Shaiya Melee PVP Guide

Shaiya Melee PVP Guide by hypnos34

Survivability

I am want to keep the format similar to the previous guide for 1-15 PvP casters found Here. The purpose remains the same… to help educate those wanting to PvP and/or aspire to get to the point where they can PvP and have fun doing it.

This is the second of four general guides focusing on PvP in 1-15 and 20-30. This installment will focus on melee builds in 1-15 keeping with the survivability theme. If you can build your char to be more resilient, you in turn will increase your survivability working more effectively in groups. As always we are “building on a budget”. Most Shaiya PvPers don’t have the real $$$ or in game resources to equip yourself with elemental lapis, sonics, and slotted helms. I’m going to try and help so you won’t “get pwnd” in two hits by a noss’d enemy. I’m not going to make you Conan the Barbarian, but teach you some “legal” performance enhancing builds to help you “be all you can be”.

1. What characters are we going to be looking at?
Rangers, Archer, Fighters, and Defenders


1. The environment:

You will notice three of the four characters were going to examine have to get “up close and personal” to have an impact. With that being said we must think about the factors in developing that play style. Nos is still the single largest factor to impact the tide of battle. I’d like to tell you with economic times people are saving and in turn less Nossers in 1-15. I haven’t seen it yet. Range still rules! Hitting from a distance is still preferred, but only one of the classes we are going to discuss fits that flavor. Melee toons must still account for the ranged, casters, and other melee. You have to handle everything and still find a way to come out on top.

…so what to consider when building a melee for 1-15 PvP?
Nos
Casters
Archers/Hunters (range)
Melee types

2. Melee Stats with respect to 1-15 PvP

Str – 1Str = 1.3Atk Pwr
Dex – 5Dex = 1Atk Pwr and small increase to physical evasion rate
Rec – 1Rec = 5HP & 1Def which will be very important to our efforts.
Int – Pass
Wis – 1Wis = 1 resist. We will compensate for this through lapis
Luc – i wish it had more of an impact in 1-15, but you just can’t obtain enough to make it worthwhile for 1-15 PvP

3. Gear

Very important! If someone told you I don’t need gear to PvP in 1-15 it was because they didn’t want to use more than two shots to kill you while adding to their kills. If you are still unsure how to obtain the noble gear you need for pvp…

Shaiya Fury Noble Gear Quests Guide
Shaiya Light Noble Gear Quests Guide

Now that you have the noble gear, what exactly should you put in them?

This is always one of the tough parts to plan. It will depend on your particular build, but I will generalize between offensive and defensive caster builds. I am a big proponent of Dual lapis. Here are a couple of guides on Dual lapis: Shaiya Dual Lapis Guide

sfossil has a complete listing with information on obtaining Duals. Mr.Apulune’s focuses on comparisons of traditional and duals. There is also a price guide(lailah) attached for a perspective on costs and linking of duals. If you have read my previous guide you know I am a “big fan” of duals for a number of reasons. Cost, usability, link %, and ease of obtaining to name a few. Furthermore, I think the right combination of Duals can compete with the likes of level 5’s. For this guide I will continue to push Duals into the spot light.

4. Melee Builds
keep in mind were shooting for survivability~


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Offensive Fighter Builds – offensive is a tough building point to keep survivability in mind, but lets give it a go. Typically these build favor STR with a touch of DEX to land hits. With that in mind your not going to have high def or good resists. In this case we will turn to Dual Craft 3 (+9Str +175hp). With your armor and weapon equipped with Dual Craft 3 you will essientially add +60 Atk Pwr and +875hp. This setup keeps in flow with high damage output and almost 900 extra hps for good measure. Option to add a shield and increase those further.

Cost to Build Set:
Dual Craft 3 (4mil per dual) x5 pieces = ~150mil*
*Taking into account 16% link chance
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Defensive Fighter Builds – The intent here is to maintain use of your fighter skills while building for battlefield durability by adding a shield to the mix. There are various builds which people will boast of their STR, DEX, and REC. If you want to go deeper into this build we will save that for a later time, but for our scope we’ll use the basics for starters. Lets examine the cookie cutter build, which typically has a split spread between STR and REC. The idea is to mitigate melee damage with a higher REC and keep consistent dmg through improved STR. Dual lapis choices, while more straightforward, are more expensive and tougher to obtain. Dual Rec 1 (+9Rec +12Def) and Dual Rec 3 (+9Rec +36MR) are the staples for your armor pieces. Using a pair of each will give you an additional +60Def, 72MR, and +180HP. With your sword add a Dual Craft 3 (9Str +175hp) and a Life lapis level 4 (+240hp) in your shield. Put it all together on a 5str 4Rec build you will have over 2k health with ~140Def and over 80MR without crippling your dmg.

Cost to Build Set:
*Only pursue if you have significant gold resources or the ability to harvest Dual Rec’s regularly.
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Defender Builds – Presently I don’t see a need to break this one down like the above. Defenders don’t have any real offensive skills that would make them shine in 1-15. Play into the Defenders strengths which is naturally defensive. Your going to debuff and get in the way. Sometimes merely being a distraction benefits a group significantly. *Note Defenders are one of the few classes actually getting some skills that will be usable in 1-15 PvP. Traditional Rec Duals would be preferred, but just as acceptable are the “poor mans” MR Dual… Dual Fortune 4 (+9Luc +36MR). Not as nice as its Dual Rec 3 counterpart, but gets the job done at a fraction of the cost. Dual lapis that add to Def or +HP would be viable alternatives and compliment a heavy REC build.

Cost to Build Set:
*Varies depending on your resources.
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Offensive Ranger Builds – personally, I find the rangers strengths to lay in DEX and LUC neither of which gives great returns in 1-15PvP. The closest ranger I played that I would call mildly effective was a 5Str/4Dex build with Dual Craft 3 (+9str +175hp). I like the principal behind DEX, but the amount needed to evade decently meant having to drop my pants to casters. Rangers I don’t believe were made for large encounters and PvP is never 1 on 1 in 1-15PvP… well its not ranger friendly. Stay in the shadows and strike when you think best. I’m sure this style suits some and I give props to those who play it well.

Cost to Build Set:
Dual Craft 3 (4mil per dual) x5 pieces = ~150mil*
*Taking into account 16% link chance
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Defensive Ranger Builds – I feel bad for even mentioning because you would be building that completely contradicts a rangers strengths. Don’t do it is my recommendation for now. Maybe EP4 will bring some new material to discuss on this build
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Offensive Archer Builds – Clearly the number one type of toon to play in 1-15PvP. Long Range, Rapid Shot, Bullseye, Piercing Shot, and the list goes on. Given the range you have I’d follow the cliche, “the best defense is a good offense”. Load up on Duals that add Atk Pwr. Once again we will go back to Dual Craft 3 (+9Str +175hp). I might even opt to put that in the bow instead of Assault 4 because of the added hp. Fairly simple and straight forward build with the majority of your stat points in STR and a few in DEX for good measure.

Cost to Build Set:
Dual Craft 3 (4mil per dual) x5 pieces = ~150mil*
*Taking into account 16% link chance
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5. In Closing
This guide is just a baseline perspective into the 1-15PvP environment with respect to melee characters. I am sure I didn’t hit on everything as this was not my intent. I believe in keeping things simple and presenting them in a manner which makes sense to the reader. I would be glad to help answer questions or talk more in depth on any of the above subject matter. Just post below and I will do my best to shed some light on issues faced when building a character for 1-15 PvP or group dynamics on the field.

Thank You
I hope it helps~

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