Need advice - L32 Archmage - Insane/Roguelike

[requerent]

I'm pretty new to ToME but I'm very familiar with the genre.

I've got a L32 Cornac Archmage- 60 base Magic and 51 base Willpower (other stats untouched) 5 Rune/Infusion slots. I need help deciding where to put a ton of floating talent/category points.

I haven't unlocked but have access to Meta, Temporal, Stone and Wild-Gift.

I've maxed out all Arcane spells, Flame, Flameshock, Displacement Shield and Shielding. Otherwise- 4/5 in Phase Door/Arcane Eye, 2 in Aegis, 1 in Teleport/Arcane Shield/Probability Travel.

Arcane Eye and Phase Door, IMO, are the two greatest spells ever. I'm currently using them in conjunction with a Vision rune, but I think I need to free the slot and take a point in Vision. (Is Keen Senses any good? I prefer Absolute advantages- Increased chances to spot enemies and deal more damage is counter-intuitive to absolutely surviving).

I have 2 category points, 13 class points, and 8 generic points floating uselessly. I need to use them but I've gotten this far and don't really want to make any major mistakes... After passing the first two levels of dreadfell, I've decided that it's finally necessary to use this junk if I'm to go any further (or rather, I did go further and... well- decided to go back up).

All of Air and Phantasm seem stupid. OF those that I have access to- Strike, Stone Wall, Inferno, and Freeze are the only things viable. I temp-leveled freeze and I'm guessing I can get an Ice Block of 850, which isn't bad. Strike never seems to work against opponents that you need it to, Inferno isn't a very Tactical spell and Stone Wall just seems like a bad Time Prison or an expensive Freeze (as far as boss fighting goes).


Of those that I don't have access to- All of the Meta and Temporal class are sexy. Wild-Gift's healing nexus is interesting- steal an enemy's regen without using Mana? Restores it's own equillibrium with use? Awesome- if that's how it works... Does it only steal Healing spells/powers, or does it snag regen? Are multiple points in Spellcraft worth it? Is earthquake as epically amazing as it looks?

In regards to Essence of Time- How do global speed modifications work? If I've got +50% speed, does that mean that my spells cast more quickly? Does that mean they also reset faster?


Finally- Insane mode means that most enemy status effects are going to successfully gimp you- Does that make infusions the only real way to deal with significantly dibilitating status effects? IE- Stun? I get stunned way too often - I was thinking about just getting as many spells as possible. That way stun may not matter as much- but it seems like wild infusions are the only real way for a Mage to deal with Stun. I currently have 2 wild infusions, 2 heals, and a shielding rune.

Anyways- Having a lot of fun. Took me quuuuiiiite a few deaths to get this far- I'm just a tad possessive of this one...

[yufra]

There are many better ToME players than I, but I'll pitch in where I can. I believe the chief advantage of Stone Wall over Time Prison and Freeze is that you can target yourself without taking any damage. This effectively gives you X turns of healing, talent cooldowns, etc. from all nearby enemies rather than removing a single enemy from battle for a little while. IIRC using Stone Wall was instrumental to tiger_eye starting (and then surviving) the end fight when he was in the high 30s.

The global speed increase from Essence of Time will make all of your actions faster, from moving to using talents and items. I believe that talent cooldowns are also ticking on the actor's global speed rather than on the game clock, but could be wrong.

In regards to status effects like stun, insane mode means that you don't get the duration reduction that bosses get. Your best bet is to raise your resistance to those specific status effects, or see if you can get your saves up high enough to compete with the NPCs physical power, etc.

[Phoenix1]

I have somewhat limited experience with archmages, and none with Insane mode, so I'm not sure if these remain viable, but it's food for thought at least:

Lightning isn't a bad choice, just because with Flame, Lightning, and Manathrust all leveled, you can unload a basic beam attack every turn.

Another Shield rune, with the Shielding spell, means you can have a shield up almost constantly, especially if you enable automatic use. Although, if you're using Arcane Eye heavily, I imagine you're not getting caught off-guard and un-shielded much, and putting your defenses on a timer rather than having direct control could itself be a disadvantage in that it lessens your tactical control some. As an aside, have to agree on Arcane Eye being amazing; given the choice, I think I'd take it over any other escort reward. Even Providence.

I was underwhelmed with Healing Nexus. If it were a sustain, it could be incredibly useful, and maybe a more experienced player can get the timing down to make sure it works, but for me, the only time when it had been particularly effective was once in the necromancer pride where I stole the healing of pretty much every undead in a ghoul's Retch. I believe it only takes direct heals, not regen, but I could be wrong. Also...I'm not sure how it would interact with Arcane Shield. I...think (again, not 100% sure) that newer shields replace older ones, which means if you trigger that and some enemy uses a dinky heal, you could lose your current shield. Again, not sure about that, but it's something to check on before you invest in it.

Now, Elemental Harmony can be pretty good. If you maxed that and put a point into Fireflash, you would have a fairly reliable way to get a speed boost, since with only one point the Fireflash damage shouldn't be too high (I'm working on the assumption that in Insane mode, you don't want to get hit by the monsters period, regardless of what benefits may apply). If it stacks with Essence of Time, that could be really good, but I'm not sure whether or not it does.

I'd also at least consider Freeze. Another way to lockdown an enemy can be worth it.

Hope that helps!

[Fela]

I found displacement shield in combination with maxxed aegis bonus talents almost game breakingly strong. About 2k more life where the damage transfers unmitigated to opponents.

[Canderel]

I presume it's too late for taking escort trees?

Alchemist's stone tree is great.
Anorithil's Providence tree is GREAT for mage (barrier - it's another shield, and obviously providence (which would solve your stun/disease/cursed/hexed/etc. issues, and IIRC another heal).

Otherwise... Dunno really. :-/

[tekrunner]

I don't really have any advice to give, but I thought I'd clarify a few things :
- skill cooldown works on game turns, so with essence of speed you can't just cycle between your 3 rays constantly (which doesn't mean that essence of speed isn't awesome)
- healing nexus does not work on regeneration, only on direct heals (I tried using it against Elandar just now, didn't work that well)
- most new shields don't replace old ones, but small heals are still problematic with arcane shield : if you didn't already have a shield up, then you get a tiny one that you can't replace until it crumbles.

[lukep]

Re: Healing Nexus, it only steals healing, not regeneration as others have pointed out, and can be difficult to trigger in time for it to be effective against enemies. On the other hand, using a healing spell while Healing Nexus is active on yourself boosts the power of that heal by 30-60% (whatever the heal% is), and this might translate into stronger Aegis shields, though I'm not sure.

For category points, both meta and temporal are good supplemental trees. I prefer meta, but it's hard to beat boosts in global speed for utility, as they let you react faster to situations, damage more in a set amount of time, and run away effectively. Stone can also be good if you are looking for extra basic attacks.

For class/generic points, I would invest one point in each available skill, as the versatility of having it available far outweigh the cost of getting it IMO. This also makes you slightly more resistant to having good skills placed on cooldown by brainlock/stun.

I haven't played many archmages, and haven't played on Insane, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

[inde]

Meta tree is absolutely amazing, 5/5 Quicken Spells will reduce cooldowns on all spells by 30%, INCLUDING runes (But not infusions I think). This is obviously good as it will allow you to use your defensive/escape spells more frequently. Being able to offensive dispel is also very valuable as some enemies can have very nasty sustained abilities.

Also, don't underestimage Illuminate in the Phantasm tree - at 3 points it will turn into an AE blind, which a lot more enemies are vulnerable to than you would think. I've never played on Insane though so maybe the blind is more resistable there.

[Varil]

I recommend more points into teleport, if you can spare it. Controlled teleport is a beautiful thing, especially against powerful enemies.

If nothing else, 1 point into each of the earth tree's talents means you have a 4-5 turn safety net in stonewall, and the ability to make your own protection very, very quickly by using dig. It's mana expensive, but mana is one thing you'll have in spades as the game wears on.

[requerent]

Thanks for the quick replies-
I think I prefer Quicken quite a bit over Essence of Speed. EoS is a huge mana draw- I typically find myself not needing to react faster but needing shields to get spells back sooner. I also don't use a Manasurge rune because I need the slots for Wild infusions in case of emergencies- so Mana is a resource that I'm a little particular on. However, I own 2 metaflow staves (tier 3 and under), w/essence of speed and Congeal Time I can use free turns to swap them in and reactivate all my spells. I don't like using them though, because my warding staff is giving my 40% stun/freeze resist (I'm at 84% w/other gear). Then there's the fact that Sustains are practically free to cast if activated in a fight afer you've spent that amount of mana- but in that situation I'd probably be putting up probability travel to run away.

So- for a pure caster class, Quicken > EoS- IMO. That way I can focus on having fewer, more powerful spells.

In general, I'm dubious about having more spells as opposed to fewer, more powerful spells. It means that I have to waste turns and mana casting weaker spells- the opportunity cost for this is more damage AND healing in the same amount of time. That's why I don't have Lightning (lightning is also a range of damage, I can't always be certain of the damage so it's kind of pointless imo)- If Flame/Manathrust doesn't kill in two turns, I probably need to take protective action on the third. Lightning just doesn't end up getting used- if it could be, I can just take a step back and Flame/Manathrust.


I went ahead and took 4 points in Quicken, 4 in Time Shield, and another 3 in Time Prison. I figure Time Prison is the best boss-fighting option to take a break- Time Shield stacking with my other shields puts me around 4k extra HP.