Understanding Weapons...

[Solikos]

I have not played UO in a long time. As such all of these new abilities on weapons are quite overwhelming.

I'm currently starting on a fresh account, but I'm uncertain which weapon style to take up for a pure melee user. Previously it was much easier as I typically looked for highest DPS, but with all the new abilities, things become quite gray in a game I no longer understand.

What are the pros/cons/styles of Maces, Swords and Fencing?

For example...
Maces > Mages (stun attacks)
Fencing > Armored (pierce attacks)
Swords > Everything (high damage)

My character will likely have a focus on PvP, but PvE opportunities are always welcome as well.

I appologize if this is a very complex question... Not sure how else to figure this out.

Thanks,

~ Solikos

 

[Tina Small]

A good place to start might be in the armor-combat section of Stratics. Go to http://uo.stratics.com/content/arms-armor/combat.php to begin and then use the links on the top of the page and at the left under the "Combat Related" heading to branch out. There is a nice weapons chart on the official UO site at http://guide.uo.com/weapons_11.html and also a Doom artifacts chart at http://guide.uo.com/weapons_12.html .

Keep in mind that some of the information on Stratics may be a bit out of date. Therefore, you may also want to browse through the official publish notes, patch notes, and Five on Friday articles: http://update.uo.com/ .

Publish 42 in August 2006 affected the mana and life leech properties. Here is a Five on Friday Q&A that discusses the change to the mana and life leech properties: http://www.uo.com/fof/fiveonfriday26.html. Publish 40 in May 2006 changed weapon speed display to show the speed in seconds. Unfortunately, I can't find anything that describes how the old weapon speeds that ranged from 20 to 80 correlate to the new method where speeds range from 2s to 4.5s. Unfortunately, the combat calculator on Stratics still uses the old 20-80 weapon speeds.

 

[onthefifty]

welcome back.

imho, you will need to look for a weapon with several abilities:

hit spell above 40%, fireball and lightning or harm. in that order. i like fireball because its spell is a bit delayed and hits after the weapon. good for disrupting mages. others swear by lighting which goes off on the hit but some say it is bugged and doesn't always record damage.

hit lower defense. higher the better. this when combined with mace and shield could give u as much as an 80% chance. when it goes off u will always hit your target.

hit mana leetch. some swear by this. good when fighting other dexxers as it saps their mana which kills the ability for them to use their special moves.

hci or dci. both top out at 45% for pvp. aim to get your character as close to both of those as possible.

swing speed. 25 - 30% a must, more so for swordsman and definately for macers as opposed to fencers.

lesser attributes in my opinion are hit stamina leetch, hit lower attack... etc.

a classic dexxer template is the nox / dexxer for the ability to poison and wield a quick weapon.

swordsman tend to run more with busido, for evasion and lightning strike.

macers more tend to run in necro form.

i like a nox fencer:

fence 120
parry 120
tactic 120
anat 100
resist 90
heal 90
pois 80

thats 720 cap. if less than 4 years cut the tactics/fence/parry accordingly.

get a good kryss and warfork. kryss for the poison/ai, warfork for the bleed/disarm.

look to run, mace /shield glasses / museum shield / ring of vile / rbc / res bracer. i eat a 110 heal scroll and use stichers mitts so with enhanced bandies i heal at 110. char is elf.

this char is a 3 button dex. basically ur two specials and heal macro. stay on opponent like white on rice and keep pumping the poison.

good luck.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

Maces (specifically the diamond mace) is probably the most well rounded weapon in the game. It has high base damage, is one handed, can reach the swing cap at a lower stamina requirement than other heavy hitters.

Swords are generally faster than Maces but usually have less damage.

Fencing generally has the lowest damage but is usually easier to reach the swing cap.

The swing cap is 1.25s, to get there you need to look at the weapon speed, your stamina and any swing speed increase (ssi) on the weapon (& sometimes on items). Weapons with fast swing speeds allow you to need less stamina so you can have higher in your other stats.

As far as PvP, it mostly comes down to what specials you want to use. As well as wether your a heavy hitter or an interrupter or if your just holding the weapon for defense.

I suggest you find out what all the specials do first to see what you like best.

 

[archite666]

welcome back.

imho, you will need to look for a weapon with several abilities:

hit spell above 40%, fireball and lightning or harm. in that order. i like fireball because its spell is a bit delayed and hits after the weapon. good for disrupting mages. others swear by lighting which goes off on the hit but some say it is bugged and doesn't always record damage.

hit lower defense. higher the better. this when combined with mace and shield could give u as much as an 80% chance. when it goes off u will always hit your target.

hit mana leetch. some swear by this. good when fighting other dexxers as it saps their mana which kills the ability for them to use their special moves.

hci or dci. both top out at 45% for pvp. aim to get your character as close to both of those as possible.

swing speed. 25 - 30% a must, more so for swordsman and definately for macers as opposed to fencers.

lesser attributes in my opinion are hit stamina leetch, hit lower attack... etc.

a classic dexxer template is the nox / dexxer for the ability to poison and wield a quick weapon.

swordsman tend to run more with busido, for evasion and lightning strike.

macers more tend to run in necro form.

i like a nox fencer:

fence 120
parry 120
tactic 120
anat 100
resist 90
heal 90
pois 80

thats 720 cap. if less than 4 years cut the tactics/fence/parry accordingly.

get a good kryss and warfork. kryss for the poison/ai, warfork for the bleed/disarm.

look to run, mace /shield glasses / museum shield / ring of vile / rbc / res bracer. i eat a 110 heal scroll and use stichers mitts so with enhanced bandies i heal at 110. char is elf.

this char is a 3 button dex. basically ur two specials and heal macro. stay on opponent like white on rice and keep pumping the poison.

good luck.

There are many parts of this that are untrue, one of us needs to check our sources heh.

I.E. leech doest actually steal from your opponent.

 

[AZ-]

That, and everyone in PvP carries cure pots, so you're pretty much useless.