[X] My Assistant

I still haven't tried power armor (currently doing 90 round IW on my self-dropped legendary power at IWBTH and PFUDOR difficulty) but I suspect power armor may be overrated on a low level player. I also think Spirit Shield is overrated on low level players. I upgraded mine fully but I found it's arguably less useful at level 5 than it was at level 3. With more upgrades, Spirit Shield triggers earlier as stated, but uses up more spirit. In fact, it is less spirit efficient than it was at level 3, although the difference is minor. This is the reverse of what the description states.

I still need Spirit Shield as my final, and least helpful buff to survive IW, but at level 5 there is a small chance I could die from overlooked bursts of spirit drain (mainly if I push things too far and am stingy with spirit draughts, I try to use only a couple total). At level 3 there is no chance to die from Spirit Shield drain, but there is a small chance I could die from multiple big monster attacks (Spark should still save me unless I accidentally click an extra time).

The fact that you say you cannot survive IW even on Hell difficulty reinforces my skepticism of the popular gears and styles at slightly low levels. From levels 210 to 244, I did IW on my legendary rapier. And it was extremely easy on Hell with only a superior wakizashi and leather armor (at level 210, it was easy on Nintendo but got harder for me as my level increased). I used zero spirit draughts back then, because using the DW style (at that level range) I never used spirit for anything, not even my default starting spirit. With my current set of legendary plate I don't even need any block and can tank everything up, using minimal draughts.

The concern about overleveling yourself by the time you reach IW 10 is especially valid at very low levels. My level 200 legendary rapier of slaughter is no longer that useful to me. At our current level though, doing IW has less of that problem. On this note, a level 200 legendary rapier of balance or nimble, should be preferrable to a slaughter, as accuracy/crit/parry do not get underleveled.

I only use 1 stamina a day. I guess this is what happens when you have 0.5 ~ 0.7 turns/second on firefox. I'll be able to get that up eventually, as this game plays much faster for me on a faster PC running chrome. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I haven't really played in a long time...

If I recall correctly... there used to be Daggers in HV right?

Coffee


Quick Edit:

On a side note, I recently purchased my first Auto Cast slot... and it's AWESOME
Is it recommended I save up credits to get my 2nd and 3 auto cast slot asap?

Coffee

This post has been edited by coffeemug: Sep 29 2017, 01:00

After clearing the arenas I feel like doing every day, I've been trying out different things with the remainder of the 24-ish stamina I use each day. I've been trying to clear the Item World for my legendary shortsword (80 rounds total), but I keep getting murdered for my efforts.

I've brought the difficulty down to Hell. Yet I still keep running into the same problem. Around the 40-60th round, I just can't keep my spirit high enough with spirit potions and spirit draughts, and inevitably I get sparked one too many times and die.

It already feels like a bad idea to try to IW with difficulty so low, as that decreases the PXP earned and makes the journey to IW10 many times longer. It feels like if I do that, by the time I get it to IW10, it will no longer be useful as an upgrade due to having leveled up myself.

Should I just abandon it and clear more arenas each day instead, earning more trophies, artifacts, and tokens?

You're not using deprecating spells enough, and you certainly aren't geared/playing your style properly.
PFUDOR IW is hard even for high level players. Imagine the insane amount of damage the monsters deal beyond round 60 or even 80. More than 20k at once is very common.

If I recall correctly... there used to be Daggers in HV right?

there used, yep. the closest you can find nowadays are Shortswords.

On a side note, I recently purchased my first Auto Cast slot... and it's AWESOME
Is it recommended I save up credits to get my 2nd and 3 auto cast slot asap?

2nd for sure. 3rd may wait a bit. you may also want to consider Vigorous Vitality, btw

Newbie question (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

What is Spirit shield.?
Could someone explain it.
(not explained in wiki. wiki only explains Stronger Spirit and how it helps spirit shield)

What is Spirit shield.?
Could someone explain it.
(not explained in wiki. wiki only explains Stronger Spirit and how it helps spirit shield)

https://ehwiki.org/wiki/Spells#Supportive

https://ehwiki.org/wiki/Spells#Supportive

Thanks
(IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

On a side note, I recently purchased my first Auto Cast slot... and it's AWESOME
Is it recommended I save up credits to get my 2nd and 3 auto cast slot asap?

Yeap, Innate Arcana rocks >:)
Buy second as soon as possible.
For third you may wait a little.

Second, third, forth and fifth Innate Arcanas not only open new auto-cast slots for you, but also reduce the amount of mp you have to use every turn to support auto-casted spells. With thus said, you cannot go wrong with Innate Arcana - either you will unlock new slots or you will reduce the current MP consumption. So it is safely to buy as many IA as you need if you have enough free money and have no better alternative for investment (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'd rather say that Innate Arcana significantly reduces the stupid amount of time one can spend renewing the buffs.
When I unlocked my slots I became maybe twice faster.

IIA2 is sufficient to play 1H: Spark of life, Spirit Shield. Protection lasts long enough so that it's not too much of an issue. But in all cases IA5 is the best to have. ^^

I'd rather say that Innate Arcana significantly reduces the stupid amount of time one can spend renewing the buffs.
When I unlocked my slots I became maybe twice faster.

IIA2 is sufficient to play 1H: Spark of life, Spirit Shield. Protection lasts long enough so that it's not too much of an issue. But in all cases IA5 is the best to have. ^^

Yeah, I got tired of wasting turns/clicks rebuffing and using mana pots.
Even with 1 auto cast slot, I just use a mana draught. Makes my life EASY

Onto other newb questions:
1) What exactly are Crystal packs? Is it a pack of every crystal x1 (there's 12 different ones I think?)

2) What drops pre-cursor artifacts?

Coffee

coffeemug

crystals are consumed by your monsters to level up
your monsters are here: http://hentaiverse.org/?s=Bazaar&ss=ml

precursor artifacts can be shrined to randomly get 2 hath or enegy drink or +1 primary attribute bonus
you shrine them here: http://hentaiverse.org/?s=Bazaar&ss=ss

or you can sell both crystals and artifacts to other playrs

edit: osrry i didnt read your post probperly

arenas, iw, grinfests and random encounters can drop pre cursor artifacts

or you can buy them from other players

This post has been edited by Scremaz: Sep 29 2017, 10:25

coffeemug

crystals are consumed by your monsters to level up
your monsters are here: http://hentaiverse.org/?s=Bazaar&ss=ml

What are crystal packs in the context of WTB/WTS?
I'm saving up for my 2nd auto cast slot (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

precursor artifacts can be shrined to randomly get 2 hath or enegy drink or +1 primary attribute bonus
you shrine them here: http://hentaiverse.org/?s=Bazaar&ss=ss

or you can sell both crystals and artifacts to other playrs

Do you know what drops them? I couldn't find that info on the wiki


Coffee

edit: osrry i didnt read your post probperly

arenas, iw, grinfests and random encounters can drop pre cursor artifacts

or you can buy them from other players

This post has been edited by Scremaz: Sep 29 2017, 10:25

Thanks again for all the responses. Seems like the answers fell into three main areas:

Strategy/playstyle:

-snip-

If I am understanding this correctly, you are doing Item World on legendary equipment. You're close to the same level as I am, and you're able to do it on PFUDOR and IWBTH difficulties. So this tells me it is possible, even easy as you say.

You're not using deprecating spells enough, and you certainly aren't geared/playing your style properly.
PFUDOR IW is hard even for high level players. Imagine the insane amount of damage the monsters deal beyond round 60 or even 80. More than 20k at once is very common.

I suspect that some kind of glaring strategy mistake is probably the cause, yes. I'm able to handle IWBTH Arenas, and can even clear then with good speed (less than half an hour each for EoD and ED). While the style works well for Arenas, something is very wrong with it for IW-Legendary. I am hoping to learn what that is, so I can do better.

You mention deprecating spells. In the wiki I see mention of using the silence spell for 1h-heavy build. There isn't much else to read up on. I'm not sure if that is relevant to what is killing me in IW though. There are usually 8-9 monsters in a round, none of them seem like prime targets to silence like SGs, it's just too much overall wear and tear on the HP/SP bars to sustain through.

So, if I am supposed to use deprecating spells to do better, which one(s)? What kind of advice would you give that I could put into practice and try out? Would I need to put some AP into making a deprecating spell better so that it lasts longer, becomes aoe, or something along those lines?

If it is a gear issue, well that is something we all struggle with, isn't it?

Rewards consideration

In my opinion, since Arenas and Random Encounters give you more EXP and credits, as well, trophies from Bosses and SchoolGirls, as well clear bonuses, as well tokens - both profit-wise and exp-wise it is better to make them instead of Grindfest or IW. =)

This is my understanding too. The tokens will help me increase my army of monsters. Trophies are good rewards. The credits and exp are clearly much better at IWBTH Arena than low difficulty IW. If they're better even same difficulty, then the difference is even worse at lower difficulty for sure.

So then it boils down to how important getting the weapon done is.

IW10 importance:

However, IWing your weapon to unlock second strike is good and clever idea and you should do it asap.
Have you soulfused it? Soulfusing doubles all received PXP.

reaching void strike (or iw10 random elemental strike) is one of the best upgrades you may earn, so it definitely may have a meaning trying to pursue that. you may want to try your luck with Tyger here: https://forums.e-hentai.org/index.php?showt...p;#entry4960087

This is what I'm currently using. So I do have a weapon with void+elemental strike, and it has what feels like reasonably good damage for my efforts.

I know it isn't a rapier.

This is my best rapier. The damage is way less, and swift strikes has rendered it too fast. I don't earn enough OC in fights while using it to keep Spirit Stance going as easily.

This is the weapon I'm trying to IW. It isn't a rapier, but it does offer parry, unlike my axe. It has way better ADB% than my axe, so I figure it might be a better weapon to hang onto for awhile.

I had asked about my collection of weapons a few pages back, but got no answer. So I thought I'd try my luck with this one. I don't see myself jumping up into PFUDOR yet, so the difference between piercing and slashing procs doesn't seem as important. The parry seems important. The ADB on the shortsword seems pretty good. A legendary weapon seems better than a magnificent one. That's the logic I've been following so far, in absence of more clear guidance.

So, should I stick with my axe and just rake in the better exp/credits/rewards of arenas for now? Should I work on this legendary shortsword, then hold onto it for a nice long time instead? Or should I do something else?

This post has been edited by Scremaz: Sep 29 2017, 10:25

1) What exactly are Crystal packs? Is it a pack of every crystal x1 (there's 12 different ones I think?)

You are paying the person and he sends you 1,000 of every crystal types (12,000 total).

2) What drops pre-cursor artifacts?

Any given monster in any battle mode might drop the precursor artifact (even in RE).
The base chance to get single artifact is 0,2% and with Archeologist training you can increase it totally to 0,4%
That seems too low, but can say, based on my experience, that while during whole arena run, I usually get 5-10 artifacts. My archeologist is 9/10.
=)

Edit: in RE, BTW, you have 0,5% to get artifact with 0/10 archeologist an 1%(?) with maxed out Archelogist

This post has been edited by f4tal: Sep 29 2017, 02:32

coffeemug

arenas, iw, grinfests and random encounters will drop you crystals

This post has been edited by Scremaz: Sep 29 2017, 10:24

Thanks guys : )

This post has been edited by coffeemug: Sep 29 2017, 02:31

coffeemug
to buy crytals or precursor artifacts from other plasyers
jost post on the thread of other playerse who sell in wts
you cana also mooglemail tem and ask that you want to buy
heres your mooglemail http://hentaiverse.org/?s=Bazaar&ss=mm

or create thred in wtb saying you want to buy somehting

This post has been edited by Scremaz: Sep 29 2017, 10:24

Hmm, reading the link, here is the spirit shield formula to study:

CODE

Spirit Damage = Base_SP * SS_AP_Damage * MIN( (Damage - Max_HP * SS_AP_Damage) / (Max_HP * SS_AP_Damage * 3) , 1)

(SS_AP_Damage = percentage of damage required for Spirit shield to kick in)

So higher ability upgrades of spirit shield do make the spirit drain more efficient, but only for gargantuan hits that reach a spirit damage cap. In that case, the formula reduces to:

CODE

Spirit Damage = Base_SP * SS_AP_Damage

I have about 800 SP, removing spirit tank lowers that to 500 SP, so my spirit damage cap is 500 * 20%, or 100 SP, which would roughly equate to eating a hit that does 10,000 HP or more. I have about 15,000 HP. Some monsters can reach this cap on rare occasion against me.

In the majority of cases, the formula instead reduces to:

CODE

Spirit Damage / Prevented HP Damage = Base_SP / Max_HP * 3

(Prevented HP Damage = Damage - Max_HP * SS_AP_Damage)

Therefore spirit damage efficiency is independent of the upgrade level of spirit shield. In my case the the SP/HP conversion ratio is 500 / 45,000 = 1.1% which matches what I experience.

Cryosite, item world is much harder than arenas, this is commonly known. The reason is stated on the item world wiki: Monster damage starts at 100% base and increases by 2% per round.

You also don't make money in item world, so doing it is difficult and involves sacrifice. In my opinion players of our level can still do it, but you should not be doing item world repeatedly every time you get a slightly better gear. If you finished item world on weaker gear, keep using them as long as possible. At this point it is a close call between that finished axe and the legendary shortsword with bad stats. If you are prepared to soulfuse that shortsword, I would item world it. Otherwise you can wait for a better weapon to come along.

You don't actually have to item world mediocre ethereal weapons. I would not have done IW on either your axe or rapier. I have similar ethereal weapons to those (somewhat better) that I used and tossed aside later on. The important thing at our level is void damage and void strike. Elemental strike is less helpful at this point because enemies have too much elemental resistance. Item world is best for non-ethereal weapons or extremely good ethereal weapons.

I don't use any debuffs to beat legendary IW on IWBTH but I do use a few on PFUDOR in the late rounds. As you said, debuffs are not as helpful on an army of monsters compared to a single boss. I don't think you are doing anything wrong with your strategy. Your experiences just reinforce my suspicion that power armor is overrated at low level. Just keep playing at the difficulties you can manage, you'll blow by my level soon enough and eventually will get good gear like all the high level players.