Excelsior

Hey everyone! So I've been doing a lot of reading on the forums and wiki and asking a couple vets for advice but I thought this was a great place to post my question. I'm looking to purchase and start leveling my first levelable wep and I have a number of questions I'd like to get some thoughts on. Thanks for any advice in advance!

Weapon Type (melee vs. ranged)
I would prefer to go melee but if the benefits of a ranged wep for a new player are substantially better than for a melee player, I could likely be convinced to go ranged. I do prefer a melee play style, however.

Weapon Selection
Warhammer
I've been leaning towards a warhammer as it will let me handle both mobs via WW and single targets via CB. In addition, it's 2j-handed so I can block with a high bushido and still use momentum strike (no worry about a 1-hand + shield). However, my options are restricted here to either changing a weapon type or leveling a crafted.

CB -or- WW Looted Wep
This is another option as I could add more abilities during the leveling process but I would lose out on one of the best abilities. If I went this route, I would likely go with a CB wep and utilize momentum strike for mobs.

Arty
There are a lot of options here and this would really help me cover off on some of the basics that I don't have yet such as SSI, DI, etc. Leaning towards a Sword of the Stampede for this option.

Weapon Abilities
Right now, I think I have to have the following:
[*]Mana Leech
[*]HLD

If it's a WW wep, I will also need Stam Leech and would prefer an AoE attack. After that, I was thinking the following would/could be useful:
[*]HLL
[*]HLA
[*]Hit single-target spell
[*]Str/Dex
[*]Bonus Hits/Stam/Mana
[*]Mana Regen

Please let me know what you think of my breakdown above and I am all ears for any advice/suggestions/posts to read/etc. Thank you so much!

- Olarus

A yumi bow is the weapon of choice for the most players. Ranged is good anytime, but really helpful when you are new and need to keep the monsters at a distance. I recommend start with a Yumi Bow, as you get better gear, get a melee weapon then. The quickest way to power in this game is with pets (mules or nobles) and a bow. Yumi has double shot and Armour Pierce. You should read the awesome guides on the wiki, namely the god mod for more info on this.

I've tried a variety of Weapons and levelled them up, Whirl Wind is fun no doubt, but all in all I find the most powerful weapon is my Yumi. I actually sold all my weapons and use just my yumi for all situations. I even had a lvl 100 Captain Jack's, which has the highest base dmg but lacks a good special, the Yumi (with mana leech and constant special) easily out performed it.

Just a note about levelling Points. With Artifacts, everything costs double points. So if its 4 points to add Lightning, it costs 8 on an Arti. You can however pay 200ED to remove the arti tag, which will return point cost to normal. Crafted weapons only receive 3 points to spend per level where all others receive 5 points. However, many people disregard crafted weapons because of this, but if you get a really good one to start you can build a sick weapon. I have a levelled crafted yumi that is 60 fireball 60 lightning 50 HLD 50 HLA 47 ML. Not as good as the super rare 58x4 drops, but good luck getting your hands on one of those, especially early in the game. A good starter bow is a Hanzo Bow or Horselord (10-25k or 100-150k) If you want to go the crafted route, you pretty much gotta craft your own. I've made about 5k Petrified Yumis and only got three about as good as the one i listed. Another good starter bow is grab a crafted (or looted if you can find) with Mana Leech and either Fireball or lightning. I'd prefer that over the hanzo or horselord myself.

I don't think this answers all your questions, but its a start at least.

Double point cost is only for arts with rarity tag (mostly doom arts). Other arts (minor, tokuno) have no double cost, but still 5 points per level.

Olarus, from start i would prefer ranged combat, so bow (yumi). I dont know what is your equipment, but usually new players dont have very good items, so not too much hit points, stats, etc. Better is stay "safe" at distance.

My first leveled weapon was crafted yumi with nice abilities (mana leach, HLD, HLD, Hit Lighthing). I did 20 levels on it and found better. Sold first yumi and leveled second (composite bow) . Now i have 20 lvl on it too, but have bought Darkened Sky (art) and starting leveling it. With this, i have got plan change it later to yumi (from sword).

As you can see, i changed my "first weapon" 2 times and i think, that you will do the same . New players mostly cant afford any godly weapon from start to leveling. So grab what you can afford and try leveling your first weapon. Later you will get better and will change it. Tokens are not so hard to get. I would not do leveling Horse lord, or Hanzo bow. I think, that they are nothing special and not worth to leveling (you can get better arts for leveling). For example Darkened Sky, or Wind Edge are nice starting weapons and not so expensive (for example i have Wind Edge for 10k on my vendor .

Or you can level up any "classic" weapon, which you will use later as relayer (butchers resolve, cavorting club). Still, you can try sell them later .

I recomend getting a crafted yumi as your first levelable wep. Until u get the gear, u wont be able to melee much without dying anyways. The main things to look for in a starter bow are, exceptional tag, damage increase of 30 or better, and a good hit spell like lightning, or fireball, and of course, hit mana leech. If u can find this stuff with swing speed increase, even better. This will get u familiar with leveling and good practice at spending points. You will have other weapons later on. I personally carry 4 weps at all times. yumi(all around tankin bow) 2 double axes( 1 for champs, 1 for sgail/wrong,) and a multipurpose warhammer. Good luck and have fun.