Drugs!

[Jojobobo]

What's your opinion on them? I've never really heard much discussion about their use, and it seems mostly people don't bother with them at all.

 

I mentioned a long time ago Whiteleaf is great for Dragon fights by making you fear immune, and it perfectly offsets Sickened from Mind Grubs - allowing you to further boost your defences. However outside of that known use, I was trying to think about other combinations.

 

For one thing, Gravestep can allow Rogues to reach 100% hit to crit conversion against enemies with low health using a one handed weapon:

 

Gravestep - 25% Hit to Crit

Dirty + Vicious Fighting - 20% Hit to Crit

Durgan Refined - 20% Hit to Crit

One-Handed Style - 15% Hit to Crit

Bloody Slaughter - 20% Hit to Crit against low Endurance enemies

 

I guess probably going for a two hander and hitting 85% Hit to Crit is easily better, but I still thought this was pretty interesting. The huge +12 Accuracy bonus from going one handed really allows you to go for much more balanced builds, which I'd say is the largest advantage of going one handed - as purely melee characters can easily dump Per and not feel any pinch about it.

 

Another thing I was think of is that Svef + Goldrot Chew is more or less a slightly weaker but semi-permanent Frenzy. +3 Might, x1.15 Attack Speed, +1 Move Speed but -2 Per and -4 Resolve for 10 whole minutes, versus +4 Might, +4 Con, x1.33 Attack Speed but -10 Deflection for only 12 seconds.

 

While it's clear the Frenzy benefits are better it lasts no time at all, while drugs are extremely easy to come by, and when you pair them with Gauntlets of Swift Action, Two Weapon Style and Durgan-Refined weapons you can achieve zero recovery with Durgan-Reinforced Scale or less. If both weapons are speed enchanted - you can now have zero recovery in full plate (without any need for Durgan-Reinforcement... yeah).

 

While potions of DAoM are unequivocally better, there's also relatively short lived (30 seconds) and way more intensive to mine than buying some readily available drugs.

 

Those are the two combos I've been thinking about anyway, has anyone else been using any unusual combinations?

 

 

[Blades of Vanatar]

When talking builds/tactics there is the variable of ‘vs. what type of fights’ that should be included in the discussion. I use drugs/potions only in the toughest encounters and only if I can’t beat a fight after upteen attempts as I prefer/take more pride in not needing them to overcome obstacles. I usually have the ‘Real Heroes don’t need consumables’ mentality. They just need a sword!

[Jojobobo]

I guess with so many FO1 and 2 staff working on PoE 1 I've always gone with the drugs-are-good mentality, seeing as they were very prominent in those games. Plus with playing solo for most of my playthroughs, I find they feature more prominently in solo play that in you would have in party play.

 

Regardless of tactics I think the Goldrot Chew + Svef = a version of Frenzy is easily better than taking Outlander's Frenzy. It's definitely a somewhat worthy alternative, and nice that it's essentially a class-less potent combo.

[Dr <3]

Svef is good with a dump resolve build, since that means just a plain +15% attack speed.

[Blades of Vanatar]

I guess with so many FO1 and 2 staff working on PoE 1 I've always gone with the drugs-are-good mentality, seeing as they were very prominent in those games. Plus with playing solo for most of my playthroughs, I find they feature more prominently in solo play that in you would have in party play.

 

Regardless of tactics I think the Goldrot Chew + Svef = a version of Frenzy is easily better than taking Outlander's Frenzy. It's definitely a somewhat worthy alternative, and nice that it's essentially a class-less potent combo.

I agree, plus it frees up a different talent choice. Sweet.