Sil

[debo]

In my view, Knock Back is still really strong. Maybe too strong. Maybe it got stronger with the change. It is also a fun and tactically interesting ability. I'd like some people to try to break it before we make it stronger.

Competition idea, anyone?

I, for one, welcome our bigass weapon overlords.

[HugoVirtuoso]

Competition idea, anyone?

I, for one, welcome our bigass weapon overlords.

If I'm not mistaken, the utility of Knock-back in older versions (pre-1.1) depended on the the weight of the weapon...But, I'm not sure.

[debo]

Yeah I think it was if (weapon weight * damage >= 100) then knock back

[taptap]

You can see there is about 1/3 chance of going in the intended direction.

// gives 3 chances to be turned left and 3 chances to be turned right
// leads to a binomial distribution of direction around the intended one:
//
// 15 20 15
//  6     6   (chances are all out of 64)
//  1  0  1

Aaah, thanks. I always had the wrong impression it is dependent on will This table tells me cruel blow is quite useful for a light-weapon, flanking char with ZoC and Opportunist.

Knockback: Yes, knockback is still a strong ability - I was knocking back a lot with my latest char (incl. dragons and Ancalagon in particular). Goes well with charge, a heavy weapon and a corridor. Still nothing game breaking imo, at least it doesn't help in the throne room.

Serpents: Is there any chance to get an unique serpent?

Song of Freedom: Has anyone tried taking on Morgoth singing Song of Freedom? (I have found myself twice now strong enough to take on him but missed my chances because of the amount of debris and pits around and the immense regeneration of Morgoth until I repositioned.)

[HugoVirtuoso]

Song of Freedom: Has anyone tried taking on Morgoth singing Song of Freedom? (I have found myself twice now strong enough to take on him but missed my chances because of the amount of debris and pits around and the immense regeneration of Morgoth until I repositioned.)

Never did this before. I think it is a less used often, yet legit, approach to taking down that dude. Most players just ocus on Song of Sharpness to do the talking.

[half]

Yeah I think it was if (weapon weight * damage >= 100) then knock back

That's right, and it didn't directly depend on your strength or any features of the opponent.

[half]

This table tells me cruel blow is quite useful for a light-weapon, flanking char with ZoC and Opportunist.

Note that it is particularly good with ZoC rather than Opportunist, especially if facing the opponent orthogonally. Here are the chances out of 64.

Hit     ZoC     Opp
20      42       2    facing them orthogonally
20      30      14    facing them diagonally

[McKid]

Can I get some strategy advices ? I have a character path I like, but I always hit a wall at about 550'.

I play a 2/5/4/3 Noldor with an Armoursmith-Artistry start. I don't use Smithing at all once I have my full armour kit (which is light armour, as I favour high evasion).

Aside from smithing, I get my melee and evasion up to about 15, before rushing Loremaster. Then, I get Finesse-Follow-Through-6 points in stealth-Opportunist.
When I get to 20 Melee and Evasion, I get Crowd Fighting and Zone of Control. Then I die.

You could say I am aiming for a stabber build, however I am not sure what exactly that would be...

[HallucinationMushroom]

I don't know *anything* about stealth or stabbin', but, would like more info... like, what is your damage output and protection scores to go with your 20 melee/evasion scores, which are usually pretty dang good #'s. Also, what is killing you?

I play heavy prot warroiors usually, so with 20 melee score, I can kill stuff quickly with big damage weapons. Someone with good knowledge of stealth n' stabbin will be along shortly.

[taptap]

Can I get some strategy advices ? I have a character path I like, but I always hit a wall at about 550'.

I play a 2/5/4/3 Noldor with an Armoursmith-Artistry start. I don't use Smithing at all once I have my full armour kit (which is light armour, as I favour high evasion).

Aside from smithing, I get my melee and evasion up to about 15, before rushing Loremaster. Then, I get Finesse-Follow-Through-6 points in stealth-Opportunist.
When I get to 20 Melee and Evasion, I get Crowd Fighting and Zone of Control. Then I die.

You could say I am aiming for a stabber build, however I am not sure what exactly that would be...

Basically, you can do many things. My winning melee builds were heavy-weapon (Naugrim) but light/middle armour so it might not exactly apply, but I am working on a light weapon (subtlety) melee build. I believe heavy weapon is easier (for a Sil-grabbing win) than light weapon builds.

When you fight in melee a lot - you typically want some will (to resist status effects - drain, fear, confusion, entrancement) and resistance (cold, fire, poison) and you need light (with the Naugrim I actually took Jeweller when I found some Mithril just to make feanorian lamps) - you really can't have too much light.

A common problem at this depth is the butterknife-problem - if you don't go heavy weapon (all weapons w/ 3 dice or more) or subtlety or luckily found a cool artefact - you need a way to do enough damage. Slaying longswords can work. Another good way to improve damage output with light weapons and high evasion is Parry/Riposte - imo better and more reliable than other additional attacks.

Some abilities interact and while they aren't on your list best adapt other abilities accordingly. Charge - Power - Knockback is an obvious combination for heavy weapons, Flanking - Sprinting - Crowd Fighting - Zone of Control is another one, Polearm Mastery - Focus - Controlled Retreat yet another ... but if you build towards fighting in corridors you don't need crowd control, if you take charge, take power instead of finesse... - you don't have to decide at a point where you don't yet know in which direction your character develops and never forget to raise your skills even with all the cool abilities around.

You will get better feedback if you upload a char to the ladder.

P.S. I take back what I said about 20 melee/evasion at 550ft. , but really take subtlety. It isn't stabbing without subtlety and a 1lb / 2lb weapon.

[Scatha]

I'd ask what causes you problems around that depth. Nothing sounds obviously problematic to me in the build you describe. There might be a gap we can't spot (taptap's succint "butterknife problem" is certainly plausible), or it might be that there are some tweaks to be made to play rather than just to the build.

[Philip]

If you don't succeed deeper you simply can't do enough damage to offset protection. This makes sharpness super powerful. I suggest trying to use something like bastard swords, or really working on melee, sublety, and such. If you miss sometimes, say 2 in 10 times or 3 in 20 you should think about bastard swords, anguirel comes to mind.

[Philip]

Has anyone made an archer smith? Seems like it could be powerful, what with pretty much everything allowing archery bonuses. If you make an archery statstick weapon, an amazing bow weighted to you, all of that, make rings and gloves with archery and damage sides bonuses, some archery boosting armor, an amulet/cloak with song of sharpness, a helm of perception with listen and maybe buying a couple points there with XP, getting focused shot abilities, making boots of speed. This probably isn't possible anymore, though. Not enough forges. This would require a lot of charges for all the equipment needed.

[taptap]

Has anyone made an archer smith? Seems like it could be powerful, what with pretty much everything allowing archery bonuses. If you make an archery statstick weapon, an amazing bow weighted to you, all of that, make rings and gloves with archery and damage sides bonuses, some archery boosting armor, an amulet/cloak with song of sharpness, a helm of perception with listen and maybe buying a couple points there with XP, getting focused shot abilities, making boots of speed. This probably isn't possible anymore, though. Not enough forges. This would require a lot of charges for all the equipment needed.

Yes. There are some by psi and debo in the ladder, although several are from older versions when both smithing and archery were more powerful, debo has even a complete playthrough on youtube.

Don't forget robes, crowns - you get fantastic modifiers on them for a quite modest investment. I never had permahaste which would obviously be awesome and I found it almost impossible to actually make a better bow than Belthronding or an arrow coming even close to Dailir.

[taptap]

I just overwrote my current game by accident. I started the char from a savefile (of a dead char) but renamed him and the savefile. I made a break - forgot the game was still on - tried to continue the game. In the folder the old name had reemerged with the current game (time stamp) the renamed file was not updated however - when I tried to open it - instead of giving me the current game it gave me the old save. Or so I guess ... Is it possible to tie the name to the savefile more strictly, so the filename always follows the name of the char?