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Topics - Laionidas

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16
General Discussion / OA/DA vs Damage
« on: 16 March 2018, 17:25:40 »
So, I have always adhered to Poinas' golden stat rule of going Str./Dex. 1:1 for spear and physical bow users, and Str./Dex. 3:2 for sword, axe and mace wielders. I like playing like that, since it keeps things simple. From level 1 onwards, you know what stat to spend your points on, and you're good till the end.

More recently though, I've heard opinions that more dexterity is needed even for sword, axe and mace wielders, because the DA (and to a lesser extend the OA) is needed for the later Acts of Legendary difficulty: Str./Dex. 1:1 or even more. Now I was wondering what other players' experiences are with this, especially for melee characters that do not get an awfull lot of dexterity from their Masteries. I am currently playing a melee Diviner myself, am in Act III Epic, and have not noticed even the slightest hint of encountering OA/DA problems later on.

17
General Discussion / NEW CAVE - Quinba Bamboo Forest?
« on: 15 March 2018, 21:23:29 »
So, I stumbled upon this cave, in the marsh north of the Jade Palace portal. I can't remember it being there before, and there was an item on the floor, that can't be picked up. Does anyone know what this is (I don't have the Ragnarok expansion yet)?

Spoiler for Hiden:
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Also, right after the Great Wall village, I found a second jade idol in a different cave, even though I'd allready handed in the quest and found the first jade idol at its usual location (lower east cave). Anyone knows what's up with that?

18
General Discussion / [AE 1.51 theory] Esdese-sama's Sharder Build
« on: 24 January 2018, 12:08:45 »


As I am currently stuck progressing my characters, waiting for my little brother to catch up for co-op, I was toying with the idea of starting a caster character (I currently only have melee/pet characters and an elemental archer). This brought me to remember my pre-AE playthroughs, the characters of which I've since deleted. One of them was a sharder,.. and man, that character was OP. So, another sharder seemed fun, but other than that I had no idea about how that character's build would look. My previous one was a Sage, but my elemental archer is allready a Sage, elemental archer being by far the most fun way to play a Sage. Now, what would be an ideal sharder?.. I know:

Spoiler for Hiden:



This immediately causes a problem though: Esdese is, apart from an ice manipulator, also quite an accomplished melee fighter. Giving her a physical damage melee weapon would also synergize extremely well with Freezing Blasts -100% physical resistance debuff on enemies. Yet, true hybrids simply don't work in TQ. Thus, the most obvious class choices such as a Thane or a Sorcerer can be forgotten about. We simply can't invest the stat- and skillpoints to make dual-wielding or piercing damage worthwile. Also, a Paladin isn't really an option, because a buff shield carrying character is the last thing we want.

The easiest would be to just give up the melee aspect, and go for an Oracle. ask Leone; Deathchill aura seems just so befitting, and there'd even be points to spare for Enslave Spirit or Dark Convenant with Unearthly Power, muahahahaha,..

A Thunderer appears to provide a very interesting alternative though. Rune Weapon allows us to get closer to a true hybrid character than any other skill ingame, and Runeword: Feather allows us to equip weapons we otherwise would have had the statpoints to invest in for. It's a bit deceitfull though, since we'd still not be doing much actual physical damage, and that taken into consideration Freezing Blast's debuff would remain only marginally effective, unless ofcourse we're playing co-op (yeah, someone else can start a thread about a Tatsumi build then), in which case the whole physical requirement argument becomes mute and we could pick pretty much any secondary, which would most likely end up being Spirit. Anyway, Sacred Rage with Frightining Power sound at least as good as Deathchill Aura.

Finally, we might actually have to rethink Thane. Take some points out of Battle Rage, Onslaught, and some of the dual wielding procs, and skillpoint-wise it'd be doable. That way we're sure we won't be temped to equip a shield (any other melee character will, because the off-hand remains free otherwise). Statpoint-wise I just can't figure this one out though. Full Int. is the way to go, and would work for damage, but we wouldn't be able to equip any half decent weapons.

What do you guys think?  Oracle, Thunderer, Thane, or something else alltogether?

19
General Discussion / Best Artifact
« on: 21 January 2018, 11:53:58 »
So, I found this rather mediocre Recipe for a Lesser Artifact in epic Egypt. However, as I am playing a melee pet Diviner, I figured it could work for levelling, then,.. HOLY !@#$%^&* that Completion Bonus is just glorious for this build!
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20
Having just completed Act IV again on a new character, I find myself facing the same question I forgot about on countless playthroughs. There are about two or three areas in Act IV, which are alltogether inaccessible, but do seem to feature have fully interactive elements such as gates and doors, as well as killable mobs, and I am not talking about glitch spawns either. These mobs are clearly supposed to be there. While one could just consider it a nice immersion gimmick, it has always bothered me, since I assume epic or legendary items could potentially spawn in the hands of these unreachable mobs.

First, there is this area on the Fields of the Diadochi. It is clearly a planned area, as there are two mechanical traps positioned at a blocked pathway and a few Empusa or other mobs always spawn there. I always end up trying to get there by getting up and down the ramps, but you can't:

Spoiler for Hiden:
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Then there's the lower Prison of Souls, which always has a Gigantes guard. The prison gates appear unlockable by the Warden of Souls key, but again,.. you can't actually get there. I suspect there to have been a Quest planned with the prisoners, that was eventually left out of the game. It would made sense to have another teleporter, such as to the various Shards of Erebus areas, connect to an area with a door that grants access to the lower level:

Spoiler for Hiden:
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Finally there's the Ninth Gate of Hell, which might perhaps be an easter egg:

Spoiler for Hiden:
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Still pretty weird IMO.  Initially I thought it was just there as an area signifier for an area that doesn't have a portal, but once you know how to deal with Act IV normal mobs, you'll find that Hades is not really that far from the last active portal (Hades' Palace / Persephone's Gate). As such there's not real reason for the final area to be seperate and warant a map entry with a broken portal.

All in all, this thread is pretty pointless. It doesn't really lead anywhere, but I just wanted to share my thoughts. Any other ideas and/or comments are much appreciated.

21
Anniversary Edition - General discussion / Circle of Power, viable?
« on: 21 December 2017, 11:46:16 »
So, I've picked up my melee Diviner again, and have been playing for a while now with 1 point in Circle of Power.

It seems a bit like a one point wonder, yet I can't help but feel that the effigy's low HP (200) renders it all but useless in practice. It doesn't seem to be getting much more HP, even if I would invest points in it.

I was wondering what others' experience were with this skill on a melee toon.

22
So, since Ragnarok came with a new mastery, I figured I'd take a look at the possibilities that come with the new classes.

Let's start by stating that the Rune mastery seems to be developped for hybrids, as even its weapon based skills boost intelligence and convert to elemental damage. Bearing that in mind, I came up with the following core builds, using JollyGreenFox's modified TitanCalc:

  • Stonespeaker (Rune & Earth) This is probably the most obvious combination, since Earth has in fact a lot of physical damage buffs. Corey eats up a lot of skillpoints if you want him, but in exchange you're pretty much set with this build. Take a bow in one loadout and any melee weapon in the pther, and you're
    good to go.
  • Thunderer (Rune & Storm) The best build if you want to go for full elemental melee conversion. Compare it to a bow Sage (Storm & Hunting). Looks like a lot of fun with the combination of Rune's Thunder Strike, and Storm's Squall and maxed out Storm Surge.
  • Runesmith (Rune & Defense) Rune actually has good shield skills too, making Defense an excellent secondary mastery, if you do not want elemental melee. Runeword: Absorb, Energy Armor, and Defense's skills together, possibly make this the tankiest build ingame, with probably better damage output than any other t
    anky build.
  • Trickster (Rune & Rogue) Another option for those that do not want elemental melee. This class goes big on bleeding. The name "Trickster" bothers me though, because I thought it was used for a different class in the past, but maybe I mixing things up with Grim Dawn.
  • Dragon Hunter (Rune & Hunting) The final real non elemental melee alternative. A classic "take-the-excellent-Hunting-mastery-first-and-then-add-anything-else" build. Bit boring if you'd ask me, but the combination of Rune Weapon and Volley seems nice. You could probably do a bow build too, but I don't see why, as it would leave the Rune mastery with litt
    le to add.
  • Seidr Worker (Rune & Dream) Rune is a melee mastery with elemental support, Dream is a caster mastery with melee support; a match made in heaven. The most notable feature is the very specific electrical burn damage on Unleash, and how well it synergizes obviously with Dream's specifications.
  • Shaman (Rune & Spirit) Now we're getting to the less interesting Rune involved classes. Everything about this option is just "meh,..", or rather "melee Diviner does it better". Also, it's another class name that triggers me. Very confusing, as Grim Dawn's Shaman was more like a Thunderer.
  • Skinchanger (Rune & Nature) Can be fun if you like pets. I do, but I allready have a Guardian. The interesting thing about this class is that Briar Ward and Rune mastery offer some retaliation damage options.
  • Berserker (Rune & Warfare) The single most useless Rune class out there. Wait, am I being serious? Yes, I am. Any physical melee toon with Warfare will be dual wielding, and for any physical melee toon with Warfare, Onslaught will always be the best LMB skill. This renders Rune Weapon and Runeword: Absorb, the Rune mastery's best physical melee inputs, completely obsolete. Basically, you just want Reckless Offense, and that's it.

23
The role of Piercing Damage for Bow users has long been established. For melee toons, Spears seem to be the weapon to go to in combination with Piercing Damage.

What about Swords though? It is a known fact that lighter faster Swords have a higher Pierce Damage percentage. That mechanics must be there for a reason, and the Rogue class seems to be build around it: it is called "Blade Honing" after all, not "Tip Sharpening" as you would expect for Spears or Arrows. Yet, I've never in all these years seen any melee Piercing Damage builds using Swords.

Would a gladii style sword and board or dual-wield build be viable? Yes you're losing 10% Piercing Damage on your weapon, but you're also going from the second slowest type ("slow") of weapon to the fastest ("very fast").

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