Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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kentares
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Ore Elementals - Preserving History

Post by kentares »

Source: http://www.easyuo.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 3&start=15

Rising Force's Ore Elementals Essay 03/11/02

Introduction

Mining

Most people think of mining as a skill where you dig up rocks, hoping to find pretty colors. Or maybe where you pound on a mountain 300 times to pull out 6 Valorite ore. And most people's miners are purely mules. Smithing, Tinkering, maybe a bit of Carpentry. In other words...weaklings. Boring to play, and there just to get the work done. Well it is my belief that Mining is not a mule skill. And this essay will show you how. If you enjoy beating a mountain with that super-keen sturdy pickaxe, then by all means, cease reading and continue living out your boring mule's life. If you want to have fun while mining, risk death, and not to mention.....get high-level ores twice as fast.....then I wrote this essay for you.

Ore Elementals

Ore Elementals are the "secret" to gathering lots of high-level ores in a short amount of time. They are relatively easy to kill and yes, even the mighty Valorite Elemental can be brought down with a couple quick spells. For those of you that dont know, Ore Elementals ( Shadow, Bronze, Copper, Gold, Agapite, Verite, and Valorite) can be found by using a Gargoyle's Pickaxe on an ore vein one level lower than the elemental you wish to dig. For example, If you want to dig an Agapite Elemental, you would use the Gargoyle's Pickaxe on a gold vein.

To collect the pickaxes, I powergamed a fencer character, and used a Gargoyle's Foe kryss to kill Stone Gargoyle's near the Lighthouse in T2A. I found a Gargoyle's Pickaxe on approximately 1 out of every 5.

Once you've dug your elemental, you have a fairly strong monster coming inbetween you and your ores. Now it's time to learn how to deal with them. All of the elementals have different strengths and weaknesses. Some will reflect spells. Some will reflect melee damage. Luckily for you, I have done the research for you, so the amount of shock at how fast they killed you will be reduced to a minimum. :)

Shadow Elemental

This elemental is the weakest (unless you count dull copper, which is absolutely a waste of time to even look at twice). Think of it as an Earth Elemental on sterroids. It does about 5-10 damage with its melee attack, and hits fairly fast. Run in circles and ebolt it a bit, you'll be just fine.

Copper Elemental

This elemental is among the toughest. Why? Ask OSI, I'm just telling you the facts. It does about 5-12 damage per hit, nothing to sweat about. The big difference is that this elemental reflects magic. If you throw an ebolt at it, it will take the damage, but so will you. The way I kill these is by combo'ing. Explosion followed by a greater heal. It takes a while, but it does bring them down. (who wants copper ore anyways, right?)

Bronze Elemental

This elemental is just about as strong as the others. It has no reflect, but it does have a special attack. I call it the "freeze ray" because it looks like an icicle getting shoved up your behind, but no clue what it really is. The freeze ray attack is range-based, meaning the closer you are to the elemental, the more damage it will do. It does about 5 damage from long range, and anywhere from 15-20 up close. Ebolt this guy til he takes a dirt nap and move on with your life.

Gold Elemental

This elemental has no special attacks, no reflect, and basically nothing up his sleeve. He hits fast, and hits hard. Just keep moving and keep hitting him with spells.

Agapite Elemental

Basically the same as a Gold Elemental, except with better ore.

Verite Elemental

This elemental has a fast, strong melee attack, but is actually easier than the Gold and Copper elementals. Ebolt/Explosion will do the trick.

Some other tips

All elementals, with the exception of Valorite, have approximately 150-200 hit points. Their resistance/reflections etc make it harder or easier kill them, but they all have the same hp.
All elementals have a chance of giving you a level one t-map. woohoo. I have found quite a few Virtue weapons off the higher-level elementals. All have either been Gargoyle's Foe, or Daemon Dismissal. There is an Ore Elemental camp in Ilshenar, directly south of the Gargoyle City. The elementals that can be found spawning there are Copper, Gold, and Verite.

Valorite Elemental

That's right, these guys get their own section. I've heard lots of techniques on how to kill them. Archers, fire fields, trap them, ban them from your house, etc. My thoughts on these techniques? Hmm...if you wanna be a sissy and run from the thing, go for it. I drop them in 30 seconds, and I'll show you how. First off, lets take a look at what you're up against.

This elemental is a combination of the hardest elements of all the weaker elementals. It has approximately 250-300 hit points. It has perma-RA. That is to say, it reflects back a portion of melee damage back to its attacker. So basically, to run up and hit it with a halberd is about equal to beating your own behind. As for magic, it reflects direct damage spells back at you, and takes no damage to himself. It also has the "freeze ray" attack, and hits fast and hard. I dug a few up in Shame on Sonoma once. They literally tore the dungeon up, killing everyone who tried to screw with them, and everyone who tried to run as well.

But fear not, little miner-dood. You're about to make these baddies your bitch. The trick to killing Valorite Elementals is to use a Glacial Staff. That's right, they're not just for mare-riding, daemonbone wearing, neon-haired, glorious lord master stoic bitches at the bank. These staffs can actually serve a purpose, and now you find out what.

Just for those of you who dont know, the Glacial Staff has three spells. Each staff, however, only has 2 of the spells in it, which are random. An Ex Del is a paralize spell. In Corp Del is a spell that does half of your mana total in damage to the target, yet drains 100% of your mana. And finally, Des Corp Del. This is the spell we will be using against Valorite Elementals. I have no idea how it works, or why it works. But it works well, and will kill the Valorite in 2 or 3 spells.

This is how I do it. I set up a UOAssist macro, to arm the staff and say the words Des Corp Del and double click the staff. So I am able to have the staff in hand, charged, and ready for targetting with the touch of a key. Then target the elemental. Be aware that even the glacial staff can be reflected at you, doing around 50 damage to your character. The best strategy is to give yourself a good amount of space between yourself and the elemental, and cast greater heal on yourself immediately after you cast the staff's spell. You should only have to repeat this once or twice more and the elemental will die.

25 Valorite ore and a nice chunk of change in less than a minute. Do I have your attention yet?

My Miner

Just for your info, this is the character I use for hunting ore elementals.

Rising Force

GM Magery, GM Meditation, GM Eval, GM Wrestling, GM Inscription, GM Healing, GM Mining.
90 Str, 100 Int, 35 Dex

The magery, med, and eval make for strong offensive spells among other things. The wrestling is so the elementals miss with melee, the Inscription is to make my Reactive Armor spell stronger (always cast RA when fighting elementals) and also useful as another "mule" skill. And the Healing is just an added bonus, another way to heal etc. Not to mention that if you ever did get bored of digging elementals, (god forbid), you could drop the Mining for Resist and have a very nice pvp character :)

There's lots of advantages to your miner being a badass, and not just being a mule. For one, when is the last time you saw somebody hunting in the first floor of Shame? Yes there is Valorite/Verite spots in there, and I go there regularly. Also, try digging up a Valorite and follow them around while they kill everybody in the vicinity. Lots of nice looting for just a miner. Some guy just walked by and slapped your pile of ore into his packhorse? Dig up a "playmate" for him and see how well he can deal with it. Mining can be boring, or it can be a blast. If you think you've done it all and the game bores you, maybe try this for a change. If you like it, maybe I'll teach you how to kill Tentacles of the Harrower with your Carpenter :)

Cheers,




Khar
Last edited by kentares on October 4th, 2016, 1:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
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kentares
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

Post by kentares »

Source: http://www.uoguide.com/BNN:_Blood_from_a_Stone

BNN: Blood from a Stone

Credil the Cook Aug 11 2000 7:27PM

Some folk say I just had an unlucky day, some say I'm crazy, and a few have even whispered hints of magic to me. Unlucky, insane, or cursed - after what happened to me in the mines of Minoc, after what I saw, I'll never get near a mine again!

I had been a miner for 37 years. Something of an expert you may have called me. Occasionally I would give in and take on an apprentice, teach him the tricks of the trade, where to sniff out the best ore. Even the successful miners would tell you I knew more about the trade than they had ever forgotten! In a nutshell, if you needed to know about mining, you came to old Master Credil.

One day quite like any other I was wandering, as I often did, looking for new places to dig for ore. Some of the younger miners like to stick with one spot to avoid monsters, but I still did things they way we did before all this Minax business. After walking all night to find the purest valorite more than one apprentice has left my side thinking the rabbit skittering by is Jou'nar himself.

Well I didn't run into any undead that day, but I did happen upon something I can't forget. Lying in a patch of tall grass was a Gargoyle, and the fellow had more gruesome injuries than I care to recall. Something had beaten him until it either became bored or thought he was dead. I've got no love for the Gargoyles, even seen one kill a man years ago. I knew if this one was healthy, he would have tried to kill me but it didn't take a healer to see that death was the only thing left for him. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe Compassion but I kneeled down for a closer look.

The creature noticed me as I drew closer and his face, so different from a human face, clearly spread into a look of fear and pain.

I have no love for Gargoyles. But I also have no love for cruelty and I couldn't watch this creature die in any more pain than it was already in.

"I... I can't heal you... I don't know a speck of magery..." I looked through my pack for anything that may help soothe him. I always packed light for these trips, but I never was without enough water for a day and I've heard warrior’s tales that the dying experience a strong thirst. I lifted the water skin to his mouth.

After a few weak sips the fear in his eyes was calming, although the pain was not. Rarely I would toss a potion into the bottom of my pack, so I started rummaging again but this time, the Gargoyle moved. Slowly his hand drifted to my pack on the ground and finally stopped at my pick axes. His small black claw tapped on the metal and he grumbled something in a voice like gravel in a barrel and smiled at me.

I wasn't quite sure what he meant, after all you don't need to be fluent in Gargoyle to mine iron, but he kept tapping on the picks.

"Those... I use those to mine ore..." I picked up a small stone from the ground and tapped at it with one of the picks to demonstrate.

He grinned and produced from a bag, to my surprise, a pick-axe of his own! His grin spread as he weakly tapped his own pick at the ground before moving to my pack and letting go of it.

Again his voice, smaller and quieter this time, but still deep and rough said something between wheezing coughs. His eyes widened suddenly and he gasped. I haven't seen a great many things die, but you know the look when you see it. I couldn't help shake the feeling that I had just said goodbye to a fellow miner.

I was still a bit shaken and in more of a daze than anything when I moved his body under a few larger rocks so that it would be reasonably undisturbed. Another odd feeling of camaraderie hit me as I opened his sack. A few pick axes and general supplies which I added to my own. He came here to mine, just like I did.

And not very long ago something beat him to death.

Had I listened to that voice in my head I might still be a miner today.

It wasn't much longer before I came across a scraggly opening in the rocks and could smell the ore. Inhaling, I lit a torch and walked slowly into the cave mouth. After 37 years of mining, you can smell it in the air and no mistake. Any truly great miner can do that. It was the experts like me that can tell you what kind of ore it was. And this time it was bronze. A good bronze vein wasn’t going to make me wealthy, but I could still make a decent profit.

I hefted a pickaxe and after a few good swings to both my delight and disgust, a few beautiful chunks of gold glistened up at me from a huge vein of the ore. Delight because, well gold is gold and disgust because I had smelled bronze. First time I had been wrong in years. I didn't think one dead Gargoyle could have distracted me so much. I laughed despite myself. Old fool! Here I am upset because I had found enough gold to buy a good sized shop when I thought I was going home with bronze!

Then why do I still smell the bronze? Why do I care? I can almost retire with this much gold!

I continued to chip away at the rock, losing myself in the rhythm of the axe swings and letting my miners instincts take over. After an hour or so I had built up a handsome pile of gold and decided to rest and have a drink. So embedding my pick axe into the vein of gold, I lifted my water skin and strolled toward the early evening sunlight.

It wasn't until I was almost out of the shadows that I heard it. Someone... something had been in the cave and it was following me! All I had was my water skin, I had left my pack in the cave thinking it was deserted. Spinning on my heels I peered into the cave and looked in the direction of the heavy footsteps I heard just in time for a fist the size of a trolls head to send me sailing into the daylight.

Still stunned from the blow and the landing I opened my eyes and was almost blinded by a huge figure. It was human looking, that is to say it had arms and legs and a head of sorts, but glistened brightly in the late sun beaming down on it. If I hadn't known any better I would have said it was an earth elemental, but no elemental I had ever seen shone so golden.

I didn't see much more other than the ground moving very fast in front of me as I ran away from the cave. Was it my own gold attacking me? Did I wake some old evil that should have stayed buried in that cave? Was this the abomination that killed the Gargoyle miner? Or am I just crazy?

Frankly I don't know. What I do know is that I haven't been back to a mine since then. There are things left in this ancient world of ours that we don't know about and I'm not going to be the one to find any more of them! Mining was a good living for me but there are other ways to earn ones daily bread. I now bake it. So if you'll excuse me I have a wedding cake to prepare!
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kentares
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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Source: http://www.uoguide.com/Category:Ore_Elementals as of 03/07/2016

Ignoring the physical resist intentionally; focused on spell / necromancy based damages.

Code: Select all

CSV Format
"Ore Elemental",Physical,Fire,Cold,Poison,Energy,"Lowest Resistance","Lower Resistance",Notes;
"Dull Copper Elemental",30-40,30-40,10-20,20-30,20-30,COLD,POISON,;
"Dull Copper Elemental",40-50,15-25,20-30,5-15,20-30,POISON,FIRE,"CORPSE SKIN";

"Shadow Iron Elemental",30-40,30-40,20-30,10-20,30-40,POISON,COLD,"IMMUNE TO PETS";
"Shadow Iron Elemental",40-50,15-25,30-40,5-15,40-50,POISON,FIRE,"IMMUNE TO PETS", "CORPSE SKIN";

"Copper Elemental",30-40,30-40,30-40,20-30,10-20,ENERGY,POISON,"MAGIC REFLECT";
"Copper Elemental",40-50,15-25,40-50,5-15,10-20,POISON,FIRE,"MAGIC REFLECT", "CORPSE SKIN";

"Bronze Elemental",30-40,30-40,10-20,70-80,20-30,COLD,ENERGY,;
"Bronze Elemental",40-50,15-25,20-30,55-65,20-30,FIRE,ENERGY,"CORPSE SKIN";

"Golden Elemental",60-75,10-20,30-40,30-40,30-40,FIRE,N/A,;
"Golden Elemental",70-85,-5-5,40-50,15-25,30-40,FIRE,POISON,"CORPSE SKIN", "-5 FIRE RESIST";

"Agapite Elemental",30-40,40-50,40-50,30-40,10-20,ENERGY,POISON,;
"Agapite Elemental",40-50,25-35,50-60,15-25,10-20,ENERGY,POISON,"CORPSE SKIN";

"Verite Elemental",30-40,10-20,50-60,50-60,50-60,FIRE,N/A,;
"Verite Elemental",40-50,-5-5,60-70,35-45,50-60,FIRE,POSION,"CORPSE SKIN", "-5 FIRE RESIST";

"Valorite Elemental",65-75,50-60,50-60,50-60,40-50,ENERGY,N/A,"MAGIC REFLECT", "IMMUNE TO PETS";
"Valorite Elemental",75-85,35-45,60-70,35-45,40-50,POISON,FIRE,"MAGIC REFLECT", "IMMUNE TO PETS", "CORPSE SKIN";
Thank you for the pet immunity correction, @MMMartin 03/09/16
Thank you for the magic reflect correction, @Bama 03/09/16
Updated to reflect the affects of Corpse Skin. 03/16/16
Last edited by kentares on May 11th, 2020, 11:58 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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kentares
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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The past few weeks I have been focusing on Valorite, Verite and Agapite Ore Elementals.

Never forget that Valorite Ore Elementals have Magic Reflect; don't use Magery with them.

To raise the ore level twice use a Prospector's Tool and Gargoyle's Pickaxe; the Prospector's Tool also shows what ore is around.
  1. Cast Reactive Armor on yourself
  2. Summon a Dark Wisp
  3. After pulling up an Ore Elemental; get some distance
  4. Cast Evil Omen and Corpse Skin
  5. Depending upon the Ore Elemental:
    Agapite: Energy Bolt, Strangle
    Verite: Explosion, Strangle
    Valorite: Strangle (approximately 4 times)
  6. Cast Invisibility (or hide) on yourself and wait
Hope this helps and if you have a better way please post it and let us all know your method. ;)




kentares
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kentares
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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Pets and Ore Elementals

Please note that Shadow and Valorite Elementals are immune to pet attacks.

Cu Sidhe
Makes quick work of everything; but can't use it and a fire beetle at the same time.

Working with a Guildmate have them guarded by the Cu Sidhe, Allow Looting, and stand back. Have the miner pull the Ore Elemental up and start running towards them and hide or cast Invisibility; and the Cu Sidhe will proactively protect them and handle the Ore Elemental.

Bake Kitsune
Will be researching to see how effective this pet is against Ore Elementals.

On another note; does anyone have a Bake Kitsune they don't want? :geek:
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Bama
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

Post by Bama »

kentares wrote:Pets and Ore Elementals

Please note that Shadow and Valorite Elementals are immune to pet attacks.

Cu Sidhe
Makes quick work of everything; but can't use it and a fire beetle at the same time.

Working with a Guildmate have them be guarded by the Cu Sidhe, Allow Looting, and stand back. Have the miner pull the Ore Elemental up and start running towards the guarded Guildmate and the Cu Sidhe will proactively protect them and handle the Ore Elemental.
Or (ore) put mining on your tamer and have the person with the fire beetle friend you to it and have it follow you
90% of the time the elemental does not attack the beetle. If it does attack the beetle just run/walk away because the beetle will always follow you

Remember that when the above happens, once you get away from the elemental inviz the beetle and the cu will attack the elemental
As a friend to the beetle you can feed it if it loses loyalty
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kentares
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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Bama wrote:
Or (ore) put mining on your tamer and have the person with the fire beetle friend you to it and have it follow you
90% of the time the elemental does not attack the beetle. If it does attack the beetle just run/walk away because the beetle will always follow you

Remember that when the above happens, once you get away from the elemental inviz the beetle and the cu will attack the elemental
As a friend to the beetle you can feed it if it loses loyalty
Bama, would it be worth researching the usefulness of a Bake Kitsune versus an Ore Elemental?

I am curious if a stand alone miner can have a fire beetle and a pet that can handle itself against an Ore Elemental; no sharing or friending.

Thank you for your time, knowledge, and experience,




kentares
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Gargl Kark
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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Des Corp Del = Glacial Field?
Whammy | Timezone: GMT+2

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Bama
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

Post by Bama »

kentares wrote:
Bama wrote:
Or (ore) put mining on your tamer and have the person with the fire beetle friend you to it and have it follow you
90% of the time the elemental does not attack the beetle. If it does attack the beetle just run/walk away because the beetle will always follow you

Remember that when the above happens, once you get away from the elemental inviz the beetle and the cu will attack the elemental
As a friend to the beetle you can feed it if it loses loyalty
Bama, would it be worth researching the usefulness of a Bake Kitsune versus an Ore Elemental?

I am curious if a stand alone miner can have a fire beetle and a pet that can handle itself against an Ore Elemental; no sharing or friending.

Thank you for your time, knowledge, and experience,




kentares
It depends on how you mine up the elementals
When I mine up elementals I don't like stopping to kill one elemental and then go back to the spot I was at and begin again

The cu and fire beetle method let's me stay in that one spot and empty out that bank. Unless it is a shadow or valorite spot
I have had at times up to 5 elementals pop up and the cu takes care of them without me having to stop

I think the beetle and the bake can work but the miner would have to more than just heal the pets if multiple elementals pop up

Not sure if that was of any help to you my Friend
Gabba Gabba Hey!!!

哈哈哈
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The Silvertiger
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

Post by The Silvertiger »

What I used to do back when I first started demise was use a samp or character with a life leech weapon to kill them. You don't have to spend a lot of gold either. Just 110-115 scroll in the weapon skill of your choice and however much for the weapon. As far as armor you just need 70 phys and some hci jewels, which can be found laying on the ground at Luna every few days; the armor and jewels.
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kentares
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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Bama wrote: It depends on how you mine up the elementals
When I mine up elementals I don't like stopping to kill one elemental and then go back to the spot I was at and begin again

The cu and fire beetle method let's me stay in that one spot and empty out that bank. Unless it is a shadow or valorite spot
I have had at times up to 5 elementals pop up and the cu takes care of them without me having to stop

I think the beetle and the bake can work but the miner would have to more than just heal the pets if multiple elementals pop up

Not sure if that was of any help to you my Friend
Good afternoon Bama,

Very helpful and I am doing just that; thank goodness the Mining Skill moves fairly quickly. I may research the Bake Kitsune at a later date.

Thank you again,




kentares
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kentares
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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The Silvertiger wrote:What I used to do back when I first started demise was use a samp or character with a life leech weapon to kill them. You don't have to spend a lot of gold either. Just 110-115 scroll in the weapon skill of your choice and however much for the weapon. As far as armor you just need 70 phys and some hci jewels, which can be found laying on the ground at Luna every few days; the armor and jewels.
Good afternoon "The" Silvertiger,

How quickly would the Ore Elemental be eliminated; or is that dependent upon the life leech weapon used?

Thank you for your time, knowledge, and experience,




kentares
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kentares
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

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Gargl Kark wrote:Des Corp Del = Glacial Field?
Source: https://uo.com/wiki/ultima-online-wiki/ ... abilities/

Glacial Staff

Found on: Giant Ice Serpents.

Historic: gave the owner access to two out of three effects, randomly selected when the ice serpent spawned and triggered by saying the correct spell words while the staff is equipped.

The following effects are known:
Des Corp Del – Ice Ball: Does about 10-15 damage to the target.
In Corp De – Ice Strike: Drains all your mana in one go and does damage depending on the mana consumed.
An Ex Del – Paralyze: Will temporary freeze your opponent.
Currently the Glacial Staves have the following properties: Hit Harm, Mage Weapon, Physical Damage, Cold Damage. All the properties seem to have random values.

Be careful against Copper and Valorite; Magic Reflect.
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The Silvertiger
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

Post by The Silvertiger »

Well, if you go in true samp fashion and use a whirlwind weapon, you can just keep mining and kill everything that shows its ugly noggin. If your life leech weapon has ele slayer it will be quicker as well. Really there are many choices in killing eles. There's a guide to the samp in this subsection. You can comb the useful information out of it pertaining to killing lesser creatures. You obviously aren't going to need the skills or armor requirements mentioned there, but you may find some useful tips and tricks.
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The Silvertiger
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Re: Ore Elementals - Preserving History

Post by The Silvertiger »

Bump...

The other day I saw some ore on the ground at the crossroads and got to reminiscing farming elementals. I think I'll make another elemental farmer.
Never forget June 4th 1989!
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