What effect do you put on GS for EE? (besides blurry)

[cdr]

My greensteel HP item has blurry, but that's redundant now that I'm wearing Bracers of Twisting Shade. For a S+B fighter primarily designed for grouping/soloing EEs, what would you put on greensteel?

I'm leaning towards enervation, but radiance and conopp also seem decent.

[Nitesco]

My greensteel HP item has blurry, but that's redundant now that I'm wearing Bracers of Twisting Shade. For a S+B fighter primarily designed for grouping/soloing EEs, what would you put on greensteel?

I'm leaning towards enervation, but radiance and conopp also seem decent.

Air Guard for the stacking Haste procs? Not sure what the knockdown DC is. I'd go for Radiance Guard though.

[me_TOO]

sundering ooze guard - 3 clicks of cloud kill for added concealment

This item stores the corrosive, voracious power of the ooze deep within. When the wearer of this item is successfully attacked in melee, this power can come to the surface, decreasing an opponents AC, and occasionally summoning a wild ooze that will fight against your enemies.
◦ -5 AC DC40 Fort save, 25% Chance to activate.
◦ Black Pudding CR12, 1% chance to activate (Note that the ingame description is incorrect. The oozes WILL follow you around.)

Ooze Sunder

Ooze sunder is like Sunder except it is -5 AC, stacks with Sunder and Destruction, and has a fortitude save DC of 40.

[sirgog]

Unlike most of the other guards, Enervation Guard gets better - much better - as mobs have higher stats.

You haven't lived until you've seen an orange named lose 25000hp to it because it hit you right at the start of a fight.

[HalfORCastrator]

Unlike most of the other guards, Enervation Guard gets better - much better - as mobs have higher stats.

You haven't lived until you've seen an orange named lose 25000hp to it because it hit you right at the start of a fight.

I came here to say this, but I got the idea from you anyway. No save!!!

[Carpone]

Ooze sunder [...] has a fortitude save DC of 40.

And every Pale Master will tell you that DC40 against EE fort saves is totally worthless.

[Andoris]

Unlike most of the other guards, Enervation Guard gets better - much better - as mobs have higher stats.

You haven't lived until you've seen an orange named lose 25000hp to it because it hit you right at the start of a fight.

Sirgog is spot on. You couldn't pry my 45 hp Enervation Guard gloves out of my pale masters cold, dead hands. Not only is it is a huge amount of damage on EE.. the reduction on saves is critical at end game

[cdr]

Yeah, I went with Enervation.

I almost can't believe people are suggesting Ooze Guard or Air Guard with a straight face, but nothing from the forums shocks me much anymore.

[sirgog]

The other viable option is Mineral 2 IMO, but that's dependant upon the rest of your gearset.

[WruntJunior]

The other viable option is Mineral 2 IMO, but that's dependant upon the rest of your gearset.

I usually go with Min2 just to simplify gearing options. For negative leveling options, though, I'm starting to consider making an Ash2 weapon for my main melee until I can find a Falchion of Obscenity (or honestly, any two-hander of Obscenity...GS ingredients are much more available to me than my luck in getting that type of weapon).

If you don't need Min2 for heavy fort, definitely do Ash2 for your accessory. Whether you're in a party or solo in EE, it makes things easier (and in a party, your DC-based caster party members will be happier).

[Nitesco]

For most effectiveness, on a caster I would definately go with Enervation Guard, though I'm not sure how long those negative levels last on the highest difficulty. For a melee I would go with Radiance Guard, that will the most beneficial by far if you're regularly taking hits. TR'ing in the future? Go with Air Guard or MinII.

[sirgog]

For most effectiveness, on a caster I would definately go with Enervation Guard, though I'm not sure how long those negative levels last on the highest difficulty. For a melee I would go with Radiance Guard, that will the most beneficial by far if you're regularly taking hits. TR'ing in the future? Go with Air Guard or MinII.

Radiance Guard, while powerful, has some issues in that it disrupts CC. A mob that is both blinded and incapacitated will move around stupidly, making it harder to hit - quite an issue when a limited duration CC spell like Mass Hold Monster is involved.

The thing with Enervation Guard is that when the neg levels go away, the HP lost do not come back. A mob that is at 7800/8000hp that hits you and cops 3 neg levels suffers a 15% max HP penalty and goes to 6800/6800hp. In 6 seconds the negs are gone and it is at 6800/8000. A decent effect.

Now imagine that the mob was a 150k HP orangenamed - it can go from 150k/150k to 127.5k/127.5k in one shot. 22500 damage, no save, no SR? Sounds good to me.

It's less effective late in the fight, but the temporary save reduction still matters.

[Bacab]

I use "Grave Wraps" (or something like that) on my Clonk. I like what it does to saves also.

Back in the day, I used a DreamSpitter also for the same Negative Levels it gives.

I can 100% see why Ennervation Guard would be nice.

Question thought (I have yet to do EE's...I have recently finally stopped TRing and finally started doing the new epics)...do monsters just hit too hard for Concord/Opp or Torc to work?

I remember a PLD buddy using a Levik's...healing amp...torc...concord/opp and just outlasting everything in the past. Is this not possible anymore?

I also used to use my capped FVS and turtle and use Healing Word to stay alive...

[FuzzyDuck81]

I use "Grave Wraps" (or something like that) on my Clonk. I like what it does to saves also.

Back in the day, I used a DreamSpitter also for the same Negative Levels it gives.

I've fallen in love with the sacrificial dagger from impossible demands for this reason.. 1-3 negs on every crit, with the 17-20 (assuming imp crit) crit range? very sweet It's the weapon of choice on my wolf druid, and can get almost constant woo-woos from that one

Also nice if youre an arty/druid to convert the grave wrappings into a collar, then you have a free automatic debuffer who will be lowering their fort & giving negs all at once - any actual damage they do is just gravy.

[Nitesco]

Radiance Guard, while powerful, has some issues in that it disrupts CC. A mob that is both blinded and incapacitated will move around stupidly, making it harder to hit - quite an issue when a limited duration CC spell like Mass Hold Monster is involved.

I'd still consider getting hit half the time after the first few hits more important than anything else on a melee.

[WruntJunior]

I'd still consider getting hit half the time after the first few hits more important than anything else on a melee.

As a pale master, when it's necessary for me to CC enemies, I hate people who insist on radiance guard and weapons. Having an enemy that's dancing in my dancing ball decide to dance out of it because someone blinded it is quite frustrating.

For solo, Rad2 may have some uses...but even then, enervation guard would be my first choice.

[Nitesco]

As a pale master, when it's necessary for me to CC enemies, I hate people who insist on radiance guard and weapons. Having an enemy that's dancing in my dancing ball decide to dance out of it because someone blinded it is quite frustrating.

For solo, Rad2 may have some uses...but even then, enervation guard would be my first choice.

In situations where CC is working, you have nothing to worry about. In situations where it's not working, Radiance Guard is BY FAR the best choice for a melee. Radiance Guard is the BEST CHOICE for a melee full stop, especially in EE. There is no comparison between a 20-25% chance per hit to blind an enemy with no save, compared to a 5% chance to temporarily drain 1d4 levels. Yes I can see how it would be nice on a caster, but even a caster isn't going to be standing there getting clobbered in EE, hoping for a proc. For EN and EH, who cares?

[Shunlee123]

Radiance Guard is the BEST CHOICE for a melee full stop, especially in EE. There is no comparison between a 20-25% chance per hit to blind an enemy with no save, compared to a 5% chance to temporarily drain 1d4 levels.

Unlike Radiance on weapons, Radiance Guard on non-weapons has save.

[sirgog]

In situations where CC is working, you have nothing to worry about. In situations where it's not working, Radiance Guard is BY FAR the best choice for a melee. Radiance Guard is the BEST CHOICE for a melee full stop, especially in EE. There is no comparison between a 20-25% chance per hit to blind an enemy with no save, compared to a 5% chance to temporarily drain 1d4 levels. Yes I can see how it would be nice on a caster, but even a caster isn't going to be standing there getting clobbered in EE, hoping for a proc. For EN and EH, who cares?

Radiance Guard makes mobs survive long enough to escape CC, thus actually increasing party-wide damage. Any CC caster with a clue will tell you to remove the guard and if you don't will ask the divine not to raise you - I'd rather someone dispel party members at random as it's less disruptive to group success.

It is strictly for emergency use ONLY. Caster dead? Hotswap Radiance Guard to buy time while you kite and raise. But otherwise, frontline melees should never wear it. It is fine on people that don't expect to be hit much, however, like casters or divines.

[Nitesco]

Radiance Guard makes mobs survive long enough to escape CC, thus actually increasing party-wide damage. Any CC caster with a clue will tell you to remove the guard and if you don't will ask the divine not to raise you - I'd rather someone dispel party members at random as it's less disruptive to group success.

It is strictly for emergency use ONLY. Caster dead? Hotswap Radiance Guard to buy time while you kite and raise. But otherwise, frontline melees should never wear it. It is fine on people that don't expect to be hit much, however, like casters or divines.

I have never seen a situation in DDO where that much micro-management is necessary, outside of maybe learning a raid for the first time. In Epic Normal and Epic Hard none of this is even going to be an issue. It doesn't matter if mobs get CC'd or not, they are going to die quickly anyway unless everyone in the group is a total gimp.

In EE, where non fully past lived and ED twisted casters are unlikely to be landing CC more than 50% of the time and monsters are brutally mauling everyone for massive chunks of damage, you aren't going to care about the few odd mobs that got CC'd sliding around. You are just going to be happy that they have been taken out of the picture for the duration. If the caster is effectively CC'ing stuff, Radiance Guard doesn't matter, mobs are dead anyway.

Meanwhile, every monster that landed a few hits on the Radiance Guard dude, is now landing half as many hits every time he goes to hit someone else, for the duration of the battle. In the practical reality of the chaos that ensues in the types of encounters I am describing, Radiance Guard will save a lot more time and lives than chasing a few sliding CC'd mobs would have lost.

That is why I think Radiance Guard is more effective for a wider margin of difficult situations than Enervation Guard.