January 7, 1999
PLAYER KILLING SKILLS--BY: Genjuro
Player killing skills are not in the most abundant supply in Medievia.
There are plenty of players out there who have no idea how to PK
effectively or even how to defend themselves. Players have different
opinions on what makes a good PKer. In my estimation, being good at PK is
determined by 40% EQ, 50% skill and 10% link. I'll touch on each.
EQ
Building a good PK mode is a goal of many players. A good mode consists
of a decent amount of hitpoints, damroll in at least the low 60s and
hitroll in the high 40s or low 50s, and appropriate SS. I find the best
hitroll to be around 52 or 53, any more than that seems to be redundant
and you could use that to get better other stats. Regarding SS: as you
probably know, warriors need -8ss and thieves need -6ss to be for the most
part undispellable. Unfortunately, current eq doesn't really support
having a max SS mode. Evil wars should probably go for -7 with drow/mask
or drow/df belt, good wars -7 with creator sash/cecilia cloak, evil
thieves -4 with df belt and/or servant apparition, good thieves with
creator sash or df belt. Just so you can have some examples, current max
stats for all four is (hp mana hr dam ss):
- Evil war with 2 hp talismans/aura: 1030 270 50 63 -7 switch: 10 dam
- Good war with hp/mana talismans/aura: 980 240 51 63 -7 switch: 8 dam -3 hr
- Evil thi with 2 hp talismans/aura: 940 335 50 66 -4 switch: 18 dam
-
Good thi with 2 hp talismans/aura: 930 275 52 68 -4 switch: 13 dam -3 hr
Keep in mind these are all max hr/dam/ss and +5hp/mana tweaks, and also
the hardest eq to get in the game.
SWITCHING
Switching is when a player who is hurt swaps hp eq for damroll eq.
Switching is an important part of PK. The most effective switch is pure
hp for damroll, although you can get pretty creative. The worst switch is
taking off -ss eq, unless its the all or nothing last bs. The standard
switch for evil is the bloodstone wand of orcus, although thieves can
do a bit more. The switch for good is tougher, as there is no good align
orcus equivalent. Probably the best switch is tyche - pink orb and
ki-rin mane- toronfyr helm, but you'll need higher hitroll to support
losing the hitroll from the tyche. The most effective way to switch is to
do it immediately after fleeing from getting bsed, as if you heal first
you'll lose more hps from the switch.
SKILLS
Here is some general stuff so that you understand the PK system. When
someone backstabs you, you have enough time to cast two spells, flee,
switch, orient yourself to which way you fled, and come back and bs. Keep
in mind that when someone backstabs you while you're not in lag, you have
a 2 spell advantage. What that means is that you can flee, heal once and
return bs, and your advantage will be reduced to one as now if your
opponent immediately return bses, you could flee and get only one spell
before he gets out of lag.
There's really only 3 spells you should use in a one on one pk fight:
shockwave/hammer, dispel magic, and heal. PK is kind of like playing
blackjack, you have to assume every bs is going to be a double. As good
align, I tend to rarely use offensive spells as hammer only does around 40
hps to an evil player. I personally try to stay offensive with backstabs
by not using my full spell advantage until I really need it and return bs
immediately if I am above 500 hps. A good PKer can use whatever style
they want in an eliminator-style fight where no one runs. The important
part is the end. That is where you realize you cannot take another 2x,
and you have to use offensive spells to get your opponent down to 2xable
and then ice him. Dispel magic: generally I don't use it in one on one
PK, as its kind of a waste of a spell if you don't get it. If you're
especially klever you can tell if a person switchs off -ss eq by looking
at them, and seeing what kind of switch eq they have in their inventory.
FLEE ORIENTATION
Knowing how to return to the room you were backstabbed in is crucial to
being a good PKer. Obviously its very simple to return to a one exit room
where you were bsed. But lets say you were in a "corner" of a zone with
exits N and E. The room N does not have an exit W and the room E does not
have an exit S. So lets say you get bsed in this corner room. You'd
return to it by going: flee, S, W. You will bump into one of the walls
and then go the right way and be back where you were bsed. You can get
pretty complex. Here's an interesting example: level three of the ladder
quest. It is 3x3, with a one exit room in the middle of each side. So
say you were bsed in the corner, where you have exits N and W. N and W of
you is a 4 exit room. W from the W room and N from the N room is a 3 exit
with the wall on the S and E sides respectively. When you flee you don't
want to get trapped in the 1 exit rooms. So what you do to return to the
corner room where you were bsed is: W S E E or N E S S. This way you will
return to the room you were bsed no matter if you flee W or N. The other
part of flee orientation is the part where you don't have a guaranteed way
to return to your room. You'll just have to flee and check the room name
and exits and go the appropriate direction. Of course the problem with
doing that is that people will be able to follow you and bs you before you
can orient yourself. The best thing to do in that sort of situation is to
just go flee, n, e, n or something so that you won't get cherry picked.
Experiment.
SUMMARY
Hopefully this will have given you at least a decent idea of how to
playerkill effectively. The best advice I can give is to experiment and
review. Log a NPK battle or quest and go back and examine what happened.
Determine why everything happened like it did, what mistakes you made, and
then decide what you need to do to correct those mistakes. But remember
that when it really comes down to it, the main things that seperate a
decent PKer from a good PKer is experience, quick thinking, and eq.
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