Pandawa/Drunk Rodeo Clown

Introduction
Having played a Pandawa for as long as the class has existed, I figured it was time to add my two cents to the list of guides. A forewarning -- by intent this is a strategic build with emphasis on support. It is not a high damage build. While it can hold its own in battle and should have no difficulty killing monsters to level you will never impress with massive numbers. The Drunken Rodeo Clown build, as the name is intended to imply, is more about antics and evasion than direct detestation.

This build is not for everyone and is not offered as a "you should make THIS kind of panda!" assertion. A number of people have asked me to write a guide to my build, so here it is. If you are interested in this alternate method of play, inspired by utilizing unique class spells and avoiding the arguably over-powered nature of weapon skill combat, give it a try. This guide is based on my own experiences and does not claim to have considered every possible equipment combination; you may find something better; see things I've overlooked. What I will not be including a leveling guide in this, there are plenty of those. This will just be a bit of discussion on spells, gear and strategies.

Know Your Role
True to its class, the Drunken Rodeo Clown is made with group combat in mind. While in groups, particularly at higher levels, you will be playing an active support role. This is not to say you'll be helpless on your own, as the author of this guide has done some 100+ levels "the hard way". Your support roll consists of
 * Battlefield manipulation (We love to throw things)
 * Distraction (Stain and later Spirit Bond to severely disrupt your foes mojo)
 * Healing ( None can compare to an eni, but having additional healers in a group can't hurt! )

When these skills aren't necessary, you'll be dropping 100-260~ damage with explosive flask (expect an average of 130-150) and have the option of dropping into drunk form to punch, unbewitch or otherwise disable your foe.

Skill Point Assignment
The Drunken Rodeo clown is a fire based fighter. Raise intelligence to 200 as soon as possible. After 200, do whatever you wish -- I'd suggest more int, agi or vitality (in that order). You want massive amounts of intelligence. Having a lot of vitality is good, but I'd encourage you to rely primarily on gear for that and scroll as possible.

Spell Points
That's a lot of spell points, especially considering you'll want level 6 boozer at 101. So this build doesn't find its completion until 11x, unless you can get your hands on some Scrolls of Spells. Determining what order to level what I'll leave to your own personal experience with the build, as your play style may well be different than my own with some experience.

Excluded Spells
You've no doubt noticed the lack of a weapon skill with this build -- to make the best use of your spell points, you don't use weapons, at least not with a weapon skill. The skill would be not worth its points--since you'll be shifting back and froth from drunk to sober and back -- and that would mean unbewitched weapon skill.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of this build is the fact that it ignores the vulnerability spells -- which are highly sought after for some high level dungeons. Unfortunately, they won't fit into this build until after level 120-130 or so. There are plenty of pandas out there to offer vulnerability services--you're not one of them, not yet anyway.

Gear
You're not much different from any other pure int character when it comes to gear. Your primary emphasis should be on intelligence, with heals, agility and vit considered secondly (in that order). That is assuming you're healing off cawwot or with a wand.

From 70-90 or so explosive flask has a very variable damage range of 11-25. You may want to consider included +damage in your gear to help offset low flask rolls until you get significant int base and gear.

Phase One (1-38)
At low levels, pretty standards stuff--Adventurer set til prespic set. Fill in with other +dmg/int/wis gear.

Phase Two (38-80)
You'll still be in prespic set and reduction gear for leveling -- treechnids, bulbs and moon island being easy fodder. For leveling it's wise to augment prespic with Crackler Boots (with a good reduction roll -- 7 or 8 or so), O' ring ami, plain crackler amulet. For "Battle" gear, this author wore Cape Huccino, Lorko Kasko, Plain Crackler Amulet, Ano Neemous, Wabbit Thongs, Red Turtle Belt

Phase Three (80-100)
As you approach 100, you can shed your prespic set and start looking for gear with stats including int, vit AND wisdom. Items to consider: Lullabye, Desire Ball Cloak, Smoothitch O'Bal, Feudala Wedding Ring, Feudala Belt, Feudala Getas (or Animal Boots)

Phase Four
After 100, you'll continue upgrading your gear as you can. It's important to get 9ap -- 1 from now being 100+, 2 from gear. This will allow 3 stains or 3 blazing fists and allow for effective use of your spells. You can do a lot with 9ap, considering everything you use is 2 or 3 ap. At this point, you should know the game and your build well enough to figure to figure out gear yourself. A few favorite items of mine that haven't yet been mentioned are Kabuto, Krutch, Cape Houte.

Weapon Slot
Your weapon slot serves two purposes with this build. Use it for stats for yourself and/or a healing tool for allies. At low levels, I suggest Inacleft Stick, upgrading it through the levels til you have Essential Inacleft Stick. This is a great stat item--with a very generous int bonus.

The first healing wand you can consider is Larvaresque Wand at 40. Next, Golden Scarabugly Wand (which I myself haven't tested, as it came out after I was leveled well beyond it). Next is Kouartz's Wand at 80. Finally at 105, the holy grail of wanna-be Eniripsa the Boogey Wand. On good rolls, you'll be slinging out over 500 healing for 4ap. This wand also has great stats, including a generous vit boost.

Strategies
Here is where it all comes together -- how is this build played? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

As I initially warned -- this is not a beginners build by any means. This build is not for everyone but if you pull it together, it can be a great deal of fun; especially when playing with a good strategic group. Be warned though, this build doesn't really come together until after level 100. Until then, it's considerably awkward and will invariably be frustrating at times. Your primary skills will be moving things and your damage will be unimpressive compared to others your level (as will always be the case for your build). That doesn't mean you need to leech -- it's entirely possible to play this build, I have -- it just won't be especially easy. You can always use the excuse "I'm a strategic build, not a damage build", if it makes you feel better to imply that you're wiser than a simple minded damage character.

Early Combat and Support
Not much going on here -- you get drunk and hopefully can stay alive long enough to kill things. Eventually you'll gain the ability to grab allies and later still throw them to (or out of) safety. That will be your first support work -- and is pretty straight forward.

Middle Combat and Support
The real beauty of this build is that every single spell you use frequently (save for perhaps close combat/cawwot) either 2 or 3ap. It takes a -lot- of ap draining to shut you down. Starting at level 70, you have a sober attack. Like your grab/throw spells, it's only 2 ap. What this means is that for 6ap, you can grab a foe, throw it into flask range and flask it. Great for an enemy that gets too close if you're not in the mood to booze up and fight them up close. Can make for a great escape as well. Keep an eye out for LOS obstructions -- throwing an enemy over obstacles will make it require more mp of them to get to you. With bamboo milk level 5, if you're drunk and taking more damage than you like you can sober up, grab and throw all in one turn -- and with 8ap drop a flask, too.

High Level Combat and Support
Here's where it gets really fun. You're level 101+, preferably level 105, and dressed to the nines. 9 AP that his. You're a low-ap-cost mover and healer. You should be able to do 100+ with flask, averaging 140 or 150 with 200+ crits. Blazing fist will do near 100 damage 3x a turn and you have 25% damage reduction. No bewitchment is safe with the option of stain -- and further aggravating foes you have a Pandawa Master fighting by your side.

Crowd Control
Against strong enemies that require close combat, you can keep them at bay by throwing them. Consider how much more killable this makes Troolls, Firefoux, kanigrou, et cetera. In group combat, this can help protect your team from directly facing too many foes at once.

Softening
Enemies with strong buffs can be shut down. Whether it's troolish absorption or Firefoux 1000hp, with a 9ap set more often than not it'll only take you 1-2 turns to unbewitch. In the mean time, the other effects of level 5 stain can prove most desirable in combat. All the while, your damage s being reduced by 25%. Some times this can mean 100% -- as it isn't uncommon for enemies to attack other players who don't smell of booze. If you finish staining and don't want to stick around, you can sober up and toss them aside.

Team Antics
Spirit Bond is a key aspect of your tool set. He's a dodge locking machine with 300 agility. There are few things that can dodge him effectively and virtually nothing that can if there's an eni around to give him ap.

When alone and killing enemies, there are a few great ways to use him effectively. If there are multiple enemies, you can throw them to the Pandawa Master so he can hold them all in place allowing you to flask them all at once from a safe distance. If the enemies have less agi than you, you can also consider blazing fisting and then retreating with pandawa master holding them firmly in place. Great for close combat foes -- and the reason I earlier encouraged maintaining some agility. Wielding your boogey wand, you'll have no trouble keeping Spirit Bond alive while he tanks these foes.

If you squeeze a +summon into your gear, 2 spirit bonds will essentially bring 1/50 fail rate spells to 1/2 fail rate. At this point, most enemies in the game fail excessively.

You can also use Spirit Bond as an LOS obstruction -- just flask him to hurt the enemy he's shielding you from. You can always heal him right back up.

Mobility
At this point, at least for a few turns, you have more mp drunk than sober. This allows you to move around the map even more effectively than usual while enjoying reduced damage. Alternatively, you can mp buff spirit bond to send the Pandawa Master ahead into the battle.

Damage - drunk or sober?
Against a single foe3x blazing fist will almost always do more damage than 1x flask -- and leave you taking less damage. For foes you can comfortably tank, go for it. Against groups of enemies, however, it's another story. Doing 100 damage to 5 enemies at once is more than you'll ever do with blazing fist. Be mindful of the situation. Explosive flask is a great spell, but don't forget about blazing fist--with a 9ap setup, it still has its place in combat. It also gives you access to stain -- stain/fist/fist can be an effective combo against scary foes, allowing you to potentially weaken/soften them up a bit while still doing damage.

Because of the low a cost of your spells, it's possible to play drunk and do sober damage. Flask your foe, retreat, and booze up to take reduced damage; on the next turn, you can sober up, flask them, then booze up again. This also gives you the option of drunk and sober combat in the same turn. When sober and facing a single enemy within your movement range, a great option is to flask them, approach, cast boozer, then blazing fist or stain to setup for the next round of 3x fist. It's more effective than just jumping in and blazing fisting twice.

Field Manipulation--be mindful
One thing holds true for all levels--playing with the same group of people over time makes a great deal of difference. They know what you are capable of and you learn when they may want to be moved, when they may not, et cetera. When in doubt, ask; it's good to check before throwing if you're not sure -- people can get really annoyed, really fast when you're messing with the setup of the stage in a manner not to their liking. It may not be obvious at first, but your ability to manipulate the location of allies and foes alike has the potential to both save and ruin a fight.

Bamboo Milk Glitch
There is a small glitch with Bamboo milk--it changes your appearance when it is cast and again at the end of your turn. So if you sober up at the beginning of a turn and then cast boozer you'll change appearances and look sober at the end of the turn. You will still be drunk with all the benefits thereof, just won't look it.

Boozer: Effects versus States
If you ever get unbewitched while drunk, you'll notice that you retain your ability to use drunk spells (and inability to use sober spells) while losing damage reduction and regaining your mp. To what extent this is bug/feature, I don't know.

Removing Invisibility
If you have the opportunity to pick up an invisible foe, do so and throw them. When they land, they will be visible and will remain so until the next time they can cast their invisibility spell. I don't know if this is a bug or feature, but it has held true for as long as Chamrak has existed.

Closing Comments
This is not the build I intended to make when I created my panda--it's just something I sort of found in the process. I, personally, find it an incredibly fun build to play. With this build, you're unlikely to be considered the strongest anything--but played right, your friends should love you. For a while, I experimented with damage wands/wand skill--and did a lot more damage than I can do now but ultimately was a bit less flexible/effective. Not having a weapon skill and being able to shift carelessly from drunk to sober really helps bring the panda's drunk and sober spells together. Having a healing wand makes spirit bond not just a great tool, but a near invincible one.

--Hoobry 16:36, 17 February 2007 (UTC)