UAC empath

[khorpulent]

I think you people are crazy for wearing anything past double. Not only is spell hindrance intolerable, it’s also dangerous. There’s nothing like a failed cast of 1120 to get yourself killed in a hurry.

Honestly, I’ve never felt any need for heavy armor with my empath. Half of the appeal of playing an empath is that you can take a hit. Between 3x PF, Sunfist padding, and hcp doubles, it takes a pretty high endroll with a big weapon to give me anything other than a minor. And even then I can just, you know, heal myself. And of course, 1120 and 1150 make empaths even more durable.

Considering you’re 3x in spells, I’d call this a pure spellcasting build. There’s not really anything wrong with that – in fact, it’s probably a good bone shatter build since it might help you with open-handed channeling. I guess the brawling ranks will give you a little extra parry DS. At low levels, the only way you’re gonna be able to hunt with 1106 is open-handed offensive channeling – you need that extra +40 on the endroll with such a mana-intensive spell.

If you want to actually do the melee empath thing, you’re gonna need CM. You can probably get away without CM for a little while, but you’ll want to 1x eventually if you want to actually use UAC. I’d also recommend squeezing in some transformation lore. While you may not plan on sitting around TSC healing people, being able to heal yourself quickly is still a valuable combat skill for an empath.

Obviously you can’t just add CM or transformation lore without cutting from somewhere. That would probably have to be minor spirit ranks, since you can get those spells from other characters until you can pick them up on your own. It’s nice to have 120, but you can probably live without it for a while. You could probably also afford more PF ranks if you ditch some of your minor spirit ranks.

[wetsand]

Here's a little update. Still chugging along fine. Moved him to Ta'Vaalor to try out some hunting there. Regarding CM, I think with the addition of 4x gear, strength, 1109, and soon bravery I shouldn't have any real issues with UAF for the time being. I also have some 6x gloves for him once he hits 15. I decided to pick Voln for society because of the mechanical benefits (blessing, seeking, and return). I might readdress the society choice later on. I also decided to pickup 3x FA because I'd like him to be an excellent skinner.

Tiny (at level 10), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
  Skill Name                         | Current Current
                                     |   Bonus   Ranks
  Armor Use..........................|      40       8
  Brawling...........................|      58      12
  Physical Fitness...................|      96      22
  Harness Power......................|      54      11
  Spirit Mana Control................|      54      11
  Perception.........................|      54      11
  Climbing...........................|      50      10
  First Aid..........................|     126      33

Spell Lists
  Major Spiritual....................|              11

Spell Lists
  Minor Spiritual....................|               7

Spell Lists
  Empath.............................|              11

[khorpulent]

Voln is cool, but from Sunfist is much better for empaths from a mechanical standpoint. Here are some reasons:

1. Empaths have a ton of stamina and nothing else to use it on. This means they can actually afford to use Sunfist sigils, unlike other professions. While sigils do also take mana, sigil of power helps to balance that out considerably.
2. Free HCP from major protection (not all of my characters can afford to keep it up constantly, but my empath certainly can). The free weighting against hated foes is nice, too.
3. Sigil of determination is incredibly useful for empaths, as they often tend to be wounded and don’t always have time to heal down (especially with no transformation lore). Yeah, you can still cast empath circle spells with injuries, but I still find myself using it quite often.
4. Sigil of power: even without blessing lore, it will still yield more mana than symbol of mana. With 65 blessing ranks (expensive, but worth it), you can eventually produce a ton of extra mana, but this is definitely a higher-level consideration.

With my capped empath, I have 190 stamina and can use Power 4 times, blow my nerves, use 1107, use it 3 more times, yielding 168 mana. After the 5 minute cooldown, I can do it again. In the meantime, I still get 129 stamina per pulse (with enhancives up – it’s only about 50 without), which translates into 40-50 extra mana a minute. This is obviously irrelevant to you at level 10, but it’s something to keep in mind for the future. It also weakens your 1115 by cutting into your summoning lore, but it’s worth it to me.

5. Sigils of intimidation and distraction are pretty handy for melee/bolt attacks, but they’re probably too mana/stamina intensive for lower levels. I use Distraction all the time with bolts.
6. Sigil of mending is helpful at lower levels, but won’t be for long if you 3x in FA. I still keep it up all the time for the health regeneration bonus.
7. Warcamps are fun. Empaths are good at warcamps.
8. And finally, empaths kind of suck at hunting undead. Your options with 1106 are pretty limited and you won’t be able to afford 1115 for quite a while. Even then, 1115 isn’t terribly impressive against noncorp stuff. You can’t 1120 undead without absurd amounts of telepathy lore, and 1110 is just a mediocre bolt against undead.

I’ll admit, I’m really jealous of symbol of seeking. I’m a bit jealous of symbol of sleep too, but mostly just because it doesn’t affect warcamp shrouds. I guess Smite might be okay if you’re gonna stick with UAC. Transcendence is cool, but I’d rather have HCP. I have 130/225, so I don’t really care about fogging. Sunfist gives me +35 AS/DS against everything, and weighting against hated stuff.

I will also admit that Voln might be a better choice for early levels, simply because of the mana requirements of the sigils. But in the long run, I think Sunfist is the better choice.

Sorry for the unsolicited treatise on the marvels of Sunfist. I’m really just trying to avoid grading papers right now.

[kutter]

khorpulent makes some real good sense with Sunfist, my paladin is sunfist and it is a very powerful society for a melee alt. Having said that, it is without question the most difficult of the 3 to master, and not by a little. Warcamps are death on a stick, maybe they would have been better at an older train, but my paladin did not start being able to manage them halfway well until he had abut 25 ranks of MoC, and that would be a tough nut to crack for a melee empath, especially at lower levels.

Armor is a compromise, his point is valid, IMHO, for a pure casting build, but not nearly so much for a melee empath, but that is just my opinion.

The fact of the matter is that a melee empath is a hybrid build, it is not what would be considered a 'normal' build, so the way forward is not as clear as it is for a caster, have fun with it, that is after all what it is supposed to be, fun.

[khorpulent]

Sunfist is perhaps the biggest pain in the ass to master because of the world tour and trips to Zul. Although I actually just converted my pure wizard from COL at level 97, and it took me about two days. I had enough realms boosts saved up that I just took the chronomage everywhere for free. I honestly find COL the hardest to master because of the goddamn time limits -- last time I attempted to master an alt, I kept getting demoted before I could get my rank.

The warcamp requirement really gives people trouble, but the secret is to do all of your razes before you hit 20 (or even sooner, if possible). If you go into camps under level 15 or so (and under 10 is even easier), the grim basically have no substantial maneuvers or spells. With a full wizard spellup, you're nearly invincible and can just stand there and hack away. That being said, I still find low-level warcamping easiest with squares and hardest with pures. I took my monk through Sunfist a few months ago, and up until level 15 or so, I could literally just stand there and punch stuff, regardless of how many grim came in.

It's a little harder with pures, simply because you don't have the AS/UAF that squares and semis do at lower levels. But warcamping definitely gets significantly harder at the low-mid levels, once they start getting maneuvers and AoE spells. Well, unless you're a warrior who can just berserk.

You can also bring a couple level 0 alts into a warcamp with you if you prefer to warcamp in easy mode.

[wetsand]

Time for a little update incase anyone cares or wants to follow this training path. Doing great in Ta'Vaalor but always thinking about different areas to try. Might move to Zul in a level or two. I'm still undecided about switching societies but leaning towards GoS at this point. I'm going to stop major/minor spiritual spells and put anything extra into empath. I'm not planning on adding any lores until I hit +21 spells in the empath circle. I found some 5x realm flaring UAC gear with T1 ensorcelling on another alt.

Tiny (at level 15), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 40 8
Brawling...........................| 78 17
Physical Fitness...................| 120 30
Harness Power......................| 70 15
Spirit Mana Control................| 70 15
Perception.........................| 70 15
Climbing...........................| 50 10
First Aid..........................| 145 45

Spell Lists
Major Spiritual....................| 15

Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 7

Spell Lists
Empath.............................| 19

You channel at a great stag.
You concentrate intently on a great stag, and a pulse of pearlescent energy ripples toward him!
CS: +68 - TD: +17 + CvA: +25 + d100: +28 == +104
Warding failed!
The great stag shudders with moderate convulsions as pearlescent ripples envelop his body.
The great stag is smashed for 47 points of damage!
... 20 points of damage!
Good blow to right arm!
The great stag is stunned!
... 15 points of damage!
Nice blow to right leg!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.

You attempt to jab a great stag!
You have decent positioning against a great stag.
UAF: 144 vs UDF: 131 = 1.099 * MM: 111 + d100: 25 = 147
... and hit for 4 points of damage!
Low jab glances off the left thigh.
Strike leaves foe vulnerable to a followup kick attack!

** Necrotic energy from your padded suede gloves overflows into you! **

You feel energized!

** Your padded suede gloves release a spray of acid! **

... 50 points of damage!
Acid causing a gaping hole in the back can't be healthy!
The great stag collapses to the ground, emits a final sigh, and dies.
Roundtime: 2 sec.

[Maerit]

Sunfist mastery is best done prior to level 10. If you start at level 3, you can be mastered by level 12 just doing warcamp tasks. It's incredibly easy with a wizard spellup to master this society early. Once you get past level 20-25 though, it becomes 10x harder as the critters start using very nasty attacks and have considerably stronger AS/DS.

[khorpulent]

It's definitely easier to raze warcamps before 20, but it's not impossible. You'll probably just need some help if you wanna do it. It's tough to do them solo for most professions for quite a while after 20, though I've found that my warrior and monk could still solo camps at any level.

If you do decide to do Sunfist at some point, hit me up and I can help you with the razes. You only have to hit 5 grim to get credit for the raze, so I can go in and clear out the camp after you hit 5.

You can also cheat and bring in 2-5 level 0 alts with you and clear it out easy peasy. Although that method may not work as well for your UAC empath, since you can't mstrike or even cast 111 or anything. Even if you can just throw fireballs at everything, the splash damage will kill most of the level 0 stuff.

[kutter]

The easiest way to raze a camp is to bring a wizard in with you, get grim to swarm and have him cast meteor shower in several rooms them run out, you can clear a camp fast like that. When I was mastering my paladin, someone razed the last camp he was working on so had to find a new one, it took me about an hour to raze a fresh camp solo with my wizard first then finish off the last 50 or so with my paladin.

[khorpulent]

I've never seen 525 actually work in a warcamp.

You intone a phrase of elemental power while raising your hands, invoking Meteor Swarm...
Your spell is ready.
You gesture at a Grimswarm giant guard.
You throw your arms skyward!
Nothing happens.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.

You intone a phrase of elemental power while raising your hands, invoking Meteor Swarm...
Your spell is ready.
You gesture at a Grimswarm giant wizard.
You throw your arms skyward!
Nothing happens.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.