Why am I bothering with VA? (in General)

Rhetorical question realy, I think I know the answer.

Originally, I was messing with VA (and coupling it with a Drain weapon) as a counter to GA. VA + Wepaon can reach the 60%, the max GA can return.

I succumbed to using it on a single UC Tank though (so now drain weapon!) taking advantage of the way the RoS and MGS work together.

But mooching around the wiki (I've hit a nast low level 'dead zone', finally recongised it after running my 4th new team in a month or so, where the targets above me are old dead team whio'se scores have dropped so low, but they have high MPR making them tough nuts to crack), I had an epiphany.

VA is nice. But;

You have to hit to Drain
Drain is based on your targets current HP
It's subject to DM (And can hurt you if you face just the right amount of DM)
You can't drain off of PLed damage

The question is;

Instead of using a RoS to get a working VA, why am I not just using a TSA instead?

Regen based on my stats, independant on my opponent, can't be reduced, works all the time and best of all, offers more Damage and Mitigation.

/sigh

sure dudey TSA rula VA is bad as hell

I found with my NCB (a bit late.....lol) that Char Targeting, Proper Spells,Item Readiness and Switching off between these when the time is right is key to success. Versatility is the name of the game it just happens that epiphanies happen later than you need them too.... :-/

I found that any spell at these lower levels that we enjoy so much gets fizzled fast with everyone DM'd up like a bunch of crakheads.

I had a minion VA ,TSA an MH and an SoC, and it never all worked at the same time. I'M sure might all have worked on 1 char eventually...

With ENC being part of it, the TSA regen rate was pitiful to say the least, VA got DM'd 99% of the time and the MH drain/hit then the 2nd hit coming from the SoC flashing left much to be desired..

but to answer your question I dont know :)

Probably because it means that you can't wear a tattoo at all, being single minion.

Yeah, but I was using the Tattoo slot for VA. Which is beaten by the TSA.

I'll be beter off just forgoing a Tattoo completely.

(Unless we can change Tattoo's to be used with Body Armour/Cloaks! As it's really only a penalty single minions have to suffer... If it's a balance reason, adjust the Gi/TSA or whatever Body Armour would be too good to wear with a Tattoo. But that's just a wishlist, not a serious suggestion!)

Sucks I'll lose out on the NW from growing a tattoo. But them's the breaks I guess. ;)

Well that's my point. Growing a tattoo is paramount.

Maybe too paramount. ;)

Why not be able to wear them together? Why not take percentages off for wearing Body Armor and Cloaks with a Tattoo/Familiar/Rune? Say 20-25% per Item and call the Tattoo/Familiar/Rune an Engraving/Embossing due to it's diminished nature? I would think it a fair tradeoff and add a new element of tactics to the game.

The only things I can think of are Junctioning a TSA to a Familiar, having too much STR bonus on a ToA user, or Adding a Gi/EH to a RoBF for extra Magic resistance/Evasion (If using UC).

Cloaks would only be the EC adding more DEX to a ToA.

And maybe the Adam when used with a ToE (but this might actually makes its innate Steel Skin useful!).

or if you want to go a more complicated route work the Armor Allowance Like Encumberance the more + on the Armor the harder it is for the Tattoo/Familiar/Rune to get through thus it is further diminished. Add formulae to taste.

Just remove it and see :)

You cold always leave your TSA/Gi at base then Zen, just to get the inherant bonuses.

(Would work for the intrinsic increases though!)

Good point GL. Set the Formula to turn off the intrinsics if base or up to a cerrain plus to stop te possibility of abuse. eg If you wear Armor/Cloak Blah well attribute boosts will not work at base or up to 25% Of the highest one ( or 25% of Attribute Boost?) or a predetermined +. Would you say fixed or have a different way to implement it?

I was just thinking of changing the ToA back to not getting improved by items. It might need the stats buffed a little, but at least you could get TSA/EC boosts to your character with one! :P

VA's awesome.. The benefits far outway the small investment. You just need to know how to use it ;)..