Most useful destruction energy type and managing perks

Question

I'm playing a pure mage build (might try to do the thief/assassin quests when done with the mage quests).

Right now, I use perks sparingly. There are perks specific for fire, electricity, cold based destruction spells.

I'm wondering if one energy type fits all in this game. Should I just focus on electricity? Or do certain energy types work better against certain opponents? I think I read that dragons are vulnerable to cold, but ice-trolls are vulnerable to fire, so my suspicion is that I'm going to need to invest in all of them.

At the same time, is it wise to be careful with one's perks? I summon a lot of flame antorachs, but plan on upgrading the monster I summon to the next level (whatever comes after apprentice). So should i skip the perk that lessens the cost of apprentice level summons and just get the next one? Is that even possible? I haven't tried to skip a perk in a chain in the various asterisms...

Asked by hvgotcodes

Answer

My mage knowledge is mostly second hand but I can give out these pointers so far:

• You can not get a higher tier perk with out getting the lower ones. For example you can do nothing in the destruction tree with out starting with the Novice perk. This applies for all of them as well.
• There is no end all be all elemental skill. Alot of people find Electrical the most useful simply cause it instantly strikes what is under your target, you do not have to lead your target. But Ice works against fire based dragons (and Ive found it very useful against giants), fire works against both kinds of trolls, all of the undead, and electrical works good against mages. If you are trying to be an offensive mage you will really want to go with all of the elements in the long run so you are never stuck with just one choice.
• Impact is pretty much a Must Have. When my brother got this he went from having to do some fancy kiting of enemies to being able to constantly stumble them. This is -not- the win button, but it definitely puts you on a bit more even footing than you are with out it.
• When considering Conjuration keep in mind that the max level summons, known as thralls, are permanent until they die. You will need to have enough mana on hand to cast them, but it may not be worth while to put perks in here aside from those that allow you access to have 2 summons at once.

I hope this high level overview has been helpful and addressed your questions. Any more concerns ask in the comments and I will try and add in more information as I currently understand it.

Answered by James

Check more discussion of this question.

Borderlands Lilith skill builds

Question

Mixed views on this but what is the optimal build for Lilith?

I want to build a powerful damage dealer with good survivability but find myself very clueless as to what to put skill points in. Any direction would be great!

My level is 43.

Asked by Simon

Answer

I want to build a powerful damage dealer with good survivability but find myself very clueless as to what to put skill points in.

My Lilith has both of those characteristics, but it heavily relies on being able to find some good SMGs. Even still, she can't approach the levels of damage dealing that my Mordecai can dish out, but she is much tougher to kill due to her boosted survivability.

Here is how my skills break down with ~56 skill points:

Controller Tree

• Diva x5 (Survivability)
• Inner Glow x5 (more survivability when escaping)
• Hard to Get x5 (more phasewalking is good)
• Girl Power x5 (More survivability)
• Mind Games x1 (just for fun)

Elemental Tree

• Quick Silver x5 (More DPS)
• Spark x5 (Elemental effects are good)
• Resilience x5 (survivability)

Assassin Tree

• Slayer x5 (crit damage = more dps)
• Enforcer x5 (more DPS after a kill)
• High Velocity x5 (more accuracy and damage)
• Blackout x5 (more phasewalking, but get this after hard to get)

For the last remaining 14 skill points (or so depending ho what DLCs you have), you can think about maxing out Mind Games and putting some points into Intuition/Radiance. I wouldn't recommend phoenix though, as the flame aura from that can cause nearby barrels to explode, which is a pain in the ass on some maps.

With this build you can shoot and shoot, then run away with phasewalk when your health gets low.

I haven't tried a pure melee build as I don't think it'd work that well, but I could be wrong.

Finally, make absolutely sure you find yourself a class mod that provides SMG ammo regeneration, without it you'll go through ammo waaaaay too fast.

Answered by yx.

Check more discussion of this question.

Mass Effect - custom character creation

Question

Just starting Mass Effect. Given how much I've read about 'John Shepard', I'm wondering if it is worth creating a custom character (which I would normally do), or if it is best to go with the standard male character?

Asked by Durathor

Answer

Shepard is your character's name, if you don't really care about how he looks, then you don't really have to customize him at all.

Most of the story and interactions have little to do with your character origin. There are a few lines here and there that refer to your past, but nothing game changing in the grand scheme of the plot.

What does change the story are driven by the choices you make throughout the game.

Answered by Sorean

Check more discussion of this question.

Are dead-end items worth the inventory slots?

Question

There are a great many of items on the Fields of Justice, but not all of them are incredibly powerful, although these undermined items often have much smaller price tags. How often should someone use items like Haunting Guise and Doran's items, which all have important stat combinations that aren't often seen elsewhere. Is it better for me to focus on getting items I can complete early on, or save up for something larger like Infinity Edge or Rabadon's Deathcap?

Asked by Aceofgods

Answer

That depends on each match you're playing.

If you can always save up for the best items,however if you're having problems farming creeps and things like that because enemies are stronger then you and they're giving you too much trouble then buy few more doran items or something else that is cheap but gives nice decent stats for the price (like wriggle for AD champions because it's very cheap and gives pretty good stats). Of course once you fill your inventory sell the weak/cheap items you bought before to make you more viable in game and buy something better.

Answered by ChrisHateZ

Check more discussion of this question.

Invulnerable and Untouchable

Question

Is it possible for a Maokai to become completely invulnerable with a fully stacked Leviathan while he's inside of his ultimate? The Leviathan blocks 15% of all damage, and the Ultimate blocks 20%. This is a whopping 35% and then there's all of his Armor and Magic Resist. With about 185 Armor and MR you get 65% then the Leviathan and Ultimate you get another 35% making it 100%... On top of masteries, such as the mastery that reduces the damage you take by a flat 3 (trust me, it really helps)..

If this happens, would the only way to damage Maokai be to use Armor and Magic Resist reducing methods and Pentration as well as True damage?

Asked by Aceofgods

Answer

In short no. Not sure if there is a hard limit to damage reduction (like Cooldown reduction cannot exceed 40%), but damage reduction is based on a soft reset where they multiply, not add together. We'd first look at the effective armor/MR that the champ may have and look at the damage that is incoming.

Let's say you have 100 armor effective after all the armor pen, and they are doing physical damage of 100. This would mean you take 50% less physical damage. So their 100 damage would now do 50 damage to you. If you are in Maokai's ultimate, this is further reduced by 20%. 20% of 50 is 10, so it blocks 10 more damage. You would take 40 damage instead. If you have Leviathan fully stacked you take 15% less - that would be 40*.15 = 6 damage less or you take 34 damage now. If you are Poppy and were to die to this 34 damage incoming, you reduce that by another 50% and you now take 17 damage.

So effectively you end up reducing 83% of the damage that you would have taken. This is with reduction of 50% from armor, 20% from Maokai's ult, 15% from Leviathan, 50% from Poppy passive. Or we could just multiply how much you would take from each together: 0.5 * 0.8 * 0.85 * 0.5 = 0.17

Answered by user22193

Check more discussion of this question.

How big does Cho'gath get with Lulu's ultimate?

Question

I've seen Lulus use their ultimates and make people really big. What happens if you use Lulu's Ultimate on Cho'gath when he uses Surge or the Dominion buff while he has 6 stacks of Feast rank 3? I'll bet he could step on Baron Nashor like an oversized worm!

Asked by Aceofgods

Answer

It seams that there is a cap on how much the Cho'gath can grow, there is little to non change in size with all the buffs compared to without Lulu's Ultimate, you can see a video of it here:

Answered by Blem

Check more discussion of this question.

Is Udyr stronger in top lane or the jungle?

Question

I've seen pretty beastly udyr junglers as well as really good top lane udyrs. Is he more useful in the jungle or in top lane? Any ideas on builds/runes/masteries for each as well?

Asked by Kirkalirk

Answer

Udyr is a funny champion because he plays very differently based on what stance you choose to prioritize. I’ll try to summarize the strengths of Lane Tiger, Lane Phoenix, Tiger Jungle and Phoenix Jungle.

General Udyr:

Use tanky masteries 0/21/9. 0/21/9 is optimal on the jungle builds since it allows you to get increased buff duration and increased movement speed. You could also run 9/21/0 but Udyr really enjoys having movement speed boosts given by the Utility tree since he lacks a gap closer. Sometimes people will run 9/21/0 or 21/9/0 on Top Udyr, but that mainly depends on what your team needs. Udyr gets pretty tanky innately thanks to his Turtle stance giving a relatively strong shield.

Runes:

• Quintessences:
  • Both Top and Jungle Udyr enjoy having movement speed quints since he lacks a gap closer.

• Reds:
  • Phoenix stance loves attack speed since it allows you to proc the persistent effect more quickly.
  • Tiger stance benefits from Armor Penetration or Attack Damage.

• Yellows:
  • If you are in the jungle run flat armor runes.
  • If you are in top lane it is best to customize against your opponent, but is pretty standard to default to flat armor runes.

• Blues:
  • If you are against an AP opponent top such as Ryze or Rumble then it can help to have flat MR runes. Otherwise, use MR per level for late game effectiveness.
  • In the jungle I normally run MR per level runes since I won't be taking much magic damage until later in the game. If I know I'm going to spend a lot of time ganking mid lane early, then I look into putting on flat MR runes.

---

General Top Udyr:

Udyr is the master of sitting in lane and farming. He has great sustain with Turtle stance and can stun and run from ganks with his Bear stance. He is strongest against champions that rely on poke to win, such as Gangplank, since he can easily shield their damage with a well timed Turtle stance.

He wins most lanes by out-sustaining the enemy champion and getting more farmed as a result. It usually reaches the point where Udyr can easily bully the opponent out of lane with a combination of Bear and Tiger stances, then heal any damage taken by using Turtle stance.

Take care to not swap stances too often early on, or you will quickly find yourself running dry on mana. If it becomes too much of a problem, look into investing into a Philosopher’s Stone, which turns into the great speed boosting Shurelya’s Reverie, or if facing an AP champion top, maybe a Chalice of Harmony.

Summoner Spells:

These can be much more diverse than the jungle, so take what feels best to you.

• Teleport: This allows you to teleport to a ward at Dragon and help your team quickly.

• Flash: This is strong on almost any champion, and Udyr enjoys the ability to flash with a Bear stance stun.

• Ignite/Exhaust: Grabbing one of these can allow you to gain an advantage in any fights you have against your lane opponent and help influence later team fights.

Lane Tiger:

This is the most common form of top lane Udyr that you will find.

Play cautiously in the beginning until you have a Wriggle’s Lantern, then you can become much more aggressive. Focus on leveling Turtle and Tiger stance with at least one point in Bear stance to discourage ganks or enemy aggression.

Prioritize a Wriggle’s Lantern, then Phage is also really strong, giving you the ability to stick to opponents without having to Bear stance.

Lane Phoenix:

This isn’t as common since it automatically pushes the lane every time the Phoenix effect procs, making you more susceptible to getting ganked. If you want to play Phoenix Udyr than I’d suggest you jungle him as that is where he is most efficient.

---

General Jungle Udyr:

He can stay at high health thanks to his Turtle stance shielding and healing him. His ganks are strong with Bear stance giving a speed boost and stun on hit effect. Don’t be afraid to initiate your ganks with a flash onto the enemy, this is particularly effective if the lane has the ability to chain hard CC to your stun.

The most common item start is Boots + 3 potions. Udyr loves the movement speed for early ganks and it allows him to quickly run between camps.

Summoner Spells:

• Flash and Smite for the jungle.

He lacks any sort of gap closer besides the speed boost that Bear stance gives, so oftentimes you will use Flash to initiate a gank.

Smite is mandatory for controlling the Jungle objectives (buffs, Dragon, and Baron).

Tiger Jungle:

Tiger jungle excels in doing massive damage to single targets which makes it better at controlling Baron and Dragon compared to Phoenix. However, it lacks the ability to clear super quickly since it lacks the same amount of AoE damage. Udyr has impressive damage with either stance, but Tiger in particular can absolutely shred squishier targets. He also excels at pushing over towers thanks to the increased AS.

Tiger Udyr wants a Wriggle’s Lantern, unlike Phoenix, to help increase his clear speed. He doesn’t really need the attack speed from Wit’s End thanks to the persistent effect on the Tiger Stance.

Phoenix Jungle:

This is the most common form of Jungle Udyr. The AoE effect from Phoenix allows you to quickly clear camps and farm the jungle very efficiently.

Phoenix benefits the most from attack speed so, unlike Tiger Udyr, it is common to skip the Wriggle’s Lantern and go straight for an attack speed increase such as Wit’s End. Wit’s End also helps fill Udyr’s role as a bruiser making him tankier with more damage. I generally prioritize Level 2 boots earlier than other jungles since Phoenix Udyr usually has no problem clearing the jungle but wants movement speed to make his ganks more effective.

Sources:

A lot of Udyr games and the Udyr guides on Solomid.net

Answered by Rapida

Check more discussion of this question.

Olaf's Passive and Maw of Malmortious vs. Tryndamere

Question

Which do you think is more potent in a 1 v 1 situation (not against each other), Olaf's passive that gives him more ASP as he loses health combined with the new item, Maw of Malmortius, which increases how much damage he does each hit based on how much health he is missing, or Tryndamere with his combined passive and ultimate using the Maw of Malmortius to do massive amount of damage for about 5 seconds while Trynd turns immortal?

As scary as the Tryndamere is, you also have to remember that Olaf can use his W to gain 35 (iirc) AD and 21% Lifesteal and Spellvamp, allowing him to stay alive as he hits you, possibly even longer than Trynd's Ulti can by itself. (Olaf's W lasts for 6 seconds and is on a 12 second cooldown, compared to Tryndamere's ~100 second cooldown.

Asked by Aceofgods

Answer

I find that item to be not that good for Olaf because it punishes you for building hp it scales off hp missing on percent not total so more health u have harder it is to get its passive in the max

For Tryndamere it is a very good item because u should not build hp on trynd so he can make use of that item very well

Answered by Duje Zubcic

Check more discussion of this question.

What stat do AD Carries need most?

Question

On the average AD Carry (with no built-in on-hit effects) which stat is most important? Lifesteal, Attack Damage, Attack Speed, Critcal, or Escapability? Should I try to get items that can cover many of these or just try to focus one or two at first and fill out later?

Asked by Aceofgods

Answer

Let me preface this answer with this highly depends on what your team needs and how the enemy team is building their team comp. It also will vary on what the metagame is which while has been relatively stable with Bruiser, AP carry, AD carry, support, tanky jungler can change at the drop of a hat especially when players find huge success suddenly with alternate strategies.

If we assume all these things, then the AD Carry is generally counted on by their team to have sustained DPS. Pure numbers this is a combination of Attack Damage, Critical, Attack Speed, and Armor Pen. In terms of what items to get, the most widely used endgame items involve Infinity Edge, Berserker Greaves, and Phantom Dancer. Depending on how the enemy team builds, and the particular AD Champ used, that itself may vary. However this gives you a good spread to do significant critical damage that occurs 55% of the time, with substantial boost to Attack Damage, Attack Speed, and Movement Speed.

Answered by user22193

Check more discussion of this question.

WoW Cataclysm - Can I buy the equips and weapons or they just can be aquired by doing quests or drops?

Question

I am lvl 10 Arms Warrior. I was wondering if it is possible to buy the equips and weapons from shop? or I get them only by doing the quests/drops?

Asked by GeoStrike

Answer

Yes. You can buy items from shop. While in Stormwind you can press 'm' to show map and then select to show you vendors. If you are looking for Heavy Armor, which I think you do, you can check the Stormwind Heavy Armor Vendor.

However, at your level it's not likely to find better armor in shops than what you get from completing quests(until later when you will have faction vendors). Also, you might check out the Stormwind auction house where you might find some good stuff.

From lvl 15, some of the best gear you can get,will be looted from dungeons(try RDF).

Other than this, most likely you will find Blacksmiting a very good profession for your Warrrior. Professions help you a lot to gear up to lvl 85. Hope this helps in a way. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

PS: You seem new to WOW so maybe try some of the guides out there, they really help alot.

Answered by Fofole

Check more discussion of this question.

WoW Cataclysm - How to learn new abilities

Question

How to learn the new abilities i have got? It says to see the trainer. Where can I find them?

Asked by GeoStrike

Answer

You need to find your class trainer. Since you are a Warrior, the following list of warrior trainers should be what you are looking for.

Warrior Trainers

And since you are likely to have your heartstone in Stormwind at your level, you should check the Stormwind Warrior trainer.

Answered by Fofole

Check more discussion of this question.

How should I build a character that exclusively uses bound weapons?

Question

I am planning to make a Conjuration character that will only use bound weapons and their related perks. (No other conjuration perks will be needed, such the ones related to summoned atronachs and raising the dead.)

My main source of damage will be the bow, followed by the battleaxe. I don't plan on using one-handed weapons, only the battleaxe and the bow.

Since I will not be able to upgrade any weapon that I will be using, nor enchant it, I can ignore most of the Smithing and Enchanting Perks.

My Questions are :

1. Which other trees would be useful for my path?

2. Should I use Heavy, Light, or Robes (No armor, alteration way of life)

3. Is it viable to play the game on Master difficulty using only conjured weapons as my main source of damage?

Observations:

I Have no problems in using mods such as "Better Conjuration Bounded Weapons" (which increases the "Mystic Binding" perk to 3/3 instead of 1/1) or "Bound Weapons Damage Scales With Conjuration" (which is self-explanatory) and that sort of thing.

Asked by Marcello Grechi Lins

Answer

Generally speaking, as a weapon-using character, there's not going to be much difference between a bound weapon and a physical one. So, to answer your first question, the other trees useful to your path will be the same ones that are useful to any bow/battleaxe-wielding character.

As for armor choices, you might want to take a look at this question about warrior armor types, or this one about two-handed warrior mages.

Finally, since bound weapons are roughly equivalent in strength to Daedric weapons, I see no reason why using them on Master difficulty wouldn't be viable.

Answered by Brant

Check more discussion of this question.

How can I improve primary statistics in Fallout 2?

Question

Aside of using perks, what can I do during the gameplay in order to change my primary statistics?

Asked by Regent

Answer

Several of these enhancements require using a machine within a Brotherhood of Steel bunker in San Francisco. To gain access to this machine without killing anyone, complete 'Get the virtibird plans for the Brotherhood of Steel' quest. (And nab the Advanced Power Armor [+3 strength] and Blue Memory Module [+1 charisma] while you are doing it!) Make sure to give to the plans to the Brotherhood of Steel before the Shi, because the Shi will simply take the plans, where the Brotherhood will give you a copy!

All of these notes are disregarding gains through character creation, and through perks.

• Strength +1 via surgery, +3-4 via armor

  1. A strength above 7 is usually unnecessary during character creation. This is primarily because you will eventually find power armor which increases your strength by 3-4 depending on the armor. The suits of power armor are as follows: T-51b Power Armor Advanced Power Armor, and Advanced Power Armor Mk II. You can also make Hardened Power Armor from T-51b Power Armor.

  2. As posted in the other answer, the Red Memory Module can increase your strength by 1 when used within the Brotherhood of Steel bunker in San Francisco with ACE. You can find this chip in the vault within Vault City. It is behind one of the doors which is jammed on the second floor, and if memory serves, you can get to it with a strength of 7 and a crowbar. (use the crowbar on the door)

  3. You can also use Buffout to temporarily increase your strength by two. This can be useful in several situations, like getting to the memory chip in Vault City, or defeating the super mutant in Broken Hills at an arm wrestling challenge.

  4. Jet will temporarily increase strength by 1.

• Perception +1 via surgery

  1. The Green Memory Module can be used in the Brotherhood of Steel's San Francisco bunker to increase perception by 1. This chip can be found in the Military Base East of San Francisco and far West of NCR. It is on the third floor (you will need to repair the broken generator on the first floor) in a locker which is easily accessible without encountering any super mutants.

  2. Mentats will temporarily increase your perception by 2.

  3. Jet will temporarily increase perception by 1.

• Endurance

  1. You can only permanently increase this via the perks.

  2. You can temporarily increase endurance by using Buffout.

• Charisma +1 via surgery, +1 via item

  1. The Blue Memory Module can be used in the Brotherhood of Steel's San Francisco bunker to increase your charisma by 1. You can find this in Navarro, in the underground section, in a locker in the North West corner of the map. If I remember correctly, you need to be told about Navarro's existence before you can go there. Both Matt and Ron will give you a quest to go there.

  2. Mirrored Shades (when carried in an active item slot [the punch or kick slot]) will increase your charisma by 1. You can find these by digging up a grave in Golgotha, or by killing Mason who is a guard on the second floor of the Salvatores bar in New Reno.

  3. Mentats will temporarily increase your charisma by 1.

*You can find Golgotha by either talking to Jules for long enough (you see him when you first enter New Reno), from Myron when you tell him to 'Wait here.' after he has joined your squad (he will offer you a favor, let him tell you about it, you can promptly ditch him afterwords), or by completing the first mission given to you by the Salvatores (where Mason is).

• Intelligence +1 via surgery, +1 via game story element

  1. The Yellow Memory Module can be used in the Brotherhood of Steel bunker in San Francisco. The module can be found in the Sierra Army Depot which can be found by accepting the second quest from Orville Wright; 'Find a way into the Sierra Army Base'. You never have to actually complete this quest, it is just useful to get it so that you know where the base is. You must get this quest before becoming a made man with any other faction in New Reno, otherwise you will never get into the Sierra Army Depot.

  2. The Hubologist zeta scan in San Francisco can increase your intelligence by +1 and luck by +1. But, it can also simply decrease your luck by -1. So you may want to save first. Just let the 'celebrities who are not at all based on actual celebrities' give their speech (North end of the Hubologist compound which is found in the North East corner of San Francisco) and then talk to them about joining.

  3. Mentats will temporarily increase your intelligence by 2.

• Agility

  1. This can only be permanently increased by perks. Every point of agility gives you 1 action point, so putting this to 10 (9 if you plan on eventually getting the perk) at the beginning of the game is a good way to go.

  2. Buffout will temporarily increase agility by 2.

  3. Psycho will temporarily increase agility by 3.

• Luck +1-2 via game story elements, +1 via game encounter

  1. The Hubologist zeta scan in NCR can increase your luck by +1 or +2. But, it can also simply decrease your luck by -1. You may want to save before taking it. You can find this Hubologist alone in a building in the center of NCR.

  2. The Hubologist zeta scan in San Francisco can increase your luck by +1 and intelligence by +1. But, it can also simply decrease your luck by -1. So you may want to save first. Just let the 'celebrities who are not at all based on actual celebrities' give their speech (North end of the Hubologist compound which is found in the North East corner of San Francisco) and then talk to them about joining.

  3. Finally, the Pariah dog can increase your luck by 1 if you kill it before it joins your party. This dog can only be found in a random encounter. If you fail a luck roll, he joins your party and you suffer a loss of -1 luck until you kill him. If you manage to kill him.

There is another way to boost your SPECIAL stats legitimately:

Upon completing the game (or at least the main quest) and arriving back in San Francisco having destroyed the Enclave Oil Rig, you can travel to New Reno, and visit Father Tully. So long as he is conscious, (he is often passed out, you can just rest a little and see if he wakes up) you can talk to him and get a little reward: The Fallout 2 Hintbook. "Well, THIS would have been good to have at the beginning of the goddamn game." Using this book will boost all of your stats and skills to their maximum values. And give you a boatload of experience. You can use the book over and over.

Perhaps the best walkthrough for Fallout 2 I have found, which includes all of these details and countless more: http://user.tninet.se/~jyg699a/fallout2.html

Answered by Lemmings19

Check more discussion of this question.

Unhindered perk : *all* light armour?

Question

With the Unhindered Light Armour perk does it mean only the armour you are wearing has no weight, or all light armour you are carrying ie your loot from the latest battle.

Asked by Kevin D

Answer

It means only the armor you are wearing has no weight.

Answered by yx.

Check more discussion of this question.

Are the Necromancer's Golems of any use whatsoever in Diablo 2?

Question

The class I play most commonly in Diablo 2 is the Necromancer. I've always run the same build (below), but now I want to start trying some alternative builds to mix it up a bit and add some extra interest to my next playthrough.

I generally have stuck to this or similar:

• Raise Skeleton (20)
• Skeleton Mastery (20)
• Summon Resist (8-10)*
• Corpse Explosion (12-15)*
• 1 point in each curse, 5 in Confuse.*
• 1 in prerequisites

        * Extra points once I hit higher levels.

Works like a charm and gets me through all difficulties without much trouble.

This morning I had a close look at the Golem summons, thinking they might be cool to invest a fair amount of points in and then use Corpse Explosion + Lower Resist (For Fire Golem) or similar. I noticed however that all the golems as well as Golem Mastery are quite pathetic.

This makes me wonder.. Besides being a prerequisite for Summon Resist, are any of the Golems actually useful? If so, which one? They seem to die rather quickly and their damage seems to scale up extremely slowly (like 6% per point in an alternate Golem skill). Clay Golem honestly seems the most use with its slowing effect, but it requires 10+ points before it starts getting useful.

Any advice around using primarily a Golem summon and then a combination of other skills (bone and curses) is also helpful.

Asked by Marty Wallace

Answer

The Clay Golem is useful, as it slows down the attacker which allows you to interrupt their abilities (especially useful against bosses). You mentioned this yourself.

All it takes is one point. Resummoning is cheap, so there is no need to buff its health. Besides, +summoning skills will bring it acceptable levels anyway.

The cheap resummoning is also nice against bosses, as it allows you to summon an endless stream of new targets. Just buy enough mana potions beforehand.

So my advice: just invest that one point and resummon it when required.

Higher golems are not worth it. They die too quickly against bosses and don't do enough damage against normal mobs.

However, revived monsters are also useful in some cases. Again, just 1 point is enough as +summoning skill items will bring it to acceptable levels. And 1 point in all prerequisites, of course (I believe this includes some of the golems).

Around level 80, you'll have run out of other places to spend your points anyway.

Answered by Sjoerd

Check more discussion of this question.

In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, at what level are the perks unlocked in Multiplayer?

Question

For example: faster reloading, carrying 2 weapons, unlimited sprinting.

Asked by David Basarab

Answer

From here:

PERKS - SLOT ONE

• Marathon - Start
• Sleight of Hand - Start
• Scavenger - Lvl 13
• Bling - Lvl 21
• One Man Army - Lvl 45

PERKS - SLOT TWO

• Stopping Power - Start
• Lightweight - Start
• Hardline - Lvl 9
• Cold-Blooded - Lvl 25
• Danger Close - Lvl 33

PERKS - SLOT THREE

• Commando - Start
• Steady Aim - Start
• Scrambler - Lvl 17
• Ninja - Lvl 29
• SitRep - Lvl 37
• Last Stand - Lvl 41

The link also has the descriptions if you can't tell what each perk does based on its name.

Answered by Rawling

Check more discussion of this question.

In Call of Duty Modern Warefare 2, at what level are the perks unlocked in Multiplayer?

Question

For example: faster reloading, carrying 2 weapons, unlimited sprinting.

Asked by David Basarab

Answer

From here:

PERKS - SLOT ONE

• Marathon - Start
• Sleight of Hand - Start
• Scavenger - Lvl 13
• Bling - Lvl 21
• One Man Army - Lvl 45

PERKS - SLOT TWO

• Stopping Power - Start
• Lightweight - Start
• Hardline - Lvl 9
• Cold-Blooded - Lvl 25
• Danger Close - Lvl 33

PERKS - SLOT THREE

• Commando - Start
• Steady Aim - Start
• Scrambler - Lvl 17
• Ninja - Lvl 29
• SitRep - Lvl 37
• Last Stand - Lvl 41

The link also has the descriptions if you can't tell what each perk does based on its name.

Answered by Rawling

Check more discussion of this question.

What determines the cost to respec?

Question

In Kingdoms of Amalur, you have "Skills" and "Abilities". If you later want to change what you picked, you need to visit a fateweaver to respec. (This is also how you can pick where the original 3 pre-assigned points go)

But to actually do this, you need gold. How much gold? Well, it seems to vary. Is it a linear scale with level? Does it go down with time? Does it go up each time you do it? Does it vary with difficulty, perhaps? Does the formula change even between fateweavers, perhaps?

How does the game determine the cost to respec?

Asked by Raven Dreamer

Answer

Respec costs are tied into your character level and the number of previous respecs you've had. The difficulty level has no effect on the cost.

Respec cost = 256 * (Character Level) * (# of previous respecs)

In the exceptional case where the number of previous respecs is 0 because you haven't ever respecced before, plug 1 into the formula. Thus, the very first two respecs you do, if you're the same level for both of them, will cost the exact same amount.

I've tried at two different fate weavers, and it didn't affect the formula. The Mercantile skill also had no effect.

Answered by Sterno

Check more discussion of this question.

What is the key to a good sneak attack build?

Question

It's my second char, after a pure mage. It's supposed to be a one-handed/archer sneak attacker with Light Armor.

The build so far:

Race: Breton (for magic defense)

Level: ~18 (below 20, cant check right now)

Archery: 53, Overdraw 3

Sneak: 48, Stealth 3, Backstab, Deadly Aim

One-Handed: ~25-30, Armsman 2

The rest of the perks are in Alchemy and Speech for making money, to pay for level-up trainings. First I leveled Archery with Faendal to 50, then I got Alchemy to 50 for money and poisons. Next I want to get Athis as follower for free One-Handed training. I always prefer combat perks as they become available over money-making perks.

Equipment: Imperial/Elven Light Armor, Dwarven Bow/Arrows, no Enchantments so far.

Now the problem is, some enemies go down with 1, at most 2 sneak attack arrows. But there are many regular mobs (not to mention bosses) who have so insanely much health and/or armor, they can easily eat 10 sneak arrows, making for a very slow and tedious game. Additionally, one little mistake and it's reload time, since I cannot really stand against such opponents in open combat, even if they are already half-dead.

Coming from my level 40+ destruction mage who can obliterate most anything with one or two dual-casts at the second-highest difficulty level (first char) and who is practically immune to magic, I am very disappointed so far. I even had to turn down the difficulty to normal, with little effect.

So, what am I doing wrong, or is a sneak attacker always that weak around this level? What area do I have to improve most to one-shot most targets? Or do I have to start over with a new race and build?

Asked by Hackworth

Answer

Unfortunately, sneaky one shots are people using daggers (I use war axes from time to time as well) for the most part, not bows.

However, assuming the confirmed knowledge that you will never be able to drop all your targets in one hit has not stopped you from wanting to pursue an archer here are some pointers to consider.

• Sneak attacks are your openers.
• Just like an assassin doing a backstab, picking your initial location to start an engagement is key.
• Being able to slow your target is going to give you that much more time to deal with them. Consider the poisons that Eriuzo mentioned but more so, consider enchanting your bow with the highest charge lowest duration Frost you can get. With fast draw and good aim (which will get better the more you use it), you should be constantly pelting your target.
• Also consider the Paralyze enchantment in similar use to the frost above, you might want to fiddle with charges vs duration a bit more with this one however.
• Still go max sneak perks, as you will want to often be at range the entire time and being able to drop into a sneak to break targeting will be very helpful.
• Remember that Mobility is going to be very key for you, do not neglect stamina!
• If you find running around and shooting too tedius and just want to stare them down with your bow, remember you can block/bash with your bow.. Consider getting some of those perks to make your shoves matter more.
• Just as the mages Impact perk is important for staggering, so too is the archery 50/50 stagger perk.
• Seek out +Bow gear as soon as you can, every little bit helps. (There is some in the Dark Brotherhood and its fairly short to get to, unlike the horse which seemed to take forever to get the second time around :))
• Consider high perked pick pocketing.. The best arrows in the game are fairly annoying to come by. Some of the ways to generate these arrows better are to go to places where people practice archery and steal all their arrows, especially their active one, and then give them a single Daedric arrow.. They will then shoot out an infinite number of these that you can simply pick up off the target. Note that I am still torn about this as this is -alot- of perk points just to get arrows... Id almost say go to the fletcher, buy the arrows, save the game, kill the fletcher, reload the game and start the loop over as a more 'acceptable' way to overcome this.

Because possible enchantments on your weapon can play a pretty big part of how your character does what it does, consider doing the quest for Azura's star and turning it into the Black Star. Right now it can accept any soul and if you are taking out a bandit camp you can recharge every weapon fairly quickly with a grand soul they give you.

EDIT: Technically, there is a way within the game rules to make a bow powerful enough to one shot anything... but it is rather game breaking if you abuse the loop too much. Through Alchemy and Enchanting you can boost your smithing skill in an infinite loop. People have made weapons and armor with stats so high that it flips the internal value into the negatives (so, higher than 2.1 billion).

The technique to do this is commonly called the Restoration Loop

Answered by James

Check more discussion of this question.

Does staying level 1 reduce the requirements for gaining xp/levels?

Question

I read somewhere that staying level 1, and refusing to enter the level up screen, would allow you to get every perk.

I think the logic was something like... the game doesn't increase required experience for gaining skill levels until you take the level-up.

At first this seemed true, every sneak attack I landed raised me one full level in sneak, getting 100 right away. But grinding alchemy from 99-100 clearly doesn't have the same requirements as going from 01-02. So the game still seems to be keeping track of my levels.

If that's the case, can you really get every perk? Is there any advantage in refusing to level up, aside from easier enemies?

Asked by CreeDorofl

Answer

This is completely false.

The amount of experience required to gain a point of skill level is:

k(x^1.95 )+C

• k & C = are constants depending on the skill
• x is the current skill level

The values for sneak are:

k = 2/45 c = 32/3

Here are the experience required for the first 10 levels of sneak:

1 10.71111111
2 10.83838868
3 11.045287
4 11.33015679
5 11.69186759
6 12.12955919
7 12.642538
8 13.23022354
9 13.89211712
10 14.62778195

You'll notice that there is not much difference in the experience required early on as this is not a linear curve. To go from level 49-50 will require nearly 100 experience. This may lead to the false impression that staying at lower levels means your skills go up faster, but whats really happening is if your skill level is low, its easier to improve it.

As for whether or not you can gain every perk, the amount of experience required per level is:

Current level * 25 + 75

You gain the amount of experience points equal to the level of the skill you just obtained. The game will 'bank' any extra experience towards the next level, but the maximum experience you can gain in the game is absolute. There is no way to gain all the perks as you'll top out at level 81 even if you choose to not level up at all until you max all your skills.

Here is the entire XP curve for Sneak in case you are interested:

Answered by yx.

Check more discussion of this question.