[X] My Assistant

Hi everyone. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I have a question about the usage of the skills in battle.


When I'm using the fighting skills (shatter strike) to get rid of the monsters, do they then drop items as they would do in normal battle?

Any melee skill is just an attack. monster drops are dictated by the normal drop roll. If no drop occur, it just means that your % for drops in that round were low anyways.

So the drop will be the same as if I had slahing the monsters with my scythe?

The only thing that I won't get are the weapon and armour proficiency, right?

So the drop will be the same as if I had slahing the monsters with my scythe?

The only thing that I won't get are the weapon and armour proficiency, right?

Yes, currently the only way to "modify" your chance of getting any loot is via tune up the difficulty or trainer skills: scavenger. luck of draw, quartermaster, and archeologist.

Using weapon skills do not increase your proficiency, so yeah.

This post has been edited by Coma: May 1 2012, 22:38

How long did it take for the whole run?

I spent 8 hours, but I took a break every half hour or so and took it easy. Someone with a faster connection, snappier browser, and more concentration could easily do it in less.

Yeah, 246.1 would become 369.15 with haste, so you can still improve a little bit with double haste, like you wouldn't get hit by e1ia and be able to get more hits on monsters, but it probably isn't worth using the scroll and spell

Its a minor improvement, but its the difference between getting three or four extra attacks in while SStrike's procs are up. I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than "LOL this is stupid, so I'm gonna abuse the fuck out of this shit" like meleeing DwD on BT/IWBTH.

Okay, now I've had it enough. I think I need help.
When I started playing HV, I started with Light+DW. After some time I learned that DW suck. Then I decided "time to try 2H". And yes, 2H is awesome, even without any prof. Mass damage, 'shatter stike' oneshotting whole arenas.

But now (with 2H) monsters are hitting me almost every time. God, I often got killed at some low-level arenas (always playing on Normal). Some crit or magic attack or spirit attack and I am dead.

Monsters are killing me too fast (and I've got haste on IA). And my hitrate&damage is too low to kill them faster.

What can I do? Only thing that comes to my mind is move from Light Armor to Heavy... But change full armor set is not that easy. Also some nice sets (like Shield armor of Protection) are sooo expensive. Or shall I find full set of Shade equip and concentrate on my evade? Or full "Kevlar of Protection" set?

Any helpful advices? Questions? Maybe my weapon is bad?

Char, skills, trainings:
[img440.imageshack.us] (IMG:[img440.imageshack.us] http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/8503/hv1lw.th.jpg)
[img839.imageshack.us] (IMG:[img839.imageshack.us] http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/8867/hv2p.th.jpg)
[img208.imageshack.us] (IMG:[img208.imageshack.us] http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2556/hv3b.th.jpg)


Equip:
Mace
Helm
Breastplate
Gauntlets
Leggings
Boots

This post has been edited by kserox: May 2 2012, 07:41

I will defer to non-cloth users on the armor question, but you're using that Protect spell you bought, right?

Try not to mix kevlar and shade at your level. Especially with poor kevlar. Your losing out too much on defense by throwing shade in when you don't have that much mitigation to begin with, and the gains in evade are useless compared to how much you still lose through burden and just using kevlar.
Concentrate on mitigation armor until your much higher lvl, minimum 150+ imo. Evade is already unreliable enough, and is hard to stack, being low level doesn't help with that. At low levels, shade has low mitigation and not enough evade to offset that, so stick with kevlar of protection or plate of protection/shield of protection/barrier armor. 100k credits is more than enough to find a good set of any of those. I'd recommend plate of protection for now.
Your 2H prof and deprecating magic prof are both rather low, 2H should increase naturally, but deprecating might require some spamming in easy crude IW with a no interference gossamer/phase set and a focus staff. It'll help against bosses. Also, note that using a mace means that your light armor prof will grow much more slowly since stunned enemies can't attack.
I'd also recommend training your DW prof occasionally. It's very effective against gods and I've also seen it being recommended for schoolgirl arenas. 2H is just most effective against large groups of enemies thanks to domino strikes and shatter strike.
Your damage isn't bad, the mace you have has pretty nice damage and stun. It's probably a problem with your hit chance. I'm really not sure why its so low though. You might consider boosting your dexterity and getting the hit chance aura (yellow i think).
If you do go for mitigation instead of evade, then you might consider using protection in IA. Haste didn't really make a big difference for me at lower levels because I didn't need the speed to outpace monsters, and trying to keep stun up on a lot of monsters didn't work anyways because of my low crit chance, while protection really helped. At higher levels, especially past 200, you'd need haste just to prevent all the monsters from hitting you multiple times per turn.
Finally, play smarter. Try to kill the monsters that have 50 percent or more mp first, and when a monster is stunned, plan accordingly, as in "can I kill this stunned monster using domino strikes only?" This will let you deal damage more efficiently.

Okay, now I've had it enough. I think I need help.
When I started playing HV, I started with Light+DW. After some time I learned that DW suck. Then I decided "time to try 2H". And yes, 2H is awesome, even without any prof. Mass damage, 'shatter stike' oneshotting whole arenas.

But now (with 2H) monsters are hitting me almost every time. God, I often got killed at some low-level arenas (always playing on Normal). Some crit or magic attack or spirit attack and I am dead.

Monsters are killing me too fast (and I've got haste on IA). And my hitrate&damage is too low to kill them faster.

your gear needs some work. Kevlar of protection, is good, but make sure stats are decent http://ehwiki.org/wiki/Equipment_Ranges

seems to be hard to find kevlar w/ good phys mit rolls nowadays. Kevlar tended to have high absorb, but that was removed recently, so it's kinda gimp compared to heavy now.

Definitely get some new boots. It's fine to mix shade/kevlar, but since the defense/offense focuses of each are different, you have to experiment and consider the tradeoffs. I will say I had a hard time relying on evade at sub 120 lvls; it was just too low to be reliable.

Chestpieces and leggings are the strongest pieces in terms of stats, so if you want better mitigation, you should definitely consider that. The shade breastplate you have has good phys miti (for shade) but bad evade. Leggings are nice, if a bit low in phys mit. Be better off w/ a kevlar chestpiece i think. Try kevlar helm, chest, gloves / shade legs, boots, or even just shade legs (and like i said experiment w/ other setups) to see if it's any better. Aim for 40+ phys mitigation. If you have a good supply of feathers, that would also help your evade. Also should max out shadow veil.

try pushing a few more stat pts into endurance. Your light armor prof gives +agil so you have some leeway there. You can also leave intelligence a little lower w/o problems (raise it when 4 pts of int cost the same as 1 pt of wisdom, since you get 1 pt of mana either way)

If you want to try out heavy, plate of protection is relatively cheap. No fancy benefits of power/shield, but dirt cheap.

You have to go through the breaking in period for 2hand. Try doing the easier arenas (for you) w/ 2hand, and the ones that seem more difficult w/ DW. I had to do it like that (i switched in my lvl 60s) for awhile, til my 2hand prof caught up. Then all of the sudden I was hitting stuff, and killing stuff easier than DWing.

You can also try proficiency grinding if nothing else =P

Crits are something you learn to live with =/ Sometimes even full health ain't enough to save you. Things that will help are, focus on killing monsters w/ high mana, especially don't let agitated +high mana ones alone. Are you using regen? the heal over time is a lot more efficient than cure, and will likely leave you with higher hp on a turn-by-turn basis. less hassle too.

ninja'ed (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

This post has been edited by etothex: May 2 2012, 08:52

Okay, after lurking here but only being able to find bits and pieces I'll ask questions for the grandmasters. Pardon me if it's a lot of questions, I've been playing this game casually for months and I'm basically bursting with questions I always wanted to know (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I'm a lvl 50 noob using 2h sword with slashing and bleeding and usually fight monsters by using "protection" first, then proceeding to whack them with my sword until my hp is half/low, where then I will use cure. After my overcharge is 100%, on a fresh round I will use my "shattered strike" to basically 1hit ko the monsters in that round. I carry 4 health potions+2 mana or 3 health+3 mana for arenas. Am I doing it right so far?

I seen people using spirit/spirit potions instead and when their overcharge is high %, instead of wasting it on one shattered strike I seen people toggle on their spirit and do heavy dmg. Is that how you're supposed to fight, or am I doing it right by getting a free round pass with shattered strike?

I'm lost on my abilities so I hope someone can redirect me in the right direction here. For my abilities, I maxed out all the experience bonus skill but I don't know what to max out next. I have 12 points to use, and I have experience maxed out, 9 ability pts in mana tank(which means 9 more I can still put on mana), 6 on health tank(12 more i can still put on, 0 on spirit tank(24 I can still put on), 0 overcharge boost, and nothing else on my skill except aura slots/item slots/cure/protection. Should I max/get points on anything else such as haste or shadow veil?

my stats for str/dex/agi/end/int/wis is: 48/48/44/44/44/44 so far. Is this the right way because I thought balancing the stats decently would be a good idea.

My auras are red/orange/green and I have 3 more aura points left. Do I upgrade any of them or something?

Also my main weapon is lvl 32 'fine bronze longsword of slaughter' that I have been upgrading since like lvl 10(114.47 slash/5.31% accuracy bonus/6.46% crit bonus/+0.29 dex/23% bleeding for 3 turns-66 dmg). Is there any way to get something better or do I just keep sticking with this? I have another sword 'fair longsword of balance' and it's lvl 38 with: 87.54 slashing/15% accuracy/6% crit/+1.32 str/+1.53 dex/19% bleed for 2 turns-96 dmg). Which one is better to use?

What kind of armor should I use? I basically have mostly heavy armor(since the stats/mitigation is better than light/cloth) with a few exception of light armor for the armors that are better. Should I just stick to a heavy set or mix it up?

And lastly, for training, what do I aim for first? Currently I have 38 on adept learner(1%+ exp bonus), 2 on ability boost(+1 ability pt), 8 on scavenger, 1 on power tank(+.5 base power), 1 quartermaster, 1 archaeologist.

I know it's a lot of questions but that's basically all I want to know for now, I've been trying to lurk around and flip through the pages but I only find something relevant to noobs like myself once in a while. Thanks y'all (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

This post has been edited by hehsy5sy5: May 2 2012, 10:01

I will defer to non-cloth users on the armor question, but you're using that Protect spell you bought, right?

Yes. Can't say I see any ingame difference though.

Kaosumx, etothex
So, to summarize it all up, you think I should:
1. To hell with Haste, put on the Protection.
2. Move from Shade to Kevlar with high Mitigation. Somewhere around 50%+ must be the target. Or move to the heavy armor, which is quite hard.
3. Grind proficiencies (ugh). Especially Deprecative and (obviously) 2H. High difficulty crude IW for the win.

I hope to give more detailed answer later, because I have some more questions. But for now I want to check that I got at least the main points right.

Yes. Can't say I see any ingame difference though.

Kaosumx, etothex
So, to summarize it all up, you think I should:
1. To hell with Haste, put on the Protection.
2. Move from Shade to Kevlar with high Mitigation. Somewhere around 50%+ must be the target. Or move to the heavy armor, which is quite hard.
3. Grind proficiencies (ugh). Especially Deprecative and (obviously) 2H. High difficulty crude IW for the win.

1. Haste will be a must later on, especially if you playing as a light melee.
2. 50% is ok. FYI, with all the proficiencies I have, my SD set gives me 52.1% and my kevlar set gives me 62.5% now.
3. 2H proficiency comes quite naturally. Alternatively, you can try to do ROB on IWBTH.

I know it's a lot of questions but that's basically all I want to know for now, I've been trying to lurk around and flip through the pages but I only find something relevant to noobs like myself once in a while. Thanks y'all (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

1. Weapon/armor
Buy them in WTS. You can use equips which are higher level than you, its stat will be scaled down accordingly. Find a scythe (with good bleeding chance/duration/damage) or mace. Both should have 'of slaughter' suffix. Depending on your style, you may want to use plate (more defense, suitable for 'bleeding' style) or power (more offense, suitable for 'stunning' style). Try to stick with one type of armor (heavy, light, cloth) so you can enjoy the bonus from prof.

2, Aura
You'll have focused aura soon, so wait till you can put more into the auras you're focusing on. When you feel you have too many spare aura, pick 'refined aura' training.

3. Balancing your primary stat is okay when you're not sure how they affect each other.

4. Abilities
Max HP tank first. EXP tank shouldn't be your primary focus now.
Also pick haste/shadow veil when you have spare APs. They do give some advantages, but it's not a must.
However, weaken and poison are good spells, as they help to reduce monster's damage, enabling you to fight bosses and above/fight on high difficulty.
Allocate your AP among SP/OC/MP/EXP tanks. Try to train your 'ability boost' till around 40~50/100 for those APs.

5. Training
Train some Aps, train some EXP (adept learner). If you want more drops, train Scavenger. Pack rat is good if you need more items during battles. You can also put your spare credits into other trainings.

That's about it for the non-strategy part. As there's a huge level difference, I'll leave the strategy part to the others.

This post has been edited by varst: May 2 2012, 14:06

A general question, is the new SD better/worth using, compare to the old ones?

The stats improve quite a bit, however, at the cost of higher interference.

Yes. Can't say I see any ingame difference though.

Kaosumx, etothex
So, to summarize it all up, you think I should:
1. To hell with Haste, put on the Protection.
2. Move from Shade to Kevlar with high Mitigation. Somewhere around 50%+ must be the target. Or move to the heavy armor, which is quite hard.
3. Grind proficiencies (ugh). Especially Deprecative and (obviously) 2H. High difficulty crude IW for the win.

I hope to give more detailed answer later, because I have some more questions. But for now I want to check that I got at least the main points right.

1. For now yes, but as I've said, you'll need it later on, sometimes just to prevent fast monsters (*cough* E1la *cough) from raping you multiple times a turn.
2. You'll probably low to mid 40% at your level with kevlar, and 50+ with plate. At higher levels, as you see with MidNightPass, even shade has quite a bit of mitigation. I get 45% right now, with 32% percent evade, and switching to my kevlar set would only give me 52% mitigation (seems lower, but its because I'm using some that are non-protection because they have better quality and higher specific mitigation) and 17% percent evade. Factoring specific mitigation, my shade set will still let me take less damage overall, and the boost in attack damage, accuracy, crit, and agi means that I do much more damage overall.
3. Like I said, 2H will come naturally, and your light armor prof is fine for now, I'm just saying it MIGHT grow slower if your using the stun of a mace, but if you train DW every once in a while, it should be ok as long as you don't level up too fast. Try to do the low lvl arenas that have few rounds and fewer monsters using DW instead of 2H. High difficulty crude IW for prof grinding shoudn't be neccesary. And unless you need to fight gods, you won't really need deprecating proficiency. A little bit of spamming with leftover MP at the end of arenas where you get a full HP and MP restore should be fine, and if you ever fight in RoB and find that you had trouble with keeping up debuffs, then you go to crude EASY IW with focus staff, full set of potions, and no interference armor and kill everything except 1 monster, then spam weaken.

A general question, is the new SD better/worth using, compare to the old ones?

The stats improve quite a bit, however, at the cost of higher interference.

I'd take better stats. If your really concerned about the interference before doing something, you can always featherweight shard (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

This post has been edited by Kaosumx: May 2 2012, 14:38

A general question, is the new SD better/worth using, compare to the old ones?

IMO It's basically the same thing, only the new one has higher interference. The better stats is mostly due to the increased drop rate when playing at higher difficulty, which also increased its stats.

Simply said, it's availability bias. The stat max/min should be the same, but you don't get enough shadowdancer for comparison.

Hmm my SD set is composed by 4 old pieces. Nevertheless, I am quite happy with this set.

Was tempted on going through this topic, but 749 pages is far too intimidating for me to sift through to find what I want.

That said, I've been having loads of trouble going through grindfests, crysfests, item worlds, and higher level arenas for a while. I barely go 30 rounds before running out of items and mana, and then just leave it up to luck to get me through to the next round (where I die in 2 turns).

From what I'm starting to discover, and going by what most people here say, Dual Wielding is outright horrible when up against more than one monster. I'll probably switch to a 2H, though I'm loathe to switch my light gear for heavies, especially considering the costs.

That said, what the heck can I do to survive longer in higher rounds? My basic strategy is cast Protect (which is currently 19 MP for me) when I first begin, target the 50% MP monsters (focusing mainly on the user-created ones since some of them do beyond ridiculous damage), heal when HP is low, and if I have Mystic Channeling, use it to either boost Protect or Shadow Veil.

My build so far:

[i50.tinypic.com] Character
[i50.tinypic.com] Ability
[i49.tinypic.com] Training

Equipment (which I plan on changing, though I wonder if I can afford it):

L47 Fine Rapier of Balance
L51 Avg Dagger of Raccoon
L57 Fair Shade Helmet of Fleet <--- Borrowed from Free topic.
L49 Fine Shade Breastplate of Negation
L38 Avg Shade Gauntlets of Negation
L48 Fine Kevlar Leggings of Protection
L71 Fine Shade Boots of the Fleet <--- Borrowed from Free topic.

Sorry for all the links. Just tired of dying so early.

Sorry for all the links. Just tired of dying so early.

Main problem's equips. You simply don't have enough evade even when you're wearing shade, and DW with shade is one of the worst combinations, probably only better than DW with clothes.

If you want to DW, please make sure you have
1. correct weapons. Get a club of slaughter on MH and rapier with high parry on OH. This combo should be easiest to start with. Or you can use axe of slaughter and dagger with high parry, but it's a bit risky when you don't get spells which protect you from monsters' skills.

2. correct armors. Use kevlar or protection or better, use plate/shield/power armor. Protection suffix should be okay.

Though eventually you'll still switch to 2H against mobs and use DW against legends/gods.
If you want to use 2H,
1. get correct weapons. Either use scythe for bleeding or mace for stunning. Choose those with slaughter suffix for better damage.

2. correct armors. Again, protective armor. Later you may use shade with mace, but right now you are not powerful enough.