advice wanted about soul drain skill

[fruithead]

i am playing a mage, right now i have 40 rage and lvl 1 rage skill (so i could potentially have another 20 rage) i am being offered the skill choice to improve soul drain to 40% which brings the price to 45 rage. after the second reduction in rage cost it will cost 35 rage. even if i don't take it now, i am wondering if it's ever going to be worth taking. even though 35 rage for 40% is a good value, right now i am at 30% for 20 rage, and i am able to consistently use soul drain in battles without a problem, despite the ridiculously slow speed at which mages gain rage. in fact, i almost always have enough rage left over from previous battles to open up with a soul drain right away.

although i think it's obvious that a mage will never be able to deal with the 50% stack damage rage cost, i still wonder, is it really worth the extra 10% stack damage to lock myself in to a 35 rage cost (and that's presuming i get offered the reduction, although i assume i will) for the rest of the game? also, part of my concern is that soul drain is obviously most effective at the beginning of a battle.

another point for consideration: is the xtra 10% good enough to warrant not being able to toss around this skill at will? now i almost always have enough rage to use it twice per battle IN ADDITION to any other rage skills i care to use. (i kind of like ice ball and gizmo) but an extra 15 rage cost would mean i will have to be a lot more frugal with my rage spending.

any help is appreciated!!

thank you!

[megajon]

I'd say keep it as is, but you might consider bumping it up if you get your hands on the spear that gives +20% rage generation, or a similar artifact.. also you might want to go ahead and increase that rage pool with talents, so you can take full advantage of using rage potions prefight.

[megajon]

I did some more fiddling with soul drain this time around... seems to me the smartest thing to do is... never take any of his talents that he offers you... so that every lvl up is an upgrade to soul drain.. until finally you get it up to something like recharge:1 rage:5 drain:60%

LOL... assuming it gets that good.. as a mage it's the only ability he has that I use... I drain the biggest stack then geyser or rain of fire it all down

[megajon]

well perhaps with the exception of time back... I still would take time back up a few notches, just to resurect royal thorns when they take a big hit.. but black hole is just way to rage heavy to support as a mage.

does his rage drain ability actually net you any rage from doing it?

[megajon]

it does infact net you some rage when you use it... so it's a good ability to use when you are just tryin to get all your rage spirits to have a check mark for being a part of the combat, so they will lvl up.

my next game tho, I am going to try and only take soul drain lvl ups and never choose to take another power.

it seemed to me that he only offers (when you only have 1 power): a lvl up for a current power, and a new power choice. The reaper has some damn good powers, but soul drain is arguably his best, and perhaps by only taking power ups for it, you can get it to do some amazing things.