Polearm build crossroads; suggestions?

[Nehvar]

I'm currently sitting at 18/18 with 6 points each in Power Strike, Athletics and Weapon Mastery and all of my WPF devoted to polearm.  There are three paths I'm considering...

1) Stay at 18/18 and pick up 6 points of Iron Flesh AND 5 Riding.  (65HP)
2) Increase STR to 21 and power strike to 7 and buy 4 points of Iron Flesh OR Riding.  (56-64HP)
3) Increase AGI to 21 along with corresponding increases to Weapon Mastery and Athletics and buy 3 points of Iron Flesh OR Riding. (53-59HP)

I haven't yet tried a mounted character in cRPG so I'm not sure whether I'd like it or not.  I have received a lot of lances to the back however...kinda want to return the favor a bit.

You guys have more experience with this game so what do you think?  What's more effective and what's more fun here?

[Philippe]

I face a similar dilemma, except I also I need to split my wpf points.

I d say go for the first one only if you use a high damage weapon and a heavy amor on foot. Having a lot of HP like your first option benefits more a heavy armored warrior in my opinion that a light armored one.

My preference goes to the second one. 4IF and 4riding are both good options. If you wanna ride all the time, IF is not needed that much anyway because of the damage bonus you receive with your speed. The choice only will depends on what use you want to make of that riding skill, if you just bring a mount  10% of the time, then it might be better to tak the IF option and stay on foot. Mounted or not, its the build I would choose.

The third one would be better for light armored agility character with mobility and high attack speed style character I guess. If you wanna ride, 3 in riding seems quite low to me, you wont be able to use the courser / destrier / arabian warhorse. They are the more commonly used horses, they are affordable and good all around mounts. Plus you wont be able to call for them  when their rider got killed. If you just want to bring a rouncey and kill a few people with it every once in a while for the fun of it and to add some diversity, I guess 3 riding could be enough. But if you want to play mounted more concistently I think having at least 4 is mandatory, if not 5.

Both three seems viable to me, it depends on what your playstyle is.

[Tears of Destiny]

Use the "skip the fun" and test out a mounted character before you sink points in it, as it is a sizable investment.

[Nehvar]

Hmm, you're right about the courser etc.  I had thought they were Ride-3 mounts, my mistake.  The third build would be Iron Flesh only then.

I would use skip the fun to give cavalry a try but I already have a STF character.

[Sammael]

I am always an advocate of hybrid builds, and have taken minimum 4 riding skill in every single gen of my main character (any less and I find myself frustrated with lack of speed/manuever). The ability to change up play style with the same build is what keeps me coming back. If you think you might feel the same way, an 18/18 build will serve you well. Heck you could even drop a couple points in shield for when you want to hoplite, instead of IF.

IF is a good skill, but it doesn't change the way you play the game (as much as other skills anyway), and I find it to be the first thing I'll sacrifice in favor of more interesting skills.

In the end, it's all up to what you want to do with your character, though if you take riding, I prefer 4 if not 5 riding skill minimum.

[Prosed]

My last build was a cav with an agi build with only 5 PS. I find that I would like a little more STR, but in the end having a bit more agility is nice. When you make one run through a crowd you can make more stabs with a higher agility, so that would be were I'd put my points if I were you.

[El_Infante]

My suggestion: 21/15.

[SixThumbs]

I'm at 21/15 right now and I think it's a pretty solid, skill oriented build.

[Phazey]

I prefer the 18/18 cav builds myself. The difference between 5 and 6 athletics: with 5, you are 'as fast' as most players. With 6, you are faster and fighting multiple opponents becomes much easier, because you move faster and are able to control fights with footwork better.

But it's a matter of personal preference. What's 'good' for you and what isn't really depends on your playstyle.

[CrazyCracka420]

I prefer the 18/18 cav builds myself. The difference between 5 and 6 athletics: with 5, you are 'as fast' as most players. With 6, you are faster and fighting multiple opponents becomes much easier, because you move faster and are able to control fights with footwork better.

But it's a matter of personal preference. What's 'good' for you and what isn't really depends on your playstyle.

I have an 18/18 cav build (well I will when I get my next tick to level 31), I haven't converted any skills to attributes or vice versa.  My bro tommyhu has a different opinion about cav, and he's a lot better on horseback than me (and probably on foot as well), he has a 0athletics cav build and I'm pretty sure he converted some skills to attributes. 5 athletics is more than enough as someone who mainly plays a horseman.  6 isn't necessary IMO, if you are mainly planning on being on your horse. 

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I was thinking when I hit level 31 and get 18 agility I will put that extra skill into riding (so I'm faster on my courser) than into WPF.  WPF is very important (duh!) but I think I'd rather have that extra speed on horse, at least when I'm riding it should make up for the WPF that I'm missing out on. 

I'm starting to play the game a lot more than when I just casually played, but I still don't think I'm going to retire my character.  I like my build, the only problem is that courser's cost 1900 gold to repair when they need to be.  So doing a cav build can be expensive.  Honestly though, I'd recommend your first option to the OP. 

[Baggy]

Meh as cav my build for the last few gens has been this.

Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)

    Strength: 21
    Agility: 18
    Hit points: 56

    Skills to attributes: 8

    Ironflesh: 4
    Power Strike: 7
    Shield: 0
    Athletics: 0
    Riding: 6
    Horse Archery: 0
    Power Draw: 0
    Power Throw: 0
    Weapon Master: 6

    One Handed: 1
    Two Handed: 1
    Polearm: 156
    Archery: 1
    Crossbow: 1
    Throwing: 1

[Beothed]

Hello mate!

I'm a poleaxe guy and I was sitting at 18/18 myself. I was tired of hitting things and them not dying. I went to an extreme and made a STF 30/9 build and once I got used to the pace of it, I loved it. I respecced my main and am on the way to 30 again. When I hit things now, they die! 

Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)

    * Strength: 30
    * Agility: 9
    * Hit points: 79

    * Skills to attributes: 8

    * Ironflesh: 7
    * Power Strike: 10
    * Shield: 0
    * Athletics: 3
    * Riding: 0
    * Horse Archery: 0
    * Power Draw: 0
    * Power Throw: 0
    * Weapon Master: 3

    * One Handed: 1
    * Two Handed: 1
    * Polearm: 132
    * Archery: 1
    * Crossbow: 1
    * Throwing: 1

Just an idea if you want to try something new!

[Cyclopsided]

(click to show/hide)

Hello mate!

I'm a poleaxe guy and I was sitting at 18/18 myself. I was tired of hitting things and them not dying. I went to an extreme and made a STF 30/9 build and once I got used to the pace of it, I loved it. I respecced my main and am on the way to 30 again. When I hit things now, they die! 

Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)

    * Strength: 30
    * Agility: 9
    * Hit points: 79

    * Skills to attributes: 8

    * Ironflesh: 7
    * Power Strike: 10
    * Shield: 0
    * Athletics: 3
    * Riding: 0
    * Horse Archery: 0
    * Power Draw: 0
    * Power Throw: 0
    * Weapon Master: 3

    * One Handed: 1
    * Two Handed: 1
    * Polearm: 132
    * Archery: 1
    * Crossbow: 1
    * Throwing: 1

Just an idea if you want to try something new!

This is my build on ceph. At level 31 I put 3 points in riding, hardest hitting lancer ever.

p.s. nehvar, diversity is the spice of life. i'd to 18/18 with cav and IF.

[CrazyCracka420]

Meh as cav my build for the last few gens has been this.

I personally don't like the build (but I'm certainly no expert).  With my build sitting above I didn't convert any skills to attributes.  So you have 3 more str, and 1 more wpf than me (and 1 more power strike).  You have no shield, no athletics, and no 1h proficiency.  I don't think you need 155 polearms vs my 126...and I'm still able to get 92 1h out of it. 

I prefer my "balanced" build in theory. 

If you were a polearm footman (like the OP) and wanted to not have any riding, I would go with beothed's build and make a lot more str and power strike.

[Nehvar]

I went with the 21/18 build this time...don't know why.  My 2-hander is 18/21 and my pole-dancer is 21/18 when it should have been the other way around.  Anyway, I have four skill points saved up and I'm going to give cavalry a try.  Which horse do you guys prefer to lance from; Courser or Arabian?

If I end up liking being mounted I think I'll go 18/18 for generation two.