hey all, i was wondering what stuff there is in TOB for kensais, i already have the belt of innertial barrier, and the celestial fury (oh my god), i have boots of speed, the necklace of the seldarine as ive only just started the game. but what kind of stuff should i be looking for? i have 5 slots in katana, 2 in single weapon proficiency, and 2 on longsword (blackrazor)

my char has excellent attack, nearly unmached, but he cant defent for sh*t

any ideas?


TIA

Use another character to absorb attacks (aka. a tank) and use the Kensai as a peripheral warrior.

As you stated, the Kensai armour class is relatively poor and the class is very vulnerable to direct melee attack.

You could possibly use boots of avoidance to reduce his AC versus ranged attackers, possibly the bracers that increase dexterity to 18 (depends on the characters current dexterity...) or malakar as a dual wielded Katana (reduced AC versus slashing weapons by 2...).

Good luck ;)

If you dual to a thief and get the HLA Use Any Item, then you can wear armor to help out. However, dualing to thief requiers you to get 3 million xp till you can get that HLA, so it's too late once you get into ToB most likely.

yea, ok thanks, i dont think i will dual class, one of the only reasons i chose kensai is b-cos he looks good without armour, and only holding one sword, anyway, ill just try and get as many protection rings and stuff as possible
Ty

Get a mage, improved haste the kensai, let him wear something that regenerates him. Then, there is no need for AC, your kensai will chop up EVERYTHING in it's path! And regenerate health too!

Rule # 1 : Kensai is a Flank attacker wich means that you must use someone as a distraction then he can attack. He has poor AC and he can`t wear any armor .


Rule # 2 : if you want for a Kensai to defend/protect it is wise (and cheesy) to Dual-Class him to a Mage or a Thief .


K->M :Time Stop,Stoneskins and other goodies .

K->T : some nice traps,UAI and other niffty abilities . (Backstabb with Staff Of The Ram) [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 12-19-2003, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: Xen ]

flank attacker huh, DAMN , no wonder i got slaughtered when i tryed to singlehandedly kill all those vampires, i got whooped, anyway, is there still time in tob to dual class to a mage?

im kindov bored of soa now that i have played it for the gazilianth time

Sure but if you want to get 9 level spells the limit to Dual-Class is level 21 IIRC.

spirit armor...a certain pair of boots you get later in the game, hardiness, and the bastard sword you get in watcher's keep, upgraded...

or simply have a cleric cast regeneration on you, and improve haste...makes you unkillable... [img]smile.gif[/img]

a preeproh-what warrior?

pe·riph·er·al ( P ) Pronunciation Key (p-rfr-l)
adj.

1. Related to, located in, or constituting an outer boundary or periphery.
2. Perceived or perceiving near the outer edges of the retina: peripheral vision.
3. Anatomy.
Of the surface or outer part of a body or organ; external.
Of, relating to, or being part of the peripheral nervous system.
4. Of minor relevance or importance.
5. Auxiliary.

;)

[ 01-01-2004, 10:13 AM: Message edited by: Dace De'Briago ]

And I'm guessing Dace De'Briago meant 1 or 5, not 4.

I'm not far in TOB myself, but I can tell you plenty of helpful stuff in from SOA. The notion of attacking from the flank has already been well covered, but if you absolutely have to take hits yourself, there's quite a few good ways of getting the Kensai's AC down. You'll never get it as low as someone that can use a shield, but you can get close.

Potion of Defense: My new favorite method. Sets your base AC to 0, which for a Kensai is a full 10-point improvement. Lasts quite a while too.

Potion of Stone Form: Like Potion of Defense, sets base AC to 0, and grants +3 to saves as well, but also penalizes your DEX by 3. Since each point of DEX from 15 to 18 is also worth a point of AC, effectively you're only getting 7-8 points of AC instead of 10 if you have a DEX of 18-19. Still not bad.

Shield Amulet: Found in De'Arnise Keep in SOA. It has lots of charges that each set your base AC to 4, which is a 6-point improvement.

Party buffs: Barkskin from Clerics/Druids and Ghost Armor (possibly other spells from that series) from Mages/Bards can give your AC a solid boost for a battle. Improved Invisibility from a Mage/Bard will give you 4 points of AC on top of the armor spells. Clerics especially also have several group buffs that directly or indirectly help AC (EX: Chant, Defensive Harmony, Prot from Evil 10' Radius).

Damage resistance: Without specific spoilers, there do exist items and abilities that will actually reduce the % of physical damage taken from each hit, reducing the need for good AC to be an effective tank. I'm sure a search on "damage resistance" or "physical damage resistance" on the forums will turn up lots of juicy info on this topic if you're interested.


If you like the idea of letting other party members take the hits for you but are having trouble with flank attacking, here's a couple more options. These require modifying your proficiencies or waiting till you get enough XP to learn new ones:

Two-handed weapons: All two-handed weapons have a range of 2, which means you can use them to hit an enemy from behind a friendly party member that is in direct melee with the enemy. Halberd, Quarterstaff, Spear, and Two-Handed Sword all have a range of 2 and there are good ones of all 4 types to be found in TOB and/or to be brought in from SOA.

Throwing weapons: Want to really not get hit? Kensais can use throwing weapons that also have melee versions. Axe and Dagger are the two SOA proficiencies where you can find good Kensai-suitable throwing weapons. I'm not sure if TOB adds any throwing weapons of note beyond what can be found in SOA, but the SOA ones are fantastic.