148 réponses à ce sujet

[PapaCharlie9]

I'm coming pretty close to the numbers in the video with careful positioning, something like 16-18K with mighty offense potion and 12-13K per hit without the potion.

Have you upgraded MO to give you 100% crit damage bonus? You should be getting double damage on criticals.

[akots1]

Have you upgraded MO to give you 100% crit damage bonus? You should be getting double damage on criticals.

Yes, fully upgraded but it is not exactly 100% double, it is probably doubling something in there, maybe damage before armor is subtracted or attack is multipled or it is not fully applied towards Bosun's blade bonus, not sure, it is never full double, always slightly less, more like +70-80% in most cases. The numbers can be very jumpy as hit detection for backstab is probably not very reliable.

[akots1]

I am currently trying to solo the epic 5-stage battle of Heidrun Thaig. It is ridiculous as you cannot save between the steps. Also, two immortal dwarves are so glitchy and are so messing up with everything that I'm not sure whether it is possible to get through. Any promoted enemy including genlocks OHK me and it is just a matter of catching a stray arrow in the knee. As I don't have any control over the battlefield due to my potion-drinking companions, catching arrow is easier than it seems and I already died 4 times, twice at the stage of final emissary. In one run, both ogres spawned inside the chasm and instantly died so that I did not have to fight them. Shrieks jump so violently, it is impossible to target them with anything. They often also fall in the chasm or get stuck inside the walls. I don't remember the battle being so bugged when I first played it right after Descent came out. It seems that soloing this is very random depending on how the dwarven duo teleports around.

[Agi_]

It seems that your regular hit is 6K and you crit for 11K and with the potion, these 11K should be around 16-17-18K depending on presence of barrier/guard and on actual armor of the target. I have similar stats to yours and this is what I get.

 

They are NOT my regular hits, they happen sometimes. what i wonder is if there isnt a way to downgrade a bit the spike damage getting a more flat area where i land 80 90% of the top damage

 

My feeling is that this build is excellent if you are one of the top player but degrades a lot if you are, like i'm, a good player able to run NM with some trial, but not in the absolute top you lose a lot.

[arkngt]

I'd guess that the OP also has maximum bonus damage against dragons via creature research in the video.

[Agi_]

I'd guess that the OP also has maximum bonus damage against dragons via creature research in the video.

 

Do you know how much is the research bonus? the game just says bonus damage against ...

[arkngt]

Do you know how much is the research bonus? the game just says bonus damage against ...

 

Someone might correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's known - and a bit hard to test as well. I think it might be rather much, at least it seems so with demons.

 

BTW, checking the build in the OP more closely, I noticed that I've used Lost in the Shadows just by pre-Trespasser habit. Clinging Shadows seems smarter, so I've switched to it. I've never really used Throwing Blades and Pincushion either, so I'll try them out.

[akots1]

They are NOT my regular hits, they happen sometimes. what i wonder is if there isnt a way to downgrade a bit the spike damage getting a more flat area where i land 80 90% of the top damage

 

My feeling is that this build is excellent if you are one of the top player but degrades a lot if you are, like i'm, a good player able to run NM with some trial, but not in the absolute top you lose a lot.

IMHO, it is all about patience and carefully choosing your position to backtab. It does result in a bit longer battles however and sometimes requires retreating from a group of enemies and coming back from a better backstabbing angle. Quite frequently, it does not work very smoothly just because of perceptive or teleporting enemies and there is a huge problem with homing projectiles and some AoE attacks. In most cases, you cannot just storm in an kill everything in a few swift strikes.

[akots1]

I am currently trying to solo the epic 5-stage battle of Heidrun Thaig. ....

I've made two more unsuccessful tries equipping jar of bees and confusion grenades. Neither of these help a lot. Bees are somewhat useful for the ogres but Emissary boss is completely immune. Confusion grenades simply don't work. They do confuse some stray genlocks for about 10 seconds but they neither attack anything nor get attacked by ogres or emissaries. Obviously, working as intended. Pitch grenades I tried previously and they do nothing to bosses and don't seem to lower their damage (one direct hit from any emissary homing projectiles kills me) or increase mine. Still there is antivian fire to try, it might do better, not sure. Inability to save is very annoying because to face the Emissary boss, I have to first go through 20-25 minute combat against shrieks, hurlocks, genlocks, and two ogres. That is just plain tedious, not funny at all as I went through this 4 or 5 times already. The boss does not spawn up until everything else is dead. The guys at Bioware who designed this battle obviously were trolling.

 

Maybe somebody knows if there is some mod or anything that allows saving at any time? I don't particularly care if the game glitches as it is already full of bugs on its own. Also, once I'm through this ordeal, I can uninstall the mod.

[Agi_]

IMHO, it is all about patience and carefully choosing your position to backtab. It does result in a bit longer battles however and sometimes requires retreating from a group of enemies and coming back from a better backstabbing angle. Quite frequently, it does not work very smoothly just because of perceptive or teleporting enemies and there is a huge problem with homing projectiles and some AoE attacks. In most cases, you cannot just storm in an kill everything in a few swift strikes.

 

Just finished Harofson, the boss of JoH, my personal fight was very short: start MoD MotR HB   Harofsen freezes me, Harofsen kills me with a single blow.

 

Going there in NM + trials without a bloody piece of equipment for cold resistance in all the team made things a bit caotic. Lets say i killed him with some bees some Antivan Molotoff cocktail and rolling over him with Blackwall; the fight lasted at least a couple hours and rogue contribution was very small, after ressing an hour or so after the start, i used him to go and kill the archers

 

Also the fight to enter the fortress was short: i attacked the champion with a FA he got me on the volley and with a single sweeping hit crushed my barrier, my full guard and left me dead; against those mobs with AoE better use a bow and leave the close combat to the tank, tower shield guys sometimes make me bounce back like a ping pong ball, but dont kill me straight away with a hit

 

Now i have the dragon to kill, but i will dress better i have the reasonable tought that cold resistance will be needed.

 

Coming back in topic; you are right that with a right positioning and a lot of care my attacks would be better but my question is if the time i spend positioning for a 10k hit wouldnt i land three standard 4k hits? We all like to see big numbers but in the end what matters is the damage i have done at the end of the fight

[akots1]

... the fight lasted at least a couple hours ...

  OMG, I have not yet been there. I guess, looking forward.

[akots1]

... Coming back in topic; you are right that with a right positioning and a lot of care my attacks would be better but my question is if the time i spend positioning for a 10k hit wouldnt i land three standard 4k hits? We all like to see big numbers but in the end what matters is the damage i have done at the end of the fight

Sure, you are right. But in solo, every battle is a solo. I can land 4 or 5 regular hits. But then the enemies turn around and hit me back and I'm usually dead. There is seldom any room to squeeze in auto attacks, only after TF knockdown or walking bomb explosion or if they are stunned after throwing pitch grenade. The good thing about this build is that you usually have enough stamina and can use some ability always. To speed things up a bit, I also frequently use Andrastes' sacrifice amulet. If gives 10% cool down reduction and accelerates stamina regeneration. It also has taunt for 4 seconds but this is useless and the amount of guard generated is rather small.

[Brother Juniper]

Pincushion works with Throwing Blades? The description for Pincushion says it works only with bows: "If the first arrow doesn't kill them, the tenth might. Each consecutive hit with a bow attack does progressively more damage to the target." Does Pincushion work with any other non-Archery talents?

[PapaCharlie9]

Inability to save is very annoying because to face the Emissary boss, I have to first go through 20-25 minute combat against shrieks, hurlocks, genlocks, and two ogres. That is just plain tedious, not funny at all as I went through this 4 or 5 times already. The boss does not spawn up until everything else is dead.

Really? I stealthed past all of the horde by sneaking along the rock wall to the northeast, leads straight to the final boss after jumping down from the ledge. The shield-bearing Genlocks on the bridge still spawn and you still have to fight them, but after that, I was sure the boss Emissary showed up, even though I skipped the rest.

I was in a full party, though, and the rest of the party was still fighting the rest of the horde. Maybe that makes a difference?

EDIT: Nope, I was wrong. I just replayed it, the door to the boss Emissary won't open until the horde is cleared. I guess I just got lucky and my crew cleared out the rest when I got there.

[akots1]

Pincushion works with Throwing Blades? The description for Pincushion says it works only with bows: "If the first arrow doesn't kill them, the tenth might. Each consecutive hit with a bow attack does progressively more damage to the target." Does Pincushion work with any other non-Archery talents?

Pincushion apparently works with any ranged ability. As long as you are not in the melee range of about 5 meters, it is considered ranged and the bonus should apply. It certainly works with throwing blades and it seems to sometimes work with hidden blades if the distance is long enough. The game does not really have any way to discriminate unless the ability requires you to equip a bow and it does not seem to require that.

[Agi_]

  OMG, I have not yet been there. I guess, looking forward.

 

Sorry for spoilering, tought you had already done it a lot of times considering you are running a solo campaign

 

Sure, you are right. But in solo, every battle is a solo. I can land 4 or 5 regular hits. But then the enemies turn around and hit me back and I'm usually dead. There is seldom any room to squeeze in auto attacks, only after TF knockdown or walking bomb explosion or if they are stunned after throwing pitch grenade. The good thing about this build is that you usually have enough stamina and can use some ability always. To speed things up a bit, I also frequently use Andrastes' sacrifice amulet. If gives 10% cool down reduction and accelerates stamina regeneration. It also has taunt for 4 seconds but this is useless and the amount of guard generated is rather small.

 

Andraste Sacrifice, an amulet that taunts usable only by non fighters; always wondered what were it's utility but running solo there is none else to get the aggro so taunting is not a problem

[Agi_]

... The guys at Bioware who designed this battle obviously were trolling.

 

 

 

Sometimes i think too that the designers are trolling. 

 

I assaulted the fortress in JoH, was a very nice night battle concluded with a hell of a fight against the boss, very well designed, kudos to the designers.

 

Now i miss a few minor quests, like collecting shards and killing some monsters, the usual stuff just to finish the area, whi in hell should i play them by night too? 

The map is already complex by itself with the sunlight, with the darkness i spent half an hour to go get a shard in a place where i have already been before because there is a semi hidden trail that with a few meters visibility is very easy to miss, not to speak exploring the few areas remaining, is there a F... ade touched reason why someone should explore an area by night

 

Out of curiosity there is someone that likes the convoluted maps of DAI where when you face a cliff there is always just one way to erach the top and if you go right instead of left you will wander around half an hour. Skirim, just to say one, has some places hard to reach, and thats ok, but most hills are climbable easily and there is always more than a way to turn around an impassable mountain

[PapaCharlie9]

Out of curiosity there is someone that likes the convoluted maps of DAI where when you face a cliff there is always just one way to erach the top and if you go right instead of left you will wander around half an hour. Skirim, just to say one, has some places hard to reach, and thats ok, but most hills are climbable easily and there is always more than a way to turn around an impassable mountain

That's all by design.

Shards serve two design purposes: 1) give players with the Explorer and/or Completionist playstyles something to do, and 2) force you to explore parts of the map that you wouldn't otherwise do.

That's why you are forced the long way around a cliff or hill. If you could ride your mount, Skyrim style, beeline to the objective, you'd never see what the other side of the hill has in store.

Unfortunately, in the case of JoH, what is usually in store on the other side of the hill is Poison Spiders, Avvar mobs and high level rifts.

[akots1]

... Out of curiosity there is someone that likes the convoluted maps of DAI where when you face a cliff there is always just one way to erach the top and if you go right instead of left you will wander around half an hour. Skirim, just to say one, has some places hard to reach, and thats ok, but most hills are climbable easily and there is always more than a way to turn around an impassable mountain

Sometimes, when you don't mind being trolled, it is OK. The scenery is nice, just take a walk. It is not all about these diamonds or collections. There should be some things to do always. Otherwise, if people collect everything and finish everything rapidly, they are not going to play this game for 200 hours.

 

Issue of climbing is related to the Frostbite engine. It has strange climbing mechanics which, as I understand, cannot be normally fixed without changing the engine itself. Hence, there is this weird sliding effect and all similar jumping crap. Movement cannot be precise and there are some glitches with companions. IMO, it is kind of OK-ish and Bioware certainly at least tried to make it entertaining. But overall, yes, Skyrim is way better in this regard.

 

Most important is having fun. If I think that getting some stupid shard is too time consuming, I just skip it. Then, sometimes, if I'm in the right mood and I still remember about it, I come back. However, the maps are too big and really, there is no point in exploring everything. If there is some mystery remaining, people tend to play more and have more play throughs and they would always find something new that they have not seen/done previously. It is more entertaining IMO.

 

Also, Bioware is known to be obsessed with hiding things. Infamous tree trunk diamond in the first wilderness area of Baldur's Gate comes to mind. It is essentially impossible to find without spoilers as you have to explore every pixel because this thing is really tiny, like 3x3 pixels iirc. They even managed to hide some guns in Mass Effect and make a special achievement to find all these hidden guns. I missed one on my first playthrough and missed another on the second. There is no golden nug in ME3, so I never got it. And I'm not going for a third playthrough never ever. Although it itches and I still remember.

[Agi_]

That's all by design.

Shards serve two design purposes: 1) give players with the Explorer and/or Completionist playstyles something to do, and 2) force you to explore parts of the map that you wouldn't otherwise do.

That's why you are forced the long way around a cliff or hill. If you could ride your mount, Skyrim style, beeline to the objective, you'd never see what the other side of the hill has in store.

Unfortunately, in the case of JoH, what is usually in store on the other side of the hill is Poison Spiders, Avvar mobs and high level rifts.

 

Having to pick shards in far away places is by design, and it's ok, but having to make a kilometers long turnaround trip to reach the top of an hill where you found there is a shard and you have already been before is something i find annoying Same to go see what's on the opposite side of the hill; in Skyrim you can climb it, turn around to the right or to the left, maybe to the left there is a nasty bandit camp or a giant lair while to the right its a safe road but you can choose what road to take here is a sort of labyrinth, it's rare you can reach a spot in two different ways

 

In Skyrim when you are near something appears a sign on the map, laike the ? in DAI, and it's up to you to go look or keep doing what you are and come back later

 

Sometimes, when you don't mind being trolled, it is OK. The scenery is nice, just take a walk. It is not all about these diamonds or collections. There should be some things to do always. Otherwise, if people collect everything and finish everything rapidly, they are not going to play this game for 200 hours.

 

Issue of climbing is related to the Frostbite engine. It has strange climbing mechanics which, as I understand, cannot be normally fixed without changing the engine itself. Hence, there is this weird sliding effect and all similar jumping crap. Movement cannot be precise and there are some glitches with companions. IMO, it is kind of OK-ish and Bioware certainly at least tried to make it entertaining. But overall, yes, Skyrim is way better in this regard.

 

Most important is having fun. If I think that getting some stupid shard is too time consuming, I just skip it. Then, sometimes, if I'm in the right mood and I still remember about it, I come back. However, the maps are too big and really, there is no point in exploring everything. If there is some mystery remaining, people tend to play more and have more play throughs and they would always find something new that they have not seen/done previously. It is more entertaining IMO.

 

Also, Bioware is known to be obsessed with hiding things. Infamous tree trunk diamond in the first wilderness area of Baldur's Gate comes to mind. It is essentially impossible to find without spoilers as you have to explore every pixel because this thing is really tiny, like 3x3 pixels iirc. They even managed to hide some guns in Mass Effect and make a special achievement to find all these hidden guns. I missed one on my first playthrough and missed another on the second. There is no golden nug in ME3, so I never got it. And I'm not going for a third playthrough never ever. Although it itches and I still remember.

 

I love exploring and go everywhere, even if in five playthrough i never completed the bottles or the mosaics, and it's not a matter of game engine, some slopes are climbable, others arent and way too often to reach the top of a hill it's all not climbable apart one single trail, a design choice. BTW putting in the maps a dotted line showing that you can pass there and that cave A is connected to cave B would make things a lot easier. It's true that also in Skyrim not all roads are on the map unless you install a mod

In Baldur Gate pressing TAB you highlight what's hidden so it's not that difficult to find hidden stuff and Bethesda is the same: think the equipment in the stone near Megathon in Fallout 3, unless you know it's there, it's very hard to find and you could get it after half an hour of playtime

 

The ramble is just because this morning i spent an hour without being able to reach the fortress; not an exact spot in the swamp where i know there is an item, the huge fortress on top of the mountain

[akots1]

... In Baldur Gate pressing TAB you highlight what's hidden so it's not that difficult to find hidden stuff ...

Original BG game did not have any Tab. Tab (or Alt) was first implemented in ToB. It was all so-called "pixel hunting" nightmare before that. BGTuTu mod pack just ported BG2/ToB engine into BG1 and that made life much easier of course.

[akots1]

... I love exploring and go everywhere, even if in five playthrough i never completed the bottles or the mosaics, and it's not a matter of game engine, some slopes are climbable, others arent and way too often to reach the top of a hill it's all not climbable apart one single trail, a design choice. BTW putting in the maps a dotted line showing that you can pass there and that cave A is connected to cave B would make things a lot easier. It's true that also in Skyrim not all roads are on the map unless you install a mod ...

In Skyrim there is also Clairvoyance spell that mostly works fine. In Witcher3, yes, they just had to do the dotted lines because otherwise, people would get lost and would never find their way out.

 

With regard to DAI, it would be helpful as well as maps are so big, too big IMO. But it is a thin balance. You put it in, they say you are holding the hands of the players and don't allow normal exploration. You don't put it in, people wonder aimlessly around and cannot get to where they are going. It should have been a toggled option IMO. Sometimes, I don't want it to be there and sometimes, it should have been there for some convoluted landscapes. It might also have been trouble with the engine that cannot normally plot a route involving jumps at some pathfinding steps.

 

What Bioware wants to say is that exploration is encouraged and players should wander off and get caught and killed by poisonous spiders, crazy hakkonites, and overleveled rifts as papa Charlie said. And all this in complete darkness as well for even more fun! I guess, frustration of the players gets telepathically caught by some receptacle in their office and then they all share the amusement and have a good laugh. I personally don't mind.

 

Those who do mind, should not play on Nightmare with trials or even on hard and certainly should not solo. I do rage sometimes and don't touch the game for a few days. That Heidrun Thaig fight is somewhat ... unpleasant, I have not been able to finish it yet. I'm sure it is doable but I have to stay focused for a long time, around 30 minutes or more of heavy fighting and kiting. And kiting is inevitable as I cannot normally get into melee range of the ogres or cursed Emissary boss. It is akin to platinum solo in ME3 except that you can take a short break here. Generally, I have trouble staying that focused for such a long time.

[Agi_]

In Skyrim there is also Clairvoyance spell that mostly works fine. In Witcher3, yes, they just had to do the dotted lines because otherwise, people would get lost and would never find their way out.

 

With regard to DAI, it would be helpful as well as maps are so big, too big IMO. But it is a thin balance. You put it in, they say you are holding the hands of the players and don't allow normal exploration. You don't put it in, people wonder aimlessly around and cannot get to where they are going. It should have been a toggled option IMO. Sometimes, I don't want it to be there and sometimes, it should have been there for some convoluted landscapes. It might also have been trouble with the engine that cannot normally plot a route involving jumps at some pathfinding steps.

 

What Bioware wants to say is that exploration is encouraged and players should wander off and get caught and killed by poisonous spiders, crazy hakkonites, and overleveled rifts as papa Charlie said. And all this in complete darkness as well for even more fun! I guess, frustration of the players gets telepathically caught by some receptacle in their office and then they all share the amusement and have a good laugh. I personally don't mind.

 

Those who do mind, should not play on Nightmare with trials or even on hard and certainly should not solo. I do rage sometimes and don't touch the game for a few days. That Heidrun Thaig fight is somewhat ... unpleasant, I have not been able to finish it yet. I'm sure it is doable but I have to stay focused for a long time, around 30 minutes or more of heavy fighting and kiting. And kiting is inevitable as I cannot normally get into melee range of the ogres or cursed Emissary boss. It is akin to platinum solo in ME3 except that you can take a short break here. Generally, I have trouble staying that focused for such a long time.

 

Clairvoyance in Skyrim is a very nice tool; you have no need to use it always, but when you need it not to wander lost in some labyrinth like area you have it. It's a useful help but you always need to manually explore to find some hidden caches of treasure.

 

I dont know Witcher 3 because as much as i loved Witcher 1 i hated the second; reason: no active pause and i'm too old to play without it had to play on easy all boss fights because i were unable to finish them while i finished first Witcher on hardest 

 

I have no problems exploring with crazy hakkonites, poisonous spiders and deadly rifts, but i hate turning half an hour in circles to come back in a place i have already been before, lose focus, fall from a cliff and be ambushed by something

 

I did last night the Heidrun Thaig; NM and a couple trials but in a team, as i did the ice dragon of JoH; no problem at all, just unconscious a couple times, but doing it solo is obviously another matter and requires a lot of concentration and patiece considering that ogres can one shot a melee rogue and the final emissary is a real ******, i killed him with MotR, static cage and some time.

 

How can you kite monsters with a melee rogue? there is nothing doing damage while you run around apart the two dwarves that are not that effective.; HB from stealth then FA to regain stealth, evade, rinse and repeat?

[akots1]

... How can you kite monsters with a melee rogue? there is nothing doing damage while you run around apart the two dwarves that are not that effective.; HB from stealth then FA to regain stealth, evade, rinse and repeat?

I can finish shrieks, hurlock alphas, and genlock alphas without much problem by attacking and escaping to the overhang if needed in case of missing FA or large group of enemies focusing on me. For orges, I need to kite the crowd of genlocks and one or two emissaries to the flaming area where shrieks are in the beginning so that they are away from the ogres. Then, I can slowly hammer on the ogres with bees, MoD, HB, TB, and occasional FA when it brings me away from their melee range. Evade is unreliable as they can grab me in the middle of or after evade as long as I pass through their grab range on my way. The ogres never leave the chamber, there is some type of hidden barrier or zone border. Sometimes, the genlock/emissary crowd does return back and I have to kite them away again.

 

I have not figured the Emissary boss yet. He does recast the barrier frequently, so I have to take it down almost to the health bar and then, make sure to use all I've got to bring his health down as much as possible. That apparently would have to be repeated a few times including kiting of minions away. I have yet to see whether he will regenerate health. But so far, I brought him down to about 2/3 of his hp once and 3/4 in another try and he just cast his homing poison attack killing me instantly. I obviously need to stay out of his range when I cannot immediately go back to stealth. Also, as usual, hopping helps to avoid his damage in most cases. But the guy is turning around when hit very rapidly and I have to move in circles around him constantly. There is some cover there at the entrance to the double room, so that can be exploited as well. It is a matter of concentration and being very careful as there is no resistance to his damage and he hits probably like 5 poison spiders together. It looks pretty tedious but actually, it is not that bad as minions tend to get stuck on terrain in the main open area thus making my life easier. Occasionally, alcoholic dwarves disappear for some time when they fall down the chasm and that eases the pain of managing aggro. I wish they would never resurface but alas, they seem to teleport back to me after 2 or 3 minutes.

[akots1]

... I dont know Witcher 3 because as much as i loved Witcher 1 i hated the second; reason: no active pause and i'm too old to play without it had to play on easy all boss fights because i were unable to finish them while i finished first Witcher on hardest ...

 

IMO, second Witcher had the most uncomfortable combat. Witcher 3 is not that bad, just need to dodge/roll a lot. It is not that difficult with good armor and quen sign. Upgraded quen makes you essentially immortal as hits to the bubble actually regenerate your health. I'm not that young myself and passionately hate combat in games like Shadow of Mordor and similar. But Witcher 3 actually plays very smoothly. There are a lot of buffs available and during my first playthrough on hard (Blood and broken bones or something like that), I have not died a lot, maybe like once in an hour or two. And graphics are brilliant, quest are superb, and overall atmosphere is stellar. It is a must-do IMO. I have not enjoyed any other game for the past 3 years as much as W3. Well, maybe, Divinity Original Sin comes pretty close in terms of gameplay process although it is turn-based. Skyrim is excellent but it lack the finesse of Witcher's quests and plot. And it is much smaller.