Hey guys!

Haven't played daoc for years and years and I've not been able to find much solid info on some questions I had regarding the Merc and the various options you have for him when starting. From what I understand the Highlander is a really good choice but I can't handle having to wear that kilt all the time so I am really wanting to play Briton. Now if I go Briton I was wondering how one should allocate their stats at the start and if it's a big draw back to going Briton compared to Highlander?

Also as a Briton Merc how should the specc look? As a Saracen I hear you should defnitely go thrust but for Briton what's the best?

Thanks for any help

With a Briton you can reasonably use any weapon line; slash, crush or thrust. Level with crush, though, so that you can autotrain in Slash and Thrust, and also because it is the best PvE line. Whether you respec at 40, or wait until 50 to get a respec stone from the Dragon is up to you, and the group you are leveling with. Also, go 10STR 10CON 10DEX. If you have a solid plan, and you want to be super aggressive, you can sub 10QUI for the CON, but otherwise the survivability is better.

It isn't a big drawback to be non-Highlander, btw (10 STR here and there is no big deal). The most important thing is that you enjoy playing your character, and that you think they look cool

Aelred wrote:With a Briton you can reasonably use any weapon line; slash, crush or thrust. Level with crush, though, so that you can autotrain in Slash and Thrust, and also because it is the best PvE line. Whether you respec at 40, or wait until 50 to get a respec stone from the Dragon is up to you, and the group you are leveling with. Also, go 10STR 10CON 10DEX. If you have a solid plan, and you want to be super aggressive, you can sub 10QUI for the CON, but otherwise the survivability is better.

It isn't a big drawback to be non-Highlander, btw (10 STR here and there is no big deal). The most important thing is that you enjoy playing your character, and that you think they look cool

Awesome, thanks for the info. You get a free respecc at 40?

Highlander because of extra 5% cold resists.

Yes, you get a free respec at lvl 20, and lvl 40. You can go to a trainer at those levels (keep in mind, you'll lose the respec if you level to 21, or 41) and type /respec crush, and you'll be refunded all of your spec points.

Moha is right, in that the Highlander's racial resist (cold) is better than the Briton's (matter), for PvP. Both Midgard and Hibernia's casters can nuke you with cold damage, whereas enemies' matter spells come almost exclusively from Shamans. Honestly though, I wouldn't worry about it unless you plan on joining a competitive 8v8 guild. Even then, your skill as a player will matter WAY more than a racial resist. So, again, just play what will make you the happiest. If you hate the kilts, don't bother with them.

Also, to finish answering your initial questions, your RvR spec at 50 should look like this:
50 Dual Wield
42 Shield
39(-) Slash/Thrust/Crush (this can go lower, as long as you reach composite 51, with +11 from gear, and the rest from RR bonuses)
Rest into parry

If you are exclusively PvE focused, you could drop shield, and get 50 DW, 50 Weapon, and rest into parry

Aelred wrote:If you are exclusively PvE focused, you could drop shield, and get 50 DW, 50 Weapon, and rest into parry

Why 50 weapon for pve while you already have 50 dw? None of the weapon lines worth going 50 even for PvE.

if you absolutely dont want to switch shield you better dump the points into parry than going for 50 weapon

The only reason not going 42 shield is the split spec. High parry with no shield is also as bad as 50 weapon.

50 dw, 39 weap, 42 parry is better than 50, 50, 28 for solo at least, thats a valid reason for some people.