Spell Blade & Blood Pact -- do spells count as "attacking"?

[tiamats4esgares]

Like, what if I used Arcane Barage, is it affected by Spell Blade and Blood Pact? What about if I used Warstrike (which is physical instead of mental, and doesn't have arcane)?

[tiamats4esgares]

And do the marks from Grand Conjuror stack? Can I use Arcane Barrage a lot, then finish off with a non-spell attack?

[svdp]

All arcane spells are based on / leveling with INT, while almost all others are with STR. So I doubt they overlap, but Kira will know better.

[Valcus]

I am by no means an authority on this game, but Arcane Barage with marks was the backbone of my strategy. The marks do not stack. So I would hit once with the bolt and then someone would do an attack to detonate the mark, and repeat. Side by side marked enemies do detonate each other so you can set up chain reactions.

While the bolt is mental and scales with int, the detonation from the mark is physical and scales with strength. I got a lot more damage from the mark than from the bolt by using levitate and taunts to position enemies to maximize splash damage.

I put all my points in strength on my mage most of the time. There was a point when I reconfigured him with int but it didn't last long and I went back to strength. However, I never developed the mage into the more expensive spells, so they might play very differently if you go that route. My mage was about firing bolts and generating spell points from crits and meditation.

That's one of the biggest strengths of this game in my opinion; having the ability to completely reconfigure your characters as you strategies evolve :)

[Kira]

There's not much I can add to the reply from Valcus, it's spot on.

Spellblade specifies dagger attack. "attacking with a dagger" does not mean that you do any type of attack while wielding a dagger; it means that you are using one of the specific dagger attacks: Slinking Assault or Blood for Blood. (I believe it also triggers on the special actives granted by the unique daggers in the game, Source Dagger and The Razer, if you happen to use one or the other.)

There is a similar ability a Practitioner can use, that triggers on any type of attack, not just dagger attacks, that is normally exclusive to Paladins but is granted by one of the Dwarven Weapons much later in the game (The Black Thirst).

[tiamats4esgares]

Originally posted by Kira:

There's not much I can add to the reply from Valcus, it's spot on.

Spellblade specifies dagger attack. "attacking with a dagger" does not mean that you do any type of attack while wielding a dagger; it means that you are using one of the specific dagger attacks: Slinking Assault or Blood for Blood. (I believe it also triggers on the special actives granted by the unique daggers in the game, Source Dagger and The Razer, if you happen to use one or the other.)

There is a similar ability a Practitioner can use, that triggers on any type of attack, not just dagger attacks, that is normally exclusive to Paladins but is granted by one of the Dwarven Weapons much later in the game (The Black Thirst).

Shiv would be attacking with dagger too, right? Not trying to be a smart aleck here, just clarifying. I kinda like shiv, in its range versatility you don't have to move to use, etc.

Anyway, I've been using Arcane Barrage to set up my Rogue to use Slinking Assault, Charged Bolt (with Apprentice Gloves), or Coldcock for some good damage. And trying to get the last kill with my Bard, so that she gains a spell point from victory shot (it seems to be 100% even though I don't have Quick to Celebrate; it could be bugged or I'm just super lucky).

I also like Warstrike, it does quite the damage. But I guess Spell Blade is only helping me when I use shiv, which is rare. D:

[tiamats4esgares]

I just slayed 2 paladins with levels 10, 10, 11, 11. :D (hard mode, or whatever, the 2nd-to-hardest). 'Twas a fun fight and I Felt a sense of accomplishment. Haha.

[svdp]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

I just slayed 2 paladins with levels 10, 10, 11, 11. :D (hard mode, or whatever, the 2nd-to-hardest). 'Twas a fun fight and I Felt a sense of accomplishment. Haha.

Congrats!

Depends on the color and number (above their heads) of your enemies, but some will be easy while others not. There are some difficulty 'spikes' though, where some complained about (personally, I find them all doable, though sometimes it needs a change of tactics and skills) but with a bit of perseverence they're manageable.

If I had to say, I thought Haernhold, with the king and redcap, were the most difficult, even more so than the endboss (though I may change my mind now that I'll try to take him on with only 3 partymembers... 😉 ). If you get to Haernhold, let me know what you think (I suppose you're at the Lowlands for the moment?)

[Kira]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

Shiv would be attacking with dagger too, right? Not trying to be a smart aleck here, just clarifying. I kinda like shiv, in its range versatility you don't have to move to use, etc.

Yeah of course Shiv too. I wasn't sure whether Practitioners have access to Shiv or they start with Slinking Assault. But Shiv is totally a dagger attack! 😊

[tiamats4esgares]

Originally posted by svdp:

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

I just slayed 2 paladins with levels 10, 10, 11, 11. :D (hard mode, or whatever, the 2nd-to-hardest). 'Twas a fun fight and I Felt a sense of accomplishment. Haha.

Congrats!

Depends on the color and number (above their heads) of your enemies, but some will be easy while others not. There are some difficulty 'spikes' though, where some complained about (personally, I find them all doable, though sometimes it needs a change of tactics and skills) but with a bit of perseverence they're manageable.

If I had to say, I thought Haernhold, with the king and redcap, were the most difficult, even more so than the endboss (though I may change my mind now that I'll try to take him on with only 3 partymembers... 😉 ). If you get to Haernhold, let me know what you think (I suppose you're at the Lowlands for the moment?)

I just beat a group of 3 paladins. Ha! I wanted to get the paladin that joins the party to fill in the 5th slot. But I don't really see how I'm supposed to generate spell points. I'd rather a practioneer be the cleric :P Well I'll get there eventually. I beat several fights in this bandit camp, somewhere in here is supposed to be the relic to give the healer guy to make anyone a cleric I think. Hmm.

Yeah, still in the lowlands. I think I did things out of order since I'm looking for the paladin. I already am to the tunnel but haven't finished all the "fairy golf".

I can apparnetly already go to Haernhold. I saw the fight was much too strong so I didn't try it. Yet :P

[Kira]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

I just beat a group of 3 paladins. Ha! I wanted to get the paladin that joins the party to fill in the 5th slot. But I don't really see how I'm supposed to generate spell points. I'd rather a practioneer be the cleric :P Well I'll get there eventually.

Bards are the quickest to gain spell points, while Practitioners have the most efficient spell point generation. Depending on how many spell points you want to spend during the first turn, and what else you might want to do, one might be better than the other.

Rogues and Fighters can generate spell points either using Chant (either using an active ability slot or the Censer trinket, or having a Paladin with Drill Master use chant and let you copy it), or by getting them from your Bard (Grand Minstrel passive or Spellsong) or stealing them either via a weapon passive or the draining version of the Vorpal Plating enchantment. There are also potions, quaffing an Elixir of Focus (assuming someone in your party has Alchemic Enthusiast) gives you the 2 spell points needed for most spells.

I can apparnetly already go to Haernhold. I saw the fight was much too strong so I didn't try it. Yet :P

It's good to put a pin in that and come back every few levels to see if you can beat the golem at the entrance to the necropolis. It's there to make sure you don't go in too early, the fights there can be toughies. I normally target level 18-ish to first enter Haernhold, you can do it earlier with the right setup but later is also good.

[tiamats4esgares]

I killed the boss that has the relic to make your first healer (other than Bryan). I had Bryan and a level 15 summoner that I just hired now that I have him, I summoned skeletons for the first time ever. They are nice meat shields. The enemies spent a lot of time focused on them. XD

My other 3 were level 12.

Exciting. :P Time for sleep.

[svdp]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

I killed the boss that has the relic to make your first healer (other than Bryan). I had Bryan and a level 15 summoner that I just hired now that I have him, I summoned skeletons for the first time ever. They are nice meat shields. The enemies spent a lot of time focused on them. XD

My other 3 were level 12.

Exciting. :P Time for sleep.

Ah, so you already found Bryan. I thought in your former post you were saying you were still looking for him, so I thought to give some hints (you can actually sneak by the enemies to get to Bryan - you do know you can use some skills also outside combat, like sneaking, right?) But you already found it. What are your partymembers you have, now?

Yeah, Haernhold is "accessible" from the start, though it's ill-adviced to go in too deep too soon. Kira says lvl 18, but alas, she's so good at it, she's mistaken her expertise for common abilities. ;-) I would say you need at least lvl22-23, and preferably lvl 25 before entering any further than the Dwarven shrine, at the start. (That shrine IS interesting if you want to re-spec, though. If you have enough money...). It may seem expensive, but, while money is hard to come by at the start, it soon will be no problem anymore, and you'll have droves of gold coins. So many you won't know what to do with it. ;-) you probably already started to note it, since between lvl 10-15 all money-concerns dissipate.

So, yeah, Haernhold is a new addition to the DC that wasn't there in the OG; it's a high-level dungeon (Dwarven Necropolis), with some really difficult enemies and nasty creatures, there. Better prepare well, if you're going to enter that one. :-)

Geographically it's to the East of the Land of Caith:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995557741

[tiamats4esgares]

I snuck past SOME enemies, but couldn't sneak past all.

I have Melody as a bard that mainly heals but can stun (dance), and that early skill that does mental damage.

I had that first fighter you get (I'm bad with names) that also has the mental damage skill but I mainly just taunt with him and not much more. He's sadly just a meat shield. I replaced him with Bryan and he's playing the same role, just a higher level.

I have that rogue woman that joins, she's my main DPS, tearing up the enemies in her lan with her dagger.

I have Crux as a Conjurerer and using Arcane Barrage some to help DPS, moving people with feather charms too. Somtimes using that 3 spell point ability that does a ton of physical damage, though not so much on paladins.

I have a generic mage, Gwendolyn, and she does what Crux does a little but also summons skeletons. Now, she's a sage, so going forward she'll also heal. I have her channel giving her 4 spel points. I also start with 1, and get 1 per turn so i can summon skellies on turn 2!

Gwen and Bryan are level 15, the rest are 12. As of now my plan is to get the next fighter and use her or a generic I hire as my 6th member. Just also being another tank. However, the skeletons are great meat shields so....IDK. i might not need to. I also wanna see what Herb is about. :p

[tiamats4esgares]

I would say I still have money concerns, for sure, but I kinda skipped ahead to 15 lol right after Fiona. I still need to do the rest of the fairy golf puzzles (even though it seems it only mainly leads to the tunnel, where I'm already at).

But yeah, plenty of vendors have gear better than what I have. Mainly for my mages. They're squishy.

[svdp]

Originally posted by tiamats4esgares:

I would say I still have money concerns, for sure, but I kinda skipped ahead to 15 lol right after Fiona. I still need to do the rest of the fairy golf puzzles (even though it seems it only mainly leads to the tunnel, where I'm already at).

But yeah, plenty of vendors have gear better than what I have. Mainly for my mages. They're squishy.

You have? should rapidly become better, though. you have a few ways to improve your coin-scavenging too, especially with the rogue (skills) and also with the... how was it called again? The torch-thingy trinket. Kira will know (that's my answer to everything :-p ).

That said, you'll soon be inundated with money as the game progresses. to the point you'll don't know what to do with it anymore.

crux and melody are pretty good. I used all the main characters in the OG and second (DC) playthrough. Now, I'm mostly using a bit more generic ones from the guild-barmaid mercenary thing, and the extra skin one of Fargo one as well, for getting a bit diversification from my other plays, but... I dunno... personality wise, Crux is the best, I think. ;-) As for them being some levels higher; that will slowly level off from its own, since it takes longer and longer to level up, the lower leveled ones soon come pretty close anyhow. If you're still at the Lowlands or the Atian-tunnel, there are still other potential members ahead.

With the fairy golf puzzle: look out there, there's a bug. Do NOT save when (after) you took the the Steel Key and entered the gate. Either save before, or enter and go fully trough that golf-puzzle course (when you're strong enough). If not, when you log out of the game, and later you'll come back with your last save, the gate will be closed, and the key gone. Making the only way...forwards. And if you're not strong enough by then... many whom encountered the bug, couldn't proceed (unless they put it on easy mode).