04-04-2003, 03:01 PM
Since I'm starting up again pretty rusty, and the fact that my Girlfriend probably won't like her first build, I decided to try to make my first lag resistant build out of something I was more familiar with: the Necromancer! (Overlord my foot, this is a Rangelord!) What I ended up with was definitely quirky. Not as lag resistant as I would have liked, but extremely automomous, and I thought I would share a few observations!
Necromancer: Ganon (Yes, my characters all use Zelda names)
Level: 29
Summoning: Skeleton Mastery 12, Raise Skeleton 1, Raise Mage 7(+3)
Bone: Teeth 1, Corpse Explosion 1, Bone Spear 3.
Curses: Dim Vision 7(+3).
(I bought a beautiful Yew Wand of the Magus: 20% Faster Cast. +3 Dim Vision. +3 Raise Mage in Act II) :ph34r:
1) All ranged enemies seem to have two parts to their offensive AI. a) Move into position. B) Attack. Regardless if this is a spellcaster or an archer they all share that aspect of their AI. Dim Vision utterly shuts them down, often hitting the enemy before they get past the 'Move into Position' phase!
2) Any enemy that bumps into something has to check it's pathing again. Pathing either requires seeing where it is going or an entire AI check to remember what it was doing. In this way, Dim Vision also stops enemies that bump into eachother.
3) All enemies seem to check AI Between every attack. As mentioned on Elric's site and other guides Tempting Fate works wonders with cursing incomming melee monsters. This seems to force them to try to pick a target, one they cannot see through Dim Vision.
4) Inevitably, one skeleton make will parallel my motions and move next to me in it's patrol AI. This causes tempting fate to be difficult, and likely the death of the Magi, so most battles need at least a 1:1 kill ratio. In Normal Hell so far it is often the case for that one Magi to become a sacrificial lamb, dying for love of it's country and resetting the AI of the enemies that quickly clump up around that spot.
5) Dimming the edges of the screen at suspected 'Trouble Spots' is a terrific way for me to block off further enemy assault by preventing monsters from passing the closer dimmed monsters. I can creep forward this way in extreme saftey if I am feeling that cheap.
6) Most melee monsters seem to exhibit a 'Follow the other guy' AI, in which case they can be dimmed during their following, before they switch to the offensive when in range of my Magi. I guess they put that in there so you couldn't activate just one at a time.
7) I started calling Dim Vision the "One Shot Wonder". Most monsters get to make one single lonesome shot, which they make at the same time you Dim them. Then their AI tries to find a new target and fails. This definitely includes melee monsters who will rush you to attack, get off one failed swing from your friendly Tempter, then stand around like lambs for the slaughter!
8) The AI seems to request a check when you move out of a monsters line of sight. Do monsters have a line of sight? A melee monsters that I've dimmed will follow me to the ends of the earth in a relatively straight line, but run circles around him and he forgets you like last weeks lunch.
9) One wonderfully useful tactic I use is dimming a clump of melee as they run up to me, then swinging around a half circle to their rear ends. This accomplishes a lot, though it is on the risky side. a) The entire clump of enemies completely forgets my ugly mug. B) All my loyal Magi are forced to move forward and spread out into attack range. c) This might activate more distant mobs which rush to attack me, in which case I Dim their life expectancy and repeat! I can get entire chains going like this! Over and over again! When it's time to stop, I just circle back around to let activated monsters thump against existing dimmed monsters and they go out of commission too!
10) My Magi tended to always teleport ahead of me when I got too far away. Infact, they did this so often in the restrictive quarters of the Arcane Sanctuary or Maggot Lair that I started monopolizing on it. Often they will leap to the fringers of my vision only to have that area quickly Dimmed. On one side, this usually put them next to a number of active monsters that were just itching for some calcium. On the other side, this allowed more Magi to be in range of the enemy, since only a few could be on the offense at one time in cramped spaces.
11) Dim Vision essentially blows away anything that even dares cast a spell! All those reanimators from Fallen Shamen, Ancients, Flayer Shamen and even Corpulsents just get depressed and wait to die! About the only time they get up the courage is when they are standing directly over a potential spell target. This also completely neuters those itchy monsters like Hierophants, Night Lords, Maggots and Flesh Spawners. They practically line up for their date with Magi luvin!
12) No matter what, Dimmed creatures don't have much else to do but pace. And boy do they. Usually when they are all clumped up and spacing out they have nowhere to go but to inch towards my troops. This really is the biggest problem I foresee in Hell difficulty. Several times my Magi stubbornly hold their ground against the creeping doom of 'Inching' knights, spawners, venom lords and what have you. I can't summon up reinforcements since they inch up over the corpses, and I steadily and slowly start losing troops. But that's why I'm going to start a heavy investment in Bone Spear. With the same Mana:Damage ratio as Bone Spirit, I'm going to love throwing spears through clumps of 6, 9 or even 12 monsters at once! 3024-3168 damage for the cost of a single Bone Spirit? Sign me up.
I think it's official. Dim Vision rocks my socks! :lol:
Necromancer: Ganon (Yes, my characters all use Zelda names)
Level: 29
Summoning: Skeleton Mastery 12, Raise Skeleton 1, Raise Mage 7(+3)
Bone: Teeth 1, Corpse Explosion 1, Bone Spear 3.
Curses: Dim Vision 7(+3).
(I bought a beautiful Yew Wand of the Magus: 20% Faster Cast. +3 Dim Vision. +3 Raise Mage in Act II) :ph34r:
1) All ranged enemies seem to have two parts to their offensive AI. a) Move into position. B) Attack. Regardless if this is a spellcaster or an archer they all share that aspect of their AI. Dim Vision utterly shuts them down, often hitting the enemy before they get past the 'Move into Position' phase!
2) Any enemy that bumps into something has to check it's pathing again. Pathing either requires seeing where it is going or an entire AI check to remember what it was doing. In this way, Dim Vision also stops enemies that bump into eachother.
3) All enemies seem to check AI Between every attack. As mentioned on Elric's site and other guides Tempting Fate works wonders with cursing incomming melee monsters. This seems to force them to try to pick a target, one they cannot see through Dim Vision.
4) Inevitably, one skeleton make will parallel my motions and move next to me in it's patrol AI. This causes tempting fate to be difficult, and likely the death of the Magi, so most battles need at least a 1:1 kill ratio. In Normal Hell so far it is often the case for that one Magi to become a sacrificial lamb, dying for love of it's country and resetting the AI of the enemies that quickly clump up around that spot.
5) Dimming the edges of the screen at suspected 'Trouble Spots' is a terrific way for me to block off further enemy assault by preventing monsters from passing the closer dimmed monsters. I can creep forward this way in extreme saftey if I am feeling that cheap.
6) Most melee monsters seem to exhibit a 'Follow the other guy' AI, in which case they can be dimmed during their following, before they switch to the offensive when in range of my Magi. I guess they put that in there so you couldn't activate just one at a time.
7) I started calling Dim Vision the "One Shot Wonder". Most monsters get to make one single lonesome shot, which they make at the same time you Dim them. Then their AI tries to find a new target and fails. This definitely includes melee monsters who will rush you to attack, get off one failed swing from your friendly Tempter, then stand around like lambs for the slaughter!
8) The AI seems to request a check when you move out of a monsters line of sight. Do monsters have a line of sight? A melee monsters that I've dimmed will follow me to the ends of the earth in a relatively straight line, but run circles around him and he forgets you like last weeks lunch.
9) One wonderfully useful tactic I use is dimming a clump of melee as they run up to me, then swinging around a half circle to their rear ends. This accomplishes a lot, though it is on the risky side. a) The entire clump of enemies completely forgets my ugly mug. B) All my loyal Magi are forced to move forward and spread out into attack range. c) This might activate more distant mobs which rush to attack me, in which case I Dim their life expectancy and repeat! I can get entire chains going like this! Over and over again! When it's time to stop, I just circle back around to let activated monsters thump against existing dimmed monsters and they go out of commission too!
10) My Magi tended to always teleport ahead of me when I got too far away. Infact, they did this so often in the restrictive quarters of the Arcane Sanctuary or Maggot Lair that I started monopolizing on it. Often they will leap to the fringers of my vision only to have that area quickly Dimmed. On one side, this usually put them next to a number of active monsters that were just itching for some calcium. On the other side, this allowed more Magi to be in range of the enemy, since only a few could be on the offense at one time in cramped spaces.
11) Dim Vision essentially blows away anything that even dares cast a spell! All those reanimators from Fallen Shamen, Ancients, Flayer Shamen and even Corpulsents just get depressed and wait to die! About the only time they get up the courage is when they are standing directly over a potential spell target. This also completely neuters those itchy monsters like Hierophants, Night Lords, Maggots and Flesh Spawners. They practically line up for their date with Magi luvin!
12) No matter what, Dimmed creatures don't have much else to do but pace. And boy do they. Usually when they are all clumped up and spacing out they have nowhere to go but to inch towards my troops. This really is the biggest problem I foresee in Hell difficulty. Several times my Magi stubbornly hold their ground against the creeping doom of 'Inching' knights, spawners, venom lords and what have you. I can't summon up reinforcements since they inch up over the corpses, and I steadily and slowly start losing troops. But that's why I'm going to start a heavy investment in Bone Spear. With the same Mana:Damage ratio as Bone Spirit, I'm going to love throwing spears through clumps of 6, 9 or even 12 monsters at once! 3024-3168 damage for the cost of a single Bone Spirit? Sign me up.
I think it's official. Dim Vision rocks my socks! :lol: