Low str REALLY high agi melee characters.

[Dravic]

Hi guys!

I am wondering, if builds like 6/7 str 30+ agi are viable.

Are they?

I mean, do they bounce off so much with proper footwork?

I thought about doing an agi character like this, but am wondering about a build and weapon.

The latter is probably much more problematic.

Here are my ideas for weapons:

Shortened spear - nice stab, but really bad swing dmg. It's fast itself and it has really low difficulty. Doesn't forgive side swings - if you bounce off there are HIGH chances you are dead in next 2 seconds.

Short Falchion - this is my second favourite "idea". You would see Scottish Sword in its place if it had 6 difficulty, but since it doesn't... The damage is really nice, requirements are... LOW and i mean LOW - 4 str? rly? There is one downside, really hard to pass - short reach. And I mean SHORT - 61 units? rly? The speed is REALLY nice, tho. 104 speed unloomed and with loom it has a whopping 105 speed and 33 cut damage, which is a lot faster than Katana. But the length sucks...
Glad it is longer than Long Dagger ;)

... which leads us to Yanmaodao. Now this is my favorite one. Same dmg as Short Falchion, 25 units longer reach, reasonable difficulty - 6... But it is a "bit" slower. The "bit" means a lot if I am going to "dive" between enemy attacks during duel to deal some dmg. Don't get me wrong, it isn't slow, but... You know... I like to swing fast. Really fast, if it's possible.



Any suggestions?

[Mlekce]

one hit with stones and u are dead. i have 20 str and 4 IF and wear medium armor (40 to head,body,and legs) and sometimes i die from one hit. Everyone will rape you with that build. it is shit,completly usless.

[Lysander]

I'm using atm 15/27, but if you want 30 ath, go 12/30.
Could work well, and you can also use Katana.

[Zerran]

2 PS will bounce off just about anything more than light armor unless you're using a pierce thrusting weapon, and even then you're restricting yourself to 1 viable attack direction with a fairly short weapon. You'll be fast as hell, sure, but you're damage will be so low it's really not worth it. Even successful hits won't do much damage. Also remember, wpf only increases speed by about 6.5% per 100 points, so if you go 10 wm and have 189 wpf, which is 78 more than someone who has no WM, you only attack about 4-5% faster, which isn't likely to help you much. The only thing a build like this is really viable for, tbh, is messing around, or perhaps sneak attacking archers.

I would strongly recommend against using a cut weapon if you do a build like this. It HAS to do blunt and/or pierce damage, or you'll just bounce off everything. The plain "Spear" is probably your best bet here. Alternatively, if you go 7 strength, the quarter staff is a very nice option too. With that you would actually be able to use the swings as well to decent effect.

[Dravic]

I'm using atm 15/27, but if you want 30 ath, go 12/30.
Could work well, and you can also use Katana.

12/30? Low WM, but... how about an awlpike? Matches requirements, deals pretty amount of damage, with 10 athletics the footwork won't be bad (though 11+ is always better)... with correct footwork should be able to make people confused when they get hit between their own attacks...

What do you think?

[SirProto]

I'm 12/24 and it works pretty well, I can choose who to fight and run from big mobs if need be. I use a scottish sword & steel buckler usually and it rarely bounces with 4 PS and the speed bonus

[rustyspoon]

The biggest problem with builds like this are your own teammates. Since pretty much everyone will 1 hit you, if you ever drop a block because of a team hit you're dead. And we all know how reliable teammates are...

[caris]

A shield will help help survival issues. Polearm + Shield + 10 Athletics so you can just backpedal/thrust to be annoying.

[Brrrak]

A shield will help help survival issues. Polearm + Shield + 10 Athletics so you can just backpedal/thrust to be annoying.

Wasting all that athletics on backpedalling?  Are you nuts?  Run around, try to open your opponent up, get good thrusts in while s/he's unable to respond, stack polestagger.  You're not gonna top the scoreboards too easily with 6/7 strength, but you can definitely have a ton of fun.

That said, high ath awlpikers are insanely fucking annoying a pretty viable playstyle too.

[ShinySpoons]

Can be intensely good, kill all enemies deal if it matches your playstyle. Though of course, if you get lazy/unlucky and catch a random arrow/roaming wild horse you die.

[Zerran]

Wasting all that athletics on backpedalling?  Are you nuts?  Run around, try to open your opponent up, get good thrusts in while s/he's unable to respond, stack polestagger.  You're not gonna top the scoreboards too easily with 6/7 strength, but you can definitely have a ton of fun.

Backpeddling is the most boring way to use ath, imo. Circling around and confusing the shit out of opponents is so much more fun (and honestly can work VERY well if done properly).

[Uumdi]

You can actually do damage with as low as 6-7 strength.  Try a piercing weapon like shortened spear, or highest damage cut you can use with such low str.  I had a STF wakizashi dude, and I actually managed not to glance off goretooth in full black armor a few times.  I can assure you I was probably only doing 1-5 damage to him haha, but if you charge your swings for half a second+, you'll hear your character grunt, and this actually gives you a significant damage bonus.  30, maybe even 50% i forget. 

Somebody mentioned a 12/30 build, which is entirely possible, or a 12/27 depending if you want the weapon master for added speed and damage or not.  You're still gonna be super soft at 12 str.

[Brrrak]

You can actually do damage with as low as 6-7 strength.  Try a piercing weapon like shortened spear, or highest damage cut you can use with such low str.  I had a STF wakizashi dude, and I actually managed not to glance off goretooth in full black armor a few times.  I can assure you I was probably only doing 1-5 damage to him haha, but if you charge your swings for half a second+, you'll hear your character grunt, and this actually gives you a significant damage bonus.  30, maybe even 50% i forget. 

Somebody mentioned a 12/30 build, which is entirely possible, or a 12/27 depending if you want the weapon master for added speed and damage or not.  You're still gonna be super soft at 12 str.

This.  If you're confident in your footwork and blocking, stack wm. 

EDIT: Fuck Caita's math, Xiaolin.

[Zerran]

This.  If you're confident in your footwork and blocking, stack wm.

Not really any reason to go past 3 wm, even with a massively high agi build.

12/27 with 180 wpf (9 wm) and 30 cut damage on 45 body armor = 15.5 average damage according to the calculator.

15/27 with 130 wpf (3 wm) and 30 cut damage on 45 body armor = 16 average damage according to the calculator.

The first build also had 1 point IF, so in total the bottom build has 1 more hp and deals ~3% more damage, while sacrificing ~3% weapons speed. However, it should be noted that most of your attack speed should be coming from good footwork rather than base weapon speed, so that 3% weapon speed will mean a LOT less than that in actual practice.

EDIT: Of course, you could also go 12/30 at that point and get another point of ath, which could potentially further increase your speed bonus and help both speed AND damage.

[_Tak_]

I use 3/36 and its epic. My build only works great on rage ball, with 0 PS and i can still kill people (Anything beyond byrnie is impossible to kill them)