Recently returned, looking to get advice going forward. I have a pretty decent idea but wanting to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Raliver (at level 78), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 250 150
Shield Use.........................| 258 158
Combat Maneuvers...................| 180 80
Blunt Weapons......................| 258 158
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 160 60
Physical Fitness...................| 179 79
Dodging............................| 138 39
Arcane Symbols.....................| 120 30
Magic Item Use.....................| 90 20
Harness Power......................| 178 78
Spirit Mana Control................| 105 25
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 128 34
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 120 30
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 70 15
Perception.........................| 140 40
Climbing...........................| 160 60
Swimming...........................| 160 60
First Aid..........................| 105 25

Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 20

Spell Lists
Paladin............................| 40

He's using a Tower shield (based on SHIELD maneuver training).

I would drop the Dodge training in favor of more CMAN training. I think this will start to pay off more at the higher levels. Aim for at least 2x between your actual CMAN training and your bonus from 1611 (I'm still working towards this goal). You still get AS bonus after 2x from 1611 but it's still a smaller return since the CMAN portion is capped at 2x.

Also, you might consider picking up some Ambush training and aiming for the head or neck. Train it up until you can hit your aimed location fairly reliably. At 40 ranks I have too much but decided to go ahead and continue training it at ~0.5x anyway.

You've pushed a bit more for lores where I'm a bit heavier into the 100s. Paladin Lores are very useful so you're probably getting a better return on the lores than I will on the spells but either works. My goal is to get to 130 then switch to pushing paladin spells again.

Same with MOC - you've pushed it a bit harder but I group hunt and haven't found a need to push MOC as hard (so training it at ~0.5x as well).

MIU / AS - I'm considering training MIU a bit after I hit 130 but haven't decided. Are you getting much use out of these skills? I used to hunt with wizard spells plus my own (now just my own since we started hunting in the Rift) and haven't missed not having either of these skills.

Here's my training at 81 for comparison. It's been pretty solid leveling to date. I could probably leave my Armor Use at 150 Ranks until I am ready to make the push to 200 but points aren't as tight now as they were at the earlier trains.

Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 266 166
Shield Use.........................| 266 166
Combat Maneuvers...................| 212 112
Edged Weapons......................| 266 166
Ambush.............................| 140 40
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 140 40
Physical Fitness...................| 183 83
Harness Power......................| 181 81
Spirit Mana Control................| 105 25
Spiritual Lore - Blessings.........| 90 20
Spiritual Lore - Religion..........| 105 25
Spiritual Lore - Summoning.........| 54 11
Survival...........................| 90 20
Perception.........................| 122 31
Climbing...........................| 169 69
Swimming...........................| 155 55
First Aid..........................| 82 18

Spell Lists
Minor Spiritual....................| 27

Spell Lists
Paladin............................| 40
Training Points: 7 Phy 7 Mnt


-- Robert

Bazzelwyn says, "Maul maul maul maul maul maul maul."
Bazzelwyn says, "The answer is maul."

>> Armor past 150? What's the next threshold that matters, or are you simply training 2x all the way up?

Next threshold is 190 for a reduction in maneuver penalties (treats full plate as half plate in that regard ). Then 200 for a 5th rank of Armored Fluidity. Then 240 for the next maneuver reduction. Hmmm... you may not be aware of ARMOR points. Type ARMOR and that should get you going in the right direction.

>> MOC/Ambush - Are you just training these at .5x rather than aiming for specific thresholds? Wasn't sure if there was a "magical number" for ambush like there is for MOC. Currently done with MOC as 60 is 5 unfocused and 3 focused but I do want to add in ambush like I said.

MOC - You could certainly train it to different thresholds based on preference although every rank of MOC adds to your Force on Force defense so it's not a waste to train it as you go. At where I am now I'll just keep pushing it at 0.5x until I get to '2x' CMANs (between CMAN training and 1611). Then I might push it a bit more for the next threshold.

Ambush - 40 ranks is already overkill for me. It isn't an exact number and I'm no expert here but it's tied to the amount of CMAN training you have and the size / speed of your weapon (or something like that). The advice I have gotten from multiple people that are more knowledgeable on this was to train Ambush up until I had decent success rate with my ambushes (I do). At this point I figure it's not that hard to continue training it at 0.5x going forward so I keep training it (it probably still helps more but with diminishing returns). Also, I am guessing that bumping your CMAN training some should help with hitting your targeted location as well.

I like to build with a plan that works but I'm definitely not a min/maxer so as long as I'm close to the target and it's working I'm good with it! :p

Your new training plan looks good to me! You should be set to have a lot of fun with your paladin! You won't miss the Dodge even a little! :p

-- Robert

Bazzelwyn says, "Maul maul maul maul maul maul maul."
Bazzelwyn says, "The answer is maul."