Training feedback

[undernolights]

Hello all. In light of the upcoming fixskills, I'd like some feedback about training my level 63 empath. I primarily hunt with her, swing one handed as my RT is too high with THW and I've never gotten used to or enjoyed hunting with spells. Here are my skill goals at this time. As you can see, I am migrating tons because when I came back a couple months ago, I messed with some stuff. Any thoughts on changes, things I should consider or do differently to maximize hunting potential? I have no interest in reducing healing time or anything like that at this time. I'm easily able to heal and do rescues as is.

Thanks, all!

>SKILLS BASE
Kestrynna (at level 63), your base skill bonuses, ranks and goals are:
Skill Name | Actual Actual
| Bonus Ranks Goals In-Game Time to Goal
Armor Use..........................| 132 36.785 35 9 days, 2 hours, 31 minutes
Shield Use.........................| 165 65 65
Combat Maneuvers...................| 122 31 42 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
Edged Weapons......................| 165 65 65
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 20 4 8 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
Physical Fitness...................| 213 113.194 64 44 days, 2 hours, 29 minutes
Arcane Symbols.....................| 70 15 15
Harness Power......................| 163 63 63
Spirit Mana Control................| 120 30 30
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 165 65 65
Survival...........................| 120 30 30
Perception.........................| 138 39.925 30 10 days, 3 hours, 31 minutes
Climbing...........................| 90 20 20
Swimming...........................| 90 20 20
First Aid..........................| 224 124 124

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 30.900 30 1 day, 11 hours, 18 minutes

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 38 38

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 62 62
Training Points: 0 Phy 97 Mnt (346 Mnt converted to Phy)

3 days remain until the annual FIXSKILLS is to be granted, on 05/20/2012.

You started this migration period on Tuesday, 5/1/2012 at 11:39:29 EDT. You have 13 days, 23 hours, 32 minutes remaining in your current 30 day migration period.

You're currently migrating at a rate of .002 skill points per pulse, and have converted 78.897 training points this migration period.

Further information can be found in the FAQs.
>

[undernolights]

wow, crickets chirping!

[FlayedAngel]

Hey! I know that character, haha.

Fairly new player here myself, so I don't have much in the way of informative feedback. I'm actually curious, though; how do you like using OHW versus a THW? I haven't looked much at that mix (versus Brawling or THW, which seem to be popular for Warpaths), but it occurs to me that such could be fun. I haven't heard a great deal about it, though -- does it work out well for you, comparatively?

[Jace Solo]

IMO the killing power of OHE is too weak without spending a lot of coin on crit weighted weapons and you don't really need the defense of the shield until much closer to cap. My Warpath swung a maul and did fantastic. Nothing I couldn't kill and 1106 was a good set up. I don't know if AS becomes a problem near cap. I know WRoss did it at 100 but I know he also had a ton of goodies.

What society would help too.

Normal Warpath training is:
1x Weapon/CM/PF(2x if you can)
1.99x Spells (at least 225, 130, and Empath at like level) for Redux
Armor to 35 ranks
(If you're Sunfist 65 ranks of blessing gets you 1107 for a full stam recharge coupled with sigi power...awesome)
Then it's all up to you

[undernolights]

I agree about the weakness of OHE, but when I've used a fixskills to switch to THW (which has me swinging with 6 second RT), my DS has been significantly lower than with a shield, so I switched back. Maybe I was doing it wrong, I dunno, but the shield seems to help me. Otherwise I agree that THW makes more sense.

[undernolights]

Oh, and I'm COL.

[Jace Solo]

It's gonna be lower. You're not picking up dodge and you're losing the enchant DS on the shield. You still shouldn't "need" it though. Are you stance dancing...do you take advantage of feint? Perhaps it's the play style that needs tweaking.

Also, what are your stats and what kinda weapon are you swinging?

[undernolights]

Gender: Female Age: 44 Expr: 3829138 Level: 63
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 92 (36) ... 95 (37)
Constitution (CON): 88 (29) ... 72 (21)
Dexterity (DEX): 62 (1) ... 62 (1)
Agility (AGI): 77 (8) ... 81 (10)
Discipline (DIS): 96 (23) ... 96 (23)
Aura (AUR): 75 (7) ... 75 (7)
Logic (LOG): 96 (18) ... 98 (19)
Intuition (INT): 73 (11) ... 73 (11)
Wisdom (WIS): 100 (25) ... 100 (25)
Influence (INF): 96 (28) ... 96 (28)
Mana: 167 Silver: 2990

I'm swinging a 6x falchion.

Good points re: feint and stance dancing...

[subzero]

I primarily hunt with her, swing one handed as my RT is too high with THW and I've never gotten used to or enjoyed hunting with spells.

My suggestion would be to try and get over that little (bolded) hump there. Empaths are one of the strongest casters in the game. I'm not terribly familiar with a lot of melee mechanics, but I notice that your agi/dex is pretty low. I'm sure someone else can chime in with more info about that, though I can tell ya that's why your RT with THW is longer. I'd have gone with a higher agi/dex to use THW if I insisted on swinging. You're taking a class that is a very strong spellcaster, weak melee attacker, and opting to use the less efficient route with yet even more inefficiency in the method of attack (OHE vs THW). Swing like a crazed monkey if you must, but I'd fire up the bone shatter build myself.

[undernolights]

Yeah. I think it's probably time to try something new, because she gets by as is, but could be pretty bad ass if I trained her to hunt a little more easily. I don't know the first about building up an 1106/casting warpath. Guess I'll do some googling.

[undernolights]

I wish I had known anything when I rolled her up years ago, because her stat allotment is a real shame!

[WRoss]

As someone who warpathed to 100, you have to pick and choose what you do to gain exp. Hunting is only part of the formula as you can use the AG to get a lot of bounties. Skinning and foraging are great, especially in your late 70's to mid 80's in the rift. Anyways, it's all about setup. You need to get the CMANs (1x) that'll keep foes from keeping you from going less than defensive and enough PT (2x+) to withstand standard maneuvers. From there, it's all setup. Web is great as it has a 25 TD pushdown. Even at 2x spells, you can use web pretty effectively.

[undernolights]

Yeah, I pick up a lot of bounties so have variation in that way. If one goes for a primarily casting/1106/whatever hunting path, do you still advise training in CMANs? If someone was going to hunt using spells, but still doesn't care about reducing healing time, what might be important to train in?

Appreciate the feedback, all.

[subzero]

Yeah, I pick up a lot of bounties so have variation in that way. If one goes for a primarily casting/1106/whatever hunting path, do you still advise training in CMANs? If someone was going to hunt using spells, but still doesn't care about reducing healing time, what might be important to train in?

Appreciate the feedback, all.

In the Empath sub-folder here, find the "From the" drop-down at the bottom left corner of the screen somewhere. Change it to, say, the last year. Now, to the right of that, click "Show Threads". There should now be several threads all containing the same info in regard to various empath builds you can poke through.

To quickly answer the CM question, though, it's not a necessary skill for a casting empath. Post-cap or if you've got the extra points to put towards the various thresholds, sure, otherwise don't worry much about it.

[ashronsjunky]

Hello all. In light of the upcoming fixskills, I'd like some feedback about training my level 63 empath. I primarily hunt with her, swing one handed as my RT is too high with THW and I've never gotten used to or enjoyed hunting with spells. Here are my skill goals at this time. As you can see, I am migrating tons because when I came back a couple months ago, I messed with some stuff. Any thoughts on changes, things I should consider or do differently to maximize hunting potential? I have no interest in reducing healing time or anything like that at this time. I'm easily able to heal and do rescues as is.

Thanks, all!

>SKILLS BASE
Kestrynna (at level 63), your base skill bonuses, ranks and goals are:
Skill Name | Actual Actual
| Bonus Ranks Goals In-Game Time to Goal
Armor Use..........................| 132 36.785 35 9 days, 2 hours, 31 minutes
Shield Use.........................| 165 65 65
Combat Maneuvers...................| 122 31 42 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
Edged Weapons......................| 165 65 65
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 20 4 8 ASAP (will rise when points are available)
Physical Fitness...................| 213 113.194 64 44 days, 2 hours, 29 minutes
Arcane Symbols.....................| 70 15 15
Harness Power......................| 163 63 63
Spirit Mana Control................| 120 30 30
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 165 65 65
Survival...........................| 120 30 30
Perception.........................| 138 39.925 30 10 days, 3 hours, 31 minutes
Climbing...........................| 90 20 20
Swimming...........................| 90 20 20
First Aid..........................| 224 124 124

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 30.900 30 1 day, 11 hours, 18 minutes

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 38 38

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 62 62
Training Points: 0 Phy 97 Mnt (346 Mnt converted to Phy)

3 days remain until the annual FIXSKILLS is to be granted, on 05/20/2012.

You started this migration period on Tuesday, 5/1/2012 at 11:39:29 EDT. You have 13 days, 23 hours, 32 minutes remaining in your current 30 day migration period.

You're currently migrating at a rate of .002 skill points per pulse, and have converted 78.897 training points this migration period.

Further information can be found in the FAQs.
>

check out my training of my hybrid empath on the post below yours. My empath is hunter based with healing option. So far the build is working great.

[ashronsjunky]

Karlite (at level 65), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 130 35
Physical Fitness...................| 165 65
Magic Item Use.....................| 102 24
Harness Power......................| 180 80
Mental Mana Control................| 165 65
Spirit Mana Control................| 102 24
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 167 67
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 167 67
Mental Lore - Transformation.......| 167 67
Perception.........................| 126 33
Climbing...........................| 153 53
Swimming...........................| 150 50
First Aid..........................| 150 50

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 30

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 35

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 85
(Use SKILLS BASE to display unmodified ranks and goals)

[ashronsjunky]

Ill just post it all here to make things easy....

Explanation on the training...

Armor use- 35 ranks of armor use for wearing FGB 7% hindrance isn't bad when your using only 6 mana per spell and have a 200+ mana pool

Physicle Fitness- im gonna start off with 1x per. i might go 2x per just for the help on maneuvers. Hopeing that the HCW of the FGB should pull the slack. If not ill prob 2x it cause its cheap..

Magic Item Use- im gonna train this to 50 for statues, amulets and any other magic DS booting items. 50 ranks should cover the majority of items

Harness Power- dump all you can in it cause mana is everything!

Mental mana control- Now i will have 85 ranks in this reason being that MMC "plays a significant roll" on the spell 1106 according to krakii. It doesnt explain how but i have reason to believe that it helps with the infusing of extra mana into the spell for higher damage when channeled. Besides mental mana is your main mana supply... You gain significantly more mana per pulse to make the hunting trip last longer.

Spirit mana control- i put 24 ranks here to share mana with my ranger and wizard for spell ups

Spiritual lore Blessings- Im going for 1x+ in this cause blessing assists in healing the scars under wounds when healing down. This results in less mana spent healing down and if I dont feel like hunting and want to sit in TSC and heal, Im not dealing with large scar RT's Ill probably stop around 120 ranks for the lore needed for organ Type 3 scars if i do more than 1x per level. Also this helps with trolls blood.

Spirit lore manipulation- This skill is your instant death crit skills. I am only doing 1x+ in this only because the stuff i pick to hunt i have a 50-100+ CS over their TD so hitting them isnt a struggle. Training in this just gives me a better chance at a instant death which in turns saves mana. But i also feel shouldnt be a dependent due to low mana cost of the spell and also having a large mana pool.

Mental lore transformation- 1x or so in this also. Again this is a hybrid build and it reduces the RT of healing down wounds and scars and gives me the option to TSC heal when i dont feel like hunting. Ill probably train in this until type 3 organ scar heals are down to a 3 sec cast rt.

Perception- max out at 50 ranks. Aids in finding passage ways, hidden people, ect...

Climbing and swimming- Max at 50 to help climb GY gate, getting to stronghold, darkstone, ect...

First aid- 1x in this to assist with skinning for bounties and herb eating when you dont want to waste the mana to heal down

Spell circles- for empath circle im going to keep trained 20 spells above level. for max CS with out over doing it. For my Minor and Major spirit im going to 1x one per level and 2x the other and switch between em each level.

So thats an explanation to what i have up to now. Here is the skills im going to train into later on when the skills im gonna max out early raches their max point...

Arcane symbols -50 to read all spells on scrolls and get into broken lands ect..

Spell aiming- 2x bolt spells to attack critters without bones like insect type critters and undead ghost type

Survival- you could 1x or 2x to aid in forage bounties and skinning. I have a 20 ranger so im not gonna do this since she can forage for me.

Thats about it! with today being fixskill im eager to try out this new hybrid build and see how it works. If i can remember ill post progress and tweeks on it as i test it out the next few weeks.

**Update**
I used my fixskills today and have done several hunts and spent soem time healing in tsc also and here where he stands...

He is healing type 3 organ scars with 5 sec physical rt, 40 mana gained off nodes and 60 on nodes. He has a 322 cs & a 409 ds self spelled in guarded. Im averaging 1 instant death crit ever 15 cast or so. Over protected and has a 100+ cs over Harbringers in darkstone. He is a CoL master so useing wracking i can fry within 300-350 mana and can fog back home. Ill probably put a few more training points in transformation until healing type 3 organ scars is just a 3 sec cast rt then train in just blessing to 120 ranks and rest in manipulation for insta death 1106. Then lastly work on my spell aiming for bolt CS spells against non bone structured critters..

[undernolights]

How much mana do you have, and how many ranks now?

[undernolights]

FYI I decided to go for it and spend $$ on a fixskills later if need be. So here's what I did:
Armor Use..........................| 130 35
Physical Fitness...................| 166 66
Arcane Symbols.....................| 120 30
Magic Item Use.....................| 120 30
Spell Aiming.......................| 166 66
Harness Power......................| 166 66
Mental Mana Control................| 120 30
Spirit Mana Control................| 120 30
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 165 65
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 165 65
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 165 65
Survival...........................| 120 30
Perception.........................| 120 30
Climbing...........................| 90 20
Swimming...........................| 90 20
First Aid..........................| 224 124

Spell Lists
Major Spirit.......................| 30

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 34

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 78

So far, my hunts are going SO MUCH FASTER than before. I think I don't need both MIU and AS, so might get rid of AS at some point. From my understanding, overtraining in HP doesn't necessarily yield huge benefits, but I do feel like I'm a bit low on mana. I also feel like a higher CS would be nice. For 1106, would more empath spell ranks contribute to that? My CS is at 314, so maybe that is decent. My defense is great, which I was surprised by...I actually feel like I'm getting hit LESS than with my shield and OHE.

[subzero]

So far, my hunts are going SO MUCH FASTER than before. I think I don't need both MIU and AS, so might get rid of AS at some point. From my understanding, overtraining in HP doesn't necessarily yield huge benefits, but I do feel like I'm a bit low on mana. I also feel like a higher CS would be nice. For 1106, would more empath spell ranks contribute to that? My CS is at 314, so maybe that is decent. My defense is great, which I was surprised by...I actually feel like I'm getting hit LESS than with my shield and OHE.

Each rank of HP beyond level only gives one mana per rank; at best (2x hp) you'd have 63 more mana. Realistically you're not likely going to be able to afford that, which is fine, but the cost of even 1.5x hp can be steep and that would only provide ~5 more shots of 1106. I started off 2x hp, then worked down to 1.5x, and eventually once I got near the 50-60 level range I believe I started dropping it again down closer to 1.2x.

CS should be fine. And you probably are getting hit less because you're not changing stance and killing things faster.

[ashronsjunky]

80 ranks in harness and i got 220 mana. What town you located in? look for me in game My character is Karlite we could do darkstone or something and see what the differences are

[FlayedAngel]

Wow, lots of good advice!

From my understanding (and testing), what the above poster says about HP is true; the returns aren't really worth it to train above level, as you only get 1 mana per when going above level. Empaths get a lot of defensive spells, but a runestaff (http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Rune_staff) will also grant additional DS for a caster based on the levels of assorted magical skills (see link for a list). General rule of thumb, I've heard, is to train around 8x or more in assorted magical lores per level, which usually happens for most casters anyway.

As for CMANs... I dunno, I've heard that you can get by without them, but I imagine that having the PF (http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Redux) training to help compensate for CMAN defense if you drop them entirely wouldn't hurt.