Spiked Spikes and Slashy Swords

[paplaukes]

It's getting enough plants on the field to do this that's the challenge.

Entanglement. Cheap - 5 plants per 5 piety.

[Darvin]

It's getting enough plants on the field to do this that's the challenge.

Entanglement. Cheap - 5 plants per 5 piety.

Oh definitely, but if you've converted into EM then you get a 1-shot of piety from plantation to last you the remainder of the game. The piety costs adds up very quickly when you've got no way to generate more.

[paplaukes]

Without ENDISWAL, it gets too cramped. I really dislike using it. Most of the time, using plantation means you have to waste clearance immediately after, most likely several times.

[Lujo]

I think that's to keep it balanced - the inital price is too low, and forcing you to clear a few times to up the cost was sort of ment to keep her from becoming a mana-bloodswell late game asspull powerhouse that Drac is. Restoring only 10 mana which forces you to either have mystic balance, be a wizard or "waste" clearances while upping their cost to get 2 fireballs out of her - I can't decide if it's ok, just annoying, or could use a boost...

[FDru]

Probably the thing that bothers me the most about EM is the scaling cost of Clearance. It becomes too costly, too quickly and plants simply get out of hand too often. It makes worshipping her far more situational than any other god.

If clearance costed a flat 10, I don't think it would be terribly imbalanced. It would pay for itself in IMAWALS but you'd be creating clutter. Though there might be some abuse cases I haven't thought of...

I just know I'd use her for more than just desecration fodder if her plants were more manageable.

[paplaukes]

She's one of my favourite gods really, unless it's VERY cramped. Guaranteed IMAWAL is a great tool to level up, combined with Entanglement to kill bigger things/stop retaliations on fireball/stop blinkers. Then there's curse removal/extra hp/damage reduction/mob corrosion. Honestly, I don't even use plantation or more than a 2-3 levels of corrosion/hp. Stoning popcorn and the occasional plant from entanglement is enough for piety. Give it a try sometime, you might like it.

[q 3]

Well if others are getting use out of her then maybe I just haven't learned the trick to her just quite yet. My concern was that, since a last-minute conversion or desecration can be so powerful, no one really minded her lack of early utility. But perhaps I spoke too soon.

The problem with buffing clearance, though, is that it's so potent as a last-minute gambit - a free +40 MP pool in the middle of a boss fight as long as you haven't used sanguine - that any improvement would lead to utter ridiculousness. Of course, that does mean that her early worshipers get a raw deal on using the boon for its original purpose. I'd suggest reducing the number of plants she spawns, but since her prep "penalty" is often viewed as a benefit I'm not even sure whether that would help or hurt. Maybe I'll just leave the Earthmother discussion to the Earthmother users.

[gjaustin]

You also can't underestimate all the bonus experience you get from IMAWAL.

Between the +50% for that and the +1 from Entanglement, you can get massive amounts of bonus exp.

[The Avatar]

I have never really gotten the hang of EM (it's too tempting to desecrate), but I agree that she needs buffing. Not late game (in clearance, although that could use a small buff, but early game. Her vine form and green blood are awful.

[Sidestepper]

Vineform is okay, it just has to be used early. You can get 4-6 by 2nd level without too much trouble, which is great. Greenblood, on the other hand, I have only used for curse management. I have never been able to stack the corrosion effect enough for it to matter.