UAC Bard Build

[Fortybox]

Here's current training:

(at level 100), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Shield Use.........................| 302 202
Brawling...........................| 302 202
Physical Fitness...................| 201 101
Dodging............................| 201 101
Harness Power......................| 201 101
Mental Mana Control................| 105 25
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 175 75
Mental Lore - Manipulation.........| 175 75
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 108 26
Perception.........................| 201 101
Climbing...........................| 150 50
Swimming...........................| 170 70

Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 30

Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 100
Training Points: 28 Phy 0 Mnt (978 Phy converted to Mnt)

I converted to pure at like 94. Knowing how crazy it is, I probably would have done it around 75-80 or right around the bowels hunting levels. The crazy part is I'm not even 2x spells and can hunt Nelemar with ease.

[nocturnix]

I went pure at 40 and never looked back.


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[Orthin]

I went pure at 40 and never looked back.


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Do you remember your build when you went pure at 40. I am closing in on that threshold and might be tempted to give it a shot. Currently UAC and just rolling through ish so may be foolish to swap but have always had my eyes on the pure life.

[Delarock]

Does it matter what hand the cestus is in, in terms of flares?

Parasite gloves/boots work well with UAC? I was under the impression that flaring weapons reduced the flare rate of the sonic weapon.

Does ensorcell affect that? Do flaring boots affect the flare rates of sonic weapons?

[Maerit]

I can't remember, but if you don't have anything in your MH, and you OH the cestus it will impede you. While if you have UCS weapons in both hands, the sonic weapon makes you immune to disarm. From my experience, it is much better to MH the sonic weapon than OH the weapon due to all the sonic specific benefits. I am also not sure you can attack undead (permabless) with the sonic weapon in the OH unless your gloves/MH weapon are blessed.

The flare rate is going to halve for all items that have CAT B flares regardless of what hand you wield the weapon. If you're using Jab/Punch/Grapple, then the flare rate is static per attack, and it would be irrelevant which hand you hold weapons on for flare rates. The end result is the same chance to flare. Script flares, like parasite, shouldn't interfere with sonic flare rates. However, blessing your gloves will halve your sonic flare rate as that constitutes as a CAT B conflict. After testing and doing log analysis, I can say that KO flares on gloves did not change the flare rate of my sonic cestus, nor was the KO flare reduced, while having disintegrate flares on my gloves definitely reduced the rate of flares for the cestus.

[Delarock]

Thanks, that makes sense.

What about boots?

[Maerit]

Boots don't impact your rate of flares or any factor from your non-kick attacks. Holding a weapon will still reduce your MM with kicks though. If you can build a "stow/sheath" cestus into your combat routine whenever you kick, then you might benefit from the weapon being put away. While you'll hit harder in those moments, you will be wasting some time that is noticeable when you have 1s RTs.

[wetsand]

Here's another take on the UAC/hybrid pure build:

Bardito (at level 35), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
  Skill Name                         | Current Current
                                     |   Bonus   Ranks
  Two Weapon Combat..................|      78      17
  Armor Use..........................|     120      30
  Brawling...........................|     174      74
  Multi Opponent Combat..............|     120      30
  Physical Fitness...................|     130      35
  Dodging............................|     130      35
  Harness Power......................|     130      35
  Elemental Lore - Air...............|       5       1
  Perception.........................|     130      35
  Climbing...........................|     120      30
  Swimming...........................|     105      25

Spell Lists
  Minor Elemental....................|              25

Spell Lists
  Bard...............................|              29
Training Points: 16 Phy 0 Mnt (352 Phy converted to Mnt)

He will have Tonis by level 40, and will continue to 1x bard spells. At some point down the line I will grab 430 but his self spelled DS is decent and small statues really help. Currently trained for brig but wearing doubles. I will train up to aug chain when the doubles(or brig)start to hinder him.

Gear is 6x doubles and +28 SWCW gloves/boots with some ensorcelling. Sonic cestus in main hand. When using a sonic cestus, do I still get the crit weighting from the gloves?

I have some realm flaring boots to swap in when I'm forced to hunt living creatures but I was wondering if OTS(or maybe T1) parasite boots would be better? I'd love some KO flaring gear but I doubt I will ever be able to afford some.

[Maerit]

T1 parasite UAC gear is like 15k BS, so not exactly on the cheap side, and only 4x OTS. On the upside, they can be enchanted (though it is really hard) and ensorcelled (also really hard) - but overall that's an expensive project. At T1, they're going to continue to inflict HP damage to your character, and the flares will be normal flare rate. On the upside, you can still bless them!

Realm flares are nice to some extent. 5x OTS, and can be ensorcelled, but that's where they stop. Much cheaper to buy, but you will be stuck with 5x because enchanting is blocked.

Because bards naturally have to get 75 ranks in Air Lore for their tonis to be -2s RT (1s for all attacks), eblade is also a great option for your gloves/boots. You can get 2x gloves/boots, and eblade them to have 6x void flaring gloves/boots. Then just use your sonic cestus vs everything, and you'll have 2x permabless vs undead, 6x air / sonic flares vs living, and you'll get the DS bonus of having 6x gloves for parry DS. That is the cheapest route, though you do halve the flare rate of the sonic cestus by using 411.

[Izzy]

T1 parasite UAC gear is like 15k BS, so not exactly on the cheap side, and only 4x OTS. On the upside, they can be enchanted (though it is really hard) and ensorcelled (also really hard) - but overall that's an expensive project. At T1, they're going to continue to inflict HP damage to your character, and the flares will be normal flare rate. On the upside, you can still bless them!

Realm flares are nice to some extent. 5x OTS, and can be ensorcelled, but that's where they stop. Much cheaper to buy, but you will be stuck with 5x because enchanting is blocked.

Because bards naturally have to get 75 ranks in Air Lore for their tonis to be -2s RT (1s for all attacks), eblade is also a great option for your gloves/boots. You can get 2x gloves/boots, and eblade them to have 6x void flaring gloves/boots. Then just use your sonic cestus vs everything, and you'll have 2x permabless vs undead, 6x air / sonic flares vs living, and you'll get the DS bonus of having 6x gloves for parry DS. That is the cheapest route, though you do halve the flare rate of the sonic cestus by using 411.

I'm reasonably certain that realm flares can be enchanted under the new system. I was under the same impression as you, but someone provided evidence to the contrary. Unfortunately I don't have the specifics, but I believe they're off the no-enchant list (contrary to the wiki article)