Gloves of the destroyer

[Metathron]

I have two pieces that are supposedly part of this set - the crown of chaos and the student's belt, but there does not appear to be any info on the complete set. What gives?

[DGDobrev]

The part you're missing is the fire master's bracers. If it is present in your game and you find it, you will be able to assemble the combo artifact.

[Metathron]

What does the combo give you? Is it worth it?

[DGDobrev]

A good question.

The combo artifact gives +20% to the power of all spells and +10% fire, magic, poison and astral resistance.

In general, 20% power is like +4 intellect (4x5%), but as a mage, it is better to stack up on intellect rather than spell power due to the 7-point bonus of 15% (as you know each 7 points of intellect grant an additional +15% spell damage bonus). The resist bonuses are nice, just be sure to dismantle the artifact if you need magic or astral resistance in the upcoming battle.

[Zechnophobe]

Actually is the bonus from items to spell damage additive with intelligence, or multiplicative? I thought it was the later.

So if you have 30 int (.05 * 30 + .15 * 4) = 2.1 times greater damage, does an item giving +20% make it 2.3 (2.1 + .2) or 2.52 (2.1 * 1.2) ?

When I see different sources for a bonus like that, I generally assume the latter, but that may be in error.

[DGDobrev]

I also assume the latter. In KBAP calculations seem to be additive rather than multiplicative. I am uncertain as well but most fof the formulas are based on that, so logic dictates that this one is based on that as well.

I wish I hadn't completed all my mage games so that I can check which is better - +3 int or +15%, for example.

[KongMysen]

I just checked, and it seems its the latter..

I have a 44 intel mage right now, and I just bought the Crystal Helmet (+10% dmg), for the obvios reason of destroying it.
However I switched my poor Wizard's Hat for the Crystal helmet. In direct comparison it means I dropped to 42 intel but added 10% dmg.

I'm not a math student, so I'll leave the details to you guys, but my Fire Rain went from 3320-3795dmg with 44 intel to 3430 - 3920 with 42 intel and 10% dmg increase

Note that the difference could be even higher with more intel, or if I had no points in destuction (Which is maxed)

[DGDobrev]

Most interesting. -2 intellect should equal +10% damage increase if the formula is additive, but there seems to be about 3% difference between the minimum and maximum damage values.

[Zechnophobe]

So, it looks about right (Did you have destroyer skill?)

You'd be 3.1 times normal damage with 44 int, and 3.3 times normal damage with 42 int + 10%. So that means that we multiply the bonus' together instead of adding them. That actually means that they are a fair bit more effective then they look.

[Metathron]

Is it just me or are the bonuses of the composite artifact kinda underwhelming if not playing as mage? Except that it gives you two free slots to put other artifacts in, of course. I think I'll leave the artifact uncombined for now.

[pavned]

the composite artifact are only in the gift bag?

[DGDobrev]

Yes. They are probably the biggest addition to KBAP yet.

[Zechnophobe]

I guess, though they aren't horribly useful. The gloves require you give up your OMG crown of chaos, and the ring of light takes your sandals away. I just don't think the items are worth losing some of your better items for.

[DGDobrev]

Absolutely, but let's not forget that you can assemble and dismantle that artifact (it's gloves, but whatever) at will, so you practically lose nothing. Whenever you need the resistances, simply dismantle it :)

[Zechnophobe]

Hmm, I play very control oriented, and almost never rely on my spellbook for damage. Most of my games (even as a mage) have ~0% total damage from spellbook. So the Gloves seem like just me losing 5 mana and rage.