Why is Slumber hex considered a good spell?

[Foehn]

Folks recommend using it a bunch of Ember/witch. It is spammable, but also have a DC of 17. If I'm understanding the rules right, you have to roll higher than 17 on 1d20 plus a chance for will saves in order for Slumber hex to work.

Doesn't that seem like really low odds for a cc spell to commit a turn to?

[Sashenka]

You got it backward, the enemy must Will save at 17. If you Evil Eye before for -2 to saving throws it helps a lot in the early game.

[ShivaX]

It's free and if it works they're basically dead.

A cantrip that's better than Hold Person is pretty strong.

[Robotnik]

I've been playing with recommended AI builds, slumber hex never hits anything in Act3

[Beermachine]

The target of the spell / hex has to roll a d20 + save (will in this case) vs the DC of the spell to resist the effects.

[Dragon Master]

Use her evil eye and then cast it. Enemies must make that will save. Ember's will save is her defense when enemies try to cast spells on her.

Think of it like this, every character, npc and enemy has 3 saving throws. Fortitude, Reflex and Will. Fortitude saves are for things like resisting poisons, reflex saves are for avoiding traps or AoE spells, and will saves are against enchantment and illusion spells, like slumber.

So, if Ember's slumber spell requires a 17 to resist it and you were to use it on a frontline fighter who has more strength and constitution than they do wisdom, it will be much, much harder for them to make that 17 save and will fall asleep mid-battle, giving you one less enemy to worry about and helps keeps your front line safer.

[ShivaX]

Originally posted by Athos Atreides:

I've been playing with recommended AI builds, slumber hex never hits anything in Act3

Sure, it's going to fall off in utility against higher level stuff.

Which is why you swap to stuff like Evil Eye and then Slumber if you're out of options.

Even if there is a 20% chance they fail, that's a 20% chance to basically kill something, which for something you can do constantly with no resource loss is pretty big. But still, Evil Eye is probably better at that stage.

[Draken]

It depends on the enemy. Check the save throw of the enemies before choosing whether to use the slumber hex or not.
Gargoyls for example have a rather low will safe and can be annyoing do deal with otherwise.
Taking them out of the fight for a few rounds, or being able to coup the grace them can be really helpful.

[ChopSuey™]

I hadn't put any stock in the witches but went through a play through on core with ember using slumber and... errr... i've been missing out on some juicy KO's. Can turn the tide in a lot of those earlier battles in the game.
The Vrock in the market place as an example.... slumber before even engaging it and then Coup-de-grace and done in a round. Before that, it took a full rested party for me to take it down with my lvl 4 crew.

[AzureTheGamerKobold]

Slumber is spammable, and alot of worst in act 1 IE the minotaurs, the babu demons, and even the shadow demon can be one shot if they fail there save. Which turns out is easier then you might think it is. Alot of fights can be ended instantly by slumbering and coup de grace after, especially if you use a high crit weapon like a hammer or an axe or--- if your are a terrible person, a Scythe.

To explain the mechanics...

Slumber forces the target to make a will saving throw, which is 1d20 + will saving bonus.

Fighters, barbarians, blood ragers, and alot of other classes have very bad will saves.

Hex ignores Spell Resistance as it's a super natural ability

But Hex itself isn't the real winner here... it's coup de grace! which gives you an INSTANT crit, followed by a fortitude save or instantly die. So EVEN if they survive there is a chance they will die anyway--- so if you insure one of your characters is dedicated to coup de grace duty, has a high crit damage multiplier weapon like a scythe or a great axe, you can end fights before they begin.

[Comuse]

sleep is a very strong effect to inflict, and even with the inflated saves of creatures later on there is a guaranteed 5% chance of them falling asleep and it requires no resources on your part.