New to the mod, how do I not suck?

[Verore]

I just started playing this mod after like 30 hours of single player campaign and still totally suck.
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I'm using polearm + shield after I tried out multiple builds and quite like it. What weapon + shield should I aim to get, right now I'm mostly borrowing from my clan armory. I heard that going for the most expensive gear isn't such a great idea. Only thing I bought with my own gold is a Cuir Bouilli over Mail for body.

[Taser]

Best tip is to just keep playing.

But if you can work on blocking, footwork, judging weapon lengths, and so on you will do a lot better. I don't know how good you are at any of that but being good at those will immensely help you.

Practicing with a clan member or two will help those skills and get you used to it. Plus you're pretty low lvl at lvl 17 with only 4 PS and 3 ath. Around mid 20's you should be doing better.

Make sure you know what kind of build you want to do (saw that you want to do shield and polearm). So make sure you ask around for good builds for that (pretty much all melee does well in the range of 15/24 to 24/15).

Good luck to you and definitely talk to clan members and ask if they can train you a bit with blocking, footwork and the like. Footwork can be taught but its much easier (at least imo) to learn while actually fighting people not in a duel.

[Soulreaver]

1) use a lot of athletics as archer, crossbow, horse archer, thrower etc, if an enemy comes close, just run
2)become a shielder with 5-6-7 shield skill (still shield or another heavy), just hold it till your enemy is not tired to hit and run backwards, then attack with some weapons like

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, try to learn to spam
3) dont use your current build
4) use plate armors and go for 33/6, swing your sword right and left killing every one, as a newcomer you can try to find some sponsors help

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[korppis]

It's really hard to do well while below level 25. For a level 30 I'd propably make something like this:

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Level 30 (4 420 577 xp)

    Strength: 18
    Agility: 18
    Hit points: 63

    Skills to attributes: 2

    Ironflesh: 5
    Power Strike: 6
    Shield: 6
    Athletics: 6
    Riding: 0
    Horse Archery: 0
    Power Draw: 0
    Power Throw: 0
    Weapon Master: 6

    One Handed: 24
    Two Handed: 24
    Polearm: 155
    Archery: 1
    Crossbow: 1
    Throwing: 1

Shield + pole is pretty good support class, but it's gonna be painful 1 vs 1 and when ganked. Best is to learn to play without the shield, so try to learn manual blocking and footwork. Propably best place to start is single player where you can use the trainers. Also learn to hit back fast right after block so you won't get spammed. And try to master lolstab.

[Molly]

You don't suck - you're already one of the cool kids for playing this! 

[Teeth]

1) use a lot of athletics as archer, crossbow, horse archer, thrower etc, if an enemy comes close, just run
2)become a shielder with 5-6-7 shield skill (still shield or another heavy), just hold it till your enemy is not tired to hit and run backwards, then attack with some weapons like

(click to show/hide)

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(click to show/hide)

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(click to show/hide)

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, try to learn to spam
3) dont use your current build
4) use plate armors and go for 33/6, swing your sword right and left killing every one, as a newcomer you can try to find some sponsors help

(click to show/hide)

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Pretty bad advice all around.

So you are using a spear with a shield then I gather? It's a very viable playstyle, but fairly tricky when you don't have teammates to support you. Classes that are much more versatile and usable in any scenario are 1h shield and polearm without shield. You might want to try some of those to get a taste of non support class combat. A solid starter build would be 21/18 for both, though perhaps 18/18 as a shielder to get more shield skill and IF. These numbers mean the Strength and Agi values which you should have at level 30.

If you decide to stick with polearm + shield you should probably also go for 21/18 or 18/18. I would recommend using the war spear, it is versatile and quite easy to use. Start your attack on the side of your target and drag it into him, to prevent glancing when he is quite close to you. Also, make sure you click attack very quickly after you blocked, otherwise you leave room for opponents to spam you. Oh and for the sucking right now, you are low level, your stats are quite bad. Just build towards a 15/15 build for now and once you have that you can probably somewhat compete and start getting a kill here and there.

Whatever class you end up with, I do recommend biting the bullet and to start practicing manual blocking. Best way to do this is to launch Native, and go to the tutorial. Somewhere in the area are bots called Novice or Veteran trainers. Put combat speed to slowest in options and do sparring practice with them. Try to block their attacks. If you get 10 succesful blocks in a row, put up the combat speed. This is the quickest way to develop some basic muscle memory for defending yourself and it will greatly increase your success and fun at the game. You should train at least up unto normal, but going to faster and maybe fastest eventually will just make you a quicker and better blocker. As you start blocking better, try to practice it while moving around as well. If you start having trouble again, but the speed down.

Oh and for gear you should probably stick to about 30k total gear cost, if you have about 30k as a buffer for rough times, this should ensure you make some money in the long run.

[Teeth]

Playing a hoplite needs a higher level build to become effective. Give any of these jokers your current level, build and class and they would suck.

Is that a challenge?

[Phew]

What polearm are you using? I would recommend the Ashwood Pike, it's a specialized spear just for hoplites.

At the beginning of every round, find the best infantry player on your team and just follow them around and poke people they are fighting (but don't teamwound them). Even the best hoplites don't do well in 1v1, but they are deadly in a team.

[Zorak]

Sperg out a strength crutch build until you learn how to block.

[Verore]

What kind of settings do you suggest using to practice blocking? I currently set blocking direction to mouse movement and most of the time in third person I keep blocking in the wrong direction.

[Switchtense]

Heskey, once I have my proper internet line set up I will do well with that build And if I manage to I want at least 5k gold as compensation =D

Anyway.

The best advice anyone could ever give you is this:

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Practice

Just keep playing. It will be frustrating to constantly die, but you will quickly see yourself improving.

Play without a shield to get better at blocking manually as well.

At some point you will realise that with each day you will do a lot better.

[Grumbs]

As people have said, you need to level up some more. You need at least 6 in PS and preferably 6 in Athletics too.

As a hoplite your role is to force people to downblock when they need to side or up block. Do that by staying near team mates and try to time your stab with a team mates swings. You are also good at stopping horses (but not really that good at killing them). Aim at the head of the horse and the cav will stop. Then try to kill the horse by aiming away from the block

The shield makes it a bit easier to have a presence in the team fight when you can't manually block, but you should learn to do that as well. Best thing you can do in battle is to play defensively and don't take risks. The longer you survive while having some kind of impact on the battle the better. Always look for ganks (when you have more team mates than the enemy), switch targets if theres an easier kill and always run away if you're outnumbered and regroup. Learn to use V to nudge if someone is trying to 1v1 you and then get away to team mates

[Vengt037]

As a polearm shielder (we call them hoplites), you are most effective when supporting your teammates. Stick with them! You can't duel anybody so don't try to be a hero. Look at the player on your team with the highest score after a few rounds. If that person is infantry, follow them around and try to interrupt the attacks of anyone who attacks them. Probably the best thing you can do is stop cav w/ your polearm! In C-RPG, polearm attacks will stop a charging horse dead in its tracks, no matter how high level the cav is and how low a level you are. Even at your currently low level, you can make a huge impact on a battle if you play intelligently.

[Penitent]

You have a ton of great advice here already.  Stick by teamies and play as a support...poking the enemy in the face or the butt, whichever presents itself.  Learn to stab in the head it helps a lot.

Once you get to lv 27-30, you will be more flushed out.  Depending on how much you play and how much "training" you get from clan mates, you will probably have to retire a few times before you are good enough to feel competitive skill-wise.  That is because unlike many games, equipment and level don't really make a good player.  It's your actual fighting skills that do.  That's why it's one of the best games/mods out there.  As long as you have solid equipment and a decent build, it will be your practice and fighting skill that makes the difference.  There are tons of great gear and builds.  Time will make the best warrior.

The Cuir Boulli, and other armors in that weight/armor range are very well rounded and a good choice.  Stick with your teamies, keep practicing, and stab in the face!

[The_Bloody_Nine]

Personally I wouldn't recommend playing hoplite as a beginner because it is one of the harder playstyles, similar like 2d polearms (2 Directional, you can only thrust and and overhead). Of course you can be good support early on, but once you are alone it will be no fun unless you are a natural talent.

Of course that varies from person to person but I would also not recommend starting with a shield in general. People say it is easier but IMO you get a much better feeling for when to attack and block if you learn it without a shield and then go on from that and become a good shielder if you like. New players starting with shield tend to always release block exactly in the wrong moment and getting spammed more often.