapons than ever before. If there is any one single vital part to a sampire it is arguably the weapon. My recommendation of weapons is by no means the only option. It is merely what I find ideal. I like swordsmanship. Always have and probably always will. However, as long as the weapon you use against tough beasts has feint and either double strike or armor ignore, and your weapon of choice against numerous odds has whirlwind, and you have 1.25 to 1.5 swing speed, then who cares what weapon skill you have. Ideally you want as high damage per swing as possible. The best choice for swordsmanship is the Dashio, Radiant scimitar, and double axe. Additonally, I carry a elven spellblade with use-best-weapon to fight certain spawn like fey or non slayers. I find this weapon's abilites of amoror ignore, feint, and the ability to chug heal pots helpful in certain situations.
My weapons:
View attachment 6324
The first is one of two primary weapons I use against creatures with no slayer. The other being almost identical except with Hit Lightning and it is made from valorite.
The second is a variation of each slayer weapon I carry. The only difference with my other slayer weapons is simply the slayer type.
My armor:
View attachment 6322
A little difficult to see, but basically it gives me maximum everything except no faster casting.I cannot stress enough Defense Chance Increase (dci), Hit Chance Increase (hci), Lower Mana Cost (lmc), Damage Increase (DI) must be maxed out.
Tips and trick:
1. Having 65 DCI allows you to cast divine furry without any negative effects. This is a good tactic for replenishing stamina on the fly.
2. Utilize the sacrifice virtue as this will allow you to self-resurrect. Note that self-resing through the sacrifice virtue places everything from your corpse to your pack without the need to return to your corpse.
3. Carrying and macroing an arcane piece of clothing and a +20 necromancy ring or bracelet will allow you to cast necro form without reagents. This is especially handy if you can't access your corpse and you don't use the sacrifice virtue to self resurrect. Having a +20 necro item just means you fail less and saves charges on your arcane clothing. Remember, you need a skill cap of 120 to use this trick.
4. Having 45 HCI negates the need to use lightning strike. Thus, allowing you to spam your weapon ability double-strike or armor ignore.
5. Using Enchanted Apples allows you to quickly remove Blood Oath on the fly and without having to use remove curse.
6. If possible, having faster casting designed in your suit of 2 to 4 will allow you cast chivalry spells like remove curse and cleanse fire without disruption.
7. Carrying a few cooked birds will help replenish needed stamina quickly in odd situations.
8. Double strike is your best friend because it leeches twice as much and does twice the damage.
9. Having lower attack 50% on your Two-handed weapon, combined with legendary bushido and parry makes your sampire the hardest character to hit in the game.
10. Using a one-handed weapon slightly lowers your total defense chance, but enables you to chug heal and refresh potions.
11. The whirlwind ability combined with legendary bushido and hit area effect on a weapon will do an immense amount of damage to everything around you. Thus, leeching constantly and keeping you alive against unlimited odds.
12. Evasion should be used when you need the extra time to regain health and avoid death. There is a long cool down timer on evasion. Therefore, use it only when necessary.
13. Momentum strike not only kills secondary spawn, but it also allows you to leech even more damage.
14. Feint is beyond reproach. Using this ability cuts all physical damage in half for 6 seconds from target mob. This means hard-hitting creatures like Dread Horn and Riktor will do half their normal damage to you. Therefore, it is vital you constantly chain Feint when standing toe to toe with these beasts.
15. Always, always, ALWAYS have confidence enabled. There is no cool down timer to this ability. Having it enabled will keep you from the death robe.
16. Spam confidence when you are in desperate need of health. Do not run when near death; trust you leeching and ability to utilize the sampire abilities. Your weapon will leech mana constantly, feeding your ability to spam confidence. Additionally, vampire form will steadily raise your health. Utilize double strike to gain an extra boost in leeching.
17. Running instead of staying and fighting most often leads to death.
18. Honor everything, especially large creatures. This gives you an immense increase in damage and a nice boost to luck.
19. Use Honor on yourself when you need to get past tough spawn in order to reach your destination.
20. Work towards achieving an arsenal of super and lesser slayer weapon. Know lesser slayers do 300% percent damage and super slayers do 200% damage.
21. Use a swamp dragon with an exceptional dragon barding deed. Keep an additonal deed insured and in your pack incase he runs out of armor while you are hunting. If you die, just log out asap. When you res, log and re-log and he will be there alive and ready for more action. "Swamp dragon wearing exceptional barding deed armor provides 20% damage reduction. There are varying degrees of the armor as it pertains to how much damage it will absorb before it 'breaks' (I believe the max is 17k in dmg absorption), hence his recommendation to keep one on ya. A Paroxysmus dragon provides a constant 12% reduction, and never requires barding deeds for armor."
22. Using Honor on yourself is extremely handy when you need to avoid spawn in order to get to peerless keyed creatures (e.g., twisted whelm). This ability can be used every 5 minutes and lasts plenty of time in order to lure the creature you want.
