Just fixskilled from sword/board into a claid user.

[Ashliana]

I almost exclusively play my mid-30s Empath now, but I've been wanting to try out claids on my low 20s warrior. I rarely play her, so it's not a huge deal if I screw her up, but I fixskilled her from a traditional sword & board set to the following:

2.5x Armor Use (roughly)
2x THW
2x Brawling
6 ranks of MOC
30 ranks of Ambush
1x Perception
2x Dodging
2x Combat Maneuvers
2x PT
1x Survival
A few ranks of climbing, a few ranks of swimming.

---

So I fixskilled into that build, and her AS with a 0x claid is 210 or so. With cman surge, it's 222. Her DS, completely unspelled, while in an offensive stance is 96--and I'm using 5x brig.

Her roundtime, completely unencumbered, is 6. She's not wearing too heavy armor, and her DEX/AGI are both 96 with 18 bonus each, as a giant. (I didn't roll this character well.)

I'm currently unlearning her wspec1 to falchions, unlearning block mastery, unlearning weapon bonding. (Forgot to set those before the fixskill..)

I presume I should focus on parry master, toughness, wspec, combat mobility? Can anyone explain the 6 second roundtime or the 9 second ambush time?

Not sure how I'm going to be able to deal with the low DS. [joke]Maybe I'll drop $1200 on a 10x DB item![/joke]

Thanks for any and all input.

[Some Rogue]

Imo, if you're using a claid, don't bother ambushing, especially as a giant.

With the combined agi and dex bonus of 36, you're only getting a 2 second reduction in RT, hence the 6 second rt with a claid. If I were you, I'd consider going with a mattock or maul. The base speed on those are one second less than a claid.

[Some Rogue]

Oh, and for Cman's, parry mastery should be the very first thing you go for. I then went for wspec so I could get weapon bonding.

[Ashliana]

I wasn't planning on getting ambush, but instead focusing on MOC. Someone on Psinet convinced me otherwise--Foogly, I think? Not 100% sure. I don't know how the formula works, but I'm guessing once the dex/agi are maxed out, the claidhmore RT will drop to 5..

[Suppa Hobbit Mage]

I think with my warrior I'm 2x dodge, 2x cman, 60 ranks moc, 2x edged, 2x shield, 2x armor, 2x fitness, 1x perception. I swing a bastard axe two handed most the time but I'm also 68 now and have good redux and am in plate.

I recall when I was younger my DS was terrible, so I 3x'd armor until I hit I think 90 ranks for MBP to get the df lower. At the least, get into a chain shirt -- only need 40 ranks for it and it is a HUGE difference to leathers.

[Some Rogue]

You'll see the RT drop another second when your combined agility and dex bonuses reach 38.

And Foogly is a halfling I believe, they receive big bonuses to dex. His rt reduction can reach 5 seconds whereas a giant will only ever get to 3.

I have two 2-handed warriors, a giant and an elf. I couldn't stand to use the claid with my giant because it took too long. I gave him the mattock, got the required amount of ambush, and he is just as effective as the claid using elf.

[thefarmer]

Be prepared to spend big coins for nice twohanders

[Izzy]

You'll see the RT drop another second when your combined agility and dex bonuses reach 38.

And Foogly is a halfling I believe, they receive big bonuses to dex. His rt reduction can reach 5 seconds whereas a giant will only ever get to 3.

Lies. Enhancives make giants able to be as fast as halflings..thus making them even more superior. Possibly(definitely) a HUGE investment, but very possible. With a combined agi/dex of 80 (20/20 base + 20/20 enhancives) a giant could ambush with a claid in 6 I think. Don't have all the numbers available to me, but I'm pretty sure it can be done.

Not to mention halflings can't even match the giant's strength bonus with MAXED strength enhancives. loolz @ halflings. FTL. Enhancives >> halflings.

[Ashliana]

Thanks for all the input! Are mauls weighted naturally, like claids? Or do they have another advantage?

[Izzy]

Thanks for all the input! Are mauls weighted naturally, like claids? Or do they have another advantage?

They only do crush damage, whereas claids also do slash. Crush has lower crit thresholds than slash does on head/neck attacks. Bascially, if you can hit them on the head, you're more likely to kill them if you do crush damage. Thereby if you only do crush damage, you're more likely to get a crit kill on a particular crit rank. Also, mauls are faster and more easily aimed.

I dunno how much the claid weighting offests the crit threshold differences between slash/crush..but the AS you'll get from the maul (most likely) will also help.