Post by BlackMagister on Jan 8, 2010 18:35:03 GMT -5
These are the strategies used when deciding whether or not to level up skills, if you should, and if you do how much.
Maxing the Skill ASAP: This would be skills like Evasion, Combat Mastery, and Ultimate skills which need to be constantly upgraded. Certain ultimate skills like the Trader's Cavern Bomb really need that next skill point because it can make the difference between just mildly hurting the creeps to instantly killing them. Generally there is no harm in maxing a skill asap even with things like higher mana cost it still gives other benefits and is what is done by most players. However if you want to optimize your character you'll learn you don't always need to max certain skills.
Level it Enough- This is a big thing in damage skills like Moon Mage's Dinzan Olkar, Warrior Mage's Lance, and Sniper's Fire Ammo. Expect for the Warrior Mage these skills just add more damage and mana cost, but you don't need to level up the skill anymore if it's already one hit killing the creeps. If you're using this strategy it's often good to save one skill point for when the creeps finally have enough health to survive your ability's current damage.
Keep it at a Certain Level- This pulls from the Arcane Mistress discussion, where it's argued that it's more beneficial to keep a skill at a certain level. The Arcane Mistress' Frost Scythe if it is only at lvl 3 or 4 will have a shorter range and won't target randomly with Targed Magic. I can't think of any examples besides Arcane Mistress though where it would be a good idea to keep a skill at a low level where it being at level 1 is just as good even if in this example Arcane plans to eventually max out Scythe.
You Only Need One- When you only need to put one point in an ability its because the benefits are very small from leveling it up and you plan to never level it up or just not yet. For example Hypnotist and Summoner it’s more important to max out their level 1 spells, but their level 6 spell is still extremely useful. Just keeping one point in it is enough to help the team in a bind as their level 6 does not get stronger by with more points in it, just a lower cooldown and higher mana cost. Some builds like my Weapon Smith leave a certain skill (concentrate) at level 1 the entire game because the benefits aren’t great and the nine extra skill points can be spent on Train Stats.
Troll Cannibal can benifit greatly from this because if all the abilities he can get through Soul Steal are just ones with lower cd as they level up he only needs to keep Soul Steal at level one. As the Troll Cannibal obviously won’t see the effects of reduced cooldown. Some examples are Aheln’s Ultimate, Summoner’s 6, Time Mage Ultimate and Battle Chanter Ultimate.
Ignoring a Skill Entirely- This would be for skills that are so weak at low levels and aren’t planned on being used. Two examples I can think of are my Barbarian build which ignores Berserk and a Bard ignoring Merraud's Blessing that has a team that has heroes that do not have troubles with mana.
Maxing the Skill ASAP: This would be skills like Evasion, Combat Mastery, and Ultimate skills which need to be constantly upgraded. Certain ultimate skills like the Trader's Cavern Bomb really need that next skill point because it can make the difference between just mildly hurting the creeps to instantly killing them. Generally there is no harm in maxing a skill asap even with things like higher mana cost it still gives other benefits and is what is done by most players. However if you want to optimize your character you'll learn you don't always need to max certain skills.
Level it Enough- This is a big thing in damage skills like Moon Mage's Dinzan Olkar, Warrior Mage's Lance, and Sniper's Fire Ammo. Expect for the Warrior Mage these skills just add more damage and mana cost, but you don't need to level up the skill anymore if it's already one hit killing the creeps. If you're using this strategy it's often good to save one skill point for when the creeps finally have enough health to survive your ability's current damage.
Keep it at a Certain Level- This pulls from the Arcane Mistress discussion, where it's argued that it's more beneficial to keep a skill at a certain level. The Arcane Mistress' Frost Scythe if it is only at lvl 3 or 4 will have a shorter range and won't target randomly with Targed Magic. I can't think of any examples besides Arcane Mistress though where it would be a good idea to keep a skill at a low level where it being at level 1 is just as good even if in this example Arcane plans to eventually max out Scythe.
You Only Need One- When you only need to put one point in an ability its because the benefits are very small from leveling it up and you plan to never level it up or just not yet. For example Hypnotist and Summoner it’s more important to max out their level 1 spells, but their level 6 spell is still extremely useful. Just keeping one point in it is enough to help the team in a bind as their level 6 does not get stronger by with more points in it, just a lower cooldown and higher mana cost. Some builds like my Weapon Smith leave a certain skill (concentrate) at level 1 the entire game because the benefits aren’t great and the nine extra skill points can be spent on Train Stats.
Troll Cannibal can benifit greatly from this because if all the abilities he can get through Soul Steal are just ones with lower cd as they level up he only needs to keep Soul Steal at level one. As the Troll Cannibal obviously won’t see the effects of reduced cooldown. Some examples are Aheln’s Ultimate, Summoner’s 6, Time Mage Ultimate and Battle Chanter Ultimate.
Ignoring a Skill Entirely- This would be for skills that are so weak at low levels and aren’t planned on being used. Two examples I can think of are my Barbarian build which ignores Berserk and a Bard ignoring Merraud's Blessing that has a team that has heroes that do not have troubles with mana.
