Power Scrolls and Tips for Sampire

[Marcus K]

Alright, I broke down, I want to make a Sampire.
Need 120 parry, and 120 Bushido. I need tips for the template.

Thinking:

120 Bushido
120 Parry
100+ Weapon skill
100+ Tact
GM anatomy
Necr (GM or better, might use jewels) (How much reg should I carry?)
Chiv 60 (Do I need more If I want to pair its buffs with Necro buffs?

I have a total skill cap of 730 I think. my accounts 105 months.

Any tips and scrolls you might be able to provide would be appreciated, normal melee simply can not cut it anymore.

[aibal]

120 Swords/Macing/Fencing (my choices in order)
120 Parry
120 Bushido
100 Anatomy
100 Tactics
100 Necro
60+ Chivalry

I have both a swords sampire and a macing sampire. I like both, but the swords template gives you a wider choice of weapons to use, and the best whirlwind weapon in the radiant scimitar. You could always make a use best weapon radiant for a macer, but then you're taking up a mod slot on the weapon that could go for something else. Swords also has the hardest hitter (ornate axe) but you need to be at max stamina (180+) to swing that weapon at cap. Disadvantage for swords is most are two handed, so chugging pots can be a pain. Macing has the advantage of second hardest hitter in the game (diamond mace) in damage per second, and most are one handed freeing you up to use pots easily. I tend to take the macer to the bigger dawgs (peerless level stuff) and use the swords guy for the day to day stuff. Fencing has it's place too, as a spellblade gives the feint special which is nice, but fencing weapons hit the least hard of the three melee skills so it's kind of meh to me. If you want a feint swords weapon, the daisho will be your choice. I don't use feint myself, but others swear by it.

Also, you want 120 weapon skill, as that affects your chance to hit opponents, and you DEPEND on hitting them to stay alive with this template. Put as many points into strength and dex/stamina as possible and run as an elf for the extra 20 mana. The JOAT of a human really isn't an advantage with a sampy, but the extra mana is nice as you won't have to devote too many stat points to intelligence to get your mana. I generally run with only 25-30 intel on mine with 45-50 mana....it's really all you need. Make sure you have a trapped box and a macro to use it by the way, as the magic casters will para the hell out of you lol. If you're going to be doing a LOT of spellcaster type spawns, you can always change out the 100 anatomy for 100 resist...it cuts down on the paras and reduces the length of time for curses. I have 100 resist on a stone and change it out as necessary. Make sure you carry apples too...you can cast remove curse but that burns mana up...much easier to apple. FWIW.

[Lady Severn]

Since this is more fitting of being in the Info section, i'm moving the post.

[Marcus K]

Thanks alot Aibal!

Any chance anyone could suggest gear?

I already have
Aegis of Grace
Storm Grip
Braclet of Health
Ring of Elements (I want to replace it)
Violet courage
Everything else is up in the air as I don;t know what artifacts I should look for, or what I might want to have imbued.

Further suggestions would be appreciated!

[aibal]

I ALWAYS use the Heart of the Lion (better resists than Violet Courage) and the Mace and Shield glasses (for the HLD). You want to maximize the DCI at 45+, so have 15 DCI on the HoL plus 15 on each of your jewels. Some peeps will tell you don't worry about HCI, as you are going to Lightning Strike all the time, but that is not true...I would get as much HCI as you could. My swords sampy, Catastrophe, is in factions so I wear the faction HoL (better resists), and the faction Stormgrips (10 HCI on them), so he is actually over 45 in both HCI and DCI.....my macing sampy is NOT in factions, and even with 30ish HCI on him, there is a noticeable difference in how often you hit. You will NOT Lightning Strike every time, as you want to be able to use the specials on your weapons occasionally (feint, whirlwind, double strike). That is why you want as much HCI as you can get. So....for gear...I ALWAYS wear this:

Mace and Shields
Heart of the Lion
Stormgrips

I fill the rest with runic crafted pieces. Some people change out the HoL for the Rune Beetle Carapace and use Fey leggings instead. I would say, no matter what, make sure you use the Stormgrips and the M&S glasses, then whatever floats your boat. If you need jewels imbued I'm sure I can find an imbuer to put together a set for you, they will simply need the resources.

[aibal]

Oh, btw, get a swampy or two...if you need a couple tamed to start the bonding process let me know. A normal swampy absorbs 10% of the damage with a barding deed on it....if the deed is exceptional it absorbs 20% of the damage. A Paroxysmus' Swampy will absorb 12% of the damage. I have two regulars and a Paroxysmus', all with pet balls so if I die and one swampy gets killed I can summon another when I get rezzed. Just a useless tip that will save your butt a lot lol.

[Marcus K]

Yeah that was something I thought about with the swampies, I remeber being told they gave a DCI bonus. . . that may be rumour. I have a spare HoL, since I replaced mine with a faction one on another character. Just have to obtain some M&S Glasses.
Not too hard I am sure.

Appreciate all yer tips man, they is invaluable.

[aibal]

Let me know when you want the swampies bro, I can have you a couple in just a few minutes. Oh, and when you're putting your suit together let me know...I have a bunch of arms/legs/gorgets/mempos that are imbuable and we can probably find something that will work for you. In case you can't tell, I love my sampires hehe.

PS, almost forgot. When you start putting your suit together, get yourself into vampiric embrace...you lose 25 fire resist while in form, so you want to make sure the suit is as close to straight 70's as possible, especially while in form.

[Marcus K]

wow I had forgot to check that, glad you mentioned it. It will be abit as I am probably xfering a necro and stonning the skill. not up for going through hoops again.