So.. the Hex Wolf Howl.. kinda op.

[Lightgazer]

After seeing another post where the poster said "i'll always take wolf howl if offered" i saw it offered as a full moon hex. and thought "lets try it." picked up selene's keepsake after erebus for +4 path of stars (was only rank 2 for me) and promptly got a path of stars.. for +9 choices. selected my paths, and then poseidons double boon procced to give me another +3. so i kinda went through the rest of the entire run doing the following:

omega cast ->hex -> second hex cuz that's what the path said ->1 second of invincibility -> dash -> omega cast -> hex -> hex -> dash..

everything. even chronos kinda fell apart in short order. i cleared rooms mad fast, and the only time i ever got hurt was those stupid hour glasses time stopping me. which taught me to avoid it for chronos. he never hurt me. this was on a 20 fear lim and oros. getting a second path of stars in the fields and having THAT double booned was just icing on the cake - allowing me to do damage as i rised up too. i ended up picking the path that applied my dash boon cuz i was running out of options - except i had no dash boon.

i think you're invulnerable when you rise up from the cast and the falling animation too - so even chronos can't hurt you. and it having such a short recharge time made it happen again and again and again. i believe this might be the most op hex i've seen from her (considering chronos took more damage from the repeated 400 damage x2 then x2 hits from it than anything else), but i'll not get that lucky with double boons again. getting the 1 second of invulnerability shouldn't be too hard to do.

[jimmyliou1990]

Yup, it's my second favorite just behind Moon Water. I am not sure about the I-frames as I sometimes still takes damage when using it, and I haven't figured out what exactly I did wrong.

Nevertheless, even without the sizable damage, it just feels so good to use it to dodge things. Leaping up to dodge Chronos's spinning blade and landing on him as the final move feels like a major trolling to him and I LOVE THAT.

[TripSin]

The iframes and repositioning are pretty good. And yet you have some people out there being ignorant and completely avoiding hexes lol

[Lightgazer]

Originally posted by TripSin:

The iframes and repositioning are pretty good. And yet you have some people out there being ignorant and completely avoiding hexes lol

this. i was avoiding it completely myself i like time slow except it's useless on chronos, life water is good if you need it, but aside from that i avoided hexes like the plague over almost anything else.
then i read forums, and thought to give soem of the things they were talking about a whirl. very glad i did.

[Thaecrasis]

Huh, I hadn't used it because it seemed pretty terrible from the face-value stats: only 200 damage requiring you to charge up 80 magick, meanwhile base weapon damage omega attacks are almost the same (or better in the case of the axe since it hits multiple times).

So it gets far better after you put lots of point into the path of stars?

[Lightgazer]

it was only 40 magicka used for me. and there's paths that both increase damage, allow it to hit both on ascend and crash, AND to be used immediately again... as well as giving a single second of invulnerability upon use - that last one is really easy to get since it's just a bright pick.
then you also have that it takes a full second to rise - and then you crash down to targetted area, that effect the rising you're "in that spot" but not there, so everything goes after you there, and even chronos will attack you there.. only to crash somewhere else - and rising is immune to everything as if you were a ghost. being invulnerable after the crash is incredible allowing you to get out of the fire or damage or whatever. and with 40 mana being used, just the pick that allows the hex to charge automatically lets it get used often enough, reducing the cost further makes it so much easier to the point where by the time you do a single omega cast, it's ready. then used twice, allowing that mana to be used again, only to do it again.. while maintaining half invulnerability. - that's what i experienced. omega cast, then immediately howl, and the moment i land howl again - i didn't even care what i targetted, dash omega cast howl and howl again. so long as i didn't crash into an hour glass it was pure crazy.

[Thaecrasis]

Huh, interesting, I might have to give it a try - I've just been using either moon water, or darkside for 5+ seconds of invulnerability

[Rod, of eight toes]

Hexes can be pretty OP when you get a lot of upgrades. Your run, I think, is the exception to the rule.

I really want to like hexes. I've had some fun upgrades. But if the choice is between Selene or nearly any other god, I'm not choosing a Selene. A good epic or heroic buff is much easier to get than a strong hex build.

[Tim]

Wolf Howl can eventually become powerful, but I still don't go out of my way for Hexes. I've actually been in a situation where, even after upgrading Wolf Howl with all the doo-dads, it did less damage per second than Aspect of Momus does normally after filling its Core Boon slots. Even when damaging Hexes are as strong as Wolf Howl, their opportunity cost can be unfavorable.

I do recommend everyone to try a Wolf Howl build, though, cuz it's a lot of fun. Bonus points if you can get Attack or Special to expend its cost in Magick in one Omega.

[Rod, of eight toes]

Originally posted by Tim:

Wolf Even when damaging Hexes are as strong as Wolf Howl, their opportunity cost can be unfavorable.

This right here. I very much hope the devs see this. It takes way fewer rooms to get a great boon build going than it does to get a hex build going, and even then there are effectively stronger boons.

Hexes cost too much and offer too little. I sincerely hope the devs completely rework them into something that can compete with boons, or scrap them altogether.

Edit: Sorry, didn't mean mana cost. I meant opportunity cost.

[Hormesis]

what was your mana regen? for hexes to be viable it's dependent on way too many things to go right. in my last 10-20 runs or so i've completely avoided them and i doubt i'll be picking them up again. it's a cool concept and as you've pointed out they can be broken, but in terms of dependability and flexibility they are statistically inferior to all other deities imo

[Lightgazer]

i'm honestly not sure i had any beyond the arcana. the mana regenned just the time spent doing the double howl. all i spent was 15 mana for the omega cast

[WolfLink0370]

I feel that Hexes can be a good investment, but by no means should they be the lynch-pin of your build strategy.

Like lets take Wolf Howl here for example... already on it's own... it is a really good compliment to something like the Twin Daggers, offering a cheap and relatively safe approach to the next group of enemies. Adding a few path of stars here and there will obviously make it better as well.

But the big thing I feel to prioritize regarding Selenes stuff isn't the actual Hex itself, but rather what Path of Stars boons it can offer. This is the one area where Moon Water is honestly lacking (as all of it's boons tend to just improve the main Hex), but for the others... most of them offer a common boon option that modifies one specific stat parameter (often with a condition to be active), which can be stacked as they can show up multiple times in the same path of stars.

For example, four different hexes offer the common boon that gives you a 5% damage increase per boon.... with the only condition that your hex must still be charging up to receive the bonus. Wolf Howl is unfortunately not one of them... instead offering a movement speed bonus while your hex is charging (and is the only hex that will do so)... but again, that helps with positioning, so it is a nice compliment.