The Little MP Guide

The Little MP Guide

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Breed
3. IP
4. Weapon styles and weapons
5. Armor
6. Nanos
7. Implants + Symbiants
8. Perks
9. LE Research and Specials
10. Fighting as an MP
11. Tradeskills and the MP
12. Suggestions for the new MP Player
13. Resources and Links
14. Version id and Credits

1. Introduction

Welcome to the Meta-Physicist profession. This is one of the more interesting and variable professions in Anarchy Online, having several options for builds for a variety of different purposes, the most variety in pets, and lots of versatility in both teams and solo. We can reach the highest nanoskills in the game, and we have a use for every single nanoskill. We are the caster's answer to the adventurer, in that we are something of a jack-of-all-trades prof, with many different options and lots of tools at our disposal.

If you're wondering why this is the LITTLE MP Guide, that's because the Big MP Guide has already been written. Mind you that this was written and up-to-date when SL was released, and only updated to include the Rihwen 220 pet, so a lot of what is in that gigantic tome of all things
Meta-Physicist is very out of date, especially with AI and LE out.

That said, the goal of this guide is to give you a more brief overview of what the Meta-Physicist is like in the modern age, and a view of the different types of MP you're likely to consider using as a base for your own MP. There will also be a few pointers for new and starting players who have decided that even though they're just gettign started, the "Hard" difficulty isn't going to stop them from enjoying the prof!

At the end I will be adding a list of links to both threads as well as other resources you'll find most useful as both an MP as well as a new or old player here in Anarchy Online. All of which you'll find useful at some time or another.

2. Breed

Surprisingly enough for a caster profession, the choice of breed isn't the big deal it usually would be for, say, the NT profession or others. Every breed is capable of eventually casting all nanos, though it may take more work for an Atrox and less for a Nanomage. Most of what goes into breed choice in the modern day usually revolves around 2 choices: The body dev/nano pool rates for each breed, and the endgame perks available. Perks and what each breed gets will be covered in the Perks section, however attribute caps and hp/np/nanocost will be covered here.

++Solitus++

Solitus are the generic human breed, descended from good ol' Homo Sapiens on Earth, and as such are considered to be the 'average' breed. They will have average body dev to HP conversion rates, average nanopool to NP conversion rates. It's hard to go wrong with a solitus, no weakpoints, but no strengths in the attributes either.

Solitus HP per point of body dev: 4, with another 6 HP gained per level.
Soli NP per point of nano pool: 4, with another 4 NP gained per level.
Solitus Nanocost cap: -50%

Soli Attributes:

Attrib: Lv 200 Max Lv 220 max
Strength 472 772
Agility 480 780
Stamina 480 780
Intelligence 480 780
Sense 480 780
Psychic 480 780

Solitus Attributes are all considered light blue and have the same cost.

++Opifex++

Opifex are considered more of the 'speedy' breed, having strong points in Sense and Agility, which usually trickle down to many ranged skills as well as evades. Like Solitus, they have a average conversion rate for Body dev, but get less HP per level than Solitus characters, but only by one point. Like Solitus characters, Opifex cap out nanocost reduction at 50%. Opifex MPs are likely to do slightly better from trickledown in the ranged weapons and evades, and will have an easier time putting on higher quality Support symbiants (which require sense and agility to equip, Opi strong points.).

Opifex HP per point of Body Dev: 4, with 5 HP gained per level.
Opifex NP per point of Nano Pool: 4, with another 3 gained per level.
Opifex Nanocost cap:-50%

Opifex Attributes:

Attrib: Lv 200 Max Lv 220 max
Strength 464 764
Agility 544 944
Stamina 480 680
Intelligence 464 764
Sense 512 912
Psychic 448 748

Opifex Strength, Intelligence, ans Psychic are light blue(medium cost), while Agility and Sense are Green (low cost). Stamina is dark blue and the highest cost skill for Opifex attributes.

++Nanomage++

Nanomages are the ones usually associated with caster professions such as the Meta-Physicist or similar professions like Nano-Technician, Bureaucrat, etc. Heavily invested in nanopool and intelligence, nanomage characters get more nano per point of nanopool than any other breed, but have the least hit point gain per point of body dev as a result. Higher intelligence means higher nanoskills, since all nanoskills have 80% trickledown from Intelligence, with plenty of nano to cast them with. Nanomages will have little problem with equipping Control or Extermination symbiants, which require Int and Psy to equip, Nanomage strong points.

Nanomage HP per point of body dev: 3, with 5 points gained per level.
Nanomage NP per point of Nanopool: 5, with 5 points gained per level.
Nanomage Nanocost cap: 55%

Attrib: Lv 200 max Lv 220 max
Strength 464 664
Agility 464 664
Stamina 448 748
Intelligence 512 912
Sense 480 780
Psychic 512 912

Nanomage Intelligence and Psychic are green, with Stamina and Sense light blue, and Strength and Agility dark blue.

Atrox
Atrox is hands down the breed with the highest strength and stamina and likely to have also the highest hit points of the 4 breeds. Having such high Strength and Stamina as well as the best hit point conversion rate doesn't seem like the sort of thing a caster like the MP would be used for, but 2 of the 4 common weapon choices for the MP are melee, and in melee skills the trickledown from such high strength and stamina shine, as well as helping equip higher quality melee-oriented implants. The nanoskills will suffer somewhat, and the nanopool will be lower, but the Atrox MP will have a better ability to get into the thick of it with the pets and come out alive.

Atrox HP per point of body dev: 5, with 6 HP gained per level.
Atrox NP per point of nanopool: 3, with 4 NP gained per level.
Atrox Nanocost cap: 45%

Attrib: Lv 200 max Lv 220 max
Strength 512 912
Agility 480 780
Stamina 512 912
Intelligence 400 600
Sense 400 600
Psychic 400 600

Atrox Strength and Stamina is green, with Agility light blue and Intelligence, Sense and Psychic all dark blue.

It's not difficult to make any breed work as an MP in endgame, especially with the leanings of each breed towards certain styles of play. Consulting this as well as the Perks section can help make an informed choice of what breed you want to play.

3. IP expenditure

IP and how it's spent is the key feature that really sets Anarchy Online apart from other games. You get a certain number of Improvement Points, aka IP, to spend every level, the amount of which is determined by your title level (TL)...

TL 1: Lv 1-14, 5k IP per level
TL 2: Lv 15-49, 10k IP per level
TL 3: Lv 50-99, 20k IP per level
TL 4: Lv 100-149, 40k IP per level
TL 5: Lv 150-189, 80k IP per level
TL 6: Lv 190-204, 150k IP per level
TL 7: Lv 205-220, 400k IP per level.

And now for a breakdown on how to spend your hard earned IP.

++Abilities++

Until you hit the breed caps for abilities in the TL 5 range, you'll be lagging behind in the abilities that AREN'T Intelligence. Intelligence is the highest priority ability, as it trickles down to all your nanoskills. Psychic usually comes in after this as many of the armors you'll likely wear will be intelligence/psychic armors, such as MP Ofab, MP Tier, or Miy's Nano armor.

However, if you decide to go another armor route, such as Yellow Force Tight, Mystical Force Tight, or one of the Combined Armorsets from the AI expansion, then you'll need to make sure you have enough of the required abilities to equip that set of armor at the quality level (ql) you intend to wear. After this you also want to be sure you can put on any implants you intend to within reason or any symbiants you wish to wear. Symbiants require 3 abilities at a certain level, so bear that in mind when you're preparing to install them. After you hit TL7 and can start putting IP into abilities again, you'll find that you'll need to max them all if you want to be able to get into the top ql of symbiants available.

++Body++

The 2 skills here that are of highest importance regardless of your playstyle will be Body Dev and Nano Pool. These skills correspond to how many HP and NP you have in play at any time. After this will probably come Brawl and Dimach if you're using a melee weapon that utilizes those specials, but it's likely you won't need to put much IP into them if any if you're implanting the skills properly.

Adventuring, the only other skill of interest here, can be boosted by symbiants, nanos, and items to the levels you'll need to equip the Shadowlands playfield gear such as the Metawater Repellent Spiritech Suit for Adonis, the Hyperradiation glasses for Penumbra, etc.

++Melee++

This will be the section of most interest to those who intend to go into 1hb or 2hb style MP play, since both weaponskills are here as well as the specials that go with them. You probably won't have much IP in here until TL 4, unless you're building a melee twink with a specific goal in mind, and then you're probably measuring out every last point of IP you spend in here well. On the whole, weaponskills for the MP will not be a high priority as a whole for a long while in your career, so keep enough skills raised to wield the weapons of choice.

++Ranged++

This section will be of most interest to those who want to use Ranged weapons, who will usually be Bow MPs or Pistol MPs. As in Melee, you likely won't have this as a high priority for IP until TL 4, unless you're building a ranged weapon twink with a specific goal in mind, and then you're probably having the skill up to use the weapon in mind and that's it. More on common weaponstyles for the MP will be in the Weapons section.

++Speed++

This section will likely be either the second most important priority for you as an MP or will be passed over somewhat in favor of weaponskills or tradeskills. Evades help you from both being hit as well as helping you prevent critical hits against you, from having too great a difference between the attacker's attack rating (AR) and the defenders evades. You won't be able to keep this maxed if you're intending it, the evades are very deep blue, but do max fairly high. You will likely have this section maxed by TL 5, if you're working on it. Nano init will be important for you but how important tends to vary on what you want out of it by endgame.

Maxing the weapon related init of your choice is not of high concern in the beginning of your career, but you'll likely need it by the end, especially if you're using a critscope (those tend to lower inits by a lot).

++Tradeskills++

In this section, one skill matters more than any other, Comp. Lit. This is the skill that equips your Belt deck computers, the NCU that goes into it and all the other toys that go into the deck slots on your belt, and it's not just NCU that can go here. Nanoformula Recompilers greatly improve your nano init, and Viral Recompilers improve it even more, just for an example, and all of these require Comp Lit to equip. On top of that, Comp Lit determines the price of things at
Kiosks on RK and with the various vendors in SL, as well as the price you'll pay for selling things back. Aside from good old Comp Lit, Nanoprogramming is one of our good skills to up if you're wanting to learn the fine art of Implant Making (all non-Jobe implants require Nanoprogramming to make) and if you're wanting to get into the Pocket Boss making business, then you're going to want Quantum Field Tech, aka QFT, which doesn't mean Quoted For Truth in this instance. Both NP and QFT can usually wait until TL4-5 to really be raised, but CL must always be maxed.

++Nano and Aiding++

Our bread and butter. The ONE skill in this whole set that doesn't always need to be maxed is First Aid, and depending on your playstyle, you might even max that too. Unlike many other professions, we use EVERY nanoskill, and Treatment is simply a must to both use better nano and heal kits but also to get into better implants. However, if for some reason you find yourself needing to skimp here for whatever reason (say you're building one of the twinks mentioned above) then here's a quick breakdown of what lines need what skills so you can see what you're willing to lose out on.

Attack Pet: TS/MC
Heal pet: BM/TS
Mezz Pet: MM/TS
Nukes: MC/PM
Nanocost buffs: MM/BM/PM
Lesser pet damage buff (instill): BM/MC
Pet Init Buff: MC/SI
Greater Pet damage buff (Anima/Evocation) BM/MC/TS
NSD: BM/PM/TS
ALL nanoskill buffs and AoR: PM/SI
ALL single Nanoskill debuffs: PM/SI
Nano Interrupt modifier: PM/SI/TS
MP Damage Debuffs, HS and BS: MM/PM
Boon of Ergo line: MC/TS
ALL creation weapons: BM/MC/TS
Team SL Warps: MM/PM/SI
Pet freedom nanos: MC/TS
Quantum Wings (Yes, we get to fly.): MM/BM/TS

++Spying++

Concealment is one of the biggest IP sinks we have as MPs, and while bow MPs usually max Aimed shot for the special, they won't be able to max Conceal enough to be properly useful in PvM play. Breaking and Entering can be useful in some tradeskills (hacking grafts and pills) as well as getting into chests and doors in missions and SL statics. Our pets have enough perception to spot hiding mobs so we don't bother with that skill and we never, ever put skill into Trap Disarm.

That sums up in brief how IP expenditure looks for an MP, but it's by no means definitive. It's a long road from 1 to 220, so you may find yourself experimenting along the way, perhaps after taking a look at the Big MP Guide and wanting to try something new out for yourself in terms of weapons or the like. This is why we have IP Reset points. You can find out how many IPR you have by simply opening up your skills window and clicking the small 'i' in the upper left corner, then selecting 'reset skill' at which point you'll see the number of IP reset points you have left and the option to reset any given skill. Bear in mind you need to have NO armor, weapons, belt/hud/util, or implants on at the time you reset a skill, so it's not usually done lightly. However, this does give you the room to experiment with different styles to see what suits your way of playing.

3. Weapon styles and weapons

Meta-Physicists are unique in that we have pretty much any style of play we'd like open to us during the opening years of Rubi-Ka, but as the expansions have come through, we slowly have found ourselves looking at 4 distinct playstyles that are still used through the modern day of play, 2 melee and 2 ranged. Of the melee builds 1hb and 2hb are most supported, with some older support for 2he use. On the Ranged side the supported builds are Pistol and Bow.

Starting with the Melee styles, 1hb and 2hb have had a lot of support in the MP toolset in the form of Creation Weapons. These are nanos you upload that when you cast, create a weapon in your inventory that you can then wield. The 1hb creation weapons are the more popular of the two during early levels, with the most popular creation being the Red Shield line, (Solar Guard, Belthior's Flame Ward, Shield of Asmodian, Shield of Esa) which buff Add All Def (AAD) and also add Fire AC reflect, meaning that percentage of fire damage will not be hitting you. The focus of 1hb of late is to have access to high damage weaponry, so for those focusing on having the most damage in pvm, this is probably the build for you. PvP will not be as easy, but you have the shields to add to your defense.

2hb has gotten more support recently and oriented more from TL 4 on in terms of creation weapons, starting with the Mesmerising staff of Francois, which is a Scheol quest reward. Prior to this time the 2hb creations are not effective weapons with long attack/recharge times, and seem to be more of a buffing weapon, while the Mesmerizing staff has not only a good damage spread but also has a much faster attack/recharge rate. There are several staves in this line, one being the reward for an Inferno quest, and another being the reward for a quest involving the Dust Brigade. There's also a shield in this line, oddly enough, the Shield of Zset, which looks to be an obvious endgame option. If you want either to have high evasion or damage mitigation, with more focus on your pets, this is probably the build for you.

With the Ranged styles we have the most support for Pistol and Bow. Pistol is a long time standby for the MP, having support from symbiants and SL perklines, and also being the weaponskill that maxes highest for the MP in terms of base skill. Add on support with Pistol Mastery, Extermination/Control symbiants (full weapon support) and the array of buffs available (Extreme Prejudice and Pistol Mastery stack with Wrangles from Traders) and you can buff Pistol skill fairly high to equip a good ql of pistol. This can perform well in PvP or PvM, though losing out in terms of damage to 1hb, but having the range that 1hb will not. It's sort of the Solitus of MP styles.

Bow has been an MP option for quite some time, only recently getting more and more support for it in terms of items and LE research, and as of 18.0, more perk support from AI. Bows often have the Aimed Shot special, a special attack that doesn't miss and is highly desired for pvp. Several varieties of RK bows are about but most MPs will probably use bows in SL or AI bows for the minimum damage for SL play until endgame when the Dreadloch Tigress becomes an option to equip. The bulk of bow buffs don't come from nanos but from items and perks instead, such as the Mystical Green Hood, Sure Shot Glasses, Ancient Manual Aiming Aid, and MP Ofab armor, with the Ranger perkline and the champion of light Artillery perkline rounding out the buffing set. This style usually is for those who're interested in being offensively oriented in pvp.

Now for suggested weapons for each style:

+1hb Weapons+

The Temple of Three Winds (ToTW) weapons make great 1hb choices for the MP, especially as they have good minimum damage to help against Shadowlands mobs. The weapons are:

Howling Skull
Skull of Lamentation
Skull of Woe

Later on, at 125, you can visit the Inner Sanctum, ToTW's big brother, and get some upgrades to your 1hb weapons:

Skull of Despair
Skull of Misery

Both are found on the 3rd floor in the Inner Sanctum, and therefore are not easy to get, but will serve the 1hb MP just fine until the endgame, of which there are a few options.

For Creation weapon users, there is the Asp of Titaniush which is a nano that is created from pieces found on the bosses of the various APF sectors 28, 13, and 35, intended for levels 180+. This is a nice upgrade in minimum damage, and with some effort in the multi-melee department can be dual-wielded for more damage. The bonus is this also comes with the Shield of Esa, which will help in soloing harder mobs or if you're trying to get a few more points of defense in pvp, however...

A new weapon coming out in the 18.0 patch of great interest to 1hb MPs is a weapon called the Xan of Abandonment.. Having even higher damage than the Asp of Titaniush, and having achievable requirements for Meta-Physicists, this looks to be the endgame weapon of choice for PvM oriented MPs, with impressive damage statistics.

+2hb weapons+

2hb users have a bit more of a problem in the start, since the 2hb creation weapons you have access to in the early game are not suggested by any means whatsoever. The only suggested weapon for 2hb in the starting game would actually be from the Steps of Madness dungeon, and the weapon in question would be:

Neleb's Nightmare Battlerod

Which is a weapon that drops of of Neleb the Deranged and is upgraded with a simple tradeskill process detailed here that upgrades the weapon. While it is probably one of the better weapons to use in the early game, it's a long stretch until you can either use:

Howlet(ql 100) to Hungry Howlet (ql105), found in the Crypt of Home, OR

Mesmerizing Staff of Francois, recieved at the end of a long Scheol questline.

From here, the next steps in the 2hb path are going with:

Healing Staff of Alcofribas Nasier, which is recieved from an Inferno questline. At or around the same time you recieve this staff, depending on how you complete the quests (they need not be in order) you could also recieve...

Shield of Zset, which is a shield creation that is cast from a nano from the Dust Brigade questline. Further along in that questline, is another 2hb creation type weapon:

Aggressive Staff of Julian Redfire, which is another quest reward, and is the last (at this time) in the line of 2hb creation weapons for the MP. Another weapon in the works for 18.0 is:

Xan of Gluttony which has much lower requirements than most 2hb weapons, however while it may have a higher damage and the same damage type as all other endgame MP weapons, it remains to see if the endgame 2hb MPs around will take the time to equip this particular weapon or not, since the difference in 2hb requirement between the Xan of Gluttony and the Aggressive Staff of Julian Redfire is about 1000 2hb skill.

+Pistol Weapons+

Pistol MPs have quite a few options available to them over their career. While it's not common to equip a pistol early on in your career, a good option would be:

SOL K-91 Mini Monster (qls 1-64) which is a good starting gun and will get you through until you can get to the Biomare Dungeon and get:

IMI Customized Desert Reet 1000 also known as the CDR, this weapon will be a mainstay for a good chunk of your career as a pistol MP. Having a good minimum damage, fast special recharge, and a neat little proc and no Max Beneficial Skill on top of that gives this pistol a long life. You can safely expect to be using this pistol until you feel ready to move to the next step, which is either:

Kyr'Ozch Pistol - Type 1 paired with Kyr'Ozch Pistol - Type 4 at various qls. This will get you a better minimum damage than the CDR will be able to at some point, and a common endgame setup will be a type 1 at ql300 with a ql199 type 4 offhand, though with LE and the mods that are now available it's likely possible to have both pistols at ql 300 but will not be easy by any stretch.

Another option is to go with the Ofab Peregrine pistols from the LE expansion, which while are better top out at a higher skill and thusly will be harder to equip, but unlike the AI pistol with only Fling or only burst, Ofab Peregrine Mk6 has both:

Ofab Peregrine Mk 6, which is available at the LE kiosks and upgraded with bio-material dropped from the LE alien mothership missions.

Another option coming in the 18.0 update from the Legacy of the Xan booster is:

Xan of Lust

Which while not quite up to the specs of a ql300 Peregrine Mk 6 also happens to be a LOT easier to equip with a much friendlier MR req.

+Bow weapons+

One major thing to bear in mind when looking at any bow is the initiative skill it uses. While the previous weapons above all stuck to one initiative, bows break down into 2 categories: Bows that use Physical init, and Bows that use Ranged Init. A safe assumption to make is that if it's a bow from Rubi-Ka or the Shadowlands, it's going to use Physical Init, while and AI bow or LE bow will use Ranged init. This is an important distinction because the Dreadloch Tigress, one of the best bows available to the MP, is a Ranged init bow, so if you plan on going bow your whole career, using RK or SL bows, at some point you'll need to switch to AI/LE bows and likely reset Physicial init for Ranged.

In the 17.6 patch, however, several RK weapons were given the option to update to more modern numbers, meaning they were made into stock template weapons with a higher minimum damage than you'd normally see, and bows were both included and both bow types were allowed for, so if you don't want to have to reset a skill at some point, this may be an option for you until you can equip an AI or LE bow.

Physical Init bows of note from RK and SL are:

High Quality Schuyler Bow ql 1-200
Howling Bow of Ferocious Appetite ql1-200, with a higher minimum damage, this weapon will be decent in SL in some situations.

Bow of the Double Nimbus, qls 1-299, with Triple Nimbus at ql300

Boosted Bow of Belith (Opi Only!)

Clan SL Bows:
Sancrosanct Bow
Sancrosanct Shere Bow
Seraph Bow,

Omni SL Bows:
Inamorata Bow
Inamorata Shere Bow
Bow of Solace

Both sets are found on the appropriate sided mobs then tradeskilled with a Glyph of Shere and the appropriate Turn Spirit. End result is nodrop but also usable by non-expansion MPs oddly enough.

Alien Invasion brought us:

Kyr'Ozch Crossbow and it's typed buddies,
Kyr'Ozch Crossbow - Type 2 and
Kyr'Ozch Crossbow - Type 3

and Lost Eden brought us:

Ofab Tiger Mk 1 which upgrades to Ofab Tiger Mk 6 which gets passed over in favor of our Dreadloch weapon,
Dreadloch Tigress which has a -nanodamage proc added to it, and is the bow of choice for most MPs, though in the 18.0 booster there is, you guessed it, another Xan weapon option to look at:

Xan of Chaos which while losing the Aimed Shot is faster and has a higher minimum damage than the Tigress, making this a prime option for PvM play.

As you can see, there's a variety of options for every playstyle, and this is not the end-all-be-all of the MP's weapon capacity. If you're interested in seeing more of what the MP is capable of weapon wise or want to see if some idea has a shot of being viable, or to see what was viable in the past, you'll want to visit this part of the Big MP Guide to see both ideas on weapons as well as maximum base skills and where to implant.

5. Armor

Armor for the most part is more straight-forward than weapons for the MP. You'll want something between your soft, succulent flesh and the myriad cyborgs, enemy faction mobs, disgusting monsters, ancient horrors, and on occasion, your fellow player who are all out to kill you.

When it comes to armor, theres lots and lots of different types available to you, who are probably already looking at your newbie armor and fresh off of Noob Isle. It doesn't exactly give you much indication of what to do with the rest of your career as an MP, does it? Thankfully, here's some suggestions:

++TL 1++

This early in the game you'll probably wonder why folks are running around in a medsuit. The reason is that in the first 20 levels or so, a high ql stim can be a complete heal, especially if you keep up on your First Aid skill through that time. MPs don't need to worry quite so much about that, as we have our own healing method, the healpet, but if you want the extra boost for early game, this is viable. Medsuits are available from Omni-Tek shops and are often sold for about 250k for a complete suit by enterprising clanners.

++TL 2++

During this point you'll likely wind up wearing your first suit of Carbonum armor, an easy to make tradeskill armor that uses Stamina and Agility for requirements, but adds to max nano, NCU, and a bit of nano init, oddly enough. Most use it as a starter armor to help out with having the NCU for buffs and a bit more nano, and in this regard it doesn't do too badly. Getting Neleb's Nano-Circuit Robe and the upgrade, Neleb's Nano-Master Robe from the Steps of Madness is a great idea, though the dungeon probably won't be a total cakewalk until the end of this title level.

If you're scouring the Shadowlands statics, you may come across some unusual armor types such as:


Mystical Force Tight Armor


Yellow Force Tight Armor


Zealot's Armor

Or be curious about tradeskilled SL armor (Tradeskill link) some of which may be useful to you in your levelling. The Mystical Force armor is a popular option for those wanting to increase their evades, and the Yellow Force tight buffs a small bit of bow, while the Zealot's Armor seems to focus on TS and a bit of AAD.

During this TL you may find yourself getting your hands on Shades of Lucubration a nanomage-only item that adds lots of Int/Psy to boost your nanoskills a fair bit. Nanomages also have access to De'Valos Sleeves to boost nanoskills even further.

++TL 3++

During this time you'll be working towards armor that likely buffs weaker points in your nanoskills or other skills that you may be lacking. For this there are several armorsets available on Rubi-Ka that will probably fit the bill nicely...

Miy's Melee Armor

Miy's Nano Armor

Miy's Ranged Armor

Miy's Scary Armor

Miy's Tank Armor

The Miy's armor sets are great armor to have during this time if you're levelling, the various pieces are good for both armor ability and the ability to prop up skills you're behind on, like SI or PM.

Another option for the levelling MP is Predator Armor which is in line with several evasion-boosting armors such as Apocalypse Leather (non-Omni) or Omni-Tek Steel-Ribbed (Omni only)

The Reanimator's Cloak used to be a big hit during this and through TL 4 but got surpassed by Neleb's Nano-Master Robe. You may still want to get the 'Bathrobe' but you won't need it until later.

++TL 4++

A lot of the same as before, only now you can focus on other areas as you get to casting your top pets and buffs and don't need your armor or equipment to prop your nanoskills up. Some folks may elect to get their Tier armor here, but unfortunately while our MP tier armor LOOKS really good (as in looks good enough that you might want to get a set for social wear), it isn't that great when it comes to bonuses. Miy's will be a better bet for you for a while, albeit at higher qls, naturally.

Towards the end of TL5 you'll probably be visiting Alien Playfied Sector 10 (S10)and getting some items or creds there, and likely your first AI armor if you're very patient and lucky. As you head closer to 150 you'll find that you will be likely focused on getting weaponskills or evades up as opposed to nanoskills (which have been capped for a long time) so be ready to be flexible in your armor choices.

++TL 5++

Lots of options open up for you here, with limitations really dependent on how much time, creds, and effort you're willing to pour into them.

There's a set of armor called Merlin's armor, and unlike the other armorsets I've listed where they're named Merlin's, this armorset is called that because in the flavor text it names Merlin, someone who is referenced a number of times in Shadowlands lore. (don't ask) Some pieces of this elusive armor could be useful to you but are not cheap as they are found in Inferno as rare drops from lv 250 Spinetooth mobs.

If you played the patience and luck game in S10 you may either be in or have handy a suit of alien armor to get you through most of the rest of the way to endgame, best suited to your playstyle. (Examples will be listed at TL 7)

An easier but less effective route is to go for Tier armor from here until endgame, since upgrades aside, the suit levels with you as your abilities go up. The benefits of wearing Tier armor aren't as good as some other armorsets but you'll only need to upgrade it 2 times once you've made the initial First Tier Metaphysical Armor. Guides on getting Jobe armor can be found here while upgrading it to MP Tier 1 through Faithful/Chosen MP armor can be found here. (Sorry, neutrals, top tier is Clan/Omni only.)

++TL 6++

A lot of options you're using at TL 5 will probably do just fine at TL 6, however a few more options open up on RK for armor, the Omni-AF armor and the Superior Sentinel for Omni and Clan folks, as well as Azure armor for all, all of which is locked to TL 6. Omni-AF armor and Superior Sentinel armor are results of quests, while getting hold of the Azure Reveries armor involves raiding the Mercenary/Primus camp and tackling some of the strongest enemies Rubi-Ka has to offer. These suits offer decent protection, add some bonuses, though they're older, but also look pretty cool on top of it, so it might be worth your while to see about picking some up, though it probably will take a long while to get.

If you remember back in TL 3 how I mentioned why you'd want to get the Blue Bathrobe of Buffing (Reanimator's Cloak) there's a few really tough mobs you'd be interested in visiting, and likely brutally killing out in Milky Way. This handy guide shows you how to turn that robe from an outdated piece of cloth to a rather good piece of back armor with a nice 'on use' for it.

Another piece of armor that is technically available to you at this point but you'll probably not get your hands on is the Spirit Shroud, a very flexible item that changes it's settings when you right-click it. Unfortunately, it drops off of Notum Scourges, lv 220 brink mobs in Penumbra, and it also drops very very rarely, so you'll probably wind up hunting these on your own if you want one, as it's nodrop. Bear in mind it doesn't have a mesh, so it will look like you're not wearing a back armor piece or cloak.

++TL 7++

And finally endgame. Chances are you're finishing off your Tier armorset, and starting to look at Ofab armor, which while it has nice mods, doesn't level, so you're buying the set you get, which is why many wait until endgame to get their set, since upgrading it involves many LE mishes (the upgrades drop from the boss at the end of each mission) and getting it involves even MORE LE mishes or fighting on the Battlestations (which currently gives more VP per time spent.)

A full suit of Penultimate Ofab, with Profession ring and Special Ed helmet, can be seen here to look at the benefits in comparison to a full suit of MP Tier 3 armor, of which a Faithful suit can be found here, and a Chosen suit can be found here.

Note the huge difference in AAD on the Penultimate Ofab over both the Chosen and Faithful armors. AAD/Defense modifier/Add All Def is a value that is added to your evades when an attack check is made, and works for attacks checking against Evade-Cls, Dodge-Rng, Duck-Exp, and perk actions of all kinds. So in terms of bonuses, Ofab is by far and away one of the better armors you can get, but has the unfortunate side effect of being, well, ugly. However, you can wear stuff in social tab, thankfully.

While Ofab is good, some MPs may choose to wear armor that's more suited to their chosen playstyle, whether it be ranged, melee, or nano focused. For that, there's suits of Alien armor that are tradeskilled from lead viralbot drops by AI generals/admirals. If at Tl4-5 you managed to get some armor from S10 then by now you probably have an idea of what AI armor can do, and probably an idea of what you'd like your final suit of Combined armor to look like. For the rest of you, here's the breakdown.

This is the tradeskill process to make AI armor, the most important and expensive part of which is the Lead Viralbots needed to make it, which come in six flavors, one for each ability. The link also shows what each armor has in terms of stats as well as how to make Combined armor, what combinations are possible, and the stats on those armors.

Because the Lead Viralbot drops are so rare off of the generals and admirals, the armor can get very pricey for certain types, especially if they're highly wanted, such as Combined Sharpshooter (CSS), Combined Commando (CC), though some alien armors are more desired and highly priced than others. (Combined Scouts as a note is much cheaper than the above listed armors.)

The end result armorwise will probably reflect your needs as an MP, since even with a full suit of Combined, you'll want to have a Penultimate Ofab chest if you're going bow, for example.

A few odds and ends however to bear in mind that you'll want to know about for endgame are:

Mystical Green Hood, a rare Inferno drop.

Sureshot Glasses, another drop from AI generals/admirals.

Shroud of Darkest Night, a rare cloak drop in Inferno.

These are just suggestions, if you're still working your way towards 220 you may have an entirely different setup that you find works better for you, like high QL Mystical armor for evades, or damage boosting armor, etc. Feel free to ask people you run into or look around on the sites this guide links to.

6. Nanos

Nanos are our bread and butter as Meta-Physicists. The handful of nanos you'll get when you start out on Noob Island does not really give proper scope to the long list and array of nanos we have. The pets are the immediately visible sign of an MP in the area, but so are the creation weapons, the nanoskill buffs, the large array of debuffs, nanocost buffing, and more. This section will go into a bit more detail about all the various nanos we have, and what they do and the general area to find them.

MP nanos can be broken down into a few categories:

Pets
Pet buffs (several lines)
Nukes (2 types)
Nanoskill buffs (4 tiers of buffing and composite buffs too)
Self-only int/psy/nanoskill buff
Nanocost buffs
-nano interrupt buffs
Damage debuff lines (several)
nanoskill debuff lines (lots)
the NSD line
Creation weapons, both 1hb/2hb, and our Boon of Ergo:XXX-YYY line
Pet snare/deroots
SL team warps
SL Anchor/recall line.

Scattered in all that is one nanocost debuff, one stun, one evade buff, Quantum Wings (our personal flying line) and 2 nanoprogramming buffs.

++Pets++

Pets are pretty much the MP's bread and butter, and we have 3 different types of pets we can cast: the Attack pet, the Mezz Pet, and the Healpet, each has a different purpose, and all can be useful to you in most situations.

Attack Pets use TS/MC to cast and as of 18.0 last for 2 hours regardless of the level of the pet. There are 4 types of pets that the MP has access to, though they're cast at different points in their career: the meatball, the RK demon, the SL demon, and the urn pet. The meatball has lower HP and uses 2 'fists' while the RK demon has higher HP and uses only one. The SL demons have varied HP but generally much higher ACs and use anywhere from 3-5 weapons, and the urn pets have lower HP, normal RK ACs, but have higher nano resist, higher attack rating, and likely uses 3 attacks, one of which can stun an opponent every so often at higher ql.

Healpets use BM/TS to cast and also last 2 hours. The healpet can be commanded to heal someone or something, at which point they'll follow the target closely, healing it if it's injured or damaged. The nano cast by the healpet changes as you train perks in Soothing Spirits perkline, so the amount healed by the healpet can go higher as you gain more perks in the line, with the top of the line being Mortificant the Eternal. Healpets have normal RK acs and hit points, with the exception of Mortificant the Eternal, and in the early levels can run out of nano though the SS perkline also reduces the cost of the nano the healpet casts.

Mezz Pets use MM/TS to cast and also last 2 hours. The mezz pet can be commanded to 'attack' a target, which translates to it casting it's 'Mesmeric gaze' nano on it, which while in the Calming line of nanos doesn't actually wipe the hatelist of the target, which makes it more technically a stun in pvm. In PvP, the Mesmeric Gaze is a root, so the target cannot move but can still fight and perform other actions. Note however that in both uses the nano the mezz pet uses has a break chance of 100%, so any hit, any nano used on the target in that time will break the calm. Mezz pets up to Tumulten have RK hp and ACs, while Yidira has both more in line with SL pets.

++Pet Buffs++

MPs get quite a few pet buffs, and can do wonders to improve both pet damage as well as survivability towards endgame.

The Instill line of nanos are a long-duration line of nanos that give a smaller damage boost to the attack pet. These stack with other damage boosts.

The Chant/High Chant line of nanos is a long-duration initiative buff for the pet that buffs all initiatives by a large amount.

The Evocation/Anima line of nanos are a short-duration, high-damage line of nanos that stack with the Instill line of nanos. The Evocation line are a later iteration of the Anima line, and have longer duration than the Anima line, and also add AAO to the pet as well unlike the Anima line, however the Evocation line is dyna-boss loot only and level locked unlike the Anima line which can be blitzed and has no such lock. These lines do not stack with each other, but do stack with other MP pet buff lines.

There's 2 lines of defensive Evocation nanos, one of which gives AAD/ACs/and Calm/root resist, while the other provides NR and resistance to Damage over Time nanolines. These stack with both offensive Evocations and other pet buff lines.

Healthy Manifestation is a nano that's a reward from the Dust Brigade questline, and will improve the pet's rate of healing by a certain amount by casting a Heal over Time effect that scales with the pet's maximum hit points, it's the only nano of this type and it stacks with all other pet buffs.

There is also a line of buffs for each pet that requires that a certain line of weapons be equipped, usually referred to as the 'support' weapons or support staves, the nanos, one for each pet, give a buff to increase the effectiveness of the pet in some way, the buff for the mezz pet increases PM/SI, the attack skills for the mezz, the healing pet gets a healing efficiency buff, and the attack pet gets an AAo buff that stacks with all other pet buffs.

++Combat Nanos++

Pets aside we actually have personal damage capacity in the form of our nukes. We do not have the same variety or range as the Nano-Tech, but we can hold our own. In times of desperation we can actually stun a target, though it's something of a all-or-nothing effort.

The Cold nuke line uses MC/PM and has a nano-resist check of 85%, meaning it's more likely to land than the other line, but does less damage than the Mind line.

The Mind nuke line also uses MC/PM and has a nano-resist check of 100%. On top of having higher damage than the mind nuke line, it also has a small nanoskill debuff that lasts for a few seconds attached to it, and also taunts the enemy hit by it for a small amount on top of it, so an MP chain-nuking with the mind nuke line will have more aggro than an MP chain-nuking with the cold line.

Curse of Chronos uses TS/SI and is a stun nano, having a nano resist check of 130%, meaning it's less likely to land than the other two combat lines. This nano stuns a target for 5.25 seconds, but has a 10 second recharge, to prevent chain-stunning an opponent.

++Nanoskill buffs++

This nanoskill line is loved by just about everyone, as it helps them reach higher buffs and nanos in their own line, as well as helping the MP reach higher nanos on their own. This line of nanos is broken down into 4 tiers. All nanoskill buffs in this line require PM and SI to cast.

Teachings buff a nanoskill by 25 points, and will be the second nanoskill buffing an MP will be able to use (the first being the general buff lines available to everyone) and gives a respectable boost in skill for the level you get it (usually around 15 or so) and is also easy on the NCU as well. Teachings last 30 minutes, while the Composite Teachings nano lasts for 4 hours but is locked to lv 25 and higher

Masteries are usually cast around 35-45, and buffs nanoskills by 50 points. This tier of nanoskill buff lasts 45 minutes, and is a bit more NCU intensive. Composite Masteries lasts 4 hours but is locked to lv 50.

Infuse with Knowledge line of nanos, aka Infuses, last 50 minutes and buff the nanoskills in question by 90 points. Composite Infuses lasts 4 hours but is locked to lv 100

Mocham's Gift tier of nanos buffs nanoskills by the highest amount, 140, but also take the highest amount of NCU, over 50 per nano. Composite Mochams has several versions, each lasting a different amount of time and each locked to a different level.

++Odin's Eye line++

These 2 nanos are standbys for the MP, buffing Int, Psy and all nanoskills. Though Odin must not be too happy, since he's now blind as a bat.

The original Odin's nano is Odin's Missing Eye, which sacrifices 250 max health for the buffs gained, 40 int/psy/nanoskills, while the Odin's Other Eye buffs 100 Int/Psy/Nanoskills with no health sacrifice as a result. Both nanos require BM and PM to cast.

++Nanocost Buffs++

These seemingly unimportant nanos buff one very important stat: the cost of nano, aka nanocost. More specifically they reduce it by a % which grows. The top of this line is -24%, and lasts for 2 hours, unlike the NT top end which tops out at 28% and lasts for ONE hour. Less nanocost means more nano to use for buffs, debuffs, pets, nukes and other things when nano would normally be tight. Bear in mind the -nanocost maximum that comes with each breed however.

++Nano Interrupt line.++

This line seems sort of useless until you realize that your nanocasting can be interrupted by anyone in melee combat and range of you. Any single hit has a chance of interrupting any nano you may be casting at that moment, though instacast nanos aren't figured into this. However as you run into longer cast times, it may be to your benefit to put this line to use, and have it handy for any nanocasting profession who could be interrupted at any time (doctors spring right to mind). The chance of an interrupt happening is reduced by the rating listed on the nano in question in the line.

++Damage Debuff Lines++

MP damage debuffs were considered very useless for a long while, the RK line only debuffed by -37 points with -231 initiatives (and not even nano init.), and the SL debuffs had such long cast times if you had to use them, you were probably already dead. However that problem's been remedied and now you can pile on 3 lines of damage debuffing for a lot of misery on the recieving end of things. All of the damage debuff lines use MM and PM.

The first damage debuff line is the RK line. This line of nanos will be available to the MP from Noob Isle onwards, as it's part of the starting nano pack available there. The increments debuffed aren't terribly great, nor is the initiative debuff that hot but it stacks with doctor init debuffs, crat init debuffs, Dazzle with Lights, and the other 2 MP debuff lines as well, so while it's not that great, it's also got uses.

The second is the XYZ of Will line, which is our first SL debuff line. The duration is shorter than the RK debuff line, topping out at 45 seconds, but the initiative debuff is dropped for pure damage debuffing. While this seems a better bet, in fact it's required to be able to cast the last SL debuff line. The target must be a certain level or higher, the specific level determined by the nano in the line, for the nano to work.

The XYZ of Resolve line is the 'heavy' SL debuff line, and debuffs for more damage than any other line out there. The duration however is even shorter, 13 seconds for the Resolve line, but the damage reduced is immense and can turn the course of a fight if timed properly. This line won't run if the Will line is not running on the target first however.

Another part of this these lines is the healing and nanodamage debuffs. Hostility Scourge and Beneficial Scourge are part of the SL debuff A line (and overwrite the top DD debuff in that line as well) but instead of debuffing damage, they debuff healing capacity and nanodamage capacity instead. Useful for those pesky doctors and NTs.

++Nanoskill Debuff lines++

As the MP giveth, so can they taketh away. The Unmake and Dominate lines are the debuff answers to the various nanoskill buffing lines MPs have access to. These are longer lasting than the usual MP debuff lines but don't have such an apparent effect on the target.

The Unmake line has one nano for each nanoskill, uses PM/SI, and is an attempt to lower the target's nanoskill by 75 points. Bear in mind this nano only has use in PvP, as lowering a mob's nanoskill by 75 points will not disable casting of certain nanos, though it may improve your chances of resisting the nano being thrown at you, though this is uncertain as to if it works or not.

The Dominate line is much the same as the Unmake line but debuffs for 125 instead.

To be continued in next post.....

Nanos, continued from previous post....


++Nanoskill Debuff lines++

As the MP giveth, so can they taketh away. The Unmake and Dominate lines are the debuff answers to the various nanoskill buffing lines MPs have access to. These are longer lasting than the usual MP debuff lines but don't have such an apparent effect on the target.

The Unmake line has one nano for each nanoskill, uses PM/SI, and is an attempt to lower the target's nanoskill by 75 points. Bear in mind this nano only has use in PvP, as lowering a mob's nanoskill by 75 points will not disable casting of certain nanos, though it may improve your chances of resisting the nano being thrown at you, though this is uncertain as to if it works or not.

The Dominate line is much the same as the Unmake line but debuffs for 125 instead.

++Nano Shutdown Line++

Called NSD for short, this nanoline is about one thing and one thing only: reducing the target's nanoskills to 0 or less. Unlike the Unmake and Dominate lines, this WILL shut off monster casting abilities. The NSD line uses BM/PM/TS nanoskills and has 2 nanos in the line, the first being Nano Shutdown, decreases nanoskills by 2000 each, lasts for one minute, but has a 160% check rate (meaning a target has a much better chance of resisting this nano than others) and a long cast time. The second, Nanite Enhanced Nano Shutdown has a shorter cast time, 100% nano resist check, so much easier to land than NSD, but only lasts 15 seconds, with a 10 second nano recharge similar to Curse of Chronos. The big difference between these two however is that NSD is usable on anything, while ENSD can only be used on your fellow players.

++MP Creation line++

Not every nano is about putting pain or misery on a target. These nano lines are based around putting the nano to work for us by creating something which winds up in our inventory. Weapons, shields and a set of useful utility items are the name of the game here.

1hb creations come in 4 flavors, golden stick, yellow shield, blue shield and red shield. Each has different effects on use, there are several varieties of each in the 1hb creation line, and all of them use BM/MC/TS to cast. The common varieties to see are gold stick and red shield, since 1hb weapons use 80% TS attack rating, which means you'll likley have more AR since TS maxes much higher than 1hb, and the red shield gives AAD, which is calculated on top of your evades to see if you evade any given attack or perk attempt.

The 2hb creation nano line uses the same nanoskills but creates very slow weapons that buff -nanocost and max init. These weapons are usually passed over for other options until the first 'support staff' from the Scheol questline.

The Boon of Ergo line is a series of nanos that create an Unpolluted crystal of a ql equal to the NCU cost of the nano, so the ql220 Boon of Ergo nano will create a ql300 Unpolluted Crystal. This crystal is filled by targetting a Control Tower of equal or higher level (except for ql300 crystals which are filled off of ql255 towers) then right clicking the crystal, which will then fill it. These filled crystals are used in the pocket boss creation process described here, with a list of known pocket bosses and what they drop can be found here.

++Pet De-Snare and De-root++

The nano line we get to free our pets from nasty snares and roots first opens up to us at lv 75, with Fluctuate Manifestation, and require TS and MC to cast for the whole line. This line is focused on reducing the duration of both roots and snares on the pets, and the amount reduced is greater with each higher nano, until you reach the Improved Pet Attention nano, which removes calms, snares and roots with such arbitrary amounts there's not much of a point in stating a number. Pet Attention and Improved Pet Attention are nanos we share with the other pet professions, Bureaucrats and Engineers, and unlike our own desnare/deroot line, does not have level locks.

++Sacrificial Shielding++

This is a nano that does a lot of things at once. Most of them are defensive in nature, but there's a small offensive portion that's important to this nano. There's only one nano in this line, requires MM and PM to cast and it attempts to place a damage over time nano on the target. If this effect is resisted, nothing else happens and the MP is in nano recharge for 30 seconds. If it lands, the target gets 200 AAO (add all off, and that means the target hits better) an 800 point dot, halved in pvp, and the MP who cast this nano gets 2500 ACs, 250 AAO, 200 nano resist, 75% root/snare resist, and if that weren't enough, you get 5 special attack blockers, so the next 5 special attacks won't touch you. And you're in nano recharge for 30 seconds, though the nano lasts a full minute.

++The Other nanos++

There's a few nanos not listed on the main lines because they're either not often used enough to count or are plenty unique on their own.

The first of this is probably why half the MPs in game got rolled in the first place, Quantum Wings. This nano allows you to fly for 30 minutes. No shape shifting, no requirements in Vehicle Air, just cast and go. 480 MM/BM/TS and you too can be as free as a bird without having to look like one. Usually the reason why no MP ever owns a yalm, since it's much much cheaper to buy, upload and cast this nano.

The Shadowlands Recall/Anchor lines are of use only in the shadowlands, and their function is to anchor the team (sans MP) to a spot that you designate, so that if someone dies, they can quickly be recalled back to that area by casting the anchor nano in that spot.

The Shadowlands Warp line of nanos are our answer to the Fixer's garden warps. Unlike the Fixer's warps where the fixer, the fixer, and nothing but the fixer is warped to the garden in question, we are the mass-transit option. The whole team (who must be wearing the appropriate key, mind you) can be warped to Elysium, Scheol, or Adonis as they see fit. This line of nanos will work solo, so if you are sitting at endgame and just can't be bothered to run the 20-30 minutes to get back to a garden and have all the garden and sanctuary keys this could be a quicker option for you.

Another nano that sees little use is the nanocost debuff we have. It debuffs nanocost by adding another 25% to the cost of nanos.

As well we have our Nemesis nano, aimed against the Nano Technicians called Nano Division. It debuffs the nano damage modifier by 25%.

Another often forgotten but very important nano in the early game is Anticipation of Retaliation. This buff we get early, buffs all our evades by 60 points, and you'll likley be using it all the way to endgame, so keep it handy.

Last and not least is our nanoprogramming buffs. 2 in this line, and if you're a tradeskilling MP or know folks who are you'll be asked for the nanoprogramming buffs Symbol Helper or Advanced Symbol Manipulation every so often. This line stacks with the general NP buff so you can have +40 or +112 nanoprogramming in a hurry if you're needing it.

As you can see, we have a LOT of nanos at our command, and if you're interested in seeing them all you can find them here at auno's MP nano listing. with another listing to be found here at another database.

7. Implants and Symbiants

Implants and symbiants are a very important part of the gear that MP's use. These can buff crucial skills such as the nanoskills, weapons, evades or other aspects of a character's abilities or skills. As such, knowing what to use and where can be very important.

Implants are available the moment you step off of Noob Isle, and as you look in the basic shop where they're located, you'll see that they require a single ability and Treatment (remember why I said max treatment?) to put on. Usually the Treatment requirement will be the higher of the 2 requirements by far and away, but there's easy ways to get more treatment up even at lower levels. The general Treatment Expertise buffs for 20, wearing a medsuit will give you 72 more, and if you can get the NCU for it, you can get Superior First Aid for another 80 treatment, not to mention the Surgery Clinic buffs you for 100 treatment when you use it as well.

Implants are fairly limited, in that you can only buff one Shining, one Bright, and One Faded skill or ability per implant. Certain skills will only fit into certain slots, so you can't manage to have all 6 nanoskills in shining slots in implants, because all 6 nanoskills are shining only in the head.

The basic MP implants that are available aren't always the best fit for your playstyle, so it's suggested that before you start buying your implants is to look at what the other kiosks have in their inventory. Different profession kiosks have different implant sets, and some may be more of use to you than others. Also to bear in mind is if you need more ability buffing that there are also some implants in these kiosks that will actually buff abilities instead of skills.

Symbiants are a different story altogether. Found in the Shadowlands off of bosses early on and dropping from pocket bosses later (and The Night Heart), these replace implants in the wear slots, and require 3 abilities to put on as well as Treatment. However the number of skills and abilities buffed by symbiants is not limited to the number provided by implants. It's routine to see a symbiant buff all nanoskills for the Shining head slot, for example, as well as a few other skills that would normally be found in that particular slot.

Different sets of symbiants buff different sets of abilities. MPs have access to 3 sets of symbiants: Extermination, used by nuking professions, Control, which is used by pet controlling professions, and support, which is used by support professions. Of these Control gives the most buffs, while Extermination has similar buffing sets. Support doesn't focus so much on evades but ACs and other options. All three sets however have access to AAD clusters in the appropriate spots however.

Symbiants have 2 primary ability requirements which remain static in the set, and a third that will vary by the symbiant's location. Extermination and Control have Intelligence and Psychic for primaries, while Support requires Agility and Sense.

Even as you get higher, you may find that the symbiants you have access to won't buff a certain skill you'd like. It's at this time that you'll likely turn to a custom implant to give you the skill you need. MPs still use custom implants all the way to endgame, but the tradeoffs from having a symbiant in that spot will be something to carefully weight before you make the jump, so bear that in mind.

Using the proper mix of implants and symbiants can turn your character into a powerhouse, so doing your research beforhand on what you're going to want out of your character will be important. AO Pocket is a useful resource for finding out what symbiant parts would work best for you as well as what pocket boss you'll need to kill for that particular symbiant, while auno.org has an impressive database that's searchable to find more details on what any given symbiant buffs or requires to put on.

8. Perks

This particular part of the guide will open with a link to The Big MP Guide where you should look at the section titled "MP SL Perk Choices". While this guide will skim over the perk options available to the MP in SL and beyond, the Big MP guide will have more detailed information in regards to SL perks (though the recommendations as to any given perk line may have changed over the years.) while the majority of this guide will be going over the AI perklines and research.

++SL Perks++

SL perks are the perks you get every 10 levels before 200 and every level between 200 and 220, for 40 in total. SL perks are used exclusively for SL perklines, and cannot be used for AI perklines. Most SL perklines have level limits to train that particular perkline, so for instance you won't see anyone with Soothing Spirits 10 at lv 100, for example. The following are some simple suggestions as to what MPs commonly train, though you're welcome to experiment on your own since the perk timer was changed to 2 hours to untrain a perk.

Soothing Spirits is considered a 'must have' perkline, not just because of better healpet healing (as well as less nano use per heal) but also for the team heal and team nanoheal perk actions, which are much like an extra use of First Aid (and some MPs forgo first aid entirely because of this, others use it for more healing).

Channel Rage at first looks more useless than it is, since we have lots of pet damage already, but it's the buffs that this perkline gives, more nanoresist, TS/MC, hitpoints and that all important AAD that make this line a similar must have.

Many MPs train genius 2 for the the Regain nano perk action, simply to give a quick boost when doing a lot of casting (such as initial buffing before a mission, team buffing, etc.)

Other MPs find that the root given in Theoretical Research 3 is a useful one, as it lets us deal with one more add that comes our way in PvM. PvP it's not quite as useful, since many players will be investing in root/snare resist.

Starfall is another popular option for MPs since it gives access to some big damage perk actions, as well as Dazzle with Lights, a nice debuffing perk action. However the perk actions in Starfall need to be chained to work, so if one action gets resisted the rest won't work. Remaining points are usually allocated to Pistol Mastery, Blunt Mastery, or Nano Doctorate as needed.

++AI perks++

MPs recieved one new AI perkline, Ancient Knowledge, for profession perklines, two group perklines, The Unknown Factor and Ranger, and eight general perklines. 5 of the general perklines buff a set of primary weaponskills and nanoskills, and are called Champion of xyz lines, there's a line that buffs and then there's Nanomorph, Opportunist, and the Alien Tecnology Expertise line, which is used to equip alien items.

On the whole, most MPs generally pass over Ancient Knowledge for Champion of Nano Combat. The first perk action, the healpet/attackpet buff, was broken for quite a long time and the rest of the line isn't of great importance to the MP as a whole. Most MPs usually perk Champion of Nano Combat for higher nanoskills, then follow with the Champion of their chosen weapon style (Light Infantry for 1hb, Heavy Infantry for 2hb, and Light Artillery for Bow/Pistol) In addition, Bow MPs can also train Ranger to level 6 for more points in Bow and Bow special Attack.

The Unknown Factor perkline is nice for tradeskillers and offers some unusual perk actions, both reliant on int/psy and doing really good damage for the level they're available at (lv 75) but means putting points somewhere other than Champion of Nano combat, so this needs to be weighed.

Nanomorph and Opportunist aren't generally used by MPs since we already have enough nano and we don't usually equip weapons with Parry or Riposte requirements. However, there's one more section to go over in regards to alien perks, and it's the breed-based perklines that are available to each breed. The following list will give a quick list of which skills are buffed by any given Champion line as well as any perk actions given.

Ancient Knowledge:
Max Nano 1500

Nano Init 100

Nanodamage modifier +3%

Actions: Ken Fi (pet only buff), Ken Si (Damage over time on health and nano) and Ka Mon (direct damage)

Champion of Light Artillery
Pistol, SMG, Shotgun and Bow 100

Actions: Collapser (Scaling DD perk), and Implode (Health and nano DD perk)

Champion of Heavy Artillery
Assault Rifle, Rifle, Ranged Energy, Heavy Weapons, Grenade 100

Actions
Fuzz (scaling DD perk), Fire Frenzy (Damage over time perk)

Champion of Light Infantry
Piercing, 1hb, 1he, and Martial Arts 100

Actions
Crave (Scaling DD perk) and Bore (Direct Damage perk)

Champion of Heavy Infantry
2h Blunt, 2h Edged, and Melee Energy 100

Actions
Bluntness (Scaling DD perk) and Break (Direct damage and AC debuff)

Champion of Nano Combat
SI/PM/TS/MC/MM/BM 100

Actions
Nano Feast (Scaling DD perk) and Bot Confinement (DD and nanodamage debuff)


++AI Breed perks++

AI breed perks are usually the other reason why someone chooses one breed over another at start. Each breed gets access to 2 perklines specific to each breed with AI, which on the surface simply buff abilities that are primary or secondary to that breed (which is why they're called the primary or secondary genome perklines) but the perk actions that come with these perklines are useful in many ways.

Solitus perklines are the most balanced in terms of the buffs they give, with the Alpha genome giving Tacky Hack, a root resistance perk action, and Sphere, an AAO/AAD/Crit buff that effects the whole team. The Beta Genome gives Feel, a scaling DD perk action and Survival, a team HoT perk action that's comparable with top SL fixer HoTs.

The Opifex perklines have Agi/Sense as primary and the rest as Secondary. The Primary Genome has Opening, an attack that must be performed when the target's nearly at full health, and Derivate, an init debuff and DoT that must be performed behind the target. Secondary Genome perk actions have Blinded by Delights, a blind and nanoskill debuff, and Dizzying Heights, chained after BbD that does direct damage.

The Atrox perklines have Str and Sta as primary and the rest as Secondary. The Primary Genome has Body Tackle, a damage perk, and Mongo Rage, a massive AAO buff with an equally massive AAO and runspeed debuff afterwards. The secondary perkline has Wit of the Atrox, a 350 boost to Dodge Ranged, and My Own Fortress, an AC buff with an AAO buff and snare perk action.

The Nanomage perklines have Int and Psy as primary and the rest as Secondary. The Primary Genome actions include Reject, a minor Direct Damage action, and Sword, a 100% nanocost debuff perk action. Secondary actions include Pen, a blind/damage/snare perk action, and Notum Shield, a reflect perk action that stacks with all other reflects that drains 500 nano per second until the user is below 5k nano.

9. LE Research and Specials

With Lost Eden's release, MPs got access to research lines, 7 personal research lines in total, with 10 levels in each. Each level of research completed gives a bonus to the MP, or gives a Type 1 or Type 2 Proc Action. You can choose which line your research XP goes to at any time, or elect to not divert XP/SK to research at all. Once learned, there is no way to unlearn or unselect research already completed.

You can have one Type 1 action and one Type 2 action running at any given point in time, and they are procs that have a 5% chance of firing when a weapon attack lands on a target.

Angst

Anxiety can be a liability on Rubi-Ka, but an understanding of it can help you harness its power.

Lv 1: Str 5
Lv 2: MM 15
Lv 3: Str 10
Lv 4: Bow 15
Lv 5: Thoughtful Means (Type 2, +200 nano init for 1 min)
Lv 7: Str 15
Lv 8: SI/MM/BM/PM/TS/MC +25 to all
Lv 9: Agi 20
Lv 10: Psy 25

Foresight

Planning ahead can save you from grief later on.

Lv 1: 4 NCU
Lv 2: Comp Lit 10
Lv 3: MC 15
Lv 4: TS 15
Lv 5: QFT 25
Lv 6: Ego Strike (Type 1, 602-1268 cold damage)
Lv 7: Int 15
Lv 8: Anticipated Evasion (Type 2, +250 to all evades for 1 min)
Lv 9: QFT 50
Lv 10: Int 25

Jealousy

The inequities of your enemies often provide an opening for exploitation.

Lv 1: Sow despair (Type 2, 12-22 poison damage)
Lv 2: 2hb 10
Lv 3: 1hb 10
Lv 4: Multi-Melee 25
Lv 5: 1hb 25, 2hb 25
Lv 6: AAD 15
Lv 7: Nancost -3% x2 (total -6%)
Lv 8: AAD 25
Lv 9: 1hb 50, 2hb 50
Lv 10: Nanodamage modifier +5% x2 (total 10%)

Perserverences

Through trials and tribulations, one must always endure.

Lv 1: Dodge-Rng 10
Lv 2: Max Health 50
Lv 3: Regain Focus (Type 1, +100 evades for 1 min)
Lv 4: Mind Wail (Type 2, 314-699 cold damage)
Lv 5: Dodge-Rng 25
Lv 6: Max Health 100
Lv 7: Stam 15
Lv 8: AAD 50
Lv 9: Max Health 150
Lv 10: Nanobot Contingent Arrest (Type 2, -2000 nanoskills for 1 min)

Spatial Awareness

The position, orientation and movement of all objects in your surroundings is always apparent to a master of the meta-physical arts.

Lv 1: Diffuse Rage (Type 2, -19 inits and -3 damage for 1 min)
Lv 2: Economic Nanobot Use (type 1, -12% nanocost for 1 min)
Lv 3: Evade-Cls 15
Lv 4: Dodge-Rng 15
Lv 5: Sense 10
Lv 6: Stam 10
Lv 7: Evade Cls 25
Lv 8: Psychic 20
Lv 9: Stam 20
Lv 10: Sense 25

Sympathy

When you share the feelings of another person or creature, you can plan your actions better through this mutual understanding.

Lv 1: SM/PM/MM/BM/MC/TS +5 to all.
Lv 2: Treatment 10
Lv 3: BM 15
Lv 4: TS 15
Lv 5: Sense 10
Lv 6: Nano Programming 25
Lv 7: Supress Fury (Type 2 -261 inits, -37 damage for 1 min)
Lv 8: Nano Programming 50
Lv 9: Intelligence 20
Lv 10: Super-Ego Strike (Type 2, 1500-3000 cold damage)

Trauma

Physical wounds heal with time, but emotional wounds are far more enduring.

Lv 1: Aimed Shot 10
Lv 2: Bow 10
Lv 3: Sow Doubt (Type 2, -134 inits, -18 damage for 1 min)
Lv 4: Aimed Shot 25
Lv 5: Bow 25
Lv 6: Ranged init 30, Phys init 30
Lv 7: Aimed Shot 40
Lv 8: Bow 50
Lv 9: Aimed Shot 50
Lv 10: Bow 60

A list of what all the buffs that are provided by all this research once completed can be found here, while Threezey has written a very good short guide on what our LE procs do and who they are supposed to effect here.

10. Fighting as an MP

Oddly enough, fighting as an MP is more complex than it appears on the surface. As you gain levels and pets start to fall behind in the equation of how much percentage of your total damage they do, you not only have to pick up the slack from pet damage falling off somewhat, but also have to make sure that the additional aggro you gain doesn't get you killed as well.

For the first few title levels however, your focus is getting the biggest and baddest set of pets you possible can, and that means nanoskill buffing to the max. Having a pet thats anywhere from 20 to 50 (or more if you really try) levels higher than you can really solve a lot of problems, especially if that pet is buffed up properly.

During the early title levels, the nukes will also be a great source of personal damage for the MP as opposed to any weapons you could likely wield. It helps a lot that having strong nanoskills for breaking out bigger pets also means having stronger nanoskills for reaching and landing bigger nukes in our various lines as well. Bear in mind however that the Mind line of nukes has an extra taunt attached to it, and will make it more likely for you to get aggro as a result, while the Cold line of nukes has a lower resist check, meaning it'll land on the target more likely than the Mind line of nukes.

At TL4, however, the focus changes, because you're going to be staring at either Transcendend Enmity Personification or Cacodemon for about 65 or more levels, depending on how you twinked out. While soloing it may help to keep that Red Shield handy, you may want to look at having a weaponskill at a reasonable level so you can contribute to damage in teams better. The faster the team kills a mob, the less likely something will go haywire and the team wipes, or the less strain a doctor has to go through, etc. Putting good weapons in your hands can help the team out through this phase of play.

Another tool at your disposal however and one you should become used to using is your RK damage debuff. By TL 4 you should be using the top one comfortably, and while it's not the top Init debuff by far, it's unbreakable and stacks with the others. -261 inits isn't much to sneeze at and it can save your life when you least expect it.

Perks are often ignored until later, however being aware of your perks and what they do can also be a lifesaver. Occasionally opening your actions window with Control+2 and looking to see what's there can do you wonders, your normal actions, special attacks, perk actions and LE procs are all here so you can move them to the hotbar of your choice.

Nukes are a good source of damage through until TL5, and can also be a nice boost to damage if you're using weapons, though you'll need to learn how to time your nukes to fire off in such a way that they don't interrupt your weapon fire too much (this takes some practice and understanding of how the weapon attack and nano attack bars work) which casting a nano can do if you fire a nuke while a weapon is in it's attack charge. The best time to use a nuke if you're using weapons is when all your weapons are in the 'recharge' phase, i.e. before they start towards the attack phase again. Practicing and observing the nano and weapon bars will help you figure out how best to time your nuking and other nanos with regards to your weapon attacks, though XtremTech puts more information in his Big MP Guide in the section titled "MP Weapon Choices."

In teams an MP's big focus is on providing good damage while giving the doctor a bit of a break by having the healpet on either the tank or someone who tends to get a lot of aggro who isn't the tank. The good news is unlike our fellow Jack of All Trades profession, the Adventurer, we can delegate all this extra work and focus on doing more damage or debuffing.

One note of caution however: When cast and when first zoning into an area, ALL MP pets default to /pet guard (for more info, use /pet help in game) which means if you are aggroed all your pets will attempt to attack the attacker. If you're soloing or simply roaming around this could be good, but in a team it's generally understood that this is bad, since the pet can draw aggro from social mobs and generally bring a horde of angry mobs upon the team, which usually equals a quick trip to reclaim for all.

It will take some time to get used to the MP toolset and figure out how you want your style of play to fit in with it but you'll find playing an MP vastly satisfying when you do.

++ Pets ++

Pets and their handling in combat and other situations will be a big part of managing your little 'insta-team' that is your summons and yourself. If you've never played an MP before you may want to try looking at the various commands by typing /pet help, then reading the basic instructions that pop up.

To be simple and basic, however, the 3 pets at this time have one function each, the Attack pet attacks, the Mezz pet attempts to mezz, and the Heal pet heals every so often. The following will be a basic rundown of pet commands and how to make it so you're not going to be trying to type all this out while in the middle of combat!

/pet rename "name here"

This renames the pet what ever you wish, though you'll need the quotations if it's going to be more than one word. Quotations will be needed to refer to that pet name if you're asking one pet to do something else, as will be shown later.

/pet "The Rihwen" attack

This tells the attack pet The Rihwen to attack. Without the name, all pets will attempt to attack, including the healpet, though it'll simply tell you it won't do it. Both the Attack Pet and the Mezz Pet will attack with this command, though they'll do different things of course.

/pet "Mortificant the Eternal" heal

This tells the named pet, in this case the top heal pet, Mortificant the Eternal, to heal the target. One thing to really bear in mind is that you can command the healpet to heal just about anything in the game. Even things that other professions can't heal can be healed by an MP healpet, like the enemy you're trying to kill, so bear that in mind when asking the healpet to /pet heal that you're not asking it to heal the mob you're fighting.

/pet guard

This command sets the pets to follow you but attack anything that attacks you. Commands like this that don't have a targetted pet will apply to ALL pets, so using this command and then being attacked will have your healpet flying off to try to kill the attacker, and not healing you or your friends. Bear in mind this is the default setting for pets when entering a new zone.

/pet wait

All pets wait at the current spot until you give them another command. This can be useful when you need them out of the way for a moment or two, or if somehow you manged to get the 'puller' job in the team (pullers 'pull' single mobs at a time to their teammates so they don't get overwhelmed by too many adds)

/pet follow or /pet behind

This basically tells the pet to follow you and stay behind you, ignoring anyone that attacks you. Pets told to do this will continue to do this until you give them another command.

This is all well and good but another thing to note is that you don't need to be typing all this stuff out. A tool you'll soon learn to love like no other is the /macro command. An example of a macro is:

/macro HEAL /pet "Mortificant the Eternal" heal

What this does when you input it to a chat box is it then creates a macro button that you can put on your hotbar. If you press the corresponding key that this macro is on, then you'll be commanding your healpet to heal your current target.

Macros can be used for all sorts of situations, but one that the MP often uses them for is quick pet naming, and pet commands.

Another option is to open the pet window, by /open pet. This window will be pretty large if you're using 1024x768, but will give you a bit of detail on the health of any given pet, the NCU of the pet and what's in it, and also 3 buttons for each pet that let you control the pet in a basic manner from that window.

This should give you a good starting point to figuring out how combat for the MP works. Experimentation is going to be key here, figuring out what best works for
ou and your playstyle.

11. Tradeskills and the MP

MPs arent simply combat monkeys by nature, we have a number of tradeskills that are fairly easy to get into for us, and if you're willing to make the IP stretch into tradeskills we can become reasonably good tradeskillers, especially with Control Symbiants and Arithmetic Armor equipped, which buff tradeskills by quite a bit. We aren't likely to compete with Traders or Engineers, but we can do quite a bit.

The 2 tradeskills most associated with MPs however are implant creation and pocket boss creation. Implants usually require simply Nano Programming of a certain amount depending on both the cluster type (faded, bright or shining) and quality level determine the requirements in terms of nanopool for making clusters. Other restrictions apply, such as certain skills can only be implanted in certain places, not where you'd like them to be implanted. Implant clusters can and often conflict, so if you had wanted a BM shining in head and need an MC shining in head, well, only one cluster fits there, so you'll need to choose. A good guide to making implants can be found at this implant guide at AO Universe which also has links to common tools to figure out implant setups. Bear in mind that Jobe clusters will take another skill besides Nano Programming to put into an implant.

Pocket bosses require a bit more work to make, and an MP will need to make Crystals Filled by the Source, as described earlier in the Nanos section, with the rest of the process detailed here at AO Universe again just in case you're skipping sections, and what pocket bosses to hunt for can be found again here at AO Pocket. The skills required will be Quantum Field Tech and Nano Programming.

12. Suggestions for the new MP player

This section will have a few small hints to get you started as a new player on Rubi-Ka, not likley to have too much impact on older players but there could be some hints that the old timers may have forgotten or misplaced.

Assuming you're fresh off of Noob Island (starting there can net you 2 AI levels and a bit of decent cred, as well as your starter nanos) and wondering what to do, I would suggest looking into first off going and getting a few pairs of Concrete Cushions at ql 10. Why do you ask? They sell for 250k a pair on RK1, likely the same on RK2, and can be rolled and blitzed for by anyone at lv 10. This is assuming you didn't take advantage of the alien drops being re-instated to bring a few lowbie AI weapons to the mainland to sell.

ClickSaver will be your friend in learning about the wonderful world of blitzing, aka rolling a mission for an item reward then running to complete the mission as quickly as possible for that reward. There are a few basic lists floating around that give you an idea of what to look for in terms of blitzing for items to sell for credits to get you started.

Making LOTS of money as a new player is an oldy but goody by TehDeacon, reprinted here by iconwilliams since the initial post had closed. Some of the prices are out of date, but one can find the prices on items simply by checking GMS or asking players in the shopping channels.

This is a short list found in the knowledge database, thanks to WalkingDeath for this post, of note is the Boosted Grafts, which when hacked allow a player to use the nanoformula equipped in the graft.

These 2 lists should help you get started on what you can do to get some credits going in the immediate beginning of the game. This is also the tip of the iceberg, since there's many different items to be found in the game, some of which can sell very well. Observing your dimension's market channels or forums can give you an idea of popular items and who's buying them.

Another suggestion seems simple but if you let it slip will mean much more grief later: Max your token board. You gain tokens by completing missions with a 100% completion rate, a.k.a you've killed every mob in the mission, or just about. Tokens gained per mission max out at 190, however post 200 more mission will be grey to you at higher levels (and killing grey mobs won't count toward completion) and after lv 200 RK mission mobs get a huge boost in HP so it's a good idea to spread out the token hunting over your career as an MP or face grinding away at missions until your eyes cross later.

The last and most important one is of course, have fun. Playing Anarchy Online is a learning experience, and playing a Meta-Physicist is even more so. There's a lot more to do than you'd expect, quite a bit of Rubi-Ka to see, and plenty of friends you could make, so get out there and have fun!

For any questions or discussion you might have about the guide or suggestions it makes you can go to the Little MP Guide Discussion Thread and ask your question there or leave your comment.

13. Resources and Links

The following are links to outside sites and resources for information you may find useful as an MP. Some are older, with a bit of inaccuracy as time and the game has evolved but may still prove useful in a pinch.

Auno.org is one of the best AO database sites around these days, and if you're trying to figure out an equipment setup, perks, implants, or what that next uber weapon you're going to want to go after is going to be, this is likely the site you're going to be looking for it in.

AO Universe is a huge player-run guide and knowledge site that has almost every bit of information you'll want to know about what to do in the game. Tradeskill information, quest guides, layouts of popular static dungeons, if AO Universe doesn't have it, it's not out yet.

Atlas of Rubi-Ka is Onack's project, one of the players in AO. He's been working on this map, a descendent of Huge Map and CSP map, for a long time now and is working on an Atlas of Shadowlands as well. His forum post has links to download and install AoRK, AoSL, and links to other older maps if you'd like to look at them.

AO Wiki is a project maintained by the folks at AO Devs the community that makes and maintains a lot of 3rd party tools for AO. Darkbane's Implant Helper and AO Skill Emulator can be found here as well (to help keep all those numbers steady when doing a big twink)

Anarchy Arcanum is part humor site, part guide site, and all unique. Though the founders have long since stopped updating the site, it's mirrored and saved here on the AO devs site. It has a few still useful tidbits and has actually been updated in the last few years by Twicer, one of the founders.

The Big MP Guide. the reason this is the Little MP Guide, and the granddaddy of them all. There's enough information in this guide about the MP profession, mechanics in AO and many other things that even as out of date as it is there's STILL gobs of useful information you'll find nowhere else.

aodb.us is a new database site that's up and coming to replace the loss of AO Mainframe that went down some months ago. This site is Shadowgod's project, yes, our very own MP professional Shadowgod.

14. Version and Credits

Version 1.0

First edition of the guide, posted 2.26.09

Version 1.1

First edit to the guide, recorded 3.08.09:

*Added Pet section to Fighting as MP, complete with basic macro instructions.
*Cleaned up errata regarding AI bows
*Tweaked Armor section to add options for Nanomages
*Tweaked Fighting as MP section a bit.




Theres a lot of thanks to go around here for helping and having resources handy for getting this beast up and running. First thanks go to Tepamina and Spartanx9 for their soldier guide, I patterned a lot of the Little MP guide off of their Soldier guide. Ebag333 and Shadowgod get a whole lot of thanks as well because of their
encouragement and input as MP professionals as of the time of this writing. Threezey gets a big nod for putting down the LE procs in a list I could look at and understand for the LE research section, and if you're out there reading this somewhere Auno, thanks a bunch for your DB site, and thanks again to you too for yours Shadowgod.

Thanks go out to ~Spirit~ as well, aka Spirit of the Metas. If we didn't have so many MPs in the org I probably wouldn't have the understanding of the profession I do now, and wouldn't even dream of attempting something like this, let alone getting away with it.

And last but most definitely not least mucho gracias go out to XtremTech, who wrote the Guide of All Guides and because of him we MPs didn't need another guide for so very long.

Even more thanks go out to Teh_Deacon, WalkingDeath and the others who've contributed to the understanding of not just the MP profession but the game and how to get along in it as well.

Feel free to link to this guide as you need to, though you probably should PM me on the forums if you were wanting to post this guide somewhere else, or wanting me to post this somewhere else.