Im wondering if it is effective to AoE after the Gaseous blast (nerf) fix? if so, with what skills and what stats?
Is it stupid to go all int for some good dmg in groups? and go nuts with int gear?
I am currently just soloing (only L12) to get into the game a bit and learning my char better. But i will be grouping a lot later on.

Thx in advance

Edited by CrouX (11/29/07 11:25 AM)

gas wasnt nerfed it was just fixed.. it wasnt meant to be used as some were using it as.. example, grab 100 mobs run in a tight cirle and do gas, heal pot or 2 , fire, shadow lightning if gas isnt up yet, and 95% of them were dead.

yes you can still aoe effectively

ok then.
Could someone answer my other questsions?

cheers

My AoE cycle is usually:

- The ranger spell that decreases resistance (big green cloud)
- Gaseous Blast
- Ring of Fire
- Shadow Lightning

...and cycle as they come up and are needed.

Usually everything is dead pretty quick. Trash mobs are usually dead by the next DoT I cast after SL, on formiddable difficulty.

I don't use AoE for the harder mobs, I can take them down faster with the appropriate bolt spell one by one. Usually I AoE the trash, bolt the mobs, then bolt the hero. I spend about 1 or 2 health pots and don't use mana pots.

As for how to spec, there are some good posts here that talk about that. I put all my points into END and get my INT from gear. I play on formiddable and its a cake walk at level 16.

as far as going all int or doing end as this question has been asked and answered many times... I would just say try both and see which one works for your play style

Does Acidic Blight reduce both elemental and physical damage resistance? I thought it only did the latter, but perhaps Im mistaken.

Read the skill, it says Defense rating, which is actually only usefull for pure melee monsters as only fighters got such a high defense rate where they can cover behind.

Thats what I thought. So why would a mage use Acidic Blast in his AoE cycle? Unless you are teaming with fighters, it doesnt make sense.

Correction: Unless you fight against melee enemy's. The defense rate of the mob goes down, not the dmg of the fighter, if so all damage hits harder/misses less often.

AFAIK, Acidic Blight is a debuff against physical damage and not spell damage. So if you are a ranger or a fighter solo, or a hybrid that uses a weapon that does physical damage, acidic blight is a very effective spell. As a pure casting mage it is not going to help you solo but is very helpful grouped so the other damage dealers can bring along another skill to the fight and by virtue of your very large mana pool you can save them the trouble of debuffing.

i also agree very well said.. Just cause the spell doesnt help mages out doesnt mean we shouldnt use it as if you in a group its a group thing.. But then i am partial to offensive gesture as the sound it makes, makes me think if the game Q-bert when ya died.. Always get a chuckle out of that

Yeah is a great animation to. When it first came out we had some fun with it ...

yeah it is fun to use and laugh at.. never gets too old kinda like the simpsons

Not to toot my own horn...but I've said all this before if you ever check my hybrid build thread... its in the signature...