Build Advice

[Carnivale]

Alright guys, I screwed up a little bit here, and I need some help with damage control.

After having started out with your regular OHE sword and board build, I got real bored at level 14 and decided to fixskills with 2x brawling and some other changes. The plan? Use voln fu almost exclusively, with a fist-scythe for the occasional living critters.

So now you probably already know the problem. Fu works great for half of what I'm killing, but those living creatures literally take about 2-3 minutes to kill with this damn fist-scythe! Suddenly I'm the worst adventurer's guild member ever.

My question is this: What will be the least painful way for me to become more viable against living creatures? As I see it, I can either:
A) Pick up a synergistic skill like cman or ambush to use with my fist-scythe.
B) Start training in OHE, and pick up a katar in a couple of trains.
C) Begin a skill migration towards archery.

As for the last, I have no experience with skill migration. I know that the answer to any question about skill migration is 'long,' but what are we talking about here, two weeks logged on? Two months?

In any case I figure I've niched myself to undead for a few levels, and I'm fine with that, but how quickly and painlessly can we fix this?



Here's my skills at level 14.5, with 61/0 training points and 14 P2M:

Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 74 16
Shield Use.........................| 74 16
Brawling...........................| 124 32
Physical Fitness...................| 74 16
Dodging............................| 70 15
Harness Power......................| 70 15
Spirit Mana Control................| 50 10
Stalking and Hiding................| 30 6
Perception.........................| 70 15
Climbing...........................| 50 10
Swimming...........................| 25 5
First Aid..........................| 70 15

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 6

Spell Lists
Ranger.............................| 14

[Izzy]

My question is this: What will be the least painful way for me to become more viable against living creatures?

Use fu on the living too.

[Carnivale]

Not a voln master yet. If I do that I never will be.

=/

[CrystalTears]

Use fu on the living too.
Doing that uses up favor though, so he'd have to hunt undead even more just to break even.

[Izzy]

Doing that uses up favor though, so he'd have to hunt undead even more just to break even.

Good point. I'd say just skip out on the AG unless it gives you undead task, and work hard to finish voln up.

[CrystalTears]

Perhaps go back to 2x in OHE and go down to 1x in brawling for the Voln Fu. And then keep doing AG tasks to increase your exp learning. The first 20 levels are difficult, so perhaps sticking with the tride and true skills and then branch out later.

[graysun]

A few comments/observations/opinions:

The first 60 training points per monthly cycle migrate pretty quickly. After that, you're better off gaining experience to get more TPs rather that just trying to reallocate the points you have gained thus far.

I'd say maybe drop armor use down to 8 ranks and wear double leather for another 10-15 trains until the 30 ranks necessary for brig can be accomplished by singling.

Dodging is a skill you can get away with being less-than-singled during the early levels. The recommended .75x should be fine for a good while.

The 4 spell ranks that you have doubled, over the 16 you can have at the 1x cost, seem like a big sink at such an early level.

When my Voln brawler was trainied in hiding and ambush, I used a fist-scythe to ambush OHE-style. It works, but is a bit slower and more difficult than if you were using an edged weapon. My sense is that edged-without-ambush is a lost cause, and that ranged weapons better compliment the brawler build.

Use vines as much as you possibly can. Tangle Weed is a free and viable alternative to knockdown manuevers in many instances.

It may take some grouping up with people....but as others have mentioned, mastering Voln is your best shot to reach a point where it will be much easier to gain EXP. You will definitely want a second attack style, and ranged is probably the optimal way to go, but dropping shield and picking up ranged (and getting perception to 2x, which helps both your brawling MB and ranged AS) may take a little time.

[Carnivale]

Thanks guys.

Here's what I decided to do:
- Drop some of the unnecessary stuff.
- Start a migration towards ranged which will include 2x brawling / 2x ranged.
- Master voln ASAP.

Here are my new goals, please feel free to offer fine tuning advice:

Armor Use..........................| 16
Shield Use.........................| 0 (17 days, 0 hours, 38 minutes)
Ranged Weapons.....................| 32 (ASAP: will rise when points are available)
Brawling...........................| 32
Physical Fitness...................| 16
Dodging............................| 15
Harness Power......................| 15
Spirit Mana Control................| 10
Stalking and Hiding................| 0 (3 hours, 16 minutes)
Perception.........................| 16
Climbing...........................| 4 (4 hours, 3 minutes)
Swimming...........................| 2
First Aid..........................| 14

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 4 (2 days, 8 hours, 58 minutes)

Spell Lists
Ranger.............................| 14

[graysun]

Looks like a good start to me.

[CrystalTears]

Nevermind. I was going to suggest ambushing but then saw you're taking away hiding, so that'll be moot.

Yeah looks good. :)

[zhelas]

Nevermind. I was going to suggest ambushing but then saw you're taking away hiding, so that'll be moot.

Yeah looks good. :)

Archery Attack Strength (AS)

Archers can do several things in order to better their Attack Strength (AS). Firstly, training in the Ranged Weapon skill is a necessity. Other Character Manager skills that increase an archer’s strength bonus include Perception and Ambush training beyond the first 40 ranks. Perception’s benefits, however, max out at 200 ranks. The AS bonus is: +1 AS per 2 ranks each of Perception and Ambush over 40. This means that 2 ranks of perception and 2 ranks of ambush would equal +1 AS. Perception benefits cap at level * 2.

The Dexterity stat and certain spells also help with overall strength

From Nilandia.com

[CrystalTears]

I kept hearing that unless you were sniping, there was no real point and the AS advantage from ambush wasn't really worth all the training points. Ah well.

[Durgrimst]

In the early levels it is not because you have to have a minimum ranks to see a benefit. I always prefer to double perception instead of 1x ambush and perception. The formula subtracts 40 ranks right off the bat and that is where you start, so if you 1x both of them, you won't get shit till later in game.

[zhelas]

In the early levels it is not because you have to have a minimum ranks to see a benefit. I always prefer to double perception instead of 1x ambush and perception. The formula subtracts 40 ranks right off the bat and that is where you start, so if you 1x both of them, you won't get shit till later in game.

The rule of thumb that I always followed for Archery was:

2x range
2x perception
1x ambush

Good Skills to get if you are a Volner: 2x in Brawling, 1x Armor to either Brig or Chain, 1x PF for life, 1x Spells, and 1x Dodge.

In my honest opinion there really isn't a reason to do more than 1x in spells unless you want to be magical. Minor Spirit Spells are easy to get from someone. I would recomend getting 640 by level 40. I love that spell. After getting 640 start getting your Minor Spirit spells. At 120 you can either continue to 130, but you are a volner so you can fog. I would then recommend going to 650 but that is personal choice.

The remaining points can go to survival and first aid, swiming, climbing, Spirit Mana share is nice. Pick up 24 to 30 ranks eventually. MIU and Arcane.

Peace

[Izzy]

The rule of thumb that I always followed for Archery was:

2x range
2x perception
1x ambush

Good Skills to get if you are a Volner: 2x in Brawling, 1x Armor to either Brig or Chain, 1x PF for life, 1x Spells, and 1x Dodge.

In my honest opinion there really isn't a reason to do more than 1x in spells unless you want to be magical. Minor Spirit Spells are easy to get from someone. I would recomend getting 640 by level 40. I love that spell. After getting 640 start getting your Minor Spirit spells. At 120 you can either continue to 130, but you are a volner so you can fog. I would then recommend going to 650 but that is personal choice.

The remaining points can go to survival and first aid, swiming, climbing, Spirit Mana share is nice. Pick up 24 to 30 ranks eventually. MIU and Arcane.

Peace
I have zero ranks of ambush and have never had problems with AS. Definitely a post cap goal for me. I'd agree with sticking to 1x spells, and then I'd suggest tossing some ranks into summoning lore for spikethorn/natures wrath ubar-sexiness. I like 650 too.

[Ignot]

Don't forget that this game is easy.