ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Everyone know the obvious amazing talents like Unstoppable, Bone Shield, Time Shield, Dimensional Step, Fire Drake, and Providence, but many great talents are often overlooked by most players. This goal of this thread is to enlighten others about the awesomeness of underrated and underused talents. I'll start with a few talents I think get less appreciation than they deserve.

Overmind
Controlling your Thought-Forms is very good for killing enemies from outside of LoS. I've cleared Dreadfell vaults and killed The Master almost entirely with Overmind on Insane. Thought-Forms do a surprisingly high amount of damage when Overmind is sustained and the leash range of 10 isn't a big deal since you can always hide around a corner or just dig your own hideout.

Rimebark
Rimebark is great for freezing large groups of enemies. Sure it can mess up your own summons but with good positioning, it can trivialize large groups of enemies. With Movement Infusions, you can easily position yourself where you can set up your Rimebark for maximum crowd control and summon Ritch Flamespitter, Hydra, and Fire Drake to kill your enemies from afar.

Dark Portal
Most players get 1/5 in this for the teleport, but few realize just how strong its disease is. It lowers stats by less than Virulent Disease, but it actually does more damage at 5/5 and unlike Virulent Disease, it's AoE so you don't have to bother with Cyst Burst. Additionally, its disease can't be saved against, so you can use it on anyone who isn't immune.

I would add, regarding Dark Portal, that not many players seem to realize that it's actually a precise, directed teleport. The AoE applies only to the disease effect - you always teleport to the square you click on.

I don't think that most people realize that Dreamscape can crit (or could the last time I tried it), increasing your damage bonus.

Parcae2 wrote:I would add, regarding Dark Portal, that not many players seem to realize that it's actually a precise, directed teleport. The AoE applies only to the disease effect - you always teleport to the square you click on.

I don't think that most people realize that Dreamscape can crit (or could the last time I tried it), increasing your damage bonus.

Good point about Dark Portal, it's really easy to overlook that.

Dreamscape crits must be amazing, the damage bonus at 5/5 will probably exceed 120% with good gear. I should try that out some time. Do you know if it can also crit for duration or just for damage?

I tend to max out bloodbath very early on classes that have it. Even if your crit rate isn't that high yet, you get back so much stamina that you can get away with just a single point in quick recovery.

Not sure I can really call this underrated, but guides seem to give it lower priority.

The MOST underused talent in the game, but one of the very best talents, imho, is Discharge. the whole tree rocks, once you understand how to use it.

Mindlock is also barely used, but incredible at high levels. This is the talent that freezes creatures in their sleep state.

Don't you run into the problem of sleep-resistant enemies if you try to build around that? Sleep/Nightmare is good no matter your investment, so better to have damage options elsewhere too right? Do you take Discharge before Nightmare?

Underrated talents in my opinion:

Cunning/Dirty Fighting: Dirty Fighting - People note this as the second stun for Rogue Metaclass. However, where Dirty Fighting probably shines the most is when you fail to stun enemies - it's a free hit for a little more damage at 10 stamina.
Spell/Divination: Arcane Eye - While you'll likely be looking for other generic sinks to be putting your talent points, like Aegis, Conveyance, and whatever else; Arcane Eye can offer some interesting utility in tracking enemies.
Celestial/Light: Barrier - It takes a turn to cast, and blocks only a small amount, but Barrier is actually surprisingly useful for its long duration. Set this to auto-cast when enemies aren't nearby and you will be entering combat with a damage shield a lot of the time.

MarginalMagus wrote:Don't you run into the problem of sleep-resistant enemies if you try to build around that? Sleep/Nightmare is good no matter your investment, so better to have damage options elsewhere too right? Do you take Discharge before Nightmare?

yes, i normally take discharge before nightmare.

discharge hits everyone, you can't resist it, other than mind-dmg resistance