What am I doing wrong?!

[Scisco]

Working under the assumption that at Level 15, I should be able to at least hunt within a couple levels of my level...but I can't even hunt level 11 critters without getting my behind kicked. Unless I have a full - dreavening level spell up. Then I can hunt about level 13/14 without any issues. But in guarded stance my DS is all of 140. Clearly I am doing something wrong when even Rabid Dogs and Wall Guardians are able to hurt me big time when I am 4/5 levels over them! Help?! Here are my skills/stats. Maybe I need to just start over?


You are holding an enruned vultite broadsword in your right hand and a thin-bladed drakar backsword in your left hand.
You are wearing some mithril scalemail, a leather crafter's apron, a white wolf hide sheath, a pair of white wolf fur boots, a suede-handled aurnola doeskin backpack, a dark purple greatcloak, a large gold ring, a fiery red cloth pouch, a tin-bound linen badge, a crystal amulet, and a pair of tanned sealskin trousers.

Race: Half-Krolvin Profession: Warrior
Level: 15 Gender: Female Age: 34


Skills:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 128 34
Armor Use..........................| 126 33
Combat Maneuvers...................| 128 34
Edged Weapons......................| 128 34
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 74 16
Physical Fitness...................| 124 32
Dodging............................| 96 22
Survival...........................| 74 16
Perception.........................| 74 16
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 50 10
First Aid..........................| 74 16
Trading............................| 74 16
.

Stats: Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 96 (33) ... 96 (33)
Constitution (CON): 67 (18) ... 67 (18)
Dexterity (DEX): 95 (22) ... 95 (22)
Agility (AGL): 95 (27) ... 95 (27)
Discipline (DIS): 75 (12) ... 75 (12)
Aura (AUR): 55 (2) ... 55 (2)
Logic (LOG): 100 (15) ... 100 (15)
Intuition (INT): 35 (-7) ... 35 (-7)
Wisdom (WIS): 73 (6) ... 73 (6)
Influence (INF): 35 (-12) ... 35 (-12)

[Warriorbird]

Are you maxed in your society?

What is your armor enchant level?

Are you using boosting/disabling maneuvers?

I'd 2x dodging.

You could also get some TWC defense from your off hand.

[Scisco]

I am in Voln, but only to step seven right now.
Not sure what you mean about the TWC defense from off hand, would it be stronger DS using something like a main gauche?
My armor is just armor, not enchanted. I don't have millions yet. Only got a couple hundred thousand lol.

[Warriorbird]

The higher the level you reach in your society the stronger it will make your AS and DS boosters.

Main gauches and certain other weapons can boost your TWC DS.

4x armor shouldn't be too difficult to find in playershops for that couple hundred thousand and would give you 20 DS.

[Taernath]

TWC will have lower DS than OHX. At 2x armor you should be able to squeeze into some 4x brig ( see you're wearing a crafer's apron with some scalemail, I thought they took up the same slot? maybe not). Personally I loved CoL for pure mechanical benefits like Sign of Dissipation, but Voln isn't bad if you can keep up favor.

I would drop trading and see if you can bring dodge up to 2x. Maybe invest in some defensive CM skills until you get redux and better guild skills or disablers.

[Viekn]

He's also wearing mithril scalemail, which I'm assuming is 1x brig. 4x brig should cost you 25k-50k. If you ask on lnet, someone will likely sell it to you cheap. If not, p.m. me here and I'll buy you a set later.

[Dendum]

Post a couple of combat logs of what exactly is ass kicking you

[beldannon5]

If you ever roll another warrior I would start with col you can master it really fast and you get the extra as and ds. It was awesome

[Gelston]

You haven't typed "sort auto head".

It is because you are a TWC type. Your DS is going to be crap for a bit. You may want to sword and board and fixskills later.

[Astray]

Pick up a claidhmore or maul like a normal warrior. Jeez.

[Warriorbird]

Curse you for making me want to play again!

[Jeril]

Yes, getting 4x armor should help. And I agree with more dodge, I often suggest getting 48 ranks of dodge at 2x then stop training in it until you are in fullplate. If those don't give you enough of a boost may want to consider getting the combat movement cman for a while until your DS is more stable, not a lot but every bit helps. Small statues are also pretty common and you can probably find someone willing to donate to a newbie. You are at an odd level for people but by the time you get to 20 things should start looking up a bit.

[Carsyn]

Yep, absolutely get 4x armor and bring dodging up as close to 2x as you can. Being shieldless, you need the extra dodge. I assume TWC users get extra parry chances, so I'd look into Parry Mastery cman if I were you. And as mentioned, small statues and white crystals are extremely helpful at your stage.

Another is of course strategy. How do you hunt? Are you stance dancing? You stay in stance defensive, wait for them to strike, go to stance offense, then retaliate? You should usually be getting the first hit in on them, hopefully incapacitating them (via stunning them or chopping a limb off, etc), then continuing attacking while they are unable to strike you much. That's typically the goal anyway :)

[Gelston]

Look for defender weapons for your offhand for a little extra DS if you want. They are kinda dumb in later levels, but they may be helpful at low levels. I had a pretty neat main gauche back when my rogue was super low level. I also always had a full spell up, but you mention you have Dreavenings, so you're in the same boat I was.

Remember, even though two critters may be the same level, they are not created equal. Don't forget to move around a bit.

[Warriorbird]

Remember, even though two critters may be the same level, they are not created equal. Don't forget to move around a bit.

Yeah. Unless they were nerfed there's still some laughably easy creatures around Landing till 20 or so.

[Gelston]

Yeah. Unless they were nerfed there's still some laughably easy creatures around Landing till 20 or so.

Cyclops are stupid easy, just outside Solhaven. I think I used to hunt them at level 13ish till about 20s.

[Taernath]

Yeah. Unless they were nerfed there's still some laughably easy creatures around Landing till 20 or so.

The krolvin mercs and warriors (16-19?) outside the mines are easy-peasy. Forest trolls (14) if you want to practice stance dancing, you can probably get 2-3 swings off before they hit back. They're squishy and use clubs. Hills trolls wear super heavy armor near the Abandoned Inn, so I wouldn't hunt those unless you plan on selling their gear.

[Carsyn]

Another thing, I did my best for probably my first 60 levels to never hunt in area with spellcasting critters. I had horrible defense against offensive spells, you might be in the same boat. You may want to look for something that's just a swinger and doesn't use spells. You may need to move to a different hunting area. Maybe that place just doesn't fit you very well.

[Raliver]

Buy small statues. Black Wolves sells them fully charged for 30k in Landing, totally worth it. My TWC bard keeps some on hand and uses them every hunt if it's something challenging.