Experiments with Mercenary/Windsword

[PowerSworder]

I saw that with the most recent patch (I say recent... 2015?), the bug with the Windsword's auto-crit ability had been fixed. I read conflicting comments online saying that it was still not working, so I decided to level one up and check myself in my latest playthrough.

It is fixed!

The first hit on an unwounded enemy is an unblockable critical hit.

Being slightly sceptical before I started, I modded the game to allow the Merc class to skill up to GM in axe and 2-handed, just in case the ability wasn't working. This means that at level 28, my Windsword has crit for as much as 1050 damage! (I pumped up might and ignored perception and destiny, only putting a few points in vitality).

You might be thinking: "So what? You modded the files, you were cheating!"

True! But I only mention this, because my completely unmodified Blademaster(with swords) still does more damage! That's not including the blademaster cleave ability which is extremely handy and allows the blademaster to do even more obscene amounts of damage in most battles.

The Windsword's crit is guaranteed, but it's only on an uninjured enemy. So in protracted battles, or fights where you're using AoE spells to soften up hordes, his damage really starts to drop off. Also, if you've pumped up might like I have for those big insta-crits, your crit rate will be very low ~10-15%, which makes relentless weapon crits rare.

So basically, if you're new to the game and struggling with combat, go with at least one, possibly even two blademasters for your melee classes. I'd probably recommend swordmasters over daggermasters too, simply because you can get access to the Master and Grandmaster sword trainers much more quickly compared to the dagger trainer. That means your Swordmaster can really start kicking♥♥♥♥♥when you need the help the most (towards the end of act 2).

Anyway, hope that's interesting/useful! :-)

[Traul]

Since we are talking promotion abilities that kind of work: the Warmonger ability works, but the game does not always recompute damage on the spot when you barbarian gets hit. You can unequip then re-equip your weapon to force the game to recompute. The effect is massive because it is the total damage that gets multiplied.

[E-baisa]

I'm playing a Windsword with (obviously) swords, and the ability does not work. Will try with an unofficial patch to see if it fixes it. And yes, the damage Blademaster does is just beautiful (I prefer him with daggers, doing 5-8(?) hits, all damage multiplied with multiple 'breath' items).

[lDEAL]

Originally posted by Traul:

Since we are talking promotion abilities that kind of work: the Warmonger ability works, but the game does not always recompute damage on the spot when you barbarian gets hit. You can unequip then re-equip your weapon to force the game to recompute. The effect is massive because it is the total damage that gets multiplied.

And what adout orc's passive ability +20% crit (Fierce)? - it is don't work. And any weapon bonus for +% crit damage too. This bonus is not displayed on the character screen,
if you carry out calculations on the battle log, you can see it.

I have a good strategy with warmonger ability:
3 low hp warmongers (all in might) + human mag (all in magic) casting celestial armor + stone skinn + liquid membran + hour of power + Destiny + inner fire + eagle eae + resists...
With 2x strike weapon deals more then 2000 dmg, and if crits....

[lDEAL]

Originally posted by PowerSworder:

I saw that with the most recent patch (I say recent... 2015?), the bug with the Windsword's auto-crit ability had been fixed. I read conflicting comments online saying that it was still not working, so I decided to level one up and check myself in my latest playthrough.

It is fixed!

The first hit on an unwounded enemy is an unblockable critical hit.

Being slightly sceptical before I started, I modded the game to allow the Merc class to skill up to GM in axe and 2-handed, just in case the ability wasn't working. This means that at level 28, my Windsword has crit for as much as 1050 damage! (I pumped up might and ignored perception and destiny, only putting a few points in vitality).

You might be thinking: "So what? You modded the files, you were cheating!"

True! But I only mention this, because my completely unmodified Blademaster(with swords) still does more damage! That's not including the blademaster cleave ability which is extremely handy and allows the blademaster to do even more obscene amounts of damage in most battles.

The Windsword's crit is guaranteed, but it's only on an uninjured enemy. So in protracted battles, or fights where you're using AoE spells to soften up hordes, his damage really starts to drop off. Also, if you've pumped up might like I have for those big insta-crits, your crit rate will be very low ~10-15%, which makes relentless weapon crits rare.

So basically, if you're new to the game and struggling with combat, go with at least one, possibly even two blademasters for your melee classes. I'd probably recommend swordmasters over daggermasters too, simply because you can get access to the Master and Grandmaster sword trainers much more quickly compared to the dagger trainer. That means your Swordmaster can really start kicking♥♥♥♥♥when you need the help the most (towards the end of act 2).

Anyway, hope that's interesting/useful! :-)

Yeh, blademasters are good, especially with daggers under the buff from the paladin. If you also pre-throw agony on the target...mmm))
But Windsword is still my favorite class, due to the fact that you receive excellent damage right from the first act. In late game buy him a weapon for mana lich and you don't know troubles. No need to worry about accuracy - you hit 100%, put everything into power and get the best result here and now.

[E-baisa]

Originally posted by lDEAL:

But Windsword is still my favorite class, due to the fact that you receive excellent damage right from the first act. In late game buy him a weapon for mana lich and you don't know troubles. No need to worry about accuracy - you hit 100%, put everything into power and get the best result here and now.

Well, I tried the unofficial patch to fix the Windsword, and game does not launch with it (Ubisoft anti game-fixing measures, I guess). Now, the windsword in my group is not bad (dual handed sword, all might, but rarely gets might/perception buffs, as 3 mages do more damage by casting damage spells). But I liked the twohanded mace barbarian better. One reason- it is kind of hard to find a good twohanded sword- shop in Seaheaven mostly offers single handed ones, and other shops barely offer them at all. So I guess he is better as WindAXE, or windMACE, not a windSWORD. Second- it is possible to double the damage of the barbarian by keeping him at lower health, while special abilities of the windsword are not very useful (one does not work, at least for me- and the in-battle movement is not that useful).

[lDEAL]

Originally posted by E-baisa:

Originally posted by lDEAL:

But Windsword is still my favorite class, due to the fact that you receive excellent damage right from the first act. In late game buy him a weapon for mana lich and you don't know troubles. No need to worry about accuracy - you hit 100%, put everything into power and get the best result here and now.

Well, I tried the unofficial patch to fix the Windsword, and game does not launch with it (Ubisoft anti game-fixing measures, I guess). Now, the windsword in my group is not bad (dual handed sword, all might, but rarely gets might/perception buffs, as 3 mages do more damage by casting damage spells). But I liked the twohanded mace barbarian better. One reason- it is kind of hard to find a good twohanded sword- shop in Seaheaven mostly offers single handed ones, and other shops barely offer them at all. So I guess he is better as WindAXE, or windMACE, not a windSWORD. Second- it is possible to double the damage of the barbarian by keeping him at lower health, while special abilities of the windsword are not very useful (one does not work, at least for me- and the in-battle movement is not that useful).

Here is the patch that fixed my mercenary correctly (everything works in steam):
https://www.nexusmods.com/mightandmagicx/mods/6

Dual Windsword is much worse than two-handed, because we only have one hit beats with 100% accuracy, all the others have a chance to miss (since we only have a weapon master and we don't want to invest in perception - we will lose in damage).
This is why mercenaries are so well suited to mana-lich weapons. Weapons with two hits always look better, but we will often miss the second hit due to lack of accuracy.
Also, I usually overclock the main skill with things by 30-35, what allows my characters to deal 50% more damage, - for a mercenary, this will give only 20-25%, so you can better buy things for resists / protection / hp making him more durable.

WindMACE is good
because 100% stunlock, if you have a party of 3 WindMACE, you will not receive damage at all, just pick stunned enemies (by the way, it works for the undead and mermaids).

WindAXE is good
because at 3 lvl you can wear a upley axe (The Hacker), and at the beginning of the second act take the second relic axe from the manticore cave (Irnaran). If you have a party of 2 WindAXE, you get 2 characters with huge damage from the beginning of the game, and you can use these axes even until the end of the game.

WindSWORD is good
because it has balanced damage (as opposed to an axe and a spear).
The best two-handed swords with a double strike can be bought already in the Seaheaven. You will have 100% critical hit + 2 additional (which can also be critical) - you need a good buff on accuracy (a druid or archmage applying "hour of power" + "Destiny" +"Eagle eae" will be very useful).

And aktive skill (Windsword's Dash) is very useful, If you have a 2 or more Windswords in the party, you can run around the corner, get out of focus and change your position very profitably.

[E-baisa]

Originally posted by lDEAL:

The best two-handed swords with a double strike can be bought already in the Seaheaven.

This is what I did not particularly like- most of the swords there are single handed, and it is usually just 1 or sometimes 2 two-handed swords per day. So it takes many days to find something great. Situation is much better when searching for other weapons to buy.

Originally posted by lDEAL:

And active skill (Windsword's Dash) is very useful, If you have a 2 or more Windswords in the party, you can run around the corner, get out of focus and change your position very profitably.

Yeah, that could be useful. I usually play with very mixed parties, but your advice about 2x axemen, 3x macemen, or multiple windsword dash is interesting. But when talking about the passive ability to critically hit- my game version sadly is on Ubisoft, so the game does not launch with that mod/patch.