Is CYDSTEPP broken?

[Darvin]

but I do think that if your max HP is already 1 when you anger him, he should round down to 0...

Agreed; this is needed to bring the Dracul CYDSTEPP combo into line. It would still be very powerful, but you'd actually need buffer piety or HP...

[q 3]

It might be worth considering to make the tier 3 class glyphs only available to other classes via shops. Glyph shops worked pretty well in the alpha, and this would make those glyphs more special and less abusable, while still fully functional if you're willing to spend the gold to acquire them. Something like 18 gold for APHEELSIK (should be significantly cheaper than the venom sword), 24 gold for HALPMEH or BLUDTOPOWA, and 30 gold for CYDSTEPP would probably be appropriate in the current dungeon economy.

[PeaceChaser]

Speaking of APHEELSIK and the venom sword... WHY would you want to use the glyph if you've got the sword? The sword is better than the glyph by leagues. Didn't APHEELSICK cost 5 mana in the beta instead of 8? That at least gave you room to cast maybe a fireball if you had several mana buffs. Does anyone use the fireball/APHEELSIK technique anymore?

[q 3]

Elf Assassin + Mana Leak (using fireballs + poison to whittle down the boss and build piety) is a powerful combination in many of the dungeons.

[Wargizmo]

Speaking of APHEELSIK and the venom sword... WHY would you want to use the glyph if you've got the sword? The sword is better than the glyph by leagues. Didn't APHEELSICK cost 5 mana in the beta instead of 8? That at least gave you room to cast maybe a fireball if you had several mana buffs. Does anyone use the fireball/APHEELSIK technique anymore?

Too add to q_3's post It's a great technique if you go with Dracul too, since you can just sacrifice all your hitpoints for mana - you don't actually need to hit anything with the glyph as opposed to the sword.

Higher level monsters -> Fireball + poison
Lower level monsters -> assassin's 1 shot kill

The way that the assassin's skills synergise with each other he actually makes a very strong pure caster, you can completely negate hitpoints and damage but never have to waste any mana mopping up low level enemies.

Which is a good thing since as a melee class the assassin is pretty awful, the 1 shot kill thing is practically worthless in a melee build, since most can 1-2 shot lower level enemies anyway, and for poison you can just use the venom sword or tikki instead for the same effect without wasting mana, which leaves 1st strike as his only redeeming skill.

[Darvin]

Yeah, APHEELSIK has really been over-nerfed at 8 MP.

This is another one that I'd chock up partially to the power creep in terms of monster damage since the alpha. Many dungeons labeled "normal" difficulty have monsters with damage exceeding ranked mode or the boss hive. This has greatly reduced your capacity to take on higher-level monsters with APHEELSIK (since you cannot survive a single hit anyways), greatly reducing its useability. On the other end of the spectrum, CYDSTEPP has flourished because of all the high-damage monsters that it can now protect you from.

In the current version, burning heart on a bloodmage (with fireball glyph and boss scout preparation) is your go-to choice for hit and run spellcaster.

[bla0815]

On thing the changed APHEELSIK can do is poison multiple enemies at the same time. Although i can't see much use for that except after a mana leak with lots of tiles still undiscovered. It's one of the glyphs used rather situational by me, since there are not too many bosses with small attack values.

Since the new updates boosted the fireball and added further ways to push your resistances CYDSTEPP has got quite more competition and is used a little less by me. It is a great tool for leveling but not that mana efficient at the boss fights. In a given situation other glyphs may have more use and that's what i call balance.

In the current version, burning heart on a bloodmage (with fireball glyph and boss scout preparation) is your go-to choice for hit and run spellcaster.

Get your 100% indomitable kill with bloodmage now before the nerfhammer hits!

[q 3]

Unfortunately, most fireball strategies are completely shut down by Counter Fireball (which IMO is probably the most unfair monster ability in the game). CYDSTEPP doesn't really have a counter at the moment aside from death protection (but it's often still as useful as, if not better than, HALPMEH, since many of the monsters with death protection also hit hard or go berserk) and mana burn (which also punishes several other glyphs and strategies).

[MrGuy]

Unfortunately, most fireball strategies are completely shut down by Counter Fireball (which IMO is probably the most unfair monster ability in the game).

I agree. Counter Fireball basically makes BURNDAYRAZ situationally useless for anyone except a wizard or maybe a low-level monk, since you're taking damage and losing MP for a weaker attack. That might be the point, but when I see enemies with Counter Fireball in addition to Weakening Strike, I call foul.

[PeaceChaser]

On thing the changed APHEELSIK can do is poison multiple enemies at the same time.

Wait.. What? Are you sure? Seriously? That makes quite a bit more sense, and that would be an advantage over the venom blade that's worth considering.

As for the fireball / poison tactic, I'm still not quite buying it. Fireball + Poison combo costs 6 + 8 = 14 mana. You need 20 mana even to get 2 fireballs and a poison off. On the other hand, you can charge Cydstep for 10 mana, save up 10 mana, and hit a dude twice, and that's if he "kills" you on the first hit. Also, physical damage usually outclasses fireball at any given level against non phys-resist monsters. AND you can combo this in with the venom blade, which costs 0 mana, and only a handful of gold - if you aren't taking it as a preparation. It just doesn't seem nearly as efficient as the physical alternative.