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I have a very new empath (12th circle) and am trying to sort out how to use her spell slots once preview is done. Mostly a combat empath, want to keep training all the magic types.
I remember reading here recently, though I can't find the post, that IC is mainly effective when you can put a lot of mana into it. I did find one older post linked on Elanthipedia that discusses this. Melete said, "... if you are casting it very low, it may not 'trigger' often because you're not being hit hard enough for it to kick in."
Does it have any valuable effect at all even if the messaging (the adamantine sheen, according to elanthipedia) doesn't go off? Because from a novice's point of view, this spell does absolutely nothing--I've never seen the adamantine sheen message, and even though I've been overhunting a little, the hardest hit I've experienced has been solid. But IC is our only way to train warding with an empath spell at low ranks. Manifest Force is a possibility for both training and usefulness (I see a dramatic difference with that up), but it also requires Ease Burden, so it costs another spell slot, and it doesn't open up any spells in the empath spellbooks, of course. And I'd quite like those, down the line. (AD, GS, etc.)
I'd just like some feedback and maybe advice. Is IC any good for low-level empaths? Would another option be better? Is IC doing something invisible to me? If it doesn't have a practical effect until I'm much more skilled, but it does train Warding, is that good enough to be worth investing in?
With the largest casts my Empath can muster, the ONLY time I ever see the spell proc is when something has gone really wrong, I'm down to ~20% vitality, and am getting taken down with very wounding hits. It perhaps makes this process take a bit longer, and has maybe afforded the opportunity to escape once or twice, but really the only time I see it do anything is when I'm already well and truly boned.
If all you want is Warding training, I'd suggest just using MaF, or Tranquility when you can cast it. If you want an actual defensive spell to cast for combat, I'd recommend picking up a spellscroll with another guilds barrier spell.
If all you want is Warding training, I'd suggest just using MaF, or Tranquility when you can cast it. If you want an actual defensive spell to cast for combat, I'd recommend picking up a spellscroll with another guilds barrier spell.
>>But IC is our only way to train warding with an empath spell at low ranks. Manifest Force is a possibility for both training and usefulness (I see a dramatic difference with that up), but it also requires Ease Burden, so it costs another spell slot, and it doesn't open up any spells in the empath spellbooks, of course. And I'd quite like those, down the line. (AD, GS, etc.)
If you're not a fan of ease burden, MAF requires one of Gauge Flow, Ease Burden or Strange Arrow. Why not get Gauge Flow and then have access to magic research? Depending on your skills this could be a great choice. Or even STRA and have a decent starting TM for hitting constructs?
IC has the advantage of not being ablative like MAF (fades as it takes hits). You're right in that low casts of it aren't very noticeable.
https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Post:Iron_Constitution_-_12/07/2012_-_22:15
>> Let's say that damage goes from 1 to 30. If you cast iron constitution, it sets a value between 1 and 30 based on the spell's potency. So if you cast it and it sets the value at 20, any hit that is over 20 is reduced to 20. Or if you cast it at 10, any hit that is over 10 is reduced to 10.
>> It is working for me, but if you are casting it very low, it may not 'trigger' often because you're not being hit hard enough for it to kick in.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
If you're not a fan of ease burden, MAF requires one of Gauge Flow, Ease Burden or Strange Arrow. Why not get Gauge Flow and then have access to magic research? Depending on your skills this could be a great choice. Or even STRA and have a decent starting TM for hitting constructs?
IC has the advantage of not being ablative like MAF (fades as it takes hits). You're right in that low casts of it aren't very noticeable.
https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Post:Iron_Constitution_-_12/07/2012_-_22:15
>> Let's say that damage goes from 1 to 30. If you cast iron constitution, it sets a value between 1 and 30 based on the spell's potency. So if you cast it and it sets the value at 20, any hit that is over 20 is reduced to 20. Or if you cast it at 10, any hit that is over 10 is reduced to 10.
>> It is working for me, but if you are casting it very low, it may not 'trigger' often because you're not being hit hard enough for it to kick in.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
I find the problem with IC to be that the sorts of hits it reduces, it's reducing significantly, BUT, I'm only getting those hits because I've been whittled down by a bunch of other hits it didn't reduce. I'm not remotely sure how to test or simulate this, but my sense is that it's better to provide a flat reduction for all hits than to significantly reduce only large ones.
For example, if IC will only proc over 20 damage, and reduce everything above 20 to 20, you can see how that would be a significant damage reduction in the face of numerous 40 damage hits. However, if something like CoL takes 5 damage from the top of all blows, and you only get hit for more than 20 damage after you've been beaten up a bunch, you can see that CoL might very well prevent you from getting beaten up in the first place. The only time I see IC proc is after I've been beaten off balance, something that I feel could be prevented all together with either a lower damage proc from IC, or, a different barrier.
What if the proc damage level was set inversely to the potency of the barrier, within a given range. So low casts proc more frequently but for much less, with a proc activation profile that leads up to what it is presently at, I dunno, half mana cap?
The problem with that is that you start getting into the same issues as all the other barrier spells that have massively changed combat.
I suspect you won't see any changes until they figure out what they want to do with barriers.
Weapons for Sale:
http://www.elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/User:Caraamon#Wares
Hunta Talna Kortok, built by Gor'Togs, for Gor'Togs
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/caraamon/home.html
I suspect you won't see any changes until they figure out what they want to do with barriers.
Weapons for Sale:
http://www.elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/User:Caraamon#Wares
Hunta Talna Kortok, built by Gor'Togs, for Gor'Togs
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/caraamon/home.html
