Random questions

Hardened leather doesn't increase magic damage, only melee weapons and bows. Carapacian cloth increases your spell critical chance. Fustian cloth massively increases your focus.

 

Of note, you can run around in a Chain Chestpiece (which will allow you to use the various Heavy Armor skills) and then equip the rest of your armor as cloth armor.

 

The bonuses you get from Leather are physical weapon related, either crit chance or weapon damage, which serves no purpose to a mage build. Sure, there are a bit more resistances, but the material bonus is completely wasted.

Meanwhile Cloths material bonuses are either extra focus or spell crit chance, both very useful for spellcasters.

I would recommend starting with Fustian Cloth as a first set, as it is WAY cheaper and Carapacian, and the bonus difference isn't all that huge.

 

If you do this then I believe you don't get any armor skill bonus.

 

Correct, I will not get the full Armor Bonus. But I am able to cast many spells without too much trouble. It’s perfect for some situations, but not all.

 

You will get zero armor set bonus.

 

I think the goal, though, is to get access to the heavy armor skills with minimal fizzle from gear; even if that means forgoing the armor bonus.

 

Yeah, but +25% bonus is pretty significant.

 

True, but I know mage builds have been doing that forever, so presumably the benefits outweigh the lack of armor bonus. I can't really argue it one way or the other as to what is actually better, I've never run a mage build.

 

That "trick" is widely used not only by pure mages.

Trigger alert!

(From my personal experience)
In PvP 8/10 top players will wear heavy and one third-ish of that will be using the heavy + light as described. Mainly mages do that, but there are even physical combat users that do the mix as well. Having body slam available is very useful in any setting I guess.

I think I'll try it in the future.

 

The reasoning behind using a chain chest and rest cloth for mages is for the benefits that the Heavy armor skills give. You get increased Strength which results in increased HP, which means more survivability, you have increased defenses through resistance and avoidance, which once again means more survivability, the increased Strength also gives you slightly better stun resistance. You also get access to the skill "Knights Grace" which is an amazing cleansing skill. Body slam isn't necessarily what most mages are going for when using a chain chest, as they will usually be kiting mobs, but it is a nice tool when in a 1v1 scenario.

 

Long way 'round to say I was right.

 

I know why. I was just pointing out that you get zero armor set bonus if you wear a heavy chest and everything else is light.

 

108. I've asked this question before but thought maybe the answer might have changed over the last few months: Where are the best places in the game to either farm gold or farm things that can be sold for gold?

Last I checked the Kobold Expeditionary Camp was near the top. The naughty brats in east sanctus forest were decent as well.

 

How fast you can kill things and collect gold is different for everyone.

But some suggestions from the top 5 places people get gold is Tartarus, Sequanna Colossus, The Breach, Forest siege encounters and The Panopticon.

 

109. So this one might be a bit long-winded. I've been back playing offline for quite awhile because I got fed up with grinding online. I've also been playing around with saved-game editing to jackup my AL and the majority of my skills to 200 (the maximum from what I understand).

I've jacked up all of my Polearm and Heavy Armor specs to 200. I have most of my water specs up to 200 except cone of cold which is "only" at about 140. The "important" skills in other trees that I use (berserker stance, aetheric feedback, strength of earth, earth's embrace, banish undead, elysian illumination et al) are at 200. Most of my crafting skills are "only" around 120, but I have a full set of bronze armor where every piece has been masterworked and enchanted 3 times each. I have socketed, enchanted and masterworked rings, a socketed, enchanted and masterworked bronze halberd, a cloth belt and a cloth cloak that have both been enchanted and masterworked. I beat all 3 of the bosses that drop aether potion recipes and have crafted a bunch of them. Corpion poison is what I use.

Yet I STILL can't solo the throne room battle in Lord British's Castle (I don't even know if that's the last battle in that quest). I can't solo control points either, but I'd be willing to concede that you're not SUPPOSED to be able to solo control points.

I can solo the package quest in the Obsidian Panopticon (and often do so because it's a good place to farm supply bundles). I can solo the Roedeberk's Sarcophagus quest, the Ulfheim dragon (a fun one) and Riei Firefeather. I was able to solo the water and fire bosses in The Breach but not the air boss. I'm pretty sure I've defeated at least one Ancient Ferocious Obsidian Golem too.

Is it SUPPOSED to be impossible to beat some of those battles solo in offline mode?

 

All of those things are soloable in Online mode, which means it's even more possible Offline, as mobs are scaled down.

Here are various reasons why you might not be able to solo them currently :

1. Your decks could use some improvement. Good deck building is a skill, and is nearly as much important as everything else in terms of pushing the limits.

2. You are forgetting valuable skills. Fighting something that poisons? Did you make sure to bring Purify in one of your decks?

3. Builds have limits to what they can achieve, maybe those things you are attempting aren't possible with that specific build.

4. Are you using the environment? In Lord British's castle, you need to put an obstacle between you and the archers, it's a must, it is made to be challenging.

Bringing a bludgeon weapon on another deck to use its insane CC is something you should consider if you haven't already, for bosses, it's so useful!

Also, poison, make sure you got poisons like the Festering Death poison for bosses, and Corpion poison for groupes, and that should give you a nice bonus!

 

Offline is simply a reflection of online. There are no special rules or difficulty scaling in offline, so the places that require a group are still going to require a group, even though you can't group.

 

I think where you are actually stuck, is in how to use your various skills effectively. Just running off to offline and raising all skills to 200 doesn’t actually make you a walking god.

You will now need to know how to use all of your various skills in an effective way, and use them in the many different situations that will face you. You will need to adapt and change your tactics to different situations and also then use those skills effectively.

 

Sort of. They haven't really done much for offline in years. Stuff made for groups in online isn't adjusted to make it doable solo in offline, it's exactly the same. They have neither the manpower nor the desire to make offline a viable way to play the game, outside of just making all the content available to you.