some pale master questions

[tekkentroop]

Hi, im working on a human pure pale master (currently lvl 13), who might become my first TR one day. Since its also my first arcane ever, I still have questions about spells and equip. Main focus is instakill/enchantment (no enchantment feats taken yet), main element line is cold, with single points in the lightning and force crit lines, and a single point in the repair line.

1. Which cold spells are worth using? Currently I use frost lance, cone of cold, and ice storm. I also got Niacs biting cold but dont use it much yet, expecting it to be like divine punishment on my cleric. Polar Ray seems to be the mother of all cold spells, but its hard to boost with items. I guess Ill have to wait for the cold savant belt there. How is otilukes compared to the spells im currently using?

2. Which other damage spells should I use? Currently the only non-cold non-negative damage spell Ive got on my hotbar is disintegrate, which works fine but seems a bit overkill in some situations. Eladars seems to be a must for boss dps, but I havent slotted it yet. Is there an exceptionally good (and mana-efficient) lightning spell which is useful against cold immune undead? Currently I have to decide between undead to death and disintegrate, which is a bit inefficient vs simple skellies.

3. When and how should I use the level drain spells? They seem to be popular but Im not sure where to use them... epics?

4. Where should I slot my 2nd greensteel when I get that far? First slot will be goggles, but 2nd could be gloves, helm or cloak... Id prefer helm or gloves, especially since I dont have Necro IV. Cloak seems to have a few good epics.

5. Epic Mabar robe looks perfect for PM, but how high are the chances of getting it when playing about 10-15 hours a week? Ive got a capped cleric to farm but am afraid the time wont be enough. Should I bank money to buy motes?

[Cartheron]

1. Niacs bitting cold is exactly like divine punishement - killer on high hp/regenerating/self healing bosses, overkill against everthing else. Use for orange/red/purple named only.

At lev 13, otiliuke dmg is exactly the same as cone of cold, difference is only in area of effect, cone against cirlce. At level 16+ otiliuke has higher dmg then cone of cold.

Polar ray even without items is pretty powerful - no save make it better against red/purple named with very high saving throws, but I would probably stick to Niacs/Eladars before getting savant belt/eardweller/superior glaciation VIII.

2. Against undead your best bet is Wall of Fire, or acid rain against blackbones. Lighting has few nice spells (ball lighting, chain lighting), but they are not very sp efficient (with exception of eladars against bosses ofc).

3. Level drain - when you really need to land this charm/insta kill and you are afraid it will not work without drain. Epics, maybe amrath. Sometimes orange named mobs. At lev 13, just nuking the **** out of everything that saved against cirlce of death is usually the best option

4. Ah, very difficult question. I have it on a cloak, but I think it was a mistake. Now I would probably choose gloves, since Bracers of Demon Consort (from ADQ) are probably the best PM bracers in game, and epic Envenomed Cloak is just great. Helm may be not-so-bad-option too.

5. 10-15 hours a week? About 100% chance And you iwll probably craft something else too

[tekkentroop]

thanks for the answers... a few new questions:

6. Which monsters regenerate quickly from level drain? purple named/epic monsters as far as Ive heard...

7. What low lvl gear should I farm preparing to TR? GS and Torc, of course, but which lower lvl items are good to have early on but useless in Endgame? I have an eternal wand of acid splash form ww, its lvl 1 and has greater corrosion III, as well as a Robe of Acid with Sup corrosion IV... Stormreavers Napkin also seems interesting, going to farm for that. Anything else?

[Mrmorphling]

6. As you said but it's still very handy to reduce their HP total as they'll not heal back to full when regaining lvls

7. A few suggestions
- Carnifex is extremely handy to handle lvl 4-7
- +4 stats mlvl 9 or better
- sup inferno 4, sup freeze 5 clicky lowest mlvl you can get
- invulnerability robe lowest mlvl possible (2-4)
- if you are in a guild items with smal/med/large guild slot to craft (even better if you can lower mlvl by 2 with Cannith favor)
- Striding/FF boots
- Voice of the master

[Cartheron]

thanks for the answers... a few new questions:

6. Which monsters regenerate quickly from level drain? purple named/epic monsters as far as Ive heard...

7. What low lvl gear should I farm preparing to TR? GS and Torc, of course, but which lower lvl items are good to have early on but useless in Endgame? I have an eternal wand of acid splash form ww, its lvl 1 and has greater corrosion III, as well as a Robe of Acid with Sup corrosion IV... Stormreavers Napkin also seems interesting, going to farm for that. Anything else?

6. Purple/red named mobs are immune to level drain. Non-epic mobs are regenerating negative levels so slow that it doesnt matter (they die to fast). Epic mobs regenerate negative levels quite fast.

7. For TR get cunning trinket and sp hats from cove (it is to late today I am afraid), Invulnerability robe (ML2 or 4), superior freeze I, erosion II and IV, spark I, inferno IV, nihil IV clickies, archivist necklage, twisted talisman, no ML ff boots, 2 clean (ML 1) items with best guild slots you can use, voice of the master or mantle of worldshaper (or both, true seeing on lev 5 is nice here and there, partycrashers for example), skiver, minos. Bloodrage symbiont with few adamantine rituals is a great item too, 5/- DR is much better than invulnerability

Regarding raid gear - torc, conc-opp gs, hp gs, bramble casters (if second gs are not gloves), bracers of demon consort.