bgryph wrote:
My thoughts on Talinia:
I don't think Talinia has any really BAD skills, so it's hard to go wrong with her.
Increased Bow Damage is a must, of course. I also like the Innates -- Melee Haste in particular, but resisting magic attacks is important, too.
Of the three slowing skills -- Shockwave, Ranged Attack, and Slowing Strikes, most people seem to lean towards Shockwave, I guess because when you're facing a group, it affects the whole group at once. Slowing Strikes is probably the most useful of the three against Terask II -- Shockwave rarely affects him. But to really get a lot of benefit out of it you have to hit an opponenet over and over so the Slow builds, which rarely seems to happen with me in normal battles. Ranged Attack is one that everyone agrees seems interesting, but as far as I can tell almost no one actually tries. :-)
Multiple Targets is a pretty common one to get, and a very handy skill to have. I raised it up to Fourth Arrow in my Normal and Evil games and I'm starting to think that the 5 skill points it takes to get from Third Arrow to Fourth Arrow aren't worth it. After all, even if you're facing a group of 4, by the time Talinia's second multiple strike comes around, usually at least one of them is dead. So all those 5 points are gaining you is one extra hit per fight, if even that: how long it takes before Talinia can use her Multiple Targets again depends on how many opponents she aims at. So if you hit 4 opponents with Fourth Arrow, you'll have to wait longer to use Multiple Targets again than you would have if you'd hit 3 of 4 with Third Arrow.
If I were picking my Insane skills again (which I hope not to :-) ) I think I'd just spend 1 skill point in Multiple Targets, to get the second arrow, and then put all the rest in something like Slowing Strikes. But I'm weird. Third Arrow is definately nice to have and a worthwhile skill. I'm just not convinced that the upgrade to fourth arrow is worth it.
Anyway, your plan -- Increased Bow Damage, Innate Haste, and Multiple Targets -- sounds quite sound to me.
Ranged Attack I'd say is pretty stupid. I'd reccomend all of Tailina's skills besides Ranged Attacks.