Plate verses Chain verses Chain chest/cloth rest

I want to be a Pally. Plate armor, two handed mace, life magic... maybe a shield and war hammer some days. Solo build fighting through piles of monsters. That build worked in tier 1 - 4. Wavered a bit tier 5 zones. It got difficult in tier 10 zones. I worked through all the defensive skills and plate in a tier 10 zone does not seem practical.

So for my question, are there any high level chars that roam through the tier 10 zones solo wearing full plate? What combination of equipment and skills make that possible?

My paladin dreams are fading as I train death magic and start looking at cloth armor.

Thanks
Fallen Paladin

 

@Sara Dreygon is a non magic using plate blade warrior who does it without using magic, just pots. Now, hes level 130 and does INSANE damage and is a really good player. He solos dragons and ruined keep like that. Its not just about your defensive skills, in this game a good offence is a good defense in many situations. For example, he uses berserker stance and not defensive stance cuz the faster he kills, the less damage he takes.

 

I work the 10 zones in chain. It's difficult. My health regen comes from water spec, devotionals, food, and the emergency potion. Focus is not a problem. I am a polearm and occasional dual spear player.

 

I'm plate/(two-handed) blades and don't have an issue in the high tier zones. I don't pull piles of mobs on me, though. 1-3 at a time, depending on what they are. 3 melee is usually fine, but 3 archers is a bad idea.

I'm usually in defensive stance + glancing blows + parry. I recently gave up on fortify defenses because I don't think the crit protection is working. I have 5 healing touch in my deck along with water elemental out.

If I'm not much in danger, I'll switch to berserk stance. If I'm facing just mages (i.e. Rise mage room), I'm in berserk stance.

Against bosses (i.e. dragons) I go sword+shield.

 

A good offense is usually good defense in any game.

I'm fairly defense minded myself but I've always found in a lot of situations that most players focusing on offense will do better because of the faster kill rate. But I will add to this in that it isn't just your skills but your playstyle that's a factor. Bowen is usually flying solo with full plate & shield with no magic and no potions.. I'm not quite up to 130 I think that's still a few years away for me.. but I do alright because I'm cautious and I change tactics for the situation.. I tend to not wade into groups of mobs where victory is uncertain.

If you're looking to advance quickly find yourself a good group. Otherwise, be patient with your build. You'll get there. For me, defense is all about controlling the situation and picking where to fight, how to fight and knowing when to back off. Use the shrine and food buffs for regen etc..

 

I used to be full plate switched to full chain... because I like the occasional PVP and need the magics... If you want to be any type of caster... chain... otherwise plate is fine level 1thru 3 magics... 4 and 5 even on life, water and earth can be hard to cast... air, fire, death... forget it!

 

I am an adventure level 70 Paladin build that uses Bludgeon, Heavy Armor, Shields, Earth, Life with things from Tactics and Focus trees as well. I have not run into a problem so far. I actually enjoy this class. It might take longer to kill and you have to be selective with pulls but I have no problems in 5+ scenes fighting up to 4 to 5 mobs at a time.

 

What's a Paladin?

 

It is a build based on the classic paladin idea of a Holy Warrior.

 

I use plate armor and 2h blunt, lvl 105. My specializations are blunt weapons and earth magic. I can solo some tier 10 zones, but I have to be smart and plan out the fights. I have used variations of this build since persistance and it's definitely stronger now than in the past.

My regular buffs are Strength of earth, Shield of crystal, Inner strength, Glancing blow, Defensive stance and Earth's embrace. With the earth spec, this gives very nice survivability with both high avoidance and resistance. The Earth elemental actually helps a lot nowdays as well, both taking and dealing damage.

The damage output is not super high, but it works for me. Crushing blow is amazing agains archers and mages. Versus melee monsters, I can soak up a lot of dmg and stay alive long enough with healing and potions if needed.

 

Thank you all for your very helpful feed back. The comments here are consistent with my feelings.

Limit fights to only a few mobs and you are fine. Pull 6+ then chaos happens. No build or defensive skills can save you.

Thanks

 

Hello folks. I'm a man-at-arms. Full plate harness and two-handed swords - montante when possible. I'm a bit light on defence, but I do well in a group.

Skills I bring to the fight are high burst DPS, vicious damage-over-time with Rend, stuns with Body Slam, and rapid healing with my Life specialization.

My defensive skills are kind of limited: parry, glancing blow, defensive stance, crystal shield. Healing grace if I know I'm heading for hurt. (A big stack of healing grace is fantastic.)

I belong to a small but active guild, so I rarely solo. If I were a solo player, I would seriously consider going fire/death spellsword in maile. Probably dual wield for that big parry bonus, shield where appropriate.

Good luck out there. Enjoy the challenge!

 

I think you could focus on Lich lords, as I know bludgeon users one of the best in killing them.

 

I do a full plate build, all blades, no magic (except the usual buffs, like strength and crystal shield, and the odd healing spell). i can tear through tiers 1-8 like water. i can survive tier 10 as long as i'm a little cautious. i'm not to the level of @Sara Dreygon yet, but that's my goal!

For me, it's all about strength and speed and maximum damage (i routinely crit around 25-30% of the time, and get coup de grace hits of 1500, 2000, 3000+ regularly)

All my armor focuses on strength primarlily, dexterity secondarily, and damage avoidance (or resistance) when possible

I wear a Nefario cabalist hood (+20 strength) in tier1-8 areas. i don't wear a hood at all otherwise
If i'm in a tier 1-5 zone, i wear a ring of brittle brawn (drops hit points, but you take stuff out so quick it doesn't matter), otherwise i wear a ring with strength buffs and socketed with gaiaism
I wear a warlock chain in tier 10 (otherwise just a regular necklace with strength buffs)
I wear chain boots/leggings (bronze for crits or meteoric iron for extra damage - take your pick)
I wear bone armor gloves (like chain, less fizzle)
I have an epic plate chest piece (again with strength buffs)
backslot cloak for extra damage resist

in my primary hand i wield a (tier 1-8: longsword, bronze blade/elven hilt, tier 10+: cutlass of the swashbuckler w/enchants), in my offhand i wield a light sylvan dagger (unicorn), with various enchants.

When fighting hard mobs, i always buff up with max strength of earth/inner strength, berserker's stance, shield of crystal. Apply corpion poison (gives a lot of extra dps). hit 'em with a quick rend or two (charge it up and do a 6/5/5 if you can for harder bosses). make sure you have parry ready to go at all times to block damage (and hit them with a repost if you do parry them). if you can run up on them from behind, a charged backstab can often 1 shot them (or at least inflict 500-600-1000 points of damage).

never use whirling blades. it's waaaay to slow to recharge. slash/double slash/offhand attack are my primary attacks, with a charged coup de grace when they get around 25% health if it's a bigger boss. oh ya, and go in with a fleet flute before hand if you can to increase attack speed. potions of wolf speed/might/regeneration also help when fighting top bosses (dragons, manshashers, spider queens, nasty liches, etc). and keep the water elemental around. it was nerfed a bit, but still helps out. oh, and soothing rain is nice to cast before hand as well for a little help along the way.