Rate That Skill Day: Lifetaker!

[Volke29]

Today's Skill: Lifetaker!

The most epic thread ever created in the history of gaming forums was created yesterday (I joke). The community rated the Pass skill.

For the record, Assassins can use bows! =D

What did people say?

Well, out of 19 votes, the skill received a 3.6 score out of 10. Here are a few quotes from yesterday's thread:

"I really like pass, even if it is just the feeling of running circles around your enemies, even if it hurts you. You can use Pass offensively or defensively. There may be some better skills than this, but this is a pretty good ability. As noted earlier, this gets exponentially better when you are dealing with choke points, but it becomes situational if you are fighting on an open field. Unfortunately, open fields are frequent in this game, so Pass cannot be used to its greatest potential. Also, you will need the stats to back this up, so better be prepared for that." - KnightOfCalc

"Honestly I don't think I have ever used it, though I have had a couple characters obtain it. Very situational. Now if we had flanking where you had bonuses when attacking an enemy from the rear it may have been more useful. Or if the AI actually came at you in formation to protect its weaker units." - Usana

"Too impractical. It's definitely not worth being a Level 15 skill. The times when you'd want it are very few and far between." - PKL

"Not really useful. Might help getting treasure or a boss kill map but ... I'll pass on this skill." - Randa

ON TO TODAY'S SKILL: Lifetaker !!!

This is an idea borrowed from PKL’s RTU day. I thought this would create good discussion and would give beginners a “foundation” of how certain skills are perceived.

Rules are simple:

- Rate a skill, 1 through 10, on how effective you think it is. This includes grinding and everything.

- If you'd like, rate the skill on a pure run, no grinding or anything (please specify). Only the above will be factored in when averaging, however.

- All skills are rated based on playing on Hard Mode, classic.

- If you have bias, that’s OK. Skills don’t have personality, just state that your score is bias and why. (e.g. - You like how it looks.)

- When rating a skill, think of how valuable it is when using one of your five slots.

Anti-flame rules: (From PKL’s thread)

1. You will be given three strikes throughout the entire RTS about flaming and if you exceed three all your contributions up to that point and beyond it will be ignored.
2. Do not insult another person based on their opinion. (1 strike per occurrence)
3. Do not derail the thread with a useless argument in which you repeatedly make the same point. This not a debate thread. (1 strike per occurrence)
4. Do not try to start a flame war.

The above rules will be followed strictly in an attempt to keep this civilized.

If you want to take over this thread and are on these forums a lot please message me.

If you have some rules you’d like to see added to this, please message me. I do not want to derail today's thread.

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TODAY’S SKILL: Lifetaker

[Shadow Mir]

Errr, you might want to use one thread for this...

[CT075]

lifetaker is pretty bro

combining lifetaker with galeforce and renewal is actually the most hilarious self-healing in the game (second only to aversa's night/nosferatu)

8/10

Edited July 6, 2013 by CT075

[Cluie]

pretty bad,doesn't activate on EP,but dk isn't a bad class to get into so it's kind of helpful

6/10

also use one thread and do the unpromoted skills first imo

[shadykid]

yeah use one thread pls

anyway Lifetaker, Dark Knight is a pretty decent class with tomes and mounts and all that, Lifetaker itself is a decent self-heal, especially because you can heal off the damage from the enemy counterattack

6/10, one of the better skills ingame

[Melonhead]

Yeah, use one thread, or some kind of poll-based 5 rounds=one thread thing I was doing. Don't want to get the mods all ragey.

Lifetaker is helpful! It allows you to heal up to half of your health on an enemy kill, allowing for more durability going into the enemy phase. Heck, you can fully heal yourself when this is paired with a dance or Galeforce. Overall one of my favorite skills, but the downside is most attacks are going to be on the enemy phase.

7.5/10 with no bias for a 7.5/10

[Karasz]

7/10

Lifetaker is one of those skills that's good on units that have access to Mage, but don't have access to Dark Mage. It's useless for Dark Mages because of their access to Nosferatu and what-have-you. But it's a good skill to have if you're training a character. Lower level characters are bound to get damaged if you level-grind them, so this skill works out favorably for them, I'd say.

[Zerker]

LIFETAKER:

+Does not rely on the RNG (Directly)

+50% HP is steady for any unit

-Cannot activate during enemy phase, which is when you will most likely be taking the most damage and needing those heals

-Can only activate once (alone, without Galeforce)

6.5/10

I prefer to use Sol in it's place, myself.

[Shadow Mir]

5/10. Healing 50% of your HP is good, but it only activates on player phase, and if you're damaged enough that you need healing, an Elixir or a staff are generally safer.

[CT075]

lifetaker-rightfulking-galeforce-sol morgan is actually the greatest thing in the universe

make it sorc morgan and use aversa's night for even more hilarity

[Randa]

Life taker took over my life. For like an hour, then I realized that it was a mid use skill.

All in all its pretty good. Would be super OP if it was just every kill but you can restore all your health in one turn(assuming you have Galeforce) but yeah there are much better skills. 7/10

[Spirit]

I give Lifetaker a 7/10 since, as they stated before, it only activates on the player phase and it can only be used once or twice depending in if you have Galeforce or dance.

I personally prefer to use Sol since it's more useful in my opinion; but if a character does not have access to Sol, it is quite a decent skill.

[Batter the Beast]

Paired up with Galeforce, this skill is hilarious. It is still a good skill in its own right since it allows one to run into combat to heal themselves. Unfortunately, this only activates on player phase, so the character in question will be vulnerable while they are assaulted on enemy phase. Still puts a little ease on your staff users so they can heal others or rescue or whatever, but being a lvl 15 skill hurts its maingame usability.

6/10, one of the better skills out there, but there are better options

[PKL]

Ricken was invincible with this in my Ricken Hard mode solo (technically duo because Avatar pair up) 10/10

I think it's a nice skill. Good thing it only activates in Player Phase, because it'd be broken otherwise. Nice self healing that allows you to take down 1 enemy and not use your player phase for an elixir. 5/10

[Djing]

Nice healing skill ideal for killing glass cannon enemies like mages and assassins. It's also tied to the Dark Knight class which is probably objectively better than Sword Heroes and War Monks during the maingame. Healing skills aren't all that necessary postgame though. Lifetaker has wonderful synergy with Galeforce which is the postest of postgame skills.

6/10 +1 Bias

Edited July 6, 2013 by Spaceman Craig

[Volke29]

I thought this skill would be rated higher by the community. I personally love this skill. Couple it with Galeforce, Pass and a strong character and you're a one man wrecking crew.

Whenever I get a new (strong) skill, I have a hard time removing Lifetaker; gaining 50% HP is no joke and it makes similar skills look weak in comparison. This is great when you have low HP because you can kill anyone and get a large portion of your health back.

Not really a big fan of Nosfeartu (spelling?) because you have to be a Dark Mage (or wield tomes if you get the DLC) to use it and their stats are capped early.

Score: 8.5 / 10

Bias: 9/10

edit* grammar

Edited July 6, 2013 by Volke29

[raphaelol]

Pros

• Lifetaker is a great skill for any tank.

• Combined with Galeforce, it can clear out enemy units quickly.

Cons

• I prefer Renewal, since it guarantees you to heal.

• It does not activate on Enemy Phase, though this prevents it from being overpowered.

• It is a risky skill in Lunatic runs, since you have to deal with fighting enemy units to heal.

Lifetaker is a great skill for quick runs, but it can be risky in Lunatic mode. I prefer Renewal, but if Renewal isn't available, Lifetaker can still be an excellent asset for a tank.

8/10

[Prometheus]

+ Excellent synergy with Galeforce, Pass, and Wrath.

+ Could have significant synergy with Sol/Aether, Miracle, and Renewal.

+ Allows your healer(s) to turn their attention to other units in need. May reduce the number of healers needed in a group composition.

+ Removes the need for low to mid tier healing items on the unit (vulnerary and concoction) - will probably still want to carry an elixir for emergency full heals.

+ Heals the damage from the opponent's counter-attack.

+ Counters Counter, so long as the reflected damage isn't lethal.

- No benefit during the Enemy Turn, where lethal damage is most likely to occur.

- Can be risky to use - you must guarantee that your unit will not only survive the trade but also kill the unit.

7/10.

[Shadow Mir]

I thought this skill would be rated higher by the community. I personally love this skill. Couple it with Galeforce, Pass and a strong character and you're a one man wrecking crew.

Whenever I get a new (strong) skill, I have a hard time removing Lifetaker; gaining 50% HP is no joke and it makes similar skills look weak in comparison. This is great when you have low HP because you can kill anyone and get a large portion of your health back.

Not really a big fan of Nosfeartu (spelling?) because you have to be a Dark Mage (or wield tomes if you get the DLC) to use it and their stats are capped early.

Score: 8.5 / 10

Bias: 9/10

edit* grammar

Well, I agree Lifetaker's good, but not so good that it's a shoe-in for a skill slot. But that's just me. There's also the part where there's no guarantee there'll be an enemy to attack, and I also have to worry about losing even more health, or worse yet, dying if I decide to try to take advantage of Lifetaker.

Edited July 6, 2013 by Levant Fortner

[Sasori]

Life taker might not be the best healing skill (sol) or the most reliable (renewal), but healing is always nice to have and 50% is a pretty big amount of your total health.

It also has the benefit of making things just a little safer. Units with lifetaker have less to worry about in the players phase since they will heal 50% after their kill making sure that they will enter the enemy phase with enough health.

8/10 sounds good to.