Back after 20 years and need help & advice **Please*

Lex_Luthor

Hey guys,
     I just came back to UO after a very long time off... I'm super glad to see so many of you also still play.  I read about what would be a great char build and "Sampire" sounded awesome.. So I went with:

Swords
Bushido
Parry
Tactics
Necro
Resist
Chiv

Here's where I have promptly found myself with a slapped face.... Most any build is very suit and weapon dependent. So im in trouble there because I still don't understand all the new "must have" items to make this thing work... The second problem is.. THE ECONOMY!!! Everything is 100 million gold lol... GEEEEEEZ!!! 

I would LOVE for someone to:

1. Tell me what my stats need to be (im currently like 100 str 15 int & 120 dex or something)
2. Advise on my suit needs or artifacts or whatever... 

If any of you high rollers were willing to offer up a suit, I would be much obliged... I'm back to play for good but feel very overwhelmed due to all these changes and crazy prices on everything. 

Also... If anyone is looking for a guildmate, you could do a lot worse.  Back when I played on Lake Superior, I was kind of a big deal lol... Anyway, thanks for your time. 


PS>>>

Would this template still work to solo PvM?

Weapon Skill
Tactics
Anatomy
Healing
Parry
Resist
Chiv

McDougle

I can not speak for the first part of your question but no old school Pally warriors can sadly no longer hold their own...

Arroth_Thaiel

@Lex_Luthor

First, welcome back!

There are a number of threads both here and on other forums that talk about Sampires and the skills, stats, and suit you'll need.

I am far from the most knowledgeable or skilled Sampire player, but may be able to get you started with this.

For your 1., I would drop the 5 off Intel and put it into Dex. More Dex = more stamina, faster swings, more leeching back life (and mana if you have mana leech weapons). I believe the swing speed tic for stamina is at 120, so if you take any damage you'll drop below 120 and drop swing speed. This is all dependent on your weapon speed and any Swing Speed Increase gear, Stamina Increase gear, etc.

For your 2., you need high SSI to keep swinging more powerful, slow weapons at max swing rate. That's kind of the bread and butter of the Sampire. You can't leech if you're not hitting. So, lot's of SSI and stamina gear. You also need high Hit Chance Increase to make sure those swings connect, high defense to avoid being hit, and max resists for when you do get hit. Also as much strength as possible to up your damage (and therefore the amount you leech back). You're mana needs will probably come from 10 intel and gear, but you can adjust as you see fit.

Sampires are powerful in PvM but need a lot of gear for high end play. It may take awhile to get it all. You do not need 100m gold per piece gear to be highly effective for many (or most) mobs. That high end build/gear is really for solo'ing bosses or champs, 2 things that were not around 20 years ago!

***

For your paladin, yes a basic paladin is still highly effective and can compete with Sampires all the way up to mid level bosses (maybe high end bosses?). However, getting the right gear can be even more cost/time intensive.

Skills go to 120 now, so drop one of the seven and take the other six up to 120. (Or, get a soul stone and stone it off so you don't loose the skill).

120 Weapon
120 Tac
120 Parry
120 Chiv
120 Anat
120 Resist

This is the build I run. You need hit life leech weapons. It is more difficult than a Sampire (to me) because of the different ways leech is calculated between Vampiric Embrace and Hit Life Leech. However, you get all the benefits of having a shield (and it's mods) and you don't have to worry about getting an additional 25% fire resist. You also don't have to worry about corrupted life aura as you can just switch out a weapon and still heal with Chiv.

They're are significant trade off's to either build. Find the one you enjoy, and good luck!

 

 

Lex_Luthor

Thank you for your reply my friend.  I'll definitely take your advice on those things.  

Seth

Sampire is fun, and I hope it will not be the target for nerfing. Recently pet mastery was nerfed, then now another discussion to remove insta-equiping in EC. Anything that works and is fun for years, can be removed overnight. Obviously to be "fair" to the minority who decides to raise the issue after all the majority has left the game. 

btw, my build that I am still using (before any upcoming nerf) is:

Sword 120

Tactics 100

Parry 60

Bushido 120

Necro 100

Chivalry 120

Anatomy 100 or Resist 100 - depending on the spawn type

Against Blood Oath, undead and spell casters, it would be better to have resist.

Weapon: Double Axe (Whirlwind and Double Strike) and Bladed Staff (Armor Ignore)

Fortunately, still not nerfed yet. Its a joy to use these skills.

Bushido: Confidence, Evasion, Counter Attack is useful at times but would be better if Parry is higher. These days, I use less lightning strike, more AI or Double Strike. 

There are many benefits of using Bushido, and some combinations will give you advantages, e.g. LMC. From uoguide:

Parrying

A character with Bushido as well as the Parrying skill will be able to block with a weapon, though their defense chance with an actual Shield is lowered as they progress as a Samurai. Chance to block can be calculated using the formulas on the Parrying page. Bushido also offers the only method in the game to entirely avoid direct spell damage: The Evasion ability.

Perfection

A Samurai with 50 Bushido or above may activate the Perfection system by honoring a target creature. This grants a damage bonus dependant on consecutive hits.

Whirlwind Damage Increase

Bushido gives a damage bonus to the Whirlwind special move. This bonus is capped at 100. The bonus is determined by the following formula:

For example, if you are using a weapon with Whirlwind on it, and you are surrounded by 4 enemies, and have a Bushido skill of 90, the additional damage you do to each of those enemies will be 36 points of additional damage.

At 120 bushido, a whirlwind receives the max bonus when surrounded by only 5 enemies. At 100 bushido, a player must be surrounded by 6 enemies. Players must have at least 66.6 bushido to maximize this bonus (It would, however, require the player be surrounded by 9 enemies).

Reduced Special Move Mana Cost

Special move mana cost can be reduced by achieving a combined total of 200+ points in several combat/magic skills, including bushido. A full list of applicable skills is available on the special moves page. When the combined total of these skills is 200-299, mana cost is reduced by 5 mana points, and when the combined total reaches/exceeds 300, the mana cost is reduced by 10 mana points.

Lesser Hiryu

At 90 skill, it becomes possible to use Bushido in place of Animal Taming for the purpose of controlling and riding Lesser Hiryus.

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Sampire is fun to play.