May 9, 2006 2:47 am
I get the permission of original author : Dieppe to post this guide on our site. I'll post it on forum first and then compile it with DW.
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Giants! If you've been around SilkRoad Online long enough you're sure to encounter a few of them in your time. What are they all about and what is a polite way to handle them?
First off Giants, much like Champions, are larger and stronger versions of the regular monsters you're killing. They spawn less often than Champions, but often enough that if you're questing in some areas you're sure to see one. Some creatures never spawn giants, such as Black Yeowas or Small Red Scorpions, but usually most monsters do.
Usually the first giant you see will be a bandit or a tiger. And for every newbie to SRO, you'll be saying to yourself "Wow, that's one big tiger!" Suddenly you find yourself face to face and dying quite rapidly... if you're unlucky that is.
Giants though, if you are lucky enough to have done a majority of the damage, will often drop much better items than regular monsters. (It's all very random though.) If you're unlucky a few piles of gold, if you're lucky an elixir or even a good weapon or armor! You are definitely certain to get more experience back from a giant than you will a regular monster. Usually on the order of about 10x, give or take. A champion will give you on the average about twice the experience of the regular monster.
So why do people go after giants? Well, duh! They want more experience and a chance at better drops! But here's some things you might want to know.
1: In some areas everyone goes after the giants, especially newbie areas or high risk areas. In other areas, people are best left alone to kill giants on their own. To attack a giant that is already "taken" without asking if they need help in these situations is rude at best, and total jerk taking their loot and experience at worse.
So how to tell the difference? Well, just be aware of the types of creatures you are killing.
When you're in your teens fighting tigers and bandits, those giants can really kill and swarm and there's no easy way to keep away the smaller creatures (not a lot of people have figured out harmony therapy yet (those glowing orange circles)). So the best thing to do is to just jump into the fray! When the giant drops, even if smaller creatures are killing you, start grabbing away before the item timer expires and before other people or monkeys can get your drops!
Later, once more players have harmony you'll notice a lot more people soloing a giant, and if you're polite you'll leave them alone or first ask if they need help. Usually if they have it they'll say they're okay. (Though some people are rude, but only because they're so used to people jumping in and kill stealing.)
Higher levels have monsters that tend to swarm, poison, attack quickly, and generally make your fighting a giant a living hell without a harmony circle. If you see someone fighting a giant and they have 1-5 or more scorpions or other nastys around them... GET IN THERE! Chances are they're madly fighting for their life and don't have the time to type out "HELP!" in the chat window!
2: Bezerk is your friend! Unless you're doing PVP or runs or something else, save your bezerk for the giants. Usually if you're questing you'll kill enough inbetween seeing a giant to rebuild that back up. Which leads to...
3: Harmony Therapy (those glowing orange circles) are your friend! Make sure you have it high enough level to keep out the regular creatures in the area you are fighting, otherwise it's almost worthless. If you're using glavie or sword, get face to face to the giant as soon as you can and drop that circle! Get a few good chops in (with ice, if you have it to slow it down), hit that TAB key, and start using your best moves! DDR this isn't, but while you're bezerking you want to hit as hard as you can before someone comes along to "help" you out.
4: If you do come across someone peacefully (!) killing a giant, inside a circle, and they've got bezerk going---don't just jump in. They've got a pretty good thing going, and appreciate if you stand back and maybe kill the regular monsters that might wander by. If you're a healer, and you can select the player, throw a heal or a poison cure their way as they need it.
Yeah, they aren't probably going to give you money, but they'll appreciate it and down the road may return the favor when another giant pops up for you!
5: Autopotions. Make sure you have enough health potions in your inventory before taking on a giant, or just run the hell away! Be sure you've turned down the potion use delay to .5 seconds, and if you're in a dangerous area don't be afraid to crank it up to 80%. Trust me, when you die at higher levels and risk losing 58k experience, or 100k experience, you start to be a little more paranoid.
6: If you're in a tricky area, maybe where the regular monsters are high (orange or red) for your level, don't be afraid to ask for help! Usually someone is around who won't mind taking on a giant with you. If you really just want to peacefully quest, getting a giant killed and out of the way so you can get back to questing might really be what you want rather than watching over your shoulder the whole time worrying that it'll suddenly start running your direction and notice you.
7: If you're fighting a giant and you have it, quickly type out a message letting people who run up know that you have it okay. That isn't to say that you couldn't suddenly get swarmed by some champions and you don't want them to hang out to help. Just politely ask if they wouldn't mind letting you kill it on your own.
Easier said than done, huh?
8: Lag. If you're lagging and you sde a giant... just log off. 10 second lag is long enough that you can be killed before any potions can take effect.
9: If you do die while killing a giant, don't click to go back quite yet. If someone else kills it you'll at least get experience for the damage you did. (Even if you do go back to the city and aren't resurrected I believe you still get experience... still revenge on the giant is sweet...)
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To summarize, when you're questing or grinding in an area for long enough to understand how the creatures fight; whether they are slow, fast, swarming, fast respawn, etc., you'll have a better idea whether you should jump in and start attacking that giant, whether you can solo it, leave the giant alone, or whether to flee.
You'll still encounter people who will jump in on you, make the killing blow, and steal the loot. Nothing can be done, but at least the more people learn to be polite to others, then hopefully that can spread. Everyone remembers the time they first killed a giant on their own without an army of players around, so help others learn as well.
Disclaimer: Does not apply to Uniques, or to players in Ohio or United States Territories. Your mileage may vary. Politeness is its own reward, but you may be paid back someday by someone returning the kindness.
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  Thanks Posei for making me this sig |
