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Serpent Help

CossaCossa
in General Questions
Can someone please tell me the basics in combat for the Serpent Class.

Comments

  • KietKiet
    This is something complicated enough it's really a better idea to ask in-game, that's what houses and such are for.

    The basic idea is serpents give afflictions and try to truelock people through a mixture of venoms and hypnosis (for impatience). They have a few secondary ways to win, like darkshade or relapsing, but those are more threats to pressure curing into being suboptimal than a primary method.
  • AntidasAntidas
    What @Kiet said - that is a very complicated question. Serpent is a reasonably complicated class that requires some substantial effort to learn, unless you have previous experience with afflication-based combat. I'm not logged in right now and can't check your city, but I would recommend you try to find a serpent combatant within your faction and simply sit down with them.

    If you can't find one within your faction, feel free to hit me up in game/messages and I'll try to answer any questions you have.

  • MicaelisMicaelis
    Well, like Kiet and Antidas said, it's hard to really lay out how it works on a forum such as this one. But, to get the ball rolling, the most readily available thing you're going to try to do is present 'pressure' through the combined use of venoms and hypnosis for either a lock or a different type of kill, such as darkshade.

    The complication with serpent, and most other aff classes (some are easier than serpent, some are more difficult) is the potential 'branches' in curing. What I mean by that is you can't just go a, b, c like you potentially could with certain prep setups. You need to go a, if they do x b, if they do y c, etc. For example, with Darkshade, it's on a timer so if you see them trying to cure Darkshade after a given amount of time you need to know to push for the lock. Same goes for relapse. 

    What you essentially have is a few situation trees that you need to work down based on their curing. But it might take a minute before you get to that point.

    You should first A) Learn what each venom is and what it afflicts. B) Which venoms you can dstab, and which ones you can only bite. C) Separate all the venoms you can dstab and bite into tables based on cure (All kelp cures/non-focusable, all ginseng, etc etc). This is so you can 'stack' afflictions. If you give asthma/paralysis, then paralysis/clumsiness, and they eat kelp, they have a 50% chance of curing asthma, for example, you're just reducing their chance of curing what you don't want them to cure. Once you have all of that down then you might begin to see the decision trees and how you can possibly lock someone.

    The next part most people have trouble with is being able to notice what people cure, and what to afflict on top of that. There are aff trackers out there, though personally I don't think any of them are that good and they're certainly -not- user-friendly, and if you're asking how serpent works then chances are making your own isn't really that feasible, so you might want to just highlight every herb eat/smoke/salve apply/focus line and just practice on noticing them. If you dstab curare/kalmia, they eat bloodroot, then you do curare/xentio, they eat bloodroot again, then you do slickness/anorexia, and you see them eat bloodroot then apply a salve for anorexia, then you know they have paralysis, asthma, clumsiness, and weariness still, since the bloodroot cures slickness at a 50% chance, which allowed a salve cure of Anorexia. That's just an example but that's the general mindset. You notice cures and you notice 'giveaways' that affirm what they cured. Smoking would give away asthma, tree paralysis, focus impatience, things like that. 

    It's a lot to take in but there's a ton of people ready and willing to help you get the basic idea down. It's more difficult to learn the basics than it is to 'fine tune' it, in my opinion.
  • FarrahFarrah
    Psst. You can't eat bloodroot when you have anorexia. Just sayin'.
  • AnariaAnaria
    edited June 2017
    The problem with affliction type classes, as I am learning myself, is there is really no entry level participation. You need a full blown doctorate in all the venoms, curing methods, and techniques, to even get started. It's a lot to memorize. 

    If you want to learn Serpent combat, you need an in-game teacher willing to spend a good amount of time with you on a regular basis. Take it from me, that won't happen if you are a Rogue, and not all Houses are created equal. Some are in fact absolutely useless and won't teach you anything. Your city choice therefore will strongly influence your odds of success at learning combat, unless you are very lucky in finding a teacher outside of the system.

    Also be aware of just how fast combat really is. Trying to lock someone is all about speed and timing, and the artefacts for the Serpent function by shaving off an extra 0.1 seconds off your doublestab time. Some people work this by having really fast connections and super-human comprehension/reaction speed. Others are fantastic coders who script to the point that they can automatically react to their opponents curing method faster than their human brain can process and react on its own. Others a bit of both.

    If are you not the quickest when it comes to reading and typing, or you have no coding talents, or your connection speed is poor... you might consider an easier and more straightforward class to start out with. I'm not trying to discourage you, I just want you to understand what you are in for because I wish someone had told me. Good luck.

    This link may help you with memorizing venoms: http://venomsapp.com/
  • KietKiet
    Ping doesn't really affect serpent that much unless you're talking like 300-500+ ms.
  • AntidasAntidas
    Also, I've seen it written a few times here already that serpent is all about reacting to your opponents curing - this really isn't the case, unless you're automating. No human can accurately react to an opponent like that. Its far more important for a serpent to analyze what the curing priorities of the opponent is, and then attack already knowing what they are going to cure, assuming they do not change those priorities. Knowledge/analysis > reaction time

  • AustereAustere Tennessee
     I'll second all these people telling you to ask city/ house members, though there are definitely differing levels people are going to spoon feed someone/ break it down in understanding ways.  I was taught serpent 3 times by 3 ridiculously good serpents before it really clicked. Jarrel and Jaegerl both did their best with me, but it took Terra and a ridiculous illusion to really seal the deal.  It's a challenge, but if you want it, you can do it.
  • AnkhareoutefAnkhareoutef
    I'll third the in game learning. I'll also second Antidas here. I learned serpent from Santar, and he taught me that the first thing you should do is figure out how your target cures. From there, all you have to do is follow a sequence and boom (at least to get started).
  • MicaelisMicaelis
    Farrah said:
    Psst. You can't eat bloodroot when you have anorexia. Just sayin'.

  • IniarIniar
    Micaelis said:
    Farrah said:
    Psst. You can't eat bloodroot when you have anorexia. Just sayin'.

    Lol. I hate your forums and its lack of a Lol button. :[
  • IniarIniar
    Atalkez said:
    People were too pansified to deal with people clicking 'lol' on their posts. Major complaints from a vocal minority made it get shanked.

    @Sarapis since Ernam isn't here to be crazy and post 900 times per thread, can we have the lol buttons back? We'll be better.



    Hopefully.
    To be fair, it's better without the Lol buttons; no opportunity to have passive-aggressive Lols. :( still
  • IniarIniar
    Austere said:
    Iniar said:
    Atalkez said:
    People were too pansified to deal with people clicking 'lol' on their posts. Major complaints from a vocal minority made it get shanked.

    @Sarapis since Ernam isn't here to be crazy and post 900 times per thread, can we have the lol buttons back? We'll be better.



    Hopefully.
    To be fair, it's better without the Lol buttons; no opportunity to have passive-aggressive Lols. :( still
    To be fair, we're all adults here.  If an lol upsets you, maybe you should go play solitaire
    a* lol, clrly
  • CooperCooper
    I do not promise to be better.

  • AustereAustere Tennessee
    Iniar said:
    Austere said:
    Iniar said:
    Atalkez said:
    People were too pansified to deal with people clicking 'lol' on their posts. Major complaints from a vocal minority made it get shanked.

    @Sarapis since Ernam isn't here to be crazy and post 900 times per thread, can we have the lol buttons back? We'll be better.



    Hopefully.
    To be fair, it's better without the Lol buttons; no opportunity to have passive-aggressive Lols. :( still
    To be fair, we're all adults here.  If an lol upsets you, maybe you should go play solitaire
    a* lol, clrly
    In response to your passive aggressive response to my rapidly typed comment on break at work in response to your fear of passive aggression, I bestow upon you this nugget of wisdom: lol
  • IniarIniar
    Cooper said:
    I do not promise to be better.
    I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.



  • CossaCossa
    Iniar said:
    Cooper said:
    I do not promise to be better.
    I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.



    lol don't add harry potter to this!
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