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Post by fallen on Jul 19, 2014 9:21:14 GMT -5
agamon - if you watch the reaction animations of all characters and monsters in the game, you can get this information. They have a different hit animation vs. miss animation. If they animate with hit and no damage is displayed, then you got a -0 damage, i.e. full soak. From the beginning, we made a visual design decision with Heroes of keep the battle map as uncluttered and dungeon-only as possible, precluding things like printing the word Miss on the screen.
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Post by riverjack on Dec 16, 2014 4:58:08 GMT -5
i finished ep1 saying PS was the best talent in the game. I had it at 8 or 9 wrapping up ep1. it worked so well. Ill mention my SSk is still at 1 because well.. it didnt seem to bump up fast enough like PS did.
now in ep2, i have since bumped it up to 10 and having just finished the rivers edge i am really not liking it anymore.
the biggest issue is archers are no longer targeting Vreas. i made a huge investment into this talent thinking archers would be shooting at my tank.
PS doesnt do me any good if the archers just shoot and kill my mage.
im looking at the +15 parry or what ever it is at 10 and im thinking that is a huge bonus. but now that the one thing phalanx shield is supposed to do (block arrows) is no longer an issue (they shoot my damn mage everytime), i am wondering how much better off i would be had i spent those 10 point somewhere else. ill tell ya one thing, +42armor sounds a hell of a lot better than +50% block if no one is shooting at you.
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Post by contributor on Dec 16, 2014 5:32:22 GMT -5
Yeah, that's a nasty switch in E2. A few tips would be to only leave Vraes available to shoot at. If you can just keep everyone else out of range a little they will go for him only. Of course at that point you might as well get Vraes out of range as well and make them come to you. The other option would be to give Vraes some Burst of Speed and have him rush up to get in the ranged unit's faces. At 1 range they will always target him. It depends on the whole make-up of your group though. If you've got another solid tank who can pick up the people going around Vraes (or people he goes past) it could work effectively. But the times have definitely changed.
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Post by thehowler on Dec 16, 2014 10:10:25 GMT -5
Man I love phalanx. Even on into episode 2. I replace stoneskin with righteous fervor and pureflame shield. And yes episode 2 gets less targets, but if you set your team up and give the archers only one target, then there is not a lack of vraes getting pin cushioned.
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Post by fallen on Dec 16, 2014 10:12:07 GMT -5
Monsters start doing off-targeting as of the very first dungeon in E1, Krellin Deeps. In E2, more monsters (but not all) start off-targeting. Off-targeting does not remove the chance that Vraes will be shot. +15 Parry is pretty amazing.
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Post by riverjack on Dec 16, 2014 19:40:16 GMT -5
Monsters start doing off-targeting as of the very first dungeon in E1, Krellin Deeps. In E2, more monsters (but not all) start off-targeting. Off-targeting does not remove the chance that Vraes will be shot. +15 Parry is pretty amazing. no. no they do not. you can say they do but in reality they dont. i mean they might shoot a stupid little 10d arrow from time to time but nothing to where i told myself this is s real threat. only in ep2 do they start shooting 150d arrows at my mage. if they did i wouldnt have a level 20 mage with six friggin con and a "tank" with PS 10 and SSk 1. can phalanx shield replace stone skin? imo no. i feel like putting all the points into PS and none in the other was a fools errand on my behalf, reacting to the way the mobs worked in ep1. i think the correct answer to this is no it absolutely can not replace ssk. however the two together looks like it would be awesome for a build not using the dps based warrior skills. PS alone is not enough to substitute for the higher armor from ssk. i only hope i am able to keep running my build long enough to get ssk up to about 5 or so.. sadly it is not looking so good. |
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Post by thehowler on Dec 16, 2014 20:52:27 GMT -5
Riverjack I'd say it actually depends on your party. Fyona with RF(later) and SoC, and KJ with PFS and CA, and then vraes with PS and BoS,finally Selen and Pinning shot 5, is what I am using in my ironman NM group. I may not be a pro but the damage output and the damage taken have not been any issue.
And the ratkin skirmishers start off targeting in episode 1. I noticed it as early as the oskahold fight.
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Zhivago
Hero
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Post by Zhivago on Dec 16, 2014 20:52:47 GMT -5
Really they do, lol. I know the Ratkin have a ranged mob that off targets as soon as Krellin Deeps. It's definitely a rude awakening in e2 if you're not careful, but you'll adjust (or you'll die and start a new group). Cheers!
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Post by contributor on Dec 17, 2014 3:46:04 GMT -5
Believe it or not. The off targeting can actually be a boon in E2. Consider the picture below. This group is using Frigid Air 7 right now to tame the archers. It makes a big difference, but you can see that there were still a lot of them and combined could do significant damage. I had a few close calls in this fight but I actually counted on the fact that they weren't all going to target Kincaid. If they all shot him every turn, with the Orcin taking shots at him he surely would have died one turn or another. As it is they spread it around to all of my heroes and everybody lived.  |
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Post by fallen on Dec 17, 2014 9:55:59 GMT -5
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Post by En1gma on Dec 17, 2014 10:05:34 GMT -5
I usually have no issue predicting who will be off-targeted, and it's usually no issue to goad enemies into attacking who I want, so Phalanx 10 looks sooo good.... It's all a matter of range control.
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Post by contributor on Dec 17, 2014 10:25:51 GMT -5
I wasn't responding to the thread title exactly, but more to the complaint that off-targeting is unfair or something. Just saying that there are times when it is actually in the player's favor to not have everyone pile the hits on one person. But even with PS10 there might be times in E2 when Vraes could go down if every single archer and some melee folks were targeting only him. |
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Post by fallen on Dec 17, 2014 10:27:20 GMT -5
contributor - I do agree. I have a lot of groups that couldn't survive that amount of targeted damage.
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Post by mrsarfa on Dec 17, 2014 10:44:12 GMT -5
riverjack - I have PS10 for Vraes in my main group that is at the end if Ep. 3 and it is truly awesome all the way to the end of the current content. I've had Vraes completely surrounded by 8 melee mobs and getting shot at by 3 or 4 ranged mobs and finish the round having only taken damage from a single arrow hit. (Krete beachhead fight, I'm looking at you.) He is a God among men and PS10 is jaw-droppingly good.
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Post by contributor on Dec 17, 2014 11:35:14 GMT -5
Riverjack I'd say it actually depends on your party. Fyona with RF(later) and SoC, and KJ with PFS and CA, and then vraes with PS and BoS,finally Selen and Pinning shot 5, is what I am using in my ironman NM group. I may not be a pro but the damage output and the damage taken have not been any issue. And the ratkin skirmishers start off targeting in episode 1. I noticed it as early as the oskahold fight. That sounds like a really solid group. Got me dreaming about making a new one... |
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