BO Question

[Helx]

Hi all. After seeing odd things with my life gauge, I began to suspect some nerfage with BO and wondered if anyone had anything to add as I am pretty much a newb.

I'm currently a Lvl 59 barb and have about 10 skill points into BO. It seemed like even when I would use BO my life gauge would get taken down just about as much with a hit from a monster as without, so I started conducting some tests. When poisoned it seems that you lose life faster in terms of points when using BO so that you're really taking the same amount of damage in terms of the fact that you'll die in the same amount of time if poisoned badly enough. The same when standing in a fire (which I don't usually do except for testing this LOL). Also, healing potions and a merc who has a healing aura seem to replenish your life much more in terms of points, however, it seems to be the same ratio...e.g., if a potion will replenish half of your total life points without BO, it will also heal half of your points with BO. I'm not totally sure about damage from a monster because I haven't been able to accurately test this yet, but I'm almost to the point where I believe that the extra life from BO just looks good but doesn't really serve a purpose. Am I wrong here?

This makes me suspect the effectiveness of Shout also, but this would be harder to test IMO.

I also tested the increase in mana when using BO and it seems to work as it should. If I do a leap attack without BO it takes 9 points of mana, and with BO it still takes 9 points. So if nothing else, I can see BO being good for increasing mana for a WW build with base energy like I am making.

Thanks.

[Ce Olba]

Hi all. After seeing odd things with my life gauge, I began to suspect some nerfage with BO and wondered if anyone had anything to add as I am pretty much a newb.

I'm currently a Lvl 59 barb and have about 10 skill points into BO. It seemed like even when I would use BO my life gauge would get taken down just about as much with a hit from a monster as without, so I started conducting some tests.

Pointwise or percentagewise? If pointwise, then that should be common sense, it only boosts your life, it doesn't make the enemies deal less damage. If percentagewise, then that's odd.

When poisoned it seems that you lose life faster in terms of points when using BO so that you're really taking the same amount of damage in terms of the fact that you'll die in the same amount of time if poisoned badly enough. The same when standing in a fire (which I don't usually do except for testing this LOL). Also, healing potions and a merc who has a healing aura seem to replenish your life much more in terms of points, however, it seems to be the same ratio...e.g., if a potion will replenish half of your total life points without BO, it will also heal half of your points with BO. I'm not totally sure about damage from a monster because I haven't been able to accurately test this yet, but I'm almost to the point where I believe that the extra life from BO just looks good but doesn't really serve a purpose. Am I wrong here?

When standing in a fire, it takes out a certain percentage of your life, so the damage you take will increase with Bo. Or so it should be.

As for potions, the amount they heal depends on your life if I remember correctly.

I also tested the increase in mana when using BO and it seems to work as it should. If I do a leap attack without BO it takes 9 points of mana, and with BO it still takes 9 points. So if nothing else, I can see BO being good for increasing mana for a WW build with base energy like I am making.

Well, Bo is one of the best ways to get mana, you just have to make sure that you have a few hundreds before Bo, because the effectiveness of Bo depends totally on the amount of life you have. A.k.a. low life -> low increase, high life -> high increase. This can also be used when deciding between a level of bo and points in vitality for example. The higher base life, the lower the effectiveness of additional +life would be and the higher bo, the less effective an additional +life% would be.

[Helx]

I didn't explain that as clearly as I should have (still haven't mastered trying to type while the wife is talking to me LOL). Yes, I mean percentage-wise. I'm not 100% sure I'm correct and hope someone else can verify this.

[Barloc]

I didn't explain that as clearly as I should have (still haven't mastered trying to type while the wife is talking to me LOL). Yes, I mean percentage-wise. I'm not 100% sure I'm correct and hope someone else can verify this.

Hi Helx and welcome to the forums,
Although I cannot give you a full description of how all the different in-game damages function, I do understand to a degree what you describe. There does seem to be some damages that take a % off of your life. If this is the case then of course 10% off your life would be a greater number as your life increases. I have seen similar damage from fire as you say, and maybe from undead styngian dolls which appear as crushing-blow style damage. However interesting to know how different damages function, it is not intirely relevant to your build. The bonus from BO and how it affects your character works just as it supposed to - it adds more life and mana. Experience in PvP and PvM should show you that it helps -alot. If your total life and BO aren't that high to begin with, you are probably not reaping all the benefits that the skill has to offer yet, which would make it even harder to tell if its helping you significantly or not. In the end, most damages do not take % off your life but points only. I can assure you that when I'm mindlessly ww'ing the worldstone keep or anywhere else in the game, and my BO runs out, it is VERY obvious that I am loosing life much faster- same goes for dueling and I'm sure everyone else here would agree. BO is one of your main skills and should be maxed, especially with the current patched state of this game.

Peace,
Barloc

[Helx]

Thanks much, Barloc. I'll definitely max BO out then. Once again, it's good to find a forum such as this. I've played LOD since it came out but only played offline until recently...my main attack was the Bash if that tells you how much of a newb I am LOL. Thanks again.

[DarkElmo]

its not bo that effects your dmg taken - because of raised stats - the initial blows are not more - but the same - Most of the WCs dont change how much dmg a char takes, they just help to lower te chances of fatle blows and help to effectivly raise the health of the char.

[Barloc]

its not bo that effects your dmg taken - because of raised stats - the initial blows are not more - but the same - Most of the WCs dont change how much dmg a char takes, they just help to lower te chances of fatle blows and help to effectivly raise the health of the char.

Consider Crushing Blow (CB). Crushing takes 10% off your life, less in PvP, but still its a percentage. If you had 2500 life and were hit once with crushing blow @ 10%, you'd loose 250 points. With 5000 life you'd loose 500 points etc. So it looks like the damage is higher but yes it really is just the same percentage wise. It's somewhat irrelevant since CB isn't whats killing you, in the end, and you still have alot more life.

[Helx]

Well, I made it to lvl 76 last night and was able to wear the IK suit again finally. BO is now at level 29 (I think I can raise it by one more point) and I don't know how I lived without it before, especially the mana end of it. Seems like I can whirl and whirl and only get stopped now by a mana leecher.

Something still seems kind of odd with damage and healing potions, but everything's good since I can wear the full set and don't have to be as concerned about it now.