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The Mystic

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I just completely changed the template of Pete Ninefinger. I thought I'd post it here, cause it might be interesting to other people who wanted to try this.

Until now, he was a Ninja Stealth Archer with a gigantic mana pool. He could shoot 4 Armor Ignores or 4 Death Strikes in a row. A bow with 45% SSI and a stamina increasing suit helped me to compensate my lack of stamina. The concept was to come out of the hiding unexpectedly, deal a lot of damage quickly, and vanish again. Sounds like a lot of fun (and it sure is), but I actually never played him. Probably because he was a team player, and there was no team around to play with.

Since I always preferred melee and magery skills, I decided to turn him into a really good hybrid melee spellcaster. I found that it is most difficult to make this work, since you need all 3 stats very high. (STR anyway for hit points, DEX for swing speed, INT for being able to cast spells.) A +15 Stat Powerscroll is the minimum requirement. Still, there is no way around Imbuing if you want a suit for this kind of character. The skills are already ready - thanks to my soulstones (Fencing, Tactics, Anatomy, Parrying, Mysticism, Focus, Meditation), and the equipment is in the works. I just ran out of Essence of Order, so I can't finish it right now. Unraveling a bag full of old armor (which I won't use anymore since I learned Imbuing) yielded 20 Relic Fragments, which I will need badly. The required Powder of Fortifying caused my bank box to look very desolate.
The suit must get a lot of attention, since it needs everything: High resists, HCI, DCI, LMC, LRC, Stat boosts, FCR, FC, DI. It is impossible to make such an armor without imbuing, and even with imbuing it is a challenge that requires some artifacts. The fact that I will be using a shield helps a lot, otherwise it would not have been possible to reach the values I needed.
I already made a nifty weapon with Spell Channeling and no FC penalty. It only took 15 attempts with a dull copper hammer to get exactly the base weapon I needed for imbuing (one with 20% SSI). It took quite some calculating to figure out how high the attributes had to be that I wanted to add.

Anyway, it will take some time before I can finish this equipment, but when it is done I think it will be a lot of fun. Now I can seriously call me an expert for imbuing human equipment.
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Re: Character List

I'm about to turn Mien into almost the same character as Pete.
I'm thinking more along the lines of swords, tactics, spellweaving, mysticism, focus, parry with a bit of meditation thrown in. But since I don't have mysticism or parry worked up on that account, it'll be a while (not a lot of play time lately). So let me know how it works out! Or better yet, we could do a few practice runs with Pete vs. Path.

I also killed Kejiel and made a new archer who is currently guildless and in factions. I haven't decided yet if I'll make the character's name known outside of UP yet.

And I'll be happy to help hunt order essences with ye matey!
 

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Re: Character List

I am a newbie with Mysticism, so I still have to figure out how the spells work and what exactly they do. I had the chance last evening to do some combat training with Kel Wyn, but that was with a simple LRC suit with no relevant attributes. And as we all know, the right equipment makes a huge difference.
Spellweaving would be a nice addition due to its defensive spells (even at medium skill level), but as the mana pool is crucial in my case, I will put all my effort and skill into regenerating it as fast as possible, hence Meditation. My mana will regenerate fast enough, so I will not need MR on my armor. Makes room for other important attributes!

I have some experience with the Melee/Spellcaster combination, because Sharkeye Pike originally was a Mage Fencer. Although this was a lot of fun to play, the problem always had been that neither as a mage nor as a fencer he was really dangerous to his enemies. He lacked the skills of dealing enough damage over time with the weapon, and his casting abilities were too slow too.
I also prefer a higher damage output over Spellweaving, which is why I went with Anatomy instead of Spellweaving. I really want to be able to do enough damage to my opponent with the blade. The challenge is to cram Faster Casting and Faster Cast Recovery into the jewelry (in addition to HCI, DCI and DI), as it makes a huge difference for spellcasters in PvP. The good thing about Mysticism is that it requires Focus (similar correlation as between Magery and Eval Int), and thanks to its stamina regeneration effect Focus is beneficial to both Mysticism and melee. Contrary to Eval Int, which is totally useless for a melee fighter.

I'm quite confident about this idea. The challenge will be to use the right attack and spell combinations, and this can only be achieved by training.

I plan to go to the Abyss this evening to gather 30 Essence of Order and finish the armor. We also can do some fighting training if you like. I'm happy about every opportunity to try a couple of things out.
 

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Re: The Mystic Melee Template

Since someone might find the progress of this character interesting, I will continue to post my experiences:


So I went to the Fire Temple Ruins last evening (Kel Wyn joined me) and gathered 30 Essence of Order, which I needed to imbue Lower Mana Cost. I had them together faster than I thought. Right afterwards I was able to finish the two remaining armor pieces.

Afterwards, the Assassin Krys Wyn gave me the opportunity to test my fighting skills, so we trained a couple of hours in front of the Jolly Roger Inn. It was a lot of fun. I had the chance to test some very cool spell combinations that can deal a LOT of damage in a short time. Also, I didn't fully utilize the powers of a Mystic yet (there are a few other handy spells I hadn't made macros for yet).
When Krys got more acquainted with his fighting abilities, he kicked me arse around the bay a couple of times. It was time again to tweak my skills! (Basically poison was my demise, because the Cleansing Winds spell was often too weak to cure it. I think this will improve with a higher Focus and Mysticism skill. Since I use a shield, potion chugging is not really an option.)

Another thing I realized and I am very happy about: I always had full stamina, and I hardly ran out of mana, even in long fights.

After our fighting session I decided that it was time to also work on the jewelry I had planned for this character. Now I'm down to 0 Relic Fragments again. :(
The new jewelry may be a big improvement for my casting abilities... I also decided to put away the Fey Leggings and the Arcane Shield I had planned, and use imbued leggings and a valorite shield for better resistances instead (I wasn't able to get my suit to all 70s with these two artifacts). I also think about moving the Tangle I had gotten during a strike of incomprehensible luck from Navrey, from Sharkeye to this character.

I got crazy last night, and instead of going to bed at 1am my time, I decided to test my skills on the Miasma (which I find perfect for this purpose, as it comes close to a human enemy due to its speed, its Mortal Strike and Lethal Poison, and its damage output). Mind you, I did NOT have a slayer weapon, but a pure PvP weapon with no leeches! I was quite amazed how easy it was to take this critter down.

I conclude that this character currently is the most fun PvP character I have ever played, mostly due to its versatility.

Now, who's up for a fighting challenge?? ;)
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Re: The Mystic Melee Template

After seeing your effectiveness after a single day of practice, I'm not thinking twice before turning Mien into a similar killing machine.

However, I need to plan it out a bit ahead of time. Since she already ate the 120 swords scroll, she'll have 110 swords skill and a dread pirate hat. That plus 110 mysticism and focus is the only things I have planned. Oh yeah, and 100 tactics (or more... preferably more)

So that's 440 points out of 710... now have to plan out the other 270 points and the suit.

I'll figure it out, I'm sure.

One thing for sure, it was fun fighting against you... and I can hardly wait for us to get good at our chosen new templates!
 

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Re: Protection

Aneirin, you actually might have given me the nudge in the right direction when asking me if I used Protection. Being interrupted in combat really was a pain in my Mystic's arse, and protection seems to be the solution, although it will set my Faster Casting to zero. The other problem arising from this spell is that my physical resist will decrease by 15 points, and that's very bad since I already had trouble making a suit with all resists at 70. With Protection, I'd need physical resist at 85 to counter the penalty!

Again, some thinking and calculating is necessary. I might sacrifice one Mana Increase attribute on an armor piece and instead increase its resists some more. It is your fault that now I have to redo 1 or 2 pieces of my suit!! ;)

Off topic: Compared to the pre-AOS equipment, today the whole armor system is very complex. While some people criticize this, I have a lot of fun puzzling out the perfect combination for an individual character. Being a crafter today is versatile, challenging and fun, and it is a profession that requires much more than just a high skill and repetitive treadmill tasks.

P.S.: General rule for imbuing exceptional barbed leather armor:
  • 3 magic attributes will allow ca. 68 resists total per piece (with 2 resists increased)
  • 2 magic attributes will allow ca. 76 resists total per piece (with 3 resists increased)
 

Schuyler Bain

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Ahoy -

I have been working on a similar template (melee mystic) as well. I want to use a staff (mace) so Parry limits my possibilities to the wild staff (I am fine with that) or a non-staff mace weapon. What would be a alternate skill to put in place of Parry? I see Farsight using Spell Weaving, how would Necro do in its place. Perhaps Chiv? What are your guys thoughts?

Also what is the skill and stat point mix you are using?

Thanks!
 

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Ahoy -

I have been working on a similar template (melee mystic) as well. I want to use a staff (mace) so Parry limits my possibilities to the wild staff (I am fine with that) or a non-staff mace weapon. What would be a alternate skill to put in place of Parry? I see Farsight using Spell Weaving, how would Necro do in its place. Perhaps Chiv? What are your guys thoughts?

Also what is the skill and stat point mix you are using?

Thanks!
A melee fighter without Parrying is always critical, as he gets hit ca. 30% more often. If you want to use a 2-handed weapon and no shield, you could consider adding Bushido (that's what I first had in mind for myself). But then again, I'd rather use a 1-handed weapon, as the resists and DCI coming from the shield will be required. If you still don't want to use Parrying, Spellweaving might be the best choice, as it has the best defensive capabilities. I never played a Necromancer nor a Paladin, and probably never will, so I cannot comment on that.
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Right now I'm having a lot of debate.

First things first, I've found that if you don't plan on going to Felucca, Parry costs a lot of skill points for very little benifit (30% more often amounts to about 10% of total blows, which is easily countered by having more healing skills).

For me, my plan is to ONLY go to Felucca with that character. I don't see the melee mystic as being better than my Grol or Aneirin in a monster fight, so the mysticism will be handy for things like spawning and fighting.

This means I have to think of a complementary skill set which incorporates all of my requirements.

To be fair, I got my original template idea from Va'lis, who started a similar template before he vanished without a trace, and I'm still entertaining it. However, since I want a heavy damaging weapon potential, I'm also thinking about going with a six skill template:
120 swords
120 tactics
120 anatomy
120 mysticism
120 focus
120 meditation
Then planning from there... The idea is to do a lot of damage quickly and run off.

But then I got to thinking, Parry and Bushido would allow me to use lightning strikes, confidence and one handed weapons for parrying, which got me to thinking of the following:
110 mystic
110 focus
110 swords (I have a dread pirate hat for 120)
100 tactics
100 meditation
100 parry
100 bushido

Then maybe I'll drop some of the mediation for more bushido. This gives me access to evasion, counter attack, and the bushido-only specials on the bokuto as well as the afore mentioned confidence and lightning strike.

After having met Pete in the field, I'm leaning toward the bushido-option myself, having seen some attacking combinations which are very evil indeed, I think I can improve on them with bushido.

On the other hand, roving gangs of archers tend to be a problem sometimes. A good ninja can cast mirror images and avoid being killed by every dismount. But a lot of ninja skills are counter to a lot of mysticism spells.

Anyhow, I'm working on mysticism now, have swords already built up, and will replace bushido later (and parry... takes about an hour to train to 100). Then I'll dive in with both feet, I hope. We'll see how it works out.
 

hawkeye_pike

Babbling Loonie
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
First things first, I've found that if you don't plan on going to Felucca, Parry costs a lot of skill points for very little benifit (30% more often amounts to about 10% of total blows, which is easily countered by having more healing skills).

To be fair, I got my original template idea from Va'lis, ...
To my opinion, anybody who plays a melee fighter without Parry+Shield or Parry+Bushido has no chance to compete, because he will get hit much more, even with 120 weapon skill. To my understanding, Va'lis secret was to deal so much damage in a short time at the beginning of the fight, that the enemy doesn't even have the chance to harm him much. In practice, this often worked well, but sometimes didn't work at all.
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
The parry/no parry debate will always rage. My opinion is that in PvP, if you plan on getting close to your opponent, parry is a must. In PvM, parry is optional (taking Grol as an example) since the benifits of certain non-parry skills can outweigh the benifits of parry.

For the mystic/warrior, I plan on incorporating parry into the template, since that fits best with my plans for the character.

My "final" plan is swords, bushido, parry, mysticism, focus, tactics and whatever is left goes to meditation (will be a long time before I can max out a bunch of skills due to scroll availability). My weapons will include an executioner's axe, bokuto and a bardiche, but a cutlass may be nice too.

I still need to figure out my armor situation, with the must-haves being my dread pirate hat, conjurer's trinket and likely fey leggings (add in 30 HCI and DCI from jewels and those traits are pretty much taken care of). I may add in a conjurer's robe (MR and DCI and tangle if I can find them. The bonuses from those are hard to ignore, even if robes and half aprons are ridiculous.
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
After significant testing:

My new template is:
120 swords (110 + pirate hat)
110 parry
110 bushido
110 mysticism
110 focus
110 tactics
60 meditation

Results:
In PvM, this template is amazing. With a katana with swing speed increase and spell channeling, there is very little I haven't tried in the last couple of weeks, and only the very toughest of opponents can actually kill Mien now. With a combination of stone form, rising colossus and bushido, even the toughest of reknowned creatures fall.

If I were sicking to monster bashing, I wouldn't hesitate to replace what's left of meditation with chivalry, as the damage output is a little bit weak without my enemy of one and consecrate weapon.

TODO: Make a Daisho with spell channeling, max SSI and mana leech/stamina leech (or slayer) to increase my toughness against the monsters.

PvP:
I'll admit, the only thing I've done in PvP is duel so far, but the results of the combination of bleed, nerve strike and spell plague does unbelievable burst damage. A lucky strike and even the toughest opponents are on the ropes.

I believe that when combined with the area effect spells (hail storm, specifically) and a good team mate, even groups of opponents may fall (specifically the "standard" templates from the older landlubber groups such as B*DI or PGoH) with little effort.

There are, however, simple counters to the spell plague abuse that I've grown quite fond of, such as apples, running away or removing curses.

The disadvantages of this template in PvP are:
-I'm still slower than most other opponents, so I have to resort to creative tactics to slow people down.
-The combinations of attacks and spells take a while to set up, which gives opponents time to react. Perhaps incorporating faster casting can alleviate this a bit.
-I always have protection cast, so a curse removal spell (specifically purge magic) or talisman can leave me struggling, especially if I'm not paying attention.

Advantages:
-HUGE burst damage. There's only one template I can think of which can out-damage this one consistantly.
-Cleansing winds makes many special moves obsolete, including infectious strike and mortal strike.
-Huge healing potential with a combination of cleansing winds and healing stone. I've healed over 90 damage in the time it takes to cast cleansing winds. Adding in bushido's confidence, and it's really tough to kill me without similarly insane damage.
-With bushido/parry and evasion, hitting Mien is hard to do. Hitting Mien enough to kill her doesn't happen often in a one-on-one situation.

I look forward to seeing how she works out "in the field", specifically against the newcomers, RBG and the landlubbers of PGoH. Since it's hard to find them without an appointment, I expect that I'll be sponsoring a few events after my vacation.
 

Schuyler Bain

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Good stuff mates - thanks for all the info...

Farsight, I like your above template:

120 swords (110 + pirate hat)
110 parry
110 bushido
110 mysticism
110 focus
110 tactics
60 meditation

How do you think I would fair if I swapped out swords for mace? I am not familiar with how Bushido and Parry work together and if I am reducing the templates effectiveness? What are your thoughts?

I would also consider swapping out med for Chiv - thoughts?

Also it is my understanding that parry provides a bonus to Bushido and holding a shield will negate that bonus?
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Macing would work. It comes down to six in one, half dozen in the other between weapon types for the mystic. The disadvantage of macing would be the tessen is your best defensive weapon (feint special), but is lousy offensively. On the other hand, a good diamond mace is hands down the best one hand weapon there is (at least human/elf weapons, not sure about the winged ones)

Chivalry would work wonders against monsters, enemy of one and consecrate weapon make a huge difference.

And yes, with this template, you have to avoid shields at all costs.
 

Lynk

Grand Poobah
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Yes spell plague with a double nerve strike and a possible pet hit from lesser hiryu is pretty wicked. Only thing I would add to that is using an orc brute.

I would be taking myst/focus to 120 though if you use it to PvP, that spell trigger bombard is extremely valuable (imo).

I'd also drop tact to 90 but increase bush to 120. Plus that hat is pretty crappy. Assuming you're using that hat for the RP side, but maybe get Captain John's replica instead?
 

Farsight

Crazed Zealot
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I'm well aware that I can get a better one by imbuing. Just keep the old one for sentimental reasons (aka the RP side). Likewise, I probably won't be adding the orc brute for the same silly RP reasons. Though I will have my hiryu every once in a while (well, when I get back to actually playing, that is... on vacation right now).

Likewise with the scrolls. I would love a 120 myst/focus scrolls, but I'm too cheap to buy it and haven't gotten around to earning it yet, so the 110 will do for now.
 

Norrar

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Well, I think I'll go ahead and post my template for everyone else to use. It is very fun and all. (Also, hello everyone. Long time no see)

So, to begin with, this character is a druid for rp purposes. Naturally this limited me to skills, but it turned into a surprising adventure.

Swords
Tactics
Chivalry
Focus
Meditation
Spellweaving
Mysticism

Gear wise, I am using an Ornament of the Magi, along with a 3 1 ring I normally run on Va'lis.

Those two items boost me to 6 3 casting. Now, I also carry a scimitar that has:

SSI:30
DI: 40+ ish
FC 1
Stam Leech: High 40's
Mana Leech: High 40s

All I have to do is cast Enchant, and now it has 60% Fireball. With a level 6 focus I cast Immolate Weapon for extra Fire damage.

With the right hit combos, the damage is extraordinary. (On my best test against a player, it was over 90 damage in just a few seconds.)

I use primarily cleansing winds, and close wounds for healing. Divine Fury helps with stamina, and Remove Curse for, well, curses.

In PvM, Enemy of One and Consecrate Weapon really help out.
 
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