What now?

[audioserf]

2x spell training for a pure is some GemStone 3 shit to be honest. I haven't seen anyone seriously recommend that in a decade.

[khorpulent]

Yeah, even my warmage, who didn't even have a single spell aiming rank until after cap, stayed above 2x in spells.

The advice about temp padded armor is solid, though. It's amazing how cheap you can get a set of temp MCP armor sometimes. If you're a pure and don't get hit often, it'll last practically forever. On the other hand, I've used up temp padding in a couple weeks on a warrior.

I never did understand people who go for the shield/runestaff combo. Maybe it makes sense if you're like 3x cap and have more points than you know what to do with, or if you have an uber enhancive shield or something. Actually, I guess it makes more sense on a sorc than on other pures, since sorcs don't get any benefit from channeling open-handed on anything but 702. I never did understand why sorcs get screwed when it comes to channeling.

[Maerit]

I never did understand people who go for the shield/runestaff combo. Maybe it makes sense if you're like 3x cap and have more points than you know what to do with, or if you have an uber enhancive shield or something. Actually, I guess it makes more sense on a sorc than on other pures, since sorcs don't get any benefit from channeling open-handed on anything but 702. I never did understand why sorcs get screwed when it comes to channeling.

You get higher DS with a shield & runestaff if you're trained to use the shield because you will basically add the shield DS bonus to your DS. If you have a 7x tower shield, you could potentially bump your DS up by 35. And yes, the ability to add another fusion item to your equipped enhancives is a bonus.

Also, shields don't get disarmed (they can be lost in some ways, but not by the disarm maneuver), so when you are hunting in an area that disarms, using a shield instead of a runestaff can be a big benefit. You lose a lot less DS because of the shield training, while also becoming immune to the most crippling maneuver and still get the option to have an equipped enhancive item in your hand.

Most people would say that channeling isn't a great benefit because it puts a squishy caster into hard RT, and one of the best ways to die as a caster is RT lock. I don't channel on my wizard characters because it normally means I'm in hard RT AND offensive stance, which is often a death sentence... Yeah, channeling makes things die faster, but glass cannon benefits and all that blah blah.

[rolfard]

Shield plus runestaff has a lower MAX ds in defensive than runestaff alone but a greater MIN ds when prone/stunned/etc

[khorpulent]

Most people would say that channeling isn't a great benefit because it puts a squishy caster into hard RT, and one of the best ways to die as a caster is RT lock. I don't channel on my wizard characters because it normally means I'm in hard RT AND offensive stance, which is often a death sentence... Yeah, channeling makes things die faster, but glass cannon benefits and all that blah blah.

I rarely channel on my wizard and sorc, but always channel on my empath and cleric. I suppose the extra +4 in guarded with a runestaff isn't all that much, but the hard RT doesn't bother me. Mostly I just don't want to use two macros because I frequently put my runestaff up and channel in offensive with the empath. That +40 allows me to 1-shot creatures that would normally take 2 or 3. Sure it gets me in trouble sometimes, but I don't really consider empaths to be "squishy casters." With 3x PF/HCP armor/major protection/1125 and the option to regenerate, I'm not really too worried about melee attacks. If I am, I can just put up 140. I guess this isn't terribly relevant on the sorc forum....