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Currently the only things holding me back from circling (multiple times in most cases) is evasion and backstab. By backtraining shield, I have gotten to the point where I can survive standing toe to toe with things that teach evasion, however I am having trouble getting backstab moving well.
Stats, from memory, apologies if I am off a bit:
Agil 20
Strength: 20
Reflex 20
LE: 70-75
backstab: 68-70
int/wis: 20
Usually backstabbing with a leaf-blade sword.
Fighting rockies, I can backstab them with no issues all day, usually with three stabs. hide/engage/stalk/backstab, hide/backstab until dead. This will eventually get me to maybe 15/32ish, but it takes quite some time, to the point where I know that just fighting as usual, I could have multiple weapons locked.
Any suggestions for what I should be backstabbing with those stats? Or perhaps am I "doing it wrong"? Is there a cap on stabs, where I am better off stabbing 1-2 times and killing normally, instead of stabbing until dead?
Any and all help is greatly appreciated.
I admit to not knowing a lot about how backstabbing works. But you are pretty close to the cap for weapon teaching, and may want to find another critter.
Good luck!
Sometimes the key to happiness is not assuming it is locked in the first place- Ziggy
A journey of a thousand SMILES begins with a single step- Ziggy
Good luck!
Sometimes the key to happiness is not assuming it is locked in the first place- Ziggy
A journey of a thousand SMILES begins with a single step- Ziggy
You might move to the undead up north (Prydaen, and Rakash) they should teach all stealths (Hiding, stalking, backstab) to mid 90's.
About moving it faster, In all honestly, I went to straight up adv/hide/backstab, to move it faster as it allows for quicker attempts and attacks, It takes me roughly 10~15 minutes to get it to 30 (In which after that I start switching up the weapons I am using but continue to backstab/ambush to keep it near/above 30/34)
If you find a better way, feel free to post and let us all know! :)
About moving it faster, In all honestly, I went to straight up adv/hide/backstab, to move it faster as it allows for quicker attempts and attacks, It takes me roughly 10~15 minutes to get it to 30 (In which after that I start switching up the weapons I am using but continue to backstab/ambush to keep it near/above 30/34)
If you find a better way, feel free to post and let us all know! :)
I just went through that range. I found that bipeds taught worse than quadrapeds, simply because backstabbing will kill much faster than ambushing head/eyes.
I took blood wolves to about 130 in stealths, 115 in backstab, near 100 in weapon and last I was there I could still lock backstab, LE, ME, hiding and stalking over the course of about 30-40 minutes. I can basically lock everything but backstab within 15-20 minutes, and then it takes another 10-20 to get backstab locked.
I took blood wolves to about 130 in stealths, 115 in backstab, near 100 in weapon and last I was there I could still lock backstab, LE, ME, hiding and stalking over the course of about 30-40 minutes. I can basically lock everything but backstab within 15-20 minutes, and then it takes another 10-20 to get backstab locked.
Thanks for the replies folks. I was headed north from Shard to try the undead Rakash/Prydaen north of Kaerna when a moonie opened a gate at the gondola. I peered, momentarily confused Leth and Lang, and found myself accidentally in Langenfirth.
So at the moment I am trying blood wolves, which definitely seems to work better. I will likely get curious and try the Rakash/Prydaen area sometime in the next few days as well, although I have heard the three rooms that spawn those are pretty much always taken.
I have one more question I would like clarified:
When ambushing, I of course have a choice of body parts, some easy, some not so easy, some super hard etc.
What I am wondering is... what teaches best - targeting the hardest area I can consistently "successfully" position myself to hit? Targeting an area I only periodically successfully position against? Or should I always just go for the head and eyes, even if I "fail to position" every time or nearly every time?
So at the moment I am trying blood wolves, which definitely seems to work better. I will likely get curious and try the Rakash/Prydaen area sometime in the next few days as well, although I have heard the three rooms that spawn those are pretty much always taken.
I have one more question I would like clarified:
When ambushing, I of course have a choice of body parts, some easy, some not so easy, some super hard etc.
What I am wondering is... what teaches best - targeting the hardest area I can consistently "successfully" position myself to hit? Targeting an area I only periodically successfully position against? Or should I always just go for the head and eyes, even if I "fail to position" every time or nearly every time?
If you mean you are going to try the prydaen, rakash, and ghouls near El Bain's to learn BS on, honestly if you are learning off blood wolves I'm going to take a guess and say you will at best be disappointed, and at worst you will be killed outright. The undead right around that area teach me quite well in face to face combat with nearly 300 ranks in my primary weapon, and they can hit me fairly easily as well with my defenses in the mid 200s(playing my barb I have to dance badger or berserk stone to stop from just getting whittled away to death). There are some much easier prydaen and rakash down near reavers north of crossing, but those are really not any different then reavers themselves and will not teach you much if at all.
Personally I have trouble learning backstabbing too. I can get it up there but it takes forever. My advice is use an incapacitating skill then go for the kill. I prefer clout because it teaches brawling. You may not have that. Ambush slash or ambush stun. Repeat that every time. At least that way you learn backstab decently. Also circulate weapons. If you combine those with weapons you will at least get in the 20's with backstab by the time you lock brawling, ME, and LE.
Mujaki, Paladin of the people.
Mujaki, Paladin of the people.
Heh nevermind, I noticed you said you were heading north of Kaerna initially. You can try them but they are probably easier then blood wolves(I said reavers before but I think its more fair to say they take hits like reavers but hit back more like rock trolls). The area can be crowded but they do swarm once you get them started and they spawn over a fairly wide area. The aforementioned "probably-will-kill-you" prydaen and rakash actually only spawn in two rooms so that is what I thought you meant when you heard they were crowded.
Heh, yeah I have no desire to play with the local undead up there. I was wandering into the front gate of Theren and took an arrow to the arm that hit pretty hard. My lesson there was "don't stop on the road between Theren and Lang!" Which I learned pretty well :p
With regards to the ambushes, I have sight and I believe I can learn stun, although I haven't had the patience to take a boat to Ratha to learn stun. Otherwise nothing else.
I do make sure to use sight every time though, and I presume that lowering their perception means an easier check for how well the "surprise attack" portion comes off, which means more damage on average, which I presume makes it move faster.
With regards to the ambushes, I have sight and I believe I can learn stun, although I haven't had the patience to take a boat to Ratha to learn stun. Otherwise nothing else.
I do make sure to use sight every time though, and I presume that lowering their perception means an easier check for how well the "surprise attack" portion comes off, which means more damage on average, which I presume makes it move faster.
lots of my info is from before the stealth/experience rewrite, so I'm not sure if its still applicable today...
After Rockies really slowed down, I went to Shard and killed Gargoyles... its murder on your weapons, but picking up 3 or 4 leaf blade swords is a relatively cheap endeavor. They drop boxes too which I always shoot for...
After Gargs stopped training well (I think it was in the 120 to 130 range for my weapons at least, don't remember what backstab was at), I went to Ratha and trained up defenses in Leucros until I could handle swains... once you can handle swains they're a godsend for thieves... and in my opinion the Swains --> Snobs path was an excellent training method for me, especially since it kept boxes moving a lot, since Swains/Snobs drop a ton of them, not to mention they swarm often enough to very effectively move every defense you have.
I wouldn't recommend ambushing bodyparts for Gargoyles - you're better of Backstabbing them since I found that a Garg and a Snowie on me would often kill me at my defenses level at that point... Stabbing moved just fine with Backstabs too.
Once you're defenses can handle swains you can get away with backstabbing them for quite a while to move Backstab before you have to start ambushing bodyparts... I've stuck to 2 things - If you're afraid too many of them will be on you and you might die, ambush neck - it trains relatively well and kills off much quicker than the alternative - Ambushing Eyes, which generally takes a lot longer to kill a creature, but trains better in my experience...
Once defenses/offenses slow down in swains, I went right to Tier 3 Snobs, which took me to 250ish Backstab and 200 primary weapon before i had to stop and find a new stomping ground. (probably could have gone higher but it was too slow for my liking).
After Rockies really slowed down, I went to Shard and killed Gargoyles... its murder on your weapons, but picking up 3 or 4 leaf blade swords is a relatively cheap endeavor. They drop boxes too which I always shoot for...
After Gargs stopped training well (I think it was in the 120 to 130 range for my weapons at least, don't remember what backstab was at), I went to Ratha and trained up defenses in Leucros until I could handle swains... once you can handle swains they're a godsend for thieves... and in my opinion the Swains --> Snobs path was an excellent training method for me, especially since it kept boxes moving a lot, since Swains/Snobs drop a ton of them, not to mention they swarm often enough to very effectively move every defense you have.
I wouldn't recommend ambushing bodyparts for Gargoyles - you're better of Backstabbing them since I found that a Garg and a Snowie on me would often kill me at my defenses level at that point... Stabbing moved just fine with Backstabs too.
Once you're defenses can handle swains you can get away with backstabbing them for quite a while to move Backstab before you have to start ambushing bodyparts... I've stuck to 2 things - If you're afraid too many of them will be on you and you might die, ambush neck - it trains relatively well and kills off much quicker than the alternative - Ambushing Eyes, which generally takes a lot longer to kill a creature, but trains better in my experience...
Once defenses/offenses slow down in swains, I went right to Tier 3 Snobs, which took me to 250ish Backstab and 200 primary weapon before i had to stop and find a new stomping ground. (probably could have gone higher but it was too slow for my liking).
I guess I should also add - my Primary weapon and primary backstabber has always been ME, and by the time I went to gargs, I had the cash to have a crafted sabre, which didn't take too much wear and tear (I do think they destroyed 1 or 2 crafted short swords while I was there though).
Also, I was one shotting everything about 95% of the time at all of the places I mentioned, so if you're not doing that, it may skew my training regimen a bit.
Also, I was one shotting everything about 95% of the time at all of the places I mentioned, so if you're not doing that, it may skew my training regimen a bit.
