Str or Dex? STR!!! (spoilers!)

[UserUnfriendly]

after finishing the game i've come to some conclusions...

dex is pretty useless...at level 50,( i cheat) and at difficulty setting, i had like 38 dex and defense in 60-70 range...and i still got hit...grrrr...

unlike kotor I, where dex is more important, in kotor 2, you're better off making str based characters...

but what about defense? is the "kill everything before they kill you" school all that effective? no...not in my opinion...but here is my reasoning and my new exploit.. (yet to be tested)

armor...yes, armor...

with ablative overlay and energy shield underlay, you should get 60% resistance to energy...

now lightsabre attacks are energy based, right? whoa....

now my new defensive strategy consists of damage resistance...i have yet to test this new theory out, but it should work...

build a set of zeisen sha armor (obviously you pick this type of armor to keep using force powers) with high energy resistance, another set with max melee resistance, and a third set with energy resistant overlay and the str underlay to act like a general purpose armor for just increasing melee damage...maybe a fourth set with dex boosting for ranged attacks in some of the game's big wide open maps...and you customize your bracers, gloves belts and visors for different threat types...

and for those of you that want to go ranged? battle meditation and equipment will give you enough hits so you won't miss having a high dex...

since damage resistance is probably more effective than high defense, it now makes sense to keep dex low, invest in armor as soon as you can make the high end overlays and underlays, and boost str to increase melee damage...and incidentally to boost chances for stunning in critical strike and knockback using power attack...(the knockback in a power attack if your target fails the DC roll destroys initialtive in that combat round, giving you a free attack...very much like constantly using force wave to prevent a enemy in close quarters from ever hitting you, just not as cheesy...)

now i have yet to test this new approach out, having just finished the game as a high dex consular watchman...any major armor users out there?

[dayum_skippy]

I rarely used force powers and plowed through the game my first time. Mostly because I'm too used to making the strongest possible character (with all those strength boosters) and it takes me too long to get some armor capable of using the force. So I just use very strong armor along with a very strong character. i had never even boosted Dex (still at 8 lol)and I still was rarely damaged although I had sometimes lost.

But if you had a lot of Dex with very little strength, wouldn't it be hard to duel against those Mandalorians and Handmaidens?

[UserUnfriendly]

[QUOTE=dayum_skippy]I rarely used force powers and plowed through the game my first time. Mostly because I'm too used to making the strongest possible character (with all those strength boosters) and it takes me too long to get some armor capable of using the force. So I just use very strong armor along with a very strong character. i had never even boosted Dex (still at 8 lol)and I still was rarely damaged although I had sometimes lost.

But if you had a lot of Dex with very little strength, wouldn't it be hard to duel against those Mandalorians and Handmaidens?[/QUOTE]

yeah...in my previous high dex build, i had a lot of problems with the handmaidens, so i skipped it....and for the mandalorians i got lucky with the knock back effect of power attack with the mandalorians...

precisely my point...dex is pretty useless in kotor 2, unless you go blaster jedi...but even then you got force powers and feats to rely on to boost to hit numbers...

[PersuAzN]

erm? i never lvled up anything but str, cha, and wis. Im at lvl 50 and my dex, con, n etc r still at 8. N i still plowed down every1 using my two characters.. Jedi Consular/Jedi Master, Jedi Guardian/Weapon Master. Even without the lvl 50 glitch... u still become God Like Jedi.

My opinion... It doesnt really matter... You become UBER Jedi in the end.. dun dun dun.. end story. My Force Kung Fu Jedi Master is fun 2 use.. no1 can touch him... and my combat heavy Weapon Master kills 1 hit.. all with dex, con and etc at 8.. so it doesnt really matter... wutever class, prestige, u use... you become Uber Jedi anyway... come to think about it U become better at Kotor with Time, not technique... Not to down Kotor II .. but its true. Barely any technique is involved.. thru time your jedi becomes GOD like. soo.. why bother.

I had more challanges with FF, Xenosaga, and etc... Kotor II is awesome, i dont argue with that... but compared to the other heavy rpg's.. this is pretty newbish.

[UserUnfriendly]

true...

but don't worry so much about cha...

invest in con instead...better implants...

its not like the game is hard after all, i like to max out stuff, its interesting and facinating seeing what the max power character is, and the game exploits...

actually, my assessment is str, con and int...

str for melee, con for implants, and int?

skill points and sniper shot...

also its hardest to boost cha and int with items...

also, with nice high int, boosting using force valor is very useful indeed...for repair, sec, demolitions...the best skills for making items...

wis? cha? force points you get in plenty thru the game, a low wis is actually pretty ok, if you get force drain...cha just doesn't do that much for you...twice the modifier for attack bonus to npc? that's nice, but really building npcs with high con and dex makes them peerless shots, and you really can use on them good implants...

now if cha boosts npc defense it would be worth it to boost it, but imho, i really think cha is pretty low priority...



i just realized...i have tested using armor to boost energy resistance...in the very last battle, when you face....you know...i used energy shields to block damage since they just hit me for obscene damage per round...

also, t3 with the energy resistant armor soaked up really high damage without a blink while i was nursing mira on the yacht at pc level 24...

so yeah, guys, the way to go is armor...kinda like bg2, where resistance to slashing, blunt and piercing damage is always better than a low AC...

[InfiniteNature]

I did in the first boost my Dex and Str,

but then I realized constitution gets you implants, and really cool ones which up pretty much everything else, so now I don't bother with Dex or Str, just up my Con high to say 16, while upping Int, Wis, and Cha(gotta use those Darkside powers).

Implants plus other items you can get later gets your stats up in no time flat, its only really kinda of hard in the beginning, afterwards its all gravy.

Didn't have a problem with the last level, you can pretty much use stealth innovatively, although thats probably cheese.

[UserUnfriendly]

slight revision here...it looks like you only get one of the resistances with overlay or underlay...two of the same type one gets ignored, like taking two str stims..

which is good, since it makes a lot of sense...makes non-forcepower armor rather attractive...

matrix with energy overlay, and str underlay sounds really great now..

[UserUnfriendly]

[QUOTE=UserUnfriendly]slight revision here...it looks like you only get one of the resistances with overlay or underlay...two of the same type one gets ignored, like taking two str stims..

which is good, since it makes a lot of sense...makes non-forcepower armor rather attractive...

matrix with energy overlay, and str underlay sounds really great now.. [/QUOTE]

yet another revision...i just made mira 60% resistant to energy, and watch her just stand there and get hit by massive blaster fire in goto's yacht, and not take much damage at ALL...

extensive testing done...

only problem is the jedi force armors look so bad...on male pc...