Non WF Artis

[Chai]

Even when that Heal scroll was hitting for 262 pre-amp value? That's 340 from one scroll with only 30% amp.
With some decent heal amp gear, it will literally fill you from almost dead to full HP with a single scroll.

Compare that to a heal scroll used on the same character with ConEss and he gets 196 and still gets amp.
Compare that to a Recon scroll used by that character with ConEss who gets 131 and gets no amp.
Compare that to a Quickened Recon which gets approximately 170 and gets no amp.
No matter how you look at it, ConEss reduces all incoming healing, but allows for more sources, which basically makes it useful for a Quickened Recon and nothing else. It's blue bar viable, but it's much less efficient.

Spending a feat and a bunch of AP so that you can cast a single semi-useful self-heal, while reducing all incoming healing and making you harder to heal from all of those sources seems like a huge trap to me.
Maybe useful while leveling, but next to useless at cap IMO.

I disagree.

The only way a fleshy artificer will get a self cast interruptable heal that WILL LAND is by taking construct essence. Throwing potions and praying they hit you too, is for the birds.

My half elf has ~500 HP. Arty is a striker class. Im not trying to tank or constantly take damage on this toon.

100% *1.2 *1.1 *1.2 *.75 heal amp for 118.8% - more than enough for a 500 HP striker class.

50% repair *1.5 *1.5 *2.0 enhanced max/emp repair off the mana bar for 225%

Scrolls: Artificer level 1. Grants a +2 to UMD checks related to scroll use, and all scrolls used by the Artificer have their caster levels increased by 1. This caster level bonus increases by 1 at Artificer levels 4, 7, 10, and 13, and is capped by the Artificer's Intelligence Bonus.

Regular heal scroll starts at 110 - artificer heal scroll starts at 150. Add 75% scroll mastery to that.

Heal scroll: 150 *1.18 *1.75 = 309.75 on a 500 HP half elf artificer.
Reconstruct spell: 150 *2.25 = 337.5 on a max empowered quickened repair when needed, on a 500 HP artificer, not interruptable.

Construct essence is not needed for a constant source of healing. Its needed for that moment where nothing other than a un-interrupt-able heal will do. WHen you are cursed in TOD or VOD and have 20% of your HP left, a fleshy without the feat has to hit a curse pot, then arm a scroll, then hit the scroll, and pray they aint getting hit for damage or else they have to beat a concentration check. All I have to do is hit the repair button, done. Then I can deal with the curse after, when I have most or all of my HP back.

Trap? I dont think so.

[Calebro]

I disagree.

And you're welcome to. Don't think for a moment that I wasn't expecting you to pop in here and disagree with me.

[goodspeed]

On my helf arti Ive got no problems healing. I just took ranger dili to level up and use wands. After you hit the level where you can umd wands then i'd switch to another dili.

He's got the hp, the power, and the ability to use it all. Now if I wasn't a helf then I might take that and then switch it out later on around lv 10. not to use sp on because that's just goofy. Theirs very little as it is, and I like my ap for main things like turret dmg and the pre. But wand whipping repair spells would be ok.

But come the time when you can umd wands and heal scrolls, you'll be able to hella heal yourself with some wand and scroll mastery going on.

[Lifespawn]

I disagree.

The only way a fleshy artificer will get a self cast interruptable heal that WILL LAND is by taking construct essence. Throwing potions and praying they hit you too, is for the birds.

My half elf has ~500 HP. Arty is a striker class. Im not trying to tank or constantly take damage on this toon.

100% *1.2 *1.1 *1.2 *.75 heal amp for 118.8% - more than enough for a 500 HP striker class.

50% repair *1.5 *1.5 *2.0 enhanced max/emp repair off the mana bar for 225%

Scrolls: Artificer level 1. Grants a +2 to UMD checks related to scroll use, and all scrolls used by the Artificer have their caster levels increased by 1. This caster level bonus increases by 1 at Artificer levels 4, 7, 10, and 13, and is capped by the Artificer's Intelligence Bonus.

Regular heal scroll starts at 110 - artificer heal scroll starts at 150. Add 75% scroll mastery to that.

Heal scroll: 150 *1.18 *1.75 = 309.75 on a 500 HP half elf artificer.
Reconstruct spell: 150 *2.25 = 337.5 on a max empowered quickened repair when needed, on a 500 HP artificer, not interruptable.

Construct essence is not needed for a constant source of healing. Its needed for that moment where nothing other than a un-interrupt-able heal will do. WHen you are cursed in TOD or VOD and have 20% of your HP left, a fleshy without the feat has to hit a curse pot, then arm a scroll, then hit the scroll, and pray they aint getting hit for damage or else they have to beat a concentration check. All I have to do is hit the repair button, done. Then I can deal with the curse after, when I have most or all of my HP back.

Trap? I dont think so.

umm you can't max and empower reconstruct...


maybe u have bad aim i hit myself with the potions 100% of the time for 130+

[FooWonk]

Here are the arguments I've heard for Construct Essence that make any sense:
° I don't like to click too many buttons to heal myself.

If this is your reason to use a feat, then have at it.

The reason this is a trap is that once you take Construct Essence, you have to care and feed it:

You'll need Quicken, because switching to a wand when you don't want a Reconstruct interrupted would also be [I]too many buttons[/].

You'll need Repair Manipulation I because pouring your blue bar into your red bar at a 2:1 HP to SP ratio will empty your blue bar very fast when you're playing at the big devil's table in Sins elite.

You'll want to make yourself a Ring of the Master Artificer. As it is a ring of archmagi, if you decide to dump Construct Essence and Quicken later on, you can use the ring for buffing SP at shrines then swap it out for something more useful.

...

[Quetzacoala]

Although my drow artificer does do most of his healing with heal scrolls, when you desperately need healing in a fight this feat is amazing

[pSINNa]

My arti Batgirly on Ghallanda (feel free to check her out) is a human arti (i just didn't want to go WF for flavour and ascetic reasons, but i also don't want to build an anchor or dead weight gimp).

Construct essence - i'm often the last or near last one standing when things go south in a raid.

First life character with the basics in raid loot packing 460+hp and with quickened 130 odd hp self reconstructs is as survivable as a wf wizard.

Usually using the rune arm from the Garamol chest in the sub - has 20% heal amp build into it going a long way towards evening out incomeing divine heals - i usually only need to self repair/reconstruct when i'm in "save the situation" or "doing my own thing" mode.

A human arti has more then enough feats to go complete ranged and spell focused damage and keep this feat - my prismatic strike and lightning motes are great additions to damage on raid bosses with my lit2 heavy repeater / silver weapons from my rune arm (so i can still hit myself with an extra damage mod spell as well), with maximise/empower/quicken - and we all know what my force and storm maxxed enhancement make those spells, and blade barrier or course - ferocious damage.

With precise and improved precise shot - try a hall way in sins of attrition with a blade barrier and spraying bolts down the hallway for a quick clear! (stoneskinned/ umd displaced / with your 20 minute jump clicky and those quicked reconstructs for when u can't be bothered dropping a heal scroll with your 40+umd).

Really, why not. It works, you have a 1500+ sp pool on any medium un-gimp arti - are expected to burn about 350 of that on buffs in raids (silver/deadly/blah blah), and can keep churning out the dps while being completely survivable with it.

my two cents - the path less trodden! (lol)

Coit out~

[domandi]

Wow, FooWonk... way to miss the point completely.

It has nothing to do with the number of buttons to push. It has to do with the time it takes to get something off.

The people that are for Con Ess are simply saying that having an uninterruptable quick heal adds to thier playing style.

If you don't want it, dont' take it. But there is no good reason to call it a trap. No one is worse for taking it. It isn't Improved Fortification.

Yes, wands are quick. A quickened recon is faster. You can also maintain (albiet very slightly) more dps since there are no gear swaps needed.

Another question to ask is this... Is it so bad to invest one point into repair line? /anectode There have been many times when I have helped the group/raid by throwing a quickened recon on the wf tank or kiter /anectode off

I will concede that if you don't need recon to heal yourself then there isn't much of a need for quicken at end game. It is still my opinion that artificers get enough feats that it really isn't a stretch to put it in the build.

[Dark-Star]

I'm glad mine is an halfling. Come summer I can add Assassin PrE into the mix and have a Lit2 vorpal heavy repeater that bypasses DR, and I won't need to TR to do it.

Would be great if assasinate worked with ranged, which it doesn't.

[Cardtrick]

If you don't want it, dont' take it. But there is no good reason to call it a trap. No one is worse for taking it. It isn't Improved Fortification.

I think you're missing the point a bit, too. It is like Improved Fortification, just less so, and with more benefit -- it does decrease the amount of incoming healing you receive from divine spells.

I would agree that no one is hopelessly gimped or broken by taking it. But you can't say they're not worse for it -- they are harder to heal and they've used up a feat. Depending on play style, they may get enough benefit out of the feat to make that a worthwhile tradeoff, but they also may not, and you can't pretend there's no cost to it.

I will concede that if you don't need recon to heal yourself then there isn't much of a need for quicken at end game. It is still my opinion that artificers get enough feats that it really isn't a stretch to put it in the build.

Unless going for a dragonmarked build or taking a relevant past life, I would take quicken anyway, just for blade barrier and flame turret. They cast painfully slow.

[domandi]

Yes, there is a tradeoff for taking the feat. I also agree that it doesn't fit into everyone's play style.

I also think that the 25% dip in divine healing really isn't that big of a deal. Arties(generally) don't need constant healing. Rarely are they the tank. I would never, ever, suggest a fighter/whatever get the feat(not that they could anyway). Also their hp are low enough that any heal from a dedicated healer in a group will more than top them off whether they have the feat or not.

[Calebro]

Would be great if assasinate worked with ranged, which it doesn't.

Yeah, but I'm just gonna craft a +5 finesse dagger of whogivesaratsass (or maybe eventually get around to making a eMG) and sneak up to 'em. Luckily he also has stealth skills at mid-40s-low-50s. MAD CRAZY assassinate DC.

[FooWonk]

Wow, FooWonk... way to miss the point completely.

It has nothing to do with the number of buttons to push. It has to do with the time it takes to get something off.

If the time it takes is the issue, I'd suggest taking Quick Draw which is generally useful to a class that excels at using items, scrolls, wands & weapons.

With Quick Draw, the time it takes to press three buttons for a wand whip is minimally slower than a Quickened Reconstruct. And you can whip the wand more than once every 5 seconds.

Without Quick Draw, it's no contest - wand whipping is far slower.

If you don't want it, dont' take it. But there is no good reason to call it a trap. No one is worse for taking it. It isn't Improved Fortification.

It's not a gimp feat like Improved Fortification.

It's a matter of SP efficiency and synergy of feats to class abilities.

° Quickened Reconstruct are less SP efficient single target heals than CCW bombs.

° If Quicken were more generally useful to an artificer, I'd probably consider getting Construct Essence a good idea. What other artificer infusions do you Quicken?

[domandi]

That is a fantastic point FooWonk. I had forgotten about quick draw. Taking quickdraw over con ess seems like it could be a favorable tradeoff. I may have to play with that...

[Merik1999]

Sometimes Harry decides to meteor swarm me over and over cause he is feeling like a jerk. .

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I also chose the con-essence feat. I solo alot so it really is awesome. If you don't solo there are cons and negs and it is just a play style but healing myself and my dog is so awesome. Makes me wish i was a robot...uh not really.

Heal scrolls don't heal Mongo so i just blast us with a quick repair and we good.

[goodspeed]

I never thought about quickdraw used like that. Ditto on play... Essense would be great if you gained the abilities of a metal man. Shrug off poison hold, all that ****. It could be enhanced to become full metal through ap.

Course then warforged might be ****ed as it would be possible to be WF without having to buy it as they had.

[domandi]

Well, not really. WF have many enhancements which are beneficial, not to mention the feat/ap needed to attain wf status. In the long run, it would prolly be better just to roll your toon as a WF.

[djsonar919]

Construct essence is not needed for a constant source of healing. Its needed for that moment where nothing other than a un-interrupt-able heal will do. WHen you are cursed in TOD or VOD and have 20% of your HP left, a fleshy without the feat has to hit a curse pot, then arm a scroll, then hit the scroll, and pray they aint getting hit for damage or else they have to beat a concentration check. All I have to do is hit the repair button, done. Then I can deal with the curse after, when I have most or all of my HP back.

Trap? I dont think so.

Good to find someone else who feels the same way that I do about Construct Essence. However, I must say, I TR'd my Arti back to WF. Just didn't like the handicaps of being a fleshie. Not looking for a flame war with that comment. Just simply stating that it's nice to be immune to practically every type of stat damager, have huge amount of hp, and my recons work at more than 100% of their value with the Ring of the Master Artifice.