My Sorceress - Hands on hips, Foot tapping

[Kurt Knispel]

So - my Sorceress led party is doing pretty well in their service to the Pact.

 

I've noticed however that in battles with hordes of fire based enemies, that during my cool down periods for spells, I'm not contributing too much.

 

All rods seem to be fire based so far and my bow skill is nothing to brag about.

 

This leaves me wondering, is it a sound idea to build up some Dex and be more effective with the bow? Or seek out a rod that is not fire based?

 

Do such things actually exist?

 

[Randomizer]

Your base attack is always going to be fire. Upgrading to a different rod or staff just means more damage and some defensive bonuses.

 

To do cold attack you need to raise your skill to 6 to get the option of a cold attack. Or when you get higher level spell abilities you get more different attack types. However they all require cool down periods.

 

Raising dexterity, especially in Avadon 1 means better chance of evading some attacks and being more effective with a bow.  However later in the game, most monsters are highly resistant to physical damage.

[Kurt Knispel]

1 hour ago, Randomizer said:

 

 

To do cold attack you need to raise your skill to 6 to get the option of a cold attack. Or when you get higher level spell abilities you get more different attack types. However they all require cool down periods.

 

 

Quote

So - this raising to skill 6 - you mean the cold attack then becomes available from the magic menu, (such as icy lance)  not that your weapons ( rods or staves) get a cold option right?    If so, it seems the short term investment in Dex / bows may be warranted. 

Thanks

 

[Lilith]

Yes, levelling your basic fire attack to 6 gives you an ice-based ability that works like any other ability with a vitality cost and cooldown, if that's what you're asking. Personally I wouldn't really recommend investing in Dexterity just for the sake of bow attacks, though: as a Sorceress your physical damage output is always gonna be unimpressive, so it's not worth having weaker attacks in 90% of fights just so you can make a marginally better contribution in the other 10%.

[Kurt Knispel]

Well - what I was originally hoping was that there were other rods or staves out there (In Avadon 1) that could be a steady performer in between skill / spell cool downs - like the  "Mage's Staff".  - just not fire based. 

 

So - if dex / bow is not the way to go for in-between periods, would you say just having the sorceress pass or do the minor bow damage (without good dex) would be most efficient or is the another thing she could be doing to contribute more during the cool down periods?

[TriRodent]

Depending on where you are in the game, your sorceress should have access to up to four/eight different spells (with different damage types), that should keep you busy for 3-4 rounds.  However your staff attack is always going to be fire so there's that.

 

There are potions available that will reduce the cool down period (been a while, don't remember the exact name) but I tend to save those for the bigger battles.  You could give her a bunch of the consumable wands to fire off during the cool down period.  Or scrolls to read - either to attack or to bless/improve the party's stats. Perhaps a 'group heal' scarab to use during one round when everyone's beat up a bit.  Or other scarabs that use a different type of mass attack (ice spray for instance).  But (again, been a while), even in a big battle with fire resistant enemies (& it's got to be a big one if you've already fired off all your spells & things are still going on...), there's usually secondary targets you could fire your staff at to keep them occupied while your other companions deal with the main target.

 

There's really no reason for anyone to just hang back & be a spectator during combat, there's always 'something' that they can be doing to contribute to the fight.

 

And once you've done absolutely everything you possibly can, break out into a Bollywood song/dance #.  The pause when the boss monster give you the 'WTF?" look might just give your shadowwalker a chance to slip his knife in between the boss' ribs....

Edited September 25, 2017 by TriRodent
Flash of Bollywood brilliance...

[NimoStar]

You get a lot of Wands in the game, I end up seelling most of them as my char is a shadowwalker. However if your main character is a sorceresss, you should use these in-between perios. FOr example wands of Ice abound, also wands of Venom.

Their damage in the hands of an uninitiated is much unimpressive, but as a sorceress with high Intelligence you get bonuses to even magic damage from objects, not to mention your speciall skills.

 

Also, this way you can attack not once, but twice in a turn, and even move in-between.

 

The other thing that will be useful to you is scrarabs, many of them have activated abilities.

 

Later in the game you will be able to use an ability each turn (albeit if a different one) in combat because of the number of them available, so don't worry about bow attacks in the long term.