ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Hi!

Currently playing a shalore reaver that has gotten both the light tree and the stone alchemy tree . Hoorray! I'm planning to skip curses, hexes and torment entirely and I'm eagerly waiting for my + 30 % all damage +10 % all crit chances along with 5 merchant randarts and healing/shielding while killing things via the light tree .

I've calculated that I have 8-9 points left for the light tree (I can spend less points too, I have plenty of places to put them). The question is, what would you do with the light tree with 8-9 points? Does providence cure one status effect every turn or is it just the first turn??

Depending on what providence does, I'm thinking going 1/2-1-1-5 or 5-1-1-1/2. What do you think?

Thanks in advance.

Providence removes a negative effect every turn, making it one of the best status effect removal skills.

Wow, that makes my decision that much easier.

Thanks!

I actually feel like Barrier could be a good investment since you get a free melee attack when casting it, so it's not a wasted turn in melee like it would be for most characters.

You won't have the points left after Stone Alchemy, but otherwise it's good to consider 2/1/5/5.

Managed to one-shot my own character from full HP with timeless + double virulent disease + catalepsy combo...

However, the very first reaver I created after this got the light tree and stone alchemy from Norgos' Lair after like 5 minutes of playing

The odds of getting both the escorts you want in the very first dungeon you clear are pretty slim so hoorray!

I'm probably gonna continue with my skelly AB before resuming this new reaver run though.

I would do Light over Stone Alchemy any day since healing and shielding from light tree trigger a melee hit, not to mention the usefulness of providence. If only Reavers as melee beasts would increase Magic over Strength it would make light really good investment.. Oh, wait.

Besides Stone Alchemy ain't that good without the prodigy and when it comes to prodigies you can pick many really useful ones instead.

Torment is another thing; Overkill is.. overkill. More Vim won't hurt and the heal reducer will come handy at times.

For Corruptor I would do Torment over Light any day, but for Reaver I would say it's 50/60 between Light and Torment.

Faeryan wrote:I would do Light over Stone Alchemy any day since healing and shielding from light tree trigger a melee hit, not to mention the usefulness of providence. If only Reavers as melee beasts would increase Magic over Strength it would make light really good investment.. Oh, wait.

Besides Stone Alchemy ain't that good without the prodigy and when it comes to prodigies you can pick many really useful ones instead.

Torment is another thing; Overkill is.. overkill. More Vim won't hurt and the heal reducer will come handy at times.

For Corruptor I would do Torment over Light any day, but for Reaver I would say it's 50/60 between Light and Torment.

Light is better than Stone Alchemy on Reavers until they get Draconic Will (if Shalore), at which point Stone Alchemy becomes better since you no longer need Providence. If you aren't going Shalore and Getting Draconic Will, Light is probably better. You should be able to afford the prodigy point on Correaver builds but on melee builds you'd probably want Flexible Combat and Draconic Will for your two prodigies.

I'm surprised Survival hasn't been mentioned, considering how good Charm Mastery is it's definitely worth the category point since you don't have anywhere particularly interesting to spend it. I'd take some combination of Light, Stone Alchemy, and Survival for the two categories I unlock when playing Reavers.

I disagree about Torment for Corruptors but I wouldn't take Light either. Shadowflame is better than Torment for the global speed since vim isn't an issue thanks to Bloodcasting and Bone is pretty much required for the other category point. For Corruptors, Shadowflame > Survival > Torment in my opinion.

One can easily afford the points for stone alchemy and light and if you go light on light tree (/[pun]) and especially if you get some additional talent points in healing light (or staff mastery, depending on your choices) from escorts, one can have some points for torment too.

Charm mastery is out of reach for this character, unfortunately, 'cuz I like my 5 inscriptions and playing a shalore.

I'm thinking of picking crafty hands and flexible combat for prodigies.

EDIT. BTW, this character is doing amazingly well. Orange stralite and voratun weapons, orange voratun ring, orange stralite amulet (which I don't use because Choker of Dread is better), Girdle of the Calm Waters, Neira's Memory and last but no the least, psychoportation...and all this before Daikara .

EDIT 2. Blood of Life from Daikara:3...

Answer to original question: Grab providence as quick as you can, bump it up to 3ish. That will give you four turns of status removal, and "I get to remove a negative status 5 turns from now" isn't that huge on the immediate impact utility scale. Then turn back and feed into the shield and the heal based on your personal needs and playstyle. I generally shield as soon as my bone shield goes down, and it, in turn, gives my bone shield a bit more time to come back up, so I'd likely focus more on that than on the heal. The heal is more of a downtime reduction and desperation move... though points in it certainly aren't wasted unless you're consistently overhealing.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with Stone Alch on a reaver - it's no better for them than it is for any other magic-based character. Staff combat, on the other hand, is awesome, and is the reason why *I* have alchemist and anorithil as my top two escorts desired on a reaver. (with seer for precog and sun pally for pick-a-chant as tier 2)