Regarding gear choices in my 80s

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

As far as I can tell, I'm pretty decked out for my 80s. Just have some quick questions about some gear choices.

-I have level 74 bracers with -0.05 interval. Should I get Blood Bracers of Fang or keep these? They've got terrible defenses but on the other hand, it's interval, which no archer can complain about.

-Cape of Tauren Chieftain, is it worth it? I have a Cape of Grace with +0.10 speed, +5 Dex and +70 HP, but that Cape of Tauren Chieftain has DEFENSES. For real. XD

-Can I wear my Dark Shinguards of Hedes through my 80s? They're +2 with two average cits.

-I have Boots of Tiger Strength with two average cits. Should they get replaced or are they usable through my 80s?

-Is Equine Talisman an adequate necklace until 87? Mine is +2. If not, what is another option? I recall that Sky Demon's Pearl is usable at 87 and plan on getting it with my stash chips - how much money do I need to pay and how many chips do I need to get the mold?

-I have a 3* Rejuvenation Helm with +4 Dex, +167 Metal res, +211 Water res and an average citrine. Is Helm of Lion Spirit that much of an improvement over it? If so, why?

Also, I plan on going +3 W&C -> Blinding Radiance -> Heaven Shatterer. Will that be adequate or will I find my W&C wanting in my late 80s?

All replies are appreciated.

Brigid - Harshlands

Falcondance - Heavens Tear wrote: »

-I have level 74 bracers with -0.05 interval. Should I get Blood Bracers of Fang or keep these? They've got terrible defenses but on the other hand, it's interval, which no archer can complain about.

For PvE purposes, I'd stick to the interval bracers. If you plan on PvPing in your 80s, you should probably get Blood Bracers of Fang for the extra defense and HP, but otherwise it's not a big deal.

-Cape of Tauren Chieftain, is it worth it? I have a Cape of Grace with +0.10 speed, +5 Dex and +70 HP, but that Cape of Tauren Chieftain has DEFENSES. For real. XD

That's a pretty good cape you've already got. I'm not a huge fan of the Cape of Tauren Chieftain, but that's more due to the cost than anything else. It's a significant boost in your MDef, but again that mainly matters for PvP.

-Can I wear my Dark Shinguards of Hedes through my 80s? They're +2 with two average cits.

Dark Shinguards of Hades work just fine through the 80s. It's probably worth checking the Auction House now and then for a cheap mold or pair with more sockets though. Only 2 sockets and only Average shards could use some improvement. Still, for PvE no big deal. Mainly matters for PvP. At 85, Decaying Snow (FC green) Shinguards are worth considering for the higher base defense stats. You'll lose some max HP though.

-I have Boots of Tiger Strength with two average cits. Should they get replaced or are they usable through my 80s?

They're adequate, but keep an eye out for level 76 boots in the Auction House. If you can find a pair with decent addons, or a cheap pair of TT80 boots, you should probably replace the Boots of Tiger Strength. At level 85, I'd swap them out for Decaying Snow (FC green) if you find a pair for relatively cheap.

-Is Equine Talisman an adequate necklace until 87? Mine is +2. If not, what is another option? I recall that Sky Demon's Pearl is usable at 87 and plan on getting it with my stash chips - how much money do I need to pay and how many chips do I need to get the mold?

I think Equine Talisman will do. Sky Demon's Pearl is 37 chips and 783k coin to create the mold.

-I have a 3* Rejuvenation Helm with +4 Dex, +167 Metal res, +211 Water res and an average citrine. Is Helm of Lion Spirit that much of an improvement over it? If so, why?

A lot of people think so, due to the fixed +strength and +dex stats. Expensive though, and in my opinion not worth the cost. Personally I just used a 3* Rejuvenation Helm with a +HP and a +PDef until 90, when I switched to a 3* Helmet of the Righteous with 2 +PDef and a +Vit.

Also, I plan on going +3 W&C -> Blinding Radiance -> Heaven Shatterer. Will that be adequate or will I find my W&C wanting in my late 80s?

Depends entirely on how much -interval you have, and whether you plan on doing much PvP. -interval benefits faster weapons more than slower ones, and the W&C is the fastest ranged weapon. It's pretty much terrible for most PvP though, even at higher refines. You'll probably want to grab a Vast Land or Fragrance (FC green, yet again) at 85 either way though, since your W&C is only +3 and you're not using Bracers of Blood Moon.

Overall, a lot depends on how fast you plan on leveling, and how much PvP you do. For PvE, your armor doesn't really matter much, since you'll either kill things before getting hit more than once or twice, or be in a squad. The faster you level, the less your 80s gear matters, since you'll be switching to TT90 anyway.

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

Thanks for your replies. ^^ On average, how long does it take to go 85-90? I'm attempting to decide whether or not to go for 85 gears or just power through to 90 and save money.

Dvalinn - Lost City

Definitely just power through to 90, and only get whatever gear you will use through your 90's. 85-90 doesn't take all that long nowadays, if you take advantage of all your resources.

Miugre - Heavens Tear

Personally I would get 85 gear and just forget about 90 gear. :P Much cheaper, in general.

I replaced my Dark Shinguards of Hedes at 86 with the Shinguards of Dead Spirit quest reward. It's a fairly good piece of gear and it's free. :P Armor of Milenary Bless is pretty nice-looking and cheap, too.

In retrospect, I would've gotten the Blood Bracers if I was still ~78.

Get a Vast Land at 85 (fairly cheap), get a Windcatcher at 88 (cheap as hell), and keep your W&C. The range on Windcatcher is helpful in several situations, and the Vast Land (mine, anyway) is decent DPS. W&C is good for building Chi on bosses while still DDing.

Tauren is worth hunting for, IMO. I have one, made it myself, it's +3 with four Flawless Cits. It's my only piece of gear with remotely any value aside from my Vast Land. XD

Equine Talisman is a pretty solid necklace, but if you can find one to better fit your needs, do so. Personally I favor mdef and MP recovery for PVE purposes, so I went with Fairie Fox Amulet. Sky Demon's HP bonus is uneniably good, though. :P Either would work.

As for the helm... eh. Get whatever bonuses work best for you.

Elenacostel - Heavens Tear

Miugre - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Personally I would get 85 gear and just forget about 90 gear. :P Much cheaper, in general.

I advise against this. I suggest you get 90s gear. Given 2x and the plethora of high levels, it should not be difficult to farm your gear. Additionally, this encourages you to make contacts to that you will need to farm your TT99 gear.

Miugre - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I replaced my Dark Shinguards of Hedes at 86 with the Shinguards of Dead Spirit quest reward. It's a fairly good piece of gear and it's free. :P Armor of Milenary Bless is pretty nice-looking and cheap, too.

I advise against this. For that quest reward, get the Mogwai belt instead, as it gives +5~6 Dex and +5~6 Strength. This gives you a bit of flexibility if you decide to equip items that have a little higher strength requirement.

Miugre - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Get a Vast Land at 85 (fairly cheap), get a Windcatcher at 88 (cheap as hell), and keep your W&C. The range on Windcatcher is helpful in several situations, and the Vast Land (mine, anyway) is decent DPS. W&C is good for building Chi on bosses while still DDing.

I agree that you should get Vast Land or Broad Land, and keep W&C. Vast Land / Broad Land both do higher DPS than Blinding Radiance, though BR does have a high DPH if you are looking for that. W&C is great for 1k Legion Raids and Wraith attacks b/c you can fire faster than anyone else. By the 90s, you will deal enough damage even with W&C that it is difficult for someone to kill-steal from you.

However, I advise against getting Windcatcher. It basically serves no purpose. It simply allows you to stay out of the AoE of one of the FB69 end bosses (the other boss you can already stay out of AoE range with maxed Winged Blessing, so Windcatcher doesn't do anything further to help you). And, frankly, if you cannot survive the AoE of said boss when you are level 88, you should be fixing your character in other ways than obtaining a Windcatcher.

Miugre - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Tauren is worth hunting for, IMO. I have one, made it myself, it's +3 with four Flawless Cits. It's my only piece of gear with remotely any value aside from my Vast Land. XD

I advise against this. Tauren is not worth it unless you find a good deal. A +Dex and +HP cape is better.

Miugre - Heavens Tear

Elenacostel - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I advise against this. I suggest you get 90s gear. Given 2x and the plethora of high levels, it should not be difficult to farm your gear. Additionally, this encourages you to make contacts to that you will need to farm your TT99 gear.

The contacts thing I'll give ya, but I didn't see enough of a difference between Milenary Bless and Skywalker Shell to really care, tbh. Plus, Skywalker is fugly. :P (IMO)

Of course, I'll probably be wearing the 90s mold set anyway (minus the shins), so ehh.

Elenacostel - Heavens Tear wrote: »

However, I advise against getting Windcatcher. It basically serves no purpose. It simply allows you to stay out of the AoE of one of the FB69 end bosses (the other boss you can already stay out of AoE range with maxed Winged Blessing, so Windcatcher doesn't do anything further to help you). And, frankly, if you cannot survive the AoE of said boss when you are level 88, you should be fixing your character in other ways than obtaining a Windcatcher.

I didn't get it to fix anything, personally. I'm more than capable of surviving nob/pole (even more so now that I've acquired Sage Winged Blessing). It was fairly novel when I first got it, though. Now, I keep the Windcatcher because with it and Sage Winged Blessing, I have the greatest possible attack range of any character (unless there's some +3 range or higher wep I don't know about). I would imagine it'd be somewhat helpful for PVP, too (though obviously, not terribly helpful). And of course, it has -int on it so that it shoots as fast as a bow (which is the only reason I could stand using a crossbow to begin with XD).

Elenacostel - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I advise against this. Tauren is not worth it unless you find a good deal. A +Dex and +HP cape is better.

Does "it dropped in a split-wined run to your gf, who gave it to you for free because she knew you were hunting it" count as a good deal? XD

Olba - Sanctuary

Elenacostel - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I advise against this. I suggest you get 90s gear. Given 2x and the plethora of high levels, it should not be difficult to farm your gear. Additionally, this encourages you to make contacts to that you will need to farm your TT99 gear.

Well, there's a lot of alternatives. For example, I went with Rank 4 armor instead of TT90 armor and I got Bracers of Blood Moon instead of gold TT90s. The only actual TT pieces I got are boots, leggings and weapon. And if I restat, I'll probably swap the boots for some decent OHT ones, since the TT90 boots are ****.

I agree that you should get Vast Land or Broad Land, and keep W&C. Vast Land / Broad Land both do higher DPS than Blinding Radiance, though BR does have a high DPH if you are looking for that. W&C is great for 1k Legion Raids and Wraith attacks b/c you can fire faster than anyone else. By the 90s, you will deal enough damage even with W&C that it is difficult for someone to kill-steal from you.

The thing with VL and BL is that BL costs a ton and VL is hard to come by for a decent price, or at all.

However, I advise against getting Windcatcher. It basically serves no purpose. It simply allows you to stay out of the AoE of one of the FB69 end bosses (the other boss you can already stay out of AoE range with maxed Winged Blessing, so Windcatcher doesn't do anything further to help you). And, frankly, if you cannot survive the AoE of said boss when you are level 88, you should be fixing your character in other ways than obtaining a Windcatcher.

I did use Windcatcher starting from 88 and until I got my TT90 crossbow. In my case, this was level 90 because I merchanted the mats instead of farming, and I haven't done much dailies lately. And Windcatcher is still better than W&C.

I advise against this. Tauren is not worth it unless you find a good deal. A +Dex and +HP cape is better.

Well, finding a Chromacy Cape with +HP is easy enough, but getting a good one might be hard. I found a Dex +4, HP+80, HP+80 cape, with 2 sockets, for 350k. I made it 4 sockets, refined it to +3 and put in 4 Flawless Citrines. The total costs for doing all of that come to about the same as buying a Tauran Cape. Well, I counted about 3.5M costs, whereas I sold my 3 Flawless +3 Tauran for 3.75M. And even my cape is 1 star.

If you're thinking of a Dex +5, HP+80, HP+80 3 star cape with 4 sockets, keep dreaming.

Brigid - Harshlands

Olba - Sanctuary wrote: »

Well, there's a lot of alternatives. For example, I went with Rank 4 armor instead of TT90 armor and I got Bracers of Blood Moon instead of gold TT90s. The only actual TT pieces I got are boots, leggings and weapon. And if I restat, I'll probably swap the boots for some decent OHT ones, since the TT90 boots are ****.

I'm still using rank 4 armor and Bracers of Blood Moon as well, for PvE. TT90 green boots and legs, though that's fairly recent. Was using FC green until a few weeks ago.

Also, I'm still using my Wind and Clouds for PvE, though it's +6 with 2 sockets, and I also have Demon Quickshot.

Regarding the availability of Vast Lands, it's because people are finally realizing that it's actually good. Quite a few months ago, I recall advocating Vast Land over TT90 and Windcatcher due to being available sooner, doing better DPS, and being cheaper. I picked mine up for 1 or 1.5m during the month-long 2x drops period. Now though, fewer are coming into the market and they're generally more expensive, as more archers realize it's value.

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

Just picked up two molds for Ring of the Heavenly Lord for 45k and 90k. x] Time to get the Sky Demon's Pearl and make all of this stuff, lol. It's also really frustrating to see a Vast Land cheap on the AH and be too poor to buy it.

What is the deal with OHT gear? How does it work and how is it better or worse than regular gear, for archers? Also, right now I'm rolling with a +3 Dex +4 Dex level 65 physical defense belt. I figure that since I'm switching to a physical necklace I should switch to an elemental belt, and Belt of Demon Slaughter looks like a great candidate. Would it be worth the exchange, my +3 +4 Dex physical belt for the Belt of Demon Slaughter? Also, I'm trying to be a jack-of-all-trades with my defenses, but should I be prioritizing one or the other?

Olba - Sanctuary

Falcondance - Heavens Tear wrote: »

What is the deal with OHT gear? How does it work and how is it better or worse than regular gear, for archers?

The deal with OHT gear is mainly that it's G12, whereas TT90 is G11, and you can make the leggings and wristguards for pretty much free when you get to 90. The OHT daily awards you with 18k coins and 4 out of 3-5 of the most important mats, so you can pretty much attempt once a day. And it takes level 1 crafts. And it decomposes into perfect stones for Genie fuel, or Mirages.

I figure that since I'm switching to a physical necklace I should switch to an elemental belt, and Belt of Demon Slaughter looks like a great candidate. Would it be worth the exchange, my +3 +4 Dex physical belt for the Belt of Demon Slaughter

I am using a +3 Demon Slaughter right now, 'tis good.

Also, I'm trying to be a jack-of-all-trades with my defenses, but should I be prioritizing one or the other?

Not really. At least in my case, my defenses are pretty much equal. Not that they matter much in PvE.

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

I tank my own BHs, defenses matter to me, lol.

So is there just one version of OHT stuff? For example, one pair of OHT legs, one pair of OHT boots, etc, or do they scale with level? It's all G12, which is why I'm asking.

Smobo - Heavens Tear

OHT has random stats, 0-4 sockets, and random elemental resistances, just like "normal" gear. It comes in 3 variaties:

-☆☆ , which is the weakest of all with the lowest stat and level requirements. Seeing as its ☆☆ , it has higher base stats than ☆ 9x gear.

-☆☆☆ Slightly stronger than the ☆☆ gear, and has requirments usually 3-4 levels higher than ☆☆ gear. Also has random stats, resistances and sockets. Just like normal crafting, its pretty rare.

-☆ Random stats, resistances and sockets. Very rare to make (I've made one ever, and I've made easily 300-400 pieces of OHT). Level 100 requirement, and has base stats much higher than tt90, and slightly lower than tt99. Potentially could be better than tt99 (ignoring set effects, and the fact it makes nirvana), if you got lucky with the stats.

Wrists and boots are easy to make. As far as being worth using, rings and belts with good stats can compete with all but the most expensive gear. Ocasionally, you can get a nice set of boots, which can be better than tt90 (tt90 boots aren't all that great).I've also made a few arcane wrists that where almost as good, or better than tt90 gold, the one I gave a friend had -6% chan,+vit and+magic if I remember properly. (Not that it matters for archers, except as a way to reward one of your cleric friends for putting up with you b:chuckle)

Badazmofo - Dreamweaver

umm i wouldnt try to tank your bh 69 let the barb or high lvl bm do thier job and tank it because most likely you wont beable to take 2-3 hits from the bosses, as for gear im useing a +2 vast land with a flawless garnet, +2 FC green boots 2 flawless citrines, +2 FC green leggings 2 flawlessu citrines, rank 4 chest +2 3 flawless citrines, a pair of random lvl 84 bracers cuz i couldnt find any FC green ones, the quest reward belt gives 5-6 mag str and dex, and i was useing 2 +2 ring of heavenly lords i swapped one out because i found a 3* 88 ring in the AH that gave me + str and more phys atk and i swap between my phys neck w/+ str for when i wanna use claws and my element neck w/+ dex for when i want a lil extra dmg from my bow i strongly recomend getting a vast land if you can find one

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

I have BH59 at the moment, not 69, and I have 3.7k unbuffed HP. That makes bosses such as Zimo, Qianji, etc., easy; they hit me for ~800. I don't know about the 69 bosses, I won't even try until I'm 80 and getting them as my BH. Usually I offer to tank if we can't find a Barb or BM, because it simplifies things and takes little effort on my part; nobody pulls aggro off of me unless they outlevel the BH or twinked themselves.

Thanks for the OHT information, I'm probably going to go with a nice pair of OHT boots instead of TT90 green boots. Which pieces of TT90 green are 'good'? (By which I mean, stuff you wouldn't find a better option for, excluding super-expensive items)

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

Badazmofo - Dreamweaver wrote: »

umm i wouldnt try to tank your bh 69 let the barb or high lvl bm do thier job and tank it because most likely you wont beable to take 2-3 hits from the bosses, as for gear im useing a +2 vast land with a flawless garnet, +2 FC green boots 2 flawless citrines, +2 FC green leggings 2 flawlessu citrines, rank 4 chest +2 3 flawless citrines, a pair of random lvl 84 bracers cuz i couldnt find any FC green ones, the quest reward belt gives 5-6 mag str and dex, and i was useing 2 +2 ring of heavenly lords i swapped one out because i found a 3* 88 ring in the AH that gave me + str and more phys atk and i swap between my phys neck w/+ str for when i wanna use claws and my element neck w/+ dex for when i want a lil extra dmg from my bow i strongly recomend getting a vast land if you can find one

Vast land will be my next weapon, for certain. You're using FC85 instead of TT90?

Badazmofo - Dreamweaver

for now yes i perfer to use a bow and unless i get a Broadland ill use my vastland and continue to refine it i might switch to a OHT bow if i can find one with -int and +phys atk or dex but chances are i wont and if i do it will be expensive so most likely it will be FC green till i get lunar green or gold since a refined TT 90 dragon bow has less dmg than a equaly refined vastland (according to the pwi calc useing same build and equip just changeing wepons) but i will still make a TT 90 so i can make a TT 99 if i cant get the lunar gold

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

I was referring to your armor. ^^ But that's a nice piece of information about the Dragonbow.

Badazmofo - Dreamweaver

oh lol no im changeing the wrists to OHT with -int and getting TT 90 boots and pants

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

Thanks. ^^

I'm also planning on restatting 8 Vit into Dex and using Misty Peach Blossoms, resulting in +15 Dex. Is this a good idea or not?

Olba - Sanctuary

Falcondance - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Thanks. ^^

I'm also planning on restatting 8 Vit into Dex and using Misty Peach Blossoms, resulting in +15 Dex. Is this a good idea or not?

You can't do that.

You have only 5 base Vitality, so you can, at most, restat 2 points from it. You cannot restat +vita like that, not unless you were planning to put those points into vitality to begin with, in which case it cannot really be called "restatting".

Restatting only occurs in two ways:
1. If you use a reset note to set unnecessary stats from 5 to 3, such as Magic and Vitality on an Archer.
2. If you have an item that has +Strength, you can restat those strength points into a more important stat, such as Dexterity on an Archer. However, if restatting would drop you below the requirement of the item that has the +Strength, you cannot restat it.

And btw, unless you got a +20 Dexterity Tome, you'd get more out of a Christmas Tome most of the time.

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

My apologies. I forgot to mention an important point - I'm a hybrid archer, with 50 base vitality. My reason for asking about the Misty Peach Blossoms is that I saw an Enrage archer wearing it earlier with their +5 gold TT99 set and +7 Heaven Shatterer, etc, and so I wondered if it really did have value to it as opposed to a Christmas Tome. Does the 1% crit really provide more of a bonus than 15 dexterity?

Olba - Sanctuary

Falcondance - Heavens Tear wrote: »

My apologies. I forgot to mention an important point - I'm a hybrid archer, with 50 base vitality. My reason for asking about the Misty Peach Blossoms is that I saw an Enrage archer wearing it earlier with their +5 gold TT99 set and +7 Heaven Shatterer, etc, and so I wondered if it really did have value to it as opposed to a Christmas Tome. Does the 1% crit really provide more of a bonus than 15 dexterity?

I doubt that the reason that Archer was wearing it was for re-statting.

As for 15 Dexterity, at the very least, it's better than the Christmas Tome a good 75% of the time. That is, when the +dex gives you a crit% as well.

Generally speaking, people do a lot of stupid stuff. Just because someone has good gear and has one peculiar item doesn't automatically mean that this peculiarity is also good, it might just as well be that the person is an idiot.

Personally, I have no plans to swap my Christmas Tome anytime soon.

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

Then you would agree that the damage and accuracy/evasion bonus (however meagre the latter) given by the +15 Dexterity is inferior to the 1% critical rate, assuming that the +15 Dexterity did not give me a percentage of critical hit?

Olba - Sanctuary

Falcondance - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Then you would agree that the damage and accuracy/evasion bonus (however meagre the latter) given by the +15 Dexterity is inferior to the 1% critical rate, assuming that the +15 Dexterity did not give me a percentage of critical hit?

No. It's not a "yes/no" question, as comparison depends entirely on your amount of dexterity. The point I was making was that if the +dex would give you +1% crit, it would obviously be better than the Christmas Tome because it'd not only give the same +1% crit bonus, but also the additional damage from the +dexterity.

Also, personally, I'd not restat the +vita on a Tome, just because it's messy. If you ever want to change your tome, you're going to either have to find a better one that has the same stats as Misty Peach Blossoms at the very least and there are only a few such tomes. Say you wanted to swap to an actual +15 Dexterity tome, you'd have to also get yourself a reset note or deal with the loss of life.

And personally, the difference between 50 base vitality and 3 isn't that high. Archers get 13 life per vitality, so you're getting 611 life. That's not a lot, considering that at 90, with +3 gears socketed with 2-4 Flawless Citrines Each, you should be at around 4,500 to begin with. And at that level, the mobs mostly deal a minimum of 500 damage per hit. And besides, with enough -interval, any of the mobs you'll be grinding won't even be able to hit you. Me, I got -0.15 interval and the only way a mob is going to hit me is if I mess up my attack sequence, miss my Frost Arrow, do not get the seal on Aim Low or by lag. And I'm using a crossbow.

Falcondance - Heavens Tear

I built myself with Vitality because I wanted more HP than citrines could give me. Mobs still don't hit me at this point, and I have some extra security when I get jumped by 3 mobs while grinding or something. I can and will also serve as an offtank if we can't find a barbarian or blademaster, because it simplifies things. I was never into the 'glass cannon' spec. Also, at 78 I'll be hitting 4k HP, and not many of my armor pieces are refined. I'm hoping for a cool 6k or so once I've refined and sharded TT99, and we'll see what happens then. Thanks for clearing up the Misty Peach Blossoms business, I believe I will stick with the Christmas tome.