[X] My Assistant

What are you on about?
If absorb is as useless as he says, it's a noob trap that should be noted in the wiki if we assume it exists to make the game easier for the players.
If it's not useless then why does he say that it is?
Not to mention that there's absolutely nothing about Absorb blocking MP/SP spells instead of just magic attacks in the wiki just like there's nothing about physical elemental attacks being affected by physical mitigation and scaling with DEX rather than INT, hence my aforementioned questions.
I must be in the wrong thread because asking people here only gets them aggravated.

It could be that writing stuff like "what are you on about?" is perceived as a little bit aggressive. And, if you get the feeling that people get aggravated, you might want to consider changing your behavior?

Absorb, and many other features in this game: not a noob trap, it's a feature that's useful for the highest difficulty possible: last half of PFFEST or last 20 rounds of peerless IW. Like Aether shards. Or scrolls. Or using infusion in battle. Or Defend even. Only thing that I know is completely useless in this version of HV, is Focus. (Although some say its purpose is to display a pornographic image of female genitalia.)

When we refer to the wiki, for new players and noobs, it's usually this page: Read the wiki

If you follow this page's instruction, you won't be using absorb. Or Aether shards. Or Focus.

When i just buffed myself, don't have to heal, and my channeling buff is about to run out, i'm happy that i have absorb to cast for some protection and to leech some mana for a later heal.
But that's the only time i actually cast the thing, since spirit shield exist.

In fact, it's probably useful before you get spirit shield, if you fancy playing at higher difficulties before level 200 ( don't really know, never played harder than hell before 300-320 )

just to be sure, would you consider it "just another safety layer to use in desperate situations when every tiny little bit helps" then?

just to be sure, would you consider it "just another safety layer to use in desperate situations when every tiny little bit helps" then?

Mmmh, well during the desperate situation per say, no, i prioritise sleep, confuse and weaken ( and LOT of heals ), but i can easily predict said desperate situation since it means i don't have 100 overcharge at the start of the round to use FUS RO DAH and be cozy behind the lovely permastunlock.

But said desperate situation is easily predictable, and i can cast absorb before entering the new round.
... And i never thought about it. Thanks for that !


TL;DR yes

When upgrading weapons and armor, is there a stage where you need to use low-tier materials like "low-tier metals"?

I used Absorb quite a bit before level 300. Now it's just something to use Channeling on when I have all other desired buffs. It's also decent to cast to try to create Channeling for Heartseeker and perhaps Regen (you could argue just casting Cure over and over is better).

I have very very rarely used Focus successfully to get me out of a pinch, but it was better back when HP/MP didn't regenerate instantly out of battle. I didn't get much use out of Focus in those days though because I didn't realize it until near the end.

it's a noob trap

It's a niche spell that can be of great use before Spirit Shield or Spark of Life are available. It's ability is already marked as "Substandard" in the advice article.
https://ehwiki.org/wiki/HentaiVerse_Advice#Abilities

Only thing that I know is completely useless in this version of HV, is Focus.

even focus has a use if you want to take on a challenge without the use of items, and the defend -> focus dance can be used to safely put dragons to sleep when taking on PF TT&T with suboptimal gear

I am wondering if percentile range of a Legendary equip stat like MDB EDB matter really much. Considering the most expensive Holy mage gear of 5 Radiant phase cloth in LV 400 and LV500:

CODE

Scaled Stat = (1 + level / level_factor) * base_stat

The difference between 0% EDB and 100% EDB for total 5 phase cloth are 27.57 in Lv 400 and 32.165 in Lv 500. 100% EDB will give you ~30 more EDB to your stat, and assuming upgrade cap of 1.33, 100% EDB equip will ultimately give you ~42.78 more EDB in Lv 500.

For MDB, the base difference are 50.78 in Lv 400 and 62.79 in Lv 500, with 1.66 upgrade cap 100% MDB equip will give you ~104.23 more MDB in LV 500.

Consider fully forged equipment with 0% and 100% MDB & EDB, Is there a big difference in terms of +100 MDB and +40 EDB? I don't see the stat improvement in equipment range are as dramatic as just buying vase & gum and use in battle for +100% damage etc, or is it? Not to mention very low MDB EDB Leg radiant holy worth ~<10m each, median to very high stat cost 50-100m in past auction.

Edit: Taking LHOH into account, difference between 0% and 100% MDB & EDB with fully forged are 161.11 and 21.27, so eventually 100% MDB EDB fully forged Holy LHOH + 5 radiant can give +261 MDB and +60 EDB more than that of 0% stat, that sounds a bit more significant?

This post has been edited by Lastwizard05: May 13 2018, 16:33

It's that easy to troll this place, huh.

Anyway, I still don't know how people play without absorb unless, like scremaz says, they're tanky enough, meaning top gear and top forging. Even then I'd still use it. It absorbs all magical attacks for the entire turn. You lose no life. You lose no spirit. You even get some mana back. The only argument anyone's ever made was "you get back less than it costs," which is a non argument. In that case every scrollable skill is trash, even anything that's not a normal attack. The only thing I can think of is they used it at +0 where it doesn't proc enough for modernverse, thought it sucked, pumped it to +3 where it procs too much (if your avoidance is bad), thought it still sucked, then ran with it. In some sense, old absorb was better since it was 15% * 5 levels and you got more mana back with more points. New absorb is pretty broken, giving you at zero what the old gave you at four. Of all the useless skills in the game, absorb isn't even in the bottom tier (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Absorb 4lyfe (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)

No, you don't wanna try non-imperil style right now.
Without massive forging, good radiants, non-imperil would be slower and more fragile than imperil style. You spark in hell if you don't forge the evasion, mitigations. Also people using full radiants will need more scrolls and elixirs in PFDfest.
Willow staff gives you more counter-resist and deprecating profs. Try getting a cheap one.

Huh, I guess I was way off base. I wasn't even dreaming of PFfest, my upper goal for now was hopefully just PF arenas, but starting out with IWBTH. Do you happen to know if it is also 1.0 prof factor for that style? I still might try to give it a casual try on some easier IWBTH arenas.

It's that easy to troll this place, huh.

Anyway, I still don't know how people play without absorb unless, like scremaz says, they're tanky enough, meaning top gear and top forging. Even then I'd still use it. It absorbs all magical attacks for the entire turn. You lose no life. You lose no spirit. You even get some mana back. The only argument anyone's ever made was "you get back less than it costs," which is a non argument. In that case every scrollable skill is trash, even anything that's not a normal attack. The only thing I can think of is they used it at +0 where it doesn't proc enough for modernverse, thought it sucked, pumped it to +3 where it procs too much (if your avoidance is bad), thought it still sucked, then ran with it. In some sense, old absorb was better since it was 15% * 5 levels and you got more mana back with more points. New absorb is pretty broken, giving you at zero what the old gave you at four. Of all the useless skills in the game, absorb isn't even in the bottom tier (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Absorb 4lyfe (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)

The issue with Absorb is that it will be consumed for a tiny wimpy attack that'd you'd tank anyway, more often than not.

Huh, I guess I was way off base. I wasn't even dreaming of PFfest, my upper goal for now was hopefully just PF arenas, but starting out with IWBTH. Do you happen to know if it is also 1.0 prof factor for that style? I still might try to give it a casual try on some easier IWBTH arenas.

yes, it's always 1.0 prof factor.

The issue with Absorb is that it will be consumed for a tiny wimpy attack that'd you'd tank anyway, more often than not.

Every tiny wimpy attack for the round. You also gain mp for each absorbed attack. It's more effective the slower you are, but in mage's case it's better to run it at 90% with high cast speed because you want it to proc with the most amount of enemies on screen. The same applies to 1h since blocked spells don't trigger counters and melee skills can't be absorbed. For everything else, between 70 or 80 the preference is 80.

This post has been edited by qw3rty67: May 13 2018, 20:37

Absorb can be useful as long as your defenses aren't impregnable. It can be somewhat useful for anyone at low level, and mages at any level.

When your defense is impregnable, it's just a waste of mana, even though you gain some back. Unless you either use it with Channeling, or to try to gain Channeling to cast Heartseeker or Arcane Focus. Also I believe Absorb kicks in before checking for evade/resist, so it's even more wasteful if you don't really need it to survive.

I am wondering if percentile range of a Legendary equip stat like MDB EDB matter really much. I don't see the stat improvement in equipment range are as dramatic as just buying vase & gum and use in battle

It's commonly known that buying absolutely top end gear with high MDB/EDB/ADB doesn't help as much as it looks, and also the price of equipments goes up exponentially while the gains are very tiny and below linear. But what are you comparing against? MDB/EDB/ADB helps way more than the side stats, and that is why you pay for it. Is it worth it to pay a whopping ten times more for 90% ADB, or a hundred times more for Peerless? Probably not but it's your decision to make. Remember that better equipment is a one-time cost which speeds up your life and could pay for itself over time.

A few of the side stats (like Crit) help almost as much as ADB but the percentile variance in weapons is much less. Some other side stats (like Strength) have high percentile variance but the raw value is lower thus the effect is not as strong as ADB. And some side stats are totally worthless or are low in both value and variance.

Only thing that I know is completely useless in this version of HV, is Focus.

I use it to complete my arenas without use of mana draughts/potions.

Every tiny wimpy attack for the round. You also gain mp for each absorbed attack. It's more effective the slower you are, but in mage's case it's better to run it at 90% with high cast speed because you want it to proc with the most amount of enemies on screen. The same applies to 1h since blocked spells don't trigger counters and melee skills can't be absorbed. For everything else, between 70 or 80 the preference is 80.

It helps quite a bit in later stage of PFest for sure, even for 1H that usually just tank everything.
It cost you some mana but it prevent loss of spirit and hp so it's all worth it for harder stages mmm...

MDB/EDB/ADB helps way more than the side stats, and that is why you pay for it.

Remember that better equipment is a one-time cost which speeds up your life and could pay for itself over time.

A few of the side stats (like Crit) help almost as much as ADB but the percentile variance in weapons is much less. Some other side stats (like Strength) have high percentile variance but the raw value is lower thus the effect is not as strong as ADB. And some side stats are totally worthless or are low in both value and variance.

I don't play physical fighting style so I can't tell for ADB etc. What I am wondering is, if MDB and EDB variance are negligible as long as you get the right equipment set and fully forged? Given same prof factor and CR, can high quality equip +260 MDB and +60 EDB help you overcome monster resistance and kill more monster than 0% stat equip, so that eventually reduce 1 turn/round or more etc.? Or 0% stat equip perform the same as high stat equip when both are fully forged. Maybe someone with low and high stat gear and both heavily forged can compare their performance in x20 SG DwD etc as I didn't complete my build to compare anything.

This post has been edited by Lastwizard05: May 14 2018, 08:58

Surely the more damage you have, the less difference it gives, but it works. You can upgrade up to 50% damage perks with peerless radiant set and still see difference. Its usually another question. Just price. If person wanna only income then its better to stop at some point. Top set comparing to average one can cost tens of time more, at the same time it ll be hard to get even double speed. Maybe more like 50% increase?

Two questions.

1. If i'm planning to make a budget holy/dark mage set, which of the following 2 staffs would be a better choice (assume i won't be reforging for optimal potency P5S4 since i don't intend to spend too much)?
Staff 1
Staff 2

2. How bad is Archmage vs Spellweaver on a Destruction suffix staff?

Thanks!

i am working on a detailed damage and usage logging script module. for this i need one piece of information that i can't retrieve myself: what is the log message when one of your spells misses, as opposed to being evaded by a monster? (i assume for missed attacks it's simply "You miss ...")