Silkroad Online Forums

Pardon my inexperience, I just started playing Silkroad and though I'm enjoying the game very much, I'm still a little confused about the skill system.

My character is level 16 and so far I've been concentrating on Cold, Force and Heuksai. I've been considering however trying a little from the Lightning discipline, specifically the Piercing Force Series. But I'm concerned if that will function with Ice river force (imbue) from Cold. Can anyone tell me if they are compatible, or mutually exclusive?

Thank you!

none of the skills in SRO are mutually exclusive, and all of them are usable together, pretty much. some work better together than others.

the Piercing Force series is a must for int users like myself. it has a pretty marked effect on youtr magic damage, and for those who plan on pursuing nuking (long-ranged, high-powered magical attacks), the Piercing Force tree is essential. if you use it with your cold imbue, you will notice a difference in the amount of imbued damage you do, though at low lvls it will be small.

many users have a main force and a sub force. for me, my main is fire and my sub is lightning, though lately they're both pretty much the same lvl as i've altered my build a bit. i also have many points in force for the res and harmony skills.

the only limiting factor is that your overall mastery lvl (that's the number of skill ranks you have in all your skills combined) cannot exceed 300. you don't have to worry about it lower in the game, but with that in mind, you can really only max 3 trees (say fire, spear, and light for me) and have another at about 75% maxed before you reach the cap.

so feel free to experiment and try different things. you can always delvl your skills (though it's costly) if you make a big error. and if you do, you'll know better for next time :)

That's very, very encouraging. Thank you so much SuicideGrl!

My long-term goals are nuking and crowd control, and so far I'm really enjoying the combo of Soul Spear and Ice River... along with my trusty Vicious Snake Spear. Typically in the other MMOs I've played you give up damage for the sake of stuns and roots, but I've been very pleasantly surprised so far. My other interest is in Area of Effect powers (AoEs) - in your opinion, are they something I should look into also?

Thanks again!

For nuking and crowd control, you can either take the long road and go for the second book ice nuke which has an area of effect and huge chance to freeze, or go the shorter, more offensive road and get the lightning nuke which isn't exactly AoE but hits three targets and will add damage/status from an ice imbue as well.

lightning nuke is the absolute ultimate for you Tsoo, i think. it sounds like this would be exactly what you're after. what is your build like, stat wise? i think you've probably figured out by this point that in order to be an effective nuker, pure int or an int-heavy hybrid is essential. i'm a 2:1 int hybrid, and i put up some impressive nuke dmg numbers.

if you're interestind in going this route, there are some other helpful things you should consider: as an int user, your hp will be low in comparison to str builds. things that protect you from dmg - such as the ice and fire buffs which reduce physical and magical dmg, respectively - are helpful. Zaymithe, a BlackHand uber-nuker, is pure int (and doesn't have a SINGLE spear skill, just all nuke dmg); he recommends getting the fire wall skill when you can, as this adds another ~1600 hp to you so that you don't get one-shotted in PvP. there are skills which add to your max hp (fire) and mp (force) as well that are extremely useful.

one thing i would also recommend, which i've stated in other posts, is not to waste too many points lvling the low lvl spear skills, as the later ones have similar forms and do more dmg while hitting even more targets (the ghost spear series is a great example). make sure you only take skills you need and don't waste sp :)

i didn't see what server you're in, but if you're in Xian, feel free to PM me in game w/ questions, or PM me here in the forums, i <3 PMs :)

First, thank you both so very much, Bakemaster & SuicideGrl. Your insights are greatly appreciated!

Currently I'm level 17 (just learned about SP farming - lol now I understand why I level so fast!), and I've put all my points into Intelligence. I've obtained lvl 14 Mastery in Cold, Lightning, Force, and Heuksai. I realize now having my masteries so close to my level has stunted my accumilation of skill points... though honestly I don't entirely regret it!

My favorite powers are Ice River (imbue) and Soul Spear, though I also took Wolf Bite to lvl 5. I hope that wasn't a huge mistake, but I do enjoy having a 2nd heavy attack power that recycles faster than Soul Spear. It's great for quick combos when fighting higher level opponents, champions and giants. And it's also good for taking out a lower level mob in one hit. Since my health is relatively low, I don't fare very well in prolonged fights.

Additonally, I've got the passives for Cold, Lightning, Force, and Heuksai. Also the defense buff from Cold (Weak Guard of Ice - and boy howdy is it weak!), the offensive buff from Lightning (Must-Piercing Force), Grass-Walk and Heal-Medical Hand.

Yes, this all means I don't have many skill points banked up right now, hehe but I'm working on it (white tigers have been nice enough to help out by sending me back to Jangan).

Long-range goals I'd like to do most of my damage from range via Force powers (this would be the "nukes" referred to, like the Snow Storm series?), but also have a strong foundation in Heuksai as a backup. Again, I'd like to temper my relatively low health by having powers that stun and/or root and some degree of expertice in healing.

Oh and last but not least, I'm on Babel (and yes, my character name is in homage to City of Heroes).