Newer player, some questions about skills

Mr Adventurer

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Does Massive Criticals apply to secondary Cleave targets?

I mean, I would assume the bonus damage does, because Cleave just applies a percentage of damage done to the primary targets to the secondary targets, and the extra damage from Massive Crits would affect that.

But my question is about the auto-killing weak targets. If it triggers on the primary target, do Cleave targets get automatically killed too? Or perhaps does the percentage chance get checked for each Cleave target? Or none?

Can companions learn advanced skills? They have all the boxes on their character sheets, and I've learned some Advanced Skills myself for their class, but I don't see how to get them trained in them.

Is there a fourth basic skill? There's an empty box for one.

Is Holy Shield essentially mandatory for Clerics? I first played a Warrior and bought the best armour I could, full suit of Plate by 11 (I wasn't finding anything better). At the same character levels, my Cleric has much, much less Armour, meaning I rely on Holy Shield for every challenging battle.
 
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VDX_360

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1) Massive Criticals: I --think-- only the primary target of Cleave gets the instant death chance but it's a bit foggy. A similar question is for Whirlwind or Charge....... I think this question comes up now and than and I thought the answer was buried in the forum..... Looking.

2) Yes, Companions can learn Advanced skills. They do so after completing their own story quests. The Wiki has more details on that. Note, each Companion has a set of Advanced Skills he or she will learn, you can allot skill points but they have a fixed set of Advanced SKills.

3) The fourth empty basic skill box was room for future content. It's not clear if it will get added, or is the game went into a new direction and the idea just got left to the wayside.

4) Holy Shield is NOT essentially mandatory for Clerics. In fact, I'd say it's only mildly useful as a skill. Early on, the extra armor is nice but quickly loses it's impact later on. You'll find enough Death protection through equipment and potions that that death protection isn't mandatory. There are a few places where Holy Shield is useful (The Pit comes to mind, a lessor extant The Arena).

Keep in mind that Clerics can heal. That ability makes up for a lot of reduced defense.

If you're going Cleric, Duel is quite useful for 1-H Clerics.
 

Mr Adventurer

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Thank you very much.

Ah - I haven't run into companion story quests with any character yet, so I didn't know they existed. I'll keep an eye out for them.

My question about Holy Shield was more about the Armour it provides than the Death warding. I can't seem to find decent Armour rated armour for my Cleric like I could my Warrior.

I haven't found where to unlock Duel as a skill yet. To be honest I find some areas unpassably difficult so I'm put off from spending my time exploring that much.
 

VDX_360

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No worries. It's a big world. Take your time. The the Wiki can help if you get stuck, but feel encouraged you play using only in-game knowledge.
 

Mr Adventurer

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Cheers. I have been using the wiki for when I get stuck or if I want to know something that's not visible in the game (like my questions here), it's a great resource. But on game mechanics it mostly just seems to re-present the text in the game without any further explanation. That's what these boards are for I guess!
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Are there more Advanced skills available to learn than you are allowed to learn/have slots for? Do I need to be judicious about which advanced skills I pay to learn?

Also, at guildhouse retrainers, when it says "forget" your advanced skills, does it just mean the skill points you invested into them, or the training you paid for to get access to them, too?
 
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VDX_360

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Yes, there's more Advanced Skills available in the game than you can learn.

Using a NPC to re-set your Skills ("forget" in the game") will re-set skill points to zero, and remove Advanced Skills. (Note, some Advanced Skills have skill requirements like Battle Rage requires Fury 3 etc). You'll have to pay to re-learn them.
 

Mr Adventurer

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Damn, wish I'd known that. I've got Massive Criticals, Precise Strikes, Shock Ward and Fire Ward so far. I really like passives.
 

VDX_360

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Shock and Fire Ward will be useful till the end of the game. Both will help in the Arc. Fire ward will help in the last area of the Sewer of Horrors.

The challenge of the elemental wards is that they're only useful when the enemies have that damage but they do help.
 

Mr Adventurer

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Fire Ward will help me against those bloody Imps as well!

Sadly Toxin Ward is only available in Icemist, which I can't get into yet, and the Poison River acid Elementals are really kicking my arse.
 

VDX_360

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Finding poison resistance is tricky in the early game due to the lack of decent poison protection rings. But, getting troll skin equipment and the Jungle Boots helps a lot. There are a few cloaks and other equipment that have poison protection. But I digress...
 

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