Having some trouble :(

[Ivze]

so i got myself a level 19 assasin and im a level 20 weaponsmith

but recently ive been fighting level 18-20 mobs and im kinda getting my rear kicked :o

anyone got any advice on what kinda gear / things i should be aiming towards to ease the pain

anything would be great, thanks

P.s. this is my first character on EQ2 so go easy on the terminology please hehe

[Adegx]

I'm going to assume you are not filthy rich being your first toon and all. So I'll speak about assassin on a budget.

Use MC crafted weapons. You should be able to make these yourself. By MC I mean master-crafted, weapons that require a rare material. (blackened iron for example) upgrade these every x2 lvl. (ie  22, 32,42,ect) Look for a weapon with a 4.0 delay, a high hit range, and str, int,agi (in that order of priority). Also go to the broker and search temper. Normally you can find a damage adding proc for less than a gold. I think my last set cost me 12sp each.  Look for tempers that you can apply to primary,secondary and two handed . Ie you can not put a piercing temper on a slashing weapon.

Since most armorsmiths are melee characters of some kind. Try befriend one. Work something out, Offer to make his weapons, inexchange for his armoring services. At your lvl the best crafted stuff you can get is probally going to be "chainmail" When you reach level 30, You'll want him to start making your "melodic" set. For armor i generally stick with the HQ stuff (non MC) as you'll level pretty fast. Feel free to upgrade it as you adv and complete quests.

Find an alchemist. Love them!  I generally always get the MC poison crafted (caustic). I have a sage as a main and always have the powder needed for it. At the early levels one MC 10 charge poison will last me till the next upgrade. As i'm getting higher up there its getting closer and closer to getting all used up before upgrade. I think my proc rate is increaseing with the AA's i'm picking up.

For AA's there are other good posts on what to take and how much but start with the str line.

Hope that helps!

[Ivze]

first of all, thank you for replying in length and detail, i understand alot of that so its good!

i got to 20 last night so im gona head off to the next zone and start farming mats for my 20-29 crafting, i still have a question or 2 tho.

mastercrafted weapons are learnt from recipes bought from the broker? or found? and also the rare mats i have found up to my current level i.e. the levels 1-10, 11-20 are they of any use? or should i ditch them.

also last night i trained my slashing and peircing to max so its helped me alot more.

i guess its one of those cases where ill improve as i level

thanks again for the reply

[Adegx]

I forgot to mention imbuning in my previous post but when you make a weapon be sure to bless or imbune it. Generally it adds some sort of extra damage proc that stacks with the tempers.

The MC recipies are learned from the advanced books. Normally it works like this:

At level 21 weapon smith you get basic recipies for: (and i'm making this up for example purposes) You buy this recipie off the crafting vendor.

iron Shank

iron Shiv

iron Spoon

Now while your out adventuring there is a chance that ANY level 21 mob you kill may drop an advanced weaponsmith 21 book. Level 22 mobs drop advanced weaponsmith 22, ect....

That recipe will teach you

steel Shank

steel Shiv

steel Spoon.

Steel ofcourse being the rare harvested metal for that level.  The weapon will differ in 3 ways.

1) all t3  HC (hand crafted) items you create are of item level 20. All MC are lvl 22

2) better stats of the same type. Ie if your HC iron dagger had +str, +int. The MC wil have More of the same stats. And sometimes resists

3) the MC weapon will have a much better damage range and dps rating. The delay will remain unchanged.

As for what to do with your old rares, your choices are sell them, make something with it and place on broker. Or keep them for an alt/guild member.

Hope that helps. Also worth mentioning is the advanced recipe books are tradeable and often sold on the broker. Some books seem more rare than others and are naturally more expensive.  But if your missing a book you need the broker is a good place to look.

[Yalocin]

You might want to take a look at your slashing/piercing skill and make sure its not lagging behind. I think SoE forgott to adjust the skill up speed when they made the exp changes. I have to level lock my Assassin every few levels to keep the skills at a resonable level. At one point I was getting my butt handed to me by green solo mobs because I simply could not hit them.

[Logan]

You will find a huge difference once you hit 22 and are able to use the next tier of mastercrafted weapons and armor. I just got my bruiser to 22 and equipped the new MC gear and it shocked me what a difference it was. Other than that use your poisons and stuns. Use your bow when you have room at the start or if you run out melee arts.

[Lethe5683]

Raz_wolf wrote:

Look for a weapon with a 4.0 delay, a high hit range, and str, int,agi (in that order of priority).

STR could be argueable as primary stat depending on what you're doing but focusing on INT over AGI at a low lvl is a very bad idea.

[Adegx]

I disagree. Yes playstyles vary, and i'm speaking soley from a pve perspective. But In early levels i NEVER ran out of power. Rarely had trouble soloing. And always had atleast hand crafted melodic armor set.  I didnt ignore agi completely but with my AA choices and the MC poison i had I Obliterated most solo mobs. I never even used defensive stance untill i hit the 60's. 

Power is rarely a problem, if the mob lives much past 10 seconds i'm doing something wrong. And if i find my self needing to dodge hits. Its time to find a new tank

[Rahatmattata]

Lethe5683 wrote:

Raz_wolf wrote:

Look for a weapon with a 4.0 delay, a high hit range, and str, int,agi (in that order of priority).

STR could be argueable as primary stat depending on what you're doing but focusing on INT over AGI at a low lvl is a very bad idea.

What else would you be doing at low levels where str wouldn't be the primary stat?

The melodic mastercrafted is what you should be leveling up in. It has str agi and int anyway. I'd rather have sta over agi though. Also as far as weapons, the mastercrafted stilleto has 4sec delay and str/int piercer, and I think falchion is a 4sec slasher with str/int.

[Lethe5683]

Derkin@Antonia Bayle wrote:

Lethe5683 wrote:

Raz_wolf wrote:

Look for a weapon with a 4.0 delay, a high hit range, and str, int,agi (in that order of priority).

STR could be argueable as primary stat depending on what you're doing but focusing on INT over AGI at a low lvl is a very bad idea.

What else would you be doing at low levels where str wouldn't be the primary stat?

The melodic mastercrafted is what you should be leveling up in. It has str agi and int anyway. I'd rather have sta over agi though. Also as far as weapons, the mastercrafted stilleto has 4sec delay and str/int piercer, and I think falchion is a 4sec slasher with str/int.

Soloing...  STR is only the best if all you do is group/raid as DPS.  STA is so unimportant it's not even funny.

[Lethe5683]

Raz_wolf wrote:

I disagree. Yes playstyles vary, and i'm speaking soley from a pve perspective. But In early levels i NEVER ran out of power. Rarely had trouble soloing. And always had atleast hand crafted melodic armor set.  I didnt ignore agi completely but with my AA choices and the MC poison i had I Obliterated most solo mobs. I never even used defensive stance untill i hit the 60's. 

Power is rarely a problem, if the mob lives much past 10 seconds i'm doing something wrong. And if i find my self needing to dodge hits. Its time to find a new tank

Well then I guess all the tanks on my server suck and appearently I don't have a tank in my pocket to tank solo mobs for me.