Magma almudron weakness
More than 50 miscellaneous items for OSE!
2023.06.05 04:40 ginzomelo More than 50 miscellaneous items for OSE!
2023.06.04 21:51 NamelessNanashi [The Gods of Dragons: Beginning] Ch 16 - Aftermath Part 1/2
--- Table of Contents ---
Autumn 4986, 16 Aoimoth
Shon slid down the side of a tree to the ground and watched the tower burn. Ivelm did a circle of it, dousing the surrounding trees with his water wand, while Nangran inspected the few bodies he could reach without burning himself. At one point, he tried to pull a corpse further from the fire only to have its arms snap off at the shoulder, meat pulling away from the bone like a well-cooked turkey.
Somewhere in the back of Shon’s mind, he knew he should be sickened by the sights and smells. When they first stepped through the portal, he‘d had to hold back retching from the scent of smoking hair and cooking flesh. Now he could hardly muster the energy to keep breathing. He took long and slow, but shallow breaths. As if he were about to fall asleep despite the horror before him.
So much death. Shon had never seen a dead person before. Though he wasn’t sure if these still counted, so blackened they could almost be mistaken for macabre statues... if it wasn’t for the smell.
“What was going on here ‘Elm?” Nangran demanded of Ivelm as the mage rounded the other side of the tower and rejoined them.
Ivelm sheathed his water wand, pulling forth the diamond-studded wand again. He didn’t answer.
Nangran growled, grabbing Ivelm's arm as it rose to point the wand toward the forest. The Archmage shook him off and spun, his robes fluttering around him as he gestured angrily at the fire, “I don’t know, Flintchest. This tower was supposed to be empty, abandoned. I’m the only Mage with authorization to set up in this area.” he pointed his wand over Shon’s shoulder and spat something indistinct. A rush of cool air flowed from behind accompanied by shouting and armor clanking. Knights running.
Shon rolled limply to the side, planning to stand but finding his arms shaking as he tried to push himself up. Boots stomped around him as Paladins flooded from the magical gate into the clearing. Shon managed to lift his head, though even his neck seemed to be rebelling against his attempts at holding himself up. His vision swimming, he saw Major General Selibra and Master Daunas step through the portal, their mouths agape.
Shon’s arms gave out from under him, and he fell to the side, hearing as if from a great distance, “Squire! Shon… Shon… Nangran, what happened?” From the ground he could see the girl, now wrapped in Nangran’s cloak, leaning against the side of his tree. When had they brought her there? Why hadn’t he noticed?
“He’s fine.” Ivelm’s voice, Shon couldn’t see anymore, so he closed his eyes, “He’ll wake up in a few days. Hell of a Sorcerer that one…” No… no, no, no... he wasn’t a Sorcerer. He was a Squire. He would be a Paladin… For a brief moment, a flicker of an image played in Shon's mind. He saw himself lying on the muddy ground, Master Daunas knelt by his head, and Ivelm spit off to the side. Then, only the sweet relief of darkness as he passed out.
***
“Any other survivors?” Sir Selibra’s soft voice drifted through the darkness.
“Only the girl,” Daunas whispered from nearby.
“I doubt she’s human,” Ivelm spoke loudly, and Shon flinched, his head pounding as the mage didn’t bother to keep his voice low, “No fire-resist spell should have lasted in that heat. Even fire Sorcerers can't survive melting stone.”
“She looks human.” a fourth voice, the Hamerfoss Cleric. Shon couldn’t move. The light filtering through his eyelids sent stabs of pain into his head, making it hard for him to concentrate. He tried to lift a hand to cover his eyes, but the limb wouldn’t obey his call.
“And a table looks like it’s made of wood but does that mean it’s still a tree?” Ivelm snorted, and something wet splattered on stone.
“Archmage, please, this is an infirmary…” the Cleric said, shocked.
The mage didn’t apologize and continued to speak at full volume, “Whatever was going on out there it wasn’t sanctioned by the Guild, and that girl has most certainly been subject to experimentation. Those scales? That hair?” he spat again.
“Archmage, please…”
“Let’s take this outside, shall we?” Sir Selibra said, and three pairs of boots thumped away, a door swinging open. Sir Selibra’s voice retreated as they left the infirmary still in conversation, “We have sent for the Temple and Guild. They should be here shortly.” The boots left, and the door closed again.
Only one pair of feet remained, shuffling around the room before the rustling of curtains being pulled closed accompanied the sweet relief of darkness. Shon steeled himself and forced his eyes to open just a crack. More pain. He closed them again, his ears ringing. With a slow breath, he tried again, blinking in the weak light filtered through the cloth covering infirmary window.
A groan slipped from his lips, and the Cleric rushed to his bedside, “Don’t try to sit up, Squire. You’re drained, but unhurt,” which seemed a direct contradiction to Shon’s pounding head. The Cleric continued, “After a bit of sleep, you should be fine…” Shon let his head fall to the side, wanting to look away from the window, and saw a second bed, where a girl with golden hair slept.
“It happens to Paladins too, you know. You have to be careful not to expend too much of your own energy when casting magic…” the Cleric continued to talk, busying himself by checking Shon's vitals, “It’s inevitable, but with practice, you can mitigate some of the effects…” She was the only survivor, and she had been experimented on… “After you take your Oath, you'll receive training in divine magic…” even if she was okay physically, would she be alright mentally?... “For now, just rest. You did well. It’s thanks to you the girl got out alive…”
Shon closed his eyes. Thanks to him? Nangran had seen the smoke, Ivelm had taken them there. He… he hadn’t known what to do, had frozen at the sights and smells. He'd formed a path of ice, but the girl hadn’t been burning… Her feet had melted his ice... Shon let himself drift back to sleep. He wasn’t a hero. Not yet.
***
The tower was supposed to be empty. General Rasnah and the Mages Guild had combed through their records finding that the building had been abandoned over fifty years ago; when the old alchemist living there passed away. Archmage Ivelm reported that he'd surveyed the tower twenty years previous, before setting up his lab miles further south.
“Having a tower like that is practically begging for wanna-be-apprentices to come interrupt you. Looking for a teacher and free room.” he'd explained, with obvious disgust at the idea, even spitting on the floor of Sir Selibra’s office.
Sir Rasnah personally led the Temple Paladins and Guild Mages through a gate from Smilnda to Hamerfoss and from there to the ruins of the mysterious tower. Mages and Paladins crawled together over the still-smoking remains, now a mear hill. Trying to break apart the stones that had melted together and find anything that could explain what had happened here. Bodies covered in white cloth lay in lines along the edge of the forest, ten in total, though how many had been trapped in the tower was still unknown.
The Clerics of Lune would identify the bodies, though she wished they could do more than just give names. It would take months, possibly years, to scour the records to determine who these poor souls had been in life. And more years besides to track their movements through the meticulous paperwork kept by the kingdom.
She could practically hear Veon-Zih snickering at her, ‘Silly Ras, you gave up the battlefield of blood and stone for one of words and paper…’ she shook her head, banishing thoughts of the Monk. This work would be just as important. How else would those fighting the physical battles find their enemies without information and resources? And yet… She rested her hand on her sword with a sigh, “Some retirement…”
“Sir Rasnah,” a female Mage with dark hair and tan skin approached from the tower, “We found the basement…” she looked over her slumped shoulders back at the pile of melted rock.
“Not as promising a find as we'd hoped?” Rasnah asked, arching her steely eyebrow at the Mage. What had her name been? Vevi…
To her credit, the woman straightened her shoulders and answered clearly, “Oftentimes, we learn as much from a rejected hypothesis as a failed-to-be-rejected hypothesis.” As Rasnah tried to wrap her mind around what in the hells that meant, the Mage continued, “We had hoped that the basement level would be relatively unscathed as heat should rise to destroy the upper levels and possibly spare the lower…”
Those were words the Paladin understood at least, but they implied bad news, “And that wasn’t the case?”
The Mage sighed, “It was. The fire behaved as fire always does, barring external influence,”
“Mage Vevi, I admire your Guild's desire for specificity, but please, get to the point.”
Vevi blinked then shook herself, saying, “Evidence suggests that the fire started in the basement and that the heat there was far greater than we assumed.” Rasnah arched an eyebrow at the woman again and the Mage threw her hands into the air, “It looks more like a cavern carved by pure magma. Nothing but melted stones remain in the form of caves we can only guess were originally rooms.”
“Damn,” Rasnah gripped her sword and glared past the Mage toward the tower, “So we have no way of knowing what they were doing.” The girl still hadn’t woken up. What were the chances that she had any information of value? Archmage Ivelm was convinced that she'd been the subject of magical experimentation. Would those who had abused her also give her information?
“We have one way,” Vevi interrupted Rasnah’s worries, and the Paladin focused on her again. The Mage turned away, motioning to some of her fellows standing near the bodies. An old man with a bent back and shuffling gait split from the group and approached slowly. Rasnah had to resist the urge to walk to him just to speed up the process.
“Sir Rasnah, this is Archmage Meshed, our divination master.” Vevi introduced the old man while he was still a few steps away, “There is a chance we will be able to obtain some information from the tower remains. Though I’m afraid it might not be as clear and concise as you wish. Divination often creates more questions than answers.”
“I am well acquainted with the frustrations of interpreting symbols and signs…” Rasnah led, unsure of the value in this new idea. Arcane magic didn't get its power from a higher intelligence or any god, it utilized the natural magic and energies running through the world and every object in it, manipulating them with precise words and symbols directed by human will. It was all well over her head.
Meshed’s laugh turned into a dry cough. He cleared his throat, “I think you will find, Mage Vevi, Sir Paladin, that the information I will glean from this place to be far more clear and concise than you are accustomed to. It simply won’t be as complete as you wish.”
With a groan and many popping joints, he sat down on the ground, fishing through his robes and pulling out a small bag. From it, he withdrew a massive tome and a silk cloth that Vevi quickly helped spread on the ground before him. Next came a censor and many jars of herbs and incense, which, after checking his book, he carefully measured before pouring into the censor.
He waved a hand towards the tower without looking up from his work, “Stones, please, Vevi. Choose wisely, I don’t want to do this all day…” Despite being a senior Mage, well on her way to Archmage, Vevi rushed off towards the tower herself and eventually returned with two fist-sized stones.
“One from the upper floors and one from the basement, Meshed,” she explained, handing them to the Divination Master. Meshed pulled a set of brass scales from his small pouch, measuring the stones and muttering to himself as he adjusted the volume of herbs in the censor.
He placed the first stone with the herbs, and his eyes glazed over, “A light if you will.” Vevi performed some complicated motion with her hands, flicking her fingers forward at the end with a muttered word. A spark of flame appeared over the censor, lowering onto the herbs and setting them alight. Smoke billowed in a gray noxious cloud, and Rasnah covered her nose as Meshed began to chant.
He ran his hand through the smoke, which wrapped around his fingers, and continued skyward. “No divine magic was cast here…” he mumbled, moving his hand again. The smoke shifted above his fingers as they passed, creating images of people in robes leaning over books, “Arcane magic…” Obviously. Still, for some reason, his brow furrowed. He passed his hand through again, and the smoke turned nearly black. Before Rasnah could make out any shapes Meshed pulled his hand away and shook it violently before rubbing it on his robe, “Warlocks, Sir Paladin.”
“Damn.” Rasnah smothered more colorful curses and managed a half step closer, “What were they doing, Archmage?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he chanted a new spell, and his hand glowed with a soft red light. Reaching into the censor, he plucked out the stone and replaced it with the second. The smoke again turned gray and rose lazily into the air. Once again, he passed his hand through the flowing tendrils, and once again, they turned black. He shook his head, “Obviously… damnation… what to ask… what to ask…” He seemed to settle on something, muttering, “The fire, tell me about the fire…” he ran his fingers through the smoke. Flames leaped from the censor, the smoke turning red and billowing out before them.
Rasnah stepped back as great smoke wings spread wide, illuminated from below by flames. A horned head atop a sinuous neck stretched for the heavens and Meshed scrambled to his feet. Vevi kicked the censor over, spreading burning debris across the silk to smolder, releasing tiny lines of, blessedly, normal smoke.
“What was that? A wyvern?” Rasnah asked, her heart in her throat.
Meshed coughed his dry cough and shook his head. Vevi stared at the upturned censor with wide eyes. “Much worse, Sir Rasnah,” the Mage whispered, “A dragon.”
“It was dragon fire that destroyed this tower,” Meshed confirmed.
***
--- Part 2/2 ---
--- Table of Contents ---
Thanks for making it this far, you are the real MVP
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Autumn 4986, 16 Aoimoth
Shon slid down the side of a tree to the ground and watched the tower burn. Ivelm did a circle of it, dousing the surrounding trees with his water wand, while Nangran inspected the few bodies he could reach without burning himself. At one point, he tried to pull a corpse further from the fire only to have its arms snap off at the shoulder, meat pulling away from the bone like a well-cooked turkey.
Somewhere in the back of Shon’s mind, he knew he should be sickened by the sights and smells. When they first stepped through the portal, he‘d had to hold back retching from the scent of smoking hair and cooking flesh. Now he could hardly muster the energy to keep breathing. He took long and slow, but shallow breaths. As if he were about to fall asleep despite the horror before him.
So much death. Shon had never seen a dead person before. Though he wasn’t sure if these still counted, so blackened they could almost be mistaken for macabre statues... if it wasn’t for the smell.
“What was going on here ‘Elm?” Nangran demanded of Ivelm as the mage rounded the other side of the tower and rejoined them.
Ivelm sheathed his water wand, pulling forth the diamond-studded wand again. He didn’t answer.
Nangran growled, grabbing Ivelm's arm as it rose to point the wand toward the forest. The Archmage shook him off and spun, his robes fluttering around him as he gestured angrily at the fire, “I don’t know, Flintchest. This tower was supposed to be empty, abandoned. I’m the only Mage with authorization to set up in this area.” he pointed his wand over Shon’s shoulder and spat something indistinct. A rush of cool air flowed from behind accompanied by shouting and armor clanking. Knights running.
Shon rolled limply to the side, planning to stand but finding his arms shaking as he tried to push himself up. Boots stomped around him as Paladins flooded from the magical gate into the clearing. Shon managed to lift his head, though even his neck seemed to be rebelling against his attempts at holding himself up. His vision swimming, he saw Major General Selibra and Master Daunas step through the portal, their mouths agape.
Shon’s arms gave out from under him, and he fell to the side, hearing as if from a great distance, “Squire! Shon… Shon… Nangran, what happened?” From the ground he could see the girl, now wrapped in Nangran’s cloak, leaning against the side of his tree. When had they brought her there? Why hadn’t he noticed?
“He’s fine.” Ivelm’s voice, Shon couldn’t see anymore, so he closed his eyes, “He’ll wake up in a few days. Hell of a Sorcerer that one…” No… no, no, no... he wasn’t a Sorcerer. He was a Squire. He would be a Paladin… For a brief moment, a flicker of an image played in Shon's mind. He saw himself lying on the muddy ground, Master Daunas knelt by his head, and Ivelm spit off to the side. Then, only the sweet relief of darkness as he passed out.
***
“Any other survivors?” Sir Selibra’s soft voice drifted through the darkness.
“Only the girl,” Daunas whispered from nearby.
“I doubt she’s human,” Ivelm spoke loudly, and Shon flinched, his head pounding as the mage didn’t bother to keep his voice low, “No fire-resist spell should have lasted in that heat. Even fire Sorcerers can't survive melting stone.”
“She looks human.” a fourth voice, the Hamerfoss Cleric. Shon couldn’t move. The light filtering through his eyelids sent stabs of pain into his head, making it hard for him to concentrate. He tried to lift a hand to cover his eyes, but the limb wouldn’t obey his call.
“And a table looks like it’s made of wood but does that mean it’s still a tree?” Ivelm snorted, and something wet splattered on stone.
“Archmage, please, this is an infirmary…” the Cleric said, shocked.
The mage didn’t apologize and continued to speak at full volume, “Whatever was going on out there it wasn’t sanctioned by the Guild, and that girl has most certainly been subject to experimentation. Those scales? That hair?” he spat again.
“Archmage, please…”
“Let’s take this outside, shall we?” Sir Selibra said, and three pairs of boots thumped away, a door swinging open. Sir Selibra’s voice retreated as they left the infirmary still in conversation, “We have sent for the Temple and Guild. They should be here shortly.” The boots left, and the door closed again.
Only one pair of feet remained, shuffling around the room before the rustling of curtains being pulled closed accompanied the sweet relief of darkness. Shon steeled himself and forced his eyes to open just a crack. More pain. He closed them again, his ears ringing. With a slow breath, he tried again, blinking in the weak light filtered through the cloth covering infirmary window.
A groan slipped from his lips, and the Cleric rushed to his bedside, “Don’t try to sit up, Squire. You’re drained, but unhurt,” which seemed a direct contradiction to Shon’s pounding head. The Cleric continued, “After a bit of sleep, you should be fine…” Shon let his head fall to the side, wanting to look away from the window, and saw a second bed, where a girl with golden hair slept.
“It happens to Paladins too, you know. You have to be careful not to expend too much of your own energy when casting magic…” the Cleric continued to talk, busying himself by checking Shon's vitals, “It’s inevitable, but with practice, you can mitigate some of the effects…” She was the only survivor, and she had been experimented on… “After you take your Oath, you'll receive training in divine magic…” even if she was okay physically, would she be alright mentally?... “For now, just rest. You did well. It’s thanks to you the girl got out alive…”
Shon closed his eyes. Thanks to him? Nangran had seen the smoke, Ivelm had taken them there. He… he hadn’t known what to do, had frozen at the sights and smells. He'd formed a path of ice, but the girl hadn’t been burning… Her feet had melted his ice... Shon let himself drift back to sleep. He wasn’t a hero. Not yet.
***
The tower was supposed to be empty. General Rasnah and the Mages Guild had combed through their records finding that the building had been abandoned over fifty years ago; when the old alchemist living there passed away. Archmage Ivelm reported that he'd surveyed the tower twenty years previous, before setting up his lab miles further south.
“Having a tower like that is practically begging for wanna-be-apprentices to come interrupt you. Looking for a teacher and free room.” he'd explained, with obvious disgust at the idea, even spitting on the floor of Sir Selibra’s office.
Sir Rasnah personally led the Temple Paladins and Guild Mages through a gate from Smilnda to Hamerfoss and from there to the ruins of the mysterious tower. Mages and Paladins crawled together over the still-smoking remains, now a mear hill. Trying to break apart the stones that had melted together and find anything that could explain what had happened here. Bodies covered in white cloth lay in lines along the edge of the forest, ten in total, though how many had been trapped in the tower was still unknown.
The Clerics of Lune would identify the bodies, though she wished they could do more than just give names. It would take months, possibly years, to scour the records to determine who these poor souls had been in life. And more years besides to track their movements through the meticulous paperwork kept by the kingdom.
She could practically hear Veon-Zih snickering at her, ‘Silly Ras, you gave up the battlefield of blood and stone for one of words and paper…’ she shook her head, banishing thoughts of the Monk. This work would be just as important. How else would those fighting the physical battles find their enemies without information and resources? And yet… She rested her hand on her sword with a sigh, “Some retirement…”
“Sir Rasnah,” a female Mage with dark hair and tan skin approached from the tower, “We found the basement…” she looked over her slumped shoulders back at the pile of melted rock.
“Not as promising a find as we'd hoped?” Rasnah asked, arching her steely eyebrow at the Mage. What had her name been? Vevi…
To her credit, the woman straightened her shoulders and answered clearly, “Oftentimes, we learn as much from a rejected hypothesis as a failed-to-be-rejected hypothesis.” As Rasnah tried to wrap her mind around what in the hells that meant, the Mage continued, “We had hoped that the basement level would be relatively unscathed as heat should rise to destroy the upper levels and possibly spare the lower…”
Those were words the Paladin understood at least, but they implied bad news, “And that wasn’t the case?”
The Mage sighed, “It was. The fire behaved as fire always does, barring external influence,”
“Mage Vevi, I admire your Guild's desire for specificity, but please, get to the point.”
Vevi blinked then shook herself, saying, “Evidence suggests that the fire started in the basement and that the heat there was far greater than we assumed.” Rasnah arched an eyebrow at the woman again and the Mage threw her hands into the air, “It looks more like a cavern carved by pure magma. Nothing but melted stones remain in the form of caves we can only guess were originally rooms.”
“Damn,” Rasnah gripped her sword and glared past the Mage toward the tower, “So we have no way of knowing what they were doing.” The girl still hadn’t woken up. What were the chances that she had any information of value? Archmage Ivelm was convinced that she'd been the subject of magical experimentation. Would those who had abused her also give her information?
“We have one way,” Vevi interrupted Rasnah’s worries, and the Paladin focused on her again. The Mage turned away, motioning to some of her fellows standing near the bodies. An old man with a bent back and shuffling gait split from the group and approached slowly. Rasnah had to resist the urge to walk to him just to speed up the process.
“Sir Rasnah, this is Archmage Meshed, our divination master.” Vevi introduced the old man while he was still a few steps away, “There is a chance we will be able to obtain some information from the tower remains. Though I’m afraid it might not be as clear and concise as you wish. Divination often creates more questions than answers.”
“I am well acquainted with the frustrations of interpreting symbols and signs…” Rasnah led, unsure of the value in this new idea. Arcane magic didn't get its power from a higher intelligence or any god, it utilized the natural magic and energies running through the world and every object in it, manipulating them with precise words and symbols directed by human will. It was all well over her head.
Meshed’s laugh turned into a dry cough. He cleared his throat, “I think you will find, Mage Vevi, Sir Paladin, that the information I will glean from this place to be far more clear and concise than you are accustomed to. It simply won’t be as complete as you wish.”
With a groan and many popping joints, he sat down on the ground, fishing through his robes and pulling out a small bag. From it, he withdrew a massive tome and a silk cloth that Vevi quickly helped spread on the ground before him. Next came a censor and many jars of herbs and incense, which, after checking his book, he carefully measured before pouring into the censor.
He waved a hand towards the tower without looking up from his work, “Stones, please, Vevi. Choose wisely, I don’t want to do this all day…” Despite being a senior Mage, well on her way to Archmage, Vevi rushed off towards the tower herself and eventually returned with two fist-sized stones.
“One from the upper floors and one from the basement, Meshed,” she explained, handing them to the Divination Master. Meshed pulled a set of brass scales from his small pouch, measuring the stones and muttering to himself as he adjusted the volume of herbs in the censor.
He placed the first stone with the herbs, and his eyes glazed over, “A light if you will.” Vevi performed some complicated motion with her hands, flicking her fingers forward at the end with a muttered word. A spark of flame appeared over the censor, lowering onto the herbs and setting them alight. Smoke billowed in a gray noxious cloud, and Rasnah covered her nose as Meshed began to chant.
He ran his hand through the smoke, which wrapped around his fingers, and continued skyward. “No divine magic was cast here…” he mumbled, moving his hand again. The smoke shifted above his fingers as they passed, creating images of people in robes leaning over books, “Arcane magic…” Obviously. Still, for some reason, his brow furrowed. He passed his hand through again, and the smoke turned nearly black. Before Rasnah could make out any shapes Meshed pulled his hand away and shook it violently before rubbing it on his robe, “Warlocks, Sir Paladin.”
“Damn.” Rasnah smothered more colorful curses and managed a half step closer, “What were they doing, Archmage?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he chanted a new spell, and his hand glowed with a soft red light. Reaching into the censor, he plucked out the stone and replaced it with the second. The smoke again turned gray and rose lazily into the air. Once again, he passed his hand through the flowing tendrils, and once again, they turned black. He shook his head, “Obviously… damnation… what to ask… what to ask…” He seemed to settle on something, muttering, “The fire, tell me about the fire…” he ran his fingers through the smoke. Flames leaped from the censor, the smoke turning red and billowing out before them.
Rasnah stepped back as great smoke wings spread wide, illuminated from below by flames. A horned head atop a sinuous neck stretched for the heavens and Meshed scrambled to his feet. Vevi kicked the censor over, spreading burning debris across the silk to smolder, releasing tiny lines of, blessedly, normal smoke.
“What was that? A wyvern?” Rasnah asked, her heart in her throat.
Meshed coughed his dry cough and shook his head. Vevi stared at the upturned censor with wide eyes. “Much worse, Sir Rasnah,” the Mage whispered, “A dragon.”
“It was dragon fire that destroyed this tower,” Meshed confirmed.
***
--- Part 2/2 ---
--- Table of Contents ---
Thanks for making it this far, you are the real MVP
2023.06.03 18:45 gamerking272 Todays finds from my locals 🥰
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2023.06.01 18:13 Gerald_Ghost Which build? The first is weak to energy mechs but has good damage output, the second does lower damage per cycle but overheats well, should I trade out the heat bomb for the magma recoiler?
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2023.06.01 17:15 Substantial_Break764 Inspired by the concept for a Monster Hunter x Pokémon HGSS rom hack, I made typings for what i'm pretty sure is all the non-Frontier or Explore monsters!
Credit goes to u/Momo_Best_Girl for the original concept. And yes, i know, i included a FEW monsters from those two wacky games. I had to, they were on the wiki list lmao...now enjoy 4 hours of work!
Acidic Glavenus: Steel/Poison
Aknosom: Normal/Fire
Alatreon: Dragon
Almudron: Ground/Water
Altaroth: Bug/Water
Amatsu: WateDragon
Anjanath: Fire
Anteka: Normal
Apceros: Ground
Aptonoth: Normal/Ground
Arzuros: Normal/Dark
Aurora Somnacanth: Ice/Water
Astalos: Electric/Dragon
Azure Rathalos: Fire/Flying
Baggi: Ice/Normal
Banbaro: Ice
Barioth: Ice/Flying
Barnos: Flying
Barroth: WateGround
Basarios: Rock/Ground
Bazelgeuse: Fire/Flying
Behemoth: Dark
Beotodus: Ice/Ground
Berserk Laviente: Dragon/Rock
Bishaten: Poison/Grass OR Electric/Normal
Blackviel Vaal Hazak: Ghost
Blango/Blangonga: Ice/Fighting
Black Diablos: Ground/Fighting
Bloodbath Diablos: Dark
Bnahabra: Bug/Electric
Boggi: Ground
Boltreaver Astalos: Electric/Dragon
Brachydios: Fighting/Rock
Breeding Season Hypnocatrice: Psychic/Normal
Brute Tigrex: Dark/Ground
Bulldrome: Fighting/Normal
Bullfango: Normal
Caesarber: Ground/Normal
Canyne: Normal
Ceanatuar: Poison/Water
Cephadrome: Ground/Water
Cephalos: Ground
Chameleos: Poison/Dragon
Chaotic Gore Magala: ???
Conflagaration Rathian: Poison/Grass
Conga: Normal
Congala: Normal/Fighting
Coral Pukei-Pukei: WateFlying
Crimson Fatalis: Dragon/Fire
Crimson Glow Valstrax: Dragon/Flying
Crystal Basarios: Ground/Rock
Daimyo Hermitaur: WateRock
Delex: Ground/Water
Deviljho: Dark/Dragon
Diablos: Ground
Dodogama: Fire/Rock
Dreadking Rathalos: Fire/Dark
Dreadking Rathian: Poison/Fairy
Ebony Odogaron: Ghost/Dark
Elemental Merphistophelin: Fire/Dragon
Espinas: Fire/Grass
Fatalis: Dragon
Felyne: Normal
Flaming Espinas: Fire/Grass
Four Heavenly Kings Deviljho: Fire/Fairy
Frostfang Barioth: Ice/Flying
Fulgur Anjanath: Electric/Fighting
Furious Rajang: Electric/Fighting
Gaismagorm: ???
Gaiju: Water
Gammoth: Ice
Garangolm: Ground/Grass (When its ability activates, changes to Fire/Water)
Gargwa: Flying
Gendrome: Electric/Fighting
Genprey: Electric
Ghost Caesarber: Normal/Ground
Giadrome: Ice/Fighting
Giaprey: Ice
Girros: Electric/Dark
Glavenus: Steel/Fire
Gold Rathian: Steel/Poison
Gore Magala: ???
Goss Harag: Ice
Great Bagggi: Ice
Great Girros: Electric/Dark
Great Izuchi: Fighting
Great Jaggi: Normal
Great Maccao: Fighting
Great Jagras: Dark
Great Wroggi: Poison
Grimalkyne: Normal/Dark
Grimclaw Tigrex: Dark/Fighting
I have a Hunterdex entry for this one.
"A rare version of Tigrex, with pulsing red viens and a light blue colour to its head and forearms. The only thing the beast cares about is lust for violence. It will spend whole weeks roaming the area, slaying anything that dares wander close."
Gypceros: Electric/Poison
That One Gypceros From Frontier That Thernomuclear Bombs You: Fire/Electric
Hellblade Glavenus: Fire/Steel
Hermitaur: Rock
Hornetaur: Bug/Dark
Iodrome: Poison/Fighting
Ioprey: Poison
Izuchi: Fighting
Jaggi: Normal
Jaggia: Normal/Dark
Jagras: Dark
Jyuratodus: WateGround
Kelbi: Normal
Kestodon: Ground
Khezu: Electric/Ghost
Kirin: Electric/Dragon
Konchu: Steel/Bug
Kulu-Ya-Ku: Rock/Fighting
Kulve Taroth: Steel/Fairy OR Steel/Dragon
Kushala Daora: Ice/Dragon
Lagiacrus: WateElectric
Lagombi: Ice
Larinoth: Grass/Dragon
Lavasioth: Fire/Ground
Legiana: Ice/Flying
Lucent Nargacuga: Poison/Dark
Ludroth: Water
Lunagaron: Ice/Fighting
Lunastra: Ice/Fire
Maccao: Fighting
Magma Almudron: Fire/Water
Magnamalo: Ghost/Fire
Malfestio: Psychic/Flying
Malzeno: Psychic/Dragon
Melynx: Dark
Mizutsune: Water
Mosswine: Grass
Najarala: Dragon/Rock
Namielle: WateElectric
Nargacuga: Dark/Fighting
Nergigante: Steel/Dragon
Nercyslla: Bug/Steel
Nibelsnarf: Ground
Nightcloak Malfestio: Psychic/Dark
Nightshade Paolumu: Dark/Fairy
Odogaron: Dark/Fighting
One-Eared Yian Garuga: Poison/Flying
Paolumu: Fairy/Flying
Pink Rathian: Fire/Poison
Plesioth: Water
Popo: Ice
Pukei-Pukei: Poison/Flying
Pyrantula: Fire/Bug
Pyre-Rakna-Kadaki: Fire/Bug
Qurupeco: Flying/Psychic
Rachnoid: Bug
Radobaan: Steel/Rock
Raging Brachydios: Fire/Rock
Rajang: Electric/Dark
Rakna-Kadaki: Bug/Steel
Rathalos: Fire/Flying
Rathian: Poison/Flying
Red Khezu: Electric/Fire
Redhelm Arzuros: Dark/Fighting
Remobra: Poison/Dark
Rhenoplos: Rock/Steel
All Risen Monsters: Poison/Dragon (their ability will give them STAB on types they should have, like Poison for Chameleos or Ice for Daora)
Royal Ludroth: WateFairy
Ruiner Nergigante: Steel/Dragon
Rusted Kushula Daora: Ice/Dragon
Rustrazor Shogun Ceanataur: Steel/Rock
Safi'jiiva: Dragon/Fire
Savage Deviljho: Fighting/Dark
Scorned Magnamalo: Ghost/Fire
Seething Bazelgeuse: Fire/Flying
Seregios: Steel/Flying
Shagaru Magala: Dragon/Fairy
Shamos: WateNormal
Shattered Monoblos: Ground/Fighting
Shogun Ceanataur: Steel/Water
Shrieking Legiana: Ice/Flying
Silver Rathalos: Steel/Fire`
Silverwind Nargacuga: Poison/Fighting
Slagoth: WateNormal
Snowbaron Lagombi: Ice/Fighting
Somnacanth: WateFairy
Soulseer Mizutsune (IS THAT SANS UNDERTALE BUT MIZUTSUNE?????): WatePsychic
Stonefist Hermitaur: Steel/Rock
Stygian Zinogre: Electric/Ghost
Swordsmaster Shogun Ceanatuar: Steel/Water OR Steel/Rock
Teostra: Fire/Dragon
Tetranadon: WateGrass
Tetsucabra: Rock/Steel
Narwa: Electric/???
Narwa The Allmother: Dragon/Electric
Tigrex: Ground/Fighting
Tzitzi-Ya-Ku: Electric
Urugaan: Rock/Fire
Uroktor: Fire/Ground
Vaal Hazak: Ghost/Dragon
Valstrax: Dragon
Velkhana: Ice/Dragon
Velocidrome: Fighting
Velociprey: Fighting
Vespoid: Electric/Bug
Violent Laviente: Dragon/Fire
Violet Mizutsune: Fire/Water
Viper-Tobi-Kadachi: Poison
Volvidon: Rock
White Fatalis: Dragon
Ibushi: Psychic/???
Wroggi: Poison
Xeno'jiiva: Fire/Dragon
Yian Garuga: Poison/Flying
Yian Kut-Ku: Fire/Flying
Zamite: WateSteel
Zamtrios: Water
Zinogre: Electric
Zorah Magdaros: Fire/Rock
submitted by Substantial_Break764 to MonsterHunter [link] [comments]
Acidic Glavenus: Steel/Poison
Aknosom: Normal/Fire
Alatreon: Dragon
Almudron: Ground/Water
Altaroth: Bug/Water
Amatsu: WateDragon
Anjanath: Fire
Anteka: Normal
Apceros: Ground
Aptonoth: Normal/Ground
Arzuros: Normal/Dark
Aurora Somnacanth: Ice/Water
Astalos: Electric/Dragon
Azure Rathalos: Fire/Flying
Baggi: Ice/Normal
Banbaro: Ice
Barioth: Ice/Flying
Barnos: Flying
Barroth: WateGround
Basarios: Rock/Ground
Bazelgeuse: Fire/Flying
Behemoth: Dark
Beotodus: Ice/Ground
Berserk Laviente: Dragon/Rock
Bishaten: Poison/Grass OR Electric/Normal
Blackviel Vaal Hazak: Ghost
Blango/Blangonga: Ice/Fighting
Black Diablos: Ground/Fighting
Bloodbath Diablos: Dark
Bnahabra: Bug/Electric
Boggi: Ground
Boltreaver Astalos: Electric/Dragon
Brachydios: Fighting/Rock
Breeding Season Hypnocatrice: Psychic/Normal
Brute Tigrex: Dark/Ground
Bulldrome: Fighting/Normal
Bullfango: Normal
Caesarber: Ground/Normal
Canyne: Normal
Ceanatuar: Poison/Water
Cephadrome: Ground/Water
Cephalos: Ground
Chameleos: Poison/Dragon
Chaotic Gore Magala: ???
Conflagaration Rathian: Poison/Grass
Conga: Normal
Congala: Normal/Fighting
Coral Pukei-Pukei: WateFlying
Crimson Fatalis: Dragon/Fire
Crimson Glow Valstrax: Dragon/Flying
Crystal Basarios: Ground/Rock
Daimyo Hermitaur: WateRock
Delex: Ground/Water
Deviljho: Dark/Dragon
Diablos: Ground
Dodogama: Fire/Rock
Dreadking Rathalos: Fire/Dark
Dreadking Rathian: Poison/Fairy
Ebony Odogaron: Ghost/Dark
Elemental Merphistophelin: Fire/Dragon
Espinas: Fire/Grass
Fatalis: Dragon
Felyne: Normal
Flaming Espinas: Fire/Grass
Four Heavenly Kings Deviljho: Fire/Fairy
Frostfang Barioth: Ice/Flying
Fulgur Anjanath: Electric/Fighting
Furious Rajang: Electric/Fighting
Gaismagorm: ???
Gaiju: Water
Gammoth: Ice
Garangolm: Ground/Grass (When its ability activates, changes to Fire/Water)
Gargwa: Flying
Gendrome: Electric/Fighting
Genprey: Electric
Ghost Caesarber: Normal/Ground
Giadrome: Ice/Fighting
Giaprey: Ice
Girros: Electric/Dark
Glavenus: Steel/Fire
Gold Rathian: Steel/Poison
Gore Magala: ???
Goss Harag: Ice
Great Bagggi: Ice
Great Girros: Electric/Dark
Great Izuchi: Fighting
Great Jaggi: Normal
Great Maccao: Fighting
Great Jagras: Dark
Great Wroggi: Poison
Grimalkyne: Normal/Dark
Grimclaw Tigrex: Dark/Fighting
I have a Hunterdex entry for this one.
"A rare version of Tigrex, with pulsing red viens and a light blue colour to its head and forearms. The only thing the beast cares about is lust for violence. It will spend whole weeks roaming the area, slaying anything that dares wander close."
Gypceros: Electric/Poison
That One Gypceros From Frontier That Thernomuclear Bombs You: Fire/Electric
Hellblade Glavenus: Fire/Steel
Hermitaur: Rock
Hornetaur: Bug/Dark
Iodrome: Poison/Fighting
Ioprey: Poison
Izuchi: Fighting
Jaggi: Normal
Jaggia: Normal/Dark
Jagras: Dark
Jyuratodus: WateGround
Kelbi: Normal
Kestodon: Ground
Khezu: Electric/Ghost
Kirin: Electric/Dragon
Konchu: Steel/Bug
Kulu-Ya-Ku: Rock/Fighting
Kulve Taroth: Steel/Fairy OR Steel/Dragon
Kushala Daora: Ice/Dragon
Lagiacrus: WateElectric
Lagombi: Ice
Larinoth: Grass/Dragon
Lavasioth: Fire/Ground
Legiana: Ice/Flying
Lucent Nargacuga: Poison/Dark
Ludroth: Water
Lunagaron: Ice/Fighting
Lunastra: Ice/Fire
Maccao: Fighting
Magma Almudron: Fire/Water
Magnamalo: Ghost/Fire
Malfestio: Psychic/Flying
Malzeno: Psychic/Dragon
Melynx: Dark
Mizutsune: Water
Mosswine: Grass
Najarala: Dragon/Rock
Namielle: WateElectric
Nargacuga: Dark/Fighting
Nergigante: Steel/Dragon
Nercyslla: Bug/Steel
Nibelsnarf: Ground
Nightcloak Malfestio: Psychic/Dark
Nightshade Paolumu: Dark/Fairy
Odogaron: Dark/Fighting
One-Eared Yian Garuga: Poison/Flying
Paolumu: Fairy/Flying
Pink Rathian: Fire/Poison
Plesioth: Water
Popo: Ice
Pukei-Pukei: Poison/Flying
Pyrantula: Fire/Bug
Pyre-Rakna-Kadaki: Fire/Bug
Qurupeco: Flying/Psychic
Rachnoid: Bug
Radobaan: Steel/Rock
Raging Brachydios: Fire/Rock
Rajang: Electric/Dark
Rakna-Kadaki: Bug/Steel
Rathalos: Fire/Flying
Rathian: Poison/Flying
Red Khezu: Electric/Fire
Redhelm Arzuros: Dark/Fighting
Remobra: Poison/Dark
Rhenoplos: Rock/Steel
All Risen Monsters: Poison/Dragon (their ability will give them STAB on types they should have, like Poison for Chameleos or Ice for Daora)
Royal Ludroth: WateFairy
Ruiner Nergigante: Steel/Dragon
Rusted Kushula Daora: Ice/Dragon
Rustrazor Shogun Ceanataur: Steel/Rock
Safi'jiiva: Dragon/Fire
Savage Deviljho: Fighting/Dark
Scorned Magnamalo: Ghost/Fire
Seething Bazelgeuse: Fire/Flying
Seregios: Steel/Flying
Shagaru Magala: Dragon/Fairy
Shamos: WateNormal
Shattered Monoblos: Ground/Fighting
Shogun Ceanataur: Steel/Water
Shrieking Legiana: Ice/Flying
Silver Rathalos: Steel/Fire`
Silverwind Nargacuga: Poison/Fighting
Slagoth: WateNormal
Snowbaron Lagombi: Ice/Fighting
Somnacanth: WateFairy
Soulseer Mizutsune (IS THAT SANS UNDERTALE BUT MIZUTSUNE?????): WatePsychic
Stonefist Hermitaur: Steel/Rock
Stygian Zinogre: Electric/Ghost
Swordsmaster Shogun Ceanatuar: Steel/Water OR Steel/Rock
Teostra: Fire/Dragon
Tetranadon: WateGrass
Tetsucabra: Rock/Steel
Narwa: Electric/???
Narwa The Allmother: Dragon/Electric
Tigrex: Ground/Fighting
Tzitzi-Ya-Ku: Electric
Urugaan: Rock/Fire
Uroktor: Fire/Ground
Vaal Hazak: Ghost/Dragon
Valstrax: Dragon
Velkhana: Ice/Dragon
Velocidrome: Fighting
Velociprey: Fighting
Vespoid: Electric/Bug
Violent Laviente: Dragon/Fire
Violet Mizutsune: Fire/Water
Viper-Tobi-Kadachi: Poison
Volvidon: Rock
White Fatalis: Dragon
Ibushi: Psychic/???
Wroggi: Poison
Xeno'jiiva: Fire/Dragon
Yian Garuga: Poison/Flying
Yian Kut-Ku: Fire/Flying
Zamite: WateSteel
Zamtrios: Water
Zinogre: Electric
Zorah Magdaros: Fire/Rock
2023.06.01 00:23 AmazingDuckVer2 Average person with the Magma Magma Fruit (One Piece) vs Demon Slayer Verse
Round 1: Man has no knowledge of fruit other than it turns him in a magma man
Round 2: He watched and read all of One Piece
Round 3: He can perfectly replicate all of Akainu's Devil Fruit Abilities and Skills
Bonus: It's Akainu himself but stats are equalized
Man will always have normal human stats and no amount of training can change turn him superhuman
To make it fair make the Fruit's weakness be Ice and Water so they can actually hurt him, they don't start off with this knowledge though and the Man is aware of his weakness
How far can he go?
submitted by AmazingDuckVer2 to whowouldwin [link] [comments]
Round 2: He watched and read all of One Piece
Round 3: He can perfectly replicate all of Akainu's Devil Fruit Abilities and Skills
Bonus: It's Akainu himself but stats are equalized
Man will always have normal human stats and no amount of training can change turn him superhuman
To make it fair make the Fruit's weakness be Ice and Water so they can actually hurt him, they don't start off with this knowledge though and the Man is aware of his weakness
How far can he go?
2023.05.31 18:01 Folseus- [Sunbreak] Hitzone Comparison Damage Calculator with Dual Blade Analysis
[Sunbreak] Hitzone Comparison Damage Calculator with Dual Blade Analysis
I've revised this several times, so hopefully, I've ironed out all the mistakes. Please let me know if there is anything wrong with my findings, points you disagree with, or questions you may have.
Thanks to
Table of Contents
The main reason for this investigation was to determine which hitzone to attack. Given the enormous skew towards elemental damage for Dual Blades, it did not appear obvious which hitzone to target.
Figure 1: TU5 Dual Blade Changes https://i.imgur.com/mwpZ0h8.png
Text:
Several different Dual Blade combos were tested to determine their effectiveness.
Figure 2: Dual Blade Combo mv/s and ev/s https://i.imgur.com/jdMkakL.png
The top 5 mv/s and top 5 ev/s are highlighted in yellow (ignoring low hitlag versions).
While Demon Flurry Rush on its own deals ~5.05ev/s (see Figure 1), it cannot be looped into itself.
Aerial style doesn't have high ev/s in comparison. This is the main reason it will lose out on DPS.
Piercing Bind does extremely high mv/s but cannot crit and has bad ev/s
Using the following stats: 408 RAW, 233 ELE, Purple, 40% Affinity, WEX3, CB3, CritEle3, ELEX3, Elembane
Figure 3: Example DPS chart for DFR > Twofold https://i.imgur.com/n6Yn7Ry.png
The raw damage dealt is shown at the bottom, while the (WEX) elemental damage dealt is shown on the right.
This chart can be used to determine which hitzone is best for this combo, and the target damage/hitzone can be changed in the spreadsheet.
From Figure 3, we can see that for DFR Twofold, a 20/25 hitzone is superior to ALL hitzone that only have 15 element. The same comparison can be made with Spiral Slash combos, and similar results can be found (not shown).
As such, there are situations where not using Spiral Slash can lead to more damage.
There are matchups where Grounded combos have a hard time hitting good hitzones and Aerial will be superior, or the iframe and mobility utility of Aerial allows for more attacking uptime or better wirebug management. Grounded may have to use Shrouded Vault or dodge more often to avoid damage while Aerial can use Demon Flight to iframe through attacks, which should be put into consideration. At the same time, it is difficult to have every hit in an Aerial combo land on the correct hitzone.
See appendix for more details
Demon Slide Slash has increased MVs over regular Slide Slash, but both are the same speed and EVs.
The Demon Mode combo is Demon Flurry Rush + Slide Slash + Demon Slash, which bypasses the need for Rising Slash, the weakest aspect of the regular combos. In Archdemon Mode, Demon Slash doesn't happen at all, making the combo faster at the expense of the Demon mode element buff and Demon Slide Slash MV buff.
Low hitzones give less hitlag and high hitzones give more hitlag, with the following ranges and visual cues.
Purple
Direct comparison for Demon Flurry Rush + Rising Slash + Demon Fangs + Twofold Slash
Low hitlag Elembane hitzones appear to be superior to High Hitlag Elemental Exploit hitzones at a cursory glance, even when comparing to Spiral Slash damage. This combination appears to be fairly rare.
The calculator can also be used for other weapons. Manually input their moveset and timings if desired, or set the mv/s and ev/s to the MV and EV directly. If you are trying to test a Charged Master weapon, incorporate Charge Master's buff directly into the MV and EVs.
Lance stats are already included since I happened to have my own testing data on hand, but the timing data may be outdated. Check Gobul Lantern's testings for probably more accurate data. It can also serve as a reference to visualize exactly how skewed Dual Blade elemental damage is.
Having briefly tested other weapons in the training room, the only weapons that might need to choose a hitzone with higher element instead of higher raw frequently are Charge Blade, Bow, Light Bowgun, and Heavy Bowgun. Every other weapon is almost guaranteed to be better off prioritizing high raw hitzones with minor element hitzones due to how much more raw damage they deal than elemental damage.
Because of this, Dual Blades appear to be the only weapon where hitlag can cause any increase in DPS, however small it may be. I recommend trying the DFR Twofold combo in the training room against high hitlag and low/no hitlag to get a feel for how incredibly different it actually is.
DFR Slide Slash appears to be a strong option if you know what you're doing. At normal hitlag, it is very close in element to using DFR Twofold, but deals more raw damage. At high hitlag, it is stronger than using DFR Twofold due to Twofold's increased hitlag. At low hitlags, DFR Twofold's reduced hitlag is stronger, but you can also add Twofold to Slide Slash to catch up a tiny bit. Twofold specfically appears to suffer against higher hitlag for some reason.
Never ever ever use Roundslash.
submitted by Folseus- to MonsterHunterMeta [link] [comments]
I've revised this several times, so hopefully, I've ironed out all the mistakes. Please let me know if there is anything wrong with my findings, points you disagree with, or questions you may have.
Thanks to
- dtlnor for the MV datamining
- Pilgrim, author of the DB meta guides for initial data
- Gobul's Lantern for Lance data
- Hitzone Comparison Damage Calculator: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QIjL2FXYzRw1-RJp0t-W0Qh0zb5mCH1Vs2U9SWSb6VQ/edit?usp=sharing
- Only supports RAW, ELE, Affinity, Critical Boost, Critical Element, Elemental Exploit, Elembane, and Anti-Species
- Copy and edit/add your own stats, MVs, EVs, combos, and timings
- Does not support dynamic stats. Use final ATK and Element
- I would use a different calculator if you need more precise damage details
- Prioritize Elemental Exploit and Elembane hitzones most of the time
- Grounded is theoretically better for DPS with the Demon Flurry Rush buffs
- The best Grounded Spiral Slash combo is Demon Flurry Rush + Spiral Slash
- The best Grounded combo without Spiral Slash is Demon Flurry Rush + Rising Slash + Demon Fang + Twofold
- Demon Flurry Rush + Slide Slash + Demon Fang can be better depending on the stats, but difficult to loop
- In situations where grounded hitzones are bad, Aerial is still viable
- The best Aerial Spiral Slash combo is Demon Flight + (Aerial Flurry) + Midair Roundslash + Grounded Spiral Slash
- Skipping Aerial Flurry does not appear to impact DPS much if at all for Spiral Slash
- The best elemental Aerial combo is Demon Flight + Aerial Flurry + Midair Roundslash + Rising Slash + Demon Fang loop
- Skipping Aerial Flurry loses DPS but Aerial Flurry does not always hit
- The best raw combo is Aerial Midair Blade Dance (Archdemon Mode) or probably Piercing Bind + Demon Flurry Rush + Blade Dance (Not thoroughly tested)
- There are niche scenarios where the hitlag on a low raw hitzone can increase DPS over a high raw hitzone
- Introduction
- Changes in TU5
- Methodology
- Results
- Grounded
- Aerial
- Hitzones
- Grounded vs Aerial
- Slide Slash
- Hitlag
- Conclusion Appendix A.1 Non-Spiral Slash Grounded hitzones A.2 Aerial Matchups
1.0 Introduction
This is a theoretical DPS comparison of Dual Blade attacks. I will outline the output and differences between Demon Flurry Rush, Aerial, Slide Slash, Spiral Slash, and their applications to different hitzones.The main reason for this investigation was to determine which hitzone to attack. Given the enormous skew towards elemental damage for Dual Blades, it did not appear obvious which hitzone to target.
2.0 Changes in TU5
These are the relevant changes in TU5.Figure 1: TU5 Dual Blade Changes https://i.imgur.com/mwpZ0h8.png
Text:
- Demon Flurry Rush
- MV: 5x2 + 4x2 + 8x2 -> 6x2 + 5x2 + 10x2
- Total: 34 -> 42 (+24%)
- EV: 0.7x4 + 1.0x2 -> 1.0x4 + 1.2x2
- Total: 4.8 -> 6.4 (+33%)
- Slide Slash
- EV: 1.0x4 -> 1.3x4
- Total: 4.0 -> 5.2 (+30%)
- Demon Slide Slash
- EV: 1.0x4 -> 1.3x4
- Total: 4.0 -> 5.2 (+30%)
3.0 Methodology
Previously for Rise, I had tested the frame data for Dual Blade attacks to try and get an idea of what the DPS or mv/s was on moves, but there was no way to measure DPS on Switch. The mv/s was just theory, but with the power of Steam and magic (mods), it is possible to test the real life DPS of rotations as well as easily record frame data if needed.- The [A Worth Toadversary] mod allows you to adjust the HZV of the Toadversary
- CheatEngine can be used to adjust weapon ATK
- Green sharpness at 85 ATK with a +10 ATK Petalace gives 100 EFR
- Attacks will do the same damage as MV without suffering from yellow sharpness penalty. (95x1.05=~100)
- Similarly, you can set your weapon ATK stat to -10 and adjust the EHZV so your element will deal the same damage as 10x EV.
- Green sharpness at 0 ATK will give pure elemental damage
- EHZV can be adjusted to deal 10x EV
- Effects of hitlag can be observed by adjusting HZV with 0 ATK
- The Zinogre Dual Blades with green sharpness and 20 Thunder were used
- Adjusting the EHZV to 37 means with Demon Mode, the 27 Thunder will deal 10 damage on a 1.0x EV hit
- The [Hard or Soft] mod can also be used to view the raw and elemental damage split for each hit if needed
- The [MHR Overlay - Damage Meter] by GreenComfyTea was used to measure the DPS, which can directly equate to mv/s or ev/s in the training room
4.0 Results
A simple calculator was made to cross-compare approximate damage against different hitzones and adapted to compare different combos. I haven't seen any hitzone calculators like this so I made my own. The time can be set to 1 second to evaluate combo damage instead of DPS, and different moves or combos can be added. The combos listed use the Attack Data table to create a formula. For example, DFR Demon Fang MV is AM9 + AM4 + AM5, which is Demon Flurry Rush + Rising Slash + Demon Fangs. Copy that to the next two cells to get the EVs and time added up, then divide to get the mv/s and ev/s.Several different Dual Blade combos were tested to determine their effectiveness.
Figure 2: Dual Blade Combo mv/s and ev/s https://i.imgur.com/jdMkakL.png
The top 5 mv/s and top 5 ev/s are highlighted in yellow (ignoring low hitlag versions).
While Demon Flurry Rush on its own deals ~5.05ev/s (see Figure 1), it cannot be looped into itself.
Aerial style doesn't have high ev/s in comparison. This is the main reason it will lose out on DPS.
Piercing Bind does extremely high mv/s but cannot crit and has bad ev/s
4.1 Hitzones
The primary reason for this investigation was to determine the optimal hitzone to prioritize in a hunt. Spiral Slash can only be used on 45+ HZV (typically), but those don't always have high element. Spiral Slash can also miss hits even if it connects. Also, Wirebugs and/or openings are not always available.Using the following stats: 408 RAW, 233 ELE, Purple, 40% Affinity, WEX3, CB3, CritEle3, ELEX3, Elembane
Figure 3: Example DPS chart for DFR > Twofold https://i.imgur.com/n6Yn7Ry.png
The raw damage dealt is shown at the bottom, while the (WEX) elemental damage dealt is shown on the right.
This chart can be used to determine which hitzone is best for this combo, and the target damage/hitzone can be changed in the spreadsheet.
From Figure 3, we can see that for DFR Twofold, a 20/25 hitzone is superior to ALL hitzone that only have 15 element. The same comparison can be made with Spiral Slash combos, and similar results can be found (not shown).
As such, there are situations where not using Spiral Slash can lead to more damage.
4.2 Grounded
- Demon Flurry Rush + Spiral Slash is typically the highest DPS when comparing the same hitzone
- Without Spiral Slash, Demon Flurry Rush + Rising Slash + Demon Fang + Twofold is probably best
- Demon Flurry Rush + Slide Slash + Demon Fang (+ Twofold) has very high mv/s, ev/s depends on hitlag
- May be beneficial if you understand your positioning well
- Can also be used to trigger Bloodlust slightly earlier
- Note that Archdemon Mode has lower element stat than Demon Mode, but loops faster for better ev/s and is simpler
- Aerial can be stronger if there is no good grounded hitzone
4.3 Aerial
- Demon Flight + Aerial Flurry + Midair Roundslash + Grounded Spiral Slash
- or
- Demon Flight + Cancel Aerial Flurry + Midair Roundslash + Grounded Spiral Slash
- are the strongest Aerial combos
- Within 1% of each other (for the stats I tested)
- Note that Aerial Flurry can miss some of its hits because of its height
- Aerial Flurry directly into Aerial Spiral Slash resulted in less damage output
- The last two hits of Aerial Flurry need to be cancelled for the fastest Spiral Slash
- Aerial Spiral Slash also has increased end lag due to landing time which might increase on bigger monsters
- Without Spiral Slash, Aerial Flurry + Midair Roundslash + (Rising Slash + Demon Fang + Twofold) or (Blade Dance) loop may be strongest
- Midair Blade Dance (MBD) in Archdemon Mode is the highest aerial raw option available
- Can also be used to trigger Bloodlust slightly earlier
- Note that Archdemon Mode has lower element than Demon Mode
- Midair Blade Dance in Demon Mode deals less MV while being significantly slower
4.4 Grounded compared to Aerial
Archdemon Midair Blade Dance appears to be better for heavily raw skewed non-Elemental Exploit hitzones, which are very rare. Grounded combos appear to be better than Demon Mode Aerial combos in almost all realistic hitzones when directly compared. Grounded with Spiral Slash is superior to Aerial with Spiral Slash in all scenarios with element.There are matchups where Grounded combos have a hard time hitting good hitzones and Aerial will be superior, or the iframe and mobility utility of Aerial allows for more attacking uptime or better wirebug management. Grounded may have to use Shrouded Vault or dodge more often to avoid damage while Aerial can use Demon Flight to iframe through attacks, which should be put into consideration. At the same time, it is difficult to have every hit in an Aerial combo land on the correct hitzone.
See appendix for more details
4.5 Slide Slash
Slide Slash can serve as a niche damage boost due to its very high MVs and newly buffed EVs, but missing any hits will cause a large decrease in damage. Its movement can be unintuitive to loop, and may overshoot or miss hitzones, which should be taken into consideration, but it can also be used to close gaps or reset positioning.Demon Slide Slash has increased MVs over regular Slide Slash, but both are the same speed and EVs.
The Demon Mode combo is Demon Flurry Rush + Slide Slash + Demon Slash, which bypasses the need for Rising Slash, the weakest aspect of the regular combos. In Archdemon Mode, Demon Slash doesn't happen at all, making the combo faster at the expense of the Demon mode element buff and Demon Slide Slash MV buff.
5.0 Hitlag
The spreadsheet includes data for some low hitlag and high hitlag versions of grounded attacks. While there can be some small variance in regular hitlag, there is notable consistent differences caused by hitzones. Considering hitlag can provide some minor benefits to DPS for Dual Blades. The situations where a hitzone is chosen specifically for lower hitlag appear to be rare, but are outlined in the appendix. It is a benefit of high element hitzones that are already poor raw hitzones, and not a consideration when the elemental hitzones are the same or when they are low.Low hitzones give less hitlag and high hitzones give more hitlag, with the following ranges and visual cues.
- 0 to 24 (None, white, bounce)
- 25 to 44 (Low, white, orange sparks)
- 45 to 65 (Normal, orange)
- 66 to 100 (High, orange with blue sparks)
Purple
- 0 to 17 (None, white, bounce)
- 18 to 32 (Low, white, orange sparks)
- 33 to 47 (Normal, orange)
- 48 to 100 (High, orange with blue sparks)
Direct comparison for Demon Flurry Rush + Rising Slash + Demon Fangs + Twofold Slash
- No Hitlag: 5.0ev/s (~2.08s)
- Low Hitlag: 4.8ev/s (~2.16s)
- Normal Hitlag: 4.3ev/s (~2.47s)
- High Hitlag: 3.9ev/s (~2.67s)
- +28%
- +23%
- +10%
- +0%
Low hitlag Elembane hitzones appear to be superior to High Hitlag Elemental Exploit hitzones at a cursory glance, even when comparing to Spiral Slash damage. This combination appears to be fairly rare.
6.0 Conclusions
The tl;dr from the top:- Hitzone Comparison Damage Calculator: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QIjL2FXYzRw1-RJp0t-W0Qh0zb5mCH1Vs2U9SWSb6VQ/edit?usp=sharing
- Only supports RAW, ELE, Affinity, Critical Boost, Critical Element, Elemental Exploit, Elembane, and Anti-Species
- Copy and edit/add your own stats, MVs, EVs, combos, and timings
- Does not support dynamic stats. Use final ATK and Element
- I would use a different calculator if you need more precise damage details
- Prioritize Elemental Exploit and Elembane hitzones most of the time
- Grounded is theoretically better for DPS with the Demon Flurry Rush buffs
- The best Grounded Spiral Slash combo is Demon Flurry Rush + Spiral Slash
- The best Grounded combo without Spiral Slash is Demon Flurry Rush + Rising Slash + Demon Fang + Twofold
- Demon Flurry Rush + Slide Slash + Demon Fang can be better depending on the stats, but difficult to loop
- In situations where grounded hitzones are bad, Aerial is still viable
- The best Aerial Spiral Slash combo is Demon Flight + (Aerial Flurry) + Midair Roundslash + Grounded Spiral Slash
- Skipping Aerial Flurry does not appear to impact DPS much if at all for Spiral Slash
- The best elemental Aerial combo is Demon Flight + Aerial Flurry + Midair Roundslash + Rising Slash + Demon Fang loop
- Skipping Aerial Flurry loses DPS but Aerial Flurry does not always hit
- The best raw combo is Aerial Midair Blade Dance (Archdemon Mode) or probably Piercing Bind + Demon Flurry Rush + Blade Dance (Not thoroughly tested)
- There are niche scenarios where the hitlag on a low raw hitzone can increase DPS over a high raw hitzone
The calculator can also be used for other weapons. Manually input their moveset and timings if desired, or set the mv/s and ev/s to the MV and EV directly. If you are trying to test a Charged Master weapon, incorporate Charge Master's buff directly into the MV and EVs.
Lance stats are already included since I happened to have my own testing data on hand, but the timing data may be outdated. Check Gobul Lantern's testings for probably more accurate data. It can also serve as a reference to visualize exactly how skewed Dual Blade elemental damage is.
Having briefly tested other weapons in the training room, the only weapons that might need to choose a hitzone with higher element instead of higher raw frequently are Charge Blade, Bow, Light Bowgun, and Heavy Bowgun. Every other weapon is almost guaranteed to be better off prioritizing high raw hitzones with minor element hitzones due to how much more raw damage they deal than elemental damage.
Because of this, Dual Blades appear to be the only weapon where hitlag can cause any increase in DPS, however small it may be. I recommend trying the DFR Twofold combo in the training room against high hitlag and low/no hitlag to get a feel for how incredibly different it actually is.
DFR Slide Slash appears to be a strong option if you know what you're doing. At normal hitlag, it is very close in element to using DFR Twofold, but deals more raw damage. At high hitlag, it is stronger than using DFR Twofold due to Twofold's increased hitlag. At low hitlags, DFR Twofold's reduced hitlag is stronger, but you can also add Twofold to Slide Slash to catch up a tiny bit. Twofold specfically appears to suffer against higher hitlag for some reason.
Never ever ever use Roundslash.
A.1 Non-Spiral Slash Grounded hitzones
The following is a list of monsters where Grounded non-Spiral Slash should theoretically perform better than Spiral Slash, but you should consider partbreaking for staggers and drops as well. If a comparable Spiral Slash hitzone exists, it is probably listed. Some monsters you can rotate DFR on low raw hitzone and then aim Spiral Slash on the WEX hitzone to take advantage of the hitlag difference and hitzone spread. There are also scenarios where you can trigger Spiral Slash on non-WEX hitzones by targeting a moving WEX hitzone, but they are rare.- Aknosom
- Legs 36/35 (Water)
- Best hitzone by far and it's not close
- Almudron
- Forelegs 23/30 (Fire)
- Tail 55/25 (Fire)
- Tailtip 65/25 (Fire)
- Forelegs slightly win in theory due to the speed advantage
- The tail and tailtip are probably still the better hitzones, but not always hitable. Also, Spiral Slash misses on the tailtip a lot when it flails.
- Apex Mizutsune
- Forelegs/Fore claws 28/25 (Thunder), 24/30 (Thunder)
- Best hitzone by far
- Dragon comes close but Thunder's base element probably carries it over having Elembane
- Thunder also does better if you have to hit something that's not the claws/forelegs
- Apex Rathalos
- Wings 30/25 (Dragon)
- Enraged Head 80/20 (Dragon)
- Wings are marginally better due to the speed advantage when it is not enraged
- Aurora Somnacanth
- Head Fin 45/25 (Fire)
- Forelegs 35/20 (Fire)
- Head 55/15 (Fire)
- The Head Fin is by far the best hitzone, but if you can't hit it for some reason, the forelegs are still way better than the head if you can hit them
- Barioth
- Thorns 25/30 (Fire)
- Head 65/20 (Fire)
- Thorns are the best hitzone by far if you run Elembane, until they break, but difficult to consistently hit
- Switch to head when they're broken
- Probably not worth running Elembane for this though
- Barroth
- Unmuddy Head 22/40 (Fire)
- Unmuddy Tail 47/25 (Fire)
- Unmuddy Torso 36/25 (Fire)
- The head is the best hitzone by far and it is not close (nearly double the damage vs the Forelegs)
- Only problem is being so high off the ground, wait until it's downed?
- Tail and Torso are much better than the forelegs otherwise
- 0 fire when muddy
- Chaotic Gore Magala
- R. Wingarm 20/25 (Fire) 20/30 (Dragon)
- If you can find a way to focus this part... Otherwise, aim for the head
- Daimyo Hermitaur
- Claws 25/35 (Fire)
- Head 50/30 (Fire), 50/35 (Thunder)
- The Claws with Fire are marginally better because of the speed advantage
- Head depends on stats? Mine are about equal
- If it's guarded, you get 0 hitlag (but bounce)
- Lucent Nargacuga
- Cutwings 21/30 (Ice)
- Enraged Head 65/25 (Ice)
- Cutwings are the best hitzone when not enraged, switch to head when enraged
- Magma Almudron
- Tail 24/25 (Water)
- Head 55/20 (Water)
- Tailtip 50/25 (Water)
- Tail is marginally better than the head when it is not heated, but worse than the Tailtip, if you ever have to choose (never?)
- The Heated Head and Claws are too good though
- Magnamalo
- Hind Legs 38/25 (Water)
- Best hitzone by far if all you want is damage
- Mizutsune
- Forelegs/Fore claws 28/25 (Thunder), 24/30 (Thunder)
- Best hitzone by far
- Dragon comes close but Thunder's base element probably carries it over having Elembane
- Thunder also does better if you have to hit something that's not the claws/forelegs
- Nargacuga
- Cutwing 21/35 (Thunder)
- Enraged Head 67/30 (Thunder)
- Cutwings are the best hitzone by far until it enrages, then about equal to the head'
- Risen Teostra
- Forelegs 38/25 (Water), Flames 38/20 (water)
- Head 50/20 (Water), Flames 50/15 (Water)
- Probably not running Elembane for this fight to begin with?, but
- Forelegs are marginally better, but the head knockdown is important too
- Scorned Magnamalo
- Hind Legs 38/25 (Water), Hellfire 30/20 (Water)
- Best hitzone by far, but doesnt break anything for staggers
- If you don't run Elembane, the Forelegs are slightly better until it Hellfires, then the Hind Legs win again
- Thunder might average better if this is the only thing you target because of the weakness switching?
- Seregios
- Wingarm 30/25 (Thunder)
- Head 55/20 (Thunder)
- Wingarms are slightly better due to the speed advantage, but they are really really small
- Probably better not to try
- Shogun Ceanataur
- Claws 25/35 (Fire)
- Head 50/35 (Thunder)
- Claw is technically better if that's all you hit with a fire build (lol)
- Teostra
- Forelegs 38/25 (Water), Flames 38/20 (water)
- Head 50/20 (Water), Flames 50/15 (Water)
- Probably not running Elembane for this fight to begin with?, but
- Forelegs are marginally better, but the head knockdown is important too
- Violet Mizitsune
- Claws 24/30 (Ice), Broken 28/20 (Ice)
- Forelegs 28/30 (Ice), Broken 28/20 (ice)
- Enraged Head 63/15 (Ice)
- If you're running Elembane, Claws/Forelegs are the best hitzone by far until they break
- Still the slightly better hitzone when it's not enraged, maybe even?
- Switch to the head when each claw break gives a knockdown?
A.2 Aerial Matchups
The following is a list of monsters where I've found equal or better success with Aerial. Your experience may differ.- Anjanath
- Very tall
- Its legs are awful hitzones and its head and back feature its best
- Arzuros
- Forelegs are too high off the ground to use Grounded style
- Switch when it falls
- Astalos
- Very bad elemental hitzones all around
- No Elemental Exploit except when the tail is charged
- Aerial features better raw output to compensate
- Barroth
- Head and tail are high off the ground
- Aerial won't bounce
- Switch when it falls?
- Basarios
- Aerial won't bounce while waiting for it to heat up
- Diablos
- Fine with either, Aerial is very good at iframing and hitting wings and chest
- Grounded is fine at hitting chest too though
- (Flaming) Espinas
- Aerial might have an easier time getting hits in
- Legs are the best hitzone though
- Magalas
- Their movement makes it very difficult to target the head or wings with DFR the whole fight
- Using Aerial feels significantly easier and my DPS is always better with Aerial
- Narwa The Allmother
- Very very raw skewed matchup
- Raths
- All variations of Rathalos and Rathian may be better with Aerial if they're not locked down
- Their good elemental hitzones are so high up (head, neck, wings, back depending on which one)
- Aerial style feels much easier to attack with and also land Spiral Slash with than trying to play grounded
- Tetranadon
- Head is the best hitzone and is very high up
- Zingore
- Back is the best hitzone
2023.05.30 19:01 YIzWeDed A PeanutButterZebraHacker Comprehensive Guide for Leveling Uniques.
Preface: While this guide will not include EVERY facet of leveling, it will give a deep dive into unique items for leveling. While some of these may be known, there are others that I hope will change how you level new characters. The focus is on gear sub level 20 that can be used all the way until act 10 or at least until you can get a better replacement unique throughout the leveling process.
Hello, my name is PeanutButterZebraHacker, or Peanut for short, and I love Path of Exile. I find myself playing this game whenever I have free time and with nearly 19k hours in the game, it's something I have loads of experience with. I am making this guide because I always hear about people HATING the leveling experience and for me... well I tend to enjoy it; however, this is because the way I level lets me pick nearly any build I want, something people often feel they cannot do when they make a new character.
This post will be VERY long, I understand that many may not read it, and that my formatting and order for this may need work if I want something more formal; though, for now I will just post how I see fit!
Leveling in PoE is often considered a chore that pigeon holes you into playing the same exact build (Hollow Palm normally, my aim is to change that). This guide will demonstrate every good leveling unique in the game and show how an individual can leverage these unique items to play almost any build they desire.
The bottom of this write-up will have a PoB with my favorite uniques to mess around with and a sample setup to see what you can do with the right gear!
Unique Items per slot: My favorite item per slot is in Bold.
Helmets: This slot is flexible for survival, damage, or speed!
Body Armour: These options each have benefits that can be compared when choosing your build.
Gloves: These options all provide an offensive bonus that will help speed up leveling!
Boots: The options below are chosen to assist with the speed through the acts!
Shields: Overlooked for higher damage option, shields are great for tankiness in the early levels.
Jewellery: Jewellery has a large list of strong usable items. While there are technically some unique items that can have their level requirement removed via corruption, I will only list the unique items that I find to be genuinely beneficial to use.
Amulets: There is a large list of usable amulets, just remember to pick the one that best fits your build!
Rings: The ring slot options are somehow large and small all at the same time.
Belt: Belts are a pretty large slot for unique items but like many other slots, there is generally one that is best. (Yes, MB is obviously the best belt BUT this writeup is moreso about uniques that people may not always think about and also ones below level 20, give or take a few items. Anyone WITH MB know they're going to use it and anyone without is either going to buy one or can't afford it)
Weapons: Weapons will be classified by their type, though some types may be more popular than others. When it comes to leveling with attacks, its often you will upgrade your weapon with something throughout the acts. Spells don't need much of an upgrade with some of the options below. I will not be listing weapon classes that have mediocre uniques, if a class isn't listed a cheap rare is best (Ex. Daggers have poor options and should instead be a rare if you want to use them.)
Axe: This weapon type is often overlooked for leveling but can be beneficial given some extra "tech".
Bows: Bows are something I really enjoy leveling with and the options are quite large, below are the some solid choices if you don't want to craft a rare every 5-10 levels!
Quivers: Using the right quiver can really change the bow leveling experience, though a crafted rare often does the trick too!
Maces: While the choices are small, it is fun to run a mace with slams early!
Sceptres: This is where the fun weapons begin!
Staves: An uncommon leveling piece, staves can see some use but are often outclassed by Axiom or other items:
Swords: The choice of swords for leveling is pretty open with one clear winner; though, it is often better to use a crafted rare if you want to level with them.
Claws: Claws really only have one option for leveling and it always requires Elemental hit to work.
(Replica) Last Resort: This claw is VERY good when leveling with elemental hit once you can get to low life; however, it is otherwise useless.
Note: If you want claws, use a rare, its really that simple.
Wands: While outclassed by Axiom, wands can be used early for an extra damage boots until you can use those sceptres.
Jewels: The number of leveling jewels has dropped drastically after the jewel change but here is a short list of some!
When deciding your build, the most important part is deciding the "prime unique" to build around, when it comes to spells, make sure you can buy the perfect +4 Honourhome helmet and then go from there, a perfect Honourhome is the difference between 6k DPS at level 16 and 800 dps. Build around this helmet and you'll LOVE the spell caster leveling experience, I PROMISE!
Build Template(s): I will add more templates if this thread gets some views but otherwise here is my generic "Spark leveling template" that I used. The damage is VERY high for a level 16 and I have personally leveled a character all the way to act 10 with this gear setup without using a SINGLE passive point. (Though I did need to swap in Astramentis and swap rings to make up for lost resistances and stats to level up skill gems.) None of these builds have passive points in, just gear.
Spark: https://pobb.in/7ikhk0q3MVNU
Lightning Arrow: https://pobb.in/hDzo2YyYcOp-
Generic Spell Level 2 Build: https://pobb.in/prpMjcZLrdLG
Freezing Pulse: https://pobb.in/yQc_4q20wMQQ
Ignite Ice Shot with Pyre: https://pobb.in/aqUBF7Vk-OKk
Molten Strike (Cheaply crafted swords): https://pobb.in/B45bzsd9DWF5
If you have any questions feel free to ask! I can also make a video guide that is a bit more fleshed out so let me know if you like it!
submitted by YIzWeDed to pathofexile [link] [comments]
Hello, my name is PeanutButterZebraHacker, or Peanut for short, and I love Path of Exile. I find myself playing this game whenever I have free time and with nearly 19k hours in the game, it's something I have loads of experience with. I am making this guide because I always hear about people HATING the leveling experience and for me... well I tend to enjoy it; however, this is because the way I level lets me pick nearly any build I want, something people often feel they cannot do when they make a new character.
This post will be VERY long, I understand that many may not read it, and that my formatting and order for this may need work if I want something more formal; though, for now I will just post how I see fit!
Leveling in PoE is often considered a chore that pigeon holes you into playing the same exact build (Hollow Palm normally, my aim is to change that). This guide will demonstrate every good leveling unique in the game and show how an individual can leverage these unique items to play almost any build they desire.
The bottom of this write-up will have a PoB with my favorite uniques to mess around with and a sample setup to see what you can do with the right gear!
Unique Items per slot: My favorite item per slot is in Bold.
Helmets: This slot is flexible for survival, damage, or speed!
- Honourhome: This is by far the BEST leveling helmet in the entire game. While +2 may seem like a minor bonus, the fact that it can get TWO +2 implicit corruptions and then also have a level 2 empower socketed allows any skill with the right corruptions to have +9 to gem levels! The mana cost reduction is an additional bonus that shouldn't be forgotten either! It is INSANE when used alone or moreso when combined with the rest of the items on this list.
- Thrillsteel: While I only consider this to be a glorified MTX, there is some merit with running this helmet on builds that cannot take advantage of Honourhome. The Onslaught is nice to have while leveling but because they removed its effect from in-town use, it is just that bit worse off.
- Goldrim: The CLASSIC leveling helmet. This thing is cheap solid leveling helmet that can easily cap resistances through the acts.
- Fairgraves Tricorne: This helmet is old but potentially usable. The "can be touched by tormented spirits" mod provides 50% increased attack, cast, and movement speed as well as 50% increased damage; however, you hardily encounter spirits in acts and will likely be overall less strong than the above.
- Crown of Thorns: Really only viable with Ghostwrithe and Energy Blade, otherwise just a solid tanky option when you have nothing else.
- Asenath's Mark: While I wouldn't suggest this for a spell casting build as long as Honourhome exists, especially because you give up the potential for two axioms for a bow, this can be solid for auxiliary damage in a bow build or extra curses/utility while leveling with a bow!
Body Armour: These options each have benefits that can be compared when choosing your build.
- Thousand Ribbons: While everyone knows tabula as "the leveling unique", it should always be remembered that Thousand Ribbons exists. ESPECIALLY when corrupted with up to 50% increased damage, Thousand Ribbons provides large flat damage bonus, resistances, and other modifiers that are VERY helpful for leveling. If used with a +4 helmet or Honourhome, the number of sockets doesn't even matter because you will be using the helmet for your links. This thing is INSANE.
- Tabula Rasa: The most well known leveling unique in the game, Tabula is a great "generic" item that provides extra damage or utility through extra links. It is advised to get an increased damage corruption for this body armour, though it is important to remember that mana cost may be an issue with 6L skills while leveling.
- Ghostwrithe: This is a great item for builds transitioning into CI at some point or builds that want to use Energy Blade to level, otherwise, it is just a solid chest when you have nothing else.
- Foxshade: This body armour can provide some solid stats and movement speed while leveling if you can stay at full life! Get yourself a % damage corruption and you have yourself another way to hurt and run!
Gloves: These options all provide an offensive bonus that will help speed up leveling!
- Lochtonial Caress: These are a SIGNATURE for leveling form level 1 in any build, try getting a max rolled cast or attack speed for your build and they could last you to act 10 Kitava alone. There are other options to upgrade into after these gloves; however, these are the premium gloves to use when you first start out.
- Hrimsorrow: These gloves are perfect for any player that wants to use a physical attack that then gets converted into cold. Otherwise they are just a lump of stats.
- Sadima's Touch: The flat damage provided can be largely helpful early game and quant could always be fun to have but I would rate these poorly compared to other options.
- Doedre's Tenure: The ULTIMATE spell leveling gloves. Fear not the reduced cast speed; by time you can use these, you can also toss on a pair with cast speed corruption to negate the downside. These gloves provide SO much extra damage while leveling a spell build and should ALWAYS be used on any build that wants to level with spells. Buy these with cast speed corruption and youll be blasting!
- Flesh and Spirit: The rampage CAN be nice; though, it isn't often you are stopping to clear entire screens that these will see much use beyond Lightning arrow or other solid clearing skills that would allow you to actually get stacks easily.
- Facebreakers: With the existence of Hollow Palm, these gloves have fallen behind. They CAN still be used but the other options are much better.
- Ondar's Clasp: These gloves are hard to take advantage of until you can use arrogance to reserve some of your life, otherwise, I wouldn't suggest using them.
Boots: The options below are chosen to assist with the speed through the acts!
- Seven-League Step: These are generally a bit pricey, especially early, but they are easily the BEST leveling boots in the game. When corrupted with increased movement speed, they turn you into a speeding bullet, but even without they are VERY strong.
- Abberaths Hooves: A solid leveling alternative that gives good damage and a fun mechanic to mess with to kill monsters. The ignite prolif can add to the fun on ignite builds as well!
- Wanderlust: The most budget option, these boots give freeze immunity which is awesome and solid movement speed to run through the acts!
- Nomic's Storm: A cheap alternative to Seven-Leagues, these boots can provide a great movement speed buff with some stats; though, it is important to remember you will take a big first hit while wearing these!
- Stormcharger: With a good roll on the movement speed, you can get yourself a really fast pair of boots that also scale shock very well for that extra damage!
Shields: Overlooked for higher damage option, shields are great for tankiness in the early levels.
- Lycosidae: This shield is great for builds that use attacks but is often looked over because accuracy isn't much of an issue early. Using counter-attacks with this shield can be fun though!
- Crest of Perandus: The life given by this shield can really pump up your early game tankiness and the extra stats are nice too. This shield is a comfy "I don't want to die" alternative.
- Kaltenhalt: This shield is GREAT for any build that wants to level with a strong physical skill. The gained as can feel great for early game chills/freezes for additional "defense" as well.
- Springleaf: Really only used for EARLY EARLY RF leveling, this shield is solid for adding some additonal regen to a build that doesn't die quick but doesn't heal quick either!
Jewellery: Jewellery has a large list of strong usable items. While there are technically some unique items that can have their level requirement removed via corruption, I will only list the unique items that I find to be genuinely beneficial to use.
Amulets: There is a large list of usable amulets, just remember to pick the one that best fits your build!
- Sidhebreath: This amulet is very niche for minion builds and pretty much requires you run added cold with the minions to counter lack of other damage they can no longer deal. If you REALLY want to run this, you're going to notice a drop in damage as your minion gems level up.
- Blood of Corruption: Really strong for early game levels but falls behind the Karui setup for benefits. Usable but not strong.
- (Replica) Karui Ward: The BEST leveling amulet in the game. This amulet should be purchased with a movement speed corruption if possible to help BLAST through the game. The speed provided by this slot alone is huge and with the right annoint can turn you into a speed demon!
- Tear of Purity: The extra resistances and ailment immunity provided by and early game Purity of Elements can feel great while leveling but otherwise isn't that strong.
- Xoph's Heart: Now usable at level 5, this amulet and the ash covering ability really add some nice early game damage for leveling if you are using a fire build.
- (Replica) Atziri's Foible: If built around, these amulets are easily some of the coolest. The bonuses they provide given the right build are astounding, otherwise its just a filler amulet.
- Astramentis: INSANE for leveling because it cuts back your need for stats, Astramentis is always great to have around and can make for some easy gearing without worrying about stats.
Rings: The ring slot options are somehow large and small all at the same time.
- Blackheart: The extra chaos damage added can really boost the early game clear, though the flee can be VERY annoying for melee builds.
- Doedre's Damning: While additonal curse may seem strong, the lack of curses early makes this ring really just a ball of resistances.
- Perandus Signet: My favorite ring to use as it gets me closer to using my full set at level 16, otherwise I run a few other options once I get there.
- Berek's Rings: These rings are all solid for leveling assuming your build uses their bonuses correctly, read each of them to see what you might want to use!
- Call of the Brotherhood: Great for those early game lightning builds (Spark is a favorite for me). Being able to do cold damage is huge for early game and can feel awesome for defense as well!
- Le Heup of All: This ring is a generalist ring that fills the gap you may need for certain stats or resistances. It is always nice to keep a few on hand and use them when you are lacking somewhere!
- Mark of Submission: This ring feels REALLY good early game to get extra damage from a curse and if it can be used, should be used! A early curse on hit can add a LOAD of extra damage, much more than most other rings this early into PoE.
- Praxis: The reduced mana cost from this ring is a godsend and when used as a pair, your skill will often cost ZERO mana! Just remember, if you use inspiration, you want at least 1 cost for the mana!
- Pyre: This ring is CRAZY for ignite builds and can even enable some cold ignite builds early game (just slao some elemental catalysts on it!) The bonus from destroying corpses is also very nice and can cutback on some on death stress effects that occur during the acts!
- (Replica) Tasalio's Sign: This ring is GREAT for any build that can apply a chill! The huge added flat can really boost up your leveling speed while slowing down your enemies!
Belt: Belts are a pretty large slot for unique items but like many other slots, there is generally one that is best. (Yes, MB is obviously the best belt BUT this writeup is moreso about uniques that people may not always think about and also ones below level 20, give or take a few items. Anyone WITH MB know they're going to use it and anyone without is either going to buy one or can't afford it)
- Darkness Enthroned: This belt is the BEST if you are willing to hunt down good abyss jewels. The fact that you can gain loads of life, movement speed if you haven't been hit recently, and other benefits, really makes this belt take the number 1 spot for early into late leveling stages.
- String of Servitude: This belt can have some solid mods; however, it's often lacking in areas that could make it feel good and unless you're going Hollow Palm, the belt is on the sidelines.
- Meginord's Girdle: The added flat physical damage can be great for Pillar or Facebreaker builds; otherwise, this is just a filler belt with some stats.
- Perandus Blazon: This belt is GREAT for the extra attributes and some quantity, though these stats are either made up elsewhere or generally useless for the acts!
- Belt of the Deceiver: This belt can provide some additional damage to attack builds through intimidate as well as some resistances and life, it is still often better to run a Darkness Enthroned to make up for those potential missing stats.
- Bated Breath: If you are looking to focus on an ES build or Energy Blade, this belt is just about the best you can go with until later in the game.
- (Replica) Prismweave: This belt is INSANELY strong for the added flat it can provide to both attacks and spells and makes for a REALLY good leveling belt if you opt out of the huge added flat from a +9 Honourhome.
Weapons: Weapons will be classified by their type, though some types may be more popular than others. When it comes to leveling with attacks, its often you will upgrade your weapon with something throughout the acts. Spells don't need much of an upgrade with some of the options below. I will not be listing weapon classes that have mediocre uniques, if a class isn't listed a cheap rare is best (Ex. Daggers have poor options and should instead be a rare if you want to use them.)
Axe: This weapon type is often overlooked for leveling but can be beneficial given some extra "tech".
- Screaming Eagle: The movement speed provided makes this axe worth dual-wielding in your offhand to swap to for extra speed!
- Limbsplit: While the culling strike isn't neccessary for early-game, having a way to cull early on weapon swap can cut some seconds off of killing some tanky rares! (I am looking at you spinning birdcage skeletons with extra life!)
Bows: Bows are something I really enjoy leveling with and the options are quite large, below are the some solid choices if you don't want to craft a rare every 5-10 levels!
- Silverbranch: This bow is a generic leveling bow that when found early can really assist with early game bow clear.
- Widowhail: With the right quiver, this bow is INSANE! It does require further planning but given the right setup, this bow can be used from level 1 to level 100, even being something to build around! If you want to go with stat stacking, remember that 249% is only 2x effect while 250% is 3x effect, so buy a max roll!
- Quillrain: The classic leveling bow that can be used from 5 to 100, the speed and mana gained on hit make this bow feel nice and comfy for leveling, though the damage reduction is a bit noticable.
- Storm Cloud: This bow does so much for an early game build and should not be forgotten. While the attack speed is much lower than Quill Rain, it does feel very nice to use with LA and other bow skills early.
Quivers: Using the right quiver can really change the bow leveling experience, though a crafted rare often does the trick too!
- Hyrri's Bite: Insane for leveling, this quiver is VERY good with the extra stats it provides, it will really change how your gems level early game!
Maces: While the choices are small, it is fun to run a mace with slams early!
- Gorebreaker: The damage done by this mace early game is enough to kill most rares in a hit or two; however, it falls off quickly given the slow attack speed.
Sceptres: This is where the fun weapons begin!
- Axiom Perpetuum: This is by far the BEST spell caster leveling unique in the entire game. When combined with other unique items in this list (often the ones I bold), the damage provided is MASSIVE. This is brought up even HIGHER with a cast speed corruption. This sceptre is the BEST spell caster leveling weapon in the entire game and should ALWAYS be kept in pairs of two with cast speed corruptions. The Crit and Cast speed alone turn a boring spell into a KILLING machine.
- Brutus Lead Sprinkler: I know this is level 28 but it holds a strong place in my heart. This is one of my favorite items in PoE (I WISH I could get one with a great crucible tree for standard but I don't have the desire to make one right now, maybe later, I REALLY want one!) It is VERY fun to level with for Str stacking and should be remembered if you are looking to try a stat stacking build early.
Staves: An uncommon leveling piece, staves can see some use but are often outclassed by Axiom or other items:
- Fencoil: Great for early damage until you get two axioms but not needed when you can use +1 All X Spell gem magic wands instead.
- Replica Bloodthorn: The increased fire damage can feel great for early game Rolling Magma until Axioms; however, it is useless afterwards.
- Pillar of the Caged God: This is often used at much higher levels after stats are scaled better but can be used early if you can find some good added flat physical damage and strength while leveling.
Swords: The choice of swords for leveling is pretty open with one clear winner; though, it is often better to use a crafted rare if you want to level with them.
- Oni-Goroshi: This sword has so much lore behind it and is very strong to level with. While farming it may not be fun and making sure you get enough ignite chance to trigger the proc may not be fun, it can scale all the way to level 100 if built around and is very solid for leveling with melee weapons.
- Redbeak: This is often dropped for a rare the moment you can hit a Thrusting sword with an essence or two, this sword is still strong for early levels if given the chance!
- The Princess: I really enjoy dual wielding this sword with another copy when using a physical build, it is still often better to use Axiom or a crafted rare.
- Shiversting: When it comes to two hander swords, Shiversting takes the cake for early game damage. Sady it is still outclassed by a crafted rare if you have the essences, otherwise, it can clear early levels easily until you can upgrade.
Claws: Claws really only have one option for leveling and it always requires Elemental hit to work.
(Replica) Last Resort: This claw is VERY good when leveling with elemental hit once you can get to low life; however, it is otherwise useless.
Note: If you want claws, use a rare, its really that simple.
Wands: While outclassed by Axiom, wands can be used early for an extra damage boots until you can use those sceptres.
- Lifesprig: A solid wand to use until you can use Axioms, the life it heals is nice for early sustain.
- Abberaths Horn: This wand is useable if you cannot get +1 wands early, is should be dropped as soon as possible. While ignite isn't insanely strong early, the reduced ignite duration can be noticed when it comes to additional damage from fire builds.
- Ashcaller: This wand is really strong with SRS from the covered in ash debuff, it is otherwise not that usable.
- Poet's Pen: This wand, while not as popular, is a cult classic for leveling. Throw on two with your favorite spells (and make sure to use clarity to counter to trigger costs!) and you can BLAZE through the game using frenzy as your trigger. Poet's Pen builds do require some planning but can be VERY fun for early game.
Jewels: The number of leveling jewels has dropped drastically after the jewel change but here is a short list of some!
- One with Nothing: Your typical "leveling" jewel. This build has been tried and true for years and is always something to look into if you want the generic Hollow Palm leveling experience.
- Thread of Hope: A late game found jewel that can be used in early leveling to get some extra passives early in the game (Think about getting two extra projectiles for a bow build early instead of pathing all the way to those nodes).
- Watcher's Eye: Another late game found jewel that can add some convivence to an early leveling experience but needs to be built around.
- Sublime Vision: The final of my suggest jewels, using the haste version of this can add some extra speed to an otherwise speedy leveling experience!
When deciding your build, the most important part is deciding the "prime unique" to build around, when it comes to spells, make sure you can buy the perfect +4 Honourhome helmet and then go from there, a perfect Honourhome is the difference between 6k DPS at level 16 and 800 dps. Build around this helmet and you'll LOVE the spell caster leveling experience, I PROMISE!
Build Template(s): I will add more templates if this thread gets some views but otherwise here is my generic "Spark leveling template" that I used. The damage is VERY high for a level 16 and I have personally leveled a character all the way to act 10 with this gear setup without using a SINGLE passive point. (Though I did need to swap in Astramentis and swap rings to make up for lost resistances and stats to level up skill gems.) None of these builds have passive points in, just gear.
Spark: https://pobb.in/7ikhk0q3MVNU
Lightning Arrow: https://pobb.in/hDzo2YyYcOp-
Generic Spell Level 2 Build: https://pobb.in/prpMjcZLrdLG
Freezing Pulse: https://pobb.in/yQc_4q20wMQQ
Ignite Ice Shot with Pyre: https://pobb.in/aqUBF7Vk-OKk
Molten Strike (Cheaply crafted swords): https://pobb.in/B45bzsd9DWF5
If you have any questions feel free to ask! I can also make a video guide that is a bit more fleshed out so let me know if you like it!
2023.05.30 16:06 MrVladManPoutine My pulls and trades from Sunday’s pre release
 | It was such a great time! I’m quite happy with what I got and I can’t wait for the official set release submitted by MrVladManPoutine to PokemonTCG [link] [comments] |
2023.05.29 17:52 arock0627 To the person I kicked
I was able to overlook fainting twice to the same Magma Almudron nuke, even though it was clear you were just button mashing. I was also pretty okay with you continuing to spam your attacks on a monster going to sleep while all 3 of your teammates were sharpening. But then you join my next hunt, see I'm fighting an Apex Rathian, and then just fuck around the spawn and refuse to come help?
Instakick.
It's clear you're a talentless hack who requires other people to carry you, even against mid-tier challenges. You're a fucking scrub, you don't deserve that longsword, and you need to spend some time soloing instead of being a fucking burden on every game you enter, you deadweight motherfucker.
submitted by arock0627 to monsterhunterrage [link] [comments]
Instakick.
It's clear you're a talentless hack who requires other people to carry you, even against mid-tier challenges. You're a fucking scrub, you don't deserve that longsword, and you need to spend some time soloing instead of being a fucking burden on every game you enter, you deadweight motherfucker.
2023.05.29 01:19 Destroyer348 Why Sabo Cannot be the One to Defeat Akainu
Many people believe Sabo to be the one to deafest Akainu. Many people are wrong. Here is every argument I can think of for Sabo beating Akainu and why almost none of them are a good enough reason for Sabo to be the one instead of Luffy.
Next.
Luffy’s carrying more of Ace’s will than Sabo, since he’s actually going to take down BB.
Next.
Do you really need me to explain why this point applies 10x more to Luffy than to Sabo?
That’s about everything I can think of rn, drop more arguments below and I’ll make a part 2.
submitted by Destroyer348 to OnePiecePowerScaling [link] [comments]
1. TO PROVE FIRE CAN BEAT MAGMA
This the only solid argument for Sabo>Luffy in this case. But in the grand scheme of One Piece, this is a very weak reason to have Sabo beat Akainu. Just to have a rehash of Lee vs Gaara?Next.
2. SABO CARRIES ACE’S WILL
Well what is Ace’s will? His 2 main objectives in the story where:- Make Whitebeard the Pirate King
- Kill Blackbeard for killing Thatch
Luffy’s carrying more of Ace’s will than Sabo, since he’s actually going to take down BB.
Next.
3. AKAINU KILLED HIS BROTHER
Sips tea, reads newspaperDo you really need me to explain why this point applies 10x more to Luffy than to Sabo?
That’s about everything I can think of rn, drop more arguments below and I’ll make a part 2.
2023.05.28 22:26 Flying_Snails_today The Regi battle royal Cosmic Clash
Snail: The Titan Regigigas has made a couple of powerful Pokémon but in this cosmic clash who shall win?
Few: In the vast world Of Pokemon, There are many Pokemon Types Like Fire, Grass, Bug And All that stuff. But the Pokemon we're talking about is a Dragon type with the Strongest Dragon Type Moves, That's Right, Regidrago. In fact, It was so powerful He was sealed! Cool Right? He scales To other Regis Strength. For speed Hes far superior To Ash-greninja Who Could Dodge Signal Beam! And he Should scale to other Legendary Titans in terms to durability. But really who cares all about that, Let's talk about all of his moves! He Knows Inhale Twister, Vise Grip, Bite, Ancient Power, Dragon breath, Crunch, Dragon Claw, Hammer Arm, Dragon Dance, Thrash, Focus Energy, Dragon Energy, Hyper Beam, And Finally Explosion. Needless To Say, That's a Loooooootttttt of Hax and it'd take too long to explain each one. But hopefully That helps You see How Impressive Regidrago is.
Creeperjared: ah yes RegiRock one of the three original Regis made by Regigigas, one of five of the whole “family” not counting Regigigas himself. Regirock as the name implies is made of rocks, right? Well no he’s apparently made up of clay, so maybe he should have been a ground type instead, but the Pokédex says he made from rocks! I’m getting off track, the Pokédex is not very reliable anyway. Regirock like all of them was locked away by humans and eventually broke out. And has quite the move pool, the notable stuff being: ancient power, iron defense, hammer arm, rock slide, stone edge. It also is said to fix its body with rocks, and even though all Regis can learn ancient power it’s the only one that gets STAB (same type attack bonus) for it! To top it all off he has a “lovely” battle cry, “UNUNUN” can’t show it through text but you get the idea
Him: Regice,The Iceberg Pokémon. It is believed by scientists that this legendary beast has been roaming the world since the Ice Age.
3ggman: Yeah, but calling this thing a beast would be a bit disingenuous. I mean, it’s made purely out of ice and makes weird bleep bloop sounds! Classic robot alien robot stuff.
Him: In any case, this Pokémon is able to instantly freeze things that come near it with its -328 degrees Fahrenheit wind surrounding it at all times. But if that doesn’t work, it can certainly turn you solid by using one of its many ice type moves, like Ice Beam and Blizzard. It’s also stated that nothing can melt its chilly ice body, not even magma!
3ggman: Now with all of that being said, it’s still got some glaring weaknesses. It’s an Ice type Pokémon, leaving it weak to many different typings, which can hurt it in the long run. It’s also hella slow, with a speed stat of 50. Makes sense given it’s basically an iceberg.
Him: Nonetheless, Regice is a formidable foe that is not to be underestimated. Will it crack under the pressure of the competition? You’ll just have to wait and see!
3ggman: Hey God, when are we gonna talk about my favorite regi: Regi the ra-
Him: NOPE NOPE CUT THE CAMERAS
Mayo_enjoyer:steel is one of the most durable materials on earth and do you know what's more durable than steel?Registeel, registeel is the member of the original regi trio created by the colossal regigas.Registeel stands at 6'03 feet /190cm and weights 205kg/451.9lbs.
Mayo_enjoyer:Registeel's is actually made out of magma so that means that his magma is so solid it became steel which is scientifically impossible I think, registeel can shoot beams of energy and steel with ease, registeel's arms are probably the most versatile thing In his arsenal, his arms can dig through walls, stretch and even change sizes and are very sharp, registeel can also explode if he is ever backed up in a corner and needs to do some serious damage, registeel's ability clear body allows him to negate any stat drop done to him so good luck trying to do any funny business against his stats, registeel is ready for slaughter
Snail: In Galar’s very own distance tundra you can find Regieleki! Regieleki is the fastest Pokémon speed blitzing all who step in its way! It’s able to take hits but not many before it goes down! It’s said to have enough power to power up all of Galar! Comparing Galar to London and converting electric to power this comes out to a whopping 3 tons of TN! Even if it’s hurt it’s powerful attacks will be enough to take down any opponent! So if you need a battery you know who to call GHOST BUSTERS- WAIT NO WRONG SHIT-
2023.05.28 03:37 Proletlariet Roku
Respect Roku
You need to understand how the war began if you want to know how to end it.Born to a noble family in the Fire Nation during an era of peace, the teenaged Roku whiled his days away practicing firebending with his closest friend, Prince Sozin without a care in the world. He was ill-prepared for the immense destiny ahead of him when he was informed he was the Avatar, fated to master all four elements and bring balance to the world.
In time Roku grew into his role, discovering many valuable friendships along the way. However, his friendship with Sozin burned away as Sozin's desire for worldwide Fire Nation supremacy utterly consumed the newly crowned Fire Lord. Ultimately Sozin abandoned his former friend, leaving Roku to die from volcanic poison alongside his dragon Fang.
But death is never the end for the Avatar, and Roku returned as a valuable source of counsel to his successor Aang. As Aang grew into his role as Avatar he learned to commune with Roku more easily, and eventually came into his own to a place where he no longer needed his mentor's help.
Source Key: Avatar: The Last Airbender = S#E# Escape from the Spirit World = ESW
Durability
- Crashes while flying, sending up a dust cloud, but laughs it off S3E06
- Overcome by the poisonous gases of a volcano, taking a blast directly to the face and becoming too weak to defend himself further S3E06
Speed/Mobility
- Flies with the aid of a glider before catching Gyatso and crashing, but laughs it off S3E06
- Surfs up a mountain on a boulder, winning a race against his earthbending master S3E06
- Burrows beneath a blast of fire from behind him
- Staves off poisonous gas and lava with blasts of air S3E06
- Catches Sozin when they start to fall, jutting out a piece of earth to catch them S3E06
Firebending
- Spars as a teenager, shooting and blocking fire before tripping over a tree root S3E06
- Fires a massive wave of each element consecutively S3E06
Airbending
- Playfully breezes air at his friend S3E06
- Flies with the aid of a glider before catching Gyatso and crashing, but laughs it off S3E06
- Fires a massive wave of each element consecutively S3E06
- Blasts an opponent across a room S3E06
- Clears a path through volcanic gas S3E06
- Expands a sphere of air around a section of an island to clear away volcanic gas S3E06
- Cools lava with a blast of air so that it solidifies S3E06
- Staves off poisonous gas and lava with blasts of air S3E06
Waterbending
- Launches an enormous mass of water at his waterbending master, washing them away and crashing them into the distance, winning the duel S3E06
- Fires a massive wave of each element consecutively S3E06
- Opens palace doors with fog S3E06
Earthbending
- Surfs up a mountain on a boulder, winning a race against his earthbending master S3E06
- Fires a massive wave of each element consecutively S3E06
- Burrows beneath a blast of fire, then pins his opponent to the ceiling with a precise column of earth S3E06
- Raises a massive stone wall to halt the flow of lava S3E06
- Forms a trench across an island to redirect the flow of lava S3E06
- Suppresses the lava of an active volcano, pushing it back down S3E06
- Catches Sozin when they start to fall, jutting out a piece of earth to catch them S3E06
- Formed tunnels out of magma S1E8
- Possibly performed while in the Avatar State
Avatar State
The Avatar State enhances the power of Roku's bending, and allows him to draw from the experience of all previous Avatars. Here is his predecessor Kyoshi's RT for reference.- Destroys a temple, unable to control the Avatar State after using the solstice to induce it ESW
- Destroys a palace with a blast of air that tears through his surroundings, though preserves a column of earth as he raises to the top of it on a column of air S3E06
- Parts the lava of an active volcano, blasting through the other end of the volcano to drain off the flow S3E06
- While possessing Aang: Redirects several other firebenders' flames, manipulating the flame so it pushes his attackers back while melting the chains off his friends. He then creates a trench of lava, disturbing the surrounds enough to begin to bring down the building he is in. S1E08
2023.05.27 22:10 Proletlariet Aang Main Body
Respect Avatar Aang
Come on, Appa. Yip-yip!History: Aang was just a fun-loving 12 year old when he discovered he was the Avatar, destined to master the four elements and bring balance to the world. At first fleeing his responsibilities, Aang became frozen for 100 years while war consumed the world. Awaking to discover he was the last airbender, Aang gathered friends who helped him master the four elements and restore balance to the world.
Powers: Aang controls the four elements, can enhance his power with the Avatar State, and has a mix of other spiritual and learned abilities.
Source Key & Notes
Strength
- Picks up Katara and makes several tall leaps with her in tow S1E1
- Breaks off a stalagmite to throw it S1E5
- Carries a large boulder on his back as Toph disrupts his footing S2E9
- Smashes a club through stone pillars S2E9
- Pushes against Toph's armored form tackling into him, driving her back S2E9
- Trains with a kettle bell, maintaining his balance on pillars even as Toph shakes them S2E9
- Boosts Katara and then Sokka up into a machine S2E13
- While severely sleep deprived, trains for hours punching a tree hard enough to shake it S3E9
- Flings furniture across a room S3E18
Durability
Concussive- Crashes headfirst into a pillar of snow while flying and recovers S1E1
- Bumi craters him into the ground with falling debris, and Aang quickly recovers S1E5
- Takes a hit from Hei Bei that breaks through a chunk of building, appearing fine right after S1E7
- Matches blasts with Zuko, cratering them both into shingled roofs before they continue S1E15
- A chunk of earth tears him through a balcony and he recovers during his fall S2E1
- Azula blasts through his shield, dazing him briefly before he counters her S2E13
- Azula blasts through his armor and craters him into a wall, and he bounces back S2E20
- Dazed by Ozai's fireblast that tears through his stone defense, but comes to midair S3E20
- Often takes hits he recovers from with little damage COMP
- Suffered a burn he seemingly did not notice until Katara pointed it out S1E16
- Dies to a surprise bolt of Azula's lightning while in the Avatar State, though revived by Katara healing him with spirit water S2E20
- Bloodbent by Yakone, tossed aside and rendered unconscious, but recovers with the Avatar State LoK S1E9
Speed
Movement- Sprints quickly, kicking up a trail of snow S1E1
- Outruns Sokka, dodging a club swing to run along a wall while outpacing him S1E3
- Runs along the surface of water, and crashes onto land where the impact digs up a trench S1E4
- Races forward, sending out gusts of wind when he stops S1E5
- Races through hallways, outspeeding Katara and Sokka S1E8
- Leaps away and begins running quickly to find medicine for his friends S1E13
- Said to be able to run as fast as the wind, and blows apart a guard tower in his wake S1E13
- Races up a flight of stairs and across a courtyard S1E13
- Chases after Katara, and catches her despite her head start S3E3
- Evades several fireblasts from Zuko while in a confined space S1E2
- Evades several of Zhao's fireblasts, ultimately tricking Zhao into burning his own ships S1E16
- Evades Zuko and Azula's simultaneous attacks S2E8
- Intercepts Combustion Man's blast mid-explosion with his airbending S3E5
- Evades Ozai's lightning, whirling himself away from it in a tornado and later redirecting it S3E20
- Often dodges basic bending attacks, including some from Bumi, Zuko, Toph, and Azula COMP
- Reacts to projectiles and spears obscured by smoke S1E9
- Sees arrows flying toward him, and deflects them with a bubble of air S1E13
- Evades several arrows while fleeing the Yuyan Archers S1E13
- Breaks through several branches while continuing to evade the Yuyan Archers S1E13
- Continues evading arrows, and blocks some with a wall of ice before being pinned S1E13
- Dodges thrown hammers linked to chains S1E19
- Dodges darts from Mai S2E3
- Catches someone fleeing him while evading thrown axes TP
- Often evades weapons in close quarters COMP
- Leaps out of the way of several canyon crawlers at the last moment S1E11
- Flies straight at Nyla and evades her tongue S1E15
- Evades Nyla's tongue and Zuko's fireblasts in quick succession S1E15
- Katara congratulates him on having the reflexes of a waterbending master S2E8
- Evades several of Azula's attacks and falling boulders S2E13
- Dodges several falling boulders S2E13
- Evades a bully trying to fight him without using his bending S3E2
- Catches himself from falling on spikes by blowing air that flips him over a trap S3E13
Agility & Mobility
Against others- Races around a hallway, then cuts his bindings on an attacker's helmet S1E2
- Escapes Zuko's grasp and flips around Fire Sages to get into a room behind them S1E8
- Evades Zuko's blasts in close quarters and grabs a necklace from him while doing so S1E15
- While spinning around and bound, evades a fireblast precisely enough for it to free him LA
- Wedges a grapple out of a mountainside, and doges several projectiles from tundra tanks S1E17
- Performs an impromptu dance with Katara S3E2
- Leaps to the top of a totem he is tied to, cutting his bindings S1E4
- Navigates several stalagmites with deft leaps S1E5
- Navigates treetops while fleeing Jet and evading his slashes S1E10
- Implements improvised stilts as an escape, carrying Zuko on his back as he makes a leap S1E13
- Leaps across rooftops S2E3
- Bends while balancing on a carafe S2E14
- Leaps across rooftops and gusts away animals harassing people S2E15
- Quickly ascends a cliffside S3E5
- Often makes leaps over large distances COMP
- Explains how he can control the air currents around his glider to fly S1E1
- Flies around on his glider to show off, though he crashes S1E1
- Flies after Hei Bei through a forest, catching up to him briefly S1E7
- Flies around on his glider to show off S1E17
- Helicopters his staff overhead to fly a short distance S1E4
- Uses his staff to helicopter up in the air S1E5
- Helicopters atop a wall, and carries Zuko along with him using his legs S1E13
- Flies a considerable distance while exhausted S2E8
- Flies after a buzzard wasp that has a head start, but catches up to it S2E11
- Navigates around fireballs and tears through war balloons S3E11
- Often carries others while flying COMP
- Uses his Air Scooter to race around the walls and ceiling of a chamber S1E2
- Loosens snow to create a small avalanche that sweeps soldiers off a mountainside S1E17
- Air Scooters up a wall and runs the rest of the way S2E1
- Outpaces a stampede of animals S2E15
- Air Scooter keeps pace with a train LA
- Makes air scooters for half a dozen others TP
- Creates an Air Scooter beneath Zuko to whisk him away S&S
- Bursts through doors on a large Air Scooter he rides across buildings, tearing into them LoK S1E9
- Often uses his Air Scooter in mundane circumstances COMP
- Pulls himself out of quicksand before two boulders could smash him between them S1E5
- Catches himself before he falls over an edge with a quick correction of air S1E10
- Uses air to balance on one finger and to split a stream of fire S1E16
- Floats between landings, making it difficult for Toph to pinpoint him with her seismic sense S2E6
- Creates an aircurrent he runs across over a crowd TR
- Rises on a column of air to scout ahead TR
- Ascends on a column of air that then keeps him aloft when he exits the Avatar State TR
- Flies on a column of air while carrying others N&S
- Often aids his mundane movements, even outside combat COMP
Air
AirblastsDestroys Material - w/o Weapon
- Blasts apart a flaming catapult projectile, shattering it to pieces S1E8
- Throws one man through a wooden railing and another a distance away S1E9
- Matches blasts with Zuko, cratering them both into shingled roofs S1E15
- Blasts Zuko against a wall, sending out shingles in his wake S1E15
- Blasts through Mongke's fire to send him through a wooden board S2E5
- Blasts through a dock to send the firebender away S3E3
- Extinguishes a swathe of flame, and blasts Zuko through a wall and out a building S3E18
- Shatters a chunk of road and a carriage's reins, sending the carriage toppling over LoK S1E9
- Blasts Zuko through a wooden structure with a pair of fans S1E4
- Destroys a trebuchet S1E19
- Collapses several railings to try to impede Azula S2E3
- Collapses scaffolding S2E3
- Breaks apart a sand-sailer S2E11
- Shatters another sand-sailer S2E11
- Blasts two large palace doors off their hinges S2E18
- Blasts 2 large metal doors off their hinges S3E11
- Tears through a throne S3E11
- Flings people through a door that shatters on impact TP
- Gusts a cabbage cart down a street where it crashes into a few men S1E9
- Blasts a wrecking ball structure off the side of a mountain S1E17
- Whips away boulders rolling down a slide and breaks them apart S2E3
- Blasts a boulder away and Toph out of the arena S2E6
- Sweeps away falling debris and tackles Smellerbee out of the way of more TP
- Blasts back attackers and barrels, and flips giant drill N&S
- Blasts back 2 groups of people in opposing directions S1E11
- Repeatedly blasts away several men at a time S1E13
- Blasts away an attacker S1E13
- Gusts himself back after failing to earthbend S2E9
- Knocks away a charging giant owl spirit S2E10
- Gusts himself back while repelling Combustion Man's explosion S3E5
- Often gusts away other people, groups, himself, and animals COMP
- Often gusts away himself and others by blowing or sneezing COMP
- Often uses airblasts for a variety of purposes COMP
- Whips a mattress into Zuko, slamming him around a room S1E2
- Floats a ball around before ricocheting it off posts and launching Sokka back S1E3
- Accelerates a thrown stalagmite to hit a precise target S1E5
- Creates a wind tunnel that spits out projectiles of coal hard enough to knock men overl S1E6
- Flips several tundra tanks in quick succession S1E17
- Blasts back attackers and barrels, and flips giant drill N&S
- Often lifts weights ranging from very small to very large COMP
- Whirls soldiers around him in a wide circle S1E10
- Pulls a man away from the charging Wan Shi Tong S2E10
- Creates spinning circles that carries away Toph's students to land safely away TR
- Often creates tornados of varying size he manipulates to a variety of purposes COMP
- Often creates or clears away particulate that hinders visibility COMP
Repelling Fire
- Deflects a fireblast that brings down a chunk of a glacier large enough to partially bury a ship S1E2
- Blocks four simultaneous fireblasts that scorch the area around him S1E13
- Spins his staff to block quick jabs of fire from Azula S2E3
- Swats away a trebuchet projectile strong enough to destroy a ship and shatter stone S2E12
- Extinguishes firebenders' flames while hidden S3E3
- Rebels point-blank fire breath from Ozai S3E21
- Often blocks firebenders' flames, including Zuko, Azula, and Ozai COMP
- Creates an air bubble around himself that protects from falling debris S1E7
- Creates a small shield that blocks Jet's hits and returns a gust in response S1E10
- Sees arrows flying toward him, and deflects them with a bubble of air S1E13
- Twirls a ball of air in front of him to direct away sewage S2E3
- Surrounds Appa and everyone inside in an air bubble that resists a tornado S2E4
- Expands an air bubble out that loosens restraints on him well enough to escape S2E4
- Clears away scorpion bees coating him LA
- Creates a breathable air bubble underwater and reestablishes it when it dissipates TS
Slicing
- Slices a melon into portions S1E11
- Beheads a buzzard wasp from a vast distance S2E11
- Slices vines apart with air TS
- Cools a large amount of lava into stone S1E14
- Cools off Toph's soup from across the table S2E6
- Amplifies Kuzon's flames with his air LA
- Cools a geyser of lava with a blast of air so it solidifies S3E11
- Cushions his fall so an egg he holds does not break LA
- Cushions he and an ally's fall S1E13
- Cushions his fall after taking a hit S2E1
- Cushions he and Bumi's fall while Bumi is locked in a metal coffin S2E3
- Cushions several people's fall TR
- Cushion's Zuko's impact against a wall S&S
- Dries himself off after a cloud drenches him S1E7
- Gusts Sokka dry after Katara washes him clean S2E3
- Quickly dries himself off S2E10
- Gusts a woman to dry her off, stiffening her clothes and hair cartoonishly S2E14
- Cleans polluted water off himself, then off his friends S3E3
- Pulls his staff from Sokka's hand to his own S1E1
- Rapidly rotates the wheel to a door to open it S1E2
- Produces sustained gusts of wind that open a special mechanism on an Air Temple door S1E3
- Manipulates the air around a toboggan so he and his friends fall back into it S1E5
- Raises a tent S2E8
- Gusts Katara's hat off her head S3E3
- Often rotates marbles between his hands as a neat trick COMP
Water
Training- Picks up waterbending easily, waxing and waning water before moving it around him S1E9
- Proved natural at waterbending, and continued training with Katara and Pakku COMP
- Pulls a wave onboard strong enough to wash a man overboard S1E9
- Blasts water out of a well that overpowers Zuko's fireblast and sends Zuko flying into the air S1E15
- Surrounds himself in tentacles that catch projectiles S2E2
- Whips Azula's hands as she attempts fireblasts, and then forms a shield from another blast S2E13
- Redirects a whip of water back at Katara S3E7
- Knocks Combustion Man off a train with a wave LA
- Throws a waterfall at Ozai that blocks his flame S3E20
- Forms a shield that blocks Zuko's fireblasts TP
- Creates 3 geysers that slice a ship mast in half as it falls over S1E12
- Slices a reed in half
- Slices repeatedly at the hull of a Drill, making a deep X S2E13
- Creates a stream of water to wash off Appa S2E8
- Collects water from a cloud S2E11
- Bends several drinks out of their cups and whirls them around S2E14
- Creates a cloud around Appa to obscure him S3E6
- Pull water into a circle around him N&S
Offense/Defense
- Raises a wall of ice that blocks oncoming arrows S1E13
- Freezes the water in a moat to lock guards in place S2E18
- Freezes several giant crab claws while underwater TS
- Trips fleeing people with the snow beneath them N&S
- Pulls ice up from beneath a chi-blocker to bind his limbs N&S
- Collects the snow around him to turn himself into a snow man S1E19
- Freezes a chain, embrittling it so he can shatter it S2E3
- Freezes a chain with his breath, embrittling it so he can shatter it S2E3
- Freezes himself in a block of ice S2E12
- Catches a mass of water from Katara and expands it out into an explosion of snow that extinguishes a conflagration S3E4
- Dives underwater and swims quickly past a barricade S3E1
- After speaking with the Moon Spirit, amplifies a tidal wave that carries him to the safety of an island S3E1
- Freezes the water beneath his feet as he runs across water S3E3
- Swims quickly around a giant lion turtle the size of an island S3E19
- Catches himself on a column of water to land safely in the water S3E20
- Propels himself across water away from Ozai S3E20
Earth
Projectiles- Earthbends for the first time, launching a boulder away where it releases a dust cloud on impact S2E9
- Breaks off a huge portion of stone from an outcropping S2E9
- Catches and throws a large boulder S2E13
- Throws a large pillar of stone at Combustion Man S3E5
- Launches and curves boulders a vast distance away and destroys chunks of an airship S3E20
- Tears off the top of a stone column and hurls it S3E20
- Kicks away a massive stone column S3E20
- Earthbends up a column in his sleep, and sends out a tremor that dislodges an avalanche LA
- Bursts through a stone barrier and knocks away a Dai Li with a column S3E11
- Knocks a Dai Li away with a column of stone S2E17
- Raises a column S&S
- Blocks attackers with a column so they knock themselves out and moves a stone barrier S&S
- Raises a barrier to hide from viper bats LA
- Creates a stone defense to Azula's fireblasts and launches rocks from it, but she overpowers it S2E13
- Creates massive walls, columns, and enclosures to form a whole zoo S2E15
- Raises and pushes a stone wall to knock away attackers S2E18
- Raises a wall against Azula's sudden attack, which blasts through it S2E20
- Raises a crystal defense that stifles Zuko's large fireblast S2E20
- Closes off a cave passage S3E2
- Raises a stone wall that Ozai's blast destroys S3E20
- Raises a barrier that blocks shuriken TS
- Shields from earth projectiles IM
- Creates a rock glove that intercepts Azula's strike, then pushes her away S2E13
- Armors himself in crystals and charges toward Azula, who blasts through it S2E20
- Surrounds himself in crystal to allow him to meditate into the Avatar State S2E20
- Hides in a pillar and emerges with armor that protects from Combustion Man's blast S3E5
- Armors himself in earth that resists Ozai's fire S3E20
- Wraps himself in a boulder against Ozai's attacks made repeatedly before it is destroyed S3E20&21
- Forms earth around him so he can meditate TP
- Destroys a stone barrier raised to impede him S2E17
- Shatters a boulder and slices another in half S2E18
- Bends away stone bindings around his wrists and returns them S2E18
- Shatters stones thrown at him while defending his team S2E18
- Shakes apart a column to bring Azula down from it S2E20
- Busts through a stone pillar, then hides himself within one S3E5
- Bursts stone projectiles thrown at him S3E11
- Shatters a stone barrier with a wave of his hand S3E11
- Busts through a stone barrier raised by a Dai Li S3E11
- Shatters a battering ram with his head TP
- Smashes flung rocks, and raises juts of earth that hold falling debris TR
- Shrugs off a projectile from Toph to smash the next stone she throws TR
- Binds Ozai's limbs with earth S3E21
- Sinks a soldier into the ground TP
- Traps Azula's feet with the ground TS
- Binds a man's hands together TR
- Dodges a surprise knife swing and sinks his attacker into the ground TR
- Binds a man with the earth beneath him IM
- Slams into the ground, sending out a wave of earth that throws away guards S2E18
- Tears off a chunk of cave and craters it into the ground where it sends out a wave that knocks over Zuko, then crawls from the crater S2E20
- Raises a platform and slams it down to damage a factory S3E3
- Repeatedly extends a tunnel he and Iroh navigate until they reach an underground cavern S2E20
- Launches himself out of the ground and rides a swell of earth when he lands S2E20
- Slides across the ground while evading attacks S3E7
- Throws a rock at Toph, then burrows beneath it when she returns it S3E7
- Moves a boulder over and carves it into the shape of a spike S2E13
- Stifles flames with earth TS
- Launches several others over a fence TR
- Turns a rock into a meditation bead with an etching on it TR
- Begins digging others out of a collapsed mine, then aids metalbenders who arrive to help TR
Fire
Fireblasts- Produces a plume of flame S3E13
- Produces flames while practicing with Zuko S3E13
- Practices firebending alongside Zuko S3E17
- Blasts through his stone enclosure, ripping it apart LA
- Trains with Zuko, creating plumes of flame LA
- Practices firebending and produces 3 simultaneous plumes from his hands and mouth S3E18
- Matches Ozai's fireblast with his own, creating an explosion visible from a significant distance away S3E20
- Releases a massive fireblast that brings down an airship S3E20
- Attempts opening a firebending mechanism alongside Zuko S&S
- Throws a fireblast at the Kemurikage S&S
- Keeps fire from reaching the edge of a leaf, then stokes the flame S1E16
- Stokes a flame into a fireball S1E16
- Throws a stream of flame and juggles around a fireball S1E16
- Sends out a radial blast of fire that burns Katara's hands S1E16
- Tries to firebend, producing a sputter of smoke S3E13
- Carries fire up a mountain, feeling its "heartbeat," then feeds its flame to make it stronger S3E13
- Blocks Ozai's flames S3E20
- Redirects Ozai's lightning and dispels it into the air S3E20
- Burns a piece of his meditation beads to cinders TP
- Holds a flame in his hand to light his way S&S
Avatar State
Pre-Mastery- Froze himself and Appa in an iceberg that preserves them for a century S1E12
- Ascends on a column of water he sends out radially to knock soldiers away, though collapses right after, yet remains well enough to defend himself moments later S1E2
- Often creates cyclones of air and damages surroundings when entering the Avatar State COMP
- Possessed by Roku, redirects several firebenders' flames to melt chains binding friends, blows attackers back, and opens a trench of magma that brings down a building S1E08
- Evades high waves on Appa before getting overwhelmed, entering the Avatar State and enclosing everyone in a sphere that flies them to safety S1E12
- Merges with the Ocean Spirit while in the Avatar State to create a kaiju out of water COMP
- Possessed by Kyoshi to testify in court, summoning a tornado and darkening the sky S2E5
- Duels Ozai, surrounding himself in an elemental sphere and destroying much of the landscape as Ozai flees him frantically COMP
- Pulses the Avatar State to bring in the tide to extinguish a forest of flames, then returns it S3E21
- Forms an elemental sphere, encircles a city with a massive trench, and catches the falling Zuko TP
- Forms an elemental sphere and flies off, preparing to destroy a factory with large fireballs TR
- Creates a giant of earth that duels with General Old Iron, then defeats him with a blast of all the elements to a weak spot TR
- Crushes an earthbender's boulder, binds her in ice, and nearly removes her bending IM
- Recovers from bloodbending, then resists Yakone's bloodbending and restrains him LoK S1E9
Cont'd in Comments
2023.05.27 17:43 4ShotBot My Roommate is Slenderman Part 24: (Revised)
Part 23: https://www.reddit.com/Viidith22/comments/13o2jsg/my_roommate_is_slenderman_part_23_revised/
(Joseph)
Pushed off the left of my desk, I worked on the laptop. I’d gotten through to the data Scott stored on the drive, and while it wasn’t encrypted, it was definitely corrupted. Some of it was intact, but for the most part, the documents were filled with errors and random text. After scrolling through a few more useless documents, a familiar ache took over my side. I raised my fist then hesitated, taking a deep breath, I relaxed. Standing, I headed to the kitchen to make some food.
I turned on the TV as I heated water for the rice, opting to just throw on cable, happening across a show about a guy that went by the name Earl. I turned back to my stove, throwing a couple pans on the available spots. I opened several cans of veggies, pulled out the mildly expired ground beef, sniffed it, and set to work with a canned stir-fry and rice, topped with some seasoned beef.
“...two unknown wayfarers discovered just outside the city limits…” A news station had caught my attention. The voice was distorted with an audio mixer, but something about it sounded familiar, “...one male, one female, both seemed to be wearing suits at the time of their deaths…” I looked at the tv, two scorched corpses side by side.
“What the hell?” It was staticky, and the quality wavered. For a brief moment, Earl made an appearance through the static, but the news footage overtook it.
“Their IDs are melted along with their wallets and clothing, however, considering there are no missing person reports in the area, I’ve concluded they were from out of town…” I stared as the amateur camera work scanned the area, a small patch of forest within city limits.
“It’s fair to say government officials likely weren’t responsible given the people’s confinement within the walls. However, it’s im–” there was a brief period of static, “...eir intentions were unknown, as for why they’d come here is anyone’s guess.” The camera panned over the bodies again, their height giving me pause.
Heading to the living room, I scanned the ground, eventually finding the card under the TV stand. I looked it over,
“The Remnants of the Crystal Age
“If you need help, give us a call
“But remember, we expect the same help from you”
Flipping it revealed three phone numbers. Ryouka, Jericho, and Kalthrulre. “Was it really them?” I looked back up at the silent screen, static overwhelming the bodies, an actual news station taking over.
“We apologize for the interruption, it seems someone decided to play some kind of prank, and our signal was taken over. To quell any worries, there were no unmarked deaths as of late. Why anyone would pull such a sick joke is anyone’s guess.”
The co-anchor laughed nervously, “Quite a mystery. Let’s get onto the weather now, shall we?” A sizzle came from the kitchen, followed by burning starch and a wave of steam. I dropped the card, rushing to pull the rice off the stove. For a split second, it crossed my mind that the show I’d been watching never continued.
-------------------------------------------
Once I’d gotten back to the laptop, I did find traces of intact information. I made note of all of them, but unfortunately there wasn’t much in the way of useful data. I had an address, a few notes about other organizations in town, and my name completely out of context. That last one was in an over 100 page file of nonsense thanks to the corruption.
Not having much else to go on, I took to checking out the address, have a look around, see if anyone was living there, assuming it was a house. Then if the stars, planets, and moon alined, I might actually learn something.
As I zipped my hoodie, I looked to the liquor cabinet above the fridge, craving a bottle. But I turned away, promising myself I’d have one when I had answers.
Having left the chains on my car, it wasn’t much of a pain heading to as bumfuck nowhere as you could get in town. Next to the small amount of forest we had access to, only accompanied by a few other homes, there was a dingey, unkempt crackhouse. There was only one car, but having lived in Salem most my life, I knew a crackden when I saw one.
I parked a couple blocks away. Sighing, I got out of my car and took to walking around the house. All the windows were intact, the backyard was a mess, patches of random objects only obscured by the snowfall stood out in the otherwise flat foliage. Looking closer, it was less of a crackhouse, more of a farm house, just without the space. Sheet metal laid propped against the house and other currently invisible objects, random patches where tools and other metal things lay discarded seemed to melt the snow in their wake.
Strolling around the rest of the house told me nothing about who was actually living there. Despite my better judgement, I went up to the door and knocked, and knocked, and knocked. When I hit the doorbell, a shuffling sounded from the other side.
A familiar voice lifted the mail slot, “Who is it?”
A whiff of stale weed smoke wiggled its way into my nose, making me cringe as I groaned, “No, fucking, way.”
“Oh God.” There was a metal clink as the slot fell into place.
Shink, clunk, rattle, rattle, clunk, clunk, shink, rattle. The door opened leaving me to stagger for just a moment. The overwhelming power of days old mexican food and bong water causing my head to go light for a moment, “How the hell did you find me?”
Once I’d regained my composure, I stared Scott right in the eyes, “You really needa find a way to encrypt your drives.”
“Allow me to rephrase. The fuck do you want?”
“Information.”
He looked around behind me, “You might wanna come in.”
He stepped to his side gesturing for me to enter. I hesitated, making sure he didn’t have any weapons at the ready. When nothing immediately stood out to me, I took a deep breath, trying to focus on my ears like I had when we were kidnapped. A few seconds later, I crossed the doorframe, and braced myself.
Scott took the lead, glanced back at me, then led me to the livingroom. A bong sat along side an open grinder and air tight metal case at the center of a dusty coffee table. He flopped onto the pleather couch in front of it, a cloud of ash puffing up thick enough to rain.
I stood across from him as he packed a bowl. He gestured to me before lighting, “After all that shit, you really are just some fuckin asshole.”
He a blew out a cloud, packing the bowl back down, “You got that right.” As he took another massive toke, I noticed the dark yellow water, and gagged, “So?”
“You know who I am.”
“Yeah, we’ve met–”
I rolled my eyes, ready to put my fist through his mouth, “Really, that’s what you’re going with?”
He paused, setting the bong and lighter down. He twiddled his thumbs for a moment, testing a few facial expressions before resigning to a neutral dead-eyed gaze. He stood with a groan, “Come on.” With a wave, he headed to a new room. It was an office, desk against the back wall, the laptop Darren gave him sitting in the center of it, “You should be able to read them now.”
He turned it on, clicking a few times before hopping out of the seat, “You’re up.”
I sat, keeping the bat in my right hand, one ear out for anything, “This it?” The door shut without a response, looking around, he was gone.
I sighed, swiveling to the screen. My vision seemed to collide in on itself, the image left behind was oversaturated. I dry heaved, clutching my stomache, desperately vacuuming in air. The air around me held a bloody mist as I struggled to face the screen again. A lengthy document, the first page listed every basic aspect of my life like a table of contents. Each word on the screen shocked a different neuron starting it back up like a mini defibrillator. A migraine pulsed from the back of my head, amplified in the front, sending waves of nausea straight to my stomach, making me lightheaded.
When the door opened, I stood, hanging onto the chair stand upright. Just behind my right eye sat a knife, stabbing me any time I moved too suddenly. Eventually balancing myself, I stared at Scott who held a steaming mug, “Sit your ass down. I’m not gonna hurt you.” I collapsed to the chair, rolling back a few inches, “Here, man.” He put the mug on the desk, “It’s ginger turmeric.” The smell of it brought me back a bit, the pain receding just that bit to let me set my hand down.
I took a sip from the mug, my throat warmed, and I sat back in the chair. “What the hell man?” I let out a sigh filled with stale, moist air.
“I think old memories coming back. Never had it happen so I’m not sure.”
I took another swig, “Really?”
“Really.”
He stood there for a moment, hesitating at the thought of turning around, then went through with it.
Taking the hottest gulp of my life, I finished the mug off and turned back to the screen, finally able to read what it held. I drank in the summary of my life, it went down just as hot as the tea, a nail hammered into the back of my head, but I managed. Though as the pain waned, fresh memories made themselves known. Not new, but it was like they’d been vacuum sealed, saved for later. As if the information was compressed into a file, and reading what was on the screen decompressed it. Tears streaked down my face as I remembered Jane, my Jane, and I suddenly pieced the odd experience in Darren’s doorway together. My mind had been fighting to remember ever since… ever since the mushroom incident. A mental exhaustion tried to take over as the pain left me entirely. So I scrolled to the first written page of my life.
Everything dimmed, and suddenly my brain wasn’t decompressing a gigabyte over five minutes, but ten terabytes in seconds. My skull throbbed, fluid sloshed around my brain, my vision went black, and every single memory since I was a baby reformed more vivid than ever, even before the town. Like dropping a match into a puddle of nitro glycerin, my entire body was on fire, the air in my body sucked out until everything stopped.
When I awoke, the room was too bright to see anything, I squeezed my eyes shut. I screamed and could hardly move, “We still have one more, hang in there miss.”
I tried to stop and ask what the hell was going on, but the atmosphere was oppressive, I was weak, and everything was hot and cold and wet. Someone moved me, but my skin was wrong, I couldn’t tell what I was laying on.
“1, 2, 3, push. 1, 2, 3, push. Come on, give me one more of those, we’re almost there.” I heard a woman screaming over me, when suddenly everything stopped. All that could be heard was panting and concerned murmuring. “He’s not crying, someone get a flashlight!” I noticed then that the light wasn’t torturing my eyes anymore. Slowly, I opened them, I was in a hospital, laying in a bassinet. Understanding filled me as I looked around. My mom and dad looked so young, and my twin brother… twin brother?
A suckerpunch came in that moment, the shards of glass finally coming together, just needing the glue, “Is Scott okay?”
A flashlight flicked on, and a nurse made her way out of the room, the doctor observing my brother, “He’s responsive, just not crying. I’m sorry, I’ll have a nurse come to keep you all updated.” The doctor left the room, baby in his arms. My mom cried, the darkness enveloping us before the emergency lights flicked on.
It shouldn’t have taken this long. Should it? We stayed there for a good half hour, in that time I’d been given to my mom. She held me, stroking my head, tears flowing down her cheeks. My dad had tried to get information out of the nurse several times but in the end simply paced around the room.
That was when a man in a suit came in, nothing but emergency lights illuminating him, “His name is Joseph right?” My mom nodded, and the suit nodded to the nurse, “Take care of Joseph for a moment will you? Take him to the infirmary.”
“No! You can’t have him!”
“Miss, please, Joseph is fine, he’ll just be resting.”
My dad sized the suit up, chest puffed up, his serious face on, “What authority do you have to make a call like that?”
The man flashed a badge, one that look almost, but not quite like it said FBI, “We’re inspecting the power outage, we suspect it’s come from somewhere in this hospital. It’s possible this is a terrorist threat. As such, we are securing all the children first. We’re on top of the situation sir, I assure you this will be the safest option for your child.”
The nurse attempted to pull me from my mom a couple more times. By the third, she’d given me up, and I was taken. But as the door shut, a muffled voice made it’s way out, “Unfortunately, Scott didn’t make it–” before he was cut off by the diminishing sound of screaming.
-----------------------------------
I woke in high alert, thrashing, but I was handcuffed to a medical table. I looked down and saw some of the links were misshapen, almost stretched. I scanned the room, lifting my head as far as it would go before something around my neck tugged me back down. It was mostly barren aside from a rolling table of medical supplies, and a chair with a single person sitting in it.
“You’ve got to be the biggest asshole I’ve ever met.”
He feigned sadness, wiping a crocodile tear from his eye, “I can’t believe you’d treat your own brother so harshly.” His face rose to neutral.”
I looked him in the eyes, a strange sense of calm washing me, pacifying me, “You’ve got more faces than a d6 I swear.” I tried to force a laugh, but it just made me cringe, “God, how do you keep that shit up?”
“I do what’s necessary, I’ve gotta think about myself here.”
I grimaced, “What the hell man? I mean seriously, who the fuck are you really? What’s your game?”
“Eh…” He glanced at the door, then shrugged, turning back to me with a smile that never reached his eyes, “Well, had you joined in with the revolution, you might not be here. Heavy maybe though, vampires are rare, and humans that have turned, even partially, oh well that’s a commodity. So whether or not you being with them would change the minds of the Axons, eh, come to think of it…” He trailed off, “But yeah, everyone in this town wants a piece of you for a different reason, whether they know what you are or not.”
I remembered the guy who spoke in metaphors, my brain tagging something. “What about that news interruption? The voice was distorted, but that was definitely you.”
He threw up a “whoopsie” gesture, then laughed to himself, “Well, guess the jig is up on that one. You can call it… brushing the pond, gotta bring the scum up every so often to keep things interesting.”
“So what’s that? Number three?”
“Four if you count…” His face went blank, “Damn, guess I am a bit soft on you.”
“Who’s four?”
“Eh, you wouldn’t know them, I think they go by the mechanics or something though?”
“Metaphor man?” I mumbled to myself.
“Well I’ll be.” He looked panicked for a moment before the door opened.
The man held a clipboard and wore a white apron over scrubs, the lack of a mask showing the tip of his nose was missing and scarred over, as well as three scars down his bottom lip, giving it separation lines when he smiled, “I am very excited to work with you Joseph.”
Scott walked to him, whispering in the man’s ear.
“Oh, I see. Feel free to check his belongings. If it’s there, make sure it’s taken care of.” My brother left in a hurry, leaving the doctor and I to ourselves. He sat in the rolling chair Scott had been in, rolling over to me and pulling a lamp from behind me over my face, “Hello, my name is Doctor Fräger.” He peeled my eyes open wide, observing them, “I am a crypto anatomist, and I will be giving you a FULL checkup today. It is my understanding that you have been uh…” He let go of my eye lids, pulled down his glasses, and looked down at his clipboard, “Genetically modified through a vampire bite by your wife.” He looked at me with feigned sadness, “I am so very sorry to hear that. Now, before we get started, do you have any unusual pains or discomforts you’d like to discuss with me?”
I looked at him with as much “what the fuck” as I could manage, my emotions coming back to me, “Yeah, these fucking chains!”
He looked down at his clipboard, “I would love to help you, however it says right here that if I were to do that you’d likely rip my throat out. That doesn’t sound pleasant, so I’ll have to leave you with them on. I’m sure you can understand.” He stood, setting the clipboard on a metal table out of sight. Pulling a wooden stick out, he asked me to open my mouth. When I tried to say something, he grabbed my lower jaw, forcing it open with his grip on a couple pressure points, “Very good, now say ‘ahhhhh.’”
I bit down , chopping the stick in half, then spitting it in his face, “Let me go.”
His face dropped for the slightest moment, revealing the dry ice behind his gaze, “But there’s just so much to learn! Now, if you’ll follow me.” He walked to the feet end of the table, dragging me out the door to a few rooms down.
An x-ray welcomed me into the sterile white room, “While we wait on your MRI results, what say you and I have some fun in here. I’ve never gotten a good look at how vampires tick.” He set me up, the x-ray hovering over my right hand, before snapping my thumb, I yelped, but the pain hadn’t been as bad as I expected. I remembered all the broken bones I’d gotten during the bunker. A massive gap in my memory suddenly filled in, clearer than ever, as if the memories were just waiting their turn. I remembered Terry, the way he’d treated me. Somehow, it felt odd, the caring nature he had for my well being, it didn’t feel real.
The doctor hurried behind a wall, and a few moments later let out a, “Fascinating!” that came from somewhere on my left, “I’ll definitely need some blood samples too, so if you don’t mind, once we’re done here we can get you a proper blood panel.” We spent another hour in the x-ray room, enough time to regrow a couple fingers and start on one of my thumbs.
My body vibrated as Fräger shoved me through the door, “How about some grub before we get some of that red nectar of yours. I hear vampires have quite the appetite.”
“Sure.” I dwelt on how everyone had treated me back then. Despite everything Fräger had put me through, it was like I had a shark on my line, but it was only meant for salmon fishing. The thread could snap any moment, and I’d lose whatever revelation was sitting there.
“I must say, you’ve been one of my best patients to date. I’ll be sure they supply you with plenty of nutritious food for your politeness.” As we entered another room, the smell of garlic and onions soothed my mind, “If you want the truth, I wasn’t planning to feed you, I wanted to see what would happen. But we’ll save that for later, sound good?”
“Yeah, sounds great doc.” He smiled.
I was fed two full chicken breasts, a large helping of rice, and a side of grilled vegetables along with a fruit smoothie. Then I was quickly carted into an empty room, the pain in my side already fading.
“Now, before I leave you here, is there anything at all you need?”
“Yeah, a bathroom.”
He laughed, “Please, like we’re going to let a vampire walk around all willy-nilly. Once I’m done testing you, we will set up a room just for you. But for now, a catheter and a bedpan will have to do. My sincerest apologies we won’t be able to accommodate you a toilet.”
I didn’t respond.
“Alright, enjoy the next few days. I have someone coming in to take care of you in just a moment.”
When he opened the door to leave, I heard a familiar set of footsteps take the doctor’s place. The unsettling relaxation took me over yet again, “Hope you enjoyed your meal.”
“So what are you, the babysitter?”
“Depends on how you look at it.” He grabbed my face, sticking things around it before moving down to my chest and so on. By the end, my body was covered in sensors. Someone had rolled in a machine that let out a continuous beeping at some point. Leaving nothing but a metronome-like ticking to fill in the gaps.
“I’m tired of beating around the bush, what’re you guys really doing?”
“It’s a study, I figured that was obvious by now.”
“And you’re fine knowing I’m the one they’re putting through all this?”
“You’re still on that?” He blew a raspberry, chuckling to himself, “Yeah, okay, I’m real choked up about it.” He shook his head, rolling his eyes, “You can starve, I don’t mind.”
“Fuckin psychopath,” I muttered, letting out a sigh.
“Pretty sure they call it antisocial personality disorder these days.”
“I don’t hear you denying it.”
“Who said I would? You’re kind of an arrogant asshole you know that? I’m almost excited to see what’s going to happen.” He finished putting the last sensor on, heading to the door, I could him murmuring to himself, “...doesn’t kill this one…” Then, I was alone.
The first day wasn’t too bad, aside from the boredom, beeping, and having to piss and shit myself whenever the occasion arose. The lack of food did start getting to me after those first 24 hours though. I was overly aware of every little thing, the beeping behind me that initially fell into my subconscious became the only thing I could focus on. Every little movement of my body sent a minuscule echo of sound bouncing around my skull. It was around that time the throbbing in my side returned. What started as a mild ache eventually became the only physical sensation I noticed. It became a beacon of sensation that compiled with the beeping to piss me off. Everything was annoying, the way the ceiling looked, the faint buzz from the presumable monitor behind me, the way the ceiling was just barely lit, the fact my toes were just slightly cold, it was all so frustrating.
A craving began to emerge then, the desire to rip someone’s arm off, just cause that pain to someone, then eat it.
Around 36 hours, my attention shifted, every light flicker of light caused me to jump, everything just out of my line of sight was suddenly a person watching me. The tingle in my feet was someone dragging their fingers along them, I wanted to rip their throat out with my teeth. I tried to sleep, but my body was too alert, it wouldn’t allow it.
By day two, I was wide awake, I could feel the difference in time between each beep. It was no longer a sound, but a measurement of time. I could tell, it’d been approximately 173,000 beeps since I was locked in. The pain in my side was fire, I could feel the magma churning in a tiny spot on my right side. It wasn’t just a vague ache anymore, I could feel every nerve fiber that interacted with whatever the pain was coming from. A 3D model had formed in my head, it was like a worm wrapped around my intestine, as thick as a hose and about 6 inches long. With each pulse, I saw the worm grow just that much larger.
By hour 60, my vision had tinted red, the pain wasn’t a part of me anymore, I was pain. I couldn’t think anymore, I just needed food. I felt the chains strain against me, slowly bending as I pulled at them. I screamed and a metallic snap reverberated in the claustrophobic room. I screamed again yanking the other chain off. I tore the chain from under my neck when someone rushed in. He shoved me down, trying to hold me in place, but my body ran on instinct. I sat up with enough force to shove him back, immediately grabbing his wrist, pulling him in, and ripping a chunk out of his forearm.
The man screamed, stumbling back, giving me enough time to rip my legs free and yank out the catheter, a pain that somehow eclipsed all others at that moment. I jumped on the man, ripping chunk after chunk out of him. When he stopped moving, I took a moment to breathe, my vision clearing, and my brain easing up on adrenaline. I was able to think again, but despite my desire to cry, my brain wouldn’t allow it.
I stumbled to my feet, wiping the blood from my chin. Then I was on the ground, my head pressed against the linoleum floor. I tried lifting my head, but it was to no avail. The person flipped me onto my stomach, one arm behind my back giving me a chicken wing. I chuckled, the pain throughout my body already subsiding. He had both legs on the backs of my knees, but it took both arms to keep my right in check. So with my left, I grabbed his left arm at the elbow and yanked, it took a few more tries, but when his arm was loose enough, I freed my right, pushing myself as hard as I could, flipping him onto his back.
His cheekbones were sharp, and as each of my fists made their mark, it sent a shrill pain through my knuckles. But as fist met face over and over again, he fell unconscious.
With the pain still agitating my side, I took a few bites from the man. My human and vimpiristic minds at odds, but with each taste of human flesh, my humanity was persuaded just that much more. My body didn’t stop until my mind allowed it, and when I stood, the only sensation that didn’t feel right was my sleep deprivation.
I bolted out of the room, seeing a few doorways in a short hallway with an elevator at the end. I ran for it, but just as I got there to press the button, it opened, revealing two men with pistols waiting for me.
The banging deafened me, forcing me into the elevator. The guy on the right lost his gun as I slammed my fist down on his wrist, snapping it, the guy on my left grabbed me by the back of my neck, shoving me into the metal wall. He put a bullet through my tailbone, sending molten tungsten through every nerve fiber in my body. My vision flashed, then flickered, then went black momentarily.
When I came to, both the men were on the floor, throats ripped out, and I was laying between them, mostly unable to move. I twitched my finger and felt the metal fragments pushing out of my tailbone in slow motion. With each piece of metal, a new wave fried my nerves like thermite. Before I could stand, the elevator door dinged, opening. I pulled myself up with the railing when five prongs dug into my back, like were trying to grab my spine. I was yanked from the railing and thrown into the short hallway, one that looked identical to mine.
I looked over, staggering to my feet, it was a skinwalker, looked like a more traditional one, “God you’re weak, Jacob would mop the floor with you.”
The creature lunged at me, “I’m getting out of here!”
I put up a forearm, unable to dodge. He scraped down to the bone, but couldn’t break it. I grabbed him with my other arm, yanking him down and kneeing him in the face. He staggered, attempting to reorient, but I kicked him in the jaw, knocking him to the floor, jumping on top of him. I punched, my fist crunched into his face like a scarecrow. I kept going until he stopped moving.
I panted as I made my way back into the elevator, taking a few bites from one of the security guards for good measure, and hitting the “ground floor” button. I leaned against the railing, looking down at my arm, which is when I first noticed I was healing faster than usual. It wasn’t quite scabbed over, but the wounds were already about half their initial size. The elevator dinged and I readied for a fight.
After a few seconds, I took my first step out, then another. When I made it into the room, I looked around. Desks, computers, and monitors galore took up most of the room. The chairs were flung about, and nobody was around. Doublechecking my surroundings, I took off through one of the doors looking for anything to cover up.
Eventually, I came across a “personal belongings” hall that was really just a bunch of lockers like one you’d find in a school. They all had padlocks, but when I found mine, I yanked, a metal snapping bouncing off the walls. Everything I had on me when Scott knocked me out was in there, except my phone. “Better hope you never see me again shitstain,” I muttered, before getting dressed and running to find an exit.
After some searching, I made my way out, revealing I’d been in one of the few abandoned buildings in town. It was an old office complex that I remembered being open when I “moved in” but I couldn’t say for certain, the building looked about a month overdue for a power washing.
It was about a 5-minute jog to my house, and while the snow had melted some, there were still a few inches, and by the look of the clouds, that night it’d be coming down again. When I shut the door behind me, I hoped no one had seen the blood and called the cops, but it couldn’t be helped even if they did.
I took the most satisfying shower of my life, it felt like I hadn’t had one in a month, and as I scrubbed myself down, it felt like I was the grill boy scraping gunk into the grease traps. When I slipped on a fresh set of clothes and had a minute to take a breath, the exhaustion took hold. Surprisingly though, it only felt like I’d had a 14-hour shift… after not sleeping for a couple days. Either way, I knew I couldn’t fall asleep in my bed, everything about the town was fucked. I felt like if I fell asleep, I’d be waking up somewhere new and I’d have to escape again, I needed to get somewhere safe, somewhere I knew I could sleep without being captured. That was when the realization struck me, “The revolution.”
Part 25: https://www.reddit.com/Viidith22/comments/13yj6jh/my_roommate_is_slenderman_part_25_revised/
submitted by 4ShotBot to Viidith22 [link] [comments]
(Joseph)
Pushed off the left of my desk, I worked on the laptop. I’d gotten through to the data Scott stored on the drive, and while it wasn’t encrypted, it was definitely corrupted. Some of it was intact, but for the most part, the documents were filled with errors and random text. After scrolling through a few more useless documents, a familiar ache took over my side. I raised my fist then hesitated, taking a deep breath, I relaxed. Standing, I headed to the kitchen to make some food.
I turned on the TV as I heated water for the rice, opting to just throw on cable, happening across a show about a guy that went by the name Earl. I turned back to my stove, throwing a couple pans on the available spots. I opened several cans of veggies, pulled out the mildly expired ground beef, sniffed it, and set to work with a canned stir-fry and rice, topped with some seasoned beef.
“...two unknown wayfarers discovered just outside the city limits…” A news station had caught my attention. The voice was distorted with an audio mixer, but something about it sounded familiar, “...one male, one female, both seemed to be wearing suits at the time of their deaths…” I looked at the tv, two scorched corpses side by side.
“What the hell?” It was staticky, and the quality wavered. For a brief moment, Earl made an appearance through the static, but the news footage overtook it.
“Their IDs are melted along with their wallets and clothing, however, considering there are no missing person reports in the area, I’ve concluded they were from out of town…” I stared as the amateur camera work scanned the area, a small patch of forest within city limits.
“It’s fair to say government officials likely weren’t responsible given the people’s confinement within the walls. However, it’s im–” there was a brief period of static, “...eir intentions were unknown, as for why they’d come here is anyone’s guess.” The camera panned over the bodies again, their height giving me pause.
Heading to the living room, I scanned the ground, eventually finding the card under the TV stand. I looked it over,
“The Remnants of the Crystal Age
“If you need help, give us a call
“But remember, we expect the same help from you”
Flipping it revealed three phone numbers. Ryouka, Jericho, and Kalthrulre. “Was it really them?” I looked back up at the silent screen, static overwhelming the bodies, an actual news station taking over.
“We apologize for the interruption, it seems someone decided to play some kind of prank, and our signal was taken over. To quell any worries, there were no unmarked deaths as of late. Why anyone would pull such a sick joke is anyone’s guess.”
The co-anchor laughed nervously, “Quite a mystery. Let’s get onto the weather now, shall we?” A sizzle came from the kitchen, followed by burning starch and a wave of steam. I dropped the card, rushing to pull the rice off the stove. For a split second, it crossed my mind that the show I’d been watching never continued.
-------------------------------------------
Once I’d gotten back to the laptop, I did find traces of intact information. I made note of all of them, but unfortunately there wasn’t much in the way of useful data. I had an address, a few notes about other organizations in town, and my name completely out of context. That last one was in an over 100 page file of nonsense thanks to the corruption.
Not having much else to go on, I took to checking out the address, have a look around, see if anyone was living there, assuming it was a house. Then if the stars, planets, and moon alined, I might actually learn something.
As I zipped my hoodie, I looked to the liquor cabinet above the fridge, craving a bottle. But I turned away, promising myself I’d have one when I had answers.
Having left the chains on my car, it wasn’t much of a pain heading to as bumfuck nowhere as you could get in town. Next to the small amount of forest we had access to, only accompanied by a few other homes, there was a dingey, unkempt crackhouse. There was only one car, but having lived in Salem most my life, I knew a crackden when I saw one.
I parked a couple blocks away. Sighing, I got out of my car and took to walking around the house. All the windows were intact, the backyard was a mess, patches of random objects only obscured by the snowfall stood out in the otherwise flat foliage. Looking closer, it was less of a crackhouse, more of a farm house, just without the space. Sheet metal laid propped against the house and other currently invisible objects, random patches where tools and other metal things lay discarded seemed to melt the snow in their wake.
Strolling around the rest of the house told me nothing about who was actually living there. Despite my better judgement, I went up to the door and knocked, and knocked, and knocked. When I hit the doorbell, a shuffling sounded from the other side.
A familiar voice lifted the mail slot, “Who is it?”
A whiff of stale weed smoke wiggled its way into my nose, making me cringe as I groaned, “No, fucking, way.”
“Oh God.” There was a metal clink as the slot fell into place.
Shink, clunk, rattle, rattle, clunk, clunk, shink, rattle. The door opened leaving me to stagger for just a moment. The overwhelming power of days old mexican food and bong water causing my head to go light for a moment, “How the hell did you find me?”
Once I’d regained my composure, I stared Scott right in the eyes, “You really needa find a way to encrypt your drives.”
“Allow me to rephrase. The fuck do you want?”
“Information.”
He looked around behind me, “You might wanna come in.”
He stepped to his side gesturing for me to enter. I hesitated, making sure he didn’t have any weapons at the ready. When nothing immediately stood out to me, I took a deep breath, trying to focus on my ears like I had when we were kidnapped. A few seconds later, I crossed the doorframe, and braced myself.
Scott took the lead, glanced back at me, then led me to the livingroom. A bong sat along side an open grinder and air tight metal case at the center of a dusty coffee table. He flopped onto the pleather couch in front of it, a cloud of ash puffing up thick enough to rain.
I stood across from him as he packed a bowl. He gestured to me before lighting, “After all that shit, you really are just some fuckin asshole.”
He a blew out a cloud, packing the bowl back down, “You got that right.” As he took another massive toke, I noticed the dark yellow water, and gagged, “So?”
“You know who I am.”
“Yeah, we’ve met–”
I rolled my eyes, ready to put my fist through his mouth, “Really, that’s what you’re going with?”
He paused, setting the bong and lighter down. He twiddled his thumbs for a moment, testing a few facial expressions before resigning to a neutral dead-eyed gaze. He stood with a groan, “Come on.” With a wave, he headed to a new room. It was an office, desk against the back wall, the laptop Darren gave him sitting in the center of it, “You should be able to read them now.”
He turned it on, clicking a few times before hopping out of the seat, “You’re up.”
I sat, keeping the bat in my right hand, one ear out for anything, “This it?” The door shut without a response, looking around, he was gone.
I sighed, swiveling to the screen. My vision seemed to collide in on itself, the image left behind was oversaturated. I dry heaved, clutching my stomache, desperately vacuuming in air. The air around me held a bloody mist as I struggled to face the screen again. A lengthy document, the first page listed every basic aspect of my life like a table of contents. Each word on the screen shocked a different neuron starting it back up like a mini defibrillator. A migraine pulsed from the back of my head, amplified in the front, sending waves of nausea straight to my stomach, making me lightheaded.
When the door opened, I stood, hanging onto the chair stand upright. Just behind my right eye sat a knife, stabbing me any time I moved too suddenly. Eventually balancing myself, I stared at Scott who held a steaming mug, “Sit your ass down. I’m not gonna hurt you.” I collapsed to the chair, rolling back a few inches, “Here, man.” He put the mug on the desk, “It’s ginger turmeric.” The smell of it brought me back a bit, the pain receding just that bit to let me set my hand down.
I took a sip from the mug, my throat warmed, and I sat back in the chair. “What the hell man?” I let out a sigh filled with stale, moist air.
“I think old memories coming back. Never had it happen so I’m not sure.”
I took another swig, “Really?”
“Really.”
He stood there for a moment, hesitating at the thought of turning around, then went through with it.
Taking the hottest gulp of my life, I finished the mug off and turned back to the screen, finally able to read what it held. I drank in the summary of my life, it went down just as hot as the tea, a nail hammered into the back of my head, but I managed. Though as the pain waned, fresh memories made themselves known. Not new, but it was like they’d been vacuum sealed, saved for later. As if the information was compressed into a file, and reading what was on the screen decompressed it. Tears streaked down my face as I remembered Jane, my Jane, and I suddenly pieced the odd experience in Darren’s doorway together. My mind had been fighting to remember ever since… ever since the mushroom incident. A mental exhaustion tried to take over as the pain left me entirely. So I scrolled to the first written page of my life.
Everything dimmed, and suddenly my brain wasn’t decompressing a gigabyte over five minutes, but ten terabytes in seconds. My skull throbbed, fluid sloshed around my brain, my vision went black, and every single memory since I was a baby reformed more vivid than ever, even before the town. Like dropping a match into a puddle of nitro glycerin, my entire body was on fire, the air in my body sucked out until everything stopped.
When I awoke, the room was too bright to see anything, I squeezed my eyes shut. I screamed and could hardly move, “We still have one more, hang in there miss.”
I tried to stop and ask what the hell was going on, but the atmosphere was oppressive, I was weak, and everything was hot and cold and wet. Someone moved me, but my skin was wrong, I couldn’t tell what I was laying on.
“1, 2, 3, push. 1, 2, 3, push. Come on, give me one more of those, we’re almost there.” I heard a woman screaming over me, when suddenly everything stopped. All that could be heard was panting and concerned murmuring. “He’s not crying, someone get a flashlight!” I noticed then that the light wasn’t torturing my eyes anymore. Slowly, I opened them, I was in a hospital, laying in a bassinet. Understanding filled me as I looked around. My mom and dad looked so young, and my twin brother… twin brother?
A suckerpunch came in that moment, the shards of glass finally coming together, just needing the glue, “Is Scott okay?”
A flashlight flicked on, and a nurse made her way out of the room, the doctor observing my brother, “He’s responsive, just not crying. I’m sorry, I’ll have a nurse come to keep you all updated.” The doctor left the room, baby in his arms. My mom cried, the darkness enveloping us before the emergency lights flicked on.
It shouldn’t have taken this long. Should it? We stayed there for a good half hour, in that time I’d been given to my mom. She held me, stroking my head, tears flowing down her cheeks. My dad had tried to get information out of the nurse several times but in the end simply paced around the room.
That was when a man in a suit came in, nothing but emergency lights illuminating him, “His name is Joseph right?” My mom nodded, and the suit nodded to the nurse, “Take care of Joseph for a moment will you? Take him to the infirmary.”
“No! You can’t have him!”
“Miss, please, Joseph is fine, he’ll just be resting.”
My dad sized the suit up, chest puffed up, his serious face on, “What authority do you have to make a call like that?”
The man flashed a badge, one that look almost, but not quite like it said FBI, “We’re inspecting the power outage, we suspect it’s come from somewhere in this hospital. It’s possible this is a terrorist threat. As such, we are securing all the children first. We’re on top of the situation sir, I assure you this will be the safest option for your child.”
The nurse attempted to pull me from my mom a couple more times. By the third, she’d given me up, and I was taken. But as the door shut, a muffled voice made it’s way out, “Unfortunately, Scott didn’t make it–” before he was cut off by the diminishing sound of screaming.
-----------------------------------
I woke in high alert, thrashing, but I was handcuffed to a medical table. I looked down and saw some of the links were misshapen, almost stretched. I scanned the room, lifting my head as far as it would go before something around my neck tugged me back down. It was mostly barren aside from a rolling table of medical supplies, and a chair with a single person sitting in it.
“You’ve got to be the biggest asshole I’ve ever met.”
He feigned sadness, wiping a crocodile tear from his eye, “I can’t believe you’d treat your own brother so harshly.” His face rose to neutral.”
I looked him in the eyes, a strange sense of calm washing me, pacifying me, “You’ve got more faces than a d6 I swear.” I tried to force a laugh, but it just made me cringe, “God, how do you keep that shit up?”
“I do what’s necessary, I’ve gotta think about myself here.”
I grimaced, “What the hell man? I mean seriously, who the fuck are you really? What’s your game?”
“Eh…” He glanced at the door, then shrugged, turning back to me with a smile that never reached his eyes, “Well, had you joined in with the revolution, you might not be here. Heavy maybe though, vampires are rare, and humans that have turned, even partially, oh well that’s a commodity. So whether or not you being with them would change the minds of the Axons, eh, come to think of it…” He trailed off, “But yeah, everyone in this town wants a piece of you for a different reason, whether they know what you are or not.”
I remembered the guy who spoke in metaphors, my brain tagging something. “What about that news interruption? The voice was distorted, but that was definitely you.”
He threw up a “whoopsie” gesture, then laughed to himself, “Well, guess the jig is up on that one. You can call it… brushing the pond, gotta bring the scum up every so often to keep things interesting.”
“So what’s that? Number three?”
“Four if you count…” His face went blank, “Damn, guess I am a bit soft on you.”
“Who’s four?”
“Eh, you wouldn’t know them, I think they go by the mechanics or something though?”
“Metaphor man?” I mumbled to myself.
“Well I’ll be.” He looked panicked for a moment before the door opened.
The man held a clipboard and wore a white apron over scrubs, the lack of a mask showing the tip of his nose was missing and scarred over, as well as three scars down his bottom lip, giving it separation lines when he smiled, “I am very excited to work with you Joseph.”
Scott walked to him, whispering in the man’s ear.
“Oh, I see. Feel free to check his belongings. If it’s there, make sure it’s taken care of.” My brother left in a hurry, leaving the doctor and I to ourselves. He sat in the rolling chair Scott had been in, rolling over to me and pulling a lamp from behind me over my face, “Hello, my name is Doctor Fräger.” He peeled my eyes open wide, observing them, “I am a crypto anatomist, and I will be giving you a FULL checkup today. It is my understanding that you have been uh…” He let go of my eye lids, pulled down his glasses, and looked down at his clipboard, “Genetically modified through a vampire bite by your wife.” He looked at me with feigned sadness, “I am so very sorry to hear that. Now, before we get started, do you have any unusual pains or discomforts you’d like to discuss with me?”
I looked at him with as much “what the fuck” as I could manage, my emotions coming back to me, “Yeah, these fucking chains!”
He looked down at his clipboard, “I would love to help you, however it says right here that if I were to do that you’d likely rip my throat out. That doesn’t sound pleasant, so I’ll have to leave you with them on. I’m sure you can understand.” He stood, setting the clipboard on a metal table out of sight. Pulling a wooden stick out, he asked me to open my mouth. When I tried to say something, he grabbed my lower jaw, forcing it open with his grip on a couple pressure points, “Very good, now say ‘ahhhhh.’”
I bit down , chopping the stick in half, then spitting it in his face, “Let me go.”
His face dropped for the slightest moment, revealing the dry ice behind his gaze, “But there’s just so much to learn! Now, if you’ll follow me.” He walked to the feet end of the table, dragging me out the door to a few rooms down.
An x-ray welcomed me into the sterile white room, “While we wait on your MRI results, what say you and I have some fun in here. I’ve never gotten a good look at how vampires tick.” He set me up, the x-ray hovering over my right hand, before snapping my thumb, I yelped, but the pain hadn’t been as bad as I expected. I remembered all the broken bones I’d gotten during the bunker. A massive gap in my memory suddenly filled in, clearer than ever, as if the memories were just waiting their turn. I remembered Terry, the way he’d treated me. Somehow, it felt odd, the caring nature he had for my well being, it didn’t feel real.
The doctor hurried behind a wall, and a few moments later let out a, “Fascinating!” that came from somewhere on my left, “I’ll definitely need some blood samples too, so if you don’t mind, once we’re done here we can get you a proper blood panel.” We spent another hour in the x-ray room, enough time to regrow a couple fingers and start on one of my thumbs.
My body vibrated as Fräger shoved me through the door, “How about some grub before we get some of that red nectar of yours. I hear vampires have quite the appetite.”
“Sure.” I dwelt on how everyone had treated me back then. Despite everything Fräger had put me through, it was like I had a shark on my line, but it was only meant for salmon fishing. The thread could snap any moment, and I’d lose whatever revelation was sitting there.
“I must say, you’ve been one of my best patients to date. I’ll be sure they supply you with plenty of nutritious food for your politeness.” As we entered another room, the smell of garlic and onions soothed my mind, “If you want the truth, I wasn’t planning to feed you, I wanted to see what would happen. But we’ll save that for later, sound good?”
“Yeah, sounds great doc.” He smiled.
I was fed two full chicken breasts, a large helping of rice, and a side of grilled vegetables along with a fruit smoothie. Then I was quickly carted into an empty room, the pain in my side already fading.
“Now, before I leave you here, is there anything at all you need?”
“Yeah, a bathroom.”
He laughed, “Please, like we’re going to let a vampire walk around all willy-nilly. Once I’m done testing you, we will set up a room just for you. But for now, a catheter and a bedpan will have to do. My sincerest apologies we won’t be able to accommodate you a toilet.”
I didn’t respond.
“Alright, enjoy the next few days. I have someone coming in to take care of you in just a moment.”
When he opened the door to leave, I heard a familiar set of footsteps take the doctor’s place. The unsettling relaxation took me over yet again, “Hope you enjoyed your meal.”
“So what are you, the babysitter?”
“Depends on how you look at it.” He grabbed my face, sticking things around it before moving down to my chest and so on. By the end, my body was covered in sensors. Someone had rolled in a machine that let out a continuous beeping at some point. Leaving nothing but a metronome-like ticking to fill in the gaps.
“I’m tired of beating around the bush, what’re you guys really doing?”
“It’s a study, I figured that was obvious by now.”
“And you’re fine knowing I’m the one they’re putting through all this?”
“You’re still on that?” He blew a raspberry, chuckling to himself, “Yeah, okay, I’m real choked up about it.” He shook his head, rolling his eyes, “You can starve, I don’t mind.”
“Fuckin psychopath,” I muttered, letting out a sigh.
“Pretty sure they call it antisocial personality disorder these days.”
“I don’t hear you denying it.”
“Who said I would? You’re kind of an arrogant asshole you know that? I’m almost excited to see what’s going to happen.” He finished putting the last sensor on, heading to the door, I could him murmuring to himself, “...doesn’t kill this one…” Then, I was alone.
The first day wasn’t too bad, aside from the boredom, beeping, and having to piss and shit myself whenever the occasion arose. The lack of food did start getting to me after those first 24 hours though. I was overly aware of every little thing, the beeping behind me that initially fell into my subconscious became the only thing I could focus on. Every little movement of my body sent a minuscule echo of sound bouncing around my skull. It was around that time the throbbing in my side returned. What started as a mild ache eventually became the only physical sensation I noticed. It became a beacon of sensation that compiled with the beeping to piss me off. Everything was annoying, the way the ceiling looked, the faint buzz from the presumable monitor behind me, the way the ceiling was just barely lit, the fact my toes were just slightly cold, it was all so frustrating.
A craving began to emerge then, the desire to rip someone’s arm off, just cause that pain to someone, then eat it.
Around 36 hours, my attention shifted, every light flicker of light caused me to jump, everything just out of my line of sight was suddenly a person watching me. The tingle in my feet was someone dragging their fingers along them, I wanted to rip their throat out with my teeth. I tried to sleep, but my body was too alert, it wouldn’t allow it.
By day two, I was wide awake, I could feel the difference in time between each beep. It was no longer a sound, but a measurement of time. I could tell, it’d been approximately 173,000 beeps since I was locked in. The pain in my side was fire, I could feel the magma churning in a tiny spot on my right side. It wasn’t just a vague ache anymore, I could feel every nerve fiber that interacted with whatever the pain was coming from. A 3D model had formed in my head, it was like a worm wrapped around my intestine, as thick as a hose and about 6 inches long. With each pulse, I saw the worm grow just that much larger.
By hour 60, my vision had tinted red, the pain wasn’t a part of me anymore, I was pain. I couldn’t think anymore, I just needed food. I felt the chains strain against me, slowly bending as I pulled at them. I screamed and a metallic snap reverberated in the claustrophobic room. I screamed again yanking the other chain off. I tore the chain from under my neck when someone rushed in. He shoved me down, trying to hold me in place, but my body ran on instinct. I sat up with enough force to shove him back, immediately grabbing his wrist, pulling him in, and ripping a chunk out of his forearm.
The man screamed, stumbling back, giving me enough time to rip my legs free and yank out the catheter, a pain that somehow eclipsed all others at that moment. I jumped on the man, ripping chunk after chunk out of him. When he stopped moving, I took a moment to breathe, my vision clearing, and my brain easing up on adrenaline. I was able to think again, but despite my desire to cry, my brain wouldn’t allow it.
I stumbled to my feet, wiping the blood from my chin. Then I was on the ground, my head pressed against the linoleum floor. I tried lifting my head, but it was to no avail. The person flipped me onto my stomach, one arm behind my back giving me a chicken wing. I chuckled, the pain throughout my body already subsiding. He had both legs on the backs of my knees, but it took both arms to keep my right in check. So with my left, I grabbed his left arm at the elbow and yanked, it took a few more tries, but when his arm was loose enough, I freed my right, pushing myself as hard as I could, flipping him onto his back.
His cheekbones were sharp, and as each of my fists made their mark, it sent a shrill pain through my knuckles. But as fist met face over and over again, he fell unconscious.
With the pain still agitating my side, I took a few bites from the man. My human and vimpiristic minds at odds, but with each taste of human flesh, my humanity was persuaded just that much more. My body didn’t stop until my mind allowed it, and when I stood, the only sensation that didn’t feel right was my sleep deprivation.
I bolted out of the room, seeing a few doorways in a short hallway with an elevator at the end. I ran for it, but just as I got there to press the button, it opened, revealing two men with pistols waiting for me.
The banging deafened me, forcing me into the elevator. The guy on the right lost his gun as I slammed my fist down on his wrist, snapping it, the guy on my left grabbed me by the back of my neck, shoving me into the metal wall. He put a bullet through my tailbone, sending molten tungsten through every nerve fiber in my body. My vision flashed, then flickered, then went black momentarily.
When I came to, both the men were on the floor, throats ripped out, and I was laying between them, mostly unable to move. I twitched my finger and felt the metal fragments pushing out of my tailbone in slow motion. With each piece of metal, a new wave fried my nerves like thermite. Before I could stand, the elevator door dinged, opening. I pulled myself up with the railing when five prongs dug into my back, like were trying to grab my spine. I was yanked from the railing and thrown into the short hallway, one that looked identical to mine.
I looked over, staggering to my feet, it was a skinwalker, looked like a more traditional one, “God you’re weak, Jacob would mop the floor with you.”
The creature lunged at me, “I’m getting out of here!”
I put up a forearm, unable to dodge. He scraped down to the bone, but couldn’t break it. I grabbed him with my other arm, yanking him down and kneeing him in the face. He staggered, attempting to reorient, but I kicked him in the jaw, knocking him to the floor, jumping on top of him. I punched, my fist crunched into his face like a scarecrow. I kept going until he stopped moving.
I panted as I made my way back into the elevator, taking a few bites from one of the security guards for good measure, and hitting the “ground floor” button. I leaned against the railing, looking down at my arm, which is when I first noticed I was healing faster than usual. It wasn’t quite scabbed over, but the wounds were already about half their initial size. The elevator dinged and I readied for a fight.
After a few seconds, I took my first step out, then another. When I made it into the room, I looked around. Desks, computers, and monitors galore took up most of the room. The chairs were flung about, and nobody was around. Doublechecking my surroundings, I took off through one of the doors looking for anything to cover up.
Eventually, I came across a “personal belongings” hall that was really just a bunch of lockers like one you’d find in a school. They all had padlocks, but when I found mine, I yanked, a metal snapping bouncing off the walls. Everything I had on me when Scott knocked me out was in there, except my phone. “Better hope you never see me again shitstain,” I muttered, before getting dressed and running to find an exit.
After some searching, I made my way out, revealing I’d been in one of the few abandoned buildings in town. It was an old office complex that I remembered being open when I “moved in” but I couldn’t say for certain, the building looked about a month overdue for a power washing.
It was about a 5-minute jog to my house, and while the snow had melted some, there were still a few inches, and by the look of the clouds, that night it’d be coming down again. When I shut the door behind me, I hoped no one had seen the blood and called the cops, but it couldn’t be helped even if they did.
I took the most satisfying shower of my life, it felt like I hadn’t had one in a month, and as I scrubbed myself down, it felt like I was the grill boy scraping gunk into the grease traps. When I slipped on a fresh set of clothes and had a minute to take a breath, the exhaustion took hold. Surprisingly though, it only felt like I’d had a 14-hour shift… after not sleeping for a couple days. Either way, I knew I couldn’t fall asleep in my bed, everything about the town was fucked. I felt like if I fell asleep, I’d be waking up somewhere new and I’d have to escape again, I needed to get somewhere safe, somewhere I knew I could sleep without being captured. That was when the realization struck me, “The revolution.”
Part 25: https://www.reddit.com/Viidith22/comments/13yj6jh/my_roommate_is_slenderman_part_25_revised/
2023.05.27 01:05 Accomplished_Top2143 Misprint Questions
 | Salutations fellow Poke patrons! A few days ago I found myself opening a couple packs and when I got to my Celebrations packs, I came across this handsome Groudon. I only recently rediscovered my love for the TCG, but I was still faintly aware of the interest/value in misprints. submitted by Accomplished_Top2143 to PokemonTCG [link] [comments] My question is, is THIS misprint a “good” misprint? A misprint that adds value? Is my handsomely deformed Groudon worth anything to anyone? What makes a misprint sought after and why? Thanks in advance for the help and feedback. I will reward the folks who humor me with let’s say at least 5+ online PTCG codes. |
2023.05.26 14:51 GottaGenerateEmAll [26-05-2023] Today's Pokémon is GEMBONARA
![[26-05-2023] Today's Pokémon is GEMBONARA](https://external-preview.redd.it/y1vw722Xe3ANIVLz-jQtlI5dianVtzINgMeEyY2GUMo.png?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=97f06044ccd654a657b95896eefcd4f5dd50db89 "[26-05-2023] Today's Pokémon is GEMBONARA") | submitted by GottaGenerateEmAll to GottaGenerateEmAll [link] [comments] |
2023.05.26 01:02 Winter-Extension-366 Goldman's Scott Rubner (Tactical Flow of Funds) June Preview (Full Note) - ESCALATOR UP, ELEVATOR DOWN, EQUITIES
 | Full 5/24 "TACTICAL FLOW OF FUNDS" Market Update from Goldman's Scott Rubner . . . submitted by Winter-Extension-366 to Vitards [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/dh8400ta622b1.png?width=1091&format=png&auto=webp&s=168f0361046b8a6e5492c83150838b9c2d3de40a . . . the tone has changed dramatically.[FOMU] - The Fear of Materially Underperforming your equity benchmark behavior is now over***. Our flow has dramatically changed from early last week to early this week. It is time for a thread.***The 2023 TINA in a chart:
https://preview.redd.it/c1wds3gb622b1.png?width=604&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4cae504627a71f3eaf779f7b3d2d76f8b24f73e https://preview.redd.it/rx3n65gb622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=7de38622a4533817d4c39b625ebda53b4a9c471b https://preview.redd.it/o6x945gb622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=a11af1db5390145cba697b9c0fa248fbac746226 Last week: Largest 2-week “FOMU” overall buying since Oct'22. . . and MAGMA exposure at the highest level since July 2021, i.e. “everyone in the pool, buying the dip”. According to our Prime Services team . . .Overall book Gross and Net leverage both saw the largest weekly increase since early Feb:
After being net sold in each of the 5 previous weeks . . .
MAGMA collectively now make up . . .. . . 15.5% of overall US single stock net exposure on the Prime book (vs. 9.7% at the start of '23)
https://preview.redd.it/fuw23s2c622b1.png?width=608&format=png&auto=webp&s=583ad382e79c3a86bd983a87d4b76e595ec59e62 THEMES SO FAR THIS WEEK . . .
Global CTA Update:\Over 1 Week:*
MEDIUM THRESHOLD: 4066 LONG THRESHOLD: 4141 THIS IS MY DIRECTIONAL MARKET CALL:I am calling the set up right here for global equities: "escalator up, elevator down"."Escalator Up" - the next 50 SPUS handles are higher (\turned out correct*), my job has now resorted to watching "NI CLIFF" on Bloomberg?* "Elevator Down" - the next 100+ SPUS handles are lower from there. The pain trade remains upside on a headline / “Deal” led by low quality themes, and then a market correction . . .Trade Idea: Look back put spread to capture this market view of selling the rally:<<< This just hit my red bar: \YELLEN REITERATES TREASURY MAY RUN OUT OF CASH SOON AS JUNE 1*a) June 1-month hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/24/23): 1.40% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)b) June quarter-end hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/30/23): 1.45% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)I.e. For an extra ~50bps, you remove having to time the top over the next month and you get an SPX or QQQ Aug put spread struck at the highest closing level. Max loss: Premium paid for options purchased. FLOW OF FUNDS JUNE PREVIEW: WHO YA GOT?Systematic strategies are near max length. To be Continued . . .https://preview.redd.it/zyej5uvc622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=28a2d12a2802fcac67cd015e9f68a84400dc81c0 https://preview.redd.it/rdaf31wc622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a5f3cc63563cee25b63036f46c72b32a4331d21 https://preview.redd.it/18rwmuvc622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=79db4fed8f99dd9df6f4c13ef71cf46a2d41033c https://preview.redd.it/e8m283wc622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=b23164118439350c32a67f09ff70614f8463e31d https://preview.redd.it/d4is15wc622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e0c484f16ec29a6f31111d9d626b652a023d254 https://preview.redd.it/6k63tbce622b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=a2187cfb36d357861d1229b80a57d70701cbdeef Remember, this note was penned on 5/24 . . . "the next 50 SPUS handles are UP" -> this has already hit, with today's rally what's next. . . ? https://i.redd.it/hlq64ape622b1.gif https://preview.redd.it/glm3vmzd622b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=18a3786d244209d13af41816a28aa358c3d30217 Stay tuned for any future updates out of Ruber's Desk; and we will be introducing weekly SPX options flow recaps, profiling the market's biggest trades + important themes shaping the near-term path of index & volatility levels! |
2023.05.26 01:01 Winter-Extension-366 Goldman's Scott Rubner (Sales & Trading) - Tactical-Flow-of-Funds: June Preview. . . Escalator UP, Elevator DOWN, Equities . . . (Full 5/24 Note)
 | Full 5/24 "TACTICAL FLOW OF FUNDS" Market Update from Goldman's Scott Rubner . . . submitted by Winter-Extension-366 to wallstreet [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/6md2ovo2622b1.png?width=1091&format=png&auto=webp&s=1b3ac777f93ce8e59b4f873bf4e7e769cf6351d3 . . . the tone has changed dramatically.[FOMU] - The Fear of Materially Underperforming your equity benchmark behavior is now over***. Our flow has dramatically changed from early last week to early this week. It is time for a thread.***The 2023 TINA in a chart:
https://preview.redd.it/dpz90nl3622b1.png?width=604&format=png&auto=webp&s=71a596933c98de0ce463b0608a6db1be9a36af52 https://preview.redd.it/aqg2xnl3622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=1a48b91af9924850e29ad234a3c044f964ed7db9 https://preview.redd.it/7tha8ml3622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=c653b64be923a464b509fd610163543517a36499 Last week: Largest 2-week “FOMU” overall buying since Oct'22. . . and MAGMA exposure at the highest level since July 2021, i.e. “everyone in the pool, buying the dip”. According to our Prime Services team . . .Overall book Gross and Net leverage both saw the largest weekly increase since early Feb:
After being net sold in each of the 5 previous weeks . . .
MAGMA collectively now make up . . .. . . 15.5% of overall US single stock net exposure on the Prime book (vs. 9.7% at the start of '23)
THEMES SO FAR THIS WEEK . . .
Global CTA Update:\Over 1 Week:*
MEDIUM THRESHOLD: 4066 LONG THRESHOLD: 4141 THIS IS MY DIRECTIONAL MARKET CALL:I am calling the set up right here for global equities: "escalator up, elevator down"."Escalator Up" - the next 50 SPUS handles are higher (\turned out correct*), my job has now resorted to watching "NI CLIFF" on Bloomberg?* "Elevator Down" - the next 100+ SPUS handles are lower from there. The pain trade remains upside on a headline / “Deal” led by low quality themes, and then a market correction . . .Trade Idea: Look back put spread to capture this market view of selling the rally:<<< This just hit my red bar: \YELLEN REITERATES TREASURY MAY RUN OUT OF CASH SOON AS JUNE 1*a) June 1-month hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/24/23): 1.40% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)b) June quarter-end hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/30/23): 1.45% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)I.e. For an extra ~50bps, you remove having to time the top over the next month and you get an SPX or QQQ Aug put spread struck at the highest closing level. Max loss: Premium paid for options purchased. FLOW OF FUNDS JUNE PREVIEW: WHO YA GOT?Systematic strategies are near max length. To be Continued . . .https://preview.redd.it/xta7ljn5622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4b23586f3ce1a2a76e62bb9a933eb251988b089 https://preview.redd.it/onzsckn5622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=d967b3a3595b132c74a5311b790b16808f2be59c https://preview.redd.it/6rzdhln5622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=21925fc5d90aeb18833cb8b7f80ffe594de831c0 https://preview.redd.it/7skpemn5622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=2574dd19d49b89044fa6875ff76795400a59a2af https://preview.redd.it/cgwmnkn5622b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=6762b0431a095f8f7963c717b75f34f33f614fdd https://preview.redd.it/79kyfy76622b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=99e19c9a4f1a84851d2f51bccf5cfb6ce5332784 Remember, this note was penned on 5/24 . . . "the next 50 SPUS handles are UP" -> this has already hit, with today's rally what's next. . . ? https://i.redd.it/n20u3xj6622b1.gif https://preview.redd.it/m7kpniy6622b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=cbb08f6e468a5d4d0c5fbc03077185ffab18b9ef Stay tuned for any future updates out of Ruber's Desk; and we will be introducing weekly SPX options flow recaps, profiling the market's biggest trades + important themes shaping the near-term path of index & volatility levels! |
2023.05.26 01:00 Winter-Extension-366 JUN PREVIEW -> "ESCALATOR UP. . . ELEVATOR DOWN . . . for Equities" GS TRADING FULL NOTE (5/24)
 | Full 5/24 "TACTICAL FLOW OF FUNDS" Market Update from Goldman's Scott Rubner . . . submitted by Winter-Extension-366 to WallStreetbetsELITE [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/utc031et522b1.png?width=1091&format=png&auto=webp&s=21a797afd397b2db8a4405e929bdbc5391d6b308 . . . the tone has changed dramatically.[FOMU] - The Fear of Materially Underperforming your equity benchmark behavior is now over***. Our flow has dramatically changed from early last week to early this week. It is time for a thread.***The 2023 TINA in a chart:
https://preview.redd.it/tcc3yo2u522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=5745b5b332b600db772118282bc7ad1e5f418c63 https://preview.redd.it/33qcep2u522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=1c076917eafdfb2e484cfb26e3ede613bf441c47 Last week: Largest 2-week “FOMU” overall buying since Oct'22. . . and MAGMA exposure at the highest level since July 2021, i.e. “everyone in the pool, buying the dip”. According to our Prime Services team . . .Overall book Gross and Net leverage both saw the largest weekly increase since early Feb:
After being net sold in each of the 5 previous weeks . . .
MAGMA collectively now make up . . .. . . 15.5% of overall US single stock net exposure on the Prime book (vs. 9.7% at the start of '23)
https://preview.redd.it/pgknqjru522b1.png?width=608&format=png&auto=webp&s=c16227515abac442db3d1eba8258af8c5e7479f1 THEMES SO FAR THIS WEEK . . .
Global CTA Update:\Over 1 Week:*
MEDIUM THRESHOLD: 4066 LONG THRESHOLD: 4141 THIS IS MY DIRECTIONAL MARKET CALL:I am calling the set up right here for global equities: "escalator up, elevator down"."Escalator Up" - the next 50 SPUS handles are higher (\turned out correct*), my job has now resorted to watching "NI CLIFF" on Bloomberg?* "Elevator Down" - the next 100+ SPUS handles are lower from there. The pain trade remains upside on a headline / “Deal” led by low quality themes, and then a market correction . . .Trade Idea: Look back put spread to capture this market view of selling the rally:<<< This just hit my red bar: \YELLEN REITERATES TREASURY MAY RUN OUT OF CASH SOON AS JUNE 1*a) June 1-month hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/24/23): 1.40% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)b) June quarter-end hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/30/23): 1.45% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)I.e. For an extra ~50bps, you remove having to time the top over the next month and you get an SPX or QQQ Aug put spread struck at the highest closing level. Max loss: Premium paid for options purchased. FLOW OF FUNDS JUNE PREVIEW: WHO YA GOT?Systematic strategies are near max length. To be Continued . . .https://preview.redd.it/z6xzu2qv522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=a6d59acd0003d1555f7bb61f53246b0ef8cd8996 https://preview.redd.it/w38eq2qv522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=773e28e719a4abefef86fb43fd0733da94e4f397 https://preview.redd.it/n5y9b4qv522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d5f179b1149fba3da6798b89150bf12168db7c0 https://preview.redd.it/ygqn46qv522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=85e28b0c29ad152b7a0c696eb5b4ce2409245b8b https://preview.redd.it/t3zj76qv522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=2d1086b7f9aa7dbcf73a41956d7a28ff34d2edc9 https://preview.redd.it/0h8ky2hw522b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=abf0e0208096a3d97f0797c10bd74e245bccf21b Remember, this note was penned on 5/24 . . . "the next 50 SPUS handles are UP" -> this has already hit, with today's rally what's next. . . ? https://i.redd.it/b49l7avw522b1.gif https://preview.redd.it/8w7lfy9x522b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d75b32aecb4d3b313845bf4e79e5ef9ae986506 Stay tuned for any future updates out of Ruber's Desk; and we will be introducing weekly SPX options flow recaps, profiling the market's biggest trades + important themes shaping the near-term path of index & volatility levels! |
2023.05.26 00:58 Winter-Extension-366 GS' Scott Rubner (May24th Note) - June Preview -> ESCALATOR UP, ELEVATOR DOWN (Equities. . .)
 | Full 5/24 "TACTICAL FLOW OF FUNDS" Market Update from Goldman's Scott Rubner . . . submitted by Winter-Extension-366 to thetagang [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/6zzmm0fm522b1.png?width=1091&format=png&auto=webp&s=558f10e16b05a638beb643d3fc5800b986295ee9 . . . the tone has changed dramatically.[FOMU] - The Fear of Materially Underperforming your equity benchmark behavior is now over***. Our flow has dramatically changed from early last week to early this week. It is time for a thread.***The 2023 TINA in a chart:
https://preview.redd.it/hwyf624m522b1.png?width=604&format=png&auto=webp&s=64c6bde06e49daf92aaba7197f27cbe96a71dd83 https://preview.redd.it/vo1q734m522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=0ea2e26dcc3960c9151c129f63e116282486c906 https://preview.redd.it/gg2xu24m522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=df8ba379aa026f9d83a62d2e68a438aad5ac6f4c Last week: Largest 2-week “FOMU” overall buying since Oct'22. . . and MAGMA exposure at the highest level since July 2021, i.e. “everyone in the pool, buying the dip”. According to our Prime Services team . . .Overall book Gross and Net leverage both saw the largest weekly increase since early Feb:
After being net sold in each of the 5 previous weeks . . .
MAGMA collectively now make up . . .. . . 15.5% of overall US single stock net exposure on the Prime book (vs. 9.7% at the start of '23)
https://preview.redd.it/80v3ssel522b1.png?width=608&format=png&auto=webp&s=2842671b84b570b7ec09b2961f7304f52b00ee24 THEMES SO FAR THIS WEEK . . .
Global CTA Update:\Over 1 Week:*
MEDIUM THRESHOLD: 4066 LONG THRESHOLD: 4141 THIS IS MY DIRECTIONAL MARKET CALL:I am calling the set up right here for global equities: "escalator up, elevator down"."Escalator Up" - the next 50 SPUS handles are higher (\turned out correct*), my job has now resorted to watching "NI CLIFF" on Bloomberg?* "Elevator Down" - the next 100+ SPUS handles are lower from there. The pain trade remains upside on a headline / “Deal” led by low quality themes, and then a market correction . . .Trade Idea: Look back put spread to capture this market view of selling the rally:<<< This just hit my red bar: \YELLEN REITERATES TREASURY MAY RUN OUT OF CASH SOON AS JUNE 1*a) June 1-month hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/24/23): 1.40% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)b) June quarter-end hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/30/23): 1.45% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)I.e. For an extra ~50bps, you remove having to time the top over the next month and you get an SPX or QQQ Aug put spread struck at the highest closing level. Max loss: Premium paid for options purchased. FLOW OF FUNDS JUNE PREVIEW: WHO YA GOT?Systematic strategies are near max length. To be Continued . . .https://preview.redd.it/cp25pnok522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=2a50454209eed68748e378ada11deea8139a71de https://preview.redd.it/c1faqpok522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=6fe7b5c950d2a635e4e1cc52c4ea556e1319c3b3 https://preview.redd.it/ywm7qqok522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=97857d9818473526a3a34597ef72f335f53f6df3 https://preview.redd.it/rfqsbsok522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ba5b5e744e74b96606d38cc4e9cb1b8c3054c60 https://preview.redd.it/cz0xqook522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=fb1e8e791436f13a65364377384c666803aa0921 https://preview.redd.it/l4o25w5j522b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=7661eed1acaeb27b72772e145ade110f6dd6cb27 Remember, this note was penned on 5/24 . . . "the next 50 SPUS handles are UP" -> this has already hit, with today's rally what's next. . . ? https://i.redd.it/lm9iz7wi522b1.gif https://preview.redd.it/iywcl0mi522b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f487d0abbfc13fec54ec5fd01561b3281ac910b Stay tuned for any future updates out of Ruber's Desk; and we will be introducing weekly SPX options flow recaps, profiling the market's biggest trades + important themes shaping the near-term path of index & volatility levels! |
2023.05.26 00:57 Winter-Extension-366 GS Rubner's TACTICAL FLOW OF FUNDS. . . June Preview -> ESCALATOR UP, ELEVATOR DOWN (EQUITIES)
 | Full 5/24 "TACTICAL FLOW OF FUNDS" Market Update from Goldman's Scott Rubner . . . submitted by Winter-Extension-366 to wallstreetbetsOGs [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/7orsv1z9522b1.png?width=1091&format=png&auto=webp&s=6fc9e35af9115e4b3d1c68bd29cf8d0259e13a9f . . . the tone has changed dramatically.[FOMU] - The Fear of Materially Underperforming your equity benchmark behavior is now over***. Our flow has dramatically changed from early last week to early this week. It is time for a thread.***The 2023 TINA in a chart:
https://preview.redd.it/txep3hma522b1.png?width=604&format=png&auto=webp&s=18238878c3438f515af7e8265edc50869f46352e https://preview.redd.it/6hsnsjma522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a9f9e28bf0a75f7f4517f6758f424300f320213 https://preview.redd.it/764esima522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=47644ff79c488bac17ba4827dd481b08e2d3d940 Last week: Largest 2-week “FOMU” overall buying since Oct'22. . . and MAGMA exposure at the highest level since July 2021, i.e. “everyone in the pool, buying the dip”. According to our Prime Services team . . .Overall book Gross and Net leverage both saw the largest weekly increase since early Feb:
After being net sold in each of the 5 previous weeks . . .
MAGMA collectively now make up . . .. . . 15.5% of overall US single stock net exposure on the Prime book (vs. 9.7% at the start of '23)
THEMES SO FAR THIS WEEK . . .
Global CTA Update:\Over 1 Week:*
MEDIUM THRESHOLD: 4066 LONG THRESHOLD: 4141 THIS IS MY DIRECTIONAL MARKET CALL:I am calling the set up right here for global equities: "escalator up, elevator down"."Escalator Up" - the next 50 SPUS handles are higher (\turned out correct*), my job has now resorted to watching "NI CLIFF" on Bloomberg?* "Elevator Down" - the next 100+ SPUS handles are lower from there. The pain trade remains upside on a headline / “Deal” led by low quality themes, and then a market correction . . .Trade Idea: Look back put spread to capture this market view of selling the rally:<<< This just hit my red bar: \YELLEN REITERATES TREASURY MAY RUN OUT OF CASH SOON AS JUNE 1*a) June 1-month hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/24/23): 1.40% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)b) June quarter-end hedge: SPX August (8/18/23) 95% / 85% put spread (with a daily lookback to strike it at the highest close over until 6/30/23): 1.45% offer (vs 1.0% offer on vanilla put spread)I.e. For an extra ~50bps, you remove having to time the top over the next month and you get an SPX or QQQ Aug put spread struck at the highest closing level. Max loss: Premium paid for options purchased. FLOW OF FUNDS JUNE PREVIEW: WHO YA GOT?Systematic strategies are near max length. To be Continued . . .https://preview.redd.it/2cdbru7c522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=3291ab7719612b82590b5f9ec0d121274d56307c https://preview.redd.it/ibvpi08c522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=941b525c06fabfa3bf7b0881c40c230b2dfdce58 https://preview.redd.it/iqsc468c522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd4ead330f165e291035a2ea4a8a9d715cf196c1 https://preview.redd.it/67sl468c522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=9db3ca4175f46598a621811c5fd3915a5771d6d6 https://preview.redd.it/fcregu7c522b1.png?width=644&format=png&auto=webp&s=9852c40a959b53a079f270e2dfacb4f22b7e89ab https://preview.redd.it/p55ey7rc522b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=175e79abefb12904a42fb10bf289995ebcf902a5 Remember, this note was penned on 5/24 . . . "the next 50 SPUS handles are UP" -> this has already hit, with today's rally what's next. . . ? https://i.redd.it/o1wp516d522b1.gif https://preview.redd.it/swkd8dld522b1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=b4aee0a2d70abcff73fd7fffe9c6e5a270c909c5 Stay tuned for any future updates out of Ruber's Desk; and we will be introducing weekly SPX options flow recaps, profiling the market's biggest trades + important themes shaping the near-term path of index & volatility levels! |