Messages

1

Magician / Re: Magician NoS Guide

« on: April 23, 2023, 08:12:43 PM »

question.  why are saying to not use alliance spell?  it gives a nice added damage to each spell and over 3 million damage hit at the end.

The total damage added by a cast of Firebound Conjunction is 4.6 million (560k added damage + 4 million fulmination). Under certain circumstances, that can be a reasonable return on the time spent casting. In particular, as noted in the guide, it can be worthwhile under certain circumstances when you are missing ADPS.

That said, if you have full ADPS, the average damage from casting any of our direct damage spells, when including procs and twincasts, is at or above that of casting Conjunction. Additionally, Conjunction has a higher execution requirement than a normal damaging spell given you need nine incoming spells to fulminate it and you run the risk of conflicting with Conjunctions of other Mages. Therefore, with full ADPS, it is generally not additive to people's DPS, and I therefore don't recommend using it in the guide.

If you can find times where it is additive - and there are scenarios where it is - you can definitely use it. I'd just err on the side of not using it unless you're sure the scenario you're in warrants it.

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Magician / Re: Magician NoS Guide

« on: April 06, 2023, 10:43:18 PM »

NoS version of this guide can be found here. The link is new given I largely re-wrote it.

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Magician / Re: Magician ToL Guide

« on: December 30, 2021, 07:26:52 PM »

The updated guide for ToL can be found here. I added that link to the top of the original post as well. I left the text of the CoV version just in case, though I can remove it if it's confusing.

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Magician / Re: Magician CoV Guide

« on: April 15, 2021, 08:41:44 PM »

Updated for CoV. Changed the section about our sustained weave some to put a greater emphasis on how the weave rotates. Otherwise materially the same, though I updated some wording here and there.

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Enchanter / Re: Enchanter DPS & ADPS

« on: March 05, 2021, 03:44:27 PM »

EDIT: I think PG is actually the biggest hitter (period) after haze based on somewhat limited parsing, which doesn't make numeric sense. Anyone have additional data?

This is because Enhanced Torment focuses the nuke portion of Pulmonary Grip, in addition to the DoT. That AA line was changed with ToV launch (along with other class's comparable lines) from duration extension to foci intended to approximate the damage from duration extension. However, the focus cannot be limited to only the DoT portion of the spell, and therefore the nuke on Pulmonary Grip has a 50% SPA 461 focus (which has near perfect scaling).

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Magician / Re: Magician ToV Guide

« on: January 26, 2021, 06:00:01 AM »

The guide is current as of Torment of Velious (last expansion, which raised the cap to 115). It hasn't been updated for Claws of Veeshan yet, but the changes are minor:

• Firebound Coalition replaces Firebound Covenant. This requires some updates to the GINA triggers.
  
  
• Summon Molten Komatiite Orb replaces Summon Firebound Orb. The new Orb is worth using during Improved Twincast, though not during the GCD between RS and Of Many.
  
  
• Komatiite Bolt replaces Korascian Bolt. There are some Improved Twincast lineups with Komatiite Bolt used in conjunction with Thaumaturge's Focus that are very slightly better than a "standard" ITC weave, but I don't think those are worth including in a more generalized guide like this. Otherwise, Komatiite Bolt will only see use on fire resistant content, which is almost nonexistent in ToV/CoV (the fire dragon in The Call being the only exception).
  

As far as which spells I have bound to which keys and what spells I keep loaded, that omission is intentional. My UI is set up in a way that works for me after years of playing this way, but I don't think it's the best way by any means. Others have found creative and often very different ways to effectively set up their multibinds. The list you provide would be totally viable, as would a number of other combinations. The important part to get right is the spells in those various weaves, which is what the guide goes over.

You obviously need to load all of the spells necessary for the weaves you may need on a given raid, in addition to staples like Twincast, Summon Molten Komatiite Orb, Firebound Coalition, and Shield of Destiny. There are a lot of situationally useful spells beyond those, and therefore a number of equally valid spell sets for different situations. Being that as it is, I don't intend to post one.

7

Magician / Re: Magician ToV Guide

« on: December 03, 2020, 07:55:05 PM »

Erasimus, are you still having issues with that multibind? The issue is likely having an item and an AA in the same multibind, but I know there were two patches around the time of that post that adjusted EQ multibinding rules.

That having been said, I generally opt to not include Firebound Orb or Force of Elements in a multibind. Firebound Orb will fire whenever it's up, and that can lead to it consuming the Conjurer's Synergy proc during the GCD between RS and Of Many if multibound.

Force of Elements has a cast time, and depending on when it refreshes, it can end up casting at the end of a GCD such that by the end it finishes casting, the GCD has been over for a few tenths of a second. That's not huge, but it does cost you a few spell casts over the course of a raid event that Force does not make up for. Beyond that, with the amount of lag often present in modern raids, it actually takes much longer than 0.5s for Force of Elements to fire. If you find Force of Elements is not firing smoothly (especially during burns, which are often most laggy), it is better to use it less frequently than to not cast your primary damaging spells that do far more damage.

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Magician / Re: Magicians versus "a pile of haunted bones"

« on: April 04, 2020, 02:03:58 AM »

Great points, Szilent. Additional notes for this:

• Frenzied Burnout dramatically increases the rate at which Fire pets cast, and therefore is very potent when used while fighting a pile of haunted bones. Ideally, one would have a fire pet suspended with Frenzied Burnout prior to the raid, allowing for six minutes of uptime during the raid (if you kill piles fast enough, this may be unnecessary). Note that Frenzied Burnout will fade on your suspended pet after zoning, so you will need to do this after zoning into the raid instance.
  
  
• It's important to maintain good uptime on burns on any event, but note that most of your burns are relatively ineffective versus piles of haunted bones, because they do not impact the damage added by Highly Flammable. Take Heart of Skyfire as an example; this spell adds a 95 to 145% focus. Highly Flammable is a 7,000 to 10,000% focus. In other words, in the absence of Heart of Skyfire your spells are doing 70 to 100x their base damage; Heart of Skyfire makes that 70.95 to 101.45x their base damage (it is a tad more complicated, but that's the gist). You can often get better "bang for your buck" using these abilities at other points during the event. So what can you use during the piles to augment your DPS? Twincast (the spell) and Improved Twincast. During the latter you can drop Chaotic and weave Rain -> Spear -> Spear. Enchanter Twincast Aura is similarly effective, as is Fortifying Aura.
  
  
• In TBL we received the spell Frostbound Paradox. This doesn't normally see much use, but it is actually quite strong against the globs of goo.
  
  
• Tonic of Resonant Fire is flagged as not focusable, so unfortunately it does not do extra damage against the piles.
  
  

9

Magician / Re: Magician ToV Guide

« on: February 01, 2020, 09:46:03 PM »

Preliminary ToV update done. Not a whole lot changed. It's possible the GINA triggers no longer work, I changed mine around a lot and have them separated into a handful of different overlays, which makes them more difficult to share properly. A couple of notes:

• The "best" Improved Twincast weave is likely different from previous expansions. I left the one listed in this guide as-is for two reasons. First, I haven't decided which of the potential new weaves I like best. Second, most of the new weaves are somewhat situational (e.g. they depend on being able to AE, on having a bard, or on raid lag). Given this isn't intended as a super advanced guide, I think it makes sense to provide one spell weave that will perform well in all situations rather than list two or three that are situationally best.
  
  
• We've just about reached the point where Firebound Orb is no longer worth using counters of Improved Twincast on. Its damage relative to other spells has stagnated a lot since Empires of Kunark, to the point it's very slightly better to hold off on it during ITC. The exceptions to this are if the event is going to end before you can consume all of your Improved Twincast counters or if you won't be able to use all of the ITC counters within the duration of Illusions of Grandeur.
  
  
• Rain of Scimitars and Obliterate the Unnatural are situationally useful in ToV raids. Explaining when to use them is fairly complex and probably outside the scope of this guide, and the benefit is fairly minor. That said, they are worth considering.
  

As always, let me know if there are any questions. If anyone wants more specific details on changes, there's a lot more information in the Magician Discord than I can fit into a guide, so I'd definitely recommend people join if they are so inclined. I'm happy to answer tells/PMs as well, though.

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Magician / Re: Magician RoS Guide

« on: April 17, 2019, 01:04:21 AM »

Preliminary TBL update done. Not much changed; I mainly added the new Covenant/Bolt and removed Elemental Union. It's possible there will be additional updates as I optimize more. It's worth noting the new GINA Triggers should be updated for the syntax changes coming with tomorrow's patch, so they won't work until after then.

If there are any questions/comments let me know as always.

11

Magician / Re: Magician RoS Guide

« on: December 12, 2018, 10:56:11 PM »

Hey all,

This isn't exactly a guide, but I thought it was worth mentioning this here. Piemastaj (an RoI Mage) and myself are creating a Magician Discord to facilitate discussions, information sharing, posting guides, etc. This is very new (we decided to do make it Monday), but I've compiled quite a few resources already. You can join via this link: https://discord.gg/8QdRGrs Also open to any feedback/suggestions/requests. You can message me at Sancus#5102.

Also, I will update this guide soon (tm). Elemental Union was nerfed, which is a notable change. TBL didn't bring too many changes, but there's a few other things to update. Going to wait until I have more time in raids to get a better feel for what to use.

12

Beastlord / Re: Beastlord guides

« on: September 12, 2018, 07:26:10 PM »

No counters of Alliance can be used by the caster of the Alliance. Each DoT Tick uses 1 counter, and it has 4 total. That means you need one Beastlord other than yourself to be running 2 DoTs, in which case it will consistently fulminate in ~12 seconds (2 server ticks).

Definitely worth using, though, and one of the easiest alliances to fulminate.

13

Magician / Re: Magician RoS Guide

« on: June 21, 2018, 03:54:26 AM »

Thanks, Furro, I've updated the triggers with the regex suggestions 

14

Necromancer / Re: How to Necro *Ring of Scale Edition*

« on: June 20, 2018, 10:52:53 PM »

This is a nice guide. I don't actively raid on my Necro, but I like to play around with weaves and this is pretty close to what I would use. Two things to add:

1. Twinge of Pain II should be used for Tribute. It adds 33% DoT Spell Haste. It doesn't stack with the haste on pants, but it still gives +10/15% haste over raid/group pants.

2. Remote Sphere of Decay is a pretty good spell for Necros. It's an aura that casts Decay Effect III on every mob in its radius, which does 111723 unmodifiable damage. It has an initial hit when a mob enters into the aura, and then additionally pulses every 3 seconds. It lasts for 10 hits, in addition to the initial hit (so ~30 seconds). It's an AE, so it should definitely be used with caution so as not to break mez or damage kited mobs. Its aggro generation is very low, but it does produce that low amount of aggro quite quickly, as it hits mobs as soon as they spawn if they're in the aura radius. If tanks are proactive about aggroing mobs that should be a non-issue, but it might be necessary to use FD or be a bit careful about new spawns.

It's damage contribution is very high, at about 37k DPS per mob for its 30 second duration. If you're able to AE 5 mobs, for example, it contributes ~185k DPS for its duration. As it only needs to be recast once every 30 seconds, that DPS is on top of all of the normal spells Necros would cast. The unfortunate part is that its damage doesn't report to anyone's parser (not even the Necro's), but it still helps kill mobs so I think it's worth using situationally. It is on DBG's radar, so hopefully it does report soon.

15

Magician / Re: Magician RoS Guide

« on: June 20, 2018, 08:37:04 AM »

Or just get a gina trigger when it lands and wears off.

Fintank covered it pretty well, but to elaborate a bit:

First, I definitely agree that an Auspice trigger is useful for Mages. There's one included in the trigger package I attached. That said, I don't think it removes the need for understanding when Auspice will be going out.

At a basic level, your goal is to not waste First Spire, while also getting it out as frequently as possible (it only has a 7:30 reuse). Triggers are great at telling you that Auspice is on, and therefore that you shouldn't use First Spire. However, they do nothing to tell you when the next Auspice is going out. That creates the very real possibility that you use First Spire, and 5 or 10 or 30 seconds later Auspice goes out. You've then wasted an ability, and a trigger wouldn't have helped.

Going beyond just First Spire, like Fintank said, you want to plan out your adps beforehand. Your general goal is to maintain a high crit rate, with the additional goal of having a high crit when other modifiers are present (e.g. crit damage modifiers or twincast). ADPS ends up being a bit like a puzzle, where you have to fit quite a few different abilities together to yield the highest sustained DPS. To give an example of this, here's a document I used to use to coordinate ADPS on Defense of Lendinara (WK 2 in CotF). Coordinating ADPS to that level is a bit unnecessary, but I think the format helps illustrate how a number of abilities fit together in an effort to maintain a high crit rate. It's not really possible to effectively do that if you don't know how Auspice is being used.