Dismissal/Abjuration Question

[ArnoldRimmer]

Trying to use spells I normally never bothered with before. When I tried these in the past, I never saw much effect. How do you tell if a vessel/spirit is of lower level than yourself?

[thelee]

Biggest clue is if they have any skulls on their tooltip they over level you.

If there’s no skulls they are at your level or lower.

pretty sure you can look at attack rolls in combat log; everyone gets +3 acc/Level, so if their level-based accuracy bonus is less than yours than you’re good to go.

[ArnoldRimmer]

And abjuration only works on summoned spirits/vessels where as the dismissal works on spirits/vessels whether summoned or not, right? At least the abjuration description mentions summoned spirits - I assume vessels too. Makes abjuration so circumstantial I'm not sure if it is worth taking - it is also very expensive in terms of resource points. The priest one seems to affect all vesssels/spirits and is area-effect.

Edited May 16, 2022 by ArnoldRimmer

[thelee]

I think Abjuration affects the same targets as Dismissal. There's a critical "or" in the early part of the tooltip. To me, it wouldn't make sense to have two such similar but different effects otherwise.

 

Yeah, I don't play a lot of paladins so I can't say definitively, but 4 Zeal for a single-target Abjuration seems... real lame. I'd much rather save that Zeal for heals or an exhortation. At least Abjuration can completely wipe out most of some late-game fights on its own.

Edited May 16, 2022 by thelee

[Majorman]

I'm a week or so late, but I just wanted to share my appreciation towards Dismissal. Vessels and Spirits make up 33% of all "creature" (as in non-kith) enemies, which means Dismissal affects a lot of enemies. It also helps that it becomes available at PL 8 and thus has little competition (Crowns and the lighting aura are nothing to write home about). Constructs typically have poor will saves, so Dismissal gets them very often. Currently playing The Beast of Winter and Dissmisal gets the MVP in almost any encounter.

 

Abjuration, however, does not look as cool. Judging from the description, it does not affect vessels, just spirits and summoned creatures (and how often do enemies summon minions, anyway). And the price of 4 zeal is too steep, as I'm the kind of player who always need a pool of zeal for the occasional Greater Lay on Hands or (especially) Liberating Exhortation, which cost 2 zeal each.

[Jayd]

10 minutes ago, Majorman said:

 It also helps that it becomes available at PL 8 and thus has little competition (Crowns and the lighting aura are nothing to write home about).

Sometimes I feel a bit crazy because I feel like the 'Symbol of x' spells are clearly some of the best spells in the whole game but this isn't the first time on this forum that they seem to be forgotten or regarded as unimpressive.

But yeah, Dismissal is sweet.

[Majorman]

56 minutes ago, Jayd said:

Sometimes I feel a bit crazy because I feel like the 'Symbol of x' spells are clearly some of the best spells in the whole game but this isn't the first time on this forum that they seem to be forgotten or regarded as unimpressive.

But yeah, Dismissal is sweet.

Symbol of X is not competing with Dismissal IMO, as it is a "free" spell the Priest always receives and does not cost a precious ability point. 

[Jayd]

25 minutes ago, Majorman said:

Symbol of X is not competing with Dismissal IMO, as it is a "free" spell the Priest always receives and does not cost a precious ability point. 

Ah, gotcha. I thought you meant competing for the two casts at that level per encounter.

[thelee]

imo lightning aura is pretty slick, especially with combusting wounds.

i used to be pretty bullish on dismissal, but over time w/ DLC power creep vessels/spirits aren't exactly the fights i have the most trouble with in the end game (rather, wilder/primordials in FS). so yeah, i tend to save tier 8 priest for symbols or lightning aura or hand of weal and woe these days, and reserve any add'l ability points for supercharging empowers.