Arelith

Adamantine bracers of persuasion, aggression, etc. look pretty cool at first glance. They're expensive, Grant skill bonuses, etc. But are they really kind of weak?

They grant DR 5/+3, but +3 weapons are the minimum you're going to against with other players at high levels so you effectively have no DR, which is kind of half the point of the item's price.

Does anyone actually use these end-game or are you better off with basin stuff?

The DR is meant for PvE as the item is not level-locked. The skill bonuses can be useful for specific classes (i.e. deep bard, Knights, Barbarians, etc.).

However, if you do correctly gear, basin stuff does tend to be better.

The DR also helps against some spells, most prominently Evard's Black Tentacles.

All adamantine bracers can be runed - some of them require only a greater rune.

They are a true frost's best friend and the first item i buy when playing one.

They're mainly used to bump a stat by 2, the rest is added bonuses.

They make for a very nice gift to a new character, otherwise I don't really bother with them.

Hazard wrote: ↑

Mon May 23, 2022 10:23 am

They make for a very nice gift to a new character, otherwise I don't really bother with them.

The INT ones are preferred by builds who wish to reach high enough lore for timestop scrolls

STR ones are for barbarians who wish to buff their Intimidate and/or boost their strength. I run around at +12 STR without bull's buff on my barb, for convenience and consistency. I also use max taunt on my barb so the bracer really hits home.

CHA bracer is top for playing dress-up, and likely useful to bards too. Not sure.

That's that I believe, the other types of an addy bracer are just too niche and are likely 100% overshadowed by Basin gear.

Addy bracers are BiS for some builds, but I'd say for most builds, the obvious addy bracer option is the easier option--by which I mean someone who's not so great with basin stuff, doesn't have a dweomercrafter buddy prepared to cry over the basin for days, etc. can get an adamantine bracer and be able to do the vast majority of PvE content on the server. I haven't run the math, but I wouldn't be surprised if the adamantine bracer ended up cheaper too on average, and since equipment doesn't depreciate in value just because it's pre-owned, selling an old bracer if you upgrade to a perfectly-tweaked pair of basin gloves will get you that value back.

I've never gotten really into PvP, and most of my characters have sailed through with "good enough" gear just fine, which includes adamantine bracers.

Sincra wrote: ↑

Mon May 23, 2022 7:34 am

They're mainly used to bump a stat by 2, the rest is added bonuses.

Exactly this for me. I use the Avoidance version (+2 DEX), so that I can get +12 DEX from gear alone, without any spells/buffs/potions/whatever. It's surely not optimal, but I like it a lot for lazy quality of life stuff.

What XXX said bears repeating not just for bracers but some other things too: they can be runed.

So you can have a bracer with +2 dex and +1 str/uni/con whatever you want.

Also I am very frequently surprised by what items can be runed (sometimes twice for items that start with a rune), so I'm sort of encouraging everyone to buy an assayers lens and assay the heck out of everything.

Yeah. I've 5% rolled the Adamantine Avoidance bracers and put a Master Rune on them afterwards.

Dachlatte wrote: ↑

Sun May 29, 2022 8:08 pm

Yeah. I've 5% rolled the Adamantine Avoidance bracers and put a Master Rune on them afterwards.

Hah!

Actually that doesn't sound like a bad plan for the persuasion one

2 cha
1 con
1 dex
6 bluff

Waldo52 wrote: ↑

Tue May 31, 2022 3:29 am

Dachlatte wrote: ↑

Sun May 29, 2022 8:08 pm

Yeah. I've 5% rolled the Adamantine Avoidance bracers and put a Master Rune on them afterwards.

Hah!

Actually that doesn't sound like a bad plan for the persuasion one

2 cha
1 con
1 dex
6 bluff

My assayer's lens shows that a Charisma bracer requires a masterwork rune in its vanilla state, just like the STR bracer. You would have to masterwork rune and THEN 5, or just double 5... It would be extremely hard to do. The Avoidance ones are easier to rune. Not sure which ones behave like Avoidance, but I am certain the CHA and STR do not.

Nurel wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:26 am

Waldo52 wrote: ↑

Tue May 31, 2022 3:29 am

Dachlatte wrote: ↑

Sun May 29, 2022 8:08 pm

Yeah. I've 5% rolled the Adamantine Avoidance bracers and put a Master Rune on them afterwards.

Hah!

Actually that doesn't sound like a bad plan for the persuasion one

2 cha
1 con
1 dex
6 bluff

My assayer's lens shows that a Charisma bracer requires a masterwork rune in its vanilla state, just like the STR bracer. You would have to masterwork rune and THEN 5, or just double 5... It would be extremely hard to do. The Avoidance ones are easier to rune. Not sure which ones behave like Avoidance, but I am certain the CHA and STR do not.

I think the CHA bracer has more skills than the DEX one, which might changes its runability. Hopefully someone can confirm as I'm not too au fait with how it all works.

The Avoidance bracers have changed ... I know, I've managed to 5% some, and after that it was impossible to rune them.
It was kind of disapointing, particularly as I had checked PGCC before trying it xD

In any case, I thought I'd state it here to avoid others the same disapointment

I've used greensteel bracer a few times. It's a no brainer for a 2hander low ac high damage build early game, and trivialized the pve content for long time. I also like that they come out runic. Why dont all bracers come out runic..

I've only used adamantine bracer endgame once, on a very niche build that isnt even possible to make anymore, and again, it was a 2hander with high burst damage and no shield ac. I think very few builds or none at all actually take an addy bracer for a +2 stat. Gearing is very flexible in arelith, and the odds a build is going to really need an item with +2 stat on it are very slim - we literally loot magical bracers with +2 disc +1stat +1stat +runic (can be T3 into a 4th stat afterwards) off yellow mobs. I tend to believe the only really popular addy bracer for pvp would be the +6 lore one solely for the 80 lore benchmark.

Adamantine bracers are great for focussed casters (wizard, sorc, etc.) because you really benefit from +12 to your spellcasting stat on your gear, and with only 11 slots you need at least one of those to be +2

Rei_Jin wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 3:24 am

Adamantine bracers are great for focussed casters (wizard, sorc, etc.) because you really benefit from +12 to your spellcasting stat on your gear, and with only 11 slots you need at least one of those to be +2

I've been assuming ye olde +7 and somr basic wards to hit a magic +12 was the standard

I'm going to completely derail my own thread:

On MAD characters who need dex, str, con and maybe wis or Cha, is reaching +12 on all relevant stats ever practical or even possible?

Waldo52 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:37 pm

Rei_Jin wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 3:24 am

Adamantine bracers are great for focussed casters (wizard, sorc, etc.) because you really benefit from +12 to your spellcasting stat on your gear, and with only 11 slots you need at least one of those to be +2

I've been assuming ye olde +7 and somr basic wards to hit a magic +12 was the standard

I'm going to completely derail my own thread:

On MAD characters who need dex, str, con and maybe wis or Cha, is reaching +12 on all relevant stats ever practical or even possible?

You want +12 on gear because it gives you bonus spell slots, and you can never go wrong with more spell slots.

Mind you, that’s only for your prime spellcasting stat. For all other stats, somewhere from +5 to +8 on gear is good.

Waldo52 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:37 pm

On MAD characters who need dex, str, con and maybe wis or Cha, is reaching +12 on all relevant stats ever practical or even possible?

3 stat builds like are doable, but you lose out on saves + skills from gear. Often it's a divine build, so the 3rd stat is CHA boosting saves anyway.

Quad stat builds like Swash / BG (dex,str,int,cha) are pain, and involve serious loot luck or tonnes of gold in gearing. They often want a friend with ESF: transmutation too, so they only need +5 to their stats from gear and +7 from buffs.

Also, note I'm completely ignoring CON here which you probably shouldn't do.

Something else has been left aside in this thread (been brushed with lore though), which I believe is of interest to some: the high skill bonus from these bracers. For those who seek max specific skill, these bracers are a must naturally

Nurel wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:26 am

Not sure which ones behave like Avoidance, but I am certain the CHA and STR do not.

Only DEX and WIS ones, as they each have only one skill bonus property unlike the rest of them:

Adamantine Bracer of Aggression (STR) - Masterwork Rune
Adamantine Bracer of Avoidance (DEX) - Greater or Masterwork Rune
Adamantine Bracer of Knowing (INT) - Masterwork Rune
Adamantine Bracer of Preservation (WIS) - Greater or Masterwork Rune
Adamantine Bracer of Persuasion (CHA) - Masterwork Rune*


*this one used to be too complex to rune up until recently

-XXX- wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 09, 2022 8:53 am

Nurel wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:26 am

Not sure which ones behave like Avoidance, but I am certain the CHA and STR do not.

Only DEX and WIS ones, as they each have only one skill bonus property unlike the rest of them:

Adamantine Bracer of Aggression (STR) - Masterwork Rune
Adamantine Bracer of Avoidance (DEX) - Greater or Masterwork Rune
Adamantine Bracer of Knowing (INT) - Masterwork Rune
Adamantine Bracer of Preservation (WIS) - Greater or Masterwork Rune
Adamantine Bracer of Persuasion (CHA) - Masterwork Rune*


*this one used to be too complex to rune up until recently

FYI, the rune requirements have been streamlined to Masterwork across the board :)

Ah, OK. Thanks for clarification