[X] My Assistant

Towers aren't necessarily the best. The have high Interference and Burden and may not have as much block, absorb, or mitigation as a good Kite. Unless you were lucky and got a very good quality Tower, you might be better off with a Kite. I have two equal quality shields with the Barrier enchant, meaning boosted block - one is a Kite and one is a Tower, both near my level. I'm using the Kite.

As far as weapon loadouts, I can't say. I've been using sword-and-board pretty much exclusively. My 2H is from my first weapon drop being a longsword before equips had procs and I DW for a bit to see what the fuss was about.

Towers aren't necessarily the best. The have high Interference and Burden and may not have as much block, absorb, or mitigation as a good Kite. Unless you were lucky and got a very good quality Tower, you might be better off with a Kite. I have two equal quality shields with the Barrier enchant, meaning boosted block - one is a Kite and one is a Tower, both near my level. I'm using the Kite.

As far as weapon loadouts, I can't say. I've been using sword-and-board pretty much exclusively. My 2H is from my first weapon drop being a longsword before equips had procs and I DW for a bit to see what the fuss was about.

That just might be it.


I haven't seen any better Kite or Towers in the Bazaar -I had figured that maybe, maybe, there would be a Mithril or Titanium or Whatever Kite that might be better than my "plain old" Platinum Tower but so far, no dice.


EDIT: The Stats on my Shield, below.




This post has been edited by Thanos008: Sep 14 2009, 00:18

My Kite:

CODE

Fine Steel Kite Shield of the Barrier
Physical Absorption    1.1
Physical Mitigation    0.6
Magical Absorption    1.0
Magical Mitigation    0.6
Block Chance    23.9
Burden    9.5
Interference    8.4
Primary Attribute Bonuses
Strength    0.8          Dexterity    0.4     
Endurance    2.0                  
Level 55 / Slot: Offhand / Type: Shield

My best Tower:

CODE

Average Platinum Tower Shield of the Barrier
Physical Absorption    1.2
Physical Mitigation    0.6
Magical Absorption    1.5
Magical Mitigation    1.3
Block Chance    22.3
Burden    15.5
Interference    15.5
Primary Attribute Bonuses
Strength    1.9          Endurance    1.4     
Level 69 / Slot: Offhand / Type: Shield

This post has been edited by cmal: Sep 14 2009, 00:31

Also, Fine > Average. Good Kite shields will be better than some of the lesser tower shields, however...point me towards a kite shield with 40% block~ All items have different tiers of stuff like that, there's silk stuff worse than cotton, dragon hide worse than leather, as well as other stuff as well, but that's because their min and max ranges can overlap.

That's a given. That's just the best Tower I've gotten, I don't think I have my "equivalent" Tower anymore. Maybe when I get a Fine or Superior, I'll swap out.

Also, Fine > Average. Good Kite shields will be better than some of the lesser tower shields, however...point me towards a kite shield with 40% block~ All items have different tiers of stuff like that, there's silk stuff worse than cotton, dragon hide worse than leather, as well as other stuff as well, but that's because their min and max ranges can overlap.

I wish that my Tower was that good, alas.

Former Dual Wielder, current Sword/Boarder.

DW was great for the double weapon bonuses and procs, and pure attack, but I started taking way too much damage as the monsters got stronger, even with heavy armor.

Sword/Board takes a lot longer, but I know I wouldn't survive some of the hits I take these days without my trusty Kite. And monsters dodging isn't as big a concern, since I have the defenses to hang with them and get the job done. Cure is the only magic I can use consistently with armor this heavy anyway, so that works out.

I started off with a two-hander, but stopped for some reason. Probably the low accuracy.

I'm waiting until I unlock the next tier to buy another Aura Slot and try some magic cakefests.

It depends on what's your best equip is. With my 40% block shield, there is no way I can justify not going 1H/SHIELD, not until I get a great 2H weapon or 2 1H...

You've hit the nail on the head there. Equipment can make a BIG difference.

I paid a visit to my local friendly arms merchant the other day and bought two weapons, with an eye to improving my Cakefest survivability and also just to try stuff out. I did 3 Cakefests, each with a different 1H weapon, and added up how much health I lost over 10 rounds of 8 or 9 monsters each.

Results:

Dagger: 222 HP/round
Shortsword: 167 HP/round
Axe: 199 HP/round

For reference, the Shortsword has very similar stats to the Dagger, except for lower Parry and a chance of Bleeding Wound. I guess that shows how important weapon procs are. (I won't bore you with details on the Axe.)

I also tried DW with the Axe and Shortsword, with disappointing results: lost 316 HP/round.
I didn't measure my 2H performance, but I'm pretty sure it's worse than 1H despite the additional killing power.

So does this mean 1H is best? Well, not necessarily. My 2H weapon is a Crude Longsword and it has really poor accuracy. An Average version would cut down the monsters a lot faster. As for DW, my proficiency is low, plus I was using two weapons with the same damage type. A Rapier in the off hand might have been a better option (there's a whole thread's worth of debate right there). And what's best for Cakefest may not necessarily be best for arenas. For example, my priority when playing "for real" is to get what protection as I can while keeping interference low so I can cast offensive spells... which means 1H with a buckler, as it happens.


PS To illustrate how important the quality of equipment is: I traded up my Steel Plate Gauntlets (I think they were Average) to Fine Emerald, armed myself with the Shortsword and did some more testing. Result: Damage reduced from 167 HP to 129 HP/round. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

i keep switching from 1 to another

2H weapon slash type can be really effective for fighting 5 or more monster in a mob. You can rely on its domino attack to do damage to the other monster while you hit the main target. Depending on your 2H proficiency the domino attack can occur more than your imagination.

If you want to try it, believe me the weapon with bleeding wound proc is the best and when you have it make sure your deprecating proficiency is above average too.

And what's best for Cakefest may not necessarily be best for arenas.

Definitely true.

Generally, with Cakefest people seem to want to go as long as possible, racking up EXP, credits, drops, and prof points. You can take more risks because there's nothing on the line (except pride, and luckily, no one can see you fail...).

With Arena, you need to make it a set number of rounds, but the mobs (in my opinion so far, at least) are a bit better organized to give you trouble. Of course, you at least have to play on normal at a certain point, so there's extra difficulty built-in already.

I tend to play more conservatively on Cakefest, saving all my items for Arena. It can take a while for me to generate credits in-game, so I hate losing a challenge.

I originally picked up a shield for Cakefest, but it's improved my Arena performance as well. I can actually handle the first two levels on Nightmare, and FINALLY picked up some new gear for my efforts. I can even Grind on hard now, though only for 2-3 rounds. The fast EXP gain was worth it, though.

2H weapon slash type can be really effective for fighting 5 or more monster in a mob. You can rely on its domino attack to do damage to the other monster while you hit the main target. Depending on your 2H proficiency the domino attack can occur more than your imagination.

If you want to try it, believe me the weapon with bleeding wound proc is the best and when you have it make sure your deprecating proficiency is above average too.

Why deprecating? Bleeding Wound is affected by weapon proficiency last I checked. An increase of about 10 2h raised my bleed damage from 79 to about 85 or so.

I swear by dual wield. And after i picked up a new shortsword in the bazaar that has 11% bleeding wound 4/turns to go with my 17% bleeding wound 2/turns, life is a bit easier. I see the proc go off on a spawn and I know I can leave that one alone to finish off the rest with he bleeds to death (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I have tried 1 handed with a shield, and while the extra protection provided by the shield was nice, I was still taking a lot of damage per round due to the fact that i couldn't hit for crap, and each round lasted way longer. The extra % to hit from the shortsword of balance didn't help too much there. I attempted 2h but that was a disaster. perhaps with better armor I would have had better results from these.

Finally i tried my hand at dual wield, and I have to say, i am liking that one much better. I have 2 good swortswords with nice accuracy on them, along good bleeding procs. Maybe after I get better armor (all titanium or better plate) i'll try shield and/or 2h again. Until then, i'll stick to the dual wield

combine 1h/shield that has 40+ block and cloth with high evade and your almost untouchable, at least thats what im hoping for

combine 1h/shield that has 40+ block and cloth with high evade and your almost untouchable, at least thats what im hoping for

(IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) Of course, it's the finding of such a Shield that is the tricky part.......

(and don't think that I haven't been scouring the Bazaar for one day and night)

For me, I used to be a 2-handed user. My scythe was awesome and could clear out baddies much quicker than I can with a sword and shield. That being said, I've been using a sword and shield as of late because even though the rounds are longer I find that I take less damage overall because my defense is higher and I also have a good chance to block the attack. I can always go back to my 2-hander and see if things have changed, but with damage output as it is I'm glad to use what I got.

Also, I find the lack of "staff" on the front page disturbing. Based on my play style, I could really benefit from using a good staff.

This post has been edited by FinalixerX: Sep 17 2009, 04:51

For me, I used to be a 2-handed user. My scythe was awesome and could clear out baddies much quicker than I can with a sword and shield. That being said, I've been using a sword and shield as of late because even though the rounds are longer I find that I take less damage overall because my defense is higher and I also have a good chance to block the attack. I can always go back to my 2-hander and see if things have changed, but with damage output as it is I'm glad to use what I got.

Also, I find the lack of "staff" on the front page disturbing. Based on my play style, I could really benefit from using a good staff.

As I've said before, I have absolutely no knowledge of what Staff doess pro and con, having never used it.

(I didn't even know that it had its own Weapons Classification until very recently -I just assumed that it was grouped under 2H like everything else that fits into two hands!! (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blush.gif) )

Well below makes me really love my 2h scythe (with 25% 3turn bleed):

11 14 You dodge the attack from Mutant Peacock.
11 13 Blue Slime hits you for 0 crushing damage.
11 12 Mantitcore hits you for 0 piercing damage.
11 11 Bleeding Wound hits Mantitcore for 28 damage.
11 10 Cookie Monster hits you for 0 slashing damage.
11 9 Bleeding Wound hits Cookie Monster for 28 damage.
11 8 You evade the attack from Amphibious Sperm Whale.
11 7 Your attack procs the effect Bleeding Wound on Cookie Monster.
11 6 Cockatrice has been defeated.
11 5 You hit Cockatrice for 45 slashing damage.
11 4 You hit Blue Slime for 38 slashing damage.
11 3 Your attack procs the effect Bleeding Wound on Mantitcore.
11 2 You hit Mantitcore for 47 slashing damage.
11 1 You hit Cookie Monster for 80 slashing damage.

269 total damage in 1 round (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) @ lv 14..

I use 1h weapon and shield (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)