Brawling & Voln

[GlassEngine]

Hi everyone.
I'm coming back after several years of being off. I'll get right to it. I have a low 40s Empath, Master of Voln that trains in brawling. When I left, I was having pretty fair success with Voln-Fu. With a Cleric friend, we could hunt, plus or minus a couple levels effectively. I could jelly brains and spear-hand pretty gnarly for an Empath. Now that I'm back (my Cleric friend came back with me, so most things being equal) I'm finding that RT for punching and kicking is higher and I can hardly land a hit. So the mechanics are (finally) re-vamped but I'm wondering if I'm missing something or an Empath/Voln brawler is no longer a viable option, even if only moderately effective. 1106 and swinging brawling weapons still works, but I'm eager to kick, punch and throw (and jab and grapple now apparently).
Any input would be very appreciated.

[Androidpk]

You have to go by the tier system, unless you are ambushing from hiding. You start out at tier 1 and must jab to get to tier 2. Once there punch/grapple/kick will do more damage and will give you a chance to get to tier 3 attacks, which are usually fatal.

[GlassEngine]

Okay, wow. That makes sense. I assume tiers are worked through while fighting an individual creature, and not like, going back to Voln to train. How do I know when I get through tier 1 to 2? And to 3?

[Androidpk]

The tier is for each individual critter, yes. You'll get specific messaging for a tier up. Something along the lines of critter being vulnerable to a specific attack, punch, kick or grapple. Use that attack and you'll tier up.

[Taernath]

It's reflected in the positioning messaging.

You start jabbing, and it says something like, 'your attacks leave the opponent vulnerable to an X attack!', do a successful X attack and you'll see 'you're in good position' under the attack roll. That reflects what tier you're in.

[Androidpk]

You can find everything you need to know about the new system here.

https://gswiki.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/UAC

[GlassEngine]

Okay, great. Thanks guys.

[mgoddess]

Also, I'm pretty sure under the old Voln-fu system, 102 had no effect on attacks... now, with UAC, 102 will subract the same amount from your unarmed attack strength as it does from normal attack strength. (Feel free to flame me if I'm wrong about this.)

Edit: confirmation that 102 had no offensive penalty for Voln-fu, gained here: https://gswiki.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Voln_fu#Spells_and_Symbols

[gs4-PauperSid]

Also, I'm pretty sure under the old Voln-fu system, 102 had no effect on attacks... now, with UAC, 102 will subract the same amount from your unarmed attack strength as it does from normal attack strength. (Feel free to flame me if I'm wrong about this.)

Edit: confirmation that 102 had no offensive penalty for Voln-fu, gai
ned here: https://gswiki.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Voln_fu#Spells_and_Symbols

Pretty sure it didn't affect your MB directly having airwall up, but it did screw with the other numbers (tht) some, affecting the attack to some degree.
My ranger archer used to brawl and bow in Voln. Dropped brawling completely when Voln fu got ..........FU'd by the new brawling system.

-J

[GlassEngine]

In case anyone was interested, I found that default aiming seems to effect it too. I started having way better luck after turning auto aim off.

[Roblar]

It adds 1 second