[Cipher] What's the deal with Greater Focus?

[Alvin the Elf]

I had 15 focus. Greater Focus gives +10. I should have 25, but it shows only 20. Is it bugged or something?

[Czernobog wants to Rage]

Your max can go above 20. You don't get a full focus bar, just smaller baseline one. The Talent does lend a little more to your baseline one though.

[Krieg]

As I understand it, out of combat you will always be at 50% focus. When you enter combat you can then gain up to 100%. So, if you had 15 focus before, your max was 30. Now with Greater Focus (+10), your max focus is 40, half of which is 20.

[feliscon]

Greater Focus increases your maximum focus, not the focus you start combat with (which is half your maximum, so actually I WOULD have expected it to be 25, but not for the reason you thought).

You start with 30 Max Focus and it increases by 10 each level. So I would have thought that you should now have (30+10+10)/2 = 25 focus for the 'at rest' level now, but maybe Greater Focus literally only affects your maximum (which isn't unreasonable) in which case the maths all makes sense.

Maxium focus is important because Soul Whip only does its bonus damage until you reach the max, so a higher cap means you can do more damage for longer without having to burn off focus by using powers. Personally I doubt I'd ever take Greater Focus on a Cipher because I use my powers often enough to not reach my Focus cap, but I can see how it might be useful for people who want a more passive pure attack damage dealer cipher.

[Alvin the Elf]

It makes sense now. Thanks for the explanation everyone. I took the other talent that gives +2 focus gained on Soul Whip.

[feliscon]

Originally posted by Alvin the Elf:

It makes sense now. Thanks for the explanation everyone. I took the other talent that gives +2 focus gained on Soul Whip.

For future reference that talent isn't really useful unless you dualwield very fast melee weapons or use a blunderbuss type gun with many hits per attack.

Base focus gain per attack is actually a proportion of damage dealt, so with most weapons Biting Whip will actually make you gain focus faster than that +2 focus talent along with doing more damage.

[Alvin the Elf]

Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it.

There are so many great Cipher spells too. I wonder which ones I should take. I wish the wiki was better updated.

[feliscon]

Originally posted by Alvin the Elf:

Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it.

There are so many great Cipher spells too. I wonder which ones I should take. I wish the wiki was better updated.

Take Mental Binding :D I'm still only level 3 with my cipher so I can't give much more helpful advice, but definately take Mental Binding :p

[Alvin the Elf]

Originally posted by feliscon:

Originally posted by Alvin the Elf:

Thanks for the tip. I appreciate it.

There are so many great Cipher spells too. I wonder which ones I should take. I wish the wiki was better updated.

Take Mental Binding :D I'm still only level 3 with my cipher so I can't give much more helpful advice, but definately take Mental Binding :p

I actually didn't do the level up to level 2 yet. I have Eyestrike and Whisper of Treason. I'm debating whether to take Mind Wave or Soul Shock. :/

[feliscon]

Originally posted by Alvin the Elf:

Originally posted by feliscon:

Take Mental Binding :D I'm still only level 3 with my cipher so I can't give much more helpful advice, but definately take Mental Binding :p

I actually didn't do the level up to level 2 yet. I have Eyestrike and Whisper of Treason. I'm debating whether to take Mind Wave or Soul Shock. :/

Eyestrike yes, Whisper of Treason I haven't tried but I feel like maybe it'd be better to skip the Charm effects and take the higher level Dominate powers?

Mind Wave is good in that it casts fast, ignores DR and can knock huge groups prone. It's a great 'ahhh crap get away!' power, especially if you're a ranged Cipher.

Soul Shock is cool, but you definately need to have a hardy tank who can engage multiple enemies to use it well (also usable as an emergency power if a squishy other than the cipher gets swarmed, but not ideal).

Obviously if you favour Int over Might or vice versa it will alter which one is best suited to your character.

[Alvin the Elf]

Originally posted by feliscon:

Originally posted by Alvin the Elf:

I actually didn't do the level up to level 2 yet. I have Eyestrike and Whisper of Treason. I'm debating whether to take Mind Wave or Soul Shock. :/

Eyestrike yes, Whisper of Treason I haven't tried but I feel like maybe it'd be better to skip the Charm effects and take the higher level Dominate powers?

Mind Wave is good in that it casts fast, ignores DR and can knock huge groups prone. It's a great 'ahhh crap get away!' power, especially if you're a ranged Cipher.

Soul Shock is cool, but you definately need to have a hardy tank who can engage multiple enemies to use it well (also usable as an emergency power if a squishy other than the cipher gets swarmed, but not ideal).

Obviously if you favour Int over Might or vice versa it will alter which one is best suited to your character.

Well, both my Might and Intellect is 16.

This is my build-

Might - 16
Con - 8
Dex - 16
Per - 14
Int - 16
Res - 8

PS: Whisper of Treason may be skippable. I just took it for its low focus cost- in case I was low on focus and needed to charm someone.