[TomeNET] Death Knight impressions and analysis of Shadow/Unlife magic

Some impressions about early game with Death Knight @ soloist.

First of all I wanna point that I had 27 mana at lvl 27 (http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=22152). Please remeber it when reading comments to the spells :D

In general Shadow magic is better then new, Unlife. Some impressions:

Shadow

Cause Fear Scares your target.
(This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!)
Required skill level for first spell level: 1.

Tier II: Level 18.
Scares all nearby creatures.
// useless

Blindness Blinds your target.
Required skill level for first spell level: 3.

// the best spell to control mobs; archers and mages.

Detect Invisible
Detects all invisible creatures nearby.
Required skill level for first spell level: 3.

// good if no see_inv on equip

Veil of Night Causes your target to fall asleep instantly.
(This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!)
Required skill level for first spell level: 5.

Tier II: Level 20.
It expands around you.

// ‘I’ worse then blindness cause after y hit target – it rans away.. and it’s very rare occasion to kill something with 1 blow. ‘II’ maybe good to ‘calm down’ mobs, but it cost a lot of mana (19 VS 3 at ‘I’).. But still ‘II’ I suppose could be used in some situations (while ‘I’ not really)

Shadow Bolt Channels shadow into a bolt attack.
Required skill level for first spell level: 10.

// cost too much mana to be used by DK. better use a shooter.

Tier II: Level 25.

Tier III: Level 40.

Aspect of Peril
Temporarily brands your melee weapons with poison.
Lv10: Grants temporary poison resistance.
Required skill level for first spell level: 14.

// good spell, but a bit too high mana (cause of 40% fail rate..)

Darkness Causes a burst of darkness around you, possibly blinding
nearby creatures.
Required skill level for first spell level: 20.

// possibly..? so this spell is like ‘blindness II’. But if it’s not 100% chance, players would certanly not use it; maybe make it 100%?

Shadow Gate Teleports you to the nearest opponent in line of sight.
Required skill level for first spell level: 26.
Shared spell (see above): O.Shadow, Conveyance.
This spell cannot be found in the Conveyance tome.

// it’s too high lvl and fail-rate spell. When shadow magic just was introduced it was very ncie spell to use.. After nerf it’s rubbish. It should cost 7 mana, not 20.

Shadow Shroud Grants temporary invisibility. (See (5.16) for details.)
Required skill level for first spell level: 30.

// not bad

Chaos Bolt Channels the powers of chaos into a bolt attack.
(This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!)
Required skill level for first spell level: 30.
Shared spell (see above): O.Shadow, H.Offense.
This spell cannot be found in the Holy Offense tome.

// shared = unusuable by DK

Drain Life Drains life from a non-undead and non-nonliving creature
and returns a part of it to your hit points.
Unique monsters may resist, undead and nonliving monsters
are unaffected. Damage caps at 900.
(This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!)
Required skill level for first spell level: 37.
Shared spell (see above): O.Shadow, Necromancy.
(Necromancy isn’t actually a school, but a normal skill.)

// maybe useful for necromacry build, donno

Doomed Grounds Temporarily applies a weak annihilation effect to an area.
(This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!)
Required skill level for first spell level: 40.
Shared spell (see above): H.Offense, O.Shadow.
This spell cannot be found in the Shadow tome.

// shared = unusuable by DK

Darkness Storm Conjures up a storm of darkness.
Required skill level for first spell level: 42.

// good spell

BONI: At 30 grants darkness resistance.
At 35 and higher it will also grant a stealth bonus that
increases by +1 every five skill points, up to +4 at 50.

// good boni

Unlife 

Fatigue Slows your target down, draining power from its muscles.
Required skill level for first spell level: 5.

Tier II: Level 20.
Affects all monsters in LoS.

// useless if you got blindness from Shadow school. If not – it’s an option. 20 mana for ‘II’ is too much though (DK got HUGE troubles with mana – could cast this spell 1 time lol)

Detect Lifeforce
Detect all living creatures nearby.
Required skill level for first spell level: 12.

// the best spell in _early_ unlife so far. mana cost is good too. doesn’t work at undead and some other stuff, so not too imba

Tainted Grounds Prevents any vermin from multiplying any further,
effective on the whole dungeon level.
Required skill level for first spell level: 17.

// I can’t cast it. Just can’t. It cost too much mana.

Nether Sap Draws from nether undercurrents to continuously replenish
your health at the cost of draining your mana.
The duration and conversion ratio of the spell depend on
the current spell level.
Required skill level for first spell level: 22.
— This spell is only usable by true vampires! —

// I can’t cast it. Just can’t. It cost too much mana.

Subjugation Attempt to place all undead of lesser level than you under
your control. If successful, the undead creatures will
enter stasis for a while. The stasis is broken immediately
if they take damage.
Required skill level for first spell level: 26.
Shared spell (see above): O.Unlife, Necromancy.

// shared damm. Why shared? It’s quite useless spell. maybe you could use it in Paths of the Dead.

Nether Bolt Channels lingering nether into a bolt attack.
Required skill level for first spell level: 30.

// 30 skill to cast. wtf

Permeation Let a stream of nether force cleanse your body and mind,
restoring drained stats and experience.
Required skill level for first spell level: 35.
— This spell is only usable by true vampires! —

// 25 mana and 35 min skill.. a bit hursh, but ok, let’s be it.

Touch of Hunger Temporarily imbue your melee weapon with vampiric power,
making it drain life force from your opponents which
replenishes your own. (100% vampirism.)
Required skill level for first spell level: 42.

// 45 mana. damm. Ok, it’s pretty useful, but still. 

Wraithstep Renders you temporarily immaterial, allowing you to step
into and pass solid walls. However, the effect will cease
immediately as soon as you step from walls back into open
space again.
Required skill level for first spell level: 46.
Shared spell (see above): O.Unlife, O.Shadow.
This spell cannot be found in the Shadow tome.

// shared, but it certanly cost it. 60 mana though and ‘ceasing’ effect.. I suppose I would prefer Spectral weapon.

BONI: At 30 grants strong hold of your life force.
At 45 grants resistance to nether.

// useless boni for DK.

Impressions about Death Knight

I could say that currently DK is one of the most weakest classes, Mindcrafter twice more powerful; Palading is 5x more powerful.. I didn’t tried it at high lvls, maybe in uber-gear DK could be quite ok.. But still I would prefer any other class. The only good thing about early lvls is Detect Lifeforce and Blindness.. But simple warrior with *evil* ESP weapon would be much more effective and stronger.

Suggestion
It’s cool that devs implemented Unlife magic school, but I believe it should be rearranged.

The problem is that Unlife is usable for other classes, so devs had to make it balanced from the view of other classes. It makes game balance overal more complex, but make more builds available. It’s good. But it doesn’t make Death Knight better class (thats why no one playing it really, check oook.cz statistics).

I suppose there could be two ways – make unlife school exclusive for Death Knights OR make spells in this school work more effective when casted by DK.. Like lets spells would cost twice less mana if casted by death knight..

Still it was fun to play this class, I learned some interesting stuff from it. But overall impression – I don’t wanna return back to it, it’s too weak. I also don’t wanna play druid, for example, but because shape-shifting not my thing.. Druids one of the most powerful classes. But there is very different feeling – I like Death Knight class, I likes it’s lore and idea.. But it feels too weak.

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