After settling in Glomdoring, which has a much more attractive atmosphere, I've decided to swing over to the Ebonguard from the Harbingers. Knight combat is hands down my favorite, and the Ebonguard, from what I can tell/have been told, are pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.

That being said, I'm still sitting on a dagger from the wheel. There's no way I'm staying a Faeling during the change, as they're pretty dismal and I don't really like the idea of them, to be honest. So, the question is, assuming I take Night what race will do the best?

I'm diligently working my way up to Demi, finally. However, I do a lot of influencing, so I tend to shy away from the lower charisma races, though I honestly wouldn't mind giving it up if it was a big enough advantage.

I'm leaning pretty heavily towards Aslaran, but I'm not sure if I'll be doing well enough right now without massive strength. Orclach doesn't seem too bad either. Loboshigaru is another race I've been considering, but like I said, I'm not exactly sure how everything ties in together when it comes to the finer points of PK.

I know strength will drastically increase wounding, while dexterity increases the chance to land an affliction. However, if I do become an Aslaran, will my strength be high enough to matter after all is said and done? If not, will the Orclach's racial effect for Pureblade help balance out the speed increase I'd be losing out on?

Any tips and advice are welcome!

Uh... Shadowlord Faeling are pretty damn awesome as Ebonguard...

Even as a non-Demi with a base 10 strength?

I'm sure you could work it. Finangle the prec on your sword until it works. And faeling consistently get a ton of Domoth blessings too.

Yeah, you can be good. Plus, you're on team Glom now so who's to say you'll stay a non-demi?

Yeah, Faeling are pretty wicked.

Well! I'll have to try it out, then!

Aslaran and Human are solid choices too, human especially for the xp for grinding toward demi.

Aslaran is in a lot of ways better than Shadowlord Faeling now, after the strength point drop from the last changes. Especially if you want to do any combat pre-Demi (heck, even as Demi). If you want the speed bonus, do that. Otherwise Human is a solid choice, as Sojiro said.

Orclach. Without any hesitation. At least for PvP and PvE.

Top end str/dex. Great resistances with a single easily compensated malus. Significant regen. And most importantly, if my numbers are remotely correct:

+10/10/10 from trans forging
+10/20/10 from Orclach racial bonus
+?/22/10 from Night trans skill (if my memory is correct, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, or provide the damage stat)
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+>20/52/30 total, before artifacts
+15/15/15 from vernal knight runes
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+>35/67/45 total before wounding bonus from vernal champ runes

Orclach Night Pureblades are the single most lethal weapon spec users in Lusternia, stat-wise.

They also get The Choke AND Brumetower, 2 sources of passive regen, one with mana drain to complement your bleed, passive aff curing, PLUS passive damage which when combined with your far outlier for a warrior damage is great enough to force a sip regularly.

Go Night Totem PB Orclach. Pretend there isn't a fundamental problem with warriors.

Edit: My experience as a Aslaran Pureblade for quite a while taught me that the speed increase isn't that beneficial for Pureblade. When hinder is factored in, you're far better going for massive burst, making Orclach, especially with a damage/wound tempered claymore, optimal. As a PB you can't really take advantage of the advanced Aslaran speed to its fullest, though it's the logical choice for BM's, given the BM spec race is pretty fail.

Hot damn. I accidentally used the 1h bonus for forging and arti runes . And my god. It's almost enough to tempt me to alt. I think that Orclach Night PB is a warrior spec that actually works. I didn't think it was possible.

I had this image of this adorable Chibi igasho with giant puppy dog eyes. Cause he's fail, you know?

Aslaran is fine for PB, I never had any issue with it

Yep. Pretty much the truth. It's a fine race, and if you prefer the racial RP and like the advantages that the higher charisma grants for influencing, by all means. It's not quite the outlier Orclach is, but it's very solid, and not as skewed.

Orclach's not really an outlier, I have a cameo and I played as both, It was more beneficial overall for wounding to stick with aslaran

Assuming you never hit any form of hinder, Aslaran would only provide a +14% boost to wounding over baseline speed with the same strength level, but with less maximum strength than Orclach. Though you'd only lose 10/20/10 in weapon stats.

However my experience is that it's only in extremely rare circumstances that you can take advantage of that speed increase, due to the proliferation of hindering.

If you build enough on the arms and the legs, they can't fight back because you'll be getting collapsednerves and tendons on demand, that's when the speed kicks in

the extra Str + stats add minimal wounding, in the neighborhood of less than a hundred, because Str gives diminished returns after 18 and +20 prec isn't that much.

I_agree_with_everything.

Yeah? what's wrong with your space key?