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The Blandly Titled Agent/Infiltrator Guide[G5]


Acky

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This guide was made with the Torment player in mind. What sucks on Torment probably won't suck on Normal.

 

The Agent (note that I use this as a generic term. I include Infiltrators) is probably one of the most challenging classes there are, at least on higher difficulties. This game really rewards Shaping types with its plentiful creation levels (and all three balanced Shaping branches), and unlike the Servile, she's not durable enough to withstand much damage before dying. The cheap magic skills wear off kinda quick, and Battle Magic will never really be able to blast her way through hoards like in previous games. Mental Magic will really be all that stands on Torment between victory and bitter death.

 

There are two main variants of the Agent. Battle Magic oriented, and Mental Magic oriented. Both require hefty investment in Mental Magic, but Battle Magic obviously would pump it less then a Mental Magic Agent.

 

The first is a Battle Magic focusing Agent. You'll still need high levels of Mental Magic, but you'll forgo extremely high levels of it for Battle Magic. On torment, you will need to be extremely careful as to which spell you use. Study the different resistances of Enemies in order to maximize damage. All Battle Creations are weak against magic damage for instance. Don't be afraid to reload occasionally to experiment. Learn recipes and then use them. Poison Bile crystals will coat everything with Poison and be extremely helpful for early in the game. Then dazing the group will prevent them from attacking. Later on, Lightning Crystals will come in handy. Slowing Wands and Cursing Wands are all exceedingly useful. Use every weapon you can get to achieve maximum effectiveness on Torment. The spell Ice Spray will save your bacon many times. No enemy in the game resists Cold damage drastically, with the exception of Shades. When in doubt, use Ice Spray.

 

The second is a Mental Magic Agent that dazes and Charms her way through obstacles. This is extremely effective, but you must be careful when doing it. It's always best to daze everything first so they can't attack you. Raiseing High mental magic not only means high chance they'll get dazed, but longer time they'll stay dazed. Then apply Terror to moderate creations, and then Charm the strongest ones; once they are undazed, suddenly a third of them are running away and another third of them are attacking each other. If you play your batons right, you will basically become untouchable.

 

You're going to want to increase strength a fair bit. Being an Agent, you'll be without creations, so you'll need to be able to lower the damage from attacks. 7 is the magic number, which you should get before the Dera Reaches. After that, wear the Talisman of Might you get from the Kayar Spire prison guards, and you won't have to worry about Strength for the rest of the game. You can skip Dexterity; you're not a Missile User. Intelligence should be pushed into the low teens, about 14ish. After that, I got mine to twenty wearing Charms and items. That allowed me to make the occasional creation for back-up and cast any spell I wanted without needing to rest very often. Endurance should also be increased; about 8. You're going to want a few points in your combat skills, Melee and Quick Action (mostly Quick Action so you can move sooner. Plus its cheaper then Dexterity), but don't increase them until after you've trained them (don't train in Missile Weapons though) from Rawal's Guardian. You should wait until after getting him the Canister Tome to buy those skills to save money. Either way 7 or 8 in Melee will be a worthy investment, and about 7-8 for Quick Action will allow you to act sooner then your enemies, including Rotghroths.

 

As for Magic Spells you'll want to go with your respective build mostly, but every Battle Magic agent will want some Mental Magic, and every Mental Magic Agent will want some Battle Magic. Remember to switch between whats cheaper at the time to save on Skill points. For instance, if it costs 6 skill points to increase Mental Magic, and it costs 3 skill points to increase Spellcraft, pump Spellcraft. Either way, Battle Magic should be pushed into the low teens alone, plus the power from Spellcraft, to get excellent damage outputs. Unfortunately, it'll be harder for you to stay on par with enemies on Torment or Tricky. Same thing goes for Mental Magic. Blessing Magic is nice, but its more useful for a Shaping class. You won't need to increase it; just pump it through Quothe after completing the Gorash-Kel quest. After that, there are plenty of items that will increase it for you.

 

You're going to want the occasional creation to aid you. Not as permanent allies, but fire and forget types. Corrupted Thahds are stunningly effective, even at dirt low levels. If you;re going to shape, you're going to want to increase (surprise surprise, I know you've got to be tired of hearing this but) Battle Shaping. Cheap costs won't hurt the essence pool that much, and physical damage is the only thing you can't apply yourself. At first use Corrupted Thahds (assuming you have no problem using canisters) and later use Rotghroths, which are more powerful, but at the point you'll get them, the essence cost won't matter much, especially since they're not permanent allies. Healing Craft should be brought up to five for Regeneration Aura, and then use items to increase it.

 

And, of course, Leaderhip and Mechanics are not to be left out. Bring Mechanics to ten early on is a great investment. Leadership can wait a while, but they should be brought to ten too. After that, don't increase them, instead using items to increase them for you. (Never sell any Infiltrator items, the Tinkers Bauble/Gauntlets, or any charms that increase Lead/Mech. A few points in Luck won't hurt, but don't get focus on it.

 

As for Artifacts:

 

This will come as no surprise, but you will want to get the Smoking Gauntlets, and later the Firesteel Gauntlets for the massive boosts to your Magic Skills. After you can get the ingredients to make the Firesteel ones, you won't really have to pump your magic skills a whole lot after that.

 

Anyone can tell you that the Mercuric Boots and later the Assassins Boots are the way to go. The two points in AP will be the difference between life and death, and can give you a real advantage over the opposition. The points in Melee are nice too.

 

You're going to want the Blackskin Greaves first and later increase them for the Charred Skin Greaves. You might want the two extra points in Spellcraft, but the points in Quick Action will forever solidify you to move first in the Battle Order, which is very important for the Agent. The points in Parry are okay, but nothing to get happy about.

 

Finally, I would recommend you invest in the Lifetender Girdle and later the Lifebringer Girdle. The extra points in your Shaping skills will allow you to make anything you will need, and the big bonus to Healing Craft will let you heal yourself right up from the few attacks that will get through.

 

Remember to make use of items to the best of your items and enchantments to the best of your ability. Slapping all your armor with Golden Crystals, which is possible without making them, will bring up your resistances dramatically. Enemies like Drayks by the endgame will only hit you for maybe 40 with 234 resisted if you play your batons right. And as always, have fun.

 

The Great Archon

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Originally Posted By: Namine
When you charm something, and the charmed creation kills a rogue do you still get exp? And is it split between the number of charmed creations and you?


1) Sometimes. It seems like you get the experience if you or one of your own creations has actually hit the rogue at least once, and otherwise you don't.

2) No.
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Blazing Gauntlets and Firesteel Gauntlets are mutually exclusive. Both require Smoking Gauntlets to produce. Firesteel Gauntlets have +3% armor, +2 to all magic skills over Blazing Gauntlets and require Essence-Infused Iron instead of Pure Quicksilver to produce.

 

Also Charred Skin Greaves can't be made from Sunfire Greaves, not that you'd have three Solidified Flames to begin with.

 

jslgaladriel's walkthrough lists three different chances to get Golden Crystals and those are faction-specific quests. Your claim that it's possible to get Golden Crystals for all craftable armor pieces (7) is thus false.

 

Please do your research ¬_¬

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Some other resources:

 

http://www.ironycentral.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=169157

 

http://www.ironycentral.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=164254

 

My final items:

 

Symbiotic Cloak (+harder to hit)

Grounding Plate (+resist effects)

Girdle of Genius (+resist poison/acid)

Puresteel Blade (+drips acid)

Forbidden Band (+harder to hit)

Assassin's Boots (+harder to hit)

Black Iron Greaves (+resist effects)

Firesteel Gauntlets (+resist effects)

Agent's Shelter

Talisman of Might

 

My stats were:

 

Level 51

HP: 626

Essence: 647

MP: 1294

 

Strength: 17 (12 without items)

Dexterity: 13 (11)

Intelligence: 14 (11)

Endurance: 8 (5)

 

Melee: 13 (9)

Missile: 3

Quick Action: 12 (7)

Parry: 12 (7)

 

Battle Magic: 13 (8)

Mental Magic: 13 (8)

Blessing Magic: 12 (7)

Spellcraft: 12 (8)

 

Fire Shaping: 1

Battle Shaping: 1

Magic Shaping: 0

Healing Craft: 6

 

Leadership: 10

Mechanics: 10

Luck: 1

 

Armor: 79%

Fire/Cold: 59%

Energy: 67%

Stun: 81%

Mental: 61%

Poison: 24%

Acid: 57%

 

Also generally 10 AP from Assassin's Boots.

 

This was not a build that I created intentionally - it was developed as the game went on, so there are some wasted skill points.

 

 

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I'd also suggest loading up on Discipline Wands, because they'll do around 200 damage to some enemies that are resistant to almost everything.

 

Most useful spells:

 

Essence Blade (before battles)

 

Acid Spray (damages all enemies, probably don't want to use w/ daze)

Lightning Aura (persistent damage)

Kill (can do 400 damage)

Burning Spray

Ice Spray (especially in endgame)

 

You can be doing 200+ persistent damage to bosses and let them die from lightning, acid, and poison while you attack their friends.

 

Mix in Daze, Strong Daze, and Mass Madness, depending on skill level.

 

Be able to cure yourself of acid/poison effectively - it will take more of your HP than physical attacks and is on par with breathing.

 

Also, never underestimate the power of luring enemies away from their friends and groups. Taking them on one/two at a time is easy and you will never be overwhelmed.

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Originally Posted By: Drakefyre

My final items:

Symbiotic Cloak (+harder to hit)
Grounding Plate (+resist effects)
Girdle of Genius (+resist poison/acid)
Puresteel Blade (+drips acid)
Forbidden Band (+harder to hit)
Assassin's Boots (+harder to hit)
Black Iron Greaves (+resist effects)
Firesteel Gauntlets (+resist effects)
Agent's Shelter
Talisman of Might


Harder to hit = Tiny orb of mist?
Resist effects = Golden Crystal?
Drips acid = Runed Amethyst?
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Originally Posted By: aapo
Blazing Gauntlets and Firesteel Gauntlets are mutually exclusive. Both require Smoking Gauntlets to produce. Firesteel Gauntlets have +3% armor, +2 to all magic skills over Blazing Gauntlets and require Essence-Infused Iron instead of Pure Quicksilver to produce.

Also Charred Skin Greaves can't be made from Sunfire Greaves, not that you'd have three Solidified Flames to begin with.

jslgaladriel's walkthrough lists three different chances to get Golden Crystals and those are faction-specific quests. Your claim that it's possible to get Golden Crystals for all craftable armor pieces (7) is thus false.

Please do your research ¬_¬


Ooops. My mistake. I'll edit the first post.

But I am correct about the GOlden Crystals. I had enough to almost completely cover my armor in them, and I never made any. The number is based off of memory, true, but there are more then 3. At least 5 or 6. jslgaladriel is mistaken.

The Great Archon

The Great Archon
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Golden crystals are:

Gazaki-Uss - Unbound Research Lab - in north locked room of the 4 rooms in the south

Lost Dera Vault - Habas-Eye drops eyebeast eye and golden crystal

Kayar's Spire Cells - NE cell block in SW room

Disposal Vault

Inner Gazaki-Uss

 

Secret Access Route - Ghaldring's first quest or Astoria's quest after swearing to join

Astoria's private quarters if you swear to join her faction

 

Rewards:

Alwan's Purity Agent quest

Astoria's Purity Agent quest

Trakovites after Control Core B quest from Caretaker Eloise

Taygen's Scrying Stone quest

Ghaldring's drakon researcher Saakash for Find the Trakovites quest

 

Eyebeast eyes:

Secret Laboratory in Shadow Road

Talis-Eye drops in Lerman's Pass

Habas-Eye drops in Dera Lost Vault

Kayar's Spire

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In the beginning, I up Fire Shaping one (for cryoas) and missiles one (you can then kill fyoras, thahds, and artilas in one shot with javlins). Then ldrship/ mech to 4/3(all that with 15 skill points). Eventually, I get ldrship/mech to 6/6 or 6/7, usually by the first time I meet the presensce(I do the side quests first).

I pump spellcraft and Int and wait for training for battle/mental/blessing magic.

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Originally Posted By: Thuryl
Well, yeah, it does that, but on Torment difficulty a small increase in dodge chance is meaningless. Drakey has an idiosyncratic playing style at best.


Ha. Like I said, I was not following some preformed notion of a build, just upgrading skills and armor as I saw fit. I wanted to see if I could get hit less (I couldn't). In the end, I think I might have gone for more golden crystals or other resistances, since those were my main sources of taking damage anyway.

Also, drips acid is by far the best weapon enhancement.
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