DDOCast 432 - Epic Twisting

[pjstechie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r1DJK4RwXk

Axel joins Patrick for an indepth look at Epic Twisting! Join us as we talk about some tips for utilizing twists and talk about our favorite twisting options from each epic destiny!

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Epic Twisting - 2:27
Game News - 53:52
Community News - 1:21:12
Lightning Post - 1:25:31
Closing - 1:40:10

Axel: Producer’s Letter Review (https://youtu.be/BnTI3NmjvXE)
Axel: Adventure Areas & Immersion (https://youtu.be/SZgUjkE9Njc)
DDO Players News: A Look at Slave Lords Series (http://ddoplayers.com/2016/06/01/a-look-at-the-assault-on-the-slave-lords-series/)
DDO Gamer: Graphing the New Producer’s Letter (http://www.gamergeoff.com/graphing-the-latest-producer-letter/)
Full Moon Fury: 32 Raids in 24 Hours (https://fullmoonfury.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/32-raids-in-24-hours/)
Bio Break: Pros & Cons of Altiholism (https://biobreak.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/guest-post-the-pros-and-cons-of-altoholism/)
Micki’s Delerium: Crucible Maze Guide (https://mickisdelirium.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/the-crucible-maze-a-how-to/)
Munchkin Summer Games (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/474209-Munchkin-Summer-Games-2016)

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[FuzzyDuck81]

Very much agree with the whole renewal/cocoon thing - renewal is undoubtedly the more effective & efficient of the 2, hence it's restrictions. About the only characters i don't take cocoon on is a barbarian, since they can't cast it raged - even if the incoming healing is minimal (WF/BF) or non-existant (undead form), a quick burst of temporary HP can be a lifesaver.

A few things you didn't mention but i consider particularly nice:

Sentinel - for paladins, light the dark is a ridiculously powerful AoE healing effect - and since it's non-scaling with charisma or paladin levels (though spellpower and healing amp still boost it), if you've only got a paladin splash it means you'll suddenly get a *lot* more bang for your buck from your lay on hands, switching it from a useful emergency heal to a powerful group support tool.

Exalted angel - soundburst. It has a much, MUCH higher DC than you'll ever get from the regular level 2 spell, so is pretty phenomenal to twist for a character with high wisdom or charisma - throw it on your paladin or monk & you'll have a really cheap & effective AoE stun effect. For an actual caster type, add all your metamagics on it for free & it'll pack a significant punch of damage in addition to the stun.

Dreadnaught - eminently twistable destiny. Damage or Haste boost are particularly good for classes that don't get either in their enhancement trees, or just can't fit it in on their build. And no, you DO need cleave to take them without resorting to those TR shenanigans - my swashbuckler can't use either momentum swing or cleave which is a shame.

Shadowdancer - meld into darkness is one i find particularly useful, since it's +100% dodge for 15 seconds that ignores your maximum dodge bonus, a phenomenal survivability boost for emergencies. Twist it when running primal avatar & alternate it with primal travel for nearly 30sec of being virtually immune to attacks.

Shiradi - For a nuking caster, stay frosty or stay good is a nice bet to get some of that extra proc on casting capability. Whirling wrists is essential for a thrower build, its a significant rate of fire boost.

Fury - acute instincts can be a useful one if you're having trap trouble - chug a rage potion & get better search/spot etc. Boulder toss is a nice one for melee characters who want to hit stuff at range from time to time, a good combat opener & far less hassle than plinking away with a thrower or a bow that you have no feats or abilities to enhance.

Primal avatar - insidious spores is a really nice damage over time spell for casters - there's a few things it doesn't work on since it does poison & rust damage, but for the majority of enemies, it's great & will stack nicely with other DoTs. Tsunami is tricky to aim (like cyclonic blast) but since it's NOT a reflex save, it can be nice for nuking ranger/rogue type enemies - and often those will remain stationary so with good positioning you can hit multiple enemies at once. The dryad elder summon can be handy too, since she casts regenerate & death ward, plus acts as a nice combat decoy.

Magister - unearthly reactions is great for saves, dodge & that handy phasing tumble, good if you find yourself boxed in. The sigils can be useful situationally, but rely on you being in one place so will be limited - lifeshielding is nice in some undead heavy areas though, and battering spellcraft gives a significant damage boost.

Draconic - daunting roar can be a useful one for INT based characters like rogues & arties for emergency crowd control, CHA based characters will generally do better with sound bust as mentioned above, since it has a far shorter cooldown. Being a will save means it'll be more likely to work vs. evasive types than soundburst though, so it's still worth considering.

I suspect the FvS 3rd tree will end up giving nice benefits for either casting or combat, in much the same way deepwood stalker ties in nicely with either archery or melee. I think it'll probably get a couple more SLAs too, maybe universal, though it'd be nice if they were linked to the divine patron, as a little early groundwork for cleric domains.

That captured & all gear lost thing seems too technical to do properly, and there will almost inevitably be issues with items being permanantly lost, potential duping, probably a mix of both, so it makes sense they'd not want to open that can of worms. I guess it could kind of be fudged with an environmental anti magic effect to minimise your capabilities, but then you'd probably still run into a load of other issues & it'd unfairly effect different classes.

The free shards offer is great, and can help people get a toe-in on the ASAH - remember, if it's an unbound (including bind on equip but not yet having been equipped), it's only 1 shard to list an item. 30% plus the initial fee will be deducted from the sale price & you'll get the remainder. If it doesn't sell, you get the original listing fee back. That means unless you buy from there & re-list, you'll never actually make a loss on it.

[Renvar]

Great podcast, Shamgar.

A couple melee class twists that I like a lot that didn't get mentioned:

Shadowdancer - Grim Precision (Level 3) - Bypass 15% fort and 3% dodge. That's nice to have. Especially on annoying things like portals in L Shroud.

Primal Avatar - If you are two weapon fighting or unarmed, the Symmetric Strikes (Level 4) and the 5% primal bonus to damage is a solid option. Depending on situation, that may or may not be better damage than Sense Weakness. The Balanced Attacks (Level 3) offers +6 to attack and a 2 second no-save knockdown on vorpals that yields a helpless state (again, only if TWF or unarmed, though).