Survival Skill

[mweaver123]

I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere, so...

How many ranks of Survival do you all usually walk around with? I'm only 18, but I don't wanna get my ass kicked by weather or other unforeseen things later on in the game.

Thanks!

[Taernath]

Generally 1x, mostly for skinning or foraging.

[Orthin]

Generally 1x, mostly for skinning or foraging.

Same

[mweaver123]

Is it worth it to train it to avoid weather problems? Slipping on ice, freezing to death, etc? Not sure how often those are a factor in the game.

[bunnymustdie]

I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere, so...

How many ranks of Survival do you all usually walk around with? I'm only 18, but I don't wanna get my ass kicked by weather or other unforeseen things later on in the game.

Thanks!

I've been able to deal with the weather fine with only 30 ranks back when my empath hunted the tundra, even on longer hunts. My wizard with 0 ranks in survival can also manage a hunt in gossamer valley without negative effects from the weather, though I never did a long hunt there on her. When it comes to traveling on ice, the empath can go from the landing to icemule perfectly fine via ;go2, whereas the same wizard will slip and fall on her ass just about every other room.

I think if training points are tight, you can just do 0 survival and avoid certain areas where it matters. 24-30 ranks would be a low budget amount that gets the job done in most places, if you don't wanna go full 1x.

[Maerit]

Every character I've capped, capped with 0 survival. Of course, I never bothered with IMT other than to visit for events and merchanting.

For some professions it's really handy and skinning is an excellent source of income, so there's some good reasons to train it, but I would definitely call it "optional". Since most of the characters I capped are pure wizards and sorcerers, I actually avoided survival because it prevented me from having to deal with skinning bounties, which sorcerers and wizards tend to suck at doing.

[n0551n3n0m1n3]

I will say that with 202 ranks, you still slip on ice. Hunting in areas with windchill, you have 4 minutes or so before you get damage cycles with 0 ranks.

[Taernath]

FWIW I think spells like 602 play a larger role in avoiding weather damage than survival training.

[drumpel]

Survival can also help against some bandit traps - though I'm not sure which ones and I don't know how much they help against them.

Survival is one of those skills that is not widely utilized in the game (like picking pockets - some folks still do train in it and use it, but not like it was used years ago before all the disneyfication was added to the game to prevent picking pockets and making it much harder to do), but the recent changes to making fires was a step in the direction to make it a slightly more worthwhile skill to train in. I generally only train in the skill on characters I want to be better with skinning

[lexbubba]

I have 101 ranks and still slip occasionally. I have 0 ranks until I capped. Highly recommend that.