MP Weapon Choices

Version: 1.04

What’s in this Guide?

Why to start using weapons

Buffing Skills and Stats

Adding Damage to the MP tools

Replacing Nukes

Player Vs Player (PvP)

When to start using weapons

Level 1 – 50 

Level 50 – 85

Level 85 – 130

Level 130 – 200

Level 200 - 220

MP Play styles: PvM

Passive MP

Support MP

Nuking MP

Ranged Weapon MP

Melee MP

Which Weapon Skills and Weapon to Choose?

Pistol

Bow

2 Hand Edged (2HE)

1 Hand Blunt (1HB)

Martial Arts (MA)

MG/SMG

Piercing

1 Hand Edged (1HE)

2 Hand Blunt (2HB)

Assault Rifle (AR)

Heavy Weapons (HW)

Melee Energy

Ranged Energy

Rifle

Shotgun

Crossbow (Bow and Rifle Hybrid)

How Weapons Work

Basic Information available in the Weapon Description  52

Equipping your Weapon  53

Requirements and Over-Equipping  53

Requirements and Dual Wielding  54

Requirements for MA Combined Attack  55

Equipment Delay  56

Ammunition  56

Weapon Speed  57

Attack/Recharge Time  57

Initiative Skill 57

Agg/Def Bar Setting  58

Normal Hit Damage  59

Base Weapon Damage  59

Attack Rating  60

Attack Rating Multiplier for Attack Ratings up to 1000  61

Attack Rating Multiplier for Attack Ratings above 1000  61

Maximum Beneficial Skill 62

Opponent’s Defence Skills  63

Damage Add Modifiers  64

Opponent’s Armour Class Rating  64

Critical Hit Damage  65

Calculating Critical Hit Damage  65

Chances of Critting  66

Weapon Special Attacks  66

Fling Shot 67

Aimed Shot (AS) 67

Burst 68

Full Auto  68

Fast Attack  69

Sneak Attack  69

Brawling  69

Dimach  69

(Riposte) 69

(Bow Special Attack) 70

(Martial Arts Special Attacks) 71

(Sharp Objects) 72

What’s in this Guide?

One of the most common questions asked on the MP forums is: “What weapon should I use as an MP?”. Although this seems like an easy enough question to answer, it’s probably the most difficult and most discussed question of all regarding MPs. The reason for this is that, in truth, the MP is a casting focussed profession and isn’t really designed for using weapons for damage. As a result, there are no absolutely clear directions for weapon use built into the MP template and almost all weapons skills can be used to varying degrees of effect at various times in the MP life.

This guide will take you through the various decisions you’ll need to make about when to start using weapons, various reasons for raising weapons skills, which weapons skills are the strongest for the MP and also some detailed information about the games mechanics of how weapons work and how they interact with MP tools that might affect your choices with regard to weapons.

What this guide can never give you is a simple “MPs should use XXX weapon” answer to the question of which weapon to use. The answer to that question will depend upon too many variables such as your level, your playstyle, your breed, your reasons for wielding weapons, how many IPR points you have remaining etc. As a result, the guide tries to take you through the process of deciding first when and which type of weapon you’d want to use and then goes on to make some weapon recommendations based on those decisions.

The recommendations on specific weapons will always be temporary of course, because Anarchy Online is a game that changes rapidly. Not only new weapons coming into game will affect those recommendations, but also changes to mobs, new MP nanos, changes to MP nanos, changes to PvP etc can all have a major effect on the recommendations for MPs. Because the MP isn’t really designed for weapons use, there only need to be quite small changes to the game to have a very large effect on MP weapon choice. As a result, any recommendations in this guide should be taken as guidelines rather than answers.

Before finally choosing a weapon, it always makes sense to go to the MP forum and explain your priorities and desires from a weapon to get some feedback on the most up-to-date choices and information.

Why to start using weapons

There are several different reasons for an MP to use weapons:

Buffing Skills and Stats

Weapon items in general are items that are wielded in the Right Hand and Left Hand equipment slots. Not all weapons are designed with the primary goal of doing damage. Many weapons are primarily equipped in order to buff skills and stats.

Nearly all of these weapons are able to do some damage to varying degrees, but when weapons are designed there is nearly always a balance between the damage the weapons can do and the buffs that the weapons can give. As a result, the weapons with great buffs will tend to do very low damage and the weapons with good damage will tend to have little or no buffs.

The MP has his own range of weapons that are summoned by casting a nano – The Creations. These are primarily buffing items that have a little damage too. There are also a great many items that can be wielded by the MP which buff extremely useful skills and stats and can be very useful for improving the performance of the MP overall.

Adding Damage to the MP tools

The MP has as his main sources of damage his Pets, Nukes (Direct Damage nanos) and some of the Perk Specials available to him. At various times in the life of the MP, it can be very beneficial to add to that damage profile by wielding a weapon that is focussed on dealing damage. Anarchy Online is a game that is largely focussed on three major roles:

·        Damage Dealing

·        Healing Hitpoints and Nanopoints

·        Debuffing

The MP toolset allows him to contribute well in all three areas but for many MPs adding a weapon in order to deal more damage fits their playstyle best. Also, it’s possible to add some weapons damage without sacrificing much if any of the MP tools and so many MPs like to do so.

Replacing Nukes

Some players just like using weapons and don’t particularly like to use nanos during battle. Since the MP is primarily a casting profession, this kind of choice is unusual for an MP, but as the MP also has a great deal of his in-combat abilities focussed on his pets it’s certainly a valid choice of playstyle for the MP to make his own contribution more weapons focussed. These types of player will often choose to use weapons as their main source of damage next to their attack pet.

Also some MPs, in particular Atrox MPs, quite often prefer to focus their damage on their weapons because casting nukes can take up a great deal of nano and the Atrox MPs have relatively little nano available to them.

On the whole, MPs in Player Vs Monster (PvM) can get more damage out of their nukes than they can get from a weapon, so this kind of choice isn’t necessarily the choice that will bring the most damage. But some MPs will still choose to use weapons in priority over their nukes and the sorts of weapons choices that these kinds of MPs will make will often be quite different to the weapons choices that a more normal pet/nuke MP might make.

Player Vs Player (PvP)

Keen PvP players will almost always choose to wield damage dealing weapons of some kind. The three main reasons for this are:

·        PvP is very strongly damage focussed

The main goal in PvP is to kill other players. In group/mass PvP, the organisation of teams is often not strong enough to support a great deal of tactical and cooperative play. As a result, each player tends to work largely as a single fighting unit. The end result is that damage is the absolute key to fighting in PvP.

·        Pets have weaknesses in PvP

The MP’s main tools are his three different pets. Unfortunately, in PvP these pets are susceptible to being taken out of action by other players using crowd control. Also, in mass PvP (such as NW tower battles) the lag can be very heavy which can cause all sorts of difficulties in controlling pets. The end result is that an MP can count much less reliably on his pets in PvP, which means that he needs to have more damage capabilities in his own hands.

·        Weapon Specials Damage is very important in PvP

The ability to deal a lot of damage in a short period of time can be the difference between life and death in PvP. Since the special attacks linked to weapons are able to be fired off very quickly one after the other as a so called ‘Alpha Strike’, weapon specials can be a powerful element in any PvP battle. The MP’s own nanos and pets are more focussed on doing sustained damage over time rather than doing Alpha Strikes and so many PvP MPs will seek out weapons that enable them to use several specials.

When to start using weapons

The choice of when to start using weapons will partly depend upon why you choose to start using a weapon. Read the section above this one “Why to Start Using Weapons” in order to assess what your main reasons are for wanting to use a weapon. This section looks at various level ranges and discusses whether you should start using weapons during that level range based on your reason for wanting to use weapons (as discussed in the above section).

Level 1 – 50

In the earliest levels there is very little reason indeed for an MP to want to wield a weapon. While the MP in this level range usually has plenty of IP to spare after maxing the core MP skills and defensive skills, that excess of IP does not last very long. Soon you’ll find yourself struggling to find all of the IP that you might want to spend so it may be to your advantage to save your spare IP for the later levels.

Also, the progress through these levels is usually very fast for most MPs (and indeed most players). Investing in specialist items and specialist skills that will only be effective for these levels brings benefits for such a short period of time, that the balance of whether it’s worthwhile is questionable.

·        Buffing Weapons

Your nanoskills buffs will move rapidly through Proficiencies, Expertises and through onto Teachings and Masteries. As a result, you’ll have little need to wield weapons for the purpose of buffing your nanoskills. For the majority of this level range you won’t be able to cast or equip the Creation weapons and shields that are available to the MP which give some defensive and nanopool benefits.

·        Adding Damage

On the whole, you’ll be able to progress very well using only your pets and your nukes. The slower casting of your nukes during this phase means that you’ll have less time to be able to attack with your weapon and your pet and nuke will provide you with plenty of damage power on the whole. In general you’ll find that using weapons will not markedly increase your overall damage because of various games mechanics reasons (see later section on weapon and nuke interactions).

There are some weapons choices that you can make during this phase that will add damage reasonably well – but very few of them can be recommended for the long term. In general, the weapons skills that will give a good damage increase alongside your pets and nukes during this phase tend not to be the weapons skills that you might choose later in your career. As a result, you could end up investing IP in skills that may be wasted in later levels – all for relatively little performance enhancement.

Note: If you still decide to go with a weapon, it’s best to reduce your chances of ‘wasting’ IP investment by choosing weapons skills that will last you right through until the higher levels – and also by choosing low IP cost weapons skills. By choosing skills with which MPs have an affinity, you reduce the chances of the IP needing to be reset down the line.

·        Replacing Nukes

For those MPs who are keen to replace their nukes with weapons – whether that be because they just prefer using weapons or because of other choices they’ve made such as their breed – wielding a weapon during even these very earliest of levels may be an attractive choice.

·        PvP MPs

 PvP at these very low levels is relatively uncommon. The main focus for PvP play in AO is at much higher levels. Nevertheless, dedicated PvP players still do engage in PvP combat and some will specifically build low level characters for this purpose.

Those low level MPs who do engage in PvP will find though, that the high level of pet that they can reach through the early MP nanoskill buffs will allow their pets to better resist some of the crowd control elements of other players. Also, very large scale PvP battles tend not to happen much at these low levels and so lag is less of an issue.

For somebody who is casually involved in PvP then, there is less reason to want to pick up a weapon than at the higher levels. But dedicated PvP players and in particular those building low level characters specifically for low level PvP will want to equip a weapon of some sort.

Level 50 – 85

This level range sees a slightly slower progress for the MP in terms of battle power. The progress is still quite strong compared to other professions and the MP’s built in advantage of having his own nanoskills buffs still has its effect, but the speed of progress is a little slower than during the level 1 – 50 range. Towards the end of this level range, the MP begins casting his first Chant nanos which strongly improve the attack pet’s ability to do damage though.

In this level range, most MPs will find that their IP becomes more and more difficult to stretch to include weapons skills. IP saved during the earliest levels will quickly disappear and as the MP begins to fight against more difficult opponents, the importance of spending IP on the defensive evades and HP is more strongly emphasised.

Also, during this phase the MP will generally begin to implant his skills more extensively in order to progress more swiftly and reach better pets and nukes. In order to equip good implants the MP will often invest more IP in abilities. In general, that equation begins to make more sense during this phase as the extra skills from equipping better implants give more overall performance improvement than investing IP in weapons skills.

·        Buffing Weapons

During this level range, the MP’s Creation Weapons can be particularly useful. The additional defences and nano-casting related buffs can be very useful indeed. There are also some nice pistols which buff nanoskills or nano-casting related skills. As a result, some MPs might like to use buffing weapons during this phase to either improve their defensive skills or increase their rate of progress in terms of their MP nanos.

·        Adding Damage

The biggest increases to the MP damage from his own tools during these levels is that as his NanoC-Init skill increases, he is able to nuke faster and faster. Added onto this, the MP’s NCU QL can increase quite rapidly allowing him some NCU space to use Nano Formula Recompiler  items in his belt deck – further increasing his nuke speed. The Shadowlands MP also gets access to the Composite Masteries which reduce his overall need for NCU space too.

Couple all of this with the ability to cast improved nukes and the MP’s personal damage increases rapidly during this level range.

During these levels too, the MP will generally be fighting tougher and tougher mobs but will find it difficult to maintain a good landing rate and hit speed with a weapon especially now that he is nuking somewhat faster which can cause weapons hits to be missed (see later in this guide for an explanation of the games mechanics of Weapon and Nuke interaction).

Overall then, the MP will see very little reward in terms of damage by using a weapon alongside his core tools of pet and nuke during this phase.

·        Replacing Nukes

For those MPs who are keen to replace their nukes with weapons – whether that be because they just prefer using weapons or because of other choices they’ve made such as their breed – wielding a weapon during these levels will be essential.

Particularly toward the end of this phase, the weapon focussed MP will have a somewhat sticky time. Firstly, the skills increases of the MP weapon skills do not tend to keep good pace with the difficulty increase of the mobs that the MP will be fighting on the whole, often leading to relatively high miss rates. Secondly, as the level increases and the IP costs per point of skill rise, MPs will find it more and more difficult to invest the IP necessary to maintain high levels for multi-skill weapons.

In terms of pure damage, the MP’s nuke ability will strongly outstrip his weapons damage during this phase. Weapons focussed MPs might put a little more effort into nuking during this phase to make up any weapons damage shortfall that they are feeling.

·        PvP MPs

In these levels, PvP becomes a fair bit more common than in the very earliest levels and in Notum Wars tower battles, the stakes become higher as the tower bases and towers begin to deliver really useful buffs and bonuses to the organisations that built them.

The MP pets become more susceptible to crowd control from other players as they begin to catch up some of the lead that the MPs had on nanoskills as a result of their masteries. Also, at least until the MP reaches his first Chant buff for the attack pet, the relative damage from the attack pet isn’t quite as far ahead of his peers as it might have been in the earlier levels.

It’s essential during this period that the PvP focussed MP wields a weapon designed to do good damage. PvP MPs may choose to skimp some of their IP from core MP skills in order to best fund a really good weapon including several ‘Alpha Strike’ specials skills.

Level 85 – 130

The beginning of this level range is the beginning of a long title cap that goes from level 85 to level 100. This is probably the worst period for an MP in terms of advancing by using MP tools. Many MPs find themselves struggling to keep their pets at a high enough level to con as Red to them. Most MPs will not reach their next major nanoskills buffs (the Infuses) until level 105+. The title cap freezes their core MP skills leaving them little room for improvement and as a result, MPs often feel like they are stagnating and that their peers are rushing ahead of them.

As a result, this is the first level range during which MPs in general might start to begin thinking about using weapons.

Still, the IP costs still rise steeply from level 100 to level 130 and once the MP has the infuses, there is a rapid rush in power as they quickly move through the ability to cast Odin’s Missing Eye (+48 to nanoskills) and then Mocham’s Gift nanoskills buffs giving +140 to nanoskills. In general, it’s probably best to be patient during the 85 – 100 title cap and use the IP for topping up abilities (thus adding a few precious extra points to nanoskills by trickledown), evades and other secondary skills. Think of that title cap as being the calm before the whirlwind of advancement that the MP experiences right after it.

·        Buffing Weapons

Because of the title cap at the beginning of this phase, some MPs might like to look at various weapons that improve their nanoskills to help them get through the sticky period. While it’s very tempting to do this, the fact that just after the title cap the MP will experience the fastest progression of his nanoskills using buffs and perks means that it’s a very short term goal. MPs should take great care in making a decision to invest IP in wielding weapons for nanoskills buffs during this period. As with any investment in AO, it’s generally better to take a longer term view.

During this phase as a whole, the ability of the MP to wield the Creations increases dramatically though and many MPs find that the creations are at their most useful during this period.

·        Adding Damage

The MP pets and nukes remain the most powerful element of his game during this period but his ability to do some extra damage with weapons increases considerably. The MP can make more IP available for increasing the Init skill associated with his weapon in particular. This means that he can begin to get weapons with strong damage up to a speed that makes them interact less with his nukes.

The end result is that, with careful choice of weapons, it’s possible to add considerably more damage to pet/nuke combo by wielding a weapon than in the earlier levels.

From level 100 – 130 though, the advancement in power of the pets and nukes is enormous. The rush of nanoskills from the new buffs and perks mean that the MP enjoys a heyday of power in all areas of his game. As a result, this phase as a whole is probably the period when the MP least needs to add damage to his MP tools in order to compete strongly with his peers and contribute well to teams.

So while this is the first phase when the MP can markedly add damage by using weapons it’s also the phase when he least needs to add damage.

Lastly, the MP will often find that he develops his strongest playstyle desires during this phase. As all of the major MP tools become available to him (including various debuffs, stuns etc) the MP begins to get more of a feel for how he’d like to play his MP in the future. Choosing a weapon can be strongly influenced by playstyle and so it might be best to wait until the level 130 – 200 phase to choose which weapon to go with.

·        Replacing Nukes

For those MPs who are keen to replace their nukes with weapons – whether that be because they just prefer using weapons or because of other choices they’ve made such as their breed – wielding a weapon during these levels will be essential.

The ability to do damage with weapons recovers again during this phase (after a weak last phase) and the weapons focussed MP will begin to see more options opening up for himself. As mentioned above, this is often the phase when the MP begins to really shape his playstyle and so during this phase, the weapon focussed MP may well reassess his weapon choice to better fit with a new playstyle.

·        PvP MPs

The upper end of this level range represents the beginning of major PvP battles. It’s also the period where the MP pets’ weaknesses become most pronounced. PvP focussed MPs will find it essential to wield a weapon by this phase.

Level 130 – 200

At the beginning of this phase, the 125 – 150 title cap begins. By this time the MP can cast nearly all of the key MP nanos and only the level locked nanos remain. The main nanos that are still to advance are the Evocation attack pet buffs and the Shadowlands Pet nanos. While these nanos represent a concrete improvement in performance, the MP toolset has largely been completed by this time. In particular, the MP is now able to cast his top nuke and as such his personal ability to do damage (apart from his pets) has pretty much reached its maximum.

After this title cap the increase in IP gained per level is huge and the MP has a great deal of freedom in terms of available IP. The MP should still take care about investing IP though as the next phase will soak up saved IP at a great rate.

It is during this phase that most MPs will begin to train weapon skills and equip weapons with the purpose of doing damage.

·        Buffing Weapons

As a result of the majority of the MP toolset now being castable, the need for buffing weapons increasing nanoskills tends to reduce. MPs may use certain buffing weapons for short periods of time in order to reach specific nanos – but on the whole the weapons designed to improve nanoskills are less used during this phase.

The MP does get access to new Creation nanos during this phase, some of which are quite useful, but the major buffs on the creation weapons which affect nanopool and nanocost reduction become less and less useful at these high levels. The main creation lines that are used are the Nanocost Reduction Shields at the lower end of this level range and the Flame Shields which buff AddAllDef (buffs all evades).

However, the stagnating personal damage of the MP generally means that MPs begin wanting to wield damage weapons during this phase. Using the Creation Shields ties the MP to a limited set of weapon choices and so represents a very specific weapon choice.

Wielding weapons purely for their buffs is relatively unusual during this phase. Buffing weapons are generally seen as going alongside a damage weapon or being equipped only long enough to cast a particular nano or equip a particular item and then replaced with a damage weapon for combat.

·        Adding Damage

It’s during this phase that the MP is best able to add extra damage to his MP toolset by wielding damage weapons. The extra IP and rising level allows the MP to raise his weapons init speeds high enough to get the weapons to be fast enough to fit well alongside his nukes. The ability to access higher level perks, high QL implants and more generally available buffs from team-mates also improves the MP’s general ability to do good damage with weapons too.

Most MPs will begin wielding weapons during this phase.

·        Replacing Nukes

Using weapons to replace nukes becomes less common during this phase. As mentioned above, it’s a lot easier to manage nukes alongside using a weapon. Also, Atrox MPs find that the disadvantages on nanopool and nanocost begin to hurt less during these levels and so most weapon focussed MPs will change to being a more “Adding Damage” type weapon user than in earlier levels.

Still, weapon focussed MPs will tend to prioritise their weapon damage above their nuke damage and as such, the weapons choices they make might be somewhat different to those that the “Adding Damage” focussed MP might choose.

·        PvP MPs

PvP becomes very popular during this level range. Many players find that they’ve become tired of PvM after so many long levels to reach this level and begin looking for more challenging opponents and different experiences. Also, the quality of the tower bases at this level is extremely good and players who are in orgs with tower bases find themselves relying more and more on the personal buffs that come from that.

Any PvP focussed MP of level 130 or above must have a powerful weapon in his hands.

Level 200 - 220

During this phase, the Shadowlevels, the freedom of IP disappears. In order to keep the core MP skills maxed, a huge amount of IP is soaked up. Also, during this phase, the difference in skills levels between different weapons skills gets strongly magnified. As a result, weapon choice is much more difficult and many weapon types that can be very effective during the 130 – 200 levels become more and more difficult to support.

Just about every MP in the Shadowlevels will have equipped a weapon of some kind.

·        Buffing Weapons

The Shadowlevels bring access to a new set of very high level nanos for the MP. Some of those nanos have extremely high skills requirements and as a result, MPs may want to have various items to hand that buff nanoskills in order to reach those nanos. On the whole, these nanos are not used in combat though but are instead for casting pets or long lasting buffs. As a result, MPs who feel the need to use such nanoskill buffing items will tend to equip them only as long as needed to cast the nanos and then re-equip their damage weapon.

The only Creation that is regularly used in these very high levels will be the DMS buffing Shield of Asmodian. Most MPs will have reached their nanocost reduction hardcap by this time and with very high nanopool and strong nano healing perk specials, the need to nanopool/nanocost reduction creations has just about disappeared.

·        Adding Damage

The added damage that MPs will get from many of the weapons they wield during this phase is not a huge amount. Various games mechanics elements mean that in these very high levels, MPs get relatively little extra damage out of each extra point of skill and QL of weapon.

Some of the popular weapons for the Shadowlevel MP still increase considerably in damage over time power as a result of increasing weapon init speeds. But at the very highest of Shadowlevels even that rate of increase is reduced.

The ability to do damage with nukes remains relatively constant during this phase (except with one specific perk which can increase nano damage). As the MP moves higher in the Shadowlevels, the overall ability of the weapon to out-damage the nuke becomes greater and the MP may focus more towards weapon damage and away from the nuke damage.

In essence, they move towards become weapons focussed MPs using weapons to replace nuke damage. Depending upon various conditions, the nuke still does extremely good damage compared to most Shadowlands weapons – but the balance tips overall towards weapons.

Due to the immense amount of IP invested elsewhere, MPs may need to re-evaluate their weapons choices during the Shadowlevels and may opt to change weapons as a result. There are also some changes in playstyle that will occur during this phase which can also affect weapons choice.

·        Replacing Nukes

Weapons focussed MPs will find that in the Shadowlands, their weapons begin to supercede nukes and as a result the weapons focussed MP probably has his strongest phase at this very high level. However, since nearly all other MPs will have been using weapons for some time now, the main differences here are in the types and choices of weapons that they use.

·        PvP MPs

….. coming soon.

MP Playstyles: PvM

This section takes a look at some of the most common MP play-style choices. Play-style is about how you play your MP. One of the great things about the MP profession is that it’s possible to play your MP in many different ways that are still good and valid choices. There’s so much flexibility and variation possible in the MP toolset and template, that there’s simply no way to cover all the different possible playstyle choices, but we’ll cover the major and most popular ones.

You may find that you’re a mix of different playstyles mentioned here as a result, so in terms of seeking out weapons, you should decide which best describes your playstyle. You may want to try out a very low QL of weapon with similar speeds etc, which you can equip without investing IP. That can give you an idea of how well the weapon choice that you’re considering best fits your own playstyle.

The section also looks at the sorts of weapons choices that might suit the different playstyles. We don’t generally suggest specific weapons, but instead take a look at the sort of stats you’d want to see on a weapon that best fits the playstyle in question.

This section does not try to assess how good any particular playstyle is – or to judge how effective any playstyle is.

Passive MP

The passive MP playstyle is more common at the lower levels but for Shadowlands MPs has become a more viable playstyle at high levels too, because the SL attack pets have an excellent damage rate and the MP Channel Rage perk line can be trained to add still further damage. As a result, an MP is less pressured to add damage to the pets himself in order to make a strong contribution to teams. Also during solo, the SL pets hold aggro better which is important to a passive solo playstyle.

Essentially, the passive MP playstyle revolves around the pets. The MP will stand at range usually and often in full def setting. He uses the Attack, Heal and Mez pets to give his contribution to teams and also during soloing. The Passive MP rarely casts anything and doesn’t add to his pets very much. It’s all about standing back and letting the pets do the work. If the MP comes under attack he tries to use his pets to either neutralise the attack or pull away the aggro.

For the situations where the MP is no longer able to control the mobs and comes under attack himself, he’ll need to have good passive defences. Since the MP doesn’t cast in battle, nanocost isn’t really an issue.

For the passive MP, the most common choice of weapon will be buffing weapons. Since they’re not involving themselves in the fight at all, their focus will be on two areas of buff:

·        Defensive buffs: AddAllDef, HP, AC, Reflect etc

·        Pet Skills buffs: Nanoskills buffs to enable better pets and pet buffs

Since the weapons will not be used in anger, other than in exceptional circumstances, there are no worries about weapon speeds or attack ratings. There is also no need to invest IP in Init skills. The MP will usually be constantly in Full Def setting.

A very common choice for Passive MPs, are the creation shields. In particular the AddAllDef “Flame” shields and the HP/Parry “Golden Sun” shields.

·        The Flame shields offer excellent defensive buffs that will help an MP to reduce the damage done to him when he does come under attack. They also add some extra AC and a sizeable Fire AC Reflect buff for their QL.

·        The Golden Sun shields offer extra HP of course, which can be of use to the passive MP as his playstyle means that he’s likely to only have to put up with short bursts of aggro which he needs to survive long enough to manoeuvre his pets into pulling the aggro back off him. As a result, the ability to stand up to short bursts of damage is best – which means having extra HP is valuable.

The Parry buff should make it more likely for the MP to ‘parry’ a hit from his opponent which will reduce damage to him. At the moment the parry effect in AO has been disabled. In addition, the extra parry skill may enable the MP to use a slightly better Parry Shield (a utility that gives a large short-term boost to AC of a particular type).

Another common choice for Passive MPs are the various crystals and pistols that buff nanoskills. There are various ones to consider – some of the more popular ones would be:

·        Pillows: For the Left Hand only there are a series of pillow items in the game (e.g. Pillow with Important Stripes ), which buff BioMet, MatCre and MatMet.. By focussing implants on TimeSpace and using a high QL of pillow (and perhaps a Pensive Spirit Phulakterion – see below), it’s possible for the MP to reach higher level pets of all types and Evocation pet buffs.

·        Robinson Crystals: Based on Melee Energy, these MP only crystals are available in Rubi-Ka. The normal Robinson Crystals buff Bio Met, Mat Met and Runspeed. For the passive MP the interest here is largely in the Bio Met in order to reach a good Heal Pet.

·        Spirit Phulakterion Crystals: These Shadowlands items require only intelligence and the right title level to equip and come in two types – one for each hand. The Pensive Spirit Phulakterion  buffs BioMet, MatCre, MatMet. The Watchful Spirit Phulakterion  buffs TimeSpace, PsychMod and SenseImp. As a result, the two crystals together buff all six nanoskills. They range in QL from 150 to 300 giving +50 to +100 skills buffs.

·        Buffing Pistols: There are many pistol based weapons in the game which also include various nanoskills buffs.

On the whole, the Passive MP playstyle is probably the easiest in terms of choice of weapons but is also the least effective and least interesting of playstyles.

Support MP

The Support MP is a very team focussed playstyle. In general, the idea behind the Support MP is similar to the Passive MP, but instead of standing back and doing nothing, the Support MP will use debuffs, stuns and damage reduction tools and also focus on healing the HP and Nano of his team rather than focus on adding damage.

Because the Support MP is casting debuff nanos in battle which tend to have quite high Nano Resist rates and so can be difficult to land, the level of nanoskills he has during combat can be extremely important indeed if he is to be effective. The support MP will tend to train all possible nanoskill giving perk lines and will also often focus on wearing nanoskill buffing weapons.

Another element common to almost all debuffs is a Taunt. The taunt on a nano will tend to make a mob angry at you and more likely to aggro you. As a result, Support MPs will tend to fight in a def stance and may also choose to carry weapons that improve his defences.

As a result of the similarities to the Passive MP, the Support MP’s choices of weapons will often be similar. Creations and Nanoskill buffing items would be the most common. See the section above for the common Passive MP weapons choices.

The debuffing MP has nanos which use all six nanoskills and so can try to enhance all six… but the Nanoskill and Nanocost debuffs are used far less in PvM play, though still sometimes useful. As a result, the support MP may choose to focus on MatMet/PsychMod for the damage and damage/init debuffs – and perhaps on TimeSpace/SenseImp for the Curse of Chronos stun – instead of focussing on TimeSpace/BiotMet/MatCre for pets and pet buffs.

Nuking MP

The Nuking MP is a damage oriented playstyle that is focussed around using the MP direct damage nukes as the core source of MP damage, apart from the attack pet of course. The MP nukes are able to deal good levels of damage at any level in both Shadowlands and Rubi-Ka. At higher levels, post level 150, the nuke is less powerful in Rubi-Ka compared to various weapon options – but in Shadowlands the story is very different.

The Shadowlands PvM content has relatively high levels of AC on the mobs. This tends to mean that weapons will hit for relatively low damage and against much of the content, all weapons and nukes hit for minimum damage. Also, the Shadowlands mobs tend to hit very hard indeed and on the whole, the MP will want to avoid pulling aggro onto himself and may prefer to play in a Full Def mode.

In Full Def mode against min damage mobs, the very best damage dealing weapons in the game for an MP are his nukes. As a result, many MPs who prefer to remain full def will choose to focus on their nuke damage in Shadowlands and use weapons damage as a secondary source. The best damage of the two nuke lines is the Energy Line of nukes – which also carries a taunt – so the Full Def MP may choose to mix up his nukes somewhat, but the Full Def stance also allows him more leeway to use the top line of nukes.

Nuking MPs have two strong choices with regards to weapons:

·        Use a fast attack speed weapons alongside their nukes.

For the MP to get the best out of a weapon while nuking at fast speed, it’s important that the weapon can complete an attack cycle and hit the mob within the time it takes for the nuke to recharge. If this doesn’t happen, then the hits of the weapon will very often be disturbed by the nuke attack cycles and the overall hit rate with the weapon will drop significantly. While this can be balanced to an extent by slowing down your nuke rate, the def oriented MP will find that slowing down the weapon beyond a very small amount will often lead to an overall loss in damage – because the nuke is the best damage weapon at full def in Shadowlands on the whole.

Since the MP nuke recharge cycle is only ~ 1.8 seconds, this means that the weapons you use to complement a nuking MP should be able to complete an attack cycle and hit within 1.8 seconds. Allowing for the small pause between the completion of the attack cycle and the hit with a weapon – and also the never absolutely perfect timing of a nuke, it would be best to have a weapon that can hit at a maximum 1.6 second attack speed while in full def.

Since Full Def (0% Agg/Def) adds 1.75 seconds to your attack cycle compared to the neutral 87.5% Agg/Def and the fastest weapons in the game have a 1.0 base attack cycle, the base weapon speed in Full Def is 2.75 seconds. MPs have dark blue weapons init skills and so are only able to reduce that speed by a certain amount.

In order for an MP to get within the goal of an attack cycle lasting 1.6 seconds when using a weapon with a base attack speed of 1.0 seconds – he’d need a weapon Init skill of around 700. This is achievable for a Title Level 5 MP.

The maximum Weapon Init skill levels possible for an MP at level 220 are probably at around 1200. With that init, the highest base speed quoted in the description for your weapon to have the attack/hit rate within 1.6 seconds -  is 1.4 seconds. So for an optimum Full Def performance alongside your nukes you should look for a weapon with a 1.0 to 1.4 attack cycle time. You can also choose to dual wield weapons as long as they are both within this cycle time – though this will make your nuke timing more difficult.

As mentioned above, Shadowlands also revolves around high minimum damage weapons. So if you’re a Shadowlands Nuking MP, then in order to maximise weapon damage without hurting your nuke damage, you’ll want to choose a high minimum damage weapon with a base attack cycle of 1.4 seconds or less.

A nuking MP may choose to use either Ranged or Melee weapons as long as they stay within the parameters mentioned here and so aren’t disturbed by his nukes. In fact though, the majority of weapons that fit the overall template are melee weapons, so Nuking MPs often follow a melee route in the Shadowlands. Melee weapons also open up the possibilities in terms of using Creation Shields for extra defences which of course support the Def setting nature of this play-style and allow the MP to better stand up to any aggro pulled by using the taunting Energy based nukes. There are still ranged weapons that fall within the parameters though, so both options are possible.

In Rubi-Ka, the options are more open on both sides for the nuking MP, due to the nature of the content and also the freedom with IP that non-Shadowlands MPs have, which allows them to add more Special Attack damage with ranged weapons.

·        Use PsychMod/MatCre buffing items/weapons

The second option for the Nuking MP is to buff their Psych Mod/ Mat Cre skills with buffing weapons. This enables them to get a higher attack rating on their nukes and thus land the nukes more often against opponents with high Nano Resist. In particular, landing the higher damage Energy line of nukes can sometimes be difficult against an opponent with high Nano Resist.

This option is really most useful when you find that you are not landing your nukes well enough. On the whole, the MP’s ability to buff his own nanoskills makes this a scenario that doesn’t happen all the time – and in particular, Shadowlands MPs with symbiants often find that they don’t need to follow this option. But for some periods in every MP’s life, he’ll find himself fighting content against which he struggles to land his best nukes. During these periods, using PsychMod/MatCre buffing weapons can be a useful option for the Nuking MP.

Ranged Weapon MP

The Ranged Weapon MP will tend to be focussed on using the pets for their primary damage and their weapon for their personal damage. Many ranged MPs will also nuke alongside their weapon but their focus is on the weapon damage rather than the nuke damage.

The idea on the whole, is to ensure that the attack pet holds the aggro of the mob and keeps the mob at range – while the MP uses his range to advantage on both weapon and nuke. The ranged MP will often fight at 50% or even higher, because his extra range reduces his aggro profile a fair bit. When soloing, he’ll often choose to use the slightly lower damage Cold Line of nukes too, in order to reduce his taunt level and keep aggro on the attack pet. In teams, the presence of a good tank, who is able to hold the aggro also allows the MP more leeway in terms of his Agg/Def stance and choice of nukes.

In Rubi-Ka PvM, the MP is able to deal extremely high damage with weapons and can out-damage his nuke power with ease. As a result, Rubi-Ka MPs may find that the ranged weapon MP is a very useful playstyle. The Ranged MP tends to fight by sending his pets into close combat and reducing his chances of taking aggro by standing at long range during the battle. If you don’t have Shadowlands, you will also be restricted to level 200 and as such you’ll have plenty of IP to play with. With this in mind, the best Ranged Weapons to use are usually fast weapons with a wide damage range that include 1 or more powerful special attacks.

In Shadowlands, the best ranged weapons with high minimum damage also have relatively slow attack times – well over the base attack cycle time of 1.4 seconds. The Ranged Weapon MP in Shadowlands has three choices in order to maximise his personal damage:

·        He can go to 50% or higher Agg/Def setting in order to get his weapon attack/hit cycle up to less than 1.6 seconds. This will allow him to optimally hit with the weapon alongside his nukes and thus get the most out of both weapon and nuke.

If you are mostly involved in team play, then you can usually expect there to be a tank in the team who can hold aggro to some extent. With this in mind, you may feel happy about raising your Agg/Def stance to an aggressive one – in which case you need to choose a weapon skill that can be brought to a 1.6s attack/hit speed at a setting with which you are comfortable. This combination allows you to get the best out of both weapon and nuke.

·        He can remain in a Def stance pushing his weapon to a slower rate than the optimum 1.6s attack/hit cycle and slow down his nuke speed to fit the weapon. Since his focus is on the weapon damage, he will hit with the weapon and then nuke during the weapon recharge – then hit with the weapon and nuke during the recharge and so on.

If you are mostly involved in solo play, then you will find it more difficult to keep aggro away from yourself and will want to reduce your Agg/Def stance as much as possible. As a result, you’ll want to find a ranged weapon that has an excellent damage per hit, so that the combination of slower weapon hits and nukes will still add up to an acceptable level of damage for you.

It’s important to note that with this style of play, dual wielding will only further decrease your ability to time your nukes alongside your weapon hits. As a result, if you choose to dual wield weapons with a slow attack cycle, then you need to be sure that you’ll get more damage out of dual wielding alone than you would get out of single wielding with timed nukes. In general, dual wielding slow weapons will not give a higher damage output overall than single-wielding that weapon and timing nukes alongside it.

·        For both solo and team play, it’s possible to nuke as much as possible during the recharge on a weapon. As a result, there is the option of nuking more than once during the weapon recharge – as long as the weapon recharge is 2 seconds or longer and you can instacast your nukes. A Ranged MP could thus choose a weapon that has very high damage per hit but a long slow recharge, during which he can fit 2 or more nukes. The timing of this kind of Hit-Nuke-Nuke-Hit play is less easy to do in battle – but can yield dividends for the ranged MP.

As a result then, the Ranged MP might choose a weapon with which he can reach 1.6 sec attack/hit cycle with an Aggro stance for team play – but which also gives a very long recharge time at full def for solo play. This is probably the most flexible and powerful option for the all-round Shadowlands MP.

If the attack cycle is still quite fast with this weapon choice, then you can still dual-wield effectively alongside the nuke. In this set-up you’ll be aiming for a hit-hit-nuke-nuke pattern.

Melee MP

The Melee MP is similar to the ranged MP in that he focuses his personal damage on his weapons. Very often, players who choose the melee damage route do so because they find it fun rather than because of a particular game dynamic. Being a melee player gives a very powerful feeling of involvement in battle and also raises the risks somewhat which many players find exciting.

The same restrictions in terms of weapon speed as mentioned above for the Ranged MP playstyle will apply to the Melee MP. So the same three basic choices are available:

·        Positive Aggro Nuke-Hit-Nuke pattern play with a weapon that can be at faster than 1.6s attack/hit cycle at positive Agg.

·        Full Def with much slower nuke-hit-nuke pattern but a high damage per hit weapon.

·        Mixed Def with a weapon that can be faster than 1.6s attack/hit cycle at positive agg and has a recharge cycle longer than 2 second in full def.

For more details on these three options please read the Ranged MP section.

In general, Melee weaponry has a fast base speed. Also, the Melee and Physical Init skills max higher for the MP than the Ranged Init skill. This means that adjustment of melee weaponry to the various different types of play tends to be much easier than for ranged. Also, there are various in-combat tools available to a Melee MP that can improve his defences and make the gameplay very varied:

·        Creation Shields: The Creation Shields offer some good defence buffs and can be dual-wielded alongside a single-handed melee weapon. In particular, the defences offered by the Flame shields are popular among Melee MPs.

·        Flurry of Blows: A Utility item which gives a big init and Crit buff for a short period of time. The extra speed from using a flurry of blows can give you periods of fast speed hit-nuke-hit play even when at full def. The recycle time on flurry is quite long though, so it shouldn’t be seen as a general solution to speed or Agg/Def issues. Also, when using a flurry you will be more likely to attract aggro.

·        Parry Shields: Parry Shields are utilities which when activated give you a big boost to your AC of a particular type for a short period. Since melee play often generates more aggro, you may find that the extra bursts of AC from these tools are extremely useful. They go well alongside the flurry though, as you can use a Flurry of Blows which then raises your chances of getting aggro – and at the same time use your Parry Shield to raise your defences during the risk period.

·        Can Parry/Riposte Weapons: Some melee weapons are flagged with a Can Parry/Riposte setting. This is shown in the database entries at Anarchy Mainframe and Auno. At present both the Parry and Riposte effects in AO are disabled while the designers work out a new implementation.

Essentially, depending upon the level of your parry skill, you should stand a chance of deflecting a hit from another melee weapon user who is using a weapon that can be parried. It’s an extra line of defence for you against melee weapons. All Shadowlands Mob melee weapons can be parried. Depending on your level of the Riposte skill, you should stand a chance of turning a hit back against your opponent – so that instead of him hitting you for damage, he is it for damage as a Riposte. This would free damage and wouldn’t interfere with your own hit cycles. It's unknown when AO will redesign and enable the parry and riposte effects.

·        Riposte Shields: Less used than parry shields because the effect they give is not as powerful, the Riposte shield when used gives you a short burst of Reflect AC of a specific type. However, if you have raised your Riposte skill in order to get that defensive attack to a good level, then you should probably consider using Riposte shields for extra defences.

·        Martial Arts Fists: Martial arts fists are essentially a ‘weapon’ that is improved in QL each time you raise your MA skill. On the whole, they will tend to be relatively low in damage on their own for an MP compared to actual wielded weapons. In Shadowlands the emphasis on high minimum damage also makes them less useful. However, there are certain melee weapons in the game that allow you to hit with your fists alongside hitting with the weapon. These weapons will have an extra requirement for “Dual-Wield with MA Fist”. As long as you meet that requirement you will hit with both weapon and fist.

·        Martial Arts Special Attacks: Weapons that allow you to hit with your Martial Arts fists while wielding them will also allow you to use Martial Arts Special Attacks while wielding them. These attacks are just like normal special attacks, but they usually include special effects such as stuns, debuffs, DoTs and other such effects.

The difficulty for the Shadowlands Melee MP who chooses to go along the very varied play route, using the above tools – is that maintaining good levels in all of the skills required is usually not possible right into the highest Shadowlevels up to 220. As a result, the Shadowlands Melee MP needs to make various choices with regards to how much IP he wants to invest and how much benefit he gets from that invested IP. Most Melee MPs will add one or two of the above elements but not all of them.

Depending upon which additional elements the Melee MP chooses to use, the effect on his overall defences or Agg/Def preferences will also affect the types of weapon he will choose. So for example, a 2 Handed melee weapon user would not be able to use the creation shields for extra defences and so might focus on choosing a weapon that fits a Full Def stance better.

Which Weapon Skills and Weapon to Choose?

There is no single answer to this question and this guide will not attempt to give you an answer. The best weapon skill for any MP will depend on:

·        When the MP picks up weapons

·        Why the MP picks up weapons

·        What Playstyle the MP prefers

·        etc

This section will go through the Base Weapons Skills and give an assessment of each weapon skill and how that skill fits with different playstyles, levels and reasons for using weapons. The assessments will also include various other factors that might affect choices such as implant conflicts, perk support, symbiant support and Equipping buffs available. For each weapon skill, the guide will also recommend certain popular weapons for the different styles of play.

The skills are ordered here based on their Skill Cost in IP, with the cheapest skills listed first and the most expensive skills listed last. The Base skill maxes are given using Solitus Breed MP with maxed abilities. At the end of this section you’ll find some entries for Hybrid Weapons that use two or more base weapon skills. These are listed at the end because the overall IP costs involved will tend to be higher than for pure weapon skill weapons. There are too many possible hybrid combinations to list here though, so only the popular or common hybrid weapons will be covered.

Note: Regarding the Trader Wrangles, all the following sections take as base the Rubi-Ka Standard max wrangle of +132. Since Shadowlands, there are higher wrangles available from the trader while teamed with the trader. These “Umbral Wrangles” can only be received if you are high enough in level. Above the standard +132 Team Wrangle there are:

·        +147 to +153 Umbral Wrangle (Premium) (Level req of target 205). Final Value dependent upon the perk level of the Trader in Distill Life perk line.

·        +140 to +46 Umbral Wrangle (Exceptional) (Level req of target 195). Final Value dependent upon the perk level of the Trader in Distill Life perk line.

·        +132 to +138 Umbral Wrangle (Greater) (Level req of target 185). Final Value dependent upon the perk level of the Trader in Distill Life perk line.

How Weapons Work

This section will work through the games mechanics of how weapons work in the game of Anarchy Online. It describes what information is available about a weapon, how you can improve the performance of your weapon by increasing your skills, how weapons combine together when you wield more than one etc. If you’re an experienced AO player with good knowledge of how weapons work, you may prefer to skip this section and go straight onto the next section.

Much of the information included here has been worked out by players over the years of playing AO and is the result of clever testing and working out of calculations. It’s mostly not information that comes directly from FunCom and as a result, there is a chance that some of the detailed calculations and formulae included may not be absolutely accurate. In general, the detailed information is accurate enough to reproduce the real life results that we see in game though and as such it’s generally accurate enough to be used as given.

Basic Information available in the Weapon Description

In the picture below, you see an example of a Weapon Description in the game, which you can see by using shift-Left Click on the weapon.

The weapon description includes most of the information that you’ll need about the weapon in order to evaluate it.

Equipping your Weapon

Requirements and Over-Equipping

Each weapon has a set of required skills that you need to reach in order to be able to equip the weapon. You must meet all of the requirements at the same time in order to be able to place the weapon in the Hand slot.

Since AO is a game in which it’s possible to get skills buffs from players and from other items that you can equip, it’s quite normal that you get buffs in order to equip a weapon. When the buffs run out or you un-equip the buffing items, your skills will be lower than the requirements stated on the weapon but the weapon will stay in your hand. However, depending on how much your skills are lacking, the weapon may become less powerful. If your skills are so low that the weapon is reduced in power, it will appear with a Red overlay in your equipment window and at the top of the weapon description there will be red text telling you that the weapon is over-equipped and will be XX% under-powered.

The basic rule for Over-Equipping is that your weapon will work normally as long as you reach 80% of the required skill to wield the weapon. You can work this out simply enough by multiplying the requirements by 0.8 – rounding the result up to the nearest whole number to be on the safe side.

For the above weapon, the minimum requirements to wield the weapon without any performance reduction would be:

1 Hand Blunt: 94 x 0.8 = 75.2 = 76 (rounded up)

Fast Attack: 47 x 0.8 = 37.6 = 38

Brawling: 57 x 0.8 = 45.6 = 46

Dimach: 20 x 0.8 = 16

If any of your skills levels whilst using the weapon drop below these levels then the weapon damage will be reduced according to the following:

·        If you are more than 20% below the required skill, your weapon will do only 75% of the base damage.

·        If you are more than 40% below the required skill, your weapon will do only 50% of the base damage.

·        If you are more than 60% below the required skill, your weapon will do only 25% of the base damage.

·        If you are more than 80% below the required skill, your weapon will do 0% of the base damage.

If your weapon does become over-equipped, the damage values shown in the description will change colour to red text and will show the adjusted values.

Requirements and Dual Wielding

In the description for the weapon above, you can see an entry:

Dual Wield: Mult. Melee 26

This entry means that the weapon can be wielded in one hand while another weapon is wielded in the other hand. In order to do this, you need to meet the normal weapon requirements and also the Dual Wield requirement for the weapon that will go into your Left Hand slot.

You do not need to meet the Dual Wield requirement for the weapon in your Right Hand slot but both weapons must have a Dual Wield requirement which uses the same skill. So if you wish to use another weapon alongside the above the Bent Torch, then you’ll need to find another weapon that has the ‘Mult. Melee’ skill as its Dual Wield requirement.

You’ll notice in the description, that the Bent Torch has the following line:

Loc: Right Hand, Left Hand

This means that the weapon can be equipped to either the right hand or the left hand equipment slot. In order to equip a weapon alongside another weapon it’s important that you can get the weapons into the target slot.

If you try to equip a second weapon without meeting the dual wield requirements, the weapon you already have equipped will un-equip itself into your inventory.

Requirements for MA Combined Attack

In the above description you’ll notice an entry:

MA for Combined Attack: Martial Arts 23

Martial Arts is a weapon skill that is focussed on using your fists in order to attack. With some weapons it is possible to equip the weapon and hit with it while still hitting with your fists. This is essentially like dual-wielding the weapon alongside your fist weapon.

If a weapon is capable of working alongside your MA fists, then it will have the ‘MA for Combined Attack’ requirement. In order for your fists to hit alongside this weapon you must meet the Martial Arts requirement stated.

So with the Bent Torch in our example, if your MA skill is 23 or higher, then you will hit with both the Torch and your fists. If your MA skill is 22 or lower, then you will only hit with the Torch.

Equipment Delay

The Equipment Delay entry tells you how long it takes to equip the weapon. This can be important for players who choose a playstyle that involves changing their weapons during battle.

Ammunition

Unlike melee weapons such as the Bent Torch above, Ranged weapons also need ammunition in order to work. The ammunition gets used up each time you shoot and so you’ll need to keep a stock of the ammunition with you in your inventory in order to use a weapon. Different weapons may use different types of ammunition.

The ‘Ammotype’ entry in the description tells you which ammunition you need to equip. In this case, you need Bullets for the weapon.

In the above example, you can also see the ‘MaxAmmo’ statistic for the weapon – often called ‘Clip Size’ by players. This is the maximum amount of ammunition that can be loaded into your weapon. In this case the weapon can hold 8 bullets. That means it can fire off 8 normal shots before it needs to be reloaded.

Reloading can happen in three different ways:

·        The gun will automatically reload itself during combat when the clip is empty (assuming that you have enough ammunition in your inventory)

·        You can drag the stack of ammunition and left-click it on the weapon in your equipment window

·        In the Actions => Normal Actions menu, you’ll find a “Reload” action which you can click on (or put on your shortcut bar)

When you reload a weapon, the ammunition clipped is filled (assuming you have enough ammunition in your inventory). Reloading takes a short amount of time to complete during which the weapon cannot fire.

Weapon Speed

When you use your weapon you will see a progress bar growing from left to right during the attack cycle at the end of which the weapon will attempt to hit the target. Then the progress bar shrinks from right to left as it recharges. The speed of this attack/hit/recharge cycle is defined by three major factors:

·        The base Attack and Recharge times on the weapon

·        The amount of Initiative skill that you have

·        The setting of your Agg/Def bar

Attack/Recharge Time

In the Bent Torch example pictured above you can see the entry:

Speed:

Attack: 2.50s

Recharge: 2.50s

This gives the basic speed of the weapon. In a neutral setting with no skill invested in the Initiative for the weapon, the weapon will take 2.50 seconds to attack and 2.50 seconds to recharge. That means that the weapon will hit once every 5.0 seconds.

Initiative Skill

In the Bent Torch example pictured above you can see the entry:

Initiative: Melee Weapons Initiative

In the “Speed” section of the skills window you’ll find the three initiative skills that are used for weapons:

·        Melee Init

·        Ranged Init

·        Phys Init

In order to increase the speed of the Bent Torch weapon, you’d need to increase your Melee Init skill. The more points you have in the Init skill for your weapon, the faster the attack and recharge will happen, up to a maximum speed for all weapons of 1.0/1.0 – that is 1.0 second attack and 1.0 second Recharge. The fastest that a weapon can hit is once every 2.0 seconds.

The amount that your weapon speed is increased by the initiative skill is governed by the following rules:

·        For every 600 points in the initiative skill up to 1200 skill, you will shorten the attack speed by 1.0 second and the recharge speed by 2.0 seconds.

·        For every 1800 points in the initiative skill above 1200 skill you will shorten the attack speed by 1.0 second and the recharge speed by 2.0 seconds.

For the Bent Torch, which has an attack/recharge of 2.50s/2.50s, 600 points of Melee Init skill would take 1.0s off the attack time resulting in an attack speed of 1.50s.

The 600 points in the Init skill would take 2 seconds off the recharge time making a recharge time of 0.5 seconds – but as mentioned above the maximum speed for a weapon is 1.0/1.0 so a recharge of 0.5 seconds is not allowed.

As a result, the Bent Torch weapon speed with 600 Melee Init would be 1.50s/1.0s – it would hit once every 2.5 seconds.

Agg/Def Bar Setting

The Agg/Def bar is used to set the aggressiveness or defensiveness of your character. The further the slider is moved towards “Agg” the faster your weapon will be able to attack and recharge. The further the slider is moved towards the “Def” setting the slower your weapon will become. In the old interface of AO, the Agg/Def bar was split into 8 sections of 12.5 % each. These sections aren’t visible in the new interface, but the values are still important.

A weapon is ‘neutral’ when the Agg/Def bar slider is at 87.5% (where Full Def is 0% and Full Agg is 100%). In the neutral setting a weapon will hit at the exact speed given in its description (not including Init speed increases). So for our Bent Torch example, the weapon will hit at 2.50s/2.50s speed when the Agg/Def slider is at 87.5%.

At Full Agg (100%) – the weapon will go at 0.25 seconds faster on both attack and recharge time. So at Full Agg our Bent Torch would hit at 2.25s/2.25s speed.

At Full Def (0%) – the weapon will go at 1.75 seconds slower on both the attack and the recharge time. So at Full Def our Bent Torch would hit at 4.25s/4.25s speed.

The Init Calculation happens after the Agg/Def calculation is taken into account. So if we have 600 Melee Init Skill we will shorten the speed of the weapon by 1.0s/2.0s. If we’re using the Bent Torch and have our setting at Full Def (4.25s/4.25) then we take the init speed increase off the adjusted Full Def speed. That gives us an actual weapon speed of 3.25s/2.25s – so one hit every 5.5 seconds.

With the same Init skill but the Agg/Def bar set at Full Agg, the base weapon speed would be shortened by 0.25s/0.25s giving a speed of 2.25s/2.25s. Then with the 600 init skill removing a further 1.0s/2.0s the weapon speed would be 1.25s/1.0s – so one hit every 2.25 seconds.

Normal Hit Damage

The amount of damage you do with each normal hit of the weapon is governed by the following:

·        Base Weapon Damage

·        Weapon Maximum Beneficial Skill

·        ‘Damage Add’ modifiers from buffs or items

·        The Armour Class rating of your target

Base Weapon Damage

Each weapon description includes an entry for the base damage of the weapon. For the Bent Torch in our example, the entry is:

Dmg: 1 – 29 (19)

The damage is given in the form

Minimum Damage – Maximum Damage (Critical Hit Modifier)

So for our Bent Torch:

Min. Damage = 1

Max. Damage = 29

Crit. Modifier = 19

When a weapon hits for normal damage the game chooses randomly where in the damage range of the weapon the damage will actually be. Although it would seem to make sense that the attack skills of the user and the defence skills of the target might affect where in the range the damage will actually be, testing seems to show that the actual point in the damage range is random for each hit.

Attack Rating

Each weapon description includes an entry for Attack Skills used by the weapon. For the Bent Torch in our example, the entry is:

Attack Skills: 1 Hand Blunt 100%

This means that 100% of our 1 Hand Blunt skill goes to make up our base Attack Rating. So if you have 300 points in 1 Hand Blunt, your base attack rating with the Bent Torch weapon will be 300.

Some weapons have more than one attack skill. For example, the MP Creation Weapons have the following attack skills:

Attack Skills: 1 Hand Blunt 20%, Time and Space 80%

This means that 20% of our 1 Hand Blunt skill points and 80% of out Time and Space skill points get added together to give our attack rating. So if an MP had the following skills:

1 Hand Blunt: 200

Time and Space: 400

Then his base attack rating would be made up as follows:

20% of the 1 Hand Blunt = 20% of 200 = 40

80% of the Time/Space = 80% of 400 = 320

Total Base Attack Rating = 40 + 320 = 360

Some items and buffs in the game can modify your attack rating. The stat is usually called ‘AddAllOff’ or AMS. Let’s say that we have an item that buffs AddAllOff by +40. With this our creation wielding MP would have the following attack rating:

Base Attack Rating = 360

Item Buff = +40

Total Attack Rating = 400

The attack rating that a player can reach with a weapon is important for two reasons. Firstly, the higher your attack rating, the more likely you are to hit your opponent with the weapon. Secondly, your attack rating will define how much damage you can get per hit with the weapon you are wielding.

Attack Rating Multiplier for Attack Ratings up to 1000

The attack rating affects damage by virtue of a multiplier that is applied to the base damage statistics of the weapon.

For attack ratings up to 1000, the multiplier is worked out as follows:

Multiplier = 1 + (Attack Rating/400)

So for our Creation wielding MP above who has an attack rating of 400 the multiplier would be worked out as follows:

Multiplier = 1 + (400/400)

Multiplier = 2

This multiplier is then applied to the base damage for the weapon. So if you have a multiplier of 2 when using the Bent Torch in our example above, then you’d work out the damage as follows:

Bent Torch Base Damage = 1 – 29 (19)

Attack Rating Multiplier = 2

Adjusted Min Damage = 2 x 1 = 2

Adjusted Max Damage = 2 x 29 = 58

Adjusted Crit Modifier = 2 x 19 = 38

Adjusted Damage Stats = 2 – 58 (38)

Attack Rating Multiplier for Attack Ratings above 1000

When attack ratings go beyond the 1000 level, the situation with regard to attack rating multipliers changes. Instead of the multiplier being based on a straight line formula that is the same for all professions, the multiplier is defined differently for each profession based on a curve. The higher your attack rating, the less your multiplier increases for each attack rating point. For MPs the multiplier rises very slowly above 1000 Attack Rating.

For the mathematically inclined, there is a first suggestion of how the multipliers work above 1000 Attack Rating:

Damage = Base + ((AMS / (400 + y)) * Base)

Where y = (AMS - 1000) * Profession Multiplier

The profession multiplier for the MP is probably around 0.36 at between 1K and 1.2K attack rating and rises the higher up the attack rating goes. So your damage multiplier up to 1K would use the normal formula and then attack ratings beyond 1K would use the above formula for the MP.

This area of the games mechanics has not been tested extensively at the time of writing this guide, so this calculation should be viewed as being questionable although it seems to fit some of the present data points.

Maximum Beneficial Skill

Some weapons in the game have a restriction on the amount that your attack rating multiplier can affect your damage. If a weapon is restricted in this way, you’ll find an entry in the description telling you what the Max Beneficial Skill (MBS) is. In our Bent Torch example, you’ll see the entry:

Max Beneficial Skill: 303

This stat only affects the maximum damage multiplier you are able to get with this weapon. It does not affect your chances of hitting your opponent.

With an MBS of 303, we can use the equation Multiplier = 1 + (MBS/400) to find out what the maximum multiplier is for the weapon:

MBS/400 = 303/400 = 0.7575

Max Multiplier for Bent Torch = 1 + 0.7575 = 1.7575

So using this weapon the very maximum damage range we can reach, no matter how high our attack rating is would be calculated as follows (rounding up):

Bent Torch Base Damage = 1 – 29 (19)

Attack Rating Multiplier = 1.7575

Adjusted Min Damage = 1.7575 x 1 = 2

Adjusted Max Damage = 1.7575 x 29 = 51

Adjusted Crit Modifier = 1.7575 x 19 = 34

Adjusted Damage Stats = 2 – 51 (34)

Damage Add Modifiers

Each weapon in the game will do damage of a certain type. This information is included in an entry in the Description under DmgType. In the case of our Bent Torch example, you can see the entry for:

DmgType: Melee/ma AC

There are many buffs and items in the game that include Damage Add modifiers for various different damage types. If you have such a buff/item that affects the damage type suitable for your weapon, then this will add damage onto each hit of your weapon.

So if you are using the Bent Torch in our example and also have a buff which adds +20 Melee/ma AC damage to each hit, then the game will add 20 points to the Actual Base Damage for each hit. Since our maximum damage range for the Bent Torch was worked out at 2 – 51 points, the item buffing +20 damage makes our new damage range:

Damage Add Adjusted Min Damage = 2 + 20 = 22

Damage Add Adjusted Max Damage = 51 +20 = 71

Damage Add Adjusted Damage Range = 22 – 71 (34)

Note: Damage add does not affect the Crit Modifer.

Opponent’s Armour Class Rating

Each weapon in the game will do damage of a certain type. This information is included in an entry in the Description under DmgType. In the case of our Bent Torch example, you can see the entry for:

DmgType: Melee/ma AC

By equipping armour and also by receiving buffs that increase Armour Class, your opponent can reduce the amount of damage done with each hit. You can see your own Armour Class values in the ‘Protection’ section of your skills window.

As a rough rule, each 10 points of Armour Class in the damage type of the weapon used will reduce the final damage by 1 point.

The maximum reduction that Armour can achieve is to reduce the damage to the Damage Add Adjusted Minimum Damage value.

So for example, using the above:

Damage Add Adjusted Damage Range = 22 – 71 (34)

If your attack rating is very high and you manage to hit your opponent for the maximum 71 points:

400 AC would reduce the 71 damage by 40 points to 31 damage.

800 AC would reduce the 71 damage by 80 points – but because the limit is the adjusted minimum damage of 22, your hit would be 22 damage.

There are however two special types of Armour Rating that will reduce damage below the Adjusted Minimum Damage Range:

Absorb AC:  This type of AC gives a certain number of damage points immunity to a particular AC type of damage. So for example an absorb shield of 300 points, when hit with 500 points of damage will ‘absorb’ 300 points worth of damage leaving 200 points of damage getting through. Absorb AC can reduce the damage of a hit to zero.

Reflect AC: This AC type will absorb a certain percentage of the damage of each hit and at the same time reflect an amount of damage back onto the attacker. This type of AC is found both as item buffs and as nano buffs. This AC type can reduce the damage per hit to below the Adjusted minimum damage. It is usually accompanied by a MaxReflect Damage stat that limits the amount of damage reflected back onto the attacker.

Critical Hit Damage

With every hit of your weapon there is a chance that you will score a Critical Hit. Critical Hits are special high damage hits which can make a great difference to the overall amount of damage that you can do with a weapon.

Calculating Critical Hit Damage

Critical hit values are calculated using the same basic technique as for normal damage mentioned above. Using the following:

Damage Add Adjusted Damage Range = 22 – 71 (34)

We calculate the Critical Hit value by adding together the Maximum Adjusted Damage and the Adjusted Crit Modifier. So the Base Critical hit for this weapon would be 105 before AC reduction.

The same AC reduction is applied to Critical Hits as is applied to normal hits.

Chances of Critting

The base chance of landing a Critical Hit for every player is 3%. This means that all other things being equal, you should land a Critical Hit on 3% of your hits. You can increase the chances of critting by the modifiers found on some items and in some nano buffs. These add up to give you a total percentage chance of critting.

Your chances of critting are then modified based on the comparison between your attack rating and the opponent’s defence rating. So if your opponent has a high defence rating – or if your attack rating is rather low, then your chances of critting will drop.

Weapon Special Attacks

Some weapons will give you the ability to hit for extra damage with Special Attacks. These attacks are usually high damage attacks which can only be used occasionally. Special attacks work separately from normal hits and do not interfere with the attack/recharge cycle of your weapon.

The amount of damage done by special attacks and the speed with which a special attack will recycle is usually defined by the level of your skill for that special attack. The following table lists the Weapons Skills and Special Attack Skills for Ranged and Melee weapons.

In general, if your weapon requires a Special Attack skill in order to equip the weapon, then you will be able to use that special attack while wielding the weapon. The special attacks listed in the above table with brackets around them are unusual specials which work in a slightly different way to the normal specials.

Fling Shot

The Fling Shot is a special attack that is associated with ranged weapons.

The recycle time on the fling shot is calculated using the following formula:

(Attack Speed of Weapon x 15) - Fling skill/100

The cap on the recycle time for Fling Shot is calculated using the following formula:

3 secs + Weapon Attack Speed

Recycle caps can be reduced still further only by using Skill Lock Modifier items which will reduce the recycle by one second for each skill lock point.

Fling Shot can be evaded by your opponent leading to a miss. Your Special Attack Rating will be calculated by a formula something like the following (although it’s difficult to be absolutely accurate at this time:

(Base Weapon Attack Rating + Fling Skill)/2 + AddAllOff

Aimed Shot (AS)

Aimed Shot is a special that is associated with ranged weapons an in particular with Rifles and Bows. The Aimed shot is a very high damage single shot.

In PvM the mob that you are shooting must be unaware of your presence. That means that you must either get the shot off before the mob notices you. You can do this by running into range of the mob and as quickly as possible getting the Aimed Shot off before the mob becomes aware of you. Or you can use the conceal skill to hide yourself at the beginning of battle to get the AS off as the first shot.

It is not possible to conceal yourself during combat.

In PvP, it is possible to use an Aimed Shot without concealing yourself and there is no check as to whether the player you are shooting is aware of you or not.

Aimed Shot recycle time is calculated with the following formula:

(Weapon Recharge Speed x 40) - (3 x AS skill/100)

The cap on the recycle time for Aimed Shot is calculated using the following formula:

8 secs + Weapon Attack Speed

Recycle caps can be reduced still further only by using Skill Lock Modifier items which will reduce the recycle by one second for each skill lock point.

Aimed Shot can not be evaded.

Burst

Burst is a special that is associated with ranged weapons and is a simulation of several bullets begin fired off at once. A Burst shot will use up several units of your ammunition and each bullet will have its damage calculated independently. You have to have ammunition in your weapon in order to fire a burst. If you only have 1 bullet in your gun then Burst will fire but only 1 bullet can hit. If your gun is empty, Burst will still ‘fire’ but no bullets will hit.

Burst recycle time is calculated according to the following formula

 (Recharge Speed x 20) + (Burst Delay – Burst skill/25)

Where Burst Delay is a weapon stat found in the Anarchy Mainframe and Auno database entries on the weapons.

The cap on the recycle time for Burst is calculated using the following formula:

8 secs + Weapon Attack Speed

Recycle caps can be reduced still further only by using Skill Lock Modifier items which will reduce the recycle by one second for each skill lock point.

Burst can be evaded by your opponent leading to a miss. Your Special Attack Rating will be calculated by a formula something like the following (although it’s difficult to be absolutely accurate at this time:

(Base Weapon Attack Rating + Burst Skill)/2 + AddAllOff

Full Auto

Full Auto is a special that is associated with ranged weapons and is a simulation of automatic weapons fire. Full Auto will eat up many units of your ammunition each time it is used. You have to have ammunition in your weapon in order to fire a FullAuto. If you only have 1 bullet in your gun then Full Auto will fire but only 1 bullet can hit. If your gun is empty, Full Auto will still ‘fire’ but no bullets will hit.

Full Auto recycle time is calculated according to the following formula:

(Recharge Speed x 40) + Full Auto Delay - FA skill/25

Where Full Auto Delay is a weapon stat found in the Anarchy Mainframe and Auno database entries on the weapons.

The cap on the recycle time for Full Auto is calculated using the following formula:

10 secs + Weapon Attack Speed

Recycle caps can be reduced still further only by using Skill Lock Modifier items which will reduce the recycle by one second for each skill lock point.

Full Auto can be evaded by your opponent leading to a miss. Your Special Attack Rating will be calculated by a formula something like the following (although it’s difficult to be absolutely accurate at this time:

(Base Weapon Attack Rating + Full Auto Skill)/2 + AddAllOff

Fast Attack

Fast Attack is a special attack that is associated with Melee weapons and represents a speedy attack with your weapon. It’s a relatively high damage attack.

Fast Attack recycle time is calculated according to the following formula:

(Weapon Attack Speed x 15) – Fast Attack skill/100

Fast Attack can be evaded by your opponent leading to a miss. Your Special Attack Rating will be calculated by a formula something like the following (although it’s difficult to be absolutely accurate at this time:

(Base Weapon Attack Rating + Fast Attack Skill)/2 + AddAllOff

Sneak Attack

Sneak Attack is a special attack that is associated with Melee weapons. As with Aimed Shot, in PvM the mob must be unaware of your presence for you to use this attack, either by virtue of taking the mob by surprise or by concealing before using the attack.

You do not need to be concealed to use sneak attack in PvP.

Sneak Attack recycle time is calculated according to the following formula:

40 - Sneak Attack skill/150

Sneak Attack cannot be evaded.

Brawling

Brawl is a special attack that is used with melee weapons or with bare MA fists. The Brawl recycle time is fixed at 15 seconds.

Brawl can be evaded by your opponent leading to a miss. Your Special Attack Rating will be calculated by a formula something like the following (although it’s difficult to be absolutely accurate at this time:

(Base Weapon Attack Rating + Brawl Skill)/2 + AddAllOff

Dimach

Dimach is a special attack that is used with melee weapons or with bare MA fists. The Dimach is a massive damage attack and as a result has a long recycle time.

The recycle time varies from profession to profession, with MAs and Shades also having different effects associated with the attack. For the MP the Dimach recycle time is 30 minutes.

Dimach cannot be evaded.

(Riposte)

Riposte is a passive attack that can take place when you are using bare MA fists or wielding a weapon that has the CanParry/Riposte flag set. You can see this flag in the Anarchy Mainframe and Auno database entries for the weapons.

A Riposte is essentially turning an attack from your opponent back onto him. There is a chance on each attack from your opponent that you will deflect the attack and turn it back. When successful, you will gain a ‘free’ riposte damage hit on your opponent which will not interfere with your own weapon cycles and specials. The chances of you successfully getting a Riposte will be based upon the attack rating of your opponent and the level of skill that you have invested in Riposte.

Riposte is at present not functioning.

(Bow Special Attack)

Bow Special Attacks come in the form of special arrows that you keep in your inventory in stacks. By right clicking on the stack you ‘use’ a single special arrow and your Bow Special skill will be locked for a period of time. Using a Bow Special arrow is similar to using a ranged special in that it does not interfere with the normal shots from your weapon. Bow Special arrows can only be used with “pure” bows – that is only bows which have the base weapon skill of Bow alone and not hybrid bows (such as crossbows which use two base weapons skills: Bow and Rifle).

Bow Special attacks tend to include special effects such as AoE damage and debuffs. On the whole, the Bow Special arrows in game at time of writing this guide are not generally considered worth the IP investment needed to use them. However, for specific players building a specific character with specific goals, they may be of some use and they do increase the variety of playing a bow wielding character.

There are six Bow Special attacks worth mentioning here:

·        Apple Seed – Special Arrow: Small Area of Effect Radiation damage effect.

Recycle time: 30 seconds.

Available in QL1-200.

·        Maple Blaze – Special Arrow: 600 – 1500 Fire Damage.

Recycle time: 12 mins.

Available in QL 120 – 200.

·        Needle of Pine – Special Arrow: Small Area of Effect Chemical damage.

Recycle time: 2 minutes.

Available in QL1-200.

·        Pestering Gadfly – Special Arrow: 100 - 200 Projectile damage.

Recycle time: 2 mins.

Available as QL100.

·        Poison Bamboo – Special Arrow: Medium Poison Damage.

Recycle time: 4.5 mins.

Available in QL1-200

·        Frozen Cherry Blossom: Medium – Large Area of Effect Cold Damage + small init and runspeed debuff on the single target.

Recycle time: 6 minutes

Available in QL60 – 200.

(Martial Arts Special Attacks)

Martial Arts Special Attacks come in the form of NoDrop items. The item when used (by right clicking) will fire off the special attached to the item. The attack does not get used up by using it and can be used many times.

Martial Arts specials are like other weapons specials in that they can be used without affecting the normal hits with your weapons. You can use MA specials alongside your MA fists or with any weapon that includes a “Dual-Wield with MA Fists” requirement. In order to use an MA special, you must be actively fighting the target you intend to use the special upon.

Martial Arts specials often include a special form of attack such as a a debuff, DoT or stun. The Martial Arts specials available to non-MAs are listed in the following table.

 (Borrowed from the www.red-tigers.com – The Red Tigers of Rubi-Ka)

(Sharp Objects)

Sharp Objects are weapons that are used in a similar way to Bow Special Arrows. They can be used alongside any weapon as long as you meet the skill requirements for the Sharp Object.

Sharp Object weapons are found and kept as stacks. Each Sharp Object you use will remove one of that object from the stack. Sharp Objects in general are straight forward damage weapons with no specials effects and will not interfere with the normal hits from any weapon you may be carrying.

For the MP the following sharp objects can be used:

·        Poison Darts of the Deceptor: Poison Damage

·        Meteorite Spikes: Radiation Damage

·        Koan Shuriken: Projectile Damage

·        Lava capsule: Fire Damage

·        Fallen Star: Radiation Damage

·        Heroes Discus: Projectile Damage

·        Electric Bolts: Energy Damage

·        Everburning Coal: Fire Damage

·        Circus Throwing Dagger: Projectile Damage

·        Chunk of Eternal Ice: Cold Damage

·        Capsule of Fulminating Novictum: Chemical Damage

·        Aluminum Throwing Dagger: Projectile Damage