Quick Combat Questions

Sena

For a class without good armour (especially magi, monk, and bard) the resistances are generally worth the loss of armour. It's not worth it if you're a class that can use good armour though.

Razha

Horkval is 14/13 str/con pretty sure, with the extra armour, you're gonna be pretty tough offensively/defensively. Troll and Xoran are gonna give you the most damage output though, you'll underestimate just how good transmute is at keeping you alive (unless they've made changes to it I'm not aware of). EDIT: I'm only talking about bashing here.

Bukariin

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Hork Monk.

As for Troll: How often does stun actually proc for combos?

Dalran

Bukariin said:

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Hork Monk.

As for Troll: How often does stun actually proc for combos?

Would have to say depressingly unoften, and even if they do proc, the stun isn't really long enough to be worth anything.

Atalkez

Would troll stun and pommel strike stun stack?

Jovolo

no. Stuns don't stack at all

Bukariin

Dalran said:

Bukariin said:

There's absolutely nothing wrong with Hork Monk.

As for Troll: How often does stun actually proc for combos?

Would have to say depressingly unoften, and even if they do proc, the stun isn't really long enough to be worth anything.

I figured - I fought a Troll today who was stunning, but the stuns only lasted about half of a second and didn't have a noticeable effect on my ability to react or heal. 

Aerek

Troll stun was never very long, curing just used to be much, much worse, and a half-second of stun was all it took to foul up basic curing triggers. Now that we have complex systems that will just wait until we're not stunned to eat, apply, whatever, it's not much of an issue.

Atalkez

Is the cold given from infuse ice, basically the same as the nairat rune?

Hit 1 = shivering

hit 2 = frozen, if not cured on hit 1 - right?

Also, what exactly does being frozen mean defensively?

Jovolo

Not sure what you mean by defensively. Frozen stiff is a condition that can be used to impale someone, like paralysed/prone/bound, and it also slows balance-based attacks down ala Lethargy-lite. Passive disrupt and health drain too

Atalkez

I meant what it does to me, as far as hindering what I can do defensively. You nailed it, thanks.

Kaden

Jovolo said:

Not sure what you mean by defensively. Frozen stiff is a condition that can be used to impale someone, like paralysed/prone/bound, and it also slows balance-based attacks down ala Lethargy-lite. Passive disrupt and health drain too

Should note that it works for most anything that requires prone/bound/paralysed to trigger like trample and behead and of course there's also freezepound when against forestals with morph. 

Eld

Atalkez said:

Is the cold given from infuse ice, basically the same as the nairat rune?

Hit 1 = shivering

hit 2 = frozen, if not cured on hit 1 - right?

Also, what exactly does being frozen mean defensively?

Infuse ice is one level of cold - assuming no curing, shivering on the first hit, frozen on the second, with one to strip caloric first if needed. Nairat runeblades give two levels, so the first hit goes straight to frozen stiff if the target doesn't have caloric up, or to shivering if they do.

Valus

Can Wyvern's Incinerate effect PVE or just PVP?

Naverre

Incinerate is PvP only. PvE incinerate would be so OP.

Valus

alright, yeah lol it would.

Apolinario

How long does puppet/vodun slow last? Will it be in effect until cured?

Bukariin

Apolinario said:

How long does puppet/vodun slow last? Will it be in effect until cured?

Yes, but to stick it you have to strip Speed first.

Valus

Anyone know where to bash at lvl 40? I tried Manara but im im only getting some exp and im too low of a level to try for the harder gnolls.

Alaskar

Forest watch, maybe?  Ask around on CT and house channels

Bukariin

Valus said:

Anyone know where to bash at lvl 40? I tried Manara but im im only getting some exp and im too low of a level to try for the harder gnolls.

Manara is pretty much the place for up to 60, even at 75 I sometimes roll through Manara for a few percent because it's easy expees and there's no rooms from which I have to run (unlike Forest Watch).  The gold is also not bad.

Don't do Forest Watch until you have Clotting or you'll get crushed.

Sena

Some places I'd recommend trying: Azdun (sticking to the easier stuff, like the goblins on the first level and maybe the medium spiders), Goblin Village, Ulangi (learn the quests too, they're great for gold), Green Lake, Qurnok, Enverren Marsh (hunting in the castle will get you in trouble with Mhaldor), the scorpion pit in the Mhojave, Mount Piraeus, Rheodad, Nimick, Phereklos (probably too tough for you at the moment, but it's an awesome area once you can handle it, like a higher-level Manara), Manusha, Sangre Plains, dwarves and orcs in the Siroccians, and the maze under Maim's mansion.

I haven't done much bashing since the recent bashing damage overhaul, and some of the areas might have had some changes since I last visited them (I haven't been to most of those areas in years), so some might be way too difficult or way too easy for you. But all of them were, at some point, viable around level 40-ish depending on race/class. There are others as well, I'm definitely forgetting at least 5-ish areas, and there are likely some I never considered.

Edit: Also, not every area is as clearly-ordered as Manara (where the denizens get stronger the deeper you go), a lot of them have the strong and weak denizens all mixed together, so you have to learn what you can and can't handle, and learn what to avoid. The scorpion pit is a good example. There are black, yellow, and red scorpions, all wandering around the same place. The black ones can be handled at level 25-30 (if you're careful) and aren't aggressive, the yellow ones are stronger and aggressive but still manageable if they're alone, and the red ones are a lot stronger and can slaughter you quickly even if you can handle a couple yellows just fine. You have to constantly squint and be aware of what's around you when bashing there at lower levels.

Cynlael

Adryn's Keep, Kamleikan (keep away from the narwhal), Sea Lion Cove (don't go into the caves, and careful of sharks), Blackrock (anglerfish, dwarves if you're feeling ballsy and feel like taunting Mhaldor - also learn the quest), Dwarves and Ogres in Dun Barony, just outside the fortress, Swamp(?) outside Bella's Keep (bring antigen/immunity) - few more places to add onto @Sena's already extensive list. Creville might even be a possibility, barring the top 2 levels, if you're careful and not overly squishy (around 2.5k health should be enough)

edit: surprised Actar wasn't mentioned- it's still about 40-50% up to level 48 or so per clear, and anywhere between 1k-4.5k gold.

Drodak

A few questions about the sawbones trait. What is the specific penalty to restore balance with the sawbones trait? How accurate is sawbones? Does sawbones work on all limbs including head and torso? For reference I am an infernal and thinking it could be useful for things like double checking if a torso break has been cured or if a limb is undamaged or right about to break.

Bukariin

The problem with Sawbones is that 1) it has an EQ balance, meaning you could assess/diagnose instead but those don't cost you a major trait, 2) it gives you a generalized status report on limbs, not a specific readout like "limb health: 200/600" and 3) you can do the same thing Sawbones does with a limb counter.

I suppose if you had Sawbones and a limb counter, you could use Sawbones and a triggered script to automatically calibrate your limb counter after a test hit, but you can pretty accurately do the same thing by assessing your target before a fight and applying a limb health formula.

Drodak

Bukariin said:

The problem with Sawbones is that 1) it has an EQ balance, meaning you could assess/diagnose instead but those don't cost you a major trait, 2) it gives you a generalized status report on limbs, not a specific readout like "limb health: 200/600" and 3) you can do the same thing Sawbones does with a limb counter.

I suppose if you had Sawbones and a limb counter, you could use Sawbones and a triggered script to automatically calibrate your limb counter after a test hit, but you can pretty accurately do the same thing by assessing your target before a fight and applying a limb health formula.

I appreciate your advice but perhaps I should clarify abit. I am not considering sawbones as a substitute for assess or diagnose. I would like to know how generalized the report is though. I would not be using it as a substitute for my limb counter either. Depending on how accurate this ability is it could serve as a safety check that I could use from time to time. For example, if I somehow become unsure my opponent has cured a torso break, it would be a pain to execute a full disembowel sequence only to have them take minimal damage from it. Also svo's assess is certainly not fully accurate. If it recommends 16 to break and I hit 13 and see them apply, using limbprobe might help me to tell whether or not they are just trying to fake me out.

Sena

Sawbones has a 2.5 second balance cost, requires eq and balance to use, and shows (for all limbs) whether the limb is at perfect health, barely damaged (between 0 and ~36% limb damage), lightly damaged (~36-60%), moderately damaged (60-80%), heavily damaged (80-99%), broken (level 1 break), or mangled (level 2 break).

It's been a while since I've actually used it, those numbers/messages could have changed.

I actually can't find anything (in my notes or on the forums) about how much it slows down restore.

Bukariin

Drodak said:

Bukariin said:

The problem with Sawbones is that 1) it has an EQ balance, meaning you could assess/diagnose instead but those don't cost you a major trait, 2) it gives you a generalized status report on limbs, not a specific readout like "limb health: 200/600" and 3) you can do the same thing Sawbones does with a limb counter.

I suppose if you had Sawbones and a limb counter, you could use Sawbones and a triggered script to automatically calibrate your limb counter after a test hit, but you can pretty accurately do the same thing by assessing your target before a fight and applying a limb health formula.

I appreciate your advice but perhaps I should clarify abit. I am not considering sawbones as a substitute for assess or diagnose. I would like to know how generalized the report is though. I would not be using it as a substitute for my limb counter either. Depending on how accurate this ability is it could serve as a safety check that I could use from time to time. For example, if I somehow become unsure my opponent has cured a torso break, it would be a pain to execute a full disembowel sequence only to have them take minimal damage from it. Also svo's assess is certainly not fully accurate. If it recommends 16 to break and I hit 13 and see them apply, using limbprobe might help me to tell whether or not they are just trying to fake me out.

Like Sena said, the report will tell you if the limb is Level 1/Level 2 broken OR give you a message relating to how close it is to being broken (but not how much damage, precisely, is required to break it).  I just assumed it only used EQ, instead it uses Balance and requires both Balance and EQ, which means it requires the same thing as another attack.

I don't know its effect on Restore, but if it's more than one second, that certainly opens you up to more DSBs/BBTs.  And again, with a decent limb health formula, you can do the same thing with a limb counter.

Antonius

Sawbones lost a fair amount of value when limb damage was changed to fade five minutes after the last attack to the bodypart, since it's now considerably less likely that people will be going into fights with lingering limb damage that could throw things off.

It's still very useful for backing up and sanity checking your limb counter, and if you're an Infernal who is relatively new to combat I'd suggest taking it. There are a number of things people can do with faking salve applications, using illusions, etc. to throw off your count (i.e. making you think a limb broke when it didn't); Sawbones will allow you to check whether it was a real break or not.

Very quick testing with and without the trait, looks like Sawbones increases restore equilibrium by about a second.

"I don't know its effect on Restore, but if it's more than one second, that certainly opens you up to more DSBs/BBTs."

Not sure why you'd be restoring against Paladin, Runewarden or Monk, to be honest; it's not a required defensive ability against any part of their offenses.

The only class it has a moderate effect against is Infernal, and it won't open you up to any disembowels that you wouldn't already be taking (precisely one of them, unless you get horrendously unlucky). Restore uses equilibrium, being off equilibrium doesn't prevent writhing from impale, so using restore doesn't lead to an increased number of disembowels.

Bukariin

Oh, I thought it increased Restore as in Restoration/Reconstructive, not the ability.