A6 - Is stunning blow useless or what?

[avvv]

What's the purpose of that stunning blow combat discipline? I mean it's pretty much waste of fatigue. It's supposed to make enemy lose action points but if he has even one left, he can strike back. Even enemies with enough ap to perform 2 attacks managed to attack twice after being hit by 2 stunning blows in one turn.

 

So what good is it?

[Øther]

If you have enough people with stunning blow, then it is possible to make a boss stay stunned with no AP for at two rounds or so. Two rounds isn't very long, but any round where a boss isn't beating on you is a good round.

[ex post slarto]

Also note that stunning, slowing, and loss of AP will not affect any scripted attacks a boss might use.

 

Even in the situation Other mentioned, Stunning Blow isn't that useful since you can get a similar amount of damage advantage out of having everyone use Adrenaline Rush.

[Marak]

I've never found much use for it. As Slarty said, I'll just use Mighty Blow or Adrenaline Rush instead. Makes for a heck of a Skill Point gap between Adrenaline Rush and the next useful move (Uber Mode go!) at the end of the Battle Discipline skill "tree".

[Øther]

Originally Posted By: Marak

Makes for a heck of a Skill Point gap between Adrenaline Rush and the next useful move (Uber Mode go!) at the end of the Battle Discipline skill "tree".

THough it isn't very useful any more.... Sure, it is very nice for a large part of the game, but once your characters are able to have two turns every round in every fight, there really isn't a use for it. I haven't used it in a long time.

Oh, and even though my post from before may have sounded like I support Stunning blow, I actually don't. I posted based on what I would think its benefits would be, but I actually have only used it about twice the entire game. I would much rather use (for small fights) mighty blow or (for larger fights) adrenaline rush.

[ex post slarto]

Yeah, Adrenaline Rush is really the most important battle discipline now. The later ones aren't so important.

[Marak]

Yeah, I was basing the final one (forget the name offhand) off my experiences with it in A5. Haven't gotten it yet in A6, my Party is a bit too magic-heavy and my two fighter-types have been juggling Mage/Priest Spells, Endurance, trying to unlock Parry and Blademaster, and getting 15+ Battle Skill (Hint: it's slow, slow going.)

 

My initial party in any Avernum game never ends up being anywhere optimal, no matter how much I read up on Party builds in advance while waiting for the Windows version to hit.

 

I am loving Ad Rush in A6, however. My Hasted, Ad Rushed Archer gets 3 shots (or spells) off per round with no Quick Strike or Mercurial gear. It's lots of fun. Next game I think I'm going to make a character with a focus on getting to Ad Rush and Quick Strike as soon as possible.

 

TL;DR: Adrenaline Rush good, Stunning bad.

[Øther]

With a speed buff and AD rush, I once got four attacks in one turn.

[ex post slarto]

The final one is actually AMAZING in A5 where it grants not only the speed bonus, but a big damage bonus as well. It's just A6 where it blows.