Team Mercy, Playthrough Normal

[Officer Genious]

Yaaaay I just crossed the bridge! I reached the way station at level 3 (only 15xp from level 4... Dammit!!)and I'll have some decisions to make soon! But before I do that, lemme update you guys to everyone's status...

First off, I took my time in the dungeons and explored as much as I could (and released my inner Treasure Goblin and robbed whatever I could too!). I ended up with the following:

-TWO 1-handed spears (Short Spear [3 Acc., 2 Parry, 15-18dmg] and Hunting Barb [3 Acc., 2 Parry, 16-21dmg])
-Cloak of the Boar (+10 HP)
-Banded Bracers (for +2 armor)
-Lost Amulet (+2 Holy damage)
-Shaker's Bracers (+1 dodge)
-Quilted Sheathe (8 armor, +1 evasion and +1 stealth)


With this wonderful haul, I've been handling battles rather well with my "hide in a hole and lure 'em in" approach. Even with the Lost Amulet, I still sometimes have to ask Vincent to kill something for me and a few times I've messed up due to enemies not dying when I expect them to (mostly Kyera's fault >.>), but whatever, stuff happens. I haven't lost anyone still, and no one drops below half-health even. It's all good.


So, waypoints... Can I return to this waypoint for the next level up? I really am only short 15xp for another level up and I'm wondering if I should level now and return or get that level up and THEN do the waystation...

[CdrPlatypus]

Officer Genious you don't need to come back to the way-station as soon as you leave you will be shown through dialogue another campsite capable of leveling. The beginning of the game is very forgiving in this respect

[Officer Genious]

Oh good. Now I just need to mull over where to invest my points... I'll do my obvious choices and come back with questions if I have any.

[CdrPlatypus]

Officer Genious You saw my tam build, for kyera since she is the only -ap on your team I suggest myshanas tears 2 to keep vraes up then go to ea 6 then warders shield after that get conjuring up to 5 and then put all following points into hammers if you want her to be in melee

For Vraes the big decision is two hander or one hand and shield, For KJ you can't go wrong with Choking ash

[Officer Genious]

I'm still not sold on the Warden's Shield. My Vraes doesn't dodge much as his Stone Skin simply allows him to absorb/tank everything, and his Spears are all ready tipped towards accuracy (and will go up again once Vincent gets Thundering Blades at Level 6).

[CdrPlatypus]

It just depends if you go phalanx shield it's very helpful if not I would consider holy retribution to provide more firepower

[En1gma]

Warder's Shield is a good choice IMHO. Don't underestimate the value of +Dodge abilities- Just because your character has a low base dodge doesn't mean they won't benefit greatly from the extra points. If anything, it makes it more important because you will eventually need some kind of off tank...

[Cory Trese]

Feb 27, 2015 19:56:14 GMT -5 En1gma said:

Warder's Shield is a good choice IMHO. Don't underestimate the value of +Dodge abilities- Just because your character has a low base dodge doesn't mean they won't benefit greatly from the extra points. If anything, it makes it more important because you will eventually need some kind of off tank...

I totally agree about Warder's Shield!

[Officer Genious]

Ooooohh I get what you mean now. Thanks. I'm probably going for a 2-handed Spear approach, so I may look into Holy Retribution. Is there a no up-close spell attacks limitation on that like Lightning Spear?

Oh right, what I ended up doing...

I leveled Vraes in Polearms (by one), constitution and Stone Skin since I likely won't need Burst of Speed until another level or two.

For Fyona, I gave her a point in Constitution and another for Intellegence to keep her SP pool growing. She's sitting on one skill pt since I didn't have any immediate needs and with Polearms and Hammers being the same (low) level I thought I would see what Staves are available for use first. If they do at least decent damage, I might take that instead... Probably not, but her equipped hammer wouldn't benefit but so much because its base damage is still scrapping the bottom of the damage barrel anyway. Maybe if I get a better hammer worth investing in... Anyway, I invested in Myshana's Tears 2 for the big increase in healing as Vincent finally got his -AP attack with dodge penalties included.

Vincent: Sitting on not one, but TWO skill points as he can't make effective use of them yet for Conjuration OR Sorcery. I got Flash Freeze and so I'll be spamming curses with Vincent and making people miserable.

Tamilin: Put both points in dexterity and took Black Night as a talent with one skill in Stealth and the other in Bows.


Pushing on now...

[Officer Genious]

Feb 27, 2015 19:56:14 GMT -5 En1gma said:

Warder's Shield is a good choice IMHO. Don't underestimate the value of +Dodge abilities- Just because your character has a low base dodge doesn't mean they won't benefit greatly from the extra points. If anything, it makes it more important because you will eventually need some kind of off tank...

True, I'm working on boosting Kyera's health and defense to assist with that. But it seems to be a waste of a talent for only one person to be taking advantage of a four-person buff (not to mention that I don't have talent points to spare at the moment either).

I... dunno. <- indecisive

[CdrPlatypus]

Holy retribution is range 2 to 6. None of the ranged attacks work point blank

[Officer Genious]

Drat. Oh well. Group reached level 4, met my first rat skirmisher. I did NOT expect throwing knives, but I didn't allow them to throw 'em more than once. >:}

[John Robinson]

A hush sweeps over the crowd in breathless anticipation for the village idiot to climb the podium and enlighten the village.  "Wadies and Jemimen after winging da bells awful long I had an idea". 
 
Officer Genious    
Specialists or Generalists?  Every time I plan a new group this question comes up. I plan on reaching the end of Episode 3 with my characters at Level 33.  
How much do I have to spend to buy what I want?  Your capital is Attribute, Skill and Talent points.  When deciding what to spend travel the long road with level 33 as your goal.  
At Level 33: Tamilin has spent 16 Attribute, 27 Skill and 20 Talent points.  Vincent, Vraes and Kyera 16 Attribute, 27 Skill and 21 Talent points.

Will my team help each other in a general way with points spread across several important Talents?  Or will each one be a rank(10) specialist in two talents to accomplish the same mission? 
My teams are specialists.  To do it right the first points in the forgotten weigh station must be spent carefully.  Where you spend Skill points has the most impact on Talents.
Here's a snapshot;  
Vincent Specialist at Level 33.  (Currently playing just reached level 9)
Attributes:  Intelligence(16), Constitution(10).  Skills Conjuration(16), Lore(12), Sorcery(6).  Talents: Flash Freeze(10).  Frigid Air(10).  Charged Speed(2).  
Things to ponder:  Conjuration Skill drives the number of targets you can hit and the length of rounds Flash Freeze and Frigid Air Last, (Thundering Blades too).
F-Air(10) -13 Ranged Accuracy. -72 damage ranged and melee in a 5x5 cloud.  So you will need a minimum of Conjuration(13) to cover the target area.  At 3 you need Conj(5) to cover a cross,
at 5 you need Conj(9) to cover a 3x3 Block.
F-Freeze(10) Applies -2 AP and -12 Dodge for all targets in a 5x5 cloud and has a similar cross/block progression.  The -2 AP is obvious what you don't know is Kyera is getting Banishment(10)
dropping -12 Dodge on the targets first makes them vulnerable to ranged accuracy.

Speed:  I don't think any group can be a complete failure if they all have some +MP capability.  This was made abundantly clear to me at the battle of Gholla Outlook with a previous group.
Tamilin's Blacknight, Vincent's Charged Speed and Vrae's Burst of speed are a low cost way to get +1 MP.  Poor Kyera has to depend on +MP drops or a purchase from the Hermit late in the game. 

You are so right about Potions!  I was always a potion hoarder. Sweet Polly Purebred is using one of my plans and doing way better than I ever did because she is using those potions! 
P.S.  Scrolls and Tombs of Sustainment are incredibly useful during tough battles like Gholla and the ever popular vacation hot spot, the City of the Dead.  
 

[Officer Genious]

Village idiot who wrote most of the HoS guides here. I'm not sure where I'm going for this group-- specialists or generalists. I might even end up with a mix. XD

Still exploring the Krellin Deeps, beating up the Ratkin: when the group said there might be a big animal, I expected maybe 4-5 Giant Ratkin, not like 8 of the bloody things! >.> Nonetheless, I managed to kill them all (eventually) and get more loot for Tamilin (who needs it the least, really, but they're all improvements, so hey).

I was using a 2-handed longsword I found for damage, but I was getting increasingly annoyed at the low(ish) accuracy for the Giant Ratkin-- I swore I was missing every other swing or more. I switched back to my spear and shield and got more hits, even if it was for considerably less damage per hit. I might have to alternate between the two for enemies, but since my strategy typically consists of getting enemies to come to me, I'm sure I'll find AP to switch my gear when needed.

[CdrPlatypus]

Officer Genious if you put your skill pts into spears that is what you are going to want to stick with for the rest of the game. You will lose acc and def if using any other weapon. It's annoying on the way to osk because you have to rely on drops, but once you get to osk you can buy yourself a nice two-handed spear. Oh and since you wanted to go 2 hander you are going to want bos 3 on vraes soon