Weekly PD Builds

[1[WoWz]]

The more I'm thinking about non-combat builds and challenges, the more I want to play a treasure hunter build.

Gnome
100 Stealth
100 Traps
100 Locks (could be substituted with skull keys from a bonecrafting alt?)
50 Shortswords OR 30 Unarmed/20 Sanctity for sleep fist/heal self respectively

This build would focus on stealthing through the dungeon, killing hybrids and 2x2s, going through the vaults for glass coins, opening chests, searching everything, etc. Gotta collect all the artifacts and be the richest man on the server for a month.

Obviously NG is not kind to rogue, would be better if Traps/Locks were combined into one Security skill.

[1[WoWz]]

Experimental build to see how using cleave and cone of acid to reduce enemies MR and defense helps with a low int caster.

Half-orc (building rage and extra str)
Str 750
Dex 50
Int 200

100 necromancy - cone of acid to reduce MR and defense and hail of bones to fight melee in the AoE/DoT, bonus hp as well
100 magery - utility spells and also summon daemon/summon dragon
30 piety - mani
90 axes - cleave reduces MR and defense
25 polearms - enough points to generate rage and better str/dex ratio than axes, plus you can use a bone sickle
5 tactics - extra points



Here is an int focused build.
Bloodkin (good for some extra int and the leech mana will help reduce the mana issues)
Str 250
Dex 50
Int 700

100 necromancy
100 magery
100 axes
40 piety (heal other to keep summons healthy or maybe a pet)
10 sanctity (for sense)

[1[WoWz]]

So I've been told that you can dig walls out with on certain levels (similar to mining). This may be handy to get around some of the water hazards. I'll try to remember to do some testing and update this.

[Keighn]

Man... I should have thought to test that. Just assumed in dungeon wall mining was disabled.

[Comet]

So I did some experiments with cleave/mr cleave/cone of acid and thought they would be interesting to you.

-Cone of Acid appears to actually cut MR by 30%, not 25% (tested on another player in pvp). Probably the most efficient way to reduce MR.

-Cleave actually seems to halve MR (!!!) instead of reduce it by 25%, at least on a PC. For cleaved players, the MR reduction doesn't seem to last that long. For cleaved Mobs, the MR reduction lasts for as long as the target is cleaved, but I'm not sure if the reduction is 25% or 50%. (I tested this by getting cleaved by mobs, and then cleaved someone else. both cases halved the player's MR. The next step would be to find a creature between 14-20K MR and see if it's still mr immune after cleave. If not, then cleave halves mr.)

-Cleave and MR Cleave do not stack (they probably affect the same variable)

-Cone of Acid stacks multiplicatively with Cleave/MR Cleave. If the above is correct, the most you could reduce MR by is 65%, meaning technically, anything below 28,572 MR can be reduced to below 10K (good luck pulling that off).

[1[WoWz]]

So I did some experiments with cleave/mr cleave/cone of acid and thought they would be interesting to you.

Nice testing! Very interesting results. The idea of cone of acid + cleave/mr cleave while hail of bones, summons, or pet dragon attacks is really tempting.

I know that sometimes abilities are different in pvp so I'm not sure, but there is potential for good combos here.

[Comet]

Yeah. I also found out that HOB and Corpse explosion are unaffected by MR and magic immunity, which was a pleasant surprise. Both are spells that synergize well with melee. I'm sure that there are also some nice debuffs/attacks that you could slip in after Cleave (Clone? IJO? Vermillion/VOG weap?).

[1[WoWz]]

Yeah. I also found out that HOB and Corpse explosion are unaffected by MR and magic immunity, which was a pleasant surprise. Both are spells that synergize well with melee. I'm sure that there are also some nice debuffs/attacks that you could slip in after Cleave (Clone? IJO? Vermillion/VOG weap?).

There are two paths based on this combo, Damage over time % HP damage or emphasizing the MR reduction.

DoT % HP I would try to work in AMT/VAMT, an attack from a melee/ranged venomous weapon, or Necro Soul Transfer

MR Reduction could have some VAM, CP, XC or any other spell really. Could use testing with enchant weapons too.

[LaughingCoyote]

Comet, how do you get Corpse Explosion to synergize with melee (fighter?) build? Trying it out on Alpha atm and not having much joy using flurry or wallop + FGC. Still killing 1 mob at a time, and only slight increase in damage from FGC as most mobs wont bunch up enough.

[LaughingCoyote]

Turns out Corpse explosion scales with intelligence (not confirmed?) so you have to pump a lot of int to make fighter/necro worthwhile.

[Keighn]

Really? They don't stack? Hmmmm. Well, i know i have had both effects on my before and it sure seemed like it stacked. I was getting hurt good. Mighta been my imagination since they were epic mobs.

[1[WoWz]]

Good build that should make beating weekly a breeze.

90 Axes - Cleave does good % damage over time and the MR reduction will come in handy with clones.
90 Sanctity - For sense, levitate, seize and your choice of yeti aspect or snake aspect.
90 Magery - For greater light, recall, greater invisibility, blink, charm, confuse, and clone.
50 Divinity - For power word pain, uncurse, and identify.
30 Piety - For Mani of course.

I prefer the stats below for the minimum dex needed for full movement speed.
Str - 891
Dex - 84
Int - 25

Race choice is pretty open:
Human - Could get some more stats somewhere, maybe some in tactics or block.
Draconian - More melee damage is good and so is flying over water in the dungeon.
Half Orc - Great choice due to increased rage gain and str bonus, heavy armor movement is nice too.
Half Troll - An off-hand axe would work well and regen is handy.
Gnome - Not suited for this build imo.
Bloodkin - It seems bad but leech would come in handy if you can't be bothered to track down vigour.
Shadowfolk - Shadowmeld would make me drop magery in favor of something else.
Dwarf - Great class with easy stat bonuses, infravision to help you explore the dungeon, HP bonus, and mithril gear.
Skeletun - Amazing, XMP resist makes fighting against blood mobs, hybrids, etc way easier. No food requirements make training easy.

Gear choice:
Minimal gear is needed, a choice of 1h axe + shield or off hand or 2h axe is fine. If you want to start necro and make some bone gear, that works too. Try to get vigour by buying from the treasures shop or dipping your own in the fountains.

Strategies:
-If you have to backtrack, go invisible so you don't have to fight the same enemies again.
-Use sense and blink over dungeon walls.
-Clone hard enemies and then cleave them so the clone is able to break through enemy MR.
-Go invisible and head towards the ladder boss, position yourself so when you become visible you can seize and fight 1v1.