Weapon skill points

[zsomkovacs]

Does anybody know how much weapon skill points will you get for a successful hit? Because I read that I get 1 for every successful attack, and this is doubled for criticals. But I saw 4-5 points increases with one hit. For example, with a L12 troll barbarian with Skullcrusher+shield got 5 points for a master swordsman instakill. I think it depends on caused damage somehow (maybe just for clubs?), but I'm not sure about it. But if it works, training weapon skills can be much faster than I thought.
This happened to me quite a few times, and not just with trolls. I think a paladin managed to do it, maybe other classes as well, so I think this happened to you quite a few times. Any idea?

[vogonpoet]

I am reasonably sure the total number of [weapon + shield] marks available from a monster, and the rate at which you get them, is monster dependent rather than PC dependent. Missile marks should be available infinitely, provided you don't kill the monster in question, and can be gained at least 5 at a time I think (swamp hydras?).

[Pumpernickel]

I'm reasonably certain that the number of marks per hit both rises with increasing 'difficulty' of the critter and falls with rising level of the character: a lvl 25 character (e.g. a troll) will get something like 6 or 7 marks per hit on a stone grue, while a lvl 40+ character may get 'only' 4. And remember that a critical hit will always grant one extra mark.

[fazisi]

Mark increases are dependent on the monster's danger level like Pumpernickel said. You also get only a set number of increases from a single monster. For example, if you block three attacks from a rat, you gain 3 shield marks (1 from each block), but if you block three attacks from a large orc, you gain 9 shield marks (3 from each block). Similar things happen for weapon skills.

[zsomkovacs]

So if I go killing monsters to DH, I will gain weapon skill levels easily (and die very soon). Thanks!
And other question: is there a limit on skill points gained from the same monster? For shields I know there is. But for weapons?

[cloud_2901]

Pretty sure you can get about 10 weapon marks from rats etc, up to like 30-40 from bigger monsters, just keep hitting until it doesn't go up in weapon list, Ctrl + W.

I like training boomerangs / scurgari, they train so fast and do so much damage...

[taickyto]

I guess weapon marks skills are damage dependant, otherwise one could reach grand mastery attacking rats with a corroded weapon.

[Grey]

There are two different things to consider here, and it's important not to confuse the two. First is the number of marks gained from a single attack. Second is the number of marks you can farm from a single critter.

For the first, I've heard conflicting reports. Some I've spoken to say their testing shows that it's purely dependant on damage dealt. However my own experimentation shows it has something to do with monster power too (simple test - make a troll barbarian and get it to true berserk a swamp hyra; you'll get 7 marks from one hit). I think perhaps there's a base number of marks depending on either monster DL or monster level, and you get additions to that based on damage dealt. Thus hitting a monster without harming it can still get your several marks, but criticals will get you much more. Shield marks seem to be related to monster level in my experience, with the vast majority only giving 1 mark.

As for how many marks you can get from a single monster, this seems to be a set amount based on monster type. This applies to melee weapons/shields only - there's no limits to how many missile weapon marks you can receive from a single monster, apart from killing it or running out of ammo. The limit for melee/shield marks is shared - if a monster can only give 12 marks then it can give 6 shield and 6 melee, or 8 melee and 4 shield, or 10 shield and 2 melee, etc. After the limit is reached all hits and blocks will not gain any marks. I've done some extensive testing on this, but mostly with low level creatures. Most basic creatures like rats and goblins give 3 or 6 marks only - they're crap for training. Spider factories are the best, with some spiders giving 12 or 24 marks. Tarantulas give 32 marks each, and combined with their double attacks per round they can be excellent for farming shield levels. A spider factory and a good shield can get you from level 0 to level 9 in shields in very little time.

[garyd]

Well that certainly explains how I went so quickly to level 12 with pole arms and why it was so slow to get the next one. I was trolling the infinite dungeon trying to find a wand or spell book of teleportation so I could get through to HMV and on one level ran into three different rooms with DE priests or sorceresses. One of those rooms was larger than usuall too. I stood in the door way whacking spiders forwhat seemed like half an hour... One suspects the priests and soceresses themselves aren't bad either for this purpose. That medium crystal shield 9/6 was helpful too...

[cloud_2901]

I never realised that the total marks from one critter for shield / weapon were split.. . I guess that's cuz I'm always training just the one at a time, don't really switch back to very aggressive to block when I'm berserkering for weapon marks.