[X] My Assistant

...

And Evade has priority over Block and Parry, so you evade stuff that you could have blocked and then countered and so you remove additional damage/stun.

so, only the total amount matters, right?

Everything I've read seems so, and it would be consistent with other stats. Equipping two weapons with different amounts of swift strike gives me the same total increase no matter which hand they're in.

I'm wondering what the main advantages of 1h/shield+heavy vs 1h/shield+light.

Power gives more damage than shade, and the more attacks coming in per turn (within reason), the more counters you return up to the 3 hit cap.
To make it even simpler, with power vs 10 monsters you'll counter 3, maybe stun 2, and get hit 8 * 2 minus whatever your block and parry are. With shade you'll counter 3, maybe stun 2, and get hit (8 minus attack speed minus evade) * 2 minus whatever your block, parry, and evade are.

Do stronger spells give higher amount of proficiency as lower tier ones (Fiery blast/Flames of loki)?
I want to increase my elemental proficiency quickly but stronger spells are quite expensive.

Do stronger spells give higher amount of proficiency as lower tier ones (Fiery blast/Flames of loki)?
I want to increase my elemental proficiency quickly but stronger spells are quite expensive.

No, as long as you use any elemental spell, you'll get elemental proficiency to some extent. It's based on Experience gained now.

For Dark / Light Sages using Willow/Oak is Pen5 still a necessity or Pen4/Spel5 would be still almost as good in the last rounds of a PFUFEST ┐(￣∀￣)┌ ?

Defense is still a problem at round 800+ of PFfest, also for dark mage. I play imperil dark, then pen5 is essential. But I think also without imperil, you'd want the highest PEN possible. So, just go for the best. Ask someone to IW your staff for you.

Even if it wasn't from casting Heartseeker, the first round is a common time to die because that is when you are throwing up your buffs. I would recommend Spark of Life over Spirit Shield if you prefer to choose one. Since you died with Spirit Shield that should be proof enough. Also don't be afraid to use Haste, it's better than Shadow Veil (I still use both). We aren't so strong yet that we don't need them (apparently).

Even if it wasn't from casting Heartseeker, the first round is a common time to die because that is when you are throwing up your buffs. I would recommend Spark of Life over Spirit Shield if you prefer to choose one. Since you died with Spirit Shield that should be proof enough. Also don't be afraid to use Haste, it's better than Shadow Veil (I still use both). We aren't so strong yet that we don't need them (apparently).

Seems like I have to get better spark and cast at 1st round. I did almost more than 350 rounds today and I got used to pfudor so far. For buffs, I always use protect, spirit shield, regen as always, heartseeker when channeling appear, and when enemies get rough I cast shadow veil first then haste (I guess I cast them in wrong order) but I rarely use spark of life. For debuff, I only use imperil when I'm in SG arenas..

That's a good way to play, too. I guess you can keep doing the same thing. It is a bit wasteful to cast both Spark of Life and Spirit Shield since they are similar. Most people do cast both. I'm like you, I prefer to cast only one of those, and I choose Spark of Life for now (if I get slightly stronger, I may change to only Spirit Shield, like you).

My way, I have to use both Haste and Shadow Veil all the time, and instead I cast Spirit Shield when it gets rough.

That's a good way to play, too. I guess you can keep doing the same thing. It is a bit wasteful to cast both Spark of Life and Spirit Shield since they are similar. Most people do cast both. I'm like you, I prefer to cast only one of those, and I choose Spark of Life for now (if I get slightly stronger, I may change to only Spirit Shield, like you).

My way, I have to use both Haste and Shadow Veil all the time, and instead I cast Spirit Shield when it gets rough.

I fight with these buffs, MP's gone because I got unlucky big damage...

And why it's all red box enemies? I use monsterbation, hvutils, and hvtoolbox

This post has been edited by igs88: Jan 20 2018, 11:23

That's a good way to play, too. I guess you can keep doing the same thing. It is a bit wasteful to cast both Spark of Life and Spirit Shield since they are similar. Most people do cast both. I'm like you, I prefer to cast only one of those, and I choose Spark of Life for now (if I get slightly stronger, I may change to only Spirit Shield, like you).

My way, I have to use both Haste and Shadow Veil all the time, and instead I cast Spirit Shield when it gets rough.

*cough* *cough*
Getting sparked consumes way more spirit than spirit shield absorbs damage. Furthermore, when you're sparked, this is that one moment when you cannot afford doing anything else than healing, even if you're out of spirit, due to possibly stunned monsters that may get out of stun and attack you while you use a potion, effectively finishing the 1HP that is left to you when spark triggers.
All this to say that even if sometimes the spark+spirit shield combo eats more spirit than just being sparked, in the long run having both uses less. Better having spirit shield tanking damage and not getting sparked, really.

This post has been edited by decondelite: Jan 20 2018, 11:55

*cough* *cough*
Getting sparked consumes way more spirit than spirit shield absorbs damage. Furthermore, when you're sparked, this is that one moment when you cannot afford doing anything else than healing, even if you're out of spirit, due to possibly stunned monsters that may get out of stun and attack you while you use a potion, effectively finishing the 1HP that is left to you when spark triggers.
All this to say that even if sometimes the spark+spirit shield combo eats more spirit than just being sparked, in the long run having both uses less. Better having spirit shield tanking damage and not getting sparked, really.

aye. spark should be only a last-minute safety layer. kind of having it and being happy never to use it.

Hello everyone,

I've been playing HV sporadically over the course of what might actually be a decade (!) and I just hit level 200. It's a great game (in small doses) and incredible to think it's been worked on for all that time. Thanks Tenboro! Anyway I noticed I just unlocked Spirit Shield and I'm wondering whether there's room for it in my play-style.

I'm playing as an elemental spellcaster. Typically I run the game on Hell or Nintendo. Especially on Nintendo I find I have to keep Spark up at all times, for those combat rounds where you eat a few crits and specials and go from 90-0% rrrreal quick.

So between proccing Spark and popping salves my spirit gauge sees plenty of use. If I start playing around with Spirit Shield as well, I can definitely foresee situations where I need Spark to activate but I'm under 50% spirit and give up a kill to Tim Duncan #9937114 as a result.

Do you folks find you have trouble running both together? If so, which do you prefer to use? If not, are there any tricks you employ to lessen the risk of being caught short on SP?

(Sorry if this is in the wrong forum)

Playing as a mage under Lv. 310 isn't really recommended by anybody (I don't think) because you don't have maxed Faster Imperil (even more critical below Lv. 250 when you have no Imperil improvements) and because of the kind of necessary glass cannon playstyle, which can be hard to pull off without good gear.

But since you already are, I'd say that there's really no harm in using both. Just keep your spirit gauge filled by using restoratives. Maybe buy a level of pack rat so that you can fit one of every draught and potion in there.

This post has been edited by @Inkblot: Jan 20 2018, 12:30

aye. spark should be only a last-minute safety layer. kind of having it and being happy never to use it.

Scroll of life, however, can be used as a restorative as well in stead of last elixir when all other options have run out. Use Scroll of Life, press Defend, Spark, and restore 50% health at the same time. Use only in desperate moments.

But I think also without imperil, you'd want the highest PEN possible. So, just go for the best. Ask someone to IW your staff for you.

With the peerless series around with its 28.1% resist I would say pen5 helps a lot.
Unless you're playing at lower difficulties pen5 is crazy good even without imperil.

Scroll of life, however, can be used as a restorative as well in stead of last elixir when all other options have run out. Use Scroll of Life, press Defend, Spark, and restore 50% health at the same time. Use only in desperate moments.

i doubt many melees would have to resort to such thing (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Playing as a mage under Lv. 310 isn't really recommended by anybody (I don't think) because you don't have maxed Faster Imperil (even more critical below Lv. 250 when you have no Imperil improvements) and because of the kind of necessary glass cannon playstyle, which can be hard to pull off without good gear.

But since you already are, I'd say that there's really no harm in using both. Just keep your spirit gauge filled by using restoratives. Maybe buy a level of pack rat so that you can fit one of every draught and potion in there.

Mage is viable at Lvl250 without using Imperil. At lower difficulties.

Is there a script for mass salvaging of equipment?

Is there a script for mass salvaging of equipment?

It's called HVtoolBox by f4tal. It has pretty much most tools related to shop and equip.

With the peerless series around with its 28.1% resist I would say pen5 helps a lot.
Unless you're playing at lower difficulties pen5 is crazy good even without imperil.

Its true. I just changed my setup to oak staff and I only get 1% more magic score and the same 1.0 prof factor. But with the 12% innate cr my gf is now 5% fewer turns.
For anyone thats curious I am at about 6200 turns.

I fight with these buffs, MP's gone because I got unlucky big damage...

And why it's all red box enemies? I use monsterbation, hvutils, and hvtoolbox

There is some kind of conflict between HVUtils and Monsterbation. I tried to bring it to ssss2's attention, but he wasn't able to reproduce it.

From what I can tell, the first round of combat HVUtils does something that interferes with Monsterbation smoothly talking to Jenga's database. Because the database communication gets interrupted on that first round, often my first round of enemies shows up "unscanned."

My best guess is that HVUtils has some kind of "shutdown/suspend" process once it detects combat has started. It isn't happening in timely enough a manner to avoid conflict on the first round. Rounds past the first never have the issue, suggesting that that conflict has ended by then. Sometimes I can get a proper database load on the first round, indicating that sometimes HVUtils does finish up in time.

If you want, you can temporarily turn off HVUtils before starting combat, such as through the tampermonkey icon in your extensions bar. You'll have to turn it back on after combat and refresh the page if you do. Or you can ignore the lack of monster database information on the first round of combat like I have grown used to doing.