Squishy elf survivability

• SlurpTASTY wrote on 2013-12-13 00:55
  I'm an elf who mains archer and currently I have 24 defense and 196 strength and 285 HP, I have almost no combat skills ranked whatsoever which means I can get a fair amount of defense easily, but I use bohemian wear so even with around 300 strength and rank 1 defense it still would only be around ~60 defense. The thing is I have no idea how much of a difference an extra 35 defense would make.
  
  On the other hand I have 168 int (31 magic attack which translates to about .12 mana shield efficiency) and 265 MP. I'm at rank C mana shield and my survivability has already gone way up, I have no magic skills ranked whatsoever so I can still get an easy 200 MP from magic mastery + meditation. The only downside is using mana pots constantly, which is not too big of a deal for me.
  
  So what would be better to up my survivability quicker? Keep going on the defense route or the mana shield route? Or is there an even better alternative to both of these? Do note that I'm not switching from wearing bohemian which is clothing.
• nandattebayo wrote on 2013-12-13 01:13
  If you go the mana shield route, your defense and protection won't matter as they are dropped to 0 when MS is active. However, if you have a decent amount of magic attack coupled with a large mana pool (500+) and/or the reforge, you can still tank pretty well.
  
  You could also try using Master of Shields/Barrier Spikes to increase your protection and see how well that works out for you. Protection is far more effective than defense.
• Airylin wrote on 2013-12-13 01:17
  Would say MS route since defense doesn't reduce all that much and does not cover wounds and the like. Plus the extra mana would also help with CS and as you said you had no difficulty with obtaining mana pots. Eventually you'll be one shotting things anyway that you probably won't get hit aside from accidents.
  
  Though aren't you a puppeter as well? The extra str would really benefit the puppets along with helping you live.
• Yuuki Asuna wrote on 2013-12-13 01:22
  You essentially have two options as a ranger/puppeteering elf:
  
  Mana shield reforge (level 10~14) with the appropriate INT/M ATK to maximize the reforge's efficiency.
  Hoard str for defense and upgrade clothes for protection.
  
  Traditionally and perhaps the most cliche response you'll get is "don't get hit" but unless you live really close to the servers or really REALLY practice your AOE pet summoning timing, this isn't pragmatic.
  
  Edit: Quickest survivability would be cap mana shield then get around 400 int. Following that, save like a madman to buy fine kits for the mana shield reforge.
• ironwoman wrote on 2013-12-13 01:40
  As an elf, you shouldn't really wear anything other than bohemian set.
  That being said, even if you cap strength, chance is, you probably won't even have asmuch defense as I do. Since you can't get much def/prot anyways, you might as well go with mana shield.
  
  Personally, I'm not sure if the efforts us worth it since the damage can still be negate at higher int.
  
  For any race, hp/def/prot shouldn't be your concern. The point is to not get hit.
• nandattebayo wrote on 2013-12-13 01:44
  You could also try getting some decent roll Droseras and putting Precise Lilly on them.
• SlurpTASTY wrote on 2013-12-13 01:47
  I guess the general consensus is to just go with mana shield, but I didn't know protection/defense is 0 when using mana shield. Also I don't get hit that often really but if something does happen and I get hit, it's one shot and I'm dead. It's made soloing stuff annoying when I die because of something silly like a lag spike. It's gotten so annoying that I've halted ranking puppetry to focus on getting my survivability up so I stop dying from one hit.
  
  Thank you to everyone who answered my question.
• H1111 wrote on 2013-12-13 04:34

  Quote from SlurpTASTY;1178009:

  
  So what would be better to up my survivability quicker?

  
  
  It's all about running away from your enemy. so rS wave sweeper if you hadn't got one already.
  pet stuns also helps.
• SlurpTASTY wrote on 2013-12-13 08:22

  Quote from H1111;1178078:

  It's all about running away from your enemy. so rS wave sweeper if you hadn't got one already.
  pet stuns also helps.

  
  
  Whats the chance of restoring an ideal to rS? Also I've been starting to solo Shadow Wiz HM for exp/gold which is why I'm asking this. The problem I have is with two archers/horse aggro or shadow wizard/archer combo, although it doesn't happen a crazy amount, sometimes mabi rng just completely fucks me over with aiming.
• Syliara wrote on 2013-12-13 08:26

  Quote from SlurpTASTY;1178191:

  Whats the chance of restoring an ideal to rS? Also I've been starting to solo Shadow Wiz HM for exp/gold which is why I'm asking this. The problem I have is with two archers/horse aggro or shadow wizard/archer combo, although it doesn't happen a crazy amount, sometimes mabi rng just completely fucks me over with aiming.

  
  
  An example is me... I tried to do so, ended up using a good 30+ or more ideals in restoration.... 75% of the time it would fail restoration, and when it succeeded 95% of the time it was lowest quality or maybe right above that.... I ended up settling with a rA wave sweeper and dealing with it....
• Kyouria wrote on 2013-12-13 09:39
  As time went on, my elf wasn't as squishy anymore. I didn't do anything in particular.. I've yet to invest in gear/armor so my defense/protection is mostly from mana shield and other related skills. AOE pets help a lot to deal with multi-aggro as well as crowd control skills like puppeteering. I don't think it means much whether you're human/elf/giant. I've seen many elves (myself included) survive and see humans/giants dead during runs. s:
• Yuuki Asuna wrote on 2013-12-13 15:27

  Quote from Kyouria;1178222:

  As time went on, my elf wasn't as squishy anymore. I didn't do anything in particular.. I've yet to invest in gear/armor so my defense/protection is mostly from mana shield and other related skills. AOE pets help a lot to deal with multi-aggro as well as crowd control skills like puppeteering. I don't think it means much whether you're human/elf/giant. I've seen many elves (myself included) survive and see humans/giants dead during runs. s:

  
  
  AOE pets are incredibly hard to time with Canadian internet.
  
  Also Slurp, you should rank potion lore after you cap mana shield for sure.
• Blassreiter wrote on 2013-12-13 17:27
  If you really think that you will get hit a lot and you need to survive hits, I recommend having a shield handy. Despite the "high damage only, shields are for noobs" people shields are the main source of tanking. Of course true to the damage addicts, using a shield forces you to use one handed weapons and usually one handers are weaker in comparison. Although you're using archery as main you can always have your second slot with a one hander+shield. That alone essentially makes you like a shieldless heavy armor user without the dex penalties.
• Yuuki Asuna wrote on 2013-12-13 17:30

  Quote from Blassreiter;1178278:

  If you really think that you will get hit a lot and you need to survive hits, I recommend having a shield handy. Despite the "high damage only, shields are for noobs" people shields are the main source of tanking. Of course true to the damage addicts, using a shield forces you to use one handed weapons and usually one handers are weaker in comparison. Although you're using archery as main you can always have your second slot with a one hander+shield. That alone essentially makes you like a shieldless heavy armor user without the dex penalties.

  
  
  This is a really good idea, especially if you use cypress healer weapon/careful healer shield in your auxiliary slot! I just dunno he'll run into the same issue with pet summoning lag when tabbing though :[
• Chaos' wrote on 2013-12-14 17:46
  you can also rank up combat mastery after mana shield and magic mastery. Give u a nice chunk of hp and a itty bitty amount of dex too 8D