Excelsior

I have a bow that I am leveling but wanted to get some clarification on certain aspects of leveling. I have my swords at 100 and my archery at 100. I have my dex locked at 50 and want to focus on int and str. So I was thinking of changing the weapon skill to swords if I can. Here is my question. If my dex is lower than my str and I changed to swords does that affect my damage? The menu states use highest weapon skill but since they are both at 100 then I don't know if I should bother to spend the points. Also if it isn't going to be changing the attribute it uses (str as opposed to dex) then it might be a waste of the points to spend. I just recently started leveling it so I have about 35 points to spend but want to save up until I know which way I should go. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

On another note I just want to say it is great to be a part of this game again. I played a long time ago and have really missed it. My kids had told me about Excelsior but I didn't know if I would like it. I don't. I love it. The game was so hard to play with caps and the 8x8 rule that I turned away from it. I wish that I had listened to the kids. I would be an 11 year veteran by now. If I had realized how much more enjoyable they had made the game on Excelsior I would have been right there. If there are any older players from the Europa (Trammel because I hate confrontation) shard I would love to hear from you. I stopped playing in about 2005. My main character was named Vant Von Ruthven. There was some good people that were always there to help. This shard is much the same but so far I haven't run into any old school Europans.

Not related to your question, but you want str and dex here. Leave int at 50 and raise str and dex to 125 each. You'll get enough int bonus from gear that a 50 base int is not limiting and does not prevent any spellcasting. Dex, meanwhile, leads to instaheal at 220 which is achievable from readily available gear and critical to just about everything in the mid-game.

Also note that while a mage is the most powerful build on many shards, it's a weak build here. With uncapped skills, powerful bred pets and no PvP, spellcasting largely becomes a support function.

there is something satisfying about killing with magery tho once you have high enough sdi.

I would say this build the character you want, gear how you want, and enjoy it.. there are alot of super powered people with dex based gear for the heals etc.. to say that is the only way, well depends how creative you are.

Sure, but to get that SDI he'll create multiple relayers which he'll do by leveling weapons where survival without instaheal is rather more tedious than survival with it.

I keep one alt with low dex and high int, just in case I ever want to try something with high int. For your prime character, go with the dex. Just like Yoda has.

Welcome! I'm glad you are enjoying your time here!


If you are using swords or archery Dex and STR will be doing the same thing for you. Dex is your base stamina and stamina determines your swing speed. STR will add damage. That's the same with a bow or a sword. When you get a power scroll in you for one of the combats, I believe the "use best weapon skill" type weapons won't give you gains.