Alright so today I figured, screw it, let’s finally settle what gear actually messes up those deadwood skeletons good. You know the ones – slow, creepy, kinda fragile but swarm you, especially down in the Dry River Gorge. Seen too many new players get swamped.
Grabbing the Gear
First things first, I hauled all my potential candidates outta my stash:
- Good Ol’ Iron Mace: Heavy, blunt, felt right.
- Sharp Steel Longsword: Trusty, slashes things good.
- Spiked Oak Shield: Figured maybe bashing would work?
- Hunting Bow w/Iron Tips: For some kiting, see if that mattered.
- Firebomb Oil Flask: Hey, it’s wood! Fire gotta do something, right?
Threw on my usual leather chestpiece and heavy boots. Didn’t wanna get too fancy, keep it real.
Down to the Dry River
Trekked down to their usual hangout spot near the Bone Mill ruins. Place stinks like rotten mulch. Spotted a group of three shuffling around near a crumbling wall. Perfect test dummies.
Started with the Sword: Ran in, gave the first skelly a solid overhead chop. THWACK! Definitely chipped it good, split some wood. But… took two more solid hits to actually drop it. Felt kinda slow, you know? The other two started moving in while I was hacking. Messy. Finished them, but it was clunky.
Switched to the Mace: This felt better. More oomph. Smacked the next group’s leader right in its ribcage area. CRUNCH! Wood splintered everywhere! That one blow actually staggered it back into the second skelly. Second swing aimed low, shattered its leg bones. Down it went. Third got a solid bonk on the head-thing. Cleaned up way faster than the sword. Less swishing, more crushing.
Tried the Shield Bash: Big mistake. Ran up with shield raised, tried that fancy shield charge skill I saw someone use on zombies. WHUMP! Skelly barely flinched. Almost lost my footing. Its bony little hand still scratched my arm pretty good before I smashed it properly with the mace again. Won’t be relying on that again. Pointless.
Backed off for the Bow: Kited backwards. Drew, aimed for a skelly’s center mass. TWANG! Arrow stuck right in its chest. It looked down, annoyed, then kept shambling forward. Shot another, same spot. TWANG Another arrow stuck next to the first. Skelly didn’t care. Had to put another two arrows just to finally break it apart? Dumb. Waste of good arrows on wood.
Saved the Firebomb for Last: Okay, one skelly left approaching slow. Pulled the oil flask, lit the rag, chucked it under its legs. WHOOSH! Big burst of flame! Skelly caught fire… and kept walking towards me. Panicked a bit! It was ON FIRE but still swinging? Only burned for a few seconds before collapsing, but man, felt risky. Almost caught my pants when it got close. Too close for comfort.
My Takeaway
So what actually worked best?
- The Mace wins easily. Smashes their brittle wood and bone structure proper. One or two solid hits usually does it. Staggers them better too.
- Sword works, but too slow, needs too many hits when you got multiple coming.
- Shield Bash? Forget it. Useless.
- Bow? Only good for pulling singles maybe. Takes too many shots.
- Firebombs? Looks cool, scary effective burning dead wood, but too dangerous close-up. Maybe use it before they see you?
Bottom line? Grab your heaviest, bluntest thing. Forget finesse. Just smash ’em. Way faster, way safer when they’re all around you. Wish someone just told me that instead of messing around with fancy swords and shields. Go crush some skellys! Don’t overthink it.
