Angst and Joy of Ethereal Anguish

[xdesperado]

John Robinson understood.

Would like to point out that the large accuracy bonus Selen gets with Pinning Shot means she seldom misses even without keeping Dexterity and Bows maxed out.
Believe it's +7 at 4th level when you first get the -1AP and +9 accuracy at 5th level when the AoE is a 4square area. Note if Selen and target are in straight line it's actually possible to hit up to 6 targets since the game can't seem to decide which way to spread from impact so spreads to both sides.

Also part of what makes it so effective for me is that Kjartan will drop a Choking Ash first, then Kyera gives them Ethereal Anguish. Finally Selen shoots them after their defenses are already compromised by the other two curses. By the time Vraes gets to them the bad guys might as well be chunks of firewood he's splitting.

[vdx]

As pointed out before, Ethereal Anguish is not limited by line-of-sight. It comes in handy with obstructed areas. Also makes it easier for her to take cover from enemy archers and still be able to heal the party and cast Ethereal Anguish.

I haven't played with the optional characters so I enjoy reading the comparison.

[John Robinson]

xdesperado

Thanks for pointing that out. I keep forgetting about the -1AP, +7 Accuracy, 3 target at Pinning Shot(4). That really is a terrific
deal because you only have to spend 4 Talent points to get it. At Pin Shot(5) you get the bump to 4 targets with Accuracy +9.

She has such a workload I get the SP blinders on. At 10 SP Pinning Shot(4), SP 12 at Pinning Shot(5). I just didn't pay attention
to the -1AP. That is a big advantage I missed out on. I have noticed hitting a target with PS(2) before stepping in with Punishing Blade or
or Frenzied Blows makes them more likely to land a hit. One thing she can't afford is having to use Punishing or Frenzied multiple times
on the same target before scoring a hit.

So by the end of Episode 1 you have had 11 Talent points to spend. How many have you spent on Pinning Shot? Is it your main attack for Selen?
If so where did the other 4 go. Sounds to me like it is really working well for you. I'm using Vincent so do not have the Choking Ash going for me.

Why Vincent? In my opinion the deadliest enemy in Episode 1 (haven't finished EP2) is massed ranged attackers. Ratkin, Krete, Orcin Javalin
or regular Archaive archers when in large numbers can strip your party of defenses and force them to retreat in front of the infantry
while protecting the Shaman.

Using Vincent's Frigid Air low cost AOE can drop their accuracy to near zero. This is fun.
Because my party is doing allot less retrograde movement to lure out the archers burning up precious buff rounds.

[xdesperado]

John Robinson I spend 5 on Pinning Shot , at least 1 on Punishing Blades, and whats left goes to Dance of Shadows and perhaps 1 more to either Punishing Blades or Frenzied Blows because of needing 12th level for DoS.

By 17th level I should have +2MP from DoS so she can hit a target with PS5, step up and land a PB on all enemies in reach then try finishing of one or more with FB before steping back from melee range.
While she has decent HP I want Vraes with his Armor and Parry to be the focus of melee attacks and not her.

[John Robinson]

xdesperado

My Selen build at level 18. Ranks Pinning(2), Punishing(3), Frenzied(2), Dance of Shadows(5).

Without Kjartan the Armor 30+ guys were starting to be a real pain, so went for Punishing(3).
It is a real tug of war for me to decide to make Selen Crazy Critical percent or hamstring killer.

So far I've built Lore up so DS lasts 19 rounds. Adds 6% Crit to all attacks. Tack on another 4% for Frenzied(2)
and some gear for another 4%. When she hits it really hurts. I may have over done it on Lore skill points.
Wishing I had a few more in blades and bow now. Really looking forward to Steel and Shadow for the 1st shot 22% Critical.
As you already know the criticals stack so this could be a real killer.

I'll have to wait because you do not get a talent point when you reach level 18. You do get a +1 Attribute and +1 skill.
Maybe I should have banked a talent point and left DS at 4.

[vdx]

On the off beat,keeping Ethereal Anguish at Level 1 keeps the SP cost so low that you can sprinkle it everywhere. Trying a parry-focused party with only Level 1 EA. Seems to work really well.

[tenbsmith]

I agree vdx, keeping EA at 1 keeps the SP costs down. At some point I think I'll want to make the run to 4 all at once.

[Smaug]

Excellent analyze, buhyt ethereal anguish, only turns AoE in level 3 I really think it could be AoE from level 2 because practically drinks the magic points of and Kyera's action points as if it were water 3 AP and 20SP if not I'm mistaken, and this ends up making kyera even more difficult to use in combat, I'm currently using the ethereal anguish at level 2, and I'm at level 6, and I did not invest any points in conjuring I'm wondering if she really goes around Useful in the course of the game because shell wonders seems to have a much more useful effect on the level and one and consumes fewer SP points and action points I think ethereal anguish could be AoE in level 2 and cost less SP and 2 action points only, So it would be possible to create a more operative kyera and would make it a more useful support for combat, since it is often a bad dealer of damage and requires a lot of equipment and armor to bear good damage

[Nathan]

Sorry for piping in on this so late...

Earlier, when comparing curses to curse attacks, Tamilin's Torrent of Steel attack should have been reference rather than Silent Stalker since it is also an AP reducing attack... shorter range than Pinning Shot, but gets a -2AP at higher levels. I do whole-heartedly agree that the Cursing Attacks cannot be compared directly to Curses due to their comparative limitations, but they are a great way to stack similar debuffs, especially if the Cursing Attack (which may miss) follows the Curse (which never misses and, in the case of EA & FF, reduce Dodge).

On a different note, with the comparison to Ethereal Anguish & Flash Freeze, you basically have the same SP cost per level of spell, but the extra AP cost of Flash Freeze buys you earlier and, in the end, larger AoE. This is why it ends up being a real SP drinker for Kyera - she can cast 3 per turn, or 2 and something else while Vincent can only cast 2. I think this was an interesting way to balance this out, considering the targets you want to hit are often not within range of each other:

On one hand, you have the ability to do more actions per turn, but it costs more SP;
on the other hand, you have less actions per turn, resulting in less SP drain.