vampirism is nice but...

[iippo]

Ive been trying to play a caster vampire for a while now, while its fun theres something thats bit bothering me - well ok, quite lot actually.

Lets take example, ive also got 26lvl fire sorcerer and he makes things go BOOM. all i need is +fire% items and why not +dmg% as well as the fire bells got some normal physical dmg as well. Anyhow, ive been able to make EVERYTHING go boom with fireball and chasm - meteor is so slow and makes little dmg that havent really used that yet (cant even hit because of the 3m area..) -- but thats not what i was going to say... sorcers kill ok?

Now take a caster vampire, what damage does it do?

it does:

1.life leach
2.vitality dmg
3.wound dmg (what is this?)
4.vitality decay( is this boosted by +vit dmg% things?)
5.poison
6.bleeding
7.physical

well, the first bad news is that as caster the physical dmg is the only thing that you can use to kill undeads which is damn frustrating especially with undead bosses. you just cant kill em ( There is that betrayal thingy - maybe it works for a melee type, but as caster i just cant hangaround that circle nor can i make the enemies stay inside it...

the second issue, is that i think vampire has either too many different dmg types - or its skills give way too little passive (or way) boosts to those dmgs to other caster types. Not only you got zillion different types of dmg - you cant kill undead with the.. not very nice that :/

Sickness spell in xmax is pretty wicked fun btw

[The Rock-man]

Well dunno about 3 & 4 but this I can say this mastery is a support mastery in that it needs another with it (casting or melee/hybrid), as it is weak alone.

I think its Vibrancy debuffs vitality & life leech resist get this and nuke those bosses even though it kind of short ranged.

[iippo]

Originally Posted by The Rock-man

Well dunno about 3 & 4 but this I can say this mastery is a support mastery in that it needs another with it (casting or melee/hybrid), as it is weak alone.

I think its Vibrancy debuffs vitality & life leech resist get this and nuke those bosses even though it kind of short ranged.

Its the undead that are BIG trouble - not living bosses, just any undead at all.

Also, i dont think that Vampirism spells can have as high damage as basicly any other mastery - simply because vampire spells/skill just deal too many different dmg types to work well together...

Also if you think vampirism as only support mastery - then what kind of support it actually offers? I dont see it being as clearly cut as alchemism or construction for example. I would like it to primary really.

[The Rock-man]

Your talking about undead bosses in your post.

It a support mastery as I said before it really needs another mastery with it to get the most out of it, compared to a lot of the others that can stand alone fairly well.

Archery, Close Combat, Sorcery & Bestiary are clear cut primaries.

Primaries/Secondary hybrids are IMO all the rest of the masteries, as non are true primaries like the above.

[iippo]

Originally Posted by The Rock-man

Your talking about undead bosses in your post.

It a support mastery as I said before it really needs another mastery with it to get the most out of it, compared to a lot of the others that can stand alone fairly well.

Archery, Close Combat, Sorcery & Bestiary are clear cut primaries.

Primaries/Secondary hybrids are IMO all the rest of the masteries, as non are true primaries like the above.

In my first post:

"well, the first bad news is that as caster the physical dmg is the only thing that you can use to kill undeads which is damn frustrating especially with undead bosses."

Maybe im being too subtle by saying just ESPECIALLY? Well anyhow, to put it bluntly ive played quite few masteries to mid twenties just to see the powers and get feeling which one id really really like

Alchemist, close combat-vampirism, construction, sorcery, pure caster vampirism and beastry. i play multiplayer with 4 friends who use mysticism, archery, chronosophy and close combat so ive seen alot to those as well.

Close combat, beastry and sorcery are very fun and devastatengly powerful. I think i killed almost like dozen enemies with single sorcery fireball forexample. Close combat is nice with vampirism, but i think my friends dual wielding CC-alchemist is much bigger baddass than my spear wielding myrmidon - fun it is nontheless.

Alchemists injection aura was pure pownage in the beginning - but later it wasnt that good, also as caster type you dont really want to hang close to monsters. The disruption is cool and i like the idea, however it felt way too slow to use even with that -recharge skill maxed out. Overall, just compare it to sorcs fireball or chasm and ill take either over disruption anyday, roughly said almost same power with 1/5 point investment... So alchemist is clearly support.

Vampirism however, well it does go nicely with spear closecombat - but what does it got to offer for other masteries as support mastery? It hasnt got any party real party helping skills, its various damage types havent got any real synergy with any other mastery and the pet skill isnt powerful enough to take the mastery because of it only.

So if i try to think about vampirism as support, i just figure out what else it would really suit for than SPEAR melee mastery.

Like i already pointed out, the vampires other caster oriented skills are fun - but not worth s**** when your against undead - bosses or otherwise. Sofar regurgitation is the only spell with physical dmg to use against undead, but its not much dmg and the skill is quite difficult to aim really. Bigger AOE for the projectiles, faster fly speed or lower arc might help in hitting.

Also as vampirism has the least HP per level its not easy to use it as primary mastery be it caster or melee oriented.

Maybe im just playing it completely wrong and/or have too big expectations for it then?