[X] My Assistant

As soon as you've got the requisite gear and spells. Holy and Dark are pretty well balanced against each other. Holy is better for low difficulty grinding since you've got Purge and stronger Cures (even my hideously bad Heimdall set Cures for 70% of my total HP, and that's only running 3 pieces of Phase). Dark is better at high difficulties, because of the slightly better resist profile in both theory and practice and the proc reduces the amount of incoming rape, slightly.

You're fine with Elemental until you start to hit somewhere in the 220-240 range (depending on difficulty), when the mobs with 25 base resistance start to become serious PITA material.

I usually IWBTH when i'm doing random encounters/crude grind. hell-battle toad when doing arena

I think if you are going to use mace with light armor then full shade is the way to go. With mace it is nice to have the extra offensive stats that shade provides plus the AOE stun goes very well with a high evade set-up.

I swear I can't figure out Light armor...

I mean on paper Shade+Mace has mind-blowing survivability, there's no way monsters can put a serious dent in a setup which sports the highest Evade and Speed in the game, great Resist and Parry (2H prof) and AoE Stun on top of that.

The thing is, isn't it a bit overkill? I mean once all monsters are stunned all those layers of defense are just wasted and you'd much rather hit harder (ie, Power)...

I suppose where it really shines is deep into GF, where you need all the possible defensive means to survive the incoming onslaught during the 2-3 turns it takes to land stun on every monster...

I have 0 experience with Mages' stuff...would you reckon this to be worth anything or can I go ahead and salvage it?

@varst: I see. Thank you.

This post has been edited by ennamyce: May 6 2013, 15:42

I have 0 experience with Mages' stuff...would you reckon this to be worth anything or can I go ahead and salvage it?

Cotton -> Salvage it.

This post has been edited by varst: May 6 2013, 15:39

I usually IWBTH when i'm doing random encounters/crude grind. hell-battle toad when doing arena

Yeah, that's going to get harder and harder over the next 80 levels or so. I can do Nintendo T&T in Niflheim, but I almost never do because it's just such an enormous PITA to do it, I just run Hell for most arenas. When I hit 200 I could do Nintendo T&T without issue, now it's all broke-ass Giant this and Raging Hardon that.

Yeah, that's going to get harder and harder over the next 80 levels or so. I can do Nintendo T&T in Niflheim, but I almost never do because it's just such an enormous PITA to do it, I just run Hell for most arenas. When I hit 200 I could do Nintendo T&T without issue, now it's all broke-ass Giant this and Raging Hardon that.

what is PITA (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

Pain In The Ass

Penis in the Anus? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/duck.gif)

Penis in the Anus? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/duck.gif)

Potential in the Arena!

Stats and Equips:





As far abilities go, I have full exp, hp and mp tanks (up to tier 15), maxed shadow veil, maxed haste, maxed spark of life, maxed silence and maxed heartseeker.

---

My question:

Which do you think would suit my build best: DW or 2H? If it is 2H, what type of 2H weapon? I want to fully train my weapons but I am having doubts about whether or not DW is the best for my build. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Apart from the question, if you see a way I could improve my build even further, please tell me, thanks.

This post has been edited by Artemis Fowl: May 6 2013, 21:17

My question:

Which do you think would suit my build best: DW or 2H? If it is 2H, what type of 2H weapon? I want to fully train my weapons but I am having doubts about whether or not DW is the best for my build. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Apart from the question, if you see a way I could improve my build even further, please tell me, thanks.

My god, another dw/shade player (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) . For some reason I have seen a lot more lately, maybe cause heavy got nerfed so bad.

Anyway, with full shade you have two legit options for weapons, imo. Ethereal club and rapier like you are doing, or ethereal mace of slaughter. Basically, you need stun with shade, well, at least at your level you do. Maybe once you can get all mag and legendary shade forged to near max evade and pmi, then you can play around with an estoc and such (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) . If you are worried about club/rapier working in the long run, don't be, it can work very well. Although it is not optimal as far as speed is concerned compared to the likes of other builds, it is still faster than mace in arenas (at least it is for me). Regardless, work on your two-hand proficiency, it is always best to have many options at your disposal. With melee it is very easy to do both styles too, the game stays a little more entertaining too if you don't use the same thing all the time.

Gear wise, it is hard to give advice without links. Find a fleet/SD replacement for the negation breastplate though. You want to specialize in evade and crit as a dual wield, push them as high as you can. Never use negation, the only excuse for using it is if you have a piece that is a much higher quality tier like a legendary and you cannot afford a fleet/SD replacement for it.

Also I would go ahead and even out your melee PABs, like I said, you want to specialize in crit and evade, dexterity adds to crit and agility is a great source of evade. There's really no good reason you should have them lower than your strength and endurance with a shade/dw build.

Also, upgrade your armor. Exquisite shade isn't really that expensive (it is when it gets to magnificent and legendary pieces that the price goes up). You shouldn't have all superior gear at your level.

This post has been edited by T_Starrk: May 6 2013, 22:00

@T_Starrk

Thank you very much for the thorough post. I learned quite the bit with regards to this build. I have been a shade/dw for as long as I remember (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif). I guess I'll stick with DW since it got me this far. Thanks again for the advice.

Magnificent Mace of Slaughter
should i use IW service from other people with the cost of 655.200c
or level it by my self? "normal mode" maybe (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

If you are really adamant about raising the potency level of that mace, do it yourself. I wouldn't recommend investing money into something that isn't ethereal, or at the very least, something that doesn't have a useful elemental strike.

Magnificent Mace of Slaughter
should i use IW service from other people with the cost of 655.200c
or level it by my self? "normal mode" maybe (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

Its not ethereal naturally, nor does it have an elemental strike. I'd honestly suggest you go try to trade it down to even an exq mace of slaughter with holy/dark strike; or a superior ethereal slaughter. And then level that up,

Magnificent Mace of Slaughter
should i use IW service from other people with the cost of 655.200c
or level it by my self? "normal mode" maybe (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

no , better find another mace ( ethereal or elemental ) with that money (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Don't you even realize what you're saying? If he's trading down, then its worse than what he has; and if it's worse, why invest in that? If it's an even trade, he won't come out ahead, he won't get something better. The damage increase from ethereal is between 10-14% depending on the actual composition of monsters at your level. The mace is ok, not amazing. If you have time to put in a few potency levels on your own, it wouldn't hurt; but long term find an ethereal that's better and buy it.

Don't you even realize what you're saying? If he's trading down, then its worse than what he has; and if it's worse, why invest in that? If it's an even trade, he won't come out ahead, he won't get something better. The damage increase from ethereal is between 10-14% depending on the actual composition of monsters at your level. The mace is ok, not amazing. If you have time to put in a few potency levels on your own, it wouldn't hurt; but long term find an ethereal that's better and buy it.

I think the damage improvement is bigger than that in practice. The mob types that troll Crushing are some of the highest PMI/HP out there (Giant, Undead, Dragonkin are 3 of the top 4 for HP/PMI), and except Arthropod the ones you gain damage on are all fairly fragile to begin with (Celestial, Daimon, Elemental, Sprite). Even if the actual percentage improvement isn't too big, halving the rounds you have to spend smashing high PL Chaosed Giants (of which there are no shortage) is huge for annoyance factor. You'll see a Giant in most rounds, killing them may well be your speed limiting step.

ok thx for the answer.
next can you give me example how to count these?
1. PXP gain = roundup(Item round count * PXP modifier)
what is the "roundup"?
2. PXP(x) = PXP(1) * (1 + PXP(1)/1000)^(x-1)
3. Total PXP needed = 1000*((1+PXP(1)/1000)^n - 1)
i am not really good with english. so could you use full formula? thanks. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If you are really adamant about raising the potency level of that mace, do it yourself. I wouldn't recommend investing money into something that isn't ethereal, or at the very least, something that doesn't have a useful elemental strike.

Other than hallowed boosting cure it is not like it is such a drag on resources to just use 2 sets of infusions instead.

That said, hollowforging won't remove the burden so there's that. He certainly won't find an eth mace with stats anywhere near that for 655k though....