The Defend Option

[Death Knight]

Ive been getting into avernum 3 and was wondering about something i never actually understood. What do the characters in the avernum 1-3 and blades of avernum actually gain from defending in combat. I read somewhere that you get 1% parry bonus per unused action point but wasnt sure. I also read that nephils get a bonus on the defend option. Does anyone know what you get from defending? I want to know because this time around i might consider maxing out parry all the way this time.

[Jerakeen]

It's highly unlikely that any bonus you get would outweigh the effectiveness of attacking, or buffing, or healing. In fact, it's impossible. Defending is something that's only useful in rare circumstances, when you can't do anything more useful but you need a turn to pass.

[Death Knight]

well not completely. if you have a high defense (which gives 2% parry bonus) and each point of unused action point multiplies, you might have a sizable bonus that can be used to deter heavy hitters in the 1st round, while one of your ranged users snipes their mage/priests. melee is usually the most deadly in my eyes if they can constantly hit you even more so.

[Death Knight]

i also think nephils might get a bonus as well, which is kinda cool.

[Alorael at Large]

Do you have any evidence for that? I've never seen that claim before.

 

—Alorael, who still doubts that it's very useful. Offense trumps defense every time, and so do healing and buffing. There shouldn't be many occasions when you can just burn AP for lack of anything better to do.

[Slawbug]

Exception: Original Nethergate where it was possible to reach 0% chance to be hit.

[Thoukydides]

In A1-Blades the "parry bonus" you get while defending is added to your dodge chance and is treated sort of like defense or gymnastics. On a separate note, I don't know how the parry skill works, it could block attacks like in the second trilogy or it might add dodging, although I doubt that. Why add a new skill that works just like Gymnastics?

 

It turns out that the parry bonus is actually more complex, in A1 and probably A2, I believe you get roughly 1% parry for every level 3 levels of Dexterity and every 2 levels of Defense. This is then multiplied by the number of action points you have when you defend. I believe this only works while in combat mode. Also, it looks like the Nephilim parry bonus only comes from their dexterity bonus.

 

Anyway, since you asked about A3, in that game Dexterity gives 1% per 2 levels and Defense gives 1% every 3 or 4 levels. This is also multiplied by the action points remaining when you defend. Although I've only done a cursory check, I'd need to do more tests to be sure.

 

Unfortunately in A3 enemies have a 5% minimum chance to hit in melee so the parry bonus will only be useful up to a certain point, somewhere between 10-40 Dexterity should be enough to max your dodge chance (depending on how many AP you have left over). Ranged attacks do appear to have a minimum of 0%, but I'd be more worried about spells than ranged attacks.

 

Double exception (or triple?): A1 and A2 have a 0% chance to be hit too.

[Jerakeen]

Originally Posted By: Quiet is a rock.

There shouldn't be many occasions when you can just burn AP for lack of anything better to do.

The only thing I can think of is waiting for an enemy's invulnerability to wear off. While already healed and buffed. Or maybe against something that's immune to physical, you could stand there and be a target while your casters fire away. Is anything completely immune to physical damage?

[Earth]

doubt any enemy is totally immune to phys. damage since immunes take at least 1 dmg from phys. attack, if riposte prevents melee attacks then bows are used.

[nikki.]

I actually found myself doing this a lot (or at least skipping turns). After a certain point, it's far more time-effective to let spellcasters deal with combats than letting fighters in, especially outdoors. I'd often find myself skipping three PCs turns, and then letting my Mage clean house, especially since SP regenerated outdoors.

[Death Knight]

The best is to if you know you won't make it to attack the guy in melee, only use 2 or 3 of your ap points and defend. That bonus to parry might not seem like much but considering it affects every enemy that attacks, it might mean the difference between ending up in the bone orchard.

[Roentgenium]

Personally, I use defend most often in random encounters, because they often start with my fighters too far away to attack anyone. I rarely use bows on my fighters, and even more rarely on my second slot fighter, who I generally make a slith and give tool use to - that means I have fewer skill points to spend on missiles, while my first slot fighter (often a nephil) is decent with them naturally and generally has more spare skill points to spend. Either way, most of the time, I use defend because melee and pole weapons do more damage than missiles, and the defend option lets the enemies come to me so I can hack them to pieces.