Why Take Construct Essence?

[Feralthyrtiaq]

Options....

Moar...

Options...

6s CD on Scroll Healing (Tank for instance) gives time to throw a Curative Admixture at a non-WF wounded party member AND Repair/Recon on Yourself

Also, gives others options to "Watch your back" if things go south. WF Caster in Party? You are covered. FVS/Cleric in Party? You are covered.

For an Arti acting in a "Support" capacity can really make a difference.

The -25% to Positive Healing is easily over-come with a little investment in healing amp gear and other damage mitigation tactics.

As a matter of fact with Quick Draw Feat you could probably throw a Heal Scroll, Equip+Cast a Wand, Throw CurAd and a Recon.

Can hit 4 Targets in the CD of one Heal Scroll

I addition, does anyone out there REALLY want to Un-Equip Weapon + Equip Scroll + UMD gear (if needed) Cast Scroll, Re-Equip Weapon rinse repeat? OR throw a Quickened Recon and keep the Dmg rolling?

It's not a trap....and Arti's Get PLENTY of Feats to Work it into a build (even with 3 DMs of the Storm)

Now lets say you are Dragonmarked Halfling 4 Arti w/ ConE + 13 PM Wiz and 3 Light Monk LMAO

[Darkrok]

I've had it. I've not had it. It's not a trap but it's close.

The key part with the admixtures is that even quickened they can still miss you. Nothing compares to a Quickened Reconstruct. Nothing.

The problem is that we're not getting a Quickened Reconstruct. We're getting half of one. To me that makes all the difference. I can either pop a scroll for somewhere in the 250+ range (150 base * 1.75 WSIV = 262.5 w/ no healing amp) or do a reconstruct for what will likely be much less unless you invest quite a few AP. At 1 ap spent you'd get 150 * 1.75 = 262.5 / 2 = 131 healing with Sup Potency VI and 150 * 2 = 300 / 2 = 150 healing with a clicky running. That's a fairly large gap and while one can be interrupted and has a longer cooldown the difference isn't as huge on the cooldown as you would think. And don't discount cure serious wands. They can't be interrupted. They're cheaper. And for an Artificer with the capstone they're going to heal 3d6 + 21 points before healing amp for an average after WSIV of 55 points healed.

While that may not seem like enough people often talk about 'getting enough healing amp to make Construct Essence work well with normal heals. I would say that the amount you'd want to have that be the case would be about 10% + 10% + 20%. More would be great but that seems about right as it would give you 108.9% of normal heals. But let's say we take that without construct essence. We're now at 145.2% healing instead. That means those wands will hit us for 60-99 a pop. That's not as fast as the reconstruct but it's uninterruptable and returns about the same healing as we'd get from the reconstruct as the wand's cooldown is shorter. Yes, you spend more time healing but your heal scroll becomes a nearly full heal (381 points healed), cure serious becomes viable, and Cure Critical Wands, if you can get them, will do 81-133 healing making them nearly as good as the reconstruct mentioned earlier, and again, while not as fast to fire off they're more healing over time.

[Darkrok]

Just to clarify and tl;dr my post:
It's not a trap due to the number of feats. It's a trap in that it reduces your overall healing ability and costs a feat to do it. If the trade-off was 50% heals (or even no heals) for full reconstruct then it might be worthwhile. That's not what we get though.

[ghettoGenius]

The Battle Engineer PrE is clearly unfinished. Logic would indicate that the next tiers would offer increased bonus to repair spells up to 100% at tier III and a positive energy penalty down to 50% at tier III. This would make construct essence pretty much mandatory if you still want the best self healing (once the PrE is complete).

This is why I dont have CE on my arty and probably wont until the PrE is finished.

[Enoach]

As I'm beginning to plan out the Artificer Life I've been looking at this Feat, as I'm very much a person that likes to Solo content I'm always looking towards what are my Curative options...

At the moment I agree 25% penalty on a Fleshy can be overcome with Gear and/or Racial Features for a price of Slot/APs. The Question is, is the 50% healing from the Repair/Reconstruct Line enough of a benefit? Is the +50% Damage from Rust Monsters going to be an issue?

At the moment for me the answer is no 50% healing from the repair line is not enough and Rusty's don't scare me .

So as one planning a fleshy Artificer - I'm currently not planning on taking this feat.

[Feralthyrtiaq]

I traded Augment Summons for Construct Essence at lvl 15 and absolutely <3 it. It's absolutely worth the -25% to Positive Healing and -50% to Repairs *considering my playstyle* and party compositions.

Have had a lot of fun PuGing in Khyber with Elite Bravery Bonus and very rarely have I had a FVS or Cleric in party.

Quest ABC Elite BB, Survivability a +

Take the first 4 (cause I run with a WF wiz regularly) and make it happen.

Even if it means passing out a round of SS, Ele Wpns, Prot from Elements, Resist Energy and Thundering Armor then moving through quests with Maximized + 75% Call Lightning Storm (4/day) and Electric Loop 8/day, Tactical Detonations, Blade Barriers (with Force Line), RHXBow Tink Tink Tink, + Rune-Arm blazing switching between heal scrolls and cure crit wands on my survivable party members, raise dead scrolls on those that had some bad luck while repairing myself....its just non-stop action!

There has never ever been one single moment playing this Arti to 17 ( with 18 banked) when I had to scratch my head and wonder "Ok this is goin to $4!t...what am I to do?" because I have it covered before the S hits the Fan.


Of course I could use a more mathematical approach to my entertainment....

On paper you may look at it and go "meh..." or "w/e" and dismiss it....

Construct Essence is just another option in the Swiss Arti-knife...

[Chai]

Its not a trap at all.

Blue bar healing defeats scroll healing when its needed the most. Scroll healing is great for mana conservation, but when its a situation where you NEED an uninterruptable heal, an arty without it is relying on admixture. LOL its not even a close comparison.

I also bring up the fact that theres enough heal amp in the game to easily cover the penalty and then some, on a class thats not likely going to be rich in HP in the first place. hElf is a popular choice, and 20+10 from enhancements along with 20+10 from gear will put you well over the 100% mark and give you 50% on a quickened repair. I know quite a few WF melee FVS that dont complain about their 50% quickened heal spells, even when they dont have amp, and arent fully specced into healing. Why is this even a debate?