* L. J.'s Deluxe Melee Guide For Ladder Slasher * - Topic

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Feb 25 2007 05:08pm

* L. J.'s Deluxe Melee Guide for LadderSlasher *

1. How to Start
1.1 What Character shall I choose?
1.2 What Stats should I max?

2. Items
2.1 Robe or Heavy Armor?
2.2 Axe? Club? Sword? What's the best?
2.3 Stats explained
2.4 Most important Stats
-> Dexterity
-> Life per Kill (LpK)
-> Lifesteal (Ls)

3. Level Gear (including full stats of my Gear)
3.1 lvl 1-25 (the LpK time)
3.2 lvl 25-40 (the LpK or Ls time)
3.3 lvl 40-61 (the Ls or Ls+LpK time)

4. Tactics with the Unlocked Chars
4.1 Samurai / Paladin
4.2 Monk
4.3 Ninja
4.4 Warlock
4.5 Headhunter

1. How to Start

1.1 The Character

There are 2 Base-Chars you can use for this Dex-Melee Build:

#1 Fighter
Str: 50 Dex: 40
Int: 10 Vit: 50

#2 Rogue
Str: 30 Dex: 60
Int: 25 Vit: 35

I prefer to play Fighter because he got more balanced Melee-stats.
Every Base-Character got Startstats of 150 Statpoints!
The Rogue already wasted 25 Points into his Int, so we have only 125 pts. in Str/Dex/Vit!
Our Fighter got 10 Base-Int and 140pts. in Str/Dex/vit!
I experienced with both Chars, played a Rogue in Season 1 and at the beginning of Season 2,
but after i tried Fighter once, i never made a Rogue again. ;]

1.2 Where to put the Remaining Stat Points

So if you finally decided ... to choose a Fighter, we got these Stats +10 Remaining Stat Points:

Str: 50 Dex: 40
Int: 10 Vit: 50
Stat Points Remaining: 10

We don't need to stat anymore Str, we will get some from our Gear, and if not, it doesn't matter.
The 50 Base-Vit is high enough as well.
And as a Melee-Char we don't need Int.
We put ALL Remaining Stat Points into Dex!

Str: 50 Dex: 50
Int: 10 Vit: 50
Stat Points Remaining: 0

We have very well balanced Stats for the Start now :]
Every next lvl you reach, you get +1 Stat Point, that makes +60 Statpoints when the Fighter reachs lvl 61!
So we have 110 Dex (without Gear) at lvl61:

Str: 50 Dex: 110
Int: 10 Vit: 50
Stat Points Remaining: 0

With the right Gear, you should be able to hit 180, maybe even 200 Dex at lvl61!

2. Items

Now I am going to explain you the Item-Stats and advantages/disadantages of different Item-classes.

2.1 Robe or Heavy Armor?

Another advantage of our Fighter is that he can wear all Armors in LS, Robes, Scale/ Leather Armors and Chain/ Plate Mails!
Basically you should look for very high and nice stats on the Armors, instead of it's class.
I tried both kinds of Armors, a very high Defense Mail with 180 Base-Def, and now i go with a Robe with 0-11 Def and
it works better than with the Mail!
BUT:
Once you reach the Unlocked Character Monk, you will need to have Robes, because Monks and all following Secret Chars can wear Robes only!

2.2 Sword, Club, Axe? What is the best Weapon?

SWORD! ^^
nah.. Guys i can't really tell you what Weapon to use, some people more like a constant Damage and go for Axe and others
love to have VERY HIGH Critical Strikes and go for Sword, the Rest goes for Clubs ;].
Personally I can only suggest you to go for Swords! With Swords you may often hit 1-100 Dmg, even at highlvls up to 61,
but you also hit Critical Strikes by 2k+ Dmg or even 3k+ (depends on your Sword/Equip of cause)!
Another advantage with Swords is that once you got a full setup and you apss MQ, you can use swords also on Samurais, Palas and Ninjas!
When you are done with reading this Guide, i am pretty shure you will go for Swords ;]

2.3 Item-Stats explained

You can find all stats that can spawn on items in this Pinned Topic:
http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=3770403&f=272

2.4 Most important stats for our Melee-Build

#1 Dexterity (Dex)
The most important mod for every DEX-Melee Build!
Perfectly explained by ragnaroks in his Item Mechanics Guide

Quote (ragnaroks @ Wed, 30 Aug 2006, 14:54)

1 Dexterity adds:

0.50% to critical strike chance
1% extra damage when critical strike occurs
Chance to escape or strike first
Reduces damage when they hit you with a critical strike

Wait! So 200 dexterity is 100% critical hit chance?
No, the more dexterity you have, the less critical hit % it increases. People belive that there is a breakpoint for it, try asking some other players. DO NOT PM ME ABOUT THIS ISSUE. (For the annoying people who still PM'ing me, the answer is: 200+)

#2 Life per Kill (LpK)
A very usefull mod, especially to slash the lowlevels.
With the right LpK-Gear you can do level 1-25 without regen easy!
E.g. you have a lvl0 Charm with "+1-170 Life per Kill",
you get between 1 and 170 Life after each Mob you killed.
This mod doesn't work, if you fight vs. Mobs below your current level!

#3 Lifesteal (Ls)
For high levels, lvl30-40 up to 61 this is compareable to the Life per Kill-Mod at lowlevels!
You should try to have at least 1 item from your gear (Wep/Arm/Charm) with high Lifesteal (8-10++)!
Everytime you hit a Mob, you steal x% Life from your Damage done, e.g.
If you have 10% Lifesteal in your Gear:
You stole 150 Life from Talonrazer.
You hit Talonrazer for 1500 points of damage.

It is the best mod at high levels!!! If you get the right Gear, you can do whole levels without regen, even at lvl50+!

Of cause it is even better to combine Life per Kill + Lifesteal, because then you get even more Life back while/after Fights.
E.g. you have 1-170 LpK + 10% Lifesteal, a Fight (1-hit-kill) could look like this:
You recovered 165 Life and 0 Magic.
You stole 150 Life from Talonrazer.
You hit Talonrazer for 1500 points of damage.

But it's hard to get Items with Dex+Ls+LpK, so more look for Dex+Ls gear for the high levels (lvl40-61), because Ls is better than LpK vs. high Mobs!

3. The Gear

The listed Items are the ones I use on my Character, all Stats are from Perm Links!

3.1 Needed Base-Gear:
No matter for what Level, 2 kinds of Items are needed for EVERY Character at any time!

#1 Regen Gear
- Try to get at least 2 Items with a high Life Regeneration e.g. Armor+Charm or Weapon+Charm etc. (you can also use 3 Regen Items of cause)
- Low Level-Requirements are good to be able to regen at anytime, low and high Levels, 6-7 LR should be min. on each Item
- best Combination of Regen Items are: Robe+Charm, because those can be used at ANY Character

#2 EIS Gear
- EIS means Extra Item Slots
- Once you got a full Setup of Swords, Charms, Armors and Regen Gear, you'll see that you need more than the 8 Base-Itemslots you have in your inventory
- Same as with Regen Gear, try to get low Level Requirements and if possible a Robe and a Charm with at least 6-8 EIS+ each

3.2 Level 1-25 Gear
At the lowlvls, I would say that's lvl 1-25, you should try to get gear with the following stats:

Weapon:
- Just high EE
A lvl 0 Sword (Tier III / 80ee++), a lvl 10 Sword (80-100ee+) and if needed another Sword for lvl 20 (100ee+) will do it up to 25 fast and safe!

Armor / Charm:
Priority
- Dex
- Max Life
- LpK
also usefull, but not necessary
- LpCr
- Str

Lifesteal is pretty useless for the starter Levels because your Damage is too low to reach as much Life as with LpK.

If you get Gear with the listed Stats and/or similar to mine, you should be able to do Level 1-25 without any Regeneration!

Now, so you know on what items you should aim at, I show you the Gear I use for lvl 1-25!

Weapon Level 1-10:
Magical bronze sword
Damage: 4 to 45
+51% Enhanced Effect

Weapon Level 10-25:
Mythical steel sword
Level Req: 10
Damage: 11 to 117
+134% Enhanced Effect
+14 Dexterity
+2 Intelligence
+2 Life Regen
+2 Extra Item Slots

Armor lvl 1-40:
Angelic rusted plate mail
Defense: 2 to 6
+44 Dexterity
+299 Max Life
+7% Experience Gained
+1 to 21 Life per Kill

Charm lvl 1-61:
Mythical ice I
Spell Damage: 4 to 5
Magic Cost: 5
+45 Strength
+30 Dexterity
+18% Experience Gained
+2 Critical Strike
+1 to 61 Life per Kill

3.3 Level 25-40 Gear
At these Levels you can already go for Lifesteal if you find some nice Items! Maybe 150-200++ LpK is still more usefull to
level up to lvl40/45 (depends on what Level your Endgame Weapon is for), but Lifesteal by 8-10%+ is not less godly ;]!

Weapons:
- High EE only will still level you easy up to 40/45
A lvl 25 Sword (120-150ee+) and a lvl 35 Sword (120-150ee+) are best Combination if you have a lvl45 Weapon after!

Armor / Charm:
When your Level 0 Armor and Charm got nice Stats, you only have to upgrade your Sword from time to time!
If you find any better Armor or Charm for level 25-40/45, decide yourself if it's worth it ;]

At these Levels it is very different, usually I kill around 250-350k of XP, bevore i have to Regen.

Only upgrade in my Gear for Level 25-45 are 2 Swords:

Weapon lvl 25-35:
Magical mithril sword
Level Req: 25
Damage: 20 to 208
+161% Enhanced Effect

Weapon lvl 35-45:
Rare Adamantium Sword
Level Req: 35
Damage: 25-258
+158% Enhanced Effect

3.4 Level 40-61 Gear
Those are the final Levels, let's try to slash them as fast and easy as possible ;]
Latest by Level 40 or 45+ it is time to get Lifesteal Gear! You should get at least 8-10% or more Lifesteal, then you won't have
major Problems with leveling up to 61 with the right other stats. Of cause high LpK is still very usefull at the highlevels, especially 200++LpK!

So for the highlvls you should get at least some of the following stats on your Gear:

Weapon
- Simply very high EE Sword with 150-175ee++
or
- Less EE around 100-150ee+ but adds like Dex / Lifesteal

But since Dex and/or Lifesteal adds are VERY Rare on EE Swords, you should more look for a pure EE Sword!

Armor / Charm:
If you bought an EE only Sword, you got to find either an Armor with Lifesteal add or a Charm.
But don't forget, you still need high Dex from your Gear! In the ideal case from your Armor AND Charm.

Ideal Stats for

Armor:
- Dex
- Str
- (LpK)
- (Lifesteal)

Charm:
- Dex
- Lifesteal
- (Strenght)
- (LpK)

Of cause you can also use the Stats the other way around, with dex/str Charm and a Dex/Ls Armor, look what you can get!
If you follow those Stats at least a bit, you will fly to Level 61 very fast!

While you have the Lifesteal Mod in your Gear and use Swords, it is very different how fast you XP.
Simply because when a Critical Strike of 2500 Damage or more occurs you leech up to 200-300 Life, and sometimes you only
hit with 200-500 Damage whole Battles and the Mob still hits you hard!

It's possible to do Level 40-55 without Regen!! With my Gear I mostly do Level 40-46/48 without Regen.

Upgrades in my own Gear for the Endgame Levels:

Weapon lvl 45-61:
Magical tempered diamond sword
Level Req: 45
Damage: 35 to 358
+199% Enhanced Effect

Armor lvl 40-61:
Godly wyvernskin robe
Level Req: 40
Defense: 0 to 11
+7% Enhanced Effect
+3 Strength
+52 Dexterity
+1 Vitality
+3 Magic Regen
+1 to 1 Life per Combat Round
+7% Life Steal
+2% Magical Damage Reduction

If you are able to get Items with similar or even few better Stats, it should be no Problem to level from 1 to 61 in few Hours!
My fastest run with exactely the listed Gear was 4 Hours 45 Minutes! Follow my Guide, try my Build and beat me ;]

4. The Unlocked Chars

4.1 Samurai / Paladin
There should be no Problem to play those 2 Characters if you bought a full Setup of Swords. They are very similar to Fighters, only better Start-Stats :]

4.2 Monk
Once you passed your MasterQuest with Paladin, you have to buy a new bunch of Weapons!
In this case i would prefer to buy lvl 0/10/20/30/40 (or similar) Staffs.
There is only one Reason why I would buy Staffs instead of Daggers, because they can be used on Warlock as well!

There is one major Change that appears with Monk and stays for all further Unlocked Chars:
You will need Robes as Armors for Level 1-61!

4.3 Ninja
With the Ninja you can use your Sword-Setup again, only change from Fighter/ Samurai/ Paladin are the Armors, Robes only for Ninja :]

4.4 Warlock
Once you reach the Warlock, you got to use the Staffs you bought and Robes, same Setup as with Monk!

5.5 Headhunter
Use your Robes and buy a Setup of Axes because Headhunters can use Axes only!

Alchemist:
It is impossible to do a Melee-Alchemist because they can't use ANY Weapons!

Here is a list with all Equip-able Items for the single Characters (originally posted by ragnaroks, I added Headhunter/Alchemist):

Quote (ragnaroks @ Wed, 30 Aug 2006, 14:54)

Character Class Equipable Items

Fighter:
Swords, Axes, Clubs, Robes, Leather Armors, Scale Armors, Chain Mails and Plate Mails.

Samurai:
Swords, Daggers, Robes, Leather Armors, Scale Armors, Chain Mails and Plate Mails.

Paladin:
Swords, Axes, Clubs, Robes, Leather Armors, Scale Armors, Chain Mails and Plate Mails.

Monk:
Daggers, Staffs and Robes.

Ninja:
Swords, Daggers and Robes.

Warlock:
Staffs and Robes.

Headhunter:
Axes, Leather Armors, Scale Armors and Robes.

Alchemist:
Robes.

~ The End ~

Well Guys
This is my first bigger Guide yet, thought it is needed to write an expensive one beside all the 0fg/low fg Starter-Guides!
I hope that it helps you at least a bit and you will decide to try a Melee-Char . Give me some Feedback pls!

You can find all the other usefull Guides for LS here:
http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=5853062&f=272

Enjoy.

Greetz
L. J.