User:IN

Shale Rock Mastery and Stone Aura Tree Talents Testing
Let's do something fun!

- Shale's motto

Talent Mechanics
Until now, virtually no firm numerical data concerning Shale's talents could be found. I have conducted some thorough tests to fill this gap. The results are as follows (refer to specific talent pages for more details):

Rock Mastery Tree
With Rock Mastery tree maxed out, the following modifiers are applied to Shale and the party members: Shale:, hostility reduced, , , ,. Party:,.

Stone Aura Tree
With Stone Aura tree maxed out, the following modifiers are applied to Shale and the party members: Shale:, , ,. Party:, , , (both melee and ranged), , ,  and. There is also a significant health regeneration party bonus, but, unfortunately, its exact numerical value is currently unknown. The aura also debuffs all enemies within its range, imposing penalties to movement speed, attack and defense. Again, the precise values are yet to be discovered.

Methodology
Most of the tests were quite test-consuming, but relatively simple in nature: basically, I was adding necessary talents one by one with runscript addtalent console command and writing down the results. That said, three instances deserve closer examination:


 * Hurl Rock and Rock Barrage damage formulae were calculated by using runscript dbg_setattrib 1 X. I've tried to hit the same enemies with Hurl Rock/Rock Barrage using Shale with 0 strength, with 50 strength, and with 100 strength points, respectively. The results were consistent. While I'm aware the actual in-game damage calculation formulae for these talents differ from my approximations, I believe a reasonably reliable approximation is much better than no formula at all.


 * Ranged fire rate was calculated by using a level 16 PC rogue with a plain Tier 6 longbow, Aim sustainable active (to slow down the fire rate intentionally). The fire rate was tested first without Shale's maxed out Rock Mastery aura, than with it. The results were consistent: 3 seconds vs. 1.5 seconds per shot.


 * Shale's spell resistance in maxed out Stone Aura mode was tested vs. Genlock Emissary. The Emissary had cast a total of 100 spells (yes, it took half a dozen attempts and some heavy abuse of runscript healplayer to get the job done). Shale made this calculation simple by resisting exactly 25 of them. Not even 24 or 26 :)


 * Party spell resistance under the effects of maxed out Stone Aura was tested with naked Alistair vs. the same Genlock Emissary. Alistair resisted 5 out of 125 spells. Thus, the party spell resistance value seems to be 4%.

Shale's Party Role
A lot of people on BioWare Social Network forums complain about Shale being a poor tank and, at best, a mediocre damage-dealer. While these statements could use some rephrasing ('a poor end-game tank' and 'a mediocre end-game damage-dealer' would be more to the point, I trust), they are essentially true. But why do people stick with those Pulverizing Blows and/or Stoneheart talents, if they see they begin to suck worse than Dracula after a certain point in the game? I believe there are two main factors to it, one of which was, hopefully, addressed to a certain degree by my humble research: (a) the visuals: admittedly, Shale looks incredibly big and tough, so the common sense is telling us: "Wow! This golem probably has a sky-high armor and defense, half a billion hit points and can easily dish out damage equivalent to three adult dragons combined!"; now, granted, the empirical experience totally disagrees, but common sense is such a stubborn guy, you know; (b) a total lack of precise information concerning Shale's more 'sophisticated' talent trees (Rock Mastery and Stone Aura): it is only logical people are reluctant to invest in talents with such vague descriptions; at least, I was not buying these 'greatly increases X' and 'bestows significant bonus to Y' on my first playthrough (which eventually led to dumping Stoneheart-oriented Shale in Oghren's, and later, Loghain's favor): one man's 'significant bonus' may be another man's 'total waste of time'. Now, that factor (b) is partially dealt with, let the numbers speak for themselves.

I'd like to share some thoughts on proper Shale party role on Nightmare. Assuming you are an experienced player, and, as such, go to Honnleath immediately after Lothering to get Helm of Honnleath and Harvest Festival Ring, you can have Shale in your party circa level 8. The game auto-levels Shale putting some heavy emphasis on the Pulverizing Blows tree and investing evenly in strength and constitution. Actually, these are sound choices. Until level 12 or so, Shale will serve you best as a damage-dealer/secondary tank. Quake is an extremely good mass-damage skill early in the game. Slam has its uses as well. By level 12-13, your primary warrior character begins to outclass Shale both as a tank and as a damage-dealer. By then, hopefully, you will have Rock Mastery tree maxed out, as a major role switch is due. From now on, Shale's primary objectives are: (a) to stay close to the archer(s); (b) to use Rock Barrage in conjunction with Wynne's Earthquake to trivialize a lot of otherwise difficult fights against overwhelming odds; (c) to assist the ranged characters with carefully aimed Hurl Rock; (d) to provide a great control tool by using Earthen Grasp: I prefer to save it for emergencies (e. g. multiple enemies going after your archer and mage), but feel free to experiment; (e) to use Taunt in case the enemies refuse to leave your ranged characters alone (after all, Shale is much more durable than any mage or archer). I prefer to invest in Stone Aura tree only after I maximize the Rock Mastery talents: the bonuses provided by the former are better suited for end-game situations and are more mage-oriented than anything, if you ask me. A typical simplified end-game combat chart flow with a party consisting of tank, archer, mage and Shale should be: Rock Mastery -> Rock Barrage -> Hurl Rock -> Earthen Grasp -> etc. -> out of stamina -> Stone Aura.

Stat distribution and optimal gearing: enough constitution to wear the best Large Fire Crystal (see Large Crystals) available with the constitution bonus provided by the best Small Nature Crystal (see Small Crystals) available, the rest into strength (as it's the only stat affecting Shale's Rock Mastery talents damage; please note: the damage from talents is not converted to elemental damage as dictated by Small Crystal type). I suggest getting a Small Flawless Nature Crystal as early as you can by stealing from Piotin Aeducan in Orzammar Proving Grounds or an equivalently ranked target.

Serendipities
During my Shale talents research, I have occasionally stumbled upon several interesting pieces of addenda/corrigenda:


 * Paralysis Explosion (see: Spell Combinations) area of effect is definitely 7.5 m (=Fireball AoE), not 5 m.
 * Aura of Pain has a radius of 5 m, not of 4 ft (?!), as stated in the description. Also, a Reaver with full spell immunity (100% spell resistance) will still take full self-inflicted spirit damage from Aura of Pain.
 * A mage casting Drain Life on a spell immune target will still benefit from 'drained health', though the target takes no damage from the spell.

Shale Pulverizing Blows and Stoneheart Tree Talents Testing
I have decided to complete my little study in Shale talent mechanics. Again, all damage formulae are approximations. They work all right for Shale with strength attribute in 0-100 range, but will get progressively farther off the mark for Shale with strength 100+. Luckily, Shale with strength 100+ is a purely theoretical entity.

Pulverizing Blows Tree
With Pulverizing Blows tree maxed out, the following modifiers are applied to Shale's stats:, ,.

Stoneheart Tree
With Stoneheart tree maxed out, Shale gains the following benefits:, , a significant bonus to health and stamina regeneration rate (precise values currently unknown), increased hostility.

A Note on Shale's Party Role
As I have already suggested, Shale's real forte is her ability to fit into a quite unique party buffer/ranged support niche. It doesn't mean she cannot fare reasonably well as a main tank or a melee damage-dealer. It's just by later mid-game (circa level 14+, when other characters gain their second specialization and the party is doing either A Paragon of Her Kind or The Urn of Sacred Ashes), any warrior companion outshines her both as a tank and as a melee damage-dealer. She sucks on a comparative, not on an absolute scale, so to say :)

Power of Blood Talents Testing
My undocumented DLC talents testing continued. This time, the designers apparently forgot to mention cooldown times in the descriptions. Otherwise, the tests was not overtly hard to conduct, as most of the Power of Blood abilities are pretty much straightforward. A couple of problems remain unsolved: for instance, the exact value of a passive bonus granted by Dark Passage or an exact amount of mana regenerated by Dark Sustenance. Then again, incomplete data is surely better than no data at all.

+X% Healing Received Bug
The modifier is badly bugged. It is tempting to say it does nothing. However, that would be untrue. It seems to take into account only one parameter when making percentile adjustments: the spellpower of the party member wearing the gear. Since the party member having the gear with this mod would probably be a warrior, is as close to being absolutely useless as it gets. The proof: some testing was conducted using health poultices, Heal spell (cast by another party member) and Devour talent (self-heal). The methodology was as follows: level 18 Alistair wearing a total of (Effort, Fade Wall, Oathkeeper, Reflection, Lifegiver, Key to the City, Creationist's Cord) was healed using the three methods mentioned above; then the same Alistair, stripped of any gear, was healed again using the same three methods. The results for Heal, cast by level 18 Wynne with 120 spellpower, were exactly the same in both cases. The results for health poultices and Devour varied by a point or two in favor of +100% healing received gear. This raises some questions concerning the true value of some extremely expensive (Lifegiver) or otherwise hard-to-get (Fade Wall) gear.

A list of equipment with in alphabetical order

 * Higher grade Large Ice Crystals also have this property (refer to Large Crystals for details).

Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir: Starting Stats, Talents, Unique Gear and Plot Skills
Cheating bastard!

- Simon Templeman, Return to Ostagar DLC

Loghain's Starting Stats
Strength 28, Dexterity 23, Willpower 32, Magic 14, Cunning 18, Constitution 24.

Loghain's Starting Talents
Champion: War Cry, Rally, Motivate, Superiority.

Warrior: Powerful, Threaten, Bravery, Precise Striking, Taunt, Disengage, Perfect Striking.

Weapon and Shield Talents: Shield Bash, Shield Pummel, Overpower, Assault, Shield Block, Shield Cover, Shield Tactics, Shield Mastery.

Note: neither his strength, nor dexterity is high enough to normally learn high-tier Weapon and Shield Talents. It is also noteworthy he will have Superiority even if you trigger Landsmeet before he reaches level 16 (marginally possible, if you postpone all side quests and all DLC content until after Landsmeet).

Loghain's Plot Skills
Note: Loghain is the only party member gaining +4 and +6 instead of mere +3 and +4 as his major and massive attribute bonuses, respectively.

Existing Strategies
The Tank article currently lists a bunch of strategies, divided into two big categories: constitution-based tanking and dexterity-based tanking. If forced to choose between these two approaches, it is reasonable to go with the less trivial - namely, second one (for a detailed mathematical analysis of Evasion tanking advantages, see also: http://social.bioware.com/426838/blog/1581/). However, the starting assumptions on which the analytic part of this article is based are radically different from the ones used there, so it was only logical to start a separate article rather than adding a third section to the Tank article.

Key Principles
In DA:O, there are only three essential, and, it might be added, somewhat counter-intuitive, criteria defining whether a character is fit for a tank role. Curiously enough, a lot of superficially attractive parameters, like constitution, armor, defense, physical, mental and elemental resistances, flanking immunity or missile deflection play little to no role in successful tanking. The criteria mentioned above are: (a) threat management; (b) stun/knockdown immunity; (c) spell immunity. Each criterion is covered in more detail in its own separate sub-section below.

Threat Management
First and foremost, if one wants to keep it practical, tanking, especially on Nightmare difficulty, is all about drawing threat. Surprisingly, it seems to be the major pièce de résistance of this article. The information on Evasion tanks in the Tank article is, for all its originality, very off the mark as far as tanking per se is concerned: the builds proposed are no tanks, just certain characters that wouldn't be hit as often (ideally, they wouldn't be hit at all) as other characters. While this surely is a great advantage, one would be hard-pressed to imagine by what means a Rogue, or, to a lesser extent, an Arcane Warrior (the latter has some AoE spells that can do the job) is supposed to draw hostility as easily and effectively as any Warrior. Sky-high defense and evasion won't matter much, if the enemies go straight after your ranged attackers, ignoring the low-threat tank altogether. A list of effective threat control tools (obvious and not-so-obvious) no tank should forego includes: Taunt, Threaten, Frightening Appearance, Scattershot, Two-Handed Sweep. The inclusion of the first three talents is self-explanatory. Frightening Appearance is worth the investment, granting an effective 100% increase to threat generated by tank's attacks with Threaten, and a 25% increase to threat generated by Taunt. Additional details on threat mechanics can be found here: Talk:Threat. It is noteworthy to point out that threat ranges from -1000 to 1000, so it is not hard to see an immediate +500 threat boost from Frightening Appearance-enhanced Taunt is very significant. Scattershot and Two-Handed Sweep are less self-explanatory, yet these are talents your tank should definitely have. Scattershot has invaluable advantages for the tank: it's a huge range (15 m) AoE auto-hitting talent generating 5 additional threat on every target it hits. Since your tank, if built properly, is bound to have high dexterity and decent strength, the normal hit from Scattershot deals solid damage (~65 with level 18 Alistair) + 5 additional threat * 3 (assuming you have Threaten and Frightening Appearance). It is advisable to use enchanted arrows with Scattershot to boost the threat a bit more. All in all, it is a great combat opener for the tank: an immediate increase in threat generated by several hundred points. Two-Handed Sweep is, basically, similar to Scattershot: when the enemies approach, switch to your two-handed weapon of choice and use the talent. Since it happens to be one of the only AoE talents available to warrior class characters, generating 9 additional threat per hit + resulting in possible knockdown, it is easy to see why it is so essential. Holy Smite, in addition to being a great talent overall, can generate some pretty decent AoE threat, but whether it's worth four points investment in a talent tree that is not too practical for a party tank is open to discussion. An additional threat management tool worth mentioning, albeit a negative one, is Feign Death. It is very desirable, since high-damage cunning and dexterity-based rogues (both DW and archery builds) can generate an insane amount of threat with constant strings of critical hits. Feign Death nullifies all threat generated by its user, saving the rogue and allowing the tank to use one of threat-generating skills to re-build threat. This is especially useful during tough single boss fights (the High Dragon is a good example). Perhaps Mind Blast should also be mentioned in negative threat management department: the spell sets all previously generated threat on targets to 0. While far from being a universally applicable threat management tool, it's still situationally useful.

Stun/Knockdown Immunity
One of the worst things that can happen to your tank on Nightmare is knockdown. AI tends to switch aggro upon successful knockdown, and that's one thing you don't want to see happening. Incapacitation of any kind (first and foremost, stun), admittedly, won't make the AI target other party members, but it will render your threat management talents unusable, and thus, should be avoided at any cost. Now, the most intuitively appealing solution is to stack a bunch of gear/runes on your Weapon and Shield Talents-oriented warrior having his Shield Wall mode on. Unfortunately, it's impossible without sacrificing a significant part of your tank's spell resistance gear, discussed below. A much better alternative is resorting to Two-Handed Talents, and relying entirely on the best warrior sustainable in the game (well, that's not a huge compliment) - Indomitable. This second tier talent makes you immune to any sort of knockdown or stun, except Overwhelm (Monster) and Grab. Then again, nothing protects against Overwhelm (Monster) and Grab, so learn to live with it. Investing in Two-Handed Talents has several benefits, apart from Indomitable. It's the most early game-friendly tree to go with: the best talents are, in fact, first and second tier. Sunder Arms, Pommel Strike and Indomitable is all you need until late mid-game (throw in Shattering Blows in case you prefer to finish A Paragon of Her Kind prior to other quest lines), so you can devote yourself fully to warrior/archery threat management talents, instead of investing frantically in Two-Handed Talents (that's exactly what you are forced to do if you go with Weapon and Shield Talents). The question of two-handed weapon choice naturally arises. Your ultimate tanking weapon should be:

It is ridiculously easy to get very early in the game for such a powerful weapon, assuming you have the Warden's Keep DLC installed. Just travel religiously between Honnleath and Flemeth's Hut, and The Crater event will trigger. Complete the Warden's Keep main quest, then bring the Meteor Metal Ore to Mikhael Dryden, and you are set for the rest of the game (Chasind Great Maul is theoretically a better choice, but it is available only after the Landsmeet).

Spell Immunity
Stacking spell resistance gear on the tank gives your party the incredible benefit of being able to cast friendly fire-capable spells and spell combinations (Paralysis Explosion immediately comes to mind) with no restrictions. Of course, there is also a matter of the tank being immune to hostile magic, though that's a somewhat theoretical concern, provided your mage has Mana Clash spell. It goes without saying you should aim for 100% spell resistance (no one can guarantee the very first Glyph of Paralysis that is going to be cast on your 96% spell resistant tank will not fall into those remaining 4%). It is attainable for any warrior companion in the game, and even more so, for a PC warrior. If you plan to achieve spell immunity, two key gear pieces are mandatory:

The good news is these items are available from the very start from Faryn in Frostback Mountain Pass and from Bodahn at the party camp, respectively. The bad news is you will have to pay a whopping total of ~159 for them.

A Note of Fire Resistance
That's actually a somewhat puzzling concept you can sometimes see mentioned in various strategy guides. The facts are you need fire resistance (=anti-dragon) gear four times in this game (two Dragons: one at Brecilian Ruins, one at Orzammar Royal Palace; two High Dragons: Flemeth and, well, the High Dragon). There are no other combat instances where fire resistance is a must. Therefore, a logical choice would be crafting a Greater Warmth Balm or two before attempting any dragon-slaying, instead of having a whole set of alternate tanking gear specifically designated for dragon encounters. The Balm gives for 3 minutes. Your tank's best choice when it comes to compensating for the missing 15% fire resistance is:

Indomitable, Yusaris enchanted with two Grandmaster Frost or Lightning runes, and Greater Warmth Balm are the only 'anti-dragon equipment' you need.

Ideal Tank Development and Gearing
There is not much choice as far as specializations go: Templar/Reaver is the best combination by far, granting you access to Knight Commander's Plate and Frightening Appearance. Key talents no decent tank can do without: Taunt, Threaten, Frightening Appearance, Scattershot, Two-Handed Sweep, Indomitable. Stat distribution: strength in 35-40 range, the rest into dexterity. The optimal gear for this build is: or with an option of switching to Wolf-Killer in animal/demon-populated areas or enchanted with one Grandmaster and two Master Dweomer runes or

That accounts for full spell immunity in two-handed mode and a significant stamina boost. A typical simplified combat flow chart for this tank will look like this: Scattershot -> switch to Starfang (Greatsword) -> approach the enemies -> Two-Handed Sweep -> holding aggro -> ranged attackers draw too much threat -> Taunt. The only warrior companion suitable for this build is Alistair. Since you get him so early in the game, his initial Weapon and Shield Talents orientation should not cause any problems. A PC Dwarf warrior would be an ideal candidate, though, both because of 10% inherent spell resistance and Blood Fury AoE (=mass threat-drawing) talent.

An Alternative Approach to Wynne's Development and Party Role
Simply put, full magic build Wynne is the best DPS-oriented mage character, mage PC included, by a long shot. Full magic build means, first and foremost, investing exclusively into magic attribute, never touching willpower. Wynne's initial willpower, plus plot skill attribute bonus (+4 willpower), should suffice until you gain your specialization point and spend it on Blood Mage, both for the sake of its passive spellpower bonus, and for Blood Magic mode that will solve your potential problems in mana supply department. Four central pieces of gear you should acquire:

It's also highly advisable to have Black Hand Gauntlets and Dreamsever, since the most damaging spells/spell combinations in the game deal spirit damage. If you have Shale in your party, her Stone Aura, when maxed out, will grant an additional +10 spellpower boost. Overall, an adequately geared level 24 Wynne under the effects of Aneirin's Token-enhanced Vessel of the Spirit buff, Stone Aura, Spell Wisp and Spell Might should have an absolutely unparalleled total of. Practical implications? Being able to one-shot Gaxkang on Nightmare with Mana Clash is practical enough, I suppose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WsT4ceTrw4

Ranged Attack Speed Bugs
I. Haste (as well as Swift Salve) slows down aim speed, regardless of what sustainables you currently have toggled on. The in-game script has HASTE_AIM_SPEED_MODIFIER in place of -HASTE_AIM_SPEED_MODIFIER. Sadly, this bug is not patched as of version 1.02a. That is a relevant script, to whomever it may concern: // spell_constants_h const float HASTE_AIM_SPEED_MODIFIER = 0.8f; // spell_modal eEffects[3] = EffectModifyProperty(PROPERTY_ATTRIBUTE_RANGED_AIM_SPEED, HASTE_AIM_SPEED_MODIFIER, PROPERTY_ATTRIBUTE_ATTACK, -5.0f).

II. A workaround of sorts exists, effectively allowing your party melee attackers to benefit from Haste without making archers useless. Shale's Rock Mastery aura seems to override any other bonuses/penalties imposed on attack speed. Some testing was conducted during this scenario: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFkR2qF7zs0 The methodology was to measure total time per 4 ranged attacks with: (a) Rock Mastery + Aim; (b) Rock Mastery + Aim + Haste; (c) Rock Mastery + Aim + Swift Salve. The results were stable: the archer was consistently firing at double the normal ranged attack speed.

Work in Progress
Adding data to the talent/spell/consumable item mechanics sections in the respective articles:
 * Dog Talents
 * Poisons
 * Potions
 * Spell Combinations
 * Traps
 * Archery Talents
 * Rogue Talents
 * Dual-Wielding Talents
 * Two-Handed Talents
 * Weapon and Shield Talents
 * Warrior Talents
 * Earthquake, Revival, Cleansing Aura, Glyph of Paralysis, Animate Dead
 * Assorted Minor Spell Mechanics Addenda & Corrigenda

My Contributions

 * User contributions