Busy leveling DemiGoth. I've given her a lot of thought, but I think I'm going to make her DEX based in light for max evasion... Here's my thought on the thing:
- Use Dyes to max out DEX. That'll be 34, boosting evasion to 85 on level 40 or so. To do this I need to sac 5 CON and 2(or 1) STR.
- Use light armor only (an other evasion boost there)
- Use polearms only (no -8 evsion from shield usage)
But level 40 is a long way for me now (well... 32 already and I have too much free time now :p) and I was wondering on the light armor thing... I currently have a Salamander Skin Mail +6 (I was lucky that the enchants worked on it) that gives 148 p.def. This pdef is slightly better than the lowest c-grade (Tempered Mithril Set). Problem is that Tempered Mithril Set adds +4 to evasion. Should I change the Salamaner Skin mail for the Tempered Mithril Set of only byt the best c-grade gloves/boots/helm I can get and safe lots of money this way.
Other thing I was wondering is the SA of the pole. I can't decide between Critical Stun (critical rate will be higher as well with DEX 34) and Wide Blow. My guess is Wide Blow because mobs in the end will have a hard time hitting me anyway....
Any input & thoughts on this is appreciated...
You could go this route but I don't see many doing it. Here is why.
You will have a lot of mobs still hitting you. Yes your evasion will be high but useing a polearm means you are going to be after trains not single targets. The reduced Pdef and reduced Con from boosting your Dex means you won't last long without a healer helping you. I personally did not use a polearm in the lower levels. Once you get big boom you can use it to create your won trains and kill them rapidly.
Not saying that the route you are looking at is wrong, just may not be the easiest way to go. If you do go light and a polearm I would suggest plated leather armor for C grade. the +4 STR will help you kill a bit faster.
One thing to keep in mind about con and sheer amount of hp is that it doesn't make you easier to heal. A guy with 1000 hp and 500 pdef is easier to keep alive than someone with 5000 hp and 100 pdef. The latter just takes longer to die and sucks up all the healer's mana.
This is why -con/+dex/+str will usually make you tank better if you have VR.
I'm using light on warlord, but primarily because of it's offensive bonuses which makes VR heal me more. I do evade a little, but not really enough to make me take less damage than heavy. As someone with no evade passives, we will never be able to evade white or higher mobs, but then on the other hand as pole users, we will most likely be wanting to do lots of green/light blue mobs instead of a few white/pink ones.
not sure if you planned on using tattoos before lvl 40 class change, just wanted to warn you as im only 80% sure you are already aware that any tattoos you add before the class change will be lost upon completion. that said, i think your setup would work well against light blue mobs but not so well against green mobs. and light blue mobs arent going to spoil quite so much as greens. id go with crit stun because the mobs will be hitting you, just not quite so much, 34 dex isnt really all that much. 34 dex is enough to give you a decent crit rate with full buffs. plated leather or tempered mithril? i really dont know which would be best, i guess plated leather, but if you really want to max out evasion just +++ the tempered mithril or else your better off p-def-wise in other armors.
If you want to be evasion-based, I don't see why you wouldn't go all the way and get the mithril set. Personnally, I preferred heavy all the way up as Duroon is right I think. You'll take less damage overall with higher pdef. I'm not certain, but I don't think the "evasion tanks" of C2 (or was it C1, I forget) where pulling trains. Not to mention you don't have the innate dex those classes did.
Actually I was goofing around this weekend with my 42 BH. Put my dwarf in my plated leather set with an unenchanted glaive. Grabbed my 53 WC and dragged him along behind for buffs. I was ripping up green mobs in pilgrims easily. My dwarf has +4 str, +4 dex, -10 con (I was cheap, he's an alt). With my WC's VR 1, I was regening as fast as I took damage. Not bad, eh?
So yeah, it can work. Just stick with greens and you'll do well (assuming you have a buffer of some kind).
Oh, I should note, my plated leather is +4 top/bottom, and all the rest of his armor was +3. Definitely the +'s help with light armor.
The setup I like for XP on my dwarf is heavy armor. Light might work fine at the lower levels but at higher levels I think you will not be able to keep up. I prefer BW heavy with +Str + dex tats (-con). At around level 70 if you don't have a health weapon, you will probably want to take off the dex tat to help you pull the trains.
Support classes to help out include a SE, Bishop, SWS, BD optional. Throw in a couple AOE nukers (1-2) and you have an xp machine. You can use a bow to pull with as well if you don't have a health weapon, as this will help you take less damage. With no BD I could solo four mobs in cata at a time, with BD I could solo 4 (BD only) or a whole room (BD+Sws) in the 70+ areas (witches, disciples etc). Preferred song/dances are Wind, Earth, Hunter, Invocation, Inspiration, Fire, Fury, Warrior (or Vampire). Vitality if your sws can maintain 5. This setup would let you do non-stop xp trains pulling 16-24 (4x) mobs in Witches or 16 in Disciples/etc with nuker support.
BW is good through 75 and beyond probably. I haven't compared it to S grade yet but rather than spend the money on Majestic just OE your BW set to +4/
+5 and your set.
I am still at a loss as to how everyone considers themselves solo when they have a BD, proph, SWS etc buffing them. I know your probably 2-3 boxing whatever and you are the only one in control of all these buffers/healers, but be real, your not solo.
I would say, go for evasion set mithril in that case, all out, and a single-target weapon (dual swords, single sword or blunt without shield) doing single-target grinding, cause doing multi-target grinding will basically make evasion useless anyway - better to spec for str in that case as several have already mentioned...
I've given it a 2nd thought and I think I'll do it. But not 100% as I started with... Here's what I'm thinking of (almost definitive version)
DEX to 34/35 gives me on level 40 an evasaion of about 83 to 85 (not counting light armor masteries in this one, will probably add an other 2 evasion)
Use Tempered Mithril set - add +4 evasion
Use Crystal Staff - Crit. Evasion - adds +7 evasion when I drop below 60% HP (trust me I'll be on 55% HP all the time then :p)
This will make my evasion about 94 - 98 on level 40, adding +1 evasion for every level there after.
One question, why the crystal staff? A crystal staff is a low C grade two handed blunt, not a polearm. The Patk of this thing is 53 less than a Yaksa and being a two hander will have a slower attack rate. If you are going to go with evasion and light armor I would suggest getting a faster weapon.
The support classes do not *have* to be boxed. Use your clannies/friendslist and get live healers/BD/SWS etc, and use boxes if necessary to fill in the gaps. I usually run my healers out of group if I have a live healer, as depending on who the healer is, I have trust issues on depending on the heal to arrive at the right time.
Crystal staff is a magic weapon, and as Duroon said, the lowest c grade at that, it won't have any patk to speak of - you need something that hits harder, like a real patk blunt (or sworrd or duals if you get buffs).