Spear or Shield/Sword and Alchemy or Blacksmithing?

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:41 am

I just started an Elven Fighter. I'm wondering if it's a good idea to invest in Spear fighting, or that the extra Shield Parry is worth it to go sword and shield.

An other issue: should he learn alchemy, or blacksmithing?

Thanks in advance!

Ergopad · Post by **Ergopad** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:53 am

2-H weapons do usually more damage, but they need lot of strength to get all the benefit. You should also check the special attacks, because it depends on weapon type of what kind of attacks you may do. Wielding a shield gives a pretty big bonus thouhh, especially if you are outnumbered in battle.

About the artisan talents, Blacksmithing doesn't have that many recipes in the game, so I would go for alchemy, though then you should also learn some Plant Lore to get ingredients...

But generally, take the one you like most.

swcarter · Post by **swcarter** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:28 pm

If you want to be really efficient, you should give the crafting skills to companions who you're not planning to use (since they'll gain experience just like your regular companions).

When I played, I think I only made 2 things with my blacksmith (lockpicks and a saber), but I made lots of potions with my alchemist, so I'd say the latter is more important.

SWC

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:02 am

Pretty good advice, swcarter. I'll keep it mind. I won't be learning any crafting skills with my main character then. Plant Lore and Animal Lore are on my list of skills I'm mastering.
My plan is to have a "tank" with a shield (the Amazon from the first village), a heavy damage dealer without a shield (my Elven fighter with a spear), an archer (probably the rogue) and a caster. Would such a setup work?

Thanks in advance!

ektoplasma · Post by **ektoplasma** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:49 am

Shields sure are good, but not crucial. Hell, I even manage to tank with my staff wileding, cloth dressed mage! Being a magic user tends to draw "aggro" but I do fine with parry and debuff spells, I especially like Iron Rust Rot, which essentially makes any metal weapons against you useless, and Plumbumbarm Heavy Arm for every other attacks, which just makes them miss most of the time.

Edit. Might aswell add a tip in the same post.
Critters go down fast when focusing fire, so throwing a spell at something all the others are bashing at will just end in failure, since it most likely will be dead by the time you're finished throwing it, so unless it's a boss, let your mage attack something else than the rest. Saves a lot of time cause one or two spells kill most things.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:07 am

Thanks. I was a bit afraid that without shields, I'd make a useless melee fighter.

swcarter · Post by **swcarter** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:34 pm

FWIW, I had an almost entirely melee party, and everybody carried a shield. Spells take forever to cast, and there isn't any way to keep ranged characters out of melee combat, so I ended up just going melee. But it's nice to see that other party makeups work, too.

SWC

She-Wolf · Post by **She-Wolf** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:56 am

With high enough dodge and a decent armor, two-handed weapons are more than a good option. If you want to cast your elven magic, sticking to cloth armors is a must then, but there are some pretty decent ones to be found around and with Fastness of Body maxed out, you're good to go.

For my main (a burglar), I went with alchemy. The dwarf got his blacksmithing almost maxed out, the Amazon handled survival and animal lore, Gwenny did ranged and bowyer and I handled the rest (social, stealth, lockpicking etc). Now I switched Gwenny for Jost (the battlemage) and gave him the bow, switched Rhulana for Traldar and Frogimm for Ancoron. So far, I'm having a *much* easier time in fights. Battle magic does take a while to cast, but with decent equipment (Nassredin's armor) and Body spell, Jost ends every fight almost unscratched.

Basically, any combination of party members and skill delegation between them works in Drakensang. It's just a matter of your playstyle and personal preference.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:37 am

I'm not planning on using my Elven Magic with my Fighter a lot. Just for pre-combat buffs.
Thanks for the exposition. I feel much more confident in my party now.