Killing Super Elites

Yes, I am talking about the Super Elite creatures, and not players like jmaisc or zenji. I am not a SE hunter, but as I approach level 420, the quest "A Sorry Tale" will require that I kill one. So I might as well plan for it.
In training, I typically equip my gear, and then figure out which buff and buff levels I will need. But when attacking with a group, this procedure has to be reversed. You get your buff, and then figure out how big a group you will need. So save the stam of your guild mate, one should lock the group when the group has sufficient stats to kill the creature you want, maybe with a little buffer, just in case one of the group member switches gear.

Let's start with buffs. Which buffs are most useful?
Super Elite Slayer is naturally useful, since that is its sole purpose, to help with killing a Super Elite. One can get that buff from a potion also. Potion of the Slayer offers a level 125 SES buff with a 60 mins duration.
Any buffs that affect the opponent is more useful than a buff that affect yourself. You are forming a group, of maybe 10 members. A buff that increase your ability means increasing 1 out of the 10 members. While a buff that affect the opponent affect it as a whole, and that applies whether it is a super elite or a relic capture.
So what are the buffs that affect the opponent?
Dark Curse can dramatically reduce the defense of your opponent, and that means a big reduction in the attack you will need. Potions can give a buff higher than the levels a player can cast, and they include Sludge Brew (DC 200), and Potion of Black Death (DC 225).
Flinch, a buff that was pretty much unavailable until recently where AzUK became the first player to reach level 600. It reduces the attack of your opponent, and therefore useful, but only when you want to attack in defense mode (which is the preferred mode).
Terrorze, can reduce opponent's damage, and can be useful in armor mode. However, we are still waiting for content to allow players to reach level 700 to get that buff.
Wither halves the HP of your opponent, but its effect depends on a roll of the dice.
Mesmerize can also reduce the creature stats, but also depend on the roll of dice. This is yet another buff that is still unavailable due to lack of content.

Therefore I wrote a small script to compute the effects with those buffs (excluding Wither and Mesmerize).
http://sisland83.bravehost.com/superelites.html

To use that script, select the creature you want, enter the level of the buffs you have (or plan to get), and hit the 'Calculate' button. It will show you the stats needed in your group. As with any creature hits, you don't need defense nor armor if you have the attack and damage to kill in 1 hit. However, if you need more than 1, then you will need either defense OR armor, but not both. Guilds with the Military Advisor structure can view the stats of the group and determine if it is sufficient to kill the SE.

However, there are buffs that do not show up on the stats.
Buffs that does additional damage based on lead attacker and not shown in group stats includes Blood Thirst, Ignite, Holy Flame, Death Dealer, Savagery, Chi Strike, Assist, and Counter Attack.
Constitution can increase defense, and Sanctuary can increase armor. Sanctuary is a potion only buff.
Shield Strike looks risky, especially if you need 3 or more hits to kill the creature. Nightmare Visage reduces attack, and is not shown on the stats, so beware.
Since I am not an SE hunter, I am not 100% sure that all those buffs apply in group attacks. Please let me know if you have experimented with them. Thanks.

Xinderoth - The path I took

Xinderoth, the realms from level 400 - 420. Considered as a nightmare for some players. I'm nearly done with it, and many guild mates are just about to enter this stage. I won't say what I did was perfect, but I will share my encounters and experience, and some suggestions.

Level 400
Level 400, the City of Xinderoth, is a big realm. There are 10 different creatures in that realm, some harder to 1-hit than the others. There are 5 different quests in this realms, and some has mentioned in forum that they could not advanced to the next realm due to uncompleted quests. So what's needed, and what are not?

The quests are, in a way, designed to be completed in this order (counter clockwise) from where you enter.
1. Filthy Animals
2. Festival Revelers
3. Lead Astray
4. The Heat of Ambition
5. Bite the Hand

I have completed only ONE of those 5 quests. The quest that I completed is Filthy Animals. Doing quests can be fun for some, and I am not suggesting that you follow in my footstep.
Another suggestion on creatures to attack is to select a CA level that allow you to kill at least 5 of those 10 creatures, and simply pass up on those you cannot 1-hit with that CA level. I selected CA 36 with 11x doubler.

Also, the level 401 quest will require a Summoning Seal, which can be found on Xinderoth Watcher. Xinderoth Watcher is one of the 10 creatures found on this level. So I recommend getting the seal on this level.

Level 401-409

These levels are pretty straight forward. The realms are large, so the creatures are sparse. For level 402 and 403, you may have better luck finding creatures in Sanctum of Doth Realm, and Circle of the Fiend Realm respectively. I needed a low level CA for 407 and 409. There is a path from the world map to level 410, so I actually ended level 409 early and let XP gain do the job to complete that level. Since 409 is a relatively tough level that requires CA, the XP gain was worth more.

Level 410-420

I needed a low level CA for level 414. When I hit level 416, I stayed back on the 415 realms. The level 416 creatures requires a CA level higher than 100, so I was better off just staying back. Looking forward, I will need a low level CA for 419, and CA75 for 420.

Equipment

I used the Argus set, Sphynx Helmet, Sword of Ursa, Octo-Spine Shield, and Crushing Fist Ring. At level 408, I switched my weapon to the Double Axe of Demrhyle. From 410-413, I was using Pharaohs Sarcophagus instead of the Octo-Spine Shield. For level 419, the creature has a higher defense, so I am planning on using the Doth Blades set. And finally, at level 420, the weapon of choice will be the Master of Magic Spear. All my gears are perfect and fully forged.

Items to Hunt for

For most items mentioned above, I want them before I start on the level, so that means I bought them. However, at level 408, the Opticor set is a very nice standby set, so I hunted for them. I got only 1 drop, bought the rest. The Sarabaite set at 415 have nice attacks, and probably more useful when used in PvP and SE hunting.

Hell Forge Cost

I have been writing rather lenthy blogs, so I thought I will write a short one this time.
In the game, you can hell forge an item. Official Description ::

The Hell Forge contains the fire of hell itself. Known to contain great power, the fires of hell can be used to unlease the true potential of any item, increasing its statistics permanently (except for hourly 'Gain' stats). Each time you use the forge on an item to increase its forge level (see the guide below) costs 2 FallenSword Points plus an amount of gold depending on the items level.

Now, the question to answer in this blog is, what is that amount of gold?
The gold required for the first forge is [Item level] * 150 gold, subjected to a minimum [Item level] of 50. That is, all items below level 50 are treated as level 50 for the purpose of computing hell forge cost. The gold for subsequent forge is double that of the previous.

I have also written a script to compute the cost, and it can be found here ::
http://sisland83.bravehost.com/forgecost.html

PvP Arena

I have wanted to write this a long time, so here it goes.
I have won quite a few PvP Arena tournaments, so I get a few questions here and there on Arena and how to 'do' it. Unfortunately, there are no sure way of 'doing' it. If there is such thing as a 'best' setup, then every player who figure it out (and it should not be hard), will have the same setup, and your chance of winning one will be the same as everyone, 1 in 16 (or 1 in 32 if it is a 5 round tournament). So have patience, have confidence that you have 'the' set, and keep trying.

Now, as I said, there actually probably isn't one 'best' setup. Let us assume a contest of an arbitrary level. A player with attack = J, damage = K, defense = L, armor = M. Assuming you cannot beat the sum of the stats, which otherwise will be moot, you can still beat it by having attack = L+10, damage = M+10, defense = 1, armor = K+20. That way, your opponent deal only 1 damage to you, while you do 10 damage on average to your opponent. That assumes J attack is greater than 40, or you will need a higher total stats. But now, I can beat that by having attack = 10, damage = K + 30, defense = L+40, armor = 1. In that setup, I will be able to hit you (my attack 10 is higher than your defense 1), but you won't be able to hit me (my defense is higher than your attack. And my total stats is lower if M is greater than 40. And there's a setup that can beat : attack = L+60, damage = 1, defense = 20, armor = 1. So in a way, it is like playing rock, scissors, paper. No wonder players don't like to share their setup.

But the point is not to beat a single player. You can always do that. The point is to beat 4 players, all potentially having different setups. If you know that all of them will be showing 'rock', you will use 'paper', and the odds will favor you. So you want to be different! I have seen level 202 winning a level 438 tournament, because he was different. So does that mean you can put on anything and expect a fair 1 in 16 chance to win? Unfortunately, not exactly. There is a chance that you can win, but it could be very low. Assuming the rock scissors paper game, you have to win 4 in a row, and that means 1 in 81, not 1 in 16. How can it be that everyone only have a 1 in 81 chance? That does not add up. Well, not everyone has a 1 in 81 chance. When both players show a 'rock', then the setup now matters. If both are armor/damage setup with minimal attack/defense for example, then the sum of armor/damage matters. If both players get knocked out, the judges decision is first by total damage dealt, before tossing a coin. So if you have a 'better' setup, then you're more likely to win when both players show the same symbol.

But above was assuming contests without moves. Arena combat moves add a new dimension to that rock scissors paper game. The choice of moves should not be dependent on an opponent. Your objective is not to beat one opponent in particular, but to win 4 random ones. Instead, it should be chosen to match the type of setup you have. You want moves that add damage or chance to hit if you have a hitting setup, but moves that reduces opponents chance to hit if you have defensive ones.

I'll list a few categories of setups, but please do not let these limit your imagination.

Defensive setup
In this setup, one attempts to maximize the defense. The objective is prevent being hit. You also want to be able to hit your opponent, but not necessarily doing a lot of damage, just 1 damage will suffice. In this setup, the first priority is defense, and the second priority is attack. Armor, Damage, HP are of no importance. If you have combat moves and the tournaments allow for it, you will want to use Defend, Block, Dodge, or maybe even Deflect. Those reduces the chances that you get hit even further.

Armor setup
In this setup, this is the exact opposite defense. The objective is reduce all damage done to you to 1. The first priority is armor, the secondary priority is damage and hp. Attack is not as important, since you aren't likely to get an attack higher than the defensive setup anyhow, might as well not have it at all. You are going to rely on the 2% chance to hit. However, you want enough damage, so that when you do hit, you should be able to make a knock-out. Why hp? There are 40 rounds of combat. The defensive setup will be hitting you for 1 damage in each round, so you will want 40 hp to last 40 rounds of combat to give you 40 chances to hit. If your hp is only 10, 2% chance in 10 rounds is only 20% chance of winning. But if you have 40 hp, then you have a 80% chance to win. That excludes combat moves, and the actual chance might be lower. This setup almost does not depend on combat moves to combat the defensive setup. But combat moves come into play when you are being matched up against a similar setup. In those cases, you will be hitting, and don't be surprised that your opponent will be hitting also. So you want to use moves that increase damage or even the chance to hit. Those moves will include Critical Hit, Power Attack, and possibly even Spin Attack.

Another tip on Arena. The tournaments to win moves are usually easier to win. The top Arena players would have won 3 of those moves and can no longer take part, so those taking parts are those who are still experimenting. The top Arena players also have more resources and the confidence to take part in all tournaments. The cheaper tournaments are a good way to experiment for many players, and hence easier to win. Having said that, do not be afraid of the top arena champions. I have beaten all of them in at least one tournament. Even they are not infallible, and lady luck has the final say in many cases. What you can do is increase your odds by using the best gears and choosing the correct moves to go with it. If you are winning 1 in 16 tournaments you take part in, you are doing above average.

XP Gain

XP Gain is a great attribute that can help players advance faster in levels.
At level 150, a player can gain more than 30% of his level a day without having to use a single stam, just by XP Gain.

Every player starts out with +2 XP Gain.

There are items that can increase that XP Gain

• Shield of Bakmar (craftable, can increase up to +5 depending on craft)
• Fire Dragon Ring (+1 XP Gain)
• Jara Rune (+1 XP Gain)
• Writhing Ward (+1 XP Gain)

Set bonus can also include XP Gain

• Maximus Set (+1 XP Gain)
• Gurgriss Set (+1 XP Gain)

Relics can also give XP Gain bonus

• Despair Crystal (+200 XP Gain)
• Ethereal Pillars (+200 XP Gain)
  
• Krul Pyramid (+200 XP Gain)
• Searing Orb (+100 XP Gain)
  
• Unholy Shring (+200 XP Gain)

Finally, a player can apply an upgrade on his character for "+25 XP Gain (per hour)".
Each upgrade cost 15 fsps, and a player can apply up to 50 upgrades.
At 50 upgrades, that will add +1250 XP Gain.

On the character upgrade page, XP Gain is defined as such ::

Note that your 'xp gain' is allocated, plus a bonus of your xp gain times a multiplier equal to your level minus 50 divided by '25' (rounding down).
Note the actual value is always reflected in the quick display at the top bar xp mouseover. Note also at lower levels this value is then scaled down up to a reduction factor of 10 to stop it potientially being too overpowering. Below level 25, no additional bonus is applied.

That description is not concrete and wrong. As described above, the XP Gains are added up. A multiplier is then applied, and the multiplier is actually [Player Level]/25 + 1 (rounded down).
Note that there are no subtraction of 50 level as described on that page.
Also, the description of a reduction factor is vague. I will appreciate if any players below level 150 reading this page can let me know the values they observed.

I wrote a calculator to compute the XP Gain, and the value has been observed to be correct for level 150 and higher. The calculator can be found on the URL below :

http://sisland83.bravehost.com/xpgain.html


So above describes XP Gain, but what's the value of such attribute?
Many players will agree with me that Stamina Gain is probably the most important upgrade.
And XP Gain will come in a strong second. When that upgrade is maximized, it contributes about 10% of a level for level 400 players (and more for lower level players).
The 750 fsps needed to maximize the upgrade could have been spent to buy stamina for levels, but that will only get you about 10 levels (at around level 400). So you get to break even in 100 days. That sounds like a reasonably fair tradeoff. However, its value can be higher, especially if you plan and rest to recover on difficult levels (levels that will require a higher level CA to 1-hit).
But how does it compare to Stamina Gain, is it even better than Stamina Gain? For a level 400 player, each upgrade earns 425 XP per hour, while a creature kill gets you about 2200 XP per hour. So it is clear that Stamina Gain is much more valuable to a level 400 player. I believe that comparison holds true for lower levels also.

What about relics? Is it worth more than Stamina Gain relics? Those relics that provide +200 XP Gain effectively gives 8 upgrades worth in XP Gains, worth 120 fsps in value, compared to Stamina Gains upgrades that are worth 25 fsps per upgrade. However, that is the wrong way to compare. Instead, for a level 400 player, +200 XP Gain with the multiplier actually earns you 3400 XP per hour. While a single stamina earns you a single creature kill, worth about 2200 XP. Of course, the Despair Crystals has both +200 XP Gain and +1 Stamina Gain, making it the most desirable relic. OK, so it is moredesirable than a Stamina Gain relic. But is it really worth all the walking? Assuming one needs about 120 stamina to return to the relic and back to the hunting grounds. That is 264k XP. To break even on the XP gained, one has to stay on the relic for 3.24 days. That clearly is valuable to some players with enough maximum stamina. But what if not all the players need to return? Let's say, only half needs to return (with players taking turns perhaps). Then it should be clear that the relic is very well worth defending.

What about items with XP Gains? The Shield of Bakmar adds +5 XP Gain. But at level 400, that adds 85 XP per hour. Those +1 XP Gain items add only 17 XP per hour. But that XP is much less than a single creature kill. In fact, the Shield of Bakmar only add 2040 XP per day, and a single Stamina earns you more than that. It is still all nice, better than nothing at all. However, if you have to spend 120 stamina to walk back to a relic, you really should be willing to give that up. Assume 9 players with 9 slots for defense. If you use the shield, there's really only 8 slots for defense. Instead, if only 8 players return (the 9 players can take turn on who can stay out), and not use the shield, they can get the same total defense, and save 120 stamina. Compared to all 9 players returning and getting 1 stamina worth in XP every day, it'll take 13 days to break even against the 120 stamina.

Unbreakable

This is not the first time I have used a crystalline item during my hunt. Crystalline items are items that cannot be repaired. I have used the dark spine flail early in my levels, but they were relatively cheap then, since the events just occurred and there were many such items available. Now, after more than 6 months, those items were mostly used up, and the price of those items have went up tremendously. Above level 350, many of those levels require the use of the Octo-Spine sets for 1-hit setups. Some require the Green Spine Boots too. Those items are best used fully forged in my opinion. But how do you value them? The Octo-Spine Shield cost probably around 120 fsps for a one that has full 200 durability, and another 27 fsps to fully forge it. So if you take away the residual value (players still get them with low durability for Arena use), I'll estimate it will cost about 50k per durability lost. The Octo-Spine Rune might cost about 25k per durability lost, while the Green Spine Boots cost around 75k per durability lost. Quite a rough estimate I'd say, and this value will be changing as the items get rarer.

So where was I? Oh yes, the title was not about crystalline items, but about the unbreakable buff. Unbreakable is a skill under the Defensive tree. It is available to players level 200 or higher. Here's the official description :

+0.5% per point chance per point of equipment not taking durability loss during combat.

First off, the equipment do not automatically take a durability loss. I estimate that one in 20 rounds of attack that a specific item take a hit without the buff. Now, a level 100 buff will reduce that to 1 in 40 rounds, a level 150 buff will reduce that to 1 in 80, and a leel 175 will reduce that to 1 in 160 !! The benefits are increasing almost exponentially. During Valentine's Day, a level 200 'potion' disguised as chocolate were given out, and that garantees no damage to any items.

Note also that the damage depends on the rounds of attack and are not multiplied by the doubler. So you will want to use a high level doubler when using the crystalline items. The cost of using a 3x doubler vs a 10x/11x doubler will be more than 3 times !! Using a 3x or 4x doubler, you might be better off double hitting with wither, and use the cost saved from using non-crystalline items to buy stamina.

So here are some numbers to ponder upon. A 4000 stamina burn with those 3 items above and a 11x doubler has 363 rounds of attack. That means without the unbreakable buff, you will lose about 18 durability on each of the item. That's 2700k in cost, 27 fsps !! A level 100 buff will reduce that to 9 durability loss/14 fsps, and you can get the potion from Auction House at 25k that gives a level 100 Unbreakable buff to save you 13/14 fsps. A level 150 buff will reduce that to 4.5 durability loss/7 fsps. A level 175 buff will reduce that to a little more than 2 durability loss/3.5 fsps. It should be clear that looking for a higher level unbreakable buff will almost pay for itself.

Buff level	Chance	Durability Cost	Normalized Cost
0	0.00%	2700000	100000
100	50.00%	1350000	50000
150	75.00%	675000	25000
155	77.50%	607500	22500
160	80.00%	540000	20000
165	82.50%	472500	17500
170	85.00%	405000	15000
175	87.50%	337500	12500

Above table illustrates the value for each level. You should be willing to pay 70k more for a level 175 buff vs a 170, or 140k morefor a level 175 buff vs 165. Since the items you use may be difference, the table also include a normalized cost, so you can mutliply it for based on the value of your items, as well as the number of rounds of attacks you will have in your hunt.

Update : Potion of Indestructibility
With yesterday's (Dec-19 2009) update, players can now scavenge for items. One of the items is the "Potion of Indestructibility". It lives up to its name and provides a level 200 Unbreakable buff.
At level 200. It is garanteed that all items will not take any durability loss. Demand and supply has it that there are ample supply (since not all players use crystalline items), that the potion is probably going to be cheaper than buying a level 175 unbreakable buff. It'll definitely be worth while to use this potion instead of the buffs.

Buff Master

Buff Master is a skill under the Specials Skill Tree.
It has a dependency on Brew Master, meaning that at least 10 points must be placed into Brew Master before you can have any points in Buff Master.
It is available to players of level 500 or higher.
Here's the official description :

0.2% per point chance to half the stamina cost (rounding up) when casting skills on other players. (Does not work on self!)

First to note, that does not mean that a player cannot cast the Buff Master buff on himself.
It means that the chance to half the stamina cost does not apply when the player with the buff cast skills on himself.
Since the skill is available to level 500 players, it is safe to assume that players will this skill will have it at the maximum level (which is level 175, with maxed Fury Casting).
That means there is a 35% chance to half the stamina cost.
Ignoring rounding, it is saving 17.5% of the stamina.

The buff itself cost 10 stamina and has a duration of 60 minutes (90 minutes with maxed sustain).
So if you are a level 500 or higher with the buff, and casting more than 60 stamina of skills on other players (within the duration of the Buff Master), you should first cast this buff on yourself.

If you need to buy this buff, then you have to figure out how much your stamina worth, vs how much are players charging you for this buff. The same ratio of 17.5% savings apply if you buy a level 175 buff. That means, if you will be using 100 stam in buffs (on others), you will be saving 17.5 stam. If you will be using 150 stam in buffs, you will be saving 26.25 stam (which is a little more than 1 fsp worth in stam). The going rate at the time of writing this blog appears to be 1 fsp to get this buff from a level 500 player.
There is also a Potion of Skills Master which you can buy from the Auction House.
That potion has a minimum price of 25,000 gold. Which I have often seen it as not being purchased at all. Maybe things will change after players read this blog, or maybe not.
That potion is a skill level 100 with a duration of 60 minutes.
That means it is a 10% savings in stamina.
So now, consider the following ::

100 stams used in buffing others
Option 1 : Buff yourself, 17.5 stam saved on average, 10 stam used on buff, 7.5 stam total savings.
Option 2 : Buy the buff, 1 fsp. 17.5 stam saved on average. (Not good, better to use the fsp to buy 25 stam).
Option 3 : Buy the potion, 25k. 10 stam saved on average. (Good deal, probably better than option 1 even for level 500 players).

150 stams used in buffing others
Option 1 : Buff yourself, 26.25 stam saved on average, 10 stam used on buff, 16.25 stam total savings.
Option 2 : Buy the buff, 1 fsp. 26.25 stam saved on average. This is better than using the fsp to buy stam.
Option 3 : Buy the potion, 25k, 15 stam saved. (This is a better savings, since it is cheaper than 100k/25stam rate. Level 500 players are probably better off using option 1, saving more stam without paying the 25k).

250 stams used in buffing others
Option 1 : Buff yourself, 43.75 stam saved, 10 stam used, 33.75 stam total savings.
Option 2 : Buy the buff, 1 fsp. 43.75 stam saved on average. (Assuming rate of 1 fsp = 25 stam, you saved 18.75 stam).
Option 3 : Buy the potion, 25k, 25 stam saved on average. (Assuming rate of 100k = 25 stam, 25k = 6.25 stam, you saved 18.75 stam) (This is the breakeven point if you use the current buff buying rate vs potion rate, as well as stamina valuation, and that means above 250 stams used, option 2 is probably the best option for players below level 500 or without the skill).

What if the price changes?
What if I value stamina differently?
This is especially true since it is 25 stamina is really worth less than 1 fsp (or 1 stamina is worth less than 4k). Players still buy stamina with fsp, but usually only when they are fully buffed. It makes sense to save the stamina and then to use it all in a bigger block. It is this same argument that players hunt with full stamina insted of daily. Consider selling buffs at 1 fsp per 25 stamina, that's like banking your stamina into a reserve, as you can buy the stamina at a more convenient/strategic time. Now, if the stamina bank allows you to withdraw only 25 stamina for every 30 stamina banked, will you do it? Maybe. But if you will, then the value of stamina just went down to 3.3k. Everyone will measure this differently, since at different stage of the game, you may want more fsp (for upgrades, equipment or otherwise), or more stam (when hunting and so close to finishing off that tough level and you're all buffed up).

So here are the variables :
Value of stamina = V(measured as gold per stamina, above examples were using 4k/stam)
Price to get the level 175 buff = B (in gold)
Price to buy the level 100 potion = P (in gold)
Amount of stamina used on others = S

Option 1 : 10 stamina used, .175 * S saved. Total savings = (.175 * S - 10)*V
Option 2 : Buy the buff, B. .175 * S saved. Total savings = .175 * S * V - B
Option 3 : Buy the potion, P. .1 * S saved. Total savings = .1 * S * V - P

Now you can plug in your own values and decide which option you use. Option 1 may not be available to everyone. Have fun buffing.