Thoughts on cursed crystal skull?

[Tephros83]

I had heard about it, but this is the first time I've got it:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1278703612

I remember people were saying it sucks in the thread I read. I haven't used it much yet, but I think it could have some uses:

1. Any brother who is less than content, there is no disadvantage to him using the skull.
2. Any brother with the insecure trait (already can't be confident).

And so far I've put it on a really strong brother, given him a somewhat weak weapon, and had him try to rout enemies for the noobs to kill. I think it helped, hard to be sure. Enemies did rout and the noobs got extra kills.

I also wonder what the requirements are. It seems to be a random event at night during a "deliver cargo" event, which I rarely do. But it happened on the first one after I got the emperor helm. Unexpected ambush fight with 12 honor guards, which would have been scary 300 days ago I suppose.

[Pringles™]

Generally it works real well on anyone you move agressively towards enemy lines, possibly with the aim of him getting surrounded. This could be anyone from riposting swordmaster to zweihander to greataxeman.

I tend to forget it on my men very often though, in situations where it mostly negatively affects me...

[Abel]

Yes, Resolve -10 isn't exactly game changing. I'd rather have +10% to core Talents.

[Love Gun]

-10 resolve does not sound like much; but without knowing the resolve values of the enemy units one cannot really tell whether it is good or bad.
Something like -33% resolve would be more interesting.

Originally posted by Tephros83:

And so far I've put it on a really strong brother, given him a somewhat weak weapon, and had him try to rout enemies for the noobs to kill. I think it helped, hard to be sure. Enemies did rout and the noobs got extra kills.

The higher the level of your merc the higher the chance to decrease the enemy's morale upon engaging.
So it may be the skull hasn't done anything at all.

[Teut]

I'm not sure how I feel about these EXTREMELY rare events.

I played BB for over 1000 hours and until now I got the Davkuul cultist event ONCE and this is THE FIRST TIME I hear about the Crystal Skull.

I like it that rare events are really rare and something special, but it seems weird that you can miss so much content even you play for - literally - weeks.

[Tephros83]

Originally posted by Abel:

Yes, Resolve -10 isn't exactly game changing. I'd rather have +10% to core Talents.

Hence why I would put it on a dissatisfied or insecure brother, or use it to train noobs. Or use it to make the actions of others more effective like the banner, but in reverse (stabbing hedge knight).

Originally posted by Love Gun:

-10 resolve does not sound like much; but without knowing the resolve values of the enemy units one cannot really tell whether it is good or bad.
Something like -33% resolve would be more interesting.

Originally posted by Tephros83:

And so far I've put it on a really strong brother, given him a somewhat weak weapon, and had him try to rout enemies for the noobs to kill. I think it helped, hard to be sure. Enemies did rout and the noobs got extra kills.

The higher the level of your merc the higher the chance to decrease the enemy's morale upon engaging.
So it may be the skull hasn't done anything at all.

It's hard to know for sure, but generally points and percentages are about the same except at high levels. So it should be about 10% more likely per resolve check. But yeah it matters if it's 85 to 95% versus 5% to 15%.

I used it to help rout a hedge knight I was stabbing yesterday. It seemed to make a difference, but it's hard to verify without controlled statistical testing. With 1 less confident guy, every new surrounder and new stab was more likely to hit his morale. So he didn't get to use his unique 2h ax again.

[Abel]

Yes, I agree, it's good for some specific situations.

[nightworg]

I have had that item. I can't see any usefull uses to it, so garbage.

[Frosties]

Actually it works very well if you use combination of the following:-

Crystal skull
Direwolf chain armor
Throwing net (in inventory - offhand free)
Dagger mastery
duelist
nimble
recover
dodge
fast adaptation
headhunter
brawny
Optional: Fearsome / Overwhelm /Berserk

The resultant Brother (assuming you have decent defense and melee accuracy) will be very effective against any living opponent - especially orc warriors etc. A couple stabs (3 without fearsome) and you will break enemy.

[Tephros83]

Originally posted by Frosties:

Actually it works very well if you use combination of the following:-

Crystal skull
Direwolf chain armor
Throwing net (in inventory - offhand free)
Dagger mastery
duelist
nimble
recover
dodge
fast adaptation
headhunter
brawny
Optional: Fearsome / Overwhelm /Berserk

The resultant Brother (assuming you have decent defense and melee accuracy) will be very effective against any living opponent - especially orc warriors etc. A couple stabs (3 without fearsome) and you will break enemy.

Have you actually tried it against orc warriors? I remember somebody once said heavy crossbows will injure orc warriors who are fully armored. They don't.

A rondel dagger will do 11-22 damage to hit points with duelist. Hp damage is subtracted by 10% of the enemy's armor. Orc warriors wear 300+ armor. This will fully negate a duelist hit and do no hp damage until the orc's armor is partly gone. A hit to the head would go better due to crit and lower head armor, but that's unreliable.