[X] My Assistant

No idea. I don't know how LPR manages that.
What is certain, is that it will retrieve the ranges from the server's cache if you delete your local cache. So you can't go wrong if you do that.

Alright, done so... and now I too have the 127% value for the staff. At least the ranges I put in my shop will be consistent with everyone else's, then. Thanks.

I just bought "Innate Arcana I" but I don't have the option to set an auto-cast slot. Is there a waiting period between when Hath perks are bought and when you're actually able to benefit from them or do I need to contact support? And if so how?

Disregard it just took a few minutes.

This post has been edited by bbobjs: Jun 19 2019, 14:04

Yeah, most of the time they need a while to be active, just be patient when that happens, is the only actual working advice i can give you. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/happy.gif)

Can I wear equipment above my level if I soulfuse them?

Can I wear equipment above my level if I soulfuse them?

Yes, you can. Just keep in mind soulfusing an item that is above your level cost more fragments as one that is at or below your level.

I have two questions:

1. How is counter-resist on a staff (from a willow/oak staff and/or penetrator) combined with the counter-resist from the proficiency factor? Is it additive?

2. The advanced advice for mages on the wiki recommends a proficiency factor of at least 0.68 for elemental mages using imperil, and consequentially, one or two proficiency cotton pieces. What is the reasoning behind this particular threshold? Is there a derivation somewhere of it? Searching the forums did not help.

For example, assume all equipment is fully forged level 500 peerless. Is the expected damage output greater when using all phase, or is it greater when one piece is proficiency cotton? What if the phase is all radiant?

-

This post has been edited by SPoison: Jun 21 2019, 04:03

I've decided that I'm committed to playing 2H (Mace) Light until it literally becomes unplayable. I guess I'm looking for advice on what I should try to prioritize.

My current theory is that I'd want a high proc rate Mace, ideally Ethereal of Slaughter. I'd then ideally want to IW it with Swift Strike 5, Butcher 4 and either Wind or Electric strike? My reasoning is that late game Counter-Parry will do nothing at 200% hit chance. As for the ideal Elemental Strike, my assumption is that Turbulent Air will result in better damage mitigation than Freezing Limbs or Searing Skin and thus I should shoot for Electric Strike, but it's hard to judge if at high attack speed Freezing Limbs will have a larger impact and thus it'd be better to go for Wind Strike... or maybe Searing Skin has the best damage mitigation and I should shoot for Cold Strike? Or maybe they yield similar results and it's not something to worry about? Either way I'm fairly sure I don't want Holy/Dark/Fire Strike.

As for Armor, I'm assuming my best bet is Agile Shade of the Fleet? Then IW it with Juggernaut 5 and a balanced mix of -proofs that don't overlap with the shield spike I end up settling on. My assumption here is that since I'm choosing Mace, my attack speed will matter more than raw damage and thus Agile Shade of the Fleet will give me more mileage than Savage Shade of the Shadowdancer, but maybe I undervalue crit?

Obviously I don't expect to have this overnight or probably even ever, just trying to get an idea of what I should be building towards. Thanks in advance for any advice!

My reasoning is that late game Counter-Parry will do nothing at 200% hit chance.

My assumption here is that since I'm choosing Mace, my attack speed will matter more than raw damage and thus Agile Shade of the Fleet will give me more mileage than Savage Shade of the Shadowdancer, but maybe I undervalue crit?

Wrong. When you have 200% hit chance then your attacks can no longer be evaded, but parry will always happen and so counter-parry is most important for 2H.

Why not Agile Shadowdancer? I haven't looked but Shadowdancer has the same max evade as Fleet so the only reason you might want Fleet over that is because of the difficulty of finding good Shadowdancer equips.

I've decided that I'm committed to playing 2H (Mace) Light until it literally becomes unplayable. I guess I'm looking for advice on what I should try to prioritize.

My current theory is that I'd want a high proc rate Mace, ideally Ethereal of Slaughter. I'd then ideally want to IW it with Swift Strike 5, Butcher 4 and either Wind or Electric strike? My reasoning is that late game Counter-Parry will do nothing at 200% hit chance. As for the ideal Elemental Strike, my assumption is that Turbulent Air will result in better damage mitigation than Freezing Limbs or Searing Skin and thus I should shoot for Electric Strike, but it's hard to judge if at high attack speed Freezing Limbs will have a larger impact and thus it'd be better to go for Wind Strike... or maybe Searing Skin has the best damage mitigation and I should shoot for Cold Strike? Or maybe they yield similar results and it's not something to worry about? Either way I'm fairly sure I don't want Holy/Dark/Fire Strike.

As for Armor, I'm assuming my best bet is Agile Shade of the Fleet? Then IW it with Juggernaut 5 and a balanced mix of -proofs that don't overlap with the shield spike I end up settling on. My assumption here is that since I'm choosing Mace, my attack speed will matter more than raw damage and thus Agile Shade of the Fleet will give me more mileage than Savage Shade of the Shadowdancer, but maybe I undervalue crit?

Obviously I don't expect to have this overnight or probably even ever, just trying to get an idea of what I should be building towards. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Ethereal weapon's IW can be stopped at level 9. 2 Elemental strikes can be added via 2 different Infusions.
But with high forging it will eventually reach level 10...

200% hit chance will remove Evasion.
At your low level you can try Voidseeker Shard. It will add +50% to hit chance and you may reach 200% with it. To check high hit chance's effect.
Parry is not affected by hit chance. So, if you want less parried attacks you need Overpower potency.

Try different Protection Augmentations to see what works best for you. And it may change in the future.
If you don't use Imperil Dark or Holy provide higher damage from Elemental Strike.

Shadowdancer can be Agile too...
Weapon's proc also applied on crit...

Wrong. When you have 200% hit chance then your attacks can no longer be evaded, but parry will always happen and so counter-parry is most important for 2H.

Why not Agile Shadowdancer? I haven't looked but Shadowdancer has the same max evade as Fleet so the only reason you might want Fleet over that is because of the difficulty of finding good Shadowdancer equips.

Alright! Good to know. I'd assumed that of the Shadowdancer had a weaker Evade bonus than Fleet because it seemed weird to have a suffix strictly outclassed by another, but I guess that's just the nature of the game.

Definitely good to know that Counter-Parry still matters at end game. OK, so then I should shoot for Overpower 5, Swift Strike 4. Any advice on which debuff from shield spikes is the most useful?

And of course, thanks again for the help! (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

At your low level you can try Voidseeker Shard. It will add +50% to hit chance and you may reach 200% with it. To check high hit chance's effect.

I didn't realize this, yes, this would allow me to test life at 200% hit chance!

This post has been edited by bbobjs: Jun 21 2019, 07:25

I have two questions:

1. How is counter-resist on a staff (from a willow/oak staff and/or penetrator) combined with the counter-resist from the proficiency factor? Is it additive?

2. The advanced advice for mages on the wiki recommends a proficiency factor of at least 0.68 for elemental mages using imperil, and consequentially, one or two proficiency cotton pieces. What is the reasoning behind this particular threshold? Is there a derivation somewhere of it? Searching the forums did not help.

For example, assume all equipment is fully forged level 500 peerless. Is the expected damage output greater when using all phase, or is it greater when one piece is proficiency cotton? What if the phase is all radiant?

1. I don't know for sure. But I do know that every bit of counter resist helps a lot! HV Utils makes a calculation of the monster resist, so it should have a formula in the code. Sorry, I'm too lazy to check for you.


2. It's based on experience. The calcuated value would be a bit higher, after 0.78 you will have maxed the effect of proficiency even against specialized monsters with highest resist to your element. But after 0.68 the gain gets very low, and you can stop there.

I've decided that I'm committed to playing 2H (Mace) Light until it literally becomes unplayable. I guess I'm looking for advice on what I should try to prioritize.

My current theory is that I'd want a high proc rate Mace, ideally Ethereal of Slaughter. I'd then ideally want to IW it with Swift Strike 5, Butcher 4 and either Wind or Electric strike? ...

As for Armor, I'm assuming my best bet is Agile Shade of the Fleet?
\

Nice choice! I love it when players go their own way

IW should involve a lot of Overpower, I would think? Overpower5 + BUt/Fat4? Any 2h players who can confirm? (Decondelite, Sickentide)

Great choice of armor, but you can easily mix in some savage prefix, or shadowdancer suffix. Those are good also.

I have two questions:

1. How is counter-resist on a staff (from a willow/oak staff and/or penetrator) combined with the counter-resist from the proficiency factor? Is it additive?

2. The advanced advice for mages on the wiki recommends a proficiency factor of at least 0.68 for elemental mages using imperil, and consequentially, one or two proficiency cotton pieces. What is the reasoning behind this particular threshold? Is there a derivation somewhere of it? Searching the forums did not help.

For example, assume all equipment is fully forged level 500 peerless. Is the expected damage output greater when using all phase, or is it greater when one piece is proficiency cotton? What if the phase is all radiant?

1. It's layered, otherwise combining staff and proficiency counter resist would be quite abusive.

2. Frankly, 0.68 is quite an outdated value, especially with all the PL2250 that are roaming. Consider it should be 0.70. 0.70 because it's the exact value at which you negate every (regular) monster's elemental mitigation once imperiled. What do you mean with "derivation"? Beyond 0.70, all you'll get is better counter-resist, and better elemental mitigation reduction against FSM. 1.0 prof factor rocks against FSM BTW.

I've decided that I'm committed to playing 2H (Mace) Light until it literally becomes unplayable. I guess I'm looking for advice on what I should try to prioritize.

My current theory is that I'd want a high proc rate Mace, ideally Ethereal of Slaughter. I'd then ideally want to IW it with Swift Strike 5, Butcher 4 and either Wind or Electric strike? My reasoning is that late game Counter-Parry will do nothing at 200% hit chance. As for the ideal Elemental Strike, my assumption is that Turbulent Air will result in better damage mitigation than Freezing Limbs or Searing Skin and thus I should shoot for Electric Strike, but it's hard to judge if at high attack speed Freezing Limbs will have a larger impact and thus it'd be better to go for Wind Strike... or maybe Searing Skin has the best damage mitigation and I should shoot for Cold Strike? Or maybe they yield similar results and it's not something to worry about? Either way I'm fairly sure I don't want Holy/Dark/Fire Strike.

As for Armor, I'm assuming my best bet is Agile Shade of the Fleet? Then IW it with Juggernaut 5 and a balanced mix of -proofs that don't overlap with the shield spike I end up settling on. My assumption here is that since I'm choosing Mace, my attack speed will matter more than raw damage and thus Agile Shade of the Fleet will give me more mileage than Savage Shade of the Shadowdancer, but maybe I undervalue crit?

Obviously I don't expect to have this overnight or probably even ever, just trying to get an idea of what I should be building towards. Thanks in advance for any advice!

You're a bit off. Just a like a shield's block, a mace's stun is only ever a random thing. You won't get much improvement with only the weapon's proc chance, I'm afraid. Likewise, the elemental proficiencies gained on the armor have absolutely no link whatsoever with your elemental strikes: they're ehere to protect you from the monster's attacks, not to add effects to your own attacks.

What I'd do in your situation:
-more DEX and AGI
-don't focus on either Fleet or Shadowdancer, but pick whatever has the best evade on top of having the Agile prefix
-consider using a Vampire weapon
-use depr spells, most likely Drain on monster A

1. I don't know for sure. But I do know that every bit of counter resist helps a lot! HV Utils makes a calculation of the monster resist, so it should have a formula in the code. Sorry, I'm too lazy to check for you.
2. It's based on experience. The calcuated value would be a bit higher, after 0.78 you will have maxed the effect of proficiency even against specialized monsters with highest resist to your element. But after 0.68 the gain gets very low, and you can stop there.
Nice choice! I love it when players go their own way

IW should involve a lot of Overpower, I would think? Overpower5 + BUt/Fat4? Any 2h players who can confirm? (Decondelite, Sickentide)

Great choice of armor, but you can easily mix in some savage prefix, or shadowdancer suffix. Those are good also.

For a mace, hard to say. Since there's no shield to stun the monsters and a mace is not that likely to stun a monster and negate its evade/parry, it seems to me that both OP5B4 and B5SS4 are the best options for a mace. In all cases, Butcher is mandatory, because the weapon's ADB makes for the biggest part of the overall attack base damage, no kidding. But fatality? No way, that's basically the worst least good potency out there for a Shade 2H.

You're a bit off. Just a like a shield's block, a mace's stun is only ever a random thing. You won't get much improvement with only the weapon's proc chance, I'm afraid. Likewise, the elemental proficiencies gained on the armor have absolutely no link whatsoever with your elemental strikes: they're ehere to protect you from the monster's attacks, not to add effects to your own attacks.

I think there's maybe a misunderstanding? I understand that I can't increase the proc rate of the weapon I have, which is why I'd ideally want a Mace with a proc chance as close to 30% as possible right? Or is there some other aspect of the Proc chance I'm missing? I will say, it definitely feels like my current Mace stuns significantly more than the 29% chance of doing so it claims to have (although I think it's probably the combination with Domino Strike that makes the proc seem higher than it actually is), so I guess it'd be concerning if there's something behind the scenes I'm not aware of.

I understand that -proof potencies don't contribute to Element Strike damage. What I'm saying is that ideally, assuming I end up using Frost Spike Shield, I'd want to get a distribution of something like this across my 5 pieces of armor:
25 Juggernaut
5 Darkproof
5 Holyproof
5 Fireproof
5 Elecproof
5 Windproof

This would give me +50% HP and at least +20% mitigation to each element. Realistically, I'd probably settle for an uneven mix, but I'd assume the above would be the ideal set of potencies. In this case I'd want my weapon to have Wind Strike to capitalize on Freezing Limbs. Is there something I'm missing?

What I'd do in your situation:
-more DEX and AGI
-don't focus on either Fleet or Shadowdancer, but pick whatever has the best evade on top of having the Agile prefix
-consider using a Vampire weapon
-use depr spells, most likely Drain on monster A

Good to hear I'm on the right track with my stat distribution and priority of Agile. The suggestion of going for an of the Vampire is something I considered, so it's definitely interesting to see it reflected here. My concern is that it'd be too much of a hit to damage output to be a sustainable tactic, that'd I'd end up suffering more damage from enemies being alive too long for it to actually balance out. I'm definitely open to trying it if you think the health gained would outpace the extra expected damage taken from enemies I'm not killing fast enough. I suppose it's hard for me to visualize the endgame, but I could definitely believe a world where having high enough attack speed would make Vampire worth it.

For a mace, hard to say. Since there's no shield to stun the monsters and a mace is not that likely to stun a monster and negate its evade/parry, it seems to me that both OP5B4 and B5SS4 are the best options for a mace. In all cases, Butcher is mandatory, because the weapon's ADB makes for the biggest part of the overall attack base damage, no kidding. But fatality? No way, that's basically the worst least good potency out there for a Shade 2H.

Is Swift Strike really that outpaced by Butcher!? I'd think that Swift Strike would be particularly important if I end up with a Vampire Mace right? Am I mistaken?

...

I have a couple of things I want to weigh in on from the previous first post:

First, it sounds like you might have a misconception about elemental procs - those only apply from spells, not from elemental strikes, so while you can have it proc from the spike shield ability you won't get Turbulent Air from using Wind Strike, for example. However, elemental strikes CAN trigger the explosion effect (ie, if you're using fire spike shield, cold strikes can consume the searing skin proc for a small amount of damage). However, the damage is pretty negligible...

In most situations holy, dark and cold are going to be the ideal elements due to schoolgirls & distribution of regular monster resistances.

Next up: the argument between Savage and Agile is dependent on whether you want damage (savage) or more survivability (agile). 2H mace could go either way: you'll be less dependent on attack speed reducing the amount of attacks you take per turn if you've got most enemies stunned consistently. It also depends on what kind of content you want to do - if you're using estoc in fests or high item worlds, agile is probably going to be mandatory for 2H players. Arenas only should be survivable fairly easily without even significant forging on savage (though a little bit is always encouraged, due to the logarithmic curve on upgrade returns...)

Doubly so if you want to play Fus-Ro-Dah, which apparently uses as much attack speed as possible to build up overcharge before the stun runs out, allowing you to keep all enemies permanently stunned as long as you play strategically and have it ready at the start of a new round.

Vampire weapons are considerably outside the meta and your mileage may vary on how good they are.

As for the relative value of butcher vs swift strike: depends on whether you need the attack speed to survive (or elongate the duration of buffs). Otherwise, straight up more damage is going to benefit you more.

This is largely my experience as a long-time DW player talking, and not as 2H, but most of the same concepts apply.

This post has been edited by lestion: Jun 21 2019, 12:30

I have a couple of things I want to weigh in on from the previous first post:

First, it sounds like you might have a misconception about elemental procs - those only apply from spells, not from elemental strikes, so while you can have it proc from the spike shield ability you won't get Turbulent Air from using Wind Strike, for example. However, elemental strikes CAN trigger the explosion effect (ie, if you're using fire spike shield, cold strikes can consume the searing skin proc for a small amount of damage). However, the damage is pretty negligible...

Huh? I don't think that's accurate? Uh, here's part of a log of me playing (reversed to be more easily read):

Your spike shield hits Princess Amaya for 7 points of wind damage.
Princess Amaya gains the effect Turbulent Air.
You hit Princess Amaya for 2381 slashing damage.
Elec Strike hits Princess Amaya for 680 elec damage.
Princess Amaya gains the effect Bleeding Wound.
---
You cast Shockblast.
Shockblast hits Princess Amaya for 424 elec damage (50% resisted)
Turbulent Air explodes for 133 wind damage
---
You hit Princess Amaya for 2078 slashing damage.
Elec Strike hits Princess Amaya for 471 elec damage.

As you can see, the Elec Strike provided noticeably improved damage and didn't consume Turbulent Air. I suppose consideration for School Girls is important though, and looking at the resistance chart on the wiki, I didn't realize how badly Dark just outclasses everything. I suppose it's probably not wroth it to try optimizing around those debuffs when Dark is almost as good by default; good to know.

Huh? I don't think that's accurate? Uh, here's part of a log of me playing (reversed to be more easily read):


As you can see, the Elec Strike provided noticeably improved damage and didn't consume Turbulent Air. I suppose consideration for School Girls is important though, and looking at the resistance chart on the wiki, I didn't realize how badly Dark just outclasses everything. I suppose it's probably not wroth it to try optimizing around those debuffs when Dark is almost as good by default; good to know.

Yes - this does not conflict with what I explained. Sources of spell damage (spike shield, and spells like Shockblast etc) can cause those debuffs, but elemental strikes (which are counted as physical attacks, rather than spells) do not cause them.

They do, however, trigger the explosion effects when you hit with the opposing element - cold damage against a fire debuff, elec damage against a wind debuff, and vice versa for each. But the damage is minimal and barely even worth selecting your spike shield to oppose your weapon - letalone the other way round.

You said the elemental strikes trigger the explosion though, which is the part I'm saying was not accurate.

However, elemental strikes CAN trigger the explosion effect (ie, if you're using fire spike shield, cold strikes can consume the searing skin proc for a small amount of damage)

The elemental strikes benefit from decreased mitigation but will not trigger the explosion. As shown above, I hit with an Elec Strike against a monster with Turbulent Air and an explosion was not triggered. I then hit with Shockblast against the same monster and it triggered the explosion.

EDIT: I, of course, agree it's a silly optimization in the face of how overwhelming the damage mitigation between Dark and the next best element is, which I thank you for helping me realize.

This post has been edited by bbobjs: Jun 21 2019, 14:14

1. I don't know for sure. But I do know that every bit of counter resist helps a lot! HV Utils makes a calculation of the monster resist, so it should have a formula in the code. Sorry, I'm too lazy to check for you.
2. It's based on experience. The calcuated value would be a bit higher, after 0.78 you will have maxed the effect of proficiency even against specialized monsters with highest resist to your element. But after 0.68 the gain gets very low, and you can stop there.

Thanks.

1. It's layered, otherwise combining staff and proficiency counter resist would be quite abusive.

2. Frankly, 0.68 is quite an outdated value, especially with all the PL2250 that are roaming. Consider it should be 0.70. 0.70 because it's the exact value at which you negate every (regular) monster's elemental mitigation once imperiled. What do you mean with "derivation"? Beyond 0.70, all you'll get is better counter-resist, and better elemental mitigation reduction against FSM. 1.0 prof factor rocks against FSM BTW.

Thanks. By "derivation", I was hoping someone had actually done a calculation to show 0.68 was a good or optimal value. It seems this number is based on peoples' experience.

Sorry to quote from another thread, didn't wanta take it off topic.

Hong Meiling My Wife is one of the plvl capped monsters - get used to seeing her a lot! I do really like 'Hong Meiling My Wife Too' (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

This has made me realize how poorly I understand the game. If Hong Meiling is My Wife is a plvl capped monster why am I seeing them? Wouldn't they be WAY above my level?