Hey folks - Bored at work here. So I am not the biggest fan of Mage PVP. I have one, 7x standard stun punching healing mage... but that's not what I find fun. Dumping explo ebolts on people sometimes entertaining, but so is watching them suffer slowly. I like Maces. I have ALWAYS liked Maces in UO. I LOVE the quarterstaff. Dont know why. So I decided thats what I want to really learn how to play well. Even if its not the "best". And I know this will transcribe to other general melee type characters, but I had a couple of questions about specifics. So I have almost GM Resist (will GM it during event, its like 96.4 now). GM Mace/Tact/Heal/Anat/Inscription/Magery. 90/90/45 currently. I am looking for advise and tips here regarding a few key things: 1) How do you macro and use purple potions effectively in a build like this? I see them being used by most people I fight to some great effectiveness. 2) How do you macro and use Trapped Boxes effectively to break paralyze once reflect is down? Is this the "Use Once" feature? Is there a recommended macro? 3) How long does it take to use Reflect again after it is broken? Inscription benefits Reactive Armor and Magic Reflect, does it benefit anything else? 4) Is there an effective way to macro and use multiple wands? Would a dexxer type as this have use of Lightning Wands or Fireball Wands, Mana Drain, etc? 5) Should my stats change? is 90/90/45 going to be effective for this build? 6) Where will this build shine? Small scale pvp? CTF (which ive never done)? Etc? Thanks for the replies if you have time. I could test all of this stuff but then I would be spending less time farming 40k an hour on my provo dexxer or getting pk'd on my tamer. I love UOR and I am a subscriber... just doesnt say so for some reason....
3: One minute delay to re-apply once fully broken, if I recall correctly. Protection is also buffed, that is all. 4: I use Dress Items and macros to toggle/use item in hand, but that's not how everyone rolls. You will want to be using Mana Drain, Greater Heal and Lighting, at a base level. There's room for others if you can work it out but those are the basics. 5: When I ran my scribe macer, I was still running 100 Str when I didn't really need to (you can reach maximum damage with less, if you have GM Tactics and Anat). That said, I sacrificed some dex for about 60 Int I believe, so I had a larger mana pool to work with considering the 0 Meditation I had. Today if I rebuilt him, I'd probably run something like 86/94/45 or something in that range. Maybe more toward Int to avoid raging Mind Blast damage. 6: Build will do well in CTF for sure (other dexxers hate this template, if you've got a high AR set on). It does ok in group pvp for the ability to survive a lot (scribe/heal/magery+potions+wands lol) but the challenge will be netting the kills. You'll want to get handy with purples and lighting once you smash your target with a Crushing Blow and they run for their lives. 1 is a long story better told by others and 2 is covered in the guide I already linked you to in IRC.
You can set a hotkey in razor under hotkeys->items->potions. You could also create a razor macro to do something like cancel current target then use purple potion by type: Assistant.Macros.HotKeyAction|1332| Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:00.1000000 Assistant.Macros.DoubleClickTypeAction|3853|True Assistant.Macros.PauseAction|00:00:00.1000000 Either way you just hit last target as it counts down. In Razor -> Hotkeys->Agents->Use Once Agent set a hotkey for this Then place your pouches in a bag (and trap them of course) and go to Razor->Agents->Use Once->Add Container(target) and target the backpack that contains the pouches One minute exactly as Blaise said. It also prevents spell interruption if you cast protection instead of RA or MR. In most cases you'll just want to cast MR. If you're going to be a dexer you won't find much use for anything but greater heal wands. In Razor go to the Arm/Dress tab and in the bottom left press Add. Type in a name like GHWand. On the left press Add(Target) and target the greater heal wand in your inventory. If you have enough wands of this shape (not spell) you can right click in the right window and set it to by type so that you won't always have to set a new wand in this box. What most people probably do now is go to Razor->Hotkeys->Dress-GHWand and set a hotkey. Then Razor->Hotkeys->Items->Use Item in Hand and set another one there. These two hotkeys used in conjunction with target self should do what you need. You could also create a razor macro that performs this in one keystroke (essentially Dress:GHwand and Exec:Use Item in Hand and even Target Self) This is a difficult question to answer without determining if you plan to be using str+agility potions. Just keep in mind that the formula for mindblast damage is: ((Highest Stat-Lowest Stat)/2) <= 40 So with the stats you offered it's ((90-45)/2) = 22 If you then used str+agility potions it would be: ((110-45)/2) = 33 If someone cast weaken and feeblemind on you it would be: ((110-34)/2)=38 You will have to decide how much mindblast damage you are willing to take in these scenarios. If you never drink blue+white potions you'll not likely take more than 28 damage. But you may also cheat yourself out of a potential 20hp and 20 dex. I would probably lower dex and possibly str to a point where you are comfortable being mindblasted while even feebleminded, and then plan to always use those potions in combat. This template will do best in a 1v1 scenario within a box like a duel pit where you intend to wear your opponents armor and refreshes down over a long time. Because the template can neither provide burst damage nor stun effects you'll probably never kill someone in a mounted situation and you won't contribute significantly in a group fight where burst damage is needed to secure a kill before healing happens. Effective use of hotkeys is important in UO pvp so the biggest learning curve will be creating and using hotkeys. You will need hotkeys for: Target Closest Enemy Humanoid Target Closest Non-Friendly Next Humanoid Target Attack Last Target Target Self Last Target Clear Target Queue (if you have this enabled) Resynchronize Client All potion types Spells you intend to use Bandage Self Use Bandage(for targetting others) I don't recommend playing a macer in any context but pve, but sometimes you have to find this out for yourself. Eventually you may consider switching to fencing for spears or if you're only doing CTF possibly swords/lumberjacking.
Hay! I used to be a macer! Come to think of it, I used to be an archer too. I'm neither of those things now. Huh, go figure. G'luck!
+1 to everything Mes said, especially about only wanting to use GHeal wands. Not worth it to try to use Mana Drain wands IMO, and Lightning wands are worse than just chucking purples and hoping to get a swing in with your real weapon. Quarterstaff is a great weapon but its swing speed is not as great against a moving target, and it really sucks not being able to chug potions without missing a beat. Agree. This is a very defensive build but IMO it is the single best class to have in a long duration duel. The biggest issue with Inscription is with GM Scribe and GM Magery you get 15 or 16 spell levels reflected. So it burns away 4 Mana Drains from your opponent, which is 44 mana. But they recover that faster than your 1 minute timer to re-cast Inscription. And then if you factor in your slow-as-molasses mana regen rate, you may find yourself on the wrong side of the attrition war.
