Essence Shield - don't leave home without it?

[Magenta]

I've been playing a solo Agent, and I've come to rely - probably too much - on Essence Shield. I don't think I would have survived without it, especially when seriously outnumbered by high-damage opponents. 

 

So next time I will play as a Guardian, where Blessing Magic is expensive. Is it worth spending skill points to be able to use this awesome spell? Or will it be too costly to get it up to a level where it makes much difference. I don't like to min-max, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot either. What does it take for a Guardian to be able to tank damage that effectively?

 

[Randomizer]

Essence shield is good for all classes and getting up to that levels is worth it. While you will never get as much a shield as an agent, it helps and can still shrug off a few hits.The main difference is you will probably not get spellcraft as high as an agent.

[Mechalibur]

Edit: Misread the previous post, this can be deleted

Edited May 12 by Mechalibur

[Hyperion703]

@Magenta I could have written this post myself- I'm dealing with the exact same issue. My first run, and probably my favorite so far, was a solo agent. It's hard to understate the fun of not having to micromanage a bunch of creatures. Solo agent was quick, simple, just take care of myself.

 

And yes, ES was the single most important spell for my agent. It allowed me to wear relatively flimsy (but bonus-laden) robes without being too vulnerable. In fact, many of my high-level battles involved recasting ES once each turn and using AS or EP to strike back. Few enemies hit hard enough to break through my 350+ ES.

 

Watch out for stun! That's the only thing that can really bring an ES agent down, as you cannot re-up on your ES each turn.

 

I played a Barzite Shaper next. Super powerful but kinda boring with lots of micromanagement.

 

Now I'm playing a guardian. Only about nine levels in. He specializes in magic creations. Right now he's getting his ass kicked hard. The positioning needed to make melee work can be challenging. And I'm struggling with making my essence last. It's cool to value items I've always passed up. But there is even more micromanaging than even shapers imo. I'm finding it tedious.

 

I might just walk away from this playthrough and do another solo agent.

[Genernumlover]

2 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

@Magenta I could have written this post myself- I'm dealing with the exact same issue. My first run, and probably my favorite so far, was a solo agent. It's hard to understate the fun of not having to micromanage a bunch of creatures. Solo agent was quick, simple, just take care of myself.

 

And yes, ES was the single most important spell for my agent. It allowed me to wear relatively flimsy (but bonus-laden) robes without being too vulnerable. In fact, many of my high-level battles involved recasting ES once each turn and using AS or EP to strike back. Few enemies hit hard enough to break through my 350+ ES.

 

Watch out for stun! That's the only thing that can really bring an ES agent down, as you cannot re-up on your ES each turn.

 

I played a Barzite Shaper next. Super powerful but kinda boring with lots of micromanagement.

 

Now I'm playing a guardian. Only about nine levels in. He specializes in magic creations. Right now he's getting his ass kicked hard. The positioning needed to make melee work can be challenging. And I'm struggling with making my essence last. It's cool to value items I've always passed up. But there is even more micromanaging than even shapers imo. I'm finding it tedious.

 

I might just walk away from this playthrough and do another solo agent.

 

Magic Shaping Guardians are harder to play due to the Guardian's lower essence and him not starting with any Magic Shaping. That bites him when he is trying to make his creations for his primary ranged support due to lower level creations and the lack of essence to spend on upgrades. What sort of creations are you using right now?

Edited May 13 by Genernumlover

[Hyperion703]

@Genernumlover  I opted for magic creations in this playthrough for the simple facts that I have already explored fire shaping last run and I did not want to overdo melee since my guardian is already melee focused. Magic shaping seemed like the best fit, but I'm possibly starting to regret it.

 

I roll with two sad vlishes currently. They are level six, and I'm almost level nine. I'd love to get some glaaks, but the training fees for them are through the roof (even for Tylellea or whatever her name is).

 

A part of me wants to stick it out so I could get some gazers/eyebeasts. I think a Melee fighter with their support would be rad. Another part of me is saying to scrap it and start a new solo agent knowing what I know now. She'd be crazy powerful.

 

I dunno.

Edited May 13 by Hyperion703

[Hyperion703]

9 hours ago, Magenta said:

What does it take for a Guardian to be able to tank damage that effectively?

After playing around with my guardian this evening I'm starting to wonder if we're overthinking this. Could the answer be as simple as high endurance, armor, and evasion? Oddly, I haven't pumped really any of those in past runs and I feel the fool for not even considering this.

 

More news as events warrant.

Edited May 13 by Hyperion703

[Randomizer]

On my 7th guardian and it's mostly a balance of melee and missile weapons so you can do either damage to best fit the fight. High armor although I've played solo agents with the same armor pieces. Evasion helps, but there are too many creations that use area effect attacks that it doesn't work against. Enough blessing magic to get essence shield and healing craft to get heal. Endurance is needed, but wait until over level 10 since it doesn't start adding much. I've gotten health up to 500 so I won't die in two rounds if slowed or stunned.

 

I have tried having evasion and agility to give me over 50% chance to evade. It doesn't help as much as I hoped.

 

You do want heavy armor and other items to push stun resistance over 70%. This is the biggest problem as a lower armor agent. You can't deal out heavy damage if you can't act the round and when yo acts ll you do is heal.

[Archaeolagent]

7 minutes ago, Randomizer said:

Endurance is needed, but wait until over level 10 since it doesn't start adding much.

Actually, this is kind of the opposite of how it works.  You get a proportionately greater increase in Health at lower levels than at higher levels.

 

Examples (thanks to Mechalibur's formulas):

Level 1 Guardian, HP with 4 Endurance = 52.5, added Endurance = 7.5 / point or about +14%

Level 20 Guardian, HP with 4 Endurance = 255, added Endurance = 22.5 / point or about +9%

 

Additionally, if you're casting Essence Shield all the time anyway at high levels, and you count the shielding as sort of like extra health, the percentage gain becomes even smaller.

[Hyperion703]

1 hour ago, Randomizer said:

Enough blessing magic to get essence shield

I'm surprised by this. Not because ES isn't a clutch spell - it is. But because I would think that's a fairly costly detour in terms of skill points for a guardian. And I'd like to prioritize equips with martial bonuses over equips with blessing bonuses. Is there really no viable alternative to ES for a guardian? Regen might work. Healing is more accessible at least. 

 

It's really too bad about evasion/dex. I could swear I've evaded AoE attacks before. Maybe I'm mistaken? (While we're on the subject, I'm fairly certain my agent triggered Quick Action before using spells. Is this possible?)

[Mechalibur]

I'd say it's worth it on guardian. You're also getting all the best buff spells from Blessing magic 1-3, so going to 4 is worthwhile despite the higher cost. The Gazer sandals also give 2 blessing magic and it's not like the boot slot has any items essential for a guardian.

 

Evade/dex doesn't affect aoe attacks, but those can still miss normally. Quick Action (the skill) does not apply to spells. Your agent was probably getting a spellcraft trigger instead.

[Hyperion703]

Would it say Quick Action from Spellcraft?

[Archaeolagent]

The message is generic and does not depend on the skill that caused it.  QA does not apply to spells, Spellcraft does.

[Magenta]

Interesting discussion. Even the diverging opinions are useful. Gives me something to think about.

 

@Hyperion703 Are the Vlish as fragile as they were in the OG release? I agree it makes sense to do magic shaping with a Guardian. It should fill in some areas where the Guardian is weak. If you don't give up, I'll be interested to hear how it goes when you get to better creations.

 

1 hour ago, Mechalibur said:

The Gazer sandals also give 2 blessing magic

I just checked - My Agent has Gazer Skin boots that give +1 BM and +1 Spellcraft. Did this change recently? Seems like I remember having something that was +2 BM. She also has +1 from the Helix ring but a Guardian would get the battle upgrades instead.

 

Is there anything available earlier in the game that boosts Blessing Magic? 

 

[Randomizer]

Crystal; Chitin in the Infiltrator's Fort gives +2 Blessing Magic and some stun resistance. Until you can get Crysttal Breastplate in Complex Core, this is the most useful guardian armor.

[Hyperion703]

10 hours ago, Magenta said:

...a Guardian would get the battle upgrades instead.

I agree with this. I'm not sure why it would be necessary for a Guardian to spend a handful of expensive points in their weakest skill category when most of those buffs (blessing, haste, protection) are available natively in their own combat skills. I mean, Essence Shield is nice. But it alone requires a 10-25 point investment in skill points for a guardian depending on the number of combat skill sacrifices one chooses in their equips. In general, I try and not spend any points in a class's "Weak" skill category, if for no other reason than to experience the purest build for that class. It might put me at a disadvantage overall, but I'm okay with that. Especially because I rock normal difficulty.

Edited May 14 by Hyperion703

[Hyperion703]

10 hours ago, Magenta said:

 Are the Vlish as fragile as they were in the OG release?

I really don't know. For one, I never played the OG versions. I got onboard with SW games when Avadon 1 and Avernum: EftP were ported to Android back in like 2014 or 2015. I never bothered with anything prior.

 

Second, I don't really have basis for comparison; I don't know if any creation I've made around levels eight or nine would be considered tough or strong. Of the limited ones I've used in the early game (probably only Fyoras, Thahds, and Vlishes) they have all had survivability issues. I've heard clawbugs are more durable. But I've no experience with other level 1 & 2 creations.

[Randomizer]

While blessing magic is expensive for a guardian, being able to go into fights fully buffed beforehand makes a huge difference. Also this buffs lat longer than ones from weapon shaping. There are few boss fights that will outlast those buffs.

 

Mental magic beyond the one level so you can use daze isn't worth it for a guardian. I know dominate (charm) is great, but you don't need it.

[alhoon]

There are pods that give Essence shield, aren't there? Other blessings you can get from Vlish and artilae. And I think the dominate comes with a magic creation, Gazer or Ghaalk. 

Edited May 14 by alhoon

[Randomizer]

Pds only give 20 in essence shield which isn't much compared to the spell.

[Magenta]

1 hour ago, alhoon said:

There are pods that give Essence shield, aren't there?

Armor pods absorb a pitiful 20 points of damage. That might help in some of the areas around Drypeak but pretty useless after that. My level 22 agent is getting about 300. That's pretty solid most places, except for a couple bosses in Inner Gazak-Uss.

[Hyperion703]

16 minutes ago, Magenta said:

Armor pods absorb a pitiful 20 points of damage. That might help in some of the areas around Drypeak but pretty useless after that. My level 22 agent is getting about 300. That's pretty solid most places, except for a couple bosses in Inner Gazak-Uss.

Again, very familiar. I'm curious how much your Essence Purge does...

[Magenta]

7 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

I'm curious how much your Essence Purge does...

I think 500+ to everyone in range. It's pretty awesome too. I'll double check when I load up the game later this afternoon. I don't always go to Gazak-Uss but this time I HAD to. My kickass spell-slinging solo agent is mowing down opponents right and left. It's been great fun. I had to see what she would do in the hardest area in the game.  I have two more bosses to do and then I'll be ready to start with my Guardian. I've always found Guardians harder to play. We'll see how it goes.

[Hyperion703]

@Magenta Before you move on, I'd be down to compare endgame spells, skill points allocations, and equips. I'm just personally curious how other solo agents are put together. I'd be willing to share mine.

[Magenta]

I'm game. What's the easiest way to do that?

[alhoon]

Posting screenshots and then discussing choices in a forum, I would guess.   And this is one such forum. 

I would be interested to read such a discussion. So could you perhaps do it in a different thread so we could find it in the future (I am not going to finish the game for weeks at least; I am a slow player)

[Magenta]

Can you post screenshots here or do you have to upload them somewhere and post a link?

[alhoon]

I always upload them elsewhere and post the image here. I use ImgBB that even gives you the link to forums. I would suggest saving in jpg your screenshots so that they don't take 1.5MB each.