[b42]Cornac Alchemist

[skein]

Counter, counter point.

5/5 channel staff gives you 120% weapon damage at range that cannot miss. This is powerful and useful for a measly mana cost. + Physical damage items add to your bump attack, they can total more then 20% easily, many other items add extra damage types to your bump attack. So in point of fact even with maxxed channel staff you can do more damage just bumping (counterintuitive I know). Assuming you can hit of course. Most of the time they will be very close in damage output with just 2 points in accuracy.

Some mobs suck all your mana out. There is a mid game ooze that just loves to do so. Whacking it with a staff to death is hilariously satisfying. Without the 2 points in accuracy you will miss level 5 critters. With 2 points in accuracy you hit the level 20 elite ooze of death.

This leads to the second point. Regular mobs are just not particularly dangerous. There is no particular reason to channel staff them when you can just whack them with ease.

If you are not starved for generic points later in the game it really means you did not bump the armor category. It is also very common to acquire the celestial lights category midgame from an escort and if you have those 2 categories you can easily spend an extra 30 generic points. Since you probably want all 20 in channel staff(5/5/5/5), 14 in stone alchemy(5/5/1/3), 17 in armor(5/10/2/0/0), and at least 4 in celestial lights(1/1/1/1) you have all ready accounted for 55 of your generic points (You only get 3 to start, 2 from a quest, 2 from a potion, and 40 from levels for a total of 47 btw). You are short 8 before you make any mistakes. As a late game alchemist I find generics very dear but class points useless instead of what you are indicating.

There is nothing at all wrong with increasing the golems effectiveness, it just does not increase dps or survivability to nearly the extent other options do. If you learn to rely on the golem as a tank early in the game you are just setting yourself up to die to mind or blood effects later in the game (or aoe spell damage, which is exactly how you win with bombs)

The main problem with alchemists is mobility. Without proper planning they have a very limited ability to move around. All classes suffer from death by stun, freezing, or confusion. Casters suffer from death by buff strippers or mana suckers.

[Frumple]

Physpower boosting items bump channel damage, as well -- it scales off weapon damage (and subsequently magic for staves, but not spellpower). Physical damage is only available on staves via the innuendo stick and star staves, which benefits from percentile physical damage and can be channeled, as well. There's literally no way for a normal melee attack to match a channel staff attack; once it matches the percentile output (3/5 it tips over 100%), a channel staff attack will always and forever hit harder than a plain attack can (and it probably will most of the time before that, as well, due to the infinite armor pen). To boot, channel staff crits off spellcrit instead of physical, so you're going to be critting more with it instead of plain attacks unless you're doing something rather odd with your kit loadout. To put it simply, a channel attack is a melee bump at range with infinite accuracy and armor penetration -- and a +20% modifier once channel's maxed. That stacks with whatever other +% damage you're toting (probably a chunkload of fire! Or whatever infusion you're running, because you used command to swap your staff damage type over to that.).

I do need to check and see if on-hit stuff applies to channel staff; that, maybe not. I don't think so, actually, but give me a bit (I'll edit this or reply later, when the alch I just started finds something that offers it) to double check. It's going to be pretty difficult to match 120% boost with infinite APR and autohit with on-hit or on-melee stuff on an alchie, though; most of the good stuff for those comes on non-staff weapons or armor you really don't particularly want to be wearing. But I'll give that in some very fringe cases, probably via rares on odd kit, you might be able to match and even surpass the channel damage bonus with on-hit/melee. A little bit. I'm not entirely sure enough to be worth two generic points, y'know? Checked:On-melee stuff (Withering orbs, in this case) definitely doesn't apply to channel staff. Thats a possible advantage for plain attack, especially in the early to early-mid game. Not sure it's much compared to the infinite armor pen and autohit, though Later, the 20% will almost certainly be more than you can stack up on-melee damage.

It's definitely a different playstyle if you've put anything into the staff combat talents beyond the first two, though -- I can see some into defensive stance now that its malus has been removed, but blunt thrust is kinda' ridiculous (because you shouldn't be in melee anyway, and if you are, you should be dropping an acid or frost bomb or somethin', or teleporting out.) and 5/5ing it even moreso. I also tend to not invest in stone touch because I've always found it to be pretty unreliable (though I haven't touched it in quite a few versions, so things may have changed) -- between those three, that's 13 generics freed up to go elsewhere... if you get the light tree. Moreso if you don't.

10/10 armor is also incredibly strange, unless for some reason you're wearing mail. You've definitely got the fatigue wiggle room to do that, but almost every piece of armor that actually synergizes with alchemists are robes and most of the bonus from armor training just doesn't apply to those, unless the description's gone bottom up and is completely inaccurate now. Which if it has, well, maybe. Pretty much every alch I've tried has walked over everything up to the high peak with only a single point into it I'll double check this quicklike, as well -- almost got a dwarf alche out of rek while I was typing this. Checked: Armor training does absolutely nothing for robes. Which may actually be a bug, 'cause I thought it was changed to boost hardiness regardless. Hrm.

So I'm not quite sure how useful it is, yeah. Anyway, with that, that'd be another nine free generics; 22 total (26 vs what you presented, if you don't manage to luck out and get light). That's why I'd say you've got generics to waste on an alchemist.

[wobbly]

On the subject of alchemist builds, where do people tend to take there escort rewards? On the alchie or the golem?

[Frumple]

Depends on the reward, really. I'll stick disarm on the golem instead of picking up mindsear or a single stat point or whatev', ferex, or toss it healing light if I manage to nab a second ano-whatsit. Duplicates in general tend to get sent to the golem, mostly.

Some things there's no real point to give the golem, though. Everything the thief offers, ferex, except maybe piercing sight. Critter's already got infravision 10, its AI happily steps on traps, and companions that discover traps (via facecheck or otherwise) don't inform you, so. Yeah.

Warrior stuff I probably won't stick on the golem, either, unless I'm doing a pure str or mag golem build (I usually go hybrid, get 5/5 mirror skin eventually and a point in most everything else), as they won't have particularly high con to benefit from it.

Other than that, most of it goes on the alch unless the alch's already got it. Pretty simple.

Unless, of course, I've decided to try something weird again. I never have gotten around to seeing if the golem can 15/5 thick skin, heh. Dunno if the gold change fixed that possibility or not. Still, harmony, providence, etc., etc. There's some things you can pull if you're feeling frisky, even if they tend to be silly.