Warrior 101

Strength helps more numerical wounds build on the target
Dexterity, in a simplified explanation, helps you land the relevant affliction for the wound level the target possesses. For instance, an Elfen or Aslaran with sixteen dexterity is considerably more likely to land a slitthroat with an axe, sword, or katana on an opponent who has heavy wounds on their head than a low-dex race like Tae'dae. There is most definitely still randomness in it, but a high dexterity score can take the edge off of the most frustrating part of warrior combat, specifically the crossing your fingers to land a certain wound part.

Oh, wow. I guess combat is a lot more complicated here than I thought! As a note, how mucb is considered high dex and how much is considered acceptable dex?

It seems to have some effect on landing wounds. It is relevant, but "highly important" is a bit of an overstatement. Again, having played as a knight, bouncing between aslaran and orclach, for large amounts of time, the dex difference between aslaran and orclach, if important at all, is so negligible that I could chalk it up to luck/bad luck.

In terms of strength and such, with knights, you're going to be playing a game of margins- your combat revolves around building wounds. Wounds are cured with health potions, so is hit point damage. So a part of the game is getting ahead of your opponent's curing of them. Extra strength supplements this, but there is diminishing returns.

Regarding mana kills- it never comes up in bashing. In PvP combat, several guilds have abilities that can either instantly kill, or do something really bad to you, should your mana fall below a certain percentage. As Orclach have low mana, they can be more vulnerable to this sort of kill than other races. That said:

-In group combat, which all relevant combat generally is, EVERYONE will die to coordinated mana kills pretty darn fast. Orclach knight? Imperial Merian demigod with intelligence powers and regen runes? When you're stuck in incureable aeon or buried under hindering with a slit throat, it doesn't much matter- you're going to die quickly.

-There isn't anything short of balestone spam or Fillin's old geomancer death demesne bomb that is so dangerous that you would need to run screaming from your friends. (In fact, as a knight, you'd survive both of those better than some others). Especially as a tougher knight, if the opposition is relying on damage, there's a pretty good chance you'll be left to flail away at them while they beat up demesne holders, bards, monks and the like before going after you.


What I'm trying to get at is, if you want to be an Orclach knight, there's absolutely nothing about them that makes them non-viable or a poor choice. You'll be fine. There's plenty of arguments about "optimal" but these are always marginal at best. Especially early on before you're demigod, before you have runes and toys and such, there are far larger variables to worry about than any possible marginal advantage of aslaran over orclach, or vice versa. But ultimately, its not like you're trying to be a tae'dae druid, or a Krokani bard. Its a solid fit, and in all honesty, its pretty darn awesome for bashing, which you seemed concerned about (regen, a slew of resists, generally tough, and knights are solid bashers even without considering that).

The ONLY thing I would warn you of is, again, if you're planning on making influencing a big part of your time, don't take orclach. They're just bad at it. As a demigoddess orclach with ego regen, demipower and stats in charisma, and influence runes, I could "orcfluence" a stumbling effort enough to handle general denizens and questing. But Orclach just aren't built for that. If you're drawn to the race, and plan on hunting, and want to be a knight, go for it. If that's what you want, it won't disappoint.

As someone else who spent quite a large time playing a warrior (Knight) I have to echo what's said above. Aslaran's excellent. Orclach is good, but don't expect to influence.

As far as weaponry goes, warriors break down into four options:

Blademaster (1-handed swords)
Bonecrusher (1-handed blunt)
Pureblade (2-handed swords)
Axelord (2-handed axe)

My personal preference is a two-hander over one-handers for both bashing/hunting and combat. One handers will let you dual wield, by the way.

If all you're doing is hunting, it doesn't really matter which you pick. All four will work, all four will be effective. 1-handed weapon stats are equivalent no matter whether you're going blunt or cutting. 2-handed stats are the same deal, equivalent whether swords or axes. That being said, there is a difference between one and two handed weaponry stats, out of necessity really.

Weapons are broken into three stats:

Damage/Precision/Speed.

A one-handed weapon is going to have:

X/X/X

An equivalent two-handed weapon will have:

2X/2.2X/X

So speed'll be the same. Damage'll be twice as high. The middle stat, precision, only matters for PvP. I'll let your guild introduce you to that, should you take that route.

In any case, Monks and Warriors both are excellent for hunting in my experience. They're the two classes that can take a rather obscene amount of damage before falling over. (Harmony monks, for those who might argue. I can't speak to stealth. I'm also using Psymet) I love the way the melee classes work in Lusternia.

Since it's relevant, I'm gonna mini-hijack, if it's alright.

Right now, I'm an Aslaran with level 2 stat and level 1 wounding runes, but I'm finding it pretty difficult to build up wounds on targets with good armour, mainly other knights (and yes, I'm aware knight vs. knight is an uphill battle for *anyone*), and tattoo monks. Against greatrobes, I've been doing decently well. However, without being Demigod, I feel that Aslaran is holding me back just a bit. Would switching to Orclach see an improvement in building wounds? (Granted, the switch would only be until I hit Demigod, at which point I'd definitely go back to Aslaran!)

And, as sort of a side question, which would theoretically have an easier time tanking mobs: an Aslaran with a RoA or an Orclach without? (Beast bodyguard in both circumstances)

Aslaran surge >>>> orclach surge, so better tanking as aslaran with RoA easily.

Without demi aslaran str isn't really great, but I can't imagine orclach being better in any situation for wounds per second. What you could do is have someone test wounds on you for what str you'd have as orlach, then rebound wounds on yourself and compare the two factoring the speed difference.

Thanks guys!

Made my char. Already met with the Commandant (gave me quite a scare while I was learning skills). Hope to see you all in Lusternia!

Z