[X] My Assistant

Is there actually any situation where you'd want to use Defend or Focus? Because they seem extremely useless.

Might as well replace them with Flee and Scan so you wouldn't have to go to Skills section to use them every time.

One thing to keep in mind though, is *when* in grindfest did you meet him? If I remember right, monsters are weaker in the early rounds

http://ehwiki.org/wiki/Grindfest

e: yes defend/focus seem pretty useless. I do use defend when I'm charging up mana as a mage via ET though

This post has been edited by dcherry: Dec 19 2011, 21:51

Another quick tip to everyone.
I had no idea about this, but the hath perk Crystarium, actually increases the amount of crystals you get everywhere. Including the shrine.
(IMG:[i.lulzimg.com] http://i.lulzimg.com/d19b8e7fc1.gif)

I had no idea about this, but the hath perk Crystarium, actually increases the amount of crystals you get everywhere. Including the shrine.

Old news, long noted in the wiki.

Here's a nooby question. What does weapon proficiency do? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Here's a nooby question. What does weapon proficiency do? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

http://ehwiki.org/wiki/proficiency#Weapons

Is there actually any situation where you'd want to use Defend or Focus? Because they seem extremely useless.

As mentioned above I use defend when using Ether Theft. No point in killing the affected monster until after ET wears off. The lessened damage along with regen usually means I don't have to heal myself with that mana I just got.

And Focus helps when you need that spell to land. I mainly use it to make certain Silence works on the FSM, since the fight lasts so long I'll be casting it multiple times. I'd rather not hit a bad streak and get clobbered by it's spirit attack before I manage to get Silence to stick.

Yes they're situational, but they do have their uses.

As mentioned above I use defend when using Ether Theft. No point in killing the affected monster until after ET wears off. The lessened damage along with regen usually means I don't have to heal myself with that mana I just got.

And Focus helps when you need that spell to land. I mainly use it to make certain Silence works on the FSM, since the fight lasts so long I'll be casting it multiple times. I'd rather not hit a bad streak and get clobbered by it's spirit attack before I manage to get Silence to stick.

Yes they're situational, but they do have their uses.

Then the reason I feel that they're useless is because I'm not a mage. I guess that makes sense

for a melee defend is probably useless... focus might serve you better since your spell accuracy is much lower than a mage's

Tomorrow I will lvlup to 50, so question in advance about Ring of Blood: is Manbearpig is the same as in grindfest? Is it possible for mage to defeat it right at this level?

Pretty much, just that in grindfest mobs only does 50% damage in the first round (and then 1% more for every round), so it depends on how far into the grindfest you were when you met MBP.

Overall, the early bosses are easy, the only problem is their special attacks, which can mean a one-hit knockout, so unless you have something to stop that (like silence, spirit shield, spark of life or scrolls), expect the occasional disappointment where you've been beating him easy and never taken any real damage in return and have plenty of mana, and suddenly you just die.

So unless you need the money desperately, I'd suggest holding off on doing ring of blood until you hit lvl 100 and get spark of life. That way you won't risk losing any blood tokens unnecessarily.
And you want those tokens, even if it seems like you are building up a small storage of them now, you basically only wanna do the bosses and legendaries once, for the first clear cash bonus, and then use blood tokens to grind FSM for his trophy, since that has the highest value of all the trophies.
And then you'll be spending 3 blood tokens a day, and you'll use up your supply very quickly.

for a melee defend is probably useless... focus might serve you better since your spell accuracy is much lower than a mage's

Defend lasts two rounds, so you get one round "free" of bonus defense.
The only time I could imagine where it would be good is for a 1-H heavy shield armor melee fighter, that gets most of his damage from bleeds and counters. Then you could do a defend every other action for added protection to tank those hits that go through your block.

With slow action speed from all that burden, you won't be acting very quickly anyways, and you can get more attacks from counters (up to three per turn) than from normal attacks.

i think the Defend and Focus not design for mage player

i remember several times i got killed by inadvertently hitting "defend" button

seem defend was slowly action some monster can hit me twice in one turn

i think the Defend and Focus not design for mage player

i remember several times i got killed by inadvertently hitting "defend" button

seem defend was slowly action some monster can hit me twice in one turn

Defend is probably a normal action.
But remember that X-magic, X-attack and X-item makes all those actions 25% faster, making defend, scan and flee slower by comparison, since they are the only actions that doesn't get a speed boost.

hmm i was wrong (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) good lesson here

ha (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) i thought so if we have "X-skill" the Defend and Focus may become more useful to mage player

I defeated that manbearpig (scroll of gods dropped recently, so I had my SoL active).
Now more serious question: how do I mage?
My stats:
(IMG:[i1227.photobucket.com] http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee430/Violentin/97d383e2.png)
I figured out that INT and WIS are MUST stats, but which third stat is more usefull: END or AGI?
Equip:
(IMG:[i1227.photobucket.com] http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee430/Violentin/ba514447.png)
Staff
Cap
Robe
Gloves
Pants
Shoes
Abilities:
(IMG:[i1227.photobucket.com] http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee430/Violentin/83d83fcc.png)

Some basic steps:

1. Primary Attributes
You don't need to pick that much INT and WIS, while you need more points in AGI and END.
Try to make your attributes a bit more balanced, since the experience required to raise a stat will start to get ridiculous high at around 113% of your level.
You can try and keep STR and DEX at around 80% of your level, AGI and END at 90% of your level, and put the remaining exp into INT and WIS. The percentage may require further adjustment in the future, but that should be the general idea.

2. Equipments
Try to pick a ebony staff of focus with high accuracy bonus. At your level accuracy is more important than damage output.
Also, pick elementalist/fox clothes, which will increase your damage output in elemental spells.
At around level 130-150 you can start finding destruction staffs and EDB phases.

3. Ability points
First, PICK ALL THE HEALTH TANKS. That's essential for every player.
Pick 1 point in poison and 5 points in weaken, which can greatly help you to beat bosses/legends.
You don't need to pick those elemental resistances; they're basically useless now.
At your level it's better to free those APs in lower-tier spells and invest in higher-tier spells.
Haste and shadow veil are some good spells, but you can pick them later (once your have more APs).
Those spare APs (if there's any) can be invested in EXP tanks and MP tanks.
(Though I've said so, don't reset your AP too many times, as it requires credits. Try to reset them once per 20-30 levels, which is 2-3 tiers)

4. Training
Not much to say here.
Train your adept leaner up to around 120/300.
Train your ability boost up to around 40/100.
That's the most cost-effective training method currently.
If you have spare credits, invest in pack rats, which will give you more item slots.
If you still have spare credits, you can invest some into those loot-increasing trainings, but that's not so important at your level.

This post has been edited by varst: Dec 20 2011, 13:35

At the moment I keep up haste, protection and shadow veil, using regen when i need to. I was wondering how people are able to do high round arenas (i tend to run out of consumables at around stage 30, no where near enough to do a level 60 item (most of my gear is low level except weapon))
(IMG:[i9.photobucket.com] http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a67/silverarrow_/hv3.png)
(IMG:[i9.photobucket.com] http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a67/silverarrow_/hv2.png)
(IMG:[i9.photobucket.com] http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a67/silverarrow_/hv1.png)

At the moment I keep up haste, protection and shadow veil, using regen when i need to. I was wondering how people are able to do high round arenas (i tend to run out of consumables at around stage 30, no where near enough to do a level 60 item (most of my gear is low level except weapon))

You cannot afford filling +EXP and Spirit+Overcharge talents just yet. HP/MP tanks are top-priority on your level. Wait until lvl 150+ (save some points) and then you may start filling EITHER +EXP OR SP+OC (I'd suggest the latter)

This post has been edited by MiAla: Dec 21 2011, 14:12

You cannot afford filling +EXP and Spirit+Overcharge talents just yet. HP/MP tanks are top-priority on your level. Wait until lvl 150+ (save some points) and then you may start filling EITHER +EXP OR SP+OC (I'd suggest the latter)

Signed, Overcharge boost doesn't seem that noticeable unless you spend many points on it, and till you get Spirit Shield, that's pretty much a waste of APs.

Reset abilities and go for Health + Magic Tank.

As for the rest:

At the moment I keep up haste, protection and shadow veil, using regen when i need to. I was wondering how people are able to do high round arenas (i tend to run out of consumables at around stage 30, no where near enough to do a level 60 item (most of my gear is low level except weapon))

General consensus seems that Protection on Light gear is a waste of mana, because of how the bonus works: it basically boosts your mitigations, and since you're not a Heavy user and they aren't that good, the bonus is somewhat negligible.

Long story short: as long as you are able crowd control efficiently (stun splash via Domino, cast Weaken/Bewilder on monsters with 50 %+ MP etc), you don't need Protection. You should aim at evade blows, rather than reduce the damage - they're gonna hurt you anyway.

Higher round arenas aren't that hard unless you go on higher difficulty settings: on Nightmare for example 30+ rounds that should be pretty much out of your league, unless you're really willing to burn mana pots or have access to better gear - dunno about mages though.

What you should be doing (imho) here is lowering the difficulty level for harder, longer arenas. Hard and Heroic are a very good compromise, because while you get 2, 3x exp bonus and some better loot quality, monsters' HPs are only 1.5 and 2.5x - Nightmare on the other hand is 4x exp, but also 4x HP, giving you more exp in total, but less per HP.

At the moment I keep up haste, protection and shadow veil, using regen when i need to. I was wondering how people are able to do high round arenas (i tend to run out of consumables at around stage 30, no where near enough to do a level 60 item (most of my gear is low level except weapon))

My Suggestion, You should change your display title from LORD to Ascended. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm mostly interested in what stat layout I should use as that's one thing I have no idea on, but suggestion on any thing else is welcome.
And which of my weapons is best for a speedy style.
(IMG:[i204.photobucket.com] http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb125/spunit262/Screenshot_1.png)
(IMG:[i204.photobucket.com] http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb125/spunit262/Screenshot_2.png)
(IMG:[i204.photobucket.com] http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb125/spunit262/Screenshot_3.png)

This post has been edited by sigo8: Dec 23 2011, 10:06