Curse

ogre_jd · Feb 28, 2008, 05:47 PM // 17:47

Well, just started playing last night (yay, me!) and so am looking for PvE build suggestions and general strategy.

1) I don't plan to do much grouping 'til I get a handle on things, so solo play suggestions would be preferred. (frankly, I'd be horrible in groups for various reasons, though I'm no Leeroy)

2) I *do* plan to keep my meat shield, er, animal companion. Can you only have one of those at a time, and what should I be looking out for to replace the cat from the Ranger tryouts? Obviously this means a few attributes into Beast Mastery and keeping Charm & Comfort Animal...

3) Since I'll mostly be soloing, I'll be keeping Healing Signet and investing mainly in a Mastery and Tactics (if only for the Signet), at least for now. No preference for weapon, though I've a Rinblade (and mainly Severing & Gashing).

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Flem · Feb 28, 2008, 06:41 PM // 18:41

Soloing will become harder and harder as time goes by. You can, however, beat the game using only henchmen (much harder then joining parties).

Best advice I can give is keep trying out new skills and new ways to use the skills to become most effective.

Heal Sig, Sever, and Gash are very commonly used skills are are still used in higher levels of play.

Keeping a pet can be helpful if used right. To get the most use out of having a pet, it's best to decide what you want the pet to accomplish.

As a warrior as a main you are very limited in this area because you have bad energy managment options and having pet skills will eat up you energy fast. So, a damage dealing pet is better handled as a ranger.

However, if you put most of your points in sword/strength and use warrior attack skills (which mostly use adrenaline), and then have your pet take most of the damage, then you can be quite effective solo.

Most War/Ran use the Wilderness Survival line instead of Beast Master. You get Apply Poison and Troll Ungent, both popular skills.

After you have decided on several skills you like best, narrow the choices down to 8 by making sure the skills are compatible together (like the Sever/Gash combo).

Most importantly, experiment and have fun!

Tyla · Feb 28, 2008, 08:14 PM // 20:14

Soloing is only good if your build is built specifically for that area.

Also, if you're playing a warrior, make sure you have at least 1 skill that causes Deep Wound.

Pet's are actually very bad, so I would get rid of it as soon as...but if you want to keep the pet it's up to you as long as you know the combo is quite bad.

[skill]sever artery[/skill][skill]gash[/skill] + some adrenaline attack skill which does +damage.
[skill]ressurrection signet[/skill] for if those henchmen/PuG's die, they can be bad at times.

[skill]"watch yourself!"[/skill] could be used as utility.
Again, if you really want your pet it takes up slots, which is a bad thing due to the extent of how effective a pet can actually be.
So including the pet, thats 7 skill slots.
Take your pick of a utility skill. Or maybe [skill]"for great justice!"[/skill] for charging your adrenline faster.

And when you get away from using pets, you should start using an IAS (Increase Attack Speed).
Frenzy is a great skill but requires a cancel stance. The double damage thing can be quite a penalty in PvE if you're monks are bad, though. It is still the best IAS in the game that you can use for a warrior if you get to the part where you get real monking done (Protection Prayers henchie), and as long as when you're being hit by something hard you have Rush / Sprint ready.

Crom The Pale · Feb 29, 2008, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Basically the pets only role for you is going to be soaking up some dmg, and when it dies you lose all of your skills for a short time. Not really a good trade off for the highest armor class in the game.

That being said the war/ranger with pet is very powerfull in presearing and for maybe the first 3-4 missions after you go post. Beyond that your pet will be a liability for you and won't deal much dmg. Pet attacks will become to costly for the return, just measure a standard pet attack with 10 beastmastery vs Power Attack with 10 in strength or Drunken Blow with 10 Tactics.

Killed u man · Feb 29, 2008, 12:17 AM // 00:17

WOW, Nice post (OP)

Seriously: you are, by far, the "smartest" person to actually post a question as a newcommer here! (And I mean that)

I was expecting another: "I wanna heal my party as a warrior, why doesn't it work?" or "My axe doesn't kill people, why not?" thread...

Thumps Up for this one (Will keep link for the comming PvE-noobs, so they know HOW to post a question

)

Euhm, as a warrior, you can either do 2 things (Or both):

Damage/Tank... Seeing you prefer to solo, you pretty much hit the nail on it's head (That's the dutch expression anyays o.0) W/R is a very reasonable choice, there is plenty of builds out there.

I do suggest that you try and experiment yourself. Unlike me, who simply copied a 55 monk build, and pretty much "sucked" the first 2 months. (Copy /Pasting doesn't get U anywere)
Keep your pet, but don't invest too much points into beastmastery... You'll find a few nice I(ncrease)A(ttack)S(peed) skills in BM aswell... (Used in the infamous IWAY)

"Watch Yourself" is a must tough, seeing you'll invest in Tactics...

Just a FYI: Axe does MOST damage/Pressure... (How NO idea how Dslash <-> Axe tough)
And Cyclon axe > PvE... (Seeing you don't have acces to much other AoE skills)

Just experiment, and if you think a skill is bad, it usually is

GL!

ogre_jd · Feb 29, 2008, 12:47 AM // 00:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killed u man

WOW, Nice post (OP)

Seriously: you are, by far, the "smartest" person to actually post a question as a newcommer here! (And I mean that)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killed u man

Just a FYI: Axe does MOST damage/Pressure... (How NO idea how Dslash <-> Axe tough)
And Cyclon axe > PvE... (Seeing you don't have acces to much other AoE skills)

Yeah, I was thinking about switching to Axes - Cyclone Axe was quite impressive, even if it *was* just against Aloes

- but all the axes so far have been complete crap next to that Rinblade you can craft from the beginning, so I'll be sticking with them.

As for my Beast, well, yeah, I suppose I will have to dump it and reallocate eventually - but it's currently quite useful and the only other Ranger skills I have at the moment are bow related and rather crappy, from what I could tell using them during the training missions with a 7-10 bow, so not much other choice for now.

Draginvry · Feb 29, 2008, 08:11 AM // 08:11

For an early W/R, your pet can be usefull if you keep it at about your level. It can be a good damage soak. You might want to lose it shortly after you leave The Breach. From that point on, pets become more and more of a liability as you gain access to better weapons and attack skills. Having an extra defensive skill and an attack is usually preferable to having a pet who you won't have the energy to heal.

There are a couple of elite skills you can get way later that makes it possible to effectively use pets as a warrior, but doing so usually means you are trading your damage for the increased ability to tank or do pressure: both of which aren't as important in PvE as grabbing a huge axe and whacking stuff on the head.

As far as masteries, just use Swordsmanship until you get to Yak's Bend. From that point, you can usually craft, collect, or find axes that do almost as much damage as your sword. Until then, the Rinblade will be better unless you trade from players.

Eventually you will probably want to have all axe or sword attacks and a few skills from Tactics. You may or may not need to invest in Strength, depending on what skills you are using. But to be honest, virtually all of the good strength skills are in Nightfall (and Tiger Stance in Factions). You can probably just skip strength entirely.

Reinfire · Feb 29, 2008, 11:53 AM // 11:53

Quote:

Soloing will become harder and harder as time goes by. You can, however, beat the game using only henchmen (much harder then joining parties).

Let me explain this a bit further. Henchmen are computer-controlled substitutes for other players. You find them in every town and outpost after you go pre-seer and can add them in your party. All they do is follow you around whereever you go and attack enemies when you run across them (or heal you in case of the monk).

It doesnt really matter if you go axe or sword in the early part of the game, they are both good in their own ways. Later in the game, youll come across elite skills, at that point I would go axe since the sword doesnt have good elites in prophecies, while axe has a few excellent ones. But you wont come across elite skills for a looooooong time so for now it doesnt matter.

I wouldnt go hammer as a starting player. Its IMO harder to wield than an axe/sword, and you would lose the benefit of your shield.

One important thing about warriors is adrenalin boosters. You get the most powerfull one in the game pretty soon: [skill]"For Great Justice!"[/skill]. This will really help your warrior alot. Besides from that, just meddle around with skills till you find something you like