Mithril-Marble Armor Scale Set?

Soooo, Morinare finds himself in an odd situation...for most of his 'life,' his crafting has been either ahead of or right at the level of adventure...right now, though, he's at 80 Adventure and 71 Crafting, which means that not only can I not make scales I can now use (I'm used to *that* :p) but, can't even look at the formula for Mithril-Marble scales to see what's needed.

As Morinare is a mix of Primalist and Talonmaster (to use Maekrux' Academy vocations list), using as many long-range spells/abilities as possible to deal damage before going melee all over the critter's face, my present scale-set is a cobalt/obsidian armor set, with a mix of melee and spell-caster bonuses. My gut-instinct is to do pretty much the same thing, but, I'm very much open to suggestions or advice. What I had in mind is this:

Mithril-Marble Armor Chest Scale w/Dragon Breath V; T/C V; Socket
Mithril-Marble Armor Head Scale w/Dragon Breath V; T/C V; Socket
2x Mithril-Marble Armor Wing Scale w/Speed&Velocity V; Primal V
2x Mithril-Marble Armor Foreleg Scale w/ Strength V; Power V; Focus V
2x Mithril-Marble Armor Hindleg Scale w/ Spirit Resistance V; Blight Resistance V; Mind Resistance V
Mithril-Marble Armor Back Scale w/ Crush Resistance V; Pierce Resistance V; Primal Resistance V

Just to fill out the rest of the picture, here are my Base Scores/Levels
Health 1949
Strength 728
Power 696
Speed 75
Armor 915
Dexterity 616
Focus 631
Fly 75

Dragon Breath 868
Evasion 724
Intuition 831
Magic Evasion 723
Primal 918
Tooth&Claw 891

Would love to hear from some higher-level folks with suggestions, as well as high-level crafters who could also offer suggestions; I *can* use the Crafting Calculator to figure out most ingredients, although I don't know if it shows any of the various Tech Kits....??

I would suggest putting sockets in all the scales that can hold sockets and round up sets of resist crystals and swap out as needed rather then teching a few scales with random resists. Also crystals will beat stat techs hands down.

If you can swing the comps, make a separate set of travel wings from your combat wings. Put piercing winds tech on those combat wings. I would also suggest razor teeth for head scale, foregoing one socket on that scale.

What other techs you use should compliment your fighting style and training point allocation. I am primal/power/evasion on training points (zero points in tooth and claw) but with strategic scale teching I am no slouch with a gold rage either. I would go with primal or tooth and claw as first choices over stats. Though remember breath can only be tech'ed, no training points for that if it appeals to you. To be honest, you can't stay full caster at top end, you will have to fight hybrid.

If you are on Order, I can help you with your scales.

can't give any advises, how build your strategy, but as I see, 90+ creatures, do so ranged meely strike, that you can't hit more then 2 times. and ranged strikes range farther, then any T5-teched ranged spell.

and yes, I agry, thet easer combine resist crystals in sockets, then do one resist-tech.

there are alot of resist crystals, mutch more, then adv-crystals or skills-crystals

Appreciate the two comments about crystals and socketing, and, in truth, that's the way I'd go, *except* that I seem to have an absolutely horrid record for finding crystals....lol...Mori has a lovely collection of level 100 crystals, just waiting for him to complete those last 20-levels, and, a gorgeous collection of things in the 40-and-under range, and, pretty much diddly-squat in between....maybe it's just bad luck, but, I've found very few crystals in the level 60-80 range...:confused:

I like the suggestion of Piercing Winds and Razor Teeth; I've never seen these techs (other than mention of them in the Wiki), and, as they're not included in the Crafting Calculator, I have no clue what materials they'd require...and, I'm sure there are other techs like this...dunno what they do, where to get 'em, or, what's needed to apply 'em....get ready, Elders, Mori's got questions! :eek:

Krin, you're quite right about getting in maybe 2 long-range blasts; every so often, I can manage 3 and, sometimes, the critter will just stand there (treants do it a lot) and let me lob spells at 'em for quite a while before finally deciding to charge (and, die).

Thanks, again, for the suggestions...appears I have more research to do (an aspect of Istaria I love!)....

How Thicklesip Devises A Combat Scale Set
1. Pick a base stat to use as the scale type: armor - health - strength - power - dexterity - focus
2. Pick 3-4 skill/attribute techs, such as Primal or Strength, that do not overlap with the stat you picked in step 1. (Because you can't put Strength techs on Strength scales, and such.)
3. Apply this priority ranking to each scale slot: specialty scales > tech kits > sockets > basic techs.

An example inspired by your first step, where the answers are 1. armor 2. Power, Strength, Primal, TnC, Dragon Breath (a little more scattered than I'd normally aim for but hardly terrible)

• Head: Razor Teeth V, jewelry socket x2
• Chest: armor socket x3
• Wing x2: Piercing Winds V, Power V, Strength V
• Foreleg x2: armor socket x3
• Hindleg x2: Primal V, TnC V, Dragon Breath V
• Back: Power V, Strength V, Dragon Breath V
• Tail: Power V, Strength V, TnC V

The idea being: pick the base stat you want the most of and make that your scale type; from there, apply the other stats you want in whatever ratios you think best. The problem with ward/resistance techs, instead of crystals, is that you can only fit a few onto each scale, and there's many different damage types, so you're either making a new scale set for nearly every damage type you fight-- I don't even want to imagine how expensive that would be!-- or you're only giving yourself an extra 40 resistance/16 ward against each type, which is less than a rounding error's worth of protection. Temporarily using tier V attribute techs instead of sockets is more understandable, since you don't have the crystals yet and they're not very common. If nobody gifts you a set when you hit 100, you're in for several hours of hunting/careful connie checking before you get a few, let enough to fill all your sockets.

Either way, get those triple-armor-socketed scales (the chest and two forelegs) made. You WILL use them eventually, and they're cheaper than dirt to make if you're already hiring a scalecrafter.


No matter you decide to go with, you'll need technique components, so here's a list of what goes into the more popular dragon-friendly tier V techs. (Reminder: all of these require 4 Shining Essence Orb per tech/tech kit as well.)

• Armor: 2 Bloodskulk Bloodmage's Finger, 2 Mithril Golem Fragment
• Strength: 2 Marble Golem Fragment, 2 Ravenous Bloodsnout Bristle
• Dexterity: 2 Bhal'kuk Warrior's Big Toe, 2 Sand Crab Shell
• Power: 2 Marble Boulder Golem Fragment, 2 Purple Weaver Leg Hair
• Focus: 2 Enraged Yew Treant Root, 2 Shrunken Purple Weaver Leg
• Health: 2 Nah'guk Warrior's Big Toe, 2 Peridot Golem Chip
• Speed: 2 Massive Yew Treant Root, 2 Than'kuk Warrior's Big Toe
• Velocity: 2 Grey Necrofly Wing, 2 Turgid Purple Weaver Leg
• Dragon Breath: 2 Bloodskulk Spearfisher's Finger, 2 Giant Flame Beetle Mandible
• Primal: 2 Bhal'kuk Gatherer's Finger, 2 Sand Crab Pincer
• Tooth and Claw: 2 Enraged Yew Treant Root, 2 Gloomwolf Fang

• Piercing Winds V: 2 Purple Tarantula Breeder Leg Hair, 2 Wind Elemental Vapor
• Razor Teeth V: 2 Fiery Dire Wolf Fang, 2 Sand Crab Pincer

I'm happy to tell you the comps for any other techs if contacted in-game or via PMs, or consult about Primalist-ish tech choices, or craft whatever set you decide on. Good luck with this!

(Aside: Intuition and Ingenuity are rarely-used miscellaneous crafting skills. Feel free to ignore them when discussing combat. ;) )

hmmmm....this also fits in nicely with other advice I've gotten here and in-game...so, applying what you've said, Thicklesip (along with the gentle admonition that I may have spread things out a bit too much :rolleyes:), let's do this again...Armor scales, with the techs aimed at Primal, Power, Strength and Speed/Velocity (I'm a firm believer in being able to get the heck outta Dodge in a hurry!)...
So, I'd come up with:

Head: Razor Teeth V; 2 sockets
Chest: 3 sockets
Wing x2: Piercing Winds V; Speed V; Velocity V
Foreleg x2: 3 sockets
Hindleg x2: Primal V; Strength V; Power V
Back: Primal V; Strength V; Power V
Tail: Primal V; Strength V; Power V
Claw: Peridot-Tipped; Battle-Forged V; 2 sockets

I really should have known better regarding the sockets and crystals, especially since I have so many of the "resist/ward" type (almost all for lower levels, unfortunately). So, does the above make a bit more sense?

Looking a the Crafting Calculator, just to get an idea of what ingredients are needed for those techs, makes my head hurt...:eek: (not even sure what a Ravenous Bloodsnout is, but, it doesn't sound friendly)

Looks great! As a reminder, you CAN make macros that will swap around the scales you wear at a moment's notice, so if you adventure frequently and are good at banging your "run awaaaay" macro when you need it, a second set of wing scales with Piercing Winds and 2 of your 3 combat techs (ex: Piercing Winds/Primal/Power) is a solid investment. I get away with only having PW/Speed/Velocity, but then, the most strenuous hunting I've done is some Rift runs with lots and lots of company and a world boss hunt or two when Lov catches me at the right time. I'm hardly a model fighter. ;)

Concerning Bloodsnouts: I'm so excited for you, you get to learn the wonders of the Spiritous Swamp! *shushes all the old-timers groaning at the mention of the place*

Yup, I've got all 4 sets of scales (armor, mining, spell/scale-crafting, lair-shaping) on hot-keys...wouldn't be hard to make a fifth to swap in "run away, you fool!" wing-scales...lol...

I've started gathering the ingredients needed for the scales; printed a list from the HCC, and just started at the top, with 10 Bhal'kuk Gatherer's Fingers...those weren't too bad, to my surprise. Did a bit with Fiery Dire Wolves (need 2 fangs) but didn't have time. And, I think a Guild-Mate has Leg Hair from some sort of 8-legged, purple monstrosity....lol...the marble and mithril may be a problem for me, as I'm not sure if I can even harvest it yet (crafting is only 74), but, I'll worry about that after I gather all the techie ingredients.

Here's the "shopping list" I have, for the scale-set below (not worried about the sockets, as I have enough of those to simply drag-n-drop):

10 Bhal-kuk Gatherer's Fingers (have)
2 Fiery Dire Wolf Fangs
4 Grey Necrofly Wings
8 Marble Boulder Golem Fragments
8 Marble Golem Fragments
4 Massive Yew Treant Roots
2 Mithril Boulder Golem Fragments
4 Purple Tarantula Breeder Leg Hairs
8 Purple Weaver Leg Hairs
8 Ravenous Bloodsnout Bristles
10 Sand Crab Pincers
4 Than'kuk Warrior's Big Toes
4 Turgid Purple Weaver Legs
4 Wind Elemental Vapors

And, you now have me worried about the Spiritous Swamp!!! :eek:

With some great assistance from a few members of my Guild (Hail, Scions!!), I've accumulated all of the tech ingredients needed for these scales, and am now going to work on the actual materials needed (marble, mithril, peridot and shining essencesesesssss)....which may actually be the most difficult, since I'm about 6 levels or so below the minimum...lololol....we'll see how this goes!

For the back, I would be sure to leave one tech slot open for the Bone Lacing tech.

Chest get one made with a single open tech slot, for that tech from the Satyr Islands quest (On Alged I think) that +100 Resist to 4 or 5 things.

Forelegs, triple socket can't hurt for a first set of scales, since they are so cheap to make, no expensive tech comps needed.

Wings, make a second combat set that leaves off speed and velocity. Hotkeys can easily swap these around.

On the overall choice of techs, I think you will be more happy with a set that picks one combat type, and places it above all else:

So if you are a melee fighter, t&c should become a tech you put on everything. My own forelegs are t&c and 2 sockets, dragon techable scales have open slot for that tech, t&c, strength (head and wings), open slot on back for quest tech plus t&c, str, hindlegs have t&c, str, dex. For the Tailscale I'm using the Bard's tail.

For a caster, your primary stats are somewhat divided between primal and dragon breath. Power and focus would follow those, but the focus could be left off if the primary stats are in place in sufficient amount. So primal, dragon breath on all scales, with power as the third on hindlegs. Wings/head/back leave one open techslot for the drag-to-apply techs, plus primal and dragon breath. forelegs/chest primal, dragon breath, socket. hindlegs/tail primal, dragon breath, power.

All that primary stat you get from the techs affect accuracy and damage, so you will not need to really worry about dex or focus. (I should redo my hindlegs and swap out dex for dragon breath).