a New guy in town. hello.

[Kayben]

Update: Sarah is clvl - 20. (fame level 10)

I made en error and used a portal in the quest levels. that canceled the open portal i had for the Shadow Vault and resetted it. At this point i am in sort of a problem. although i am clvl20 in floor 17 - quest. i find it hard to deal with the monsters.
i evade death many times by a pinch. that is a hint this character wont last for much long.



skill points allocation:
Critical Strikes 10/10
Armor Expertise 10/10
Stab 3/10
Wind of Justice 4/10
Defensive Spell Mastery 1/10

My goal is to reach clvl 25 - to get Advanced Spell Casting and upgrading Stab.
i guess i am going to put my next points in Block and Parry / Stab.
another problem is got almost no money and i am a heavy potion drinker.
i feel the points i've been putting in WoJ should have come much later.

[Kayben]

Another quick update to balance the post before -
I advanced to clvl 21. i put both points (skill+fame) in Stab, and boy it made a lot of difference.
Another issue, some monsters are slow - so there no point in melee fighting them.
I switch to my rifle and i shoot their ass from a cover.

There's a lot of tactics in this game play -
you need to disassemble groups.
you can do it it in a few technique:
1. let one get closer and finish him.
2. use haste pass a monster and then stab him backwards.
3. stab into the crowd and then blast with WoJ. (dangerous if you don't know the strength of the monsters)

i had luck and crossed among 2 enchant fountains on floor 18 ( i don't use town enchant ) and upgraded my Mace twice to greater dmg.

so it's a bit easier now...

[Kayben]

death to Sarah II and Sarah III.
at level 21 and 18.
i found out that a wiser way to distribute the skill points was to upgrade Stab.
1 point per 2 clvls. so by clvl 19 you reach Stab (8/10).
the rest goes to Armor Expertise and Critical Strikes.

Good Luck Sarah IV

[Kayben]

Sarah IV is making a good progress.
clvl - 27, fame - 16.
i upgraded stab quickly this time, 1 point per 2 clvls and it worked great.
my skill points distribution so far:
Critical Strikes (10/10)
Armor Expertise (10/10)
Stab (9/10)
WoJ (1/10) - i didn't use it at all.
Hamstering (1/10)
Advanced Spell Casting (3/10) - seems enough
Block and Parry (6/10) - will be upgraded to 10.
(i got 1 spare skill point, i yet decided where to put).

my plan is:
Fame 16 - Block and Parry (7/10)
clvl 28 - Stab (10/10)
clvl 29 - Block and Parry (8/10)
Fame 17 - Block and Parry (9/10)
clvl 30 - Block and Parry (10/10)

from this point, i don't know where to go.
my plan was to go for WoJ, but i am worry it will be too weak.
i saw that if i blast it, nobody can get close to me, if so why to max Black & Parry?!
i think it might be mana costly so i'll have to upgrade Advanced Spell Casting as well.

if anybody have a different idea, i'll be glad to hear it.

[Marius]

WoJ 10 is a lot more useful than WoJ1. I've got it at 10 and use it a lot. The difference is it has a 90% stun chance rather than a 50% chance. The knockback also knocks enemies further back, so a single use of it will send people flying and stun them.

Block and parry 10 is still useful though since you'll still get hit.

You should consider defensive spell mastery. I think it's the best skill a melee vanquisher can take.

Maxed out your Haste 6 spell lasts for 30 seconds between recasts and gives you about a +80% run speed boost. It's the best defensive option you have since you can avoid most melee attacks by just running backwards. Silence 6 is also not bad, especially if you can close fast to dark zealots with haste and hamstring before they can get off their lightning blast. But it also works on every other ability - mages don't cast spells and dragonkin no longer breathe fire. I love haste-hamstring silencing people. Can get you killed if you're too aggressive with it though...

Heal self and heal all are also decent spells to have around. Each gives a strong heal over time for 4 seconds, so they can be cast to absorb damage if you have defensive spell mastery.

All this means that with defensive spell mastery and blood skeletons I find myself no longer needing heal potions.

Barter is another great skill. A lot of power comes from enchanting, and barter reduces enchant prices.

Have you considered venemous dirks? It's incredibly powerful.

[Kayben]

Thanks for the tips.

my main goal is to focus on Stab.
therefore i don't want to use venemous dirks.
i also don't enchants, so i don't use barter.

i think i am going to try and put some points in WoJ.

[Kayben]

new update:
Sarah reached clvl 31, fame 19



Skill points distribution:
10 Stab ( 848-1060 DMG)
10 Critical Strikes
10 Armor Expertise
10 Block and Parry
5 Advanced Spell Casting
2 WoJ
1 Hamstering



i got 33% chance to block and 25% chance to crit.
i managed to get both Chest Armor and Helmet of the Zoromun's Set
http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9379

i reached floor 24 in the main quest and floor 20 in the SV.
i plan to do the 1-10 maps i've collected so far.

[Kayben]

Death to Sarah at clvl 39, fame 26.
i felt it coming.
i reached quest lvl 28, and floor 24 in the SV.

i got inside floor 25 of the SV, i just got over-whelmed near the entrance by spiders who trapped my feet and zealots who were blasting me. although i had a gap of 13 levels over the monsters, they finished me.
this game play i reached all my skill goals:

10 Stab
10 Critical Strikes
10 Armor Expertise
10 Block and Parry
10 WoJ
7 Advanced Spell Casting
5 Defensive Spells
1 Hamstering

i am going to move on to the alchemist.

[mjkittredge]

Even one point into venemous dirks is great. Fires (6?) projectiles all around you that home in on enemies and it does great damage too.

[Vodage]

suddenly i notice my health pot is almost empty.
i press 1 to heal, but it is a millisecond to late and i die. while i a squize in my chair "Noo!"
silly death number 1.

As a left-handed person I feel it is my duty to inform you that the number "3" will always be your easiest number keypress if your fingers are positioned in the standard gamer's "WASD" position.

Also, you're going to continue dying in HC until you set up some real keybinds. For example