User:IN

Shale Talent Mechanics
Until recently, 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 are also significant health regeneration and spell resistance party bonuses, but, unfortunately, their exact numerical values are 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: 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 :)

Shale 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 after a certain point? 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 then, 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 somewhat experienced, and do Honnleath immediately after Lothering to get the Helm of Honnleath and the Harvest Festival Ring, you get her to join 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 is best served 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 you 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; (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 available with the constitution bonus provided by the best Small Nature Crystal available, the rest into strength (as it's the only stat affecting Shale's Rock Mastery talents damage). I suggest getting a Flawless Small Nature Crystal (+4 constitution) as early as you can by stealing from Piotin 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.

Work in progress

 * Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir - your best non-PC end-game tank: starting stats and talents, plot skills, gear optimization, maximized Sten/Oghren/Alistair/Loghain/Dwarf Warrior PC comparison.
 * Wynne - the heaviest DPS output mage character in the game by far, the Warden included: gear optimization, talent development, maximized Morrigan/Wynne/Elf Mage PC comparison.
 * Shale - best used mid to end-game as a ranged character and an archery/spellpower buffer: Rock Mastery and Stone Aura trees analysis.
 * Duelist/bard cunning-based archer practical optimization/maximization guide, featuring maximized Leliana/Dwarf Rogue PC comparison.

My contributions

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