[X] My Assistant

@bakabombdood

As I've said, battlecasting is always doable.
The problem is whether it's good enough to become a strategy worth suggesting to other players.

@ChosenUno
Well....unless you're wearing priestess phases (I know some melees like that), holy EDB phases or using an oak staff, you won't get enough benefits from healing.


@smilejb
DW sounds good, but as skillchip said, MM's much better if there's 1-2 mobs left (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Decided to hell with it and went DW-ing. Used 2 infusions of darkness, 1 scroll of the gods (no SoL yet:( ) and 55 turns. I think it was overkill cause I never lost more than 100 HP.

As an aside, this is working out really really well! Apart from the profs, I can switch between DW/1h and maging at a moment's notice!

Are these stats good for a DW my level?

Mainhand Damage Type
Soul
Offhand Damage Type
Slashing
Physical Attack
474.8 base damage
88.1 % hit chance
17.5 % crit chance

For reference @lvl 76, 45 dw prof, I have 460~500 dmg if i go ethereal+ high parry in off hand. About 590 damage w/ slaughter club in main hand. Getting prof up really makes a difference.
Also might try to find a piece of shade or 2 to lower burden and +evade.

This post has been edited by etothex: Feb 10 2012, 11:53

For reference @lvl 76, 45 dw prof, I have 460~500 dmg if i go ethereal+ high parry in off hand. About 590 damage w/ slaughter club in main hand. Getting prof up really makes a difference.
Also might try to find a piece of shade or 2 to lower burden and +evade.

Yeah, well, I'm not really focusing on DW atm. Just recycling all the stuff that comes my way, really. Surprising number of my drops is leather, less so for clothes/heavy.

Maging comes first, simply because it's so much easier and faster, although it has its problems as well, number one being if you're too careless, you'll die in 1 turn easily, from normal mobs.

I don't think battlecasting is viable, mainly because Heartseeker and Arcane Focus cancel each other out, and you lose out on a lot of damage and accuracy if you don't have them on.

I don't think battlecasting is viable, mainly because Heartseeker and Arcane Focus cancel each other out, and you lose out on a lot of damage and accuracy if you don't have them on.

That does make a lot of sense... DAMNIT. you and your logic are doomed. DOOMED I SAY.

Seriously though, maybe it can still be viable. I guess the person just has to choose which one? I'm guessing most people would choose arcane focus. But what if you had them on at different times? I'm not sure about the durration, but maybe heartseeker while building up overdrive, and arcane focus afterward?

all I know for certain is that board and sword are probably the least viable for battlemage. (watch, some one else have common sense and prove that wrong too, just like who needs dw when you got mm >_>)

That does make a lot of sense... DAMNIT. you and your logic are doomed. DOOMED I SAY.

Seriously though, maybe it can still be viable. I guess the person just has to choose which one? I'm guessing most people would choose arcane focus. But what if you had them on at different times? I'm not sure about the durration, but maybe heartseeker while building up overdrive, and arcane focus afterward?

all I know for certain is that board and sword are probably the least viable for battlemage. (watch, some one else have common sense and prove that wrong too, just like who needs dw when you got mm >_>)

Board and sword typically use shield armor. Interference will kill you.

Besides, what is the point with battlecasting? You lose a *lot* of increased damage from prof-increasing armor, which means increased mana consumption as you'll need to cast more spells to kill things. You last longer, sure, but then again you'll take longer to kill things, and mana-efficiency will be shot to bits.

My question: For ROB and legendaries, sword+board VS DW. Which is better? I don't have shield armors, but a lot of leather, so I guess DW wins?

well I was saying the sword and board is the least viable for that reason.

If your prof is high enough, merciful blow looks nice for one handed. Otherwise yea, go with your dw. it will die faster.

Honestly though, when I did melee it was with heavy armor. And for rob, I just switched from 2h to dw. I'm a little slower and the buffs do cost more, but it sucks to have to rely on spark because if they hit hard enough, you might run out of sp. Heavy armor just gives you more room to work with, you know?

Silence is good if you want to fight as a melee.

AFAIK DW/1-handed/two-handed doesn't matter that much when facing RL. Anything with void damage should be good.

For IPU/FSM you need specific mitigation armor. I won't rule out the chance you can kill them without mitigation armor, but that makes things much easier.
Again, as long as you're using appropriate infusion, DW/1H/2H shouldn't matter that much.

Of course, DW will make things much easier, while 2H has high damage output. Haven't seen anyone passing that with 1H, so I can't comment on that.

(But then heavy-armor has one distinct advantage: leather sucks, while plate armor doesn't)

This post has been edited by varst: Feb 10 2012, 15:26

Silence is good if you want to fight as a melee.

AFAIK DW/1-handed/two-handed doesn't matter that much when facing RL. Anything with void damage should be good.

For IPU/FSM you need specific mitigation armor. I won't rule out the chance you can kill them without mitigation armor, but that makes things much easier.
Again, as long as you're using appropriate infusion, DW/1H/2H shouldn't matter that much.

Of course, DW will make things much easier, while 2H has high damage output. Haven't seen anyone passing that with 1H, so I can't comment on that.

(But then heavy-armor has one distinct advantage: leather sucks, while plate armor doesn't)

True, but 5pc plate is already ~ 60 burden + ~70-80 interference. That's around 25-30% increased mana cost, no? But then again, you can probably easily get 50+% mitigation.

If you're 1h, then another 15 burden + interference or so for the shield.

But then again, drops aren't dropping, so...

This post has been edited by ChosenUno: Feb 10 2012, 15:31

Its give and take. I just like the extra cushion heavy has. And I did the rob with sword and board till about halfway through. (mostly because my dw prof sucks and I didn't have too many good weapons). And I thought while it will take longer, less likely to get one of those unlucky kill shots. Now that I think about it though, a longer battle gives them more chances to hit me. More chances to hit me means eventually one of them will be a kill shot.

Its give and take. I just like the extra cushion heavy has. And I did the rob with sword and board till about halfway through. (mostly because my dw prof sucks and I didn't have too many good weapons). And I thought while it will take longer, less likely to get one of those unlucky kill shots. Now that I think about it though, a longer battle gives them more chances to hit me. More chances to hit me means eventually one of them will be a kill shot.

Actually if you're meleeing, silence takes care of the 1-shot for you (spirit/mana attack). Your trouble would only be with taking the regular hits, but that shouldn't be too troublesome, I'd say.

For IPU/FSM you need specific mitigation armor. I won't rule out the chance you can kill them without mitigation armor, but that makes things much easier.

I can vouch it's definitely possible without specific mitigation armor.

I brute-forced through them with DW/negation shade, 5 godly mana pots, 2 godly spirit pots as insurance, a few scrolls of the gods and the right stock of infusions.

FSM was a very close call, but that made it just so much more satisfying.

Regarding mitigation/interference problem: use Kevlar. Yeah, that simple, my current offset provides me with approx. 50-55% PDR.

None of the melee procs works with magic damage and the Compromise from melee equipment makes using magic inefficient and pretty impractical. Its almost like Tenboro designed it so Battlecaster builds aren't supposed to work.

Battlecasting. Hmm. Suddenly I think of Gandalf and his DW style. Staff MH + Sword OH, in mage robes.

That'd be interesting, wouldn't it? Kind of like Niten.

Just throwing ideas around.

Actually if you're meleeing, silence takes care of the 1-shot for you (spirit/mana attack). Your trouble would only be with taking the regular hits, but that shouldn't be too troublesome, I'd say.

It doesn't prevent crits from regular attacks though.

and a niten style battlecasting thingy with a staff would be nice.

All power armor, all the time, 2-h mace face crushing here, don't follow me, i ended up not playing at all lately. Go buy kevlar, it has to be better or something.

Losing like 300-350 adb for the minor defense i cna get with what i have still sucks and feels so bad man...

It's like i started this patch thinking "ew, this sounds weird" then transitioned into "Man cure is great now, sure it costs more but i'm healing a boatload more!" then it dawned into "Wow these monsters live a lot longer, i have to heal a lot more even though it heals MORE, so that cost is costing MORE..."


Now i just check my monsters and say "yay" when i get a shade fragment, and then go about my other internet stuff.

I'd try out maging, but i have nowhere near the patience to train my profs up from the 12.44 elemental i have from when i toyed with lightning spells back at lv 50, much less do so and try to find anything resembling half-assed equipment (much less decent) with the paltry amount of credits i have.

Too bad my isp is utter ass so i can't even use H@H to get some hath to make up for it.

I unlocked IA1, however in HV it still shows no slots???

Bah, just when I posted this, it unlocks. Sigh...

This post has been edited by ChosenUno: Feb 11 2012, 16:46

For hath points should I go with IA1 or Black/white aura first?

For hath points should I go with IA1 or Black/white aura first?

Depends on your preferences really. IA is for convenience mostly, while aura helps you level faster.