[X] My Assistant

Shade is burdenless. Kevlar has more mitigation, but less evade, accuracy, crit, attack damage.

You have to choose one because burden kills your evade.

What is pointed at above is that shade doesn't have as much mitigation as kevlar, so you depend more on RNG/Veil/spirit shield.

As for INT/WIS: They're for hitting with debuffs, and more importantly, mana: every point of WIS grants 0.75 points of base MP while every point of INT grants 0.25 points. Since you can use mana to heal and MP pots are more efficient for that mana is quite important - but as long as you have enough for the difficulty you won't need more.

ok a quick update.
I used some of that precious hath I have been hording. and bought an auto-cast slot.
redid my abilities and got my spells.
(Spark of life last 80 turns with an enhancement sweet new favorite spell!)

got my INT up to 138
and my WIS up to 148

I'm running at 161. so that should be somewhere around 80%... I really don't feel like doing the math.
it only cost me 5 points of Agility and Endurance. so that worked out. I'm going to look through my spare armor a bit to see what else I got that could match.

I could be mistaken, actually I most likely am, but I thought Shade armor was better than just Kevlar.
I have a small collection of both, so which should I use.
I was so close to ridding myself of all burden too..

I won't say which is better as its more to playing style.
But kevlar user have more assortment of weapon they can use. They can use estoc, axe+rapier or any other combination you want to experiment.
On the other side, shade user should use stun weapon for survivability. So we will use either mace or club+rapier.
And hoheneim right about that, don't get fixated on Fleet/Shadowdancer.
There are several high level people that use full arcanist. And you can see other several high level people using mix-match Legendary Shade they can find.
But if you want to mix-match kevlar+shade, try to see pentiuminside.

Well, tbh eleeinos uses estoc+shade, but it is a bit more risky (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I don't know about that (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) .
Last time I try estoc+shade its feel like russian roulete? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

It works decently if you have auto-cast slots as you need spark of life up constantly and need to pay more attention and more potions, but overall it is still faster than using a mace.

alright. Thanks for pointing out the difference between Shade and Kevlar. The only reason I have one piece of Kevlar equip still on is because I just haven't gotten some shade gauntlets yet.
I didn't know that just having one piece missing would be so impacting.

I haven't dealt much with other players or buying things off of them but I may need to try and hit up some more folk on the forums to see if I can make a few deals for a complete shade set or something.
Maybe some of my buddies over in the art section will cut me a pretty good deal.

If I can get some credits up for that pack rat i'll be carrying more potions from now on. At the moment I carry 4 types of health, three types of mana, and one for spirit. I don't know which ones off the top of my head. and I'm kind of in the middle of writing a glass etching tutorial for a friend so checking is a bit of a hassle at the moment.


You guys have been an immense help. I have been able to cut it pretty well on my own (for casual playing that is) up until lately. It looks as if I really wanna make it to the top of this game, I'm going to actually have to break down and study a bit. Ah well its like learning D&D all over again.
Thanks Guys.

If I don't check back in a timely manner, feel free to PM me if anyone gives new advice.
(PMs make me feel loved and wanted anyway)
Alright Bro-hoof-out!

Well, tbh eleeinos uses estoc+shade, but it is a bit more risky (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

True, it's a somewhat dangerous combination but as long as you have Spirit Shield and Spark of Life on, you're safe. And you don't need autocast as long as you pay attention. Spirit drains FAST on IWBTH though, since the overall low mitigation of Shade allows for many hits to trigger Spirit Shield. With Estoc you can clear rounds much faster than with Mace, but in the long run you won't last as long (although I haven't actually played a lot with Mace myself). In the previous patch I could clear up to ~80-85 rounds on IWBTH before running out of mana or spirit and resorting to scrolls. And I am barely able to clear Magnificent & Legendary Item Worlds on Hell with that gear. Schoolgirl marathon arenas are also manageable, as long as difficulty is set on Nightmare or lower. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I don't know about that (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) .
Last time I try estoc+shade its feel like russian roulete? (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/heh.gif)

What was your evade? Mine is at 47.1% currently and with Shadow Veil on I can evade a lot of attacks. This is what my stats look like after I feather all my gear, and the only Forged piece is the Breastplate (Evade Lv.14, Agility Lv.13). With equal (forged) gear in all slots, I think base evade of over 50% is feasible. (Also the Estoc has all three Shards on at the moment)




EDIT: I replaced the Estoc with a Legendary Mace I have, with Voidseeker+Featherweight Shards on and tried the first few arenas. Noticed two things:

a. Elizabeth took out over 600 of my Spirit Points in just one round, because Mace is SO SLOW, that I got hit about 30 times more than I would've been with the Estoc
b. Mace generally made the battles drag on for SO long, that I practically had to recast Regen II every 2 rounds. And that's supposed to be the long-lasting buff. >_>

I still fullly support Shade+Estoc. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

This post has been edited by eleeinos: Dec 30 2012, 06:24

Snip

Did you use spirit stance instead of TH skills? IWBTH rounds takes under 20 turns now that 501st is gone (40 for round 1) for me using an exquisite ethereal mace without any IW or forging. Going through trio I usually don't even have to use a single spirit potion anymore. Still, it is noticably slower than estoc.

one quick question which one is better for mage? destruction or focus for staft

Did you use spirit stance instead of TH skills? IWBTH rounds takes under 20 turns now that 501st is gone (40 for round 1) for me using an exquisite ethereal mace without any IW or forging. Going through trio I usually don't even have to use a single spirit potion anymore. Still, it is noticably slower than estoc.

You mean with the Estoc? Yeah, I use Spirit Stance on IWBTH. I do clear rounds in less than 20 turns with an Estoc, but that battle with Elizabeth I mentioned before (with the Leg. Mace) took 83 turns. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)

On Hell Item Worlds though, I find it better to use 2H skills instead, at that difficulty Rending Blow acts exactly like the Orbital Friendship Cannon (at a much lower cost), killing everything in 1 hit. Shatter Strike too, if you manage to give a lot of penetrated armors with one hit in the beginning of the next round.

And I don't know about you, but I still feel like I see Eila 501 too often... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Edit: Oh and this is the Mace I was talking about, in case anyone is curious:

http://hentaiverse.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=e78c608b42

No Slaughter, but it still gave almost as much base damage as the Estoc (just ~150 less)

This post has been edited by eleeinos: Dec 30 2012, 06:50

I meant with your mace trials, all I'm trading with mace is spirit stance for rending blow damage.

Edit: The troll is strong on that one (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

This post has been edited by fishinsea: Dec 30 2012, 06:53

I meant with your mace trials, all I'm trading with mace is spirit stance for rending blow damage.

Edit: The troll is strong on that one (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

My Mace trials were only with Spirit Stance on. I didn't even bother using the 2H skills, but I used OFC a few times and that felt underpowered as well. Penetrated Armor makes a HUGE difference apparently..

Troll about the Mace? Yeah, worst possible suffix. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)

one quick question which one is better for mage? destruction or focus for staft

At your level, probably Elementalist (or Heaven-Sent if you're a Holy mage). I would go high MC Focus over Destruction at your level, since you don't have the MP tanks or the resources to get a large base MP pool.

So orbital friendship cannon uses physical damage for it's damage calculations? Is it worth/useful enough for 800k?

Mace would be worthless without rending blow.

This post has been edited by fishinsea: Dec 30 2012, 07:18

At your level, probably Elementalist (or Heaven-Sent if you're a Holy mage). I would go high MC Focus over Destruction at your level, since you don't have the MP tanks or the resources to get a large base MP pool.

i see i will try elementalist and focus and see how it goes since i have both but not destruction,btwn which is better? redwood,ebony,willow or katolox and what's the difference?

So orbital friendship cannon uses physical damage for it's damage calculations? Is it worth/useful enough for 800k?

Mace would be worthless without rending blow.

I can't say that with absolute certainty, but I have a feeling that I wouldn't be able to clear arenas like Eve of Death and T&T on IWBTH without the Orbital Friendship Cannon. And yeah, it uses your base physical damage and a skill multiplier which is higher than that of any other weapon skill.

thanks for the destruction staft! fishinsea

My Mace trials were only with Spirit Stance on. I didn't even bother using the 2H skills, but I used OFC a few times and that felt underpowered as well. Penetrated Armor makes a HUGE difference apparently..

It surely does, that's why with a mace on higher difficulties you must use great cleave and rending blow. If timed well, at my level, damage soaking critters last less than 20 turns on IWBTH. Otherwise It'd take three time as many turns to drop them.

What are your stats using the estoc and using that mace?

This post has been edited by Hoheneim: Dec 30 2012, 08:15

Starting to get burnt out on IWing the estoc. How do you guys survive the grind?