Looking for advice on my character

[Beirlis]

So currently, I have one unused skill point which I can't decide upon, but I'm considering more criticals, followed by another point in fortitude at level 20. Anyway, here's my current character.

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Beirlis
Level              17
Experience         114301
(I can probably level up two times right now)

Combat statistics (Current)
Action poits (AP)  10/1
Re-equip cost (AP) 5
Use item cost (AP) 5
Move cost (AP)     6
Attack cost (AP)   3
Attack chance      162%
Attack damage      18-22
Critical hit skill 16
Block chance       20%
Dammage resistance 1

Head               Fine green hat
Body               Hardened leather shirt
Neck               JoF
Main hand          Villain's blade
Off hand           Reinforced wooden buckler
Ring 1             Villain's ring
Ring 2             Polished ring of backstabbing
Hands              Troublemaker's gloves
Feet               Vacor's boots of attack

Skills
Increased Fortitude (aquired at level 5)
Regeneration
Treasure Hunter

So I'm also thinking about replacing the villain's ring with another polished ring of backstabbing for the crit bonus. However, I have to do a lot of healing in-between fights, so I was sort-of leaning towards improving my defense somewhere as I haven't put any leveling up points into block thus far. I'm about to finish the crossroads quest and will maybe upgrade my shield (to the one that's +9% block, -4% attack), but I suppose I may just go duel wield when I get level 30 (as I hear that is the time to do it, when you can get both levels). Is there any better head-gear that I can get at this level?

I guess I want to go heavy on offense, but maybe temper it with a little bit of defensive ability. I am finding that healing pots drop a lot and maybe that's just what you're supposed to use when you go heavy offense? I enjoyed having two damage resistance prior to getting the JoF, but having 3 attacks is just really nice so I'm not giving that one up just yet.

[fiernaq]

Heh, you're really going to want to go check out the Iquan caves and look for the dagger at the end of it

And yeah, most people either want 2 Villain's Rings or 2 Polished Ring of Backstabbing. Doing 1 of each is kind of gimping yourself both ways.

Your AD is excellent - I usually recommend keeping it about even with your level. In fact, at this point you could probably afford to put more points into AC (you're going to want to hit 250% soonish). With your AD and speed of attacks you may want to consider a point in Corpse Eater. Another option you could consider is Evasion but that's one of those "put at least 3 points into it or don't put anything into it" deals. If you decide not to take Evasion you probably will want a bit more BC since you'll be getting attacked more often. I'd aim for 70-90% BC without Evasion.

[Duke]

I'd probably go find Agthor to get a Heavy Steel Skullcap..Otherwise I like the Crude Iron Helmet, but if go that route, ditch the villains blade and go with the Balanced steel sword, once you complete the crossroads quest; you will get better armor there too! check out the gear list in the General Game Discussion, one of the first topics.

[Covenant]

If you're looking for immediate benefits, hard hit helps. But if you're playing the long game increased fortitude will benefit more later. I would get too concerned yet about the rings. In the long run you'll peak out with Ring of Protection (x2) or Ring of Damage 6 (x2). Or one of each. Ring of Lesser Shadow will be by our ultimate goal as a legendary item, but that will take a lot of time, so no need to think about yet. Best thing to do now is continue your questing, and grind for levels whenever you find you can't defeat monsters. I'm on my second character, almost done everything. I've found that I've spent all level ups on attack chance and block chance. The weapon Proficiency and Specialisation skills you get later will being you attack damage up for you.

[Beirlis]

Thanks so much for the replies everybody! Sorry for my late response, every time I start responding, it seems like something interrupts me. Anyway, I'm 26 now! However, i'm still stumbling about. I found Prim & Blackwater and I still haven't decided whom to side with. From what I've read, I guess it's a choice between getting a convenient place to reset if you want to grind that one sword and having access to speed potions?

Heh, you're really going to want to go check out the Iquan caves and look for the dagger at the end of it

I can't find the Iquan caves. Where are they? I've been searching the internet and haven't been able to figure it out yet. We really need a nice google maps-style world map with locators and all. And I'm sorry, I don't have time to develop it because i'm involved in two projects right now.

And yeah, most people either want 2 Villain's Rings or 2 Polished Ring of Backstabbing. Doing 1 of each is kind of gimping yourself both ways.

cool! I have 2x Polished Ring of Backstabbing now. I have put one skill point into More Criticals, and I hope that was a good decision, as it seems that some weapons later on don't have crits enabled. Either way, I love occassionally hitting for 72 damage!

Your AD is excellent - I usually recommend keeping it about even with your level. In fact, at this point you could probably afford to put more points into AC (you're going to want to hit 250% soonish). With your AD and speed of attacks you may want to consider a point in Corpse Eater. Another option you could consider is Evasion but that's one of those "put at least 3 points into it or don't put anything into it" deals. If you decide not to take Evasion you probably will want a bit more BC since you'll be getting attacked more often. I'd aim for 70-90% BC without Evasion.

So I think that I'm going to get my BC up and do bark skin later on, making my character a little hybrid. What do you think?

I'd probably go find Agthor to get a Heavy Steel Skullcap..Otherwise I like the Crude Iron Helmet, but if go that route, ditch the villains blade and go with the Balanced steel sword, once you complete the crossroads quest; you will get better armor there too! check out the gear list in the General Game Discussion, one of the first topics.

Hmm, I think the -5 crit would make me cry. I found a crude leather cap that's +6% BC and no penalties. Who/where is Agthor and his Heavy Steel Skullcap? I have finished the crossroads quest now as well, I'll list my new character below..

If you're looking for immediate benefits, hard hit helps. But if you're playing the long game increased fortitude will benefit more later.

Yeah, I'm kinda going the religious Fortitude route. I did the first one at level 5 and just did the second one right at level 20, but I don't think I'll do any further.

I would get too concerned yet about the rings. In the long run you'll peak out with Ring of Protection (x2) or Ring of Damage 6 (x2). Or one of each. Ring of Lesser Shadow will be by our ultimate goal as a legendary item...

Yeah, so at least I know where that cave is now and I've spent a little time leveling up in there. At least those guys drop gold, which happens faster with the treasure hunter.

So this is my character right now, but I'm starting to reconsider the second Regeneration skill. I just added that recently and I still have a saved game from before I did it.

Code: Select all

Beirlis
Level              26
Experience         326063

Combat statistics (Current)
Action poits (AP)  10/4
Re-equip cost (AP) 5
Use item cost (AP) 5
Move cost (AP)     6
Attack cost (AP)   3
Attack chance      183%
Attack damage      22-25
Critical hit skill 32
Eff. crit. chance  32%
Block chance       53%
Dammage resistance 2

Head               Leather cap
Body               Serpent's hauberk
Neck               JoF
Main hand          Villain's blade
Off hand           Superior wooden shield
Ring 1             Polished ring of backstabbing
Ring 2             Polished ring of backstabbing
Hands              Heavy plated gloves
Feet               Defender's boots

Skills
2x Increased Fortitude (aquired at levels 5 and 20)
2x Regeneration
Treasure Hunter
More Criticals

As I've said, I'm considering backing up to a save game and not electing for the second Regeneration so I can use that point for duel wielding at level 30 or maybe bark skin (although I'll need 3 more +BC level-ups for that). I'm not sure yet.

[Duke]

Check the gear list. It will give you all you need to know about what gear is out there and where to get it. My suggestion would be to go back before your save and get two levels of combat speed. It will grant you 12 AP and thus another attack.

[rijackson741]

Heh, you're really going to want to go check out the Iquan caves and look for the dagger at the end of it

I can't find the Iquan caves. Where are they? I've been searching the internet and haven't been able to figure it out yet.

From the crossroads guard house head north until you hit the river. Then head north east, until you get to a house, and some bridges and islands that allow you to cross the river. The cave entrance is on the other side of the river, close to the bridge.

We really need a nice google maps-style world map with locators and all.

http://andorstrail.irkalla.cz/map/world1.html. Not quite Google maps of AT, but still very good

I'm kinda going the religious Fortitude route. I did the first one at level 5 and just did the second one right at level 20, but I don't think I'll do any further.

IMO, that would be a mistake. Do not underestimate the benefits of high HP. If you increase IF every time you can, your HP will increase exponentially through the game. If you don't get any more IF, they will only increase linearly. IF is the one skill where you will pay a penalty forever if you do not increase it when you can.

[Covenant]

Do some searches in this forum for info on dual wielding. I love it, but the benefits aren't great until you can max out all the skill levels in it. Gets even better when stack it with the weapon proficiency skills later ( either dagger or one handed sword). Save your level 34, 40, and 44 skull points. When you hit Level 45, get both dual wielding skill levels at once and also the dual wield specialisation skill.

[Beirlis]

From the crossroads guard house head north until you hit the river. Then head north east, until you get to a house, and some bridges and islands that allow you to cross the river. The cave entrance is on the other side of the river, close to the bridge.

Thankee!!

http://andorstrail.irkalla.cz/map/world1.html. Not quite Google maps of AT, but still very good

Oooh, shiny! TY!
Long, long ago, before I started doing 3d game programming, and then wine and finally kernel programming, I was a J2EE web programmer. I didn't do much ajax, but I did plenty of dynamic content, so maybe if I get the hankering when a few of my current projects are settled up, I can look at improving it. I did some work for one of those MMORPG web companies back in the Dark Ages of Camolot days making interactive stuff. Oh yeah, I also started a Dynamic Potion Calculator for Skyrim prior to loosing interest in the game. (It wouldn't make much sense unless you understood their alchemy.) Also, I never finished it so while it will help you work out a good recipie, it doesn't show you the stats on it and I never found a suitable layout. I was attempting to simulate the in-game GUI, so if you are familiar with the game, you should recognize it.

I'm kinda going the religious Fortitude route. I did the first one at level 5 and just did the second one right at level 20, but I don't think I'll do any further.

IMO, that would be a mistake. Do not underestimate the benefits of high HP. If you increase IF every time you can, your HP will increase exponentially through the game. If you don't get any more IF, they will only increase linearly. IF is the one skill where you will pay a penalty forever if you do not increase it when you can.

Ah hah! ok, ty for that!

So I appear to have accidentally overwritten the game prior to adding regeneration, but I did have a level 19 game so I decided to go back to that one since I could change another decision I made in the Prim / Blackwater area as well.

Thanks again!

EDIT: Oh yeah, if you have any interest in topography for moving to a 3d tileset, I wrote an algo last year to convert a 2d tileset with water, swamp, grassland, foothills and mountain tiles into a 3d topology using some simple water flow analysis & a Perlin noise function. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not 100% certain as to how far I went with the water flow analysis. Either way, it's pretty fun. I never open sourced it because it was supposed to be for a closed source project, but I think it's been dumped, so I would probably have to get permission from the other guy before I GPLed it.

[fiernaq]

So I think that I'm going to get my BC up and do bark skin later on, making my character a little hybrid. What do you think?

DR is great early game but the further you progress, the less valuable it becomes simply because it doesn't scale. DR blocks a certain number of incoming damage so if you have 1 DR and a monster hits you for 1 damage it's awesome but when monsters start critting for 50+ damage, that same 1 DR or even the max (14? DR) becomes rather pitiful. You can always pick up a few DR from equipment without even having to focus specifically on equipment that has DR so that's all I'd worry about doing. However, BC is always good to have. By all means, feel free to grab a bunch of BC to help out your survivability.

If you're looking for immediate benefits, hard hit helps. But if you're playing the long game increased fortitude will benefit more later.

Yeah, I'm kinda going the religious Fortitude route. I did the first one at level 5 and just did the second one right at level 20, but I don't think I'll do any further.

Covenant (and later rijackson too) are right, IF is incredibly powerful. You'll notice that I only took one point in it but then I'm also foregoing pretty much everything else to focus entirely on offense. Also, my lack of HP is the one thing that has come back on multiple occasions to bite me. If I were you, I'd strongly consider putting a point into IF every chance you can get.

I would get too concerned yet about the rings. In the long run you'll peak out with Ring of Protection (x2) or Ring of Damage 6 (x2). Or one of each. Ring of Lesser Shadow will be by our ultimate goal as a legendary item...

*Villain's Ring and Ring of the Protector are the two best rings aside from the RoLS.

So this is my character right now, but I'm starting to reconsider the second Regeneration skill. I just added that recently and I still have a saved game from before I did it.

I would too (reconsider it)
Regeneration is nice to have but in order for it to do very much you have to find a corner somewhere and wait. Personally, while I found that awesome early game, now that I'm pretty much overpowered it's nearly useless. Plenty of other worthwhile skills to put points into and 1 Regen is enough that you can sit in a corner to regen health even if it takes a while.