Sampire - weapons, tactics, etc

[12TimesOver]

Hey all -

Because I've always played mages a lot of this is new to me so take it easy on this old guy

Just trying to think through my weapons a little bit and wondering how other people are keeping armed for solo'ng spawns and what your tactics are. For example, last night I played around with the first two levels at an Ilsh Meph spawn just to practice a little. I was just using a random Wrong cursed Radiant with some decent mods for constant Whirlwind attacks to see how it would go. Pretty cool, I like the tactic. It was painfully obvious that the third and fourth levels weren't going to be a cakewalk without some weapons tailored specifically for the spawn.

I decided Fire weapons would be best for the Meph spawn, kind of an obvious decision there. I know I can go with just Arachnid slayer (and maybe an Elemental for level 4) but going with Spider and Terathan Slayers will give 3 x damage instead of 2 x damage of the Arachnid however this means switching back and forth between weapons.

Also, if the Damage Increase cap is 300 then I guess there isn't much of a reason to roll with the individual slayer weapons instead of Super Slayer if I already have 100 DI on my suit, correct?

So I guess if I'm going with a Spider Slayer, for example, I should remove the Damage Increase on the weapon since it's not really helpful at that point.

What do you do? Do you like to cap DI on the suit and just use a Super Slayer to simplify things? Do you like to go with the 300% DI on the non-Super Slayer weapons to get back those Imbue slots?

I'm also going to switch to a Double Axe instead of a Radiant I think. This will give me the whirlwind still but then I'll gain Double Strike instead of the Bladeweave of the Radiant (worthless IMO). Double strike coupled with Counter Attack should put out some nice extra damage.

So, I suppose I can simplify things and use an 100% Fire Arachnid Slayer Double Axe with 40 DI and another 60 on my suit, 40 SSI gets me to 1.25 at 150 Stamina so this should be pretty easy to maintain. Then this weapon should work well with the spawn and with the champ itself.

Same logic to apply to other spawns.

On top of this, it seems like a general purpose weapon of some type is also in order. I'm thinking that I don't want to waste imbues on slayer properties or bother with 100% Elemental damage on a general purpose weapon but DI, SSI, Hit Area, Mana Leech, and maybe HLD or something would probably be good. Then I could just use Consecrate as needed.

Thoughts? Comments? Advice?

X

[Coragin]

Since you helped me add Hit Area (8 years without that!) I guess I can tell you what  I do and the weapons I got made.  I have extra radiants if you need them.

Spider: 100% Fire / Arachnid Slayer / Stamina Leech / Mana Leech / Hit Fire Area
Demon: 100% Cold / Demon Slayer /HSL / HML / Hit Cold Area (Can also go energy, but cold better for flaming gargs)
Rats: Soul Seeker or 100% Poison/Fire / HML / HSL / Hit Fire/Poison Area (Cannot use poison on Silvers Serps)
Dragon: Reptile Slayer 100% Cold / HML / HSL / Hit Cold Area
Lord Oaks: 100% Fire / HML / HSL / Hit Fire Area / HLL
Undead: 100% Fire Undead slayer / HML / HSL / Hit Fire Area

Now with each boss I may or may not switch up weapons...

Mephitis: 100% Fire Katana (Katanas have double strike) Spider Slayer / HML / HSL / HLL / Hit Fireball
Semidar: 100% Cold/Energy Katana Demon Slayer / HML / HSL / 30% SSI (she drops Stamina FAST)
Oaks: 100% Fire Katana / HML / HSL / HLL 30% SSI

Nedaria: I stick with same weapon as spawn
Baracoon: Stick with Soul Seeker
Rikktor: Log off and log on archer lol

I prefer the fast weapon as a Katana with double strike.  You get same dmg delay as Radiant but you get double strike.  I am going to fiddle with the double axe as soon as I make some cash for shadow runics.  Or get a bod runner working lol.

Not many spawns are really HARD, but with Demon I go slower on flaming gargs cause they can kill you quick in numbers while mana draining you.  Same with Matriarchs of Spider.  Undead spawn, level 2 with the bone mages, if you get a paragon kill it FAST cause they cast blood oath and it will kill you.

If you dual box I suggest getting a peace/disco/tamer to disco bosses and use the song that negates 20% dmg.  Dont send pet in on Mephitis or Semidar, both will B-Line for your bard as soon as you do.

[12TimesOver]

Well the nice thing about the katana is you can max swing with 0 SSI at 150 Stamina thus you have an extra imbue on the weapon.

However, I like the additional damage of the Double Axe instead. It does take a little bit more effort to match the katana swing rate but you get Whirlwind with the double-axe which, coupled with double strike, I think is more useful than AI. Sucks that the katana has DS and AI on it since neither is really much more useful than the other on that weapon.

And of course, 5-8 points of base damage more on the double axe vs the katana or the radiant can add up pretty quickly, ESPECIALLY when you consider that the "damage modifiers" (slayer, consecrate, EoO) take place AFTER arriving at the "adjusted" base damage of the weapon thus the +300% is 3 times the DI that has already been modified from 100% DI items, strength, Tactics, etc, etc. (this just according to the DI calculations on UOGuide).

So if I have this correctly, assuming the following on my current template:

110 Tactics
125 Strength
0 Anatomy
0 LJ

+100% - Items and/or Divine Fury
+75.27% - 110 Tactics
+42.5% - 125 Strength
Total Base Damage modifier = 217.77%

Thus the adjusted base damages are:

Katana or Radiant Scimitar: 31-44 or an average of 37.5 Base Damage
Double Axe: 44-57 or an average of 50.5 Base Damage

Now add to this the additional damage modifiers - Slayer, Consecrate, EoO for a total of 300% above the actual damage done to the target. So, for example, if you hit Meph (average 70% Fire resist) with a 100% fire weapon:

30% of adjusted base damage = 9-13 damage on the katana, 13-17 on the double axe

Thus the final output on Meph will be an average of 33 with the katana and 300% damage modifier or and average of 45 on the Double Axe. Only a difference of 12 points per swing but that adds up to about 25% fewer swings to kill the target. Add to this the extra damage of critical hits and you can see how quickly it adds up.

This, of course, assumes that you can maintain the same swing speed on both weapons. Losing Stamina will certainly skew your results.

I may have some numbers wrong here, just going by the stuff I can get to from work at UOGuide, but I think I've got it straight.

X

[The Ghost]

You are having the concept.  Weapon are just one part of the equation.  How much damage can you take and make are also important.  Knowing what weapon to use and special are also important.  Like Coragin  mention and describe,  each monster have a set of weapon, I often hunt with 2 to 4 weapon on my pack even 6 since each level have 2 type.   I have peer that only carry two and do well too.  they might died a few time on high level but the get the job done.  I all about preference and how fast you can response.   New kids have faster reflex )

[Xanderyum]

Argh, I play a free pre AOS Shard, but sometimes I want to get my whammy, sammy on especially after reading threads like this.   So fun!

[Coragin]

So when max stamina and ssi does the double axe and radiant swing at the same speed?  assuming 180 stamina 30ssi.

[12TimesOver]

So, I suppose I can simplify things and use an 100% Fire Arachnid Slayer Double Axe with 40 DI and another 60 on my suit, 40 SSI gets me to 1.25 at 150 Stamina so this should be pretty easy to maintain. Then this weapon should work well with the spawn and with the champ itself.

150 Stamina should be no sweat, then 30 SSI on the weapon and 10 on the jewels. Even hitting with less SSI can still get 1.5 pretty easily.

<edit>

Also, I created a 90% Fire double axe last night, hit it with Bronze to get 100% Fire then I PoF'd it up to 255 durability. When I went into the Imbuing menu it showed a cap of 600 not the 500 I was expecting. What causes this?

X

[Masscre]

So, I suppose I can simplify things and use an 100% Fire Arachnid Slayer Double Axe with 40 DI and another 60 on my suit, 40 SSI gets me to 1.25 at 150 Stamina so this should be pretty easy to maintain. Then this weapon should work well with the spawn and with the champ itself.

150 Stamina should be no sweat, then 30 SSI on the weapon and 10 on the jewels. Even hitting with less SSI can still get 1.5 pretty easily.

<edit>

Also, I created a 90% Fire double axe last night, hit it with Bronze to get 100% Fire then I PoF'd it up to 255 durability. When I went into the Imbuing menu it showed a cap of 600 not the 500 I was expecting. What causes this?

X

Not sure 12 X ^ I have had this happen on 2 weapons i created and it only showed up while imbuing not at the time I was Reforging. I can not recreate it and I assumed it was just a fluke. I am now glad someone else has witnessed this. Is it a bug? Is it something mixxed with the new loot system and we have linked to it some how. I can find my weapons to tell you what are on them when I get home. It could be very valuable if we could figure outhow to do this. I do remember that I was making bladed staffs and imbuing them when this happened if I am not going crazy. How about you 12x^ what were you making and did you have 2 imbues or more on it before you noticed this?

[Hoby]

what were the durability of the wep when it was originally crafted?

[12TimesOver]

1) Created axe with normal iron 120 smith and 100 Arms lore (exceptional with 40 DI)
2) Reforged with shadow runic hammer, Powerful Reforging with Exquisite/Of Quality
3) Enhanced with Bronze taking it from 90 Fire to 100 Fire
4) Took Durability from somewhere around 110-120 to 255 with PoF. Don't remember exact, I remember it took less than 1.5 PoF to complete
5) Opened Imbue menu to add SSI and it showed 600 cap

X

[The Ghost]

ok, now that I'm done reading    It seen that you are a  few pub behind.  2 hand weapons have their weight change to 600 , except of bow that are 550 now. on handle weapon remain at 500.   

[Hoby]

ahh, ok.  I made some bows last night that were 550 max.  Thought it was high.  That makes sense.  darn pubs, can't keep up with them.

[12TimesOver]

Thanks Ghost.

[Masscre]

Thanks Ghost. That explains that.