Bard/Mage question

Discussion in 'Renaissance Discussion' started by Momo, Dec 16, 2016.

  1. Momo

    Momo Member

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    Hello all!

    I have been asking alot and trying different builds on my first character. Just want to double check.

    My goals are:
    - To kill Balrons and Dragons, maybe bosses and survive, as efficient as possible.
    - No tamer or warrior
    - 100% solo without multi-client
    - This character does not need to do anything else, nothing else matters.

    My current character is:
    Magery
    Meditation
    Resist
    Eval
    Music
    Provocation
    Hiding

    Problems I am having killing Balrons or Dragons:
    - I try to provoke > sometimes it fails > I panic and run around > Balrons / Dragons kill me
    - I succeed provo > one dies > I try to loot > Balron / Dragon kills me
    - I need to learn to control better, but.. not sure which skill would help

    Suggestions I got:
    - Lower Hiding, raise Discord
    - Lower Resist, raise Peacemaking
    - Lower Eval, raise Lockpick
    - Lower Eval, raise Wrestling

    I tried some and I just got confused.. please help. If this is the most optimal build, please let me know.
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  2. Bayara

    Bayara Well-Known Member

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    I salute you!

    it appears you already know what the most important thing you need to do is.
    have better control over your character's movement and create distance.
    those are more skills of experience rather than actual in-game skills.
    you fail a provoke on a balron or dragon, get outta there! bee line it and use that hiding of yours to prevent a chase.
    if you do kill one, lure in a lesser mob that you will have very high chance provoking, and use it to distract the survivor.
    keep him busy while you ravage the corpse and make off with the loot!

    wrestling and lockpicking won't really help you out here.
    you obviously shouldn't be standing toe to toe with a beast of this caliber [a dragon maybe if you are a powerful warrior with a healer friend watching your back].
    and lockpicking won't do a damn thing to increase your survivability or damage output.
    either discordance or peacing will give you a barding bonus to help you provoke easier.
    but I can't say which would be the better choice for YOU personally.
    I would probably go with discordance so I could provoke some lesser creatures onto the stronger mob and then sit back and drop discordance to make that creature more easily done away with.
    peacing could also buy you the time you need to loot and get out of the danger zone before the monster regains it's senses.
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  3. wylwrk

    wylwrk Well-Known Member

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    Get yourself on a slayer route and eventually arm yourself with the best equipment. Any decent musician eventually has a large assortment of the finest instruments. If you're going to put yourself in high traffic/high risk areas, I personally would hate to see you fail due to lack of good equipment (slayer instrument).


    [​IMG] You know this guy's all go to eleven. Do yours go to eleven?

    Look up both a dragon and a balron on the UOR compendium if you haven't already (see top kills for balron btw ;) ? )
    A creature's overall difficulty scales well with its barding difficulty. I would hunt balrons with a slayer instrument. Dragons though? It depends on where you are.... I personally would accept nothing but the best and hunt those with the appropriate slayer instrument as well.

    [​IMG] < this spell is quite awesome by the way (loot)

    G'luck.
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  4. El Horno

    El Horno Well-Known Member
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    LOS, line of sight. Your new best friend. Pm me and I'll show you in game.
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  5. Momo

    Momo Member

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    Thank you guys. this helps a lot.

    For the build, I will just go full bard, no hiding. Try to use all 3 barding skills, at different times. Hopefully, I will get better at controlling. Both at LOS and casting paralyze and looting then recalling away.

    Thank you!!
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  6. wylwrk

    wylwrk Well-Known Member

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    As an option to hours of macroing, perhaps take your build and create it on the test server. Go out with it hunting and try things out. I'd personally encourage you to use peacemaking against a balron there and note the results before spending the time to GM it on your real character.
  7. El Horno

    El Horno Well-Known Member
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    The build you have is exactly what I use on my provo mage to kill balrons and dragons.
  8. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    I have wrestling instead of hiding. But then again, this was also my mage to fight PKs out in the field.
  9. Anika

    Anika Member

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    slayer instruments..
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  10. Edward Skye

    Edward Skye Member

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    Dragging up a month old thread, but I sent you a PM for help on this. I am just taking out my Provo Mage build and without Young status I am getting hammered. No clue what I am doing. :)
  11. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    Stick and move. It is key for a bard to be on the move. You cannot be standing idle, but you cannot run too far either as provo will break. Apart from CTRL + Shift, this is the single most important advice for a bard that I can give.

    When you step into a cowded spot (ie. Ophid lair, Thera Keep, Hyth 4, etc.) you need to provo the lesser spawn onto each other first so as to not get swarmed, then run around "kiting" the big guys until you can put enough stuff on them to keep them busy. Then it is all about health management. Make sure your mobs are at hp levels that will project them to die at similarly the same time. You don't want to end up with a Purveyor of Darkness and nothing to provo onto it.
  12. Edward Skye

    Edward Skye Member

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    Well, to show you how bad I am at this, I have been killed thrice now by the harpies at Covetous. Not the regular ones but the named one. It's a challenge even getting to her with all of the harpies in the way and trying to get them to attack each other, but then she kills one of them in 10 seconds if I can get deep enough to provo one onto her. my char is GM Music, Provo, Hiding, Resist but only mid-50s on magery and med...also very low disco but thinking of dropping that for Eval...

    I got spoiled in newbie dungeon with no aggro and now with it, I am getting swarmed. So I went back to newbie dungeon on Occlo last night without Young status and practiced hiding and provoking. Did ok, but killed myself with my own blade spirits...again...as I did that at Covetous too.

    Getting your listed skills up is nothing compared to learning how to actually use them, particularly when you are used to just being a warrior and pummeling stuff and healing yourself.
  13. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    Oh well, you need to get that magery up. Need to be able to heal. Also, as I said, if you put two harpies on each other, they will take a little while to kill themselves. Put all of the lesser ones unto each other first, then you just have to run away from one, not 10. Then start provoing one by one unto the stronger one, until you have them all (or as many necessary) on the strong one. You don't want to be stuck in a spot where the stong one dies and 10 lesser mobs suddenly are free to attack you.

    Bladespirits follow STR (I believe, maybe INT), so if you cast it around weak mobs, it will likely chase you as you have the highest STR in the room. You need to either cast it all the way "behind" the mobs, or cast and provo unto mobs immediately.

    GM Music and GM provo should be enough for you to do well. Remember to use a good intrument. GM AT LEAST. Slayers ideally.
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  14. Edward Skye

    Edward Skye Member

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    Doh, didn't think about provoing the Blade spirits! And I didn't have a GM instrument either...will get one. Thanks again.
  15. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    You should see a noticeable difference with those two things. Good luck, and keep us posted on the progress!!
  16. Rickbrent

    Rickbrent Active Member

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    this user quit a little while ago because pk's hurt her feelings
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  17. Bayara

    Bayara Well-Known Member

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    Edward, the advice Pirul is giving you is dead on track.
    In rooms like the harpy one you could probably cast a blade as far from yourself as you can and run off for a second.
    Give the harpies a chance to all agro on the blade.
    Then get them provo'd onto eachother in pairs until you get the miniboss up.

    In situations like that space management is key.
    Don't forget about TELEPORT, one of the most powerful spells in the game.
    Get familiar with the range of it and the terrain of your hunt spot.
    If you feel like you may be about to get swarmed and trapped, then cast yourself out of that spot.
    Even a great player can die to a low end horde if they get pinned down in a corner.
    But it's necessary you can spot this coming and get the spell up before six harpies have you against a stalagmite pecking at your eye jelly!!!
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  18. Pirul

    Pirul Well-Known Member
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    ...and cue my first post in this thread. That is why my bard has wrestling over hiding.

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