Another NCB failed...NEXT! (in General)

Yup. Job, life, keeping my stomach full...

They prevented me again from properly completing an NCB. So I'm starting another doomed one as soon as this one's gone :P Blah blah blah...

I'd like to grow a nice tattoo this time around, because even if I've been here for years, my poor virtual budgeting skills have left me with almost nothing to my name. So, simply enough any suggestions on a tat-centric strat that would be relatively cheap to maintain? (I'm thinking a mage strat, probably...)

It all depends on the number of minions you want.

4 minions would be great for a RoS character.

1 or 2 minions bodes well for a familiar.

No offense, but... wow... you must have missed at least 2/3 of your natural BA on that NCB.
Doomed from the start indeed.

SFBM+RoBF would be a nice choice, I guess.

Your NCB was worse than mine... And when my NCB dies, I'm going to make a tattoo grower. Just slap my current tattoo on it and keep on swimming. Hopefully I can grow it to a powerhouse. Or get my team to a good point this time!

Go us!

Good Luck on your next run! Sometimes Life Happens trust me I know even on a pretty good run like I have had so far *knocks on wood* I have hit a few hard spots and barely recovered from them. As it stands it has been extremely difficult to keep this NCB going in the direction I first aimed it.....

"No offense, but... wow... you must have missed at least 2/3 of your natural BA on that NCB.
Doomed from the start indeed. "

There were times when I did not log for many DAYS in a row :P
No big deal. Like my father says: "Wipe yourself clean and try again." Hah.

Number of minions is not really important to me, I really just need to increase my wallet weight to start a real NCB later, when life is more relaxed. Anything cheap. Tattoos can be re-inked if need be.

I'll remember the minion count rule-of-thumb.

SFBM... it's still viable? I keep hearing about how FB sucks.

Well.. You fought twice as much battles as me and have me beat by around 100k mpr, Thats not looking to good ;p.. Looks like your challenge bonus was probally pretty pathetic, and or you lost alot of battles during your run so far.. My advice maybe not use such a mediocre strategy. Sure the fireball team mentioned above may not be the strongest, but it will surely be better then the strat your running now.

Plus in the end you'll at the very least have a tattoo to show for it. ;)..

well i dont feel so bad about mine now. though i have switched strats like 20 times. Now i just let my single minion meatshield with a RoBF do the talking. I was spending about 400k+ weekly on rentals now i dont rent a thing..

It WAS pathetic, yes. Got decent CB% only recently, as well as good clan targets. Next NCB will not be experimental. I just want a solid foundation for my next one :)

How's your challenge bonus, Sparticus?

I'm doing two minion EE/Tat again. It seems to work well enough for me. And now that I know its what I want to try towards, I can use some of the gear I've been buying.

A Hal is tempting. RobF too, but I already did one of those. (A couple days after I re-inked to a RoBf, Jon made it the most OP thing in the world. NICE.)

Anything worthwhile to be done with a ToA? UC?

A ToA is always fun if you have the networth to back it up..

My next ncb actually will be based around a UC strat. :)..

challenge bonus is at 398%

That is NCB Bonus Sparticus mine is 393%. What he was talking about was Opponent Challenge Bonus %. You fight your opponent and because you are fighting higher you get a 1-100% Bonus.

Let's say I have a ToA. A base one to start my Ncb. If I get my hands on a base ELB or SoD, would the money I make outta fights be enough to keep my weapon usable? Or should I really go UC if ToA's my choice?

are you wanting to focus on tat growth, mpr growth or gear with the next ncb run?

Anything that would put me in a better position to choose a competitive NCB when I get the time. I thought tat growth would give me the best return, money-wise, but if you have ideas for a strat that will let me build a good equipment, I'm open to that, too. MPR is not an issue this time around, I'm not aiming for any particular number.

At lower MPRs, physical damage is king... so ToA plus either SoD or ELB, even with a modest NW on the X (not very low, but still modest) and +0 (relying on the ToA for plus-to-hit only) is still quite competitive.

ELB + ToA is always a winner, but keep in mind that if your goal is to finish the run with the most money, your ELB will continue to require more X. If your NEXT NCB will use an ELB, then it's a great investment. Otherwise, you'll have to sell it for ~70% of the cost, and 30% loss is huge.

I'll keep that in mind. With the posts so far, I'm thinking the best would be to NCB a strat, and then NCB the same or a smimilar one after that.

IMO,

The best strat would be a single minion enchanter splitting xp between DM and AS or a 1:2 ratio of those enchantments.

Using a SF with a NSC, HoC, EB and perhaps learning some evasion.

This way you get a massive AS to help your familiar.

At the end of the NCB, single minion characters typically if a high enough MPR sell for more than multiminion characters. So you can sell the character as well for more profit.

If I were in your shoes, it is what I would do.

I may be able to get all that gear by selling what I have now. I'll have to seriously think about that option too.

My opponent challenge bonus went from 80-100% down to 20-50%, though I havent looked for higher opponents lately. But as I said before, I also was spending around 400-450k a week on rentals because most of my equipment isn't large enough to support a character at higher lvls.

with ncb runs it is best to choose a focus. i would go for tat growth as that is probably the most crucial item in the game. with that being said, you will want to not spend any money on gear and throw all of your money into buying ba during bonus xp times for maximum tat growth.

So, you're saying magic tattoo then? FF or SF?

i like ranger's idea with the sf actually. just gear up first and try not to have to invest in gear during your run.

the jiggy is also a favorite of mine but just because you can buy them from the special items store. ; )

I've always wanted to try a jig, I love UC!

Now, what about a two minion team with FF/AS + a Jig?

Your FF will fry your Jig if you get to melee rounds.

Best to concentrate on one area of damage. Be it missile or melee.

I find it best NOT to combine the 2.

With AMF being so pathetic, I find the best and most efficient strategies to be those that focus on missile rounds in combination with DM.

Sad to say that is where CB is at the moment but that is what it be.

I still believe AMF is effective; SK is able to beat Sut and Poison because of a 6.1M AMF.

Those wins are probably as much to do with a big PL and RBF combo as they are AMF.

*PL battery is what I meant to say.

Anyhow SK beats me with that 6.1 mill AMF being completely useless against me. Big HP/AC wall, PL and RBF. A winning combo.

I would most likely guess that even without the AMF, he would win or be very close.

Those 6.1M levels are cut way down in their effectiveness vs almost all mages (those that use the NSC).

Perhaps those 6.1M levels in DM or HP would serve him better vs all characters, even tanks.

Thanks for the useful advice folks. I'll be gearing up a bit and then hopefully I'll be able to start a new NCB.

You're right of course... I should have said the AMF helped him beat those chars.

So, I'm preparing for my NCB, which is probably gonna be started next week. I have always had much trouble starting characters. I get negative challenge bonuses for days before I can train those spells that require thousands of XP like DM. My current test character is exactly in this situation. Any tips on how to get a good start? (Apart from getting 1600 BA)