Sargon asks...

[Sargon]

Hi!

I thought a lot about my training style lately (prolly inspired by the Evus thread :)

As I mentioned in another thread, I've decided to train with Eva until I'm 3rd circle, then switch to something else.

Well.. I'm not so sure about that anymore. :) My primary goal is to become a rescue healer and Horus is a good choice for this I guess. But that would mean that 3rd circle and the cad would be out of the question in the forseeable future.

My question is now: Do you think that a cad is important for a rescue healer? Or would it be wiser to specialize in Horus/Loovma? (A rescue healer who can't chain sounds silly to me :)

On the other hand, I can't imagine telling Eva I won't train with her anymore! She says that teaching me has taught her much. How could I stop trainer with her now? :)

Sargon

[Aethelred]

Although there are many ways to go with healer training...I see two important base paths:

1) rescue healer - main mission in life, to get the dead back on their feet, whether that person is barely down, or PND.
2) combat healer - their main mission is to keep fighters on their feet, without compromising that fighter's ability and utility in combat (i.e. using a moonstone obviously is detrimental to a fighters ability to move and fight).


A rescue healer, IMHO, should emphasize enough Horus to be able to raise those silly fighters who solo the Orga Outback while on red... A rescue healer should probably not even worry about a cad, as it really isn't all that necessary for the raising of the fallen, whereas Horus and Loovma seem far more applicable and useful. I would do a ratio of 2 Eva : 1 Horus : 1 pf, loovma, various non-healer rank.

A combat healer is a different animal. This is the course that I intend to follow myself, and this is how I see it really developing: first off, a combat healer needs that 30 levels wiht Slypha for the ring...then needs to set the basics of Higgrus, Sespus, Respia to get ready for the Cad. By the time the combat healer hits 3

[Aerick]

A Cad can be critical to a rescue healer, in certain situations.

Kojiro was down to a swarm of fodder just North of the meadow. I went to heal him, but if I had stopped dodging for a moment, I would have been surrounded by Orga Warriors and killed in an instant. So I did several drive-by healings, until Koj got up, fought his way to safety, and I fled like they taught me to in fodder school.
Anyway, if you're planning on rescueing to dangerous areas on your own, some cad is good. But definitely get Horus.

[Sargon]

Aethelred, thanks very much for your input! I think the distinction between "rescue healers" and "combat healers" really sums it up quite well.

There's one thing I don't understand/agree though:

As far as I know, Eva trains you in 'all 4 main' categories. (Higgrus, Sespus, Respia & Faustus) and some others a lil. If a healer wants to specialize in maybe 2 of them, I can see that the Eva-path is not really the best. But if a healer trains with 3 or even 4 of them, I think Eva is still the best bet.

Ok, it's time to fall to NWs.. err.. try the test again, I think. Maybe.. just maybe.. =)

Sargon

[Althus]

Along with Eva, a rescue healer needs Respia, Sylpha, Higgrus, and Proximus just to stay alive. I'd reccomend a dagger for rat killing, or perhaps even a club if you have some Bodrus. When you get plenty of Faustus, I've heard 30-50 Awaria is good.

Since the rescue healer's main goal is survival in tough solo situations while raising a fallen, I reccomend lots and lots of Respia/Higgy.

-Awfus

[Aethelred]

Sargon made me remeber a question I meant to ask...

Has anyone noticed if Eva has altered the way she teaches? I knolw she teaches primarily Respia, then Faustus, Sespus and Higgrus (in order of how much), but it seems that she is teaching slower than she used to... (OOC, it seems that Eva no longer is teaching at her old 120% rate...does anyone know if the GMs lowered her and Evus to teaching 100%?)

Sargon...studying Eva is nice because she is so heavy on Respia, but still gives you training in other areas...plus, I seem to learn faster under her than i do under the specialist teachers. I do think once you have 500 or 600 Eva, you might conisder not learning from her <G>... (seriously, I took some advice from Thuja who recommended heavy Eva and Respia for...well, for eternity...)

Aethelred

[Konoko]

How many swings do you healers get?

Is there anything that takes away from the number of your swings? Does Hardia affect the number of swings you get?

Konoko

[Althus]

Bodrus and Hardia both take away from swings, and are the same trainer except for the cap at which they stop teaching (Hardia doesn't have one, I think). Since neither has enough of a Balthus component to balance the Atkus and Swengus they give, they destroy swings.

A healer with 100 has 2 swings with an axe, and 3-4 with SS, depending on race. With an axe, we 2-3 hit LV, and usually have to swing out with an SS to kill one if we're lucky. Not sure about numbers for dagger/sd/club/gs. (Although I do know that a 100-bodrus healer can reliably hit a Kal'Noth with a GS)

[Lilly]

At about 80 to 90 Bodrus (not sure which) and carrying a shield, I get from 3 to 5 swings using a dagger, depending on when my balance begins to regenerate. The average kill rate for an LV is 4 hits, and that is pretty consistent (though rare ones do take 3 or 5). I hit them pretty well. Island panthers take an average of 5 hits, but i find they are actually even easier to hit then LV, so die easier. (though they cause more damage)

Arteress Lai

[Konoko]

Ugh! I couldn't handle that! I'm glad I followed the fighter profession...

I wouldn't have the patience to be a healer.

I'm impressed with those that have become healers! Good job! Someone has to keep us impatient fighters alive after we try to bite off more than we can chew! :)

[Aethelred]

It also depends on your natural inclinations. I 2-hit most LV, and IPs are usually 3-4 hits...but then, as a dwarven boy fighting was a natural part of my upbringing...

Aethelred

[Sargon]

[Hm.. the board seems to be up for some minutes so let's quickly post something =)]

Hi Konoko! =)

I saw your visionstone yesterday where you passed 2nd circle. I was impressed how calm you were when you did the test! You didn't run around like crazy in order to kill the beasties as fast as possible. But paused often and killed them one at a time. Really impressive! I mean as a healer I'm used to running like hell when the smallest creature shows up! *giggles*

I noticed though that it takes quite a long time to regain your balance! *I* couldn't be that patient and wait until I'm at full balance!

I have a brother who's a fighter and who passed 2nd circle about 4 ic-months ago. He's using completely different strategies it seems! (He prefers tagging once, running away and tagging again after 2 seconds until the critters (or my brother) are dead) His training mainly consists of Evus/Troilus/Skea (in this order) He's always hunting alone so I guess he _has to have_ a different technique than other fighters. Still it was amazing to me to see there are so completely different techniques!

Oh! And I've noticed in your visionstone that... *drumbeat* you gained 2 ranks in Spiritus while doing the test!!! Yay to Konoko!!!!!! :) *giggles*

And to answer your original question and make this posting a lil relevant for the thread: "How many swings do you healers get?"

I don't have any bodrus, use a shield and a club (or a the candyclub) :)

# of swings: 3-4 (using club)
Rats : 1 hit :)
Vermines: 2 hits (sometimes 3, don't laugh =P)
LV : 5-6 hits
IP : About 8 hits

I think that the dagger is slighty better than a club though, since it's a lil easier to hit creatures.

Sargon

[Heyboy]

I no want to specialize, be good all around, but me no study Eva much now :)

I think all healers should have 40-50 Horus, that my goal now, but think I will continue untill 100 Horus. If you a fighting healer, and your fighter falls, you need horus to get him/her back on feet, and not wait for rescue healer to come help.

Of course, rescue healers need horus.

People say I heal faster than most, but only have 40 Faustus. Fast healing is good if you try to keep fighter alive while he is fighting.

I also only have 40 Respia and I always run out of spirit. But is it so bad? I have enough to help one fighter, especially if he share. Enough to raise one. I only have trouble in mass raises or long fights. If fighters need to stand around a little while I recover energy after fight, it no do them harm <g>. So I think I keep at least 1-1 ratio of Faustus to Respia, probably lower than most healers.

Sargon, I not know how you get by with zero Bodrus. I now have 30, I find I need it to stay alive and to kill small stuff around fallen.

I think I keep studying 10 horus 10 other 10 horus etc. for a while, I try to study Eva too.

Do other healers study Spritus much? How efficient is Spirtus?

Heyboy

[Konoko]

When I took that test Sargon my regia, as you've pointed out, was VERY low. I did not have any swengus and only 50 evus.

I've since been training regia quite a bit. I now have a whopping 114 Regia. Don't worry, my balance regen isn't slow anymore! :)

Konoko

[Lilly]

I study with spirtus and respia pretty much exclusively when i work on healing ranks. Spirtus raises your faustus, respia, higgrus and sespus, but I do not believe it does so as much as eva does; the trade-off being that it makes it easier for you to be healed by others, and easier to heal yourself. It keeps a pretty good balance of things, but it does require an occasional respia boost. It is great if you want to rod things in a group. Not so great if you want to be a speed healer or a hitpoint monster (the higgrus training is very slow)

Arteress Lai

[Sargon]

Hi

> Sargon, I not know how you get by with zero
> Bodrus. I now have 30, I find I need it to
> stay alive and to kill small stuff around
> fallen.

I know what you mean.. :) If you refer to rats and vermines with "small stuff" in can kill these in several attempts. *giggles* If it's something bigger I just heal the fallen and hope he/she's up before I fall. If it gets close I pull the fallen and run. :) I guess some Bodrus would really be helpful, also for the test.


> Do other healers study Spritus much? How
> efficient is Spirtus?
I don't train with Spirtus. I've heard the same about Spirtus as Lilly posted above. I think he's a good trainer, it just depends on your training style I guess. (Spirtus is like a mini-Eva but with the additional effect that you're easier to heal)

Sargon

[GrayGradi]

For what it's worth -- with a Shiny Dagger, a shield, 100 Bodrus, and being toes with Higgrus, I get 3-7 swings, depending on whether I hit or whiff. (A hit uses a lot less balance than a whiff.) Hit probability seems to be about 25% on GC,'s, Ferals and Zerks, 10% on TG's and DC's, 25-50% on Boloks and 10-20% on easier Maha varieties.

As to damage, I really am not sure. I 1 hit rats and 1-2 hit vermine with it. I rarely use it to go after LV or IP -- if my intention is to kill (other than rats) rather than tag, I use my SS. As to bigger critters, sometimes it seems to do no more than ruffle their fur if I hit; others times it seems to do a lot of damage. Probably the nature of the weapon...

With a Short Sword I get 2 - 4 hits. I take out LV's with 2-3 hits and IP's with 4 or 5 usually. Of course, with the SS it is a lot less likely -- if not impossible -- to hit the tougher critters.

As to training Eva versus Spiritus, the tradeoff as I understand it is that Spiritus is heavier on Faustus, Respia and Sespus and gives the benefit of being easier to heal; Eva is a little heavier on Higgrus AND gives a small amount of training in Horus and Awaria (I've heard 6%).

Right now my training philosophy is NOT to specialize for quite a while -- IMO, a solid, balanced, foundation is more important, so Eva and Spiritus are where I will do most of my training, except:

- I am working on getting enough Loomva to chain (have 15 now -- will get next 15 shortly)

- (When I make 3rd