I'll start this with setting up, that I'm not any super analytical DR player. I play the game and base things on feelings and impressions.

Anyways I've been recently playing and training two armor tertiaries namely a Thief and a Cleric.

The skills I'm training on the Thief are about 150, and he's in Dark Fiends. While the Cleric is backtraining some armor in Silver Bears or whatever is where the Young Ogres and Scout Ogres used to be (where the heck did the Ogres go anyways).

Anyways in general armor just doesn't seem to go to mindlock anywhere near as fast as other skills, this seems backwards because it has the slowest transfer from pool to learned skill (or however that is termed).

Is this a known problem, is designed to be well what I'd describe as backwards, or is it something else?

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"I think anything that forces you to do something no sane adventurer would do just in order to train is ridiculous."
DR-SOCHARIS

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Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.

>Anyways in general armor just doesn't seem to go to mindlock anywhere near as fast as other skills, this seems backwards because it has the slowest transfer from pool to learned skill (or however that is termed).

You're fighting creatures which are exclusively lumbering, slow attackers, and aren't really swarmy. Frequency of attacks incoming determines armor exp. Trying a set of critters which attacks faster would teach a bit more?

Critters also have offensive and defensive ranges to which they will teach. Until 3.0/3.1, this was completely moot, but when the ranges got tightened up a lot more, it started to show.

Evasion and Shield Blocking don't seem to be as problematic, training more weapons then I am armors.

So I've got to find the right strength enemy and I have to find one that attacks often...

Why don't they all just attack more? System limitation?


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"I think anything that forces you to do something no sane adventurer would do just in order to train is ridiculous."
DR-SOCHARIS

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Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.

>It is just how they were designed. Sometimes (mostly in the past) the folks designing critters don't know/understand/appreciate what impact their decisions will have on the hunt-ability of the monsters. But for as long as I have been involved with DR, natural fast-attacking critters are the best to learn defenses from.

Typically, slower attacking creatures hit harder. Maybe not always, but often. Perhaps the amount of defensive exp a creature rewards could be modified by attack rate?

<<By hanging around them awhile and getting a feel for whether they attack often or not?

<<Or I guess, anyone know of some 'natural fast-attacking' undead? The more the more likely I can climb the ladder with them.

'Natural' creatures are usually quadrupeds, usually use their body parts to attack, and tend to have fewer special abilities. All of this adds up to better defence learning because they tend to attack at a faster rate, since weapons take longer to swing on average than body parts, and no special abilities means their normal attacks occur at a more regular frequency. I.e. if it can carry a weapon then it's not a natural creature.

Basically look for something that swarms decently, doesn't use a weapon, and has few if any special abilities.

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Elanthipedia - https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page

And just to confuse the issue, if the enemy uses something like SE (sand sprites) they're going to tend to teach armor as well as a natural critter. But I think these type of weapon users are far between, most tend to large/heavy weapons or come with a mixture (like goblins, they can carry anything from pole to small blunt).