Editing AC2:Announcements - 2005/05 - Legions (section)

== Letter to the Players #3 ==
{{AC2 Article
 |  Link = <nowiki>http://forums.ac2.turbinegames.com/showthread.php?t=13604</nowiki>
 | Title = Legions Letter #3: The Mentalist
 |  Text = 
{{big|'''Introduction'''}}
<br><br>
There is no more dangerous weapon than the mind - especially the mind of an Empyrean. While Hieromancers use ancient rituals to channel their power, Mentalists take a different approach. They hone their latent psychic abilities, relying heavily on telekinesis, as well as their ability to torment the thoughts of their enemies.
<br><br>
At low levels, an Empyrean missile character uses one Orb. Levitating it (and themselves), they fling the orb up to 40 meters away. "Orb" can be a misleading name for these weapons - they are spherical, but they often come with blades or other deadly accoutrements.
<br><br>
Higher level characters can choose to become Mentalists. A Mentalist can control two orbs at once, and has a more deadly array of skills.
<br><br>
{{big|'''Empyrean Missile'''}}
<br><br>
Code:
<pre>
23 Equilibrium Phase
| | ___________
| |
18 Life Globe Energy Globe Stumble Placate
__ | | |
| | |
13 Overcharged Sphere Exacting Force Protecting Sphere
| | |
| | |
8 Orb Volley Orbital Storm Corrosion
| _______/ |
| / |
3 Pummel Decimate
_________ __________/
/
2 Torment
|
|
1 Strike
</pre>
<br>
{{big|'''Skills In Detail'''}}
<br><br>
'''Strike'''
<br>This skill does more damage against a target that is vulnerable.
<br>Credits: 0
<br>Vigor Cost: 32
<br>Recovery: 2 seconds
<br>Range: 20 meters
Damage: weapon only
Notes: this is the free skill that all Empyreans get at level 1. It cannot be raised.
<br><br>
'''Torment'''
<br>A projectile attack. This skill does more damage to a target that is vulnerable.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 32
<br>Recovery: 2 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
Notes: the missile-tree "vuln-taker" skill.
<br><br>
'''Pummel'''
<br>A melee ranged attack with a moderate knock-back effect.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 80
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
<br>Range: 2 meters
Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
<br><br>
'''Decimate'''
<br>A projectile attack.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 50
<br>Recovery: 2 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 7 (L1) - 200 (L50)
<br><br>
'''Orb Volley'''
<br>A two-projectile attack.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 80
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50) each attack
<br><br>
'''Orbital Storm'''
<br>A self centered area-of-effect attack.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 80
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
Damage: 7 (L10) - 200 (L50) in a 10 meter radius around caster
<br><br>
'''Corrosion'''
<br>A projectile attack that does aditional damage, regardless of the target's armor.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 80
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<br>Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
Effect: 10 (L1) - 100 (L50) additional damage.
<br><br>
'''Overcharged Sphere'''
<br>A self-targeted combat speed buff.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 1
<br>Recovery: 300 seconds
<br>Duration: 120 seconds
<br>Range: Self
Effect: 5% (L1) - 40% (L50) combat speed increase
<br><br>
'''Exacting Force'''
<br>A projectile attack that has increased bonuses to critical strikes.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 110
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<br>Damage: 7 (L1) - 200 (L50)
Effect: attack has a 20% chance to critically-hit for double damage. (This is the same bonus as other critical-strike attacks such as Critical Throw or Betrayal.)
<br><br>
'''Protecting Sphere'''
<br>A self-targeted armor buff.
<br>Credits: 1
<br>Vigor Cost: 1
<br>Recovery: 300 seconds
<br>Duration: 120 seconds
<br>Range: Self
Effect: 6 (L1) - 60 (L50) armor
<br><br>
'''Life Globe'''
<br>A self buff which raises max health and slightly improves health regeneration. This skill is a toggle-buff; it remains active until turned off.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 1
<br>Recovery: 4 seconds
<br>Range: Self
Effect: 10 (L1) - 100 (L50) additional max health. 3% (L1) - 15% (L50) out-of-combat health regeneration boost.
<br><br>
'''Energy Globe'''
<br>A user buff which raises max vigor and slightly improves vigor regeneration. This skill is a toggle-buff; it remains active until turned off.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 1
<br>Recovery: 4 seconds
<br>Range: Self
Effect: 20 (L1) - 200 (L50) additional max vigor. 3% (L1) - 15% (L50) out-of-combat vigor regeneration boost.
<br><br>
'''Stumble'''
<br>A numbing projectile attack.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 140
<br>Recovery: 5 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<br>Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
Effect: reduces target run speed by 10% (L1) - 40% (L50)
<br><br>
'''Placate'''
<br>A projectile attack that tries to get the monster to stop attacking the user in favor of someone else.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 140
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<br>Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
Effect: detaunt 5% (L1) to 10% (L50) of monster's health.
<br><br>
'''Equilibrium'''
<br>Turns incoming health damage into vigor damage. If a single attack would kill the Empyrean, this skill does not save them from death.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 1
<br>Recovery: 300 seconds
<br>Duration: 120 seconds
<br>Range: Self
Effect: instead of losing health, the Empyrean loses Vigor at a 1-to-1 ratio, until they do not have any Vigor left. There is one special case: a single blow that would kill the Empyrean if this skill was not active will still kill the Empyrean.
<br><br>
'''Phase'''
<br>A projectile attack which ignores 50% of the target's shield armor.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 120
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<br>Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
Effect: weapon and bonus damage bypass 50% of target's shield.
<br><br>
{{big|'''Empyrean Mentalist'''}}
<br>Starting at level 15, a Ranged Empyrean can choose to become a Mentalist. Able to wield two orbs simultaneously (and thus have dual-wield auto-attack damage), the Mentalist specializes in vast destruction. The Mentalist has three major groups of attacks. One group of skills performs many attacks on a single target, one group performs attacks on multiple targets, and one group performs a bleed attack if done in the proper order.
<br>The single-hit attacks are the main damage form of the Mentalist; due to their reset times and the durations of their linkers, Mentalists can "partially repeat" this chain like a Berserker can - that is, a high level Mentalist can repeat the later steps of the chain without having to perform the beginning of the chain again.
<br>The area-of-effect attacks are more special-purpose. Because of their longer reset times and shorter linkers, they cannot be partially repeated like the single-hit attacks. However, they have a large (10 meter) area of effect, plus slightly more damage per hit than the regular attacks.
<br>The percentage bleed attacks are most useful when a Mentalist is fighting group monsters. Activating their bleeds is relatively difficult (requiring four separate hits to get a 15% bleed), and really only shines when fighting the toughest monsters.
In addition, the Mentalist has several utility skills.
<br><br>
Code:
<pre>
40 Dementia
____/ |
/ |
35 Swiftness Psionic Assault Mental Onslaught Volatility
_______ | / | |
| / | |
30 Projected Will Mental Barrage Instability
| | ____/
| | /
25 Nightmares Mental Salvo Temporal Shift
| | __/
| | /
20 Terrors Grim Divination
_______ |
|
15 Aneurysm
</pre>
<br><br>
{{big|'''Skills In Detail'''}}
<br><br>
'''Aneurysm'''
<br>Entry Skills, Single Target Damage. This skill does much more damage if used after a successful hit with Terrors, Nightmares, or Dementia, or some combination thereof.
<br>Credits: 5
<br>Vigor Cost: 110
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<br>Damage: 7 (L1) - 200 (L50)
<br>On Successful Combo with Terrors: 4% Target Bleed over 30 secs
<br>On Successful Combo with Nightmares: 5% Target Bleed over 30 secs
<br>On Successful Combo with Dementia: 6% Target Bleed over 30 secs
Notes: For each of these other skills that were successfully used on the target already, Aneurysm causes a small percentage bleed. All three bleeds stack with each other, so if Aneurysm is used after a successful hit with Terrors, Nightmares, and Dementia, the user will have a total of 15% bleed damage on them. These bleeds are capped at 4k, 5k, and 6k damage, respectively.
<br><br>
'''Terrors'''
<br>A projectile attack. If Aneurysm is used after a successful hit with Terrors, Aneurysm does additional bleed damage.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 130
<br>Recovery: 10 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 7 (L1) - 200 (L50)
<br><br>
'''Grim Divination'''
<br>A long range, line of sight attack.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 220
<br>Recovery: 7 seconds
<br>Range: 60 meters
<br>Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
Notes: useful as a "pulling" skill, and for hitting targets who are avoiding projectiles.
<br><br>
'''Nightmares'''
<br>A projectile attack. If Aneurysm is used after a successful hit with Nightmares, Aneurysm does additional bleed damage.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 150
<br>Recovery: 10 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 7 (L1) - 200 (L50)
<br><br>
'''Mental Salvo'''
<br>A dual missile attack
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 110
<br>Recovery: 10 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50) for both hits.
<br><br>
'''Temporal Shift'''
<br>A self-targeted skill that increases the user's attack speed.
<br>Credits: 2
<br>Vigor Cost: 1
<br>Recovery: 300 seconds
<br>Duration: 120 seconds
<br>Range: Self
Effect: 10 (L1) - 70 (L50) percent combat speed increase.
<br><br>
'''Projected Will'''
<br>Increases the damage of the user's nearby fellows.
<br>Credits: 3
<br>Vigor Cost: 1
<br>Recovery: 300 seconds
<br>Range: 20 meters
<br>Duration: 30 seconds
Effect: 10 (L1) - 80 (L50) damage increase
<br><br>
'''Mental Barrage'''
<br>A three-hit missile attack. Can only be used after executing the Mental Salvo skill.
<br>Credits: 3
<br>Vigor Cost: 130
<br>Recovery: 5 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
<br><br>
'''Instability'''
<br>A triple-strike, 10 meter area of effect missile attack. Can only be used after executing the Mental Salvo skill.
<br>Credits: 3
<br>Vigor Cost: 130
<br>Recovery: 10 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 7 (L1) - 80 (L50)
<br><br>
'''Swiftness'''
<br>Increases the run speed of the user's nearby fellows. This is an aura skill; it can be turned on and off at will and has no fixed duration.
<br>Credits: 3
<br>Vigor Cost: 1
<br>Recovery: 4 seconds
<br>Range: Aura
Effect: 4% (L1) - 20% (L50) runspeed increase.
<br><br>
'''Psionic Assault'''
<br>A ranged line of sight attack with a potent knockback.
<br>Credits: 3
<br>Vigor Cost: 220
<br>Recovery: 300 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<br>Damage: 3 (L1) - 75 (L50)
Notes: This skill is great for getting out of sticky situations, or for helping out fellowship members who are in trouble. It has a long reset time to avoid abuse.
<br><br>
'''Mental Onslaught'''
<br>A four-hit missile attack. Can only be used after executing the Mental Barrage Skill.
<br>Credits: 3
<br>Vigor Cost: 150
<br>Recovery: 5 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 7 (L1) - 80 (L50) per hit
<br><br>
'''Volatility'''
<br>A quadruple-strike, ten meter area of effect missile attack. Can only be used after executing the Instability skill.
<br>Credits: 3
<br>Vigor Cost: 150
<br>Recovery: 10 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
Damage: 10 (L10) - 90 (L50) per hit
<br><br>
'''Dementia'''
<br>A projectile attack. If Aneurysm is used after a successful hit Dementia, Aneurysm does additional bleed damage.
<br>Credits: 3
<br>Vigor Cost: 170
<br>Recovery: 10 seconds
<br>Range: 40 meters
<br>Damage: 7 (L1) - 200 (L50)
The Mentalist is the second of three Empyrean skill trees available when Legions ships. The third, known as the Hieromancer, will be presented next.
}}