Power-Up mechanic required to play effectively?

[Cyd]

I feel so silly for asking as it seems like such a vital mechanic but I am trying my hardest to enjoy using it. There's times where I'll forget it's there and not use it then there's other times when I use it but it just doesn't feel satisfying.
Is using this mechanic required at higher difficulties and later levels to perform effectively? Is it such a big deal not to use it at all?
Cheers all. :)

[datguy13]

Depends on the class and build. It's possible to use certain classes like the Protector without using Power-ups, but on the other hand a Constructor or Bounty Hunter benefit greatly from investing one or two Skills with their power-ups.

If you're not comfortable with them, then you should be okay to play up to Heroic Difficulty without them at all. It just might take a little longer to make a few kills at certain times.

[Cyd]

Originally posted by datguy13:

Depends on the class and build. It's possible to use certain classes like the Protector without using Power-ups, but on the other hand a Constructor or Bounty Hunter benefit greatly from investing one or two Skills with their power-ups.

If you're not comfortable with them, then you should be okay to play up to Heroic Difficulty without them at all. It just might take a little longer to make a few kills at certain times.

Ah I see, thank you very much. It might just be that I haven't gotten used to them yet or I'm uncomfortable with them as I don't know how to use them properly. Right now I just sort of only set one combo that I can use with spacebar and press it whenever I happen to see I have full rage, not really optimising the usage - that's where I am unsure whether or not it will dramatically effect my gameplay.

[lalala]

I had problems with the power up system too specially at start, got mostly used to it, right now my complaint is that I can't "pre-config" the same skill to use powerups in 2 different orders (the last setup will always override the first when you place the same skill on 2 different slots).

Anyway, heres mostly how you make the best use of powerups without having to mind this mechanic being a bother all the time:

1 - After you started playing the game, while amidst a map, go to options and check the box "auto-powerup".

2 - Skills usually have 3 power-ups, try choosing only 1 from those 3 (you can choose more than 1 or even the three, but cost/effectively in the way rage and skill points are spent, its generally better to choose only 1).

3 - Select a slot for the skill (at the center botton of the screen).

4 - On the left wing of the center-botton skill slots, theres a button called "set combo" (after the 3rd skill slot), it has a long text description, click that button. It will open another window called "powerup combos".

5 - In the powerup combos window you can see each assigned skill and the powerups you purchased for it, individual powerups can be used at 3x strength, trying to mix more than 1 powerup will reduce the strength to 1 or 2x max (hence why its better to usually pick only 1 type of powerup and leave it a 3x).

6 - By left/right click powerups in the "powerup combos" window, select the powerups that you want to automatically run for each skill when you have enough rage. Done! Those will auto-activate when the skill is used (if sufficient rage is available).

I could give you an example from a class but you didn't specify wich class you're playing.
I also hope this explanation was simple enough that you get it, but if you need an example or any point I left too vague, please ask about!

It took me a while to figure out how powerups worked and how to best use, would be great it the game had this similar description steps on powerups tutorial :)

EDIT: BTW if you're a new player I suggest you use the mod before you get used to the vanilla game, the mod is overall more balanced and optimizes every aspect of gameplay, if you get used to vanilla and later apply the mod you'll need to re-read every skill and powerup since some change drastically.

[Cyd]

Thank you very much Ialala. I had previously tried the Auto-Powerup option but decided to manually powerup myself until I found whether it was effective at all.
Currently the only combo I've gotten semi-used to is the Thaumaturge's base attack, with the boost to mana recovery when hitting after powering up. It's going pretty well with the frost ray (forgot the exact name) as I can keep it up for longer.
I'll play for a while with auto-powerup on and see if I can get used to it. Thank you both very much for the assistance. :)

[76561198000784172]

You can (Options during gameplay) switch on autopower up. And just forgot the whole Rage thing. Just remember it wont work with build with effects based on max rage (i.e. many Perks).

[Psojed]

Back in times of Van Helsing 1, I used to play all classes without any powerups whatsoever :)

If you don't use powerups and keep your Rage maxed at all times, you can benefit from different perks such as Berserker (10% extra damage while at max rage), so it doesn't matter if you use them or not, choose what suits your gameplay.

Personally, I'm careful when choosing powerups on attack skills, since any kills you make with powerups do not generate Rage. Usually I end up using non-powered attacks and I use powerups on other skills like Painlessness or Battle Cry.
But there are exceptions with attack skills too. Deathburst on Ray of Destruction is a perfect example of manually activated powerup.

[datguy13]

I don't recommend auto-power-up. Set them manually, and spend Rage manually. That way, you can watch what works and what doesn't, then decide if you want to keep a Power-up active or respec the points.

Other than that one point (and I don't recommend the mod for a first play-through, either), lalala's advice is good stuff. Keep it in mind as you experiment.