Andor's Trail

rijackson741 wrote:I view the Evasion skill as an all or nothing deal. With 3 levels you can stand next to a monster for ever without it attacking you, which means a lot more safe places to stand. It also means your chance to flee is 95% (or 100% if you get Ev4). If you don't use those tactics though, it's not useful at all.

Maybe it's because I've never given the dpad much of a try, but I often find that as I'm charging fast towards a monster to attack it, it still gets the first shot in. I suppose that's just going to happen sometimes no matter what, but I keep thinking that sometimes I'm getting to the next space just at the end of a 6 second cycle and it's seeing me there next to it and choosing to attack me, rather than just stumbling blindly into my new position. If that is correct, wouldn't Evasion reduce the chance that it chooses to attack, thereby increasing my chances of getting the first swing?

That said (and asked), I do still occasionally fall back on hit and run tactics if I find myself badly overpowered.

I'm actually not entirely sure what happens if you just run at a monster and attack it. I think it gets a chance at the first attack, and that chance is reduced with Evasion, but I'm not certain of that

OK. I did some research. A monster can initiate an attack in one of two ways. If you are adjacent to the monster, which includes on the diagonals, it has a 15% chance of attacking you. Each level of Evasion reduces this by 5%, so with 3 levels it will never happen. Whether or not you are adjacent is checked every 1.2 seconds (so much shorter than a movement round). A monster will also attack if it attempts to move onto your square, in which case it will always get the first attack. Monsters cannot move on diagonals though. If you move onto the monsters square you always get the first attack, and, importantly, you can move on a diagonal. So if you run straight at a monster (i.e. not on a diagonal) there is a chance the monster will get the first attack because you are adjacent to it (even if only briefly), and also a chance that it will get the first attack because it moves onto your square before you move onto it's square. If you run at a monster on a diagonal, the only chance it has to attack first is because you are adjacent to it, and with three levels of Evasion you can eliminate that chance altogether.

Ahh than you for the explanation! I had no idea that diagonal runs give you an advantage I do think I'll take Evasion 3 before I start on Cleave and its prereqs.

What a happy coincidence that the same day that i start a new player someone posts on this helpful guide!

=) LOL I still know how i like to build my characters from the countless starter guides that i have written too. *thumbs up*

Yeah, like I have anything to teach you about playing this game

So, any opinions on my questions above?

Pyrizzle!! Nice to see you posting these days. Thank you. I hope the guide helps many players. More will be coming but I have currently been swamped with work.

Help/suggestions is/are welcome for..
-How to improve current guide
-What specifically needs to be added

Evasion seems like a great option now that I know it will be easier to pass by monsters. It always bugged me whenever I get trapped, but Evasion is an ancillary skill for me.

Tomcat wrote: So, the rest of the gear. JoF goes without saying. Polished Ring of Backstabbing and Ring of Damage +6. Leather Cap, Lightweight Chainmail, Troublemakers Gloves, and Woodcutter's Boots. Stats are:

AC 194, BC 79, AD 26-35, Crit skill 27, mult 2.0, ECC 18%

So before I head up to Remgard, what gear should I upgrade? Better armor to survive the spider caves? Wait til I get the to buy better? Swap out the BSS for DotSP? At some point I will have to decide between two daggers or two swords before spending Oegyth Crystals on training for one or the other. Decisions, decisions...

Well, the spiders have very high BC, low AC, but they cause nasty actor conditions. So, you are gonna want to be able to keep them from hitting you, so, either hit and run, or raise your bc. Or equip stuff that will lower their AC and/or BC, ie. shadowstalker, worn plated gloves (my favorite) or axe of fear or chaosreaper (sweet weapon when used properly with dual wield).

Yeah, I made it through the spiders without burning too many potions, but I would still love to improve my armor. I'm liking the look of the lightweight splint mail in Remgard. Lots of options for helm and boots and gloves. Ring of Protector might be a good swap for PRoB in crit immune areas. And not much gold on me. Gotta prioritize!