LLD101

Elusive · Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 5:20 pm Post subject:

both are important. even in melee there are certain aspects of your build like ear stated that goes into making a top notch duelist.

as wfg stated, no matter how good your gear is, you can get unlucky especially in 18 duels and get raped by a 15 maxer zealot (unlikely but can happen).

as for ranged/caster duels excluding regen allowed hvh, i will tend to agree with rjg. you need to know what youre doing and how to duel. better gear will only increase your chances of winning, but skill is primarily key here.

krajee · Joined: 27 Aug 2004 Posts: 6579 9.68 Silvarrr

Meegz ? · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 5:23 pm Post subject:

Man, Roy and I used to take forever in our level 18 duels....that was fun. I do think with 2 or 3 slight gear changes and with taking 1-3 points out of a certain skill I could beat his charger (the one who gives everyone troubles) with relative ease compared to the troubles I used to have with that bastard...

Skill is only greater than gear if you have the right gear selection already. And I know at lld levels, in melee you MUST have the right skill layout, or you can't compete with anyone who is geared the same as you, and you frequently get beat by those with worse gear.

Another very good example of skill and your build being more important is when Zolas got on ladder and made a smiter specifically to beat Weaj's (who I still have yet to see lose a ft5 vs another smiter...) and even with what most people would consider outstanding smite v smite gear setup, he would still lose.

Probably the easiest way to say this is sometimes a lesser skilled player can beat a better skilled player with a gear change, while sometimes a better skilled player can beat one who over-gears him by knowing how to play better. Its all completely dependent on one thing imo, and that is flexibility. How flexible your character and its gear and your playing styles are is what determines what will make the biggest changes for you.

wfg-dude · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 7:02 pm Post subject:

agreed... but, at lld the changes/options are quite limited. I think this really rings tru at the mld/hld level where characters are strong in 2-3 areas as opposed to one dimensional.

BTW...what was the reason he couldn't beat Weaj's smiter?

Grim04 · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:33 pm Post subject:

I love my anti-smiter smiter.

I could beat Weaj's smiter.

Meegz ? · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:38 pm Post subject:

Grim04 · Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:53 pm Post subject:

Ya, but I have dumb luck on my side.

And the sexiness of not using an aura.

xthe_gx · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:18 am Post subject:

Its better first to define what skill truely is: and we can go from there

Certain characteres have advantages over others, learning to know how to get the edge is fudamental part of being a skilled duler.

A great example are my vllds:
(current vllds: Vlld Sorc, Vlld Druid)

I must admit I have dueled Ears of God, breakbeat, Fearz, tric exc..
And altougth i have never spent the time manging to get those sexy vlld jewels, i do quite very well.

I can not deny that their gear is far supeior than mine, (although i do have some sexy stuffs), however, i have invested the time better yet on building characters to beat the oppenents i shall face.

For example learning what problems your going to face is a key issue.
Learning to understand when more damage is needed vs other attrtibutes such as replend/life/mana exc..
Truely one of the most important parts in dueling is learning to master the build.

I firmly beleive any well built character will have at least 2-3 total gear switches to be able to face what ever problem he might have.

For example: My vllld sorc Has 3 COMPLETE Gear swithes depending on who i face.
1.- Life Build/with heavy replen (low defense)
2.- Tank Build/ with Very high defense (1610 def)
3.- Dtm Build, with high replen

With this in mind: Gear to some extent plays a fundatmental importance however, charcter class also playts a huge factor.

At level 30 however, Certain duels all rely on knowing how to read your opponent a.k.a. skill.

Example 2 fire ball sorcs : the winner isn't the one with better stats its simply the one that knows how to use it better.

This can be said with alot of level 30's as alot of the characters (Although some might have nicer gears, charms exc.. are still pretty much the same)

Gear will NEVER make up for a lack of skill! If you can not controll your character, antispatie your oppenent, learn to use different gears against whom you face, no matter how much time or fg spent on a character u w0lln ever get the edge.

just shdw · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:30 am Post subject:

yea i think skill is more important in lvl 30 caster duels, aka trying to read your opponents mind and then gear helps if you make a mistake lol

zarc · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:59 am Post subject:

I personally think versatility is a huge part in being successful also. A melee character may have huge damage, but if they have crappy resistances they will lose to a caster quite easily. All builds have weakness's, i think what you must do is figure out those weakness's and hide them, or use them to your advantage. My lvl 12 zeal, smite,charge, thrower has something for everyone and does each of them quite well i would say. Off the top of my head, the only build i cant take is a hammersin. But if i were to pop on some of those nasty little rings, that problem is fixed.

Vietthehand · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 8:07 am Post subject:

Wank · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 9:45 am Post subject:

Viet, I think theres quite a few people with a pnb nec, krajee, wfg, chewie, (does knifer have one?), quite a few hell rushed from the lad switchover, and myself.

Don't think that there really is a best, never dueled chewies (we should do that), and me and krajee used to go back and back, but our last 5 or so duels I only won one, so he's got my vote.

But my necs gear sux, lol. I just kind of through him together so I could have a nec also .