Paladin Grimswarm Hunting

[chrenraf]

Alright, I'm a sword and board (OHE) Paladin who Mstrikes. There's a ton of other classes that can solo camps and they don't have many problems. It takes me FOREVER to take down even the smallest camps (In fact I end up getting help) I have trouble killing the bastards in time before I am over-run. MStriking just is not cutting it. I'm looking to see how everyone else is doing it and if there is anyone out there very successful via open ambush. I was debating on picking that up.

[Buckwheet]

I aimed for the head with a ridiculous attack strength and a perfect handaxe.

[chrenraf]

Nice. I have a perfect handaxe, the only problem for me is I am a dwarf, so I can't hit the head. Are there alot of death crits for the stomach, chest, or back?

[Drakefang]

First off, soloing a camp is easier than doing it as a duo (based on my own experience). Two people create swarms that are difficult to maintain control over, while one person more often only gets 1/2/rarely 3's showing up versus the ridiculous 5 or 6. Get to know a wizard and get some haste imbeds. These will help you maintain better control of the room. I personally never step further into a warcamp than the first room. This way if you do get into trouble you can exit the camp with only a single command. If you get RT locked, you are probably screwed. The only thing that will help you is if you are hasted and can get out of some RTs before the grims do. I believe you can use sigil of escape once a day even if stunned or in RT.

As a dwarven paladin I think you're not set up well for warcamping since the idea is to kill grims as fast as possible. You can't let more than two of them stand around for any amount of time. I don't like paladin cmans for inducing RT nor for taking down grims AND defensively not many of the paladin cmans help you. You're not going to one shot many grims without being able to ambush head/neck/eyes. You have two options. One ambush a leg then ambush head. Ambush abs and hope for nerve damage, especially on the casters, to help maintain control of a room with pure grims.

Additionally, I'd use something like an Iasha flaring weapon and only hunt troll camps.

[Androidpk]

I don't think I've cleared a camp by myself since converting to paladin from warrior. Grouped up with a couple others though and it is much more enjoyable.

[Drakefang]

Yeah, I've personally found 1 character to be alright, 2 or 3 people is rough and 4 or more is pretty much fine for hunting warcamps. We hunt them two nights a week, normally, with the Drakes Vanguard. The right 2 to 3 people can certainly make warcamping work for them...but too often small groups get overwhelmed quickly by FoF and RT locks and mass spells like nature's fury.

[chrenraf]

Thanks for the info. So far, defensively I am fine. (just watch out for the clouds) My main problem has been actually killing the bastards. I have a 7x perfect handaxe with Grapple flares and mstrike like mad. I use 1615/15630 to kneel/grapple them (Ivas) and im still having trouble taking down critters before more roll in. So far ive noticed even hunting by myself it does not take long before there are 6+ in the room. I would be fine with 6 or 8 regular dudes in there as when im RT locked, my DS is good enough to get me by... it's the clouds and dang casters that can jack me up. If I can leg/death crit all of them ill be fine. Heck even leg 3 or 4 of the fighter types annd then mstrike one of two times. The next best thing might be to have some call wind amulets... but that could eat tons of money quick.

Since i cant reach the head/neck, perhaps it would be best to go OHB. crushing the leg works as good as slicing it off and im willing to bet it has a better chance of death critting stuff in plate... what do you think?

[Drakefang]

I have to wonder what grapple flares chances are to crit-kill. Mstriking is great for flaring weapons IF the flares have the potential to kill. Grapple flares might or might not be only as good as making the room kneel with your spell, then all you are doing is doubling up. I've never seen grapple flares so I really can't say. If you ask me, your issue is the issue that many OHE users face, assuming they don't ambush (which adds rt too), and that is they can't kill things quick enough. I think you need to consider dropping the shield training and up your offensive firepower. Trust me, I deplore advising that because I used to be a firm believer in the sword and board method. Having gone with three more potent builds I have simply learned that typical success leans much more in favor of aimed shot kills and massive damage in the least time. OHE's simply don't cut it if you can't target a neck or eye right off the bat. At least, not in a grim camp when you have them stacking up on you.

I am certain others might agree and some will not. I think you need to at the very least consider an alternate weapon for warcamps, assuming that grapple flares simply aren't getting you any kills.

[Androidpk]

As far as I know grapple flares have 0 chance to crit kill.

[Jace Solo]

Also, the plasma flares off Iasha weapons don't double flare on trolls, unless something changed from when I owned mine.

[chrenraf]

1615/1630 sometimes crit kill, but not often. The grapples when they hit are nice because they throw them to the ground whereas 1615/1630 would only make them kneel. It is AWESOME when this happens. In fact, i have grapple flares with 1615/1630, on my OHE, and on my fusion plate. Doing anything other than hunting warcamps I DESTROY things. I can take out a huge swarming temple room in no time. I think my big problem must be the armor/added crit padding of phantom mitigation dudes in warcamps have. When I get warcamp party tasks i can destroy 3 or 4 of them at a time no problem just like bandits. It's just the constant influx of new guys in the warcamps i cant keep up with.... and it does seem like the grimswarm in the warcamps are harder to kill then the warparty kind. I find I slay warparties quite quick. Then again, when i'm killing a warparty I can 1630 the room and work on a guy, then 1630 the room again, work on the next guy, etc. Can't 1630 that much in the warcamp... If I could use judgement as much as i wanted... I would be doing much better in those darn camps.

[Androidpk]

Also, the plasma flares off Iasha weapons don't double flare on trolls, unless something changed from when I owned mine.

They don't.

[Middian]

My baby brother is a dual wielding pally that takes camps down on a regular basses. I to like Drake find it harder when you group with others. As soon as I go into a camp, I go into the center o the cross roads of a camp, I kill there until more than 3 fill q room and then I will move one south. They will spill in one or two at a time, making it much more manageable. You have to train yourself to have discipline and move when there are to many. Once I keep moving south I'll adventually hit the entrance, at this time I'll start moving north one.

I use this tactics self buffed (zealot as well) and with wiz spells and clear about 100 at a time or until the camp is clear. Like buckwheat stated AS is king.


Just my 2 cents.

[neimanz1]

I think you are better off with a normal perfect weapon and getting the guiding light flares. Grapple flares are ok on armor I guess but not on a weapon they not that great unless maybe a runestaff for fun. And You probably should use the infusing ability with your bonded weapon.

[Androidpk]

Guiding light flares are pretty crap and infusing your bonded weapon is a waste of time/mana as it only flares once before you have to infuse again. Get a perfect weapon and add fire flares.

[Suppressed Poet]

Not to butt in with merchanting but...

I do have a 5x sanctified fire flaring broadsword if you are interested (not perfect, just regular). It's scripted and I think it whispers it's name when you touch it. Was going to use it for troll camps, but I don't see myself doing that for quite some time. Haven't used it once and it is just collecting dust in my locker. May or may not be what you are looking for...I know everyone loves handaxes and falchions, but broadswords still do well against plate. Just send me a PM if interested. I haven't listed it anywhere and really in no hurry to sell.

[chrenraf]

Well, I'm looking at possibly going OHB for a little bit. I'm looking for something with a ton of weighting and perhaps getting a 7X perfect and adding fire flares to it. Eventually it would be nice to TWC 2 morning stars, one with HCW+ and the other with fire flares and perfect. It is a tough decision because anywhere else besides warcmaps, im smashing it. I think getting something with HCW + major bane and decent AS will ensure I severe a leg everytime. Do that for the 2/3 creatures in the room via picking up ambush and then mstrike. It's fun to try and figure out the best way to be productive in this environment..until now I just ran into the temple and smashed everything I wanted/did some bounties/ and chilled at the statue.

[chrenraf]

I'm actually not doing too bad on orc camps. im killing those pretty easy and my francisa is getting headshots lol. Guess ill have to get a nice fire flaring item for the trolls and say piss on the giantkin unless im grouped.