Kind of reopening one point of this thread with a few questions;

quoted from thread "Re: Soooo much cookie-cutting"
Aside from a skill mule, does anyone really use the focus skill?

Do you think warriors with no focus are as disadvantaged as mages with no meditation?

well on my bush archer i have focus and it is a great skill to have on him expecially being a bush archer when mana and stamina are a must i run this

120 archery 20 from headress
110 bush
110 focus
100 heal
120 tactics
110 anotomy
70 chiv

125strenght
150 dex
59 int

stamina is 168 with suit 5 mana regain 10 stamina regain a beast in pvm

primary weapon crossbow

45 lighting
30 mana leech
10 hci
40 ss
46 di

I will always argue that focus is useless, ESPECIALLY on a bush/chiv template. I would MUCH rather use the skill points for Meditation. Basically, Med gives you 1 point of MR per 10 points of skill. Focus give you 1 MR per 20 points of skill. So for GM focus vs. GM meditation, you will have 5 MR with Focus and 10 with Med. The next argument will be the "well I get stamina increase with focus". True. My answer, if you have Chivalry. Divine Fury.

but divine fury lowers your defense, thereby you take more hits for more damage.

so I use focus on my pally, each to his own. But I use him for pvm. If I was going to pvp with him, I would swap focus out for resist.

Yep, so I just add DCI item so I run above the cap. I generally shoot for 50-53 DCI, which counteracts the reduction in DCI. This is also helpful in PvP when when someone gets a HLD off with the M&S glasses or a weap. Same theory as running 75+ fire resist on your suit to counter a corpse skin.

I think focus is just useless.. hell I've gotten 120 focus powerscrolls and trashed them.. because there is no point.

I use focus on my mage alongside med and there is, I feel, a considerable difference in my mana regen. She has 115 med and 100 focus. She had med only before and I was having some issues with mana. Not really anymore though. I hope it's not my imagination! According to the player guide I get a 5 mana regen bonus every 10 secs for my gm in focus.

you're making a mistake only have 115 med you either need 110 or 120.. no in between.

LOL I just read that after I posted that need 120 for the other mana regen point. *goes shopping*

My Mage/Alchy/Scribe has both Med and Focus (plus MR stuff) He absolutely never runs out of mana.

I wouldn't play a Paladin without it. It gives the mana boost every 20 points and a stamina boost every 10 points. So even 110 is good. With my 110 Focus I never run out of stamina and I can use my mana, and casting time, to spam holy light instead of divine fury.

~Edit~
What is a skill mule? I have not heard that term before.