Are AOE spells overated?

[sennett]

Yes i know it sounds crazy. So before you think me off my rocker let me qualify my statement. First i am talking about KJs and Kyreas attacks only. How often do you really get to blast more than 4 enemies anyway. Once you get to the higher lvs in the spells you can but until then... I am currently running a team with Tami with ranged onslaught Vincent with lightning spear and Vreas and Fyona as pure tanks and it is extremly effective. Tami for long range and vincent for short range with 3 shots each can wipe out alot of enemies in one turn in most fights with alot less invested. With a good build strategy by the time you reach lvs 25 to 30 you are mowing things down. In my opinion it takes longer to get KJ and Kyrea to a point were they are not offensive liabilities. They are better in support roles it seems to me. Any onelse have an opinion on this.

[En1gma]

TRIGGERED!! Just kidding of course.

I think it depends entirely on the group, as always with this game. I have had success with Banishment, but I mostly run KJ as either full support or as a Firebolt user.

Kyera more than any other character IMO has a very serious hard cap near the end of the game. If you only focus her on support, she will quickly reach a point where she doesn't do much in combat at all, essentially lowering group effectiveness by reducing outgoing damage potential. By investing in Banishment, you are able to deal insane amounts of damage in the CoD, as well as having a chance to finish off enemies who might otherwise survive the round to attack.

KJ used to never touch AoE with me. I absolutely despised Immolation, and never put much into Firestorm. However, with Immolation's recent changes, he is absolutely viable with AoE, even more so when used in conjunction with Strickening and Torrent of Steel or Pinning Shot. Combine all this with Darting Steel/Storm of Steel/Crippling Strikes and you have the potential for insane amounts of critical and elemental damage, making your group absolutely slaughter.

Can they be used?
Short answer: Yes, absolutely. Long answer: Yes, but your group needs to be built to support its use.

[Cory Trese]

There are definitely reliable party builds that focus on single target attacks. Depending on the gear and difficulty level these can actually be easier to play in some parts of the game.

That said, a large majority of players make heavy use of AoE curses and attacks in their builds.

[phaze]

Absolutely second the above post! See my post in the Adventure thread for a party description with Kyera and Kjartan.

It takes planning to use AoE spells, and patience as they will be overshadowed in Ep 1 and 2 by more immediate damage dealing opportunities and the need to develop supporting buffs. However, in Ep 3 and 4, rare is the battle without summoners. Between Necromancers, Ghouls, Orcin Shaman, Krete Shaman, Spider Sacks, Faithful (whatever their names are), Crystals, and the blind enemies, off the top of my head, battles become pitched with potentially dozens of enemies to face, AoE shines huge. Importantly, as enemies HP and armor scale, it is harder and harder for any single character to clear a mob. Thus, it takes a party synergy to stack enough damage to clear enemies quickly.

Being able to cast Banishment and hit 8-10 enemies and do over 2000 HP of total damage is key for managing the shear number of monsters that arise. Laying down a curse, pinning shot, immolation, banishment, pinning shot x 2, and let Kincaid finish the rest with SoS/DS is amazing synergy and very satisfying.

[Cory Trese]

Great post by phaze giving details ... the different areas in the game certainly present different challenges. In the areas heavy with summons, it certainly helps to have AoE.

Respec is always a strategic choice as well.

[bookworm21]

I don't think I coulda beat the underforge without immo 10 one-hitting bunches of cultists. And enabling crits on those £&&@£&@£@@& forged spiders! I vaguely remember reading a backer designed that area? Kudos to you, whoever you are

[fallen]

Aug 19, 2016 10:46:23 GMT -5 sennett said:

... How often do you really get to blast more than 4 enemies anyway ...

Four enemies seems pretty bleeding good to me!

[sennett]

Interesting responses. I have lighting spear at lv 10 and ranged onslaught at lv 5 and get decent damage on normal. With a beserker rage Vareas he does a good job cleaning up. Fyona with consecrated defence makes a good off tank. I lead with the big V and have had 3 deaths mainly in early game. Vincents con is high enough now he can take some hits. Having my move points built up helps get in position alot. I spread vreas and fyona out to draw fire and pull enemies toward them. Have gotten better at playing the angles with lighting spear and ranged onslaught. Acc is important to build with vincent and tami because the team is dependent on hitting hard that first round. Have high armor gear on vreas and fyona and high damage gear on tami and vincent. Just entering 2nd tower in COD. Waiting paitently for crafting upgrade. Thnx for all your responses.

[crimsonking]

Are Kyeras and Kjartans AoE spells overrated? Perhaps, but you should be able to do something with your AP once every enemy is cursed and every ally is healed, and being able to hit multiple enemies at once always helps.

Although I tend to look at damage per AP and to a lesser degree to damage per SP, and in that department the 4AP spells are rather inefficient. It'd be interesting if you get something out of spared APs, like added defenses, to make 4AP attacks more appealing.

[wascalwywabbit]

IMO AoE is almost twice the value as range per tile covered (eg. a single 8 target [Kincaid is in the 9th tile] SoS is about equal to two 8 range aimed shots for clearing power which shows in the SP costs - the more diffuse the grouping the more it tilts in ranges favor tho) and range is nearly twice that of MP+. It happens that AoE comes with range excepting Fyona and and non DS Kincaid, and defense (see below) comes with mp buffs.

--What is absolutely essential is acc and/or avoidance cursing and the ability to break past armor/res followed by the ability to take a hit and survive at least one enemy turn.

DMG per sp doesn't always shine if you're comparing melee single target to melee AoE (I'm thinking Kincaid's 9square SoS in particular), but for ranged, you very often get greater sp efficiency per dmg; and in either case, more total damage per round (as long as you can hit at least 2 targets with AoE) often means more enemies dead and less sp/pots spent healing.

FS ties for best AoE coverage and has the best range at high enough levels. Along with the new ap crit mods, especially following a new immolate, it is one of the best ways to [help] clear a large mob. Banishment is similar, but lacking the range and crit talents of Kjartan less so, but it does have holy for the many weak to that. Wedges hit smaller groups sure, but can hit more often, which can be better for the diffuse groupings. Comparing Kjartan to Vincent for example, Kjartan's FS 10, is almost as effective as Vinny's LS 10+CS 10 together for large groups due to range and AoE size, sure Vinny can tank a bit with that combo, but he needs to more due to range limitations, but Vincent is better at killing the smaller groups.

Single target, the new BR Vraes with ferocity is king, that combo has become so powerful that I no longer feel ferocity is very hard to feed, it's just insane! Thank the brothers for that, it was a pseudo wish list item of mine, they fixed, perhaps without even trying. Thanks Cory Trese fallen !

I may just be tired, I feel like I lost my point somewhere in there, hopefully the reader can find it again.

[anrdaemon]

It is my imagination or FEROCITY!!!11 got cheaper? Or may be it is me getting all leveled up? >.<
But on the topic, you'd be surprised, how often people line up for AoE… if you learn your ways and play to the best use of situation.
Just had a double pull in Platinum Heights, near the entrance from West Wheel Road. The trash poured across the wall corner and lined up perfectly for a few nice firestorm splashes.