What items are exceptional for their level and other info useful to a new player?

[Cantor]

hey shadow, I saw you using this in your vids for ROGUE 4; why do you find it so solid? For assassin vistanis, I am building a ToEE dagger ML 7. I had a ToEEkukri last life and the AoE proc was very strong in heroics.

edit: I see that is has the highest base damage (2d3) so the +W effects will be strong and the keen is handy before level 12. But I think other weapon effects would pull ahead.

I was going to say for the die, but you beat me on the edit, even so... I'd prefer the sky pirate's for a d6 (slightly behind sheridan) and crit multi. edit: and better ML.

[Fivetigers33]

hey shadow, I saw you using this in your vids for ROGUE 4; why do you find it so solid? For assassin vistanis, I am building a ToEE dagger ML 7. I had a ToEEkukri last life and the AoE proc was very strong in heroics.

edit: I see that is has the highest base damage (2d3) so the +W effects will be strong and the keen is handy before level 12. But I think other weapon effects would pull ahead.

My last life I did shortswords. I had the Tiefling Assassin's Blade as well as a fully upgraded ML 7 ToEE frost short sword. The ToEE weapons are nice against groups, but the AoE damage is so dependent on RNG. I almost always switched to the Tiefling Assassin's Blade for bosses or any single target encounter. The ToEE usefulness dropped off in mid/teen heroics, but I literally used the Tiefling Assassin's blade all the way up until level 14 when I could use Razorend.

I'm guessing this would be similar to Sheridan's Wrack vs ToEE dagger.

[HuneyMunster]

Some useful weapon found in Catacombs chain reward.
http://ddowiki.com/page/The_Catacombs

It also depends on how new a player is on whether they have certain packs. Some of the weapons in Catacombs are reaper viable due to ghost touch which new players will most likely not be running, But they still have use for incorporeal undead creatures in a number of free to play quests.

Also anyone playing an arcane then Robe of Duality is a must have to low level, as boost the damage and duration for level 1 spells with Arcane Augmentation.

[Shadow_Jumper]

My last life I did shortswords. I had the Tiefling Assassin's Blade as well as a fully upgraded ML 7 ToEE frost short sword. The ToEE weapons are nice against groups, but the AoE damage is so dependent on RNG. I almost always switched to the Tiefling Assassin's Blade for bosses or any single target encounter. The ToEE usefulness dropped off in mid/teen heroics, but I literally used the Tiefling Assassin's blade all the way up until level 14 when I could use Razorend.

I'm guessing this would be similar to Sheridan's Wrack vs ToEE dagger.

Yea I prefer BDR over effects more because of how dependent they can be on specific quests. Also I have only done two vistani lives at this point and Sheridan’s wrack has been the easiest to get.

[silinteresting]

I'm working on a new player guide of the most useful basic information. After returning, and never having played the game as much as a lot of others, I kind of came up with a list of things I learned and thought I'd share it.

For both my sake, and the guide sake, can you tell me what gear has exceptional stats for it's level? Also, if it's very hard to acquire or from ravenloft, it should probably be mentioned (like quiver of alacrity).

Specifically, what items grant:

100% fortification at earliest possible levels
Movement speed at earliest possible levels (other than RNG and quiver of alacrity)
Items with high saves, health, or other defenses.

Preferably, named items with a somewhat high drop rate, or are in reward lists often, are preferred. The list is more geared at levels 1-10.

two items that are nice: crude bauble from where theres smoke lesser false life, fortification +25, intim +3 and runic trinket from repossession,
wizardry +60, spell focus mastery +1 and insightful potency +14. both of these items are level 2.

your friend sil

[fmalfeas]

It's on the higher end, but worth noting - ML16 and 20 Mournlode Fullplate is excellent for heavy armor users. Top-flight base AC for level, solid enhancement bonus, deflection bonus, has Resistance as well, gives undead guard, and the real prize...Healer's Bounty. Whenever you get hit, it's got a chance of casting Heal on you. The heal is fired off at caster level 9, but it's still Heal. So it wipes out most debuffs, and heals you for 90 (before heal amp) and all you had to do was get hit. Combine it with a Shield of Tireless Aid (or if you're lucky, a Levik's Defender from Hound of Xoriat) and you have two 2% chances (though I've never seen both go off at once) for that Heal to fire. A paladin, cleric, or fighter can weather some insane amounts of incoming pain like that. And without piles of past lives and yugo pots and SF pots.

[Ralmeth]

Here's my go-to list of lower level items. All items are all relatively easy to obtain (i.e. don't rely on rare drops) though you may need to get access to the quest with buying a pack, getting a guest pass, etc.

Anger's Step
Min level 1 boots that provide 2 charges of expeditious retreat (i.e. 25% run speed bonus)
Found in the quest "Sacrifices" (free-to-play) given by the mayor on Korthos.
You can get these multiple times, and my top priority on any new character is to get 2-3 sets of these ASAP.

Muckbane
Min level 2 club to use on oozes and the like. This will be super helpful at low levels on any melee character.
Found in Durk's Got a Secret in the Harbor (free-to-play). It doesn't always drop, but once you learn the quest and where it shows up (i.e. you need to kill "Muck" a named ooze that only spawns some of the time), you can farm this quest pretty quickly. Sometimes you get lucky and pull one quickly, and other times it will take a bit longer. Bring friends to get a better chance. You may also find someone selling one on the auction house, if you have the plat for it.

Bracers of the Wind
Min level 3 bracers with permanent blur
Can be farmed from the Cannith Challenges (pay-to-play, but you can get daily tokens for free)
If my character can't cast blur, or doesn't have blur or lesser displacement on another item, this is usually in my bracers slot

Visor of Flesh Render Guards
Min level 5 goggles with a 1 Death Ward clicky
Found as an end reward to the Tangleroot chain (pay-to-play)
These can be super helpful if you are in a quest and start to get level drained, or you know a mob coming up uses death spells (ex. end fight in Deleras). You can have multiple sets, though I tend to only run Tangleroot once/life, so I tend to collect these over time. I would say 2 sets is pretty good to have deathward on most of the time between shrines in a lot of quests.

Nightforge Gorget
Min level 9 necklace with 100% fortification item
Found in a Relic of a Sovereign Past (free-to-play) if you collect all 15 ores and turn these into the NPC vendor in the quest.

[fmalfeas]

Oh, speaking of old stuff you don't see much, Royal Guard Mask is a Quality of Life item par excellence.

1 charge per rest of Teleport. That'll let you jump from wherever you are to the House Cannith Crafting Hall, with a vendor to dispatch your junk, the deconstructor to make essences out of other junk, the facilities to make new gear if your skills and supplies are up to the task, a banker, an auctioneer, and a mailbox.

And when you leave the hall, to your left and forward, down the stairs, is an open-air tavern, directly forward is a teleporter. If you use that teleporter to go to marketplace north, or hall of heroes, it dumps you right at an airship door. If you use it to go to normal marketplace, it drops you right at the trainers.

Of course, you get that from the Ghola Fan quest, and Restless Isles is even less popular than Reaver's Refuge.

[Aselrik]

"New Player" and "basic info" vs. "Ravenloft" and "quiver of alacrity" - seems very contradictory to me. Few(?) new players are going to dive straight into Level 10+ RL (at $40), and the QoA is both ~very~ rare and relatively high-level to hunt for.

I was going to split it into the very basics, and then a section on advanced information a person would want to know if they're ready to get serious about powering through past lives. In other words, a "New to the game" and then a "New to being a power player."

[Enoach]

Two items I like for spell casting types (DC or Power) both are ML2 and depending can be useful from 2 through 9. Also being BTA (orb) or Unbound (trinket) means you don't need to "farm it on every character"

http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Runic_Trinket

Wizardry +60
Spell Focus Mastery +1
Insightful Potency +14


http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Nicked_Orb

+2 Orb Bonus
Potency +29
Spell Focus Mastery +1
Wizardry +60

[Niminae]

The level 3 Bracers of the Wind (Cannith Challenges, can be played free with Daily tokens) are the lowest level Blurry item. Very useful at low levels.

The L15 and L20 Ring of the Stalker from Cannith Challenges makes an excellent ring for melee characters. The L20 version is very useful for Epic go rounds.

You'll notice a theme here:

Cannith Challenge gear is in general best in slot for the level. Especially the caster items such as the Bracers of Wind, Rock Boots, Cloak of Flame, and Blasting Chime.

And the best part about the Challenges for a new player is that they are all essentially Normal level content. You do either have to own the Cannith Challenge pack, or buy a VIP subscription, or collect the free Challenge Token daily in order to access the challenges. IF you choose to go the free route I'd suggest collecting 10+ tokens and using them to repeat a challenge until you have learned how to run it well. You will earn +10% challenge rewards for every level above your character level up to +50% at level+5.


100% Fortification as soon as possible is desirable. This list can be sorted by Minimum level. You can also purchase a Sapphire of Heavy Fortification (100%) for 12 Astral Shards, or play the lottery for other collectables. This list will tell you which collectable, er, collectors sell which augments.


Since Update 36 The Sharn Syndicate (level 2) and Red Fens (level 7) loot are all very good for the level. Many of the nice Sharn Syndicate items are end rewards, and NPCs don't care if you ran the quest on Casual or R10. So run them on Casual. :-P
Newcomers/Black and Blue, and Ravenloft heroics are all great level 10 items.
Heroic Greensteel is excellent L11/12 TR gear, but by the time you can make it you are probably not calling yourself a new player anymore...
Memoirs, Search and Rescue, and Good Intentions are good 13/15/17 items.

Any weapon with the Vorpal affect combined with a weapon type and/or combat style which offers rapid attacks can be superior to a better base damage item of the same level.

[CSQ]

For low levels, a vorpal weapon (keen/impact being a close second place for utility, especially on weapons that have high base critical ranges) is incredibly helpful. For classes that can use great crossbows, Olaren's is excellent (from the Korthos tavern quest reward, comes with keen and 1 point of frost damage, which is inferior to lucky loot gen but a guaranteed drop makes this desirable). Fintan's Bite is also good for level 1 characters, being from the same place but offering good temporary HP proc rates up through fourth or fifth level (higher on normal with a good build) that will help newbies stay alive in melee (though it's not the greatest at damage, I will admit). For someone learning DDO, these two weapons offer fairly good power without having to farm loot or even really be able to clear content, as they drop almost immediately and are easy to grab if you miss them the first time around.

[Qhualor]

holy weapons for ghostly skeletons in Delera's. without them you will do 0 damage. the club you can get from the NPC is quite lacking, but holy weapons are a common drop and you should be able to find the weapon of your choice.

Muckbane because lots of oozes in low level quests.

there is a named everbright shield that can drop from Oozo in the Captives quest.

Blade of Inquisition from the Catacombs chain end reward list that has ghost touch. doesn't help if you are weapon focused on a specific weapon like a Kensei, but it does help hitting wraiths and spirits and such without the incorporeal miss chance.

the Sharn quest end rewards sometimes have clickies as an option.

the named quest end rewards from Red Fens were fairly recently updated and aren't bad.

[3dent]

Attack On Stormreach has quite a bit of good stuff, even if the process of getting it is somewhat grindy.

Teraza's Perfect Sight is (EDIT: one of the two of, the other is goggles from the Illusory Larcener) the lowest-ML non-raid item with (true) True Seeing. (The complete upgraded set may be worthwhile too, but probably too grindy to get on the 1st life)

Vampiric weapons

Garments of Equilibrium (100% fortification and +0.5 dice of unarmed damage.)

[Xanthrawl]

The weapons from Invaders! are pretty solid.

Necklace of Contemplation is a nice item.

[Matuse]

For all you new vistani knife fighters out there, the best dagger I have been able to find is Sheridan’s Wrack (min level 8) from the Sorrowdusk/Co6 end reward list.

There's a much better option.



Same level, but a better weapon.

Same W multiplier, only a point lower on an average die roll but
+5 instead of +4 (which more than makes up for the single point die roll)
Adamantine for better durability and DR breaking
Comes from a F2P quest instead of a bought pack
It's a guaranteed item to appear from a single quest rather than having to run a whole chain for an end reward that might not even be there.
Best of all, it's 17-20x2 critical range is natural, not boosted by Keen...which means when you pick up Imp Crit: Pierce, it goes to 14-20x2.

Even if you're NOT using the Vistani tree, it's an incredibly good weapon.

[Ulfo]

Teraza's Perfect Sight is (EDIT: one of the two of, the other is goggles from the Illusory Larcener) the lowest-ML non-raid item with (true) True Seeing.

Incorrect. Mantle of the Worldshaper + Voice of the Master DM Vision set give True Seeing at ML5. CC can give it at ML1.

[Niminae]

holy weapons for ghostly skeletons in Delera's. without them you will do 0 damage. the club you can get from the NPC is quite lacking, but holy weapons are a common drop and you should be able to find the weapon of your choice.

And it's worth noting that if you can't find an appropriate Holy weapon, at the level you can run Delera's you can also go into Chronoscope and beat the first fight. Which gives you access to the bar where an NPC sells Flametouched weapons. Perfect for breaking dr/Good.

[Gabrael]

ya can get decent stat armor from Cannith Challenges, (lvl 4/8/12/16/20), with a bit more investment can be upgraded tier 2/3 that add better stats and augment slots (not the lvl 4 ones though, no augments)

for example a base lvl 4 armor got
+1 Enhancement Bonus
Protection +3
Resistance +3
Undead Guard +2d8

a lvl 8 armor with max tier
+3 Enhancement Bonus
Protection +5
Resistance +5
Undead Guard +3d8
colorless augment
Green Augment Slot

and by lvl 16 each type of armor gain a special option

Chain Shirt & Docents - Weaken Undead
Breastplate - Negative Energy Absorption - 10 Charges (Recharged/Day: 10)
Full Plate - Healer's Bounty

[Gabrael]

Incorrect. Mantle of the Worldshaper + Voice of the Master DM Vision set give True Seeing at ML5. CC can give it at ML1.

you can also fuse those two items to get a min lvl 1 colorless augment that give ya the 5% xp (no True sight though) but it frees ur trinket/cape slot for something else