[X] My Assistant

LIES!!!! If you get a good enough focus staff you can get it up to 100% hit chance when forged and leveled up.

Legendary Ebony Staff of Focus - MAB 85.65%
MAB from gear - 36.58%
Intelligence: 821 [376 +425 +20]
99.7 % hit chance
47.6 % crit chance

forged x 100?
level up to 500?
LIES!!! ? good luck with that

You could go for Soul Reaper/Harvest since it's useful deep in GF/CF. Other than that, I don't see anything immediately useful for melee, other than increasing elemental resistances. Of course, you'll probably need to increase your Spiritual proficiency to make good use of it...

What about soul fire/burst? Are they ineffective because of the mana cost?

What about soul fire/burst? Are they ineffective because of the mana cost?

if you melee you want soul harvest because you can regain spirit points.

if you melee going with soul spells, holy and dark is a good setup since it doesn't take that many AP vs getting all the elemental spells.

Legendary Ebony Staff of Focus - MAB 85.65%
MAB from gear - 36.58%
Intelligence: 821 [376 +425 +20]
99.7 % hit chance
47.6 % crit chance

forged x 100?
level up to 500?
LIES!!! ? good luck with that

Legendary Ebony/Katalox of Focus max base: 79.2%
Forge x 20 = +20%: 79.2% * 1.2 = 95.04%
Level up to L105: (1 + 105/2000) * 95.04% = 100.0296%

Magnificent Ebony/Katalox of Focus max base: 72.56%
Forge x 20 = +20%, 72.56% * 1.2 = 87.072%
Level up to L297: (1 + 297/2000) * 87.072% = 100.002192%

Exquisite Ebony/Katalox of Focus max base: 69.21%
Forge x 20 = +20%, 69.21% * 1.2 = 83.052%
Level up to L409: (1 + 409/2000) * 83.052% = 100.036134%

Superior Ebony/Katalox of Focus max base: 65.85%
Forge x 20 = +20%, 65.85% * 1.2 = 79.02%
Level up to L532: (1 + 532/2000) * 79.02% = 100.03932%

Legendary Ebony/Katalox of Focus max base: 79.2%
Forge x 20 = +20%: 79.2% * 1.2 = 95.04%
Level up to L105: (1 + 105/2000) * 95.04% = 100.0296%

Magnificent Ebony/Katalox of Focus max base: 72.56%
Forge x 20 = +20%, 72.56% * 1.2 = 87.072%
Level up to L297: (1 + 297/2000) * 87.072% = 100.002192%

Exquisite Ebony/Katalox of Focus max base: 69.21%
Forge x 20 = +20%, 69.21% * 1.2 = 83.052%
Level up to L409: (1 + 409/2000) * 83.052% = 100.036134%

Superior Ebony/Katalox of Focus max base: 65.85%
Forge x 20 = +20%, 65.85% * 1.2 = 79.02%
Level up to L532: (1 + 532/2000) * 79.02% = 100.03932%

even if your staff shows +100% MAB that isn't the same as what your Magical Attack hit chance will be.

I have 85.65% from staff + 36.58% from gear + 821 INT and only get 99.7%

if you melee you want soul harvest because you can regain spirit points.

if you melee going with soul spells, holy and dark is a good setup since it doesn't take that many AP vs getting all the elemental spells.

And I assume the 2nd tier doesn't...?

even if your staff shows +100% MAB that isn't the same as what your Magical Attack hit chance will be.

I have 85.65% from staff + 36.58% from gear + 821 INT and only get 99.7%

But indeed it is, because the equation is
Attack accuracy = 1 - (1 - 0.8)(1 - equip 1)(1 - equip 2)(1 - equip 3)(1 - equip 4)(1 - equip 5)(1 - equip 6)

Any weapon/armor that gives 100% modifier will make the second term equals zero.

And I assume the 2nd tier doesn't...?

2nd tier has different effect, so you're correct

This post has been edited by varst: May 14 2012, 16:53

IWBTH
Kuroko Shirai hits you for 66 piercing damage. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

IWBTH
Kuroko Shirai hits you for 66 piercing damage. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Nerf in 3 2 1 ... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Nerf in 3 2 1 ... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

flimsy IW, 1HD with turtle gear 83% mitigation

Eila Ilmatar Juut1lainen hits you for 55 piercing damage.

This post has been edited by 4EverLost: May 14 2012, 17:06

As far as spells are concerned, is there a point in buying the lower tier spells like other RPGs?

Like I wouldn't bother casting Firaga if I wreck things with tier 1 fire? So would I use weaker spells at the start of IW/Grindfest & switch to the stronger versions later on?
IE. Purge at the start then Banish things in the later rounds.

As far as spells are concerned, is there a point in buying the lower tier spells like other RPGs?

Like I wouldn't bother casting Firaga if I wreck things with tier 1 fire? So would I use weaker spells at the start of IW/Grindfest & switch to the stronger versions later on?
IE. Purge at the start then Banish things in the later rounds.

Depend on your mana: if you can clear the entire rounds using tier 3 spells with mana to spare, then there is no point in having tier 2 or 1 spells.

At higher level, the only advantage they have is low mana cost, which mean you can clear longer rounds without resorting to Ether Thief. These spells are ideal for training elemental prof.

Of course, you still can cast Purge to one-shot monsters at early rounds, but what if there are some leftovers? Two casts of purge can be more expensive than casting one Banish (this sort of problem is more obvious in IWBTH)



This post has been edited by Coma: May 15 2012, 00:52

Use what works for you.

tier1 is very mana efficient while tier3 is naturally higher damage. Most high levels use tier3+ now because monsters have much higher life at high levels and hit high level mages harder. That means their priority is to *kill* monsters before they're killed themselves.

If your tier1 magic allows you to clear the arenas you want and reach the grindfest rounds you want, then stick with it.

Edit:
I currently use tier3 magic to start
tier1 magic to clean up (on low difficulties) or tier3/4 magic to clean up on higher difficulties

This post has been edited by dcherry: May 15 2012, 01:13

Think I got it, atm I'm never hurt for mana in IWBTH. I really only do randoms on IWBTH which is hardly mana intensive. Otherwise I play on normal if lazy or Hell/Nintendo when I plan on leveling that day.

I might just stick to banishing things then. Killing things before they kill you is standard MO for higher difficulties anyway. IDK if there really is a way to turtle or play lame in HV. Any armor set up that makes you kill slow as hell but live forever? I'd do that if their was practical means to.

right now it seems you *can* turtle up. but not much publicly known benefit to that.

I'm currently using a mace + high PAB heavy armor
My 2H and heavy armor proficiencies are well developed

I'd like to switch to rapier+ shield + high block% shield armor

Good idea or bad idea?

probably a bad idea. 1h/board has the lowest killing speed out of the available weapon styles (inb4 some smartass says barehanded)

I'm currently using a mace + high PAB heavy armor
My 2H and heavy armor proficiencies are well developed

I'd like to switch to rapier+ shield + high block% shield armor

Good idea or bad idea?

Do-able, but be warned that 1H is much slower than 2H in term of clearing speed.

Basically you are trading killing speed (Domino Strike) for safety (a counter strike and high chance of ignoring enemy damage)

That's not the reply I hoped for.

So should I stick with 2H if I want to progress through rounds at a reasonable rate?

Is mace + phase armor more sensible in the long term (assuming I get my 2H prof to 100 sometime soon)?

That's not the reply I hoped for.

So should I stick with 2H if I want to progress through rounds at a reasonable rate?

Is mace + phase armor more sensible in the long term (assuming I get my 2H prof to 100 sometime soon)?

It depend on how you are doing in the rounds: If you can make it through higher difficulty arena just fine with 2H, then you dont need 1H at all.

Phase is for mage, which is insensible if you are melee, I assume you meant Shade. Mace + Shade is good, but highly risky since your only defense is evade, which means squat when you get hit. Plus, there is no reason to use regular 2H, other than ethereal or void-seeker, if they have very high burden that would penalize evade bonus.