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derressh
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 1 Arc User
So, in light of the recent announcement about moving to the new skill leveling system, I'd like to make a thread about people's opinions about certain skills. Whether they feel certain ones should be maxed, or even bought in the first place. I'm planning on this more-so being a debate thread, rather than one worrying about min-maxing (though obviously, if the min-maxers want to come here for ideas, I'm not going to stop them).
Obviously, until BWE4 opens up, most of the thoughts will be conjecture, since certain skills might have different additions at each level that might not be entirely necessary.
Once BWE4 starts, I'll compile a list of what each skill adds at each level to help the discussion a bit more.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Base:
Magic Missile
Rank up: 10% dmg
Ray of Frost
Rank up: 10% dmg
Chill Strike
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.33s stun
Oppressive Force
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.5s daze
Orb of Imposition
Rank up: Buff +5%
5 pt:
Conduit of Ice
Rank up: 10% dmg
Entangling Force
Rank up: 10% dmg, 10% debuff, -2s CD
10 pt:
Arcane Singularity
Rank up: 10% dmg
Ice Storm
Rank up: 10% dmg, 10% knockback
15 pt:
Repel
Rank up: 10% dmg, 5% push
Arcane Presence
Rank up: +33% benefit
Chilling Presence
Rank up: +1% / stack
20 pt:
Chilling Cloud
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.5s and +2.5% debuff
Shield
Rank up: 5% resist, 10% dmg, 1% push
Evocation
Rank up: 5% dmg
(+ all skills can now be upgraded to rank 3)
30 pt:
Icy Terrain
Rank up: 10% dmg, -2s CD
Sudden Storm
Rank up: 10% dmg
Storm Fury
Rank up: 10% dmg
35 pt:
Storm Pillar
Rank up: 10% dmg
Ray of Enfeeblement
Rank up: 10% dmg, 5% debuff
40 pt:
Ice Knife
Rank up: 10% dmg
Storm Spell
Rank up: 10% dmg
45 pt:
Icy Rays
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.25s immobilize
Steal Time
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.25s stun, +0.1s slow, +0.1s buff
50 pt:
Shard of the Endless Avalanche
Rank up: 10% dmg, -5s CD
Maelstrom of Chaos
Rank up: 15% dmg
Eye of the Storm
Rank up: +2s buff
___________________________________________________________________________________
- To start it off, obviously I feel that maxing the two at-wills you plan on using the most is absolutely necessary (Magic Missile, and Ray of Frost for me).
- Personally, I don't think I'm going to use Conduit of Ice at all. Never really saw it being that useful in BWE3, and replaced it as my AoE damage as soon as I could. But unfortunately, we need 30 points before we can start to +3 skills.
- I didn't get past level 28, so I didn't get to test out Shield or Shard of the Endless Avalanche. What do you think about these skills, and if they're a forget, 1-off, or max?
- Looking at Shard of the Endless Avalanche's rank up, shortening the cooldown by 10 seconds makes it seem like it would be amazing to max.
- If Ray of Enfeeblement increases the debuff intensity, I'll definitely level it. Anything else (extra damage, reduced CD, increased charges) and I think I'll just get level 1
- Did anyone use Icy Terrain to great effect during the BWEs? Maybe I was just using it wrong, but it seemed rather lackluster.
Obviously, until BWE4 opens up, most of the thoughts will be conjecture, since certain skills might have different additions at each level that might not be entirely necessary.
Once BWE4 starts, I'll compile a list of what each skill adds at each level to help the discussion a bit more.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Base:
Magic Missile
Rank up: 10% dmg
Ray of Frost
Rank up: 10% dmg
Chill Strike
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.33s stun
Oppressive Force
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.5s daze
Orb of Imposition
Rank up: Buff +5%
5 pt:
Conduit of Ice
Rank up: 10% dmg
Entangling Force
Rank up: 10% dmg, 10% debuff, -2s CD
10 pt:
Arcane Singularity
Rank up: 10% dmg
Ice Storm
Rank up: 10% dmg, 10% knockback
15 pt:
Repel
Rank up: 10% dmg, 5% push
Arcane Presence
Rank up: +33% benefit
Chilling Presence
Rank up: +1% / stack
20 pt:
Chilling Cloud
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.5s and +2.5% debuff
Shield
Rank up: 5% resist, 10% dmg, 1% push
Evocation
Rank up: 5% dmg
(+ all skills can now be upgraded to rank 3)
30 pt:
Icy Terrain
Rank up: 10% dmg, -2s CD
Sudden Storm
Rank up: 10% dmg
Storm Fury
Rank up: 10% dmg
35 pt:
Storm Pillar
Rank up: 10% dmg
Ray of Enfeeblement
Rank up: 10% dmg, 5% debuff
40 pt:
Ice Knife
Rank up: 10% dmg
Storm Spell
Rank up: 10% dmg
45 pt:
Icy Rays
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.25s immobilize
Steal Time
Rank up: 10% dmg, +0.25s stun, +0.1s slow, +0.1s buff
50 pt:
Shard of the Endless Avalanche
Rank up: 10% dmg, -5s CD
Maelstrom of Chaos
Rank up: 15% dmg
Eye of the Storm
Rank up: +2s buff
___________________________________________________________________________________
- To start it off, obviously I feel that maxing the two at-wills you plan on using the most is absolutely necessary (Magic Missile, and Ray of Frost for me).
- Personally, I don't think I'm going to use Conduit of Ice at all. Never really saw it being that useful in BWE3, and replaced it as my AoE damage as soon as I could. But unfortunately, we need 30 points before we can start to +3 skills.
- I didn't get past level 28, so I didn't get to test out Shield or Shard of the Endless Avalanche. What do you think about these skills, and if they're a forget, 1-off, or max?
- Looking at Shard of the Endless Avalanche's rank up, shortening the cooldown by 10 seconds makes it seem like it would be amazing to max.
- If Ray of Enfeeblement increases the debuff intensity, I'll definitely level it. Anything else (extra damage, reduced CD, increased charges) and I think I'll just get level 1
- Did anyone use Icy Terrain to great effect during the BWEs? Maybe I was just using it wrong, but it seemed rather lackluster.
Post edited by derressh on
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My main concern is the action point gain, but comparing damage would be no problem to check.
Then I gonna craft some leadership (there was a 'dungeon plan' crafting ingridient, I wonder if it's possible to craft a paper hat out of it)
Finally grabbed a guardian pack for myself, so I'll get to test everything before it's truly permanent, yay.
It's another thing is that I have no idea how much it changed at those levels, because since it was done automatically and for free I never checked the increas(and since previous levels were hidden after getting higher ones it was hard to check anyway)
Link: http://www.twitch.tv/neverwintergame/b/389644513
If you're curious, here's the layout:
Base: Magic Missile, Ray of Frost, Chill Strike, Oppressive Force, Orb of Imposition
5 pt: Conduit of Ice, Entangling Force
10 pt: Arcane Singularity, Ice Storm
15 pt: Repel, Arcane Presence, Chilling Presence
20 pt: Chilling Cloud, Shield, Evocation(+ all skills have rank 3 available)
30 pt: Icy Terrain, Sudden Storm, Storm Fury
35 pt: Storm Blast, Ray of Enfeeblement
40 pt: Ice Knife, Storm Spell
45 pt: Icy Rays, Steal Time
50 pt: Shard of the Endless Avalanche, Maelstrom of Chaos, Eye of the Storm
Thanks for that, I'll add it to the thread and update each skill with what it changes each level later today when I get in-game.
Unfortunately, I notice now that we need to +2 every skill before 30 in order to get the 30 points required to get to the next tier. Unfortunate, since I was originally planning on ignoring a couple of those skills.
From just what I've heard, I don't think I'll mind it too much. However, that could all change when I'm dropped in-game and get to try it out myself. It will feel a little wonky at first not being able to pick up skills I had before, but at the same time, I'll be able to get others that I didn't have. It seems like they just shifted the levels you get skills around for balance.
1. Are you going to focus on Arcane or Chill, or try to use both? There are separate class feature powers for each of these, including one that lets your Arcane damage bonus work on Cold powers.
2. Which of the three Paragon feat paths are you taking? Each of these trees has bonuses for specific powers as well as a capstone feat which, again, buffs or changes a specific power. You will want these powers at level 3, and if you have chosen powers which are not buffed by these paragon feats, you will feel your points have been "wasted."
3. Are you going to focus on the Storm Caller Paragon Path? Because this Path alone has an encounter, a daily, an at-will, and two class feature powers, but is not unlocked until halfway through your leveling process.
4. Do you have single-target DPS powers to slot when you are fighting a Boss immune to control effects? When soloing, this boss is probably at the end of the mission chain in your zone. When teaming, most dungeon bosses are immune to your control. You need powers which will do damage to the boss, and some AoEs to take out the inevitable minion adds.
As an example, I chose to avoid Chill powers because, while Chill is better for control, I simply am not excited by the idea of being an ice mage. Because I chose to focus on Arcane powers only, and my Paragon Path, I didn't rank up Ray of Frost. I did buy every power at Rank 1, but I did not rank up Ice Knife (even though it is great single damage DPS) or Icy Terrain (great control) because my focus is on Arcane powers.
My Paragon feat tree ends with a Magic Missile capstone power, so obviously I need that and my Paragon At-Will. Another feat I have buffs Ray of Enfeeblement and the Paragon Encounter power; I tried using it, as it is AoE damage, but found it problematic so swapped it out for Repel, which is absolutely invaluable when soloing. But, when I'm in a team and don't want Repel (because it knocks mobs away from the fighters and the rogue), I can swap the Storm back in and still capitalize on my feat choices.
Hope some folks find this useful.
Seven Against Thay: An RP-Focused Guild for all Races and Classes
I hadn't looked at the numbers, but as derressh points out, you have no choices until level 30. You have to max every skill there (to rank 2). You can slightly change the order, but ultimately everything there you'll have to take. I wonder if they consider those spells the core spells for the class, and they want to make sure everyone has them for content balance. Like if they want to make sure that all Guardian Fighters get the AOE Taunt.
It's not really how I thought the system would work, but I guess there's some design sense to it.
The one that doesn't make sense to me is both Arcane Presence and Chilling Presence. I feel like that's a clear area where a Wizard might want to take one over the other, instead of being forced to have ranks in both but only end up using one.
Kinda makes the class feature lame until you get another power. Yeah, you get a mastery version of a spell, but having access to more spells was a greater boon, IMO.
So the 30 points required => 2 in every of your first 15 powers theory isn't true in the stream, at a minimum.
Ah, good catch. I updated the table in my other post. That does make it better. You'll be four points shy of maxing everything before hitting 20 points, so that's two skills to skip completely or four skills left at rank 1.
I'm sad...
Yeah, I noticed that when I got on and started putting my skill points in. Updated the OP to reflect that.
I haven't been using AS so far. (description sounded counterproductive) How do you utilize it? Is it part of a sequence or rotation that makes it awesome? Just looking for advice, thanks.
You... I... What. Gathering all mobs in a huge area up in one spot so you can easily AoE, holding them there for a while, and doing a ton of damage...sounds counterproductive? You utilize it by using it on any group of mobs. Like, at all. They will proceed to be helpless and die.
I get the point that it is a good skill for solo play, and I understand the mechanics, but it seems counter productive in a group. I was just wondering how/when you would use it in group play. It just seems that Ice Storm would be better in almost all situations.
That's a good point if the mobs are tough enough to survive an Ice Storm. I usually kill everything in it's area, but I understand what you mean. Next questions; Is AS targeted on you or can you place it somewhere else?
That's the key piece of information I did not get from the description. Thanks for the help.
I loved Conduit of Ice, but only in the Spell Mastery slot. The AoE was quite decent, and moved with the target, so as the mobs ran in, they were gaining Chill stacks, and I could use Ray of Frost to freeze one as it ran in, then freeze another 2 before Conduit finished(careful not to kill the Conduit or the spell ends). I can imagine using this tactic with Icy Terrain(which also ticks Chill stacks and freezes) would be a groovy AoE freeze after a few seconds, but I also didn't get to test Icy Terrain. That and Steal Time and you've got nice AoE stun potential.
I'm going to try a Cold/Arcane combo renegade, hoping Shard works the way it sounds, building up Arcane Mastery while I cast a couple cold spells and then returning to Magic Missile.
Shield was great. I like Repel in solo mode, but after getting Shield I ditched it. The damage it reduces isn't huge, the dmg done isn't huge, the distance pushed isn't Repel...but it does all 3, and the push is 360 degrees. The downside is the recast time to bring it up during combat(about 2 secs), but I rarely needed to. A great defensive spell I thought, not OP but useful. I wouldn't waste Spell Mastery on it though.
Thanks for the info derressh