so I inherited a SB

[EZ_katranga]

Hey guys, long time listener, 1st time caller here.

I inherited a SB from a friend who quit. he's a kobold, and currently almost 11th level. I had a couple questions about stats and skills, want to make sure I'm not gimped and should reroll, or not.

It looks like he put +10 into STR, DEX, and QUI

His points look like this:
Crit 9
stealth 4
Axe 5
left axe 5
envenom 5


Im not sure on the axe and left axe, but I know envenom is 5, stealth is 4, and crit is 9.

I was thinking of going really high in crit and envenom, and keep up axe and stealth as high as I can.

Would this suck? Is it worth it to skip some levels in crit for regualr axe? Are the stats ok? I see midgard not having any piercer weapons as kind of sucking, having a low str with axe seems like a big disad.

Thanks,
Glixx the not so mighty

[EZ_Fiae]

Personal opinion, but since all Midgard weapons are Strength based, his 10 points in str was a great idea. At current his points are strewn quite about, I'm a 3 point rogue (sword, cs, stealth) and from what I've seen the top you want it 4 point, he looks to be a 5 point, which could be tough as you level for quite a while.

I would say as a youngun, pick three or four things to work on, and run with em. Fiae Soulmender
"The Machine"
58 Rogue Veeshan (Warden)
Fires of Heaven
Fiae - ShadowBlade of Percival (Shanks)
Blackguard
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[EZ_katranga]

Does having a lot of points in stealth really give anything other than climbing walls and distract? I'm having trouble seeing what stealth really gets you long term.

I really really wonder how disguise will affect stealth, as far as if stealth will be necessary to have when you can disguise yourself as something else.

Well, thanks for the answer. I really like the crit styles, so I know I'll keep advancing that one, I'll have to think about what else I want to really be good at I guess.

[EZ_Xumten]

Well the one thing you dont want to happen as a Blade is being detected. And since the detect hidden check is your stealth lvl vs the detectors chraracter level... you definately want stealth up high.

[EZ_katranga]

Ah ok. I was hoping to use auto train to my advantage on that. Maybe I'll let it auto train some since I can't realistically RVR until the low 30s anway on my server. Then dump some points into it at that point.

Thanks for bringing that up, I'll have to plan on saving points for it later.

[EZ_Iriki]

Personally, I would reroll. Not because that char is gmiped in any way but because you going through the first few levels will give you a better sense on how to be a good blade.

Getting to 11 isn't hard. Making the character you want is nice.

If you do reroll I do suggest not putting points in stealth until you can't stand having low stealth anymore. Stealth does several things. Lowers chance to be detected, increases movement rate while stealthed, and the abilities granted (Danger sense, Detec hidden, safe fall, and climbing).

[Lisboa]

You can't autotrain because he already put points in stealth. I don't know if I'd continue the character if I got it myself, I'd say 10 points really ought to go into constitution at creation...

[EZ_katranga]

Ah, yeah, IF I did reroll, I might have not put 10 into quick or dex and put 10 into con.

Kobolds start with really crappy str (50 I think, con too for that matter).

I've gotten him to 15th so far, I steered away from Axes, put 10 points into sword for Assult I.

I may reroll since my points are screwed up, the reason he put points into axe anyway is because at one point axe affected left axe dmg or hit or whatever, now it doesnt. Maybe we can respend our spec points after they are done modifiyng characters.

Thank you all for the advice. I appreciate it. I've played tons of characters in DAOC, including in beta, the level 1-5 thing isn't fun any more, but I maybe could learn a little from the 5-10 stretch.

[Lisboa]

Actually axes are superior to swords if you use left axe. The reason is your left axe is always a drop/quest after level 20 which always add +axe, and so you can get up to +11 axe fairly easily wielding two axes. By comparison if you use a sword and an axe, you end up with maybe +6 sword and a +5 axe which is useless. Plus there are nearly ZERO good sword drops in Midgard from 25-35, but many more axe drops. Maybe this is remedied with the itemization of the Cursed Tomb.

So at this point your character is pretty messed up, and I would reroll.

[EZ_katranga]

My problem with this is that backstabbing with an axe is pretty silly to me. It sucks that there aren't any decent sword drops, it sucks even more that their aren't any piercers in midgard for SBs and it never occured to SBs to stab people.

Ah well, I may reroll, but I'd never go strong in axe, thanks for pointing out the weakness of drops though, I wasn't aware of it.

[EZ_Iriki]

PA with an axe is awesome. I mean, you swing and slash through the throat; the momentium of the force causes you to spin a half circle. Uber!

I'm all for looks. =)

[EZ_Kendaile]

... as a SB, if you think backstabbing with an axe is silly, try backstabbing with a two-handed sword. *grins* hehe.

I wouldn't call that a backstab anymore.. more like a spine-ectomy. Do I get to be the Avatar of Mischief yet?
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a poison-tipped curved dagger in the breadbasket... er.. wait a sec.."
Commander Kendaile MaelLeidh, Officer of the Grey Hand [Hibernia, Percival]
"www.greyhand.com"

[EZ_Kilbane]

Hmmm...I was looking around for some answers myself about this very same question.

I have a Kobold SB that I started and put +10 to Str,+10 to Dex and +10 to Quick. I notice that at 7th lvl, atking with backstab and evicerate, plus a dash of poison on my axes (went with shadowzerker temp.), I can usually win out on yellow cons.

But my question is pointed rather to the endurance I use after BS and evicerate. I've noticed that after two or three COUNTER SLASHES, I'm left with zip endurance. So if things go bad initially, I'm usually SOL and lose the fight.

Would restarting the character and reassigning points say: +10 str, +10 Con, +5 Dex and +5 Quick work out better? I have noticed that I evade an awful lot and usually one or two misses due to evade will often turn the tide of battle when I'm unable to use any styles.

I know this class isn't supposed to trade blow for blow, like tanks, but I'm wondering if I've gimped myself with my starting stats.

I don't log in as often as I would like and rerolling the character (although an option), isn't what I would like to do. But I'm hoping that some of you could offer advise as far as how this could work out at higher level and in RvR with what I have going.

So far, it's been really comforting to know ahead of time what to spec in, given everyones experience. So any advise would be helpful.

Thanks again and sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but this thread is very close to the problem I'm encountering.

-Aiki
Shadowblade, Tristan

[Lisboa]

I haven't really had problems with endurance as a Norse SB starting with 75 con (I'd take 80 con if I could do it again). I can do at least 10 styles before getting low on endurance. Mind you I'm not doing garrote but the ravanger chain or repeat hamstrings.