Hey all,

Finally got around to doing the second of these three, short, reviews of the Talent Tree. This time, I’m going to cover Survivor.

Overall Survivor has 5 layers, where two branches merge at the Tier 3 talent. It’s an unusual talent tree in that you have several weaker talents cluttering the middle of the tree. Some of the talents synergize well with Talents in other trees; however, I find it to be a mediocre tree when looked at separately from Lovers and Avenger.

Tier 1: Deft Footwork - 2 slots
Effect: Shield Value increased by +1
Grade: B

Deft Footwork is a good starter to the Survivor Tree. Anything that makes your mana casting more cost efficient goes a long way. In addition, it helps keep you from taking damage when you are under the effects of frail, since it makes your shield-type spells more effective.

Tier 1: Endurance - 2 slots
Effect: +5 HP per Slot
Grade: C

Endurance isn’t a bad talent… I just don’t see it as being that good either. While your base hit points are low at 40, I just don’t see the need for more hit points, when you have a talent that makes your shield-type spells better. And, you also do have the chance to get a number of hit point increasing magic items, such as cheese and the banana.

Tier 2: To the Last Drop - 1 slot
Effect: All essence gain is at +1
Grade: C

This is a weaker tier 2 talent. While it is nice to gain extra essence, you can also get additional essence just from hitting all the monster locations as well if you really need it. It does help max out your essence faster, and does seem to stack with the Lover's Handjob talent.

Tier 2: Change of Plan - 1 slot
Effect: Discarded spells add to your Shield value
Grade: F

This is also a weak, tier 2 talent. While cycling through your deck is a definite strategy, as far as I can tell, your hand size maxes at 10 cards. Meaning, if you drew 10 cards in a turn, and discarded them all, you’d get 10 shield… which, once you are past the first couple tiles on the map, does not protect well enough to warrant a talent point on it.

Tier 3: Drink Essence - 1 slot
Effect: Option to gain 2 HP back after an encounter
Grade: A

This talent is fairly solid. While it does not offer many hit points, it only requires 1 slot, stacks with other end-of-battle healing abilities, does not use essence, and over time, can re-heal your character. It also lets you purposely take 1 – 2 points of damage from some of your spells to get activation effects for some of your other talents such as Morale, knowing you’ll be able to heal them after the encounter is over. I prefer this one over the Lover's healing ability, as this one does not require a specific encounter to occur.

Tier 4: Resilience - 2 slots
Effect: Reduce the first damage you take during a battle by up to 4; however, minimum damage cannot be reduced below 1
Grade: C

Surprisingly, this talent is a mixed bag. Damage reduction is nice, but I’ve often lost its effect by having an enemy do 7 damage when I had up 6 shield, which would activate the Resilience without it providing its benefit (since damage cannot be reduced below 1.) In addition, later monsters do such high levels of damage that the damage reduction is often not going to be sufficient to help.

Tier 5: Devotion - 1 slot
Effect: Mana pool increased by 1
Grade: S

Devotion is a fantastic Survivor talent. Having the mana to cast additional spells each turn, is always a plus. And, since mana does not carry over and stockpile like Lust does, getting a higher amount each turn better ensures you can use all the spells you draw.

*****

Anyway, just some brief thoughts on the Survivor talent tree.