Alright, we Orcs are severely lacking in stickies and the same questions get asked all the time. Here are a series of stickies for all your most pressing questions. Feel free to post new info if you wish, but really it would help if you all added links to the most relevant threads on the subject. If all you do is add a thread link in your post, I will delete it as I add these links to this post. Know that your contributions are very appreciated. Again, feel free to add new thoughts (or summarize old thoughts) as well. If you think a particular topic deserves a sticky and you don't see one, please message me.

As an Orc Mystic, fighter weapons are certainly a viable choice, but the mystic weapons help those DoT's land more consistently and improve effectiveness of the Life Drain spells. I'd say this choice depends on your play style and whether your primary role is caster or fighter.

For melee weapons I prefer the fist weapons. Their PAtk is highest and they have an accuracy bonus. Dual swords are popular, and they crit more, but they also miss more. For me, the more consistent damage of the fist weapons is preferred, and looks better. :)

Merus

I'm thinking about getting a claymore for my lvl 24 Orc Shaman, what do you think?

As an orc mage, you have to choose which of the two things you want to be good at: casting or fighting.

If you want to be a caster (sleep + DoT for example), you need a mage weapon and some robes.

If you want to be a meleer, then you need a fighter weapon and heavy armour. Since we don't have any specific masteries (like blunt mastery, sword mastery, etc), most fighter weapons are viable, but I suggest going with a blunt because of the stun attack. We get the same stun as dwarves get. Stun can use a lot of mp, so it's not good to always use it, but when you need it, it can save your life, so I think it's worth having a blunt just in case you need it.

If you want to farm light blues, you can try with a melee weapon and light armour, or if you're an overlord you can have fun with your seals with a mage weapon.

Taliesyn, 48 Overlord of Erica

Edit: I am just going to do an overview of each of the weapons pros and cons and let you decide.

Dual Swords: Great damage, bad M atk, slow attack speed, good critical,no accuracy bonus, looks awesome, very common(so easy to make/find). A typically good choice if you want to buff/heal and just use melee attacks to help your party while you regain mana.

Dual Fists: Great damage, bad M atk, slow attack speed, bad critical, accuracy bonus, looks pretty good on shamans, harder to find(the only class that is made to use them is monk~tyrant). This is another buffer/healer weapon, the main difference between dual swords/fists is fists are more accurate but swords have a higher critical.

Blunt(Fighter-type): Not so great damage, decent M atk, fast attack speed, bad critical, accuracy bonus, shield, stun, easy to find. This is a pretty good choice for shamans if you want to pvp/solo more then party. The stun is awesome in duels(if it lands).

Staff: Bad damage, great M atk, slow attack speed, bad critical, shield(with 1 handed), stun, not too hard to find. If you want to depend heavily on your seals(Overlords), dots, or your life drain skills, rather then buff/heal, this would be your choice. These can be 1 handed or 2 handed. 2 handed can have more damage and M atk, but 1 handed gets a shield and a faster attack speed. Keep in mind, to be effective PvP with your spells(except for sleep), you will want a staff. But for lvling vs mobs, most fighter weapons will suffice.

Sword(Mystic Sword): Decent damage, great M atk, fast attack speed, good critical, shield, not too hard to find. I have yet to see a shaman use this, up until B grade, they are basically 1 handed blunts with increased critical, but no stun or accuracy bonus.

Poles: Good damage, Area of Effect, bad M atk, slow attack speed, good critical, not too hard to find. I have heard of shamans using seals to get opponents rooted and down to 1 hp, then switch to a weak pole to kill them all in one hit. It might be a great choice for seal users to get a fully upgraded one, but I have yet to try it.

Books: Bad damage, great M atk, fast attack speed, good critical, REALLY HARD to find. This is pretty much the same as a 1 handed mage blunt with no stun or accuracy bonus. It was supposed to give +10% to M atk, but this has been tested and found to not work. It is also not available for top C grade and all of B grade and up. Not sure if they are going to add books in later chronicles or not(I want an A grade Proof of Overlord :))

Daggers: Bad damage, low M atk, very fast attack speed, best critical, not too hard to find, reduced accuracy. Not only does this not help your accuracy, it lowers it! But it is the most effective weapon in conjuction with Soul Cry. For some Overlords, they can justify 122 M atk on a Hell Knife enough to give up the Stun on a staff, but that is up to you entirely. I love stun way too much to give it up.

Bow: No, the entire point of using a weapon in melee is to conserve MP, this uses MP. No, no, no....no. Edit: I might be changing my opinion in C2....There is a new weapon special ability and it could be added to bows called cheapshot. It reduces mana consumption of each shot. Of course, this is only on C grade weapons and up, but it might be nice combined with seal of binding and any AoE DoT. After C2: I still think bows are not a great idea for shamans. Bad accuracy combined with lowered accuracy and a slow attack speed is just bad.

[Edited by MolotovHero at 2:39 PM on 2/7/2005]

I'm just level 25, and I'm planning on going overlord. I just got some cool AoE skills, and I was wondering if I should buy a polearm or a high m.atk weapon. Any opinions?

I personally think the AoE skills aren't that useful until level 48. That's when you get seal of flame 1 which does some really nasty damage to all the mobs around you. Many other seals only get their good effects at higher levels. Reducing the attack speed by 10% isn't really worth the mp cost, but reducing it by 50% makes a noticeable difference, for example. And all seals seem to work better as they level up. At level 35 seals of binding + blaze quake didn't work well in groups fighting pinks / dark reds, but at level 48 seal of binding and seal of flame seem to work a lot more often.

Currently I use a +3 yaksa mace and with bsps my seals work most of the time on mobs, so a +3 top c-grade polearm would be a good option. I'm working on having a mage weapon (ghoul's or sprite's staff) mostly for pvp/sieges/raids, but in groups/solo I like having a melee weapon. That's not to say that you can't melee well with a mage weapon, I know many orc mages who do and they do a good job at it, but I think my damage output is slightly more. Before level 40, though, I would really suggest either a melee weapon (tarbar/duals/bonebreaker/etc) or a mage weapon (demonfangs/staff of life/etc). Although in C2 with the half-hp grouped mobs maybe it'll be worth using our seals earlier.

One thing you must remember when comparing weapon is their ranking. When you tried your duals, you probably tried 107 duals, which are the top d-grade. When you tried your blunt, did you try a bonebreaker (top d-grade) or just a tarbar? As for stun not working, it's probably around 1/3 chance of working and at level 40 you get your 2nd stun skill, so if your main stun fails you can try the other one. And it's better to have a "when all else fails" skill than dieing because you can't do anything in emergencies.

Also, for daggers, this is something I haven't test yet but I will try to when I reach level 56. Daggers have the best attack speed. Overlords get the best p.atk buff (soul cry adds 203ish p.atk at level 56. Combined together, I think you would get a very fast and powerful attack. This is just an untested theory since dagger is pretty much the only set-up I haven't tried yet.

If you want to PvP and most of you know Warcryers (and even Overlords) can do so very well. The best setup is Heavy Armor (not really supposed to be in the thread) and a Staff. You can use drain, DoT's, sleep, ... very well and still use stun, while not taking to much damage.

Every orc mage should be in heavy armor.  the buffs and heals produce massive aggro.  so in groups you will get hit.  and solo you need heavy or you will die fast.

basically you have two choices in weapons.. if you want to use magic, use a two handed staff.  if you want to use melee, use dual swords or dual fists.

dual fists will be cheaper to buy than dual swords.  currently on my server a great pata is around 9 million while dual kats are around 11 million.  orc mages need accuracy anyways from having the lowest dex in the game.  it's better to constantly hit the target rather than miss the target a lot but get more criticals.

I bought a set of karmian cheap last week and i'm testing it out in group play.  sure it gives me more MP and a LOT faster cast rate.. but that's it.  I'm still meleeing in group play and when I get aggro.. I get hit hard.  I'm thinking karmian will only be used for PvP against other mages or healers.

dont forget to train your soul cry up.  it's the best buff you will ever get.  lvl 48 soulcry adds something like 150 patk instantly.  that's a HUGE boost in damage.  and it will only get better at C2 arrives as soulcry gets to even higher levels.

also we do not get any weapon masteries past lvl 56 in C2 according to official patch notes.  so our role as damage dealer will go down the higher level we are.

I think MolotovHero did an excellent job on weapon breakdown, but I think one important weapon category was missed: 2 Handed Blunt. These have the attack speed of a Pole weapon (325, instead of 375 for 1 handed), but it should be noted their MAtk is huge, while still providing a decent PAtk. In D grade there are two of these: Atuba Mace and Atuba Hammer (the latter being the more rare, as the recipe is not in game). They are both PAtk 90 and MAtk 72, leaving only the two handed Staff of Life with a higher MAtk in D Grade (74 to be exact). SoL attacks just as slowly, I believe, as a two handed blunt. The Atuba weapons, if you can afford them, provide very decent PAtk while having almost the highest possible MAtk in D grade. I believe in C Grade the MAtk dsiparity between 2 handed blunts and 2 handed staves is bigger, but in D grade it is barely noticeable.

Anyway, if you can afford the 3.8-4 mil (Lionna prices) an Atuba Mace/Hammer will run you, it would be well worth it, if you desire to cast alot, but still melee pretty often.

I liquidated a spellhowler, so have plenty of adena to throw around for best equipment, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Staff of Life will be THE best weapon a 20-40 Shaman can ever use:

1) Highest m.atk you can get for D grade
2) High p.atk (only 5 less than a tarbar)
3) One-Handed (shield can be used with it)
4) Classed as a blunt of course, so +5 accuracy and works with Stun
5) "Fast" speed (compared to "Normal" speed of staffs)

Will cost horrible amounts (4-5m), but if you can afford, twink++!!!!

Why I advocate the Atuba Weapons is really the high PAtk, way higher than even Tarbar, while still retaining an awesome MAtk. You are melee capable mages, you might as well use it. Also, after checking, the Ghost Staff has similar stats, so that is also an option. You can't use a shield with these, but why bother, I'd rather kill faster than have a slight chance to blunt an extra blow or two.

First of all, I think Orcs Mystics are the best. I like how you can be versitile in choosing your weapon. My playstyle is to use a DoT then bash the brains out of the target. So I like to use a weapon that is balanced in both areas( Doom Hammer, Sword of Mystic, and Staffs). I like my Doom Hammer best because I can use stun with it.

I just switched from mage weapon (nirvana axe) to Great pata's , most of the time i like to solo cuz of the limited time i have to play ,and since i got my GP's i lvl much faster then before .

so imo the equip you need is depending on how you play in l2

I find light armor the best choice between,  still good for party s (nice mp regen) , and still nice pdef for solo or agro ... .

Heavy armor is good if you solo allot

Robes , well if ya always party and play buffer/bck healer then the robes can be a good sol .

I used to hunt in c1 with a divine set in cruma 2 without a prob so the low pdef isnt that of a prob if you play smart ;)

Conclusion , think about your role in the game or how you wanne play to make a deci on equip

To who happens itself to him to use a dual sword in orc, when not this enabled this and less to unar a staff when you have stun and dawns for casting spell fast? single to a novice it is possible to be happened to him, in my opinion I can recommend an equipment to them of heavy armor, a mallet and a shield, since using a heavy armor u have more spell casting fast, you sacrifice mp but u will have more def but in combats, and better when cazes regularly you use little mp, since if you use the burned one for the life and the attack dawn, in just a short time you finished yet, orco has little life, but has something to its advantage: to consume life, using blessed spirit shot really you did not need to recharge the life... with respect to pvp is equal the equipment that you can take, the magicians did not support a seal of silence, if this is does not fail the battle finishes, with the archers 1uses the slowness seal and evasion, soon thinks about sleeping it since overlords spirit does not have good skill with dreamer, with a warrior and knight you must use blinding and to burn the life to him whichever times you can... clear you can several the options segun your preference, but few know that overlord is the best personage for pvp, is hybrid of necromancer and soldier, with buff and seals used correctly it is a lethal character in the game.

[B]luthar wrote:[/b]

To who happens itself to him to use a dual sword in orc, when not this enabled this and less to unar a staff when you have stun and dawns for casting spell fast? single to a novice it is possible to be happened to him, in my opinion I can recommend an equipment to them of heavy armor, a mallet and a shield, since using a heavy armor u have more spell casting fast, you sacrifice mp but u will have more def but in combats, and better when cazes regularly you use little mp, since if you use the burned one for the life and the attack dawn, in just a short time you finished yet, orco has little life, but has something to its advantage: to consume life, using blessed spirit shot really you did not need to recharge the life... with respect to pvp is equal the equipment that you can take, the magicians did not support a seal of silence, if this is does not fail the battle finishes, with the archers 1uses the slowness seal and evasion, soon thinks about sleeping it since overlords spirit does not have good skill with dreamer, with a warrior and knight you must use blinding and to burn the life to him whichever times you can... clear you can several the options segun your preference, but few know that overlord is the best personage for pvp, is hybrid of necromancer and soldier, with buff and seals used correctly it is a lethal character in the game.

That was the radist post I've ever seen. GJ guy!

sry to ask but wa does AoE mean

AoE = Area of Effect

What about 2-handed sword "Flamberge" for C-Grade?

I've have a level 41 OverLord in +1Comp.Armor with helm & boots (I got a good deal at level 39 on them). But now I'm still using 107's and really want a new weapon. I want to wait and get a waraxe and comp.shield. I've got a million now and a Kukuri as a secondary weapon. I could sell them now and buy the 2H sword or wait and keep farming blues/greens for a long time.

Any advice? The P.attack is alot more and I'm so tired of seeing the 107's, but the M.attack is only a few points higher.

I find fast attacking weapons to be best for me. Soul Cry give a fixed amount of P.Atk, so hitting faster will get more out of your Soul Cry.

The problem i find is accuracy with daggers, so i might go for 1 handed Sword or Blunt. I tried top duals with SA and i think i like my SLS better, have to see if i can try a Yaksa also to hind out if i want to go blunt (will cost me a few mill to go from sls to yaksa :SAD: )

[Edited by Lygophobia at 11:11 AM on 4/6/2005]

Your right the 2H sword was way to slow. I got lucky and got a +3Waraxe with haste and so far it's great. I think I might keep until 52. I like the looks and compared to a Flamberge it kicks. Yaksa go for 10-12 million here. Enchanted ones even higher.

Blunt is the only choice :o gotta have stun. without stun you are a sitting duck for 65+ daggers. With heavy and a blunt you can dot/stun/drain/stun drain and kill most classes 60+ with over half hp left as a WC :o

Tell me please where to buy Staff of life?

For me I find that WC using Light Armr + Shield + 1HD blunt is very good

Light Armr have same cast speed as Robe + Decent Pdef
Shield is great for C3 as i can block more often and arrows are block quite often now.
With a Blunt i can stun .... which can make a big diff.

My way in hunting
1)Frz Flame with SPS
2)Steal Essence with SPS
3)Stun + SS
4)if HP drops to 3/4 ... a SPS Steal Essence.

If using Hvy armr yur chance of getting cancel on the Steal essence is quite common.... but with light armr i can usually drain quite successfully.

If anyone is going OL use your seals and buffs , don't think because you have blunt stun you should have a yaska or something. Go with the highest m attack weapon you can afford and the best robes. even at 30-40 your seals works wonders on mobs. But once you hit 40+ OLs just get godly if used correctly.
I am considerring rerolling to an OL, just so my clan has an active one.

Plz keep in mind I am only talking about party vs mobs.
For PvP I can see heavy or light being usefull, I would probably try robes first though and then switch if I kept on getting owned

I see OLs 40-upper 50s on the server I play on, that love heavy and blunts. lol. If I wanted blunt stun I would just party with a destroyer or a dwarf, not a WC or OL.

Scz, It sounds like you solo or tank alot. I am making this guess based on your hunting strat. As a WC why would you solo?.... lol. I would think you would want to be in a party 24/7, with your group buffs, aoe sleep, etc.

Let me know your reasoning, I could be wrong. I have seen alot of WC and OL soloing or duoing and I never understood why.

Let me know

LB

Well if u ask me what makes a spell caster pwn just look at how a Spell Singer can tear through bodies. I think that fast casting speed is what pwns ur face. So...because of thise idea, I'm going Avadon Robes with a Homunkulus's Sword w/Acumen. As far as I can tell 30% casting speed when buffed w/ acumen3, zerk2, Dance of Concentration not 2 mention the damage our life drain does and the HPs we get back from it. That's some damage. And on top of that i have a +2 wit -2 men tattoo for even faster casting. The only thing u gotta hate is that damn curse u get if u didn't win ur seal.

I starting a Shaman now and im unsure what weapon to go.

I was thinking Brig and Claymore. More p.atck then duals, and more M.atck bu same atck speed. would this be aviable weapon ? I havnt seen 2 handed swords mentioned much

if you are going to solo alot that wouldn't be a bad choice.

But shamans/OLs/WCs in heavy and a non mage weapon is unless to the party. You run out of mana too fast and your casting speed is even slower than normal.

If you can afford both you can always just invest in two sets of gear.

I'd solo to 40 with a prophet buffer now and then. Once i hit 40 i will be going for robes. Divine if WC, Demon if OL. Weapon would depend. i have +5 katana*storm (health, 211p.atck, 102matck) lying around so them on a WC. an OL i would invest in getting a Staff most likely.

Also now i have a question. are seals classed as bad spells ?
like if i had dryad root SA on a deadmans staff, and i cast the aoe sleep and it was that 0% chance, would all be rooted as well ? Same question for bless body, if i do a WC buff or alliance buff and its that chance of bless body, do all recieve it ?

I believe so. As an OL I would go with a negative enchant because you mass seal all the time. Plus the people that really need bless the body will get it from a prophet.

Was thinking Root for OL
BB for WC

From my personal experiance as a WC I find the following setup pretty effective as buffer support DD.I am now lvl 56 an i use the following.
Divine Set
Blue Wolf Heavy armor set
Dual Delusions +0 (try to go for Dual sls)
I use the robes for when i need some more mp /faster mp regen in hot keys.
Blue Wolf although reduces dex the only thing that would hurt me is the accurancy loss which is only -1 less accurancy not THAT big deal.
For weapon choice i went to duals cause they pear great with my chants rage-haste and have nice dmg output.Me flames lannd 90% of the time on up to yellow enemies with bsps /sps ofcourse.
I don;t believe ther is one standard "Ultimate Weapon Type" for the Orc shamans or even one "Ultimate Armor Type".
Orc shamans are the most versatile class in L2 and their setup dependes on each and every ones' of us playstyle.

I have 52 Overlord now and I have +1 Bellion Cestus (from my tyrant that I played before) but It`s not best choose for overlord. It have pretty patk but me like overlord have always group of mobs around me. I not need patk, dots do pretty damage I need better defense so I try play with art of battle axe and doom shield (from our clan dwarf :)) and wow, with my shield block rate buff I have 80% shield defense succes from white mobs. I use only light armor coz when I have mana I can heal myself with drain, in heavy I must sit every 5minutes and wait. And heavy is really bad choice when u wan be usefull in CS. U cannot buff without mana and in robe u dying too much.
So when I try Art of Battle Axe, Doom shield, BW light I have everything that overlord can want. I can tank well and surive when I have lot of mobs around me. I solo on groups of white mobs really fast. I have alot of mana to buff, dots and heal myself with steal essence. I have great casting speed so I can safely cast in group od monsters around me and the y cant interupt my spells. I can use stun.
In PvP I can boost my Pdef, use soul guard and have shield with great block rate. I can beat fighter classes on same lvl without problem. And cast speed is great when u fight with mage.

Sorry 4 my bad english, I learn it only few years.

Im a lvl 48 WC on Bartz. Rome05 of the MostHated clan,host of the Outlawz. I find myself having to be an active DD once I have given my buffs for the group. My weapon of choice is the Dwarven War Hammer. The one I have is +2 with Haste (128 p.atk). My armor is Full Plate set and Full Plate shield. I figure since Im going to be fighting any thing from Gladiators to Prophets I might as well be armed like a fighter for the p.atk and p.def since WCs already have the m.def and m.atk.

How about in hihger lvls ( 50+) a dagger whit SA focus, heavy armor and a shield, and soul cry/ chants of shieldding/battle/rage/fury ?

lots of criticals and lot of damage.... what do you think?