Leveling weapons
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:09 am
Ok guys, I think this levelling weapon stuff is kinda messed up for everybody...You know, choosing the rights things to invest on and all, in order not to spoil a perfect good weapon and a not cheap weapon level deed. So I called some friends and asked them to help me out making a guide with our personnal impressions...But that's just what they are, our oppinions, not a perfect guide.
FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT TIP IS: read stratics page on magic item properties. Then read the following oppinions, think about it, chat it out with some friends, and have some fun with your weapon.
My thoughts on it are based on my experience with my bow. Some of it apply to hand-to-hand weapons, some doesn't.
I chose a Horselord because it'll get me a total of 495 points to spend, against 295 from a crafted one. Even if gets only to lvl 50, it will still get me 100 points more than a crafted one (245 for a looted weapon lvl 50 and 145 for a crafted one).
And a Horselord is a very popular choice, easy to buy. A great choice also is Nox Ranger's Heavy XBow, which is a a xbow with great bonuses, but lame specials - and the Horselord does happen to have great specials, mainly the armor pierce one.
-> Doom arties in general have one problem: double cost for any bonus. Stamina reg for instance usually costs 1 point per level, but for doom arties, it costs 2 points.
Here's what I think about spending the points:
Stamina determines your swing speed. So you might consider raising dex bonus and stam bonus, which are cheaper than SSI, to shoot faster. Go to stratics, find horselord (or your weapon of choice) page and play a little with values in the calculator they have available for speed and damage.
Then consider that Horselord has a great special move, and you'll need mana for it...so mana leech or mana reg might also be interesting. This goes too, for instance, for blaze of death, which have the great whirlwind attack.
About actually hitting stuff: you can get either hit chance increase and/or lower defense chance...LDC gets you chance to drop the target defense for 25% for the duration of 5 to 10 seconds. So a 25% to 33% value should be enough to always have the target with lower defense. HCI will get your base hit chance increase, as in: you have a 50% chance to get the target naturally; with 10% HCI, you get a 55% chance - your normal 50% plus 10% of it, which makes 5 more (hope it isn't too confusing).
About damage: if u do want to invest on a spell u use lightning; higher circle spell available, therefore more damage than the others options. And avoid get an area effect. Area effect will atract everybody on screen to you, from chickens and sheeps to succubus and ballies, since you'll damage them. And "all guard" won't get your pets to attack them, since you started it off (and they never attack your target in these situations where you began the fight).
About hp bonus and hp reg, you get enough of that with other items, such as crimson cincture of bracelet of health. Remenber, you are using a bow, not a hand to hand weapon. If a pet tanks the target, or if you get it in stone circle, you will only have to endure spells.
Self repair is a waste. Use repair deeds from legendary (and legendary only) crafters. They might even raise your weapon durability.
Hit dispel seems quite useless for me. Hit lower attack, on the other hand, is a nice thing to have for your tanks, but should be invested on in a later time. Bonus mana is bogus too. Bonus str gives you little hp (half the points of str; with the max bonus str - 8 points - you get 4 hp) and little damage (1 point up every 10 points of str), so it's not that important.
Don't even consider bonus int; bonus spell damage and mana is not worth the high cost.
I'm not sure about def chance inc and reflect phys dam...ain't gonna use them myself, but they do are nice. But my oppinion is that I souldn't get hit in first place. Of course it doesnt work nearly as often as I'd like, but trying too does get me a lotta less wounds.
To end with, a tip from polar bear (fingers): I'm not gonna raise stamina reg anymore. It's a cheap thing (one point per level), and your swing speed is based on your stamina (which drops when you get hit), and not only your dex. But Divine Fury will get all of your stamina back, so I'll just save me some useful 10 points (cap is level 10 for it).
But most important of all still is: READ STRATICS PAGE ON MAGIC ITEMS PROPERTIES yourself, and think about all of it.
FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT TIP IS: read stratics page on magic item properties. Then read the following oppinions, think about it, chat it out with some friends, and have some fun with your weapon.
My thoughts on it are based on my experience with my bow. Some of it apply to hand-to-hand weapons, some doesn't.
I chose a Horselord because it'll get me a total of 495 points to spend, against 295 from a crafted one. Even if gets only to lvl 50, it will still get me 100 points more than a crafted one (245 for a looted weapon lvl 50 and 145 for a crafted one).
And a Horselord is a very popular choice, easy to buy. A great choice also is Nox Ranger's Heavy XBow, which is a a xbow with great bonuses, but lame specials - and the Horselord does happen to have great specials, mainly the armor pierce one.
-> Doom arties in general have one problem: double cost for any bonus. Stamina reg for instance usually costs 1 point per level, but for doom arties, it costs 2 points.
Here's what I think about spending the points:
Stamina determines your swing speed. So you might consider raising dex bonus and stam bonus, which are cheaper than SSI, to shoot faster. Go to stratics, find horselord (or your weapon of choice) page and play a little with values in the calculator they have available for speed and damage.
Then consider that Horselord has a great special move, and you'll need mana for it...so mana leech or mana reg might also be interesting. This goes too, for instance, for blaze of death, which have the great whirlwind attack.
About actually hitting stuff: you can get either hit chance increase and/or lower defense chance...LDC gets you chance to drop the target defense for 25% for the duration of 5 to 10 seconds. So a 25% to 33% value should be enough to always have the target with lower defense. HCI will get your base hit chance increase, as in: you have a 50% chance to get the target naturally; with 10% HCI, you get a 55% chance - your normal 50% plus 10% of it, which makes 5 more (hope it isn't too confusing).
About damage: if u do want to invest on a spell u use lightning; higher circle spell available, therefore more damage than the others options. And avoid get an area effect. Area effect will atract everybody on screen to you, from chickens and sheeps to succubus and ballies, since you'll damage them. And "all guard" won't get your pets to attack them, since you started it off (and they never attack your target in these situations where you began the fight).
About hp bonus and hp reg, you get enough of that with other items, such as crimson cincture of bracelet of health. Remenber, you are using a bow, not a hand to hand weapon. If a pet tanks the target, or if you get it in stone circle, you will only have to endure spells.
Self repair is a waste. Use repair deeds from legendary (and legendary only) crafters. They might even raise your weapon durability.
Hit dispel seems quite useless for me. Hit lower attack, on the other hand, is a nice thing to have for your tanks, but should be invested on in a later time. Bonus mana is bogus too. Bonus str gives you little hp (half the points of str; with the max bonus str - 8 points - you get 4 hp) and little damage (1 point up every 10 points of str), so it's not that important.
Don't even consider bonus int; bonus spell damage and mana is not worth the high cost.
I'm not sure about def chance inc and reflect phys dam...ain't gonna use them myself, but they do are nice. But my oppinion is that I souldn't get hit in first place. Of course it doesnt work nearly as often as I'd like, but trying too does get me a lotta less wounds.
To end with, a tip from polar bear (fingers): I'm not gonna raise stamina reg anymore. It's a cheap thing (one point per level), and your swing speed is based on your stamina (which drops when you get hit), and not only your dex. But Divine Fury will get all of your stamina back, so I'll just save me some useful 10 points (cap is level 10 for it).
But most important of all still is: READ STRATICS PAGE ON MAGIC ITEMS PROPERTIES yourself, and think about all of it.
yup area effect is a no no....
