Acid Blast

[Knight of Valor]

Is acid blast as powerful as every one says?

[marsd]

Yes when it is a constant *** hellstream equivalent.

[Rezakhan]

Its not exactly a hellstream equivalent, but its pretty damn powerful when coupled with everything else that necros have at their disposal.

[b00mslang]

uh, yeah especially with it costing less than half the mana used for hellstream and has a one round lag instead of 1.5 rounds

[Resatimm]

Tell you what. We can take half the damage of acid blast, if you let necros have one more zombie. That should even things out.

[Mendek]

On a round for round basis, it's going to offer more consistant damage than hellstream can.

[Allie]

Take away Acid blast, and Animate corpse, and Necros still have enough beef to kill anyone. Mals, golems, shatter, PWK and the ultimately powerful underused Ghoul Touch.
Not to mention vampiric touch, which is basically cure serious.

[Davairus]

There's lot of reasons why necros > invokers. Leaving sanc aside (presence of sanc on a class opens up the strategy of burning off the other guys purples, and more frequent occurances of catching him with his sanc down.. but no good necro will let you do that easily, esp. with help from summons to get more purples, and the nec will be wearing save aff/save mental probably)

invoker is basically:

mace + ice shield + hellstream
(huge potential for some sick damage on unsanced opponents)
secondary spells: mana shield, dispel magic

necro is basically:

sword + [full zombies + golems] + acid blast
secondary spells: vamp touch, most of the best mals in the game, dispel magic

If you look at the necro arsenal there is a very strong PHYSICAL component in that. the invoker would not find it appealing to be putting up mana shield to avoid acid, as he loses some important damage output doing that, and still has to tank zombies and golems, while wearing both save mal and mental gear to avoid curse and dispel magic, should the necromancer decide to employ those upon him.

acid blast is pretty good but dont forget that mass amount of phys damage they do besides it. not to mention the dirt/ bash/ disarm /shield disarm / trip /easy full loot/ flee cover that decent zombies provide. i can't name how many times i've had a nec flee from me as i lag myself with [insert spell or skill here] and return to sit safely behind his zombies... then start acid spamming while i wait to get my attacks back on him.

[sweet_canadian_mullet]

I agree with res. I think we half acid blast and give em one more zombie. Damn ingrates. Serves em right.

[Louis]

as its been agreed before, necros are definitely one of the more powerful if not the most powerful class in the game. however the time to generate a full set of powerful zombies is probably the reason why they are allowed to be so powerful. that's one thing invokers don't have, generation time. acid blast and hellstream are a trade off because acid is more consistent but hellstream can surprise you with the annihilate damage out of nowhere.. the die/dice rolled to calculate the damage are probably of different ranges. anyhow i do think invokers are a bit at a disadvantage because they either have to ditch hp and mana equipment or saves equipment. with saves equipment you are pretty much warrior food and with hp equipment, shaman bait, because mana shield doesn't guard against mals anymore. i figure the best way to play an invoker is with speed and the element of surprise.

[Rezakhan]

Invokers now just cant do the old "c dis, c hell, c hell" to win. To be a successful invoker now requires a lot of timing(looking for sanc to fall, attacking right before a tick so dirt doesnt do much, etc.) and preparation i.e. being able to run off when hurt, catch ticks and use supplies to heal up so they surprise people.

[Avendin]

Preparation was huge for me (Avendin - elf invoker Knight). My item supply was enormous (biggest variety I've used since I played a warrior). Hellstream doesn't help unless you use it properly (to initiate against an unsanced opponent, after a dispel of sanctuary, finishing blow to name a few obvious occasions). Spamming hellstream against the protections that you expect a smart lvl 50 to have will just exhaust your mana supply and your hp as you take hits. I'm not saying that it wasn't my primary offensive weapon either (I'm reminded of when I took Garnoth (avian dkn Legion) out in the middle of Timaran: I hellstream, he flees, reenters just in time to eat my second hellstream, splat: fried chicken). All the same, Invoker is a class where strategy (i.e. weapon choice, equipment choice, terrain choice & combat strategy) depends entirely upon the situation and opponent as opposed to many others where the basic strategy is the same (I imagine necros can go in minions-a-blazing for the most part and own).

/* edit
In response to Louis: Speed helps (no lag skills so initial engagement and tracking are HUGE), but in drawn out fights you have to do a lot of thinking. That's what made it a lot of fun for me. Avendin was my first mage and if I come back I doubt I will play a non-mage again. I am a total convert especially to invokers because of their great versatility.

A nice skill for invokers would be warcry (or an equivalent) b/c it fits right in with their RP background as totally pwning offensive magic-wielding soldiers. Gameplay-wise, it would allow them to be more hp-eq oriented w/ the extra saves and hitroll. And it would make me make another invoker and come back to playing again.
*/

[Burzuk]

[Flying Hampster of Doom]

Dont ever suggest or even open up the suggestion of necro's gettin another zombie and half acid blast. Are you freakin nuts!? That opens up more lag and twice the damage of acid blast in a half a round, you might as well leave acid blast were it is and make it lag the oponent.. I mean shit people..

[Bones V2.0]

[Brains]