View source for User:Skull Face/Build Diary/Ludwig Prinn 03

== Ludwig Prinn ==

===Nov 8<sup>th</sup>===
XP total 14120. Ludwig was restarted in Breath 3 as a result of excess store credits from donations. The intention was to revisit the [[Wyrm Master]] class as a factioned petmaster, to contrast with the same class unfactioned in Breath 1. The build for Ludwig was kept relatively minimal based on lessons learned elsewhere. Additional contrast was intended by declining the [[Horrid Tentacle]] pets (which were effectively neutered by the changes to their improvement ability [[Favour of GNak]]) in favour of [[Hellhounds]].

At Tier 2 the Alchemy abilities were deferred until later: [[Alchemy]] had proven extremely frustrating for this character in Breath 1 and the expectation was that it would be the same in Breath 3. Surprisingly, however, factioned status combined with the daughter skill [[Alchemical Transmutation]] made Alchemy much more viable (although extremely heavy on MP and AP usage). As expected for a [[Defiler]] the Tier 2 levelling was very slow, relying on a combination of book reading, alchemy-related gains (both minor XP but still welcome) and opportunistic kills (XP food for the starved).

At early Tier 3 the standard/expected abilities were taken obtained as soon as possible. New ability [[Metamorphic Unguis]] was obtained at level 24 and proved valuable both for wardbashing and for finishing off kills to gain higher XP. This new ability nicely rounds out the WM, providing an alternative to the [[Thrown Weapons]]-based, MP-dependent [[Acid Spittle]] build without making it overly powerful.

Currently at level 27, the most recent CP expenditure has been on Tier 1 abilities to complement [[Translucency]]. Experience to date shows that [[Hellhound|Hellhounds]] are quite MP-intensive; coupled with changes to [[Dark Heart]] this makes it difficult to be effective against targets wearing [[Enchanting#Utility|defense-enchanted]] armour. The [[Hellhound|Hellhounds]] will certainly benefit from [[Nether Grafting]].

===Feb 7<sup>th</sup>===
XP total 21944. After the best part of a year off Ludwig remains a bit of a mixed bag. Reliance on [[Dark Heart]] attacks (which cannot have accuracy increased but can have it decreased by defense) for MP recovery means that the WM relies on abundance of victims as a precursor for building a wall of critters. Moving around to find victims chips AP away from pets and [[Dark Heart]] chips AP from the WM. [[Twisted Leap]] helps in terms of mobility. Ultimately this means that the WM is focussed more on hunting and less on ambush. On a good (hunting) day this works well. This is balanced by the fact that on a bad (defensive) day the WM can be quite poor.

Purchased [[Poison]] purely out of curiosity; qrguably that ability is better for gaining XP earlier in the game. Unable to find a [[Glyph of Slowing]] vs Good, elected instead to spend remaining XP on a hodge-podge of abilities; [[Summon Imp]] to assist in finding hidden victims and [[Engineering]] for both utility and working on stats. 

Approximate build follows:

===Build Record===
{|style="text-align:center"
|-style="background:gray"
|style="width:100px"|Level
|style="width:100px"|CP Available
|style="width:100px"|CP Gain
|style="width:200px"|Skill(s)
|style="width:100px"|CP Spent
|style="width:100px"|CP Unspent
|-style="background:olive"
|1
|0
|10
|Search
|10
|0
|-style="background:olive"
|2
|0
|10
|Hand-to-Hand Combat
|10
|0
|-style="background:olive"
|3
|0
|10
| -
|10
|0
|-style="background:olive"
|4
|10
|10
|Martial Arts
|20
|0
|-style="background:olive"
|5
|0
|10
| -
|0
|10
|-style="background:olive"
|6
|10
|10
| -
|0
|20
|-style="background:olive"
|7
|20
|10
|Advanced Martial Arts
|30
|0
|-style="background:olive"
|8
|0
|10
|Sense Magic
|10
|0
|-style="background:olive"
|9
|0
|10
| -
|0
|10
|-style="background:silver"
|10
|10
|20
|Desecration, Spellcraft, Seeking Hand
|30
|0
|-style="background:silver"
|11
|0
|20
|Dark Heart
|20
|0
|-style="background:silver"
|12
|0
|20
|Frost Charge
|12
|8
|-style="background:silver"
|13
|8
|20
|Ice Dart, Strength, Reveal
|26
|2
|-style="background:silver"
|14
|2
|20
|Alchemy
|20
|2
|-style="background:silver"
|15
|2
|20
| -
|0
|22
|-style="background:silver"
|16
|22
|20
|Alchemical Transmutation
|40
|2
|-style="background:silver"
|17
|2
|25
|500 Books Read Breath, Greater Glyph Erasure, Blur
|26
|1
|-style="background:silver"
|18
|1
|20
| -
|0
|21
|-style="background:silver"
|19
|21
|20
| -
|0
|41
|-style="background:gold"
|20
|41
|55
|Explore 25 Badges, Acid Blood, Twisted Leap, Summon Wrackwyrm
|90
|6
|-style="background:gold"
|21
|6
|30
|Summon Hellhound
|30
|6
|-style="background:gold"
|22
|6
|30
| -
|0
|36
|-style="background:gold"
|23
|66
|30
|Master of the Pack
|60
|6
|-style="background:gold"
|24
|6
|30
|Metamorphic Unguis
|30
|6
|-style="background:gold"
|25
|6
|30
|Translucency
|30
|6
|-style="background:gold"
|26
|6
|40
|500 Food Eaten Life, Dodge, Hide
|30
|16
|-style="background:gold"
|27
|16
|30
|Evasion
|30
|16
|-style="background:gold"
|28
|16
|30
| -
|0
|46
|-style="background:gold"
|29
|46
|50
|Nether Grafting, 1000 Books Read Breath, 500 Kills Life
|60
|36
|-style="background:gold"
|30
|36
|30
|Poison, Engineering, Summon Imp
|60
|6
|}