Psh. A base STR of 14 is more than enough.

So Aslaran's strength is sub par? I'm understanding the balance trait - but is there anything else that should be drawing me to them? Dexterity?

Dexterity is far less useful than raw STR, or even CON. You're more likely to land the afflictions you want when you're just barely in the wounding window you need (borderline heavy/critical wounds, whatever), but maneuvers are so precise and increase probability by such a large amount that DEX appears inconsequential if you have any more than 12 or so. Unless you're not using maneuvers, you'll probably never notice the difference, and even then I've yet to see 4-5 points of DEX show results any greater than what might be the result of random chance.

Low STR races with balance bonuses only seem worthwhile if you have phenomenal curing. Otherwise, there are so many afflicts out there than can disrupt your attacks and slow your progress that you won't be hitting any more frequently than someone with no balance bonus/penalty. And you will be doing noticeably less damage and wounding in the process. So unless you choose a weapon spec with great afflicts at low wound levels (hello, bonecrusher!), you'll likely have a hard time.

It's not impossible to do well with Low STR/fast balance races - on the contrary, some have done very well with them - but you will need to be the cream of the crop to manage it, and chances are you will do just as well with a high STR, normal balance race.

High str, normal balance. Unless you're a shadowlord faeling demigod. Huck huck.

So Merian, Loboshigaru, Krokani, Human, Igasho (though, I don't think that'd be too good with the crappy balance), Taurian.. those are the things I'm looking at as optimal races? Aslaran seems good for Bonecrusher, but I don't want to reincarnate only to find my system can't handle me being a 'slow healing' race (thus not letting me compensate my defense with a higher offensive potential). I'm preferable to the aforementioned mace specialization - but Pureblade still interests me. I'm not too interested in Axelord because I hear it is sub-optimal.. and the mental image isn't as appealing (though I think they get a limb specific swing, which sounds absolutely delicious).

I've done well enough as an Igasho Bonecrusher. The slower balance is offset by the higher strength and great constitution. Even my larger size isn't as much of a problem as you might think, though I do shrink myself a bit to help with writhing sometimes. I make up for the low mana by using things that require little or no mana, such as sprinkling salt to raise a shield or eating chervil a little more often to slow the bleeding.

Sorry piping in late, But honestly, if you want to be able to kill effectively with the least amount of artifact runes on a weapon, go Bonecrusher. Basically each hit with a hammer will give the possibility of 2 venoms. That is 2 venoms per combo vs 1 venom per PB/AL combo. The success rate is a little low when the wounds are low, but it takes no time to build up wounds, so in the long run, you will end up with a 90% chance of hitting to venoms each combo. This makes 1 handed warriors far superior to 2 handed ones, on afflicting alone. But BC is way better than BM, BC you get knockdowns and stuns at the beginning of the skillset. And windpipe in the middle somewhere. Windpipe ends up hitting almost every combo AFTER the first. So combing that with a stun, means the person is stunned, can't heal the windpipe and can't sip to heal health. This is another reason that a talented BC is by far the scariest of warriors in the basin.

As for races, if you are shooting for high levels, go human with lowmagic, that will get you lvl2 exp boost and a lvl1 exp boost with autumn.

Merian IMO is not too great, people can just rune weapons with fire/elec arti's and go to town on them. I think krokani, aslaran and human are the best choices. Unless you go to glom and get shadowlord faeling.

The speed difference is noticeable, especially as faeling, and a little moreso as aslaran. When I was aslaran, I killed a few of celest's top end fighters with nothing more than a katana and using autobash. The speed was insane and with a high prc katana I was inflicting wierd wounds all over the place, it made for good times!!

But honestly Human high end is nice. But if you are not going for high end, then I would say Krokani/Aslaran.

Thanks, everybody, for the advice. I've finally concluded my choice regarding specialization after that big explanation. I'm going to be a Bonecrusher if (when) I become a Warrior. Now, Ildaudid, I'm going to ask you something else, here:

My problem with reaching high end is the time involved and how effective I may or may not be at getting there. I don't know where to bash, I don't have an aethership to reach bubbles, etc. How hard is it to level after a certain threshold? Can a 60ish, 70ish Human hold their own in combat through sheer statistics? Does the level 2 (3 with lowmagic) experience penalty noticably make the trip to higher tiers faster? I don't know if I want to shoot for high end levels - it sounds like a good idea, but I have never been able to devote myself to bashing up to a level cap simply because I find it boring and because I involve myself in a lot of combat quick when I get on my feet.

Aslaran strike me as a very flimsy race, defensively - am I thinking wrong? I mean, I see Fortuna in rituals, plus Flex in Athletics to take care of stats.. plus Weathering for Constitution.. but they still have some weaknesses that sort of make me shaky. More directly, you keep saying people slap on fire damage to their artifacts - I don't think I'm very comfortable with being hit with 16 to 20% more fire damage.. especially with a lower sip balance. Am I assuming too much in that regard?

I've dumbed my options down to four races: Human, Aslaran, Loboshigaru, Krokani. They're in list of preference - but I may eliminate Krokani for aesthetic reasons. I'm not such a powerplayer in IRE that I'd play a race I just do not like outright.

60-70 will involve you some in combat, 80 is the perfect choice for that though, especially since sleeping and eating is over with at 80. With the level 2 alone you will notice a difference, top that with the once a month autumn AND a harmony blessing and you will be pushing lvl 3 most the times and lvl4 once a month. And you WILL level faster than non humans. As far as stats go, you get a boost of a stat every 5 levels and I can't for the life of me remember what they are at 60-80.



Aslaran has a few drawbacks, but the balance recovery outweighs them, I didn't think that they had a sip penalty, I think it is only an herb penalty (which I counter by being trans herbalist) So I don't notice it. The fire will hurt some, so don't try to bash obessefessors or other major fire dealing mobs. But it is all about the speed. If you end up aslaran BC with 235prc 180speed stars, you will notice how much faster you are hitting them. Also if you join an order and get a celerity blessing from a shrine that will boost the speed (I notice no difference on races that don't already have a speed bonus though, but tend to notice a difference as an aslaran or faeling.) And if you go hammers 210prc with 240speed will be really fast as an aslaran. Now Nico was aslaran for quite sometime, but he has gone human near the higher levels he is. So I guess it would be a matter of choice for you. I would say human because of the evolving and the xp boosts and Aslaran as a close 2nd place.

If one handers are superior in the long run cause of venoms, why do just about everyone say they'd be a PB for long drawn out fights?

I thought two handers had twice the chance (or something like this) of having the venom go through compared to one handers.

Venom odds are 50-75% and 75-100% respectively.

I can't imagine why people would prefer PB over AL in a long fight. If the fight has been going on too long, I want execute.

PBs have an attack that causes hunger. It's effect is relatively minor, so for long fights, it'll probably work out pretty well. Starving, slitthroat, tendon...

Bonecrusher has three methods - Damage (Ha-ha-ha, although with a pair of *great* flails, as an aslaran, I did 1400 damage per combo on only slightly longer balance time than my hammers), brainbash (smart people will just parry/stance their head and move parry or stance around, but you can sometimes manage it anyway) and burstorgans. Burstorgans is the worst, though, it's basically crotamene.

Balance bonus is nice, not fabulous. I switched to human from Aslaran, and while I sort of regret it for gaining .5 or so per swing, it's not that noticeable. The extra health more than makes up for it. Even the extra 500 odd makes a huge difference. Lobos aren't bad. Their main advantage is the health regen. In terms of stat spread - 76, I have

Strength : 17 Dexterity : 13 Constitution : 14
Intelligence : 15 Size : 12 Charisma : 12

That's with archlichdom and flex, though. Try Human, anyway. It's much better for levelling, even if you eventually change back should you ever get stoned enough for long enough to get demigod. Try hammers, too. 205+ prec and 215+ speed is fairly high end, but doable. I do about 640, ~400 damage vs fieldplate of decent stats, and on a crush, same damage, 1k wounds. Hit fast enough that you can generally stack wounds. Except against people who just spam headslam, or can lock you thanks t o class abilities if you don't have an omigawd perfect system. Heh.



They're pre-nerf, anyway. One of mine comes close (209 prec, 218 speed, without the rune) but the other one isn't anywhere near it.

They should have been removed from the game by now.

Pre-nerf doesn't necessarily mean "over the hard-coded caps." Just things that are *possible* (no matter how improbable) to get.

The maximum stats are 180/235/280, I believe. This means it is *possible* to get a broadsword with 220 precision and 200 speed, but... uh... yeah. It's not really feasible. The weapons that were nerfed were things that were over the hard-coded caps (281 speed on a certain Katana, 182+ damage on a broadsword, and so on).

Ah, ok.