[X] Yes, Obviously.
[X] Echo of the Forebear
[X] Feat: Apex - +.2 Astral Rank (2 picks)

I'm boycotting this if I don't get my promotional call tomorrow.
 
Q: Sounds pretty good. What is this Rank plan about though?
A: By utilizing direct stacking of abilities from Hunger and Blade, we can make it so our FOR grants us one whole scaling rank, for purpose combat. One whole rank!
Where is this coming from? Your actual vote just gives +0.2 Rank, and the Rank bonus from Dominion and Prominence doesn't scale
 
Where is this coming from? Your actual vote just gives +0.2 Rank, and the Rank bonus from Dominion and Prominence doesn't scale
Dominion and Prominence both increase our Rank for purpose of Domain(we want War), meaning that their bonus applies on top of everything we have. You get new ability? It's gets amplified by additional 0.5 Rank whenever we are fighting. Total 0.5 until Rank 8, and 0.2 after Rank 8. Note that 0.45 you get after Rank 8 has pretty much the same value as 1 you get before given how ranks scale.

Scaling refers to the fact that +0.5 get progressively better as we get stronger. Going from 4.3 to 4.8 has lesser absolute value than going from 6.5 to 7.0 despite both having increase of 0.5.

Pretty much entire EFB was build on abusing this.
 
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Where is this coming from? Your actual vote just gives +0.2 Rank, and the Rank bonus from Dominion and Prominence doesn't scale
When have you ever heard about honest salesmen?!

By scaling it's probably meant that the bonus won't change till we reach high Ranks? And even there the lessened bonuses will still be very valuable and have roughly similar effects. Though what do I know? I didn't research every single detail of the build, maybe there's some other kind of scaling involved.
 
I actually like that build a lot, but currently I'm trying to make sure Stranglethorn passes consolidation. A strong second choice for me though.
 
Dominion and Prominence both increase our Rank for purpose of Domain(we want War), meaning that their bonus applies on top of everything we have. You get new ability? It's gets amplified by additional 0.5 Rank whenever we are fighting. Total 0.5 until Rank 8, and 0.2 after Rank 8. Note that 0.45 you get after Rank 8 has pretty much the same value as 1 you get before given how ranks scale.

Scaling refers to the fact that +0.5 get progressively better as we get stronger.
Dominion and Prominence don't actually grant Rank, they grant a power boost which is being modeled as giving us "enough Rank to reproduce this effect without this pick". But because the power boost is always the same, and Rank gets ever more valuable the more you have, the effective Rank gained is ever smaller as we grow, which is spelled out in the blurb. This means they lack the core advantage of Rank, it's super-exponential scaling. You're not getting a super-special Rank boost, you're just getting a regular power boost like any other option.

Rank is the godstat, but this is a shoddy knockoff.
 
To be fair, by the time its reduced boni at higher Ranks become relevant, we'll probably have replaced that stuff with the Ruling Ring.
Higher level reduction is somewhat minimal - you from 0.5 to 0.2, and rank difference goes to 1=90% to 0.5=90%. Basically, on 8+ 0.5=1 pre 0.8 and you still have 0.45.

It ain't Once and Future, but we can get it before we leave the temple, so it should be super helpful for actually clearing this place.
 
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Not sure if you said earlier, but what's the appeal of .2 Rank compared to Stranglethorn, which gives half that (20% of Crown & Age and Treachery) and a boatload of stat-boosters? Opportunities to steal 4-Point options don't show up every update!
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by Unelemental on Jun 7, 2020 at 9:55 AM, finished with 387 posts and 47 votes.

  • [X] No
    [X] Hunger - Stranglethorn
    [X] Undying Vanguard
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Dreadnought's Bearing
    -[X] Sharp of Eye
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Dreadnought's Bearing (7 Arete, 3 picks)
    -[X] Rune King
    [X] Keep Up Momentum
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] The Ring of Power - Gardener's Hallow
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Dreadnought's Bearing (7 Arete, 3 picks)
    -[X] Sharp of Eye
    [X] Keep Up Momentum
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Echo of the Forebear
    [X] Feat: Apex - +.2 Astral Rank (2 picks)
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Ruinous Valor (3 picks)
    -[X] Zweihander
    [X] A Thousand Cuts [7 Arete]
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Ruinous Valor (3 picks)
    -[X] Zweihander
    [X] A Thousand Cuts [7 Arete]
    [X] Keep Up Momentum
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Feat: Apex
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
    [X] A Thousand Cuts [7 Arete]
    [X] Keep Up Momentum
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Ruinous Valor
    -[X] Zweihander
    [X] Undying Vanguard
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] The Ring of Power - Gardener's Hallow
    [X] Evening Sky - Opalescence
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] The Ring of Power - Gardener's Hallow (7 Arete, 2 picks)
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Ruinous Valor (3 picks)
    -[X] Zweihander
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Dreadnought's Bearing
    [X] Keep Up Momentum
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear x1
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear x2
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear x3
    [X] A Thousand Cuts [7 Arete]
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Dreadnought's Bearing (7 Arete, 3 picks)
    -[X] Sharp of Eye
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] No
    [X] Hunger - Stranglethorn
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Echo of the Forebear
    [X] The Ring of Power - Gardener's Hallow (7 Arete, 2 picks)
    [X] Retreat to the Antechamber
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Ruinous Valor (3 picks)
    [X] A Thousand Cuts [7 Arete]
    [X] Keep Up Momentum
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Keep Up Momentum
    [X] Yes, Obviously.
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Dreadnought's Bearing (7 Arete, 3 picks)
    [X] Keep Up Momentum
    [X] Forebear's Blade - Dreadnought's Bearing
    -[X] Rune King
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by Skelm on Jun 7, 2020 at 10:04 AM, finished with 388 posts and 47 votes.
 
I too like rank, which is why I'll spring for the boost to it every time we increase it


[X] No
[X] Hunger - Stranglethorn
[X] Retreat to the Antechamber
 
[X] No
[X] Hunger - Stranglethorn
[X] Undying Vanguard
[X] Retreat to the Antechamber


I massively overestimated Stranglethorn's popularity, it seems. But there's no way to be fussed about it, everything here is great. I can bear with voting for either form (one-eyed or bare) of the Forebear's Bearing, great for Ber, it would be a bear to vote for anything other than the Forebear's Bearing. Con and Wits are great for b(lade)-air? This is probably becoming unbearable for you, sorry.

...still voting for Stranglethorn, lol. It doesn't currently have a stranglehold on votes, but it doesn't grow on trees, you know.
 
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I suppose I can be fine with Sharp of an Eye winning. Even if I rather prefer Rune King and it's unlimited potential along with +Competence.

Getting a +wis option isn't easy..

Having said that, I preferred the build vote in the previous update, where they came prepackaged into various strats.
 
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Hm... Dreadnought has a lead but it seems the eye vote is contentious. If only they unified, they would be the strongest faction!
 
The way I see risk probabilities with Stanglethorn and retreat are something like:

80% chance we don't encounter any enemies.
30% chance the enemies are knight level or lower and thus not a threat.
10% chance that with our much higher strength, we manage to take out whatever the threatening enemy is while losing less than 10% health.
80% chance that Form of Rage triggers successfully and kills whatever the enemy is.

So I'm estimating something like a (0.2*0.7*0.9)= 12% chance of needing Form of Rage with Stranglethorn, and a (0.12*0.2)= 2.5% chance of actual death.

Those odds aren't zero, but they definitely aren't high either.
 
I mean, why did we even get Form of Rage if not for moments like this? Picking Stranglethorn and going back is literally an ideal scenario where it would be great to have a panic button to protect us. If we can't rely on Form of Rage for that much, why did we even buy it?
 
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