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Fantasm · 02-15-2002, 06:53 PM

Great discussion! As somebody who has gone on record as saying that Bloodlust is the perfect weapon for a samurai, since they have great offensive magic to use in ranged situations, I'd like to pipe in...

First, as somebody already mentioned, the key to hitting your mark is your dexterity. If you're missing that much with bloodlust, start pumping your dex. Once mine got into the 70s (along with the obvious increase in sword skill during that time), I was having no trouble hitting with Bloodlust >90% of the time. Other factors include strength, and your close combat skill (one of the reasons fighters can get away with berserking is their bonus to CC).

Secondly, I would like to refute a claim early on in the thread that indicated that even with a dual-wield skill of 100, your effective weapon skill will be cut in half. This just isn't true. To get a TRUE indication of how dual-wielding affects your character's abilities, click on the little sword icon just to the right of your character portrait in the inventory screen. This shows all of your offensive attributes. Now de-equip and re-equip your wakizashi (or whatever you have as a 2nd weapon), and see how those scores change. If your attack rating is decreasing by, say, 5 points when you equip a second weapon, then dual-wielding is having a dramatic negative effect on your battle effectiveness. To remedy this, you need to pump up you dual-wielding skill. By keeping my dual-wielding skill close to my sword skill (say, within 10 points or so), I have noticed that equipping a 2nd weapon will only reduce my attack rating on my primary weapon by 1 point, maybe 2 at most. This is a fair tradeoff to me to get the extra attacks and the extra chance at crits that a 2nd weapon offers.

Finally, I may be the only person to actually be happy to see a bunch of successive misses. This means I'm trying something hard, which means I have a good chance of increasing my skills. Forget levels, skills reign supreme in this game, and with the extra attacks that Bloodlust gives me (both through beserking and through the massive +6 to initiative), my sammie gets TONS of opportunities to practice his sword and CC skills...

JMO, of course...

02-15-2002, 06:53 PM	#24
Fantasm Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: January 9, 2002 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 17	Great discussion! As somebody who has gone on record as saying that Bloodlust is the perfect weapon for a samurai, since they have great offensive magic to use in ranged situations, I'd like to pipe in... First, as somebody already mentioned, the key to hitting your mark is your dexterity. If you're missing that much with bloodlust, start pumping your dex. Once mine got into the 70s (along with the obvious increase in sword skill during that time), I was having no trouble hitting with Bloodlust >90% of the time. Other factors include strength, and your close combat skill (one of the reasons fighters can get away with berserking is their bonus to CC). Secondly, I would like to refute a claim early on in the thread that indicated that even with a dual-wield skill of 100, your effective weapon skill will be cut in half. This just isn't true. To get a TRUE indication of how dual-wielding affects your character's abilities, click on the little sword icon just to the right of your character portrait in the inventory screen. This shows all of your offensive attributes. Now de-equip and re-equip your wakizashi (or whatever you have as a 2nd weapon), and see how those scores change. If your attack rating is decreasing by, say, 5 points when you equip a second weapon, then dual-wielding is having a dramatic negative effect on your battle effectiveness. To remedy this, you need to pump up you dual-wielding skill. By keeping my dual-wielding skill close to my sword skill (say, within 10 points or so), I have noticed that equipping a 2nd weapon will only reduce my attack rating on my primary weapon by 1 point, maybe 2 at most. This is a fair tradeoff to me to get the extra attacks and the extra chance at crits that a 2nd weapon offers. Finally, I may be the only person to actually be happy to see a bunch of successive misses. This means I'm trying something hard, which means I have a good chance of increasing my skills. Forget levels, skills reign supreme in this game, and with the extra attacks that Bloodlust gives me (both through beserking and through the massive +6 to initiative), my sammie gets TONS of opportunities to practice his sword and CC skills... JMO, of course...