Is multi-opponent combat really useful?

[LucasC83]

Just looking for some quick advice for my upcoming Paladin...Do you guys think that multi-opponent combat is a useful skill (i.e. do these situations occur enough to justify the points spent, are the benfits gained significant?) Or would I be better off conserving those points for more tangible skills?

[Stanley Burrell]

Tanked up in the significantly higher levels? Yes.

Shoddily distributed whilst down in the dumps? No sir.

[Czeska]

I had 5 ranks of MOC on my bard and used it.
15 on my twc ranger and LOVED it.

[mgoddess]

It's not just the offensive multistrike that's useful with MoC...it's the Force-On-Force that's very useful with MoC. With 10 ranks, you offset one critter, 25 ranks 2 critters, 45 for 3 critters, and ever 25 ranks after that an additional critter. Very, very useful with swarms and invasions....offsetting critters means you don't get a DS pushdown when more then one critter attacks you in a 5-10 second period.

[Augie]

I have 5 ranks of MOC with Augie and I love usin it. Even if I'm just hitting 2 critters, it is kinda nice to stun them both at once.

I also have a halfling warrior who is a 2 weapon brawler and uses MOC. It's awesome swinging 2 weapons 4 times in 5 seconds.

[Stunseed]

Stunseed's got 30 ranks in MoC and it is quite nice. My physical bard has 35 ranks with a polearm, and it certainly helps in a swarm.

[LucasC83]

Thanks for the input, everyone. MOC definately sounds more useful than I had thought it might be. I suppose I'll be training it 1x per level for life.

[Drew]

If you are going to be a two handed paladin you'll probably find anything more than 30 ranks overkill. More than two swings with a THW is too slow.

[AestheticDeath]

you can limit your swings though, and still have the advantage of force on force junk

[Drew]

Just don't think it's worth the point personally, considering 30 will already negate two creatures and I just don't fight 4 or more creatures at the same time.

[Jolena]

I stopped at 35 ranks for Jolena, never saw the need to go past that. Although, I figured perhaps at cap, if I have the inclination, I'll pick up some more then.

[AestheticDeath]

For normal fighting that makes sense.. I was just recalling when I came back a month or so ago from my inactivity. And DIED> Seems every time I come back to GS, its during an invasion in the landing. And I DIE>

I was self spelled, great DS... Nothing could hit me..

Until I walked into a room with 40 plants. ... ... ... Oh! I never noticed what pretty dirt surrounds the Landing.

[Latrinsorm]

MoC isn't *really* useful. It's *fairly* useful. You should really never be in a situation where a ton of creatures are attacking you to begin with, so the FoF argument isn't too strong. If you're a square, the trouble you have with swarms isn't DS-based. If you're a pure, you have ways to disable/kill swarms anyway. The only real reason to get more than 30 some odd ranks is if you're using fast weaponry for mstrike.

[Seran]

30 ranks enough to get the two swings on one critter?

[Latrinsorm]

Yes.

[DevNull]

Just don't think it's worth the point personally, considering 30 will already negate two creatures and I just don't fight 4 or more creatures at the same time.

I realize this topic is a bit old, but I wanted to add my $0.2 - I found I did extremely well in swarms with an ewave amulet/anklet and hitting 3-4 targets at once with a claidh. Sure, doesn't work on everything, but in the places it works it was a lot more fun than running away.

As such, I would recommend 35 ranks MOC. With 35 you can swing twice at a single critter, or hit four that you (or someone else in the group) just e-waved. I mean, you want 30 anyway, 5 more isn't a big deal for the 4th swing.

For this reason I always 2x MOC with a young warrior until I have 30 ranks, then single up to 35.