08-25-2003, 05:10 PM
Puma asks:
1.I can't find decent,comprehensive and THOROUGH guides on Rogue and Monk-throw in a link or two if u know.
Ice's, Claudio's and Shuri's guides for Rogue are all excellent (they're the links others have provided). Shuri's says 'Multiplayer Guide' but most of it's relevant for playing single.
And:
3.What OFFENSIVE spells does a Rogue REALLY need?
Depends on what you mean by 'really'. You could conceivably get through all levels with no offensive spells. It would be painstakingly slow, though. I'm currently playing a clvl36 Rogue and I like using magic, so my spellbook is more advanced than many Rogue's would need but FWIW here's my take on spells -
I always have Chain Lightning, Fireball and Stone Curse hotkeyed. I think those are the really necessary spells (with Mana Shield as my fourth hotkey for bacon-saving), so that's my short answer. For offensive work, those will do what you 'really need'.
Now the rest -
Firewall and Flame Wave are both useful, Firewall doing far better damage. Golem is especially helpful for magistrate-types who will stand there and uselessly attempt to 'Flash' him while he pounds them, and he's great for bashing statues after you Stone Curse. Sometimes he can wake up enemies for you but this is unreliable/unpredictable. On the other hand, he can also *distract* enemies for you, and that can be very useful.
Guardian is a handy scout but won't do much damage. Same with Elemental. These two can draw enemies out of a room for you slowly enough to take care of them with your bow. (Although, if you choose to go for really high spell levels and lots of +Mag then both can do enough damage to be very useful).
Charged Bolt can also help to wake up enemies in a room so they come to the narrow doorway and you pick them off there - but its damage is only enough to weaken higher monsters. Ordinary Lightning can be used if you don't want the wide spray of effect from Chain Lightning, but it'll have low damage compared to CL. Holy Bolt works on Leoric and Diablo but otherwise only on undead monsters so it isn't much use for general offensive stuff, *except* that it will kill Black Deaths so if it's doing better damage than your bow use it on them.
Bone Spirit is kinda cute-looking and can draw out enemies but others do so better. Firebolt is basically pointless once you have Fireball. Flash is utterly pointless in my opinion, but some disagree - see next para. Blood Star is utterly pointless in just about everybody's opinion. Inferno looks cool the first time you use it and that's probably the last time you'll use it. Phasing can be used like Teleport - see next para - but the random effect makes this next to impossible IMO, and dangerous.
Teleport is perhaps not 'offensive' in the way you mean, but is part of the offensive arsenal, as well as being a very handy method of escape. The various guides show you how to incorporate Teleport with other spells and non-spell attack. For instance, when a monster approaches bounce to the other side of him - he turns and chases you to your new position but you bounce back again and gain yourself half a screen of shooting time. Another one is to set up Firewalls and by bouncing back and forth over them you can draw monsters through them repeatedly. Or you can simply Teleport around to get a lot of monsters following you then draw them towards a corner (you stand in the corner) and you massacre the lot with CL. A specific method called 'TeleFlash' has been used by some effectively - Teleport next to a monster and immediately Flash them to death. I am not skilled enough to do this reliably, but it's wise to explore the use of Teleport as an offense.
Mick.
1.I can't find decent,comprehensive and THOROUGH guides on Rogue and Monk-throw in a link or two if u know.
Ice's, Claudio's and Shuri's guides for Rogue are all excellent (they're the links others have provided). Shuri's says 'Multiplayer Guide' but most of it's relevant for playing single.
And:
3.What OFFENSIVE spells does a Rogue REALLY need?
Depends on what you mean by 'really'. You could conceivably get through all levels with no offensive spells. It would be painstakingly slow, though. I'm currently playing a clvl36 Rogue and I like using magic, so my spellbook is more advanced than many Rogue's would need but FWIW here's my take on spells -
I always have Chain Lightning, Fireball and Stone Curse hotkeyed. I think those are the really necessary spells (with Mana Shield as my fourth hotkey for bacon-saving), so that's my short answer. For offensive work, those will do what you 'really need'.
Now the rest -
Firewall and Flame Wave are both useful, Firewall doing far better damage. Golem is especially helpful for magistrate-types who will stand there and uselessly attempt to 'Flash' him while he pounds them, and he's great for bashing statues after you Stone Curse. Sometimes he can wake up enemies for you but this is unreliable/unpredictable. On the other hand, he can also *distract* enemies for you, and that can be very useful.
Guardian is a handy scout but won't do much damage. Same with Elemental. These two can draw enemies out of a room for you slowly enough to take care of them with your bow. (Although, if you choose to go for really high spell levels and lots of +Mag then both can do enough damage to be very useful).
Charged Bolt can also help to wake up enemies in a room so they come to the narrow doorway and you pick them off there - but its damage is only enough to weaken higher monsters. Ordinary Lightning can be used if you don't want the wide spray of effect from Chain Lightning, but it'll have low damage compared to CL. Holy Bolt works on Leoric and Diablo but otherwise only on undead monsters so it isn't much use for general offensive stuff, *except* that it will kill Black Deaths so if it's doing better damage than your bow use it on them.
Bone Spirit is kinda cute-looking and can draw out enemies but others do so better. Firebolt is basically pointless once you have Fireball. Flash is utterly pointless in my opinion, but some disagree - see next para. Blood Star is utterly pointless in just about everybody's opinion. Inferno looks cool the first time you use it and that's probably the last time you'll use it. Phasing can be used like Teleport - see next para - but the random effect makes this next to impossible IMO, and dangerous.
Teleport is perhaps not 'offensive' in the way you mean, but is part of the offensive arsenal, as well as being a very handy method of escape. The various guides show you how to incorporate Teleport with other spells and non-spell attack. For instance, when a monster approaches bounce to the other side of him - he turns and chases you to your new position but you bounce back again and gain yourself half a screen of shooting time. Another one is to set up Firewalls and by bouncing back and forth over them you can draw monsters through them repeatedly. Or you can simply Teleport around to get a lot of monsters following you then draw them towards a corner (you stand in the corner) and you massacre the lot with CL. A specific method called 'TeleFlash' has been used by some effectively - Teleport next to a monster and immediately Flash them to death. I am not skilled enough to do this reliably, but it's wise to explore the use of Teleport as an offense.
Mick.