Nice item-ability combinations - what works and what doesn't

[Raven Darkholme]

Well you could always skip reload with spells, tho I agree skipping it with weapons seems too much.

[Boeroer]

I also realised that some time ago when I used a paladin with quick switch and arbalest, arquebus & sword&board . If you time it correctly (like you described it, L4wlight), you will only have very short recovery phase between shots. But I didn't transfer this knowledge to two handed weapons (stupid me).

 

But let's be honest: That's to much micro (at least for me) to be playable. Pause, switch, pause, switch - all the time? 

 

Might be great for supertough fights though - to get better equipment early. .

[L4wlight]

Actually, if you keybind weapon switch and pause, it's not that much micro at all. Just hit the two buttons rotational. You'll get a feeling for the right rhythm/ timing very fast (now that sounds awkward ). But yeah, it obviously just works if you handle this manually all the time.

Edited November 25, 2015 by L4wlight

[Boeroer]

Absolutely great find. Somebody should write an AI script for this and make it totally awesome.  I just imagine an Island Aumaua barb with Hours of St. Rumbalt, Tidefall, The Temaperacl and St. Ydwen's Redeemer: prone-wounding-prone-destroy vessel/desponent blows - repeat. Wait... I should do that - sounds like tons of fun all of a sudden! :D

I just found out that (besides rings) all spell binding items don't work on wizard's and monk's duplicates any more.

 

 

edit: or Lost Tayn's Reach (-5 deflection) and Tall Grass: debuff - prone - debuff - prone :D

Edited November 26, 2015 by Boeroer

[MasterCipher]

Does spelltongue increases the duration of your DoTs on the enemy? I'm wondering if duel-wielding that would be good for a barb using a the corrode over time proc stilletto.

[Boeroer]

No, it doesn't. It only prolongs benefical effects on you - buffs and healing. And there's a bug: If you suffer from a monk's Torment's Reach debuff (-2 might), it also prolongs that (which is stupid).  At the same time it decreases benefical effects on the foes. That, together with carnage - makes it quite useful against mobs that get buffed. Like xaurips and so on. It also prolongs your buffs if the enemy has no buffs on, but then it's more like a trickle. Attack speed stealing always works and is very useful. 

I was searching for another weapon that gives you an automatic buff on crit or something like that - and use that together with Spelltongue for endless selfbuffing - but I think there isn't one.

[AndreaColombo]

I was wondering if Novice's Suffering suffers (ha!) from other problems as well.

 

Can anyone confirm? 

 

So, I've run a test with an unarmed Rogue with a Might score of 10 (so Might wouldn't interfere with the damage calculation.)

 

It looks to me like the damage bonus from Novice's Suffering is not being accounted for in the Rogue's ability descriptions, but it does apply to them when the Rogue attacks. I tried attacking my party members with Crippling Strike and Sap, and both times I got damage rolls north of 20 with a listed damage of 18-21 in my character sheet.

 

Here's the bug report.

 

...and now the idea of a Monk-like Rogue that fights unarmed with Novice's Suffering is suddenly appealing. Rogues never really clicked with me, but I just might conjure up a build for a future play through (though I already have two queued up for when TWM pt. II drops, so not sure when I'd actually get around to playing the Rogue.)

Edited November 26, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[Boeroer]

Novice's Suffering doesn't work with sneak attack, deathblows, Two Handed Style and so on. For all these +x% damage abilities only your puny base damage will be used. That's the reason why the unarmed rogue will not benefit from deathblows and so on. That's... stupid? A monk works different: his base damage is much higher from the start and therefore works better with all +dmg mods. Novice's Suffering however will add a flat +5.x mod on top of your base damage. This mod is not considered when all the other mods are calculated. 

 

[AndreaColombo]

^ could you write that in my bug report so Aarik can have a look? Fairly sure that's unintended; he should be able to test it easily with my saved games.

[Boeroer]

Ok, will do a "copy & paste" of my text.

[L4wlight]

I've tested Tempered Helm a bit, because I planned on making a non fighter build with durgan refined medium armor and durgan refined shield. I wanted to keep the recovery penalty really low, while keeping the DR high.

 

It seems that +5 DR per kill buff gets suppressed by either fine, exceptional or superb quality of the armor.

 

EDIT: Nevermind...

Edited November 28, 2015 by L4wlight

[AndreaColombo]

Last I checked, you cannot have more than one x-proofing and one attribute bonus on the same piece of armor.

 

Kinda sucks that the DR bonus from Tempered Helm gets suppressed by armor enchantment, though. I mean, who's going to keep their armor "plain" on the off chance to get +5 DR for a limited time after killing a foe? I'll take +4 all the time from Exceptional any time of day or night.

[L4wlight]

Last I checked, you cannot have more than one x-proofing and one attribute bonus on the same piece of armor.

And there goes my plans...

Never really tested this before, because there usually is not much room for multiple of these enchants...

Edited November 28, 2015 by L4wlight

[Boeroer]

You can stack things like Thick Skinned, the talent from the Crucible Knights and Iron Wheel. And food of course.

[L4wlight]

Yeah...  

 

...but really...

...it makes no sense, that the DR bonus from the helm gets suppressed like that. Wonder if this is intentional or not.

[Boeroer]

I was also disappointed when I saw that the first time. Makes this item nearly useless. 

[Boeroer]

Barbarian + Spelltongue + Suppress Affliction + buffs = demigod mode.

[AndreaColombo]

You forgot the "lol"

[Boeroer]

Dammit you're right.

 

 

 

 

 

..lol! 

[Boeroer]

Ok, just tested: Arcane Dampener and Deprive the Unworthy both remove immunities to afflictions:

 

 

Immunities to damage types won't get removed though.

 

Works with the Ring (Arcane Dampener) as well as the wizard spell and the paladin ability. It's like before the patch if you cast this on a dragon.

 

This makes my life much easier since I don't like to build pure tanks. This way the good old repulsing seal trick still works.

[mosspit]

So I *finally* made it to Alpine in this current PotD / ToI playthrough since I managed to squeeze in some time. And I must say that the Combusting Wounds strat is quite effective. I basically combined CW with as many DoT as I can with my party composition - Pain Link, Recall Agony, Scroll of Fire Wall, Tidefall, Potion of Flame Shield. After which once Scale Breaker and Body Attunement was applied, Alpine went down really fast. I didn't even notice how Alpine went from Barely Injured to Almost Dead lol. Was tempted to use Deprive the Unworthy but decided against it

Edited December 12, 2015 by mosspit

[Boeroer]

Do you have a druid in your party? With Persistence and all his DoT spells he can stack a ridiculous amount of DoT effects by himself. Well... he won't hit a lot with the bow I think.

 

Recall Agony is a really good point. The damage output of CW alone will get doubled (even if the damage from Recall Agony itself would be tiny) if you combine it with DoT effects.

 

Man... now I really want to try a new cipher build with a wounding weapon. Will this never end?

Edited December 12, 2015 by Boeroer

[mosspit]

No druids or wizards unfortunately It was an all-melee party so I didn't use Persistence  (Persistence is that Wounding Bow right?).

 

I had 4 offtanks / tanks facing Alpine once I cleared the adds and 2 of them had Retaliation together with PL and Potions of FS on the my main tank. Priest and Cipher was positioned out of range of his breath attack, but still in spell range. With only 1 cast of CW, I was very surprised at how fast Alpine dropped considering I didn't stick the usual afflictions on him. I didn't even use the +DR bypass gloves, I would imagine it will fall even faster.

Edited December 12, 2015 by mosspit

[AndreaColombo]

The Arcane Dampener and Deprive the Unworthy thing is most likely a bug: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/83422-deprive-the-unworthy-and-arcane-dampener/?do=findComment&comment=1758360

Edited December 12, 2015 by AndreaColombo

[Boeroer]

^ Dammit!