Build for VASAL - Khloros + Mind

[rishik]

Hi,

Starting out on the paths mod finally. Firstly, I woud like to extend my heartiest compliments to the mod-maker and thanks to all those who worked to get the mod up and running . Got a few other projects in vanilla TQIT and masteries and even the lilith mod, but those certainly have to wait now, as I just need to play the s**t out this class mod.

Started a toon with Venefici+Tartarus (lvl 17ish now i guess) and he's a real pretty play toy, with nice offense and decent survivability. Using mainly the Venefici spells as of now...deliberation needed which choices to make for Tartarus. But that's another story (for another thread at least ...hehe!!)

But keeping to the subject at hand, I started a Vasal - Khloros + Mind. He's lvl 20 and offense isnt a problem right now.

I started out with Khloros. maxed Cloak of Hades, putting points into Venom Spray, Poison Affinity for extra poison and venom damage and one point in Deathchill for slowness. I got a few good rare bows (Storm Strike, Turquoise Bow and Telliam's Will) early on to make the going real easy....and monsters would get just one hit.

At lower levels, my crows and locusts would make the monsters trying to mob me go run around confused while I took them down with Venom Spray and my bow.

Next I started climbing the Mind tree. Starting with one point in Mental Strike and then putting points in Center Power and Kyudo really shot my damage dealing abilities with the bow to amazing levels. Attribute points with Empower Mind -Strengthen Body - Quicken Reflexesas well as the inherent attribute bonuses with Mind is a huge plus.

Though the pets, viz, crows and locusts are amazing for crowd control, I have a few personal issues against using them as they make the gameplay look stupid with huge chunks of monsters just stuttering and it wasnt so visually appealing. So next I decided to go for the amazing sword skills available with Khloros and use them. I got using a Fell Blade which gave me +2 to Plague Strike and as a plus I got Scourge Strike as a huge boss-killer with 20% reduction in health. So whenever I got mobbed, I'd switch to sword and shield and plough through huge masses with my Plague Strike.

Also the Stance of Vigil is really awesome and along with Cloak of Hades gives about 70% damage reflected.

The only problem I am facing right now are the undead, which as I figure from the build I have in mind, would be a huge problem. Fact of the matter is the toon'll need other forms of damage than poison and venom, which has to be gear specific. Also the other problems inherent with the build would seem to be that it would never have a fast run speed, which will have problems with kiting.

My immediate concerns are however this - the Fell Blade that I am using is seriously lacking in attack power right now and Plague Strike isnt able to one hit hordes, which can be a s***ty problem. Also the damage from Plague Strike doesnt scale too fast and we'r talking about a lot of points here, so sword and shield might not be a solution right at this point unless I have uber swords dealing good amount of damage. This makes me think that I'll have to fall back on those crows to get the crowd confused while spreading venom to take them down.

[rishik]

Any help and suggestions regarding this build will be most welcome, especially ones on build progression or end game strategies...

thanks!!

[ShadowLAnce]

Khloros doesn't have many options there, but Mind has some--not for undead specifically, just general utility. Defensive abilities like Obfuscate, Inner Walls, and Mend Self could keep you standing while you manually cut through them with a weapon + mental strike. Mental strike works especially well with swords because it lowers their pierce resist.

As for fell blade, just try different weapons and see what feels strongest. Sometimes it's easy to cling to an item that is actually worse than most other options just because it has a lot of stats/skills.

Also I'd definitely recommend sticking to shield when facing undead. Skeleton archers are really nasty and shield blocks a lot of arrows.

[rishik]

I found an awesome veteran's sentinel's guirass with 39% chance to avoid melee - a god-send for the build progression I have in mind.





For head-gear i found a decent item too giving +1 to all Mind skills....Seekor's Hood....







Making my way to Knossos Palace now....will post my mastery builds sometime soon....


Cheers All...!!!

[rishik]

Khloros doesn't have many options there, but Mind has some--not for undead specifically, just general utility. Defensive abilities like Obfuscate, Inner Walls, and Mend Self could keep you standing while you manually cut through them with a weapon + mental strike. Mental strike works especially well with swords because it lowers their pierce resist.

As for fell blade, just try different weapons and see what feels strongest. Sometimes it's easy to cling to an item that is actually worse than most other options just because it has a lot of stats/skills.

Also I'd definitely recommend sticking to shield when facing undead. Skeleton archers are really nasty and shield blocks a lot of arrows.

Thanks for your suggestions mate.Will definitely try out the Mind skills when i reach them.

Shield-sword combo seems out of the Q for the moment simply because i'm too slow (run-speed) and my shield at these low levels do not block enough.....but that rather seems an interesting tactic later in the game. I fact I was hoping for playing a sword-shield combo character, but the striking strengths with the bow are too great to avoid.

So I definitely think I'll be using both the s-s combo along with a bow by endgame....but that would be a lot of hours of gaming. I sure am hoping the build progression and the game balance keeps me motivated enough to continue though.

[rishik]

Anybody playing this particular build now? or has developed any toon till end-game?

Really would want to know strategies and progression tactics, though I have mine set-up in my mind pretty much and maybe just looking forward to a few adjustments here and there. This may be so that I was indeed very very lucky to get a few very good items which enabled my choice-making simpler.

Really would like to know if this mod succeeds in keeping the pace throughout and enabling me to have the patience to try it out till end-game ( I mean all the 3 difficulties), cause frankly with other toons, 'vanilla' and 'masteries' that have not been the case. I have played a little bit of 'destinies' and that was with xmax uptill lvl 20ish...dont know how far i'd want to go with that....maybe try out some other combos in 'destinies'. Havnt tried underlord yet or the new one soulvizier, but those are future projects that I do want to try out after I've tried out these gameplays.
The balance issues really should be addressed well and gameplay balance testing done rigorously to adresss issues a non-casual gamer would notice. But then this whole talk of doing this and that is utterly nonsensical on my part cause my contribution to that has been zero, and the guys who do it, do it for their own love of the game or the pride in their work or whtevr. Anyway I'm way OT here,what I'm trying to say is, uptill now I must say 'paths' has offered the most rewarding experience for me in TQIT.

[ShadowLAnce]

Thank you much Keep in mind the refund costs for everything (except mastery points) are reeeeallly cheap. Did that because it's totally possible to screw up your build, whereas in default TQ you can pretty much go through the game without picking a mastery (it's just really boring).

As far as Path's balance throughout all difficulties, that is a tremendous amount of testing required. Basically 36 different combinations, all three difficulties (108 play-throughs required). The testing I personally did was a lot of jumping around, skipping levels (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, etc.), etc. Refunding everything and redistributing, trying different builds... but there's only so much I could do. I was lucky enough to have a number of people playing it and providing feedback on underpowered/overpowered builds, combos, skills, etc. then I could look at those specifically.

The pattern I felt with high-level builds is that even if you had an extremely powerful build, there would be some area, enemies, or boss that puts a stop to you, and you'd have to adapt.

For example, the very first boss (satyr shaman) can feel impossible for some builds, like smashing your face into the wall, but then you get a few levels or try different weapon/gear and take him down.

A later example is the scarab beetle, it has insanely high physical resistance and spits poison. Venefici are very weak to poison, and deal all physical damage.

In other words, if you're bored, try a new character. You may find a totally different set of challenges, and bosses you cut down in seconds are now epic battles--and bosses that used to give you hell get trampled instead.

[rishik]

Thank you much Keep in mind the refund costs for everything (except mastery points) are reeeeallly cheap. Did that because it's totally possible to screw up your build, whereas in default TQ you can pretty much go through the game without picking a mastery (it's just really boring).

You are right. Talking of the core gameplay in 'vanilla' TQ, the synergy between normal hack-slash and skill usage was totally skewed. When you'd want to play as a spell-caster, you'd want to really spam that spell and cause havoc. In that, I think TQ totally messed up where you couldnt in the real sense of the term become a master of a build just by learning a devastating spell. In this aspect, I believe 'paths' is on the right track, cause a spell-caster can learn a spell (and be know as the "Grand-master of the so-and-so" skill) and use to slaughter enemies instead of relying on weaponry and stuff.

The pattern I felt with high-level builds is that even if you had an extremely powerful build, there would be some area, enemies, or boss that puts a stop to you, and you'd have to adapt.

Yeah that's so true....and one of the major things which I like about this mod. Almost each area and a different set of enemies require you to adapt your gameplay. The bigger spawn and increased hero monsters adds spice to things in general.

Another thing that I'd like to touch upon is the concept of maluses. They really make you to put on your thinking cap about armor, skills, the one possible dangerous badguy in the mob who could wreck you...and things like that. Balancing issues like malus must be a real tough job though.
Anyway, all these things keep on making you thinking about your toon round every area, every time you advance a level. These are things that for me make 'paths' a very playable mod.

In other words, if you're bored, try a new character. You may find a totally different set of challenges, and bosses you cut down in seconds are now epic battles--and bosses that used to give you hell get trampled instead.

What I really like in any toon I build is to get really deep in the mechanics of its gameplay, so the more the varied options there are, the more fun for me. Getting a new toon is of course a possibility !!