I see guides that recommend maxing this skill, but the bonuses it gives seem so tiny… A little OA, a little DA (85 OA and DA can be had from a couple of items instead, I think) and some increased armor. Is that a must in Ultimate? Also Scars of Battle gives you increased armor absorption. What’s the deal with that and how does it relate to plain increased armor?
Help a newcomer (to GD, not ARPGs) out. TIA
Increased Armor % isn’t common. Combined with the OA / DA boost it’s pretty effective. I like Squad Tactics quite a bit… Attack Speed & All Damage.
Armor absorption is another way of increasing your armors effective damage mitigation. The Grim Dawn website has a guide that explains it quite well, you start with 70% absorption, it can be boosted beyond that. Its very nice to have!
Whats really nice is that its a skill. You can add points or remove them at will as your build evolves.
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There isn’t another skill that gives more OA & DA per point invested…+5/5 for every skill point…yes u can get a ring with over +100 OA but even the best of readiness wont give u as much as maxed Field Command
Its not a particularly flashy skill, but OA & DA are pretty much two of the most important stats in the game!..and after all, u can still have the gear to boost your OA & DA with gear on top of bonuses from Field Command!
Actually, maxing Field Command provides too small benefit. First few levels are OK, but later, scaling just sucks.
Nothing comes in an instant, nor in great numbers. These kind of games are about the slow accumulation of power and building piece by piece, tiny chunks you gather to complete the building.
This is without the buffs from shadow dance, badge of mastery and fighting spirit. Wouldn’t be possible if you don’t work on any source of OA/DA you could squeeze from here and there.
Increased armor from items and devotions comes in 5-8% nowadays. Hammerfall Girdle is one exception, if you are ready to use it. Field command increases it by 25% straight.
Why use armor - because it reduces physical damage you take :). You need to go to gameplay discussion and advanced mechanics tread.
If you have heavy armor, 2000 armor with 100% absorption, you take 3K physical hit, 3000 - 2000 = you take 1K damage. You can facetank crowds and nasty bosses with physical damage like Fabius.
If you have caster armor with no armor or absorption boost, 700 armor with 70% absorption. You take 3K hit, 700*(1-0,7) + (3000-700) = 2510 damage taken. You can’t facetank crowds or Fabius, and will die in 4-5 hits. At least without heavy investment in multiple others defenses.
To clarify, and recalculate like your first calculation:
You take 3k hit, 3000 - (700*0,7) = 2510 dmg taken.
Just cause it was really confusing what you wrote. Took me long time to really understand what you meant.
Caster armor is pointless, even with 100% absorbtion, it doesnt really help at all.
My Iskandra’s set gives me a mini Blast Shield, and 20% armor. Probably the only caster armor that contributes to being remotely tankish.
I strongly disagree! I have 3 lvl 85 builds with Soldier levels that have all completed Ultimate (one hardcore) and i have maxed / overcapped Field Command on all 3!
…all 3 have 2300+ OA & 2400+ DA
2400 DA is just about enough to reduce nemesis bosses to 0% chance to crit so i don’t even worry if Fabius spawns with a notched bone of a thousand deaths!
Without Field Command OA/DA would be roughly 100/100 lower (not allowing for %s from items / devotions) which would mean I hit less and would have the chance of being critted!
Yes, 1 point with +skills could still be 20-30 OA & DA and u would then have 11 points to spend elsewhere, but DA is harder to come-by than OA and there aren’t a lot of other skills that give DA (and i would already have those maxed anyway)!
Its not a particularly exciting skill but i wouldn’t make a melee build with soldier levels without it maxed!
The problem is, there are so many other good skills too, which you also want to max out.
I dont say Field Command is crap, but my warder (for example) just dont dont have enough spare points for it.
it’s all a question of focus however…and my warder says Field Command is well worth the investment!
Which is exactly why I asked the question. I have a warder on my hands and not enough points go around. Not even remotely.
IMO it depends on your focus. As a comparative, Tenacity of the boar gives 7OA/6DA per point up through 5, and 8/7 respectively thereafter.It also gives crazy health regen. So if your using Savagery as your basic attack, there’s not necessarily a reason to put the points in Field Command. But if your using cadence, then it may behoove you more to go with FC.
Also, it may depend on what gear/augments you have. if you have plenty of armor value via gear and/or augments, then Tenacity may be a better option. If your amror value is low, FC may be better, or perhaps even a balance of the two. Also, if your running a 2h’er, squad tactics is especially potent, and worth investing max points in, leaving less for FC/Tenacity, so you’d probably have to choose.
Personally, If I had to choose, I’d put points in tenacity and squad tacticts and leave FC at 1, UNLESS I was either suffering a great deal from damage spikes, or i was playing HC, in which I’d probably go with both for simple survival sake.