does cultivation matter

[leon]

if i chose to advance with mortal in the first few stages instead of heaven in the beginning, but later on only advance with heaven, would it still affect my stats late game?

[Myth Alric]

I would think that while your stats would be lower, that it probably wouldn't be a major issue late game, kind of like how your starting stats don't make a major impact late game. They would be slightly lower though. I usually just go for the best anyway, because why not? I am not speed running the game. I think you will be fine though.

The golden core is a big one though, I wouldn't go cheap on that one.

[StranaMechty]

Your final stat on your latest Cultivation level is an accumulation of your previous stat, so if you decide to not Min Max you gonna feel it way later on the higher map difficulty. You can really feel the difference when facing Heaven Chosen Cultivator as they have max stat and Skil/Technique and Artifact+Spirit Artifact.

[Shad]

Originally posted by StranaMechty:

Your final stat on your latest Cultivation level is an accumulation of your previous stat, so if you decide to not Min Max you gonna feel it way later on the higher map difficulty. You can really feel the difference when facing Heaven Chosen Cultivator as they have max stat and Skil/Technique and Artifact+Spirit Artifact.

That's actually not true. The stats you get at foundation (like +5 attack) become largely irrelevant later on (when your attack goes reaches 10k). It does feel nice to get the best ones (and it's trivial to get the materials), but it's not a big issue.

Heaven-chosen have straight up cheat cheat stats you can never reach, no matter what you do. If you want to fight them at equal level, you need to do so with a better skill synergy.

[The Grand Mugwump]

It's true that the difference in early cultivation breakthrough stats doesn't matter at the end of the game, but it's not worth taking the shortcut of doing the easiest breakthrough. You'll end up spending more time to reach the end game from taking longer to kill things and dying more easily than if you just did the best breakthrough.

And heaven's chosen mainly cheat on skill points. Their base stats are the same as ours, but they have red skills and passives for every stat which gives them massively inflated stats compared to most cultivators. In the games where I've bothered to stay at a cultivation level long enough to achieve similar results, I can usually hold my own against heaven's chosen fairly easily. Results will vary at higher difficulties though.

[Cibo]

Can't agree with heaven's chosen. I became the top water cultivator a while after reaching golden core.
Problem is i was challanged by a the top swords guy since he wanted to see who is stronger.
Me Golden Core mid and he end. Yet for example he had nearly double the hp i had and pretty much one hit killed me right at the start xD

[Elfie]

Originally posted by 卧龙:

if i chose to advance with mortal in the first few stages instead of heaven in the beginning, but later on only advance with heaven, would it still affect my stats late game?

Based on the difficulty it will. Ascending in a subpar way will harm your chracter indefinitely. Stats loss from this cannot be regained in any way.

On easier difficulties it not a big deal really, but on harder ones it is. Basically you gimping your chracter. Yes, in late (VIII+) stages the sheer amount of stats you gain from passive books will offset that a bit, but even then - it is irreversible loss of stats.

[Elfie]

Originally posted by Shad:

Heaven-chosen have straight up cheat cheat stats you can never reach, no matter what you do. If you want to fight them at equal level, you need to do so with a better skill synergy.

Even on Chaos HC's stats are easily reachable by player of the same realm. Don't forget that player actually is HC himself/herself.

The key is passive on Attack/Def passive books, that increase your ATK/DEF based on your total Martial/Spiritual roots. And properly ascending in the best possible way, too.

[Cibo]

Originally posted by Elfie:

Originally posted by Shad:

The key is passive on Attack/Def passive books, that increase your ATK/DEF based on your total Martial/Spiritual roots. And properly ascending in the best possible way, too.

Hmm i have red and orange books focused on my water root. Still got the ♥♥♥♥ beaten out of me ^^

[The Lone Badger]

What 'grade' of ascension do you get if you accept the wounded transcendant's offer to raise you to Qi Condensation?

[Mr.Hmm]

Originally posted by The Lone Badger:

What 'grade' of ascension do you get if you accept the wounded transcendant's offer to raise you to Qi Condensation?

Dont know but after doing one run where i accepted it and one run where i didnt accept it and picked the best materials for ascension I can say that its better you dont accept it.

Not sure if its random or set what "grade" you get so i could be wrong.

[Elfie]

Originally posted by Cibo:

Hmm i have red and orange books focused on my water root. Still got the ♥♥♥♥ beaten out of me ^^

It doesn't matter the color of the book, its the presence of passive that scales off your total roots. And ofc your non-primary roots must be decently high for this to have effect.

Also you may want Martial res. book to boost your atk/def as well. Power comes from many small pieces here. Its never like "just equip this and be OP". You have to build your chracter gradually,

[Cibo]

Can you explain that in more detail? You mean i have too boost all roots and matial skill to be better? I know higher levels help neuting you opponents attacks but how else does it effect mind skills for example.

[The Grand Mugwump]

Originally posted by Cibo:

Can you explain that in more detail? You mean i have too boost all roots and matial skill to be better? I know higher levels help neuting you opponents attacks but how else does it effect mind skills for example.

Go look at some of the passive, red quality mind manuals in the sect store or at an auction. You'll see stuff like +x ATK for every 50 martial roots in their list of proficiency bonuses. Just using red manuals in your active skills is the bare minimum for fighting heaven's chosen. You also need to equip red mind manuals as well. They give immense bonuses to your stats, and they're the main reason why heaven's chosen are more difficult to deal with.

[Dcethe]

Originally posted by Cibo:

Can't agree with heaven's chosen. I became the top water cultivator a while after reaching golden core.
Problem is i was challanged by a the top swords guy since he wanted to see who is stronger.
Me Golden Core mid and he end. Yet for example he had nearly double the hp i had and pretty much one hit killed me right at the start xD

You guys complain about heaven chosen then do everything in your power to make a sh*tty cultivator.

On Normal simply doing the heavens path and having purple / rare manuels is enough to kill heaven chosen. on Chaos you need to min-max your cultivator to the max or you will never get anywhere.

Path stats here - Qi -> Foundation Heaven -
ATK - 9
DEF- 6
VIT- 195
Foundation - Qi Condensation -
ATK 17
DEF 11
VIT 395
Qi Con - Golden Core -
ATK 32
DEF 22
VIT 738

My Current Cultivator is a Golden Core. Without any mind skills he has 204 ATK 137 DEF and 4277 VIT.
The 2nd Place tornament winner had 168 ATK, 115 DEF and 3048 Health with his mind skills.
Add on my mind skills I got from my Sect
ATK 312
DEF 171
VIT 5242
All the Cultivators in hua feng are a cakewalk, I've even killed higher-leveled cultivators. My Tip

Kill Bosses whenever you see them and auction Mythic / Legendary breakthrough items you don't need. Auctioned 9 items in the starting area, I got 23,000 Spirit stones. Auctioned 6 items in Hua Feng and I got 87,000 spirit stones just from Qi Orbs and random garbage from the starting area.

Use comprehend skill on your best skills and try to get as many legendary affixed as possible and finally farm the World Bosses that spawn in and drop Mythic Skill books / manuals.
My 1 manuel I got from Hatuibwari *2nd world boss for gold core* which was a ATK man gives me 87 ATK skill points. best affix *every 24 skill points in a martial art gives you +1 ATK* or whatever
EDIT* bruh as soon as I posted this I got challenged by a heavens chosen with higher stats LMAO

[The Grand Mugwump]

Originally posted by Dcethe:

EDIT* bruh as soon as I posted this I got challenged by a heavens chosen with higher stats LMAO

Just like your skill manuals, theirs can randomly be super optimized too. Except they usually get 8 red mind manuals, which gives them a lot more opportunities for the legendary bonuses like +stat for roots or +stat for max hp. And then if one of those red manuals is the same root as their skills (and not a generic one), then they can get legendary bonuses which drastically improve the effectiveness of their active skills using that root.

The only thing busted about Heaven's Chosen is the disgusting amount of skill points they have to equip so many red manuals at once, which leads to their stats also being busted in a way the player can technically counter if they spend enough time.

It definitely emphasizes the importance of those items which can increase the grade of an equipped skill, since it lets us steadily amass red mind skills over time which can remain relevant throughout the game.