Near cap, where to spend the points?

[tallkris3]

Giant Warrior, Skills and CMANs below. Recently fix stat'd to max stats at cap. Struggling on where to put the extra points. I was learning disarm traps but lost a ton of points when I fix stat and not sure it's worth it to start over on that.

I've thought about starting to triple PT, work towards those 5th and 6th focus mstrikes, dodging, cap out armor or going something axillary (disarming traps, trading, etc)

PT seems to almost make the most sense.
getting the next focus mstrike seems like a lotta points to spend precap
Capping armor for the armor skills (currently have 3 Crush, 3 Support) seems like a post cap item
I had a friend suggest dodging, but considering I'm 3x in shield and carry around a tower shield that seems like a ton of points just for the defense
Should I start up disarming again?
Something I may be missing?

Open to suggestions



sJ>skil
Lancecile (at level 87), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 278 178
Shield Use.........................| 367 267
Combat Maneuvers...................| 278 178
Blunt Weapons......................| 278 178
Ambush.............................| 150 50
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 200 100
Physical Fitness...................| 278 178
Arcane Symbols.....................| 120 30
Magic Item Use.....................| 142 42
Harness Power......................| 20 4
Survival...........................| 189 89
Perception.........................| 189 89
Climbing...........................| 170 70
Swimming...........................| 175 75
First Aid..........................| 189 89
Trading............................| 62 13
(Use SKILLS BASE to display unmodified ranks and goals)



sJ>cman info
Lancecile, your Combat Maneuver training is as follows:

Skill name Mnemonic Ranks
Combat Focus focus 1
Shield Bash sbash 5
Specialization I wspec1 5
Weapon Bonding bonding 5
Combat Mobility mobility 1
Surge of Strength surge 5
Parry Mastery pmastery 3
Block Mastery bmastery 3

Available Combat Maneuver Training Points: 3

[Androidpk]

PT for redux and manuever defense.

[Menos]

I went for PF and never regretted it.

[Archigeek]

Low hanging fruit first: get your armor up 2 more ranks to 180 for a push down, then the PF. Also, it looks like you have zero dodge? You might as well at least pick up the first rank. It's a toss up on which of those to do first: max out PF or get the first rank of dodge.

[Gelston]

He triples shield use and he uses a tower shield. Dodge'd be kind of a waste compared to the benefits of PF for the amount of points. I'd do PF as much as possible, and make it your first post cap goal, then maybe look at dodge.

[tallkris3]

Low hanging fruit first: get your armor up 2 more ranks to 180 for a push down, then the PF. Also, it looks like you have zero dodge? You might as well at least pick up the first rank. It's a toss up on which of those to do first: max out PF or get the first rank of dodge.

Why the first rank of dodge? If there's some benefit of having a single rank of dodge that's pretty easy to fix? I thought doing the math on dodge it only helped 1 DS every 3 ranks or so with my build.

[RSR]

I'm guessing that by 'first rank' he actually meant go 1x in dodge.

However, being 3x in shields, I'd suggest not training in dodge for quite some time. PT would be a much better choice.

-Richard.

[Archigeek]

Yes, I meant the first rank in dodge. Note also that I did mention PF first, but then leaned toward it being a toss-up. The added redux you're going to get from 3x PF is probably pretty small. I would probably go ahead and get the third rank in PF, as much because of the stamina and how PF factors into maneuvers as anything. Keep in mind that the first rank in most skills will give you a better benefit than the second and the third. How many attacks are going to miss you outright with 1x dodge as opposed to none?

From a pure numbers perspective, it's 8/0 for the PF and 4/2 for the dodge, and since you're already converting, 1x dodge is going to come at 10 mtp's vs 16 for PF. So I guess it's not as clear cut as it first seems, at least to me, and I'm not certain which I did first. FWIW: Kerl is 3x shield and 2x dodge, but also well past cap.

In any case, once you cap, if you haven't crossed either of those off your list, they should probably both be near the top.

[tallkris3]

Yes, I meant the first rank in dodge. Note also that I did mention PF first, but then leaned toward it being a toss-up. The added redux you're going to get from 3x PF is probably pretty small. I would probably go ahead and get the third rank in PF, as much because of the stamina and how PF factors into maneuvers as anything. Keep in mind that the first rank in most skills will give you a better benefit than the second and the third. How many attacks are going to miss you outright with 1x dodge as opposed to none?

From a pure numbers perspective, it's 8/0 for the PF and 4/2 for the dodge, and since you're already converting, 1x dodge is going to come at 10 mtp's vs 16 for PF. So I guess it's not as clear cut as it first seems, at least to me, and I'm not certain which I did first. FWIW: Kerl is 3x shield and 2x dodge, but also well past cap.

In any case, once you cap, if you haven't crossed either of those off your list, they should probably both be near the top.

So you were talking about singling dodge... not literally getting one and only one rank of dodge.

If so then the consensus is clearly PT and while it's not splashy something I agree with.

It will be sometime way past cap before I start training in dodge. Plate and 3x shield just make dodge way to expensive now.

[Archigeek]

So you were talking about singling dodge... not literally getting one and only one rank of dodge.

If so then the consensus is clearly PT and while it's not splashy something I agree with.

It will be sometime way past cap before I start training in dodge. Plate and 3x shield just make dodge way to expensive now.

I think I went 2x shield/1x dodge prior to cap, and saved 6 MTPs per level, which I spent on hurling, then got the 3rd rank of shield use first thing post-cap, then the third rank of PF, then the third rank of armor. The good news is that you have a lot of choices, and any of those can be successful. The bad news is that when you reach cap, you get 1ptp/1mtp every 2500 exp. It grows pretty slowly compared to pre-cap. Also note that I was right at about cap when we went through growing pains, so it was a bit different then.

[tallkris3]

I think I went 2x shield/1x dodge prior to cap, and saved 6 MTPs per level, which I spent on hurling, then got the 3rd rank of shield use first thing post-cap, then the third rank of PF, then the third rank of armor. The good news is that you have a lot of choices, and any of those can be successful. The bad news is that when you reach cap, you get 1ptp/1mtp every 2500 exp. It grows pretty slowly compared to pre-cap. Also note that I was right at about cap when we went through growing pains, so it was a bit different then.

1 PTP and 1 MTP per 2500? Wow I head it was 1 PTP and 1 MTP per 1000.

That's gonna be like 25k XP per rank of PF, geez.

[Roblar]

That's gonna be like 25k XP per rank of PF, geez.

LOL, welcome to the party!

But it's not quite that bad for the 3rd rank of PF, about 13K exp per rank.

[Jeril]

That dodge training is nothing to sneeze at. Roblar has some pretty insane DS because he is 3x in both shield and dodge. It would take a while to grind it out though. I am just finishing up 3x dodge myself, but I do use two-handers and not a shield.

That being said I am with everyone else in that 3x PF would probably help you more then the dodge. Of course that also depends on where you want to hunt. In OTF(Where you are now), get the dodge, not any maneuvers worth worrying about there but a higher DS means crystal weapon flares will be a non issue. If you intend to hunt Nelemar, the rift, or warcamps, that 3x PF would be invaluable.

[Valyss]

i'm in a similar boat, 94 coming up on cap. my $0.02:

get at least 2.5x PF, followed by 1x dodge. if you're not going for armor skills, stop at 180 once you get the first tier of reduction. i would hold up on going further on MOC, as it's really expensive per rank

if you're looking for places to reclaim points, you could actually afford to dump ~20 ranks of climbing and 10 ranks of ambush

what society are you? with only 4 ranks of HP, i'd guess not sunfist :/ spellburst reduction is a huge help, you don't want to have to get dispelled like me before hunting :)

on cmans, you'll probably want a little more focus, cDef (YMMV), 2-3 ranks of charge. also, no reason not to finish out mobility.

[tallkris3]

i'm in a similar boat, 94 coming up on cap. my $0.02:

get at least 2.5x PF, followed by 1x dodge. if you're not going for armor skills, stop at 180 once you get the first tier of reduction. i would hold up on going further on MOC, as it's really expensive per rank

if you're looking for places to reclaim points, you could actually afford to dump ~20 ranks of climbing and 10 ranks of ambush

what society are you? with only 4 ranks of HP, i'd guess not sunfist :/ spellburst reduction is a huge help, you don't want to have to get dispelled like me before hunting :)

on cmans, you'll probably want a little more focus, cDef (YMMV), 2-3 ranks of charge. also, no reason not to finish out mobility.

I can't justify nearly half of my remaining CMAN points to get the second rank of mobility. I'd rather get CDEF and FOCUS before getting that next rank of mobility.

COL is my society hence the low HP. With my AS and MIU I've got enough to wear blues, powerful and all wizards outside of blurs and in 2 trains I can add colors on top of that. Not sure it worth it to work towards any other spells for spell burst.

So 70 ranks of climb is a bit overkill? I have the swimming because I plan to do some Nelmar hunting and swim is just so damn cheap for a warrior.

Interesting point on the dodge DS and the crystal weapons, Jeril. I don't think that OTF will be my final hunting spot, I'm thinking another 3-4 trains and I'll go give Nelmar a shot so I think I'm still leaning towards finishing out PT.

[Valyss]

I haven't found anything that needs more than 50 climbing. I can do the vaalor shortcut just fine, rift, bowels, etc with 50 climb / 75 swim. I plan to finish 1x swimming as a post-cap goal, but even at 75 I haven't had problems swimming into nelemar in defensive. I've even swam out a few times injured pretty badly.

i would recommend holding off on nelemar until 93 or so. you'll get ruined by the maneuvers even at 93, I wouldn't want to see it earlier.

here's me, i put my goals by cap in little brackets:

Valyss (at level 94), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 292 192 [202]
Combat Maneuvers...................| 292 192 [202]
Two-Handed Weapons.................| 293 192 [202]
Ambush.............................| 140 40 [40]
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 196 96 [100]
Physical Fitness...................| 334 234 [250]
Dodging............................| 292 192 [202]
Arcane Symbols.....................| 105 25 [25]
Magic Item Use.....................| 105 25 [25]
Harness Power......................| 117 29 [40]
Survival...........................| 196 96 [101]
Perception.........................| 196 96 [101]
Climbing...........................| 150 50 [50]
Swimming...........................| 175 75 [75]
First Aid..........................| 196 96 [101]
Training Points: 0 Phy 8 Mnt (454 Mnt converted to Phy)
(Use SKILLS BASE to display unmodified ranks and goals)

Valyss, your Combat Maneuver training is as follows:

Skill name Mnemonic Ranks
Combat Focus focus 2 [3]
Charge charge 2
Specialization I wspec1 5
Weapon Bonding bonding 5
Combat Mobility mobility 2
Combat Toughness toughness 3
Bull Rush bullrush 2
Surge of Strength surge 5
Parry Mastery pmastery 3
Cunning Defense cdefense 5

Available Combat Maneuver Training Points: 1

[going to pick up 2 ranks of subdual strike to fill out the last 5 points]