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Thread: Dragon Build

  1. #1
    Draknor
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    Default Dragon Build



    Hello.. I am a new Dragon and New to the whole Horizons thing... was curious on a decent build for a dragon to do with his stats.... <str/dex/ect.> i always hate respecing down the road..

    any info and why its good would be great...

    thanks a ton



    Draknor


  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    Dralk and in my lair, where else?
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    Default Re: Dragon Build

    This is not WoW, you don't need to "respec" [H]. Andeven switching training pointscosts nothing.

    And with a dragon you can be both a good meleer (very good actually using hoard based skills) or a blaster, a mix of both, or you could want to be resilient to melee but area the mobs to death like a druid.

    So first tell us what do you want to play as, then we can tell you.
    Vahrokh Vain - Ancient dragon level 100 adv 100 craft 34M of untainted, fireworks and other crap free hoard.
    Isarion - Reaver Healer Spiritist, many craft classes.

  3. #3
    Draknor
    Guest

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    a general mix would be good i think... ;) i just dont know whats good tho so any help will do ;) thanks

  4. #4

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    Here are some quick thoughts that will hopefully give you some ideas:

    First, training points are an important key to your effectiveness. The big advantage in Horizons is that you are not stuck once you spend your points, you can change your mind and re-alocate them at no cost. The only thing you have to be aware of is that you can only change out so many per unit time, but you can just do them in chunks. In other words, you are alocated so many points per day that you can change out, and if you want to change out more than that you will just have to change out some each day until you get them all moved. Not a big deal, the amounts are quite generous.

    The main thing is, you are not stuck. Horizons lets you change your mind so that as you discover new things and you settle into a playing style, you wont have to consider starting over. In fact, the only choices I know of that would require starting over is what race to choose, and if it is a bi-ped race then male or female. The only other thing I can think of would be body style (size, color, etc.). Everything else is changeable.

    Keep in mind that you don't have to alocate training points to stats specifically, although you can to some extent. You could choose to specialize in certain skills instead, or a combination of both.

    For example, if you wanted to be a meatshield type of tank, you could spend your training points on things like evasion and magic evasion, and other defensive skills. Your damage output would be noteably reduced, so you probably would only want to specialize in pure defense if you know you will be hunting with folks that can do the actuall damage. This is probably harder to do with the new agro system, though, as it seems you need to be able to do decent damage to keep the critters attention. Remember, though, you can always change your mind and swap your points out for something else.

    Myself, I originally went all-out melee tank, but the game was quite a bit different then. As things have changed, my playing style changed with it and I now find myself running a mix of skills. Tooth and Claw for melee, Primal for spellcasting, and a bit into evasion on the off chance that actually works. I seem to notice a difference with Evasion, but it could all be in my head [:D] I put a lot more into Primal than I would have liked to, but I use the AE regens and AE nukes quite a bit.

    Another reason I changed my skills up is that I tend to duo a lot, as well as solo, and I occasionally lead large parties out hunting. This means I have to have a pretty wide skill set, which means I do not specialize as much as I used to. This worked out well enough, though, due to some changes to dragons a bit back that gave us a considerable defensive boost.

    I hope this has helped some, it is the best I can do with the limited information you have given.

    "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
    - Albert Einstein

  5. #5
    Draknor
    Guest

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    This is really useful info.. but what do i do about my dex/str stats?..

  6. #6

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    Well, I personaly believe that a dragon never needs any points in either focus or dexterity, either through scales or through training points. If you want to be a balanced character, you might want to try some points into primal (Training points aply to base, so you will be able to scribe spells as soon as you meet the level requiremenr with enough points into primal) and into Tooth and Claw. Skills (Like primal and T&C) increase both your to-hit % and also your damage. In the case of tooth and claw, 1 point is the damage euivilant of 2/3rds of a point of strength. You can mess around with your scales, most dragons use an Armor scale and tech it with other things. I personaly use a mix of armor and strength scales. (Strength feeds melee damage, Power feeds spell damage, by the way.)

    Dex and focus feed melee and spell acuracy, respectivly. The reason I say dragons do not need them is that usualy your attack skill is high enough that you will have plenty of acuracy. (May not seem like it in the first few levels, but it will start piling up). Dex also boost evasion, and focus boosts magic evasion, but by fairly trivial ammounts.
    Lumineux Talar

  7. #7

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    Smeglor's Explanation of Stats is a good read for starters.

    I don't have much else to add except consider putting some training points in your primal skill, even if you decide to be a melee dragon. Without any points you'll end up with 870 base primal at lvl 100 (890 for Helian) - which isn't enough to scribe all your tier 5 spells, let alone tech them.
    Tympest Stormchaser
    100/100 Ancient Lunus Dragon - Retired
    Erus Ex Istaria - Order

  8. #8

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    Also, a lot of dragons like to put some training points into health.

    Nobody should tell you exactly what to do once you understand what does what.

    For myself, it's 50% into T&C and roughly 25% into strength and 25% into health. But every once in awhile I get to thinking about moving some of the health into strength or something. Or maybe not.

  9. #9

    Default Re: Dragon Build



    Well for my build %50 in health and %50 in primal , taking hits is just as important as dishing out the pain and making sure it hits for spells.
    Xerses 100 Dragon Adventurer / 100 Dragon Crafter
    28 million hoard and counting...
    Yamir Onimar 100 Warrior / 100 Cleric / 84 Druid / 37 Mage



  10. #10

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    I am about 2/5 T&C, 2/5 str, and 1/5 primal (so I can cast all the spells). I still hit hard and often, just good to have that little bit extra for the spells.
    Denrath, Lunus Ancient of Order

  11. #11

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    I disagree with the other posters here, in that defense is a valid option, so how you build your character does indeed depend upon how you wish to play. If you play defensively then Dex absolutely has a role, but only as scale techs. The reason I don't use training points on the stats is because the skill counts for more than the stat does, and the stat can be teched onto scales but the skill cannot. So for me, best bang for the buck is train Evasion, tech Dex.

    I do not do 50/50 though, because there are other things that are more important to me. I keep Tooth and Claw reletively maxed, and I keep Primal at the lowest level that lets me cast my Tier V AE's and buffs. The left over points go into Evasion. I am not sure how happy I am with this, just yet, but being able to cast Tier V AE's seem to be important to keeping agro these days.

    So, I take more damage than I used to because of lower evasion, but I am able to keep agro better than when I was using Tier IV AEs.

    In the end you will just have to find your own way, but at least you have some different ideas now.

    "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
    - Albert Einstein

  12. #12

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    Quote Originally Posted by Theolaerynn
    I disagree with the other posters here, in that defense is a valid option, so how you build your character does indeed depend upon how you wish to play. If you play defensively then Dex absolutely has a role, but only as scale techs. The reason I don't use training points on the stats is because the skill counts for more than the stat does, and the stat can be teched onto scales but the skill cannot. So for me, best bang for the buck is train Evasion, tech Dex.

    I do not do 50/50 though, because there are other things that are more important to me. I keep Tooth and Claw reletively maxed, and I keep Primal at the lowest level that lets me cast my Tier V AE's and buffs. The left over points go into Evasion. I am not sure how happy I am with this, just yet, but being able to cast Tier V AE's seem to be important to keeping agro these days.

    So, I take more damage than I used to because of lower evasion, but I am able to keep agro better than when I was using Tier IV AEs.

    In the end you will just have to find your own way, but at least you have some different ideas now.
    So how much are you evading? For a long time roughly a third of my points were in evasion but it seemed like I hardly ever evaded so I moved them into health primarily with a few into strength. I didn't try getting a full set of dex scales though and in fact I don't evenuse dex techs. If I went to the effort of making up a new set of scales, would I start to get some decent evasion? I could see myself using dex techs more then dex scales, as opposed to the armor scales I'm currently using, unless evasion was VERY effective.

  13. #13

    Default Re: Dragon Build

    I go AC scales as well, and just tech Dex. The AC seems to be much more effective than the evasion, but here is the caveat:

    I have never kept good metrics on evasion, and so this is all just a 'feeling' I have. I have noticed that when I had evasion maxed, and Tier IV ac scales teched with Dex that I was able to take critters much easier than I was able to without evasion and Dex. This is as a level 100 Adult, I just couldn't afford Tier V scales yet, with the exception of a Chest Scale of Eminence.

    So there are a lot of variables and it is a subjective view, but it is definitely something I need to quantify. When I get some usable numbers I will post them back here. It will take me a few days though since I will need to redistribute my training points, and will need to wait for buy-backs[:P]

    "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
    - Albert Einstein

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