Runewarden Artie Question

Paisly

I went Runewarden, and I don't regret it. I will likely have some credits to spend soon. Can anyone tells me if taking my gauntlets upgraded to +2 strength or getting the artifact armor with the SOA effect would be better for both bashing and some one who, hopefully, gets into a -moderate- amount of PvP in the future?

Just for fun, I love the Runewarden bashing, runelore is fun, and the PVP seems pretty simple and straightforward, which I need as a relative newb in it. I don't really care if it's an OP PVP class (no idea if it is or not) but no matter what I want to be good enough to have fun.

Eryl

There’s a lot to unpack here!

If you’re SnB or DWC, a little bump in strength is going to be required to kill bigger folks (disembowel scales very very sharply with strength; Antonius has a spreadsheet in his forums signature that you can use as a reference).

DWB can kill without strength, since pulp (their instakill) is affliction based and does not scale.

2H wants all the strength it can possibly get. You’re not really aiming for a one-hit-kill disembowel, but every point of strength increases your vitals pressure which is how you gain your momentum.

SoA is going to be one of the strongest defensive artefacts for most people, but as a runewarden you’re already exceptionally tanky. The PARAGON carries a much higher price tag than the shield version, as well. If you’re not hunting things that are almost killing you a lot of the time, strength is going to increase your experience gain per hour; you won’t miss the SoA paragon because... well nothing is really scary anyway.

Ultimately, it comes down to a personal choice.  No one can really help you decide if you want to focus on offense or defense except for you!  We all have different tastes.

Ginarrbrik

If your going PvP you typically want more strength, see Eryl's post above as he explains most of that. I wouldn't think you would need more than 15 base (including the +1 Jera makes it 16 and with Fury you get to that sweet sweet 18str disembowels).  I would sooner invest in a LVL1-2 Weapon and a Mayan Ring if your planning to go into PvP heavily. 

It sounds like you already have Ogre Gauntlets so you could push an extra point into Constitution instead which will free you up to get your health even higher.  Hunters Belt, Mayan Bracelets and even Critical Pendant if you plan to do some hunting.

I don't think I would consider an Absorption Paragon or extra cost of Aldar Guantlets over any of that other stuff first, considering the insane cost of it and it's not even as good as the SoA and costs even more, but if you wanted to swap between different non-shield using classes at some point then it might be worth consideration.

Paisly

Thank you both. I should have said I went two-handed. I think I'll go for the strength. It's cheaper and I need all the PVP help I can got.   I do just fine bashing already to be honest.

Archaeon

do you have other arties, like sip rings/regen rings/reserves?

Paisly

I have 6300 con which has been plenty for everything I do so far, and a Level two health sip ring.

Archaeon

getting sip/regen/etc will serve you better in the long run than more STR,  so will a crit pendant if you're liking PVE.  PVP-wise you won't need to min/max for str.  I highly suggest getting more survivability before getting more str.

Paisly

I just wanted to thank you all again. This is the first class I've ever played that isn't an affliction based class. I'm loving it though.

Paisly

I've decided on the level 3 sword, +1 strength, trans riding. When, eventually, I can get some more will update my con a bit.

Eryl

Paisly said:

I've decided on the level 3 sword, +1 strength, trans riding. When, eventually, I can get some more will update my con a bit.

This a great plan. Your hunting speed will see a significant increase, as will your pressure in PK. With trans riding, you’re also getting the riding defense for bashing as well as mountjump so you can make proper use of your stonewalls.