Good Weapon? Good Armor?

[t0pazdrag0n]

I'm getting up to level 9 and looking to get some good weapons & armor. However I'm not exactly sure what makes a weapon/armor good.

I've realized that at higher levels bonuses to hit and AC aren't as good as they are at lower levels and more interesting bonuses are better then raw +5 on something.

Could anyone give me some hints on what I should be looking for ?

[zebulartemp]

While I won't be able to give you advice on armor/weapons, you should however state your class(es), what feats you have in relation to weapons and armor as well. This way people can give you more focused feedback.

I personally use a +4 Rapier / +4 Short Sword on my level 7 Ranger and she's wearing +4 Studded Leather, IIRC. Drow Dex spec with feats geared towards Rapiers, Short Swords, Two-Weapon Fighting, etc.

Well, that is I will be using that on her when I reincarnate her again come Friday Night. (messed up last week and somehow managed have a template chosen. >.< )

[Elfvyra]

Telling us your Race, Class(es) and Level(s) would be a big help for us to help you...

[t0pazdrag0n]

I'm a level 9 dwarf cleric. I was mostly asking about what actually makes any weapon/armor good.

If you can give me some examples of weapons/armor good for a cleric that would be great, but I'm mostly looking for weapons/armor that would be good for anyone looking to swing a weapon right now.

[zebulartemp]

I'm a level 9 dwarf cleric. I was mostly asking about what actually makes any weapon/armor good.

If you can give me some examples of weapons/armor good for a cleric that would be great, but I'm mostly looking for weapons/armor that would be good for anyone looking to swing a weapon right now.

Any "+" on a weapon or piece of armor is better than one of lesser "+" or without. As well, look for weapons that not only have a + to hit/damage but ones that also have extra enchantments, like flaming or lightning which will do extra damage of that type. You may also want to hold on to monster slayer type weapons and set them up in your weapon sets and hotbars so you can quickly change to them if you encounter a monster of that type.

For armor, I'd first look for the best possible enchantment level of the armor type you're going to wear (full plate) and then keep an eye out of ones that might offer other bonuses to things like damage reduction (not sure if they exist, just saying).

Keep in mind your Dex modifier for Armor Class when deciding on armor. Sometimes you can have more AC with a piece of armor that has less base AC if it's max dex modifier is high enough (and your Dex is high enough) to give a nice Dex AC boost. I encountered this on my level 4 cleric, cannot recall specifics on the gear pieces I had, but from the gear I had, she got a better AC wearing chain mail than plate mail.

Hope I didn't confuse you, there are others here that know the game mechanics and 4.0 (4.5?) rules better than I do. I am a 2nd ED old fart who won't change. :P

The games items are different than all the things I have running through my 2nd Edition head.

[nordlav]

tihocan has some good advice here under "tips"
http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...1&postcount=75

Basically try to find adamandine full plate for the damage reduction, but if your healing spec'd perhaps armor with "Fearsome" ability may be useful at higher levels as well.
Have fun.

[yawumpus]

If you search this forum, you will probably see and hear many moans of the uselessness of armor beyond gianthold (beyond Korthos if you are a barbarian). It is a problem with the D&D d20 system, and is made worse by the extreme power level DDO has gone to. No matter what armor you will put on now, you should expect to wear robes in a few levels.

First, you missed your chance for some pretty good armor in the cove. Don't worry, it should be back at the end of the month, so try to score the ML12 cavalry armor.

Second, since we don't know for certain that the event is coming back. Armor basics:
There are three types of armor: light, medium, heavy. Since you are a cleric, you want heavy.
That means full plate. As long as your armor is stopping blows, wear full plate.
Armor then has a bonus: +1 to +5. +5 is the best, and you have to be 8th level to wear it. Look for +5 armor, but don't get too hung up about it.
There are three materials for full plate: steel (unlabled), mithral, and adamantine. While most will recommend mithral as it allows a better dex bonus (and thus a higher AC), I would go with adamantine. It provides a DR 2/-, meaning that the first 2 points of damage are *always* taken off the top. You can't go wrong with DR /- (note that DR doesn't stack, whichever takes the most damage off from one blow does it, the rest do nothing).

Armor can also have a second effect. Invulnerability is a great one (until the mobs are using magic weapons, which they often aren't at 9th level). Often you will be happier with a weak armor (leather or even a robe) with a good effect like Invulnerability or deathblock. Expect to be looking for a deathblock robe of invulnerability soon.

If you find a good suit of armor with a good AC, you can improve it with an alchemical crafting bonus. Look in your small ingredients bag for some vials of pure water. Then google "DDO crafting alchemical" to see how to add a +1 AC bonus to your armor. Note that the cove threw the auction prices out of whack, so buying the water may be pointless (or possibly the water prices have stableized (they tend to go ~1kp a pop), but the armor prices are still silly).

Finally, if you are 9th level your most important defense is not armor, it is an item of heavy fortification. Get ye a party of similar 9th level players, go to the chapel in house D. Talk to the high priest, and take the quest (relic of a soverign host). The quest is house K, so head over there. This quest is brutal for those without fortification and/or deathblock, so you may need to run it on casual (or bring tweaked players along to protect you). Run it at least long enough to deliver the ore to the blacksmith and get the necklace of heavy fortification. Since you are a cleric, you might have to find a new item of wisdom (wise necklaces are popular), but the beating you got at the hands of those picks should teach you the importance of fortification.

[t0pazdrag0n]

So far for Armor I have: Damage Reduction in the form of Adamantine & Invunerability, Fearsome and Fortifcation. What other traits should I look for on armor that makes them good?

What traits should I be looking for on weapons?

Thank you to everyone who has responded and thank you in advance

(I understand the basics of how weapons and armor work, I'm mostly looking for what traits on items make them good. For example an armor with Command or a weapon with Shatter is less desireable then one without. So what AM I looking for?)

[Hawksong]

Uh, on weapons look for Potency for your spells. But I'll submit that as a 12 Str cleric, I picked up a True Law Heavy Mace of Pure Good and am now hitting everything for about 3x more than my Potency stick was hitting them for. Pure Good, Holy, True Law etc are pretty diverse and good to have.

I'm a level 7 cleric, those are just my two cents.

[Wrendd]

If you search this forum, you will probably see and hear many moans of the uselessness of armor beyond gianthold (beyond Korthos if you are a barbarian). It is a problem with the D&D d20 system, and is made worse by the extreme power level DDO has gone to. No matter what armor you will put on now, you should expect to wear robes in a few levels.

First, you missed your chance for some pretty good armor in the cove. Don't worry, it should be back at the end of the month, so try to score the ML12 cavalry armor.

Second, since we don't know for certain that the event is coming back. Armor basics:
There are three types of armor: light, medium, heavy. Since you are a cleric, you want heavy.
That means full plate. As long as your armor is stopping blows, wear full plate.
Armor then has a bonus: +1 to +5. +5 is the best, and you have to be 8th level to wear it. Look for +5 armor, but don't get too hung up about it.
There are three materials for full plate: steel (unlabled), mithral, and adamantine. While most will recommend mithral as it allows a better dex bonus (and thus a higher AC), I would go with adamantine. It provides a DR 2/-, meaning that the first 2 points of damage are *always* taken off the top. You can't go wrong with DR /- (note that DR doesn't stack, whichever takes the most damage off from one blow does it, the rest do nothing).

Armor can also have a second effect. Invulnerability is a great one (until the mobs are using magic weapons, which they often aren't at 9th level). Often you will be happier with a weak armor (leather or even a robe) with a good effect like Invulnerability or deathblock. Expect to be looking for a deathblock robe of invulnerability soon.

If you find a good suit of armor with a good AC, you can improve it with an alchemical crafting bonus. Look in your small ingredients bag for some vials of pure water. Then google "DDO crafting alchemical" to see how to add a +1 AC bonus to your armor. Note that the cove threw the auction prices out of whack, so buying the water may be pointless (or possibly the water prices have stableized (they tend to go ~1kp a pop), but the armor prices are still silly).

Finally, if you are 9th level your most important defense is not armor, it is an item of heavy fortification. Get ye a party of similar 9th level players, go to the chapel in house D. Talk to the high priest, and take the quest (relic of a soverign host). The quest is house K, so head over there. This quest is brutal for those without fortification and/or deathblock, so you may need to run it on casual (or bring tweaked players along to protect you). Run it at least long enough to deliver the ore to the blacksmith and get the necklace of heavy fortification. Since you are a cleric, you might have to find a new item of wisdom (wise necklaces are popular), but the beating you got at the hands of those picks should teach you the importance of fortification.

+1 for a good post with good advice.

[Wrendd]

As a cleric you should look for items that will boost your healing and mana in addition to stuff that lets you hit things. I do not say that you should avoid having good weapons to lay the smack down, just that you should have equipment that allows you to do either. It is likely that you will not find a weapon which succeeds in doing both at the same time, so find a couple weapons to hit stuff with and a couple that boost your spells and switch out as needed.

At the higher levels you will start finding much better caster gear, do a little research on the forums and the wiki to find the stuff that you will want and make a point of running that content when you can. The best toons on DDO are difned as much by their gear as by their player skill. Skill is still more important, but a well geared toon makes everything easier.

[DakFrost]

Since you probably won't be spending the bulk of your time meleeing, and since AC becomes meaningless as you increase in level, you don't have to worry about the "+" factor of your armor and shield and should look for enhancements. Deathblock, elemental protection, damage reduction, and fortification are all useful attributes on armor while shields can be used to provide potency, healing amps, or increased spell points.

As for weapons, you should generally have 2 types if you plan on doing any melee with your Cleric and switch between them accordingly. The first is for when you are casting and should compliment your shield and provide either potency or healing amp. The second weapon is for melee and some useful attributes for a wide range of opponents are Holy, Pure Good, Elemental (Acid, Shocking, Frost, or Flaming), Keen, and Burst effects.

If you play on Thelanis look for "Likely" online and I'll get you geared up.

Cheers