[X] My Assistant

Here's a real "expert" question. I took on Real Life the other day (and lost), and it seemed to me he was extremely reluctant to use his spirit attack. I'm talking once in over 200 rounds. Has anyone else noticed this, or did I just get lucky?

I have a theory that maybe he has an equal chance of using any special attack, and because he has so many different magic-using attacks, the chance of him using spirit is reduced as a result... but that's pure speculation.

Here's a real "expert" question. I took on Real Life the other day (and lost), and it seemed to me he was extremely reluctant to use his spirit attack. I'm talking once in over 200 rounds. Has anyone else noticed this, or did I just get lucky?

I have a theory that maybe he has an equal chance of using any special attack, and because he has so many different magic-using attacks, the chance of him using spirit is reduced as a result... but that's pure speculation.

Yes.
You're theory makes sense.
Be happy.

On the other hand, he has both physical and magical skills, and they all do massive amounts of damage, so it's not like you're being saved from much.

Thanks, Sayo for the BD present, and everyone else for the BD Karamas, and wishes...

I just reached Hero, and I am taking a break from Power Mage to build up my Dual-Wield and 2-Handed prof as a Tank for a few levels. After re-setting my Abilities back to Tank mode, I have 5 AP left. Any advice for someone was hasn't Tanked since the Dark Days of the end of the HV 0.3 series (18 levels ago)?

My current stats and Abilities with Rapier/Dagger and Full Plate...





My Weapons...

Fine Platinum Rapier
Superior Prism Dagger of the Cheetah
Average Mithril Longsword of Balance
Superior Platinum-tipped Oak Staff of the Priestess <-- This is to keep my Staff prof up while I am away from Power Mage.

Statistics

General
===============
Fighting style
Dualwield

Mainhand damage type
Piercing

Offhand damage type
Slashing

Physical attack
+27.6 % damage
+43.5 % hit chance
+2.9 % crit chance

Magical attack
+6.5 % damage
+5 % hit chance
+0 % crit chance

Physical defense
25.9 points absorbed
10.4 % mitigation

Magical defense
22.9 points absorbed
12.1 % mitigation

Avoidance
+5.3 % evade
+0 % block
+20.8 % parry
+3.3 % resist

Compromise
76.9 interference
89.5 burden

Damage mitigations
===============
Soul damage
0.5 % mitigation

Physical damage
0 % mitigation

Crushing damage
10.7 % mitigation

Slashing damage
25.1 % mitigation

Piercing damage
16.6 % mitigation

Fire damage
1.5 % mitigation

Cold damage
1.5 % mitigation

Elec damage
20.2 % mitigation

Wind damage
2.5 % mitigation

Holy damage
7.5 % mitigation

Dark damage
0 % mitigation

Primary attributes
===============
+8.6 strength
+0.6 dexterity
+3.4 agility
+6.1 endurance
+0 intelligence
+0 wisdom

Weapon procs
===============
Penetrated Armor
12 % chance on hit
Lasts for 4 turns

Bleeding Wound
21 % chance on offhand
Lasts for 3 turns
61 damage per tick

Fighting style procs
===============
Offhand strike
25.3 % chance on hit

Spell proficiency
===============
-26.92 elemental
-4.72 divine
+0.00 forbidden
-9.72 deprecating
-7.54 supportive
-17.83 curative

Spell damage bonus
===============
+0% fire damage
+0% cold damage
+0% elec damage
+0% wind damage
+0% holy damage
+0% dark damage
+0% soul damage

This post has been edited by Alpha 7: Dec 10 2009, 21:20

The fact that it can't stop crits makes it feel a little broken to me, but overall, its still worth using in the later arenas

yes

it can be useful verses legendaries, but I usually just silence them.

I think you'd change you mind on that if you ever fought legendaries at the end of arenas instead of just in the Ring of Blood. That is, unless you enjoy wasting tons of mana on healing from being crit for over 1000 damage every turn. I'm sure you can stack mitigations for the one on one battles, but that doesn't work when you have a random spawn at the end of arenas. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Thanks, Sayo for the BD present, and everyone else for the BD Karamas, and wishes...

I just reached Hero, and I am taking a break from Power Mage to build up my Dual-Wield and 2-Handed prof as a Tank for a few levels. After re-setting my Abilities back to Tank mode, I have 5 AP left. Any advice for someone was hasn't Tanked since the Dark Days of the end of the HV 0.3 series (18 levels ago)?

Not worth getting the holy ratings unless you have enough extra ap to fill up more important things (like Hito). The last time I did tests, the ratings had a decent affect on cure, but no real effect on regen, which you should start getting used to as your main curative spell if you haven't already (much better hp_recovery/mp rate).

Also, holy fuck. Reset your abilities again, and even out your hp/mp tanks. You'll have no mana for regen (or anything) at this rate :\

Also, holy fricken hell, post your armor stats. That's way too much burden/interference, you'll be attacked like 10 times for every 1 time you get to attack, and all your spells will fail :[

This post has been edited by DemonEyesBob: Dec 10 2009, 21:49

yes

I think you'd change you mind on that if you ever fought legendaries at the end of arenas instead of just in the Ring of Blood. That is, unless you enjoy wasting tons of mana on healing from being crit for over 1000 damage every turn. I'm sure you can stack mitigations for the one on one battles, but that doesn't work when you have a random spawn at the end of arenas. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

Well I stack evade so I don't get hit all that often 1v1, but I guess crits might make me rethink it. . When I do to kill a god, when I hit 180 I'll probably be weaken/bewildering the legendary... But even without weaken they didn't seem to hit any harder then battletoads boss with weakened.

This post has been edited by uth: Dec 11 2009, 02:09

The Elemental Spike Shield spells. Useful? I recall Hito complaining about one of them apparently failing to do anything versus a legendary. But do those who have them use them outside of legendary battles? I guess the question is: Is it a situational spell at best or something one has on all the time?

The Elemental Spike Shield spells. Useful? I recall Hito complaining about one of them apparently failing to do anything versus a legendary. But do those who have them use them outside of legendary battles? I guess the question is: Is it a situational spell at best or something one has on all the time?

I personally didn't even pickup the ability, tried it earlier but the dmg it does is so small I didn't even notice it, and while the extra elemental mitigation is nice its really really situational. I'd say the only reason to use it would be versus boss or legendary monsters

I think Hito's complaint was that it didn't seem like the mitigation was added the turn he used the spell so he got hit with a full magic attack.

This post has been edited by uth: Dec 11 2009, 05:38

Not worth getting the holy ratings unless you have enough extra ap to fill up more important things (like Hito). The last time I did tests, the ratings had a decent affect on cure, but no real effect on regen, which you should start getting used to as your main curative spell if you haven't already (much better hp_recovery/mp rate).

I still find Cure to be more effective at my level.

Also, holy fuck. Reset your abilities again, and even out your hp/mp tanks. You'll have no mana for regen (or anything) at this rate :\

I just finished a 66 Crude Item World and it only took 2 Avg Mana pots to get through. That and way too fucking much time, for my taste. Remember I have very high INT/WIS so< i have fast MP regen and the high Armor defense means I don't use any deprec. spells. My battles are mostly click-until-they-die, and start the occasional Cure near Round 20-something. Basically, I don't have any MP issues currently, and I don't plan on doing any more 60+ Round IW again, anytime soon. I really can't tolerate the boredom of long grinds. I need to take a break every 200 or mobs. I don't now how some people can do hundreds of rounds per day.

Also, holy fricken hell, post your armor stats. That's way too much burden/interference, you'll be attacked like 10 times for every 1 time you get to attack, and all your spells will fail :[

Actually, I was very careful when I went on this Plate shopping spree and every piece is under 20 I&B, unlike last time when my I was 85 and b was 101. I paid closer attention to the battle log around Round 50 and I was getting double-hit about once every seven turns. Since the mid-bosses aren't a problem, the only spells I ever use are Cure and rarely Regen or Shield.

Fine Titanium Plate Helmet of Protection
http://hentaiverse.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=41364329bf

Fine Titanium Plate Cuirass of the Thunder-child
http://hentaiverse.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=b5a5ffa8d3

Fine Titanium Plate Gauntlets
http://hentaiverse.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=a9e9d0830d

Average Platinum Plate Greaves of Deflection
http://hentaiverse.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=4fb444a20c

Average Titanium Plate Sabatons of Protection
http://hentaiverse.org/pages/showequip.php...;key=89cda2cd87

One last thing to remember is, I am just grinding out DW and Plate prof for awhile, before switching back to Magic. Until I finally get a good Ethereal weapon, Endgame+ and the Rings are out of the question, with any fighting style. I am doing this now so my DW/2H/HA prof doesn't fall too far behind plus, I get to give my Staff prof a nice boost.

When my DW prof is 60+ and I get that elusive Ethereal weapon, then I'll focus on surviving the long epic battles that you guys do on Heroic and above every day.

what does bubble gum do? is it just a novelty item or does it actually have a use? i have searched some of the item threads but i have not gotten an answer other than it now does what its supposed to do. i dont want to consume it just to find out when i can get 1k credits for it in the item shop if it is indeed just a novelty.

^^well u can sell to me for 1.5k creds then lol

Bubble-gum causes a 5-turn buff which causes every attack you make to be 100% hit chance and 100% crit chance, in addition to giving you extremely strong MP and HP regen.

@Alpha 7 :
My Regen heals for 41 for each of 17 ticks. That's 697 healing for 18 mana. Cure costs 15 mana, and heals for between 270 and 300. That's a huuuuge difference in efficiency. Plus, I spend less of my turns healing and more of them attacking. As for the real-world meaning of this, I clear every arena up to and including Apocalypse Soon without casting Cure more than ten times per day.

Maybe you're finding Regen less than stellar because your action speed is so slow? As a DWer, I wear only 1 piece of heavy armor (chest). Everything else I wear is silk and gossamer. This leaves me with about 47 burden and 24.8 Interference. Combined with Haste (which I highly recommend), I get Regen ticks very fast.

Anyway, what that means is that it's not worth putting 11 points into Holy for the rating bonus, since Holy Rating has no effect on Regen. That frees up enough points for you to get Bewilder and Haste maxed out, plus 6 MP tanks. I'd personally recommend switching some of your Overcharge points into MP tanks as well. We melee folks may not rely on our mana for our offenses, but we still need it for our defenses. Despite my heaving 30 less int and 15 less WIS than you, I still have 80 more MP. I can't say that 80 MP is worth more than +15% more dmg (I have 2 full OC boost ranks, compared to your 5), since I haven't tried switching them up, but I'd personally rather have the MP.

As far as alleviating the boredom of long grinds, have you tried watching videos while you play? I watch random vids on www.homestarrunner.com while clicking away, and I also keep up with my favorite Hulu shows. It's a great way to keep your mind engaged with something other than repetitive clicking.

Edit: Never mind, just found the answer elsewhere.

This post has been edited by dap00: Dec 11 2009, 20:09

i started out inferno spamming my way through all of my battles naked. now that i have some weapons and heavy armor i dont need the magic as much and i would like some advice on how i should redistribute my ability points for a dual wielding melee style. also, what 2 weapons would compliment each other well, i was thinking axe of slaughter/shortsword of the nimble or a rapier of some kind with shortsword of the nimble

i started out inferno spamming my way through all of my battles naked. now that i have some weapons and heavy armor i dont need the magic as much and i would like some advice on how i should redistribute my ability points for a dual wielding melee style. also, what 2 weapons would compliment each other well, i was thinking axe of slaughter/shortsword of the nimble or a rapier of some kind with shortsword of the nimble

You'd want tanks. As for dual wield, everyone's different. The most efficient dual wield is a high damage multiplier mainhand, and high accuracy/parry offhand, as the offhand gets a 50% bonus in that area (and a 50% reduction in damage multiplier), and there wouldn't be any multiplicative stacking penalties.

Using a Rapier mainhand and anything with high parry or high accuracy in your offhand is the way to go (daggers often have both of those stats in high amounts). You don't want two weapons with bleed procs (axe, dagger, shortsword) because the bleed procs will overwrite each other (even when a weaker one is applied while a strong one is active). A rapier procs Penetrated Armor, which removes your target's defensive stats, making them take a lot more damage for several turns.

I'd cut the points you've got in fire, wind, and poison, and put them all into HP and MP tanks. You also might want to take the points out of EXP tanks and put them into SP Tanks and Overcharge Boost. Each point in OC Boost gives you a 1% increase in all damage dealt, and more spirit points makes your Spirit Attack more powerful. I find that investing a couple thousand credits into Adept Learner training (which is very very cheap for the first dozen or so ranks) is better than investing AP into EXP tanks.

You can also significantly boost your EXP gains by posting on the forums. Every day that I want the boost, I post in ~16 threads in the spamhaus, and I get about 30% more EXP from battles for the rest of the day. Eventually, you might need to worry about leveling too fast, but that really won't become an issue until lvl 60+ at least.

ok thx for the help, im starting to get frustrated trying to get new equipment. i suffered some losses in the arena after turning up the difficulty hoping to get equip drops so i just spent the last of my cred on an axe rather than trying to gamble for one so i am using 2 bleed weps atm. the rapier/shortsword combo is what i wanted to go with for that reason but i only see 2 rapiers in the shop at a time and they are always mith rapiers way above my lvl so they would not have helped me much anyway. are rapiers uncommon/rare?

i put 7 ranks into adept learner so far so ill remove those exp tanks. im not really concerned about exp gain though.

im more interested in credit gain atm so i can either buy better gear or put some ranks into scavenger/luck of the draw/quartermaster to better my chances of getting something useful. 1 bubble gum and 1 pair of fine silk shoes of warding are the only notable mentions from the drops i have gotten. the rest have been mostly lesser draughts of one type or another. i also wanted to ask if equip drops only happen during arena battles because the few equip drops i have gotten all happened in the arena but i have gotten item drops during arena, gf , iw and hourly encounters

Rapiers aren't particularly rare, but people tend to hold onto the ones with good procs or high accuracy/parry for their own use. And you really shouldn't be buying gear from the shop when there's no selection like what you just did. There are several people selling decent gear (and me selling just everything from junk to jewels) in the WTS forum for a fraction of the price. And over-level gear can still provide better stats than what you could find at your level, you just have to compare (I've been using the same weapon for nearly 100 levels now). Hate to say it, but you wasted credits bro.

Equip drops can occur at any time, but arena clear bonuses are more likely to drop equipment.

Hello, everyone ^^

I just leveled up to a new ability tier, and I'm a bit undecided regarding how abilities i should increase. Here's my current tree, and following, the equipment stats:

[gannonman.com] (IMG:[gannonman.com] http://gannonman.com/thumb/Abilities_850098514.jpg) [gannonman.com] (IMG:[gannonman.com] http://gannonman.com/thumb/Equipment_186151397.jpg)

I usually only employ 1h/s (I only switch to DW when I have to level up my trusty shield in Item World), paired with Cure and, recently, Shield. But I tried to keep my Interference low in the case I started using some offensive magic too. Now, the point is - is it viable to choose a couple of Deprecating spells to use, or should I just forget offensive magic altogether and start spending Ability points in Spirit tanks and Overcharge boosts (after filling up those last Health tanks)? I though at least Poison and Weaken to be a good thing to have in the arsenal, even at the cost of lighter armor, but I may stand corrected.

Thanks in advance for the advice ^^

This post has been edited by streetfelineblue: Dec 13 2009, 03:16

Hello, everyone ^^

I just leveled up to a new ability tier, and I'm a bit undecided regarding how abilities i should increase. Here's my current tree, and following, the equipment stats:

[gannonman.com] (IMG:[gannonman.com] http://gannonman.com/thumb/Abilities_850098514.jpg) [gannonman.com] (IMG:[gannonman.com] http://gannonman.com/thumb/Equipment_186151397.jpg)

I usually only employ 1h/s (I only switch to DW when I have to level up my trusty shield in Item World), paired with Cure and, recently, Shield. But I tried to keep my Interference low in the case I started using some offensive magic too. Now, the point is - is it viable to choose a couple of Deprecating spells to use, or should I just forget offensive magic altogether and start spending Ability points in Spirit tanks and Overcharge boosts (after filling up those last Health tanks)? I though at least Poison and Weaken to be a good thing to have in the arsenal, even at the cost of lighter armor, but I may stand corrected.

Thanks in advance for the advice ^^

You should put two points into those Item Slot abilities in tiers 2 and 4 first. Then, I'd suggest 5 pts in Weaken, since it's very useful against the last-round minibosses that you'll be facing in the arena at your level (not to mention being the cheapest deprecating spell, letting you spam it for proficiency). After that, get those HP tanks, then if you have a Rapier for PA, I'd suggest Poison. It doesn't really do enough damage against non-PA'd monsters. Once you've got those (if you choose to get poison), then you can start putting some points into SP Tanks and OC Boost.

Sleep is mostly useless, and Slow is a very niche spell that you might never use, and won't use at all for a long time.

As for keeping your interference low, I'd do the same even if I wasn't using offensive magic. Keeping it around 25 means your Shields and Cures are not reduced in power due to lost Proficiencies due to high Interference.