Steel Skin is completely useless (in General)

My statement is really simple:

Steel Skin is completely useless in its current form.


Background information:
less then 0.2% is using SS as a ED: http://www.carnageblender.com/directory/spell-popularity.tcl

I'm not sure why, maybe its bugged or nobody knows how to use it. Either way Steel Skin is only good on high AC minions like walls or tanks.

With 181 AC as the break even point with no penalties or 203 AC with full wall penalties. I'm not sure how this can be useful now...

And of course being an ED it can be easily dispelled by DM and since GA is powerful now, everyone is using DM to cancel it out or using GA themselfs.

What do you think?

no one?

It would be good if a big SS user chimed in -- I'd name names, but SS appears to be so useless as to still not have a slot on the attributes page. *smile*

To any big SS users: Do you find SS to be at all useful, specifically in regards to alternate enchantments/expenditures?

yep-ruined that one. Might as well just train HP.

There's no such thing as a "break even point" now (unless you're using it on a single minion, but ya can't really expect any ED to be XP-efficient on a single minion then still cast on 5 minions). The old one existed when you were forced to train SS on each minion that was intended to use it. SS is essentially the reincarnation of protection as it currently stands, take a small ammount of XP to "maximize" effect, and then gets dispelled by everyone and their mama.

It can make a huge difference when not dispelled though, by making armor work the way it used to (where it actually provided protection), as without SS, even my 403 AC set is nothing more than a small speed bump to any team with decent damage-dealing capabilities.

I tend to think dispelable AC is crap, but that's strongly biased because I've always loved heavy AC and feared DM to the point where I avoid strategies reliant on EDs, and now that idea is as counter-intuitive as a FB mage on a defensively-based 4-minion team (GA optional :P)...

Oh, and for the record, I'm pretty sure I ha the highest SS in CB both as a skill and an ED before i sold my char (I think Jon's been targetting me and my insistance upon running a heavy tank in the top ranks :P)...

ditto ;)

I brought up some similar things about SS in a thread recently as well.. dunno how to post links from CBs site though

I agree 100%.

Another example of a change being made without thinking of the ramifications of how it effects actual gameplay.

As a skill it was useful. A choice to be made whether to use SS, evasion, junction etc..

Or if the game was good ole CB1 without DM, SS would be a nice addition.

Now, it is less useful then an ice cube at the Big Bang.

i miss the armor spell :(

i think it has replaced protection as a spell you train to base level and enjoy when dm is not used against ya.

and a great smokescreen for the 20% armor decrease across the boards :P

Does anybody even know how it works now?

I agree it's useless, but please don't point to skill popularity when trying to prove that it is. It's a new skill, and a specialized one as well. Also note it got untrained on everyone who had it on a skill.

I have no other reference material since the character attributes page is no longer updated...

Besides it does say something about the spell, anyway back on topic.

"There's no such thing as a "break even point" now (unless you're using it on a single minion"

No I still think there is a break even point, Jon did say the one thing he changed was changing it from a skill to an ED.

The "break even" point only applies when you're forced to choose between SS and HP on the same minion. Now you can train SS on another minion.

http://www.carnageblender.com/stats/minion-spells-all.tcl?field=97&title=Steel+Skin...+Wow+depressing+huh?&realm=Gondor

Here you go Henk. Not one person using it effectively imo because it can't be anymore.

I beat Mikel with SS when i used it 0=)

Or should this be AC is now useless without SS. Any amount of AC even.

The wall minion is a dying breed, a big set of 400 AC (40mil nw) without SS only works for 320 AC (23mil nw).

A huge drop in NW and effectiveness.

If SS manages to keep DM at bay, you still need enough SS to match up 1/8 of the HP of the wall to get an effect of 1.00, restoring the effect of the AC back to 400 AC.

I've spoken with JS on the subject and one of the solutions was make SS non dispelable. (easy)

Or a complete rework how AC behaves (much much harder)