Bandits

[Tuxedo Gin]

How do wizards do bandits without dying instantly? Should I just be trading in these tasks?

Level 57. I generally die within 10-20 seconds of entering a bandit room. I'm lucky if I can get a shot off at all due to the stuns.

Here is a typical attempt:

[Icemule Trail, Snowy Forest - 2500]
Paw prints crisscross the faint trail, making random patterns in the freshly-fallen snow.  They are just the right size to be from some of the snow hares you saw earlier.
Obvious paths: northeast, south
Your blue wolf followed.
>
A giantman  thief stumbles slightly as he leaps from hiding, revealing himself in the process.
A giantman thief springs upon you from behind and aims a blow to your head!
[SMR result: 106 (Open d100: 80, Penalty: 10)]
You feel dazed!

S>
A giantman thief leaps out of her hiding place!
A giantman thief swings a flail at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +296 vs DS: +299 with AvD: +44 + d100 roll: +60 = +101
   ... and hits for 1 point of damage!
   Love tap upside your head!
S>
A giantman thief slips into hiding.
S>
An erithian outlaw leaps out of his hiding place!
An erithian outlaw swings a falchion at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +333 vs DS: +298 with AvD: +36 + d100 roll: +41 = +112
   ... and hits for 4 points of damage!
   Flashy swing!
   You're lucky that it only bopped your nose.
S>
The shrieking winds become suddenly violent.  The temperature drops drastically, numbing your extremities in a heartbeat.  You cannot see through the flying snow and ice, and it looks as though you may be in trouble!
S>
A giantman thief swings a flail at you!
Nearly insensible, you desperately evade the attack!

S>incant 917
A giantman thief leaps out of his hiding place!
A giantman thief swings a short sword at you!
  AS: +314 vs DS: +298 with AvD: +35 + d100 roll: +37 = +88
   A clean miss.
S>
You are still stunned.
S>
An erithian outlaw swings a falchion at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +333 vs DS: +316 with AvD: +36 + d100 roll: +88 = +141
   ... and hits for 14 points of damage!
   Cut over your right eye.
S>
A giantman thief swings a flail at you!
  AS: +296 vs DS: +311 with AvD: +44 + d100 roll: +68 = +97
   A clean miss.
S>
A giantman thief slips into hiding.
>incant 917
You hear very soft footsteps.
>
Your hands glow with power as you invoke the phrase for Earthen Fury...
Your spell is ready.
You gesture at an erithian outlaw.
The ground beneath an erithian outlaw begins to boil violently!
Craggy debris explodes from the ground beneath an erithian outlaw!
[SMR result: 153 (Open d100: 85)]
   ... 40 points of damage!
   Blow to leg severs the Achilles tendon along with the rest of the leg!
   An erithian outlaw falls to the ground grasping his mangled left leg!
   The erithian outlaw is stunned!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
>
You hear very soft footsteps.
>
A giantman thief crouches and sweeps a leg at you!
[SMR result: 137 (Open d100: 85, Bonus: 3)]
Your size considerably hinders your defense!
You fall to the ground! A giantman thief deftly regains her footing.
You are struck by an acute sense of vulnerability.
Roundtime: 7 sec.
PR>
Fiery debris explodes from the ground beneath an erithian outlaw!
[SMR result: 207 (Open d100: 62, Bonus: 78)]
   ... 50 points of damage!
   Unbelievable heat melts an erithian outlaw's hand down to the wrist.
   The outlaw's falchion falls to the ground.
PR>
Craggy debris explodes from the ground beneath an erithian outlaw!
[SMR result: 166 (Open d100: 19, Bonus: 80)]
   ... 35 points of damage!
   Massive blow removes the erithian outlaw's right forearm at the elbow!
PR>
Fiery debris explodes from the ground beneath an erithian outlaw!
[SMR result: 225 (Open d100: 78, Bonus: 80)]
   ... 70 points of damage!
   Fire completely surrounds an erithian outlaw.  Blood boils and heart stops.

[You have 6 kills remaining.]
The erithian outlaw rolls over and dies.
An erithian outlaw seems a bit less imposing.
The ground beneath an erithian outlaw suddenly calms.
PR>
A giantman thief swings a short sword at you!
[SMR result: 247 (Open d100: 175, Bonus: 23)]
A giantman thief delivers a solid punch to your lower back with his sword!
   ... 7 points of damage!
  You are stunned!
Roundtime: 4 sec.
SPR>
The blue wolf sits down, his tail sweeping across the ground.
SPR>
The horrible pain in your side subsides.
SPR>
A giantman thief swings a flail at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +296 vs DS: +288 with AvD: +44 + d100 roll: +88 = +140
   ... and hits for 27 points of damage!
   Hearty smack to the head.

SPR>
A giantman thief swings a short sword at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +333 vs DS: +259 with AvD: +35 + d100 roll: +45 = +154
   ... and hits for 23 points of damage!
   Hearty smack to the head.

!SPR>stance d
You are still stunned.
!SPR>stand
...wait 2 seconds.
!SPR>stand
...wait 2 seconds.
!SPR>
A giantman thief swings a flail at you!
>stand
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +296 vs DS: +246 with AvD: +44 + d100 roll: +92 = +186
   ... and hits for 52 points of damage!
   Internal organs bruised.
!SPR>
...wait 1 seconds.
!SPR>stand
...wait 1 seconds.
!SPR>stand
A giantman thief swings a short sword at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +333 vs DS: +242 with AvD: +35 + d100 roll: +50 = +176
   ... and hits for 28 points of damage!
   Nice puncture to the abdomen, just missed vital organs!
You no longer feel so dextrous.
The air about you stops shimmering.
The layer of raw elemental energy surrounding you dissipates.
You feel less confident than before.
The tingling sensation and sense of security leaves you.
You become solid again.
The shimmering multicolored sphere fades from around you.
You no longer bristle with energy.
You feel your extra strength departing.
You feel your extra magical awareness leave you.
The glowing specks of energy surrounding you suddenly shoot off in all directions, then quickly fade away.
The brilliant luminescence fades from around you.
The bright luminescence fades from around you.
The silvery luminescence fades from around you.

It seems you have died, my friend.  Although you cannot do anything, you are keenly aware of what is going on around you...

You mentally give a sigh of relief as you remember that the Goddess Lorminstra owes you a favor.

...departing in 10 mins...

[Tgo01]

I think pures do have the toughest time doing bandits solo.

If you're not trained in CM that could help, as well as training in perception and even survival to possibly avoid their traps, although it doesn't look like traps got you here.

I suppose you could also try and keep 919 up, but that's a lot of mana.

[drumpel]

I think pures do have the toughest time doing bandits solo.

If you're not trained in CM that could help, as well as training in perception and even survival to possibly avoid their traps, although it doesn't look like traps got you here.

I suppose you could also try and keep 919 up, but that's a lot of mana.

My level 59 reduxmage is 1x in CM, Perception and PF and he still sucks at defending from CMANs. The PSM3 changes that tanked SMR defense really screwed pures and even semis. He's level 59 and still has roughly a 25-30% chance to get hit by maneuvers (and he's even fully trained, 5 ranks, in Cunning Defense).

It also doesn't help that some CMANs get a pushdown, if I'm remembering correctly (though I can't find anything official to back this), to SMR defense when used from hiding - this makes some of the maneuvers the bandits use have an even better chance to hit us.


To maybe help improve your odds you don't want to focus on outright singling out a bandit right off the start.

Your first attack was casting 917 - this is just a single target spell. It may do well in putting down that one target you hit, but the other 1/2/3 bandits in the room are still working on attacking, hiding or using CMANs.

Start off with a disabler, even two.
1st disabler, use a self cast charge from 909 (this incurs no RT)
2nd disabler immediately follow up the the TAP or STOMP for trigging the self cast of 909 with a cast of 410.

At this point, if you're not already dead from the initial attack from the bandits, now you can focus on killing them.



I've been told that it can help if you just dance between two rooms.
First room - cast 909 (not a self cast version, but an open cast so the tremors keep going for 4 or 5 cycles), then move to the 2nd room
Second room - cast 909 like you did in the first room
Now just quickly move back and forth between the two rooms and recast 909 when they wear off.

Sorcerers can do something similar with 709.

I just avoid bandits with my pures, even my reduxmage that's designed to take hits and has 15% redux. I only bother with bandit bounties if I'm playing my warrior. He's level 29, wearing chainmail, 25% redux, can berserk out of stuns if needed, is much better trained for SMR defense with 2x in CM & PF and 1.5x in Perception and 1x in Dodge.

[Xred]

Xred, as a sorcerer couldnt solo bandits until around 1.5x cap. Wizards I saw kept wizard shield up and trained in CM. Find a hunting partner and announce on the net.

[Izalude]

Level 59 mage here. Some tips I can offer, are keep spell #402 up at all times. It'll help you spot bandit traps. Also, another thing is that my mage is attuned to lightning, so if he gets stunned while he has mage armor up, it'll return a stun to any other creature in the room for 2 rounds. Unless I get my casting cut off by a throat slash, I have no problem soloing them. I usually walk room-to-room in guarded stance. I'll usually open with spell 410, then switch to offensive, and hit them with 518. I'll repeat until they're all dead. I'll leech (516) for mana if I start running low. I'll carry herbs so that after they're all dead, I can patch up bleeders. It's been about 8 months since my last death to bandits.

[drumpel]

For shits and giggles....mostly shits....okay, all shits. No giggles here. This is why I fucking hate bandits as a pure:

A halfling outlaw leaps out of her hiding place!
A halfling outlaw swings a mace at you!
  AS: +304 vs DS: +261 with AvD: +31 + d100 roll: +66 = +140
   ... and hits for 6 points of damage!
   Smack to the eye bursts blood vessels.
   You are stunned for 3 rounds!
>
A human thief leaps out of his hiding place!
A human thief swings a short sword at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +290 vs DS: +224 with AvD: +26 + d100 roll: +52 = +144
   ... and hits for 11 points of damage!
   Hesitant slash to your upper right arm!
   Just a scratch.
>
An erithian  brigand stumbles slightly as he leaps from hiding, revealing himself in the process.
An erithian brigand springs upon you from behind and aims a blow to your head!
[SMR result: 103 (Open d100: 35, Bonus: 35)]
You feel dazed!
>
A halfling outlaw swings a mace at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +304 vs DS: +260 with AvD: +31 + d100 roll: +99 = +174
   ... and hits for 7 points of damage!
   Torn muscle in your left leg!
>
An erithian brigand swings a handaxe at you!
  AS: +289 vs DS: +233 with AvD: +34 + d100 roll: +6 = +96
   A clean miss.
>
A human thief swings a short sword at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +290 vs DS: +233 with AvD: +26 + d100 roll: +65 = +148
   ... and hits for 5 points of damage!
   Near-miss!
   Knuckles kissed but little damage.
>'holy fuck buckets
You are still stunned.
>

A halfling outlaw swings a mace at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +304 vs DS: +233 with AvD: +31 + d100 roll: +39 = +141
   ... and hits for 6 points of damage!
   Stomach shot lands with a hollow *thump*.
>
A human thief swings a short sword at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +290 vs DS: +233 with AvD: +26 + d100 roll: +94 = +177
   ... and hits for 11 points of damage!
   Minor puncture to the chest.
>stance d
An erithian brigand swings a handaxe at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +289 vs DS: +233 with AvD: +34 + d100 roll: +85 = +175
   ... and hits for 12 points of damage!
   Jarring blow to your back.
>
You are still stunned.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>
A halfling outlaw swings a mace at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +304 vs DS: +230 with AvD: +31 + d100 roll: +30 = +135
   ... and hits for 6 points of damage!
   Blow raises a welt on your left arm.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>
A human thief swings a short sword at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +290 vs DS: +230 with AvD: +26 + d100 roll: +31 = +117
   ... and hits for 1 point of damage!
   Thrust catches your chin.
  Leaves an impression but no cut.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>
An erithian brigand swings a handaxe at you!
The energy surrounding you condenses into hard stone, softening the blow!
  AS: +289 vs DS: +230 with AvD: +34 + d100 roll: +43 = +136
   ... and hits for 7 points of damage!
   Blow raises a welt on your left arm.
>stance d
You are still stunned.
>stance d
>
You are now in a defensive stance.
>
A halfling outlaw raises her heel high, attempting to footstomp you!
[SMR result: 169 (Open d100: 91, Bonus: 22)]
A halfling outlaw brings her foot down solidly on you!
You bounce around distracted by the pain!
Roundtime: 11 sec.
>stance d
...wait 11 seconds.
>
A human thief swings a short sword at you!
  AS: +290 vs DS: +293 with AvD: +26 + d100 roll: +15 = +38
   A clean miss.
>stance d
...wait 10 seconds.
>
A halfling outlaw swings a mace at you!
  AS: +304 vs DS: +293 with AvD: +31 + d100 roll: +34 = +76
   A clean miss.
>
An erithian brigand swings a handaxe at you!
  AS: +289 vs DS: +293 with AvD: +34 + d100 roll: +78 = +108
   ... and hits for 1 point of damage!
   A feeble blow to your left arm!
>
A human thief crouches and sweeps a leg at you!
[SMR result: 101 (Open d100: 39, Bonus: 22)]
You fall to the ground! A human thief deftly regains his footing.
You are struck by an acute sense of vulnerability.
>'what a load of shit
You say, "What a load of shit."
>
A halfling outlaw swings a mace at you!
  AS: +304 vs DS: +243 with AvD: +31 + d100 roll: +33 = +125
   ... and hits for 1 point of damage!
   A nice bruise on your neck!
>
A human thief swings a short sword at you!
  AS: +290 vs DS: +243 with AvD: +26 + d100 roll: +81 = +154
   ... and hits for 7 points of damage!
   Glancing strike to the head!
>st
...wait 4 seconds.
>st
...wait 3 seconds.
>st
...wait 3 seconds.
>
An erithian brigand slips into hiding.
>st
...wait 2 seconds.
>
A halfling outlaw pulls out a white crystal and rubs it!
A halfling outlaw looks considerably more imposing.
>st
...wait 1 seconds.
>st
...wait 1 seconds.
>
A human thief swings a short sword at you!
  AS: +290 vs DS: +243 with AvD: +26 + d100 roll: +10 = +83
   A clean miss.
>st
You stand back up.
>stance d
You are now in a defensive stance.
>
A halfling outlaw swings a mace at you!
You barely dodge the attack!
>
A faint silvery light flickers from the shadows.
>stomp
As you stomp your foot sharply, the dirt shakes wildly!
The ground begins to shake violently, making it hard to stand.
A human thief loses his balance and falls over.
A halfling outlaw loses her balance and falls over.
>
A human thief stands up with a grunt.
>
You suddenly feel less light-footed.
>
[902]>exp
>
          Level: 59                          Fame: 9,789,118
     Experience: 3,431,110              Field Exp: 580/968
  Ascension Exp: 385,317            Recent Deaths: 0
      Total Exp: 3,816,427          Death's Sting: None
  Long-Term Exp: 0                          Deeds: 0
  Exp until lvl: 31,390           Exp to next ATP: 14,683
      PTPs/MTPs: 0/100                       ATPs: 0

Your mind is muddled.

You feel a strange sense of serenity and find that you are able to reflect on recent events with uncommon clarity and understanding.

Your recent adventures echo powerfully in your mind.
>
[902]>incant 506
You can't make that dextrous of a move!

My reduxmage is made to take hits and keep fighting, but when a 3 round stun off the initial ambush results him looking like a fucking pincushion and being unable to cast, that's why I fucking hate bandits as a pure.

>heal
You have minor bruises about the head, some minor cuts and bruises on your right arm, a fractured and bleeding left arm, some minor cuts and bruises on your left leg, minor cuts and bruises on your chest, minor cuts and bruises on your abdominal area, minor cuts and bruises on your back, and a blinded left eye.
You have old battle scars on your right leg, and old battle scars on your left leg.

Bleeding:
Area         Health per Round         Bandaged         Can Tend?         Tend Time
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Left arm             1                   No                No                     

     Maximum Health Points: 192
   Remaining Health Points: 117
  You are feeling light headed.

     Maximum Spirit Points: 9
   Remaining Spirit Points: 9

    Maximum Stamina Points: 120
  Remaining Stamina Points: 120

 Physical Damage Reduction: 14.39%

Nothing more fun than to walk into a group of bandits, then have to leave to get healed up.

[Winter]

How do wizards do bandits without dying instantly? Should I just be trading in these tasks?

They're not worth doing if you're on your own, it's basically stun with an enormous round time then dead.


You have succeeded at the Kill Creatures task 389 times.
You have succeeded at the Retrieve Heirloom task 82 times.
You have succeeded at the Procure Skins task 1 time.
You have succeeded at the Procure Gems task 722 times.
You have succeeded at the Protect Traveller task 325 times and failed 9 times.
You have succeeded at the Procure Herbs task 76 times.
You have succeeded at the Kill Dangerous Creature task 369 times.
You have succeeded at the Rescue Child task 56 times and failed 2 times.
You have succeeded at the Kill Bandits task 1 time.
You have succeeded at the Help Kill Creatures task 943 times


The majority of the protect the traveller bounties were done long before the bandit changes.

[Maerit]

Xred, as a sorcerer couldnt solo bandits until around 1.5x cap. Wizards I saw kept wizard shield up and trained in CM. Find a hunting partner and announce on the net.

Bandits are not hard for a sorcerer of 50+ level to solo, but you have to do the gimmick:
1. Start with 140 so you don't get killed while in stun lock.
2. 709, kill a bandit w/ 711 and then animate the bandit (equip with an ebladed lance or claid).
3. Tell the animate to attack, then use 702 to finish off the target.
4. Cast open 709 in two rooms within bandit territory, and just move back and forth between those rooms.

This strategy works great, and you can kill bandits with relative ease because 709 pulls them down for you as long as you're in the room. Just refresh 709 when it has 2 or less arms, and keep moving between the rooms. Not much fun, but it gets the job done.

For a wizard, you have to start with 919, and it is ideal to have decent Air Lore w/ 535 going. Don't forget to use your STOP TIME if you must, but 919 is the biggest trick. Guardians of Sunfist is a major boon for the extra padding and because you might end up needing Sigil of Determination, but using Stomp/Tap 909 + 518 should net great results.

Also, run 520 EARTH for the crit padding while stunned.

[LOL BRIELUS]

I had some success when I was warmage spec. Now I just trade in the task...

[Idalias]

I don’t have any tips for you. It’s really, really hard at your experience level. As a wizard, I completely avoided bandits for about 15mil experience. Then, a few months ago on a whim, I tried a solo bandit bounty task. I found it to be trivially easy. Now I do them many times a day. I’m fairly certain I have had no deaths to bandits whatsoever since I started doing the tasks again. Once you hit a certain level of experience, you can shrug off most of the CMANs, and you’ll have enough DS to completely avoid their physical attacks even if you get a bad roll on your CMAN defense.

So maybe there’s some light at the end of the tunnel for you… it’s just a rather long tunnel for pures, I’m afraid.