Specializing in one stance vs. both

[LadyCrimson]

I liked Anjali in the demo for her melee/spell versatility - so I wanted to continue with her in the game. But on Hardcore I'm starting to think I should focus on one "stance" especially since you can gear your companion towards whatever you lack (Anjali healer/mage w/Lucas as shield/tank for example).

 

Any opinions on that? Do you like to split it up do you do you like to specialize? How many points do you get total for lvl 30 anyway? I noticed the pts. you get for the ability bonuses seemed to increase at a certain clvl. Does that continue?

 

I know you'll still use both stances at times for various things but I just mean boosting the bonus effects ala more damage to Shield Bash vs. more dmg for the 2H stance stuff, or more healing/dmg for the Fire Aura etc, vs. spinning kick bonuses, etc.

[Sabotin]

Upgrade points you get 1 every level. Passive skill points it's also 1 per level, plus sometimes one more or something; I had 30 at level 27 at which I finished the game. At the start I noticed one skill was getting 1 point in it automatically ("Genius!" for Reinhart), so could be due to that. But don't forget some come locked untill a certain level, so it's not always possible to invest in just those you want.

 

As for specialisations, I think focus one one is better, with maybe some usefull skill from the other. For example if I focused on Anjali's Fire form, I'd probably upgrade her human form Fall from Heaven to knock stuff around a bit, because that would seem to complement her ranged attacks better than anything else. I'd try to plan ahead based on how I want to play, since it's more efficient to invest in the skills you use the most often, not those that have high potential, but only circumstantial use. The thing I'd watch though is overlaping upgrades. For example you don't need 3 skills with knockdown I think, better then to upgrade one or two for something else.

But I'm not that good at juggling stances yet, so someone with more practice could pull more out of investing in both combat forms I think.

Edited June 21, 2011 by Sabotin

[Tigranes]

For Katarina I ended up mostly Rifle; mid-game dual was very useful for mob control but later on found that it wasn't powerful enough. I wasn't using all the abilities very well, though, and generally relied on heartseeker. Playing now with Anjali and finding that it's actually very viable to use both stances. I swap stances almost as often as rolling - sometimes every 2 seconds. E.g. roll in, lay down the AOE fire circle, change stance and do a spinning kick, roll back out and change stance at the same time, cast pillar of fire, hit defensive stance for a second to use Ignite, change stance back to human and hurl the spear. Really works out very fun.

 

If you don't like to go like a maniac on the controller/KBM though, it would probably be simpler to specialise then let the companion help you out.

[Flouride]

For Katarina I ended up mostly Rifle; mid-game dual was very useful for mob control but later on found that it wasn't powerful enough. I wasn't using all the abilities very well, though, and generally relied on heartseeker. Playing now with Anjali and finding that it's actually very viable to use both stances. I swap stances almost as often as rolling - sometimes every 2 seconds. E.g. roll in, lay down the AOE fire circle, change stance and do a spinning kick, roll back out and change stance at the same time, cast pillar of fire, hit defensive stance for a second to use Ignite, change stance back to human and hurl the spear. Really works out very fun.

 

If you don't like to go like a maniac on the controller/KBM though, it would probably be simpler to specialise then let the companion help you out.

 

I used warding (with dmg buffs) a lot. Kills pretty fast all the faster melee mobs, not that good against Cyclops & Azunite knights. Also that 1st tier skill with pistols was decent if you only had one bigger opponent left. Call of the hunt? 2nd tier defensive skill was pretty useful as well in boss fights. Didn't use much of heartseeker in the beginning but after mid game more and more. Critical hit with that and I could get two of

resurrected? Archons

down with one shot.

[LadyCrimson]

Upgrade points you get 1 every level. Passive skill points it's also 1 per level, plus sometimes one more or something;

Hm ok. I had 2 pts for the passive ones last time, before I went to bed...I thought maybe it was the start of some kind of progressive pattern. Odd.

The thing I'd watch though is overlaping upgrades. For example you don't need 3 skills with knockdown I think, better then to upgrade one or two for something else.

I've been wondering about that. I started thinking "cool, everything I use could have a somewhat decent chance of knockdown so maybe I'll become this knock-down king bwahaha", but I think I'm changing my mind on that one.

 

@Tigranes In theory I'd love to do that (and in some games I become fair at doing stuff like it) but until I can remap keys I probably won't be able to do so terribly effectively against the high-dmg situation bosses. I have become decent at switching stances cast fire aura/jackal, switching again to cast healing and again to cast fireballs to regain the purple orbs/focus as Lucas pummels things for me, but the dodging/rolling/blocking on top of that etc. is a bit much for me.

[Kalis]

I would say to only specialize in one stance because it takes along time to master an ability. If you try to use both stances a lot you will end up not mastering any of the abilities and gimp yourself.

[Sabotin]

I'm not so sure about that you know. With Reinhart I got 1 to mastery near the end of the game. Now on hardcore with Anjali I already have mastery with the kick and I'm just about to go to the Heroes' crypt (lvl 10), with the spear throw about 1/3 of the way. For some odd reason I still can't use the empowered version of the skill though, does it have some level requirement as well?

[toastification]

You can only empower at full mastery bar. And, really, "if you try to use both stances a lot you will end up not mastering any of the abilities and gimp yourself," not true. You can easily max mastery on every skill. Just don't let your Focus bar fill out and sit there. I think it's a little grindier than it should be in terms of pacing (if you don't use the skill you want to master to the exclusion of others you will have to clear an area a few extra times before you learn your next skill).

 

As for specializing in a stance or both.. it's really hard to "specialize" in a stance this game. You really more specialize in your favorite combo of spells, but they will invariably be from both stances if you want to be at highest efficiency. Lucas clears crowds in one stance and wrecks single targets in the other. Reinhart's spells need to be chained and stacked together to maximize the speed at which he melts something. Katarina I didn't finish the game with yet, but I see the same principle emerging. Anjali has situational nukes in both of her kits, but the spells from two different kits really work well together.

Edited June 22, 2011 by toastification

[LadyCrimson]

I've level 12 and Spinning Kick is Mastered with Immolation Aura almost there and the Healing ability more than 3/4 of the way there and the Jackal maybe 1/3. I don't see it being much of a problem in that area. I even have Lucas Mastered in Shield Pummel and half way to a couple others. Perhaps it goes faster on Hardcore because the fights last longer so you use the skills more?

 

At this point after SKick was Mastered I've been focusing on Fire Form. Combined with AI Lucas it seems to work out really well. Except for the big boss fights. Still have trouble with those. The lady in the Town Hall had poor Lucas reviving me every 90-120 seconds seemed like. Took many long tries of "almost..." heh. Haven't tried Katrina yet, I'm a stick-to-one for a long time sort.

[LadyCrimson]

Btw, I don't know how it is when you're actually playing Lucas, but my reason for generally trying to keep him using shield/sword is because every time the AI-Lucas uses that Blade Dash ability he ends up "dashing" 50 yards away from the battle and gets stuck for 5 seconds before coming running back to rejoin the fight. That isn't exactly very useful to me.

Edited June 22, 2011 by LadyCrimson

[Sabotin]

For the fight I was spamming Hurl Spear (awesome damage), till I had focus, then changed to fire form and hit a couple of times to regain focus. It went fairly fast, but I did have to reload a couple of times being slow to dodge that ground flame knockdown thingy. And a couple of spears went totally the opposite way of her due to teleporting in 2nd phase and clunky targeting. Lucas and the Jackal were doing a good job at harrasment though, Lucas didn't even die that fight.

Dunno if it's the higher difficulty, but meleeing is quite hard for me. Sometimes I loose 90% hp just during the spinning kick animation if I'm not careful. Even so I'm not using fire form that often, just on bosses and some situational fights. Just can't do without aoe. Maybe at higher levels when the bonuses from the bracelets become more distinct from the spear ones.

[LadyCrimson]

I'm having similar issues w/melee & Anjali but I figured that was because I'm terrible with the keys/dodging etc. and all that. So I use the Immolation Aura w/maxed out passive healing bonus, jackal, and the healing ability. The Aura actually works pretty well for most things...I can stand in it and heal while taking damage long enough to fire to regain focus, than run & spam the abilities again. I "herd" them into tight little groups before casting. Kills most fairly quickly if they're standing in it. Have some other bonuses or gear that seems to increase healing over time sometimes too.

 

But it doesn't work as well on the bosses since their 1-hit dmg is so high. Those I try to hit enough to regain and cast the Aura near Lucas so it heals him. Takes forever but it does work eventually/get lucky.

Edited June 22, 2011 by LadyCrimson

[Alpha]

Katarina need better skills ...range are ok but close range not IMO.

[toastification]

AI-Katarina is pretty bad at getting stuck as well. She just stands there and fires off her rifle machinegun into empty air until she runs out of focus.

 

Don't attempt to melee blow for blow on hardcore. Enemies hit too hard, and I don't think its actually possibly to mitigate that incoming damage to the point where you can outlast it. If your melee doesn't have a guaranteed disable component to interrupt enemy strikes in time, you will get skewered. In those situations you hit and run, or bait enemy swing, hit and run.

 

Katarina need better skills ...range are ok but close range not IMO.

Repulsion Ward is godlike. Spec it for damage. Spam it. You are now literally immune to non-heavy melee, and heavy melee enemies are slow. Also, combo it with the rifle curse upgraded for maximum slow. At the start of every fight, cast an empowered version of the curse on the enemy group (it has massive empowered AoE and its very easy and fast to charge it up because its only 20 focus per cast) - they are now slowed down to a crawl.

 

Personally I think Katarina is a little overpowered compared to Lucas and Reinhart. Lucas puts himself at risk when attacking enemies. Reinhart has difficulty peeling off melee assassin swarms until late game. Katarina just outputs massive damage at long range, has easy crowd control, and more importantly, can stack 2 curses on enemies to reduce their damage into almost nothing.

 

Rajani's spear toss that basically nearly one shot my Reinhart? Hit my Katarina for 80 damage. Its ridiculous how much she trivializes boss fights with those 2 spells.

Edited June 22, 2011 by toastification

[Alpha]

^^^

 

i never saw her roll ; she start to shoot until an enemy or boss kill her because she doesn't move/evade. I had to max the skill where she shoot like a turret and the one that boost her agility to get better results. Her wolf at max isn't so powerful like Anjali demon IMO.