Should I start out with hand to hand at first? Or with dagger? Or is it just a matter of choice and you can be just as effective with one as the other? This is my first char here and this question that has been in my head since I entered the trainer room. I read a post somewhere on here that mentioned someone wrote a assassin guide, but couldnt seem to find it.

So I picked hand to hand and didnt even train dagger. I figured that it will be easier to not have to worry about finding good daggers. And when looking at the assasins skills it would seem they dont use weapons, but there there is dual wield listed so I am confused.

Any info or links (if that guide is still around) would be helpful. Brand new to this mud and have alot to learn.

thanks

Im not sure if its like this here and hard to tell while not understanding what the current level your weapon skills actually means. Also dont have many weapons to test.

Say I have a really heavy sword and a really light dagger. Do they swing at the same rate regardless of weight? Or do things like weight of weapon, str, dex, etc factor into how fast you are actually striking?

Also, if possible to say this - what does the skill level of your weapon actually mean? Hitroll, rate, damage, etc.

Thanks for any info

Think of it in simple terms. The higher your percentage is in a given weapon skill, the more you will hit your opponent using said weapon. Not too sure if it has a huge effect on how hard you hit, but I haven't noticed a significant difference - someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Also, a good thing to know is that you will parry better against weapons you have a high proficiency in, especially as opposed to a weapon you do not have in your skill list. As an example, an assassin does not know how to use axes, so that axe-wielding warrior is gonna hit you a lot more than you'd like. That being said, it's probably a good idea to memorize which classes know which weapons and wear an appropriate weapon when possible. Warrior opponents are always a crap shoot because they potentially will know all weapons (until you're familiar with him!).

There's probably a lot more to be said on this topic, but those are the basics as far as I know...

You won't necessarily hit more often, but rather "miss" less. That is to say, if they don't parry/dodge/shieldblock/etc. your strike, you will be less likely swing a miss if you have a higher % in that weapon. Also, for damage, if you know a weapon 75% then you do 75% damage with that weapon, and so on up to 100%. That doesn't take into accout weapons that are much higher in level, but in the interests of keeping it simple... there it is.

Ok, sounds good. What about the weight and rate of the weapon? Should have titled it two more questions actually :)

So if you don't have second attack, a really heavy sword and a really light are both going to get one attack / round.

If you have dual wield, second attack, third attack, or fourth attack, I do not know if weapon weight plays a factor in the check for those skills.

What you should focus on is which weapons are going to be parried or dodged less by your opponent. In CF, it isn't so much how many attacks you get, but how many of the attacks you do get land. Assassins get skills to help change these odds also. For example, the helpfile on dodge specifically talks about dex, so if you lower your opponents dexterity they dodge less. Most classes require a weapon to parry, so if you get them unarmed, they aren't going to parry. And so on.

Weapon weight is a factor in some situations(warrior skill weaponbreaker(heavy axes break enemy weapon easier) and warrior legacy trapping beneath thunder), but I don't the weapon weight affects the fighting capabilities(parrying/dodging the weapon). Heavy weapons are dropped easier than light ones when you are maledicted and are not strong enough to wield it(your strength determines how heavy weapon you can wield). When wielding two weapons, the heavier one will always go to your main hand and the lighter one to offhand. Also, your dodge skill will be affected by the total weight you carry.

nt

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nt

So, is a 5 pound axe easier to parry than 15 pound axe if the axes are otherwise similar?

Does hitroll have any affect on these skills? Or strictly just on plain old misses? What I mean by this is if you have a higher hitroll, people will find it harder to parry, shield block, dodge?, etc, than against someone with a lower hitroll. I understand if you straight up miss, that is hitroll related, but not sure about the rest.

One thing that I noticed about this mud is there seems to be ALOT of choices for gear. So just trying to learn a bit more so I can choose items better.

thanks

I wrote some kind of an assassin guide on this forum that was mainly focused on newbie assassin trying to run away and hide. And to explore the world successfully. There may be other assassin guides around, but I don't remember them. Can't remember how to make a link, but the guide can be found from:

http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=5&topic_id=589&mesg_id=596&page=2

Oh, and when it comes to shield block and dual wield, use shield when you are fighting in front row and dual wield another weapon(felars dual wield their claws, meaning the other hand is left empty) when you are fighting in back row in the group.

The following is generally true in CF:

In this MUD, people tend rank in groups of three people. You should practice all weapon skills and defenses(dodge, parry, shield block and unarmed defense) to 75%(which can be done by putting two practices to it, unless you are arial or some other smart race, in which case you should get +int gear or max your int by training it. After that, you'll only need 1 practice to get it to 71%(int=23). Constitution should be kept as maximum too for maximal hit point gains/level. Also, have natural wisdom stat at at least 18 to get 3 pracs/level). The easiest way is to put two practices to every skill you have, so that they would work reliably when they need it, as you are new to the class and don't know which skills you are going to need.

Off the top of my head:

1. Your skill in a weapon is part of the determination of how well you parry that particular weapon. If you don't practice dagger, then you won't be able to parry daggers as well as if you had practiced them. Not that daggers are all that hard to parry, but still...by not practicing, you give a dagger-wielding enemy an advantage over you.

2. If you don't know daggers, the poison dagger skill will be useless to you. Probably not that big a deal, but I've found it useful in the past.

3. Assassins don't have weapon-based skills per se, in the same sense that warriors do (such as jab, cranial, pincer, etc). But just like every other class in the game, they benefit (do more damage, can get a weapon that exploits a vulnerability, parry better, etc.) from using weapons. Dual wield is a powerful skill to have when you want to go on the offensive against someone that you don't need to use a shield against (mages, for example).

4. Once assassins get unarmed defense and backfist, fighting certain opponents unarmed can make sense. Before those two skills, you're better off using a weapon in pretty much all situations.

5. Assassins have plenty of skills in their toolbox, so you could probably play an effective hand-to-hand only assassin against certain opponents in certain situations - but you would have to be pretty skilled to avoid dying in all the other situations you'll find yourself in.

My recommendation: practice all your weapon skills, even if you don't intend to use those weapons, unless you have a really solid RP reason for not practicing them. Then go ahead and use the weapons. And avoid duergar axe-spec warriors (the bane of assassins everywhere!).

Practice all the weapons to 75 if you can before rank 11-12. Try to use a sword early since it parries the best and there are also many decent swords lying around. Hand to hand will not be beneficial to you early on until you get unarmed defense. Do not use it unless you have to even after you perfect it.

After playing assassins, I use the following weapons in order of preference: sword, dagger (only for assassinating or fighting shamans), spear, staff. Use a sword unless you have a good reason to switch.

One other thing, knowing h2h well and unarmed defense is a good way to help not dying in a round if you lose your weapon due to strength loss or disarm.

spear and staff parry better but you dont get shield block with em. I just use swords.