I've decided to wander away from the path of the shifter for a little bit and create a melee class. I've not stuck out a warrior in a long while and was curious if someone could give me hand deciding on my legacies since when I have I've chosen legacies that did not grant me very much benefit. Just a few questions, any input would be appreciated.

Legacies would be most likely for a arial or elf with sword/dagger specs.

Anybody have any input as to a second legacy to be paired with Fluid deceptions?

Anybody ever tried crashing and space combination? I realize a cursed weapon would nullify both but have always been curious.

Or just any other general input as to a high dex character choosing legacies? I've tried dance and whirlwind with a sword/mace elf before and didn't do so hot. So I figured I had better ask those a bit more knowledgeable in the warriors ways.

I appreciate the time you took to at least gander over this post.

As you read the help files for the legacies, if the description includes a mention of a high-dex race then you can assume it will work okay for a high-dex character.

For a while now I've thought Fluid Deceptions was probably under-utilized, but I may be basing that on a flawed understanding of how it works.

For those who've had Fluid Deceptions before: does it auto-feint every round even if you don't take any action? Or does that only happen when you enter a "real" feint command?

I fought some empire arial who had it, and it seemed like it did a double-feint every found automatically.

It can feint once automatically, not guaranteed. If you do the feint command then it will feint two attacks and try to disarm (1 round disarm lag is sweet).

As I understand it, they resist feinting.

The biggest problem I had with my couple Elf warriors is other melee classes with iron weapons. And I consider myself to be at least an average PKer. First off, I probably wouldn't take fluid deceptions. It's a good thought for an Elf warrior, to help avoid melee hits from iron weapons. But you'll get a lot more mileage from other legacies.

For an Elf, I still like Striking the Shadows Footfall. Although the legacy has been tuned down, it's still decent. The biggest thing I've noticed is that it works a lot less against smarter races, but was still effective against Orcs, Giants, Duergars and Minotaur--which as an Elf, you'll be fighting all of them probably.

Continuing on for an Elf, I like Flow of Shadows. Anything to help evade big flurries or backstabs or whatnot. It doesn't work a ton, but when it does, it could be a serious fight changer. I've had a lot of fights that came down to me killing my opponent with a stab or properly timed misdirect, to my opponent hitting that last flurry or drum.

Another one I like for Elf is Harmonious Equilibrium. This should help negate some nasty bashes from Orcs and Giants, allowing you more freedom to maledict or disarm or dirt kick.



As for Arial...I personally won't play another Arial warrior--unless its a warrior rager berserker. Hydrophobia and water and lightning vulnerabilities are awful. You have to be able to maintain equipment and have some seriously limited gear to protect yourself. After playing one, you quickly find out just how easy it really is to exploit all of those weaknesses.

I know there have been some successful Arial warriors, but they fit into small categories: Emperor/War Master or Battle Berserker. I am rating successful based on positive PK ratios, and not roleplay.

I probably wouldn't do an arial if I were going to play an Outlander or Maran since you (mostly) get free flight anyway.

I might play one if I weren't going with one of those cabals.

On paper, arial should be comparable to a non-STSF elf/drow. Water and lightning vulns suck, but then so do iron and mithril.

You can't cast iron or mithril though.

True. Elves and drow have an advantage against invokers.

They probably get the invoker slightly more hurt before having to run away.

There is relatively easy to get resist to lightning, either item or prep.

Water attack weapons are quite rare unlike iron or mithril. Invokers get geyser/engulf closer to hero ranks, some of them drop water path and imo geyser is not really damaging spell. Pillar is more damaging but you have that resist.

As for melee, arials are better than elves:
1. More strength = better parry
2. More strength = better dodge
3. More dexterity = better dodge
4. More con does not hurt either.

I am not sure about swiftstrike though.

Would ward of blades be beneficial for either race or because their strength is so midling would it automatically be nullified if you were not wearing enough str bonus gear and got impaled or such, also anybody got a wee bit more information on Flow of Shadows? I was just curious if it is affected by str or dex or are you at the whim of some type of RGN? Seems to kinda get a Bum wrap on Dio's.

I got it in my mind to deal with an arial sword/dagger spec. I figured since I know of a midlevel and a rare high level (Although Difficult to get at) resist lightning potion it was worth a shot. I Was thinking of trying this just for something different. Even though they have their share of vulns, there is no reason an arial cannot succeed with the amount of speed they have even without death blow or imperial tactics.

>Would ward of blades be beneficial for either race or because
>their strength is so midling would it automatically be
>nullified if you were not wearing enough str bonus gear and
>got impaled or such, also anybody got a wee bit more
>information on Flow of Shadows? I was just curious if it is
>affected by str or dex or are you at the whim of some type of
>RGN? Seems to kinda get a Bum wrap on Dio's.
>

Pretty sure flow of shadows is dex and int based not str. I also, for some reason, think there is a time of day benefit, where it works more at dawn and dusk when your outside where there are greater shadows. I don't know if I read that some where or not. Might be true or not.

I took flow once with an elf about 5-6 years ago and was happy with it, though I didn't notice anything with the lighting issue I mentioned. Overall, It seemed to work best on ambushes and back stabs and the like.