Curse

Kuku · May 18, 2005, 11:56 AM // 11:56

Is it just me or is this the best spell for a w/mo to maintain on yourself? btw it says smiting prayers, but i'm not sure how increasing my smiting prayers will improve this skill. anyone know?

bobert · May 18, 2005, 01:12 PM // 13:12

boosting smiting prayers won't make balthazaar's Spirit any better. That's what makes it good (in most cases).

smitty-gw · May 18, 2005, 01:14 PM // 13:14

I had the same dilemna understanding this skill. It is linked, but attributes do nothing to increase its effectiveness. Makes little sense IMHO.

Anyway, Its only 1 energy per damage when activated so I do not think its worth it at the cost of one energy pip to maintain.

If your w/mo focuses on healing prayers, as mine does, Live Vicariously or Mending make better options.

ATM my mend adds 3 pips of health regeneration.

With Healing Breeze, I get 9 pips of health regeneration for when the going gets tough.

Just my opinion, but hope this helps.

Studio Ghibli · May 18, 2005, 02:00 PM // 14:00

Con: It uses up an energy regen pip; costly, considering you only have two to begin with on a w/m.

Pro: If you're tanking, that's totally POINTLESS because of all the energy you'll be gaining.

I prefer to use it.

HomerG · May 18, 2005, 02:41 PM // 14:41

ya, it's a great skill, especially if you're fighting mobs.

horohoro08 · May 19, 2005, 03:37 AM // 03:37

i dont get the point of it, u gain energy and adrenaline when u get hit while being enchanted by that skill, and that skill givs a energy degen of 1. im w/mo and i usually i hav mending on so that i can tank. that skill seems kinda pointless to me, kuz if i put it on, i wont hav energy regen at all, but i will still gain energy when i get hit, so i gain energy ANYWAYS, so what the hell is the point of having it on me in the first place? so far i dont kno how this skill can be useful, please explain

Mercury Angel · May 19, 2005, 04:09 AM // 04:09

If you're tanking multiple enemies, then the net gain of energy would be more than what you'd get from a single pip of energy regeneration. Elementalist casts fire storm? As long as you're taking low damage, stand in it and regain even more energy.
But energy isn't all it does, it also increases the rate at which you gain adrenalin.

With Strength of Honor and Balthazar's Spirit on me, in PvP, I was able to cast Judge's Insight pretty often, and do quite a bit of damage. Had I not put so many points into strength, swordsmanship, and smiting, I would have had healing prayers as well, fueled by the energy gain from Balthazar's Spirit. If you're being hit, you gain energy, and you need energy when you're being hit to heal, so it'd ideally work out.

Not sure exactly how smiting prayers aids it, but then again, not sure exactly how much adrenalin you get in the first place while being hit. It's obviously not 1 per time you take damage, so it must be a fraction of a full unit, in which case, smiting could easily increase the size of that fraction.

Ah well, I'm sure someone out there knows better >.>

Studio Ghibli · May 19, 2005, 04:52 AM // 04:52

.. what Mercury said.

The energy regen with Balth up -IN COMBAT- is much higher than what it would normally be. Considering you're a tank and you're sure to be swarmed, you're probably getting anywhere from two to five regen every attack swing.

Which is a lot.

Even moreso, with energy regen like that, you can actually maintain three enchantments and still be able to cast a spell or two.

xakia · May 19, 2005, 06:05 AM // 06:05

Might be decent for hammer users as we gain adren much slower than others. Where can I find this skill?

Quietus · May 19, 2005, 06:19 AM // 06:19

Life Bond on your parties monk, Balthazar's spirit on yourself.

Sausaletus Rex · May 19, 2005, 06:22 AM // 06:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuku

Is it just me or is this the best spell for a w/mo to maintain on yourself? btw it says smiting prayers, but i'm not sure how increasing my smiting prayers will improve this skill. anyone know?

First, yes. It is one of the best skills out there to maintain. Ranking with Life Bond and Essence Bond as the best maintained enchantments out there.

Second, Smiting Prayers seems to affect the adrenal gain portion of the skill although not by very much. It seems to work that whenever you take damage you get some percentage of it as adrenaline. Increasing Smiting Prayers increases that percentage. You get a set amount of adrenaline plus an amount determined by how much damage you take for each and every hit with Balthazar's. The actual forumla has escaped me but it makes a difference of something like 1.2% of your damage to 1.8% or something along those lines. In other words, not very much. At best it's just doubling your normal adrenal gain from getting hit. It's perfectly useable without a drop in Smiting because you'll still see an increase to your adren and the energy gain is constant. And it's the energy you really want here, although the adren can be nice. The thing to note, though, is that Balth works best when you're taking a lot of little hits rather than one big one. You want a War hitting you, not an ele, in other words, because you'll get both more adrenaline and more energy.

However, what I'll point out is that Balth is one of the best enchantments to run on yourself, sure, but you're all overlooking something very important here. You can maintain it on someone else just as easily. Balthazar's, unlike Essence Bond, directs its energy and adrenaline not to you but to the target of the enchantment. Meaning that anyone who's going to take a lot of damage can stand to reap a lot of energy from being Balthed. To put it in concrete numbers - if they get hit once a second that's the equivalent of giving them an extra 3 pips of regeneration. That's enough to make anyone smile especially your energy strapped Monks. Remember, you've got two pips to maintain things with as a Warrior and with your adrenal skills you don't have to bother with energy whatsoever - you, of any profession, are best equiped to operate in an energy poor environment. And rather than looking to help yourself and yourself alone you can look to aid your party as a whole. The trick, of course, is to make sure that your Balthed target is getting a good stream of damage sent in their direction or your energy loss has been wasted.

My Arena build (Which I'm still tinkering with - the basic concept is two maintained enchantments, rezsig, and a bunch of adrenal skills. I've just found Cleave so I'm giving a high damage build with Penetrating and Executioner's a spin but I typically like a lot of disruption so I go with Distracting, Disrupting, and Dismember over the rawdog "put 'em in the ground" skills - and, yes, a Deep Wound with the kind of spike damage I can put out is sickeningly good. Depending on my smiting levels I rotate in JI from time to time although that 2 second casting time quickly sours me on it once again...) includes Balthazar's for that specific reason, in fact. Balthazar's on the high priority target (Monk, if I have one, of course) followed by Essence Bond means energy for them and energy for me and protects that all-important Balth from a single enchantment strip, too. Sometimes I don't even bother to run Essence at all.

howler · May 20, 2005, 04:39 PM // 16:39

This skill is in my current PvE w/mo build.

Currently i use Mending, Balths spirit, Live vacariously as upkeeps on myself (i only cast Live vacariously once im in combat), using balths spirit allows me to run 3 upkeep enchantments. Also by using balth spirit it allows me to charge Bonnettis defense faster allowing mew to use it more often and thus gain more energy Vs melee monsters.

I generally fight in a group of 3 humans (including me) with the rest henchmen just me and two of my friends. In Big melee fights i can run those 3 upkeeps and then stick a mending on each of my 2 friends, so im at -3 energy regen, and i cope fine with it infact im usually at max energy, i then use Vigorous Spirit on myself too, so when i hit the monsters i gain 2 x +8 Health and if i miss i gain only +8. there is no way i could do this without balths spirit. probably one of my most favourite PvE skills.