Magic Items under CBM

[Amorphous]

Originally Posted by Jarkko

A Fomoria without Earth bless would be quite interesting. I wouldn't care to try that though.

While I have not played Fomoria completely without earth bless, I have done so with an E4 bless and that worked out ok. 2 extra reinvigoration from a bless does not really change much about the above concerning Quicken Self, though.

There is absolutely zero chance I would craft a wraith sword over a frostbrand as Fomoria. The brand gives the King total frost immunity, which opens up a lot of other possibilities too

There are lots of ways to reach cold immunity with Fomorian Kings. Both Breath of Winter and cold resistance are easily castable for the Kings with water picks. And Rime Hauberks sometimes make sense.

Originally Posted by Mardagg

And that is exactly the problem.

You are painting a best case scenario containing 1 out of 3 producable Fomorian cap only SC`s with several given gem-constraints where the Wraith Sword should be an instant no-brainer under better balanced conditions.
And it still is not!

I do not agree that it should be an instant no-brainer.
Death is powerful enough as is.

Even with your example of a rare situation there is still a lot left,that can be done different:

-Earth blessing,pretty advisable with that nation anyways,gives further reinvig which do change quite a lot with your math

A smallish does not.
And I hope you are not suggesting that high earth bless should be mandatory.

-Instead of using the W random Giants,you could use the D randoms and cast soul vortex,equipping these guys with other equipment in addition,making them superior.

Death gems only, remember.
And, well, you might not have alteration 6 researched and have some other research target in sight for the moment.

-You could give the W guys boots of quickness,a W1 path isnt ideal for casting water buffs in battle anyways.
-The rainbow armor is pretty nice for the giants in general instead of boots of the messenger,if available,can be alchemized,too.
-Girdle of might is cheaper to alchemize and might leave gems for 1 more item,while just offering 1 less reinvig.

Again the addition of more non-death gems.

-etc.

Yes lots of things could be different, they also could not.

I understand what you are talking about gem sparsity and such, but why not still making the Wraith sword better?
Do you really think those fomorian giants would be overpowered with like double the base damage for the wraith sword or with making it like 10-15 death gems?
As you said,with that inherent strength, you get the max partial life drain,if you hit,anyways already most of the time.
Different from fomorioa though like 95% of the other nations would benefit quite some time from such an improvement ...and for those nations the wraith sword is just never,ever an option atm,even under the most special conditions!

It is death that I do not think warrants the boost.
Sure, if it were any other path, we might discuss going down to 15 gems, but since it is not, I do not.
I also would not mind a minor buff to it (say +1 to attack and maybe +3 to damage), but nothing in line with what has been presented as of yet.

[Mardagg]

Originally Posted by Amorphous

I do not agree that it should be an instant no-brainer.
Death is powerful enough as is.

Thats much more complicated.
Essentially,every built Wraith sword means less Tartarians to field.
Seriously,you have so many uses for death gems,that making the wraith sword better only makes the decision more difficult what to do with them.
Keep in mind also,that lowering the cost means lowering the casting requirements.E.g. D2 mages are better to come by for every nation.
Death alyways will be a very strong path,no matter how you alter the items,thats just how it is in DOM3.
I would be much more hesitant to add a new and very good fire item on the other hand since that would have a much bigger impact on the overall balance already known in this game.

A smallish does not.
And I hope you are not suggesting that high earth bless should be mandatory.

Say u take only E4 bless,just +2 reinvig ,makes your example already slightly in favor of the frost brand +boots of messenger build imo.Although i still cant figure out,what shield u did take,when you are mentioning parry.
And thats not even the best build following your (not advisable)alchemize strategy imo: instead of alchemizing the gems for the boots you could alchemize for the cheap girdle,leaving you more gems left,not less(!), or you could alchemize for the rainbow armor,adding MR in addition to reinvig,which is also nice to have for the giants.

Death gems only, remember.
And, well, you might not have alteration 6 researched and have some other research target in sight for the moment.

Sure,Soul vortex might not yet be researched.
Isnt it just better then to wait for soul vortex to be researched or to make it an early research goal before mass producing SC`s with expensive weapons that become obsolete?


@ Micah
I am also curious about the Sword of Swiftness?
Its 10 gems,9 damage,1/4 Att/Def,2 attacks.
You probably mean the def reducing ability for every attack after the first for quickened thugs wielding it?
That might be enough to be on par with the frost brand..after nerfing it to 12-14 damage.Its still more expensive though than the AoE and Cold resistance offering brand.
Currently i would lean towards improving the SoS by just a tiny bit further.