Paradox Mage Guide

[jotwebe]

Not silence in general, only the strangling effect from the brawler grappling talent. Apparently Oozing Horrors use that one.

EDIT: Well, on reflection I decided to bug report this, since it's a bit weird that the brawler talent makes an exception for undead regardless of their breathing habits, especially since it already checks for breathing, too. So this might not stay this way in future versions.

[jotwebe]

Cease to Exist: Doubles as a weird sort of insta-kill against weaker enemies, and a potent debuff to lower all resistances. -30% resist all is only 30% extra damage against enemies with 0% resist all, but it's 100% extra damage against enemies with 70% resist all. And some lategame bosses have really high resistances, so Cease to Exist gets really good in those situations.

It's also worth noting that Cease to Exist allows you to spend Paradox and cooldowns like there is no tomorrow, since if you kill your target, there will be no tomorrow (in that timeline). It also seems to have the side benefit of disappearing summons together with the summoner, even if you cast CtE after they've summoned them. At least I think that's what I've been observing, not 100% sure on that - need to kill a few more ghoul kings. I really like it, even if each casts wastes seconds loading/unloading timelines

EDIT: Sadly, further... research... indicates that summons stay around after all.

And a note on Paradox Clone: It can be reduxed for two clones of yourselves. With Thalore, this is super crazy fun; boatloads of treants, and you get to keep yours for emergencies (or not, as the whim takes you). There is some wonkyness with how and when you get pulled back into the past when you do this - sometimes I've not been pulled back at all.

One little trick for using Paradox clones in boss fights is to cast Time Skip before summoning the clone, otherwise they like to cast it first thing, and will subsequently stand around doing nothing while both of you wait for the boss to come back.

Precognition: Like Arcane Eye, it's used for scouting. Also like Arcane Eye, theoretically it's optimal to use to scout everything all the time, but practically it's too tedious to actually bother, and you'll only use it for scouting critical stuff, like Ambush! maps or vaults. Not used for combat.

I regretfully have to report that it's super powerful, if mind-numbingly tedious to actually do bother and scout with it all the time. Precognition get's a lot more handy if used together with a movement infusion and maybe an item that gives you Tracking or Illumination. Protip: cancel with right-click on the status effect when you've seen what you need to, saves a bit of time. At the very least it's useful to check out if that group of drakes at the edge of your vision comes with a wyrm or not. One point is all you need for that, though.