I've gotten a general idea through forum searches, but I thought I'd go ahead and ask my question with the specifics involved:

I'm a Faeling Blacktalon n00b who is very interested in getting into PvP, someday. I was wondering if I could get some insight into which trade skill would end up serving me best.

Right now, the lead contenders are tailoring (for the splendor robes and the ability to mend them, myself) and herbs (faster herb balance and a rift full of 'em), but I'm pretty open to suggestions. I just don't know enough about Lusternia combat to know what things, in the long run, would be the most beneficial.

Thanks.

Transcendent alchemy gives you a level 1 sip bonus.

Transcendent bookbinding gives you a MagicTome that absorbs damage.

Transcendent jewelry gives you a transfix gem.

That's true, and I appreciate the reminder that most, if not all, of the trade skills will supply a benefit of some kind. I'm just trying to zero in on the right one for me, and maybe that's just a matter of picking the one I'm most interested in. I just wanted to get some input from the experiences of others.

Splendor robes: Can hold all four proofs (which you can get with greatrobes + coat + cloak), but grants 20% resistance from each proof instead of the normal 10%. Also has +20/+20 more cutting/blunt defence than normal greatrobes.

Effectively, grants about 10% resistance from cutting, blunt, fire, magic, electricity, and cold damage. Because of the way resistances stack in this game (the average of additive and multiplicative stacking), that is more than 10% less damage from those sources, but not much more. Note: does not help against poison, asphyxiation, psychic, or unblockable damage.


Trans alchemy: Grants +10% extra healing from sips.

Trans jewelry: Grants a 3p ability to transfix all enemies in the room who are not blind. Your demense passively causes blindness 33% of the time it fires, which strips sixthsense, forcing your foe to cure the blindness. You can use transfix to help stack writhe cures on someone who is sapped, and you have a chance to catch them unblind. However, the skill does cost 3p to use, and thus is often considered subpar except in large group fights.

Trans bookbinding: Grants you a magictome, which in addition to acting effectively like unlimited healing, protection, curses, and disruption scrolls, somehow reduces certain forms of damage sometimes. A bookbinder would have to post how. I will mention though that bookbinding is quite terrible for profit, though you get those cool other languages.

Trans herbs: Grants a level 1 herb balance bonus. This is rather worthless, especially since you already have a level 1 bonus from being a faeling. Herb balance really is fast enough, the other trans bonuses are far more helpful.

Trans poisons gives you immunity to one poison of your choice, though you will almost certainly choose senso unless you're silly. This certainly isn't worthless, but unless you are an ecologist druid, poisons are sub par to other trades, and even then they're quite bad for profit, though not as bad as bookbinding and artisan, from what I can tell.

Trans artisan gives you Prized, which allows you to teleport to a piece of furniture from anywhere for 5p. However, as a druid, you have nestreturn, which lets you return to your nest from prime, ethereal, elemental, cosmic, or astral for 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8p. Artisan is also the worst trade for making a profit.


So, alchemy and tailoring (and I think bookbinding?) will give you more tankiness.

Jewelry will give you a potentially quite useful ability for saplocking, though a druidic jeweler will have to tell you if it actually helps or not. You probably have other things to spend your power on though when saplocking, like beserkfetish/supersling/deepsleep.

Poisons will help you against warriors and it will help you if you are an ecologist because then you don't need to find another poisonist to get poisons for you, as they can be really rare.

In my opinion, do not take herbs or artisan.

Short Addition to MagicTome: From what I heard it's currenly heavily bugged (and has been for a while now) and thus half worthless. So if you go for it, maybe wait until that is fixed.

And as to how it works.. each time you get hit with a certain damage type, part of the damage is absorbed into the tome and you get one more 'scroll' of the corresponding type. Meaning, you never run out of protection/healing/curses/disrupt scrolls as long as you bash the right things. However, once the scroll is charged up to 50 it will not absorb any more damage until it's below 50 again.

The bug right now is, that you cannot read anything but healing scrolls, so once the other types are charged the absorbtion you get from the is gone forever.. unless you make a new Tome each time, but that is very very expensive.

EDIT: Not sure on the exact percent of the damage that is absorbed, if anyone knows, please add it.

If you want to fight magic users better, trans alchemy. The sip bonus will help you not only with damage, but with mana and ego drains as well.

If you want to fight warriors better, trans tailoring. Good armor is the only defense against wounds (except for bards), and the 20% lightning and fire proofs are great for elemental runes.

I wouldn't bother with the tome, in its current bugged state.

You can read the other spells on a magic tome (protection, curses, etc.), you just have to use the item number of the tome, not just tome. So READ 325346 PROTECTION, not READ TOME PROTECTION.

I didn't really test it that closely, but the tome really doesn't absorb damage. You get hit with the same amount whether you're wielding the tome or not. That could have changed or I could be mistaken, so correct me if I'm wrong.

I would suggest Tailoring, for the splendor robes, though.

Thanks for the great feedback everyone. It was all very helpful.