| Aizon | Date: Sunday, 05/Feb/12, 11:31 AM | Message # 1 |
 Sergeant
Group: Officer
Messages: 21
Status: Offline
| Hi All,
Wanting to start a thread for nesting and dungeoning sorceress guides: you can submit quotes or state your own lines and I will add them to the guide!
THIS GUIDE IS NOT A DRAGON NEST GUIDE: THIS IS SPECIFIC TO SORCERESS'S!
Table of Contents
1. Spells
2. Builds
3. Mechanics
4. Gear and Crests
5. Nests
6. Farming
1. Spells
All Spells
Fire Burst
Fire Burst is one of the most useful spells up until you gain your specialization at Level 15. It has mediocre damage and does increased damage to knocked down targets. For all builds past Level 15, do not increase the rank of this spell past 1.
Wheeling Staff
Wheeling Staff will be an extremely efficient spell for fast closing enemies... until Level 15! Knocks back enemies at the end of the spinning: note that you may turn your character to influence the direction of the damage. For builds past Level 15, do not increase the rank of this spell past 1.
Glacial Spike
Glacial Spike is A HUGE spell that is used greatly in all builds. Most builds will recommend that you max this skill whenever possible. This spell can freeze enemies, has a low cooldown, and does moderate damage. Required spell rank 5 for Icy Shards in Frost Tree.
Toxic Spray
Toxic Spray is a huge damage dealer against stationary bosses or large numbers of mobs. Some builds may require you to max this skill, some may forgo it entirely. This spell gains additional damage when it gains its 3rd puddle at Rank 12.
Void Blast
Void Blast is an extremely high damage spell for its cooldown. Usually used in Mystic builds due to the dark damage synchronizing with the rest of a Gravity Mystic's build. Consult guide for how many points to put in this spell.
Shockwave
Shock Wave is one of the best leveling skills in the game, and quite often it should be at max Rank regardless of your build (due to the skill reset everyone gains at max level). This skill keeps pesky enemies away from you, has a relatively short cooldown, and has remarkably high damage.
Mana Flow
Mana Flow is the best buff you can imagine for sorceress's. Want to cast more spells? HERE'S reduced spell cost!
ELEMENTALIST SPECIFIC SPELLS
Elementalist
Fireball
Fireball is the bread and butter of a Fire Elementalist's damage, and most likely a combo filler for Ice Elementalists too. It charges in stages, with the first stage doing mediocre damage, the second stage doing great damage, and the third stage has one of the highest single damages in the game. Charging it requires 1-3 seconds for each stage, so for mobile boss fights or a fight with lots of interrupts, it is recommended that you do not use this spell before learning when it is appropriate in each fight to cast the spell. Fire Elementalists will want this spell at max Rank ALWAYS. Ice Elementalists should look at their build before deciding how many points to put in this spell.
Inferno
Inferno is mediocre damage spell that continuously deals damage over time. When coupled with a crest, it is one of the more powerful damage spells for the Elementalist. However, it has to be channeled for ~3 seconds, so similarly to Fireball, it is recommended that you learn the fight first. Most Fire builds will recommend max Rank for this skill, while most Ice builds will forgo this entirely.
Phoenix Strike
Phoenix Strike is one of the best damage spells against large bosses, as each of the fire projectiles can hit the boss, and is also a great damage spell against large groups of frozen targets. However, higher ranks of this skill do not increase damage substantially enough to warrant more than the 4 basic points that are prerequisite for Ignite. Consult the fire guide of your choice to decide the number of points to put into this skill.
Fire Wall
Fire Wall is the perfect combo with any ice spell, especially against a group of frozen targets. Since the damage is done in waves emanating from the caster, it is recommended that you use this spell while you stand VERY CLOSE to your target(s). Combining this with Glacial Freeze causes you to wreak terrible damage to mobs, and that makes this spell SUPER important for leveling and soloing dungeons. However, at max level, the damage that this spell deals to bosses is minimal, and thus most guides will recommend that you leave this at rank 2, just as a prerequisite for Fire Shield.
Fire Shield
Fire Shield is the main source of survivability that Sorceress's have, however minimal it is. There is a small amount of damage given off as an AoE every few seconds by the shield, but the main usage of the shield is for the damage reduction and super armor (Super Armor is anti-interruption, anti-stun, anti-paralyze, etc.: All bosses have a golden bar to the bottom right of their health bars, and abilities that destroy super armor, such as Sorceress's ultimates, allow the boss to be intterupted, thrown around, and trampled :D). Once you have enough gear, you may find that you lose minimal amounts of mana, maybe even less than 10% throughout a dungeon while spamming all your spells. Fire Shield is where you can sink the rest of your mana. Consuming a percentage of your mana per second, Fire Shield allows you to keep casting and survive hits that you really shouldn't survive. However, if you build more damage or health than mana regen, the shield may be too much to keep up during an entire fight. Thus, I highly recommend that you learn boss fights and time when to toggle Fire Shield on and off. This will help you to practice fight awareness, multi-tasking and mana management. Most guides will not put more than 2 points in this skill for Hot Rod.
Ignite
Ignite is one of my favorite spells for clearing groups of abyss level mobs. Ridiculously high damage and high chance to break Super Armor if successful, Ignite is an efficient spell for clearing large groups of mobs once they have been burned. However much I like this spell, against bosses, and groups of mobs with quick interrupts or stuns, Ignite is weak due to its 2-3 second channel time. Thus, most guides will recommend that only 1 point be put in it.
Hot Rod
Hot Rod is probably the highest damaging spell in the Fire Elementalist's arsenal of spells. For about 4-5 seconds, you hop on your broom and incinerate all enemies that make contact with your trail of fire. This spell is great against large groups of mobs, bosses and stages that require fast movement. Hot Rod's fire trail lasts approximately 2-3 seconds on the ground after you pass over an area, thus causing 3x the damage. Note: fire trails overlapping each other will NOT stack damage. However.... since bosses tend to have larger hit boxes, you can perform Hot Rod around them in a circle and cause them to take INSANE amounts of damage. Max this spell's rank regardless of what guide you read.
Volcanic Vortex
Volcanic Vortex is the Fire Elementalist's ultimate of doom, causing ridiculous amounts of damage while burning targets and interrupting 95% of bosses and mobs. The way this works is that Volcanic Vortex causes a large amount of fire damage while you channel (protected against damage: 30% reduced damage against you), but this is not the source of the most damage: the burn afterwards does 2x as much as the damage you deal. SINCE BURN EFFECTS FROM THE SAME SPELL DO NOT STACK: DO NOT CAST THIS AT THE SAME TIME AS ANOTHER ELEMENTALIST!!!! If you wait for about 6 seconds afterwards, the other person's burn will wear off and you will be able to deal the most efficient amount of damage.
Icy Shards
Icy Shards is a mediocre damage spell that has equal emphasis on utility and damage. Each sword deals above-average damage, and also knocks mobs up into the air, which makes it very efficient at helping to knock away those mobs that just wont stay down. Most guides will recommend for either a single point in this spell or for this skill to be maxxed out.
TO BE FINISHED!
2. Builds
The first thing i want to mention is that these builds are by no means the only way to build your character. There are indeed many ways to produce viable damage dealers, and in general, as an Elementalist, you will still outdamage any other member of your party regardless of build. Thus, your build should be tailored to your playstyle.
My Leveling Builds:
Level 1-15 Sorceress = DNARMORY
-This build involves getting every skill at maximum rank except for charged missile: it is much more effective to shoot your normal shots on the run than using a charged shot.
Level 15-39 Fire Elementalist = DNARMORY
-This build involves putting focus into the fire and ice trees, since the skills in that tree are generally most powerful and integrate better with each other than the basic sorceress spells. When unsure of which tree to put points in, focus on the fire tree, with high emphasis on maxxing Fireball, unlocking Ignite, and unlocking Hot Rod.
Level 15-39 Ice Elementalist = DNARMORY
-This build involves high control of every situation, with high amounts of freezes and negative ice resists, which makes life easier for soloing dungeons and lower level nests. However, this build needs lots of focus on getting Chilling Mist and maxxing Glacial Spike, as the lack of pure damage spells require high management of cooldowns.
Level 40 Pure Pyromaniac = DNARMORY
-This build is my current build, due to the high damage and lower number of cooldowns to manage. Since most fights are situational, with dodging or periods of casting on the move, this build shines at keeping your damage while stationary high while sacrificing 2-3 seconds of spell rotation with dodging time and buffing time, as well as activating Fire Shield.
Please consult the following webpages for more builds!
Kentasan: Fire and Ice builds
Guide and Builds for Elementalists
Freezing and Burning
MORE BUILDS TO BE ADDED!
3. Mechanics
THIS GUY ROCKS MY SOCKS OFF! If you're an Elementalist, read it.
Saurus Guide: Builds and Mechanics
Ok, so here is the lengthy section on how Elementalist mechanics work. Lets start with freezing.
Freezing occurs when a spell that can freeze a target successfully acts on a target. So long as that target is not immune to freezing, such as Manticore Nest Boss and Apocalypse Nest Boss, then the target becomes encased in a block of ice for "x" seconds. Freezing duration is increased as the ice resist of an enemy target is decreased, making a chain combo of "- ice resist %" spells a great setup for a Glacial Spike or Freeze. There is also an unconfirmed fact that says that "-ice resists %" can only be stacked in decreasing order, so for example Ice Cold Field (33%), then Icy Shards (20%) and/or Chilling Mist (20%) would stack the negative resist % to -73%; however, Icy Shards, then Ice Cold Field, then Chilling Mist would only give -53% because the ICF would overwrite the Icy Shards's -20% first. Therefore, it is highly recommended to follow this rotation: IG > IS > GS > GF > damage spells here > ICF > IG > IS > CM > GS > damage spells, and rinse and repeat. Any rotation that maximizes "-ice resist %" first before freezing spells is good. When possible, throwing on Ice Shield is highly recommended for freezing targets, however, trying to get lucky and freeze a target with Ice Shield more than once per 10 seconds is a waste of mana. If used in the previous rotation, use it either between Icy Shards and Glacial Spike in the first rotation, or between Icy Shards and Chilling Mist in the second rotation. Use the shield against large groups of mobs that you have hit with your ice spells, so that you get the maximum amount of freeze time.
Next, let's look at burns for Elementalists.
Burns occur when a fire elementalist spell hits and deals damage to a target enemy. That enemy will take a certain percentage damage of the damage you dealt with the spell every 2-3 seconds. The list of percentages and damage can be found below:
Flame Spark : 10% dmg of last hit burn twice
Fireball : 10% dmg of last hit burn 3 times
Inferno : 40%-60% dmg of last hit, burn 4 times
Fire wall :5% dmg of last hit, burn 4 times
Hot rod :50% dmg of last hit, burn 4 times
Phoenix Strike : 15% dmg of last hit, burn 9 times (burn times depend on lv of phoenix)
Volcanic Vortex: 200% dmg of last hit, burn 3-4 times (depending on whether a tick goes off during the ult casting itself: need verification)
Rolling Lava : 10% dmg of last hit, burn 3 times
Forum Post on Burn percentages
Since burning causes your next fire spells to have an increased critical chance (due to hellfire talent), it is highly recommended to use weaker or spammable spells such as flame spark or inferno (if you didn't level it) to place a burn on the target for more powerful spells such as Volcanic Vortex or Fireball.
Finally, I will introduce Time abilities: Time Stop, Time Dodge, and Grav Crush.
Since these are among the most epic abilities that Mystics can use, it is highly recommended to learn the usage of these abilities and take advantage of the high skill cap of Mystics. Time Stop stops the targets around, making them susceptible to abilities such as Comet, Triple Orbs, and Gravity Crush. Being able to use this ability is all about personal preference: some Mystics find it easier to use it primarily as an escape mechanism (some may argue that Teleport does this effectively), and some Mystics use it primarily as an offensive tool to line up spell combos (some may argue that Grav Crush does this effectively too). Either way, your playstyle will affect how you use this ability. Time Dodge has one main usage: to escape attackers that have avoided everything you've thrown at them. The reason why I list this ability here is that the proper timing of this ability is huge: if you are willing to pop other cooldowns to survive an onslaught, then that's fine, but if you're out of cooldowns or getting beat on senselessly, this ability is your get out of jail free card! If there are more enemies lined up to charge you: WAIT!!!! If you time it right, you can easily freeze additional opponents and save yourself the hassle of quickly freezing five enemies, only to get charged by the boss and knocked right back on your bum. Finally, Gravity Crush is an ability that can be used offensively and defensively. For example, in the Manticore Nest, on the Manticore fight, the boss summons a larger version of your spell. If you place Gravity Crush on top of you beside the boss, you should not have to move much to compensate for the gravity. Another example is Cerberus Nest: in the final phase of the fight, the boss summons a ton of mini poochums to annihilate you: drop Gravity Crush on the boss's hind leg and stand in it! All the doggies coming for you will be super susceptible to being AoE'd into the ground. My final example is in PvP: depending on your build, Grav Crush can help you line up combos! For example, use it to line up Gravity Blast, or get sucked in along with your enemy to line up Time Stop!
"If something is done for the right reasons, it is because that action was done for someone else!"
Aizon - Level 40 ELEMENTALIST
Message edited by Aizon - Thursday, 01/Mar/12, 11:58 AM |
| |
| |
| Aizon | Date: Tuesday, 13/Mar/12, 10:31 AM | Message # 3 |
|
Sergeant
Group: Officer
Messages: 21
Status: Offline
| 4. Gear and Crests
So now I'll begin my favorite part of the guide: ranting about gear!
Gear Basics....
There are 5 different types of gear: Average, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Unique. In general, everyone aims to get the best Epic gear possible since unique gear is extremely rare. Between levels 1 and 15, you will generally see a plethora of Average and Uncommon, with the occasional Rare item. Between 16 and 40, Rare items become the usual gear, since it takes very little to upgrade, sparks well, and provides good stats. Also, during this level range, Epic begin to become more common, but take a lot of effort to make them come on par with blue items due to the cost of doing so (see below).
There are 4 important parts to gearing when replacing or creating armor/weapons:
Enhancing, Cresting, Crafting and Set Bonuses
Enhancing
In enhancing, there are two things you will need, as shown here: Enhancing. One, you need gold, and two, you need reagents: this may include fragments, crude/average lustres, and crude/average diamonds. The gold, although sometimes an issue, is generally ignored when considered against the price and consumption of reagents.
-For a rare item @ Level 40, leveling from rank 1-4 to rank 2-5, the reagent required is 1 Average Onyx.
-For a rare item @ Level 40, leveling from rank 5-6 to rank 6-7, the reagents required are 2 Average Onyxes.
-For a rare item @ Level 40, leveling from rank 7-8 to rank 8-9, the reagents required are 3 Average Onyxes.
-etc.
-For a epic item @ Level 40, leveling from rank 1-3 to rank 2-4, the reagent required is 1 Average Obsidian (for Sorceresses).
-For a epic item @ Level 40, leveling from rank 4-5 to rank 5-6, the reagents required are 2 Average Obsidians.
-For a epic item @ Level 40, leveling from rank 6-7 to rank 7-8, the reagents required are 3 Average Obsidians and 1 Average Diamond.
-etc.
Now, you can research the cost of said materials on the Marketplace and determine if you should farm these materials or buy them.
When enhancing, it is important to note that there are 4 possible outcomes: your item gains an enhancement level, the enhancement fails, the enhancement fails AND the item drops 1 or more levels (chance begins at level 3), or the enhancement fails and the item is destroyed (chance begins at level 6). Nothing can be done to prevent the second and third possibility, they are simply possibilities. However, the fourth possibility can be prevented by using Item Protection Jellies. These jellies are expensive, and quite often require up to 10 jellies to protect the item from destruction (NOTE: THE JELLIES DO NOT PROTECT AGAINST LEVEL DROPS! JELLIES ARE CONSUMED EACH TIME YOU ENHANCE AN ITEM WITH THE JELLIES ACTIVATED!). Thus, when it comes to non-set items, most people simply buy large quantities of the item they want to enhance and enhance them in groups: that is, choosing a threshold to which they enhance a group of items, and then alternate enhancing for the max level possible.
Ex: 3x Kasarana Staff (Epic Level 40 non-set staff)
Note: Many level failures may occur below, but since you are enhancing to aim for a level, just keep enhancing.
-I enhance all the staves to level 6 (since they can't be destroyed)
-I enhance staff #1 to level 7
-I enhance staff #2 to level 7
-I enhance staff #3 to level 7
-I enhance staff #1 to level 8
-I attempt to enhance staff #2 to level 8, but it breaks
-I enhance staff #3 to level 8
-I enhance staff #1 to level 9
-I attempt to enhance staff #3 to level 9, but it breaks
In the end, I am left with one level 9 enhanced staff! Note: With epic items, this is VERY rare to have happen, they tend to explode the second you aim for rank 7! 
This bring up the topic of rare vs. epic items: which are better?
Rare
-Easier to get to higher enhancement ranks
-Easier to obtain items
-Easier to obtain the reagents needed to enhance them (onyxes)
-Cheaper to spark/respark
-Cheaper to craft
Epic
-MUCH higher enhancement effects for same enhancement level (+8 epic weapon >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> +8 rare weapon)
-Better spark effects
-Better crafting effects
-Can be part of sets
As you can see, blue items generally are more desirable for weapons, and epic items are more desirable for armor. This is because enhancement on armor gives only health and mana, whereas enhancement on weapons gives more damage.
"If something is done for the right reasons, it is because that action was done for someone else!"
Aizon - Level 40 ELEMENTALIST
Message edited by Aizon - Tuesday, 13/Mar/12, 11:24 AM |
| |
| |
| Aizon | Date: Tuesday, 13/Mar/12, 11:24 AM | Message # 5 |
|
Sergeant
Group: Officer
Messages: 21
Status: Offline
| Thanks Hypno! Btw, you better make a large guide for Priests soon! My priest is getting up there :P
"If something is done for the right reasons, it is because that action was done for someone else!"
Aizon - Level 40 ELEMENTALIST
|
| |
| |
