[b41] My week with Marilyn....er, a Dwarf Psiblades Cursed.

[James LaBrie]

http://te4.org/characters/1764/tome/22b ... 7a0dce3e10

Fallen at the wizards! And he had such a glorious life!

Anyways, his run was pretty nice. After trying to get Psiblades on a few Cursed, at pander's prodding, I finally got one running. I was a bit concerned, as I didn't manage to get Psiblades until I was level 23. Didn't matter though; once I got Psiblades, this guy started to steamroll.

I'm so sold, I don't think I'll play a Cursed ever again without going Psiblades. I was a bit wary of the damage at first, but it turned out to be great. I was doing 400 bumps by the end, and my Frenzies were getting around the 1500 mark. I reached level 50, but my client crashed for some reason. It did that a few times actually....ah well. Nonetheless, I don't think level 50 would have helped me.

Simply put, this guy wasn't built for the Sorcerors. I went in there thinking Aura of Silence would prove big as it had on every single unique, boss, rare, etc., in the past, and I was dead wrong (I hadn't actually FAILED to silence any monster with it up until that point...). I couldn't hit either of them even once with Aura of Silence, which I knew from the beginning was a perilous result. I came close to landing the killing blow on Elandar, but you can see from the game log that he hit me with a Moonlight Ray. Had I been able to land Aura of Silence at least 50% of the time, I think this would be a winner right now.

As far as the rest of the game went, I can't complain. I didn't die once until the High Peak when some funky Doomed/Ano Shalore stair boss one-hit me, and I fought all of the bosses (except for this Archmage/Necro/Sun Paladin Nightmare Horror that looked way too tough) there with relative ease. Alas, it was all a sham.

I really, really liked this build. My movement was absolutely superb, and I had a blast Blindsiding archers, Charging past mages and slaughtering them, Beckoning chronomancers into their own slow fields. Stuff like that was superb. I was a super tank actually, thanks mostly to EXCELLENT resists (at the endgame I had 40 phys resist too, with an active Juggernaut for 60%) and Antimagic Shield. Antimagic Shield, by the way, is the best sustain ever. I would not have made it past level 20 without it.

If I ran it again....I would not take Predator. Sorry Pander! Rampage is too good, and Predator was so unnecessary. Anything I killed that often (orcs!) didn't need bonuses, it was already super easy. I like my full Gloom set though, it was useful right up until the end, and THAT actually did hit the end bosses with frequency.

[Parcae2]

I'm sorry you died, glad you had so much fun with the build, and confess to a slight feeling of shadenfreude. I am the person who puts psiblades where psiblades were never meant to go, dammit.

Looking at your character, it looks like the main problem was that you had absolutely terrible luck with equipment, especially jewelry. You were still wearing Vargh Redemption at level 45! If things had gone better for you in that department, the end result would probably have been different.

You also look like you must have had some bad luck with escorts, since you don't appear to have taken advantage of the new antimagic trees (Psiblades aside). That would probably also have made a big difference.

I still think that Cornacs make the best Cursed - their generics are arguably better than any racial, and that category point makes a huge difference in picking up antimagic trees. Meditation (which my Cursed never got) is great for recharging Antimagic Shield in long battles. And a fifth infusion really does make a difference.

Finally, it looks like your Antimagic Shield was overwhelmed by the damage. You probably already know to do this, but I preferred to activate the shield only when I was in trouble. Then I could regenerate the damage from behind the shield, making full use of my regeneration slots throughout the battle.

[Dervic]

I still think that Cornacs make the best Cursed - their generics are arguably better than any racial, and that category point makes a huge difference in picking up antimagic trees. Meditation (which my Cursed never got) is great for recharging Antimagic Shield in long battles. And a fifth infusion really does make a difference.

I made a Cursed AM winner and the trick for AM shield is to get a Mindstar with equilibrium when hit... I got one with 4.80 eq on hit and I thought the shield dropped once since then (even with as little as 1.50 eq on hit you'll notice a huge difference in shield durability)

If you're going for Psiblades I disagree with saying Cornacs are best. With the right mindstar combo it's possible to reach high enough saves that they actually work so Dwarves are a good choice, and the Higher racials are decently useful for Cursed.

[Parcae2]

Are there a lot of mindstars with save boosts now? I didn't notice any good ones when I played.

Anyway, I agree with the point about equilibrium on hit. My cursed had a couple of those, but it wasn't enough to deal with the massive elemental damage you see in the late game. Admittedly, I never found as much equilibrium-restoring gear as you see to have.

[James LaBrie]

This is a solid example, I think, of how equipment can "make or break" a melee character. I won't make that excuse because like I said, ZERO problems up until the final fight. More equilibrium would have helped (probably) but I REALLY think I needed more mindpower. Would have made Aura of Silence a lot easier to land, methinks.