Remember Dredd’s guide? I do! It’s still relevent, just add new items to the mix, process is the same!
I make no apologies for posting all of it, in it’s day it was one of the go to guide’s andeven now, you can transfer this logic right up to level 220.
Dredd’s Step by Step Guide to Low Level Twinking.
Updated with Advanced twinking section as of July 31/2010
Link to Blog page with Screenshots and video walkthroughs:
Table of Contents:
-
Introduction
-
For Those on a Diet:
A. Round 1
B. Round 2
C. Round 3
D. Finalize Implants
E. If you are Level 15
-
The Long Version:
A. Definition of a Twink
B. Spending IP
C. What it Takes to Twink
D. Buffing Items for Twinking
E. Common Items to Equip at Level 15
-
Beginning the Twinking Process
A. Leveling up, Twinking NCU
B. Sassyblade at Level 10: Twinking for Real
C. Round 1
i. NCU
ii. Stamina
iii. Agility
iv. Computer Literacy
v. Treatment
D. Round 2
i. Stamina
ii. Buffing Armor
iii. Implant Laddering/Stacking/Leveling
iv. Agility
v. Treatment
vi. Computer Literacy
vii. Treatment Library
viii. Map Navigation
ix. Treatment
E. Round 3
i. Stamina
ii. Finalize if you’re staying at Level 10
- Sassy at Level 15:
A. Round 1
i. Stamina
ii. Agility
iii. Treatment
iv. Crypt Collar
v. TiM Scope (if you’re a ranged twink)
vi. Treatment
B. Round 2
i. Stamina
ii. Rockcrusher Gauntlets
iii. Guardian Tank Armor
iv. Temple Shoulder Pads
v. Special Stat-Boosting Armor
C. Finalizing Implants
i. Arms
ii. Wrists
iii. Ear
iv. Right Hand
iii. Detour
iv. Chest/Waist
v. Eye/Head
-
Final Equipment Setup:
A. Sassy’s Final Equipment
B. A Word about Armor Overequipping
C. Final Weapons
-
Final Thoughts:
-
Advanced Twinking Techniques:
A. The Stamina Only Chest Trick (aka- Strength Chest Trick)
B. The Stamina Based Right Hand Trick
-
Equipping a Crypt Collar:
-
Equipping The TiM Scope:
-
Equipping a 6 Slot belt on a low Level Trader/Agent:
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A Speed Twink Project:
-
Introduction:
I’ve played this game for a while now and figure it’s time to give something back in recognition of all the help and tips I’ve gotten from people over the past two or three years. Hopefully this will benefit some people as I have benefited from others. The intent of this guide is to give a basic outline of one possible technique of twinking fairly decent implants and equipment on a low level character. I’m planning to use a Froob toon and walk through a sample build in a fair amount of detail- using all Froob equipment and a minimum of expensive and rare items. The original title of this guide was going to be something like “A step by step guide to twinking level 50 to 70 implants at level ten to fifteen”. At first I was planning to make a lvl ten twink. Then I realized there are a fair number of things you can do at level fifteen that you can’t do (or are significantly more difficult) at level ten. So I figured I’d do both. I’ll start off by walking through building a level ten twink and get all the basics done, and get her quasi-finished, and equipped with level 70ish implants. Then I’ll level her up to fifteen and finish her off with slightly higher implants and some common items, equipment and armor for that level, such as Crypt Collar, GTA and Rockcrusher Gauntlets. Those items can be equipped at lower levels of course, but this not meant to be an uber twink guide- just a basic outline that covers the basics of implants, NCU, twinking/buffing items, and the process of putting it all together. This guide is intended to provide the tools for anyone interested in low level towers, pvp and rocking-the-subways to be able to do so. It would probably be overstating things to say that everyone can make a lvl 10 twink with lvl 70 implants. It does take some amount of cash and resources to make a solid toon, and if your highest toon is lvl 30 and you have 300k in credits, you will have a hard time following this guide .
Edit: This sample project worked out better than I expected in the end. Sassy got up to QL80 implants at level 10 and some QL90s at level 15. I used basic buffing items and if you have better than I used for this, or if you’re a paid account, you may go higher .
The basic process outlined here, while specifically aimed at levels 10 to 15, will apply very nicely at 24/25 and right up lvl 60 if you wish (especially if you’re making a Froob temple twink). As you get higher, things get more complicated as you begin using symbiants, perks, research, etc… So- don’t try using this guide as a template for your 165 twink .
Why you might want to make a low level twink in the first place:
There are a number of benefits to making a low level character. Things tend to be much cheaper at low levels and you can experiment with different wild and crazy configurations without spending too much time or money. If you want to try making a Bureaucrat with a steel beam, an Enforcer with pistols, or a melee Agent, low level can be the way to go. If the setup stinks, it’s no big loss . Also at low levels it’s much easier for a Froob to be competitive against paid toons. In general it is also easier for a low level toon to become more relatively “twinked”. For example, if you equip level 70 implants at lvl 10, you’ve gotten implants 7 times your own level. If you equip lvl 200 implants at lvl 75, you’re just under three times your own level.
I should confess- I feel a little bit like a magician giving away the secrets to all his tricks. There is something to be said for figuring out all these things on your own but at the same time, the more people who have the ability to make a good toon, the more competitive and interesting low level pvp might be. If everyone has the ability to equip decent implants on their character, that should shift the focus from raw equipment levels to choice of set up, configuration and skill of the player.
Our Test Subject:
The subject of our twink project is going to be a Solitus Female named Sassyblade. I wanted to do something a bit different, and I came across a Die Kleine Nadel in a backpack the other day and then a Kid, as well as a Newland Fish Knife which gave me some ideas. So, the subject of this twink will be a piercing-weapons Enforcer, who will hopefully end up with GTA, Temple Shoulder Pads, Rockcrusher Gauntlets, Rhinoman Armor, and some combination of piercing weapons around QL 45-55 (un OE) at lvl 15. Sassy is already at lvl 10 and semi-twinked and set up for using an E-Blade. But I’ll strip all her equipment and do an IP reset of a couple skills and start over from scratch as I walk through the process.
- For Those on a Diet:
If you don’t want to read all through this, here is a “lite” version of the entire twink process- geared towards a lvl 10 twink.
A. Round 1
NCU- get as much ncu as you can quickly without doing any implants. Get a second memory chip for your Blackmane’s belt, a Medsuit and a Ring of Nucleus Basalis, and level it up as high as you can. Try to get around 30 NCU.
Stamina- Get Stamina as high as you can. Get Concrete cushions on and get your Leg, Waist and Chest implants as high as you can with Stamina in all three slots- keeping them all Stamina dependent. Aim for QL30-45ish implants in all three slots.
Agility- Get Agility as high as you can- put in a foot implant with Agility and something else to make it Stamina dependent- then take out your waist and put in one that has Agility instead of Stamina. Use QL30-45ish implants. Then put on an Agility Rifle- QL1 or as low as you have. Cancel your Stamina buffs and cast Agility instead.
Computer Literacy- Put in a Head, Eye and Right Hand with Computer Literacy- all QL30-50ish, make them all dependent on Agility. Put in a QL45ish Ear implant with Intelligence and Concealment. Put in a 3x belt and as high memory chips as you can, hopefully around QL50ish. Put in a Wrist NCU implant here if you have one. Should have around 72 ncu give or take a piece of Carb armor.
Treatment- Take out the CL imps, and put Treatment in the Head, Eye, Right Hand- QL30-50ish, based on Agility again. With all this new Treatment and NCU, cast SFA and level up your Ring of Nucleus- hopefully to around 19 NCU. Total NCU is around 82 now.
B. Round 2
Stamina- Get Stamina as high as you can. Ditch the rifle and put the cushions back on. Cancel all agility buffs and cast as much Stamina and Treatment as you can- something like Essence of Gargantua, Stamina boost, Treatment Expertise and Specialist Treatment makes good use of the NCU. Use Carb armor to fit as many buffs as you can. With these buffs you’ll be around 130 Stamina/341 Treatment. Ladder up your Leg, Chest and Waist again to get them as high as you can- with Stamina in all three and all dependent on Stamina. Aim for QL65ish implants. You’ll want to start putting Sense and Cold AC in your waist as well as your ability implant from now on.
Agility- Get your Agility as high as you can. Take out your foot and put in a QL70ish foot implant- Stamina dependent again. Take out your Stamina waist and put in an Agility waist- make it require Stamina to put in. Put in a wrist implant or two with Rifle skill to help get on our QL40 Tsakachumi Rifle. Get that rifle on, cancel your Stamina buffs, and get your Agility buffs back in.
Treatment- Ladder up your Treatment implants. Aim for about QL70ish implants in the Head, Eye, Right Hand.
Computer Literacy- Take out those implants and replace them with Computer Literacy implants one at a time. Get around 60-70ish CL implants in. Should have around 166 Computer Literacy with Intelligence boost, CL expertise, QL4 Tutoring Device, and parts of the Omni Grey Suit. Swap in your 4x belt and some QL 65-70ish Memory Chips.
Treatment Library- Install a QL30 Treatment Library
Map Navigation- Put your treatment implants back in and then take out the Head, Eye and Ear to put in Map Navigation implants. Get on the Omni Grey suit, Buff sense and ES, go buy all the maps and map upgrades you can use. Might be worth spending a few points to get to 130 for the Monsters Upgrade.
Treatment- Get all your QL70ish Treatment implants back in.
C. Round 3
Stamina- Get the cushions back on, buff Stamina, get your Leg, Chest and Waist as high as you can and get your Stamina as high as you can. Aim for QL70-75ish Implants
Agility- Get your Agility as high as you can. Take out your Foot and put in a QL80ish foot.
If you are level 15 and/or want to equip GTA, Crypt Collar etc… Skip ahead past the finalizing implants process
Finalize implants- At this point you would have your abilities and Treatment high enough to get in a few QL80 implants- 164 Stamina/405 Treatment. From here you would finish off your main weapon implants. Usually this is the arms for melee profs, and wrists for ranged. Try to keep your ability boosting implants in as long as possible. You probably want to do Stamina or Strength based imps first, then Agility. This is really variable but you might do Right Arm, Left Arm, Left Hand. Switch to Agility buffs- do Right wrist, Left Wrist. Now if you’re using a Rifle, you might want to do your Eye and Right hand. (Implants are decreasing in quality now as we take out Treatment implants). Then switch back to buffs for Stamina. Put in your final Waist and Chest- do whichever gives you the most benefit first. Then finally put in your head. You may want to vary that order, but that is a general guideline.
- Put on your armor
- Put on your big pointy stick and go beat up some fleas
- Done!!
If you are Level 15-
Crypt Collar- If you were level 15 or at least high enough to try this, now would be the time to put in your Crypt Collar. Put in a QL83ish waist with Bio Met. Your Chest should already have Bio Met/Str/Stam- QL76ish. Switch to Agility Rifle, take out your treatment head and put in a head with Bio Met. Get all the Bio Met buffing items you can find. Put on the Soft Pepper Pistol, Omni Executive Suit, Get BM Mochams, 132 Wrangle, BM Expertise. Spend points until you have enough to get the Collar on. With that collar on, you should be around 143 NCU.
Guardian Tank Armor- If you are around level 15 and wanted to equip GTA, now is the time. Naturally you will want to get your Stamina and Strength implants as high as possible. You will need the Touch of the Gripper, and QL85-90ish implants in all the Str/Stam slots. You will need to make up any missing stats with buffing armor and items, so the higher you can get your implants, the less buffing armor you’ll need.
Rockcrusher Gauntlets- If you’ve gotten up to QL90ish implants in, you’re pretty near the max from an implant point of view. From here you’re basically on your own to push the imps a bit higher if possible and get the buffing items and armor needed to get these on
Now go back and finish off your twink with the implant finalizing process above.
- The Long Version:
A. What is the definition of a twink?
People use the word all the time, and I’m sure we all have an intuitive sense of what a “twink” is and we know one when we see one. But for anyone new to the game, I offer a couple of definitions. From common usage I think a fair definition of a twink might be:
“A character who, through the aid of buffs and buffing items- has been equipped with implants, armor, weapons, and equipment far above what could normally be expected in a character of that level”.
Or, perhaps:
“A character who has been equipped with as close to the highest level of implants, equipment and weapon possible, given the limitations of the mechanics of the game”.
B. Spending IP:
You will want to plan your twink out a bit and decide what you’re trying to accomplish before you level up. Whatever your goal, you want to be careful as you level, not to spend IP on things that don’t serve your desired outcome. If you’re planning to make a twink based on evades it will be different than one based on max armor AC. Quite often the end goal revolves around getting on a specific weapon or item, and usually the highest nanoskills and health. It is probably best to keep your end goal in mind and save some IP to make sure you can accomplish it. I know of more than one person who was nearly finished working on their twink, and then discovered that they had spent all their IP points by maxing all abilities and evades and didn’t have enough Dimach to get their weapon on, or forgot to put points into Body Dev.
If you’re twinking for a certain level, I would stop spending IP points on all but a few skills 4 or 5 levels before you reach the level you want to be. There are only a few things that you always want to max out all the time while leveling. At low levels I always keep Stamina, Agility, (sometimes Strength/Intelligence), Treatment and the main weapon skill maxed out, but the rest don’t need to be maxed. (I used to always max Intelligence, since it adds trickledown to Treatment but I’m wavering on that too if you’re really short on IP). Save any spare IP until after you’ve finished doing implants and then spend the points where they can be most useful.
You’ll notice some omissions here that you may have heard differing opinions on. Often you hear that you should always max out Computer Literacy. That’s not necessarily true. I would stop about 3/4 from maxed out until you know that it will really help. Let’s say you have 178 Computer Literacy after implanting and buffing- and don’t have it all the way maxed. That’s enough to get on a 4x belt and some QL75 memory chips (22 ncu each). Suppose you max out your Computer Literacy and you could get up to 205, which would allow you to equip QL87 chips (24 ncu each). Is that really worth it? It might be if you really value ncu, but first you would have to go and find the memory chips of the right level and you will spend IP on 27 points of Computer Literacy for a gain of 8 ncu. The choice is yours- whether you would rather have 27 more in evades/nano pool/First Aid etc… or 8 ncu. If you really want to cram in all the buffs possible, then you may indeed need that 8 ncu.
For other skills including most of the weapon specials- I would recommend the same approach. Even if it’s an important skill, like Fast attack or Burst, keep your skill about 3/4 from max until you know how much you’ll need after doing implants- and if you have the IP to spare- by all means go and max out burst . With nanoskills, there are quite often big jumps in skill requirement from one nano formula to the next in the same line. You might want to save some points and only spend them once you know what you’ll need. The way I see it, every point I don’t waste on a nanoskill I don’t need, is a point I can put into an evade or nano resist or something .
C. What it takes to Twink:
Patience:
I put this first because there is nothing more frustrating than being all excited to work on your new twink and then being totally unable to find an Agent, Enforcer or Doctor etc… to get your buff so you can put some implants in. It is also equally frustrating to run out to the temple to get your GTA and find three other teams of Keepers, Soldiers and Panther Enforcers out on a camping trip of their own . If anything happens to completely put your twink on hold, it can sometimes be a good idea to go and play somebody else. Go log your 75 Engineer and kill some dynabosses or do some missions or something .
Credits:
No matter how you look at it, it will cost you a fair bit to get seriously twinked. Most of the cost comes from making custom implants, so you can save some here if you already have a collection of implants you can use as you work your way up. I kept track of my credits at the beginning and the end of this twink project and the total cost came to just over 4 million credits. I spent a fair bit extra on way-higher-than-necessary shiny clusters from the Superior shop cause I was too lazy/impatient to run around to find lower QL ones. There were a couple times when I used a QL190 shiny cluster when a QL85 one would do, just because that was the lowest one in the shop and I didn’t want to run around. You might get that down to 3 million if you are more frugal with your spending. I don’t know if that sounds like a lot or not. I imagine half of you just choked on your Red Bull at how insanely expensive that is, and the other half said “Is that all?” Keep in mind that will probably be less than the cost of many weapons- Icebreaker, Pump Trainee, Perenium- so the cost is all relative.
Friends:
Ok, you don’t have to actually like them, but it does help to have higher level friends, orgmates and acquaintances who can give you a needed Essence or Superior First Aid or whatever. Friends can also help you get items you need from the Temple, Foreman’s, Smuggler’s Den, Crypt of Home etc…
The Ability to Acquire Custom Implants:
I’m not sure where to put this, but one very important thing you’ll need is the ability to get custom made implants. Whether you do this yourself or have orgmates who can do it for you, this is probably the single most important part of twinking. It is the most time consuming part and extremely handy to be able to do it yourself, and extremely inconvenient to have to rely on someone else do it. I would HIGHLY recommend making an alt who can be your implant maker and minor tradeskiller. They don’t have to be a super high level toon. You don’t need to make a lvl 220 Engineer to do your implants. If you’re making a lvl 15ish twink, you could probably get by with a lvl 60 to 100 tradeskiller. To combine lvl 100 implants, you would require 400 Nano Programming. To clean lvl 100 implants you would require 470 Breaking & Entering (and 100 NanoProgramming). The cleaning aspect comes into play when you want to level up implants to a specific level- more on that later.
Alts:
This may even be better than having friends . With Froob accounts, you can quite easily make two or three toons who can buff you with all your needed buffs. I personally have a couple of paid accounts and several Froob accounts. My main implant maker is a lvl 141 Nanomage MP. She used to be my main but I switched to Atrox. Now she has Nano Programming and B&E maxed and implanted and can make and clean implants up to lvl 200 (with fixer B&E buff). I also have a couple of doctors who can cast SFA, IC etc… I have a Froob Agent at lvl 137 who can cast almost anything I need through False Profession (with Mochams usually). She has spent more of her life as an Enforcer than as an agent I’m sure, casting Behemoth and Prodigious Strength for my twink projects. I also have a lvl 140ish Froob fixer for casting GSF- as making implants involves a lot of running around .
Clicksaver:
http://www.halorn.com/clicksaver.html
This is a third party tool used for pulling missions (also known as “rolling”) automatically- in an attempt to get a specific item.
Nano Nanny:
http://nanonanny.timezulu.com.au/
Contrary to what its name may imply, Nano Nanny really has nothing to do with nanoskills or nano casting. It is a third party program used to help in figuring out implant layouts. I used to use Nano Nanny extensively for figuring out implants and the requirements to create and equip them. However, I switched to Nillan’s skill emulator long ago, and now I just use Nano Nanny on rare occasions when I need to know what body locations a specific skill or ability goes into.
Nillan’s Skill Emulator:
There are other emulator/implant configuration- type tools out there, but this is the one I use most often- even though it’s a bit out of date and doesn’t have current items in its database. This is what I use to find out the specific requirements of an implant and what skills each implant will give at a certain level. With this tool, you can create entire characters virtually, and add in armor buffs, perks, weapons- and it will show you the results of your virtual twinking. So, there are two main things I use this for. The first is to plan out an entire character from scratch- basically brainstorming. The second is during twinking itself. I use it constantly to calculate exactly what level of implant I can equip with a given ability and treatment. More on this later… Not sure where you can get this any more- might have to do some Google searching.
Note— I have two versions of this program and recently discovered that the older version has some inaccuracies when calculating nanoskills. As far as I can tell it’s accurate otherwise. The new version seems to be accurate, but also tends to crash occasionally if I try to sync all implants to the same QL with empty clusters in some implants…
This is getting hard to find, but I found this link. You might find other versions out there.
http://www.geocities.com/ao_nillan/S...tor3Beta4c.zip
D. Buffing Items for Twinking:
Here is a list of useful (but not exhaustive or exotic) items that any Froob would be highly benefited by. I would consider most of these a must-have. You can do without some, but the more you have, the higher the ultimate potential of your final twink.
Concrete Cushions:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=125456
You really want to get a pair of these in lvl 10 or as close to that as you can. These add 8 Str/Stam each and are essential to getting on high level implants, GTA, Rockcrushers etc… at low levels. These can be rolled with Clicksaver.
Omni Med Suit:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?cmd=search&name=Omni-Med+Suit
This is a no-brainer. The full suit adds 78 Treatment. Don’t even bother twinking without one . These can be rolled with Clicksaver, but it’s probably easier to make an Omni alt on a Froob account and buy them with that toon.
Omni Special Issue Suits:
These following suits of armor are available as quests from the Omni Tailor (not sure if anyone else gives these). If you bring him an undamaged Rollerrat tail, he will give you a piece of armor according to your breed. According to Auno.org, this is the breed breakdown:
Opifexes get Intern-Op.
Solituses get Grey.
Atroxes get Black.
Nanomages get Executive
The Omni Intern-Ops suit doesn’t add any useful twinking bonuses so I haven’t included it below. If you are interested in this armor, I would collect a bunch of Rollerrat tails (or pay a new player to get them for you- better to give them a job than have them begging for money and request missions from the Tailor, until you have what you want. If he gives you a mission for a piece of armor you don’t want, just delete the mission and keep asking until you get the boot, or sleeve or whatever you need. The armor is actually ok for a very low level, but we’re mostly interested in the mods that help in twinking.
Omni Special Issue Grey Suit: http://auno.org/ao/db.php?cmd=search...ial+issue+grey
The Grey suit adds 1 Computer Literacy and Map Navigation per piece. It may not sound like much, but 6 points of comp-lit has made the difference in getting a 4x belt on more than once. We’ll use Map Nav in the middle of the twink project. Don’t want to spend points on that if we don’t have to. Also adds Pistol, Shotgun and Fling.
Omni Special Issue Black Suit: http://[http://auno.org/ao/db.php?cm...al+issue+black
The Black suit adds 2 points of Body Dev per piece which can be useful when getting on the Temple Shoulder Pads.
Omni Special Issue Executive Suit: http://auno.org/ao/db.php?cmd=search...ssue+Executive
The Executive suit adds 1 to each Nanoskill per piece of armor. These 6 points can help in getting on the crypt collar- or saving IP so you don’t have to spend as much if you don’t have any other reason to put points in Bio Met.
Tsakachumi Rifle:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=124343
This is commonly known as the “Agility Rifle”. At QL40 it adds 20 to your agility. From QL 1 to 39 it adds 5 to your agility. It may be helpful to have one of each of these at level 1 and 40. They can be bought in shops or rolled with Clicksaver.
Buffing Armor:
This is another essential part of twinking. There are three types of buffing armor that I commonly use- four, if you include Miy’s armor. Sekutek, Nova Dillon, and Kirch Kevlar armor all buff stats and abilities.
Kirch Kevlar buffs Agility, Sense and Psychic
Sekutek buffs Agility, Strength and Intelligence
Nova Dillon is the only one that buffs Stamina, and buffs all base abilities
Miy’s Armor buffs everything somewhere, and is starting to get more common. Use it if you have it
Kirch and Sekutek begin adding 2 to each ability at QL26. Nova Dillon begins adding 2 to each ability at QL35. At low levels you’ll likely want to get as close to those without going under as possible. All this armor drops from Dynabosses (sometimes team mission boss loot). I acquired a nice collection while out at level 30-60 dynacamps. I’m actually pretty cheap- so I didn’t want to pay for a pump shotgun when I made my first Pump Trader a hundred years ago, and ended up collecting quite a bunch of nice buffing armor, as well as Omni Life Guard and Omni-Pol Trooper armor in the search for that gun.
Solid Steel Hydraulic Legwear/Gloves: http://auno.org/ao/db.php?cmd=search&name=hydraulic
Both these items are quite useful, and although nodrop, they aren’t too hard to acquire. The gloves add 4 Strength, and the pants add 5 Stamina. They are available through the Nodda Greg quest. You can find a guide to that quest on Anarchy Arcanum, and I’ve made a video walkthrough and posted it on my accompanying guide page as well. (http://dreddstwinkguide.blogspot.com/)
Here is the direct link to the YouTube Video:
Modified Omni-Armed Forces Training Helmet:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=245661
It’s forever since I’ve done this quest, but I think it’s the Blake quest you get from the guy outside the Rome Blue Basic shop. The modified version adds Stamina, which is much more useful than just intelligence.
Ring of the Nucleus Basalis:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=202717
This ring adds NCU and can be leveled up based on treatment. NCU tends to be tight at low levels and this is invaluable in getting your buffs in as you twink.
Carbonum Armor:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=162432&ql=16
As a twinking tool, this armor can also be used to get more buffs on your toon. If you are short a few ncu, you equip a few pieces of this armor, cast your buffs, and switch back to your medsuit. This armor is also the standard all around decent armor with good bang-for-your-buck for low levels. Ordinary Carb armor adds ncu, nano initiative, and max nano, Omni-Carb (Omnifier added to normal Carb) armor adds max health to that. Storm Carb (Clanalizer) adds nano resist instead of max health.
At QL 16- Carb armor begins adding 2 ncu per piece
QL 44- 3 ncu per piece
QL 73- 4 ncu per piece
ie: a full set of seven pieces of QL44 Carb will add 21 ncu.
Ring of Essence/Endurance:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=269191
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=269189
These rings come in all levels (as far as I know) and can be useful for twinking if you can find them low enough. These are borderline to what I would consider “common” equipment. However, if we’re talking about a semi-new Froob player, chances are they do enough missions that they may pick one or two up.
Second-Hand Old English Trading Co.:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=123855
This is the “Intelligence pistol” which adds 5 Intelligence per gun at QL1.
Galahad Inc T70 Beyer:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=123950
Adds 20 Computer Literacy at QL44. Requires a fair amount of Full Auto for low levels, especially if you’re not spending points in FA otherwise, but sometimes worth it if it gets you to a belt with more slots.
OT-Windchaser M70 Quartz:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=124147
The “Treatment rifle” which adds 10 to treatment at QL22. Rarely useful at low levels as the limiting factor is usually the abilities, not treatment.
Rebuilt NCU Wrist Implant:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=204980&ql=40
These are tradeskilled from an Outdated NCU Wrist Implant and drop from Dynabosses- not sure where else. They add NCU, (and Max Nano) and can be very handy in QLs 30-50 for the extra ncu to squeeze in your buffs. They aren’t overly rare and you’ll probably come across a few if you’re out killing dynabosses for armor/weapons. I’m sure I left a few to rot before I knew what they were.
Treatment Library:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=161770&ql=30
These are tradeskilled items that add Treatment and First Aid. Helps to get an extra couple levels of implant on your twink. Put one on every twink you make! Guide on how to make them on Anarchy Arcanum: http://arcanum.aodevs.com/gadgets_treatmentlibrary.html
E. Common items to Equip at level 15:
Guardian Tank Armor:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=204748
The almighty GTA. One of the most talked-about, controversial and coveted low level items in the game. Drops from the Guardian of Tomorrow in the Temple of Three Winds. It’s rare enough to be a nuisance to get, common enough to be attainable and is often seen as the true sign of a low level twink . In some ways GTA is more of a statement than just armor. For better or worse, GTA does send a message. If you have GTA on a lvl 15 (or lower), people will know that you must have a certain level of implants and equipment in order to wear it. There’s only so bad you could be and still be wearing GTA at lvl 15 .
Edit- Since the 17.8 patch, you can appear to be wearing ANYTHING in your Social tab, so the visual implications of wearing GTA are somewhat irrelevant.
So, how good is GTA as actual armor? If you read forums and item listings you will find comments from “GTA rules!” to “GTA sucks!” Frankly both of those must be qualified. GTA definitely has its place and rarely does it actually “suck”. For any level under 21, GTA is the best armor I know of with very few, very specific exceptions. Some people make a case for the ICC bodyguard cloak being better. For the most part, if you have enough Str/Stam to keep the cloak at 100% then you’ll have enough to keep GTA at 75%. You’ll get 390 ACs from GTA (and +20 health) and 300/250 AC from the cloak . If you have enough to keep the Bodyguard cloak at 75%, then you’ll likely have enough to keep GTA at 50% etc…
Requirements for OE on GTA:
100% you need 153 Str/Stam =520 AC
75% you need 115 Str/Stam =390AC
50% you need 76 Str/Stam =260AC
25% you need 38 Str/Stam =130AC
(These were figured with a calculator- haven’t verified if they round up or down in game- plan on one higher to be safe )
I admit there are rare cases where the bodyguard cloak will be better than GTA for pure ACs. If your Stamina is between 109 and 114 and your Strength is between 98 and 114 then yes, you will have the cloak at 100% and the GTA drops to 50%. Even then, GTA has 260 AC on all damage types and the ICC cloak will have some 300AC and some 250AC modifiers- not that much better.
Once you hit level 21, then the Exarch robe becomes the back armor of choice until you are high enough level to keep GTA out of OE, and you prefer the ACs to the snare/root resist from the Exarch Robe.
Rockcrusher Gauntlets:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=204758
THE gloves of choice for low levels. They add damage, Strength, Max Health and a bit of brawling. Drop from the Curator (and probably others) in the Temple of Three Winds.
Collar Casero De La Cripta:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=246125
Another must-have low level twink item. Drops from almost everybody in the Crypt of Home dungeon. If you are making a lvl 15 twink you may want to farm tokens to get the second token board which is better than this in some areas. The 30 ncu and the initiatives of this are quite useful. This will end up being overequipped, but even at 0% you still get most of the bonuses. This can be equipped at extreme low levels on a Trader or Agent, due to their ability to use drains. Every other prof can probably equip this without too much drama at level 15. My lowest non-Trader/Agent so far with this is a level 10 Froob soldier.
Temple Shoulder Pads:
Barrow Strength: http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=204653
Withered Flesh: http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=204698
These are the best shoulder items for a very large level span. They drop in the Temple of Three winds, from Windcaller Yatila and the Reanimator, as well as a couple of the major bosses from time to time.
HUD Upgrade: Enhanced Target Acquisition:
http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=156773
This is also known as the TiM Scope- drops from TiM in the Biomare dungeon- also called Foremans and The Longest Road. This is almost a must-twink for any ranged prof due to the sweet ranged initiative +180. With enough ncu, you can equip this on most ranged profs at least as low as level 15. More details on this later... If you want the crits and Aimed Shot bonus at the expense of a much slower attack time, you can equip a high level targeting scope instead of this. IE: http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=160633&ql=275 .
- Beginning the Twinking Process
Whew- that preamble took a lot longer than I thought! Hopefully we’re all set with our items, friends, alts, cash and buffing tools and ready to finally start twinking!
Leveling up:
How you get to your desired level is entirely up to you, but I will make a couple suggestions for getting there safely and quickly. Since you’re making a specific twink with a specific level and purpose in mind, there’s no need to spend a lot of time on Noob Island. I would recommend getting the first two quests done from Brandon Thorn on the beach. Get your lightbar, and Blackmane’s belt and chip. If you just do these two parts, you’ll be very close to level three. I would suggest hitting level three and then join Omni, and march off the island. Even if you’re a die-hard Clanner, there are a lot of twink items that are Omni only. If you start Omni, you can go buy a medsuit if you need one, then do all your twinking in Borealis, or warp to your favourite Athens twink spot- finish your toon and then switch to Clan at any time.
I should clarify a point here. If you are going to be leveling on your own, and/or are a new player, it would be best to level to at least five and do many of the noob island quests. Leaving at level three will likely be too low unless you have friends to help level or cast OBs on you. You will also want to get the nano-kit for your profession and possibly the Shiny Band for a few more health.
Twinking NCU:
Once on the mainland, the fun begins. Before you go off to level, or be powerleveled , you might want to get a bit of ncu before you run into the subway and bash fleas. It is actually quite easy to get a respectable amount of ncu with a ring of nucleus and a medsuit without doing any implants. The reason for the NCU is so we can squeeze in an essence and maybe a HOT so we can level in the deep reaches of the subway without too much fear of dying. You’ll need a med-suit and a Ring of Nucleus Basalis. They are semi-expensive and usually go for around 500k, but if you’re short on cash and ask nicely, you might find a subway twink more than happy to show off his “mad skillz” soloing Abmouth, and let you have the ring. If you’ve equipped Blackmane’s belt and the chip you got on Noob Island, you’ll have 13 ncu already. See if you can find a memory chip that’s about the same QL as the one you got from Antonio Stacklund, and you’ll be up to 15 or 16 ncu. Max out your treatment, put on your medsuit, have a doctor cast Specialist Treatment and Treatment Expertise, hit the surgery clinic (in almost any shop) and your treatment will be around 253. Now level up your Nucleus ring by right-clicking on it until it won’t level up any more. You should end up with a ring that gives around 13 ncu. Put it on your right finger, and voila! You should have around 28 - 30 ncu total without doing any implants. With this quick boost to your ncu, you should be able to fit a good sized essence and/or HOT and stay alive while being leveled in the subway (or SL if you go that way).
B. SassyBlade at Level 10:
Twinking for Real:
Here we go, finally starting work on Sassyblade herself. As I do this twink job, I’ll explain the rough outline of each step first, and then go into more detail for anyone who wants to follow specifically. Since Sassy is already level 10 and was set up for an E-Blade, I’ve just taken all her equipment off and used her only IP reset. Hmm, didn’t realize she only had one… So, she has some wasted IP in 2HE, but we should still be ok.
Here’s the basic order- extremely simplified, in which I normally do implants based on abilities/stats when doing a standard low level twink:
NCU, Stamina, Agility, Computer literacy, Treatment, Stamina, Agility, Computer Literacy, Treatment, Stamina, Agility, Treatment.
My twinking process can neatly be broken down into rounds. The whole process will probably take three rounds of implant upgrades to max abilities and treatment and get everything done. Then we’ll level up to 15 and do another round or two, and finish everything completely.
For anyone new to twinking, each implant you put in your body will be dependent on Treatment and one of your Abilities such as Agility, Stamina, Strength etc… Each implant can hold three clusters, each of which will boost a different skill or ability. Each skill and ability can also be implanted only three times, once each in a shiny cluster, bright cluster and faded cluster. The locations for where you can put these clusters are pre-set so you can’t just put a strength cluster in your head for example.
The locations for the main implants of interest are:
Treatment: Shiny head, Bright Eye, Faded Right hand
Stamina: Shiny Chest, Bright Leg, Faded Waist
Agility: Shiny Leg, Bright Foot, Faded Waist
Strength: Shiny Right Arm, Bright Left Arm, Faded Chest
As we start working on implants- you will have to resist the inclination to quickly throw in the weapon implants and go fight. The weapon implants are actually one of the very last things we’ll do. Before we can equip optimal weapon implants we need to first get our base ability and treatment implants as high as we can. During this process we’ll also do our NCU and equip other miscellaneous items. I should also note that almost every implant in the body can be made to be dependent on Agility or Stamina, so you don’t necessarily have to worry about maxing all abilities. (You don’t always have the choice of choosing between those two, but one of them will almost always be an option) Sometimes Strength is used but I would guess that about 80% of my twinks have all their implants based on only Stamina or Agility. This applies to all breeds and all professions. Even if you are making a heavily nano-skill dependent character, you can be almost guaranteed to be able to make all the nanoskill implants either agility or stamina based. In all my low level twinks, including MPs, Doctors, NTs, and Crats I don’t think I have a single implant based on Sense, Psychic or Intelligence. This is actually a great benefit since it is generally much easier to get buffs and buffing items for Stamina, Agility and Strength. Even if you are a Nanomage, the breed differences at low levels are insignificant enough that is still it generally better to make all implants based on Agility, Strength or Stamina. There are some minor sacrifices- if you really REALLY want Matter Creation and Nano Pool in the head, you may be able to equip a QL30 implant that ends up being dependent on Psychic. But, if you are ok with Matter Creation and Ranged Init, or Matter Creation and Sense in the head, you may end up with a QL70 implant that is dependent on Agility.
C. Round 1:
i. NCU is first in that list, and that’s the exact process I just walked through up above with the level 3 example. I’m going to get Sassy to that point- Blackmane’s belt, two ncu chips and a Ring of Nucleus equipped.
Point of interest: The minimum amount of NCU you’ll need to get the maximum QL of implant in is 117. This will allow you to fit: SFA (37), Essence of Behemoth (47), IC (26), Treatment expertise (4), and Stamina boost (3). If you can fit all that to do your Stamina implants- Agility takes much less. If you have more NCU than that you can always add other buffs that trickle down to treatment.
ii. Stamina:
For this phase we’re going to try and get in the highest QL of chest, leg and waist as possible, all with Stamina in them, and all being dependent on Stamina.
Details
Now that we have 30ish ncu, we need to equip the concrete cushions. This required a 1hb and Heavy Weapons Expertise in my case, plus Stamina buff for one extra trickledown. You could also use Thug’s Delight- the Enforcer startup nano. It buffs 14 1hb, and only uses 1 ncu.
With the concrete cushions equipped, cancel the 1hb and Heavy Weapons and any other buffs you cast to get them on. Now we have to determine the best combination of buffs to make the most efficient use of our 30 ncu. It looks like we have lots of treatment (around 260) so the best bet seems to be a combination of Stamina boost, Essence of Brave Challenger, and Enlarge (Doctor Buff)- with no treatment boost. This brings us to 88 Stamina and 231 Treatment.
Now I refer to Nillan’s Skill emulator to determine what quality implant that will let us equip. If you click on the “implants” tab you’ll see all the slots for all clusters in all body parts. Throw some clusters into a slot and start levelling up the quality until you find out what you can equip. We can use the leg as an example. Put Agility in the shiny slot, Stamina in the bright slot, and Body Dev or Max Health in the faded slot. Now if you keep bumping up the quality, you’ll see that we have lots of treatment, but only enough Stamina to equip a QL 42 implant. Unfortunately, the standard shop only sells implants in 10, 20, 30 and 50 around this range. You have two options. You can go with the QL30 implants or run around the back of the tradeskill area, and look at the machine in the back room that has random implant QLs in it. For our case, we’ll just use a QL30 leg implant. Once we hit QL50 or above implants we can level the implants up to our desired level by adding clusters and stripping them back out with a disassembly clinic. More on that later…
For now, as you can see from the skill emulator, a QL30 implant will add 7 Stamina and 12 Agility. After we put in that leg, we now have 95 Stamina/232 Treatment. That one extra point of treatment comes from trickledown from Agility.
Now if we look to the chest, we can see from the skill emulator that 95 stamina allows us to equip a QL45 implant. For this one, I ran around to a couple shops to check the random implants and found a QL43 chest. In this implant I put Strength (faded), Bio Met (bright), and Stamina (shiny). If you only put in Strength and Stamina, you will come out with an Agility based implant, and we want them all Stamina based. If you notice- your Agility is probably only around 48 . This brings us to 111 Stamina/232 Treatment.
The next implant we’re going to do is the waist implant. Plug in a stamina cluster to the faded waist slot in the skill emulator and bump up the QL. We’ll find that we now have enough Stamina to use a QL53 implant, but not enough treatment. We’ll go with a QL 30 implant for now. In this implant you can put just Stamina, or Stamina/Sense/Cold AC (or Fire AC). The reason for Sense in the waist is also a bit of trickledown to treatment. At this early stage it’s not so important, but later on, we’ll always be putting sense, Cold AC and either stamina or agility in the waist slot.
After we put in a QL30 waist implant our totals are 116 Stam/232 Treatment, with a QL30 waist, QL30 leg, and QL43 chest. As I look at the numbers, that last bit of stamina from the waist isn’t necessary since we don’t have enough treatment to go higher anyway, but this is the basic process for higher levels so we’ll stick to it for demonstration purposes .
This brings us to the end of the Stamina session.
iii. Agility:
This is a very short step. We are about to switch to making implants all dependent on Agility, so we are now trying to get Agility as high as possible instead of Stamina. We already have a leg implant with Agility. We’re going to add a foot implant and swap our current waist for one that adds Agility. Find/make the biggest foot implant with Agility in it (Stamina dependent), and then take out the Stamina waist, and put an implant with Agility in it (also Stamina dependent).
Details
With our skills at 116/232, we are in the same boat for the foot, as the waist we just put in. We can look for a random implant in the back room or go with a QL30 from the basic machine. I found a QL35 foot in the back room and put Agility in the bright slot, and Evade-Close-Combat in the Shiny slot. Agility is the only important cluster at this point. The key is that we end up making the foot so that it requires Stamina to put in. If you put in all three clusters, you will end up with an implant that requires Agility to put in. Usually, Agility plus one other cluster of your choice will make it Stamina dependent. You can experiment with this in the Skill emulator, before you go and make the implant.
Now we have to take out our waist implant that has Stamina in it, and put in one that has Agility. I grabbed a lvl 30 waist from the shop, and put agility in the faded slot. Now we have Agility implanted in all three of its slots.
Now we are going to take off the concrete cushions, and put on our lowest level agility Rifle. We’re also going to cancel our essence and any other Stamina buffs and cast Feline Grace, Agility Boost and as much treatment as you can fit. In Sassy’s case, she has 30 ncu and that’s enough for Feline Grace, Agility boost and Treatment expertise, but a few points short of adding in Specialist Treatment. So, I put on three pieces of Carb armor, which brought my total to 36ncu, enough to cast Specialist treatment as well. Now after swapping the medsuit back on in place of the Carb, I’m left with 102 Agility and 291 Treatment.
iv. Computer Literacy:
Our next goal is to get as much Computer Literacy as possible and upgrade to at least a 3x belt. Computer literacy happens to go in the exact same implant slots as Treatment: Shiny Head, Bright Eye, and Faded Right hand. All of these can be made based on Agility.
Details
With our current stats, we’re just short of being able to use QL50 implants so we’re still in the position of using QL30 implants, or hoping to find random implants of the right QL in the back shop. Another option would be to equip some agility buffing armor at this point. I’ll do this the hard way for the sake of demonstration and get to buffing armor later .
I took a quick jog to the random implant shop and found a QL49 head, QL35 Eye, and used a normal QL30 Right Hand. Remember the goal is to make these all dependent on Agility for the moment. The Eye is fine with just Computer Literacy, but the Right hand needs another cluster to make it Agility based. If you throw in a weapon cluster like Full Auto or Pistol to the Bright slot, you should have an Agility based right hand. The head is fine with just Computer Literacy, but as a rule, I also put Tutoring in the faded slot when implanting CL. This will add a bit of flexibility if you are just a couple points off and need to use a Computer Literacy Tutoring Device.
Now that you have your Computer Literacy implants in, cancel your Agility and Treatment buffs (if you need the room in your NCU) and cast Computer Literacy Expertise, Tutoring Expertise, and Intelligence boost (and NS if you’re not Froob).
Tutoring may not make any difference, but if you’re tight, a QL4 Comp-Lit Tutoring device will add 2 to your Computer Literacy.
With all those buffs and the QL4 tutoring device active, Sassy has 131 Computer Literacy. There is more we could do to push that up, but we have enough CL to get a 3x belt on, and not enough to get the lowest 4x belt on, so I won’t bother with the extras at the moment. Things we could do are: Implant intelligence in the ear- adds one or two to trickledown at this level. Equip Intelligence Pistols- a couple more. We could equip the Omni Grey suit, which would also add 6 more. So, the 10 or so extra would still not get us up to the magic 161 CL for a 4x belt.
The lowest Belts of each # of slots and the requirements for each:
3x- QL30 requires 76 Computer Literacy
4x- QL60 requires 161 Computer Literacy
5x- QL100 requires 251 Computer Literacy
6x- QL160 requires 351 Computer Literacy
Now you’ll want to hunt around the Basic shops and find a 3x belt and some memory chips that have close to a 131 CL requirement. I found a 3x belt but the closest ncu chips I could find are QL50 and require 121 CL.
Changing the belt:
In order to upgrade the belt, you have to have all the memory chips out of it first. Make sure to have all your buffs running before you take out the memory chips . Also make sure to have your new memory chips and belt in your inventory- not in a backpack! Now, we’re going to take out the two memory chips and HOTSWAP the belt. Do not bother taking the old belt off. After you’ve taken out your memory chips, simply right-click your new belt and it should take the place of the old one.
I don’t know why there seems to be so much controversy on whether you can hotswap an NCU belt, but you’ve been able to do that ever since I’ve started playing the game around three years ago- up until now, at patch 17.7. Of course, you can’t hotswap a belt if you have memory chips in, and it probably won’t work if your new belt is in a backpack, but you can indeed hotswap a belt in place of another one. You can even hotswap memory chips if you like. If you want to upgrade your memory chips but not the whole belt, then you can just place a new chip over another in your belt, and they will swap places. One thing that has changed as of a few patches ago, is the ability to re-cast running buffs in your ncu if you no longer have the ncu to hold them. That has made low level Trader twinking a bit trickier, but still possible to get a 6x belt on a very low level Trader/Agent.
After the belt swap, put in your new memory chips. At this point Sassy has 72ncu with a Carb helmet on.
NCU wrist implant:
While we’re here with all this Computer Literacy, we can equip a Rebuilt NCU Wrist Implant if you have one. They require CL and Treatment to equip so now is a good time. I have one in QL38 which adds 5ncu, so I’ll equip that in the left wrist now.
Treatment:
Now we should have lots more room for buffs. We can cancel our Computer Literacy buffs and in this case, I cast SFA, Feline Grace, Agility Boost, and Treatment Expertise.
We take out our Computer Literacy implants and put Treatment imps in those same slots.
Details
I went and got four more implants. I got a QL38 eye, 49 Head, 30 Right hand, and 49 Ear. The ear is for intelligence which trickles down to Treatment. Clusters for the implants are as follows:
QL49 Head- shiny Treatment, faded Sense (sense for trickledown to Treatment),
QL38 Eye- Shiny Rifle, Bright Treatment, Faded Assault Rifle.
QL49 Ear- Bright Concealment, faded Intelligence
QL30 Right hand- Bright Assault Rifle, Faded Treatment
The eye has Rifle, as a forward-thinking move for the next time we do Agility implants. We’re going to be equipping the QL40 Tsakachumi Rifle instead of QL1, and any extra Rifle and aimed shot will help to get this on easier.
With those implants and buffs we’re now at 389 Treatment. That would be enough Treatment to equip QL81 implants but our abilities aren’t nearly high enough to reach that yet.
Level up the Ring of Nucleus:
With our new plateau of Treatment, we should be able to level up the Nucleus ring quite a bit. Take off the Ring and right click it as high as it will go and re-equip it. In Sassy’s case, it leveled up to give us 19 ncu. That’s only one below the max for that ring. Sassy is at 82 ncu total now wearing the medsuit and a Carb helmet.
D. Round 2:
Now we’re back where we started- ready to start twinking Stamina again, only with more NCU and Treatment.
i. Stamina:
We can cancel Feline Grace now, equip the concrete cushions instead of the rifle, and get in as many Stamina buffs as possible. At this point it might be worth putting on some Carb armor to get as much room as possible for Essense, IC, Treatment etc… Our goal here is the same as the first time- get Stamina as high as possible by switching the Chest, Waist and Leg.
Details
Sassy needed to buff 1hb and heavy weapons again to get the cushions back on. Once they’re on, cancel those buffs. As to the best combination of Stamina and Treatment buffs- this may vary, but in this case, it worked out to be: Stamina boost, Essence of Gargantua, Treatment Expertise and Specialist Treatment. That all adds up to 82 ncu, and is a good place to start. We now have 129 Stamina and 341 Treatment.
ii. Buffing Armor:
We haven’t done any of this yet, and this is a perfect time to start. As you notice, we have an excess of Treatment and a shortage of Stamina. Now we can start swapping off pieces of medsuit and adding armor that buffs Stamina instead. The head is sort of a free slot, since there is no medsuit piece there. So, once your buffs are in, put on your Omni Training Helmet- that adds 3 Stamina, and your Solid Steel Hydraulic Legwear: +5 Stamina. Now we’re at 137 Stamina and 327 Treatment.
iii. Implant Laddering/Stacking/Leveling:
This is going to be your first taste of implant laddering, or implant stacking. We’re going to put in an implant- leg for example which adds Stamina, which will allow us to put in a higher QL of chest implant which also adds Stamina. Then we put in a waist implant which adds more Stamina, which brings us back to the leg again. Now we remove the original leg, and we should be able to put in a bigger leg with the stamina increase from the other two implants. Then we go back to the chest, take out our original implant and put in a bigger one still etc… You can do this a couple of times until you reach a point of diminishing returns and/or you run out of treatment to go any higher.
As for leveling up implants- for any implant at QL50 or higher, your implant may increase in level as you add clusters to it. That is a great benefit as it lets you level implants up to the exact QL you need. If you search around on the forums, there are guides out there which can tell you specifically how much an implant will level up at each level. Above QL100, implants can go up by at much as 2, 3, or 4 levels for each cluster you put in, depending on the NanoProgramming skill of the person making them. At this level, it’s nice and simple as each cluster you put in will raise the quality of the implant by 1 level.
See the video guide for a demonstration of Implant Leveling and Implant laddering at this exact point. I won’t go into as much detail since it’s on the video . Direct Link to The YouTube Video Walkthrough- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o3V9JNIzg4.
To summarize quickly-
First I took out Sassy’s lvl 30 leg which left enough Stamina to put in a lvl 63 leg. Then I took out the 43 chest implant, and put in a 61 Chest. Took out the 30 waist (which still had Agility in it). Put in a 66 waist. Took out the 63 Leg. Put in a 67 Leg. Took out the 61 Chest. Put in a 66 chest. That’s about as high as we can go at this point, because Treatment is again starting to be the limiting factor. As you can see, there’s great benefit to be had from leveling up implants in this fashion. We’re already at 67ish implants and we haven’t even maxed out our NCU to hold Behemoth, and haven’t maxed out our treatment implants.
Strength- This may not be necessary, but we can put in some Strength implants here. This can be useful because some of the buffing armor you will want to use requires Strength to wear. I grabbed a right and left arm implant (QL50ish), inserted Strength, Swimming in the right arm, Strength and Matter Met in the left arm, and threw them in.
iv. Agility:
Same as before- we’re going to twink Agility as high as we can.
Details
We have 152 Stamina and 342 Treatment while wearing the Omni Training helmet. This lets us equip a lvl 70 foot. I leveled one up to that exactly. Our first level 70 Implant!!!
Now we take out the Stamina waist and put in a QL66 waist with Agility/Sense/Cold AC.
We need to get the QL40 Agility rifle on now. Could be interesting.
In order to get the Rifle on, we need 193 Rifle and 97 Aimed Shot. I equipped a full suit of QL16 carb armor which brings Sassy to 94ncu. With UA, TTS and rifle expertise we’re still going to be 8 points short on rifle, and not enough ncu to finish that off with a wrangle. I will have to implant rifle in the right wrist.
So, without any rifle equipped, I cancelled all Stamina buffs and cast FG, SFA, Agility Boost and Treatment expertise. This will let me equip a lvl 60ish right wrist which will give us more than enough rifle skill to get the agility rifle on.
With the rifle buffs described above, we can get the rifle equipped. Now we’re ready to go and do some agility based implants, and try to get on our 4x belt.
With a full suit of Carb we have 94ncu and can fit SFA, Treatment Expertise, FG, and Agility Boost. Since we still have a fair bit of extra space, I’m going to cast Enhanced Senses, Intelligence, stamina and Strength boosts, and Essence of the Brave Challenger. Only ES and Intelligence boost trickle down to Treatment, but the Str/Stam boosts may help us equip buffing armor based on those skills.
v. Treatment:
This is a combined phase of sorts. We will want to get Treatment as high as possible by laddering the Head, Eye, and Right Hand- in the same way we laddered the Leg, Chest and Waist for Stamina. Then we’ll want to switch those for Computer literacy to get our belt on. Then we’ll work on Map Navigation, and finally back to Treatment. In this phase you’ll find that at first, you have lots of Treatment due to the ability to fit SFA in your ncu, but not a lot of Agility, so we’ll make extensive use of buffing armor here.
Details
I’m going to put on a Sekutek helmet in QL32, for the extra 2 Agility boost. I’m going to start by removing the QL38 eye, and get a bigger Treatment eye in there. Without that eye Sassy has 139 Agility and 381 Treatment. Here’s where the skill emulator and Kirch Kevlar/Sekutek armor starts to pay for itself. Keep adding buffing armor and removing medsuit pieces to get your Agility up, and keep track of your Treatment as it comes down. Essentially this is sacrificing Treatment for the sake of raising Agility. Each piece of medsuit gives different amounts of Treatment, so try to remove the ones that give the least bonuses first. The boots give 6 Treatment, and the gloves give 10 Treatment, so start by replacing those with Kirch or Sekutek. If you still have extra treatment, keep going with the Legs or sleeves. They all give 14 Treatment so it doesn’t matter which you remove between them. Keep checking the skill emulator and trading buffing armor for medsuit pieces- bumping up the QL of the implant until you reach a balance between Agility and Treatment.
In Sassy’s case, I replaced four medsuit pieces with buffing armor- the boots, gloves, legs and one sleeve. Now Sassy has 147 Agility and 338 Treatment. Now we put in a QL70 eye with Treatment, Rifle and Assault Rifle.
Take out the QL49 head, and we can equip a 69 head, with Treatment and Sense. Take out the right hand QL30 and we can equip a QL72 hand in its place- by adding one more piece of Sekutek to the other arm. The right hand has Treatment and Assault Rifle clusters.
Now that we have three QL70ish treatment implants in, we can take them right back out and put Computer Literacy in there instead . Getting the higher treatment imps will let us equip higher CL imps- which is why we did that first. We will use them again though. We’re almost at the max of what Treatment can be for us. If we were to put the full medsuit back on at this point, we’d have around 425 treatment- enough for QL88 implants if we could get our abilities that high.
vi. Computer Literacy:
Take out the Treatment eye, and put in a QL71 CL eye. Take out the head and put in a QL69 Head with Tutoring and CL, and a finally take out the right hand and put in a QL68 with CL and Assault Rifle (or pistol etc…) After getting all those in we are at 138 Computer literacy. I should have also bumped up the ear implant to QL70ish, with more intelligence trickledown to Computer Literacy, but I don’t think we’ll need it. At this point, we’re ready to buff CL expertise, Tutoring Expertise, use a QL4 CL tutoring device, put on the Omni Grey Suit, and we should have enough CL to equip our 4x belt. If we need more, we can also put on two intelligence pistols, but I think we’ll be fine without- and the rifle is a bit of a pain to get back on .
With that done we’re at 166 Computer Literacy- enough to equip a QL61 4x belt- (requirement of 163 CL) Then I found some QL67 memory chips and equipped four of them.
vii. Treatment Library:
While we have 160+ CL, we should equip a Treatment Library. I install one of these on every toon I make. It’s almost free Treatment and there’s not a lot else you can do with your Utils #2 slot. Unless you can get one of an odd level, you’re stuck with QL30 or QL50. We will be using a QL30, which will add 3 First Aid, and 4 Treatment.
Now we can put in the Treatment implants again, Since we laddered a bit to get them in there in the first place, we may need to put in slightly lower implants and then work back up to the QL70ish that we had in there a few minutes ago. We can cancel the CL buffs and get re-cast with SFA, FG, Agility etc… and put the medsuit back on.