[X] My Assistant

Gotta start switching my difficulty to Normal for Arenas. I went into Apocalypse Soon on Hard and consumed my entire stock of Greater Manas.

Also in relation to counters - Triggering a stun with a Shield Counter no longer consumes one counter chance. Patch 0.5.2 notes

My character took much more damage after the patch. Sad.

My character took much more damage after the patch. Sad.

At first I thought that my armor no longer works, the damg from monster went from 2-20 to 50-2xx. Suddenly, I want to switch to easy mode...

So, does DW really have anything going for it at this point? 1-H can block and counter with a shield and can cause Stunned along with the weapon's proc as far as I can tell and 2-H has Domino Strikes that can affect multiple monsters with a proc.

The only thing I can see is the extra damage from the offhand (which is how much compared to a counter? I don't know...) and the possibility of PA + Bleeding Wound, which seems outclassed at this point. I really don't want to switch fighting styles, but if DW is just that inferior... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

So, does DW really have anything going for it at this point? 1-H can block and counter with a shield and can cause Stunned along with the weapon's proc as far as I can tell and 2-H has Domino Strikes that can affect multiple monsters with a proc.

The only thing I can see is the extra damage from the offhand (which is how much compared to a counter? I don't know...) and the possibility of PA + Bleeding Wound, which seems outclassed at this point. I really don't want to switch fighting styles, but if DW is just that inferior... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

Two things.

First thing: monsters deal 75% damage when above 80% health. And the DW fighting style is entirely single-target so that means every monster except the one you're killing will be doing less damage to you (and also you'll never get an unlucky 3 agitated monsters critting you nonsense).

Second thing: you're getting stats from two weapons. For example the crit chance from your offhand weapon effects your chance to crit your normal attacks, so if you're lucky enough to have a Sword Chucks with high ACB, you can get an insane chance to crit (and crit means guaranteed proc).

If also does more single-target damage than one-handed, but the total damage is probably less.

Two things.

First thing: monsters deal 75% damage when above 80% health. And the DW fighting style is entirely single-target so that means every monster except the one you're killing will be doing less damage to you (and also you'll never get an unlucky 3 agitated monsters critting you nonsense).

Hm... Good point, but still doesn't help that 75% damage is still enough to kill me fairly easily even on Hard now. (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) That, and if you stun half the monsters with a 2H weapon, you really don't need to worry about that many agitated monsters, right? (Of course, this is more luck based...)

Second thing: you're getting stats from two weapons. For example the crit chance from your offhand weapon effects your chance to crit your normal attacks, so if you're lucky enough to have a Sword Chucks with high ACB, you can get an insane chance to crit (and crit means guaranteed proc).

I do love my crits...

If also does more single-target damage than one-handed, but the total damage is probably less.

And the shield gives you a chance to block as well, though, so the lower single-target damage seems a lot more worth it.

@HaliZorat: Before the patch I personally used DW Club+Rapier, and it still works. It would work better with Ethereal, but...
Anyway, Stun makes you do double damage to that target, right? Imagine how good it is with PA at the same time.
DW is still very viable. It'll always be better against single targets than multiple targets, but assuming you have good evade/parry, it shouldn't be much of a problem anyway.

@HaliZorat: Before the patch I personally used DW Club+Rapier, and it still works. It would work better with Ethereal, but...
Anyway, Stun makes you do double damage to that target, right? Imagine how good it is with PA at the same time.
DW is still very viable. It'll always be better against single targets than multiple targets, but assuming you have good evade/parry, it shouldn't be much of a problem anyway.

I imagine it'd be especially useful against the Ring of Blood enemies, but my main concern is if 1H Rapier + Shield can also stack PA and Stun, along with the ability to block attacks, is it the better option as of this patch?

I'm probably just overreacting to all the 2H users jumping with joy at the fact that maces are powerful right now and seem to be having the least trouble with the harder hitting enemies... (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/mellow.gif)

Both of my Parry and Evade just a bit above 20% at this point, so I suppose it could be worse.

At this point, you'd probably be better off using Shadow Veil with Shade gear of Fleet for high evasion rates. I'm not sure why, but it feels like everything has a higher dodge rate now.

I've been on the lookout for decent Shade Fleet armor, but I obviously haven't been looking hard enough. Besides, I'm keeping my Shadowdancer leggings on because of the ADM, so unless I find some awesome Fleet leggings, I'm not gonna be having a full Fleet set.

This post has been edited by HaliZorat: Sep 4 2011, 06:38

So does everyone hang out at 80+ stamina at all times?

Somehow, I managed to mess up a maze and got knocked under. I'm sure I got the answer(s?) right too.

As much as possible. Seems like a bit of a punishment for playing though, since I haven't been doing all that much today and I went down 20 Stamina.

I usually stop playing once I get to 79 stamina. Doesn't help that trying to do all the arenas takes me under 79 now... So I have to choose between credits and possible equipment (early arenas) or tons of EXP (later arenas). Given my difficulty with this patch, I'll likely opt for the former.

@HaliZorat: Out of curiosity, what is your current Agility at?

@HaliZorat: Out of curiosity, what is your current Agility at?

190. I moved a few Strength points into it and Dexterity today after realizing it increases my Offhand hit chance. (Went from 37% to 39%)

Recently, since I've been grinding to catch up, I've been hovering around 70-90 in stamina. Do some high level arenas in Heroic (well, Normal since the patch QQ) to make use of the experience bonus, and then once that's drained I get four times as much done with the remaining stamina, completing most of the rest of the arenas, and leveling up some items.

Sucks that you missed a Riddle, but unless you're playing 2000+ rounds (1000 for grindfest) a day, it'll recover itself.

I do all the arenas in a backward order now.

Heroic from Dreamfall all the way down to Fresh Meat, then Nightmare for Blazing Field through Test of Faith, then A New Beginning on Hell, then Graduation on Nintendo, then Schooltastic and Learning Curves on Battletoads, and finally Baby Steps and First Blood on IWBTH. That way, I get most of the hard stuff out of the way while I still have great status, and I still get some major experience for the early arenas.

190. I moved a few Strength points into it and Dexterity today after realizing it increases my Offhand hit chance. (Went from 37% to 39%)

You're going to want to increase it a LOT. Having higher Evade/Parry is essential at the later rounds of arenas; not to mention the action speed bonus. What is your action speed currently?

My PL 45 Sprite won its first battle with a killing blow. They grow up so fast.