Silkroad Online Forums

Well met, fellow Silkroad Travellers.

I've spent a couple hours reading in this forum (inbetween leveling my new character), and I realize that Hybrid Ice Glaive is not popular and likely to draw criticism. But, as I was searching around looking for info on what to do, I came across a post from Apr. 23, 2006.
http://www.silkroadforums.com/viewtopic ... ght=glaive

In particular:
"just choose what YOU like, not what others think. it gets boring when everyone just copies each other." ~ cuchulainn

And:
"i love my ice glaiver.
never tried anything else, but this one just suites me right down to the ground... i enjoy playing one of the less popular classes" ~ Kew

Well, that's where I'm at... Hybrid Ice Glaive just has a certain appeal to me, and that's what I'm going for. It just seems to "fit." I had a character like this a few months ago that got to around lvl 17 that I enjoyed a lot. But I had no idea how to spread skill points and got discouraged about what I had at the time. So, I'm starting over... and educating myself a little more before spending those precious skill points.

I've read SuicideGrl's Hybrid guide and I'm pretty much following kagenutto's mastery/farming guide so far. My character is lvl 10 and I've just invested the first skill points into Heuksal and came back here to look for info on Ice skills.

As I said, I've been trying to do some reading up around here, but there's a lot to learn and I'm starting to get foggy headed with all the game mechanics and stuff. So, I'd like to ask for any advice on skills for this type of build. Mainly, what should I avoid? I'd rather not have to de-level anything later. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Heuksal skills below Soul Spear aren't worth spending points on.

I'm mainly interested in a balanced PvE character. Haven't decide on what type of job to do. I'm sure there's plenty of info on this somewhere in the forums, but a search for "Hybrid Ice Glaive" doesn't turn up any topics specifically for that. At least, not that I found.

Any other Ice Glaivers out there that have some advice? Any tips and hints would be most welcome.

if u want a pve character, go pure str :\ tanks better

Theres a reason why your search for hybrid ice glaive came up empty. its just not an ideal build besides pve. but the thing is ANYTHING can level, anything. in the end, PVP is what matters unless u plan on doing 1 stars for your whole life or picking on low levels.

Hybrid STR - i assume your going hybrid str cuz you said GLAIVE not spear - has weaker crit damage than hybrid str, and is kind of stupid since it invests damage into a weak point (magic damage, its like being good at one thing, and really bad at one thing, and then sacrificing being good at the good thing only to be a little better at the bad thing)

ice - ice is weak, ice is only good for status effect, status effect is only good at low level pvp and PVE


If you want ice, i really really suggest either going nuker, or pure str blade/bow. the point of a glaive is to kill with strong damage, getting ice doesnt fit that very well. With ice imbues, bow slows mobs from reaching you, and ice bladers apply status a lot faster then glaivers

Thank you for the response...

It sounds like a contrast to how SuicideGrl puts it - "Hybrids are the true utility characters. They may not excel in anything, but they're good at virtually EVERYTHING. Hybrids kill fairly well in PvE and use less pots than pure chars. They are good at all jobs and can have a very diverse skill set. They are decent PvP charactrers. If you are the type of player who likes ALL the elements of SRO and wants to be pretty good at all of them, a hybrid build might be the one for you."

Something different is what I'm interested in, even though it's a first character. Or, as I said, a second attempt at the same kind of character. And right now I'm going 1:1 on str/int. Thinking 2:1 int from lvl 20 up.


Yeah, but that blue glow.... it just does something for me.
Is ice really weak, or maybe just not as strong as fire/lightning? In looking at chrissy's thread:
http://www.silkroadforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=12717
Ice looks only slightly less than the others, but not 'weak.'


Well, at level 12, following kagenutto's suggestion of only 5 points in 2 masteries, some decent armor and a lvl 10 glaive I found at trading stalls, this character can handle Young Tigers (red lettering) quite well. It takes a hp pot, but with only lvl 1 Ice River Force, they drop fairly quick and she can take as many in a row as are roaming around.

I'm also still using kagenutto's idea of a bow to get them coming at you then switching up the glaive when they get to melee range. Often they are at half-life when they reach me. I don't know how far into the game that technique will work, but it's still good, for now, against some foes.

I know that's just 'low level PvE,' but right now I'm happy with it, and my goal at this point is to enjoy the game content while learning the ropes. Considering there's room for 3 or 4 masteries, I might add fire to the mix as well. But, I gotta' fit Ice in there somewhere!

The blue glow, man... the blue glow!

Hopefully you can tell I'm not real serious about this character being uber strong or 'godly.'

Question still remains... any skills I should NOT bother with when it comes time to spend skill points?

IF your hybrid glaive.. isn't it better to use a spear?

My old lvl 54 on Troy was a bit hybrid.. liek only 15-20 points into int ... but he hit reasonably harder with a spear.. try it

I would have to find a comparable spear to the glaive I have to see the difference. The lvl 10 that I bought from a stall has Int 3 increase(+100%), str 2 increase (+50%).

However, in looking at the lvl 8 spears and glaives (just for comparison) available from Blacksmith Chulsan, the differences I see are:

Phy. attack: Glaive is higher... 33-39 vs. 35-42
Mag. attack: Spear is higher... 56-68 vs. 53-62
Durability: Glaive is higher... 44 vs. 49
Critical: Spear is higher... 4 vs. 2
Phy. reinforce: Glaive is higher... 36.6-43.1 vs. 39.0-47.1
Mag. reinforce: Spear is higher... 62.5-75.4 vs. 58.6-68.9

Looks like spear is a better int. weapon, plus higher critical. I went ahead and bought the lvl 8 one to see what the "look and feel" was like. It's not the same as the glaive. I much prefer the heavier blade of the glaive.

So, something to think about, I guess. I don't know if those numbers work out to higher differences in later degrees or not. Maybe someone could comment further on that.

For now I'll stick with my cold glaive, but as I learn more I'll have to reevaluate my preferences. And please keep in mind, I'm not asking about how to hit harder. I'd like to know what's best for building around a "type of character" more than the stats of a weapon. That character being a hybrid Ice Glaive user. Whether it's 1:1 or something else, haven't decided yet. I like the "spirit" of the build, even if the stats and game mechanics don't favor it.

I'm odd like that.

Lol.
This is bad.
Hybrids topic really means only int hybrids....
Fire imbu: 351~584 (100%)
Ice imbu : 286~429 (100%)
Less dmg. You already have phys def, low on mag def.
Ice = bad idea. No fireshield / phys dmg buffs either.
The 65 light imbue is blueish, go for light if its the color.

You def won't do well in pvp, people are immune / depending on how hybrid you are, 2 skill for farmed int spear hybrids...

It doesn't matter which book 4 imbue you choose. They all look amazing.

I love the sound of the light imbue.
Cold has flashy skills like the nova and nuke book2. But both fire and lightning have very interesting skills like fire shield, grasswalk series, concentration, and the 2 damage buffs.

Thank you. That's the kind of input I'm hoping to see.


So, which of the fire/lightning skills would be a good addition to a multi-tree mastery development? Can someone point me to some topics where the minimum skills for each force mastery are discussed? Like you mentioned... fire shield, grasswalk... I'm continuing to search and read on my own, but a few pointers would be nice.

I'm a Guild Wars player, and that game allows you to re-create any character at anytime... change secondary profession, attribute points, skills. I know I can't do that with Silkroad, so I'm trying to be careful about how I develope this character.

I think I'll spend the skill points for the first level imbues of Fire and Lightning just to see how they are.

Thank you for the replies.

I dunno bout tri elements, kinda only thought of them in combination with nukers,

Alltho my old friend Frenks on troy .. *cough* shiz knows him *cough*
He had ice and could tank a bum load of his own lvl 66 at the time cause he froze.

Well fire is mainstream there the skills would be imbue / Flame body / fire protection / Flame devil force

Ice would be Imbue? / guard of ice / Cold Armor

And well Light Grasswalk / Tahts all i'd personally get but others tend to get concentration and piercing force.

Uhmm to help you check this http://sro.mmosite.com/database/skills.shtml

Goodluck dude

Ok, chaud, I'll try and find something useful in your... somewhat cryptic opinions.

"Les dmg. You already have phys def, low on mag def."
Are you refering to the weapon stats here... the phy/mag reinforcement? I've found a couple of pages explaining item stats, still working on getting a grasp on those.

"Ice = bad idea. No fireshield / phys dmg buffs either."
Ok, so then, would adding the Fire mastery help that out?

"You def won't do well in pvp, people are immune..."
I'm thinking PvE for this. And why on earth did they give buffs that can make someone completely immune to an entire mastery category. That's not very good skill balance, is it?

"The 65 light imbue is blueish, go for light if its the color."
LOL... 'blueish?' Hmmm... I'd rather not go all the way to lvl 65 to find out that blueISH is not blue enough.

Excellent link.

And, thanks.

ok really quick, let me explain to you the hybrid builds of SRO

Theres the Hybrid INT
the hybrid int gets mostly INT, some people will do a 1str:2int ratio, or just try to obtain an 85%-90% INT balnce (when reaching that, adding to str to counter the balance, and get it lower, blah blah, then add to INT again)

the two weapons used here are spear or sword. The reason why people use these two is because they have the better magical reinforce/magical damage. Since INT is all about magical damage, it makes sense to "back up" that magical damage.

Then there is the Hybrid STR
the hybrid str imo is not as good of a build as others. above, i already explained why.



when suicidegrl was talking about hybrids, he meant hybrid INT, because his female character is one after all.

Reasons why INT hybrids are acceptable: INT characters have huge amounts of damage, its ok to sacrifice some of that damage for life. The amount of damage you sacrifice is worth the life you can gain to some players.


ok, now ICE of all all all of the imbues is the weakest. Like I said, its for PVE mainly. if PVE is your thing, go ahead and do it. Many nukers like the ice nuke.

Yes, I'm mainly interested in PvE... to have a little fun trying something unconventional.

So far she's doing ok. Level 14, and doing the Tiger Hunt quests. Last night she went after a Tiger Champion and ended up aggroing 4 other tigers. She beat all five! Practically had to chug a pot every other swing, but she did it. It's the most enemies I've fought at the same time with her so far. Fun stuff.

And I'm following that mastery/sp farming guide so she's only got Heuksal and Cold at lvl 6. I did add one level to Wolfbite Spear just to have a little extra punch for lower level hunting. Other than that, Ice River Force is her main damage for now.

Also, I got the first Fire imbue. I know it's not a good idea to have two inbues... or so I've read... somewhere, but I wanted to see the difference while fighting foes.

I made a short list of high damage numbers I saw while fighting, and yes, fire hits a little harder, plus the burn does some DoT. But, I started looking at how many hits I was taking and I used fewer pots with the cold imbue... the freezing preventing the attacks.

Sooo.... fire does a little more damage, but overall, between fire and cold, they basically still drop in the same number of hits. At least, at this low level they do. I'm also using a spear atm. Not from preference but I had one drop that's closer to my level than the glaive I was using. I sure hate to give up the +int, +str on the glaive but it's only lvl 10.

While I'm thinking of it, is there a way to salvage those enhancements from a weapon through alchemy and apply them to a differen weapon?

Nothing to persuade me away from Cold magic. Plus, I came across this video of an Ice Glaiver in PvP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj8KjP_Myyg
Granted it's a pure strength build and doesn't exactly fit this topic, but still..... Ice blue glow ftw.

You could break the wep with blues, and might randomly get the stone you want, but low chances.
GL with ice, remember this post if you ever get capped and when you switch.

You can be 3x in about a week with no ticket and casual playing...
Get grinding!

Nothing to persuade me away from Cold magic. Plus, I came across this video of an Ice Glaiver in PvP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj8KjP_Myyg
Granted it's a pure strength build and doesn't exactly fit this topic, but still..... Ice blue glow ftw. [/quote]

1.That glaiver is pure str
2. He used ice before alchemy, when it was actually decent.

hm....ice glavie hybrid is not bad in PVE, its not really a joke when it comes to PVP, but fire is still a better choice , i just spend 220 silk to delevel my self from fire bow to fire glavie, lol im loving it. i use less potion and kill faster, also the animation of glavie looks really cool

Capped? Does that mean maxed out mastery?

If I do continue this character into upper levels and switch, I shall give you the pleasure of saying, 'see, told you so.'

I know from playing Guild Wars that skill balances (nerfs and buffs as they are affectionately called) occur on a regular basis. I'm hoping the devs at Joymax will reevaluate Cold magic if it has become as weak as you say because of previous changes. Here's hoping for a brighter future for Cold magic. *raises glass for a toast*


Well, phooey.... see comments above about my hopes for the future of ice.


Ah, a kindred spirit. Exactly! Although... I did have a nice spear drop and I've been using that. Getting used to it, but I still think Glaive is best when it comes to looking "Kewl."

You can hope all you want, but they will never reevaluate ice, at least not for a couple years .

Could I get a little more clarification, please?

I've seen tablets that describe resistance to elemental types of damage, but where does "immune" come from?

[edit]- nvm, stumbled across this:
http://www.silkroadforums.com/viewtopic ... percentage

And, chaud, what do you mean by '2 skill for farmed int spear hybrids'?

Hybrid ice glaive will die in 2 hybrid int spear skills.

Immune = tablets + fire shield.

Ice doesn't slow.
Ice was nerfed and will never be fixed.

Shame, shame on bad skill balance. What were they thinking!?

So, Cold Force is basically left as armor buffs and such, then. Well, I'm keeping on the same track with this character for PvE. As you said, anything can lvl to 70. Right now I'm just having fun learning the game and watching my foes turn blue.

If I ever get serious about SRO PvP, I'll have to consider the Fire/Lightning thing, I guess. The more I read, the more I see what your trying to tell me.

Meh, keep down on the skills you lvl, either like 800 silk + curst hearts
It will cost like 20m to delvl ice lol. Big waste.

heres my take on it,

-play as you want to play.
-just remember for glavies, the only good moves you will ever use are soul spear, ghost spear, the flying thing, and probably the chains since you are going ice.

-just play have fun with ice, and when euro comes out make a new char

Nah, not a waste. Just the cost of learning.

I'm still lvl 16 and I've gone the archer farming route. Only have 7 mastery and 2nd lvl in book one imbue. Not much to delvl... or at least doesnt' seem like much to delvl. Don't know, haven't delvled anything yet in this game.


Thank you. Having fun is the thing to do, I say. But I do want to learn how to have an effective character.

I think I have to agree with chaud about having a character that you can do more than just look at by the end of the game. I've only played one other MMO type game and hardly done any PvP, so it would be nice to have a character I can explore that with. Trying the jobs in SRO and doing trade runs and stuff sounds fun.

Euro? Got any links to what the speculations on that are? Same game, just different realm? Different armor/items?

One more thing, please. Am I correct in understanding that freezing was nerfed by the immunity from alchemy? When did that change take place approximately? I'm looking through different guides and builds and would like to know, by the dates on them, which ones were done before the 'nerf.' I'd like to be able to know what to disregard when it comes to builds that count on frostbite/freezing.

The pain that many are trying to save you is getting to level 40, looking around and wondering why you are leveling so slow. Why everyone can 1-2 hit kill when it takes you 4-5 hits. Realizing that the build isn't good engouh and that you don't have the heart to get that blue glow you seem to want. It will get worse as your level increases.

Do what you want, I encourage it, but I'm 95% certain your character will never see level 50.

You could always try a pure str cold bow nuker next.

Well, then I'm glad I started this thread. I appreciate all the advice given. Like I said, she's lvl 16 with only lvl 7 mastery. Not too late to redirect her growth. The warm, red glow of fire is cool too. I definitely want to go with the glaive, just love that weapon.

I was half kidding about the blue glow, btw. It does something for me, but it's not all that important.

*grabs bow and runs off to bandit stronghold for more sp*