Runestaff vs Shield/Brawl

[DarkSorc]

I know its been talked about before and forever, but I cant find any posts atm on it...which is better and why, right now Im runestaff and maybe Im just getting bored with it, but I am thinking of changing to Shield/Brawl.

Any discussion will be helpful.

Also while we are on the skills topic...spell aiming......how has it and why and if you have it does it have to be x2d?

[Swami71]

I recommend shield/brawl if you hunt nelmar or OTF. Spell Aim I went with out and still could if not for the water elementals in Nelmar. Spell Aim is well worth it to get rid of the water elementals other wise don't bother. IMHO

Note: you don't have to be fully trained in Shield/brawl I've used it no problems with .5x shield and no brawl. Just might need to spellup a little more.

[Audriana]

Twink or twinkie is a gay slang term describing an attractive young or young-looking gay man (usually in his late teens or early twenties) with a slender build and little or no body hair...

I don't really see anything derogatory in that...

[mgoddess]

(Staying on topic because 'World Post-in-the-wrong-thread Day' is stupid...)

I prefer to go at least 1x shield with my spell-casters, because it lets them stand in offensive and still be beefy (compared to a runestaff being nothing more than a decoration while in offensive stance). None of my spell-casters have training in brawling, but I've heard that it can help as well (I believe it gives DS for having an open hand?).

As for Spell Aiming, it is your primary source for Bolt AS. If you want to use 111 (Fire Spirit) and actually have a chance to hit what you're hunting, you'll want to 2x Spell Aiming. I don't know if 1x Spell Aiming is sufficient or not for Focused Maelstrom, Focused Implosion, or any of the other Sorcerer spells that take Spell Aiming into account.

[Abyran'sa]

Personally, I think that the best plan is to stick to a runestaff until very late in the game. The benefit of using a runestaff is that the training points spent for normal Sorcerer training benefit one’s DS, and thus you can invest tps that would be sunk into brawl/shield into whatever you see fit.

That being said, I have recently discovered that cap is a different story. It looks like even if I got Sereg 5 ranks of Cman disarm, he would still be disarmed by tritons half the time. Removing the runestaff and moving to shield (where one doesn’t have to worry about disarm) suddenly becomes pretty attractive, and once one is at cap, there is nothing but time to make more tps. At this point, I don’t think that I will end up going shield/brawl, but it looks WAY more attractive than it did at level 90.

As to spell aiming, I have always either thought that a Sorcerer should double in it, or not touch it at all. Dabbling is simply a waste of training points IMO. I do enjoy web bolts, and have found bolting to be very useful.

Sereg’s puppeteer

[Gelston]

Eh, its really not all that hard to follow and breaks up the usual day-to-day monotony here. I think what everyone here on the PC has in common is that we are all gamers.

Being as that is, I think this is a stupid day.

[Back]

I’m stopping at 7pm, EST, which is 12 midnight BST. (GMT +1)

[DarkSorc]

Just asking about everything because I hate relying on other people for spells to be able to hunt. That being said self spelled i have a DS of 487 and i hunt in OTF currently, so it is more than enough and I hit everything I fight. I was just wondering about the brawl/shield for use with 705 and 702 having a hand open and being in OFF stance. Think like Sereg said I will stay runestaff until at least cap, thanks guys

[Proxy]

I'm curious anyone know what the yeild is for training/useing a shield only as aposed to runestaves?

[mgoddess]

I'm curious anyone know what the yeild is for training/useing a shield only as aposed to runestaves?
What do you mean by 'yeild'/'yield'? Yield as in defenses? Offenses?

[Proxy]

Ment yield, and am interested in Defense... srry

[Ignot]

I prefer to go at least 1x shield with my spell-casters, because it lets them stand in offensive and still be beefy

how often are you in offensive? pures should only be in offensive for a brief second when casting, then back to guarded. anyways, i think both have there advantages and disadvantages and it really depends on how you vision your character. then again this game is pretty easy so i don't think you can screw up....

[mgoddess]

how often are you in offensive? pures should only be in offensive for a brief second when casting, then back to guarded. anyways, i think both have there advantages and disadvantages and it really depends on how you vision your character. then again this game is pretty easy so i don't think you can screw up....

My sorceress & empath usually stay in offensive until the critter(s) they're in front of are dead. Unless they're uphunting, they can (normally) go straight through a hunt in offensive without getting a single scratch. (Both stay in offensive because the spells they sling give hard RT and do much more damage in offensive versus even guarded. Plus, it's just damn sexy to have a pure running through her hunt in offensive and not getting a scratch.)

I haven't played my wizard in ages, so I don't recall how easily she can hunt a full hunt in offensive. I think she's a bit of a wimp, comparative to my sorceress and my empath, but I don't recall for sure.