Best armor to wear for an ambushing axe and board rogue in the rift?

[Neovik1]

What is the best armor to wear for an ambushing axe and board rogue in the rift?

Currently in FGB and do pretty well hunting in general. But I won't be able to survive toe to toe with things in the scatter using hiding as my primary defense.

I've been debating just getting better brig... But haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. I want to make sure I make the best decision for a long term solution.

Jeril has recommended to go lower than brig or stick to brig. His advice is usually spot on and has helped me quite a bit in the past. Others have also recommended plate. I always envisioned myself in plate in the past and being able to take a maul in the face. But dodging something outright is much better. Sounds like each direction has it's advantages... From lighter to heavier armors...

[Drew]

I personally think MBP is the best for non casters. If you want to cast go hauberk. You will eventually get hit and having heavier armour really helps lower stun durations.

[Aluvius]

Brig seems tough to beat for your setup, either way you go higher or lower you'll be getting better at something and worse at something. I'm a fan of splitting the difference with a lot of systems, but I could be wrong. :)

Edited to add: Drew that sig gif of Vince is freaking hilarious. :)

[Palcron]

I second the plate suggestion. I got away from OHE when I hit the rift and swapped over to range, but hunting up to there, I had no major issues hiding while wearing any plate class, including full plate. The CvA bonus alone makes plate a huge win. But to be fair, I never bothered with undead and their obscene perception, so that could make a big difference when you factor in plate penalties.

[BigWorm]

There is no penalty for hiding in heavier armor AFAIK. Some cmans/armor are less effective, but you will already be in that category if you wear MBP.

[Candor]

I'm curious, are you 2x or 3x hiding? 2x hiding isn't going to keep you alive up there, but I've wondered how effective 3x hiding might be.

[Neovik1]

Yeah I figured brig would be a good in between spot to be. I guess it's one of those situational things... At the moment I'm not really planning on training for any spells above what I need for picking. If I had the option of being able to pick boxes without the lores I probably wouldn't know any magic for RP Purposes. But having up to 430 does sound tempting at times...

I'm currently only at 2x for hiding and stalking. It's one of those skills that I will be bringing up soonish once I knock out a few other priorities that might take a few months..

[m444w]

If you cast go brig-doubles.

As a mage-rogue, the only time i'm ever in any real danger is when I cannot vanish, or I miss an ewave due to hinderance.

Hauberk is a terrible choice for a mage-rogue.

[Neovik1]

As a Mage rogue do you just ewave and then mow them down with a weapon? Are you wearing brig with that combo?

[m444w]

It depends on the number of creatures in a room, if it's one creature I just hamstring. If it's two or three I just ewave and ambush like usual (with dervish), anymore and I start using a couple of vanishes to clear them out.

At high levels, nearly everything breaks stuns. Rt locks are the best way to incapacitate stuff

[Jeril]

If you cast go brig-doubles.

As a mage-rogue, the only time i'm ever in any real danger is when I cannot vanish, or I miss an ewave due to hinderance.

Hauberk is a terrible choice for a mage-rogue.

It wouldn't be my choice either but hauberk works for Nordred and Svardin.

[Neovik1]

Training up to ewave sounds like it might be fun... So tempted to reprioritize.

[GuildRat]

I found more spell ranks worked well in spell burst areas. However, once I wore half plate, I never looked back. I was never critted and crawl became a good friend when I was swamped with critters and on my back. I think the only thing that killed me in OTF was RT stack and getting whittled to death over the span of a couple of minutes.

[m444w]

It wouldn't be my choice either but hauberk works for Nordred and Svardin.

I think when you are 2-3x cap you can wear whatever you want. They're probably both maxed in all "core" skills, and nordred doesn't have your standard hauberk.

I would amend my previous statement to say, if you have any intention of hiding, hauberk isn't what you should be aiming for as a mage rogue. Open combat rogues outside of ranged is not something I'm very familiar with, Augie used 435 and hauberk without hiding in the rift to great effect. I believe her thoughts were that the rift was such a chaotic environment for hiding, she'd rather deal with the known probably of casting hindrance that a wild variable like hiding environments.

That's a rather isolated high level example though.

I think the real moral is it's very hard to fuck a rogue up.

Also: to clarify, I use dervish with TWC.

[Mumblz]

Full plate hiding uac ambusher here. Formerly ranged, same armor.

[Victorj]

I believe Augie played before the hiding changes in the rift though, right? It was a pain to hide in the rift before because of the moving fog, so there would be rooms you couldn't hide in.

That being said, if you're not using combat spells, plate would be best (MBP is pretty standard). I would use brig if I ewaved, or at least something like chain shirt. IMO, I think the CvA is a little more important in rift because it's known circle only, so you can't just get a ton of spells to pump up your TD.

[m444w]

I believe Augie played before the hiding changes in the rift though, right? It was a pain to hide in the rift before because of the moving fog, so there would be rooms you couldn't hide in.

That being said, if you're not using combat spells, plate would be best (MBP is pretty standard). I would use brig if I ewaved, or at least something like chain shirt. IMO, I think the CvA is a little more important in rift because it's known circle only, so you can't just get a ton of spells to pump up your TD.

True there were some changes to rift hiding, but the rooms still shift rather chaotically on a roll directly before your hiding check.

[DaCapn]

410 is largely useless in the rift. Cerebralites and crawlers are unaffected. Fallen crusaders are susceptible. I'm not sure how 410 and 435 work in the scatter.

With a 3x hide halfling rogue, smastery, tier 2 armored stealth in double leathers, and about +40 in hide enhancives (about as good of a hide roll that one can get), I can hide in front of crawlers pretty well. If there's a couple of creatures in the room or smastery drops, success is not very likely. Crusaders and cerebralites are no problem in general.

If you're not casting, don't mess around with lighter armors. I've considered training for full plate and getting a set to wear in the rift since I never really cast. The only time I cast anything is to 410 any crusaders so they don't mess with me while I skin cerebralites. And even so, it feels like I have about 50/50 success rate with 410 in this case and they seem to get an action off occasionally anyway.

[m444w]

410 is largely useless in the rift. Cerebralites and crawlers are unaffected. Fallen crusaders are susceptible. I'm not sure how 410 and 435 work in the scatter.


There are a lot more creatures running around than cerebralites and crawlers, and 410 is far from useless. It is the best way to minimize or even completely negate a large amount of FoF scenarios and CSvTD resolutions.



>l
Your disk arrives, following you dutifully.
[The Rift]
Climbing a small hill, you now look over a long valley filled with warriors. A huge giantman in plate-mail stands at the front of the vanguard, holding a battle axe in each hand. His skin is rotted and mildewed, and the hollow eye sockets drop bits of goo and small bugs. The entire host of undead soldiers shifts anxiously behind him, as if waiting for a command from their chieftain. You also see the Ondreian disk and a csetairi.
Obvious exits: northeast, southeast
A csetairi waves her four arms in a triangular motion. (Oh shit, it's a spell!)
--- Lich: exec1 active.
[exec1]>incant 410
>;e if not standing? then fput('stand') end; multifput('incant 410', 'hide');
As you concentrate on the spell Elemental Wave, shadows begin to leak out of your form and cling around your body.
Your spell is ready.
You gesture at a csetairi.
A wave of dark ethereal ripples moves outward from you.
A csetairi is buffeted by the dark ethereal waves and is knocked to the ground. (Doesn't matter now, he's in 15 seconds of RT probably)
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
[exec1]>hide
The chaotic environs shift strangely as you seek a suitable hiding spot.
A csetairi notices your attempt to hide! (Lovely random environment change, glad I RT locked the casting creature)
Roundtime: 2 sec.
--- Lich: exec1 has exited.
>hide
The chaotic environs shift strangely as you seek a suitable hiding spot.
Roundtime: 2 sec.
You attempt to blend with the surroundings, and feel confident that no one has noticed your doing so.
>stance off
You are now in an offensive stance.
>ambush
You leap from hiding to attack!
You swing a slim coraesine shortsword at a csetairi!
AS: +428 vs DS: +379 with AvD: +36 + d100 roll: +61 = +146
... and hit for 51 points of damage!
Horrible slash to the csetairi's head! Brain matter goes flying!
Looks like she never felt a thing.
The csetairi writhes in agony and dies.
The very powerful look leaves a csetairi.
The white light leaves a csetairi.
The opalescent aura fades from around a csetairi.
The deep blue glow leaves a csetairi.
The brilliant aura fades away from a csetairi.
The dim aura fades from around a csetairi.
The light blue glow leaves a csetairi.
The powerful look leaves a csetairi.
A csetairi appears less confident.
The wall of force disappears from around a csetairi. (Glad I ewaved it so this didn't matter as much)
The guiding force leaves a csetairi.
Roundtime: 5 sec.


That sort of scenario is rather common place.

Another example:
You run into a room of 3-5 caedera/csetairi/lunatics immediately ewave, another caedera comes in and quakes you for 10-15 seconds of RT (so you have a few seconds before you can vanish)
My raw DS from being 3x dodge and light armor vs 1 caedera instead of 4-6 creatures in a FoF/CSvTD scenario (because I RT locked them) means I always make it out alive, whereas someone in heavier armor may have to face the dreaded CSvTD resolution.

Heavier armors have a better chance of surviving when facing CSvTD resolutions, but if you're facing enough of them to where that pseudo TD is needed, you're probably doing something wrong irregardless of your armor choice anyway.

The only time I thought for a half moment maybe it would've been nice to be in a heavier AsG, in recent memory, was when someone else was hunting Plane 2, and left a warlock with a prepped spell and he immediately DCed me when I walked into the room.

It was my own fault for being lazy and not following protocol though. I should have been sneaking to begin with.

[rolfard]

Pin worn elemental wave pins. Heck Mr is more than possible. No hindrance and easy with tap activation.

[Methais]

There are a lot more creatures running around than cerebralites and crawlers, and 410 is far from useless. It is the best way to minimize or even completely negate a large amount of FoF scenarios and CSvTD resolutions.



That sort of scenario is rather common place.

Another example:
You run into a room of 3-5 caedera/csetairi/lunatics immediately ewave, another caedera comes in and quakes you for 10-15 seconds of RT (so you have a few seconds before you can vanish)
My raw DS from being 3x dodge and light armor vs 1 caedera instead of 4-6 creatures in a FoF/CSvTD scenario (because I RT locked them) means I always make it out alive, whereas someone in heavier armor may have to face the dreaded CSvTD resolution.

Heavier armors have a better chance of surviving when facing CSvTD resolutions, but if you're facing enough of them to where that pseudo TD is needed, you're probably doing something wrong irregardless of your armor choice anyway.

The only time I thought for a half moment maybe it would've been nice to be in a heavier AsG, in recent memory, was when someone else was hunting Plane 2, and left a warlock with a prepped spell and he immediately DCed me when I walked into the room.

It was my own fault for being lazy and not following protocol though. I should have been sneaking to begin with.

Except OP was talking about Scatter hunting.

[Neovik1]

Thanks for all the advice everyone!