Anyone use melee/ranged/uac at cap?

[khorpulent]

I'm kind of thinking about tinkering around with some sort of warpath build for the next week, just to see how the other half lives. Does anyone actually use a melee or ranged build at cap? It seems interesting, but considering how many points empaths have to dump into lores and such, it kind of seems like a waste of points before like, 3x cap.

My empath is a halfling, so that would pretty much limit me to UAC or ranged. I worked out the math, and it looks like with 1x brawling and 1x CM, my UAF would only be like 430 or something with 6x gear and strength. I'd have to give up my spell aiming and some spell ranks to make it happen, but at 2x cap I can afford it without too big of a magical downgrade.

I like spell aiming, but I don't really need it. I just use it for the sake of variety, mostly flingling fireballs at trolls, and even then 1115 is probably more effective.

I'm also curious about just doing 1x brawling without the CM training for the parry DS, so that I can have a little more protection when I channel open-handed.

Anyone have any experience with these sorts of builds?

[Omrii]

In Plat I was doing a warpath, but I was cheating on various fronts. Thrown war hammer and enhancives for +50 thrown. In the end, I got tired of the E/B/P mechanics and went to pure CS. I plan to go to a brawling build sometime around 2-3x cap.

[Leafiara]

Edit: Disclaimer, I have no idea whether any of this works in Nelemar, the one capped hunting ground I've never tried. Also, there are some things in the Sanctum with DS you won't be able to touch.


Melee

What my empath does, and 1117 with mstrikes can be a beautiful thing! (Including focused mstrikes; my empath has 35 MOC.) With 140 up and enough magical ranks to wear any spells you want, it's not all that dangerous. Honestly, you can probably be invincible to AS attacks almost everywhere with 140, wizard and ranger spells, and enough Minor Spiritual and Major Spiritual ranks, at least until FOF kicks in. Also, 217 (Mass Interference) pushes down AS and DS--and TD, for that matter--which is perfect when swinging a weapon in offensive.

If you can't mstrike, a weighted weapon with Web or Bind still gets the job done, but I wouldn't find it exciting or anything.


Brawling

UAF isn't your main concern with brawling--it's MM. Since you're not a warrior/rogue/monk/ranger, there are two main ways to increase MM:

1) Lead with an immobilizing disabler.
2) Start with another attack like 1106, aiming to get the enemy prone and stunned.

I've never really tried option 2. Option 1 is what I did with my cleric--but clerics have 316, which is better than 118 or 214 for immobilizing. I figure both options probably have about the same level of effectiveness... And if I'm right then they get the job done, but whether you'll enjoy it is a different question. I love the flavor text of UAC and the mental images, and it's nice to never have an attack evaded/blocked/parried, so I still brawl on occasion with my cleric (even though right now I'm working on THWs for her). But for efficiency I do think THWs and pole arms are really far ahead of brawling, at least for professions that aren't UAC-oriented.

[Omrii]

Personally I have high hopes for a brawling empath with 1x dodging. But that falls into the 2-3x cap category.

[Leafiara]

1x Dodging is 5,050,000 exp, so I'd lean way more toward the 3x cap side. :P

[mgoddess]

I imagine a ranged- or UAC-path would be fun at cap. My empath, who's 34, has fun being a ranged-path already (and, I'm looking forward to trying UAC with her, when the ESN fixskills comes around next week).

[Luscinia]

I've played ranged for a long time (and was Brawling before but that was when Voln Fu was still around) and almost always self-spelled. The main advantage of ranged is that it only costs about half the TPs of a full melee skill set, so your warding spells will still be good. Archery AS is comparable to melee, as a halfling it'll likely be higher than most, but you might run into RT issues. Without any strength enhancives you'll be at 7 sec. aimed for longbows, 6 sec. for composite bows, and 5 sec. for shortbows. If you can rely on getting wizard spells all the time and/or have a really good set of enhancives it might be okay. Another possibility is to use one of the Duskruin crossbows which are 4 sec. flat for light and 5 sec. for heavy.

Pros:

• Can kill squishy targets efficiently with aimed shots
• Link + aimed shot is beautiful when it works
• Can easily overtrain CS, not as much as a pure but good enough
• Can handle noncorporeals with Wither
• 2x Perception gives maneuver protection

Cons:

• Can't shoot through plate armor (will really miss having fire and web bolt for this)
• Can't shoot through shielded creature DS for the most part
• Very poor ranged DS, you will need spells to cover this
• CMAN defense still poor, needs additional CM training

For spiritual lore training I would recommend going full Summoning after hitting whatever low threshold you want for Blessings. It's true that Blessings gives you slightly more AS, but in practice you will either have enough AS to beat a creature easily or not be anywhere close. Occasional double strikes on 117 are nice but they're not better than guaranteed double damage cycles on Wither.

You will also want a reliable disabling spell at times and 1108 is... well, you know how it is, and it doesn't work at all on undead. The spell does get better with Telepathy. If you want to use off-circle spells reliably you'll need some CS boosters.

[Orthin]

Also with ranged you can effectively have 10x easily and at low cost versus the Melee alternative to get 7x

[rx77310]

Edit: Disclaimer, I have no idea whether any of this works in Nelemar, the one capped hunting ground I've never tried. Also, there are some things in the Sanctum with DS you won't be able to touch.


Melee

What my empath does, and 1117 with mstrikes can be a beautiful thing! (Including focused mstrikes; my empath has 35 MOC.) With 140 up and enough magical ranks to wear any spells you want, it's not all that dangerous. Honestly, you can probably be invincible to AS attacks almost everywhere with 140, wizard and ranger spells, and enough Minor Spiritual and Major Spiritual ranks, at least until FOF kicks in. Also, 217 (Mass Interference) pushes down AS and DS--and TD, for that matter--which is perfect when swinging a weapon in offensive.

If you can't mstrike, a weighted weapon with Web or Bind still gets the job done, but I wouldn't find it exciting or anything.


Brawling

UAF isn't your main concern with brawling--it's MM. Since you're not a warrior/rogue/monk/ranger, there are two main ways to increase MM:

1) Lead with an immobilizing disabler.
2) Start with another attack like 1106, aiming to get the enemy prone and stunned.

I've never really tried option 2. Option 1 is what I did with my cleric--but clerics have 316, which is better than 118 or 214 for immobilizing. I figure both options probably have about the same level of effectiveness... And if I'm right then they get the job done, but whether you'll enjoy it is a different question. I love the flavor text of UAC and the mental images, and it's nice to never have an attack evaded/blocked/parried, so I still brawl on occasion with my cleric (even though right now I'm working on THWs for her). But for efficiency I do think THWs and pole arms are really far ahead of brawling, at least for professions that aren't UAC-oriented.

How do you script 140?

[audioserf]

Not sure if real post or spambot but you can maintain 140 with ;spellactive off the repo. I use it for 140 and my COL signs.