Skill and Character Builds Discussion

[thepsycho2]

I know what shield you're talking about, but the life drain might not be worth it.

[Lucifer666]

Life Drain and Replenish Life do not work on Merc Anyway...I'm sure he wont mind all that DR%...

[thepsycho2]

I did not know that. I gave him an "Envy" shield, and swapped "Grand Leon" to a Viking Sword (1H) and to be honest my minions have more survivability. Hell, my merc has more survivability now.

I had to reroll Ancients once, because of an unbreakable phys immune to Amp Damage. Needless to say, I trucked on and shut down Baal. Druid is in Hell and (Oh my!) His Might aura is Lv.84, finding a pair of gloves with +16 Might, so I slapped a +1 All Skills forge on it. So that makes the gloves, boots, belt, ring1, ring2 and amulet with Might and all forged +1 all skills. If I gave my druid an ArchDimeron (which I won't do) his Might will go from 84 to 92 (Helm is "Learned One", +3 all, while ArchDimeron is +1 all and +10 Might).. I think this is the first time ever that I have lifted an oskill above Lv.80!

EDIT: Might increased to 85, found an Unknown Hero charm. Everything is moving quite nice, using the Teleport oskill on the switch to position my druid back with all of his summons, to make killing a little more efficient. I start seeing physical immunes, but so far they are broken by Iron Maiden (-60%) so I'm not really worried at the moment. Bad to worse, I'll equip oskill Amplify Damage and use that instead. But I don't feel I need to use it.

Also, I decided to AS6 a barb craft barb amulet, after many failed gambles, and landed with a Smaqdoun's Painful Pride. My barb, Greedy, is now active again.

EDIT 2: Damn! Got myself a Cleansing-on-equip diadem from Alkor in Act 3 Hell. So that's another thing for my merc, one less thing on me. That means I won't be using "Stomach Ache" anymore. I need a replacement! I can't use "Eternal Reign" because I have no more Wo runes.. but I am thinking of using "Zenith" for the time being. That will boost my skills, esp. Might oskill!

EDIT 3: Target met:

30 Raven
30 Summon Spirit Wolf
25 Summon Dire Wolf (primary)
20 Summon Elemental (secondary)
1 Oak Sage

What should I do with excess points, now that they are coming in? Act 5 Hell by the way. Got lucky with the Sanctuary boss rolls.

EDIT 4: Might oskill is 89 now. Got the elite stone, gave merc Hermes' Gift. Everyone is more mobile. The boots spawned with Lv.6 Vigor, so that is very helpful. After all boosts my druid is mid-6K life. Enough Cow Balloon for 2 oak sages, but now I think I will just boost Oak Sage now.

EDIT 5: I DID IT! Klepto is now a Guardian, which means this is my first all-summon Druid to pass Hell. I have a lot of fun with this guy, even when in some areas the entire floor becomes reminiscent of a bullethell game and it's more with me dodging missiles while tending to my minions! Which means there is one thing I have to do now...

...Once I get tired with Klepto I'm gonna pass the torch to Chase, my summoner necro. I am so happy that I got the druid to pass Hell. It was fun, even though it was a relatively easy ride.
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EDIT 6: I've started a 2H barb, and since I was listening to the drum and bass channel, gave him the name "Filtered_Crow". I want to make him a concentrate/bash barb, bash for the strong monsters and concentrate for the weaker mobs. He will also be using Berserk, which will synergise well with concentrate. My goal is to give him a strong 2H weapon (an axe, eventually getting up to a titan's maul for the 120% Strength bonus) and be strength-focused. In the history of Eastern Sun have I not used a 2H barb, because some reasons.

Questions.

1) Will i be able to do well with "Terminate" in an eth titan maul, once I get it? Eyeing the speed boost, not the damage. Greatmauls are slow, which kinda turns me away, but since I am generating a hard hitter, I might as well.

2) What would be a good merc? I am thinking Act 3 Cold, since his Protection From Cold grants me CBF and DR%.

3) Crowd Control? Thinking of using War Cry for this.

4) Should I just one-point Battle Orders, or can I surrender a few points into it? I am thinking of putting 12 into Battle Command, for +3 all skills when active.

I'll add more questions if I need answers for it, but that's all I can think of now, that concerns me.

[Lucifer666]

1.yes,I went with that Unique Etherial Elite Ancient Maul

2.Might Merc,and a bunch of auras on him..

3.yep that is Life saver skill

4.only one point will suffice,BC is best when gives +4,your BO and Shout gaun a duration boost for every point...

[thepsycho2]

Forgot about BC increasing duration as synergy, doh!

Well, cannot actually play around with him at the moment, as my dstone stockpile shat itself.. so I'm back to the grind Resurrected my thunder barb, Sizzle, wielding two executioner swords.. one with LoD Crescent Moon, the other "Saiyajin". Put that +4 Lightning Mastery helm I found earlier with Klepto on him, and channel all resources, and I am 6 points away from 1-point-maxing ancients' call. (5 if I get to 80.)

Also got a fury druid rolling along as well.

[Lucifer666]

I finished my Javazon(Jab,Fend and Shadow Strike for PI),Jab was giving almost 4000%ED,and i had dmg 40 k -220 k,decent eh???only 15 Dstones ware used on weapon...Nihla and gang dropped from like 3 Jabs each on p/8...Deadly Strike was on more than 100% so i was actually doing twsice my listed dmg...

now working on my Poison Stream Assassin,now act 5 Hell,Venom gives around 50000 over 2 sec, and Stream gives around 140000 over 2 secs,have -78 EPR,so anything not immune drops fast,bosses take some time thou...Venom is Maxed and on slvl 75,Stream is maxed and on slvl 95,almost maxed Blade Shield for Synergy,running around wit two Masters which i one pointed,Bramble Armor helps a lot with dmg...gonna Dstone my weapon only ten times for Poison dmg %...

How do they sound???

Next is Smitter Paly,gonna throw a bunco of Str per Lvl Jewels in his gear,and he will be the only one of my chars to actually wear Atlastrust(my Mercs usually use it),going with a Fire Rogue...

[thepsycho2]

I am having a thrill time with my thunder barb. However I am disappoint in his current state, his AC is -92% resist all, which may not be enough for certain mobs. Even I have to truck it when I run into LI-LE monsters.. I am thinking of getting a conviction merc, because if I use archdimeron, I'll lose my +4 lit mastery and 3 sockets. And I've been stacking +all skills to raise it.

So the question is this: if I hit the max (-100%) will it help me with LI-LE monsters?

EDIT: I just put two support points into AC because I might not hit max with +skills alone. Got it to -96% and I am starting to cut some LI-LE monsters down. I did not go for the conviction mercenary. Instead, I've propped him with some nice gear. A Dragon's Breath spear, and The Touch Of Death sepulcher gloves. Seriously, we're creating some havoc. I like it.

EDIT 2: Lightning skill stuff as of 3/5/2014 at 0314 EDT:

Lightning Skill Damage boost: +328%
Thunder Wave: 4-76381
Tnunder Storm: 37174-37535
Plasma Rain: 4-125839

Skill points remaining to get: 12 (Lv.88)

Also-- got the elite stone and made preps for my shuriken assassin, made a Spirit of Genghis Khan out of it. Whoo!

[Firesnake]

These are the highest natural lightning resistances:
140
135
130
130
130
130
130
130
130
125
125
125
125
125
125

So you see that there are a couple of monsters which can easily exceed 200% resistance If you get something like spectral hit or magic resistant on top of the LE it will still be too high to break even if you have max conviction and max AC. These are only the monsters which are above 120%, there's a couple more with immunities between 100% and 120%.

LE + Spectral Hit + Magic resistant adds 75+20+40=135%, so there is no way that you will never encounter unbreakable immunes. The maximum reduction is 110/5+100=122%. This also means that once your conviction is at -105%, don't push it any further because the last percent will not change anything. The monsters usually have resistances divisible by 5. So 120% reduction will fail to change anything if the monster is at 220% but will be 4% 'too much' for a monster with 215%. Think of values which are 5n+1 as breakpoints for the breaking of immunities.

[thepsycho2]

Well, once I got Ancients Call to -96% I was able to break lightning immunity monsters that spawn with lightning enchanted property, but now that I got AC up to its max (-100%) it shouldn't be much of an issue anymore.

My merc is dying often. Usually to the hiddens/wisps if I can't break and destroy them in time. But I'm making more money than the penalty, so it isn't cramping me too much.

Got another coupon jackpot, this time with "Amulet XII" in the mix. This was after destroying Uber D, a boss mob dropped it.

[Firesnake]

If you have any sockets left on your mercs shield, armor or belt then give him some topazes. Two are enough to push his max res to 95% and also give a nice absorbtion. That should help.

[thepsycho2]

Aha, I really forgot about that.. But my barb is lasting quite well against mobs while my merc suffers, even under the barb's battle orders buff.

But it is mainly from the BO wearing off at the wrong moment. Geez..

On another note, I got a shuriken assassin coming up to use that Spirit of Genghis Khan:

20 Shuriken
5+ Shade Armor
30 Blade Shield
25 Command Mastery (2 shadow masters)
25 Blade Sentinel (syn. to Shuriken)
rest Shadow Master, then Iaigiri if skills boost SM good enough.

Points in filler: 5 (Iaigiri, Burst of Speed, Fade, Venom, Shadow Warrior)

Total: 106-110 points.

LHand: 2.5/2 rare balanced dagger, 2x Wa socketed, Tsu-forged
RHand: Either Cyclop's Protector or something with useful utility
Helm: Spirit of Genghis Khan (Throwing Mastery, CB)
Body, Belt, Boots: Tasselhoff's (Just finished another set)
Gloves: The Hands of Atlas
Ring1: Lilith's Heart (Lv.60 Assassin)
Ring2: Elemental Jewel
Amulet: LOD Cat's Eye (Amulet V) IAS, FRW, Concentration-forged

Merc will be an Act 5 Defense barb:

Weapon: "Grand Leon"
Shield: "Envy"
Armor: "Fox"
Helm: Cleansing-on-equip
Boots: Anything with FRW
Belt: Boot-converted Hermes' Gift
Gloves: "Mighty"
Ring1, Ring2, Amulet: Life steal

My main setup could do better, esp. any amulet, but it cannot be craft, I want to forge Concentration (red aura stone) on it.

[Lucifer666]

man, 1 point in Shade Armor is enough for DR%,Fade is better anyway,and you will have a free ring slot then,you should not need much DR% since you are ranged,go for two masters which should be one pointed,when you are tweaking tweak to the end and boost her dmg thru the roof...and a Rare ammy would give you more than that Eye...maybe even Rakas Folly in Switch to cast Amp and then you get Gloves with Pierce Oskill and you are set...

[thepsycho2]

I'm actually rearranging her gear setup.

Weapon: unchanged
Shield: unchanged (Cyclop's Protector)
Armor: "Eternal Reign"
Helm: unchanged (Spirit of Genghis Khan)
Gloves: unchanged (Hands of Atlas)
Boots: Gloves-converted Suffocation of Indifference
Belt: Gloves-converted rare with +1 Throwing Mastery
Ring1: unchanged (Lilith's Heart)
Ring2: Lilith's Heart
Amulet: Oskill Might, Concentration-forged, if I can get plague's last arrowhead it would be Annihilation-forged

Switching to Act 1 Cold Rogue
Weapon: "LoD Faith"
Armor: "Fox" or "Unknown"
Helm: The Eagle Helm
Belt: Boot-converted Hermes' Gift
Boots: ??
Gloves: "Mighty"
Ring1, Ring2, Amulet: Lifesteal

What to use for boots?

EDIT: Ditching Shade Armor for Fade, +2 points.

EDIT 2: Rolled rare gloves with +1 throw mastery. Using that as belt EDIT 3: until helm..

Gonna go for the helm anyhow, gonna try rolling oskill Pierce gloves.

EDIT 4: Switched armor for "Eternal Reign" in ceremonial armor.

[Lucifer666]

if you got a high Ilvl Rare Shield,you could try rolling it for better HoW,it could be better than Cyclops Protector,or Craft,but Craft will take lots of resources till you roll what you need...also it might be better for you to socket and forge He Runes on the Dagger,your min dmg will suck always,but your max dmg can be decent...you should also try Class Crafting Rings,they can be mighty sick if rolled with good mods...for Rogue boots maybe also Gloves with Pierce,will help her in crowded areas...

[thepsycho2]

I just got some nice magics for a future summoner sorceress, Act 1 NM Gheed of all places!

Will imbue a rare ceremonial shield and start to roll that. She's high enough to wear it anyhow.

EDIT: This will take a while, rolling the shield is going to be a pain in the youknowwhat. I guess I'll go fake note factory for a few rounds.
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EDIT 2: Chase, summoner necromancer.

25 Raise Skeleton
20 Raise Vampire
30 Revive
1 Summon Resist
1 Amp, Decrepify
rest Skeleton Mastery

8 stray points (Golems, Golem mastery, remaining curses up to Decrepify).

116 points after everything is placed.

Here's his setup:

Weapon: "Bone" (Ho Ne) [will use "Saiyajin" up to obtaining Dracula's Wit, then switch to this]
Shield: Dracula's Wit
Armor: "Eternal Reign"
Helm: Cleansing on Equip diadem
Gloves: Oskill Might
Boots: Oskill Might
Belt: Goldark's Strap
Ring1, Amulet: Oskill Might
Ring2: Vorador's Essence

Merc: Act 5 Defense
Weapon: "Grand Leon"
Shield: "Envy"
Armor: "Fox"
Gloves: ???
Belt: Boot-converted Hermes' Gift
Boots: Heart of the Moon
Ring1, Ring2, Amulet: Lifesteal

All I can think of now. What to use for gloves? Maybe something with HST? Thinking of anything that doesn't deal cold damage.

[Lucifer666]

maybe convert the Band of Famine into gloves and give him that full set,even if he strays from army he can survive...


My Poison Stream Assassin did quite well VS Naraku and gang on p8,had luck with Metalspark and his,merc dropped AC before he dropped himself,Poison Stream and Venom together did something 250 k- 255 k,total +Poison Skill 220%,total Enemy Negative Resist on gear -83%,i imagine merc was taking some 80% off with AC,kill speed on all areas was decent on p8,and i think he would be a good goldfinder...safe too thank to the Masters who for some reason went to attack immediately anything i was targeting with the PS,it was just amazing how they acted...

but seeing as even a High level Venom Skill does not add much to dmg,i decided to ditch Venom oskill on my Rabies Druid,and go for max dmg with Rabies instead with Bramble armor,same as with Poison Assassin,that Armor adds too much to dmg to neglect if you use Poison Dmg,it will change my setup with all poison bulds now,i know i can ignore Venom as Oskill since it is only Usefull for a Assassin...

[thepsycho2]

The only issue is that I am missing the Band of War (Amulet)...

Again I'm roadblocked with Chase, for the time being. My shuriken assassin is hit with some issue:

With Atlastrust, she's got faster attack, CB, but low AR
With "Eternal Reign", she's got higher AR, higher damage, but slower attack.

I also swapped out my merc's "LoD Faith" bow with "LoD Ice". Survivability of the merc went up due to the Holy Freeze on equip. But I am also losing Fanaticism on equip from the merc. Since the swap, I ditched Atlastrust and went for "Eternal Reign" just for the AR boost. Kill speed is negligable. I miss the green aura stone, Lv.4 anni will be nice, even if it is a minor speed boost. I can't oskill it since I'm running Might...

She's not going to compete with Sizzle when it comes to the cow field though, Sizzle levels the damn field faster!
She'll have to since I'm decommissioning Sizzle.. I've started redeeming his anvils and maples for use on a maul druid.

And that druid shall be named "Language".

EDIT 2: This was supposed to be talk for my dragon blader assassin but since I got that eth. wrecking arm I want to change it up.

Druid:
25 Maul
30 Shapeshift Mastery
30 Elemental Form
10 Cow Balloon (3 sages roaming is better than 1 or 2 imo)
rest Iron Claws

Oskills: Battle Orders (Javelin), Shout (Yagul's Wrath).

Merc is Act 1 Fire Rogue. Aiming for bow of incandescence (spiderwoven bow?) so my merc can destroy some corpses. She'll be complemented by other things to help my druid out.

Also: I did an ancient scroll reroll 25-50 and wound up with an extra AS45, rerolled with that and got AS44 (Socket Unique Amulet). Not bad, since I needed it. I'm hunting for AS38 (Weapon RIP mod) and that rare chance I might get AS49 (Make Vet Charm). That will be via shuriken assassin.

EDIT 3: Got the bow. Now I can proceed.

[Lucifer666]

you guys know what would be cool...another Random Tournament,I don't know exactly who made it and when,I wasn't around then,but damn i remember reading about it,and damn that must have been tough...would like to try it if there are interested people...

Anyway,currently torn between playing Telekinesis Sorc,Smite Pally,Rabies Druid,L Fury Zon,Cold Trapper Ass,and my first Char Necro the Summoner of Golems(also the only Class that does not have a Vet Charm yet,since all my Chars share Vet Charms by Classes,i still did not make it with any Necro)...who should get the Uber Gear and Socketed Charms???

Also Necro is in front of Nihla in Hell,the rest are on the beggining of Hell...

[thepsycho2]

I'd like to attempt a tournament focused on three classes in particular, Barbarian-Druid-Paladin. The goal of the challenge in this instance is to have a higher combined average than the other classes in regards to life, defense, experience and damage.

A death on any one of these characters will reduce their scoring potential by modifier, of course, so it is essential for them to stay alive.

Oh, and I forgot to mention this will be done in /p8 after the blood moor.

That tidbit will go to the tournament central section, but here's relevance to this topic:
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My druid "Language" has hit a small barrier. His merc is Act 1 Fire, for the time being, but she seems to be performing a little poorly. I am actually thinking of changing her to Act 3 Lightning, since I can perhaps do some aura b****ing on the merc to aid my druid (Anni, Defiance, Vigor, Cleansing).

My druid will have the following equip:

Weapon: "Terminate" eth. Wrecking Arm
Armor, Belt, Boots: Tasselhoff's Traveling Gear
Gloves: "Mighty"
Helm: "Thief" or "Placidity", I might use the latter
Ring1: Yagul's Wrath
Ring2: The One Ring
Amulet: Oskill Battle Orders to be replaced with a rare with good support oskill once I get the javelins

Merc will be Act 3 Lightning
Weapon: "Grand Leon"
Shield: "Envy"
Armor: Ancient Guardian
Helm: Cleansing on equip
Gloves: Gloves of the Dark Mage
Belt: Boot-converted Hermes' Gift
Boots: "Shank"

Will merc-convert the shield so he gets the +1 lightning/fire/cold mastery and convert else for lightning damage, and forge FCR.

"Shank" is a placeholder, I could do better?

[Lucifer666]

almost finished my Rabies Druid...Rabies on Slvl 95 does around 1.600.000 Poison Dmg per 41 second...only Uber D and Baal require me to use Rabies two times in a p\8 game,my PFaB reduces 54 res of monsters so i can break 110% Immunes without merc,with merc we own the place,Frenzitaurs in p\8 game last for roughly 10 seconds before they drop,Throne Mephistos last half a minute...and I don't need to do anything aside the initial hit with Rabies for them all to DIE...

Gonna do Naraku soon,want to put 10 Skull melds on Armor for some DR% before i go down there on p\8...after that retirement...don't know should i level my Poison Arrow and Plague Javelin Amazons(yep,two different Chars) now,and finish with exploring those builds or go for my Smitter next...meh,will think about it...

Edit: Naraku and beyond on p/8 was way too easy for my RabidDog...retired with zero deaths...

Now I am gonna work on my Smite Pally...already owning hell with him...

[thepsycho2]

I am thinking of making a vengeance paladin! This is going to be very interesting to work with. I am thinking of using the following setup:

25 Vengeance
12 Protection From Fire
16 Protection From Cold
12 Protection From Lightning
20 Conviction
20 Salvation

5 stray points; 110 total points.

Equipment? Not too sure. But I want a really good weapon that can be modified well. As for stats? 100 STR, 60ish DEX, and the rest to NRG.

I'll throw on some more ideas later.

[Lucifer666]

my Vengeance Pally goes with every Off Holy Aura on Equip,maxed Protection from X Auras and Vengeance,and one pointed Conviction,will be doing HUGE Elem Dmg so doesn't matter that will be ruducing Mon Res less...you can check his equip on my Diary page,he is named Vengeance,and i think i have all slots decided for him...

[bestdnd]

Are you sure it wouldn't be better to invest in str instead of energy?
Assuming you run with a big weapon, but low off-weapon %ed, str will give you good returns.
On the other hand, you would have all the protection from X (even if it's lower level), and X mastery, so energy would give less returns.
Another thing is that adding str adds to physical damage, and so to leach.

I think that if you crunch the numbers, it would be best to balance the points between them, but the better your gear is, the less impact energy will have

[thepsycho2]

You might be right on that. STR/DEX is being used however to equip the best weapon and equipment. NRG is to boost the elemental damages that Vengeance gives off (4 points = +1% F/C/L/P damage). D-stone +% ED on weapon.

AFAIK Vengeance works best when it derives from the weapon's damage, not total physical damage if I heard right. So energy boosting may work more.

[Lucifer666]

Str gives less dmg on Vengeance than Ene if you DON'T have Masteries thou...which i don't plan on having,and think of it this way,if you go to the effort of getting three Jewelry slots with all three Masteries you lose on much bigger bonuses,and other needed Oskills since who knows what kind of Mastery Ring or Amu you will roll after all...Energy all the way for a Vengence Pally...

Edit: On another Note,my Smite Pally now has 1000 STR thanks to a Bunch of Str\Lvl Jewels and all Hard Points in Str,damage 75-85 k rough dmg with Might...

EDIT:Smite Pally done Domain on p\8 with ease,the most dangerous was Metalspark and mob...


Now working on my Telekinesis Sorceress,very tricky,you have to target every monster with it,Shift+Click does not work with Telekinesis...on a side note,with only one Uniq Charm and Akira in Vet Charm she already got Telekinesis on Slvl 100...and she is Clvl 62...BWWAHAHAHAHAHA....

Edit:well we got a update for Telekinesis Sorc,now in front of Baal,Clvl 89,Teleport,Static Field,Energy Shield and Lightning Mastery are Maxed,Telekinesis and Shock Armor with 5 points each...gonna update her gear soon...now need to start melding my armor and boots for DR% and +Life...Telekinesis Dmg is around 120 k - 121 k,most stuff not already immune to lightning drops from one or two hits on p/8,bosses take something from 5 to 20 hits,depending on boss...still not too bad...
One good news is that i can play in full screen again,don't know what i did to fix the damn game thou...

Edit: Damn,the closer i am to Baal,the harder it is to actually kill stuff,now in the throne room and taking a breather,gonna kill him if no problematic affixes spawn on bosses,my merc has three crap items,that's probably one of the reasons he occasionally dies,as for me,no deaths yet,and no Dstoning either,and my inventory is not filled with socketed Charms either...

Gotta say i ain't too much pleased with this build,you gotta constantly change your active skill(Telekinesis)for any other that allows you to interact with NPCs and for picking up items,next you gotta manually target every stinking monster to kill it,sure being able to snipe is nice and all,but is very annoying since there are THOUSANDS monsters in your path to glory,and god forbid you try sniping a Lightning Immune,until your merc gets to him you might as well just teleport on it and hope for a swift Ancient Call...and yes Shift Click does not work with Telekinesis...so this one is being retired as soon as she kills of Nihla and gang on p/8,which will be tomorrow i think...after that i'm gonna do some more interesting char...

Damn,almost forgot how good this mod is,since i did not play for months...

Edit: Well,Baal was easy,Throne Mephistos ware actually the slowest to kill,now put +50% Lightning Dmg on weapon and going for Nihla,on p/8 of course...the only good thing about Telekinesis Sorc compared to other sorcs is that you are literally immune to Blood Mana Curse since Static Field is your most expensive skill at 9 mana,Teleport and Telekinesis both cost only 1 mana to cast...and boy was i fool,I didn't even use Static till i got to the Throne Room,cast it three times and after that Telekines is able to finish anything fast,so is actually a strong Char,still i don't like the playstyle...

Edit: and it is done on p/8,Everybody in Domain and along the way dead,Metalspark was the slowest to kill,divide and conquer tactics...gonna update her gear,then retirement with zero deaths...but first gonna spend her accumulated resources to craft a little,also loot was very nice,three purple runes,many eth items and many set and unique items...

Edit: And Akira is retired...next sorc Thunder,focusing on Charged Bolt...but maybe I'll do some other char first...gonna think on it a while...

Edit: And finally we are finishing with the Cold Traps Assassin,very powerfull,plays like a summoner more since you have to micromanage your warriors...Cold Blast doing dmg of 52000 average,so even on p/8 as long as it is not immune its dead in a couple of casts...looks funky too,what will four of us bombing the monsters...