Gearing up

markhawkman

Is there a guide on that?

I was trying to work on that this week and managed to up my gear score by over 1000.... mostly by spending 1000 of the 1100 Undermountain seals I'd acquired while running random queues and converting the tokens that used to be used for Primal gear to the tokens you use to buy Barovian gear...

Oh yeah here is what I've got:

https://twitter.com/marhawkman/status/1164352977391538177

my enchants are mostly rank 8. Didn't realize until I'd finished upgrading it that the Vistani Pact Blade doesn't HAVE a higher upgrade level that's actually GOOD. Also apparently the same is true of the Seldarine set.

greywynd

Vistani/Undermountain set they give is HAMSTER. Use it only until you get better. Whether Mountaineer, Alabaster, Watcher or Burnished.

For gear sets you want to look to the newer stuff from Undermountain (Wyvern, etc) or possibly Demon Lord's Immortality.

mebengalsfan

greywynd said:

Vistani/Undermountain set they give is HAMSTER. Use it only until you get better. Whether Mountaineer, Alabaster, Watcher or Burnished.

For gear sets you want to look to the newer stuff from Undermountain (Wyvern, etc) or possibly Demon Lord's Immortality.

I have been testing out the demon lord vs. the apprentice set and both perform very well in all content. The demon lord set performs slightly better if you can maintain max HP otherwise the apprentice set overall is better given it provides higher overall stats.

The mirror and Wyvern sets are great IMO for the support roles. Mirror for the tank and Wyvern for the healer to set up the group for additional buffs with both running the staff of flowers.

As for the Chain set vs. apprentice set; I find if you play a Fighter or a Barbarian and only want to use one set I like how the chain provides both damage increase and reduction with its bonus; I recommend that set for those classes if you only want to use one set. Otherwise I recommend the apprentice set for the damage dealers if you want to use one of the newer sets.

If you can makeup the lower stats with using the demon lord set through other measure than I would use that set as it is good overall and you do get bonus damage based on the health difference between you and your enemy. Though with this mod I'm finding myself to be closer in health to the boss than any other mod regardless of who I run with and it is why I have switched over to the apprentice set.

As for gear: hunt gear for the chest and hands are still superior for the most part. Than the head piece you want the 940, 965, or the 980 piece that provides 5% damage in under mountain. If you are lucky and and get the 1k head piece that provides 5% power after each kill that is the headpiece I would recommend for all content use. As for feet it would depend upon your class; if you are melee the feet that provides the bonus to combat advantage IMO are the best ones; for range classes it is one of the power boots, primal, or enduring.

Overall this game gear progression is rather easy; get to 80 and run MEs to get 950 gear. Including the Alabaster weapon set.

markhawkman

so where do I get those things? I can't say that I've even heard of some of them before.

I figured the stuff they give for free wasn't the best, but I wasn't really sure what to replace it with or how to get a good replacement.

greywynd

Wyvern can be purchased in the Undermountain store. Some stuff comes from Zok's boxes, which you can purchase after running runic MEs (good stuff gated behind RNG). Demon Lord's Immortality is an older set and can be found relatively cheap in the Auction House. New set pieces can be found in the AH, as well.

mebengalsfan

markhawkman said:

so where do I get those things? I can't say that I've even heard of some of them before.

I figured the stuff they give for free wasn't the best, but I wasn't really sure what to replace it with or how to get a good replacement.

Head Piece: (Melee and Range)
Mum's Soup Bowl - Mod 16 ME drop
Spy Guild Head piece

Chest Pieces:
Melee: Furred Kuino - Omu 1 star hunt - you fight a bear
Range: Hag Rags - 3 star hunt in Bravoia

Hands:
Melee: Fear Bringers: Omu 2 star hunt - you fight a manticore
Melee and Range: Terror Grips: Cusca poster in Bravoia

Feet:
Melee and Range: Action Points - Primal Boots (melee or range) - seals
Melee: Boots of the Successors - drops from Lair of the Made Mage
Melee and Range:and Melee Enduring boots - Makos favors to acquire in Omu
Melee and Range: Boots of At-Will - 3 star hunt from Omu
Melee: Boots of Fury - Sister Brovoia poster in Bravoia

Rings:
Melee & Range: Shadow Stalker +5 - Omu weekly
Melee: Shadow Stalker +4 - Omu weekly
Range: Ebonize Raid Ring - Mod 16 ME drop

I already talked about the 3 piece artifact set. If you are going the cheaper route your best bet is the Electric set or the Demo set. If you are playing a Barbarian or Fighter I would consider the electric set just in case you decide you want to tank; otherwise I would go with the demon lord set which includes the Ocrus wand, demon lord belt and neck.

As for the weapon set, if you run the mod 16 ME daily you should acquire both the main and offhand within 2-3 weeks. I got three characters to get their sets in around 2 weeks for both main and off hand. One of the more recent patches increased the drop rate so it is fairly easy to get the weapon from ME.

As for shirt and pants just get the 940 IL gear until you can buy the 980 or higher set that are available in mod 17.

As for improving your IL make sure to get your companion bonding runestones to Rank 12 or higher; these will significantly improve your character stats. As for companion make sure you use the epic gear you get from running the mod 16 & 17 ME to ensure you can max out stats. The runestone to use on your companion should help flush out your stats.

Since I'm mentioning companions, I recommend going with a augment companion for additional stats. If you prefer a non-augment companion find one that will compliment your character such as if you play a tank a healing or striker; if you play a healer striker or defender and for DPS I recommend just using an augment to boost your stats to kill things quicker.

Hope this helps you out!

markhawkman

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

markhawkman said:

so where do I get those things? I can't say that I've even heard of some of them before.

I figured the stuff they give for free wasn't the best, but I wasn't really sure what to replace it with or how to get a good replacement.

Head Piece: (Melee and Range)
Mum's Soup Bowl - Mod 16 ME drop
Spy Guild Head piece

Chest Pieces:
Melee: Furred Kuino - Omu 1 star hunt - you fight a bear
Range: Hag Rags - 3 star hunt in Bravoia

You mean Barovia right? I've barely even been there, and have no idea what any of the stuff is. What's a 3 star hunt?

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

Hands:
Melee: Fear Bringers: Omu 2 star hunt - you fight a manticore
Melee and Range: Terror Grips: Cusca poster in Bravoia

Cusca Poster?

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

Feet:
Melee and Range: Action Points - Primal Boots (melee or range) - seals
Melee: Boots of the Successors - drops from Lair of the Made Mage
Melee and Range:and Melee Enduring boots - Makos favors to acquire in Omu
Melee and Range: Boots of At-Will - 3 star hunt from Omu
Melee: Boots of Fury - Sister Brovoia poster in Bravoia

What's Omu? Is this that tropical place with the Dinos?

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

Rings:
Melee & Range: Shadow Stalker +5 - Omu weekly
Melee: Shadow Stalker +4 - Omu weekly
Range: Ebonize Raid Ring - Mod 16 ME drop

What's ME stand for?

mebengalsfan#9264 said:

I already talked about the 3 piece artifact set. If you are going the cheaper route your best bet is the Electric set or the Demo set. If you are playing a Barbarian or Fighter I would consider the electric set just in case you decide you want to tank; otherwise I would go with the demon lord set which includes the Ocrus wand, demon lord belt and neck.

As for the weapon set, if you run the mod 16 ME daily you should acquire both the main and offhand within 2-3 weeks. I got three characters to get their sets in around 2 weeks for both main and off hand. One of the more recent patches increased the drop rate so it is fairly easy to get the weapon from ME.

As for shirt and pants just get the 940 IL gear until you can buy the 980 or higher set that are available in mod 17.

As for improving your IL make sure to get your companion bonding runestones to Rank 12 or higher; these will significantly improve your character stats. As for companion make sure you use the epic gear you get from running the mod 16 & 17 ME to ensure you can max out stats. The runestone to use on your companion should help flush out your stats.

Since I'm mentioning companions, I recommend going with a augment companion for additional stats. If you prefer a non-augment companion find one that will compliment your character such as if you play a tank a healing or striker; if you play a healer striker or defender and for DPS I recommend just using an augment to boost your stats to kill things quicker.

Hope this helps you out!

Does a Lilend count as an Augment? I usually use a Lilend.

greywynd

Lillend is not an augment. Augments don't do anything in combat except follow you around.

ME = Master Expedition, launches from the Yawning Portal second floor. Questgiver is Obaya Uday.

Omu is the second half of the Chult campaign.

Cusca is a 2-star hunt in Barovia. All the Barovia hunts start with a wanted poster. A 1-star hunt is fairly easy to come by while adventuring in Barovia. A 2-star hunt poster can only be gained during a 1-star hunt. In turn, a 3-star poster can only be gained from a 2-star hunt. Or the Auction House if you don't want to wait to try your luck.

markhawkman

How do you find wanted posters? loot drops?

mongol69

Kill adds in barovia, complete hunts, or buy them.

jonkoca

Buy the star gear from the AH, very cheapish at the moment. The arms are bis in my opinion for dps.

trillbuffet

One of the reasons I quit back when this game was pretty new was the time gated grind just to get a starter end game set. Is this basically still the same thing just with more sets to painfully grind? Thought about this game now that gw2 is finally dying out.

mebengalsfan

trillbuffet said:

One of the reasons I quit back when this game was pretty new was the time gated grind just to get a starter end game set. Is this basically still the same thing just with more sets to painfully grind? Thought about this game now that gw2 is finally dying out.

Once you get to 80 most BiS gear can be had fairly quickly once you open up enough of the zones that drop the gear.

markhawkman

How blindingly obvious is the definition of "BiS"? Best in Slot?

mebengalsfan

markhawkman said:

How blindingly obvious is the definition of "BiS"? Best in Slot?

The thing is though that BiS is relative to how you plan and play your character. I been hearing how Demon lord set is bis compared to the apprentice set. I have ran with both sets and see little to no difference in my damage between the Demon Lord or apprentice set.

The reality is you don't need the BiS gear to play end game content. You can use 950+ IL gear and do well damage wise with your character; however you won't produce maximum damage do to not having the bonus damage that lower gear may have.

markhawkman

Hmm so got two pieces of the Star gear. def better than what I had.