MK advice sought

[Fherrit]

Little history: My Arisen is capped at level and typically I run as either Sorc or MA, though I ran as a Fighter from levels 168-183 to get my Def numbers where I wanted them and other than the typical frustrations all Fighters share, I actually enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I learned how to block well enough that a lot of times, I was able to perfect block a good bit of things and during that last level had a GDF Cursed Light that just destroyed things. I ran just Immortal armor set that eventually got SDF but for a good bit of it, it was just regular DF. Even during those levels, taking out a Cursed Drake was relatively easy for me (just had to wait for my pawns to shoot them out of the sky).

So at level 200, i wanted to help out a friend by gifting him a set of DF'd malorien armor via his pawn. He wanted non BBI armor/weaponry and what he could otherwise buy from Caxton so that the game wouldn't be too easy for his MK trip. Because I can't equip a magic sheild on his pawn, I'd send it as a gift and equip the remaining pieces, but first I had to lure in a cursed drake to fight and do a fast/cheap upgrade.

Because I'm debating doing a melee only play through on a alt account, i figured WTH, lets do this as a MK, get my feet wet since I got all the skills/augments to see what it'll play like. I'll spare you a long blow by blow recounting of things, but lets just say that the butt whoooping that CD gave me was almost comical with the degree of frustration it gave me.

I realize that many of my difficulties are just simply learning how to play the class. But i found the blocking on the MK to be particularly frustrating. When I did it on my Fighter, if I happened to stray into a skill use by being trigger happy with the mouse click, it wasn't that big of a deal since genearally, it was a skill that was still useful in firing off if not ideal. On a MK however, it resulted in a locked down casting animation. So just jump to cancel it, but that's while I'm getting pummelled the drake who I swear was starting to giggle at how easy I was making it on him.

To briefly paint the picture of my loadout, I had the Holy sheild skills and AA slotted, Full Moon, Magic Cannon, and Holy Sigil. I had a full suit of malorian armor, a wooden wall and a dragon's presence. After the first butt wooping, I dug out a purged buckler to see if that would make any difference and sadly, I still embarrassed myself.

What I found particularly frustrating was 2 things. First was AA, long casting time/animation, and yet the benefit seemed negible when it came to damage. Sure it let me hit Old Scaley's chest beacon while hopping about (I realllllly hate that and normally don't but I was total performance oriented here) but its damage? My pawn Jean, running as a Strider these days, kept giggling and saying "Tis a fearsomee foe indeed!" as her SkullSplitter and 100 kisses would carve off 5x as much damage as my hits did. This, along with the short duration of the Ripostes and Cannons and glacial casting times they require seem like one is just dropping drawers and grabbing ankles.

The other thing was the whole perfect block magic cannon thing. THis is where I don't get how this is supposed to work. First off, I almost have to float my fingers above my mouse to avoid accidentally queing up a spell while I try to block since blocking and 2ndary skill are the same skill (insert grumblign about console controls here). 2ndly, if the riposte fires off a damage effect that synergizes with the cannon, that's great in theory but...the timing of it seems like white room lab conditions, great in theory but in practice significantly more difficult to pull off and more a matter of luck than intent.

I guess what has me all tied up on this is the fact that I know my foes now. I'm level 200, and i got a balanced set of stats to where the difference in def numbers from this gear isn't that huge of a difference from what my pawn is sporting in her SDF Golden Lion set. She has about 100 pts more in Def/MDef than I do as a MK sporting this gear. yet when Old Scaley grabbed me and did a WWF piledriver on me, it took off 90% of my health!!! When he did the same to her, in that Golden Lion set, at worst she took 50% of her health. Me...heavy armor. her...light armor. me nearly die she stands up and says "And now comes the fun" and punishes him with a spin to the face. Me? I'm scrambling for curatives.

Same thing happens when i tried to block his choppers. Heck he swings his head at me and if I'm not blocking, I lose most, if not all, my health from a full bar. Is that all due to the armor? Generally, I know its not the vocation (too many posts floating around on how great a MK is) so its got to be me. What I'm trying to figure out is what are the areas that are essential to get down to run a MK effectively? Because obviously, when i was running Fighter, little if that gameplay ports over to MK.

To give a (hopefully) good example of what I mean is the following: When i was running Sorcerer I didn't realize the value of a focused bolt and didn't bother with it since I had these cool nukes. But firing off the nukes was frustratingly difficult because they kept getting interrupted. Then I learned the value of spell synching, wrymkings ring and that my go-to "nuke" was HFB. Those fundamentals attended to, I started to learn how to time my spells better, which ones to call and when, etc.

With the MK, I keep hearing how great the block/cannon/Full Moon/AA suite is and yet, i didn't once manage to get off a perfect block or if i did, I didn't see enough of a graphic or damage result to suggest the spell did its thing, probably because the buff was gone by then =P Is Sigil worth it? What are the must have spells to keep up and which can you let go till opportunity lets you do those slow windups?

Or, if there are some MK Combat 101s/201s/301s posts anywhere that you know of, a link would be appreciated to pursue some homework with.

[Karathrax]

"a wooden wall..."

Arrgggghhhhhnooooooo the worst POS magick shield in the game!

It's not you, it's the damned shield. No matter the reinforcement, the defenses and k/s resistances are so terrible with the WW that you CANNOT perfect block with it! The first thing you need to to is replace that piece of crap with something at least as good as an Angel's Sanctum from Jayce or Mathias (give them some gifts to raise affinity, if necessary), or even better yet, scrounge a Dark Buckler from the Everfall or the Ward of Regret (I get them constantly in Chest 6 on the Wiki map of Rottwood). Reinforce it to 3* immediately!

Sounds like you're otherwise doing all the right things, though. Really!

[Fherrit]

I figured that the WW was the culprit at first, and while I'm sure it played a significant role the first run through, after i dug out a Purged Buckler from my vault i still got roflstomped by that drake.

I ran across a note on the wiki that stated 3 stars results in improved blocking performance, so I'm assuming that's true of all sheilds and any class that can use them. Does this also affect the riposte and stagger successes or is that a seperate calculation?

[Karathrax]

Uhhh I may not be the best person to ask. I haven't used the lower shields in so long... even when leveling my PC Arisen, I bolted right out the gate to Bloodwater Beach to get a Fine Magick Buckler, which I used until I got a Wizard's Vizard from Julien, then fought Grigori with it and promptly switched to The Scab. ;) Then, it was all the way to 200 until I played as an MK, so by then I had a Diabolic Shield waiting for me. But in my limited experience, yes, it does make a difference in addition to the k/s resistance stats of the shield itself.

That said, everything's dependent on the success of your perfect block. The elemental riposte doesn't happen unless your magick shield makes the perfect block. IDK, would this help? yes, it's console footage so you can see frame rate drop, haha... This is a perfectly-executed perfect block in melee combat with Blessed Trance on the magick shield:

https://youtu.be/C1E1M0QSE0g

These are both blocks and perfect blocks-- the difference is that I crouch when blocking, and raise the mace when perfect blocking. I'm putting this here so you can see the difference.

https://youtu.be/Nlzg1NokHLU

yeah, I'm using a Diabolic Shield that's GDF, which makes it easy.

Another thing you can do while learning the timing on perfect blocks for the MK is to equip duh no, another thing I rarely use-- Prescience, which opens your frame window a bit.

[Paradox]

Abyssal Anguish scales with the power of your Magick Shield. Additionally, due to the way it works, you'll get multiple strikes off with a single swipe, making it a potent skill indeed. However, as you note, the long cast time and animation makes it extremely difficult to pull off once you've engaged your foe(s). That is why the only buff I bother to keep up all the time is Blessed Riposte.

Against the Cursed Dragon, you're going to get far more mileage out of a Holy Great Cannon Sigil - unless you opt to climb onto its chest and hack away at the heart directly with an AA enchanted weapon. Once you've mastered the perfect block, simply set down a sigil in the field and wait for the dragon to charge or take a swipe at you. Pulling off a perfect Blessed Riposte against said attack near the sigil will take out massive chunks of the dragon's HP pool.

I can also concur with Karathrax's observation about shield enhancement vs perfect blocking/riposte success.

[Karathrax]

Oh a side note... Paradox, that is the Xbox's online Ur. Note any differences in Def/MDef between it and the PC's online Ur?

[Karathrax]

As for Cursed Dragon strategy, he's kind of stupid. You can lead him around the field and drop great cannon and RS traps for him to run into, as long as he recognizes you as the greatest threat in the battlefield. Knock him down, recast buffs during the writhing and set another trap. Run off with you on the other side of the trap and he will oblige.

That said! If you can pull the timing off, Stone Jungle wrecks his rotting ass.

[Fherrit]

Ah, already a few fine jewels of tips coming my way. I didn't notice that a perfect block is signaled with a weapon raised, when I ran Fighter I would notice a perfect block mostly by the amount of stagger instances which I would immediately exploit with either a Blitz or a Skewer chain. Now I'm curious to see if a Fighter signals a perfect block the same way, will have to test that tomorrow.

Those videos were useful too, I was in particular impressed with how quickly you dropped that offline Ur.

So let me see if I understand that Sigil correctly from the wiki reads that it takes on the weapon enchant. My initial understanding is that when they refer to "weapon" they are actually talking about the magic sheild and whatever buff (or perma-enchant) its carrying yes?

Also, the sigil fires off on physical contact with a foe, the tooltip discription says " hits long ranging foes with a devastating blast of energy and takes longer to dispel". To me that sounds like it hits targets at range (ah the joys of translating a language eh?) if an attack crosses its border, like say a archer's shot or caster's bolt/spell. But from what I've seen, it seems like only critters that cross the sigil's line get lit up. So its more like a trap yes?

Secondary to the above, again to see if I'm understanding what the wiki is saying properly; placing a sigil with say a holy enchant on one's sheild will cause a "holy sigil" to be drawn at one's feet. Then if you drop a cannon, it sits there waiting for a interaction from from some sort of damage dealing source, such as a ally's spell if it happens to hit the cannon or a riposite provided the cannon is sitting between me and the target I just blocked. But if the cannon is sitting inside the sigil, and a critter steps onto the sigil, the damage that the sigil visits on said critter also gets picked up by the cannon? And just for fun, lets say I managed to perfect block and fire off a riposte right along with the sigil, does the cannon pick up and amplify both the sigil and the riposte's damage?

Finally, Paradox's reply makes me wonder about something that I wasn't able to google-fu a answer to. If the enhanced sheild increases block and stagger rates, does enhancement of armor also affect how much damage one takes? I'm probably a little unclear in my question so going to try to explain that a little.

Lets say I got two chest peices of the same kind and one is 3 star enhanced and the other has none. Beyond just increasing the Def numbers, does that 3 star also reduce the incoming damage from an attack? Basically I'm trying to understand if the star ratings have a built in damage absorption that isn't as obvious as just raw def numbers. I.E. a 100 def unenhanced geared arisen takes more damage than if he were wearing 100 def 3 star enhanced gear. Hope that made sense =/

One last thing regarding MKs. It seems like most of their gameplay revolves around hunkering down and dropping sigils/cannons and then blocking, they don't actually do much weapon swinging in comparison and without their enchantments, they're only running at half steam, that a fair summation?

Addendum:
Karathrax, I had another chance to watch the vid on a larger screen and noticed that you were doing repeated perfect blocks, but i didn't see what, if any, attacks were coming your way. What's giving you the opportunity to chain block like that?

[Paradox]

Originally posted by Karathrax:

Oh a side note... Paradox, that is the Xbox's online Ur. Note any differences in Def/MDef between it and the OC's online Ur?

OC = PC? Phone spellcheck at it again?

If that were the PC version, you'd have killed it fifty times over by the time the video ends. Assuming the lag doesn't kill your PC first.

[Paradox]

Originally posted by Fherrit:

Ah, already a few fine jewels of tips coming my way. I didn't notice that a perfect block is signaled with a weapon raised, when I ran Fighter I would notice a perfect block mostly by the amount of stagger instances which I would immediately exploit with either a Blitz or a Skewer chain. Now I'm curious to see if a Fighter signals a perfect block the same way, will have to test that tomorrow.

The easiest way to note a perfect block has been pulled off is when the time-dilation effect kicks in - at least for me. I don't think the Fighter raises its sword in the same way, but the time-dilation effect is still there.

Originally posted by Fherrit:

So let me see if I understand that Sigil correctly from the wiki reads that it takes on the weapon enchant. My initial understanding is that when they refer to "weapon" they are actually talking about the magic sheild and whatever buff (or perma-enchant) its carrying yes?

Weapon refers to whatever you have equipped as your primary weapon - shields do not directly influence your sigils, be it Ruinous or Great Cannon. Also, based on my experience, having a perma-enchanted weapon such as Cursed Light doesn't actually change the element of your sigils the same way a weapon buffed with an Affinity/Trance would. I think the wiki may be wrong on that count but would appreciate confirmation from another player all the same.

Originally posted by Fherrit:

Also, the sigil fires off on physical contact with a foe, the tooltip discription says " hits long ranging foes with a devastating blast of energy and takes longer to dispel". To me that sounds like it hits targets at range (ah the joys of translating a language eh?) if an attack crosses its border, like say a archer's shot or caster's bolt/spell. But from what I've seen, it seems like only critters that cross the sigil's line get lit up. So its more like a trap yes?

I'll assume this is the Ruinous Sigil you're talking about. If so, then yes - it acts like a trap and only enemies that enter into its AoE will trigger the effects. What's great about this is the synergy it has with Great Cannon. Having one within the AoE of a Ruinous Sigil as an enemy triggers it will cause the Great Cannon to fire in turn. Placing two RS so that they have a small overlap, then placing a GC or two in that overlap will result in utter mayhem when a foe enters the trap.

As for your final question, no, I do not believe that enhancement levels on armor has any indirect effect on the amount of damage you sustain. Only its DEF/MDEF and elemental or physical damage reductions matter.

That being said, there are some armor pieces that gain innate abilities as they're enhanced. A prime example would be the Delta Guard that reduces the chances of being frozen once it's been DF-ed.

Originally posted by Fherrit:

Addendum:
Karathrax, I had another chance to watch the vid on a larger screen and noticed that you were doing repeated perfect blocks, but i didn't see what, if any, attacks were coming your way. What's giving you the opportunity to chain block like that?

That would be the Ur's Holy Furor tick damage being repeatedly perfect blocked.

[Karathrax]

Originally posted by Paradox:

Originally posted by Karathrax:

Oh a side note... Paradox, that is the Xbox's online Ur. Note any differences in Def/MDef between it and the OC's online Ur?

OC = PC? Phone spellcheck at it again?

>.<

Stoopid phone. I fixed it. PC, PC.... ::sigh::

If that were the PC version, you'd have killed it fifty times over by the time the video ends. Assuming the lag doesn't kill your PC first.

Indeed, that was taking out ONE HEART on the Xbox's online Ur, in Grace. Gen 574, last October.

I've killed the Xbox as a Mage. Once. A long time ago. I don't think I'd want to try that now, what with how high its DEF/MDEF is currently. The damage output with a staff is... not as high as an Archistave, and you're still using HFB, so there's not much point to doing that.

Anyway. It's Gen 1099 right now, and it's around 4 bars of HP...

>.>

[Karathrax]

"Also, based on my experience, having a perma-enchanted weapon such as Cursed Light doesn't actually change the element of your sigils the same way a weapon buffed with an Affinity/Trance would. I think the wiki may be wrong on that count but would appreciate confirmation from another player all the same."

it's a little more complicated than that. The element of a bare split-damage weapon is indeed buffed witht he element of its imbuement. The Sigil color from a magick- or great cannon does not reflect it. However, when an outside buff is applied, such as a caster's affinity or the MK's elemental trance, for example, the sigil takes on the element.

It's an animation thing, not an actual damage thing.

The rest of your questions, I'll address in more detail in a bit.

[Fherrit]

Thanks you two, this has illumed me considerably!! Unfortunately, have to tend to that dirty 4 letter word called w-o-r-k now, but tomorrow I'm going to dive into with my main arisen as a primer for my alt (main has more toys and all the skills so ideally it'll be easier to know when I'm doing it right).

[Paradox]

Originally posted by Karathrax:

It's an animation thing, not an actual damage thing.

Yeah, I just tested this out with Cursed Light and Magebreaker against a Cursed Dragon. A single RS with the latter dealt almost twice as much damage as one from the former. I guess the animation is quite misleading.

[Karathrax]

Paradox answers your question well, and I'd like to add onto this:

"I'll assume this is the Ruinous Sigil you're talking about. If so, then yes - it acts like a trap and only enemies that enter into its AoE will trigger the effects. What's great about this is the synergy it has with Great Cannon. Having one within the AoE of a Ruinous Sigil as an enemy triggers it will cause the Great Cannon to fire in turn. Placing two RS so that they have a small overlap, then placing a GC or two in that overlap will result in utter mayhem when a foe enters the trap."

Perilous Sigil and Ruinous Sigil is a pancake-shaped AoE field. Using this to illustrate:

https://youtu.be/tM6wD9_6FR4

Note that I am overlapping the two RS AoE Fields, this is intentional. The GC sigils are then placed exactly within the toroid shape? of the overlap, which means any one of the three Living Armor running towards my happy ass will trigger everything as soon as it crosses the first AoE edge. And so it was.

I could have perfect blocked that last LA's strike for a slightly faster kill, but I was all, nyah, come at me, bro! so it would kill itself on the trap.

Again, that was my console main Arisen, as MK, who has a magick stat of 580 and I am wearing two high +MAG/+STM rings to supplement power and also supplement my sucky 3004 stamina stat. There are three Salomet's Secrets in use. My spudlike laptop won't record in detail like the console did, which.... is saying something.

[Karathrax]

Oh, yeah, as a side note--- go up to the Noble Quarter after you've done Warm Welcome and climb onto the wall next to the cathedral. If you place them exactly right, you can put two vertical Ruinous Sigils on either side of the wall and bounce a guard between them until he dies!

I-I might be a Horrible Arisen.