Uhhh, Topaz Paragons in the wild now?

[FDru]

Wow, rude. :p

[Vagrant]

Yup. There was ten monsters that wouldn't spawn in the wild before that will now, and the Paragons are among them. Just be glad that Topaz got nerfed first.

[Leucienfireweaver]

But still, that's a serious proble- Oh wait, I never made a Topaz Paragon, just an Emera- Awwww ♥♥♥♥. Now they'll avoid my Stronghold even more now.

[Vagrant]

REAP WHAT YOU SOW, SON

[Vagrant]

But no seriously Pegasus.

[Leucienfireweaver]

What's Pegasus?

[Vagrant]

It automatically intercepts blows that would kill your allies, while reducing the damage those blows deal by 50%. It's one of the best tanks in the game.

[FDru]

If the intercepted damage ignores defense, doesn't the unicorn just get wrecked on the deeper floors?

[thursday64]

This is the first time that enemies have been able to use a first strike effect, to my knowledge. What happens if both sides have first strike effects? Do the effects cancel each other out? What if there are two Topaz Paragons on the same row on one side, and three Topaz Paragons on the same row on another? Will two first strike effects be cancelled out, and the third go through?

On the flip side, there's a new "effectless" monster for everyone to summon: Diamond Paragon.

[Vagrant]

Nah, it's 50% of whatever damage your other monster would have taken. And that does, yes, mean that you have to build a Pegasus with straight HP enchants, since Defense is almost completely pointless to him. On the upside, he stonewalls Fallen Carnage even if he gets killed, and his HP total is effectively equal to his own plus the monster targeted, since he won't intercept blows that won't kill the creature.

I'd consider a straight 50% DR to be more worthwhile than whatever Defense I could stack, since 1/2 enemy damage is inevitably going to be more important than any amount of defense you can stack at deeper floors.

@ Thursday

There's several Topaz Paragons in the Major Sigils, actually. If both sides have First Strike, then it goes back to base speed. If the enemy has a Topaz Paragon and you're playing a Nature Mage with maxed Raid (like I am) turns are handed out according to speed to all boosted creatures (yours and the three enemy monsters counting the Paragon), and then the enemy's other row gets to act after all of yours.

[Leucienfireweaver]

I wanna play Nature, but 50% chance for bonus 100%/20% heal is too nice. Plus Sadism and Abolish are really fun to see work.

[vey2000]

Are you sure the pegasus reduces damage by 50%? I just found the material and it doesn't say anything about damage reduction. Maybe you're including HD/etc in that? i.e. does HD/etc apply a second time when the pegasus takes the hit?

[Vagrant]

Quote from Hotfixes:

Hotfixes (Last Updated: May 17, 2015 @ 11:10 AM EST)
May 17, 2015 @ 11:10 AM EST:
- Several bug/crash fixes.
- Chrysaor's Ambition ability no longer reduces damage before intercepting attacks.

~*~

So literally a day after I say that, Zack patches it, of course.

[NeoDraconis]

Well I was thinking of using Pegasus as a Tank... now it seems pointless to do so.

[Vagrant]

It's still a good tank, particularly for a Life Mage who will cap the damage the Pegasus can take at any one time. 40% of your other creature's Life is not likely to be anywhere near 40% of the Pegasi's life, particularly if it's a Ruby-heavy Nether. And it still intercepts only the important blows.

All that said, yeah, that was a heavy nerf for vanilla Pegasi. Cradle Pegasi, of course, are still basically immortal.

[vey2000]

Heh, I actually checked the changelogs to see if it had changed. Forgot about the hotfixes.