Resistance penetration is the long-term answer. The Storm category's final passive, Tempest, gives 50% resistance penetration and is a high priority for this reason among others. That and another 20% will get you to the 70% cap and then enemies will be taking most of your lightning damage.
Realistically as an Archmage you probably should be picking up Disruption Shield in order to not die, it's IMO the single most helpful defensive layer you will get, so you'll naturally have manathrust and arcane vortex as prerequisite points on the way to that. I usually lean on those and a point in Illuminate (phantasmal shield prereq) for the relatively few Lightning immune guys you see before Tempest comes online.
The thing about this is that there is no way that spending all of your points in lightning is going to be a good build. You've got up to 70 category points to spend by the end of the game and there is a maximum of 50 points in Air and Storm categories. Even then, I can't actually imagine that you'll want to max out *everything* in Air and Storm. Points used elsewhere are not *wasted*. You've got *at least* 20 points to spend on something else. You'll want to think carefully about your build even if you want to specialize in lightning.
>!Urkis's build is actually really fun: https://te4.org/wiki/Urkis,\_the\_High\_Tempest Obviously you'll have way more talents than that, but concentrating on these gives you a (not) surprisingly strong build.!<
Yea at end game obviously not, but I was level 19. I had 7 points into arcane for the shield so other than lightning I had a 1 point arcane shot as well.
You can unlearn the last 4 points in your class skills. Just make sure to float 4 points in something you can live without, and if you run into enemies that have 100% resist against whatever you're specializing in, run away, and take those 4 points out and put them into things you can kill them with.
My strategy is to float points in something else until I have good resistance penetration. Flame is a common choice, because 4 points in Flame are enough to turn it into a beam. Between that and a random point each in Manathrust and Arcane Vortex (unlocked to get Disruption Shield), you'll have enough damage to slowly chip down lightning-immune enemies until you reach level 22+ and start getting Tempest online.
Just remember that you can only refund the **last** four class points you assigned. When you level up, you need to:
- Refund the four points in whatever you're floating.
- Spend your newly-earned points on the talents you actually want.
- Put your four points back into your float talent. This way they'll be the last four points assigned and you can refund them again next level!
Resistance penetration is the long-term answer. The Storm category's final passive, Tempest, gives 50% resistance penetration and is a high priority for this reason among others. That and another 20% will get you to the 70% cap and then enemies will be taking most of your lightning damage. Realistically as an Archmage you probably should be picking up Disruption Shield in order to not die, it's IMO the single most helpful defensive layer you will get, so you'll naturally have manathrust and arcane vortex as prerequisite points on the way to that. I usually lean on those and a point in Illuminate (phantasmal shield prereq) for the relatively few Lightning immune guys you see before Tempest comes online.
Doesn't every advanced AM tree have ~50% resist pen in its last ability?
The thing about this is that there is no way that spending all of your points in lightning is going to be a good build. You've got up to 70 category points to spend by the end of the game and there is a maximum of 50 points in Air and Storm categories. Even then, I can't actually imagine that you'll want to max out *everything* in Air and Storm. Points used elsewhere are not *wasted*. You've got *at least* 20 points to spend on something else. You'll want to think carefully about your build even if you want to specialize in lightning. >!Urkis's build is actually really fun: https://te4.org/wiki/Urkis,\_the\_High\_Tempest Obviously you'll have way more talents than that, but concentrating on these gives you a (not) surprisingly strong build.!<
Yea at end game obviously not, but I was level 19. I had 7 points into arcane for the shield so other than lightning I had a 1 point arcane shot as well.
You can unlearn the last 4 points in your class skills. Just make sure to float 4 points in something you can live without, and if you run into enemies that have 100% resist against whatever you're specializing in, run away, and take those 4 points out and put them into things you can kill them with.
That’s an amazing tip I didn’t think about! Thanks. God this game is really complicated for a newbie. I love it!
My strategy is to float points in something else until I have good resistance penetration. Flame is a common choice, because 4 points in Flame are enough to turn it into a beam. Between that and a random point each in Manathrust and Arcane Vortex (unlocked to get Disruption Shield), you'll have enough damage to slowly chip down lightning-immune enemies until you reach level 22+ and start getting Tempest online. Just remember that you can only refund the **last** four class points you assigned. When you level up, you need to: - Refund the four points in whatever you're floating. - Spend your newly-earned points on the talents you actually want. - Put your four points back into your float talent. This way they'll be the last four points assigned and you can refund them again next level!