Cant decide on what talents to give Aloth on level up

[superluccix]

Cant believe I made this thread based on my own indecision but...

 

Aloth is lvl 6 currently, and I cant decide if I should choose 1 of the class skills, or choose something from the other 3 tabs.

 

The remaining class skills left are

 

1.Arcane Veil

2.Grimoire Slam

3.Bonus lvl 1 Spell

4. Bonus lvl 2 Spell

 

Got any tips? I wasnt sure if taking another bonus spell at 1 or 2 would be important enough because I dont know how long battles in the future would normally be, dont know if I would run out of spell usages during a battle or not.

 

I figured Grimoire Slam wouldnt be that useful since I guess its a melee attack? Since my Aloth is always behind others. And Arcane Veil useless as well since I dont plan on getting damaged.

 

But I have no idea. What would you choose?

[LadyCrimson]

I kept choosing the bonus spells...they were occasionally handy to have in longer fights after using up most of his high lvl slots, vs. needing scrolls or having him just using his wand, since they become per encounter use later. No idea if that was the "best" decision to make, however.

[Svirfneblin]

For my offensive casters I often go with the utility talent boosting the element they use the most (Heart of the Storm, Scion of Flame etc.)

[Thrasher91604]

Yep scion of flame and the ice one are both very useful.

[Luckmann]

A bit too late now, but I consider the extra spell uses completely useless. Arcane Veil is also a pretty wasted talent, but at least Grimoire Slam has a use.

My preferred Aloth tactic is to set him up with all the Blast/Implement-improving Talents. Wizards potentially spend quite some time just throwing their wand around and slapping it against things and people, and being able to gratuitously blast someone in the face is an enjoyable experience.

 

For my offensive casters I often go with the utility talent boosting the element they use the most (Heart of the Storm, Scion of Flame etc.)

 

Yep scion of flame and the ice one are both very useful.

 

Please, regale us with your experiences on how useful these abilities are in your experience.

 

 

They're bugged.

 

[FlintlockJazz]

Grimoire Smash can be useful for when someone gets past your line and engages your mage, as it not only damages the opponent but also pushes them away which breaks engagement.  It's only momentary and can only be used once per encounter but it at least gives you a chance.

[Thrasher91604]

A bit too late now, but I consider the extra spell uses completely useless. Arcane Veil is also a pretty wasted talent, but at least Grimoire Slam has a use.

 

My preferred Aloth tactic is to set him up with all the Blast/Implement-improving Talents. Wizards potentially spend quite some time just throwing their wand around and slapping it against things and people, and being able to gratuitously blast someone in the face is an enjoyable experience.

 

For my offensive casters I often go with the utility talent boosting the element they use the most (Heart of the Storm, Scion of Flame etc.)

 

Yep scion of flame and the ice one are both very useful.

 

Please, regale us with your experiences on how useful these abilities are in your experience.

 

 

They're bugged.

 

 

Hmm, damage went up significantly when Aloth took Scion of Flame. Have any evidence to the contrary?

 

Criting for around 150 cold damage on Frost Blast with the frost damage ability was pretty impressive, but I got the spell at about the same time as I got the ability, so I have no before/after comparisons.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Thrasher91604

[kaiki]

Cant believe I made this thread based on my own indecision but...

 

Aloth is lvl 6 currently, and I cant decide if I should choose 1 of the class skills, or choose something from the other 3 tabs.

 

The remaining class skills left are

 

1.Arcane Veil

2.Grimoire Slam

3.Bonus lvl 1 Spell

4. Bonus lvl 2 Spell

 

Got any tips? I wasnt sure if taking another bonus spell at 1 or 2 would be important enough because I dont know how long battles in the future would normally be, dont know if I would run out of spell usages during a battle or not.

 

I figured Grimoire Slam wouldnt be that useful since I guess its a melee attack? Since my Aloth is always behind others. And Arcane Veil useless as well since I dont plan on getting damaged.

 

But I have no idea. What would you choose?

 

I ignored the wizard class talents and boosted his accuracy with arbalests, as most of the time Aloth wasn't casting spells, just auto attacking.

[RedSocialKnight]

I found Grimoire Slam very helpful, as he often had to sneak up to the front line to get in place for a Fan of Flame.

 

I was irritated to realize that the spell slot talents I chose became irrelevant at 9th and 12th level.

 

[Kaiki, I liked the post above for the sake of your sig -- congrats!]

Edited April 28, 2015 by RedSocialKnight

[kaiki]

I found Grimoire Slam very helpful, as he often had to sneak up to the front line to get in place for a Fan of Flame.

 

I was irritated to realize that the spell slot talents I chose became irrelevant at 9th and 12th level.

 

[Kaiki, I liked the post above for the sake of your sig -- congrats!]

 

Thanks :D

 

I didn't use Fan of Flame that much due to targeting issues, friendly fire (har har) and all that. If Grimoire Slam helps with that I'll try it out.

[perilisk]

I found the bonus spells to be useful, but mainly because they were broken so that I ended up between 8 and 26 extra casts. Slicken is powerful enough without being able to cast it 30 times per encounter...

[Thrasher91604]

The only dev post I could find that confirms bugs with thee lemental telents is this

 

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/77493-elemental-talents-bug/

 

However, note he doesn't say wizard spells ignore the elemental talents. Would like to see some data to confirm or deny that these talents are bugged for wizard or druid spells.

[constantine]

Bonus spells are really good b/c Aloth will be able to caste 1st lv spells at a per encounter basis at lv 9 and then do the same for 2nd lv spells at lv 11. So it's nice to have 5 of each per encounter (although they may be redudant at smaller encounters).

 

Bonus 1st Lv Spell is a must, you can spam Fan of Flames or Tattered Veils (which is a fast spell) to interrupt and buy time for your melee. Or even cast Eldritch Aim every encounter right before you are to release some heavy dmging spells.

 

Bonus 2nd Lv usefulness depends on your play choice. You may want to spam the single target Corrosive Lance or Merciless Gaze, Curse of Blankened Sight every encounter (or paralyse-spam with Fetid Caress) and feel you're gonna need the extra spell.

 

Arcane Veil is a nice, fast thing to activate for when you are about to get in a tough spot- Harderned Veil, although powerful, is not worth it imo. You spent 2 talents for a rare bad situation just for a 10+sth seconds buff. I thing 1 talent is enough, better cast Mirrored Image for added protection, if not having done already or the next choice:

 

Grimoire Slam. Kind of meh, but it doesn't hurt to have an engagement-breaking button for Aloth, especially if your spells position you close enough to the action you're gonna attract attention. I manage without it though.

 

Aloth doesn't need the weapon focus talent and modals don't help his casting. Envenomed Strike is of little use as well. Defense talents are not good choices also, unless you want to better shield him against mind or stunning effects (in that case, it helps more to get the +10 to relevant defense talent- Unstoppable and others will be your next choice if you need more defense).

 

However, it would be a nice choice to get the utility talent that increases speed and have Aloth move fast in the battlefield, position himself where necessary. Not so if you tend to move Aloth too little during combat.

 

As for elemental dmg spells, +20% is not huge, but is noticeable when it comes to wizard spells. You can chooce either to strengthen those dmg dealers you're gonna cast every encounter (Fan of Flames- Scion of Flame, Corrosive Lance- Spirit of Decay) or to make your most powerful spells pack more punch by choosing lighting, ice specialization- or even do both

 

His wizard specialization talents are not very interesting, apart from the choice that includes the 1st, 2nd lv buffs (again b/c those buffs may be cast every encounter at higher lvs). But then, most people use Aloth as a controller and AoE dmg dealer and chances are you are not gonna use those much.

 

Hope that helped :D

Edited April 29, 2015 by constantine

[Carados]

This is how I set Aloth. Not sure if the most optimal, but I thought these talents would fit him quite well. He doesn't look like a battle mage, so I gave him talents which would help him to stay far and boost his spell/implement damage

 

2nd level: Blast
4th level: Penetrating Blast

6th level: Fast runner
8th level: Grimoire slam
10th level: Scion of Flame
12th level: Secrets of rime

Edited April 30, 2015 by Carados

[Ineth]

Get Scion of Flame early; it's awesome.

 

Bonus spells are really good b/c Aloth will be able to caste 1st lv spells at a per encounter basis at lv 9 and then do the same for 2nd lv spells at lv 11. So it's nice to have 5 of each per encounter (although they may be redudant at smaller encounters).

 

I'd say those bonus spells will be redundant for pretty much all encounters.

 

Fights against trashmobs will be over before he can cast four level-1 spells and use his "blast" ability twice.

 

And for boss fights, you'll want to whip out some of the higher-level (per-rest) spells instead.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Ineth

[VahnXIII]

Good thread. I'll probably pick up Scion of Flame for him. I've been taking the extra spell slots. Just figured the more spells I have available, the more utility and utility is good (saved my life many times in hairy fights).

[Guest]

Devs have confirmed that elemental talents (scion of flame, etc) are currently broken.

 

With that said, here's what I typically do with Aloth:

 

Level 4 - Weapon Focus (Noble). +6 Accuracy with scepters and rapiers.

 

Level 6 - Penetrating Blast. Makes almost no diifference in the heavier armored baddies, but very helpful for mobs of creatures with low/mid DR.

 

Level 8 - Grimoire Slam. I rarely use it. I keep telling myself that it's a waste and that I'm going to find something else for this spot, but then it saves Aloth's bacon and I remember why it stays.

 

Level 10 - Arcane Veil. See Grimoire Slam

 

Level 12 - Hardened Veil or Deep Pockets. Depends on my mood and the difficulty level. Arcane Veil is something you might not use that often, but when you do, you want it to work like nobody's business. On the other hand, late in the game, his mechanics are high enough that he's reliably setting traps with Kana, Durance, and my hireling rogue, plus carrying an assortment of scrolls (Maelstom, Recovery, etc) and potions (Eldritch Aim), so extra quick slots are very nice to have.

 

What I absolutely don't take are bonus spells or elemental damage talents. Why? Aloth has two rings, which, when worn together, give him +2 level 1, 2, and 3 spells, plus a bonus level 4 spell. More than enough. Waste of a talent to give him more. And the elemental talents? While Aloth is capable of dealing damage, that isn't what he's built for. He's "large AoE/long duration" debuffs and crowd control. He's the dude putting all the bad guys to sleep so your off tanks can murder them. Plus, when he needs to cast something offensively, he's a Swiss army knife. Why pigeon-hole him into one damage type anyway?

 

My 2 cents.

[Thrasher91604]

I use my ciphers for crowd control mainly, so Aloth for aoe damage I've found much more useful. The faster things get killed, the better, thus elemental skils for fire and cold were my picks after blast and penetrating blast.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Thrasher91604

[Concordance]

Bonus 2nd Level Spell is amazing and lasts until the end of the game, even with the ring, for two reasons: Bewildering Spectacle and Miasma of Dull-Mindedness. 

 

Bewildering Spectacle is an AoE confuse that works on most enemies even on PotD. The more casts you have, the more time your enemies spend bashing each other instead of your guys. It's as simple as that.

 

Miasma of Dull-Mindedness is one of the most powerful defense debuffs in the game, second only to Borrowed Instinct (which is single target). It debuffs enemies with -40 deflection, -40 will, -30 concentration and -20 reflex without inflicting a status effect - which means it STACKS with status effects, allowing you to reduce a CROWD's defenses to almost nothing. 

 

Grimoire Slam suffers from the same problem Rogue's Escape does - unless you have an offtank ready to engage the enemy you just pushed away, they'll probably resume smacking your Wizard anyway. It's better to cast Bewildering Spectacle and run.

 

Arcane Veil great for battlemages, otherwise I found it to be less than useful. Even with the big buff to Deflection, the Wizard's defenses are too weak for him to just stand and take punishment. If something is smacking your wizard, use CC to get away.

 

Scion of Flame is bugged in 1.04, but should be a great Wizard talent in 1.05

 

 

You can turn any wizard into a ranged auto-attack AoE murder machine by taking Blast, Penetrating Blast, WF: Adventurer and Dangerous Implements. A level 3 spell, Kalakoth's Minor Blights, summons a Wand in the caster's hand that is affected by all of these talents AND triggers Blast multiple times, one for each enemy it hits in an AoE. Minor Blights also lasts for 80~ seconds on Aloth, enough for two fights with chain pulling. This allows even Aloth with his low Might to dish out serious crowd damage, especially shining in Endless Paths with their abundance of chokepoints and large crowds of enemies.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Concordance