Is Leech worth it?

[captxunderpants]

It seems like such a cool idea.

[CrackeR]

Nah, it never retured enough in my opinion

[Raze_Larian]

Cause the bleeding status on a leech outside of combat and it is nearly an instant full heal. I have not tried it in combat since it was changed to only trigger on the character's turn, but intend to if I ever get back to the new playthrough I started.

[Wazat1]

I've tried it recently and the heal in combat is a bit unimpressive, and interferes a bit with elemental affinity (blood + witchcraft). It's great for out of combat heals, but so is zombie and some basic poison spells. I have Leech as a backup for when everyone is on fire in combat, and spraying poison for healing could be too much of a gamble. :)

Then again, add high fire resistance and suddenly everyone being on fire is great, because the enemies explode while we heal. :D My resist-heavy fighter has a habit of just burning *all the time* while I gush poison on him and his foes. Works like a charm.

So I'm not sure whether Leech is pulling its weight. It is kind of funny though to walk into the Cyseal crime scene and immediately start contaminating the evidence by accidentally sucking up all the blood.

[SofaKingHanSom]

Leech is 150% worth it.. as long as you have a mage or someone in your party that can then make the character with Leech have the Bleed effect...no matter what level you are it is a 100% heal AS LONG as you have been infected with the bleed effect.

[Wazat1]

Hazedshaman: Actually, recently when I tested, it worked great only outside of battle. In battle it was very sporadic... sometimes it would heal for very little, or hurt me more than it healed me. Other times it would give me tons of healing. Watching my health gradually tick up over several turns from the bleed, I concluded I was better off keeping the talent and using healing magic (or going Zombie).

That was on a save for a game that was started before some major updates (picked the game up again after a long hiatus), so maybe a fresh start would produce different results like it does with some other update-affected stuff. I'm not sure.

[Raze_Larian]

Leech was changed in combat so the character only heals during their turn.

[Wazat1]

It also seems like they heal a lot less as a result. The Bloodletting spell heals like crazy out of combat, but in combat you stay about even from turn to turn, or heal relatively little. I eventually used the save game editor to trade Leech for Zombie and just regularly nuked the party with poison. :D

[benoit.pierre-olivier]

Leech is the best defensive talent in the game. Glass Canon is the best offensive talent. You get healed when you take damage, and you get healed when you deal damage on livings (on your turn only). its still the best

Edit: Im playing the enchanced edition, recent version. Geomancer no longer creates poison, but oil instead, making zombie very inafective

[DonStefan]

I have the leech takent on my tank and I think it's worth it. While in combat you get less healing than outside of it, keep a few things in mind to get the best out of it:

- Don't wear gear that makes you immune to bleeding
- Wear a weapon that inflicts bleeding
- Use skills that inflict bleeding: like the scoundrel-skill lacerate
- In combat, not only stand in a pool of blood; walk around on it in small steps: each will heal you a bit until the pool is sucked up

In some situations, the leech-skill has saved my tank from deatch already. My tank also has water- and witchcraft-magic. He survives PLUS he can heal and resurrect others which makes him even more valuable!