Crat guide to Symbiants

[Bystander]

Introduction

Nb. This guide is probably equally applicable to Engies too, it also assumes a certain familiarity with concepts such as base stats and common abbreviations for skill names.

Symbiants are the Shadowlands version of implants but unlike Rubi Ka implants you don't need to add clusters they come prebuilt. Also unlike RK implants rather than adding to just 3 skills they add to many. The symbiant head for instance adds to all nano skills (bm,mm,pm,mc,ts,si,fa,treat) and many more.

Here's a comparison of the nano skills from a typical ql140 charm/calm RK implant setup and a ql 140ish full symbiant set.

Rubi Ka cluster based implants
mm 0 bm 73 pm 105 mc 30 ts 43 si 73
Shadowlands symbiants
mm 145 bm 143 pm 143 mc 160 ts 160 si 157

As you can see you can have your cake and eat it. This is also by no means the end of it - the set will also buff just about everything else you could need including base abilitites and psychology. Not only this it will buff them higher than even the most balanced RK set could come close to.

The only significant caveat to this is that apart from a small amount of pistol there are virtually no weapon buffs. But with the enormous boost to nano skills and basic stats maybe its time to go nuke/pet defence armour and stick to CDRs.

Symbiants drop exclusively from pocket bosses - more on that later.

Availability

There are two symbiant ranges available to crats Control and Extermination. Of these the Control set is so superior to the Extermination set that the Control set that its clearly the one to use if you can. The control set is obviously aimed at Crats and Trade skillers.

Having said this at this time the Control set is more difficult to come by than the Extermination set and the extermination set does most of the important things.

The jewel in the crown (as it were) of all the symbiants is the head, so here for comparison is what the Control head buffs as opposed to the extermination head.

Control Int,Psy,Sense,Psychology,max nano energy,nano pool,Nano init,Nano resist,bm,mm,pm,mc,ts,si, first aid,treatment,pharm,chem,qft,me,ee,ws,tutoring, comp lit,nano prog,perception,veh air,veh wat,veh ground, map nav

Extermination
Int,Psy,Sense,Psychology,nano pool,nano init,nano resist,bm,mm,pm,mc,ts,si,treatment,qft,comp lit,nano prog

Both sets are available in qls 1-300 in steps of about 10. Note, not all parts exist at all qls. For instance the Control ql100 set does not include a head but the 110 does.

Requirements

Unfortunately symbiants are not very easy on your base stats + treatment. Every single base stat is required somewhere - though you can focus on some more than others.

All symbiants have high treatment reqs for their level so don't expect to get them in too early.

The Control set requirements are
Agi,Int,Psy (head/ear/leg/waist)
Stam,Int,Psy (chest/left hand)
Sense,Int,Psy (eye/left arm/left wrist/feet)
Str,Int,Psy (right arm/right wrist/right hand)

The Extermination set requirements are
Agi,Int,Psy (feet/left arm/left wrist/right arm)
Stam,Int,Psy (head/chest/right hand)
Sense,Int,Psy (eye/right wrist/leg/waist)
Str,Int,Psy (ear/left hand)

Clearly Intelligence and Psychic are key regardless of what you plan to implant. Unfortunately to maximise nano skills, every single other skill is also required. The nano skill symbiants in order of importance are (head,eye,chest,ear,right hand,waist). So I would say the symbiant crat's primary base skills are therefore Agi/Int/Psy to get the best control head in or Stam/Int/Psy if you plan to use the Extermination head.

[Bystander]

Details

Here are the per symbiant breakdowns for the control set with links.

Head req Agi/Int/Psy
Boosts
Int,Psy,Sense
Psychology
max nano energy,nano pool
Nano init,Nano resist
bm,mm,pm,mc,ts,si, first aid,treatment
pharm,chem,qft,mech engi,elec engi,weapon smithing,tutoring
comp lit,nano prog,perception
veh air,veh wat,veh ground, map nav

Chest req Stam/Int/Psy
Boosts
Stamina,sense,psychic,strength
nano pool,max nano,max health
nano init
bm,mm,si
skill lock, interrupt mod

Ear req Agi/Int/Psy
Boosts
int,psy
psychology
pm
perception,tutoring,concealment
map nav,veh air,veh ground,veh water
xp mod,max ncu,np cost mod

Eye (ocular) req Int/Sen/Psy
Boosts
int
psychology
pistol
nano init
me,ee,qft,ws,np,pharm,chem,comp lit,tutoring
pm,mc,ts,si,treatment
map nav,veh air,veh ground,veh water,
concealment,perception

Left Arm req Int/Sen/Psy
Boosts
str
nano range
piercing
mm
b&e,swimming
heal delta,add all def,np cost mod

Right Arm req Str/Int/Psy
Boosts
str
parry,mech engi,swim
nano delta,add all def,nano range

Left Wrist req Int/Sen/Psy
Boosts
parry,run,nano resist

Right Wrist req Str/Int/Psy
Boosts
run,pistol,nano delta,nano resist,max ncu,fling

Leg (Thigh) req Agi/Int/Psy
Boosts
agi,stam
max health,run,adventuring,swimming
evade close,dodge ranged,dodge exp
xp mod,max ncu,skill lock mode,interrupt mod,heal delta

Left Hand req Stam/Int/Psy
Boosts
trap disarm,first aid
skill lock mod,nano range,interrupt mod

Right Hand req Str/Int/Psy
Boosts
pistol
ws,pharm,np,qft,ee,comp lit,chem
mc,ts,first aid,treatment
trap disarm

Waist req Agi/Int/Psy
Boosts
sen,stam,agi
nano pool,max nano,max health,body dev
adventuring,evade close,dodge ranged,duck exp
bm
np cost mod

Feet req Sen/Int/Psy
Boosts
agi
duck exp,evade close,dodge ranged
concealment
xp mod,heal delta,nano delta,add all def

[Bystander]

Aquiring Symbiants

There are 3 main avenues available for aquiring symbiants.

1/ Buying them is clearly the easiest but with prices in the range of 10-200 mil for a head this is only for the rich. Having said this the other types are considerably cheaper.

2/ Farming them from pocket bosses. This is actually a lot easier and more enjoyable than you'd imagine, particularly if you farm them for alts with your main. I'll go into more details at the end.

3/ Camping the incarnators. Pocket bosses have to be spawned at incarnators in SL. The symbiants themselves are UNIQUE which mean you can't stock up on more than one of each at a time. This also means that if the boss drops 5 symbiants which is quite common then the chances are spares will be left on the corpse. Clearly if you adopt this approach ask before taking and stay well back during the fight to avoid kill stealing issues. Don't expect to find too many heads by this means either.

Farming Pocket Bosses

There are pocket boss creation guides here and here, but I'll summarise the process and add hints.

To spawn a pocket boss you need three components,

1/ A completed pattern. Amongst many grouped mobs in SL you will find some named mobs who are of a higher level than all the others. These mini-bosses drop the pattern pieces we need. Each pattern consists of 4 parts (A)bhan (B)hotaar (C)hi and (D)om or A B C D. To complete a pattern simply keep killing until you have all four parts and join them together - this requires no skill. The lower unamed mobs will also drop the pieces but a lot less frequently, so it can be worth killing them at camped spawns.

To decide which mobs to go after consult Herodotus' excellent site or here http://genfire.info/ and http://tngk.com/aopocket/ where most of the drops are listed.

2/ The next step involves obtaining a crystal filled with the source. The crystals come empty and are called Unpolluted Crystals. They can be bought from MPs who can summon them. You need a crystal of the same or higher ql than the completed pattern. Once you've obtained the crystal you need to fill it from a Notum Wars control tower. Find a tower of the same or higher level as the empty crystal, make sure you won't get attacked and target the tower and right click the crystal.

3/ Finally obtain some subdued novictum. This used to drop pretty reliably from spirit mob minibosses and soul dredges and also less commonly from any spirit. However since the last patch they drop the unrefined pieces of novictum instead - see below. This is actually a bonus as the subdued type is UNIQUE and can't be hoarded, the unrefined pieces have had their UNIQUE flags removed. The lvl 130 mobs outside Ergo in Scheol drop novictum up to about lvl 159 or so and are easily soloed by anyone they're grey to.

The pieces of Novictum such as Enraged Pith of Novictum can be converted to Subdued Novictum using the Ancient Novictum Refiner. This tool can be bought from the Yuttos Tool sellers. (Caveat Emptor: they rarely stock it and you may have to wait for their inventory to cycle a few times before getting one).

Join the pattern to the filled crystal - this requires 7.5 times the ql of the pattern in NP. Join the result of that to the novictum - this requires about 5x the ql of the pattern in Quantum Field Physics. (Nb. I think this was lowered by FC as it used to be 6x).

Spawning the boss

Locate an incarnator. The incarnators are the swirling blue columns you can see from miles away (not the ones with the crystals suspended in them). When you target the base it should say incarnator.

Target the incarnator and right click the pocket boss in your inventory. When the boss appears your HP will drop to 1. You will need to heal up before attacking it. Fortunately it won't aggro until you attack it - at least that's been my experience so far with the grey ones.

They have a lot of HP and often some nasty trader style deprives. However they can be killed relatively easily if they're grey to you - a charmed Heckler will make mincemeat out of them. For killing similair level to you bosses I'd recommend bringing friends. Also don't forget the boss will drop many symbiants of the same kind and as they're UNIQUE there will be plenty of spares.

[Mathmatikus]

awsome guide.

[__________Frelonvert]

Thank you for the guide

Just a tip :

This is not an incinerator, this is an incarnator

[Salesta]

What an excellent guide for the many people (including me) who are still confused about certain parts of the whole symbiant thing.

Thank you Diatribe, this is priceless information and I am sure your efforts are hugely appreciated by your fellow crats.

[inanout]

Yes there are facets of this game which I just don't have the time to get into and this is one of them. Thank you very much I will most likly spend some time getting some Symbiants in the weeks to come.

[Bystander]

Originally posted by Ectatic
Thank you for the guide

Just a tip :

This is not an incinerator, this is an incarnator

Oops!

[nagaraja]

my 2 credits. first, control symbiants are definately superior to exterminator ones, but are significantly more rare. second there are certain dynabosses that drop symbaints.

[Bystander]

Originally posted by nagaraja
my 2 credits. first, control symbiants are definately superior to exterminator ones, but are significantly more rare. second there are certain dynabosses that drop symbaints.

Ok thanks - updated.

Yup - so far I've only put Exterminator implants in which seem to do the job - if not as well as the control ones.

Any chance of telling us what the dynabosses are if the information isn't too sensitive?

[_____________Hideane]

Thanks for this very instructive post.
Hope it will be rooted.

[Friregan]

Good quide, few notes:

3/ Finally obtain some subdued novictum. This always drops from spirit mobs - not the ones in the temples the ones outside. It's easy enough to find but you need the same ql or better as the pattern. Also note that unfortunately its unique so unless you can do the tradeskilling yourself at the site you will be forced to head back to RK to find a trade skiller once per pattern.

1. Spirits drop pieces of novictum. Although novictum pieces are unique you can have several with you as different QLs have different names -> doesn't conflict.
2. You convert named novictums to "Subdued Flow of Novictum" using "Ancient Notum Refiner" (found rarely from Yuttos Tool seller). Note: Subdued Novictum is also UNIQUE and you can have only one in inv regardless of QL of novictum.
3. Spirits also drop novictum indoors: static dungeons and spirit rooms in temples.

[Kithraks]

Stuck.

[Bystander]

Thanks Charles.

I'll update with your additional info Friregan though I've never managed to locate the Ancient Novictum Refiner on any of the Tool sellers - even after coercing them to change their inventory

[Nova]

Nice work.

[____________Lectifer]

This is a very nice guide, the information here is extremely helpful and very much appreciated.

[Devestior]

[Any chance of telling us what the dynabosses are if the information isn't too sensitive? ]

Sensitive's A**.

Secret-hording meatlumps should be skinned and dipped in salt

[Bystander]

Updated with the recent patch changes, Nodrop and novictum drop types.

[MyFist]

Thanks for a greate guide!

The control set is the way to go for us crats, with one exeption. The Left Wrist. With control line you get "Parry" not frequently used by crats. By using extermination you gain "Shield projectile damage" and "Projectile damage modifier" a slightly more usefull skills for the avarage bureaucrat.

Left Wrist Symbiant, Extermination Unit Aban
Run speed
Nano resist
Shield projectile damage
Projectile damage modifier

Left Wrist Symbiant, Control Unit Aban
Parry
Run speed
Nano resist

/sophist

[Kithraks]

I recommend against using a damage shield as they have been known to break mezzes.