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Fateshift balor

The Reckoning mode makes the player significantly stronger by manipulating the threads of fate, unraveling their enemies'. While in Reckoning mode, the Fateless One deals additional damage and takes less damage from all sources (see below for details). It is attained when the player has the Fate Energy bar full. The player also has the option of gaining additional experience for the Fateless One by Fateshifting.

The player CANNOT utilize Reckoning Mode (except, in germinal form, against the boss Troll in the crumbling Well of Souls' final skirmish) until after meeting Agarth the Fateweaver, in the wake of escaping from the Well of Souls (diverting from the main game course into Stonecandle Mines, fighting off relatively tough - for Level 1, 2 or 3 - Kobold Savages without Reckoning Mode, and even gaining a level in the context, is yet highly possible); in the middle of the meeting with Agartha, the Fateless One must successfully fend off a pack of attacking Tuatha, ending in a small wave of Tuatha lower-tier Rogues where the on-screen tutorial explains Reckoning Mode and Fateshifting and the Destiny combat specialization feature is simultaneously unlocked.

Reckoning mode in its final "Fateshifting" form is limited to roughly 3 seconds; it is recommended against particularly difficult mobs, bosses, or large groups of enemies. Using Reckoning mode against weak mobs or small groups of weak mobs is generally considered a waste.

For those eager to gain experience quickly, immediately subsequent to activating Reckong Mode, putting on the Fateless One any and all equipment and accessories with attached experiential bonuses (rings/signets/bands, medallions/necklaces, armor set combinations or individual pieces, weapons with rare experience enhancing attributes, there is even an 'Epic - torso - Gem' at its highest level, awarding +10% EXP, etc.) and using any and all potions boosting experience (early-level players will probably not have access to the Prismere-based potions, a rew reagents might conceivably be helpful marginally if at all; thus attention should be given to relevant - if available - shrines, e.g., the shrine of Lyria gives a +50% boost to Fate energy gain): the proper execution of this can result in massive, titanic expriential gains and hyper-advanced leveling, as the bonuses of these items are "stacked" onto the base Fateshift experience multiplier.

In The Legend of Dead Kel DLC the Reckoning mode is given another use. The Fateless One can enter reckoning mode in order to open a new type of hidden door - the Fate Door. "Door-reckoning" is apparently limited to the DLCs of Dead Kel and Fatesworn.

Entering Reckoning mode[]

To enter Reckoning mode, the player must hold the corresponding button (Default "X" on PC, "RT" and "LT" together on Xbox 360, "R1" and "L1" together on PS3) until it activates. Visually, the player will know it has activated by their weapon having a bluish purple glow.

Reckoning mode is occasionally automatically activated when certain storyline scenes occur, usually against a boss-level, difficult enemy.

During Reckoning mode[]

While in Reckoning mode, time appears to slow down for the player/Fateless One (time-dilation is +50% to the player) and the Fateless One deals additional damage and suffers less damage from all sources (exact player attack/defense boost is +150% Damage and +25% Damage Reduction). The Fate Energy bar slowly drains until empty.

Enemies the Fateless One defeats in Reckoning mode are unconscious and their fate begins to unravel.

Ending Reckoning mode[]

The Reckoning mode may end on player's command (auto-deactivating Reckoning Mode subtracts exactly "60 Fate" from the player: the total numeric value of the Fate Energy gauge, when full, is 265), with the depletion of the fate bar or by the act of Fateshifting an enemy.

While in Reckoning mode, the player may choose to Fateshift an enemy by pressing the "Interact" button when prompted while standing next to a defeated enemy. (Default "F", "A" or "X" on PC, Xbox 360, or PlayStation 3 respectively.) Fateshift is a special fatality-like move that can be performed by the Fateless One and it also kills every unraveling enemy, providing additional experience. As the Fateless One deals this finishing move, the player may button-mash to gain up to 100% additional experience.

The exact specifics: 4 button presses equal +25% Experience gain, 8 equal +50%, 12 give +75% Experiential gain, and 16 button presses give the huge +100% Experience multiplier.

Fateshifting drains all remaining Fate Energy and returns the bar to empty.

If the player does not Fateshift an enemy before the bar runs out, all of the beaten enemies will stand back up - though with significantly reduced health. This causes Reckoning mode to be essentially wasted as the enemies are still alive and possible additional experience will be missed.

Complex, Underlying Mechanics and Dynamics[]

A little-known fact of the underlying mechanics relating to Reckoning Mode and Fateshifting is the game penalizes the player for "uncreative" combat - including even within the narrow window of "Fateshifting".

The programming sets a base value of "5" Fate to any non-failed attack or attack-sequence by the player, and the Fate Energy Gauge's maximum value is 265. Using the very same technique repetitiously against an enemy or enemies, thus mathematically self-divides the rewarded Fate by the exact number the player uses the same, identical attack, however many times. Creative, "tactical"-minded combat is thus incentivized and using complex combo-chains and well-thought-out, versatile, intelligent attack patterns is rewarded directly. In other words: killing enemies roughly 4 levels beneath your own, will reward no Fate, or, really, anything, at all, period.

A highly convoluted subject is the "fate scaling" issue: in the base game, the algorithms governing the matter are purposely "psychologically reflexive", in an attempt by the developers to "punish" players deciding to return to low-level regions, farming Fate effortlessly against vastly weaker enemies. A slight degree of modification and "densification of calculi" exists however in the more recent iterations of the game, but, at bottom, the rules centered on encouraging creativity are not really different from the rules operational from the start: the destruction of an enemy and the associated reward of "Fate" (and co-related experience, etc. etc.), derives from 1) the class rank of the enemy and 2) the level difference between the player and the enemy, cross-factored or sub-divided again by player-selected difficuly level.

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