OA/DA vs Damage

[Laionidas]

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.

[botebote77]

ratio stat distribution has always been wrong for me.. as good as Poinas is, i doubt he followed his own advice to the text.. it was just as you said, to keep things simple.. but if you want to go beyond, things just aren't simple. sorry

it always depends on your gear.. but you don't always know which gear to wear and even if you plan it out, chances are your gear planning will change once you start playing it.. what i do is i always keep a few unused stat points.. that way if i need some dex for example, i have some to spend.. sometimes i keep about 10 unused stat points but most of the time, i only keep about 3-5

my experience with DA.. iirc back in TQIT, very high DA was good enough to save your a$s 90% of the time.. in AE/R, that is no longer the case.. in TQIT, iirc 1400 DA was good enough to face tank most melee mobs.. in AE/R, you will get hit more often.. then if you look at act 5, there are many throwing weapon users, archers, rock throwing trolls, water elementals, fire elementals, elves that cast sunrays, monsters that deal reflect damage.. DA is useless against any of these

so what do you do for survival? getting defense mastery would be a good start.. but what if you don't want defense? time to turn on your brain gear.. it's not that simple then

me i have always been big on CCs, that's why i like rogue.. but other masteries provide CCs or some kind of survival as well.. but i don't want to deviate your thread so my simple answer: no.. don't follow any fixed ratio stat distribution.. it's only for beginners

heck my knifethrower guide i advised going dex first instead of str or int

[Laionidas]

ROFL,.. shokugeki!

The thing with ratio distribution is that it does keep things a lot simpler. I don't like spending time on working out my build. I just want to kill things and find loot. If I die occassionally while doing that, that's fine by me. So while ratio distribution might not be optimal, it does overall make the game a lot more fun for me personally.

Also, whether one goes with ratio distribution, use it as a guideline, or not at all, doesn't really affect the larger argument in favour of more or no more dexterity. Your point about Act V makes sense though, and I agree 100% on the CC route. That's what I try to do too. It often means taking more one-point wonders at the expense of one or two otherwise fully maxed skills. The diversity and variety of available skills, pets, and casts, is what I'm counting on to save my skin, when I'm in a pinch.

[botebote77]

The diversity and variety of available skills, pets, and casts, is what I'm counting on to save my skin, when I'm in a pinch.

most of the time that's enough.. even with xmax

ROFL,.. shokugeki!

nyahaha.. still my favorite chapter.. erina just melted... and reborn.. one of these days i will try to recreate his dish that chapter.. hopefully