Arcane Paladin Guide - Tips, Gear, and More!

[Ashtalia]

Due to limitations on the forums, I've moved my guide to Google Docs and have it up on Discord!

Ashtalia's Arcane Paladin Guide

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Are you new to Project Gorgon and looking to do a Sword/Shield build from scratch? Or are you someone who has played for a while and wants to try out what a Sword/Shield build might be like? Well, if you answered YES to either of these questions, then look no further than this guide!

Disclaimer: I am in no way an expert on this game or these skills, but this is what I have found that worked for me

Before we start, if you haven't already, check out this page on the PGWiki to get a basic understanding of mechanics and other things about the game.

CHAPTER I. Let's Start At the Beginning

If you are a beginner to the game and this build, please check out the Beginner's Guide I have written below. It is not a thorough, in-depth guide of the Tutorial Island, but it will give you a little push on how Project Gorgon works and what you can expect throughout the game itself. It's a lot of info, so just click on the Show button to open up the window.

Beginner's Guide to Being an Arcane Paladin (Anagoge Island) - PART I

Beginner's Guide to Being an Arcane Paladin (Serbule) - Part II

And there you have it! I hope this helps you get on your feet with the sword/shield build. I will be going more in-depth with my choices in the posts below.

There are a lot more NPCs that can help, but I don't want to turn this into a walkthrough of the game. If you have read this and still have questions, please feel free to ask them below!

[Ashtalia]

CHAPTER II. What Does It Mean To Be An Arcane Paladin?

We are a specialized tank 'class'.
We use the elements of Fire and Acid against our enemies.
We cause them to Bleed.
We take advantage of their Vulnerabilities.
We Stun and sap the Rage from their bodies so they are easy to defeat.

This will not be a pure 'tanking' class in the sense of being able to soak up a lot of damage. Instead, this build will be able to survive solo and work as an off tank (OT) when in a group. It has no Ranged capabilities (you cannot switch loadouts while in combat), instead focusing on using elemental damage from Shield skills as well as coatings of acid that you can put on your shield.

I will do my best to be as specific as possible in regard to what skills are used and why. I will try to explain a basic rotation that this build can use for 1 v 1 fights or even 1 vs group. This is an ongoing project of mine and I will do my best to keep it updated!

+++ TAKE NOTICE +++

I'll be creating two loadouts for this build in regard to Solo play and Off Tanking (OT) play. As I level, choices will change, so do come back and check things out. The loadouts will not only be in regards to skills on the hotbar and sidebar, but gear as well (as your Loadout saves all of that).

Since our hotbars can change as we level and what we fight, I will be breaking this down every 10 levels on what I find works best along with other info.

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+++ Arcane Paladin Sword Guide (Solo) +++

Just like Unarmed has Meditation for combos, we Sword users have Calligraphy. You learn it from Sammie Grimspine in Serbule Hills. You can get it at Neutral Favor and the book will cost 1,000 councils.

Using the first recipe you learn from Sammie Grimspine called Pain will give you a buff in your UI. They last 1 hour (default) which can be boosted by using a Calligraphy Bench before making the recipe; you can find one where Sammie Grimspine is. When attacking an opponent, start with the correct skill and a small panel will slide up above the main UI skills area so you can see what to do next.

Sword Trainers:

• Nelson Ballard - Teaches Precision Pierce 1 through 4.
• Malvol - He teaches Decapitate 1-3, Thrusting Blade 1-3, and Heart Piercer 1-4.
• Janet Lews - Unlock levels 51-60, 61-70, and teaches level 51+ abilities.
• Pegast - Unlock levels 71-80, and teaches level 71+ abilities.

+++ Arcane Paladin Shield Guide (Solo) +++

For Shields:

• Tyler Green - Teaches Shield as well as Waxing your shield and Armor Patching
• Nelson Ballard - Teaches Fire Shield 1-4.
• Gorvessa - Teaches many Fire Shield 1-5, Fight Me You Fools 1-7
• Sir Johnson - Unlock Shield levels 51-60, 61-70; Teaches Finish it 5 & 6, Disrupting Bash 6 & 7, Stunning Bash 6 - 8,
• Pegast - Unlocks levels 71-80 and teaches Fire Shield 6, Quick Bash 8, Fight Me You Fools 8, Finish It 7, Disrupting Bash 8.

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Regarding Skills to focus on outside of Sword/Shield, here's what I suggest. Please note these might change in the future!

+++ Alchemy +++

We need potions to survive, and Alchemy fits that bill. From potions that can help protect us from elements to making ink, Alchemy is a great skill for us.

+++ Armor Patching +++

Needed to make not only our Armor Patch kits, but the coatings on our shields, Armor Patching is another important skill to focus on. Below is from the Wiki on how the skill works:

Armor Patching Mechanics

Repairing Armor

Skill in Armor Patching can be gained by using Armor Patch Kits, through the Patch Armor abilities. Use of any version of Patch Armor will grant you experience for kills within one minute of the activation of the ability. If Patch Armor is used after defeating a monster, you can still get experience for a short period of time. Armor Patch Kits are only consumed 10% of the time.

My suggestion is to use an Armor Patching Kit just before you go into a battle. That way you know you'll be hit for the chance to get xp. Creatures that call for help are a great way to get this skill up, but do be careful!

In order to make the coatings for our shields, we need specific materials. Below is a list of the recipes and what is needed.

+++ Surveying +++

Covering the realms of Surveying, Mining, and Geology, this skill is needed in order to find and get metals, gems, and other items which is important for Blacksmithing. This is taught by Jamie Fatholm in Serbule Hills.

+++ Blacksmithing +++

Taught by Tadion in Serbule (Pre req Armor Patching 25). WIP

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For my sidebar, I used these skills. Of course, feel free to change them around how you like:

Slot 1: Dig Deep
Slot 2: Power Potion (item)
Slot 3: First Aid
Slot 4: Healing Potion (item)
Slot 5: Armor Patching: Patch Armor
Slot 6: Armor Potion (item) or Rapid Recovery* (Shield skill) - whichever one restores more armor

* Note that the Rapid Recovery line has a 4sec channel if used IN combat. No channel if used outside combat.

[Ashtalia]

CHAPTER III. What Other Skills Are Useful?

There are a lot of skills you can gain in Project Gorgon, 114(!) at the time of this writing. Each one has its own uses and can be gotten through time and effort. Feel free to grab as many skills as you wish and try them out, but what is listed below are those skills that I feel complement this build well.

• Lore - There is more to this skill, but for this build, I am focusing on unlocking Words of Power. From the wiki:
  
  

  Level 0 Words of Power can be very useful to new players. It often produces Teleports which will save time traveling (and even after learning Teleportation it may be a cheaper alternative to using up your Amethysts). Unlike Level 2, which produces lots of questionable effects like Leprosy or Fear of Water ... Level 0 tends to produce mostly useful effects. They are pretty cheap to produce and the Crab Meat can be processed from Raw Crab without a Cooking Stove nearby (ie. when you fish crab).

• Endurance - As we wear gear with Armor on it, this skill is important for us.
  
  From the wiki:
  
  

  Endurance - This is a skill about withstanding great amounts of pain. Endurance XP is automatically gained after killing a monster, depending on the amount of Armor damage you took during the fight (or possibly from that monster itself). Endurance provides useful bonuses like extra inventory slots, in- and out of- combat armor regeneration, maximum metabolism, and maximum underwater held breath. It also provides access to the sidebar skill Dig Deep, which can restore Power.

  Mechanics
  
  When you enter combat, a meter tracks how much armor damage you take. When you kill a monster, you gain Endurance XP based on how much armor damage you took, capped based on the level of the monster you killed. The meter tracking the armor damage then resets.
  
  Implications include:
  
  

  • You won't continue to gain Endurance XP if you allow one monster to deal damage to you indefinitely, because the amount of XP you get is capped at some point.
  • If you fight two enemies at once that damage your armor, you will get the Endurance XP from the total armor damage both of them deal when you kill one of them. However, upon securing this kill, the meter will reset, so you won't get the same amount of XP when you kill the second enemy.
  • Fighting low-level enemies won't give you much Endurance XP per kill even if the enemies have abilities that deal high armor damage, since you're more likely to hit the XP cap.
  • It can be time-consuming to brute force grind Endurance XP, but a relatively efficient way to do it is by fighting large groups of mobs a little bit below your level, which have abilities that specifically damage your armor. Then kill them one by one, rather than using an AoE to kill all of them at once.

• Gourmand - Tied to when we eat or drink, everyone will eventually get this skill. And who doesn't like to eat? From the wiki:
  
  

  Training Gourmand
  
  Each kind of food eaten will reward Bonus Experience the first time they are eaten. Typically this is 10 times the Meal Level, but for some of the lower-level food, it's different. To see all the unique foods you've already eaten (and how many of each), go to Skills panel > Gourmand and select the button there. Some high-level foods will provide a small amount of XP (+1) each time they are consumed.

  Gourmand Mechanics
  
  Types of Foods
  
  

  • Most foods give bonuses to the Regeneration of Health and Power, both in and out of combat. Many foods also provide bonuses for Maximum Health and/or Power, as well as Metabolism Regeneration. The duration of food effects varies, but most last 1 hour. The player may have one Meal and one Snack active simultaneously.
  • In comparing Meals versus Snacks, Meals tend to give more Health Regeneration, Maximum Health, Metabolism Regeneration, and Out-of-Combat Power Regeneration while Snacks provide more Maximum Power and In-Combat Power Regeneration.
  • When comparing Cheeses to Non-Cheeses, Cheeses usually give more In-Combat Health and Power Regeneration and Maximum Health and Power, while Non-Cheeses give more Out of Combat Health and Power Regeneration and Metabolism Regeneration.
  • A comparison of approximate value of level 80 foods can be found at Game_updates/2019-11-08#Food_Changes.
  • The other foods are Instant-Snacks. These don't provide any Regeneration bonuses. Instead, they restore flat amounts of Health and Power, while consuming some Metabolism. You can eat Instant Snacks whenever you want, as long as you don't run out of Metabolism.

• Cooking - Used mainly to help raise Gourmand exp, you can also make some interesting foods and drinks. How far you go with it is up to you!
  
  
• First Aid - Used to heal from injury and disease. You can also target another player and use First Aid to heal them. The better the First Aid Kit you use, the stronger the healing done or the disease cured.
  
  
• Cartography - Project Gorgon has a lot to see and explore, so this skill is always going to go up the more you clean up that 'fog of war' on the map.
  
  
• Compassion - Perhaps this is more of an RPG element, but grab yourself a Shovel and bury those you kill, mourning at a tombstone, and burying a character tombstone. Burying corpses helps speed up the respawn of creatures in a zone, so be aware!
  
  
• Industry - Work Orders are a great way to get some coin and level this skill. I usually grab a work order before I head out. Make sure you grab one that you know you can do! There is also a board for player-made Work Orders, but they don't give Industry xp.
  
  
• Butchering / Skinning / Fishing / Gardening / Foraging - Pick yourself up at least one of these skills (though Gardening, Fishing, Foraging, and Butchery will help with Cooking).

[Ashtalia]

CHAPTER IV. Tips and Strategies

Before anything else, I can't stress this enough .... USE YOUR LOADOUTS!!! Press the star (*) between your hotbar and your Metabolism (green) bubble for the Loadout window.

Load-outs are a snapshot of your active skills, abilities, and equipment. You can switch to a different load-out at any time (except during combat), either through the GUI or by configuring a hotkey. You unlock your first two load-outs when you get your first combat skill to level 25. After that, each combat skill you raise to level 50 unlocks another load-out, up to a maximum of 9. The equipment used by load-outs is marked with a special icon in your inventory so that you can easily tell which ones are in use. And these items don't show up in the vendor GUI -- they are effectively "locked" from being sold.

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For Gear, it can be complicated. I will be listing what special weapons and armor I've come across in the game and where they come from. NOTE: I focus on anything with the highest Armor first, then look at the bonuses I am given to my skills. You are more than welcome to do different! Also, below are some examples of what can drop (outside of quests). You might not find them but come across other gear. Feel free to add what you found and where in this topic!

Example:



I wanted to make a quick note on the naming of gear. There are a few parts to it, and though I don't know the correct terminology, I hope my description is helpful.

It goes like this:

• A = Name, level, and rarity
• B = How much armor it gives
• C = Any Refresh Abilities, main Stat Buffs/changes, and secondary Stat Buffs/changes
• D = Type of armor look it has (some NPCs don't like it if you look terrible etc), any requirements to wield it, and it's value

Personally, I look for the amount of armor first, then anything else second. I go for anything that can help with my Armor stat in the buffs/changes area or something that adds to the skills I use. You can pick how you want, but I highly encourage you to at least choose those with high Armor stats for protection.

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This post will be ongoing and updated I go through the game. Keep in mind that this will cover buffs, strategies for defeating some creatures or areas, symbols and icons that can appear as you fight, etc.

• Comfort - Given while using a bed, this buff will give +3 Armor regen per update(?) when out of combat. Lasts 30 minutes.
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• ___ Armor Suit Bonus - You want to wear all of the same armor types to get this bonus. For us, I highly suggest metal. This will mitigate 1 point of direct damage for every 50 points of Max Armor
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• CombatRefresh - Notice the blue-winged icons? I circled them below. Keep these in mind when you fight! When you see that icon flashing use those abilities as you cannot refresh Armor, Health, and Power in combat. These are tied to skills labeled Basic Attacks.
  
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• Don't kill the chickens in towns! - In PG, there are two (2) types of chickens ... regular chickens and wild chickens. Regular chickens you see in towns and sometimes around them are your source of Eggs. If you kill them, no eggs!
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• Vulnerability! - Keep an eye out for this symbol on your opponent. When it appears, use your skills that take advantage of your opponent's vulnerability to do more damage (ex. Wind Strike).
  
  
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• They called for help! - When you see this symbol, be ready for more opponents to show up!
  
  
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• Go hunting to keep the world safe - Creatures with a silver crown symbol over their head, when killed, give you a special hunting quest in your journal. You can get some exp based on the loadout you are using at the time, as well as exp in the anatomy of the creatures killed when completed.
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• Don't bury monsters if you need a breather. - When you bury a creature, not only do you get exp for Compassion, but it makes creatures respawn faster! So if you're in a place where fighting is rough and you don't want to get surrounded, keep from burying those corpses until you're ready to keep fighting.
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• Understand resource usage on items. - Project Gorgon has a bit of strategy to it in regard to drinking potions. When using a potion (health, power, armor), there is a Metabolism cost to it so you can't slam those Health potions down! Using kits (health, armor), there is a Power cost to it.
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• Favor- A mini-game of sorts, if you want to get anywhere in Project Gorgon, you gotta make friends. And those friends are going to be the NPCs in the world. So go favors, hang out, give gifts, talk to and learn whatever you can about each NPC to make them like you. Favor levels unlock so many things from storage space to abilities to train!
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• Check Work Order boards regularly - There are two (2) Work Order boards found in Serbule (you can find them in other cities too). If you want Industry xp as well as Councils (coin), focus on getting and memorizing work orders from the Work Order board. If you just want coins, look at the Player Work Order board and sell directly there.

[Ashtalia]

RESERVED for Serbule Hills and Eltibule