<1. I see the UAC system is in place. That is new for me. I always incorporated Voln-fu into my weapon combat. Is that still a thing you can do with this system? Im max ranks for brawling at my level. What/when is UAC a good option over weapon strikes? Is there a meaningful difference with punch/kick/grapple? Particularly if holding a two hander?>

I'd recommend reading the wiki article about UAC... in short, if you're going to use UAC you're going to want to train specifically for it and have both hands empty when using it: https://gswiki.play.net/Unarmed_combat_system

Actual training for a THW and UAC warrior prolly isn't so different that it would take much to use both, but the only character I have that uses UAC is a monk that I rarely play.... so take that with a grain of salt.


<3. Are there any creatures in the level 55-65 range near the Landing anyone can recommend as a good place to relearn combat? Its been sooo long. Im looking for something I can stance dance without too many tricks. Anything that disarms or steals weapons off corpses is a no-no. If I lose my character’s sword, that would make me ‘uninstall’ again.>

By the time you're in your 50's, stance dancing isn't going to be enough. You're going to need at least a couple CMANs for setup. I don't know what ones are good for a UAC warrior, I'll let someone else chime in about that. Both Feint and Disarm are good options for THW users though... at least to start.

Good news though, permanent weapon loss is a thing of the past. You can still be disarmed, but it's just knocked into the shadows and can either be searched out with the RECOVER verb or you can pay the Adventurer's Guild to retrieve it for you: https://gswiki.play.net/RECOVER_(verb)


Starchitin, the OG

A severed gnomish hand crawls in on its fingertips and makes a rude gesture before quickly decaying and rotting into dust. A gust of wind quickly scatters the dust.

>1. I see the UAC system is in place. That is new for me. I always incorporated Voln-fu into my weapon combat. Is that still a thing you can do with this system? Im max ranks for brawling at my level. What/when is UAC a good option over
weapon strikes? Is there a meaningful difference with punch/kick/grapple? Particularly if holding a two hander?

You can do it. Its good for critters with really high DS and non-corp undead you want to crit.

Punch is faster but does less damage than kick. Grapple does less damage than punch but inflicts more funky status effects. If you like random cool stuff, grapple, if you like mechanical efficiency punch or kick. I kick on a warrior, more because I punch on monk and rogue than because its obviously better. You should train some mastery in whichever you prefer and acquire a selection of UAC gear with varying flare types. While you sort of get away with taking on elementals without the right flare on a weapon, you have to have fire flares for cold critters and vice versa with UAC. Blessable is useful but not required for Volners.

>2. Combat Maneuver stances are new. Are they worth it? I saw a few that fits my character, like whirling dervish. Are some better than others for the sort of combat I outlined above?

Yes. You should have one. Which is a matter of taste. Read through them all and try whichever appeals, if its not working for you try another one.

>3. Are there any creatures in the level 55-65 range near the Landing anyone can recommend as a good place to relearn combat? Its been sooo long. Im looking for something I can stance dance without too many tricks. Anything that disarms or steals weapons off corpses is a no-no. If I lose my character’s sword, that would make me ‘uninstall’ again.

MTK and harbs in Darkstone. Symbol of seeking (there's a lot of new Voln stuff) to get in more or less duplicates the tapestry but can teleport you from Voln to undead hunting from every Voln, not just the Landing.

>4. Any words of advice about things Im not thinking to ask because I dont know any better? Thanks!
Warcries have actual use now. Berserk mstrikes. A lot of cmans take less RT to use, tackle in particular. Reim is currently unhuntable solo after a recent tweak to its spawning mechanic, but assuming that gets fixed is now the place to get favor. The gap is still very real elsewhere.
Armor and shield give points as well as CMan. You are getting to the level where its worth training a few shield ranks to get shield points to use for defence even as a THW user. You definitely want to use your armor points on something, which is probably support now, but fittings become very useful at cap.
MOC may have different breakpoints than you remember, check your training against the current breakpoints in case you are just missing out on an extra swing.
Armor overtraining has worthwhile benefits from action penalty reduction as well as the armor points. e.g. You only need 80 ranks for MBP, but the action penalty for MBP drops below standard at 120 ranks.
Lots of spells are deadlier than they used to be, Boil Earth being by far the worst. Critters with it have gone from don't uphunt them, to don't hunt them at all.
SMR is now SMRv2 with some differences in the training needed. Perception is even more foolish to skimp on than it used to be. PF training probably isn't more beneficial but its benefits are more widely appreciated and it is more heavily trained than it used to be.

>1. I see the UAC system is in place. That is new for me. I always incorporated Voln-fu into my weapon combat. Is that still a thing you can do with this system? Im max ranks for brawling at my level. What/when is UAC a good option over weapon strikes? Is there a meaningful difference with punch/kick/grapple? Particularly if holding a two hander?

Brawling....massive amounts of fun, but frustrating if your character is not properly trained. My brawlers now all have stalk and hide. I much prefer the crit bonuses that come from hiding and ambushing; it keeps me from plinking things to death.

Keep open hands, the penalties for not having both hands free are not conducive to efficient hunting.

Dodge...train in it as much as possible, and by that I mean sacrifice something else to get it if you have to, it's one of your main forms of defense and without it you will wind up creating experience for empaths and clerics instead of yourself. The exception to this is the shielded brawler, but i have never had the urge to try one so I'll let someone else cover that.

All my brawlers are punch masters. I find it is the quickest form of attack and if you are trained in ambush and can hit what your are aiming for it can be quite devastating. But grapple and kick are pretty cool too. My favorite attack message is from grapple....there's just something about ripping off somethings head that can be sooooo satisfying.

Have fun and welcome back!

General Radeek Andoran
Drakes Vanguard
Defender of Wehnimer's Landing
Black Raider of the Mir'Sheq

Only the dead have seen the end of war - Plato

http://radeekandoran.blogspot.ca/

http://thetehirchronicles.blogspot.ca/

Thanks for all of this advice. I'm not super worried about how good or not the UAC ends up being on this character. My character is a swordsman first, but I do remember specific times when the faster strikes and different set of mechanical resolution rolls of Voln-fu did make a big difference.

Some of the replies to my open ended questions, I'm afraid, only left me with more questions. Sorry in advance!

1. Warcries - a hard pass for me. My warrior isn't a screamer. I don't mind working on tackle, though I prefer hamstring and bullrush, again, for RP reasons.
2. Reim -.....um...what is Reim? The gap you are referring to is the undead gap? As in, the same one that existed a decade ago?
3. How does shield training help me exactly? I'm not going to end up using a shield. Never have. Again, RP reasons. But is there some formula benefit for it?
4. Armor points....again. I'm sorry. Do you mean excess armor training I may have? Or is this some other system I don't know about? Support? Fittings? Totally lost here.
5. I'll check the MOC. I have 55 ranks, which I believe was enough for 2 strikes focused and 3 open? I don't see myself trying more than two or three strikes because of the crazy RT and having limited defenses with no shield.
6. Armor Use ranks - I have 110 of the max of 219 for my level. What do you suggest? 120 ranks? I couldn't tell you why I stopped at this number, only because I liked the idea of stopping at breastplate, again for RP reasons, rather than being the tin-can type.
7. Spells have always been the bane of my character. I've spent 70 levels largely leaving the room when something preps a cast. I know that is a garbage thing to do the next guy who hits the room, but that is what I recall.
8. SMR? I have 71/146 perception. I have 189/219 PF. Happy for suggestions here.

My main weapon is the aformentioned bastard sword. Its +21 (I think) with blessable mana disruption flares, if that matters/helps at all.

I appreciate any and all of the help. Really do. Thanks!

>3. How does shield training help me exactly? I'm not going to end up using a shield. Never have. Again, RP reasons. But is there some formula benefit for it?

As I understand it, shield use contributes to redux calculation and also offers some kind of bonus against defending against shield maneuvers. Some warriors who don't plan to use shields will train the skill up a bit at higher levels because it's so cheap, even pre-cap. I don't think it has been confirmed that holding a shield is necessary for the shield defense bonus. With the crit divisor for plate armors, though, maximizing redux really isn't necessary -- it's more essential for rogues, monks, and some semis (and weird wizards). https://gswiki.play.net/Redux has good info.

>6. Armor Use ranks - I have 110 of the max of 219 for my level. What do you suggest? 120 ranks? I couldn't tell you why I stopped at this number, only because I liked the idea of stopping at breastplate, again for RP reasons, rather than being the tin-can type.

It's just a cheap skill for warriors. Again, maybe for redux. You can stop at 80 and just use MBP. 120 ranks is the first threshold for action penalty reduction for MBP. 140 for the tin can. 150 for maxing armor support. 200 if you want to max out one of the other armor specializations. A lot of players are concerned about maxing out whatever benefits are available to them, which is logical but not always the best use of training points. You can breeze through almost anything in MBP, even without redux. The CvA is negligible; the crit divisor difference on the limbs and head (including the eyes) might save you a cheap death every now and then. Alternatively, you could train up to 140 ranks and wear a helm or neck accessory, and it'll look like a breastplate but act like full plate. Take the helm off while you're not hunting, if you want.

>I'd almost even pick up ranks in Ranged before Shield Use if I wasn't using a shield, it contributes almost as much to redux, only costs a 1 MTP more, and would allow me to be one of maybe 3 warriors capable of ASSESSing bows/crossbows.

I guess it depends on your goals. Some people are more interested in being able to assess weapons than others, and that 1 MTP is a big deal when you only have PTP banked. 60 PTP, for example, is 30 ranks of shield use but only 15 ranks of ranged. Weapon training is a tertiary skill for redux while shields are secondary. But, as I said before, redux really isn't a big deal once you get into MBP.

(There are more than 3. They just won't confess to it.)

"If you find accessories with nice properties and the game is totally flooded with them compared to how it used to be, you'll want extra ranks to wear those. I stopped at 150 for support and then jumped up to 180 for the action penalty reduction on full plate." -- RathboneR

You will frequently be pleasantly surprised, like finding a shield [item] that has Armor Use [enhancive benefit], or an accessory [like leg greaves] that gives Shield Use or "your weapon type" [enhancive benefit].

With both my robe- and full-plate-wearing characters, I have a full set of accessories layered on: arm greaves, leg greaves, aventail [pro tip: you actually CAN wear three aventails on your neck, though I don't think that works with any of the greaves...] and helm or even greathelm (which gives yet another "on the neck" set of coverage).

Since padding is also now found quite frequently on accessories, as long as your armor has "at least one point" of each crit & damage padding, then when that spot gets hit you get the BEST coverage that applies between the two items. (So if your armor has min-1 crit and min-1 damage padding, if you're wearing a 'heavy damage' helm and a 'heavy crit' aventail, if you get hit in the head the damage is reduced by heavy [because both base suit of armor & the accessory both have 'damage' padding], and if you get hit in the neck the crit is reduced by heavy [because they both have 'crit' padding].)
And you can also fairly often find the accessories with a permanent effect (padding, or a flare) and also a temporary effect (damage type reduction, additional/other padding, temp flares, whatever). Over and above any enhancive they may have, also.

.

I pretty routinely spawn up a bunch of PlayerShops pages and read all of the items that give a bonus of 20, 19, 18, and so on. Sure, most of my characters are not in the 55-72 range that's required (yet), but heck, +18 to anything is worthy of me looking to see if I want to pick it up.

>3. Accessories and enhancives - I feel like these were VERY new when I last played. Seems like a wild amount of bonus items have been added. I'll obviously look on the wiki about enhancives in general, but is there any basic starting advice anyone would suggest about them? I don't even know how they work. Passive benefits just for wearing them? Do they have charges? How do you know if an item is an enhancive? As for the accessories, that I don't know about at all. I do recall being able to take something like breastplate, slapping on greaves and having the equivalent of a higher rank of plate armor. But is the idea that each of these items can carry their own different magical passive bonuses? Wouldn't that make them totally superior to a full armor set? As in, wouldn't it be better to have pieces of armor that build up to full plate rather than full plate itself.

If the pawnshop tells you something is worth 2M its almost certainly an enhancive. Check your stats and skills, put it on, and check them again. A few enhancives aren't easily spotted like this (spirit recovery) but most are. For more detail about how charged up it is, and whether it crumbles when out of charges, you need to get a bard to sing to it. You can now inspect items in pawn shops to see these properties.

Enhancives give passive bonuses to stats and skills. They cap at +20 to a stat bonus or +50 to a skill bonus. Its pretty easy to have over a hundred in bonuses across several stats/skills. e.g. I have STR, AGI and DEX maxmimally enhanced, significant WIS and AUR, some brawling, blunt and shield and a few odds and ends that come with them. I'm sure I could push some of those skills up quite a bit more if I invested more of my time and silvers in it.

Enhancives require charges to power them, but are simple to recharge. The main problem is the ones that crumble when they run out. (armor won't crumble but clothing may, its a bad idea to spend a lot on a crumbly enhancive unless you are sure you can manage that risk)

Full plate doesn't get in the way of wearing accessories. I wear the lot on top of mine. It does create issues for padding though. If the accessory has a property the armor doesn't or vice versa, padding gets halved (enhancives are OK, but flaring, spiking and just about anything else isn't)

MBP + greaves isn't exactly the same as higher plate coverage. Some calculations, e.g. TD, use the base armor. The main reason for going to full plate is TD and encumberance. MBP plus accessories works out heavier than full plate, particularly once its been lightened (also far easier to get done now than it used to be).

>4. Padding on armor. I'd say these weren't 'rare', but they were not exactly easy to get 10+ years ago. Is padding easier to get now? I seem to recall some sort of foggy downside to padding (like how crit weighting prevented blessings on weapons) but I can't recall.

It is much easier to get now. There are smithies that put in an appearance from time to time where you can buy extra padding and weighting for your gear. It costs a lot and takes a lot of visits but turning a steady stream of loot into a steady increase of padding is fairly common. You can inspect gear in the pawnshop to see what sort of padding the extra 200k its being sold for gets you. Padding is also available as a premium perk. If you intend to use premium points for padding, don't add any smithy padding first.

Weighting no longer outright stops blessing, but it does reduce the number of swings you get from a bless. If you are reliant on Voln blessing, its not a good idea to put much weighting on your weapon.