Flight
03-12-2011, 12:52 PM
Building a set up that is capable of doing Expert Dungeons. Up to lvl 33 so far and getting a good feel of how each toon will play end game. I wanted to use one of each Archetype because of the option to explore synergies to come up with the optimum set up and because of the versatility and options it gives you. My experiences so far are that it was a good call :
i) Tank wise nothing can consistently taunt like a Warrior. Nothing can generate AE aggro like a Reaver. Paladin is actually close and is a better tank, but takes massive amounts of micro management. Clerics and Rogues have good solid tanks (world first Greenscale kill have used a Riftstalker tank for magic mitigation) but aggro and taunt are significant problems for a non Warrior tank in a boxed group.
ii) After a tank my number one shout would be for a Mage to be a Chloro. Mages are pretty much fail outside of Chloro and Archon at the moment. Pyro/Lock can put out nearly as much damage as any build with Riftblades Frozen Armour debuff, but it can't sustain it due to mana issues and it takes micro management.
iii) Bards rock. Everyone wants one, possibly two.
iv) That's three of the four archetypes. I wasn't sure about a Cleric. But nothing burst heals like a Sentinel or end game heals like a Purifier. And they offer significant survivability and versatility.
The Queen Vallnara fight in Foul. Cascade is a prime example. She will frequently cast a DoT on what appears to be the second person on the aggro list which does a massive DoT. It's going to kill the toon that gets hit with it unless they either have massive burst healing or it can be cured. Sentinel gets an AE Poison/Disease/Curse cure for the whole group that doesn't need to be targetted so a quick press of one hot key cures everyone in the party. (Sneaky hint multiple times she hasn't cast this DoT, which spawns adds, and it seems that every time I've had only my tank in front of her, turned around like a good tank should ;) and the other toons behind her. So it appears she will only cast it on the second person on her hate list and only if someone other than the person on top of the hate list is in front of her).
So Ive gone with a Reaver/Paladin (Warrior), two Chloros (Mage), a Bard (Rogue) and a Cleric (Sentinel). The Cleric was there for healing and you don't need a massive amount of points into Sentinel to make an effective burst healer and the AE cure comes in for 21 points in the tree, so I've actually changed the Cleric to a Sentinel/Cabalist. Zero synergy, but it gives me both one of the most damaging AE builds in the game to help with trash clearing in dungeons and a burst healer/curer. Four of the toons have rez if ever needed.
A nice side effect of the builds that I've found optimum is that all toons do great AE damage - trash dies so much quicker once you put together an AE strategy. In a group of elite mobs I'll target the first, go through a series of five hotkeys, move to the second, go through the same 5 hot keys, move to the third and burn it down. By the time the third is dead so are the other two ! In a group of one elite and a half dozen trash I'll just keep target on the elite and by the time it's dead so are all the trash. Foul Cascade runs are taking just under 40 minutes.
Here's a damage/heal parse of my last run through Foul Cascade. I was over level for it so I didn't need any burst healing, hence the zero healing rating from the Cleric (though to be honest I was hardly using any at lvl 30). Both Chloros use Archon secondary. They have been Dominator as third spec but I don't use Transmorg. That may change in expert dungeons.
Flight is the Tank (Reaver/Paladin/Warlord)
Decadence is the Cleric (Sentinel / Cabalist)
Tree is the 'main healer' - a Chloro with Synthesis on the main tank
Fire is the secondary Chloro, with Synthesis on the main Chloro
Aria is the Bard
Note that the 'DPS' entry isn't accurate as it's recording when it shouldn't be but it does show relative values between the toons. Th 'Damage' column on the far right is damage taken.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1760/lvl33parse.jpg
As might be expected from a main tank that damages by AoE DoTs, Flight is putting out the highest damage. Note his self healing from his damage - 135k is not too shabby (and 65k overheal). The Cleric is not too far behind. I've only just switched him over to Cabalist so that damage is not yet optimized. The two Chloros are fairly close in terms of damage output, Tree having slightly higher stats and gear so pulling out a little. Aria is my Bard.
Couple of screenshots to give an idea of how my hot keys are looking etc. Main hot key 1 and 2 are just follow and assist main. 3 is a macro of basic Reaver rotation, 5 is Cyclone Strike an AE finisher. 6 and 7 are AE DoTs that can't go into the macro. The top bar is buffs to the right and taunts etc to the left.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5405/20110312151531.jpg
http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/253/20110312151724.jpg
i) Tank wise nothing can consistently taunt like a Warrior. Nothing can generate AE aggro like a Reaver. Paladin is actually close and is a better tank, but takes massive amounts of micro management. Clerics and Rogues have good solid tanks (world first Greenscale kill have used a Riftstalker tank for magic mitigation) but aggro and taunt are significant problems for a non Warrior tank in a boxed group.
ii) After a tank my number one shout would be for a Mage to be a Chloro. Mages are pretty much fail outside of Chloro and Archon at the moment. Pyro/Lock can put out nearly as much damage as any build with Riftblades Frozen Armour debuff, but it can't sustain it due to mana issues and it takes micro management.
iii) Bards rock. Everyone wants one, possibly two.
iv) That's three of the four archetypes. I wasn't sure about a Cleric. But nothing burst heals like a Sentinel or end game heals like a Purifier. And they offer significant survivability and versatility.
The Queen Vallnara fight in Foul. Cascade is a prime example. She will frequently cast a DoT on what appears to be the second person on the aggro list which does a massive DoT. It's going to kill the toon that gets hit with it unless they either have massive burst healing or it can be cured. Sentinel gets an AE Poison/Disease/Curse cure for the whole group that doesn't need to be targetted so a quick press of one hot key cures everyone in the party. (Sneaky hint multiple times she hasn't cast this DoT, which spawns adds, and it seems that every time I've had only my tank in front of her, turned around like a good tank should ;) and the other toons behind her. So it appears she will only cast it on the second person on her hate list and only if someone other than the person on top of the hate list is in front of her).
So Ive gone with a Reaver/Paladin (Warrior), two Chloros (Mage), a Bard (Rogue) and a Cleric (Sentinel). The Cleric was there for healing and you don't need a massive amount of points into Sentinel to make an effective burst healer and the AE cure comes in for 21 points in the tree, so I've actually changed the Cleric to a Sentinel/Cabalist. Zero synergy, but it gives me both one of the most damaging AE builds in the game to help with trash clearing in dungeons and a burst healer/curer. Four of the toons have rez if ever needed.
A nice side effect of the builds that I've found optimum is that all toons do great AE damage - trash dies so much quicker once you put together an AE strategy. In a group of elite mobs I'll target the first, go through a series of five hotkeys, move to the second, go through the same 5 hot keys, move to the third and burn it down. By the time the third is dead so are the other two ! In a group of one elite and a half dozen trash I'll just keep target on the elite and by the time it's dead so are all the trash. Foul Cascade runs are taking just under 40 minutes.
Here's a damage/heal parse of my last run through Foul Cascade. I was over level for it so I didn't need any burst healing, hence the zero healing rating from the Cleric (though to be honest I was hardly using any at lvl 30). Both Chloros use Archon secondary. They have been Dominator as third spec but I don't use Transmorg. That may change in expert dungeons.
Flight is the Tank (Reaver/Paladin/Warlord)
Decadence is the Cleric (Sentinel / Cabalist)
Tree is the 'main healer' - a Chloro with Synthesis on the main tank
Fire is the secondary Chloro, with Synthesis on the main Chloro
Aria is the Bard
Note that the 'DPS' entry isn't accurate as it's recording when it shouldn't be but it does show relative values between the toons. Th 'Damage' column on the far right is damage taken.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1760/lvl33parse.jpg
As might be expected from a main tank that damages by AoE DoTs, Flight is putting out the highest damage. Note his self healing from his damage - 135k is not too shabby (and 65k overheal). The Cleric is not too far behind. I've only just switched him over to Cabalist so that damage is not yet optimized. The two Chloros are fairly close in terms of damage output, Tree having slightly higher stats and gear so pulling out a little. Aria is my Bard.
Couple of screenshots to give an idea of how my hot keys are looking etc. Main hot key 1 and 2 are just follow and assist main. 3 is a macro of basic Reaver rotation, 5 is Cyclone Strike an AE finisher. 6 and 7 are AE DoTs that can't go into the macro. The top bar is buffs to the right and taunts etc to the left.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/5405/20110312151531.jpg
http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/253/20110312151724.jpg