Soloing Spawns on a Sampire - A Definitive Guide by Feersum Endjinn

[Feersum Endjinn]

how do you do neira in an hour solo. seriously lol. am I missing something?

Well, It is possible. I think Mashu at least can give you an eye-witness report of how it's done...
(and also of how to thwart raiders... )

Last week I got really pumped to do the spawn and got up at 5AM, but HZ rolled in at T3 with like 5 guys(lol), killed me, ressed me, res killed me, then proceeded to not do the spawn.

Be cool about it. Maybe talk to MB. Get rezed and get back into it. You'll certainly earn more respect that way. And since raiders often have a tough time at Neira, they may decide a joint effort is more fun next time. And if not, no worries - in this game, what goes around comes around - always... ;>

Yeah, sometimes if I time it right I can cast evasion and run into like 5+ lich lords and 5+ rc's and just survive enough to pwn them. It's cool when that happens. But other times I just get dumped on like a little bitch lol.

Try using your Area Axe if there aren't too many LLs on screen. It will keep them close enough for you to hit. Five LLs is probably too many to begin with, but take 2 or 3 and move around slowly pulling RCs on to you as you go (you can deal with 50 RCs at a time if you want). Kill the LLs until you only have a bunch of RCs around you and *then* take them all out together.

One key point is to take it slow enough not to screw up the first T4 candle. This is the one candle you *have* to get first time, because doing it without the help of leftover T3 spawn is MUCH harder.

FE

PS BC - try hard to get up to 163 Stam. You will really notice the difference. Then FR up to 70 and finally start raising your HP as and when...

 

[Barnicoat]

Thanks again FE. I have a nice gorget I brought, which will up my stamina to about 163, and hp a little too, i think it messes with my resists a bit, but I'll check when I get home later. I need some gloves lol, mine have good resists, but the mods are a bit useless.

Yeah, I've kinda gone with the theory that my area axe with higher hml is better as long as I don't pull too many onto me at once. I will try again tonight or tomorrow and see how I go with wiping out LL's first. RC's really don't seem to pose much of a problem if you can keep swinging and connecting. I never thought .25 swing speed would be noticeable, but my stam is like 153, and when it drops below 150 everything changes lol.

I guess the up side is, the first time I ran into a neira spawn, the tier 1 spawn just wiped me out in 5 seconds lmao (embarrassing). Now I can survive the fourth tier, just need to get faster at it. Gotta keep going I guess

Also, atm, if I use EoO and consecrate wep, I'm doing about 50 damage on these RC's. Is that about right?

Barni.

 

[Mashu]

I just died on the first candle of T4 undead spawn and I found what you said painfully true. I had to give up after 30 mins of missing candles and dieing. =[

On a happier note I just got a Soul Seeker - how does this change things for Sampires? I quit OSI just before ML hit so I have no idea what is to come.

 

[Barnicoat]

I think it means a bit of an easier time everywhere except neira.

Where did you get it?

 

[Mashu]

I got it from one of those tormented soul guys, along with a bunch of crappy deco artys. I am not really sure what to do with it at moment - coon seems faster with hit spell axes, I cant use it at vs undead, and I'm not good enough to do the other spawns yet. I cant use a shield because of bushido right? Should I just chug pots or something?

Also I had a kind of breakthrough today at a spawn - FE talks about using orny/AoF etc. to regen mana after dying, but as I don't even have those on my mains let alone spares to keep on a sampire, I have just been making due with arcane clothes. However using this method it always takes a while to regen mana, which is okay at coon but you really don't have time to spare at other spawns. Then today I realized I could just whack my resser a few times in the face with an HML axe and be in form in seconds! Eureka!

 

[prohunter33]

the orny/aof is for lrc not mana regen.

 

[Feersum Endjinn]

Also, atm, if I use EoO and consecrate wep, I'm doing about 50 damage on these RC's. Is that about right?

Yep. Maybe 70ish with a Slayer and 90+ with Slayer + EoO. But... careful using EoO on RCs when there are LLs around.

On a happier note I just got a Soul Seeker - how does this change things for Sampires?

Can't really say yet, M. - I only just got one myself. It is super fast, but no Hit Area, low damage and no DI - so ideally you'd only be using it for Repond mobs when you don't want an Area Attack: but at Coon that means never...

It was useful vs The Tormentor though - because at least you could keep swinging through his permanent Stam drain...

In theory, you could of course completely change your stat distribution. You'd have about 100 extra points free to put into Str and Mana if you *only* ever used Soulseeker.

I cant use a shield because of bushido right? Should I just chug pots or something?

No shield. Unless you want to drop Bushido...

Does make it easier to chug pots (I've never used them myself, because when I was learning it was too much hassle getting them back off my corpse after every death - and now I find them unnecessary).

Then today I realized I could just whack my resser a few times in the face with an HML axe and be in form in seconds! Eureka!

Haha...

Ok, that is an original idea. I have a few updates to add to the guide - I'll put that in too.

As PH mentioned, the Orny/Aof is for LRC and LMC. The HoM/Spellbook is for MR.

FE

 

[Barnicoat]

DCI 24+ (the sweet spot for using Counter Strike during T4 without taking more damage than you can leech your way out of is around 23-27, depending on the Spawn [thanks to Evil Child for goading me into insisting with this tactic for long enough to finally suss it out])

One thing I never figured out... what does dci have to do with counter attack?

 

[prohunter33]

One thing I never figured out... what does dci have to do with counter attack?

The DCI check is before the parry check. So lets just make up an example.

the things your fighting have gm wrestling and u have 120 weapon skill/parry/bushido

at 45 dci the monster has a ~10% chance to trigger counter attack and a ~17% chance to deal damage to you.

at 0 dci the same monster has a ~17% chance to trigger counter attack and a ~25% chance to deal damage to you.

The idea was to find a DCI "magic number" that provided the best total survivability. Without thinking to far into it ~25DCI does seem near the "sweet spot" offering ~13% chance to trigger counter attack and ~20% chance to deal damage. Meaning when fully surrounded the chances are heavily in your favor to trigger the counter attack between your swing.

 

[Barnicoat]

Ahhh yes, that makes sense Thanks for the explanation.

So if I have like 27 or 28 DCI, it's not a massive problem, just throws the "perfect" balance out a little.

Good to know

...That's why I love UO, 14 years old, but shit is in depth as hell

 

[prohunter33]

the complexity of this game is what kept me interested for 14 years.

 

[Pegasus321]

Babe apeal for me. Nothing gets the ladies like talking about a 14 year old game

 

[Feersum Endjinn]

Ok. I've just edited and updated the original post with some stuff I forgot, a few new ideas contributed by other Sampires and four new sections:

Why Small Improvements Matter
What else to put in your pack
Using Counterstrike Successfully
(Not) Using the "Protection" Spell

Please feel free to give me a shout if you think there is anything else I should add...

One thing I never figured out... what does dci have to do with counter attack?

Prohunter has got the basics right - though making it work it is a lot more complex than it looks...

FE

PS I'm still waiting for everyone to post their own best times (especially if you beat mine). The main reason I keep spawning now is to try to knock seconds off my own records, so some healthy competition is always welcome...

 

[Barnicoat]

PS I'm still waiting for everyone to post their own best times (especially if you beat mine). The main reason I keep spawning now is to try to knock seconds off my own records, so some healthy competition is always welcome...

I'm working on finishing them still Well more specifically, getting tier 4 sorted I haven't actually tried a spawn for a couple of weeks, been too busy. I acquired a 47% lich lord killer talisman though, so I'm hoping tier 4 Neira will be a bit nicer

 

[Feersum Endjinn]

I acquired a 47% lich lord killer talisman though, so I'm hoping tier 4 Neira will be a bit nicer

Watch out for those BOs when you are using a Slayer...

 

[Barnicoat]

Hehe yeah I shall be careful

 

[Barnicoat]

What's the deal with 'a pile of glacial snow'. I think it was helpful in some manner, but I can't remember exactly how it went.

 

[Feersum Endjinn]

What's the deal with 'a pile of glacial snow'. I think it was helpful in some manner, but I can't remember exactly how it went.

That one's new to me, B.

I mean, it used to be very useful if you wanted to get on to the roof of your castle before Ladders were invented, but apart from that...



FE

 

[Barnicoat]

Someone told me that having more blessed items decreases the chance of a thief randomly stealing something good.

 

[Cerxis]

Hehe ... sure it decreases the chance, BUT only if someone really tries to steal something randomly

The Chance of stealing something randomly would be around 10% or less (if carry around 10items or more)