Let's cast a massive Great Maelstrom (from a scroll)

[omgFIREBALLS]

A long time ago, in a thread not so far away, MaxQuest said: P.S. This character might also be into scrolls/arcana as he has nice bonuses. (Can't use actual quote or it won't let me submit the post)

So long story short, Great Maelstrom is super strong. But can we make it even stronger?

As far as I can tell, attributes have no effect on scrolls. No extra (and safe) AoE from intelligence, no damage from might, no accuracy from perception. Here's what I've gathered does help:

- Nature's Resolve (Tikawara buff)
- Character level
- Arcana and the chromostaff, each adding some accuracy, penetration and damage
- Int inspirations for power level (probably also the potion)
- Conquerer Stance (fighter)
- Disciplined Strikes (fighter)
- Ring of Focused Flame / Scion of Flame, for the shock/burn damage instances, even if it elects to do shock damage
- Sweet Aroma (+4 acc, Keeper of the Flame)
- Cruelty and Curios (+3% damage, Baubles of the Fin)
- Infamous Captain
- Improved Critical
- Captain's Banquet (when it does magic damage)
- Effigy's Resentment: Saganever-mind-did-not-do-that-promise!

So eh, anyone have any other ideas, available to a Shieldbearer/Devoted? Party buffs are also fine. I will say I wanna get the fireworks started ASAP so lengthy rituals will be avoided, but fire away. On that note, Sworn Enemy does not work.

Big +arcana items are nice too. The list has one item on it; The Left Hand of the Obscured (+3).

Edited January 2, 2020 by omgFIREBALLS

[Boeroer]

Maybe Acina's Tricorn works? It works with Driving Roar and Mind Lance etc. Just a wild guess though.

Also the pets that deal bonus ranged damage (Peter I guess is one of them iirc). They used to be a bit bugged and work with spells and stuff.

Firethrower's Gloves do +1 Arcana. 

[omgFIREBALLS]

Peter works, the hat did not

Wait, never mind. Had to equip the hat, then it worked. Who woulda thunk?

Edited January 2, 2020 by omgFIREBALLS

[Boeroer]

So weird those hats I swear

[Waski]

Potions with hit to crit(mercilles gaze, perfect aim)? Magistrate Cudgel for +10acc(but you have to connect with it first). You can wear Deltro helm and try to hit him with essence interruptor (force attack with other char) during casting for decent shock lash.

[omgFIREBALLS]

That made me think of the Deltro chestpiece with its +2 electricity PL. Turns out that this boosts the spell in its entirety, including the crush/freeze attack.

So, Great Maelstrom has a bunch of keywords: Elements, Wind, Electricity, Water, Fire, Storm and since it's a scroll, Scrolls. Items that add PL(/acc/dmg/pen) to these would be awesome. Notably, Magran's Favor is just as good as the Chromoprismatic Quarterstaff (+2 fire vs. +1 fire +1 electricity) and the tooltip doesn't change when I swap these. Just need something useful in the offhand for the axe to be better.

Pozzi pet gives +1 fire >:)

Edited January 3, 2020 by omgFIREBALLS

[Kaylon]

Sun and Moon gives +2 fire/cold PL... However I don't think it affects all the damage, despite the tooltip. Just like using the Ring of Focused Flame with Sun and Moon, only the fire part is affected, despite your displayed accuracy.

Edited January 3, 2020 by Kaylon

[omgFIREBALLS]

Cheers!

I don't think you are correct about the rest though. This isn't merely about the displayed accuracy on the scroll, this is about what I'm seeing in the combat log details. From nuking a bunch of Vailians (I said eccosi so it's fine):

1) The damage was always within the scroll's displayed intervals. I only checked hits and not those that overpenetrated, to keep it simple. Frankly, it's very easy to see given that if the fire levels helping non-burn damage were a tooltip lie, my minimum damage would in fact be my maximum for the crush/freeze attack. The burn/shock attack has a wider damage range, but nonetheless I caused shock damage that wouldn't be within the interval if the fire levels weren't helping.
2) The accuracy was the same for all waves, with the exception of +10 for the burn/shock instances from the ring. Again, no matter which type they actually went for.

The only thing I can't figure out is the penetration. All damage instances gain the same amount in the "Level" category, but the shock/burn has a base penetration of 9 whereas the crush/freeze is 7. I don't have Scion of Flame, and if I did, it shouldn't show as base anyway, should it? I thought perhaps Devoted mechanics were playing a trick on me, but even with my favored weapon equipped they are still 9 vs 7.

Is this innate to the scroll/spell? If I check the penetration score it lists 7 base. I suppose it's possible that it's just too nerdy for Obsidian to list the different values on the scroll. That could also explain why the scroll itself does not mention the Ring of Focused Flame - the pen/acc displayed is that which pertains to the crush/freeze attack.

Do you know of a +water PL item? ^^

[Elric Galad]

13 hours ago, Waski said:

Magistrate Cudgel for +10acc(but you have to connect with it first).

Magistrate Cudgel works only with itself, I think. At least it didn't work with other weapons last time I checked.

[Boeroer]

Get two Stones of Power for a stackable +1 universal PL bonus via Power Surge in every encounter.

Magran's Favor itself is only as good as the Chromoprismatic Staff, but you can dualwield it with Sun & Moon (= +4 PL).

 

Edited January 3, 2020 by Boeroer

[Waski]

2 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

Magistrate Cudgel works only with itself, I think. At least it didn't work with other weapons last time I checked.

I remember it being somewhat inconsistent but as for now it works with scrolls, Thaos' Headdress too if you can flank first (+5ac +5%dmg)

edit. arcanist balm it's another +2 arcana

Edited January 3, 2020 by Waski