Where to go next in building my character?

[DrLoboto]

I've barely advanced the main story yet but got my character to lvl 30 by exploration, and I've almost completed all of the Trickster and Infiltrator trees, plus got my sneaking and bow skills to about 80/100 so far, and I'm already feeling nicely overpowered, and that's without even having made use of the invisibility/teleport or time stop skills yet.

So now I'm wondering, what third class to take. Melee is not really my thing, too hectic in first person, and not much better in third perspective either. The magic user trees and the third rogue branch seem pretty unexciting compared to Trickster and Infiltrator though. I've mostly used magic to conjure meat shields so far, so maybe I should focus on Entropy/Sinistrope next? But it doesn't really feel necessary or exciting either. How are Lycanthrope or Phantasmalist? Would one of them be a good addition for my character? Although, if they rely on using consumable resources, the hoarder in me might not even bother to use their abilities, especially since I'm already faring well enough as simple sneaky sniper assassin?

Also, so far I've raised Health, Mana and Stamina to equal amounts - is that okay or not advisable with regards to the endgame? After a bit of a rough start, I've perceived Enderal as mostly easy (at least when I'm able to sneak up on opponents), but of course than could still change later on.

And what about Workmanship skills? I've mostly raised Rhetoric, Lockpicking and Enchanting (to values around 40-50). But I wonder, since one Infiltrator skill already unlocked dialogue options even with low Rhetoric skill, does it still make sense to raise Rhetoric anyway or is it irrelevant to me now? And do I still need to raise Lockpicking despite being a fully trained Trickster? Is Enchanting worth it at all? So far the only change I've noticed it that at the transition from Adept to Expert, the variables on created magic items were raised by 1-5 points or %, which is nice but not such a big pay-off for all the Workmanship points. And there are some magic weapons that I can't even seem to disassemble even at Expert level. Would raising the stat to Master change that? Or are there just magical feats on weapons that you can't recreate? (I think one was +% crit chance, for example.)

Last, unrelated, question: Is buying real estate worth it for anything else than playing decorator, or is it just fluff?

[CONSTIPATION]

Lycan are always great you should try to ve a werewolf

[DarrkPhoenix]

Investment in a combination of Phasmalist and Thaumaturge trees with a focus on the enchantment memories (plus further skill investment in Enchanting) could supplement your build well by allowing you to put together significantly stronger equipment than what you can find. Enchanting can be quite strong if you fully invest in it, but you really need the combination of both high skill investment as well as memory point investment. Phasmalist would also give you the ability to summon semi-permanent allies, which could be useful for an archery build in situations where you can't take out enemies from stealth.

Alternatively, you could invest in Sinistrope with a focus on Entropy and summoning, again to provide you with allies to distract enemies in situations where stealth isn't an option.

Regarding real estate, it's just there to give you a customizable place to call your own, nothing more.

[DrLoboto]

Originally posted by mtno ☫:

Lycan are always great you should try to ve a werewolf

Werewolf sounds like melee combat though, which I was trying to avoid. On the other hand, I've just experienced that my build can get in serious trouble if locked into tight spaces with tough melee opponents (like arena fights or big monsters in small rooms hidden behind a loading screen). I can stop time or turn invisible for a moment, summon a distraction, but it's still not enough to escape attention to such an extent that I could get in a few hard hitting ranged sneak attacks, and as soon as the opponent is up close, I go down in very few hits. Would becoming a werewolf make me stronger in that regard or would I just be a weak werewolf, too, because I did not invest in armor and melee combat skills?

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

Phasmalist would also give you the ability to summon semi-permanent allies, which could be useful for an archery build in situations where you can't take out enemies from stealth.

Alternatively, you could invest in Sinistrope with a focus on Entropy and summoning, again to provide you with allies to distract enemies in situations where stealth isn't an option.

How are phasmalist summons compared to entropist summons? If I understand correctly, you say that they stick around for longer? So I could conjure them before an arena-type fight and they would already be there when it starts, so I wouldn't have to waste time on a summoning spell, for example, and they could distract opponents right away? Are they tougher than entropist summons? And how much better do entropist summons get if I invest in Entropy skills?

Btw, what meaning do spell levels have? Like, if a spell is labeled as an expert or master spell, can I still cast it on Novice level or do I need to raise the magic school skills to the appropriate level first? It seems though as if all summoning spells are Novice spells, regardless of the summon's level? Or am I mistaken?

[DarrkPhoenix]

Phasmalist summons work more like semi-permanent companions. You have to find souls that are scattered about the world (each soul is unique and allows for a specific summon), then use a phasmalist workbench and required materials to create a talisman for the soul, which can then be used to summon it. You can also equip the summon with equipment beyond what they start with by default, so this synergizes well with the ability to craft strong equipment. The summon lasts indefinitely until killed or banished (this will increase your arcane fever based on the health the summon had lost). You'll also need to take a certain memory if you want to bring these summons into towns (otherwise they're banished automatically in towns). The higher level phasmalist summons can be extremely powerful, matching or surpassing player power if equipped well. Once summoned there's also a power you can use to instantly call the summon to your location (in case it runs off chasing an enemy or gets stuck).

Entropist summons, in contrast, are limited time fire-and-forget fodder. Some have decent offensive abilities, but they're mostly there to distract enemies. Each entropist summon has a fixed level (shown in the spell description), and additional points in entropy will just serve to lower the mana costs of the summon. Regarding spell levels, from what I recall you can cast any spell regardless of level, provided you have the mana for it (although if your skill is novice level the mana costs for master level spells will likely be far too high to reasonably cast). There are also memories that decrease the spells costs of each level of spells for a given school. There are summoning spells at all levels ranging from novice to master, you likely just haven't come across the higher level summon spells yet.

[DrLoboto]

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

Investment in a combination of Phasmalist and Thaumaturge trees with a focus on the enchantment memories (plus further skill investment in Enchanting) could supplement your build well by allowing you to put together significantly stronger equipment than what you can find. Enchanting can be quite strong if you fully invest in it, but you really need the combination of both high skill investment as well as memory point investment.

I only see one memory in the mages/thaumaturge trees that gives bonus to enchantment, +10% (4 points up from the magic tree's base, so an investment of 4 memory points), is that correct? So I would bring my Enchanting skills up to 100, invest 4 memory points for those 10% extra, and then maybe drink an enchantment enhancement potion before crafting?

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

Phasmalist summons work more like semi-permanent companions. You have to find souls that are scattered about the world (each soul is unique and allows for a specific summon), then use a phasmalist workbench and required materials to create a talisman for the soul, which can then be used to summon it. You can also equip the summon with equipment beyond what they start with by default, so this synergizes well with the ability to craft strong equipment. The summon lasts indefinitely until killed or banished (this will increase your arcane fever based on the health the summon had lost).

What happens to the summon if it is destroyed or banished? Can I summon it anew or is that soul gone for good, and with souls being unique, there would be a finite amount of summons that can run out? What happens to the equipment I give to it when the summon is destroyed? What if I need to visit a city before acquiring the according skill? Can I unsummon the companion so it does not get banished, or will I lose it for good? And where in Ark would I find a phasmalist table?

EDIT: Found one in the Undercity. Are there others which are easier to reach, too? (Navigating through the Undercity and getting back above ground without using teleport scrolls is a bit of a pain; it's so labyrinthine and the signposts are hard to spot ...)

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

There are summoning spells at all levels ranging from novice to master, you likely just haven't come across the higher level summon spells yet.

Oh, right, it seems I remembered wrong. For some reason I was under the impression that even the more powerful summons were labeled as Novice, but that's not true, I also have Expert spells.

Thanks a lot for your help, btw!

[DarrkPhoenix]

I'd forgotten that Arcane Interference in the Thaumaturge tree had been nerfed so heavily- it used to give a 30% bonus to enchantments. Probably not worth those 4 points unless you're using the Thaumaturge tree for some other purposes as well. There's another enchantment memory on the Phasmalist tree (Wise Enchanter) with three levels, each providing a 10% bonus to enchantments for a total of 30%. With this bonus on top of 80+ enchanting skill you should be able to make some pretty powerful enchantments.

Regarding Phasmalist summons, once you use a soul to generate a talisman, you can re-summon the associated soul as many times as you want (as long as you have the talisman equipped). The summon also keeps all of its equipment between summons. The only downside to a summon getting killed or banished is that it increases your arcane fever. There are a limited number of Phasmalist workbenches around (lore reason is Phasmalism is a banned practice in Enderal); you can find the locations of all of them on the wiki: https://en.wiki.sureai.net/Enderal:Phasmalism#Phasmalist_workbenches

[DrLoboto]

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

I see, thanks. The thaumaturge memory that grants +10% on enchantments also gives -15% arcanist fever per day, which might be useful for a phasmalist, but yeah, the three points I'd have to spend to get there won't give me anything of use to me. So maybe I'll try the phasmalist tree first and then decide later on whether I still got 4 points to spare for that thaumaturge memory or not.

Oh, and I see you can install a phasmalist table in your home in the noble quarter? That might be a good reason to buy a house then after all.

[DrLoboto]

Ok, I tried the phasmalist tree, and now I finally know the meaning of that ghost whispering sound in some places that was driving me nuts because it felt like I was overlooking something. XD I just wish I'd have known that before so I would have made a note of the locations. I don't really feel like searching all the areas that I've already explored before (which means at least half of the world map)...

Other things to note are that I needed a bloody skull to create a spectral companion - thankfully all the bloody skulls I dumped into a random chest in Ark thinking they were worthless junk were still there ,- and that outfitting the companions costs resources for every item you give them (souls stones, ectoplasm, and bonemeal),

Raising my enchantment skills has slowed down to a crawl now that I'm a master. The books are not only expensive but very rare, merchants usually just sell 1 per day, so it will probably take ages to raise it from 75 to 100 ... Maybe I should also have invested in Handicraft, as that seems to be the only way to get better backpacks than the medium one. Hm.

[DarrkPhoenix]

For soul locations, the wiki page I linked above also contains the locations of all the souls, so you can always reference that to find the ones in areas you already explored. The strength of souls also tends to be proportional to the difficulty of the area they're in, so even just continuing with your regular gameplay you're likely to come across the stronger souls and will have only missed the weaker ones.

For raising enchanting, both Gabor and Fitzai in the Ark Nobles District sell multiple Master Enchanting books each day, so you should be able to boost the skill quickly enough with those sources if you feel so inclined. Handicraft is also a really good investment, and you can get away with only boosting it to around 60-70 then equipping items to boost it further when you want to craft things.

[DrLoboto]

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

For soul locations, the wiki page I linked above also contains the locations of all the souls, so you can always reference that to find the ones in areas you already explored.

I also found a simple map for the soul locations which just tells you where to search without giving away as much info as the wiki, as an alternative. Using that, I was able to quickly collect the 5-6 souls I missed in previously explored areas (although the map seems to be missing at least one soul, I only count 19 and the game says there are 20).

https://i.redd.it/8uthip5476u61.jpg

Good thing I put off the main questline for so long, too, because apparently some souls are only accessible during those quests, so I could have easily missed them. But I didn't even dare to fully join the Holy Order yet, out of worry it might lock me out of other questlines. Will advancing too far in one of these guild questlines prevent me from doing the others, like in Gothic? Or can you be in the Order, the merchant's guild and the Rhalata at the same time, without anyone calling you out for lack of integrity?

Originally posted by DarrkPhoenix:

For raising enchanting, both Gabor and Fitzai in the Ark Nobles District sell multiple Master Enchanting books each day

Oh, right, I completely forgot about those two, despite already finding out they had better selections! Still kept going back to the worse mage stores like Gabrielle for some reason. I guess there is so much to keep track of that I lost my overview or something. Thanks for reminding me! They did have quite a few books, although it looks like they don't immediately stock up on new ones the next day (same way as some merchants are still out of money when you come back the next day). Not sure how often the merchants are actually reset (every 2-3 days? or something to do with RL time instead?), might be worth finding out by trial and error.

[DarrkPhoenix]

The soul missing from the map you linked is on Half Moon Island, which is accessed as part of the main quest but which otherwise is not part of the world map (thus no map location). There's also a 21st soul that you'll get automatically if you manage to collect all the others.

Regarding the questlines, they pretty much operate independently so you don't have to worry about locking yourself out of anything by progressing the main quest. Some small portions of the world get blocked off after collecting all three items for The Black Light, Part 1, but prior to that point you don't have to worry about advancing the main quest at all (so hurry up and join the Order). Golden Sickle and Rhalata questlines operate completely independently from each other and the main quest. There are diverging options that you'll have to end up choosing between, but these happen only within individual questlines.