PVE contemplations

NamelessJourney

Ok, I've got a wraith/tamer (that I LOVED playing for a long time) that I pretty much don't touch except for like a peerless here and there. I tamed a najasaraus and played around with "training" that up some. Still just haven't use the character much.. because..

 I geared a sampire up and just went to town with it. Medusa is dead jokingly quick, I joust Stygian Dragon, I decimate about anything I put it to task to.. But..
I have wondered.. is it worth it to just craft 100% life leech weapons to take necromancy totally off the template? There are a few things I see about it that seem "better", I just don't really like shooting the dice with the hammers for reforging the weapons without knowing more about it.

 For one, if I'm in the abyss and one of those mobs that can purge my VE off won't be a bother, and another is healing pots in the odd instance I "bit" off more than I can chew and I need to run off and something drained all my mana away I don't need take my weapon out of hand and drink a potion and fumble around with that til I get frustrated, and I of course get 100 more skill points to invest in something like, another weapon skill like archery or something. That or raise healing up, to help rez guildies that tag along with me on my ghetto hunts so I don't honorably sacrifice myself and get dragon breathed at an inconvenient time.

 I guess what I'm asking is the 100% life leech as effective as VE in keeping me alive as long as I have my weapon of choice in hand? Or is this just a herp-a-derpicle step in the wrong direction?

Petra_Fyde

The thing to keep in mind is leech properties are tied to swing speed. 100% leech weapons are the slowest, which gives whatever you're fighting more opportunity to hit you between your swings.

NamelessJourney

Would having SSI on items like jewels help negate this though?

cobb

yes

NamelessJourney

yay thanks @cobb .
I've got some ssi jewels. I also have a ranger's cloak of augmentation on my wraith tamer for some reason.. I assume it was the 3% ssi in the back slot, but there's no telling. I need to do some of that eodon content to get the new "uber" loot stuff, like the head slot and hawkwind's robe.

 So with the right jewels, and that back slot, that's 25% ssi. Yeah.. I see this coming together..

Seth

If you are talking about pure breed sampire with no healing skills, then 100% life leech is not enough. I have tested it and also done the maths, the amount of life leeched back is not enough. On the other hand, necro life leech can sustain using a weapon without any life leech. I prefer both. 

NamelessJourney

Hmm, would healing or possibly like Mysticism sufficiently supplement the loss of healing via Life Leech @Seth?
The suit I have on my sampire allows me to cast protection so I can cast without interruption, and that actually is so awesome in busy areas.

Seth

NamelessJourney said:

Hmm, would healing or possibly like Mysticism sufficiently supplement the loss of healing via Life Leech @ Seth?
The suit I have on my sampire allows me to cast protection so I can cast without interruption, and that actually is so awesome in busy areas.

@NamelessJourney The classic sampire does not use protection or healing. It leeches Hp most of the time with double strike/whirlwind/armor ignore, bushido evasion+confidence+momentum strike, Chivalry is a must with healing, remove curse, dispel evil, Enemy of One, and I carry healing potion for emergency.

NamelessJourney

I'm saying if I ditch Necromancy, and just use 100% life leech weapons, will that suffice?

 The classic sampire probably didn't use protection, as loot items at the time the template came out didn't really make sense for it to, and people weren't forced to use a minimum of 99 necromancy to maintain vampiric embrace either, so they used + jewelery and maybe midnight bracers to help them get into ve and switched over to better items unless they just wore it all the time. I'm just saying, I use a suit with over capped physical so I can run protection and not get interrupted while trying to use enemy of one or whatever healing ability I'm trying to toss out. Will say having protection up has helped significantly with survival in a tight spot. What I wonder though, is if I just drop necromancy off the template or reduce it down so I can run say wraith form or something instead and have free points on my template, will 100% life leech weapons and the rest of the template be sufficient or will I need to pick up say healing (the skill) to help? As it is, I'm running mining and digging in dungeons when the mood strikes me, and I can do like everything I want to do with my sampire.