Difference between revisions of "Combat Focus Guide"

Revision as of 17:09, 30 January 2016

Devlin's Formula: The IDDQD Guide

(Proper Weapon + Mana Leech) + Chivalry/Necromancy

The idea behind Devlin's Formula is to learn what to focus on in the game. There are many skills and weapons in UO. Some are useful while others are not. The combination of the right weapons, abilities, and skills will boost your damage astronomically. Use this guide to figure out what weapons, what abilities and what skills help the most.

Proper Weapon/Abilities

The first thing to look at is what kind of weapon to use. There are two factors to look at when picking a weapon: Base Weapon Damage and/or Weapon Abilities.

Based on damage, abilities, and the range factor, the Yumi is the best weapon in the game. If Archery is not your style, the War Hammer has great abilities/high damage. The Double Axe, the Ornate Axe and the Halberd all receive a damage bonus from LJ and have outstanding abilities.

If you are looking for one handed weapons, check out the Viking Sword or the Axe. They are the hardest hitting 1 handed weapons. Scepters, Broadswords and Mauls do well also. The No-Dachi is a very nice weapon, but not able to be looted. Darkened Skys are the best for this wep. Anything with Crushing Blow/Double Strike is ideal for any melee weapon really, as long as the base damage on the weapon isn't below 14-15.

Whirlwind Weapons are very powerful if combined with hit spells and hit areas (either on the weapon or with a leveling deed). Halberds, War Hammers and Double Axes are best here for the aforementioned reasons.

Weapon Ability Chart

Armor Pierce: Only on Yumis. Adds 50% damage to your hit, has a chance to damage their armor as well. Similar to Crushing Blow, but has range. Use this if you have a Hanzos/Horselords or no +hits on your bow.

Double Shot: Only on Yumis. Same as Double Strike, fires two shots, but there is no damage penalty. Best single target damage ability in game, if your weapon has multiple +hits on it (Fireball/Lightning, maybe Magic Arrow. Harm is bad for a bow.

Crushing Blow: Adds 50% damage to your hit, has a chance to damage their armor as well. Similar to Armor Pierce, but no range. Best melee single target damage ability out there.

Whirlwind: GREAT ability. Hits every target within a 1 tile range, up to 9 targets. Hit Areas/Spells can do HUGE sums of damage here.

NOTE: Bushido affects the damage that Whirlwind does. The formula is: ((# of opponents * Bushido) * (# of opponents * Bushido) / 3600) = Bonus Damage The Bonus Damage is capped at 100.

Double Strike: Swings twice at once. Each hit takes a -10% damage reduction. Any +Hits on your weapon will hit twice, meaning +Lightning/Fireball do well with this ability.

NOTE: Double Strike has a -10% damage penalty per hit. Double Shot does not. Both of these abilities are best used when combined with multiple +hits on your weapon (lightning, fireball, magic arrow, and harm means you can hit an enemy up to 10x with one attack.)

Frenzied Whirlwind: Only on Ninja/Bushido weps, adds a bleed on the target that does massive amounts of damage over 5-10 or so seconds

Mortal Strike: Prevents a target from healing. 6 seconds in PvP, 12 in PvE

Weapon Damage Chart

Bows

Swords

• With 100+ lumberjacking, you gain a 30% damage bonus when using an axe.

Maces

Mana Leech

Mana Leech (ML) is key in being able to spam Weapon Abilities. Without ML you cannot keep up with Chivalry spells or use Armor Pierce/Crushing Blow every attack, significantly reducing your damage output. Ideally, you want to find a weapon with ML on it already. Adding ML to a weapon with a deed can cost a few points, points that should be going to +hit spells.

Chivalry

One of the best skills in game, considering the damage bonuses you receive from the spells. Karma is important to this skill, the higher your karma, the longer the spells will last.

Necromancy

Necromancy is a great skill to use if your weapon does not have all the leeches on it. There are multiple forms you can cast into that add damage, mana/life leech and more. Here is the list of spells. Unlike Chivalry, where you need to recast Consec Wep/Divine Fury every 10-15 seconds, you dont need to use these spells as often. Curse Weapon is a life saver, but not needed every second you are fighting. Lich/Wraith form both have advantages, but aren't needed always. The bottom three spells are good assist spells.

Essentially, you should balance a combination of Chivalry and some Necro, combined with a few weapons with set abilities. All of this will lead to you having high survival rate and doing loads of damage.