Damage shields

Maankin · Post by **Maankin** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 7:06 am

Multiple cloud based spells cannot be cast at the same spot, you get a notification that there is already one active. Evards Black tentacles can be cast multiple times at the same spot though, it does some bludgeon damage and can paralize (fort dave DC 26 or so I think). They help against a rogue but not against a monk SD.
The main problem is though that they (SD) can clear your action queue.

Say you are a fighter fighting a SD rogue.
The rogue has higher initiative then you so when he attacks you (hidden) he hits first (if he's dual wielding more then once) doing sneak damage
The fighter clicks the SD to IKD him
But the SD disengages attack (attack button in quick slot) and HIPS, this causes the action queue of the fighter to be emptied and the SD is hidden again, unharmed
rinse and repeat.

This also means that as a caster you can't cast a spell directly at an SD even if you see him, because if he HIPS your spell will fizzle.
This leaves casters with the AOE spells, of which most are reflex saved, so useless against a rogue or monk, many are mind based (which means protection from evil/good can make them useless), but these are our best hope even if the DC's of the disabling ones are average ( the problem with mind fog is that you can save against the effect), and AOE death spells.
And of course the mantles that are almost useless now.

Spot and listen are cross class skills for many classes (wizards, etc.) and SD's make it a case of honour to up their hide and move silently as high as possible, so detection is very very hard.

P. Fricebottle · Post by **P. Fricebottle** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:30 pm

You obviously don't know how to deal with a SD.

Theres plenty of gear with spot and listen, heck you can go down just to your local Sunken Isle for a +7 spot helm.

A SD can only clear your Action Queue if he hides and you can't see him.

Easily solved, be able to see him. Simply cross-class with a class that has spot. One feat of epic skill focus in spot and you have a +10 to match his. Also you seem to be forgetting True Seeing's +20 to Spot. The only thing to match that is a Ghostwise Halfling.

From a spell, a feat, and a helmet you easily get a +37 to your spot. Add in 20 ranks or so and you have it at +57. Buff up your Wisdom Modifer for a +60. Remember thats only 20 ranks, 20 more and its a +80.

I hope I did that math right

.

Post by **Flailer** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:48 pm

NO, even if you see the SD, and he goes into stealth, it *still* clears the opponents action queue. That's the problem. Bioware bug that we can't do anything about...

P. Fricebottle · Post by **P. Fricebottle** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:09 pm

Oh....well that sucks

. Well, just have your spell ready then and as soon as he pops up get im.

Alain · Post by **Alain** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 2:47 pm

not that easy. you play rogues, but youre not the best at it (no offense).

I once fought a SD (think it was either DD1 or Nemesis) who was able to attack, disengage, and hips in 1 round.

A mage cant fight that unless they have quicken spell, and even then its difficult. Even meleers have trouble landing a hit in time.

Not trying to provoke any kind of spam or flames, just stating what the problem with HIPS is. if it werent for the clear action part it would be fine IMHO. just boost your spot and there is no problem.

mgrjebbo · Post by **mgrjebbo** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 3:43 pm

is that was causes everyone to crash when fighting a SD, the fact it clears your qeue even though you can still see him? cause every time i encounter one of those guys i end up crashing like a drunk on saturday night.

And as far as i know my video card is more than capable of handling anything this game could throw at it.

Kirg · Post by **Kirg** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 3:51 pm

That is another bug, you solve it if you get the old movement animation of the previous version. Before HotU; you should find it on nwvault ie. Sry but I dont remember the name. It's a small selfextracting file.
These crashes happened a lot to me while playing on another server, where many sneakers would suddenly attack from hiding.

MasterYoda · Post by **MasterYoda** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:15 pm

AoE spells are ur friends vs sders.

ever see how quickly a hipser falls vs horrid.... or sov.

man people try tew things.

P. Fricebottle · Post by **P. Fricebottle** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:24 pm

Alain wrote:not that easy. you play rogues, but youre not the best at it (no offense).

Yeah, I'm in RK so I haven't played a SD in a long time. I didn't use that cheesy thing, I mostly played rogue for being a rogue (and halfling

). My last SD build was barb/rog/sd, and I failed to utilize Sneak Attacks to the best of my abilities.

mgrjebbo wrote:is that was causes everyone to crash when fighting a SD

Yeah, I've experienced that

. We had an entire group of 4 people defending against 1 SD, we hadn't a spot build so yeah it sucked. He was going after RK's relic (failed since he had to keep moving), and we were trying to defend it. Minielvis crashed once, I did twice, etc. He was ranger dual-wielder as well to make it worse, so when he attacked it was 6 attacks in 0.6 seconds and a crash waiting to happen.

Nemesis Revised · Post by **Nemesis Revised** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:06 pm

i've faced lotsa SDs in our temple. even one that surpasses 60 spot. tell you the truth, igms won't work. some aoe spells might, but it wont be enough to kill him; other aoe spells are saveable since they have high reflex. but there are still some pinpoint spells that can hit em even in hips

time to explore fellas

Cthulhu Drega · Post by **Cthulhu Drega** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:39 pm

P. Fricebottle wrote: Yeah, I'm in RK so I haven't played a SD in a long time. I didn't use that cheesy thing, I mostly played rogue for being a rogue (and halfling ). My last SD build was barb/rog/sd, and I failed to utilize Sneak Attacks to the best of my abilities.

my my arent we mr "holier than tho"

Celorn · Post by **Celorn** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:10 pm

Yeah, there are a TON of ways to cripple and destory SD's... I think most of the enemy ones my PvP toons have fought have been destroyed fairly easily, but I always build for maximum spot or listen.

On the flip side, my main SD pre-wipe did fairly well in PvP and great in PvM (except for most planar mobs which were a pain) my new version of her does better all around, but still my in-your-face builds are faster at killing stuff and are good against a wider variety of foes (ie: crit&/or sneak immune).
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ho·li·er-than-thou
adj.
Exhibiting an attitude of superior virtue; self-righteously pious.