Hi guys! So, I finally returned and (hopefully for the last time) am settling in on a new character. I've always loved Hallifax, and the new race/class changes seemed awesome.
Speed was buffed and resistances were lowered, so I made a Mugwumpi Researcher! I'm planning on being able to switch between damage, timewarp, and affliction strategies, and the innate tankiness of Researchers should be able to help out with the low Con against everyone but Pyromancers and Lightning/Fire artied warriors, I think, but let me know if I'm wrong there. I'm most likely going to be joining the Laboratory of the Void for the extra damage potential.

So that gives me:

Astrology - My first choice, with huge damage potential, strong affliction combat on certain days with cosmic rays, and lots of useful defenses and utility, Meteors combined with Carcer, Shatterplex, my researcher tool, and TemporalBonds seems very scary. This is what I want to go with, but I'm hesitant to make an investment without consulting the experts, hence the post.

Healing isn't that special, from what i've seen, other than Aurawarp, and I don't see it as having the potential that Astrology does. Tarot gives nice utility, but Aeonics already has a way to deliver Aeon, so the main use of Tarot, to me, seems a bit redundant.

Thoughts, advice, and personal experiences should be shared below

I'd go with Astrology for the reasons you gave. I've used healing and Tarot, and although I like the concept of Tarot I was never really all that great at it. I don't necessarily like how the skill revolves around time and whatnot but it is the best choice.

Not quite. You're still zapcannon fodder, sadly.

Besides that little snippet, I personally found Astrology fun, spheres and rays and all, so go for it.


EditL Oh, hey, you said resistances. Well, those are the same (even though I somehow read it as weaknesses ) in terms of effect anyway. Don't mind my mad reading comprehension.

Note that much of Harmonics uses balance rather than equilibrium.

Come now, Xiel. Don't be flaunting your pokeballs. We all know they are huge.

SECOND POKEMON REFERENCE OF THE DAY? I'll take a piece of that
Scyther ftw.

Healing is powerful and Succor is a tool too valuable to give up. Harmonics and Healing effectively make you a fortress if used correctly, and Bedevil + Aurawarp are incredibly useful tools.

As a rule of thumb, I do not encourage people to take Astrology because I prefer reliability instead of potentially explosive power. Tarot is currently being re-evaluated as a viable Researcher tert due to recent changes - we think it might be something worth taking up now.

The problem is that Succor is.. well.. just too good to give up.

Astrology is a great skillset, its a bit varied but you can predict things very well. In fact a bardic entry gave code to find what each thing will be on any given day IG. You can get a pretty potent offense going and in most cases you can think of meteor as being like soulless as its an insta at high spheres, before that it is burst damage.

Healing is succor as has been said, the ability to check timewarp is very handy if you plan to kill with timequake alot. Bedevil and aurawarp I cant comment on, I dont tend to stay in the room with them but if the person does you have alot of potential to keep them down.

Tarot is not just utility, it has soulless! Besides that you get access to lust/empress which will help you recover people back to you. Several of the cards have not been utilitzed yet but have alot more to mesh with researchers than has currently been explored.

I've always wondered how effective would a negative Bumblebee sphere to getting insanity/timewarp to stick. Even with morrible/greywhispers/madfly/eyesnare/homunculus bite/visionflux/revelations, I still can't build anyone with focus mind up to moderate insanity. I'd think Researchers would have the same issue with that.

Plus, Astrology lets you cast negative Dragon spheres to boost Balestone/rubies/shatterplex damage, right? (Do meteors hit before or after negative spheres are removed?) Plus sensitivity rays, damage kills seem quite nice on Researchers.

Meteors remove the spheres when you cast it. You have time to put up another sphere before it hits, though, if you're not busy holding them down.

They also get shatterplex which is instant massive timewarp, and resonator for instant major. and passive aeon they can build on.

Sun is actually one of the best DPS skills in the game right now. And you CAN dragon sphere again for more damage, can also truename to up the damage you do iirc, shadow steal as an SD, etc.

You also have to recall, no one seems to use it, but quickening halves eq time... thats 1s sun rays for instance. Meteor is 0p so can quicken, call it, truename, dragon sphere, and still web or such if you want before it hits based on race. not to mention if you truename then meteor its under blackout

Astro meshes VERY well with guardians but it usually takes someone familiar with it to show it off before people will use it.

That's very tempting right now. Truename lasts, welll, I'm not sure how long it lasts, but it lasts damn long, so I can truename before I call meteor. I can keep them in the room with carcer/flux/enthrall/mucous, so I can quicken, call, dragon sphere and sensitivity ray...

Of course, it all assumes that I can hit moderate insanity to get Truename, the heavenly bodies are aligned to let me cast negative Dragon and sensitivity ray, and I can survive long enough to pull it off.

Edit: Oh, meteor is 50% fire and 50% magic. Hrm, toss in a negative Volcano sphere too!

Sensitivity ray is cool. Aeon/stupidity/etc/etc stelliums are also fun, and not too extremely rare.

Truename still causes blackout still with 0 insanity. I used it to land soulless on an alt, so I know for a fact if you quicken (if you dont they leave blackout before you can fling) you can set off meteor.

Almost tempted to try Astrology, but having come from Achaea, I still remember how devastating Tarot can be.

I like Tarot's Hermit, Catacombs and Soulless, but the fact that I have to spend time and money to scribe cards makes it feel like I'm wasting cards. I also hardly ever use Tarot in raid defense except for HangedMan, and Aeon isn't as good against Researchers/Sentinels with Aeonics.

I think the only thing I'll miss about Tarot is Catacombs and Hermit.

How useful is Soulless for Researchers?