1st win, 1st win (for anyone) with this class/race combo. Wanted to win an unwon combo for my 1st, for some reason. I had several good characters wipe out in the East before this, and made it to the last battle with a Cornac Sun Paladin who was torn apart by the wizards. Not sure why I settled on Ghoul Arcane Blade as my prospective winning combo, other than the weirdness of it, I guess.
http://te4.org/characters/19930/tome/19 ... bcc91beae1
My plan was to abuse retch in the midgame, and pick up an anorthil escort for Celestial/Light. I expected Dreadfall to be rough (my last attempt at a Ghoul Arcane Blade wiped out in Dreadfall 9 without Celestial/Light) with retch being basically unavailable. I planned on picking up Stone magic at XL 10 and getting Earthquake going ASAP, while ignoring most melee skills until XL 20-25. As a ghoul, I didn't need to build CON early (+4 racial HP and +2 class HP makes for a sturdy character) so I went with Magic early (enough to get Earthquake going) then STR for Arcane Cunning and Feed. Once both STR and MAG were high enough I pumped CON and CUN for HP, criticals, and arcane combat. Stats weren't really an issue with this particular plan (didn't need much CON or CUN until XL 25 or so).
Quick Rundown of the game:
Starting Dungeons: Easy, just blasted away with Flame/Lightning/Earthen Missiles, rarely using melee. Flameshock was enough for disabling tough foes.
Midgame: Retch is great - my goto the entire game was retch/earthquake for AOE and then shooting with my 3 main spells (only used Arcane combat later on). I picked up a great shielding rune somewhere around here and two shields/high hp/retch regen was plenty of defense. Got Celestial/Light around XL 18 and was able to get it going for Dreadfell.
Dreadfell - Surprisingly easy - earthquake + basic spells was enough with my 5 shield defense (2 runes, Barrier, Arcane Recon/Arcane Shield combo, Healing Light/Arcane Shield). Cleared a bunch of vaults too. Died once on Dreadfell 9 where I managed to teleport adjacent to a skeleton warrior, then got stunned twice back-to-back for 9 turns despite having 80% stun resist. I cleared the ambush with little trouble - Earthquake/retch, repeat and the boss dropped a voratun randart axe with 29% critical multi that I used for the rest of the game.
East - I branched out into arcane combat and dual wielding, focusing much more on melee. Goto was still Retch/Quake/shoot with spells, but now I could attack for 500-1200 (depending on criticals/arcane combat - highly variable). Prides were all easy, High Peak as well (only scares were daelaches, 128% speed vs 80% isn't fun and I actually had to run from lvl 80 daelach in a vault)
Last Battle - Absolutely harrowing. I barely noticed the speed penalty the whole game, but it immediately came into play in the last battle when Elander had this double turn: Critical Manathrust, Critical Moonlight Ray (1500 or so damage) which killed me. I was also routinely getting hit for 1000+ when one wizard or the other would get a double move. After Aeryn died and a ruin banshee (which turned off Arcane Shield and my other sustains) got out of the portals, the battle looked hopeless. I sacrificed 3 lives killing the banshee and closing all the portals. My strategy after that consisted mainly of desperate shielding and doing cheesy crap like casting Earthquake, pinning one or both with the Rod of Spydric poison in the quake zone, then Ghoulish Leap behind a pillar and hiding, followed by a teleport (I had Ghoulish leap, Controlled Phase Door rune, Teleport spell, psychoport torque, and teleport rune - I needed all of them) and cowering in the other corner while my shields came off cooldown. Girdle of the Calm Waters was key - I was getting 1000+ hp heals with a critical heal spell thanks to the 30% mod. Eventually I was able to grind Argoniel down (after yet another death to huge damage critical double move), and Elander was dispatched easily with simple melee quickly after. Died 6 times in all, five in the last battle.
In Summary:
- Arcane Blades are best if you play 'Arcane' only till around Dreadfell and then branch out into melee after that
- Celestial/Light is a MUST (No way I win the last fight without Healing Light, Barrier, and Providence) even though you are squeezed for generic points - the synergy with Aegis tree gives you incredible defense
- Ghouls are great everywhere but in the last battle; Arcane Blades (shielding aside) are also not great in the final battle so Ghoul Arcane Blade is a very tough win (but getting to the last battle was relatively easy)
[b42] Musrwin the Ghoul Arcane Blade (winner)
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