Ivory
11-12-2020, 05:28 AM
This has been my dream weapon for a long time! And at first was my ultimate goal for bone-knighting! After a bunch of effort to camp the potatoes out of it... I got super lucky and one dropped!!!
For those who don't know, it is a rare legacy item for casters.
https://imgur.com/hMAhg3g.png
The major thing to know is that on p99, it doesn't actually use the full 60 damage, since casters here are capped to 40 damage at higher levels....
But still, a 40/40 isn't shabby!!
The biggest question is just how effective is a melee weapon in the hands of a caster with a low offensive skill of 140.... and a 1 hand blunt skill of 110....
So, I've been parsing it while hunting for a day or two now. And I'm ready to reveal the truth about this weapon!!
Is it a toy as people always call it? It definitely has no use to twink a character with (since casters have such harsh weapon caps as they level, starting with just a 6 damage weapon cap till 10!!).
Anyhow.... here is what I've found.....
Accuracy
I have 110 strength as a necromancer currently. And I took the weapon to a decently difficult zone (Chardok) for hunting. According to my parsing the accuracy I have is about 50-70%.
In comparison, a same level warrior (53) has about 60-75% accuracy.
So yes, it does land less often. But it isn't a night and day difference between a "real melee". Sometimes you can get really unlucky and miss in a row a lot, and it can feel like you just don't hit anything. But according to the parses.... it just isn't true. It seems to do ok.
Damage
This is an easy one to calculate the upper limits of the weapon. Since the formula is ((weapon skill + Str) / 100)) * weapon damage
Weapon skill maxes at 110, which really only leave STR (with a cap of 255). So at max strength, you are looking at 3.65 * 40.... or 146 damage MAX that you can hit with.
But average hit is going to be a lot less. And I seem to have an average of 50-70 damage (with 110 STR, or a MAX hit of 100... so there is still some room to increase that average in the parses).
DPS
Now, the real question is... what is the DPS like?
I've found I do about 10-25 DPS per fight (and of course, if I'm casting more, it will lower the DPS). If I just focus on meleeing and try not to interrupt it... then I tend to be more about 20.
That's with a 36% haste belt and haste spell (though, just with belt haste, I was noticing about the 15-20 DPS more often as averages).
To give you an idea, a 52 rogue has a DPS of 30-50. A warrior can have 20-40ish (really depends on their weapons).
So a caster doing 20....is actually kind of decent! But it isn't as if the weapon turns you into a top DPS.....or.... does it?
Other Weapons
Really, the DPS isn't INSANE or anything. It's actually about the same as a staff of the legions that necromancers can get (procs a 585 DD to undead). Or even clerics get the same sort of weapon. Letting them do 20ish DPS (though sometimes spiking up higher, making these undead weapons stronger than this rare legacy item).
So, it isn't some sort of god-making weapon.... it just lets you do the same sort of damage to any type of creature.
The Big Secret!
The big secret about this weapon.... is what I've been saying with the "bone knight" build! That it's not about trying to carry all the damage on the back of caster melee....but instead using it along a casters pet.
The best fit being a necromancer (since they get a decent self proc spell and a variety of other reasons I go into here https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368553 )
My theory was that with a good enough weapon (of which there are a few) AND the pet, a necromancer could go past most other classes in terms of DPS.
The undead staff was too random to really rely on, but the rod shows pretty consistent results.... and here are some of the parses that shows how it does.
Atouk - Warrior
Thelven - Rogue
Larakab - Magician Water Pet
Myrmidon - enchanter (Chardok Pet!)
https://imgur.com/UegXjZ9.png
As you can see, my melee combined with my pets melee....puts a bone knight ahead of everything (including the cherished charmed pets that hit for 140). Though, to be fair I wasn't winning in every fight (especially not when I stopped meleeing for more casting, or my pet wasn't behind the mob, as I was using my backstabbing pet).
It's just everyone assumes enchanter charm high hitting pets are the best that EQ can offer in terms of DPS. ((even with their huge headaches of breaks and killing enchanters and draining healer mana and all that))
BUT, according to the parses, they aren't! The true power is a caster and pet working together!! To become a top DPS master!! Or an enchanter trying to swift like wind their pet.... which would just get them killed.
Anyhow, I figured people would be curious about this weapon and the realities of what it actually does in actual melee. There is a heck of a lot of guessing that happens with respect to casters ability to even land a hit with a weapon, let alone do any sort of damage.
So, for a lot of casters... yea... probably a toy. BUT for certain builds, it completes things to be a general group DPSer that can stand alongside even enchanters charms.
The end. Gnomes is great!!
For those who don't know, it is a rare legacy item for casters.
https://imgur.com/hMAhg3g.png
The major thing to know is that on p99, it doesn't actually use the full 60 damage, since casters here are capped to 40 damage at higher levels....
But still, a 40/40 isn't shabby!!
The biggest question is just how effective is a melee weapon in the hands of a caster with a low offensive skill of 140.... and a 1 hand blunt skill of 110....
So, I've been parsing it while hunting for a day or two now. And I'm ready to reveal the truth about this weapon!!
Is it a toy as people always call it? It definitely has no use to twink a character with (since casters have such harsh weapon caps as they level, starting with just a 6 damage weapon cap till 10!!).
Anyhow.... here is what I've found.....
Accuracy
I have 110 strength as a necromancer currently. And I took the weapon to a decently difficult zone (Chardok) for hunting. According to my parsing the accuracy I have is about 50-70%.
In comparison, a same level warrior (53) has about 60-75% accuracy.
So yes, it does land less often. But it isn't a night and day difference between a "real melee". Sometimes you can get really unlucky and miss in a row a lot, and it can feel like you just don't hit anything. But according to the parses.... it just isn't true. It seems to do ok.
Damage
This is an easy one to calculate the upper limits of the weapon. Since the formula is ((weapon skill + Str) / 100)) * weapon damage
Weapon skill maxes at 110, which really only leave STR (with a cap of 255). So at max strength, you are looking at 3.65 * 40.... or 146 damage MAX that you can hit with.
But average hit is going to be a lot less. And I seem to have an average of 50-70 damage (with 110 STR, or a MAX hit of 100... so there is still some room to increase that average in the parses).
DPS
Now, the real question is... what is the DPS like?
I've found I do about 10-25 DPS per fight (and of course, if I'm casting more, it will lower the DPS). If I just focus on meleeing and try not to interrupt it... then I tend to be more about 20.
That's with a 36% haste belt and haste spell (though, just with belt haste, I was noticing about the 15-20 DPS more often as averages).
To give you an idea, a 52 rogue has a DPS of 30-50. A warrior can have 20-40ish (really depends on their weapons).
So a caster doing 20....is actually kind of decent! But it isn't as if the weapon turns you into a top DPS.....or.... does it?
Other Weapons
Really, the DPS isn't INSANE or anything. It's actually about the same as a staff of the legions that necromancers can get (procs a 585 DD to undead). Or even clerics get the same sort of weapon. Letting them do 20ish DPS (though sometimes spiking up higher, making these undead weapons stronger than this rare legacy item).
So, it isn't some sort of god-making weapon.... it just lets you do the same sort of damage to any type of creature.
The Big Secret!
The big secret about this weapon.... is what I've been saying with the "bone knight" build! That it's not about trying to carry all the damage on the back of caster melee....but instead using it along a casters pet.
The best fit being a necromancer (since they get a decent self proc spell and a variety of other reasons I go into here https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368553 )
My theory was that with a good enough weapon (of which there are a few) AND the pet, a necromancer could go past most other classes in terms of DPS.
The undead staff was too random to really rely on, but the rod shows pretty consistent results.... and here are some of the parses that shows how it does.
Atouk - Warrior
Thelven - Rogue
Larakab - Magician Water Pet
Myrmidon - enchanter (Chardok Pet!)
https://imgur.com/UegXjZ9.png
As you can see, my melee combined with my pets melee....puts a bone knight ahead of everything (including the cherished charmed pets that hit for 140). Though, to be fair I wasn't winning in every fight (especially not when I stopped meleeing for more casting, or my pet wasn't behind the mob, as I was using my backstabbing pet).
It's just everyone assumes enchanter charm high hitting pets are the best that EQ can offer in terms of DPS. ((even with their huge headaches of breaks and killing enchanters and draining healer mana and all that))
BUT, according to the parses, they aren't! The true power is a caster and pet working together!! To become a top DPS master!! Or an enchanter trying to swift like wind their pet.... which would just get them killed.
Anyhow, I figured people would be curious about this weapon and the realities of what it actually does in actual melee. There is a heck of a lot of guessing that happens with respect to casters ability to even land a hit with a weapon, let alone do any sort of damage.
So, for a lot of casters... yea... probably a toy. BUT for certain builds, it completes things to be a general group DPSer that can stand alongside even enchanters charms.
The end. Gnomes is great!!