Mace vs Swords

[brandonsantacruz]

I have an archer that I want to train in mace or swords, but I can't decide which. The main aim of the character is ambush/gank pvp either solo or in groups. Here's the build I'm working on..

Archery
Tactics
Anatomy
Healing
Tracking
Detect Hidden
(Either mace or swords)

Here are the pro's as I see them..
Swords:
Can be poisoned
Way more of a selection/availability
All are repairable

Maces:
Reduce stamina
Can have magic spells imbued in them (i.e. staffs w/mana drain)

The general idea is to run people down and not let them get away. Swords are easy to get and therefore it would be easy to get magic ones, plus they can be poisoned. Maces could make it harder to get away if you drain their stamina, but I suspect they will try and run and I won't get too many hits in. I don't want to risk much equipment and I'm not a mage, so there would be no regs to lose. If they want to stay out of melee range, I'll peg them with arrows or bolts from horseback.

Any ideas about the relative benefits of these strategies? I was wondering if resist would completely negate a mana drain/vampire spell from a staff, or just reduce it's effectiveness.

Thanks for the help,
Brandon

[leaf nut]

hey... i myself think tracking ois a complete waste... if you cant follow your guy on ur own with out skill aided then you dont deserve to be a pk...

anyways... go Swords... halbreds Pwn... alot of damage.. if u are ikn a group its much needed... a hard tough blow , but seriously go swords its the smartest warrior skill.. cept magery...

Swords pwn, maces suck hardcore...

*** alot more swords out there too...

[Leroy-]

You are going to pvp with that templete?

[brandonsantacruz]

You are going to pvp with that templete?

More like opportunistically pk or maybe pk as a group.. it's a very cheap template to build and has some supporting skills to help track down ppl to kill.. I can enter a dungeon, track a player from several screens away and be ready to attack before he knows I'm even in the area. It's not as effective as ebolt spam, but hopefully pretty fun. Detect hidden could maybe be something else if I have some greater explosion pots, but it might be nice to have some skills that surprize my opponents.
This is NOT a tournament style pvp character, more of the annoying little bastard template if you want to call it that.

[chumbucket]

You are going to pvp with that templete?

I can enter a dungeon, track a player from several screens away and be ready to attack before he knows I'm even in the area.

Tracking at GM will give you about a two screen radius.

[Falx]

lose track, take magery.

Use macing, swords is cookie cutter, macing is just as good and better with stam drain.

[brandonsantacruz]

lose track, take magery.

Use macing, swords is cookie cutter, macing is just as good and better with stam drain.

I want to try out tracking before writing it off, especially since I am going with the dex monkey template of 100 str 100 dex 25 int that would only be good for like recall.. Even if I decided against tracking, I might go with swords AND mace, as redundant as that is, just to have the choice between the two. Hiding might be a good alternative to tracking, letting me lay in wait for my opponant or heal and stay out of sight if I'm outmatched. The tracking + detect hidden combo is appealing, though.

Brandon

[qtip]

I'd say fencing and macing if you're dead set on picking up two melee skills. A fast poisoner on switch could be interesting; still seems a bit overkill. You could always take 20.1 tracking(i think that's the magic number) and 79.9 magery or some sort of split.

[TwoTon]

id go with tracked and forensic eval , that way you have a decent chance to auto reveal them, [forensice eval]

[brandonsantacruz]

hm, wasn't aware that forensic evaluation did anything worthwhile.. I don't see that in Stratics, is there a link to how that works?

Thanks,
Brandon

[Falx]

tracking is useless. Dont waste your time trying it out. Magery is so much better :/

[Coffee]

Tracking was relatively handy "back in the day" -- but not so much at this point. Rather than tracking, just use common sense. You see empty pots or corpses -- there's a good chance someone is about.

For PKing, I'd go with swords, but mace is a good second option. Fence really isn't that grand.

Dump tracking/detect hidden, and pick up magery and something else.

[silex]

Even with a crappy 25 int, Magery can let you use Reveal. Far superior to Detect Hidden, in my opinion, plus you have access to so much more utility:

Recall
Mark
Magic Reflect
Invisibility
Trap Box
Greater Heal
Heal
Poison
Cure
Paralyze! (would be nice to use precasted to stop runners)


The Tracking thing has already been beaten into the ground. You're free to try it out, but be prepared for dissapointment. If you are really going for the Ambush method, I think Hiding is better (but possibly not needed due to Invisibility).

Am I missing something, or is why no one commenting on the lack of resist in the template? I thought resists from armor weren't granted until after this era?

[Lothain]

One point to consider regarding maces is that a vanq War Hammer or Q staff is far cheaper than a vanq Halberd or Katana-- and in fact, more common (from my experience).

I agree with Silex wholeheartedly on the resist. If you were to drop detect hidden, take up resist and hiding, that would be cool. But then again, maybe you'd be getting too cliche by that point - you seem to want to step outside the box. More power to ya!

[brandonsantacruz]

I'm thinking I'll probably go with swords over maces and get at least archery to GM before trying to PK... Once I get out there and see how it works, I'll adjust. Even 25-50 hiding would be enough for me to ambush. Resist might not be that important unless I end up taking someone 1v1 on a level playing field, totally not my intent. We'll see. Thanks for the help!