Serpent Bashing Tips?

Kronimyr

Hello!

I wrote a long post and the forums ate it. 

I'm feeling a bit dejected with Serpent Bashing and am hoping for some advice. I even dumped two No Brainer Lesson Packs hoping Bashing would improve. I'm level 72, and realize I might be stuck without spending more money, and that makes me sad. I love the theme and RP, for what it's worth. 

Also, fellow Mhaldorians have been great. Isaiah, Kitiara, Remilia, Seortiae, and Jurixe have been awesome and kept me motivated for quite some time. I'm just looking forward and feeling a bit dejected. Any advice?

Sena

What part of the bashing do you dislike? Are you killing things too slowly, dying too easily, not getting experience fast enough, or some other problem?

Do you have trans subterfuge already? If not, transing that should be your first priority.
After you have trans subterfuge, if you only care about bashing then your next goal should be trans avoidance.
Are you garroting with a whip or a lash? Lashes are better than whips. And you should definitely use garrote, not sumac/camus.
What spec/traits do you have? Assuming no artefacts, I'd normally recommend con spec and Nimble/Robust/Lucky, but if your problem is killing speed and you're fine with being a lot less tanky, going dex spec and taking Agile instead of Robust will improve your offence a lot.
Bashing runes make a huge difference, if you aren't using them.
Where are you bashing? You might be sticking to areas that are too low-level for you, or too high-level, or just don't have a good difficulty:experience ratio.
Are you using battlerage as often as possible? You'll be losing a lot of offence if you aren't.
Are you using someone else's bashing to judge how you should be doing? It's possible that whoever you're comparing yourself to is a class that's just flat-out better than serpent at bashing, or maybe they have artefacts, or spend more time bashing than you realise, making them not a good guide for judging your own progress.

Cooper

Definitely use Runes. We have them available in Mhaldor almost all the time.

Outside of buying defense artefacts, your only choice is to lower your expectations on where you can hunt. I'd consider most of Arcadia to be a level 90+ area.

Use AREAS to give you a better idea of where to bash and keep in mind serpent is on the squishy side so it will be harder to tank. Don't forget to use scales!

Minifie

You can always nudge me for runes, I'm pretty easy to distract for them. I would suggest hunting lower areas faster, so try to clear all of manara constantly, forestwatch is good (avoid the lord's room). I cycled these 2 areas to 80 and then kept forestwatch and added creville, aran'roid, azdun (test it to see how you go, i was fine with hit and run on 2nd floor), moghedu (guards, archers, conjurers), mirror caves, scorpion cave, upper manticore lair, tsol'aa village... all of these require you to run and test and see how you go but I was able to do it on an unartied serpent before I made mini.

Embry

Hi! New player here also who is getting a lot of advice from a relative who plays! I solo bashed from 1-80 as a human (rogue specialized with nimble & agile traits) serpent in 10 days or roughly 60 hours of pure grind. I did not have subterfuge transed, but I used garrote with a lash. I do not have avoidance even at the quarter mark. After nearly a dozen deaths, I realized my average hunting areas are about 5 levels lower than the places listed in Areas. I had to lower my expectations a lot. I do not have artefacts. I was able to borrow them a few times from my mentor and they helped me hunt areas I should be hunting. It's just going to take longer and I am already jealous of my jester housemate that bashed to 80 in half the time.

Alaskar

The good news is, after like level 84, at least for me, bashing has become much more palatable due to the increasing criticals. Which means you're almost done with the really grindy part, where experience and gold are both slow to come.

Mathilda

70s to low 80s is definitely a frustratingly huge hump. Not tanky enough, not critting enough for larger things, but smaller things are...small.

I hunted Manara until level 85, occasionally weaving in hunts across Ka'doloki and Shastaan (they're not hunted as often, so each mob has a bonus to experience). You'd want to go slow and steady, rather than risk dying to bigger things. That might just be preference, though!

Dochitha

Keep going. 70-90 is a frustration. Once you hit 92+, crit starts to pickup and things get easier. Also, along the way, save up gold for credits for arties. Arties will really get you more enjoyment, it's worth every penny. I saved up quote a few arties that way, via pure grinding before I got dragon too. 

Serpent is squishy, I hope it can be made a bit tankier, and weaving could really be used to add more tankiness to serps with endurance cost... But, keep going, keep going.

Mathilda

About what @Dochitha
 said about grinding gold -> credits -> artifacts, avoid buying from the main CFS market. Prioritise City/House creditsales, as they are far cheaper and better for your sanity.

Kronimyr

Thank you for the in depth response, Sena. 

My primary frustration is that I'm just so darn squishy and die quite frequently. Im wearing Scale Mail and wielding a buckler. I have server side curing and lots of elixirs and potash, but at 72 I still die enough to be frustrated. I still run through level four in Manara, but can't solo Arcadia or Creville. Maybe I'm expecting too much?

I have trans'd subterfuge and am at mythic in avoidance. I'm garroting with a vendor available lash. I use Camus when denizens shield, but otherwise garrote. I have agile and lucky, and am dex spec'd with no reincarnates available. 

I'm not using runes. Perhaps I should be? I haven't seen runes or runemasters in Mhaldor. I've been Bashing in Manara, Creville, and Arcadia. Perhaps I need to look elsewhere?

i am using battlerage, and have reflexes setup to ensure I am. 

I really appreciate you taking the time to assist a newbie. 

Kronimyr

Thanks everyone! You've been very helpful!