Artefact questions and discussion

Lothien

I've heard a level 3 dirk is "the most important artefact for Sylvan combat". I understand it's for incredibly quick venom delivery, but is it really the most important?

Delphinus

After this round of classleads goes in, I suspect dirks are only going to matter to Serpents (as it should be).

Tanris

Would probably rather a diadem, personally. I mean, I suspect your group combat out-occurs your one v one, so that's the assumption I'm working on.

Alyssea

Delphinus said:

After this round of classleads goes in, I suspect dirks are only going to matter to Serpents (as it should be).

QFT.

Tvistor

I hope the dirk cost gets decreased somewhat, then. I don't know any high tier serpents without a L3, and the bonus can't be gotten anywhere else and the stats made it slightly easier for me to buy one for the cost. (and mine is only L2)

Halios

*hop* I want to buy some of these thangs but sales needs to respond to my email.

Hurrry before the deal ends and I lose my thirst.

Xith

Thornrend is pretty fast considering what it does. Just envenom your arms.

Zeon

Diadem. Then if you feel like shelling out major $$$ sip ring, collar, sash the usual. Also bow.

@Lothien for Sylvan

Zeon

The benefit to cost ratio on collar/sashes for a sylvan isn't worth it in my opinion. But i'm cheap.

Garao

The best thing about Thoths for Sylvan is not venom delivery but the speed at which you can break (coupled with venom delivery, but mostly the speed). It's also why it's an amazing artefact for Dragons and well just about any limb breaking class. Will be interested at what they change about it (as well as weapons in general). @Lothien

Zeon

Dirks are good for nearly every class, their stats are ridiculous. That being said, not worth it considering the impending nerf.

Lothien

I have a diadem, it's just that...  I can't really kill people quickly. So I was trying to think of artefacts that could speed up killing someone, heh. Collar and sash don't really seem worth it to me.

Lothien

Mostly they just shield and run away. Freezing the ground hinders me, too. Wildgrowth seems to pale in comparison to piety/gravehands.

Edit: I'd also like to note that I'm still terrible at combat, so I won't be trying to buy an artie to make me good at it or any such thing. But I'm just curious what I should be saving up for if I ever become good in the future.

Mizik

I found Sylvan prep to be so fast. Torso 1 2 3, limb 1 2 3 and that's it. Thornrend was just over 2 seconds. Sylvan is poorly designed for artefacts (and in general) in that only strength boosts your only viable attack, and hardly. No one is going to die to a Collar + Sash Stormhammer every 5 seconds.

Sylvan finds itself a specialty killer, like Blademaster. You have a class balanced around one ability that then acts as its biggest limiting factor. Because of this, only factors that boost speed are of any realistic benefit. What a dirk allows for you to do is minimize time between breaks and Heartseed and minimize potential reaction time for the opponent (ex break arm, arm after a long balance attack).

The only reasons why Wildgrowth is poor are because a) it can't be used defensively, b) does not stop fly/swing up.

Zeon

Lothien said:

I have a diadem, it's just that...  I can't really kill people quickly. So I was trying to think of artefacts that could speed up killing someone, heh. Collar and sash don't really seem worth it to me.

Sylvan just doesn't have any good quick kill options really. Even with freeze and wildgrowth if someone wants to get away they can get away. 1

They kinda tread middle ground in this regard since their prep is very fast (the kinda thing you'd do in a 1v1), as Mizik said, but not fast enough to easily jump and kill someone. And while they are better at keeping someone in room than perhaps a bard of a serpent, they can only really kill as fast as they can prep, which is still fast but not the 10 second lock/burst damage you'd see from some other classes.

Summary: Yeah there are some expensive artefacts you could look at for damage, but none are really worth the price in my opinion. (Besides diadem, which obviously boosts much more than damage potential). Sylvan is an amazing 1v1 dueling classes (easily one of the best), but they don't really have what it sounds like you're looking for.

Xith

Grab the strength arties. Probably better for your beastly viney asses.

And also I didn't know that, and it sounds dumb besides being overpowered. If people can break limbs with a dirk, why can't I envenom my blackjack?

(or better question, why can't I break limbs with my blackjack?)

Zeon

It makes sense that you could break limbs with any weapon, it would just take an extremely long time with some (thus low damage). It also makes sense that blunt weapons would be better at doing so (also killing skeletons). What doesn't make sense is that a dirk would be delivering warhammer-esk bone shattering strikes. I'm sure once this major event is handled we'll be seeing the weaponry changes we've been expecting.

Lothien

I couldn't kill Anicetus in the arena when he was just standing there curing, so obviously I need a lot more help than just arties :P Thanks for the input, though.

Xith

Speaking of all the upcoming changes we've been hearing about, @Cardan, how much time does the average classlead change take and what's the average time for a brand new ability from a classlead. (Don't need it down to the decimal place, just a range if possible)

Just asking because it took me two weeks to write the spammy little mini-game I made a while back (that will hopefully be recovered from my harddrive).

Mizik

About tree fitty

Mishgul

There aint no arti like an s-club arti

Idelisa

Lothien said:

I couldn't kill Anicetus in the arena when he was just standing there curing, so obviously I need a lot more help than just arties :P Thanks for the input, though.

Talk to Acrolo.  He will prove you wrong.  We had an oopsie moment one day!

Tirac

Lothien said:

I've heard a level 3 dirk is "the most important artefact for Sylvan combat". I understand it's for incredibly quick venom delivery, but is it really the most important?

I'm guessing you have the quick-witted trait. Without nimble or one of the class abilities that speed up Thoth's fang (chivalry bonus, runes, reflexes, SCS), jab speed is not going to be that great for you. Additionally, as a sylvan, you do not have an ability to strip rebounding. You said you have a diadem, so your thornrend is already pretty close to two seconds. To give you some perspective, my Thoth's fang jab speed with nimble and the chivalry bonus is around 1.65-1.7 seconds - yours will be slower for the above described reasons. You do gain a fraction of a second in return for dealing with rebounding. Whether or not that's worth 1500 credits is up to you.

Xith

Affliction/break speed for sylvans didn't seem to matter much against me, being jester. The damage speed and trippy vine crap was overwhelming enough. My strategy was something like priestess, priestess, shield, priestess...

Arlanda

I'm already at the stage where there aren't really interesting artefacts for me to purchase anymore...

Garao

Go Monk

Lothien

Thanks @Tirac, that's good advice. I guess STR/CON arties it is.

Sylvance

BM might want arties before they get all their trans if they get a cool blade name.

Mizik

Bracelets, Lv 3 sip, lv 3 band?

Honorable mentions for BM? Not Torc.

Garao

Wings. Earrings. Greaves. SIp ring. Thoths fang. Shield of absorption. Level 3 bow. Level 3 band. Level 3 sip. Diadem. Artie pipes. Lyre. Level 3 gaunts. Lev3 bracelet.