Titan Quest Fans Forum

Anniversary Edition - Mastery Mods => TQAE masteries => Runemaster AE => Topic started by: Firebrand on 15 January 2018, 17:21:12

Title: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 15 January 2018, 17:21:12
I'll start with some brief history.

I got Ragnarök a good while ago, and needless to say, I was quite excited about the new mastery, so I started a character to try it right away. Looking at its skills, I was thinking what I'd combine it with and what kind of playstyle I'd go for. Between Runeword: Feather and Transmutation, I decided that it was time to finally try an actual spellsword-type character; swinging a weapon and casting spells at the same time.

To go with the whole elemental damage theme, the secondary mastery was going to be Earth or Storm. If you remember me from the old forums (my username was a bit different, though), you'll know Earth probably qualifies as my favorite mastery, so I decided to go with it. Thus the Stonespeaker was born. (Besides, bias aside, Earth seems to provide more support for melee than Storm, overall.)

Eventually, time proved me wrong. I died embarrassingly often (well, part of the reason might be that I've returned to the game from a long break, and had to get used to things again). The Stonespeaker doesn't seem to be able to stand against most enemies in the game toe-to-toe. Casting is good, but if I rely on it only, it's basically a caster build that has a melee weapon equipped for a change. Runic Weapon doesn't work with a staff, and bows need way too much dexterity. On the other hand...

So I decided to go with thrown weapons. They seemed interesting, anyway; their range might be shorter than bows, but they fire faster, and can be used with a shield. So that looked useful. The limited range can be helped in a number of ways, so that was no problem, and their dexterity requirements are generally much more friendly than those of bows. So there we go!

You might wonder about the title of the thread. Sometime around normal Act V I decided to try one thing. Namely, I was curious about Reckless Offense. Does it allow me to dual-wield weapons on itself? Can I dual-wield thrown weapons? To investigate, I put a point into it, expecting to undo that move with a mystic pretty soon. But I didn't. The chief reason for that is Thunder Strike. Now Thunder Strike shoots five projectiles, as its description says. However, if you're dual-wielding thrown weapons, it will net you five projectiles for each weapon you're holding! That's a lot of daggers or axes at the same time. And Reckless Offense itself pays off as well, I found.

So it began. Admittedly I got really lucky with drops. I got a Fenrir's Bite randomly in Act V normal, and then a Munnin's Grasp after farming Surtr a little. Those I didn't even carry for long, as I had two Neith's Wills drop in Act I epic, which lasted way until Act II legendary, which is when, during my first farming run of Aktaios, a Bone Pile dropped... Chakram of the Sun.

Wow. That thing is everything I was looking for. Does base fire damage, increases fire damage, burn damage, attack speed, decreases recharge... Do I need to list it? Fortunately I was wearing a Lithe Coil of the Gryphon (naturally enchanted with epic Primal Magma) I fortuitiously found sometime in epic that let me use a lot of thrown weapons before my dexterity caught up. It bumped my DPS up by a little more than 2000 on its own.

More runs than I dare to admit and around 7-8 Gorgon's Edges later (don't take it the wrong way, that looks like a frightening weapon, just not for my Stonespeaker - still, having them drop from pretty much everywhere is a little excessive), I found a second Chakram of the Sun (and soon after a third). Equipping two of them also gave a total damage bonus of +40%; I assume that's the set bonus I get for some reason for wielding two of those instead of one Chakram of the Moon. Not that I mind; I don't have a Chakram of the Moon yet, and other than the +10% intelligence instead of strength I see no benefit to it over Chakram of the Sun anyway. Plus cold damage and +2 skills to Dream don't synergize well, I believe, at least not nearly as well as fire damage bonuses and +2 skills to Earth.

I find that even before finding those, the class was capable of incredible damage output (and after some farming, my resistances are mostly in the positive even on legendary, which is new). Running up close to bosses and using Thunder Strike on them (after warming up with a few Runic Weapon shots) regularly took off about half their health just like that. And that was before I discovered that Seal of Fate reduces resistances!

The character's far from optimized, sadly I put a bit too many points into strength when I underestimated Runeword: Feather, and sadly there's no way to undo that. I needed about 385 dexterity eventually (for Chakram of the Sun), so quite a few had to go into that; intelligence therefore isn't sky-high, it could be a little better, but overall still pretty good (I think I've just broken 700).

So now that I'm done this part, here are some gameplay tricks for those who would be interested. Keep in mind that while throwing weapons have insane DPS, I still wanted to be a caster to some degree (and I found the two complement each other), so it's not a pure throwing build.

First of all, items: two Chakrams of the Sun, Crown of Dockma'Ar, Falcon Cape, Lithe Coil of the Gryphon with epic Primal Magma (planned to switch it to another something of the Gryphon with a better prefix, as I don't need the Lithe anymore), Völva's Foot Leather, Seal of Hephaestus, Star Stone (good casting speed bonus), Eye of Flame (planned to switch it out for Polaris), Dragontongue (planned to switch it out for Eye of Ra).

Not much to say of skills. The Runic Weapon line is maxed, with the exception of Energy Drain which is almost. Earth Enchantment line is maxed with the exception of Stone Skin. Volcanic Orb line and Eruption are maxed, so are Runeword: Explode, Reckless Offense, and Thunder Strike. Unleash and Runeword: Burn are close, but not complete yet. I put one-one point into the rest of the skills, and improved some of them (Seal of Fate, Rune of Life, Energy Armor). Flame Surge doesn't have any points in it; my throwing weapons are a better substitute.

Thrown weapons and casting go wonderfully together. Your thrown weapons are amazing mid-range, but you're going to have a problem with enemies that strike you from a greater distance; archers and casters, most notably. I don't know if it was the case before Ragnarök or Anniversary Edition, but Volcanic Orb has effectively unlimited range; at least I can cast it at the edges and corners of the screen when fully zoomed out. It is my primary weapon for fighting archers, but it is also useful for drawing the attention of enemies to yourself, getting them to charge at you so you can greet them with a friendly Thunder Strike.

Eruption, as always, is the crowd-killer. I mainly used it against archers, and earlier on I liked to combine it with Guardian Stones for extra fun (it is actually quite powerful; I neglected to put points into it, however, so by late epic and legendary it fell behind). But whenever you run into a huge horde of enemies, it's going to serve you well.

Seal of Fate is too cumbersome to use regularly, but its resistance reduction combined with the incredible thrown DPS makes short work of almost all bosses. This also makes the Stonespeaker a good candidate for farming runs. Legendary Aktaios goes down in a matter of seconds, literally.

In my melee days I used to use Runic Mines extensively (Volcanic Orb to aggro them, surround yourself with Runic Mines, cut down all who survive) but I'm barely using it anymore. In fact, I'm considering removing the skill points from it. Melee-based enemies rarely live long enough to be affected by it, and they're not really dangerous most of the time, anyway.

And of course there's Thunder Strike. It is incredibly good against hordes, and just as incredibly good against bosses, who are likely to get hit by most if not all projectiles, provided you're close enough. Combine it with Seal of Fate (and don't forget to warm up with a few Runic Weapon shots) and you'll one-shot virtually anything that's not a final boss.

There's Energy Armor. I didn't think much of it initially. I thought the damage absorption was too low, until I got enough bonus to all skills in Rune mastery and a Shrine of Mastery. Its damage prevention gets insane on high levels; I managed to get some in the range of 2000-3000, though that usually needs equipment to reduce energy cost. I found it useful; it's how I stopped dying in Acts IV and V on epic. It prevents piercing and bleeding damage along with physical, so it's really useful in archer-infested places. I find it too tiresome to keep up constantly, but it's worth it when you're getting pelted. I died a few times farming legendary Aktaios because I didn't put Energy Armor up, deeming it unnecessary; if I'm unlucky enough to have Sensunet Mal spawn somewhere, he literally one-shots me with a single arrow (damage over time not included, I still don't know if he has any). That caused a few deaths.

So there you have it. I find that the Shotgun Stonespeaker is an incredibly versatile character. No trouble with crowds, no trouble with bosses, with actually decent protection. Did I mention the absurd amount of attack damage converted to health? Energy Drain gives 4%, the two Chakrams give 5% each. I can aggro several rooms' worth of Shadowstalkers, kill them all with the Chakrams in melee, and they don't put a dent in my health; I heal all damage back. It's probably not as impressive as I think, but my Runic Weapon attack one-shots practically every ordinary enemy I come across. I don't think I've ever had a character capable of regularly one-shotting mobs in Legendary. Sacred Rage is useful, not only for the fear, but because Frightening Power's resistance reduction allows you to leech some health off even undead. (Seal of Fate allows you to leech bosses similarly, which is incredible.)

So what are the weaknesses? While the Stonespeaker likes crowds and likes huge enemies, what it likes less are groups of small enemies that are small targets and are scattered over a large area. Like the Maenads, ugh. I'm glad I'm beyond Greece now just because they were horrible.
Poison is the Stonespeaker's Achilles' heel. As you can figure out looking at my equipment, I have nothing that gives poison resistance, and no protection against it. (No pierce resistance, either, but Energy Armor takes care of that if needed.) I still hope to find something that remedies it, but generally I could manage by playing carefully where I knew poison was a danger. And dying a few times. Oh well, I didn't have the pretense of not trying to die once, either.

That's it for now! Thanks for the immense patience to read it through if you did, and I hope you find it interesting. A somewhat resilient, versatile powerhouse: the Stonespeaker!
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Medea Fleecestealer on 15 January 2018, 18:33:48
You can dual wield thrown weapons?!  WOW!  May look at that for my Trickster.  He's currently using Throwing Knife and thrown weapons, but carrying "of Trickery" shields for additional attack speed.  With the reduction in Throwing Knife's recharge and dual wield thrown weapons he should really be able spam them.   ;D  Thanks for the post. 
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 15 January 2018, 19:47:42
There's one downside, sadly: when you're dual-wielding thrown weapons, attack speed seems capped at 141% for some reason. So if you can achieve really high attack speed otherwise, it might not be worth it. I couldn't really (without my +25% attack speed bonus on my Dragontongue, I'm only at 139%), and I find that Reckless Offense (which, when maxed with at least +4 to rune mastery, has a 27% chance to trigger, which is close to once in every three attack; it also includes throwing I think two projectiles in rapid succession), the bonuses from two Chakrams of the Sun, and especially the doubled lethality of Thunder Strike more than compensate me for the loss of potential attack speed.

One more thing: while I noted Volcanic Orb before, its slow speed can work to your advantage. You can shoot it, then run up to them and time your Thunder Strike to hit them the same time the orb does. You can do something similar with Eruption, taking advantage of Volcanic Orb's stun to keep them in the field of lava longer. I don't know how useful this is, objectively, but it sure is loads of fun!
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 15 January 2018, 20:18:17
nice post.. just few questions.. what's your stat distribution? because a fairly good amount of dex would be needed for thrown weapons right? obviously i would also pump int if it was me.. i would also pump str because earth gives lots of %physical damage.. and str also boosts VO and eruption.. and since elemental conversion happens before str and any %damages, transmutation could be out.. not that a hybrid isn't doable, symbol of the polymath is a go to artifact for me for hybrids.. also do you have any points in core dweller? because aside from CD, i don't see any source of CCs besides runic mines and that's not good enough for me (I'm a sucker for CCs)
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 15 January 2018, 21:16:07
Thanks for the questions and the interest!

Stat distribution, according to profile page (before any bonus from Runic Weapon):
Strength: 146+115 (261)
Intelligence: 418+277 (695)
Dexterity: 258+129 (387)

I have a feeling these say more to you than they do to me.

As you can see, I made the mistake of putting too much in strength. Keep in mind, my idea used to be that I'd use melee weapons, which usually need more strength and less dexterity; early in the game, when I didn't have Runeword: Feather maxed out, I often needed to put a few points into strength to be able to equip some of them I found. Only later did I transition to thrown weapons, so I ended up adding points both to strength and dexterity, while in fact the latter only would've sufficed. With Runeword: Feather maxed and no other requirement reduction, my weapons need less than 120 strength to equip. I wish I could redistribute the points put into strength into something else, but sadly there's still no option for that in the game. (I'd welcome any information on opportunities I might have missed. If there's a third-party program to do it, I might use that after I'm finished with the playthrough to see how deadly the Stonespeaker would've been if properly developed.)

You need a dexterity of 385 to equip Chakram of the Sun, and that's what you should be aiming for. It's much, but it isn't prohibitive, and it's nowhere near the 400-500 you need for high-end bows.

In case you're interested in how I distributed my points as I levelled, due to the concept shift I can't really help with that right now. I imagine that if I'd been planning this out since the beginning, I'd have invested in dexterity to keep up with the requirements of thrown weapons and put the rest into intelligence.

I haven't tested it, but I believe that while strength boosts the physical component of your Volcanic Orb and Eruption, with the intelligence boosting the fire and burn components, not to mention the elemental damages you deal all across the board (and Runic Weapon giving a percentile increase to your intelligence), you're likely better off that way. I like the idea of Transmutation, though probably it's possible to go heavier on strength and physical damage and forgo it.

I have a single point in Core Dweller and its upgrades each. Currently I have +6 to all skills in Earth, which increases all of them to a fairly respectable rank of seven. The Core Dweller seems fairly reliable; the only things it seems to fall to (other than a select few bosses like the Hydra) are sustained barrages from archers, and melee enemies if I let them wail away at it for too long (which I usually don't).

However, if you're looking for more CC, I can recommend Guardian Stones. The stones are stationary, but I find that they usually attract enemies to attack them, even bosses, and when you get the spell the first time they even have phenomenal damage output. I imagine that keeps up if you put points into the skill, which I neglected in favor of others.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 16 January 2018, 01:43:07
i don't see myself creating a new character just yet but i like reading guides.. i don't know which stat distribution would be best but i would suggest equipping dual throwing of the betrayer on secondary with shen-nongs.. good with thunder strike
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Vio on 16 January 2018, 23:13:04
Nice build. Personally I like the Storm version even more because the instant nature and range of the Lightning spell complements the throwing rune weapons really well.

As for stats, you are right that more int does more for your damage than some strength would.
Though I would not call the amount you have way too much. At least not if you want to use the occasional sword or shield.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Bumbleguppy on 16 January 2018, 23:49:20
Isn't there a synergy with the Runesmith phys to elemental conversion skill?

Wouldn't strength boost the physical damage so that it was converted to flat elemental so you could get a similar damage output?

Having more flat elemental to get boosted by Fire Enchantment/Storm Nimbus modifiers and items gets a similar result, doesn't it?
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 17 January 2018, 01:06:55
transmutation.. but transmutation only affects rune weapon.. it doesn't affect thunder strike, VO and eruption.. and the conversion happens before the effects of str and any other %damages.. i tested it myself here

https://titanquestfans.net/index.php?topic=145.0

and was kind of validated in a steam forum.. steam forum is inside the link
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 17 January 2018, 15:16:00
Thanks, everyone!

Transmutation doesn't affect Thunder Strike? I find that hard to believe. Correct me if I'm wrong (keep in mind that I haven't tested this rigorously), but in my understanding, the charged attack skills like Onslaught and Rune Weapon basically apply a buff that then acts like any other buff you have, rather than inherently boosting the base attack only. I know that Energy Drain boosts Thunder Strike; the Stonespeaker healed from it quite much even when wielding only two Neith's Wills, which have no bonus to attack damage converted to health. Transmutation states that a percentage of base weapon damage becomes elemental, so naturally it doesn't do anything with Volcanic Orb or Eruption, but Thunder Strike uses your weapons, so I believe it should be affected.

In that vein, however, Chakram of the Sun has 146-156 physical base damage, but its 146-156 fire damage is also listed as base damage in the game. Does someone know if that gets converted, too? (And if we're already there, I'm not sure what's up with the pierce ratio.)

The Storm version sounds nice, too. I was actually hesitating between them, as Storm is very high up there among my favorite masteries, but in the end decided to go with Earth. Lightning Bolt sounds like a good synergy; I personally enjoy timing to hit groups of enemies with Volcanic Orb at the same time I hit them with something else, but Lightning Bolt is most likely more useful, objectively. Storm would have a better synergy with Thunder Strike (Unleash), while Earth helps Runeword: Burn and Runeword: Explode more.

Looking through the database, though, one objective advantage to the Stonespeaker compared to the Thunderer is that Thunderers don't seem to get anything as powerful as Chakram of the Sun is for Stonespeakers. Chakram of the Moon looks good, but sadly it boosts Dream instead of Storm (I still don't know why, it goes poorly with the cold damage), and Blessing of the Moirae... also boosts Dream. Puzzling. Of course, that's not a priority, but I find that Chakram of the Sun is pretty much a jackpot.

Two Betrayer's weapons with Shen-Nong's medicine sound quite good to me. I might try that, though currently I have no trouble one-shotting regular enemies and wiping bosses out in seconds (still farming Aktaios, admittedly, there are a few items I'd like to get for my other characters, my Conjuror in legendary would love that Archmage's Clasp for example). Currently my secondary slot has Prometheus' Gift (which I can't equip without Rune Weapon - at least there's a marginal advantage to my strength) and Pelaron's Golden Shield, which I use to cast Energy Armor, and sometimes I switch to it to regenerate energy between battles when it's low after fighting through hordes of enemies with no energy to leech from them. While Prometheus' Gift (a new find) has a better DPS than the Chakrams (exceeding 10000 without Rune Weapon bonuses if I have Moon Disc equipped), I find the latter still a much more viable option due to the attack damage converted to health.

Another thing: Thunder Strike practically heals this character to full. With the Chakrams, even a Runeword: Burn does. Unless you're shooting at someone with high damage reflection, in which case the result might be the opposite. I haven't tried it lately, though, once I get Polaris I should have 80% resistance to fire, cold and lightning each, but yet I'm unsure.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 17 January 2018, 20:39:08
you're walls of text reminds me of someone  :) good thing I'm used to reading walls of texts.. transmutation doesn't affect thunder strike in the sense that the damage doesn't get converted.. but the %int and %total damage from rune weapon boosts thunder strike.. but I'm not 100% sure with this.. i actually have thunderer still in epic but it's been a loooong time since I've played it.. i play it as melee caster with dual throwing with shen-nongs at secondary so i have 1 point in reckless offense.. just 1 point because the only time i attack with throwing is by thunder strike.. my playstyle is attack with melee to boost %int and %total damage, then attack with thunder strike and lightning bolt.. with 80%CDR it's almost like a spam so i press W repeatedly.. but the reason i go melee is because zeus thunderbolt can't be socketed on a throwing weapon(fixed now at later versions). don't know why but it is what it is

transmutation only converts physical and conversion happens before pierce so it doesn't go well with AotH and CotH.. this one I've tested
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Medea Fleecestealer on 17 January 2018, 21:03:40
Strange - I had no trouble socketing Achilles or Promentheus on to throwing weapons.  Haven't tried a Zeus yet. It might be a querk in the game code. I know when BG did Legion of Champions he couldn't get his throwing knives to take relics/charms. 
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 19 January 2018, 03:09:58
Oh, by the way, belated remark on the Symbol of the Polymath - it did catch my eye, but it doesn't seem to drop until Act II legendary, and by this point I have the strength and dexterity I need, so a lot of things on the item seem superfluous. I might check it out nevertheless when I get it.

I found a few new items I'm considering. While I'm not too keen on the health regeneration penalty, Mindrage Robe otherwise drives a pretty hard bargain. Some elemental damage bonus, some energy regeneration, bonus to all skills, and a decent improvement to casting speed, which is always welcome. I assume that with the absurd amount of attack damage converted to health I shouldn't have a problem making up for the regeneration penalty, but still... I guess I'd need to find an additional +1 to all Rune skills if I want to keep them up to +4.

Alternatively, I could equip Vestment of the Overlord. It provides no offensive bonuses, but a whopping +2 to all skills, some much needed pierce resistance and even some physical resistance, which is hard to come by (although between that, Heat Shield and Seal of Hephaestus I could become quite resilient to physical damage, in fact).

Or just staying with Falcon Cape. It's pretty nifty itself, but I don't know much about the worth of its innate damage conversion to elemental - my maxed Transmutation gives me 99% of that already, and assuming that they stack multiplicatively, I don't see much room of improvement on that.

I've also managed to finally find myself a coveted Archmage's Clasp (and right afterwards a second and a third). The casting speed is tempting, though I already have a lot of recharge reduction (and more expected in the form of Polaris, once I finally get my hands on that), so I'm not sure if it's needed. I also assume that while it only has a 6% chance for resistance reduction, the probabilities add up quickly with a lot of attacks. 
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 20 January 2018, 20:34:39
Some progress report, as I've just reached legendary Act IV.

Act III was a breeze, almost like I was going through it on normal. I once caught Jun-Shan, Warrior-Monk with a stray projectile from Thunder Strike and he soon died. I didn't even notice he was a hero until a moment before his death. Do you remember when tigerman heroes were scary?

Dragonians also aren't scary anymore. Well, at least Deathlances still are. There's something freaky about the way they jump at you all at the same time with that speed. But they go down like anything else.

I've always been scared of the Dragon Liche. There isn't a lot of space to run around when fighting it, and it has a lot of attacks affecting a wide area to make it worse. It died to Seal of Fate and two Thunder Strikes, though (I've maxed Aftershock, though, so I'm sure that helps a little).

Typhon likewise. Basically, my fights with him on legendary go like this:
- I enter the battlefield, he activates the reflection aura and takes a few lightning shots and a firebreath at me, which I try to dodge (though at 80% elemental resistances and Heat Shield it isn't all that important)
- He turns to my Core Dweller, I put Seal of Fate under him and attack (if reflection aura is still active, oh well, 80% elemental resistances)
- As soon as aura is gone, Thunder Strike; he generally dies before he can take a swing at me.

And that's on legendary. With my current setup I die to his poison projectile on epic, so I imagine it'd be even worse on legendary, good thing he usually has no time to use it.

Edit: Small correction, Core Dweller also needs to have the full Energy Armor to survive long enough while distracting him. Learned the hard way... (Still doable, but much harder, due to having to dodge all the poison and life leech attacks.)

I found a Chakram of the Moon in a bone pile in the Forest of the Ancients. That thing is... weird. I honestly wish it had +2 to Storm instead of Dream (Dream already has Blessing of the Moirae, after all), but we can't all be that lucky. I found a use for it, though; I switched my Prometheus' Gift out for it, so now my secondary slot has Chakram of the Moon with Golden Shield of Pelaron. Together with Polaris I can now cast Energy Armor on maximum level, and then switch back to double Chakrams of the Sun for burning everything. I tried out of curiosity, though, and going Sun and Moon instead of double Sun doesn't even cause much of a drop in my DPS; I guess the +10% intelligence instead of strength is its saving grace.

Second edit: While I found a formula for Eye of Ra and crafted it, it's oddly ineffective (haven't tried the skill on it, though). I suppose that flat burn damage on Dragontongue was really good - on the other hand, the Tongue of Flame I crafted in the process is much better. It's like someone took Dragontongue, removed bonuses on it I didn't need, and then put other bonuses on it I did! Bonus to all elemental damage, the same flat burn damage, but percentile increase to intelligence, poison resistance, and as completion bonus... More poison resistance! Between that and Völva's Foot Wraps, now it's 11%, which is nothing to write home about, but at least positive. I didn't expect to ditch a divine artifact for a lesser one, but this game is full of surprises. My Conjurer will like Eye of Ra, though, along with Eye of Osiris and Eye of Flame... interesting.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 26 January 2018, 20:35:38
Many thanks to Pazuzu, who guided me in the ways of recording gameplay (never done it before), here's a video of the Stonespeaker taking down Typhon on legendary!

You'll notice I'm a bit overleveled. I have a bunch of unspent attribute points, though, and my important skills were maxed far before my current level, so it doesn't change much.

https://youtu.be/hBb6HzNKG7E (https://youtu.be/hBb6HzNKG7E)
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Darkenlord on 27 January 2018, 23:44:00
Hey, I am interested in trying this build. How did you spend your att? I mean, you said you placed the required str and dex for your gear and then int, but did you put anything on Helth or Mana?
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 28 January 2018, 03:31:24
Personally, I messed up this character's stat distribution a little, but that only means you can do better.

You need about 385 dexterity to equip your weapons in the end-game. (The exact number varies with your weapon of choice, but if you go Stonespeaker I see no reason not to use Chakram of the Sun - two of it, even.) As for strength, with maxed Runeword: Feather about 100 should be enough. Those should be your target numbers for the endgame. As long as you are under those, I'd put only enough points into strength or dexterity to be able to equip the weapons you want, and the rest to intelligence. When you're early in the game and don't have Runeword: Feather maxed, you might feel tempted to put too much points into strength (it's what I ended up doing), but you're probably better off finding equipment with requirement reduction. It's up to you, anyway.

All the other points went to intelligence. I didn't put any into health or energy. I could see justifications for both, but for the most part, the combination of Energy Armor and resistances should serve you well enough. And of course the insane DPS that makes you more than capable of crushing most enemies before they could scratch you. Not always, though, and it can be a bit intense at times. It makes you something of a glass cannon, but personally I think it's worth it. As long as you don't expect to be able to tank them, you should be fine.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 01 April 2018, 20:09:12
It's been a while since the last update.

Thing is, I've become interested in a lot of other characters (interestingly, almost all of them involved Rune... Rune and Earth are probably my favorite masteries right now), but my Dragon Hunter had trouble farming Normal Typhon for some better throwing weapons. So I thought hey, maybe it sounds a bit unfair, but couldn't I farm Normal Typhon with my Stonespeaker? I sure could. (As well as Surtr, because I spawn at the last point on Normal, and I don't want to change that, so I kill Surtr, teleport to Olympus and kill Typhon, too. Already found a few interesting new Ragnarök items this way.)

Anyway, after I started doing that, I got inspiration to finally finish Act IV Legendary. On one hand, I died a lot, usually to Melinoe (seriously, those things are far worse than Machae; hit just as hard but are much harder to hit); on the other, there are quite a few personal achievements for me here. I managed to kill both the Bloated One (the giant spider guarding the Mirror of Psyche) and Cerberus without dying once (and without equipping any item to deal with them specifically), though I cheated a bit at the latter - lobbed a Volcanic Orb at him straight from the entrance, put down an Eruption, started swarming Rune Weapon and Thunder Strike at him and simply switched Stone Form on when I knew I couldn't take it anymore without dying.

I met an Epiales hero. I didn't know those existed; sadly I have no screenshot and I don't remember the name. Interestingly, it wasn't quite as deadly as the Kalygotes (the only way for me to survive their area poison attack is Stone Form - fortunately, due to my huge recharge reduction, the recharge time is shorter than the duration, so energy is the only limiting factor - and I can drink energy potions while in Stone Form for whatever reason, so go figure). It had the most massive slowdown effect I've ever seen in the game, however, literally slowed my character to a crawl, even on the highest speed option.

Hades went down quicker than I've ever managed it. It's true, I managed to get him to focus on my Core Dweller, and the Seal of Fate (with fully maxed Aftershock) as well as Polaris's resistance reduction made short work of him.

I'm tempted to record a video of destroying Hades, but I never really tried farming Hades at all - he's too far even from the last rebirth fountain, let alone the portal (and I'd need to use the portal as I've already gone on to Act V). I guess I'll give the Stonespeaker a bit of rest again - unlike Act IV, I'm quite fond of Act V, so I have no qualms putting that off for now. I suppose I'll do a little farming, maybe some more Normal Surtr and Typhon as well as Legendary Typhon. Combined, so it doesn't get boring. (Okay, farming always does.)

Edit: Duh, thinking back, Runic Mines might have been the solution against the Melinoe... Oh well, maybe I'll try it someday. Why do I always think of these when it's too late?

More edit: I noticed that I had an Arcadion Judgement (with -24% energy cost, no less) sitting in my vault, so I figured I'd try equipping that with Golden Shield of Pelaron in the secondary slot for Energy Armor. Poof, maxed Energy Armor for around 500-600 energy. Not even a hassle to reapply anymore.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 02 April 2018, 00:21:31
though I cheated a bit at the latter - lobbed a Volcanic Orb at him straight from the entrance, put down an Eruption, started swarming Rune Weapon and Thunder Strike at him and simply switched Stone Form on when I knew I couldn't take it anymore without dying.
where's the cheat there?
max energy armor with guardian stones is the solution to melinoes i think.. W,  cast,  W
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Tauceti on 02 April 2018, 01:30:19
In the particular case of Hades runs with a runemaster, i would try to have +4 skills on rune mastery (maybe with switching weapon) , so that energy armor gives a 6900 physical damage absorption. Sure, the price is the high 3500 energy cost. Before the fight, having 1 or 2 seals of the high priest (a common blue ring with -30% energy cost) in inventory would make the trick. Since Hades' spells are roughly 50% vitality, 50% physical; a high energy armor would be a good help, and it's not too much difficult having near maxed vitality res.

How does the core dweller stand in legendary ? With a plug-and-play lvl 40 toon, i made some tests and the core dweller is terrible in normal, even when maxing all his abilities.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 02 April 2018, 05:19:16
I guess it feels a little bit cheap to fight Cerberus in the doorway, but I guess it's not actually cheating.

As for the Melinoes, I agree about max Energy Armor, but unfortunately since I have -100% pierce resistance, even the nearly 7000 hit points don't last as long as I'd like them to. Guardian Stones is a bit limited by its huge cooldown, but otherwise I agree.

Tauceti, thanks for the suggestion; I'm actually running around with +4 to Rune (Falcon Cape, Crown of Dockma'Ar, Völva's Foot Wraps) and +5 to Earth (Crown of Dockma'Ar and two Chakrams of the Sun). While I switch weapons for casting Energy Armor, none of the bonus to Rune comes from weapons, so it's fine; and with my equipment, switching to secondary (Arcadion Judgement and Golden Shield of Pelaron) lets me cast that maximum level Energy Armor for a measly 600 energy, which I personally find satisfying. Come to think of it, I think it's what helped me take down Hades so quickly, too. Ironically, his minions, most notably the Melinoe but the Machae as well, take it down much faster than he does.

I'd say the Core Dweller is pretty good in legendary. Don't forget that the Energy Armor I don't leave home without applies to it, too, and with it, it can withstand quite the punishment. Not when a pack of Machae or, again, Melinoe swoop down on it, but usually it doesn't need to. If the enemies are focusing on the Core Dweller, it's doing its job and giving you the time to completely destroy everything in sight; and if they don't then, well, things aren't good for you, but the Core Dweller isn't going to die, either. To be honest, I haven't been counting, but I think that throughout entire Legendary Act IV, I think I could count on one hand how many times the Core Dweller died (excluding the main character dying, because that'd require a few more hands). And that's only with one point invested in each of its skills (admittedly with the +5 to Earth from equipment). At the end of the act, however (around the end of Elysium) I decided to put a few more skill points into the base skill and Metamorphosis because I was a bit overleveled and didn't really know what to do with my skill points anymore.

Edit: Forgot to say. I died a lot with this character, but I think it's not the character's fault. I'm usually a rather reckless and hasty player, and as a result never make any pretenses of trying to play without dying. In fact, it was only recently, in Legendary Act IV that I figured out that I could use Stone Form basically indefinitely; when I did, I stopped dying except for a select few cases. I'm sure that with better playing, the number of deaths could probably be minimized, though probably not eliminated; my Stonespeaker is a glass cannon, after all.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Tauceti on 02 April 2018, 21:40:24
I didn't understand that you were already at ultimate level of energy armor, when i saw 600 armor cost, i thought it was the 8th lvl cost of the skill. My bad. So forget my comment  ;D

Quote
To be honest, I haven't been counting, but I think that throughout entire Legendary Act IV, I think I could count on one hand how many times the Core Dweller died (excluding the main character dying, because that'd require a few more hands). And that's only with one point invested in each of its skills (admittedly with the +5 to Earth from equipment).

If the core dweller can survive in legendary with only 6 point in each skill, thats sounds good for a stonespeaker in Xmax and a pet with its skills maxed. That seems doable.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: CrocMagnum on 03 April 2018, 14:10:43
How does the core dweller stand in legendary ? With a plug-and-play lvl 40 toon, i made some tests and the core dweller is terrible in normal, even when maxing all his abilities.

About The Core Dweller, the higher the Difficulty the more durable it gets (more HP and more Resists). Back in the Immortal Throne days you could easily top +10.000 HP for the Core Dweller in Legendary (not counting + Skills, Pet items,...)

The only Bosses that can really put him down are:

- The Minotaur Lord (Act I),
- The Firebull (Act III),
- Barmanu: because of his Ice Storm (Act III),
- The Grey Sisters: beware of their Red Whirlwind (Act IV),

Especially the Grey Sisters, they will literally slaughter your Dweller if you let him stand into their Red Whirlwind: that's because it's Lightning Damage, thanks to Vio for the explanation ^^. And you’ll notice that any monster that deals Lightning -and Cold Damage too- is a major threat to your Core Dweller, take them down ASAP.

Note: I’m still single class (Rune) an need to make up my mind for a secondary (I’ll try my best not to choose Earth, I swear ;D). so I don’t know yet how a Dweller fares in Act V Ragnarök.

If the core dweller can survive in legendary with only 6 point in each skill, thats sounds good for a stonespeaker in Xmax and a pet with its skills maxed. That seems doable.

From experience, only 6 Skill Points in each Skills  won't cut it, I'm afraid. Especially in Legendary, and I bet Ragnarök is even more brutal for Pets :P The following skills should be cranked up if you want the Dweller to tank reliably: Main Skill, Inner Fire, Metamorphosis.

Edit: now if you only use the Core Dweller for utility (That is: a build not heavy on Pets) then I undertand you don't really need to max all his skills.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 04 April 2018, 02:44:53
Note: I’m still single class (Rune) an need to make up my mind for a secondary (I’ll try my best not to choose Earth, I swear ;D). so I don’t know yet how a Dweller fares in Act V Ragnarök.
i have a suggestion but i won't suggest a mastery.. theorycraft for each class involving rune.. from your theorycrafts, identify the worst.. that is the class you take.. oh man here i go again  ;D
but really, in a way, it will feel like you're a veteran new player so it will be fun
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Tauceti on 05 April 2018, 21:11:31
Quote
From experience, only 6 Skill Points in each Skills  won't cut it, I'm afraid. Especially in Legendary, and I bet Ragnarök is even more brutal for Pets :P The following skills should be cranked up if you want the Dweller to tank reliably: Main Skill, Inner Fire, Metamorphosis.

Thanks CrocMagnum for tips, especially difficult bosses for the core dweller.

I can confirm that Ragnarok is brutal for pets. I finished the game with a ritualist, pets could handle till the very end but it was slow progress and from time to time i had to respawn one of them. However i was playing with good pet gear. Then i tried the last waypoint of act 5-legendary  with Xmax: it was terrific for pets. Finally I couldn't achieve my way to Surtr. Not sure that the Core dweller would stand in the very last waypoints. Hope that Firebrand, you or any earth-lover will tell us the truth about that  ;)

Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 06 April 2018, 03:56:52
The Core Dweller might not hold up in Legendary by itself, but at least for this character, that's not its job, anyway.

Pets have always been something of an afterthought for most of my characters, and this time is not any different. I'm not running a pet build, and the Core Dweller doesn't need to destroy things on its own, nor to survive an enemy onslaught for very long. My character's capable of laying waste to pretty much anything in a rather short span of time, and the Core Dweller is there to ensure I'm given that time by redirecting some of the attackers to itself. It usually doesn't die while doing that (for which a maxed Energy Armor is also responsible, I'm sure), so it works for me. It doesn't get attacked for too long because I usually get to kill its attackers soon enough.

That said, I haven't started Act V yet, I keep getting distracted.

So yes, your mileage might vary, especially if you're thinking in terms of a summoner character.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 06 April 2018, 06:12:39
Pets have always been something of an afterthought for most of my characters, and this time is not any different. I'm not running a pet build, and the Core Dweller doesn't need to destroy things on its own, nor to survive an enemy onslaught for very long. My character's capable of laying waste to pretty much anything in a rather short span of time, and the Core Dweller is there to ensure I'm given that time by redirecting some of the attackers to itself.
+1

i like

that's how it should be :)

the last part of act 5 is full of fire elementals though hmm
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 21 April 2018, 16:24:28
Fafnir time!

I was hardly surprised when I actually found Fafnir in Fafnir's Cave on Legendary. That's how far I went so far; it's an amazing farming spot, something that Act V sorely needed (Surtr himself is pretty good once you've finished the chapter, but his drops seemed rather lackluster on Normal and Epic, and while I unlocked Primrose's Passage, hardly anything seems to drop there that's not an Easter egg).

He seems the most dangerous bonus boss so far, but I feel that it might be so due to unfamiliarity and technical difficulties. Namely, his hitbox is so large that I often end up shooting at him even when I'm trying to step aside. I don't know what damage type his red-black maelstrom attack deals. I have Energy Armor for physical, pierce and bleeding, and have otherwise decent-to-great resistances all around, except for poison (though that is also positive), yet I die from just merely touching it so quickly that usually I don't even have the time to activate Stone Form. I doubt it's poison, as that is usually color-coded for our convenience. Is it life leech, maybe? That sounds reasonable to me.

I figured that the best strategy, ironically, is to simply rush him head-on after putting a Seal of Fate under him. His bites are just as lethal, but I can use Stone Form properly, and after it ends, Thunder Strike with yet another Stone Form. Usually I don't need more than two or three cycles (though I also soften him up and charge my Rune Weapon as he stands up). And still die pretty often, but oh well. I'm sure it'll get better with practice.

Once he dropped a ring (it wasn't in his orb - which is, by the way, named Majestic Chest for some reason - but he dropped it on dying), called Andvaranaut. Aside from pretty odd effects, it has a +50% experience - can you imagine equipping two of those and a Sacrificial Necklace for quests? Sounds crazy. I guess I know what I'll do for the rest of my characters.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 21 April 2018, 22:23:40
All right, I've figured out how to beat Fafnir reliably (that is, without dying).

A few remarks about the recording:
- I open and close the Quest Log window a few times when I start the game. It's out of habit; when I start a game, it's always flashing, so I got used to opening and closing it so it doesn't. In Act V, I usually need to open it a few more times for it to stop. That's why, in case you were wondering.
- Yes, I took the time to kill the wasps. They're annoying.
- Yes, I've levelled up to level 82. I've been playing this character way too much, I know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf2KxXdkVhY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf2KxXdkVhY)
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 21 April 2018, 23:20:43
wow.. is it set to very fast? i only play on fast.. what those you're wearing? crown of dokmaar, 2 chakram of the sun, volva's boots.. what are the others? i remember on my sorcerer spell breaker made it easy because he couldn't cast his killer spells.. but it wasn't that fast.. i remember it wasn't easy in xmax but that is to be expected.. I've yet to face him on my other characters.. I can't rely on just spell breaker.. I have to find good tricks against him.. your vids are cool to watch you should post more ;)
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 22 April 2018, 21:00:38
Indeed, I'm playing on very fast. I have an odd case of having both slow reactions and chronic impatience... Not exactly the best combination, but I'm managing somehow.

As for the equipment, here's a full list:

Primary weapon set: Chakram of the Sun, Chakram of the Sun
Secondary weapon set: Arcadion Judgement, Golden Shield of Pelaron
Head: Crown of Dockma'Ar
Torso: Falcon Cape
Arms: Sage's Winding of the Gryphon with Epic Primal Magma (fire damage completion bonus)
Feet: Völva's Hardened Wraps
Rings: Star Stone, Seal of Hephaestus
Amulet: Polaris
Artifact: Tongue of Flame (poison resistance completion bonus)

This has been quite unchanged for a while. Only now have a few contestants emerged.
One is Gambanteinn, which seemed overall perfect. On average a pretty hefty +50% bonus to elemental damages, +2 to rune, recharge reduction. Overall it turned out to be way inferior to Tongue of Flame, ironically; the more modest bonus to elemental damages is easily offset by the percentile bonus to intelligence, decent flat burn damage, and increased utility (poison resistance, increased energy).
Now, however, one of my Fafnir runs rewarded me with a Corselet of Freyja. That looks... amazing. Like Battlemage Robe on steroids. It provides some pierce resistance, which has been one of the few aspects in which I found this character lacking (it is true that Energy Armor protects against pierce, but having -100% resistance to it seems a bad choice overall), bumps poison resistance nearly to maximum, comes with an elemental damage bonus, immense defensive ability bonus, and bonus to all skills. Sadly, I'd need to get another +1 to at least rune before equipping it, though, and would lose a little movement and casting speed (attack speed is maxed even without Falcon Cape's bonus). Oh well, I'll try to see what else I find.

To be fair, the way the fight against Fafnir is set up really favors my character. I've mostly been concentrating on dishing out damage as fast as I could, and defenses were secondary. Fafnir starts off lying on the ground, and it takes him a while to stand up; it's not a long window of opporunity to attack him without retaliation, but as you can see, it proves just enough.

Seal of Fate with maxed Aftershock ruins his resistances. Then I pop an Eruption and a Volcanic Orb, and get in close; by that time the Seal of Fate just explodes, and I Thunder Strike. Polaris gives a 20% chance of greatly reduced resistances - something that is very likely to go off with fourteen projectiles. From there he drops like a fly.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Tauceti on 22 April 2018, 23:32:24
A quick Fafnir run with your setup !
What about late act 5 and especially Surtr with your stonespeaker, do you encounter fire resistances  ?

In that case, Winds of Asphodele (paired with one Chakram of the sun) would be useful with a great
>>50 Reduced Resistances for 3.0 Seconds
You lose the bonus weapon set but the 50 RR are really nice. Therefore you can replace Polaris with a better one with high resistances.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 22 April 2018, 23:50:19
or just equip it in secondary.. or throwing weapon with cold damage in secondary

anyway.. thnx Firebrand for the simple reason that i liked your video enough i was inspired to play and fight Fafnir.. xmax x3 because it's my default.. i didn't find any new tricks.. maddened god died in seconds and Fafnir doesn't want to play with monster lure.. took me a while but i didn't die although i almost almost almost did.. it was very fun I'll post it as soon as i can hopefully tomorrow.. and to top it all off, i got ring of taranis wooohooo
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 24 April 2018, 02:40:50
Well, thank you; never expected to have this effect on anyone.

I haven't progressed past Fafnir yet, but I can imagine the fire giants causing trouble (although they didn't on Normal or Epic). I don't have Winds of Asphodel, though it does look nifty. The problem with equipping it in the secondary slot is that the secondary weapon set is reserved for the energy reduction equipment for casting my maxed Energy Armor.

However, recently I found a Touch of Nyx. It needs some additional investment of dexterity, but I have eight unused attribute points anyway; and while the resistance reduction it gives is percetile, unlike Winds of Asphodel, I'm not sure Aspohdel's is actually flat (I remember your resistance reduction thread, botebote). It gives a massive energy cost reduction, and has a number of similar advantages. Finding a second one would be ideal, but I guess that one with Golden Shield of Pelaron is passable until then.

(https://i.imgur.com/2iWfVij.jpg)

I'd say it's just as good.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 24 April 2018, 08:00:15
i also don't have winds of asphodel but just looking at tq-db, it looks to be flat.. it's just like monkey kings trickery but with much higher RR value which according to apocalypse80 is absolute.. what an OP weapon that is.. here's the thing though, those fire giants including Surtr, do they have fire resist or fire absorption? i don't know that yet.. if it's fire resist, RR would work, if it's absorption, it won't.. your touch of nyx though has flat frostburn damage.. it's DoT but elemental DoT now scales with %elemental.. rune weapon tree also deals mix elemental and those fire giants and maybe Surtr should be susceptible to cold.. so it might be enough
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 08 July 2018, 02:54:32
Triple the trouble, triple the fun!

I've been neglecting the game for a good while, and came back to farm Fafnir some more. Some runs and some utterly unremarkable drops later, I've decided to fall back on desperate measures for desperate times disastrous loot.

I make no pretenses; I'd probably have used the Defiler for increased drops at this point. Even Fafnir drops uniques very rarely, and even then they're usually duplicates of what I already have, despite the fact that I most probably don't own the majority of Act V uniques (most of what he drops is Act IV gear). But since that option is not available, for better or for worse, as far as I'm aware, I did the second best thing I possibly could.

I was reluctant. As the previous video should demonstrate, one Fafnir is quite okay - I can rush it and remove the majority of its health before it stands up, and then finish it off. But what about three? That could be a problem.

Find out now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH5CjHiddEs
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 08 July 2018, 03:14:29
nice.. only thing i don't approve of is using the defiler for increased drop chance but heh that depends on the player  :P

I've thought recently trying my long range trick on Fafnir and see how it reacts  https://titanquestfans.net/index.php?topic=213.msg5429#new

i can't remember the range of volcanic orb but can you throw it very far to the edge of your screen just like in my vid?

edit: regarding ragnarok items, i actually think just going through the game with different characters gives more drops than farming bosses over and over again.. but i have no solid proof of this.. and i think it depends if you're looking for a particular item
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 08 July 2018, 11:40:04
tried the long range trick with my sorcerer.. Fafnir wakes up once hit but it's still doable by luring him close to the walls, then i hide behind the walls and cast squall and lightning bolt.. Fafnir can't see me but i can attack with lightning bolt.. that eliminates volcanic orb though :( .. it takes very long but it's also very safe it feels like cheating.. also, my sorcerer isn't properly specced for that because my attributes are divided between int and dex.. i imagine it will be much faster for my tsunderer.. also probably faster for a druid

i noticed you're taking too much damage from those wasps it's even squishier than my casters.. man you must have terrible resists  :))
don't know what damage they do
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 08 July 2018, 17:31:13
I generally don't like using things like the Defiler as well, but the drop rates in Act V do seem abysmal... And I'm mildly frustrated by the fact that due to a HDD failure I lost all my progress in Titan Quest a few years ago, when I had most of the items, in fact (although, as one might suspect, that was before Ragnarök or Anniversary Edition).

New characters having better (or at least different) drops would be a pretty interesting approach, actually. I'll try with other characters and see what happens.

Volcanic Orb has pretty much unlimited range. You can always throw it at the very edge of the screen, even if you're zoomed out as much as possible. You need line of sight, though, so it's less suitable for gimmicks like that.

That depends on what you consider terrible, actually. The elemental resistances are all maxed, but the rest are less impressive. Poison resistance is positive, but low; I think that vitality and bleeding are negative, but near to zero. Pierce is -100%, which is probably the most pressing issue.

Seriously, though, between the wasps and the water spirits, Ragnarök has given us the peskiest enemies. I don't know what damage type the wasps deal, but I think it has to be multiple - they destroy Energy Armor, so they must deal at least one from physical, pierce, and bleeding, as well as something that goes through the armor (most likely poison). But their damage is less of the problem, it's more annoying how you just can't hit them at all. (Though they seem to have no innate dodge, they're just hard to pin down with your mouse cursor.)
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: botebote77 on 08 July 2018, 18:44:55
aye.. wasps are very hard to see and target.. i suspected as well that they deal multiple types of damage

the water spirits, I'm starting to get around them.. fire is very weak against them.. they have high cold resist/absorption.. they are weak against lighting and EBD.. they have high chance to avoid projectiles, melee works better against them.. they can be stunned even for just a few seconds helps because it prevents them from running away.. there is a DoT that works well against them, i suspect it's bleed
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Flix on 11 July 2018, 16:34:36
Wonderful write-up.  I was trying to figure out what to pair with Rune mastery.  Stonespeaker is currently level 9 on the Megara coast and I'm having a blast.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: icefreeze on 18 December 2018, 10:26:58
aye.. wasps are very hard to see and target.. i suspected as well that they deal multiple types of damage

the water spirits, I'm starting to get around them.. fire is very weak against them.. they have high cold resist/absorption.. they are weak against lighting and EBD.. they have high chance to avoid projectiles, melee works better against them.. they can be stunned even for just a few seconds helps because it prevents them from running away.. there is a DoT that works well against them, i suspect it's bleed
No, they have not high Chance to avoid Projectiles. They just have ability " impaired enemies " when any enemies be hit by them.
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: selkceh on 01 May 2019, 08:23:56
This is a fantastic guide.

I know it has been a while but could you please post a build calculator at high level? Just because in your post you don't say much about the core dweler but i see it in the videos.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: lordthai on 12 May 2019, 18:57:06
can somebody comfirm for me that rune: explode work with ternion attack/ psi touch or not?
Title: Re: Runic Elemental Shotgun
Post by: Firebrand on 14 May 2019, 20:57:47
Sorry for the late answer; haven't been around too much lately. Screenshots in spoilers, and then comments below.

(https://i.imgur.com/jSOP6IV.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/VfNNCvY.jpg)

This is at level 83, with +5 to all Earth skills and +4 to all Rune skills and some points left over (before I undid some allocations at the mystic to free up enough points to try the new skills).
I put only one point in the Core Dweller and all the appropriate synergies, and then only started levelling them further when I really had nothing else to do with my skill points anymore. Generally, there's plenty to do with them: Earth Enchantment and Brimstone, Volcanic Orb and all synergies, Eruption, Volativity, Rune Weapon and all synergies, Runeword: Burn and Runeword: Explode are the ones I'd say I'd give priority to max. Not necessarily in this order, though. I think Energy Armor is definitely worth maxing but only as you're picking up appropriate backup energy cost reduction equipment that lets you cast it. If you want to go down the dual-wielding route, Reckless Offense also; if you want a shield, you might want to try Runeword: Absorb instead. I never did that, I don't know how good it is. I think that at least one point in Thunder Strike and its synergy is a must, but I don't recall how exactly it scales. Seal of Fate is happy with just one point, but its synergy increases the resistance reduction, which is great. Naturally Runeword: Feather is a priority, but I think this one requires some planning.

On that note, Runeword: Feather and Transmutation could work together in an interesting way, but you do need to think and plan ahead. That is, you really don't need a lot of strength for this character. With maxed Runeword: Feather, Chakram of the Sun asks for about 120 strength, but since it also grants +10% strength (sadly not intellect), you can cheat the system by only increasing it up to 100, then equipping something that grants a strength bonus, then equip the two Chakrams, and using their total +20% strength to keep it at 120 and keep them equipped. The issue is that since throwing weapons require strength to use, earlier on you might feel forced to invest points into Runeword: Feather early so you can actually use throwing weapons, and right now I'm thinking that it might not be the best course of action.

You have Runeword: Feather from level two, but Transmutation is only available at the end of the tree. So if you pump intellect early, you need to invest into Runeword: Feather more heavily, making you comparatively worse, and since Transmutation is not available yet, your weapon damage is low. I think that the right course of action is pumping strength at first until you hit the limit of around 100, and trying to get to the top of the Rune tree while at it. You're attacking with thrown weapons, physical damage, and you have good strength. When you hit 100 strength and start pumping intellect, you also start dropping points into Transmutation as your intellect outstrips your strength. Dexterity also factors in. I do need to come up with a proper development plan here, but it could be interesting.
SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal