Spell disruption doesn’t work.

[Aituo]

I’ve been playing a mage slayer (wizard slayer was one of my favorite classes from BG2) and the spell disruption just does not seem to work. 

 

I am playing a mage slayer/nazpalca and I can easily get 4 stacks on most casters, yet, spells never fail. 

 

The mage slayer is meant to come with 1 defining talent and it just does not work. 

[asnjas]

Well, neither do potions.

[Boeroer]

I just did some tests with a Mage Slayer against Concelhaut, a Savage Xaurip High Priest, a nameless bounty Cipher and Uamoru the Pretender (Ranger/Chanter):

• Once I reach 4 stacks of Spell Disruption the wizard/priest spells as well as the cipher powers and chanter invocations will always get interrupted (see combat log: <character_name> interrupted <enemy_name>). If I have less than 4 then of course they may come through from time to time, but they also get interrupted often enough.
• Abilities which are not spells (e.g. his Nightmare Gaze or Enfeebling Touch from Concelhaut, Marked Prey and so on) will not get interrupted - 'cause no spell
• Instant spells (0.0 cast time) cannot be interrupted afaik. Are there any anyway? Can't recall...

So it seems to work fine.

@Aituo: May I ask which enemy you tried this on? Because some do have spell-like abilites, but they are not actually spells. This might be confusing but that's how it is. Only actual spells will get interrupted. Of course it may be hard to determine what's a spell and what's a "innate" ability of certain enemies. As a rule of thumb: everything that is neither kith (human, aumaua, orlan, elf, dwarf, godlike) nor wilder (xaurip, vithrack and so on) will most likely NOT use "proper" spells. Their spell-like abilites my even have the same name as the actual spells, but those are just copy-and-pasted spells that were given to them as abilites that they use. Some vessels like Risen Mages and skeletal wizards and so on also will get interrupted since they are proper wizards - although they are no kith but vessels. 

So tl;dr: it's a bit complicated, but generally it works.

edit: by the way - the best part about spell disruption is that it not only prevents the cast, but it also means that the caster used up his resources. Like if you get interruoted when casting. spell use/focus/phrases etc. are gone and nothing happened. Of course against certain enemies that seem to have limitless casts this isn't important, but against most casters it's great. 

A good weapon to apply spell disruption is Sun and Moon (applies 2 disruptions per hit). If you use auto-attacks mostly it's best to put a ranged weapon in the offhand and Sun & Moon in the main hand. You can then attack with dual wielding speed but only the flail is actually used - effectively putting 4 stacks of disruption on the enemy very quickly.  

Another is to use Last Word: It will prevent any offensiv ability use. If used by a Mage Slayer you can effectively shut down all offensive ability use and also all casts (even if they are not offensive). Using a Stalker as Multiclass partner can make sure your ACC is high enough so that you crit often enough.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Boeroer

[Aituo]

I had been fighting The Messenger, Ironclads and the wooden druids and their spells always went off (as you said, these are not proper spells).  To check that it worked against kith I went and attacked Arkemyr and it does interrupt his spells.

I have mainly been using fists/mace to get my stacks up which is reasonably easy to do on most mobs.  Understanding that the spell disruption only affects kith is good to know but also quite annoying  (in Baldur's gate 2 it was all mobs).  As this class is quite gimped already and now to restrict it to the kith isn't great.

Awwwwww.  The appeal to this class has really dipped.

Thanks for the reply @Boeroer.  Your insight and testing of this is most appreciated.

 

 

 

[Aituo]

I think I will give up on my mage slayer/nazpalca monk.  Although, I love the wizard slayer class and just the basic idea of the mage slayer.  Being essentially a kith only magic slayer is now a bit too restrictive.

[Boeroer]

It used to work against all abilites - but than it was too powerful. For example in beta you could completely shut down the Skulking Terror (big Lagufaeth Barbarian/Monk on Tikawara Beach) and he couldn't do anything except auto-attacking. So it was reduced to spells. 

It's not only kith. As I said it's a rule of thumb only: kith and wilder casters usually work. Vessels also if they are "proper" casters like wizards etc. Fampyrs might already be something different (don't know how their "spells" are handled). I think it's best to play him as a "caster-rusher". Getting to the casters asap and taking them out. Against all other enemies he's just a regular barbarian then.

Edited October 9, 2019 by Boeroer

[Aituo]

If that is the case, I would probably say a worse barbarian.  That makes me feel disappointed.  I don't want to play a sub class that is worse that the base class.

[Boeroer]

Depends. Most players don't use potions etc. anyway - for them there's no big drawback.

[Ranger_1711]

does Spell disruption affect interrupt immunity enemies (like Oracle of Wael)?

[Boeroer]

Good question. I think it does not - because it causes an interrupt once the spell wants to go off - but if you're immune...
Logic dictates that it does nothing against the Oracle then. But... you know... I don't want to put my head above the parapet.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Boeroer

[ABearIsHere]

There is at least precedent for enemies immune to Interrupt to still be affected by special interrupts. I know using abilities like Skyward Kick on the Oracle of Wael still worked as an Interrupt for me.

[Boeroer]

As: it canceled the ability for good (so he had to recast it completely and lost the cast) or was is just delayed?