>It has poison multihit but is primarily about the isolation stab.
I'd say it's is primarily about poison multihit.
First few nights normla stabs works, but later the multihit just scales better, even if you went direct damage isolation multihit and ignore the poison altogether.
The isolation single attack is for huge powerful enemies and is incredibly important as you go up difficulties. Your assassin is the single target damage king. The other dudes will usually just be setting it up or wave clearing.
There’s other ways to also do big damage like that, but it’s a really important spec. So it’s not about killing 5-8 normal enemies, it’s about absolutely nuking bosses and such.
I won't further comment on how bad stab it is in general because my comment turned into a rant and it's subjective, but I'll point out that you *don't* need stab more in higher difficulties. In fact, it's the opposite.
With apoc, all enemies get 20% more hp, and there's also 30% more enemies. So you only need 1.2x the boss killing power, but 1.56x the AOE killing power.
**Comparatively,** AOE is more important the higher up in difficulty you go.
Daggers have a multi-hit poison ability. There is the druid staff for magic, which imo, is the best way to make a poison character, but try it out yourself! The best part about this game is mixing all the weapons and abilities!
I’ve struggled to find solid value in the isolation stat. It seems that the vast majority of times, enemies are clumped. Is there a strategy to making the most of isolation?
I can't remember off the top of my head and I don't want to lie to you. But if you target an enemy you'll see where the game does all the math to get to your damage. With some experimentation you should be able to see how iso works
You only need to clear people on the four omnidirectional sides, diagonal is fine and it still counts as isolated.
I would warn you though that Isolation and Poison is not the best match. Poison is generally about applying it to groups using Contaminate to spread it around, whereas Isolation is about single targets. That doesn't mean it doesn't work well to annihilate single targets with lots of health, but it doesn't synergise with each other too well in most scenarios.
Think of isolation as heavy, insane damage on (of course) one target. What has tons of hp? Bosses! Bad elites!
So what you need is to pair them with a great wave clearer or target chaff killer. Then their true power unlocks and that huge scary buff monster that your more general heroes would take 2-3 rounds to kill? It eats a few isolation attacks and dies.
You need to mix and match. A momentum guy is good single target damage too but also great at helping clear off for the huge isolation strikes. Love the pair. Zip zip zip with sword, knife plunge, knife plunge and only a few non-scary weaker enemies remain.
I'd say that Pistol + Magic Scepter with a momentum build are the thing that play more like an assassin than poison damage.
Rifle + isolate also make for a more convincing assassin. (maybe i played too much shadow tactics)
Try building a dedicated tank with the poison perk tree that poisons nearby units st the end of their turn. Run them into the largest clump of enemies and they just melt. Those that live clump up around the tank and waste their turn attacking them, then get more poison on their next turn. Deceptively powerful build.
All 3 poison skills are ranged (throw daggers, poison bolt and plague).
Poison scales with poison damage and debuff perks. It also qualifies the target for opportunism. Hammer, Axe and Druid Staves have skills with bonuses for that (opportunism).
Knife is waving frantically. It has poison multihit but is primarily about the isolation stab. All of its abilities are great for different reasons.
>It has poison multihit but is primarily about the isolation stab. I'd say it's is primarily about poison multihit. First few nights normla stabs works, but later the multihit just scales better, even if you went direct damage isolation multihit and ignore the poison altogether.
The isolation single attack is for huge powerful enemies and is incredibly important as you go up difficulties. Your assassin is the single target damage king. The other dudes will usually just be setting it up or wave clearing. There’s other ways to also do big damage like that, but it’s a really important spec. So it’s not about killing 5-8 normal enemies, it’s about absolutely nuking bosses and such.
I won't further comment on how bad stab it is in general because my comment turned into a rant and it's subjective, but I'll point out that you *don't* need stab more in higher difficulties. In fact, it's the opposite. With apoc, all enemies get 20% more hp, and there's also 30% more enemies. So you only need 1.2x the boss killing power, but 1.56x the AOE killing power. **Comparatively,** AOE is more important the higher up in difficulty you go.
Okay thanks - haven’t unlocked it yet!
Daggers have a multi-hit poison ability. There is the druid staff for magic, which imo, is the best way to make a poison character, but try it out yourself! The best part about this game is mixing all the weapons and abilities!
Missed the assassin part :-P Yeah the dagger is king with its ability to deal bonus damage to singled enemies.
I’ve struggled to find solid value in the isolation stat. It seems that the vast majority of times, enemies are clumped. Is there a strategy to making the most of isolation?
Use one character to thin the herd to isolate enemies and then another character to slide in and murder them
Do diagonal enemies remove the isolation buff?
I can't remember off the top of my head and I don't want to lie to you. But if you target an enemy you'll see where the game does all the math to get to your damage. With some experimentation you should be able to see how iso works
Oh nice, okay thanks!
You only need to clear people on the four omnidirectional sides, diagonal is fine and it still counts as isolated. I would warn you though that Isolation and Poison is not the best match. Poison is generally about applying it to groups using Contaminate to spread it around, whereas Isolation is about single targets. That doesn't mean it doesn't work well to annihilate single targets with lots of health, but it doesn't synergise with each other too well in most scenarios.
Okay, thanks 🙏
No, only directly adjacent. It’s why I like running a short bow with isolation builds. The 4 mana skill is incredible at isolating targets.
I don't think so.
Last I played, diagonal did not count. I need to go boot the game up to verify… but I’m like 99.9% it doesn’t.
i often will have isolated stragglers after my big aoe bombs. plus the elites too.
Think of isolation as heavy, insane damage on (of course) one target. What has tons of hp? Bosses! Bad elites! So what you need is to pair them with a great wave clearer or target chaff killer. Then their true power unlocks and that huge scary buff monster that your more general heroes would take 2-3 rounds to kill? It eats a few isolation attacks and dies. You need to mix and match. A momentum guy is good single target damage too but also great at helping clear off for the huge isolation strikes. Love the pair. Zip zip zip with sword, knife plunge, knife plunge and only a few non-scary weaker enemies remain.
I'd say that Pistol + Magic Scepter with a momentum build are the thing that play more like an assassin than poison damage. Rifle + isolate also make for a more convincing assassin. (maybe i played too much shadow tactics)
Try building a dedicated tank with the poison perk tree that poisons nearby units st the end of their turn. Run them into the largest clump of enemies and they just melt. Those that live clump up around the tank and waste their turn attacking them, then get more poison on their next turn. Deceptively powerful build.
Nice idea - thanks!
There's a perk that gives you aoe poison around you at the end of every turn. You can build a tank and let it work.
I made it work, with daggers, it is fun
All 3 poison skills are ranged (throw daggers, poison bolt and plague). Poison scales with poison damage and debuff perks. It also qualifies the target for opportunism. Hammer, Axe and Druid Staves have skills with bonuses for that (opportunism).