Book Of Heroes [Out Worldwide Now] by Venan

[BjofCJ&Bj]

Overview:
Except for +Max Health, Weapon Damage, and Ancestral enchantments, items you already have get weaker every time you go up a Level. The same item that gave you +6.34% Spell at Level 16 gives you +5.33% Spell at Level 20.
Dodge is weak unless you are a Shadow Walker with Shadow Stalker 3.
Items with +Haste are weaker than other +enchantments, followed by +Resist.
Except for adding to +Max Health, and Weapon Damage as Level increases, Ancestral items do not get more powerful, but stay the same strength.
Buying advice: spend Gold Shields (GS) and Silver Coins (SC) on weapons (especially Named Weapons) and +Max Health items.

Body Part 2:

Named Weapons- A Sub-case
Overview:
If you have never played Book of Heroes, consider a Named Weapon at 6th Level. If you have played before, consider a Named Weapon at 1st Level. (Even if you've never played before, getting your wife Deathwing right off the bat will make her very happy. This may just be for me, but hey, she's helping me type.)

List of Named Weapons
Deathwing 254- 312 Damage, 1.4 Speed, 120 gold shields
Moonbeam 252- 280 Damage, 1.3 Speed, 120 gold shields
Daedalus' Razor 168- 186 Damage, 1.0 Speed, 80 gold shields
Ripper 67- 74 Damage, 0.2 Speed, 40 gold shields.

Required Level
Normally, if you find a Xth Level item, you must be Xth Level to use it. Until you are Xth Level, you cannot equip it, and the icon will have a little lock in the corner. One exception are Named Weapons which are all Epic 20th Level and have a required Level of 1.

Maximum Damage
If you are considering a Named Weapon, you might as well buy it with gold shields (aka "cash") at 1st Level where monsters have lower hit points. Justicars can destroy many, if not most, 10th Level monsters with one hit of Deathwing. (Typist's note: having Cleave 3 REALLY HELPS) If you wait until 20th Level to buy a Named Weapon, it is not much better than other Epic 20th Level weapons.

Maximum Enjoyment
Since they are expensive, you will probably spend real money to buy a Named Weapon. Since you are spending real money, you should have the Named Weapon for the maximum amount of time. Buying early, but not too early, maximizes your time with a Named Weapon. (Typist's note: I vote for buying it REALLY early.)

Maximum Effect
Unlike 11-20 Ancestral weapons, Named Weapons do the same amount of damage Level from 1 to 20. As a bonus, the lower your Level, the more percentage points you get from the enchantments on a Named Weapon, see Level Change section.

Haste- A Special Case
Overview:
Haste items are a poor value. Classes with Haste Abilities, currently Shadow Walker and War Mage, get even less value for their money.

Haste Items
Haste items give less and less benefit the more items you have and the higher your Level. They are a poor value.
At the same Level, each individual item becomes less effective, the more items you acquire (unlike other enchantments).
---Data: A Level 20 Shadow Walker with Haste 647 points is -7.93% or 1% per 81 points, 1,106 points is -12.84% or 1% per 86 points, 1,895 points is 20.16% or 1% per 94 points.

Haste Level Change
Higher Level characters get less benefit than low Level, see Level Change Section.

Haste Ability Change
As you put more points into Dark Lunge, the bonus given by 1,895 points of item enchantments goes from -20.16% to -13.44% to- 9.16% to a final -5.6%.
I prefer an offense-based Shadow Walker, making Dark Lunge 3 a bargain at -50% Haste. But you get almost all its benefits from 3 ability points, and almost none from item enchantments.
---Data: A Level 20 Shadow Walker with 1,895 points is 20.16%. Use Dark Lunge 1 (20%) and it changes to -33.44%. Use Dark Lunge 2 (35%) and it changes to -44.16%. Use Dark Lunge 3 (50%) and it changes to -55.6%.

Haste De-buff
Slow and other Haste De-buffs are, like Dark Lunge, hugely out of proportion to the bonus given by the item enchantments. If you have lots of points in Haste, you will need to use a Cleanse Potion every time you get Slow, or lose all the benefits of the items. This is not true of any other enchantment.

Resist- A Sub Case
Overview:
Resist items are a poor value. (Typist's note: I rather like my amulet of +403 v. everything. But that's just me.)

Progression
Encountered Monsters gain Nature (ex: Bandits), Spirit (ex: Undead), Ice (ex: Undead) and then Fire (ex: Gatekeepers). Finally, at the Nithus Boglands you get attacked by combinations. A group of 3 monsters with Nature (Spider), Spirit (Undead) & Ice (Undead) or Nature (Spider), Spirit (Undead) & Fire (Gatekeeper). (Typist's note: I really hated Gate Keepers until I got mauled by a Savage Polar Bear. Burning loses you health points, mauling loses you LOTS of health points.)

Choosing
Except for the Frozen vale, it is difficult to predict which Resist item is a good choice. (Hint: Resist Ice Damage helps in things called "Frozen _______".) Even if you have 40 Level twenty items, four full sets of ten Resist items, with Nature, Spirit, Ice and Fire, you would have to keep changing the items before going into different areas to complete quests. None of which would help you in the Nithus Boglands.

Defense vs. Resist
Resist items only work against one kind of attack. Defense works against five, since it also works to reduce melee damage such as a Slam. While not as good as +Max Health, Defense is a better "defensive" enchantment than any of the four Resist enchantments.

Dodge- A Sub Case
Overview:
Shadow Walkers with Shadow Stalker 3 can strengthen Dodge items, but they are still less desirable.

Shadow Stalker 3
Shadow Stalker 3 adds +50% to Dodge making Dodge 15.18% into 65.18%. The earliest you can get Shadow Stalker 3 is Level 9. Even if the game allows you to get 100% Dodge, it only effects melee attacks. By that time, all monsters have special attacks that Dodge does not effect. In addition, Shadow Stalker 3 is a Buff that can be removed by Snow Sentinels and other high Level monsters. While not ask good as +Max Health, Defense is a better "defensive" enchantment since it works against all damage. If the monster De-Buffs your Defense, like Sunder Armor, you can use a zero second/zero timer Cleanse Potion as often as needed. Even though I prefer an offense-based Shadow Walker, Shadow Stalker 3 is a valid choice. However, you can get most of its benefits from 3 ability points without using item enchantments.

Non-Shadow Walkers
While a high Dodge and Shadow Stalker 3 can be helpful, Justicars and War Mages do not get this advantage. Instead Justicars get Stonewall, which effects Defense *and* Block (awesome with a Heavy Shield), while War Mages get Arcane Barrier, which affects Defense, and the less-desirable Resist (see Resist- A Sub Case).

Phoenix Armor- A Sub Case
Overview:
If your Justicar uses a shield with your Phoenix Armor Bundle, you should get Stonewall 3. (Typist's note: if your Justicar has a REALLY COOL two-handed Named Axe, you won't have to worry about "no shield" for about 15 levels.)

Stonewall 3
A Level 17 Justicar, without a shield gets Defense 39.07% with 0% Block. With a Heavy Shield and Stonewall 3, they would get over 78% Defense with a 30% Block. It would give you a 1 in 3 chance of blocking an attack, and only taking 22% damage, almost 1/5th, of any non-blocked damage.

MY PERSONAL OPINIONS
Aka "general venting" or "what do I have to show for all this time". (Typist's note: I still want armored Bunny Slippers.)

Armor Points
Armor counts as Defense, which I find confusing. Especially since +Max Health, Defense, Dodge, Resist Nature, Resist Spirit, Resist Ice and Resist Fire are all "defensive" enchantments. To avoid confusion, I write +10 Armor in my notes instead of +10 Defense. I also write Armor 20% instead of Defense 20%.

Defense and Haste Ability
A game designer considering Defense Percentage and Haste Percentage might want to think twice, and let the computer handle the heavy lifting, and simplify the abilities. For example, instead of Haste Percentage, use multipliers. If an attack does 10 Damage Per Second, you can double it to 20 Damage Per Second by cutting the time to attack in half, or doubling the damage. Doing +30% damage is easier to understand then -23% Haste. This also works with potions, instead of halving the time to take a potion, you get the same result by doubling the potions effect. Instead of Defense/ Resist Percentage, use thresholds. 10 Fire Defense subtracts 10 points from a fire attack. Opponents need to do at least 11 points to do any damage. A 15 point fire attack would do 5 damage. Armor 20 would subtract 20 points from any damage.

In real life there is no "100% Water Proof" (my father-in-law had a fun time proving this in his younger days) but there are increasing Level of Water Resistant, 1 meter, 10 meter, 100 meter, 1000 meter, etc.

You could also use ratios: Each ability would have a "Speed" and "Current Speed. Smite might have a Speed 2 seconds, Current Speed 1.75 seconds. The character would have a Speed Character:Monster rating. 1.3:1 means the player gets 1.3 seconds of actions per 1 second of monster actions. A 1:2 means the player gets 1 second of action per 2 seconds of monster actions. General Armor Attack:Health 1.3:1 means 1.3 points of damage reduce your Health 1 point. Fire Armor Attack:Health 2.25:1 means 2.25 fire damage reduces your Health by 1 point.

[BjofCJ&Bj]

Thank you Redpill, for posting your template for your fire-based War Mage.

I have a Level 20 Shadow Walker ($10 IAP) and my wife (who is helping me type, and will be chiming in based on past experience) has a Level 20 Justicar ($60 IAP), so I have been trying to build a free ($0 IAP) War Mage and failing. So far I have discovered the following:

Ice Storm: Weak. Unlike Seismic Slash (Justicar), it does not Stun. Unlike Frozen Shard 3, it does not Slow 50%.

Combustion: Weak. Unlike Flaming Pyre, it does not affect all monsters. Unlike Caltrop (Shadow Walker), it does not damage every monster every
1 second. Many fights are over before 4 seconds are up. Casting a second Combustion on the same monster before the first Combustion has detonated doesn't get you two detonations; it just erases the first Combustion *and* resets the timer. In fact, if you keep casting Combustion, you can keep it from detonating FOREVER. (Typist's note: Wait… combat can actually last more than six seconds? Really? (Please note the typist is a Level 20 Justicar with all-Epic gear and minimal patience.) (Typist's note: I am TOO patient.) (No, really, she's not.)

Ice Grasp 3 (Stun 5 second)/ Combustion 3 (fuse 4 seconds) does not work with group or individual monsters. With group monsters you cannot
cast Flaming Pyre 3, because that would break the stun. With individuals, there is no “wait 1 second”, you *must* attack, breaking the stun.

Fire Fracture: Weak. Only lasts 3 seconds, making it hard to time with Combustion at 4 seconds. Useful after Flaming Pyre 3 has set all
monsters on fire.

Ice Fracture: Weak. Ice spells do little damage, (Typist's note: Oh, SURE they don't. That's why I have to take a giant healing potion halfway through the danged dragon every. single. time!) instead stun and slow. Unlike Fire Fracture, no Damage Over Time (DOT) like Flaming Pyre 3.
If you have to get one, get Fire Fracture.

MY PERSONAL OPINION:
It would be really cool if:

Ice Storm 3 had a 80% chance of Stun for 3 seconds and 80% chance of Slow 50% for 4 seconds. Some monster would even be stunned for 3
seconds and Slow 50% for 4 seconds. Very useful if you want to leave Monster A stunned, and break the stun on Monster B with a 1.5 second
attack but leave it with Slow 50% for the 2.5 seconds remaining.

Combustion did zero damage, then exploded the first time any of the monsters *attacked you*. (Typist's note: okay, that WOULD be cool. I *might* even give up one of my wound attacks for that. Not that I can use spells. But it would be cool.)

You could wait 1 second and heal 1% of your Health. Then you could be healing while you waited for the Combustion 3 to go off or your Ice Grasp 3 to expire.

[Venan]

Hey Guys,

Some great comments on the thread! I've been enjoying the different analyses of the various classes quite a bit. There hasn't been much activity from us on this thread as we are heads down working on getting this next patch out, but we've been reading all your comments.

The balance observations are great and something we're constantly looking at. There are a LOT of things that I think we can improve, and love hearing your ideas on the matter. We'll be tweaking things with this next patch and expect more major overhauls after that as we continue to expand the game.

[Amenbrother]

Originally Posted by Venan

Hey Guys,

Some great comments on the thread! I've been enjoying the different analyses of the various classes quite a bit. There hasn't been much activity from us on this thread as we are heads down working on getting this next patch out, but we've been reading all your comments.

The balance observations are great and something we're constantly looking at. There are a LOT of things that I think we can improve, and love hearing your ideas on the matter. We'll be tweaking things with this next patch and expect more major overhauls after that as we continue to expand the game.

When can we expect the multiple save slots available so we can use all the classes?

[Venan]

Originally Posted by Amenbrother

When can we expect the multiple save slots available so we can use all the classes?

The new patch which includes multiple slots should be submitted to Apple by February 1st, so sometime the following week, depending on approval times.

[BjofCJ&Bj]

Hi Redpill,

I wish players could use hero tokens (ht) instead of golden shields (gs) to reset abilities, that would make choosing War Mage abilities a lot easier.

My free ($0 IAP) Level 17 Frozen Shard War Mage (Agatha) defeated the Rotting Golem without letting the Golem complete a single action! I used only 14 ability points. The same ability setup defeated Lord Helion and the Hunter, but both of them got to complete buffs, de-buffs and attacks. Agatha was wearing the Elstrid Armor Bundle ( thanks to 10 "Add Me Codes" from this forum ) with a light shield ( Block 6% ) and a Axe ( higher Flaming Pyre fire Damage Over Time ( fire DOT ) than a sword ).

Since resetting your abilities takes 1 gs, I have only spent 14 ability points. But so far it is working out:

Tier 1
1/3* Incinerate 1
3/3* Frozen Shard 3
1/3 Arcane Barrier 1
3/3 Flaming Pyre 3

Tier 2
0/3 Combustion 0
1/3* Icy Grasp 1
0/3 Ice Storm 0
1/3 Inner Focus 1

Tier 3
0/3 Fire Fracture
0/3 Ice Fracture
3/3 Hasten 3
1/3 Time Void 1

*= Different from your Fire War Mage

Frozen Shard 3 does Slow 50% for 5 seconds, effectively doubling attacks when a singleton monster appears, effectively quadrupling once you get Hasten 3 ( speed ). Unlike Ice Grasp 1 ( medium stun ), it is not interrupted by Flaming Pyre 3 ( group fire DOT ). When meeting a triple group of monsters, before the combat is over, I have cast Frozen Shard 3 on all monsters. As a bonus, Frozen Shard 3 is faster than Incinerate.

Ice Grasp 1 gives me a second interrupt for individual monsters, with a short cool down (who's laughing now, Rotting Golem!?). Flaming Pyre 3 only has a 51% chance of setting all monsters in a triple group on fire ( fire DOT ). A monster without fire DOT can be stunned for 3 seconds while I deal with the other two.

Incinerate is best against singleton monsters, but Frozen Shard 3 is better ( see above ). Mostly I use Incinerate 1 while Frozen Shard 3 cools down.

Icy Grasp 1 ( speed 0.5 s / 0.25 s Hasten 3 ) and Time Void 1 ( speed 0.25 s / 0.15 s Hasten 3 ) can be used as interrupts for major enemy actions ( de-buffs, DOTs, and heals ). Time Void 1 is nice because it does not interrupt Icy Grasp 1 ( medium stun ). Frozen Shard 3 is nice because after its initial damage, it is a de-buff ( Slow 50% ) for 5 seconds, during which you can cast an Icy Grasp ( when it cools down ) on the same monster, unlike fire DOT from Flaming Pyre 3 which cancels Icy Grasp after 0.95 seconds or less.

Here is my strategy for singleton monsters. First I cast Icy Grasp 1 ( medium stun ). Arcane Barrier 1 ( defense buff ), Inner Focus 1 ( attack buff ), Hasten 3 ( speed buff ), then I cast Frozen Shard 3 ( damage & de-buff speed ). Never use Flaming Pyre 3 against singleton monsters, fire DOT will ruin your 3 seconds of Icy Grasp 1. I use attacks and interrupts until it is defeated.

For groups of monsters I cast Hasten 3, Arcane Barrier 1, Inner Focus 1, and Flaming Pyre 3 ( damage and fire DOT ).

For a double group of monsters, a great random bit of luck is setting one on fire ( fire DOT ) and one not on fire ( without fire DOT ). This only has a 32% chance of happening with Flaming Pyre 3. For the monster without fire DOT, Icy Grasp 1. Followed by Frozen Shard 3 for the one that *is* fire DOT.

For a triple group of monsters, after Flaming Pyre 3, I look for the toughest monster without fire DOT for Icy Grasp 1. Next I look for the toughest monster without fire DOT, not stunned for Frozen Shard 3. Then I look for any monster not stunned for Incinerate 1 ( damage ), giving preference to monsters without de-buff speed.

When Flaming Pyre 3 cools down, if all monsters in a group are fire DOT, I use it again. If any monster is without fire DOT, Icy Grasp and Frozen Shard are more effective by the time Flaming Pyre is ready.

Given how effective this set of abilities are (looking at *you* Rotting Golem), I am considering this set up when I am a Level 19 War Mage:

Tier 1
1/3* Incinerate 1
3/3* Frozen Shard 3
3/3 Arcane Barrier 1
3/3 Flaming Pyre 3

Tier 2
0/3 Combustion 0
2/3* Icy Grasp 1
0/3 Ice Storm 0
3/3 Inner Focus 1

Tier 3
0/3* Fire Fracture
0/3 Ice Fracture
3/3 Hasten 3
1/3 Time Void 1

*= Different from your Fire War Mage

MY PERSONAL OPINIONS
If Incinerate was a fire DOT spell like Toxic Blade ( Shadow Walker ), a 0.1s spell like Reflexive Strike ( Shadow Walker ) or reduced the enemy's defense for 5 seconds ( like War Cry ), I might get Incinerate 2. But Frozen Shard 3 is currently much better.

[efoss]

Originally Posted by BjofCJ&Bj

Given how effective this set of abilities are (looking at *you* Rotting Golem), I am considering this set up when I am a Level 19 War Mage:

The only problem with this setup is that all the level 18-20 quests and areas are ice based. This meant that Incinerate was my go-to spell for actual damage dealing on those levels. I still used Flaming Pyre against groups, but against single enemies e.g. Lord Vallus, I didn't want the ongoing fire effect to interrupt my stuns. It would be interesting to see if a leveled-up Ice Fracture would allow the ice spells to actually be useful in the Frozen Vale for damage dealing.

[ZeroCleric]

Anyone know what happened with the Prismantic Ring? I really wanted to get that ring, but no longer awarded for hero marks. =( My guess is it is in a lockbox, but that sucks.

There was a ton of nice things that were added in this update, but I have no idea why they nerfed the Judicar. It was already prettty weak compared to the Shadow Dancer and the mage and then they made it even worse.

Here are the two big issue I have with them right now:
1) Before, I usually would just start off with bleed, the power strike, bleed again on a single target. Worked pretty well and smoothly. But now, they increased the CD of the bleed by just every so slightly that this no longer works anymore. It's really game breaking for the Judicar actually. It ruins tempo of having to do bleed, power strike, attack, bleed really slows you down and allows the enemy to hit you far more than normal.

2) Stonewall has been severely nerfed. The CD has doubled so you are no longer able to keep it up almost all the time. Really hurts Judicar class as that was there one saving grace to make playable.

With these two nerfs, I wouldn't recommend anyone play this class. It's too slow and painful already and with these nerfs, you'll be going back to the healer after every two fights. Really broke the class to be unplayable. =(

I will likely be switching the Shadow Dancer or the mage. With the new update, you can have multiple characters, so I'll likely create both and see what I can do.

[BjofCJ&Bj]

( http://www.venan.com/boh/help.php )
"When you buy a Mystery Lockbox in Majerio's Shop, you never quite know what will be inside. There are six unique kinds of Mystery Lockboxes, each containing a different set of rewards that you can win!
o The Silver Lockbox: Offers a chance to win up to 10 Gold Shields."

My results:
----------
Silver Lockbox
500 sp (silver pieces) per attempt

40 attempts
total of 20,000 sp spent
total of 19151 sp and 1 gs (gold shield) received
lowest amounts won 93, 95, 99, 99, 91, 96, 88
highest amounts won 1005, 923, 988, 1039, 1062, 2033, 1 gs

valuing 1 gs = 50 sp
Average= 480.025
standard deviation is 417.896
Microsoft does not do skewness, but it seems like a positive skew.

BjofCJandBj (aka BjofCJ&Bj aka CJ&Bj)

[ZeroCleric]

Steel Lockboxes are nice because it's a way too spend unneeded gold at max level. But I have yet to get any shields from the steel one. I got 30 once on the gold one though.