Reply To: Offense Skill Tree Discussion

[ManaSeed]

[Game version 0.4.0.44]
I’ll skip points that were mentioned here.

Push the Advantage ==> This perk increases chance to hit head. As we have a choice to might hit either head or body, I’ve been thinking a good way to make good use of headshot. You know, like…… Boom! Head~shot! The best idea I can think is using Winged Mace to stun an enemy, then use Scramasax’s skill Puncture + Killer on the run background(+10% chance to hit head) to bypass armor and headshot him. This should work best against enemy with high armor.

But even against Orc Warrior (enemy with high armor), you can kill him with less fatigue cost with other weapons and other tier 1 offense perk. (the result is based on mere mathematics, without actual field testing)

Therefore, this perk is not meant for offense capability. It only means for extra firepower if you decided to use stun.

Fast Adaptation ==> You should only give up this perk over other tier 1 offense perks, if you have to choose its alternatives for your specific build. With 95% as upper limit of chance to hit, you might think it is stupid to take this perk if your average chance to hit is around 90%. However, enemy’s shieldwall will greatly reduce your chance to hit. For offense’s sake, take it.

Head Hunter ==> okay I lied about not mentioning what has been mentioned because this perk is amazing. Now listen very closely or you miss out on the gist of this perk.

The closer you’re getting to penetrate the boss’s tummy, the higher the chance he will block your finishing blow with his helmet. In turn, this gives him better chance to penetrate your tummy. According to this logic, we must move Head Hunter to permanent debuff category.

But it’s useful for enemies without helmet! Too bad the disadvantage greatly outweighed the advantage.

Debilitate ==> uses 3AP and builds 30 fatigue, deactivates when your attack misses, ONLY for 50% dmg reduction for 1 round. Fantastic way to bully players who’ve accidentally picked this perk and overwritten the saved game.

The unfortunate player is stuck with the perk until……….. we have mini boss. Yes miniboss, not enemy leaders. Because enemy leaders just use normal weapons like mobs. Or any other good reason to reduce an enemy unit’s dmg by 50% for a single round, by sacrificing a chance & fatigue to attack/kill him.

Bullseye ==> it doesn’t look like tier 2 perk to me because its effect is a little weak. But it’s one of the two tier-2 offense perks a ranged brother will actually choose.

Close Combat Archer ==> This perk is kinda awesome. I think it is actually on par with Long Range Pawn perk (the further you’re away from enemy, the higher your melee damage). Nothing complicated, really. Let’s take a look at it.

At distance 2, your ranged damage is increased by 50%. Awesome!

At distance 1, you can’t use ranged weapon at all (except firing 2 loaded crossbows with Quick Hands). Exciting!

So if you can actually make pretty good use of this perk, you’re probably not making the most of melee and range brothers.

Killing Frenzy ==> I used to think nobody will choose this perk because of Perfect Focus, until I saw this thread. Provided your brothers always increase max fatigue upon level up, you should still choose Perfect Focus for better offense even if you’re wearing heraldic mail. Unless…… you’re actually wearing both heraldic mail and full helm. Then you will have insufficient max fatigue for Perfect Focus. But enemy should have about ¼ chance to hit your head, so why should you wear helmet with 300 durability if your armor is 320 durability? You should wear helmet around 90 durability. Just remember to keep an eye for enemy’s 2h axe and you will not need a heavy helmet.

>> It turns out Perfect Focus is garbage for crossbowmen.
You’re probably not using Perfect Focus the right way.

>> The +40 fatigue when you use Perfect Focus just doesn’t allow for much shooting and reloading.
Your ranged brother can fire crossbow at least 3 times, even if he’s wearing heraldic mail for no good reason (can fire at least 4 times with woven tunic). The 40 fatigue cost is not the real problem. The real problem is crossbow doesn’t punch hard enough so it has harder time to restore its fatigue with Battle Flow. The fatigue cost can be remedied with Rally the Troops. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that crossbow deliver softer punch than melee weapons.

Incidentally, this synergy between Perfect Focus and high dmg melee weapon is also a reason why melee weapon outshined range weapons.

But since high melee damage can’t replace ranged damage due to their range difference, Perfect Focus is justifiable for crossbowmen if a player thinks range damage is justifiable.

Also, I’ll skip other points regarding Perfect Focus because everyone is pretty familiar with this perk.