Curse

-KF · Jan 21, 2008, 04:53 PM // 16:53

I kind of answer my own question here, but I was hoping maybe I'd get lucky and someone would tell me I'm wrong.

Avatar of Balthazar gives +40 armor

Kinetic Armor gives between +20-80 armor.

The wiki article states:
"Armor enhancing skills do not stack beyond +25 armor. This means a single skill can still bypass this cap, but using further armor enhancing skills will have no effect."

Given this I assume that the armor from these two skills wont stack. The elite forms arent like normal enchanments though so I was wondering if maybe they worked a little different in this regard, and I was to lazy to do a field test so I figured I could be lazy and see if someone had a definite answer. Having 170+ armor would be useful.

Pyro maniac · Jan 21, 2008, 04:55 PM // 16:55

it will give you the highest of the armor buffs
so +40 form balthazar OR 20-80 from Kinetic

anyway, both skills suck and together they are even worse

Earth · Jan 21, 2008, 04:55 PM // 16:55

They won't stack.

And AoB is pretty bad, but let's not go into that.

Marverick · Jan 21, 2008, 04:55 PM // 16:55

No, it doesn't stack.

And why do you need 170 armor? Go kill stuff... stuff that's dead doesn't deal any damage to you, you know...

-KF · Jan 21, 2008, 05:17 PM // 17:17

"anyway, both skills suck"

Why is a skill that can potentially give you +50-60 armor (with high enough points in earth att) almost permanently, a bad skill? The only req is that you cast a skill every 8 seconds. When fighting a big mob of enemies that are high level, you are likely to be casting more frequently than every 8 seconds, and having any damage that isnt armor ignoring reduced by more than half(half damage happens at +40 armor) seems like it would be good. The only counter is if you get enchant removal, and it has a long recharge at 60.

"together they are even worse"
Yeah if they dont stack it would be rather pointless to have both.

"And AoB is pretty bad, but let's not go into that"

Well if I could stack other armor skills with it I'd say it would be pretty damn good though that isnt the case, but why not get into it? This is a pve skill discussion forum, and I dont see any other threads in this forum referencing it, what would the harm in talking about it be? A skill that gives you a 33% speed increase, halves damage and is great agaisnt undead doesnt seem to be all that bad. And a pve only skill that makes it so you can keep these bonuses going indefinitely makes it a better deal.

-edit
"And why do you need 170 armor?"

What can I say, I'm a lazy monk.

Desert Rose · Jan 21, 2008, 05:35 PM // 17:35

You need to cast a spell every 8 seconds, not a skill, so you have to spam an enchanment or something like flare. Both will reduce your effectiveness.
In the dervish forum you will find in a thread "AoB sucks" or something like that why Balhazar is not a good elite choice.

-KF · Jan 21, 2008, 05:52 PM // 17:52

"You need to cast a spell every 8 seconds, not a skill"

Well I suppose in the case of only a derv it might not be great, when I said it wasn't a bad skill I meant in general. I guess I was talking about mixing it with a dervish skill to start with so I should have clarified, but a rit, ele, mes, necro all cast spells, and enough that they easily meet the 8 second req. Having a caster with 100-120 armor all the time is a good way to reduce quite a bit of damage from the squishy part of the team.

"In the dervish forum you will find in a thread "AoB sucks"

Thank you, I'm curious about it now so I'll go check it out.

[Morkai] · Jan 21, 2008, 06:54 PM // 18:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desert Rose

In the dervish forum you will find in a thread "AoB sucks" or something like that why Balhazar is not a good elite choice.

So because the Dervish Forum has a thread saying it sucks...makes it so?

Someone hand this man some logic. Because his appears to be broken..

Mr Emu · Jan 21, 2008, 07:00 PM // 19:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berek

So because the Dervish Forum has a thread saying it sucks...makes it so?

Someone hand this man some logic. Because his appears to be broken..

Actually, if the majority of the community thinks is sucks, then its so. Anyway, you can go play your AoB derv all day long, I don't care.

Pyro maniac · Jan 21, 2008, 07:03 PM // 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Emu

Actually, if the majority of the community thinks is sucks, then its so.

Nah, the majority thinks its great >.<

It's bad because it doesn't anything on offense, while it's defensive bonus is very mediocre.

Burst Cancel · Jan 21, 2008, 07:03 PM // 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berek

So because the Dervish Forum has a thread saying it sucks...makes it so?

Someone hand this man some logic. Because his appears to be broken..

Are you a complete RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOing moron? The threads obviously contain reasoning for why the skill sucks. Nobody intelligent suggests that skills are bad just because "The Dervish Forum SAYS SO ZOMG!!11!shift-1". Rather, re-hashing points that have already been discussed ad nauseum is an utter waste of everyone's time.

Xylia · Jan 21, 2008, 07:40 PM // 19:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Emu

if the majority of the community thinks is sucks, then its so.

I disagree with this logic. Majority does not rule over personal choices, and telling someone "that skill sucks, don't use it" simply makes it less likely that someone will bother to try the skill out, possibly finding an as yet undocumented use for it.

Desert Rose · Jan 22, 2008, 10:26 PM // 22:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berek

So because the Dervish Forum has a thread saying it sucks...makes it so?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desert Rose

In the dervish forum you will find in a thread "AoB sucks" or something like that why Balhazar is not a good elite choice.

Is my english really this bad? Are my posts this mistakable? Or have you just stop reading after "AoB sucks"?

Anywhy, the thread was: Avatar of Balthazar

Kinetic Armor is great, on paper. In game, it may force a caster to use spells at unsuitable times to mantain it, and requires a spammable spell in-between fights. Also, KD, interrupt and e-drain can prevent you from using a spell all 8 seconds. At least, the long cooldown makes it very vulnerable to enchantment-remove.

edit:
In addition, having a armorbuff on one teammate is quite useless until, a skill which provides a bonus to all teammates is way better, like wards.

Tyla · Jan 22, 2008, 10:41 PM // 22:41

1 word: WHY?!

stretchs · Feb 05, 2008, 11:46 PM // 23:46

Kinetic Armor on the right farming build is fine, but as a skill for a secondary prof, especially on a melee char, you are going to struggle, just to maintain it by casting/activating skills unless you have your mysticism high on a dervish