[X] My Assistant

To Isekai (mostly): From which level are you usually able to clear Arenas without investment of a lot resources (potions, scrools) in PFUDOR? I am around lvl 200 now and I try to play in IWBTH, but I have to use cure often and the gameplay has slow flow.

when you get 3 target zero cooldown Weaken

Wait, Weaken and Silence are useful? On Persistent at least I never see a need for them for 1H.

Because in Persistent there is no need to rush to PFUDOR before you're ready, in isekai, you want to play on PFUDOR as quickly as possible to take advantage of the Early Bird x5 equipment drop rate and get as much high quality gear as possible in particular, and to maximize your XP to Stamina ratio in general if you're planning to climb high in the Tower. In Persistent, you would realistically only use Silence and Weaken as 1H on last levels of Arenas, RoB and later levels of IW and Grindfest.

Played well, DW is approximately comparable to (or slightly faster than!) 1H in performance in arenas and IWs, and the primary difference in speed in grindfests is mostly due to increased cures towards the end. It requires more active involvement, toggling Spirit Stance, choices between Frenzied Blows, OFC and FRD, and managing overcharge predictively. I definitely prefer the playstyle to 1H, but it is considerably less safe, and I think that is the primary factor in choice (and expert recommendations) for less experienced players & long-timers getting lazy from burnout.

I do agree that the combat simplicity is why the playstyles are limited in diversity (and therefore competing for the same optimization goals), though while it may take a very long time, Tenboro's discussed expansions to the combat engine before in terms of stat overhauls, terrain complexities and monster rebalancing. It may not be a hopeless future for 2H and Niten necessarily because all styles compete over two axes currently - safety and speed - and I also think you should note that besides 1H (as the champion of safety) and mage (as the champion of speed), 1H mage is commonly used as an excellent compromise between the two, as well as the third factor of equipment specificity (where melee styles are nearly always capable of rushing to PFUDOR by the mid-200s on self-dropped equipment, good luck self-dropping matching mage gear).
Shade armor is easier to learn with, but power armor offers more damage at end-game.
It's valid reasoning, but nobody can give you a confident 'best' answer - you are weighing the reliability of exp against the RNG of good equipment drops. (My opinion is that if you're only aiming to rush floor 50, exp in the early phase probably saves more work later.)

thank you.
i actually would like to play as a mage, but my understanding was that it's terribly expensive.

is 1h mage something that can be played on a 5-10M budget and effectively clear arenas in PFUDOR?
if so i'm very interested.
is there a guide for this archetype?

Yeah, I haven't really heard anything at all about 1Hand Mage until this discussion, maybe I glossed over it thinking people were talking about normal Mage builds. Sounds like fun, I'll have to look into it more.

I really miss playing Mage (I initially leveled as an Ice Mage before the usual "Don't level as Mage" advice, lol.) but putting together a decent enough Mage set to not need to heal every few seconds is a nightmare. I've tried keeping my ice gear somewhat up to date from drops (4 Mag, 1 Legendary, 1 Exquisite atm with average level of 312), but even on Nintendo I'm healing constantly. Still much faster than 1Hand, but obnoxious enough to drain my will to live make me not want to use it full time. Figured I might try to go back to it once I finish my 1H Heavy set and max level or something, but if 1H Mage is viable, maybe I can dip into it a bit more before that.

This post has been edited by FruitSmoothie: Nov 4 2024, 03:09

1h mage slower than regular mage because it does less damage, but much more durable due to the shield and waki, so no need for expensive charged gear for survival, just aim for good EDB
but be prepared to use mana pots by cooldown)

1h mage slower than regular mage because it does less damage, but much more durable due to the shield and waki, so no need for expensive charged gear for survival, just aim for good EDB
but be prepared to use mana pots by cooldown)

thank you.

i think i tried playing mage in the very early part of my EV adventure and then swapped melee.
whatever i knew i have forgotten after many years of not playing.

in any case, let me take a guess at the bis equipment pieces with my limited understanding:
my element's wakizashi of the battlecaster (or the nimble?)
reinforced buckler of the barrier (or the battlecaster?)

since i get very little spell damage from the weapon i assume that any piece of cotton with proficiencies is completely out or the window and i need to go full phase (it seems to be the strongest option in any case).

should i aim for a specific element?

in any case, let me take a guess at the bis equipment pieces with my limited understanding:
my element's wakizashi of the battlecaster (or the nimble?)
reinforced buckler of the barrier (or the battlecaster?)

since i get very little spell damage from the weapon i assume that any piece of cotton with proficiencies is completely out or the window and i need to go full phase (it seems to be the strongest option in any case).

should i aim for a specific element?

i prefer nimble waki and battlecaster buckler with DEA
but some say that barrier better (which fair enough)
but i have 197% Magic Accuracy on 1h mage build, so with some forge gonna get 200%
so decide what is more important: more block or more accuracy

nope, you still need prof, so 4+1 anyway

for 1h mage all elements are the same, because EDB on waki will be the same for each
so fire/cold because it's cheaper, i guess
and dark/holy spells more expensive in mana, not good for 1h mage

ps
of course, my results are not entirely representative when compared with an average player but for demonstration
played 35 rounds arena as 1h mage:
273 turns, 1:56 time, Used: Health Draught: 3, Mana Draught: 3, Regen: 2, Arcane Focus: 2, Counter: 85, Imperil: 104, Fimbulvetr: 43, Blizzard: 56, Freeze: 58, Mana Potion: 2
faster than melee and no cure needed, nice)

This post has been edited by ikki.: Nov 4 2024, 04:40

Any tips on IWing a staff? I pulled a peerless willow staff I think may be usable in some situations over my current staff, but it has a lot of rounds. Is it worth it to just pull out my old 1H set just to get it done?

I dunno if arctic willow is even worth using for an arena only player to be honest but it's soulbound so.

Does Agility do anything for 1H? Or better to leave it at 0?

I finally got a monster and leveled it up to 25!
What do i do with it? Can i bring it into battle?

thank you.

i think i tried playing mage in the very early part of my EV adventure and then swapped melee.
whatever i knew i have forgotten after many years of not playing.

in any case, let me take a guess at the bis equipment pieces with my limited understanding:
my element's wakizashi of the battlecaster (or the nimble?)
reinforced buckler of the barrier (or the battlecaster?)

since i get very little spell damage from the weapon i assume that any piece of cotton with proficiencies is completely out or the window and i need to go full phase (it seems to be the strongest option in any case).

should i aim for a specific element?

I tried tempestuous wakizashi of nimble as 1H holy mage last season.
Reached Fl50 with comfort. The prefix didn't even matter.

Non tower: 3+2 or 4+1, I prefer 3+2. For prof part, 1 pant/robe + 1 shoe/glove/cap
Tower: 5 phase. When monster level >> your level, PF doesn't work well any more
I check with hvutil in persistent,
When I have 3 phases, I deal 18000 average (62 mit). I have (251EDB + 100base) = 351 total EDB
3+1, 22600 average. 4600/18000≈0.26.
4, 22191. For the fourth phase, I need 351*0.26=89.7 EDB (from phase), to get the same improvement as prof part. This is impossible if I don't forge phase.
There is no need to say that 4+1>4.
Since there is no prof perk and no Assimilator training in ISK, I prefer 3+2.
You have about 0.12* base prof (Assimilator=9) from them
In my last season's test, IIRC, 3+2 had similar damage to 4+1 but higher counter-resist, lower mp consumption.

Does Agility do anything for 1H? Or better to leave it at 0?

Improve sp regen speed. Invest some attributes on it but not the same as your main attributes

I finally got a monster and leveled it up to 25!
What do i do with it? Can i bring it into battle?

It will fight the other players and give you gift every 3 day/beat someone.

This post has been edited by l13763824039: Nov 4 2024, 08:03

omg is that where the funny monster names come from? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

200 is the lowest level you should try because that's when you get Spirit Shield and the first ability buff for it, then it's mostly about the equipment and small survivability spikes you get with ability buffs: 220 and 240 for Spirit Shield, 215 for Silence and 250 for Weaken, then the next big survivability spike is at level 250 when you get the 1H Block chance raising ability. Full-Cure spell you get at level 220 is also useful.

when you get 3 target zero cooldown Weaken

Ok, so there is no magic here. Just level up, get items (a bit RNG) and learn abilities.

Maybe last question to this: When should you turn off Haste and Shadow Veil as 1H heavy? I turned off Haste around lvl 200, but keeping the Shadow Veil up at the moment (I think I played with shadow veil up to 300th level or so in Persistent).

I'm a 1H player (level 273). It takes me an average of 40–50 minutes to beat Eternal Darkness (IWBTH). Is it normal for it to take that long?

I'm a 1H player (level 273). It takes me an average of 40–50 minutes to beat Eternal Darkness (IWBTH). Is it normal for it to take that long?

Pretty difficult to tell without seeing your gear and how you play. There's a lot of crap that can slow down your runs. You're also at kind of an awkward period where you don't have Dance with Dragons unlocked to easily acquire Magnificent gear, so it's easy for your gear to be weak for higher difficulties around then. It would help if you linked all your gear.

Issues are usually:

1: People not realizing they seriously need to IW10 their (hopefully elemental prefix) weapon because the extra elemental damage drastically improves clear times. This is a huge one and it's easy to overlook Item World since it's just chillin off to the side.
2: Power Armor > Non Power Armor by far, like it might be 2 armor ranks above. A lot of people will go up to higher rank/level gear thinking it's automatically better without considering the straight damage boost of Power Armor will usually remain better than non Power Armor for a loooong time.
3: Not using Imperil/Weaken on the schoolgirls, and probably Weaken on most/all of the normal mobs. If you're stopping to heal constantly, it'll slow down your runs more than using a few Weakens a round will.
4: Not using Monsterbation, which allows for hover attacking to speed things up and auto enter the next round for you and such.
5: Not enough Block/Parry. Both give offense and defense to you and are easy to overlook. Make sure you have a weapon with good Parry and a Force Shield for high block. You're not really at the point where it's worth upgrading them yet unless you managed to get some good Magnificent/Legendaries, but you will be soon.
6: Infusions will also increase your damage by adding a bit of extra elemental damage. It's not as essential as some other stuff, but it will cut a few minutes off your runs. You can stack them with multiple uses before a run to make them last the entire run.

This post has been edited by FruitSmoothie: Nov 4 2024, 11:34

Pretty difficult to tell without seeing your gear and how you play. There's a lot of crap that can slow down your runs. You're also at kind of an awkward period where you don't have Dance with Dragons unlocked to easily acquire Magnificent gear, so it's easy for your gear to be weak for higher difficulties around then. It would help if you linked all your gear.

Issues are usually:

1: People not realizing they seriously need to IW10 their (hopefully elemental prefix) weapon because the extra elemental damage drastically improves clear times. This is a huge one and it's easy to overlook Item World since it's just chillin off to the side.
2: Power Armor > Non Power Armor by far, like it might be 2 armor ranks above. A lot of people will go up to higher rank/level gear thinking it's automatically better without considering the straight damage boost of Power Armor will usually remain better than non Power Armor for a loooong time.
3: Not using Imperil/Weaken on the schoolgirls, and probably Weaken on most/all of the normal mobs. If you're stopping to heal constantly, it'll slow down your runs more than using a few Weakens a round will.
4: Not using Monsterbation, which allows for hover attacking to speed things up and auto enter the next round for you and such.
5: Not enough Block/Parry. Both give offense and defense to you and are easy to overlook. Make sure you have a weapon with good Parry and a Force Shield for high block. You're not really at the point where it's worth upgrading them yet unless you managed to get some good Magnificent/Legendaries, but you will be soon.
6: Infusions will also increase your damage by adding a bit of extra elemental damage. It's not as essential as some other stuff, but it will cut a few minutes off your runs. You can stack them with multiple uses before a run to make them last the entire run.

Thanks! Yes, I'm using Monsterbation.
1.I'm using the Exquisite Shocking Shortsword of Slaughter (https://hentaiverse.org/equip/297701366/ce12d2c401).
2,5. Here is my current equipment and stats: [ibb.co] https://ibb.co/4ZCJBws.
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298269537/ec0d246ad7
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298628179/24b8514fe3
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298465097/37ab5921fa
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/297734377/dcf3c85e44
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298104976/79a90252ca
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298545968/cf42b7f6e8
3.Before I try that, is it okay to auto-cast Haste, Protection, Shadow Veil, Spark of Life, and Spirit Shield every round?

This post has been edited by binova25: Nov 4 2024, 12:11

Thanks! Yes, I'm using Monsterbation.
1.I'm using the Exquisite Shocking Shortsword of Slaughter (https://hentaiverse.org/equip/297701366/ce12d2c401).
2,5. Here is my current equipment and stats: [ibb.co] https://ibb.co/4ZCJBws.
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298269537/ec0d246ad7
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298628179/24b8514fe3
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298465097/37ab5921fa
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/297734377/dcf3c85e44
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298104976/79a90252ca
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/298545968/cf42b7f6e8
3.Before I try that, is it okay to auto-cast Haste, Protection, Shadow Veil, Spark of Life, and Spirit Shield every round?

Don't auto-cast Haste, it works against the 1hand heavy armor playstyle. A big chunk of your damage to normal mobs comes from counter attacks, which means you actually want to be slow to get hit more and counter more. This is also why it's good to try to avoid AGI equips when possible since it adds attack speed. Played properly with enough block/parry, you'll often kill or greatly weaken all the normal mobs while fighting the schoolgirls just from counter attacks.

The rest of those, yeah, you should have them on every round. Auto-cast Protection, Shadow Veil (Optional), Spark of Life, Spirit Shield. You should manually keep up Regen, Heartseeker, HP Draught, MP Draught constantly (And use Spirit Draught as needed to keep Spirit above 50% so Spark of Life doesn't fail).

A big reason for your slow down is the lack of Power Armor gear. Try to hit up some shops, a lot of them have discounts or even offer free gear for lower level players, so it'd be wise for you to do that sooner rather than later. You'll see a massive speed up if all that normal gear was Power Armor like your hands (You could probably shave off 15 minutes from your run even with all Exquisite Power Armor). Also try to pick up a Force Shield, your block is really low (My level 200 Isekai character with mostly Superior gear has better block, lol). You should probably have at least 35% block at your level. The higher block should improve your clear speed slightly, and of course increase your surviviability.

This post has been edited by FruitSmoothie: Nov 4 2024, 12:55

If I want to grind proficiency, can I create an elemental mage set with low edb/mdb, and just repeatedly cast fiery blast on a monster? Or would casting the same spell multiple times have no additional effect on proficiency gain?

...

+ buy figures from a market and activate orbital cannon skill (OFC)

Does Agility do anything for 1H? Or better to leave it at 0?

The only stat useless for 1H Heavy is INT and even that shouldn't be 0 because you should put at least some XP into it for extra SP. Agility is part of the damage resistance formula, it should be lower than STR/DEX/END because you're not chasing after evade and attack speed as 1H, but nowhere near 0.

When should you turn off Haste and Shadow Veil as 1H heavy? I turned off Haste around lvl 200, but keeping the Shadow Veil up at the moment (I think I played with shadow veil up to 300th level or so in Persistent).

As soon as you feel you're surviving well and not needing to heal a lot. There's no specific level for it. Also most people prefer keeping Haste over Veil if you need to pick one.