jonnypanic wrote:
Spell Casting Subtlety: Another good idea, especially for the Enchanter. Bad news is, in the higher levels, unless you play below yourself (a la a level 70 chanter in Wall of Slaughter south side), the average non-raiding chanter is still prone to getting squashed flat when they get aggro. Not all the time, mind you, but enough even with your rune to make not getting aggro a VERY good idea if you can avoid it.
The point of Subtlety is so you don't get agro. With the right tank I can tash and slow at the same time the MT engages the mob. You still have to time your debuffs and slows according to each group and tank, but slowing a mob at 95% is better than slowing at 75%.
jonnypanic wrote:
Dodge AAs (Combat Agility, Lightning Reflexes, Reflexive Mastery, Precognition): Get these. Get at least CA and LR maxed... those are the cheapest. I'm working on RM now, and plan to max Precog... my reasoning is to spend AAs on just NOT getting hit when I do get aggro, before I worry about damage mitigation, channeling, and stun resists. On a related note, maximize your Agility to work with these, as Agility affects your chance to avoid melee attacks. When that 1k hitting mob aggros you and you see a STRING of "miss" and "you dodge" messages, you'll love it!
Damage Mitigation (Combat Stability, Innate Defense, etc.) and Natural Durability: As enchanters have lousy damage mitigation anyways, you might want to hold off on this till late in the game. One tip I've read is to wait till you have at least 500 AC before you even think about CS, and I won't even look at ND (more hps) until I get my Stamina to it's new cap. Me, personally, I'll work dodge AAs, channeling mastery, and stun resist before this... my reasoning being that the difference between being squashed by a 50-ton block and a 40-ton block doesn't really matter to the squashed... the average chanter is still gonna take a lot of damage if they get aggro from that 1k-hitting mob even with this, until you can get both your AC and your DM AAs built up. Better to work on no aggro and not getting hit if you get aggro, IMO.
For an enchanter:
Avoidance > Channeling > Mitigation > HP
jonnypanic wrote:
Quick Buff 2/3: Best used to recast your self-rune (Arcane/Ethereal Rune) repeatedly to fend off damage or tank via rune. Less useful if A) you rarely get aggro, or B) mobs rarely get through your Eldritch/Shadow Rune. Better to buy Eldritch/Shadow Rune first, and then see if you think you need it.
Realize you'll only get 50% max on your self rune. In most cases if you don't have time to cast the self rune you're usually dead anyways. Like is mentioned get the Eldrich and Shadow Rune first. Eldrich+Shadow is instant 3k rune. A ten minute recast is actually very short and you can even hit this while running.
jonnypanic wrote:
Spell Casting Fury: You may want to grab at least level one if you find yourself nuking a lot in groups... the rest is rather expensive for a chanter, as we have rather poor nuke damage, so you may want to either skip it entirely or buy 2 and 3 and the related abilities once you have your key AAs bought. Really, you'll likely get more reliable results from an Improved Damage focus... there's an augment sold in the Dragons of Norrath camps that improves our nukes and dots damage by up to 25% (Muram's Anger focus).
This is only usefull if you nuke a lot. Nuking comes pretty late for a chanter because of the agro generated by tash and slows is very high. This is pretty low on the chanter priority list. Even with these maxed you'll barely scratch the mob with your nukes.
jonnypanic wrote:
Enhanced Forgetfulness: Improves the chance that a memblur will work. Doesn't affect the memblur part of mezzes. This is rather useful if you still find yourself getting aggro after buying Subtlety, especially if you're prone to groups that multi-pull. Mez or root at max range, then memblur so the mob doesn't remember you. At max level, this is or is close to 100% with your single-target memblurs. Still, if aggro isn't a SERIOUS problem for you right now (you don't get aggro much or manage to live through it often), then wait till later.
This AA is very low on the list as well. You can see what most chanters think about it on TheRunes.net. You really shouldn't blur the mob to get agro off yourself. This is a bad practice. The tank is trying to build up agro and if you blur the mob you wipe everyone off the list. If the cleric hits a heal that cleric is now on the top of the agro list. You should have a (lvl 62-63? I believe) spell called Boggle. This is a negative agro spell with a .5 sec cast. It only lowers your agro and nobody elses. I use this all the time it allows me to lower my agro and the tank to continue to build his up. If I get agro in most cases one or two casts will get the mob back on the tank. Two casts in about 1-2 seconds is very fast and very effective. Wait on the blur AA.
jonnypanic wrote:
Permanent Illusion/Project Illusion: Permanent Illusion is a utility AA that you don't really NEED, but you'll wonder how you ever lived without it once you have it. ANY illusion cast on you lasts for HOURS (mine last for 25 hours), and you don't lose the illusion if you zone or log off! It's actually saved my life on one occasion, when I zoned into Stoneroot Falls the wrong way and came in at the top of what would normally be a 20k damage fall... but I was in Imp form with it's innate levitate, so no foul! Project Illusion, however, I don't see as much use for, except basic utility and fun (shrink via Illu: Gnome and such).
This can be usefull for different things, gnome for shrink, fire for added ds, water for eb, etc. Also project illusion has no range limit, as long as a person is in the same zone you can cast it on them.
jonnypanic wrote:
Planar Power/Innate Enlightenment: Start buying PP when you start hitting your stat caps. Buy PP before IE. Why? Because, even if all your stats are not at cap yet, you'll want to be able to get them as high as you can, before you worry about just your INT cap. The stats you should be focusing on are Int, Cha, Agi, and Sta. Buy the Discordant upgrades later on, when you start hitting the new caps set by PP, but you may want to wait on those till later.
The stat/resist cap aa's I only recomend if you're hitting the cap already. If you aren't maxed stats you're wasting your aas. If I'm hitting the cap and I buy the aa I get nothing out of it until I do hit the cap. These could be better spent in other areas that I could use now. So only if you're hitting caps would I get these ones.
jonnypanic wrote:
Dire Charm: This is waayyy overpriced for it's performance now, especially with the way charm is botched since OoW... in OoW or later zones, anything you DC is gonna hit for crap, and pre-OoW zones generally aren't worth the effort of DC anymore. True, you could go to Acrylia Caverns, DC something, and farm acrylia, or DC something in PoJ and farm gems... but do you really want to spend NINE AA on what has essentially become a farming tool? It may sound groovy at level 59... but, by level 65 or so, you'll wonder what the heck you were thinking. Personally, I'd much prefer to use the level 66 pet we get.
Only mobs lvl 45 and under can be DC-ed. You can't invis or you can lose your pet. A DC mob can also be dispelled.
jonnypanic wrote:
Total Domination: I'd say skip this until Sony finally rebalances charm, then decide if you want it. Again, OoW and later zones are bad to charm in, and pre-OoW zones aren't risky enough to REQUIRE this AA anymore, as a general rule. If you're big on charming in, say, PoV or whatever and want the best of the best, then maybe... but if you're not ALL ABOUT charming, pass.
This AA is highly recomended if and only if you charm a lot. Even if you charm in POP zones I would still get it. If you charm buy it if not pass it up.
jonnypanic wrote:
Mesmerization Mastery: This is best used when charming, with your single-tick PBAoE mezzes. It's also nice for your other mezzes, but not a must for a reasonable chanter, and a bit expensive for it's effect if you don't charm much. get it if you charm, or if you plan to get Deep Sleep.
I disagree, this is more usefull than just charming. This adds 1 more tick to all mezzes. For normal mezzes it's worthless, but the 1 tick PBAE mezzes it's worth it. I can hit a PBAE mezz and then single mezz 2-3 mobs before it wears off. This allows me to lock down a lot of mobs very quickly.
jonnypanic wrote:
A note on "Oh, CRAP!" activated AAs (Eldritch/Shadow Rune, Mind Over Matter, Stasis, Color Shock, Doppleganger, Silent Casting, etc.): Enchanters have WAAYYY too many panic AA abilities, each with their own weaknesses... usually being or along with a long recast time. Out of all of these, I would suggest Eldritch/Shadow Rune first, as it has a short recast and is useful for casual soloing (cast it on yourself and let the mob beat on you for a bit while your animation beats it down, to save your animation from a bit of damage). Generally, the best bet is to buy level one of several of them, so that, when you panic, SOMETHING will probably be up... buy level one Doppelganger, Mind Over Matter, Stasis, as they're all either cast on yourself or, with Stasis, technically irresistible. Skip Color Shock if you group in zones where the mobs are immune to it's stun (i.e. they're too high a level), and don't buy Silent Casting until you're ready to buy several levels. Then fill them out as you see fit... you'll get the chance to play liberally with each of them, so you'll figure out which ones work best for you.
DO NOT GET 1 LVL OF EACH TO EXPERIMENT.
You're wasting aas if you're going to experiment to see which works best for you. Read up on them at TheRunes.net. I would get max Eldrich Rune and max Shadow Rune before any others. This is a 3k instant rune with a 10 min recast timer. That's the most you'll get in the shortest recast out of all of them.
1 lvl of Mind Over Matter is enough because you'll most likely be LOM/OOM after that anyways. Doppleganger can be dangerous because it randomly ports you and can agro adds.
Stasis is a no resist mezz that lasts 1 min per lvl. 1 lvl of this is usually all you need.
Color Shock is too limited because mobs that are immune to stun or over 70 won't be affected anyways. In the higher end zones this becomes pretty useless.
Soothing Words can be very dangerous and is all about timing. This aa reduces the mobs agro from it's current target. If the cleric is getting beat on, and you cast this, and it lands right when the tank gets agro back, guess who the mob's going to be hitting on? That's right, back on the cleric.
Silent Casting isn't a panic button aa. This just allows you to cast whatever you want for a limited time. This is probably more usefull for raid targets and hard named mobs in groups. Hitting this and then tash slow and nuke to your heart's content.
Also the devs are planning on changing the DoD aa 'Gift of Mana' to fire off any spell that costs more than 1 mana. When they do this I would highly recomend this aa for enchanters because it will include mezzes etc.
When you say chanters have WAAAY too many panic buttons it's because they need them. High agro and low defensive abilities put chanters in hot water very often. Chanters have to be quick to react with adds, slows, etc. This is why I love playing a chanter, a situation can get ugly very quickly and seem impossible, and the chanter has to quickly assess the situation and react accordingly. They can turn these impossible, bad situations into a possible 'I can't believe we didn't wipe' situation.
My recomendation:
Defensive: LOW AGRO > Runes/Avoidence > Channeling > Mitigation > HP
Mana: Preservation > Mana Regen > Extended Buffs > Mana
Raid: MGB > Extended Buffs > Nuke/Crits
Edited, Mon Jan 2 13:03:44 2006 by MentalFrog Edited, Mon Jan 2 13:01:52 2006 by MentalFrog