The purpose of this tutorial is to explain the logic of gear choosing when planning to hunt monsters in this simple yet addictive game that is FallenSword. I will provide an example and I will also do similar analyses (for teaching purposes) on demand.
Part one (that means this one ) will explain the logic behind setting specific attribute objectives for your setup, according to your level and your target monster.
Basic principles.
1. Fallen guide (http://www.fallenswordguide.com) is your friend. Use it often. It will provide you all the info you need on items, locations, maps and creatures. When you dont have the stamina to play - spend the time on planning. Also use the official forum for supplementary info.
2. The logic in hunting for leveling is to maximise the ratio Experience/stamina point. While some other stuff can be done to improve it (use Adept learner, Elite hunter, Librarian, hunt in places crowded with monsters to avoid stamina wasting on movement) the main thing to do is to use gear that allows the famous one hit kills. Going from one hit kills to two hit kills will halve the exp/stam ratio. 50% loss. That's huge.
3.Know your enemy and adapt your gear to it. Different monsters require different setups.
4. 95% of the gear you need is cheap. Avoid expensive items and legendary sets if you do not plan to PvP on a regular basis. Good planning will lower your equipment costs. As sets go I went Infernus -> Giggles -> Flamed -> Khale till 72 (only for the Elite hunter bonus) and I dont plan on buying Deep or Mancrusha either. Note: back then, Deep was about 200 FSP and Mancrusha about 800
Hard to imagine Now let's see how you set up your gear. First thing, you check your level and your desired hunting ground (watch out for area level limitations). You then go on Fallen Guide and check your potential target monsters (usually 0-2 levels above you). Monsters, just like you, have 5 different statistics.
Attack - determines (in relation with the enemy's defence) if the attack is going to land or miss. Important: a minimal 2% odd of hitting or missing is guaranteed, regardless of the attack/defence numbers.
Damage - after being reduced by the armor it will determine the number of HP points lost.
Defence - helps you not getting hit
Armor - reduces the damage taken if you are hit
HP - health points - your lifebar, if it gets to 0 you're dead.
Simply said, when designing your setup, you need to do one hit kills while at the same time surviving an enemy attack. There are two ways to design your surviving setup, focused on either armor or defence (there is a third that focuses on none but it's rare). Usually people like focusing on armor and neglecting defence, because of the 2% odd of hitting/missing in the attack/defence dynamics. Note: Setups based on defense or on none (suicide setups) become a lot more frequent past level 140...
So - after choosing your target, your objectives are:
1. Your armor should beat his damage
2. Your attack should beat his defence (otherwise you'll miss a lot)
3. Your damage should beat the sum of his armor and HP.
From here you should understand the importance of putting all your stat points in Damage and, partially, in Attack. The Damage stat has to beat a sum of two statistics instead of a single one. So -
ALWAYS PUT STAT POINTS IN DAMAGE AND ATTACK (a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 ratio is suggested) Note: in fact - put all your points in damage. All of them. Or you will have to pay 50 FSP for a reset, like I did
When I say "should beat" it means it should reliably be higher. If your attack is just 1 point higher than his defense you will still miss a lot. The exact formula for this is not really known but in my opinion it's probably something like:
(Attack stat + variable) - (Defence + variable) > 0 - then you hit.
Note: following studies have shown a better version for these formulas, much more likely to be real:
(Attack +-5%) - (Defence +-5%) > 0
(Damage +-5%)- (armor +-5%) = effective damage, to be deducted from HP
The size of the variable part is debatable. Based on my comprehension the variable part has a random linear value between 0 and about 10% to 30% (depending on the attribute) of the base value. This is not officially proven but I think that having an armor 10-20% then his damage will protect you most of the time. My objective is to have:
- my attack 20-30% higher than his defence
- my armor 10-20% higher than his damage (keep in mind that piercing strike or critical hit from a monster can still kill you)
- my damage 10-20% higher than his armor+hp
Note: ulterior studies have shown much better (and lower:) ) requirments:
Attack has to be 10.53% higher then his defence
for damage: the damage needed for 1 hit kill is:
Damage = (21 * armor + 20*HP)/19 or in decimals:
Damage = armor*1.1053 + HP * 1.053
For your armor - it is suggested to be 10.53% higher then his damage.
Lets go back to an example. Lets say you are somewhere in the 55-60 level. There are several potential targets for you. Among them:
Fire Lupine 62
Attack - 195-196
Defence - 144-154
Armor - 111-117
Damage - 230-244
HP - 123-175
Grofflesnout Brute 60
Attack 195-199
Defence 140-145
Armor 110-118
Damage 242-248
HP 134-158
Burrow Grub 65
Attack 180-189
Defence 170-190
Armour 165-167
Damage 150-169
HP 216-218
If you plan on taking Fire lupines and /or Grofflesnout brutes you will need :
Armor - 248 * 1.2 = 297 - approximately 300
Attack - 154 * 1.4 = 215 - go for 220
Damage - 290 *1.2 = 348 - go for 350.
On the other hand, if you plan on taking Burrow Grubs (I did only Grubs from 57 to 65
myself) you can lower your armor level required yet you need to really bump your damage and
attack.
Armor - 170*1.2 = 204
Attack - 190 *1.4 = 266
Damage - 385 * 1.2 = 462 - a lot, but it can be reached with accessible items.
Note: all these numbers were calculated with the initial formula - they are in fact lower
This is an example of how to plan your gear setup, according to your target. Part II of the tutorial (if it ever gets done) will detail how to choose items to fill those stat objectives.
