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Getting Started

Preface

This guide is aimed at complete beginners to the Requiem experience. Its’ core purpose is to familiarize players with the mechanics that are unique to Requiem. Often, these are the things that experienced players take for granted and beginners are baffled at. This guide will not help you with general UO concepts such as how skills are gained most efficiently (beyond a superficial brush) and how the combat system works (slightly unique here). We recommend getting in touch with veteran players for advice that pertains to your situation, specifically by utilizing the Requiem Shard Discord. If you are just getting started out, this guide probably works the best if you glance through it once and then return to specific terms when they become relevant.

This guide consists of three major parts. The first section details the things you should consider while your Quarantine Visa is still waiting for approval – there’s a lot you can get done even at this phase! Moving on, the second section gives you information on the most important mechanics and details of the game system. This is likely the part that is the most relevant to you even if you have already gotten started. Finally, the third section gives you some perspective from an established player’s point of view. The last part of the guide should be taken with a grain of salt – play the game the way you want to, not necessarily the way explained in this guide.

Making your first character – The Songmaker

We are taking into consideration that you have already downloaded the Requiem Autopatcher and have logged in to the game successfully. You should find yourself in a rather interested chamber. Your first action should be to double click The Songmaker NPC.

 

 

We recommend that you familiarize yourself with some lore topics from the website and take a look at the available skills before creating your first character (or even writing your application), as you will be given an opportunity to select a character background during creation that allows you to acquire certain starting skills.

Stats

One of the first options you will be presented with apart from character customization will be your starting statistics menu. This menu will explain some pertinent ins and outs of your bodily statistics values.  The global restriction of a Stat cap of 350 total points means that you must make some decisions as to how you want your character to perform in game. You will notice that there are six unique stats in Requiem, each providing a different function.

 

 

Hits, otherwise known as HP, dictates in a 1:1 ratio how many points of damage your character can take before succumbing to a knock out state. Hits are important for all characters of any type.

Stamina, otherwise known as Stam, dictates in a 1:1 ratio how many points of available stamina your character has to utilize. Stamina is used in running, in the application of armor, and most prevalent in the use of special weapon moves.

Mana dictates in a 1:1 ratio how many points of available mana your character has to utilize. Mana is used in the casting of spells and other intelligence orientated actions.

Strength, often abbreviated as STR, determines a few important things. First, many types of weapons and armor have STR pre-requisites. Second, STR infers a bonus to melee and ranged combat damage.  STR can bolster the effectiveness of the Strategems: Parry skill, one of three unique skills that can alter combat in significant ways. Finally, STR determines a character’s natural hit point regeneration rate.

Dexterity, abbreviated as DEX, governs mostly athletic related functions. Some items and weapons have a DEX requirement, although they are less prevalent than STR requirements. DEX determines a characters overall swing speed of a melee or ranged weapon. DEX bolsters the effectiveness of many skills that rely on athleticism, such as Hiding as well as the Stratagems: Finesse skill. Finally, DEX determines a character’s natural stamina point regeneration rate.

Intelligence, abbreviated as INT, governs mind related actions. Spells of all sorts and nature are heavily reliant on intelligence as a scaling factor in their effectiveness and damage. Some spells have innate intelligence requirements as well. Intelligence plays a role in the resistance from both the Torment and Sanity reducing situations. Finally, INT directly determines a character’s mana regeneration rate.

Birthsigns

At this stage, you will also choose your Birthsign. Birthsigns are helpful in that they can modify the cost of some skill-related perks you will be able to obtain in-game with Animus points (explained in section 2). Birthsigns also infer certain RP related effects on a character that may not be immediately realized. Birthsigns also determine a character’s blood type. All in all, players are encouraged to pick a Birthsign that appeals to the concept of their character, as the mechanical ramifications of a Birthsign are not important enough to warrant too much thought or effort.

 

 

1.3 Skills and Backgrounds

Requiem enforces a global skill cap of 700.0 points, which means that your character is incapable of mastering every skill available. While this cap can be raised somewhat once you are established in-game, it should be recognized that at least a modicum of planning needs to be utilized. Skills can be referenced in their entirety by browsing the Skill Compendium on the website. With this said, when choosing a character, you will be given the opportunity to select a character Background. Backgrounds instill a character with certain skills, starting equipment and (in some cases) perks.

 

 

2. Unique systems of note

This is the meat of the guide. As a new player, you are most likely interested in character progression. Therefore, we’ll start there before moving on to other vital topics such as hunger and permadeath. You want to stay alive for as long as you can, don’t you?

2.1. Infusion and Animus

Infusion is a resource you earn from various in-game activities, such as crafting and monster-slaying. Moreover, you gain a standard rate of Infusion (400 per hour) whether you are online or not. A Kindling bonus is added to this rate based on the amount of players who are currently online (50 + 5x amount of players online). The amount of Infusion you can earn each day from hunting, crafting and other “cappable” sources is limited to 10,000 – or 10 Animus. This daily cap is not affected by your hourly infusion regeneration. Therefore, you can expect to earn up to close to 20 Animus each day if you reach the cap and online bonuses are not factored in. In addition, you can earn Animus for exploring and by learning new words of power (for you magic-using heathens). These do not count against your daily cap.

 

 

As you may have gathered from the above, every 1,000 points of Infusion you gain grants you a single (1) point of Animus. In other words, you could view Infusion as fragments of Animus, which is the currency that you use to purchase various things such as stat points, skills and skill-related perks. You can also spend Animus to increase your skill cap, but it is probably wise to reach that cap (700 by default) before worrying about spending animus there. In addition, Animus is spent in the creation of Moriums – something that will interest you if you are planning on being a mage. Some spells require Moriums to function. Finally, Animus is further used in expanding Pioneering claims.

Please note that all skills and perks are not equally cost-efficient. The cost of skill-related perks is modified by your Birthsign and some skills cost more to max out with Animus than others. You may also observe that the early levels of many skills are cheaper to raise through natural use than their mid and late levels. Ideally, you do not want to spend all your Animus at once, though it may be tempting. Many skills can be leveled with regular use and you have a 50% chance to gain a stat point every time you earn a single Animus. Moreover, there are instances where you may reach a high level in a skill without the ability to actually make use of it. Planning how you use your Animus will save you a lot of headache later on. That said, don’t just ignore it! The amount of Animus you can pool is limited by your soul potential. By definition, this amount is 100 Animus, but this cap can be reduced by the amount of Mortality you have.

A note on lifetime Animus: Every point of Animus you spend on purchasing skills, abilities and expanding Pioneering claims are added to your lifetime total. When your character dies permanently and you roll a new one, the new character receives 75% of your lifetime Animus and any unspent Animus you had when your previous character perished. Finally, your character slots do not share a lifetime pool. Therefore, if you have 30 Legacy points, your account is 60 days old and you use the Legacy Points to purchase an additional character slot, your second character in the second slot would have a fresh lifetime Animus pool.

2.2. Legacy points

In addition to earning Infusion/hour, you also accrue a single Legacy point for every day your character exists. Legacy points are used for special dye options, unlocking extra character slots (you’ll have to apply for the characters separately), decorative items and so on. You can access the Veteran Reward Menu with the [legacy command.

 

 

2.3. Hunger and Thirst

You start the game with some bread and water. If you already ate/drank some, you probably saw your hunger/thirst climb up. That is a good thing. Ideally, you want to keep both values close to 100%. There is a benefit for not being totally stuffed all the time, however: while not in combat, you can use food to restore stamina. Presently, you can drink while in combat, which also restores stamina. If your hunger or thirst drops to 40% or so, you will suffer damage from hunger/thirst pangs. At 10%, you lose Animus every ten minutes or so! If you remain at 0% for too long, you can starve to death – permanently! Don’t starve.

 

 

Finding food can be a little difficult, but you can solve the problem by investing in about 10 Agriculture, which allows you to harvest corn with some success. The real bit of trouble is that you will run out of water quickly if you do not obtain a waterskin. Waterskins are made by players who have enough skill in tailoring. There are other drinks available, but a waterskin is the only container you can keep refilling from wells and rivers! Just make sure the water you are drinking is actually clean!

 

 

2.4. KO, Injuries and you

Being reduced to zero hit points causes a brief bout of unconsciousness (Knocked Out). When you are Knocked Out, you lose some Infusion (not Animus). If your Animus pool is 0 at that time, you have a chance of gaining Mortality. While you are Knocked Out, NPC monsters will stop attacking you and you generally have enough time to limp away once you come to your senses. Your stats are penalized by 5 points for a minute following your first KO.

When you are Knocked Out (0 hp) or suffer fall damage, you have a chance to acquire an injury. Essentially, injuries add debuffs to your character. You should see a player doctor to reduce the healing time (it can get fairly long), but you will eventually heal from most injuries with time alone.

 

 

Finally, multiple KOs within a short amount of time (15 minutes) incurs cumulative penalties. This results in a longer recovery time and increasingly severe penalties (including the stat penalty which follows every KO). You can monitor your current KO count in [codex -> Death. Please note that your KO count decreases slowly by 1 point per 15 minutes – it does not reset entirely. In other words, if you get KO’d more than twice within 15 minutes, it is probably wise to be very careful for a while.

Always log out in a safe location.

2.4. Interface (skills and codex)

The Requiem interface looks a bit different from vanilla UO, but that should not cause you undue trouble. The Journal is still Journal and Status gives you the interface you are used to seeing. However, there are two screens that might surprise you at first. One of them you might miss altogether.

2.4.1. Skills

Ultimately, the skills menu does exactly what you’d expect it to do. It shows you the amount of skills you have, divided into categories. You navigate the categories by clicking the icons. Upon exploring the skills menu, you can click the green “okay” next to a skill to explore it further.

 

 

Inspecting an individual skill reveals the unique functionality of the skills menu. This is where you can spend Animus to raise a skill (the boxes above the green arrow pointing up tell you how much a single point of skill costs in Animus). Reducing a skill is free, but it does not refund animus that you have spent. Moreover, on the right side of the menu you can see the skill-related perks associated with the skill you are inspecting. It is all right to click the green “okay” next to a perk. This takes you to yet another screen that gives you details about the perks and the conditions you need to fill in order to obtain it. The blue diamond has a white check mark when you possess a perk – an empty diamond indicates that you do not have the perk yet. I recommend you spend some time just exploring the skills menu. It is quite nifty!

 

 

2.4.2. Codex

The Codex (found in your Paperdoll menu or accessed with the [codex command) compiles every last custom function of your character and Requiem into one simple GUI. To sum it up, the Codex is your Character Sheet; it contains almost everything important about your character. Please take some time to familiarize yourself with the Codex.

While most of the Codex’s functions are fairly self-evident or well explained, there are two that warrant mentioning in particular. Firstly, the tabs at the top of the Codex interface are actually separate pages that you can explore by clicking them. Secondly, the Body tab contains a button that allows you to open your Statistics Menu (press the green “okay), which lets you spend the stat points you have earned by gaining Animus. As an aside, the green “okay” in the Statistics Menu purchases stat points with Animus – use with care.

When you open [codex, you may notice that there is a field for bonus Animus. We introduce the concept of bonus Animus here because it is not necessarily something you can grind. However, it is good to know that you must redeem any bonus Animus you earn (you will get a pop up notification when you do) before it is applied to your Animus pool. If your total Animus approaches your soul potential, you should not be able to redeem bonus Animus if it would cause you to exceed your soul potential (default 100 minus Mortalityx4). Otherwise you redeem your entire bonus animus at once when you click the green “okay” button. You can earn bonus Animus for exemplary role-playing and active participation (writing stories and guides) and so forth.

2.4.3. Icons

The Icon tab of your Codex is especially helpful in creating custom hotkey macros for use in-game. These hotkeys can be assigned up to five separate lines of text entry, including emotes, speech, and [commands.

 

2.5. Permadeath and Mortality

Permadeath, permanent character death, is a feature of the Requiem UO Shard. It is essentially what it sounds like. When you suffer Permadeath, it is all over for your current character. Mortality is a mechanic that is tied to your chance to suffer Permadeath instead of a KO – the higher your Mortality, the higher your chance of dying for good. There are three major ways in which Permadeath can touch you:

Firstly, you can be killed by your fellow players. Just like PVP in general, this is an act that is not done lightly, but it remains a possibility. You might get burned for witchcraft or you yourself might kill someone to keep your diabolic arts a secret.

Secondly, your Mortality increases your chance to be Permakilled instead of KO’d when you reach 0 hp. Note that RED mobs have a chance to increase your Mortality if they KO you – this can trigger a roll to PD you even if your Mortality is 0! Other sources of Mortality are: Permakilling other player characters, Morium failure (you heathens) and being KO’d with 0 Animus in your pool – another reason never to spend it all at once. Mortality decreases by 1 point every 15 days if you have accrued any.

Thirdly, you can die due to starvation. Permanently. Best not forget to eat and drink!

2.6. Sanity and Torment

Some situations may cause your character’s psyche undue stress, although there are some calm places as well. A high Intelligence score will reduce the amount of Sanity you lose under duress.

Torment. The affliction that creeps into your system and changes you into a ravenous beast. Mechanically, the Codex features a gauge under the Mind tab. You can use a gas mask to reduce the chance of being infected. However, some Afflicted seem to have a vendetta against masks. Torment may not be a major concern when you are just getting started out, but it is best to be aware of the threat it poses. Most characters would know not to stand in tainted blood. Avoid contact when possible. Seasoned explorers recommend total body coverage when dealing with the afflicted. Of course, farmers have their own ways of making Torment sprout where you might not expect it.

2.7. Noteworthy commands

[checkinjuries – Provides an overview of your current injuries.

[Codex – Brings up your character information: Animus, Stats, Sanity, description among other things can be checked here

[combatmessages – Used to disable and enable messages which give detailed combat information.

[Drag – To Drag / carry downed or KOed people

[Examine – Used to look on other people and items’ descriptions. You have a chance of gaining 1 animus on the first time you examine someone.

[e – Access to emotes that are useful for role-playing. Alternative command: [emote

[Help – Will bring up a list of all available commands.

[IncreaseSkillCap – Allows you to check how much it would cost to increase your current skill cap by spending Animus and shows you the command required to do so. Note that Animus spent on increasing your skill cap is not added to your lifetime Animus pool.

[ItemID – Allows you to view the individual properties of a piece of equipment you have in detail. You can do this even if you lack the skill, as long as the base item is already identified. For instance, this is how you look at the resistances your armor provides (or how much STR a weapon requires).

[mycommands – Lists all available commands to you.

[rollmenu – Lets you roll various checks using your skills, stats and dice.

[time – Lets you check the current time.

[specialweaponmoves – Lets you check all of the available weapon moves of your equipped weapons.

While there are a few many commands IG, these are the basic starting set you should get used to at first.

Important to note: You have a chance of gaining Animus every time you [Examine a player character you have not examined previously! A huge gain when you’re just getting started.

2.8. A little about stats, skills and perks

As mentioned above, you can explore skills and perks in the skills menu. We would advise against spending Animus to raise skills unless you cannot find a way to raise a skill manually. For instance, the fighter types often cite that fighting skills are relatively easy to raise simply by fighting.

When it comes to stat points, your playstyle will dictate how to spend Animus. As a crafter, you may be perfectly content with the natural stat point increases from gaining Animus. However, some advanced fighters recommend spending some Animus on stat points instead of skills. Keep an eye on those perks, though!

2.8.1. A special note on weapon skills, which do not work the same as on OSI.

On Requiem, you use weapon skills (in conjunction with tactics) to unlock special weapon maneuvers, which consume stamina to use. Each weapon type has their own specials and all weapon skills have their own flavor. Therefore, a primary reason for increasing a weapon skill is to qualify for the special maneuvers and skill-related perks (in addition to the default purpose of the skill, which is to calculate chance to hit). The perks offer useful advantages such as increased critical chance and damage with your weapon(s) of choice. Additionally, your active weapon skill is compared to that of your target. Having the same skill as the attacker means a higher chance of evading their blows. Consequently, you may want at least one high level weapon skill to ensure that your hits land the target despite any matching weapon skill they might have in addition to Parrying and/or Finesse. You can benefit defensively from having a small amount of every weapon skill, though that is not necessarily a thing you need to build for. You do not need to be using a weapon related to the skill you are defending against, either.

The current combination of special weapon moves you can perform with your equipped weapons can be referenced by using the [specialweaponmoves command. The [specialweaponmoves command will inform you which abilities are assigned to your ten default command slots for special moves – [main1 – [main5 for main hand weapons, and [off1 – [off5 for off-hand weapons. All special moves can then be further binded to custom hotkeys, macros, or what have you.

It is worth noting that your special moves cost at least 15 stamina to use, but the cost is reduced if you have more than 500 points in combat skills that are not Stratagems (such as Stratagem: Finesse or Stratagem: Raging).

2.8.2. Details about each stat and their effects on your character.

What do the stats do, though? You can access a description in the Statistics Menu (Codex -> Body), which you will also see when making your character. The key thing to notice here is that you will have to spend your 350 points on six major stats: STR/DEX/INT, HP/Stamina/Mana. Best account for that! Even weaker monsters and enemies can hit you for 10 damage if you are unarmored. Each stat can be increased up to a hard cap of 125 points. However, the effects of STR, DEX and INT are subject to diminishing returns starting at 90 points. You can surpass the hard limit of 125 points temporarily by using potions, mantras, hematology mixtures or enchanted equipment. How to arrange your starting stats is something you should discuss with more experienced players in order to get advice that relates to you build. Lastly, there are some things you should know about each stat:

STRENGTH: Affects your parry chance up to 80 STR. It is sometimes rolled to resist plague, heh. Equipment has strength requirements. STR also increases your melee damage and your ability to carry things, but both are affected by diminishing returns which start at 90 STR. Strength also dictates Hit Point regeneration, and gets an additional bonus to scaling at above 100 points.

DEXTERITY: Has an effect on your dodge chance. While the bonus is not limited (as the STR bonus to parrying is), the diminishing returns still start at 90 points. Wearing medium or heavy armor disables your chance to dodge. Affects your swing speed primarily. Dexterity also dictates Stamina regeneration, and gets an additional bonus to scaling at above 100 points.

INTELLIGENCE: Will help you to maintain your sanity. More INT means more control slots (1 per 10), faster crafting speed and better results for researching recipes.  If you are an aspiring mage, you should notice that intelligence affects the range and power of you spells. Moreover, INT has an effect on the power of your spells and the rate at which you regenerate mana. Light armor does not restrict mana regeneration, whereas medium cuts it by half and heavy armor disables it entirely.

HIT POINTS: The amount of damage you can take. Hit points can be increased by wearing high quality armor as well, and very interesting builds can arise out of properly utilizing armor combinations.

STAMINA: Almost all types of crafting consume some stamina, but the consumption is really notable with gathering skills. Every 25 ranks of the relevant skill reduces the stamina consumption by 1 point: -5 at 0, -4 at 25, -3 at 50, -2 at 75 and finally -1 at 100 skill. Special moves use stamina and wearing armor incurs a max stamina penalty.

MANA: Is not used for weapon specials. You may need mana if you craft some arcane items (ink). Is furthermore used in the use of spells.

As you may have gathered by now, there are several conditions that inflict stat penalties. Regular KOs and injuries are both likely to hinder you, but there is one more stat mechanic you should be aware of: darkness. You will lose a small amount of stats at night and in dark places. This loss can be countered either partially or completely by having a light source (torches, lanterns) and Night Sight (from potions, spells and item enchantments – it stacks). Moreover, the stat penalty is at its harshest in the darkest of places and during the darkest hours of the night, but it will gradually diminish as your surroundings get brighter.

2.9 Item Research

Item Research is a perk which is found under Lore -> World Lore in the skills menu. You need 30% skill in World Lore to buy it. As the perk description details, you need the following items in order to conduct research:

Acacia Gum (You need about 30% horticulture and the Harvesting I perk to get this from Acacia Trees)

A Research Book (crafted by artisans – it can fail even at 100+ skill)

Beeswax (found in bee hives – about 30% horticulture should get you all the plant materials you need for research if you take the Harvesting I perk to actually get secondary resources)

Drafting Ink (made by artisans, but you need horticulture to gather blue flowers, which you then turn into paste with a plant mortal and then into drafting ink with a paint kettle)

Vellum (artisans, from logs with a pulp vat)

In addition to the above, heretics may need small soul pieces (read: Moriums), which are made from their own Animus or found as loot, to perform magical research. Researching ordinary, non-magical items should not take Moriums.

You can open a research book as if it were a container. When you click the book once, you open a context menu which gives you the option to Start Researching and Stop Researching. You must place the required components (usually: acacia gum, beeswax, drafting ink, vellum,etc. ) inside the book before you may begin. The end result is a recipe copy, the quality of which depends on your INT and World Lore skill.

Research progresses in real time while you are online and you may have only one active project at a time. The speed at which you conduct research depends on your skill which is linked to the item you are researching. Notice that you need to actually know a power word before you can research or craft anything based on it – including the word itself! The same is not true for other kinds of research.

3. Getting started, your first week

Of all the sections in the guide, this is the one that you should take with a grain of salt. Approach the game in a way you find enjoyable. To many, that often means a good dose of seeking optimal gains and advancement. Your Requiem may be sung differently.

3.1. Playstyle

By playstyle, we  refer to how you are going to spend your time here. Will you hunt monsters, craft goods, sit by the bonfire or sneak and steal? However you play, a little bonfire-sitting and interacting with other players is likely a good idea – it’s important to make connections, for you cannot do everything alone.

As for your playstyle – give some thought to what you really enjoy doing in this game. It will go a long way towards planning your skills and enjoying your stay here. What do you want to be able to do?

What many think you should be able to do is twofold: firstly, you will need a way of actually accomplishing something in game. Perhaps it is as simple as being the town drunk whose main priority is to actually get drunk. In that case, this step is easy. However, you may also need specific tools for harvesting or the slaying of monsters and men. If you are a mage, you will definitely want to get your hands on power words sooner rather than later. Secondly, you will need a way of earning Infusion so that you may cap your Animus should you feel like it. You can do this either by the means of combat, crafting or gathering. Some skills work together wonderfully. For instance, skinning greatly augments Infusion gains from killing mobs. Getting started here can be as simple has making sure you can use a harvesting sickle to pick up flowers, which will let you advance your Artisanry and cap at the same time!

3.2. The things every survivor needs

Try to get yourself a torch, at least. The nights are dark and torches are superior to lanterns in the amount of light they provide! You should try to find a waterskin as well. Other than that, you might want barbering scissors and a razor to deal with hair growth. A brush allows you to access secondary hairstyles for each hair length. Give some thought to the gear you’ll need in order to perform your role: arrows for archers, armor for melee folks! Crafters should likely start by looking for gathering tools. Rare is the crafter that gets to hop around without even a single gathering skill.

Once you’ve entered the game properly, you’ll notice that silver is not wisely spent on NPC merchants unless you absolutely have to. The purpose of NPC merchants is to offer you some crucial tools and components (even food) you might not find otherwise, but other players will almost always be able to make you any goods that you need for a highly competitive cost.

3.2.1. Crafters

When many begin playing, a problem you may run in to as a crafter is storage. Many times, you may not be able to hold all the goods you may harvest. Depending on the situation in game, reliable player housing may not be an option. It is likely necessary to team up with other players if you hope to have a place for your goods. In general, making contact with your fellow players is critical for surviving your first week as a crafter. In the worst case scenario, you do not have any applicable combat skills to slay monsters for coin (and the weakest things may not even drop coin).

In hopes of giving you some concept seeds, we will present some crafter archetypes as follows:

A pure crafter goes for all of everything you find interesting. Slow to level, tight skill budged, flexible.

A specialized crafter picks one skill to specialize on and then builds their support skills around it. For instance, a blacksmith needs supplies from many different skills, but a lot of the components take a fairly low amount of skill to make. In this particular example, you could use the extra wiggling room to fit in skinning and some combat skills so that you can also get the secondary components you need for most smithing endeavors. The same could be said for alchemy, where animal parts are a huge part of many recipes.

A dabbler is probably an advanced concept, but you could easily get just the bare minimum of skills to make a few potions / other items that you or your friends need. Perhaps you will have only 50 Alchemy and 40 Agriculture for some convenient boosts! Of course, the catch is that you really have to know what you want to craft in order to pull this off.

People who can obtain resources are always valued. If you get 100 agriculture, 100 skinning, 100 horticulture and 100 geology, you will have 300 points for combat skills which should allow you to slay many mobs for their valuable parts. You might even get to have one crafting skill that makes use of your superior gathering and slaying skill.

3.2.2. Combatants

For gearing up, we recommend you get in touch with other players. Posting on the forums or asking around on the Discord channel are your best bets. Leather armor seems to have special synergy with mages (a full set allows for dodging and mana regen), so you might want to think about getting at least 20 STR even if you go full mage.

In addition to gearing up, keeping your items in top notch is going to be a challenge. The skill that was used to create an item is also used for maintaining it. Repairing an item can lead to loss in Max Durability, but high skill and early repairs lead to fewer durability losses than attempting to fix something that is already battered or falling apart. Once again, you should really get in touch with other players to make sure your equipment will not break on you.

Here are some combatant archetypes to consider:

A full plate warrior relies on parry and heavy armor to stay in the fight while lopping off heads left and right. This kind of build can easily consume all your 700 skill points, but it is possible to set around 100 points aside for a useful gathering skill (such as skinning or geology). Although having only 100 blacksmithy with no other crafting skills will not make it easy for you to craft anything, it is just about enough to maintain your gear yourself if you don’t let it get battered or worse. Parry-based fighters consume a ton of shields, but the rest of their equipment is usually better off for it.

Weapon master is a concept that has surfaced with the recent changes to how weapon skills work. The idea is to have multiple weapon skills at a high level so that you will always have good defenses no matter who you are fighting against. In addition, this ensures that you can always try to poke your opponent in a weak spot in their defense. You might tweak this concept by having two weapon types to focus on or one main type of weapon and a small investment in all other weapon types.

Mages are fairly straightforward when it comes to the skills they need. When you are just getting started, we wouldrecommend investing in General Arcana, after which you can branch out in one of the three exclusive Arcanas (Diabolism, Divination, and Paganism). Once you are all set, you can tie the whole with an investment to Archmagic Arcana.

You can build a speedy warrior either as an archer or a dodge-based fencer. Whether you use armor is up to you. Leather armor may offer some extra survivability when you are hit, but wearing only clothes and no armor at all should give you a bonus to your dodge chance, which you will rely on to stay afloat in combat. If you decide to play an archer, you may need a secondary weapon skill which you can use when you do not want to waste resources. Similarly, you may wish to dip in horticulture, skinning, and carpentry so that you can make some arrows on your own – teaming up with others may help you save a few crucial skill points here.

3.3. When in doubt, ask – and stay connected!

If you are reasonably new to UO Shards, it might surprise you how big role our Discord channel plays in enjoying the game. There are usually players online all day long there. Therefore, it is an excellent place for queries and getting in touch with the people you play this game with. If you are out of luck, however, the forums are an excellent alternative. People post guides, personal stories, trade arrangements and staff announcements – all vital for staying in touch with people and keeping up with current affairs.

We cannot stress this enough: the skill system of Requiem is so expansive that you cannot even hope to do everything yourself.