Archived from groups: alt.games.neverwinter-nights (
More info?)
"Sheldon England" <sheldonengland@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:d586ac16.0405031550.1e94ca6b@posting.google.com...
> It is quite beneficial ... if you're a powerhouse.
>
> As a fighter/weapon master I have enjoyed using Whirlwind Attack when
> surrounded by big tough baddies. Great Cleave requires that you *drop*
> a foe to get a hit on the other targets. By Whirlwinding, I can make a
> good hit against all surrounding foes whether or not any of them
> actually drop. After the WA I have many weaker foes surrounding me
> that I can then dispatch with my friend ... Mr. Great Cleave.
>
> Whirlwind Attack (cool animation BTW) is not used as often (by me) as
> Great Cleave but it is worthwhile if you have the ranks. IMO.
>
>
> - Sheldon
I agree with alot of what you say, that seems to be my perspective of the WA
feat too. However, i would rather use all my attacks on 1 mob and kill him
quickly rather than damage alot of mobs slightly. If we take a closer look
at this optimal scenario where every attack is assumed "a hit":
x-x-x
x-o-x
x-x-x
x = Attacker
o = WA enabled hero
Whirlwind Tactic: There are 8 attackers. Say each have 2 attacks per round,
and have 40hps each. Lets say our hero makes average WA attacks that deals
10ish to each mob. He will have to do WA each round for 4 rounds to kill
them all (lets say he hits everytime). In this time, the attackers have made
64 attacks (8*2*4).
1rnd: 16 attacks made (mobs at 30hps)
2rnd: 16 attacks made (mobs at 20hps)
3rnd: 16 attacks made (mobs at 10hps)
4rnd: 16 attacks made (all mobs killed)
5rnd: loot em up
Standard Tactic: Our hero makes 3 attacks per round on 1 mob, maybe 4 if he
is dualwielding weapons (lets forget attack penalties for simplicity) like
my warrior usually does (i switch to shield if the mobs make nasty procs
like level drain etc). In 1 round you would kill 1 mob (lets say he does 10
dmg per swing) plus get a Great Cleave on another mob (also assume 10dmg on
a great cleave attack too).
1rnd: 16 attacks made (4 attacks = 1 mob killed + great cleave on next mob,
mob at 30hps) [1 dead]
2rnd: 14 attacks made (3 attacks = 1 mob killed + great cleave on next mob +
1 normal attack, mob at 20hps) [2 dead]
3rnd: 12 attacks made (2 attacks = 1 mob killed + great cleave on next mob +
2 normal attacks, mob at 10hps) [3 dead]
4rnd: 10 attacks made (1 attack = 1 mob killed + great cleave on next mob +
3 normal attacks, another mob killed + great cleave on next mob, mob at
30hps) [5 dead]
5rnd: 6 attacks made (3 attacks = 1 mob killed + great cleave on next mob +
1 normal attack, mob at 20hps) [6 dead]
6rnd: 4 attacks made (2 attacks = 1 mob killed + great cleave on next mob +
2 normal attacks, mob at 10hps) [7 dead]
7rnd: 2 attacks made (1 attack = 1 mob killed + smoke a phat joint with the
remaining time left in this round) [8 dead]
Which brings us to a total of 64 attacks made against our hero maximum using
just Great Cleave instead of Whirlwind. Ofcourse if we calculated Inititive
rolls and delays it would most likely be less than 64. In this scenario we
also played it in Whirlwinds favor by using attackers on all flanks, and it
still didn't outperform Great Cleave. If we played the same scenario with
only 5 attackers, Whirlwind tactics would yield 40 attacks made against
"hero", and Great Cleave feat would only give the attackers an oppurtunity
for 28 attacks (which is kinda a huge difference in the amount of damage our
hero would be taking).
There are a few things that where not taken into account here. Weapon
delays, initiatives, time of death within rounds. But these basics make
Whirlwind look very grim. The only thing Whirlwind has over using Great
Cleave and normal attacks is that Whirlwind is made at maximum attack bonus,
and you kill everything in shorter time, especially good if your momma is
yelling at you to get off the computer and go to bed etc. I'm not sure my
math is correct, or if i drank one too many beers, but this seems to be my
perception in game too... Whirlwind feat is nice to look at (cool graphics),
but in actuall combat situations it's just hype, unless your momma or GF are
nagging at you to hurry up and your HP bar isn't a problem. I think i gotta
look more at this situation. I almost never have 8 mobs surrounding me,
unless its orcs which usually die with 1 hit and that causes my hero to
cleave everything and slaughter everything within a round anyway. Maybe
Whirlwind was made as a meatcleaver so u could kill trashmobs faster to
reach the casters thats nuking away at you from a distance. I usually always
charge the casters first anyway, then slaughter the fighters.
IMO, they need to beef up whirlwind to make it more worthwhile using on the
computer (its easier in p&p to get flanked, because the mobs are aware of
eachother, in NWN AI, the creatures seem to not care whether their friends
are in melee range or not and block them out hehe). Or maybe i'm still
missing the point... comments are welcome.
PS: I still want my FPS mode NWN !!!! Grrr
UbeR
(Retired Everquest Player)
pie90974j8kn5fhblv14qs24ueboogh3f@4ax.com...
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