"Nasty" strategies :)

[casinoman2000]

To show the damage of my Thorns, Retribution Chant, & the retaliation dmg of my lv 16 sorceror, I posted the screenshots. I play on extreme, my Confessor has Complete Healing & My capt. has Bodyguard.

When I battle achers/spellcasters and AFTER I cast the chant and thorns on both ranks (pets included), I use my back rank sorceror as my bodyguard. I find this a very effective way to dish out the dmg!!

[Immo]

Now with those absolutely wonderful new shards, finally we can use derivatives to find out best balance of Shards of Eridos to Shards of Skosyr ratio :D
XD
let x be number of Shards of Eridos, S be number of your total slots, HP be HP, REG be value of regenerated HP.
then, the equation is being like: yo the ratio gonna be 2:1 but lets cout it:

REG = x * 5/100 * HP * (1 + (S-x)*10/100), where HP and S are constants.

for S = 28 and HP = 1000, we get

REG = 50(0.1*(28-x)+1)x, which is a beautiful parabola. Now differential: (yeah dx/dREG etc.)

REG' = -10(x-19), with a maximum at 19 (I hope Wolfram did good cos I'm too lazy atm to do it :(

so the exact stats for lvl 30 behemoth with fully socketed equipment is like:
19 shards of Eridos, 9 Shards of Skosyr or actualy Vornis for a tank..

95% HP regen, 90% increased HP so
REG = 1805 which is maximum regen possible, as long as my math is right, and I'm almost never right !! So trust me!


/edit1: well I didn't include using different gear. Eg it may be possible that full Merchant's gear which has +3 end per tier per eq piece and 2 slots, might be better than +2 end socketed gear 3 slots... but I doubt

[Immo]

hmm if you have 100% starting action, using "wait" 'costs no action' since after using it, starting action is full? :O

[Torzelbaum]

I feel like that is a bug.

[Immo]

Na, I guess if I saw it, it was me playing fast mode and after I used wait, it really quickly skipped time to the next monster's move and I thought my character had 25% starting action after using "wait" which was certainly his starting action

[Kosiciel]

Originally posted by Immo:

hmm if you have 100% starting action, using "wait" 'costs no action' since after using it, starting action is full? :O

That would make some items/skills awesome :)

[Immo]

Originally posted by Evildrake:

1) Is there any chance to make Critical Hit builds more viable aside of boosting Critical Hit Chance by large amounts using Robe of Vehemence or Stone of Arcturus? I've got a tough time to get close to at least 50% CHC but still be somewhat good in raw power. It feels to me like stat boosting Enhancements greatly outshine CHC and CHD for their raw power increase. Various thoughts about what could add some possibilities to Crit builds:

- Criticial Hit Chance as affix on items does roll with +2-3% instead of with just 1%(to be same good/better as 2 shards in 2 sockets)
- "Intensivy" typed buff also roll as 25-35% affix for weapons, triggers on kill or on attack
- "Intensivy" typed buff also roll as 25-35% affix on gear slots, triggers when evading
- 1 new shard which could boost +2% CHC and +2 Quickness/+1 Evasion
- A Ring which boosts CHC significiantly, like +8% CHC, +4 Evasion, 2 Sockets

Or generally, if it will be ever possible to create own items, this is sth. which doesn't have any importance(except for the shard idea maybe).

2) Also I pretty much miss more classes or customization options to combine two trees. My most prefered ones are still:
- Cardinal: Divine + Command tree
- Toxicant/Herbalist: Nature + Blades
- Ninja/Mystic Warrior: Sorcery + Blades
- Grand Wizard: Divine + Sorcery

3) And another idea, how about adding an requestable bounty quest which asks the mercenary team to kill a legendary beast in any of the World Dungeons? In those Dungeons they might be accompanied with a few creatures of this type of dungeon. Aside of the usual reward for killing a legendary beast you challenge yourself a bit further but also gain some additional bounty credits or such.

4) If there were a item customization option an a way to create own hero classes I could imagine I'd pay for the game a 2nd time since it would breaking the limits and encourage creativity. Player might share their set of items with others and have a totally new gaming experience by just playing with other items. Ofc this is probably too much to ask for, but throwing out this thought anyway.

ofc the more stuff like that, the better
I only want to say, that https://imgur.com/eTxIH0v (110% cricital hit chance pic)
on Blade posessor max is around 78% if I remember right

but with arrival of new godlike Shards, highest efficiency is not through stuffing 100% Dilaera, instead use Dilaeras only to get 350% critical hit severity. Most of new shards have an usage, mostly int+end; dex sharD (there is only 1 ;( ), str+end; not mentioning old good Eridos ofc.

(btw I spend more time on Excel playing Monstersden Chronicles like: https://imgur.com/RFlKZL8 than actually playing the game XDDD )

[penguinfly5]

3 mages (arcane + sorcery) all the exact same

the main points of the strat are:

- all 3 are front line. for defense they wear defensive light gear (iron curtain, vorkkals shoulders, austere hood) which gives them high durability and saves quickness, they take arcane armor battle style, have the combat sorcery ability, and all armor has the vampiric suffix for health steal.

- to deal damage they have all intellect for skill points, mage missle, and summon shadow. they also take zephyr since they stack it so fast. the shadows are summoned first turn and then you have 6 high quickness people spamming half action spells at the enemy. they also have fireball for bursting and for trolls and missle resisting terrain/enemies. disintegrate is also taken to counter revives.

- they use vile brews in the offhand because the poison is really strong and it applies when youre hit so since youre the frontline it will always be applied to the enemy, and with the miasmic embrace relic you can stack them, so any enemy with an aoe ability will get multiple stacks. this is actually really op.

[Immo]

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♥:

3 mages (arcane + sorcery) all the exact same
[...]

I wouldn't be so sure about Shadows on backrow -- AoE enemies would take half of precious HP too easily.
Mages have generally very low Endurance, so unless they have really maxed out armor, they need huge HP (at difficulties). Imo Merchant's faction set which has Intellect +1 and Endurance +3 per tier, would work best as in terms of Def :)
Damm and I still haven't seen Vile Brews, I started new Ironamn campaign to do so XD Does it's poison dmg scale with level or Intellect?

[Torzelbaum]

Mages can use the arcane armor style so that helps some but their low HP per endurance doesn't. Also some enemies have armor piercing and others have retaliation damage so there are other possible drawbacks to that strategy.

Vile brew is an epic off hand item - it intrinsically applies poison damage to anything that attacks the wielder. It does not grant a skill so the poison damage only increases with item tier (or level if you spark it).

The brew requires arcana or sorcery to equip it. Personally, I think a spellwarden is a better choice for wielding it if you choose to use a one handed weapon.

(There might be a percent chance on that poison effect but it is not a small chance.)

EDIT: - It's definitely not small - it's 100%.

[penguinfly5]

i am consistently clearing 7th teir dungeons on extreme difficulty with no problem. i havent tried the stairs on extreme yet but on standard its easy. and by the way their durability is not a problem. they have 75% resist magic from arcane armor, and the item setup i listed makes them really tanky. i didnt know that different classes have different endurance scalings but it doesnt seem to matter. with everything enchanted wih health steal, the half action mage missle spam heals way more than any enemy can dish out.

also i recently remembered that venoms kiss is a dagger that gives on hit poison, so with six mages spamming half action attacks, that builds it up really fast. i got it up to 1500 dmg per turn on a death knight once before it was even able to attack. i think i broke the game lol.

youre right about the retaliation damage though. im trying to get a pommel strike enchantment from the stairs so my shadows can attack those brain things and bone horrors. then it should be perfect

[penguinfly5]

actually it turns out that pommel strike doesnt stop retaliation damage anymore (or maybe it never did in the other games) so there is no way to fix that problem

[Immo]

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♥:

i am consistently clearing 7th teir dungeons on extreme difficulty with no problem. i havent tried the stairs on extreme yet but on standard its easy. and by the way their durability is not a problem. they have 75% resist magic from arcane armor, and the item setup i listed makes them really tanky.

(the trick is that Nexus Engine placed in back row can hit your front row + back row (kill Shadows) and also disintegrate all killed enemies. His attacks on 3x300% difficulty are really strong (500dmg on 90% armored people, sth like that) so it might have 'pierce armor'. Also Beholder has armor piercing almost for sure, his attack strength is intense :O)
(fully socketed in int shards Nature Bargain user has 1200 dmg in one AoE skill so you haven't broken the game:D)

Originally posted by ♥♥♥♥:

i didnt know that different classes have different endurance scalings

It's rather, that Spellwarden has Battle tree so he can use heavy armor. Endurance scaling is the same I think, but heavy armor + Arcane stance results in 90% armor+75% magic protection, or maybe some additional resists; also Endurance set equipments more available)

(1500 dmg is quite nice, what lvl is it?)

[Evildrake]

I'd also drop 1-2 ideas and suggestions in here about what I use.

1) Warrior using both, Strength and Intellect but raising Intellect stat wise.
- To raise intellect he has the "Commanding" Fighting Style and can even get more when using "Pound of Flesh" as stolen talent
- I gave him a Crimson Rain Spear which allows him attacking from backrow and applying a -10 quickness debuff on enemies, additionally socketed with "Blizzard" which when used additionally lowers enemies quickness and accuracy by 10.
- Righteous Terror additionally lowers enemies quickness by 8 and Accuracy by 10
- Eccliarch's set greatly helps at cheap commanding skills and access to battle tree gives him also strong fighting capabilities, it's superflous to say raising Str + Int with this set is also one of its uses.
Those fighting styles help:
- "Inspire" if meant to buff allies and shadows(for them the buff is twice efficient since they have a -50% damage debuff) rather than increasing on effectiveness
- "Commanding" if you want to use your own spell power to greatly harm enemies
- "Sweeping Strikes" if you want to safely land your debuffs on enemies and want to act as battle opener
- His high Int allows him great healing
Disadvantages:
- Cooldown on Blizzard(but has access to "Cleave" and much other useful abilities)
- Low life due to lacking Endurance (Divine Vigor makes it up for it)

2) Hermit using Dexterity and Intellect, which to focus depends on which weapon and which stolen talents you want to use
- Has many ways to greatly improve Evasion from a Nature tree passive but also from Blink, which is great for his Shadow.
- He can wear Mystic Turban and Moonglow set pieces, boosting Dex + Int but also having better armor rating than other mages(Weald Protector + Vorkaal's Shoulders add up additional +25% magical protection for 100% immunity with "Arcane Armor"). Always hit magic shouldn't be a big deal then.
- Nullifier's Claw for tanking purposes and stacking Poison debuff, doesn't make advantage of Dex for weapon though.
- Access to the medium armor "Unifier's Armor" which gives great armor boost when being hit but also boost the stats you focus at while giving much better survivability, raising Endurance and giving some Stun Evasion
- Cosmic Prison is a viable single target damage source and stunner if you are already working wiith high Armor Piercing or Armor debuffs
Two exceptionally powerful Fighting Styles:
- "Arcane Armor", boosting his defences greaty
- "Force of Nature", giving armor piercing, removing enemy buffs and still giving some Magic Protection
Stolent talents which can be good for him are:
- "Fan of Blades" and/or "Shuriken" when focusing on Dex
- "Cleave" and/or "Exhausting Strike" when focusing on Dex and Dagger weapon
- "Pound of Flesh" when using Dagger weapon and spells
- Any secondary source of damage to add to his already powerful "Arcane Storm" and "Mage Missiles", ideally spell typed because of "Overload" passive
- Add some buff skills to use for the Shadow(He already has access to the quite useful "Swiftness" buff)

[Immo]

Okay finally after sheet-thinkering, I decided that my new party that I'll have on new save slot will be:
Nemesis (full int-->999 int at 30lvl, Poison Arrow)
Tracker (full evasion, +Action buffer&debuffer)
Hermit (Nature's Bargain 1121 int user at 30lvl, no Tonics included)
Scout (full DMG: 691 base dmg that will be automaticaly shot by Oportunist fighting style)
... so uhm well.... to decide 4th party member it took me 4 hours :(
XD


synergy: Retribution: grants full action for Nemesis very often (Trickery skill)
Nature: 3 fields with Herbal buff that grants +40 evasion for all Nature users
front row: Tracker... I haven't decided but I think I'll give him light shield and dagger with evasion (both)
Hermit can also summon 70-90% armored Golem and action buffer Tracker will cast Faithful Companion then...

Hermit's AoE will be more than enough to almost one hit kill all Shattered Stairs mobs on 3x300%, but sometimes they survive.
Nemesis will kill out strongest bosses that require fast killing. They can remove poison debuff this is why I don't trust 1 source of poison.

And this is why I'll take a DMG SCOUT -- he'll automaticaly kill out all wounded enemies. To prevent healing.

I also will use +1 int and +1 dex tonics instead of Quickness or Mana tonics.... Tracker will be enough to grant action more quickly than if I wasted 30 tonic slots for 30 quickness...
with Tracker real speed will be around 100 more than normally, on 300% speed slider setting...

(but still would be nice if there were some enchanged super rare tonics with +2 or even artifact tonic +3 stat...................................................)

also Arcane is always must-have -- Disintegration for summon.

[Immo]

idk, MAYBE I would use Ascetic if he was super fast and had very high mana to cast 30-mana Conqueror buff +10% dmg for all 3 party members each round (no action clock consumed)
.. or maybe if Beacon of Life or other full int weapon was there, so Ascetic might have more int than currently Hermit; for Sorcery stolen AoE talents

Nature itself is not good unless it's only a part of the entire build
Divine tree the same, there's only Divine Vigor a very good skill
maybe I don't know about an END+Int build that has items only for Ascetic, where a sum of int and end is higher than any other class has
or if he could stack divine healing buffs on self and have eg. 75% in total to be healed to full when <20% hp or something xd
or maybe he's good in terms of Regen+FullHeal juggling, when no other team member has Divine nor Nature?
OR if I could stack Lethality on Divine user, as he can pray for life or opposite...
OH! Have I discovered a new build for Ascetic???????
3% Lethality from Vestmen of the Cruel
10% Lethality from Reaper's Edge (Nature user)
//or Entrophys Advocate 10% (but idk if Divine can use) and Vile Brew (but idk if Divine
can use).... (or if this other mana-Brew which is so weak I have no idea, like it was
useless, maybe this other one could have more mana stealing and Lethality?)
3% FULL Underworld Set

unholy Angel lol, or like Holly Rogue with a scythe

Shuriken Stolen Talent 50% Lethality (doesn't have specific weapon requirments)
to sum up, 3+3+10+50=66% only...
so 2/3 hits is fatal
--------

--
So Ascetic, aspect of Dilaera/ soul devouring dark Divine enchanter build would be complete, if Ascetic could use Entrophy's Advocate... BUT Entrophy's Advocate has only 1 restriction and it is Divine Tree...
Perfect build would be:
+ 5 pieces of Merchant's Set
+ Vestmen of the Cruel "artifact"
+ "Entrophy's Advocate" artifact
+ Caldar's Crested Shield "artifact"
+Golden Cloak
+ Shuriken as stolen talent
this build has a lot HP for Divine Vigor, Evasion for end-boss. An ultimate tank that can one touch kill mobs or fully heal all party members, or cast buffs such as Crusader, Exorcism :)
If there ever was a challenge to take the highest hp from a World Boss that has eg. 1000000HP and 99999 dmg but only 120 accuracy, I'd use 4x Lethality builds to take 10% of his HP each 2/3 attacks :)

MAGEBLADE (sorcery+battle) can use them items all tho, but this way there won't be a buffer&debuffer aspect... well if he won't need Divine Vigor then Underground set instead of Merchant's, might be worth... he wouldn't even be a tank then.

btw are there any crossbows for Nature users?