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Award
Life drain attacks - first off, the Lifedrain status (from e.g. weapon shaping) does not stack with Life drain items. You heal somewhere around 1/6 of the damage done, which isn't very much. (It's even worse on higher difficulties, since you deal less damage but take more from enemies.) If you're taking 2/3 of your HP in damage every round, life drain isn't really going to help you stay alive or save you from having to heal. (And if you're not, then math says that extra 50% HP isn't keeping you alive, either :)
But yeah, 99% of the guide isn't really affected. The only thing I was wondering about is stuff if the run-face-fist-into-the-enemy battle shaping playstyle would work better with a less squishy MC, or what smart creation choices would be for a mostly-solo-but-sometimes-needs-meatshields agent or guardian.
- "Supporting creations is more effective than trying to do your own damage" is just as true for Guardians and Agents who put effort into shaping, as it is for Shapers.
- The comparisons between creations aren't very different if you run a watered-downed shaping user, either.
- Geneforge's combat engine is not set up to really allow tanking. There's almost nothing in the game that doesn't use either AoEs, ranged attacks, or leap attacks; and "hate" and "aggro" don't exist.
- Resists and armor just come from equipment, so there's nothing class-based there. Besides the HP difference (roughly x1.5), nothing makes Guardians any tankier than Shapers.
- Difficulty level applies mults to damage dealt and damage taken, but this is the same for the PC as for creations
Plus, even if that is true when playing on Torment, I expect plenty people on normal difficulty will build to use creations because the game tells you to, and then read a guide to see which ones are good. (Normal difficulty is still quite challenging) That's how I got here.
> the PC's damage output will never hold a candle to multiple creations
True, but on normal I find that a guardian is MUCH tankier than creations and can do pretty well supporting creations with healing magic and weapon-shaping. Shaper in Mutagen could be frustrating as he would crumple from a stiff breeze.
It probably won't work on Torment, but I expect it's a lot easier than solo play on normal. (Which requires more player skill and a very different build.)
So while AoE creations might be rough with melee characters, I can't recommend running any creations with a melee PC in the first place. Supporting the creations is just more effective.
The bless/shield spells on the Vlish and Artila aren't very good values, generally. If you are willing to sacrifice power for saving a trip to recharge your essence once in a while, you could get them, since after a couple of casts of the regular spell you've paid that essence anyway. But they are stuck on Vlish and Artila, which are sub-par options themselves for most of the game.
One thing that might be a good addition: Interaction with your character's skills. What works well for a shaper, for a guardian, for an agent?
For example, does a Guardian benefit less from having Battle creations, since he wants to be in the thick of things hitting stuff instead of hanging back and healing? Or does he benefit more because running face-first in suits his playstyle, as opposed to a shaper who might then get killed?
Do fire creations play poorly with melee characters on higher difficulties because of all the AoEs not being party friendly?
Do agents benefit more from cheap, tough meatshields like battle creations and less from magic creations since their own mind spells are strong enough already?
Are extra upgrades better for some characters, i.e. are the bless/shield spells on the vlish and artilla worth it for guardians with poor magic? Or is it still more sensible to skip those?
That said... this guide is about what's better and worse, not what's viable -- which is everything. Any creation type (except maybe ornks) with proper investment could handle those encounters, certainly on Normal difficulty.
I haven't extensively tested pyroroamer explosion damage, but I just gave it another whirl. It's possible that, like with Frost Aura, that damage starts out semi OK but just doesn't scale as well as normal damage. But at even moderate experience/training levels, any way I slice it, the base explosion damage (without the +30% augment) only ends up a little stronger than their ST ranged attack. That's not terrible, and there's the +30% too -- but it's not great compared to fyoras, who can do nearly that much AoE damage every turn without needing to sacrifice themselves, and without any risk of blowing up the rest of the party.
For example when you go to the Takers there is a first-tme fight with gazer supported by some battle alphas/betas. Or in the next zone there are broken incubation tanks with a drakon and a rothgrot. Using 4-5 pyroroamers I was able to kill them all in one turn. Just go and explode. I was suprised it was so easy to kill as when I first played with agent it was nearly impossible to fight with such creatures. Certainly it wouldn't be possible to win in single turn. I've had many such battles using pyroroamers. Notable exceptions are some fights with sporelings (Sharon's grove).
I am playing on normal difficulty.
The Frost Aura scales completely atrociously. It's hardcoded: it does 1d2 damage (before resistance) per level of the creation to every hostile creation with a radius of 4 squares (at the orthogonal ends). There's no base damage, no bonus for Magical Skill or equipped items or status effects or anything. So even when you do get good use out of it, the damage is extremely limited, and it gets worse the further you get in the game.
But you shouldn't be easily getting surrounded. That's what happens when you charge into a pack of rogues like drunken dwarves. If you're running Fire Shaping, you very likely demolish the pack before they get turns in melee range.
Also, cryoas aren't cheap -- even if you only buy Frost Aura, that's already the same cost as a Fyora with AoE + AoE Spam + Innate Haste. And that gives you a pretty bare bones cryoa.
I didn't list the numbers here, but I did actually do them out for Pyroroamers: DPS 47, Survivability 88. If you're just using them for ranged damage, regular Roamers are probably better. And because they are fragile *and* can easily wipe out your party when they faint, Pyroroamers are certainly a fraught choice for non-remote-controlled-bomb usage.