Cipher - new console player help

[Lampros]

And my favorite:

 

Firebrand:

 

Looks fantastic indeed!

 

Edit: Forgot to ask which weapon is the big silver 2H sword?

Edited October 12, 2017 by Lampros

[Braven]

Btw I wanted to just to give you a heads up since you are doing ToI. Gloves of Swift Action is an RnG drop so you might not come across one in your playthrough. There is loot table manipulation you can do to get the drop, but it is a little tedious in my opinion. Or you can console it in, but I have a feeling you might not want to do it.

I don’t know if this was changed in one of the updates, or if I am just lucky, but I have consistently found the gloves of swift action in The same chest on the bottom level of Durgan’s Battery in my last three play-throughs (no manipulations).

Edited October 12, 2017 by Braven

[Samugol]

@Boeroer

 

HOLY CHRIST. This is soooo awesome :D Literally like the awesomest of awesome. I'm gonna have to rethink the way I look, cause fashion souls for life :D

 

@Braven thanks, I will definitely check it out.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Samugol

[Boeroer]

I personally think that The Wind's Arm looks very nice. But it does nothing special for a cipher. Firebrand is also nice and it works very nicely with a cipher.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

The silver big "sword" is Citzal's Spirit Lance.

[Lampros]

The silver big "sword" is Citzal's Spirit Lance.

 

Ah, thanks. No wonder I've never "seen" it!

[Braven]

Some of the best looking armor and weapons are the non-unique ones. Like “Exceptional plate”. Enchantment-wise, they are strictly worse, but they look so much better.

[mosspit]

 

Btw I wanted to just to give you a heads up since you are doing ToI. Gloves of Swift Action is an RnG drop so you might not come across one in your playthrough. There is loot table manipulation you can do to get the drop, but it is a little tedious in my opinion. Or you can console it in, but I have a feeling you might not want to do it.

I don’t know if this was changed in one of the updates, or if I am just lucky, but I have consistently found the gloves of swift action in The same chest on the bottom level of Durgan’s Battery in my last three play-throughs (no manipulations).

 

Referring to the link shared by Lampros, the loot you are getting from should be one of the chest in The Foundry. There are 2 possible outcomes which are the Bracers of Deflection and Gloves of Swift Action. For me, there was 2 playthroughs (from memory) from recent times where I did not get those gloves.

[Lampros]

Some of the best looking armor and weapons are the non-unique ones. Like “Exceptional plate”. Enchantment-wise, they are strictly worse, but they look so much better.

 

I like the way plate looks - too bad there aren't any good uniques that justify using them (especially when you consider how much it slows them down)...

[mosspit]

The silver big "sword" is Citzal's Spirit Lance.

Wait what the.... I am summoning that lance frequently on my Wiz. Don't remember it look like that (gorgeous). I need to take a better look after I summon it next time!

[Braven]

 

Some of the best looking armor and weapons are the non-unique ones. Like “Exceptional plate”. Enchantment-wise, they are strictly worse, but they look so much better.

I like the way plate looks - too bad there aren't any good uniques that justify using them (especially when you consider how much it slows them down)...

Well, I think there are some good uniques. Sanguine has the frenzy enchantment, with that active and durgan steel, you esstenially have no recovery penatly at all. Also, keep in mine that there is a big jump up from mail to plate in terms of DR, 3 more reduction instead of the usual 1DR per 5% speed penatly.

 

In other words, could say that all plate armors have a hidden bonus enchantment of +2 DR. Or “free crucible knight faction bonus (second skin)”.

 

I also think think the bonus DR for pierce and slash that playe has is very powerful. Many enemies like lions and wolves (and kith with great swords) have dual damage types of “slash/pierce”, so having both of them Increased together is better than it seems. Most ranged attacks are pierce too and it is the most common enemy damage type. I usually further give my plate bonus crush DR, the third most common type (unless I plan to wear the cloak of comfort since its bonus DR gets suppressed if you enchant your armor with pierce, slash, or crush).

 

Maybe non-unique exceptional plate is actually one of the best in the late game. Because it doesn’t have any (for you, useless) enchantments, you can upgrade it to legendary quality, apply your choice of a +stat, and give it a damage-type-specific DR increase. Plus, it looks great.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Braven

[Lampros]

 

 

Some of the best looking armor and weapons are the non-unique ones. Like “Exceptional plate”. Enchantment-wise, they are strictly worse, but they look so much better.

I like the way plate looks - too bad there aren't any good uniques that justify using them (especially when you consider how much it slows them down)...

Well, I think there are some good uniques. Sanguine has the frenzy enchantment, with that active and durgan steel, you esstenially have no recovery penatly at all. Also, keep in mine that there is a big jump up from mail to plate in terms of DR, 3 more reduction instead of the usual 1DR per 5% speed penatly.

 

In other words, could say that all plate armors have a hidden bonus enchantment of +2 DR. Or “free crucible knight faction bonus (second skin)”.

 

I also think think the bonus DR for pierce and slash that playe has is very powerful. Many enemies like lions and wolves (and kith with great swords) have dual damage types of “slash/pierce”, so having both of them Increased together is better than it seems. Most ranged attacks are pierce too and it is the most common enemy damage type. I usually further give my plate bonus crush DR, the third most common type (unless I plan to wear the cloak of comfort since its bonus DR gets suppressed if you enchant your armor with pierce, slash, or crush).

 

Maybe non-unique exceptional plate is actually one of the best in the late game. Because it doesn’t have any (for you, useless) enchantments, you can upgrade it to legendary quality, apply your choice of a +stat, and give it a damage-type-specific DR increase. Plus, it looks great.

 

 

I am not a fan of Frenzy, because I like transparency, and I would go nuts not knowing my HP. (I know you can mouse over to get a rough idea, but that's more micro-management!)

 

I do agree that the substantial DR increase is very useful early - but later in the game enemies will hit you hard enough that the increase in DR does not seem to matter as much.

 

Also, you didn't address the recovery issue I mentioned: For every class other than perhaps for a pure Phrase Chanter, I just think reducing recovery time is so much more important than a bit more DR. And the Chanter can just wear Ryonna's armor - so I literally never touch plate in my games.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Lampros

[Boeroer]

I personally think that fine plate looks a lot better than exceptional plate with those golden ornaments. I also like the Crucible Knights armor because of the cloth thingy and the mail parts.

 

Sanguine Plate also has +2 survival which is essential if you want to reach survival 14 (early) for the +60% healing bonus.

 

He Carries Many Scars is also nice. The regeneration stacks with other stuff and has no limited duration. And I don't want to waste my belt slot for a Trollhide Belt...

[Lampros]

I personally think that fine plate looks a lot better than exceptional plate with those golden ornaments. I also like the Crucible Knights armor because of the cloth thingy and the mail parts.

 

Sanguine Plate also has +2 survival which is essential if you want to reach survival 14 (early) for the +60% healing bonus.

 

He Carries Many Scars is also nice. The regeneration stacks with other stuff and has no limited duration. And I don't want to waste my belt slot for a Trollhide Belt...

 

He Carries is only +1 Regeneration though? It seems insignificant from a novice's perspective. Or does that get vastly improved with a lot of healing modifiers, too?

[Braven]

Sanguine Plate also has +2 survival which is essential if you want to reach survival 14 (early) for the +60% healing bonus.

 

He Carries Many Scars is also nice. The regeneration stacks with other stuff and has no limited duration. And I don't want to waste my belt slot for a Trollhide Belt...

The + survival enchantments are useless because you can just put it on right before you camp and then take it off right after you wake up and still keep the survival bonus. It is basically a “laziness” enchantment.

 

Maybe it was fine plate I really liked. I know one of them looked good, but I don’t remember which. The inventory icons at least of the exceptional weapons look really nice. I can’t say that I have ever actually equiped one (except for guns).

 

One nice thing about the Scars armor is that you can get it to legendary AND do the +2 stat enchantment (but not damage-proofing) since its built in enchantments only use 1 anvil each. The endurance regen is probably better than a conditional DR proofing. And who knows, maybe that bonus DR when under 25% health might come into play occasionally (though I usually rest before I get to that point)

Edited October 12, 2017 by Braven

[Boeroer]

Lazy it may be - but who really wants to swap gear around on a full party every time he prepares the campfire? It's not useless for me that's for sure.

 

The regeneration of He Carries Many Scyrs might not look like much, but since it stacks with all the other regenerations it's not bad. with +85% healing bonus and some MIG bonus it already heals 2 stackable endurance per tick. 

[Braven]

Just think of that sanguine plate as your warrior’s pajamas. That is why it is the festive red color; probably got it on christmas (or perhaps Berath-mas?) morning.

 

We are actually adding realism to the game by making our party members change thier clothes before going to sleep.

 

It is kind of like switching out per-rest items after you use them; it is extra work, but it is an option if that +2 survival need is psychologically making you wear armor you hate just so you can get a 60% multiplier. You could just switch around armor when resting before a particularly hard fight, like a dragon or bounty quest only, as a compromise.

 

I agree, it kind of falls into the mindset of “well, I could just run back to the stronghold and rest after every battle so I can nuke per-rest abilities all the time”. In the end, everyone must decide for themselves what is “smart tactics”, vs “too much work”, vs “cheesy”.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Braven

[Boeroer]

In a solo run that's all ok - but changing clothes for a 6-man-party all the time? Nah... they will have to sleep in their streetwear.