drain life has no MR check??

[Huzurdaddi]

If something is so attractive you *always* use it... then it might need to be looked at

That's pretty much the definition of "overpowered" within the context of a game. You make a compelling argument.

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Huzurdaddi:

quote:

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If something is so attractive you *always* use it... then it might need to be looked at

That's pretty much the definition of "overpowered" within the context of a game. You make a compelling argument.

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But only if its true of all nations. This game doesnt do balance at a nation-to-nation level like many other games. Its a rotating balance like Stars and MoM

[Cheezeninja]

Always using something is not the definition of overpowered by a long shot.

if i have water magic, i always use quickness. But not many suggest thats overpowered. If i have astral, i always use astral shield. If i have blood magic i always use devils.

Always using something doesnt make it overpowered, it just makes it one of the benchmark spells for that path (and yes, death has many of those). If anything makes lifedrain overpowered, its just the fact that it cannot be resisted.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Cheezeninja:
If anything makes lifedrain overpowered, its just the fact that it cannot be resisted.

Lifedrain doesn't accomplish very much, as far as the caster is concerned, when employed against lifeless targets: While damage is caused, the caster gets nothing back.

The fact that it still causes both regular and fatigue damage, even against lifeless targets, of course, makes it extremely attractive even there, even if the attacker gets nothing.

It was norfleet who suggested DE's were nigh indestuctable by assassins, and he wasn't making a cost optimization claim, so I'm not sure what your point is....

Mages in general can be very difficult to kill, particularly if their paths are offensively oriented: Death is particularly good at this, as it doesn't really have anything that's "useless" that the mage can cast, unlike other paths.

To further exacerbate the issue, of course, Dusk Elders are also physically powerful, being possessed of a high defense stat, good hitpoints, etherealness, and a lifedrain attack.

The spell "Drain Life" is actually D4, and out of the reach of a stock Dusk Elder unless its random is in Death. This is not a concern which makes DEs difficult to kill, although killing staffed Elders becomes that much more difficult because of this.

Nor is a Dusk Elder "nigh indestructible": C'tissian Empoisoners do a good job of assassinating undead commanders....but Dusk Elders are mean, period.

Rabe, who is familiar with Sauromancer Spam.

Sauromancers aren't easy to kill either, but they do lack the Dusk Elder's host of innate defenses and potent attacks.