Darth Canoli
Arcane
Where to get the mod :
MASSIVE SPOILERS below
Everyone knows this mod by now, i assume but they probably don't know the latest version fixed all the bugs and some features are really game changer in a great way, adding a lot of flavor to the game which has a great combat engine but is really lackluster in every other compartment.
So, i'll make a short presentation of the new starts & features offered by the Legends mod and of course, i'll be 100% partial, no equality bullshit or impartiality nonsense around here.
Starting options :
Dynamic perks :
If you disable this, you'll play with the vanilla perk tree.
Meaning you'll miss on dozens of new perks (i think there's a total of 135 including vanilla ones).
On the down side, your mercs could not have key skills like berserk, pathfinding and more rarely (but it happens) rest!
That's the part that still sucks for me but if you can get over it and adapt (or savescum to check recruits out), everything else is dope.
There is a partial loophole though (see Ranger/Berserker starts)
Battle sisters :
I turn it off, meaning you still get them but they're restricted to specific backghrounds (widow, shieldmaidens, adventurous ladies, washerwomen, maids), i think they went overboard with way to many useless new backgrounds but it's not like i have to hire them either, i use adventurous ladies sometimes from midgame and shieldmaidens are great tanks for the early game (later, i switch to no shield, full offense)
Basic Magic :
You'll drop runes no matter what, with this option on, you'll drop them more often, which isn't that often and only happens with some enemies (hexen, schrats, alps, lindwurms, kraken maybe, other mundane enemies don't drop any).
You also unlock the Vala random encounter which could join you (she can create runes through the camp, it takes forever if she's by herself but she can get help from some crafty backgrounds, progression is made whenever you camp and someone is assigned to the task)
Runes add some permanent bonuses to your gear, they're destined either for shields, armor, weapon or helmet (example : 0-2 vision rune with 1-9% xp bonus, 2 happening almost never, it's mostly 0/1 vision with 5% xp bonus)
Layered armor :
Layered armors seems like a good idea on paper but the game clearly wasn't designed for that, as a result, all the armors looks the same after you added 3+ layers and they really look like shit, it's also not helping that much with the few armor dependent skills, worse, it multiplies the amount of trash stacked in your inventory for the purpose of building theperfect right armors.
Equipment scaling :
I think (to be confirmed) the buying price is taken into account for the scaling (every 10 000 of equipment adds 1 brother for enemies scaling purposes), i always turn this one on.
Distance scaling :
You can spawn some nasty shit if you try to explore too early, i always play with this one on.
Skip Camp Tutorial :
This one is up to you but there is a objective about unlocking them all (which you won't get if it's disabled of course)
Everything else is self explanatory, whenever i launch a new campaign, i only disable battle sisters and armor layers.
New campaign modes
- Warlock : You play a necromancer but in fact it's more like summoning undead with ingredients you can loot after a battle (dead corpses), you get to build a great armor set for the warlock with the new ingredients and he has a scythe weapon with little damage input but life steal, an aoe and a range of 2.
- Assassin : High ini unit with a camouflage skill and perks allowing to increase the duration and to double damage when hidden, great as a fencer but the hiding option takes too much AP so either your whole team waits and defends and he can use it or he's one turn behind and useless, or you just don't hide him and he can be a great fencer.
I liked the earlier version better when the hiding cost was only 4AP without the double damage perk.
- Crusader : Now, we're diving into the real stuff, if you want a 2 handed tank, you just found him and he gets some cool aura boosts too (active buffs though), starts with a cool armor set and a great sword (same moves a a greatworrd + the 4 AP single target 1H sword attack). Unfortunately, you'll outgrow the sword fast and loose that extra cool attack, a real shame, they should have added a crafting recipe to upgrade it.
Gives determined to every single recruit.
- Ranger : One of my favorite, great archer or crossbowman (or both ?), a lot of increase damage perks and favorite enemy perks, ranged units are amazing if you're willing to increase their ranged attack as much as you can, then, you put them on the frontline and no enemy unit is safe anymore.
Gives the pathfinder skill to your other mercs (so you don't have to worry about new recruits not having it in their perk tree)
- Berserker : The destroyer of worlds, if you ever play on legendary difficulty; which you shouldn't except if you want to fight nimble Lindwurms and worse, i don't know what other perks Rock unholds get but i don't want to; you want to bring this guy to the party (or just play with the adventuring party).
One of his skill is a fearsome overhaul, whenever he kills, everyone around looses one mood level at least, worse, it's bugged right now (one of the last few) meaning it works every kill, even with multiple kills during a single AoE attack.
You can have everyone (in the skill radius) flee on turn one just by killing 2/3 enemies with one swing ...
Besides that, he's very offensive oriented and it's hard to increase his defense but he has an upgraded version of underdog in his perk tree (no bonus at all for enemies surrounding him, even with backstab).
It's not all, besides the nimble perk, there is a nudist perk adding another nimble stack but only when he's naked, no armor nor helm, 40% damage taken x 40% damage taken = 16% damage taken ...
It mean no armor nor helmet runes for him, still, you go full HP / attack and he's unstoppable, besides, his rage perk increases his damage depending on his missing health ...
Last but not least, he gives everyone the berserk perk, this guy is a monster.
- Seer : Start with a nice armor set fatigue free, she's a mage (i'm not sure but i think it can be a guy too).
Not a lot of skills compared to some others but a lot of new skills, it's easy to build her wrong.
Just focus on ini (basic magic missile damage, can go up to 200+ but only 20% penetration and armor damage or something like that), she need a lot of fatigue, max initiative, a lot of ranged skill, some ranged defense and a lot of morale if you go with mind over matter + perfect focus (first is a passive reducing the fatigue skill cost, the second one is an active skill doubling the fatigue cost but halving the AP cost ) which is a great way to get a damage burst when you need it before having to skip at least a turn resting. Later it can turn into a 2 turns burst + one turn to rest, morale boosts are legion, runes, equipment and even a nice necklace to craft.
Skills wise, you want to go chain lightning (VERY efficient against armored foes), teleport (why walking when it's cheaper and faster to just teleport ?), mind over matter and perfect focus, the rest is standard for a ranged unit, the cat summon is a nice gimmick but a gimmick nonetheless, daze can be nice against single powerful targets, and the fire aoe looks underwhelming but is known as the gheist bane (they die if they act inside the persisting aoe)
Gives the student perk to everyone.
- Adventuring party
All of the above except the warlock, they don't have their free skill for all perk, though and have slightly reduced starting attributes. great if you absolutely want to try the legendary difficulty (i advise against huge parties in this case, just go with an elite few and only recruits other brutes on the way (Sellsword, Swordmaster, hedge Knight, the Vala ...)
Other ones are self explanatory, most regular starts got some new traits/features with the mod on, which is nice too.
Some skills spoilers
Besides those already mentioned, there is a lot of new skills and cherry on top, you get more perks points to match the increased difficulty.
Your starting mercs will get 1 extra perk every other level after 11 (13, 15, ...) while other recruits will get one every 5 level (16, 21, ...)
Balance : Works somewhat like dodge. Get between 5 and 40 melee and ranged defense, maximum bonus when your body armor = twice your current initiative.
Looks like a hassle at first but it turns out it's quite fun to get the right build for it.
Matching Set : The iron Lungs trait as a perk with a catch, get 5 fat recovery per turn but -1 per 10 armor difference between body armor and helmet.
Interesting for fatigue hungry builds and quite fun to use along with matching set once you get a hold of the new legendary armors and crafts.
Double Tap (i can't remember the exact name) : +20% damage for the next hit after a successful blow, the bonus is lost after a miss.
Two perks giving +10% hit for Aoe for one and +10% damage for aoe for the other.
Piercing shot : Hit two targets with the same bolt, was extremely buggy (game crashes buggy) but it was fixed and you can even see which secondary target is going to get some. Works best with crossbows, increased AP cost with bows.
Favourite enemy perks : The more you kill of that "family", the more bonuses you get (nothing crazy but i already had +15% for both damage and hit chance late game. Every enemy has his own but not every recruit has them, some backgrount like the hunter or the wildman would get a lot of monster ones, grave digger/robber the undead ones as well as the monk, etc.
They also unlock legendary missions and features, favourite enemy swordmaster for example works like the lone-wolf feature, famous swordmen would appear regularly to fight you (1 vs 1 duel), they're extremely lethal ...
Battle flow : once per round, get a +15% of your base max fatigue for killing an enemy.
A lot of bleeding related perks, even one giving you fatigue regen x number of bleeding enemies, other to make them bleed and a passive adding your base attack bleeding chances when you're not full hp ...
And so on ...
Alpha monsters
Every monster type has an Alpha with new tricks, Skin ghoul (Nachos), white Wolf, rock unhold, Coven leaders (not just through an event), Redback spiders, even bears, undead dogs (more like horses) with a debilitating attack ...
There's also Bandit warlords, not only they're far more dangerous than bandit leaders, they take over at some point and brigands are not rabble anymore, instead, they're more dangerous than noble troops.
The good thing is each warlord drops 2 named items, even at 0% durability.
They're like a candy store (rewarding but lethal).
The Camp
This part helps the party to be more independent.
You can just rest, which boost the morale of the whole party if you camp enough, i'm not sure how many hours, it usually works from dusk early evening to morning/late morning, it takes some practice.
There is 10 functions and you can buy tools to upgrade them, they're quite expensive, from 2K to 10K approximately, the crafting and enchanting tools being the most expensive.
What you can do :
The good new being you don't have to camp for that long in a row, the crafting/whatever queue will just take the craft back where it left it when you camp again as long as someone is affected to the tent.
Feedback on late game
That's clearly where the mod shine, not that early game sucks but it can make it harder before day 50 and it certainly makes it way more interesting after the first crisis is over.
With both (distance and equipment) scaling features on, late game will still be challenging.
There's a lot of monsters to hunt to get crafting ingredients for cool armors and helmets, you still get some perks, even if it slows down and there's a lot of different legendary quests.
Last but not least, if you want to go and explore, you can do so without running out of food and tools for a little while but mercs don't get a morale boost when they work so there is some interesting management decisions to make.
MASSIVE SPOILERS below
Everyone knows this mod by now, i assume but they probably don't know the latest version fixed all the bugs and some features are really game changer in a great way, adding a lot of flavor to the game which has a great combat engine but is really lackluster in every other compartment.
So, i'll make a short presentation of the new starts & features offered by the Legends mod and of course, i'll be 100% partial, no equality bullshit or impartiality nonsense around here.
Starting options :
Dynamic perks :
If you disable this, you'll play with the vanilla perk tree.
Meaning you'll miss on dozens of new perks (i think there's a total of 135 including vanilla ones).
On the down side, your mercs could not have key skills like berserk, pathfinding and more rarely (but it happens) rest!
That's the part that still sucks for me but if you can get over it and adapt (or savescum to check recruits out), everything else is dope.
There is a partial loophole though (see Ranger/Berserker starts)
Battle sisters :
I turn it off, meaning you still get them but they're restricted to specific backghrounds (widow, shieldmaidens, adventurous ladies, washerwomen, maids), i think they went overboard with way to many useless new backgrounds but it's not like i have to hire them either, i use adventurous ladies sometimes from midgame and shieldmaidens are great tanks for the early game (later, i switch to no shield, full offense)
Basic Magic :
You'll drop runes no matter what, with this option on, you'll drop them more often, which isn't that often and only happens with some enemies (hexen, schrats, alps, lindwurms, kraken maybe, other mundane enemies don't drop any).
You also unlock the Vala random encounter which could join you (she can create runes through the camp, it takes forever if she's by herself but she can get help from some crafty backgrounds, progression is made whenever you camp and someone is assigned to the task)
Runes add some permanent bonuses to your gear, they're destined either for shields, armor, weapon or helmet (example : 0-2 vision rune with 1-9% xp bonus, 2 happening almost never, it's mostly 0/1 vision with 5% xp bonus)
Layered armor :
Layered armors seems like a good idea on paper but the game clearly wasn't designed for that, as a result, all the armors looks the same after you added 3+ layers and they really look like shit, it's also not helping that much with the few armor dependent skills, worse, it multiplies the amount of trash stacked in your inventory for the purpose of building the
Equipment scaling :
I think (to be confirmed) the buying price is taken into account for the scaling (every 10 000 of equipment adds 1 brother for enemies scaling purposes), i always turn this one on.
Distance scaling :
You can spawn some nasty shit if you try to explore too early, i always play with this one on.
Skip Camp Tutorial :
This one is up to you but there is a objective about unlocking them all (which you won't get if it's disabled of course)
Everything else is self explanatory, whenever i launch a new campaign, i only disable battle sisters and armor layers.
New campaign modes
- Warlock : You play a necromancer but in fact it's more like summoning undead with ingredients you can loot after a battle (dead corpses), you get to build a great armor set for the warlock with the new ingredients and he has a scythe weapon with little damage input but life steal, an aoe and a range of 2.
- Assassin : High ini unit with a camouflage skill and perks allowing to increase the duration and to double damage when hidden, great as a fencer but the hiding option takes too much AP so either your whole team waits and defends and he can use it or he's one turn behind and useless, or you just don't hide him and he can be a great fencer.
I liked the earlier version better when the hiding cost was only 4AP without the double damage perk.
- Crusader : Now, we're diving into the real stuff, if you want a 2 handed tank, you just found him and he gets some cool aura boosts too (active buffs though), starts with a cool armor set and a great sword (same moves a a greatworrd + the 4 AP single target 1H sword attack). Unfortunately, you'll outgrow the sword fast and loose that extra cool attack, a real shame, they should have added a crafting recipe to upgrade it.
Gives determined to every single recruit.
- Ranger : One of my favorite, great archer or crossbowman (or both ?), a lot of increase damage perks and favorite enemy perks, ranged units are amazing if you're willing to increase their ranged attack as much as you can, then, you put them on the frontline and no enemy unit is safe anymore.
Gives the pathfinder skill to your other mercs (so you don't have to worry about new recruits not having it in their perk tree)
- Berserker : The destroyer of worlds, if you ever play on legendary difficulty; which you shouldn't except if you want to fight nimble Lindwurms and worse, i don't know what other perks Rock unholds get but i don't want to; you want to bring this guy to the party (or just play with the adventuring party).
One of his skill is a fearsome overhaul, whenever he kills, everyone around looses one mood level at least, worse, it's bugged right now (one of the last few) meaning it works every kill, even with multiple kills during a single AoE attack.
You can have everyone (in the skill radius) flee on turn one just by killing 2/3 enemies with one swing ...
Besides that, he's very offensive oriented and it's hard to increase his defense but he has an upgraded version of underdog in his perk tree (no bonus at all for enemies surrounding him, even with backstab).
It's not all, besides the nimble perk, there is a nudist perk adding another nimble stack but only when he's naked, no armor nor helm, 40% damage taken x 40% damage taken = 16% damage taken ...
It mean no armor nor helmet runes for him, still, you go full HP / attack and he's unstoppable, besides, his rage perk increases his damage depending on his missing health ...
Last but not least, he gives everyone the berserk perk, this guy is a monster.
- Seer : Start with a nice armor set fatigue free, she's a mage (i'm not sure but i think it can be a guy too).
Not a lot of skills compared to some others but a lot of new skills, it's easy to build her wrong.
Just focus on ini (basic magic missile damage, can go up to 200+ but only 20% penetration and armor damage or something like that), she need a lot of fatigue, max initiative, a lot of ranged skill, some ranged defense and a lot of morale if you go with mind over matter + perfect focus (first is a passive reducing the fatigue skill cost, the second one is an active skill doubling the fatigue cost but halving the AP cost ) which is a great way to get a damage burst when you need it before having to skip at least a turn resting. Later it can turn into a 2 turns burst + one turn to rest, morale boosts are legion, runes, equipment and even a nice necklace to craft.
Skills wise, you want to go chain lightning (VERY efficient against armored foes), teleport (why walking when it's cheaper and faster to just teleport ?), mind over matter and perfect focus, the rest is standard for a ranged unit, the cat summon is a nice gimmick but a gimmick nonetheless, daze can be nice against single powerful targets, and the fire aoe looks underwhelming but is known as the gheist bane (they die if they act inside the persisting aoe)
Gives the student perk to everyone.
- Adventuring party
All of the above except the warlock, they don't have their free skill for all perk, though and have slightly reduced starting attributes. great if you absolutely want to try the legendary difficulty (i advise against huge parties in this case, just go with an elite few and only recruits other brutes on the way (Sellsword, Swordmaster, hedge Knight, the Vala ...)
Other ones are self explanatory, most regular starts got some new traits/features with the mod on, which is nice too.
Some skills spoilers
Besides those already mentioned, there is a lot of new skills and cherry on top, you get more perks points to match the increased difficulty.
Your starting mercs will get 1 extra perk every other level after 11 (13, 15, ...) while other recruits will get one every 5 level (16, 21, ...)
Balance : Works somewhat like dodge. Get between 5 and 40 melee and ranged defense, maximum bonus when your body armor = twice your current initiative.
Looks like a hassle at first but it turns out it's quite fun to get the right build for it.
Matching Set : The iron Lungs trait as a perk with a catch, get 5 fat recovery per turn but -1 per 10 armor difference between body armor and helmet.
Interesting for fatigue hungry builds and quite fun to use along with matching set once you get a hold of the new legendary armors and crafts.
Double Tap (i can't remember the exact name) : +20% damage for the next hit after a successful blow, the bonus is lost after a miss.
Two perks giving +10% hit for Aoe for one and +10% damage for aoe for the other.
Piercing shot : Hit two targets with the same bolt, was extremely buggy (game crashes buggy) but it was fixed and you can even see which secondary target is going to get some. Works best with crossbows, increased AP cost with bows.
Favourite enemy perks : The more you kill of that "family", the more bonuses you get (nothing crazy but i already had +15% for both damage and hit chance late game. Every enemy has his own but not every recruit has them, some backgrount like the hunter or the wildman would get a lot of monster ones, grave digger/robber the undead ones as well as the monk, etc.
They also unlock legendary missions and features, favourite enemy swordmaster for example works like the lone-wolf feature, famous swordmen would appear regularly to fight you (1 vs 1 duel), they're extremely lethal ...
Battle flow : once per round, get a +15% of your base max fatigue for killing an enemy.
A lot of bleeding related perks, even one giving you fatigue regen x number of bleeding enemies, other to make them bleed and a passive adding your base attack bleeding chances when you're not full hp ...
And so on ...
Alpha monsters
Every monster type has an Alpha with new tricks, Skin ghoul (Nachos), white Wolf, rock unhold, Coven leaders (not just through an event), Redback spiders, even bears, undead dogs (more like horses) with a debilitating attack ...
There's also Bandit warlords, not only they're far more dangerous than bandit leaders, they take over at some point and brigands are not rabble anymore, instead, they're more dangerous than noble troops.
The good thing is each warlord drops 2 named items, even at 0% durability.
They're like a candy store (rewarding but lethal).
The Camp
This part helps the party to be more independent.
You can just rest, which boost the morale of the whole party if you camp enough, i'm not sure how many hours, it usually works from dusk early evening to morning/late morning, it takes some practice.
There is 10 functions and you can buy tools to upgrade them, they're quite expensive, from 2K to 10K approximately, the crafting and enchanting tools being the most expensive.
What you can do :
- Repair your equipment faster while camping
- Destroy some equipment to make repair tools
- Hunt, gather some fruits, with some new perks, you can even get some nice items here (2 different tents)
- Build some arrows/quarrels
- Heal faster or cure wounds (using medecine)
- Craft items (free taxidermist), takes a lot of time
- Create some runes (you need the Vala merc, joins through a random event is magic is enabled), takes even more time
The good new being you don't have to camp for that long in a row, the crafting/whatever queue will just take the craft back where it left it when you camp again as long as someone is affected to the tent.
Feedback on late game
That's clearly where the mod shine, not that early game sucks but it can make it harder before day 50 and it certainly makes it way more interesting after the first crisis is over.
With both (distance and equipment) scaling features on, late game will still be challenging.
There's a lot of monsters to hunt to get crafting ingredients for cool armors and helmets, you still get some perks, even if it slows down and there's a lot of different legendary quests.
Last but not least, if you want to go and explore, you can do so without running out of food and tools for a little while but mercs don't get a morale boost when they work so there is some interesting management decisions to make.
Last edited:
