New Player Questions

[MinisterOfPropaganda]

New player here, started about a week or so ago. I have....questions. :)

Right now my main guy is a 4 star Carriage Rider Eddie. His basic attack (Present) says "Deals magic damage to all enemies" and his basic attack for Past also says "Deals magic damage to all enemies". I've noticed, though, that the second one (when switching to the Past) does far more damage, even though the description is the same. Is this a common thread that "Past" abilities are more powerful?

Most of the guides seem to be a bit old, so I'm not sure what information is trustworthy. I've seen in a couple places the statement that a 3 star toon that is evolved into a 4 star toon is less powerful than the same toon that is already 4 star. Is it a bad idea, then, to evolve toons at all? Or is it a matter of "sure, change that 3 star to a 4 star, but if you come across a 4 star one, swap it out for the new guy"? Along the same lines, I get the feeling that this does not apply to Talismans...and that leveling talismans is always beneficial, regardless of star level (though one that starts out at a higher star level will obviously require less resources to power up and evolve)

And finally, are there any Talismans that are just plain decent to have regardless? Right now I think my Carriage Rider Eddie is sporting a pair of predator talismans, a pair of Holy talismans, and a Health talisman. I generally pair him with a Pharaoh Dog King and a Sentinel Harpy.

[Wyphy]

I'm not an expert, but as there's no replies so far, I'll toss in a bit of info.

With the original characters, natural 4* were normally (always?) more powerful that an evolved, but with the newer stuff out in the last 6-12 months, that may not really be so true anymore. I'll let some others fill in on that.

When you're just starting, you really have to just take what you can get for talismans and level them as you can; they really make a big difference. Some types are not as useful generally (e.g. skilled type reds, sorcery type blues), but can be useful in certain situations.
While not up to date with the newer talismans (I don't know of anything that is), this post gives some info and locations for many of them : http://forum.ironmaidenlegacy.com/showthread.php?4789-Talisman-Location-Master-Post
Somewhere, there is a post showing the maxed stats for each subtype, I just don't have a link handy.

Building a team is, again, limited to what you can get when you're new, but generally try to look for synergies. Say you've got a character that gives charge on an attack, which boosts physical damage, not going to be useful if the rest of your team does magic damage.
I can't speak to whether it's a general trend where past/present/future skills are more powerful, but I do just know it's true with Carriage Rider. Perhaps someone else can toss in their observations.

[scott-5496]

I do not think there is any built in reason for past, present or future powers to be stronger than the next - I thin thew differences are in how they are used and what they get their hit from. Some are to do with the base stats alone while others feed off that plus base def or attack stats, mr or hp or some other buff on the character. In the early days I started to succeed more when I played to each characters dominance over another colour - I had not noted this early on that reds hit greens harder and greens hit blues harder etc so that is also important. Your tallies seem decent for the CR - I used him a lot in the first few months I played but that was over two years ago and a lot has changed since then. CR could do with an update to his powers and skills I think...always loved his Fury move though....


In terms of others stuff - farm as much as you can. Upgrade as much as you can but take care on what tallies you upgrade as they take a lot of time and resources to level up. Also, focus on the synergies that Wyphy mentioned. Early on a went with a full red team as I had a rocket dog and wickerman with my Samurai - they worked well together for me. My back up characters to that team were also mostly red. I then built up a blue team, green team ands so on so that I could get further in Lord of Light. Getting your teams to a stage where you can safely complete LOL X level on auto is a bit of a watershed moment as you can then hit upgrades quicker. Same goes for Brave New World - focus on the teams that will do you well in several areas if you can. For example if you have a six set of tallies have a few characters they can go on if you can or if you have a maxed set of tallies make sure that can swap to a few characters - destiny for example or echo, that sort of thing as they can really help over and above the more standard tallies (though they are stil important).

Hope that helps a little but do ask more questions on anything and I am sure one of us wil chime in.

Cheers

[4V1ct0ry]

Is this a common thread that "Past" abilities are more powerful?
Not that I have noticed. It depends on the Eddie's Skill set and the situation I would say.
I like to use the future skills for Bejamin and Piece Of Mind Ed for example.


Is it a bad idea, then, to evolve toons at all?
Since your in the beginning of the game I would say focus on the strongest first.
But keep in mind that its not about the 3, 4 or 5 start, its about the ability and usefulness of skills.
Also during the game you might require the toons that you haven't been using so far.
For the Gauntlet you can't have enough toons and for some missions & events certain skill sets are required.
So at least try to keep one of each character since you never know what is needed.
You might want to invest in expanding your slots (it requires 30 Ironite to expand 5 slots) along the time passes also.


And finally, are there any Talismans that are just plain decent to have regardless?
The green are always nice to have since it will boost your HP.
I always try to combine with the health (I have around 10 5* of those) or energy talisman depending on the open slots.


Hope that helps a bit.

[MinisterOfPropaganda]

Cool! Thanks for the input folks. I do have some synergy going with the pharaoh dog king. His special increases magic attacks for all allies by 80% so he tees him up and then Carriage Rider Eddie spikes them. :) The sentinel harpy plays clean up once in a while, but is mostly there because she was the only other 4 star toon I had. Last night, though, I picked up a couple of derby demons so I might look at giving those a shot. One of the folks on my trooper list has on as a champion and it seems pretty powerful.

[Cefiar]

One thing about evolving talismans (esp if you're early off in the game):

If you've got a 3* talisman at lvl 60 and have the evo runes to take it to 4*, then make sure you've got extra gold/runes to power up the talisman once you move it up a level to get it above the base (lvl 1) stats.

A 3* lvl 60 talisman will give better stats than a 4* lvl 1 talisman.

Same goes for a 4* lvl 80 talisman and a 5* lvl 1 talisman.

I can't remember for sure, but I think it's somewhere around lvl 10-15 that the talismans exceed the stats of the maxed talismans a level below them, tho it will vary based on the stat and the talisman.

eg: sometimes going from 3* -> 4* (or 4* -> 5* ) you get an extra stat bumped up that wasn't touched by the previous star level talisman. How useful that stat is, is relative, so keep that in mind too.

Edit: Same goes for character stats too when they go 3* -> 4* and 4* -> 5* too (tho evo shards and shards of course), FWIW.