[X] My Assistant

So I see that my shield is indeed 51%, though I'm still a little fuzzy on exactly what that means in practical terms.

It is easy =)
Let's say that "the bestest of the bestest" legendary shield has base block equals to the 500 (don't mind the number, just get the idea)
Now, let's say that "the worstest of the worstest" legendary shield has base block equals to 200.

You got the shield that has 330. The question - how good it is compare to worst and how bad it compare to the best?
1. 500 - 200 = 300 // find the range
2. 330 - 200 = 130 // find your shield at that range
3. 130 * 100% / 300 = 43.3% ~43%

So now you can say that block of your shield is only 43% more than the bare minimum and still 57% away from the best shield possible.

Your real shield has 51%. Is is an ideal medium - it is neither bad or good block. You can soulfuse that shield if you have free soul fragments and you do lots of RE so you can restock them quickly.
On your place I would soulfuse it, but I believe people would not agree with me (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)
My opinion is - it is better to stay with any shield with relatively good block than wait for good force shield to drop/buy. It is not like your kite shield has 3% block and bad stats after all, and you should start with something. Nobody starts with full slaughter set and demonic rapier xD I played with shortsword until level 330 - then I got rapier.
If you have nice shield (not the best, not the force, but just nice shield with tolerable block) - why you should stay aside? I am not talking about forgetting about any other shield and stay with that kite until the end of the game - of course no - but spend few levels with it sounds fair for me.
But once again - it is open field for opinion and other might not agree.

Can legendary force shields simply upgrade higher than legendary kite shields?

Every type/prefix/suffix has their own advantages. The advantage of force shield is high block by default. Like the highest block for kite may be 350 (don't mind the numbers), but highest block of force may be 780. On other hand force shields are heavy, but if you are playing HEAVY armor/one-handed style that would not be that problem. However is still may be a problem on lower levels...

This post has been edited by f4tal: Sep 25 2017, 01:12

2.3% isn't that horrible, but optimal would be 0% (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Why is 0% optimal? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Why is 0% optimal? blink.gif

Well, mostly because of paradigm that heavy/1H should get as many hits as possible from counterattacking back instead of attacking monsters manually.
Because of how tick/turn system works in the game you may stuck at the situation when heavy/1H with high "attack speed bonus" takes more turns to finish round than sane bukd with no ASB.
The idea is that in a single tick monsters and player may do various number of actions, but if player has high ASB he may attack monster before it attacked him.
Imagine yourself an utopian situation when 1H/heavy has, say 80% ASB and nay attack monsters 15 times before any of them would attack him back. How many hits he would deal in 15 turms? The correct answer - 15, because he never countattcked.
Now, in same situation 1H/heavy with 0 ASB how many hits would deal in 15 turns? About 60 is correct answer, because he attacked 15 times and got 45 counterattacks. (mind me, 3x counterattack is a limit, isn't?)
So, slow heavy will take less turns to kill all monsters, but on other hand will get more hits. That is why he need shield with good block and rapier with good parry (counterattaxk triggers only after blocking or parrying, so higher their chances - more chances to save your HP and attack back) Oh, and this is a heavy - tankiest build ever - should he ever care about damage at all? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

And one thing more - every couterattack gives you a little OC. So with spamming counterattacks back and forth - heavy eventually may stuck in permanent spirit stance mode, which is keypart of that build.

I have asked because I thought that maybe there is gold medium for ASB for 1H/Heavy, but looks like 0 is a best option.
I got new shield with 84% block and it has agility pab. So now I am trying to reduce my ASB a little, but it would take long time given I can reduce only 10 points per day from agility pab =/

This post has been edited by f4tal: Sep 25 2017, 01:48

Now that my font engine is set up correctly, hvtoolbox is displaying percentiles in equipment links properly. So I see that my shield is indeed 51%, though I'm still a little fuzzy on exactly what that means in practical terms. Looking a page back, I noticed some players in the mid to upper 400's sporting links to their gear in their profile, and found these two shields to compare mine against:

This one is 48%BLK, soulbound, and upgraded block to 18. The result is 50.36% block stat.

That's DFNoni's shield, who I suspect switched to mage rather than grind out a hard core 1h + heavy build.

This one is BLK 97%, which would be "end game" by your reckoning. It's showing a 58.16% block chance stat. It is also upgraded block to level 46.

more of an "end game" shield, yes, from a user with money for upgrades. Not really a 300ish shield.

In the forge, it appears my shield can only upgrade to level 27. Can legendary force shields simply upgrade higher than legendary kite shields?

When your forge levels rise, you'll be able to upgrade shields more. One additional level per two forge levels, in the case of block.

Weapon is my next main priority. Getting block/parry high feels to me to be the real cornerstone of the 1h/heavy build. Being able to shrug off punishment lets you have more turns to beat stuff up, making raw DPS less important to the build than, for example, DW or Niten. More DPS helps, but DPS is expensive. It is the thing end-game players compete over.

...

Getting my hands on a magnificent rapier of slaughter, preferably with an electric/wind or ethereal prefix would be a big jump up from what I currently have. So I'm not saying I'm avoiding this advice.

Check your WTB.

But what I am saying is that a lot of the end-game thinking doesn't feel like it applies to the point in the game I'm at right now. The power armor I still have in my inventory gives about 150 damage per piece. I can't afford to upgrade them, as it would be prohibitively expensive to buy the same actuators end-game players are competing for in order to upgrade their end-game power armors. I might be able to salvage my gear to get back some of the upgrade materials, even most, but then I can't sell the castoffs to other players. If I upgrade them, other players my current level would be even less able to afford them.

I didn't start seriously upgrading until around my current levels, actually. 390+ or so. You're going to be replacing armor too fast to worry much about expensive upgrades. You can worry about actuators when you're largely in legendaries. Upgrades are darned expensive.

Soulfusing a really good weapon and a shield feels like it would take a lot of burden off of that process. I know I'm going to be sticking with the 1h style for months, if not years. Some day I'll get into power armors as keeps getting suggested. But right now it feels like plate armor with shielding prefix, and not a lot of worry on DPS seems the better, noob-friendlier strategy to building up income.

Mag rapiers are easier to find than really good shields. I soul fused a mag rapier at about your level. Around 330 or so I bought its replacement, but wasn't in a position to actually replace it until 375 because of the soul fragments required to add the new weapon.

Gathering gear often requires getting that level 295 armor at 270 and that 325 armor at 295. I strongly recommend targeting pieces in auction and just offering the 'start' bid on the gear. If you get outbid, try again next week.

I got a good kite shield that way for 50k, and the modal value of my legendary power protection pieces was 50k. Some I paid between 150-300k for. A peerless piece went for 800k. Getting into the 300s offers more income, via GF arenas, and so it's not as onerous getting equipment as you level.

Why is 0% optimal? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

less speed means more attacks taken - as f4tal said - so higher chance to counter.

not that a 2% will make that big of a difference, though.

In the forge, it appears my shield can only upgrade to level 27. Can legendary force shields simply upgrade higher than legendary kite shields?

No.

You can only do the amount of upgrades up to the same level of forge you have (for "Physical Damage" and "Magical Damage" this amount is doubled).

Force shields have low burden but extremely high interference, which makes spells cost too much at low level. At high level your buffs last much longer so this probably becomes irrelevant. Also they are more synergistic with power armor, which also has high interference, due to how the interference adds.

I think Cryosite's legendary kite shield is great and I would use it myself. The reasoning is that it is not necessary to soulfuse, just use it as is until level 300. If you soulfuse it the block will not improve much.

A couple players here started 1H styles with all legendary rapiers and gear, although that's not normal. My philosophy was that I was only willing to switch to a new style when my gear was ready for the style. I didn't want to wear any plate armor that was not legendary because I could not tolerate the burden and interference.

Maybe this is the reason for complaints about low-level gear. There is a natural desire to switch to 1H at level 200 to 250 due to the ability improvements of 1H at this level (more counter attacks and more block). This is exacerbated by the fact that veterans possibly over-promote 1H to low-level players. But the desired legendary gear is not yet widely available at level 250. It is widely available at maybe level 350.

With lesser quality gears, DW is probably the best style, especially under level 200. I want to use DW again sometimes but I haven't been dropping the correct equipment for it.

not that a 2% will make that big of a difference, though.

Agreed. To see major difference one should compare 2% to 75% (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

By the way what is highest attack speed bonus may be? Is this any cap?

Also they are more synergistic with power armor, which also has high interference, due to how the interference adds.

only a tad bit more than Plates. the real difference is with Leather/Shade.

Maybe this is the reason for complaints about low-level gear. There is a natural desire to switch to 1H at level 200 to 250 due to the ability improvements of 1H at this level (more counter attacks and more block). This is exacerbated by the fact that veterans possibly over-promote 1H to low-level players. But the desired legendary gear is not yet widely available at level 250. It is widely available at maybe level 350.

personally i never suggested 1H below lv200. at most, i could've said it's still viable. but at low levels i tend to suggest 2H with Leather. also, between lv200 and 250 i think the best option available is 1H + those very same Leathers you used until that point. switch to Power armors at lv250, when Better Block ability would hopefully be enough to make up for the lack of Resist that Leather armors provided you. at this point Protection and Warding suffixes are still better than Slaughter and Balance.

and just wondering, who are the veterans that exacerbatedly over-promoye 1H to low-levels (which i guess you mean as lv << 200)?

With lesser quality gears, DW is probably the best style, especially under level 200. I want to use DW again sometimes but I haven't been dropping the correct equipment for it.

hmm... so-so. DW is surely viable at that point, but it'd be better later. you'd really better go with a longsword at the start, and eventually a mace later imo. or again, this is what i suggest.

Agreed. To see major difference one should compare 2% to 75% (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

By the way what is highest attack speed bonus may be? Is this any cap?

you can reach 30% with Rapier+Waki DW Shade without even caring about it, so i guess with good AGI rolls, decent forging and possibly Agile prefix 35~38 should be reachable at out levels. if you throw in a waki of swiftness with swift lv5 potency, well... maybe 45 or so?

and just wondering, who are the veterans that exacerbatedly over-promoye 1H to low-levels (which i guess you mean as lv << 200)?

I never advocated to play one build over another at low levels, but I can say that I started to play as 1H/heavy rigth from level one, and I do not remember I had any serious problems. I tried other setups, but never ever dig deeply in and have 25 in cloth prof and 43 in light.
However, I do think that on low level 2H with light is more comfortable to play, but 1H/heavy is quite possible too.
The trickiest thing are burden and bad block, I think. Once player got enough HP, rigth abilities and nice shield - heavy is preferably over another melee builds, definitely.

maybe 45 or so?

To be fair, I thought higher, like 60% for some reasons. Well, looks like I overestimated DW shade too high (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

This post has been edited by f4tal: Sep 25 2017, 02:29

To be fair, I thought higher, like 60% for some reasons. Well, looks like I overestimated DW shade too high (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

i can tell you that with 30% you'll have enough surplus turns already. take a PF T&T, you'll have to cast Heartseeker only twice or thrice (with channelling, of course).

So, a heavy 1H should not buff shadow veil or haste?

I forget who they were but I recall it definitely wasn't you. Nice upgrade plan, starting with the 1H leather. I don't have much experience with power but the factor that influenced my personal upgrade path was that superior power could not compete with legendary plate. I see legendary non-slaughter power for cheap at the auctions but the level is still too high for me so I'm practicing patience, and preparing a self-dropped legendary power.

I tried everything but primarily used 2H and DW below level 200. Not really sure which is better but past level 150 I found that I couldn't survive high difficulty with 2H (no parry, plus the "spread" attack style of 2H while faster overall leaves enemies alive longer, decreasing survivability). 2H became less attractive when I got elemental strike weapons. My inventory shows I used a level 138 superior plain mace for a while. :3

DW got the biggest boost with 0.85 because I just frenzied blows everyone to death every round even on pfudor. Rending blow couldn't do that for me (does like 15 times less damage than frenzied blows, 3 times less per monster if used as a spread attack to kill mobs).

This post has been edited by BlueWaterSplash: Sep 25 2017, 04:33

So, a heavy 1H should not buff shadow veil or haste?

Shadow Veil - definitely not. Evading enemies attack is not how 1H/heavy works. That build should counterattack by blocking (shield) or parrying (rapier or shortsword) attacks, not evading enemy's attacks xD However for low-levers that may be useful, until they "get into" the game. But for 300+ level - absolutely no.

Haste is a little bit tricky.
The idea is that we have Action Speed Bonus and Attack Speed Bonus. High agility (and other stuff) increases your Attack Speed Bonus which allows attack enemies faster than they would attack you (which is not that good thing for 1H/Heavy).
Haste increases by 25% your Action Speed Bonus, which allows to do everything faster than your opponent, namely use spells, use fighting skills, use buffs and debuffs, and attack physically faster (Attack Speed Bonus is sub-item of Action Speed Bonus).
Some folks say that if you are relaying on casting spells too much (for example, use lots of Cure to heal yourself or use Imperil to decrease defence if monsters), then you could cast Haste for 1H/heavy.

My opinion - mostly, you should not cast Haste as Heavy/1H, but until you got good shield and nice rapier (block+parry for counterattacks), has lots of HP and opened Innate Arcana perks, you may help yourself with Haste just for healing, buffung and debuffing purposes. =)

I know how confusing it all sounds. If you want to dig deeper and find more about action and tick-systems, then read the wiki: https://ehwiki.org/wiki/Action_Speed

This post has been edited by f4tal: Sep 25 2017, 03:01

and just wondering, who are the veterans that exacerbatedly over-promoye 1H to low-levels (which i guess you mean as lv << 200)?

I've always used 1H / Heavy (Plate) since the beginning. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I tried using 2H / DW / Light but I was always defeated faster than using 1H / Heavy. Most likely I was doing something wrong in the way I played. Maybe that's why I still consider the defensive part (block, parry, mitigations, HP tank) to be important. It was very annoying to be defeated all the time in the early days. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

If anyone with a level below 200 is having difficulty surviving, I recommend using Heavy Plate. I do not see much of a problem in that.

I play PF Arenas everyday. Based on my equips & exp, IA are protection, Spirit Shield & Spark. Besides Heartseeker, I need regen only when # of monsters are below 6. Haste in this case would make me unable to maintain Spirit Stance. At 6, I need both health draught & regen. From 7, I add OFC and haste, otherwise I would get hits so often that several heals are needed per round.

Thanks all, I will look forward to my forge level slowly rising through use. One mystery solved.

The shields I linked, at least when I view them, have about 50% and 58% block stat, compared to the 40% of my shield. My thinking was that soulfusion might grant me close to 10% block, which seems like a lot. I've been struggling to get from around a 30% shield to my current 40% one, so climbing to 50% seems good. If soulfusion won't accomplish that, then it isn't worth doing. Got it. I'll continue to work on upgrading it though, as that appears to be the bulk of the improved block rate I can look forward to.

Check your WTB.

Updated it. Thank you for the power armors. I'll try them out alongside my axe for a few days. More on that below.

I didn't start seriously upgrading until around my current levels, actually. 390+ or so. You're going to be replacing armor too fast to worry much about expensive upgrades. You can worry about actuators when you're largely in legendaries. Upgrades are darned expensive.

This is where my confusion comes in. Most of the advice I've seen in the wiki, here on the forums, and so on seems to be roughly: "1h+force shield+heavy armor. Plate of Protection is decent, Power of Protection is miles better, Power of Slaughter is endgame amazeballs."

The main selling point of the 1h style to start with is that, while expensive, it is cheaper than mage. Both will cost millions, but mage will cost a lot more millions. Most of that is from upgrades.

The problem I'm seeing is that without upgrades, the damage granted by lowbie power armor isn't actually letting me kill stuff in fewer swings. Again, I'm seeing an average of 5 swings per monster. That does slightly go down in large packs of 8-10 monsters, as more counter attacks happen, but the average still remains roughly 4.5 swings per.

In order to reduce that to an average of 4 swings (or less) per monster, I need bigger damage boosts than what I've typically been able to find/drop/afford. Higher level gear shows me bigger damage numbers, but when I get high enough level to wear it, the HP of monsters will have scaled up also. Upgrades seems like the bulk of what lets higher level players get away with the kind of damage needed to actually reduce swing-count. And that is what speeds up runs, and speeds up how safe runs are due to opponents dying faster.

One thing that increases average swings (technically clicks) is having to cure/refresh buffs. Higher block/parry serve excellently in reducing how often this has to happen in a run. Higher physical mitigation also pulls a lot of work in accomplishing this. Reducing the damage of hits to where regen keeps up with them means I spend more time swinging than curing.

While potions don't cost rounds, they do take seconds of real time to hit the hotkeys. Interference increases mana costs, which puts a bigger strain on mana draught costs to maintain things, and adds to how often mp has to be recovered during a run.

Overall, it feels to me like for a newbie who can't afford the kind of damage needed to gain speed through DPS, boosting defenses is viable. Plate armor doesn't cost anything but metal to raise to 5. Going to 10 is slightly expensive due to bindings, but the lack of ~60k actuators makes it reasonable to upgrade plate armor some. Between plate having more phys mitigation, more out of protection suffix as a result, and the ability to make a few cheap upgrades to squeeze some more out, you can get a fairly big boost in mitigation. Shielding on plate pieces is also cheap, due to no one apparently wanting them. So you can squeeze out some extra block that way.

So, for comparison:
Set 1 (old rapier, new shield, set of plate armor featuring shielding prefixes, protection suffixes, and selected for generally good phys. mitigation)
2805 base damage
74% counter

67.6% phys mitigation
53.8% block
30.7% parry

Clears End of Days in slightly over a half an hour. Eternal Darkness slightly longer. Potion usage below income. This set was mostly free. The shield was my first major gear purchase at 200k, and it's costing a fair penny to upgrade it due to it being legendary. Much cheaper than trying to afford to upgrade a force shield though. No modulators. The armor was stuff I got from the free shop, or cheaply for less than 5k per item. I forget where I got the rapier, probably a lucky drop.

Set 2 (new axe recently IW10'd, new shield, set of power armor selected for highest damage)
4354 base damage
75% counter

57.9% phys mitigation
46.9% block
20.1% parry

I'll try my main two arenas for a few days like this, to get a feel for potion use and clear speed. this set was also mostly free. Again, my own drops, donations from others, free shop, and so on. The axe was a drop, and I IW10'd it myself over a few days with stamina left over after clearing my typical arenas.

Mag rapiers are easier to find than really good shields. I soul fused a mag rapier at about your level. Around 330 or so I bought its replacement, but wasn't in a position to actually replace it until 375 because of the soul fragments required to add the new weapon.

Here is a list of weapons I've gotten from drops:
L Shk SS of Sltr 24% ADB
L Shk SS of Swft 85% ADB

M Shk Ax of Sltr 63% ADB
M Cl of Nim 8% ADB
M Dem Cl of Sltr 40% ADB
M Arc Wak of Bal 14% ADB 13% Parry
M Dem Wak of Swft 35%ADB 63% Parry

This seems like as good a time as any to ask if any of these are something I ought to use. Notice the distinct lack of rapiers. I am somewhat thinking I might be able to make good use of that shortsword of slaughter. Same damage as my axe at ~900 damage, way more strength and dex, and a useable 19% parry. Obviously lacks peircing proc, but that isn't really much of an option with what I have.

The Leg shortsword of swiftness as higher ADB%, but less displayed damage. The attack speed should be removed by my burden, but a little might be left over.

Back to my WTB, I'm being offered for free:
This Rapier. In order to use it, I'd have to soulfuse it, which would cost me 1080 soul shards (I have more than that, but it would nearly wipe out my stockpile).
It is showing as 34% adb for me, 930 damage putting it on par with my current axe, and the leg shortsword of slaughter. 18% parry is slightly less than the shortsword. But it is piercing rather than slashing for better proc.

So, I'm thinking I should:
a) stick with my axe for now. It has the same damage as most of the other options. But it is slashing and lacks parry stat. This option also implies holding out for something better than the below options.
b) go with my shortsword. Similar damage, has good parry, but is also slashing. I'd have to IW it.
c) go with the offered rapier. Similar damage. Good parry. Piercing. Requires expensive investment of soul shards or holding onto it for 58 levels.
d) one of the other weapons I linked. I'm a noob and may be missing something.

Gathering gear often requires getting that level 295 armor at 270 and that 325 armor at 295. I strongly recommend targeting pieces in auction and just offering the 'start' bid on the gear. If you get outbid, try again next week.

I got a good kite shield that way for 50k, and the modal value of my legendary power protection pieces was 50k. Some I paid between 150-300k for. A peerless piece went for 800k. Getting into the 300s offers more income, via GF arenas, and so it's not as onerous getting equipment as you level.

I've been mostly shunning the auctions. GP looks expensive to buy. I set hvtools to stop displaying them on every page. How do you participate for only 50k credits?

This post has been edited by Cryosite: Sep 25 2017, 07:28

Shadow Veil - definitely not. Evading enemies attack is not how 1H/heavy works. That build should counterattack by blocking (shield) or parrying (rapier or shortsword) attacks, not evading enemy's attacks xD However for low-levers that may be useful, until they "get into" the game. But for 300+ level - absolutely no.

Haste is a little bit tricky.
The idea is that we have Action Speed Bonus and Attack Speed Bonus. High agility (and other stuff) increases your Attack Speed Bonus which allows attack enemies faster than they would attack you (which is not that good thing for 1H/Heavy).
Haste increases by 25% your Action Speed Bonus, which allows to do everything faster than your opponent, namely use spells, use fighting skills, use buffs and debuffs, and attack physically faster (Attack Speed Bonus is sub-item of Action Speed Bonus).
Some folks say that if you are relaying on casting spells too much (for example, use lots of Cure to heal yourself or use Imperil to decrease defence if monsters), then you could cast Haste for 1H/heavy.

My opinion - mostly, you should not cast Haste as Heavy/1H, but until you got good shield and nice rapier (block+parry for counterattacks), has lots of HP and opened Innate Arcana perks, you may help yourself with Haste just for healing, buffung and debuffing purposes. =)

I know how confusing it all sounds. If you want to dig deeper and find more about action and tick-systems, then read the wiki: https://ehwiki.org/wiki/Action_Speed

By removing haste from my buffing rotation, I decreased my DWD clearing time by almost 40 per cent.

Dudes & Dudettes,
I'm in a pickle. I haven't had any good stuffs to replace my equipment. I want to train LotD, but I dislike the prospect of spending time regaining credits that'll be spent on them. So please tell me,

what's your recommended LotD level to get some self-use equipment to carry me to lvl400 without much forging?

Here's my stuffs if you're wondering
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/31902224/85a196ec7d
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/67766588/a54d9d3026
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/28461732/5c8a0cba19
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/33715306/1b5ccb232e
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/60581912/83ba7f42b4
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/61244301/5a4c45f405
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/32269551/68fee57ad3

Dudes & Dudettes,
I'm in a pickle. I haven't had any good stuffs to replace my equipment. I want to train LotD, but I dislike the prospect of spending time regaining credits that'll be spent on them. So please tell me,

what's your recommended LotD level to get some self-use equipment to carry me to lvl400 without much forging?

Here's my stuffs if you're wondering
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/31902224/85a196ec7d
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/67766588/a54d9d3026
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/28461732/5c8a0cba19
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/33715306/1b5ccb232e
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/60581912/83ba7f42b4
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/61244301/5a4c45f405
https://hentaiverse.org/equip/32269551/68fee57ad3

(IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Feel free to look at my equips. Besides the rapier that I got from monster drop recently, almost everything else is what you could occasionally find in Bazzar. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) But I am still playing at PF difficulty safely.

I would say save the credit and go to auction for some good replacements?