18 réponses à ce sujet

[Basher of Glory]

My Force Mage is currently level 17 and has almost mastered the force tree. Near the end of act II the fights become more difficult, so I'd like to know some specifics about her abilities.

Example 1: 
I use "the maker's fist" and ram a bunch of enemies into the ground.
Question:
Does this only work on creatures of normal size (humans, dwarves etc.)? I've not noticed yet dmage, once the enemies are large (e.g. giant spiders) or floating (shades).

Example 2:
I use "telecinetic burst" or "pull of the abyss", the enemies are smashed to the ground. Now, is there a change in their status which I could exploit by a cross class combo? The tactical section has some entries like "unable to attack", "immobilized" etc., but these are very generic.

Example 3:
Often I see the annoying "resist", especially when the enemy is elite or higher.
Question:
Is this a matter of my magic skill? I put more points into it and resists will be less? Are bosses like the Arishok - as ever and as usual - immune against these attacks?

The last question is about my concern to duel the Arishok soon. Until now I have no idea how I could do this with this mage, if he resists anything.

Until now I mastered, too, the spirit section and have death hex and horror (fully upgraded) from the entropy branch. Additionally I have winter's grasp (basic).

[Jman5]

Example 1:
I use "the maker's fist" and ram a bunch of enemies into the ground.
Question:
Does this only work on creatures of normal size (humans, dwarves etc.)? I've not noticed yet dmage, once the enemies are large (e.g. giant spiders) or floating (shades).

Makers fist doesn't seem to knock certain things down like fade creatures, but they are still damaged.

Example 2:
I use "telecinetic burst" or "pull of the abyss", the enemies are smashed to the ground. Now, is there a change in their status which I could exploit by a cross class combo? The tactical section has some entries like "unable to attack", "immobilized" etc., but these are very generic.

They do not get one of the debuffs, however Pull of the abyss is useful in setting up a cross class combo. So you can do pull of the abyss, then use avaline to stagger them all. After that you can cast something like upgraded Fist of the Maker. (which still does bonus damage even if it's a fade creature or boss)

[Basher of Glory]

Exactly what I tried. I have Merill as assisstant-caster and order her to do chain lightning, while Aveline gets the order to do her staggering attack.
However, the enemies are not even a second down, they stand up immediately, so I don't hit them while they are on the ground.

[Jman5]

Have you tried casting Gravitic Ring first?

My basic order is I do Gravitic ring, then pull of the abyss, then I take control of Aveline and do shield bash and hit pause. If she only staggers one or two, I use pummel strike or Tremor. Finally I pause and cast a well placed chain lightning/fist of the maker.

If I do things right they barely have any time to fight back.

I personally do things sort of slow with lots of pauses because I get a kick out of overkilling the crap out of enemies.

[Irish Porkchopp]

When an enemy is staggered/brittle/disoriented there should be a white icon over their head. A different icon for each condition. Wait for this to appear before exploiting it.

Or set up tactics. For example- Merril: Enemy->staggered:Chain lightening.

The enemies do not have to be on the ground to be staggered or whatever. Sometimes they're still fighting. Look for the little icon to appear. See the abilities screen for examples of the icons. Any abililty that causes stagger, for example, will also show the icon.

[Jman5]

Make sure you have it selected in the options.

[BloodyRaw]

Jman5 wrote...

Make sure you have it selected in the options.

 Damn I have a great memory. Are you the one that posted that pic with you're mage hitting 5 enemies for 3-4k? Are you running force/blood btw?

[The Spirit of Dance]

stagger + maker's fist was useful for me. so was gravitating ring (i never tried it together with pull of the abyss. it sounds like a good idea and i regret not even thinking about it.)

[Basher of Glory]

I realized, that the icons over the heads show the status. This is why I asked in the first place, because all of the force-attacks don't do any status-changes, as I wrote above.

Nevertheless: In the tactics section, when I choose
enemy ==> status...
then I see the entries "unable to attack" and "immobilized". So, when I smash down an enemy with one of my force-powers, isn't he both?

[Irish Porkchopp]

Baher of Glory wrote...

I realized, that the icons over the heads show the status. This is why I asked in the first place, because all of the force-attacks don't do any status-changes, as I wrote above.

Nevertheless: In the tactics section, when I choose
enemy ==> status...
then I see the entries "unable to attack" and "immobilized". So, when I smash down an enemy with one of my force-powers, isn't he both?

Ok, I misunderstood. In-game, Cross class combos refer specifically to Brittle, staggered and disoriented.  But, I'm not sure what those two properties, "unable to attack" and "immobilized", represent in-game because enemies also become stunned often.  And Stunned is not a status in the tactics menu.  Maybe these are supposed to represent a more general status because immobilized could mean frozen, petrified, paralyzed, or on the ground like you said. 

What is it you're trying to achieve?

Modifié par Irish Porkchopp, 21 mars 2011 - 02:55 .

[Basher of Glory]

I think, you answered my question.
Let's say, the enemies on the floor are "unable to attack". This is certainly not "brittle, staggered or disoriented" and therefore not expoitable by a crossclass combo.

If I understood correctly, they are just in a good position for a fireball, cone of cold or the like and could be staggered by a s&b warrior and THEN exploited by a chain lightning, e.g.

Thus, the force mage is more a "provider / preparer" for further attacks, right?

Modifié par Baher of Glory, 21 mars 2011 - 03:22 .

[CapnCruuunch]

Baher of Glory wrote...

Thus, the force mage is more a "provider / preparer" for further attacks, right?

That would be my experience so far. Trip them up, slow them down, move them where you want them so your DPSers can go to town on them. I'm still filling out the tree, but looking forward to getting the rest (pull of the abyss, specifically) so I can really bring the pain...

[Liliandra Nadiar]

You'll probably be very pleasantly surprised by it. Last mage run I filled out the Force mage tree (unlike first mage who just got the Fort passive then left) and Ring and Pull made most of Act 3 a lot easier. Though heavy melee types will often resist knockback/down/pull effects they do, IIRC, still get hit with the attack/movement penalty, which my ice focused mage compounded more.

[Basher of Glory]

These resists worry me...
Can I overcome them once my magic-skill is high enough or
are there again and as ever "immunities" for every backstreet boss and his mother?

[Tomark]

immuities are only in nightmare, and only to specific elements.

if you except a couple of Elite Boss (like maybe the high dragon ,ancient rock wraith...) no one should be immune to gravitic for example.

[Irish Porkchopp]

I'm not sure about resistances. Are you playing on nightmare?

Fist of the Maker is supposed to ignore armor. As you probably saw, it doesn't knock down shades, spiders, dragonlings and such. It will still do minor damage against these creatures though. Human, dwarf, elf, skeleton, hurlocks are all lifted and slammed. The higher level elites can sometimes resist it. It really is a useful ability. When upgraded to Makers Fury, it also exploits staggered enemies. So if chain lightening isn't available hit it with Makers Fury for a CCC. It also has a chance to stun- which resets threat. So if you or a weak ally picks up a lot of threat, you can use Makers Hammer to buy some time.

Like previously said-Gravitic ring works on everybody. I did notice that some highly mobile bosses could escape itm but rarely. A couple come to mind with a rush/charge ability where they clear the effect. Also the high dragon sometimes just flew out of it.

Force mage has a lot of potential for fun strategies and tactics. Its fun to control the battlefield and knock people around like paper dolls. I'd often think to myself "Aww man, what if I tried this..." then I couldn't wait for the next encounter to try it.

[Legion-001]

On Humanoid enemies I usually like to use Pull of the Abyss and then Fist of the Maker when they're in the center so they all get stunned, then you can hammer them with chain lightnings, fireballs or any other area of effect attack!

Haven't tried the Gravitic ring idea yet though, I'll have to give it a go!

[Irish Porkchopp]

Legion-001 wrote...

On Humanoid enemies I usually like to use Pull of the Abyss and then Fist of the Maker when they're in the center so they all get stunned, then you can hammer them with chain lightnings, fireballs or any other area of effect attack!

Haven't tried the Gravitic ring idea yet though, I'll have to give it a go!

Try this:  Pull of the Abyss -> Gravitic Ring -> walking bomb then focus fire on the walking bomb

To quote Sandal "Boom!"

[Basher of Glory]

One other advantage could be, what the description says about armour class:
It is ZERO for a brief moment after the use of "Hand of the Maker" (HotM). In former games, when someone was prone, his AC was also - at least - reduced if not nullified, too.

Now I put the center onto Fenris and in the moment after I used HotM he starts a whirlwind (ww). Wouldn't this force major crits?
Ok, his fully upgraded ww causes crits anyway, but isn't a crit against AC Zero even higher?
I admit, I don't know yet, how exactly AC works in this game. All I see are tremendously high numbers.