Book Of Heroes [Out Worldwide Now] by Venan

[japster]

Dear Venan, it bugs me that the War Mage's skill "Combustion" has its damage reflected as 200%/250%/300% of weapon damage even when in combat (I do know that all the spells in the "Abilities" page have their damage reflected in %). This is unlike all the other spells, whose raw damage is translated into numbers when in the combat screen.

I haven't done the maths yet, but I wonder if the "Spell" stat actually affects Combustion, since the 200%/250%/300% doesn't change unlike the other spells, whose % change along with increase in Spell stat.

[icecubes]

Stumbled on this by accident and really enjoying apart from one thing bugging me. The gold shields. To me this makes th ewhole game heavily balanced to the IAP. Would be nice if you could actually earn these in the game at a slightly higher rate. I understand that you get your money from IAP and i have bought some to allow me to continue playing but the cost of the sigils for example seems way high compared with how many you can earn.

Right now it feels like if im going to try to save gold shields to buy one of the legendary weapons im going to be a grandad before i get it.

[swampthing]

UH but you can do fine without buying IAP. I have a blue axe I purchased with shields that I obtained from tasks or feats and that's letting me get through combats quite easily. Rest of gear is blue (from dungeons) and a couple of greens.

[japster]

With the new system to gamble for gold shields (silver lockbox, golden lockbox), you can get by without buying shields if you are patient, and yet easily get the weapons.

Personally, my Justicar got the 80gs sword at lvl 9 just from gambling for shields, albeit I was lucky to have landed a 52gs golden lockbox after a few tries. Still, getting 80gs shouldn't be too hard even before level 20.

[silimike]

Love your game. Have a thought.

When you reach level 20, you have the ability to 'retire' your character, and start a new game, at a more difficult playing level.

You would be able to 'pass down' 2 or 3 items from your level 20 character to the character you are creating to play the harder level.

The harder level would have hybrid classes, which could choose from 2 skill trees. They would receive an extra skill point every 3 levels, which would give them 6 more skills to allow them to dabble in the second class.

Or, you can just make more classes I was just trying to save you coding.

[BjofCJ&Bj]

Justicars are defense oriented, slow (Typist: Hey, I resemble that remark!), have very heavy armor, Stone Wall 3, normal dodge, normal critical hit chance, Divine Power 3, Radiant Light, and mostly high damage melee attacks that can be dodged.
Shadow Walkers are gamblers, fast, have heavy armor, better dodge, Shadow Stalker 3, better critical hit chance, Vanish 3, Acid Spray and a mix of melee attacks that can be dodged and spell attacks that cannot be dodged.
War Mages are attack oriented, very fast, have light armor, Arcane Barrier 3, normal dodge, normal critical hit chance, Inner Focus 3, Fire Fracture, and mostly spell attacks that cannot be dodged.

How fast are the classes? Frozen Shard 3 does Individual Slow 26% for 5 seconds. Combined with Group Slow 10% for 5 seconds (Ice Storm or Frost Rune) and Double Speed for 5 seconds (Hasten 3), for every 1 attack the monster gets, De-Buff War Mages get 3.125 attacks, until the 5 seconds are up. . A Shadow Walker can do the same by spending 650 sp, but only for 3 seconds, and needs a Frost Rune, Caltrop 3, and Dark Lunge 3. With just Caltrop 3 and Dark Lunge 3, for every 1 attack the monster gets, Shadow Walkers only gets 2.7 attacks, and only for 3 seconds. With a Frost Rune, for every 1 attack the monster gets, a Fire Mage get 2.22 attacks until the 5 seconds are up. Without a rune, for every attack the Fire Mage gets 2 attacks. Last is Justicars who can use a Frost Rune. With a rune, for every 1 attack the monster gets, Justicars get 1.11 attacks until the 5 seconds are up.

We love Venan ID. If your mobile device gets broken, lost or stolen, you do not lose your character. You can play multiple characters of the same class for extra playing time. (My wife has two Justicars to switch between when one gets low on health or energy.) You can play one of each class. I have a Level 20 Shadow Walker, a Level 20 War Mage and a new Level 18 Justicar. Ever since the Venan ID came out, my wife will not let me play her Level 20 Justicar with Phoenix armor bundle and Deathwing. (Typist: It's mine! My precioussssss…) If you have multiple devices with Book of Heroes, you can use the one with the most battery charge left. (Typist: wall outlet = your friend!) I use my iPod at work and the Allergist's Office because of the WiFi. At home my wife uses her iPad ( now that my Level 20 War Mage is off the iPad and onto my Venan ID). But on the train she uses her iPhone. (Typist: unless we're in a tunnel under a river. Tunnel = NOT your friend.)

-BjofCJandBj

[BjofCJ&Bj]

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. (Typist: I wish I could have armored bunny slippers, as long as we're wishing for things.)

My free ($0 IAP) Level 20 Slow Mage is currently using the following abilities:

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

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

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

In Dragonmoor, Frozen Shard, Ice Storm and Frost Rune do extra damage versus Flame Creatures. A critical hit with one of these does even more damage. Ice Creatures in the Frozen Vale take *less* damage from Incinerate, Flaming Pyre, and Fire Rune. (Typist: whacking 'em with a pointy stick still works, though.)

Frozen Shard 3 does Individual Slow 26% for 5 seconds. Combined with Group Slow 10% for 5 seconds (Ice Storm or Frost Rune) and Double Speed for 5 seconds (Hasten 3), for every 1 attack the monster gets, War Mages get 3.125 attacks, until the 5 seconds are up.

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. 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 0.5 s / 0.25 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 and Ice Storm 2 are nice because after their initial damage, they are a de-buffs ( Slow 26% or Slow 10% ) 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.

The new Ice Storm plays nice with Flaming Pyre, Frozen Shard, Icy Grasp and Time Void. It is basically a free Frost Rune.

Here is my strategy for singleton monsters. First I cast Icy Grasp 1 ( medium stun ). Inner Focus 3 ( attack buff ), Arcane Barrier 3 ( defense buff ), Hasten 3 ( speed buff ), then I cast Ice Storm 2 ( damage & de-buff speed ) and Frozen Shard 3 ( damage & de-buff speed ).

For groups of monsters I cast Hasten 3, Arcane Barrier 3, Inner Focus 3, Ice Storm 2, 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 ( Slow 26% ). Then I look for any monster not stunned for Incinerate 1 ( damage ), giving preference to monsters without Slow 26%.

When Ice Storm 2 cools down, if no monsters are stunned, I use it again.

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.

Does anyone know if the new Combustion affects all monsters in a triple group, or just one?

MY PERSONAL OPINIONS
If Incinerate was a fire DOT spell like Toxic Blade/ Wound ( Shadow Walker/ Justicar ), or reduced the enemy's defense for 5 seconds like War Cry ( Justicar ), or a 0.25s spell like Reflexive Strike ( Shadow Walker ), or did extra damage to Ice Creatures in the Frozen Vale, I might get Incinerate 2. But Frozen Shard 3 is currently much better.

-BjofCJandBj

[BjofCJ&Bj]

Originally Posted by swampthing

UH but you can do fine without buying IAP. I have a blue axe I purchased with shields that I obtained from tasks or feats and that's letting me get through combats quite easily. Rest of gear is blue (from dungeons) and a couple of greens.

Agree +1.

My free ($0 IAP) Level 20 War Mage bought the 38 gs Named Armor Bundle around Level 13. With the Dragonmoor Feats, she jumped to enough gs to splurge on an Epic Ancestral Learned Kite Shield for 40 gs.

Except for my wife's Level 20 Justicar, and my Level 18 Justicar, none of our characters have Named Weapons. Since my Level 20 Shadow Walker already has two rare ancestral 11-20(20) +Max Health weapons, I would not take Daedulas' Razor or Ripper even for free (Typist: I have Deathwing. I am keeping Deathwing. Deathwing is mine, mine, mine bwa-ha-ha-HA!!!).

-BjofCJandBj

[japster]

Combustion is only single-target.

I used to like Frozen Shard until I noticed how weak it was in Frozen Vale and on Vallus. I notice you don't use Ice Fracture nor Fire Fracture. I am guessing you can only farm Dragonmoor efficiently?

My War Mage goes 3/3 Incinerate with 3/3 Fire Fracture and 3/3 Flaming Pyre. It rapes through everything in Frozen Vale, including Vallus (using 3/3 Haste and 3/3 Inner Focus of course). Rest of my skills include 1/3 in Combustion, Icy Grasp, Frozen Shard, Arcane Barrier, and Time Void.

I can normally clear the entire dungeon in 4minutes. Of course my fire mage suffers in Dragonmoor, but I think Vallus drops better loot and more hero points (if I'm not wrong) so no real loss for me after I complete the Dragonmoor achievements.

[BjofCJ&Bj]

Originally Posted by BjofCJ&Bj

My free ($0 IAP) Level 20 War Mage bought the 38 gs Named Armor Bundle around Level 13. With the Dragonmoor Feats, she jumped to enough gs to splurge on an Epic Ancestral Learned Kite Shield for 40 gs.

The "You're My Favorite Customer!" Feat is worth 25 gs, but you have to spend 500 gs to get it.

Completing all other Feats, spending 0 gs gambling on Lockboxes and spending $0 on IAP, there is a maximum of 121 gs possible since the Dragonmoor update. Venan gives you a free $10 in IAP for playing long enough.

The cheapest Named armor bundle for each class is 38 gs, leaving 83 gs to spend on anything you want.

-BjofCJandBj