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You, spammable? Yes. Yes you are. That's what you were always known for, but at least you always have a sunny disposition and something interesting to say in your spam! You could say I have lots of customer service experience, yes. Technically even now, it's just 'internal' customers. Does sitting behind the checkout when I was about 4, messing with the grocery scale and smiling at people count as customer service? Or apparently sitting in the dog basket behind the counter with 2 alsations when my parents ran a post office, does that count? If so then I've had about 40 years of practice! If we go from when I was gainfully employed though, then it's more like 27 years of experience. Not bad eh? Meanwhile our weather has chilled off again. It's hitting 0 or 1 overnight, but then coming up to about 8 during the day and remaining dry. I've spent the last couple of days sorting my balcony out. Throwing out old, crap compost and dead plants and potting on a few I bought last weekend. The strawberry plants are starting to put out new leaves as well, and the birds I feed are merrily getting through tons of seed and fat balls on a daily basis.

Idea I always like to see if a character can survive on one given aspect (a pure Voodoo Dryad, for example, is one I still wonder about, as is the Celestial Magic seraphim). I bought the add-on and decided to see which of the aspects was the weakest. Since Dragon Magic was a breeze early in the game and Elemental Magic was also quite easy, I figured Mentalism was the weakest. I turned out to be wrong. As I played, I realised that Energy Blaze was a very powerful spell (honestly almost boringly so). My first test character I took to level 43 using it almost exclusively. Energy Blaze is like a Clustering Maelstrom shaped Blazing Tempest. For those of us coming from Sacred UW, it reminds me most of a freely placeable version of the Succubus' Poison Ring, which I also found had a very enjoyable rhythmic pace. Firstly, the Masterhand option should be checked in the case of a pure Mentalism build. This may be reconsidered if your build ends up as a hybrid of some sorts. Skills Mentalism Lore (100) for damage, crit., faster casting Mentalism Focus (100) for regen and raised malus threshold Armor Lore (75) for regen and resistance, mastery for the unlocked modifiers Constitution (75) for life, mastery for in-combat regeneration Ancient Magic (75) for damage, mastery for even more damage Concentration* (1) for regen (and buff slot depending on your build) Toughness (75) for resistence, mastery for damage mitigation Enhanced Perception* (75) for MF Alchemy* (1 or 75) if you find yourself used to using potions and feel you'd benefit from the trophies' effects Combat Discipline* (1) for even more damage I don't like the idea of picking a skill I don't use all of all the time, so taking Concentration gives me a buff-slot begging not to be wasted. But taking Concentration for the regen bonus alone is not bad: At high levels, it can cut your regen down to less than half. My SP build had no Concentration, for example. As far as Alchemy is concerned, for those of you who understand German, Chattius has a very helpful guide, explaining the benefits Alchemy offers and which builds can profit most from it. Alternative Skill picks are Shield Lore (75), for block, defense and unlockable modifiers Bargaining (75), if you don't already have a trader. Although Antitrust's exposition has turned me off to this skill. Combat Reflexes (75), for evade hit/critical Or (See also below) Tactics Lore and a Weapon pick (sword, polearm, staff) or Aspect Lore and/or Focus from the other two aspects Attributes Vitality (my current test character is in HC, so I chose to be more careful) Stamina, Dexterity and Intelligence (or Strength, depending) are also viable but I find Vitality to be the most rewarding. Spells Mind Strike (Weakness, Impact, Drill) Main attack for single opponents. Hence no area of effect mod. I keep this below 1sec. Energy Blaze (Confusion, Zone, Afterglow) Main attack for mobs. I chose radius over damage, as +damage modifiers are far easier to come by than +radius modifiers. I keep this below 2sec. I suggest 5sec as the final maximum. Maelstrom (Grind, Extension, Demoralise) Very nice when you find a place to use it. Lowering your enemies' stats is always good. I try to keep the regeneration below duration. Combat Trance (Awareness, Experienced, Energy Flux) The Ghost Meadow for the Dragon Mage. I chose stun resist over root resist, because where being rooted is annoying, being stunned is even more so, because you can't cast spells. Runes of Protection (Protection, Stone Skin, Flux) Stone Skin can be replaced by another Protection, but when you're surrounded by archers, an inherent chance to block of >22% is very helpful. The buff Familiar can also be used, with good reason. The only 'drawback' would be giving up the idea of a 'pure Mentalist' and settling for a more efficient and (yet to be tested: significantly) more powerful 'mostly pure Mentalist'. Item Modifiers Besides everybody's favorites: + all skills (take as much as you can spare), + all Combat Arts (specifically Mentalism, same as for + all skills) deathblow (try to get over 50%, more than 70% I find to be a waste), critical hit (same as for deathblow) wounds (of all sorts, pref. "Deadly ~" and "Serious Open ~"; take whatever you can get) Directly Important modifiers are: +% damage (specifically magic) -% regen (specifically Mentalism) regen. per hit (for those with Tactics Lore) Good to have modifiers: Chance to halve regeneration time Reflect (close combat is most important, as a lot of arrows and spells can be dodged manually or Maelstromed out of the way) WIDD (is risky unless you play tank-like, and the Dragon Mage's vitality is only mediocre.) MF and +Experience go without saying. Playstyle If/when a mob is large enough, or when you're ready for your boss, open up an experience potion and a concentration potion. If you have alchemy, throw on any protection you need (Iron Ore, Talisman). Turn on Combat Trance, and (if they're magic resistant) a Maelstrom or two. Maintain these as best you can throughout the fight. For Mobs: Lead your mob from group to available group applying (if possible spamming) Energy Blaze to the middle of the densest section of the mob. Again, this tactic should be familiar to the Poison Demons among us. Early in the game, due to high regen times, you'll find yourself frequently casting on yourself. For Bosses: Cast Energy Blaze and spam Mind Strike while Energy Blaze is loading. With low enough regen, you can also spam Energy Blaze and then spam Mind Strike while the stacked Energy Blazes are working. Variations Dragon Magic Lore and Focus: In order to actually be using both aspects, we'd need to stay away from the two Forms (Dragon and Berserk) for the most part, as you can only use the Combat Arts the respective Form allows. So if the Forms were our main focus in the Dragon Magic section then taking Mentalism at all would be a bit of a waste. So, what remains are the buff Familiar and the spells Eternal Fire and Dragon Strike. Familiar (Fire Bug, Protection from Fire, Energy Flux) with its intelligence bonus is a good buff for a mentalist to have as a caster. The Willpower and Hitpoint bonuses add to the survivability of the character, again helpful to casters. Both Eternal Fire (Licking Flames, Hunger, Fury) and Dragon Strike (Heat, Heat, Scatter) are more than capable of taking care of a mob by themselves. So, if a mob is already burning, both Energy Blaze and Dragon Strike are unnecessary and also, in a way, counterproductive as killing the mob puts out the fire. Using Dragon Strike as a complement to Energy Blaze is a bit more sensible: For Mobs: Using the same tactic as a pure Mentalist, alternate between Energy Blaze and Dragon Strike. In addition, lead your mob through the dragon flames as long as they're there. Another option is setting them on fire with Eternal Fire and using Energy Blaze when it starts to get too slow or dangerous or if they just won't die. For Bosses: Along the same lines as a pure Mentalist, cast Dragon Strike whenever possible and suitable. Eternal Fire makes little sense here. Elemental Magic Lore and Focus: The attack spells here are all well useable: Gust of Wind: Good against bosses. Focus like Ice Shards. Destroyer (Explosive, Swarm, Explosive): Good against monsters close to you as otherwise they tend to run away. Tornado (Storm Zone, Unleashed): Good against mobs. Cast and forget. For Mobs: In my experience, a combo of Gust of Wind and Destroyers works nicely in alternation with Energy Blaze. Set a Tornado loose before really laying into them. For Bosses: Your spells for bosses have a low enough regeneration time, that you almost have to choose between Mentalism and Elemental. An possible attack might be to use the GoW/Destroyer combo repeatedly and spam Mind Strike if there's time. Elemental and Dragon Magic Focus: Is another option but I won't go into it here, because I have no ideas for explaining it sensibly. The spells and buffs of both aspects benefit from their respective Lores. In this case the spells of the other aspects rely solely on Ancient Magic and/or Combat Discipline for damage bonuses. Tactics Lore and/or weapon pick: For this case, I would suggest you read Chattius' guide "the Sohei", as a build like this is already dealt with concisely with variations and edits at posts #8-11. His edit in post 11, however, leaves the build more along the lines of Weapon + Dragon Magic, which suit eachother nicely, but takes the focus away from the Mentalism aspect.

Indeed, Pevil. Gogo is the Dr. Seuss character, "Spam I Am." One might think that they do not want to read his lengthy, and often off-topic posts. But, after the read, it has become clear that it was the best choice to digest his entire post and savor every morsel. Oh, and the weather here is perfect. Sunny and just the right temperature. EDIT: Of course I was being hyperbolic in reference to Gogo. Using such a simile to describe our beloved friend, Rommel, was an exaggeration in order to elicit a bit of humor. Wherever he posts and whatever he posts is quite interesting and never really feels, "out of place." The average poster cannot make comments that always seem on point and worth the read.

Thanks. The Pure Mentalist was mainly a build to show what can be done with mentalism. If you play Enhanced Edition the companion from dragon magic focus would be a nice addon. It would allow even better staff combat and because of the intelligence boost more damage for mentalism tree. You could change two from enhanced perception/constitution/alchemy for dragon magic focus and staff combat.