Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

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Vincentt
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Vincentt »

Very nice write up! I play in a very similar way so can relate.

I did not see any mention of Frenzied Burnout, which when combined with Fortify companion, I find are phenomenal AAs and of course situational. Also missing is companion's blessing, the 3 x 18 tick heal over time which I use for all boss mobs. CB has a recourse that goes off 2 times after each course is done. A must have for boss mob tanking!

The most important AA that I use constantly is companion's relocation. I waited a long time to get it, and I sure wish I made it top priority. My recommendation is to drop everything else and get CReloc right away. Constantly!

Extending AAs are also key for a mage, imo, as they enchance our existing capabilities. Extend FBO, extend swarm pets, hastened RS (2 secs timer reduce), all pay dividends! And they are relatively cheap AAs.

To the necro playing a mage now, yes you are very spoiled by your mana regen! What mana regen, you had infinite mana on a necro! Your AAs (around 400 more) will help your mage somewhat. You'll learn to consume mod rods like xmas candy. You have options, just don't expect to chain nuke/dot like you did with your nerfomancer with no consequence.

Be sure to get the spec conj and spec evo augs from LDoN expansion. I don't have the mana problems I used to, attributable to AAs and waiting for GoM for the big spells.

V
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Cimmaron
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Cimmaron »

Potawatomi wrote:Also to add to the OP's list, I would get the AA's Silent Casting and Arcane whisper for burning down mobs safely while soloing.
You are right - I neglected to mention at the very least Silent Casting. This one could be quite useful for burning down a crowd that's beating on Fluffy - cast Improved Twincast, Silent Casting, and burn down extra adds.

As for Arcane Whisper, I haven't bought any ranks into it yet. I have Spell Casting Subtlety at 14/18, and I start nuking at 95-98% mob health, and never have an aggro issue. This is with spell crits maxed, and using rank 2 spells with the type 3 augs on.
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Cimmaron
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Cimmaron »

Sillaen wrote:
Mintalee wrote:Very nice! You can save yourself a spell slot by getting the Aegis of Kildrukuan AA as well.
I still keep Aegis in a spell slot even with the AA. They are on different timers.
I'll Cast the latest of the Malo line of spells on a named after I get the AA version on, then only if I feel teh fight is going to take a while and the AA will wear off. That tends to be pretty rare for me though now.
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Cimmaron
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Cimmaron »

Vincentt wrote:Very nice write up! I play in a very similar way so can relate.

I did not see any mention of Frenzied Burnout, which when combined with Fortify companion, I find are phenomenal AAs and of course situational. Also missing is companion's blessing, the 3 x 18 tick heal over time which I use for all boss mobs. CB has a recourse that goes off 2 times after each course is done. A must have for boss mob tanking!

The most important AA that I use constantly is companion's relocation. I waited a long time to get it, and I sure wish I made it top priority. My recommendation is to drop everything else and get CReloc right away. Constantly!

Extending AAs are also key for a mage, imo, as they enchance our existing capabilities. Extend FBO, extend swarm pets, hastened RS (2 secs timer reduce), all pay dividends! And they are relatively cheap AAs.

To the necro playing a mage now, yes you are very spoiled by your mana regen! What mana regen, you had infinite mana on a necro! Your AAs (around 400 more) will help your mage somewhat. You'll learn to consume mod rods like xmas candy. You have options, just don't expect to chain nuke/dot like you did with your nerfomancer with no consequence.

Be sure to get the spec conj and spec evo augs from LDoN expansion. I don't have the mana problems I used to, attributable to AAs and waiting for GoM for the big spells.

V

Yes, I was neglectful with FBO and Companion's Blessing. I'll adjust my post to get them in there.

I strongly promote any extended or hasted AAs for their counterparts, particularly for the Servant, Burnout, and Mending lines. I'll make mention of those as well.

I would like to hear of situations where you used Companion Relocation. The only uses I saw for that were to get the water pet into backstabbing position, or to get a fight moved a little away from where it is. I tend to fight right where I want to though, so I'm not seeing much usefuleness here.
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Sillaen
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Sillaen »

Cimmaron wrote:
Sillaen wrote:
Mintalee wrote:Very nice! You can save yourself a spell slot by getting the Aegis of Kildrukuan AA as well.
I still keep Aegis in a spell slot even with the AA. They are on different timers.
I'll Cast the latest of the Malo line of spells on a named after I get the AA version on, then only if I feel teh fight is going to take a while and the AA will wear off. That tends to be pretty rare for me though now.
I think you're mixing up Aegis and malo here.

I was talking about Aegis (pet rune). I keep the spell up and well as have the AA. Since they are on different timers, even though the AA is a shorter range it's double the pet rune. I never even mem the spell malo anymore unless specifically asked to on raids.
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Vincentt
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Vincentt »

My main use for CompReloc is giving my RS pet the mobs back to wack on. A very noticeable boost in the RS's dps when he's not getting parried, blocked, riposted, dodged. And as soon as he gets aggro the main pet gets the mob's back. Win-Win.

My second use for CompReloc is when I am tagging multi mobs with main pet, the last one often faces him and the train of 3-5 has his back to pummel on. Giving him no chance for parry, riposte, dodge. One hit of CR and he's got them all facing his front. One of my most fun fights was when I was 78 in Paw and overpulled, I got something like 12 mobs and it seemed from there just about every wanderer and his cousin added ... so imagine every 8 seconds a new hostile enters the fray; very nerve wracking. I'm sure you know that little intersection, finally tally was around 22 mobs. Luckily I had all my AAs up. The trick was lettting Jules live long enough to build enough aggro before I started casting Rain spells. To tell the truth it was pretty close and if I didn't have companion relocation I woulda had to abort (gate). Theft of Essence and Renewall xx barely cut it, pet was hovering in the 20% alot. I had to summon a steadfast servant mid fight too.

Third and least is positioning in groups vs. boss mobs. Pet push not as big an issue as it used to be either. But throw in 11 pets total and there is some annoying amount.

Backstab is not an issue since our water pets can BS from any angle with a weapon in hand.

I certainly wish they would add in a RS pet relocation AA. That would be pimp.
Last edited by Vincentt on Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Gnomeland
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Gnomeland »

A couple of things for those wanting to optimize their play style:

Companion's Blessing is garbage at higher levels for pet tanking, the issue being that the heal ticks are attached to a rune that pops in seconds against mobs with high melee output, rendering the duration of the AA less than 3-4 ticks.

Always keep your highest level DS on your pet. The Molten defensive proc line is less important because it's basically been nerfed to a 50k DoT over 6 minutes now - over the 240 max hits burning veil had - but the base DS is important.

For mana regen, always keep the Phantasmal regen line, the Symbiosis line, and whatever clicky mana regen you have from your gear up. Successfully doing so results in three icons in your buff window that you need to keep track of: two clarity icons and one icon with a blue person's face in it. Also, never run out of food / drink and sit on a mount when allowed. This is basic but a lot of players don't know that your mana regen goes down when you're out of food / drink / not sitting.

Use Small / Medium / Large Modulation Rod before level 97 whenever it refreshes. After level 97, use both that and the new mage only rod.

When soloing, open with Malo, then follow up immediately with a RS, every single time. This guarantees the RS is going to take aggro over your pet, which is important to reduce damage. Refresh RS whenever it pops. When moloing, don't open with RS, but let the pet build a bit of aggro before casting RS in order to maximize RS efficiency.

Use Companion's Relocation the way Vincentt said.

Use RS to off tank when you get an add. Try to reduce the amount of mobs hitting your main pet because, however light they hit, they eat up prism skin which is a main pet defensive ability. Try also to position your pet so that it's facing all the mobs hitting it. This is because mobs, same with players and pets, ignore parry / dodge / block when behind a target, so you don't want your pet to have a mob hitting it from the behind. Again, use Companion's Relocation.

The choice between Rathe's Strength and Arcane Disllect depends on how far you have to be from the mob because the former is a pet buff while the latter is a mage buff. For normal soloing, use Arcane Disllect. For mobs you have to range, use Rathe's Strength.

The earth pet's root ability distributes aggro between pets that are on a mob. This is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because whenever you use an earth pet, you're going to see it taking a lot less damage than other pets on rootable mobs when you're casting RS on the mob - this is not just because of mitigation, but because each time the earth pet roots the mob, the mob turns and gets a round in on the RS pets hitting it instead of the earth pet. This makes the earth pet very durable vs. rootable mobs.

Summon Companion is an ability that is underused. A lot of mages use this simply to move around when their pets get lost due to the pathing, but the AA at its max level has better uses than that. An advanced soloing technique I've developed is to use SC to balance aggro between your main pet and your RS pets, taking advantage of the feature that SC clears the aggro on your pet when there are other targets for the mob to hit. This requires that you yourself do minimal aggro, which is fine because at max. SC subtlety you don't put out a lot of aggro with spells. With this technique I'm able to solo T2 RoF mobs with the water pet while casting only a PR here and there, because the mob is always on the RS pet.

Finally, provided you're level 99+, use the new rain spell. It's the best mana:dmg spell we've got at a 1:26 ratio.
Last edited by Gnomeland on Thu Jan 03, 2013 7:12 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Vincentt
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Vincentt »

Gnomeland wrote:Companion's Blessing is garbage at higher levels for pet tanking, the issue being that the heal ticks are attached to a rune that pops in seconds against mobs with high melee output, rendering the duration of the AA less than 3-4 ticks.
Your right about it not being useful vs. high dmg mobs. At my level it's useful though, and I would imagine it still still buffers the dmg at higher levels enough to get a proper heal to land. Level 3 is all I bothered to get, beyond level 3 the mitigation remains 20%/2000dmg; here's what it does with it's recourses:

From raidloot.com:

Companion's Blessing 1s 0s 3 n/a Pet
5: Increase Current HP by 1800 per tick
6: Absorb Melee Damage: 20% Total: 2000
7: Cast on Fade: Companion's Blessing Recourse VII

Companion's Blessing Recourse VII 0s 0s 3 n/a Self
5: Increase Current HP by 2000 per tick
6: Absorb Melee Damage: 20% Total: 2000
7: Cast on Fade: Companion's Blessing Recourse VIII

Companion's Blessing Recourse VIII 0s 0s 3 n/a Self
5: Increase Current HP by 2200 per tick
6: Absorb Melee Damage: 20% Total: 2000
7: Cast on Fade: Companion's Blessing Recourse IX

Companion's Blessing Recourse IX 0s 0s 3 n/a Self
5: Increase Current HP by 2400 per tick
6: Absorb Melee Damage: 20% Total: 2000

Devs will aboslutely have to tweak the total absorbed to be much higher with later levels of the AA. At highest level it doesn't make sense for it to heal 5300 > 7600 >7800 >8000; and only mitigate 2000 dmg. That's gotta be scaled up as soon as one of our fearless community reps brings it up with them. It's gotta handle mobs quading for 13k, 20% per hit is 2600 dmg.

And I should correct my typo and erros above, recourse goes off 3 times, not 2, and it's not 3x18 tick, it's 4 x 18 seconds (3 ticks), 12 ticks total for full duration.
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Vincentt
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Vincentt »

Should absorb 75,000 dmg by my calculations.
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Foaaniel
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Re: Developing a Solo/Molo Mage - My Take

Post by Foaaniel »

Cimmaron wrote:Ok, here's a little guide on what I've done to make Fluffy and me a decent team:

*** Get the best pet focus you can for your level *** Yes, they are available at low levels

http://www.eqmagetower.com/forums/viewt ... =24&t=2789 - Pet Focus Guide

A. I'll start with my spell lineups:

Solo - also used in groups when my pet is the main tank, or when the main tank dies

1. Gather Capacity (lvl 95) - recovers mana, used every time it's available
2. Bolt of Molten Steel (lvl 91) - lower nuke, less mana cost, used when fickle does not go off
3. Ruthless Servant (lvl 95) - very powerful and damaging pet, high mana cost
4. Promised Amendment (lvl 93) - large promised heal, very efficient way of healing pet when merc needs a hand
5. Aegis of Kildrukaun (lvl 79) - a rune for your pet, used mostly for named high damage output critters, alternating with AA of same name
6. Spear of Molten Steel (lvl 95) - big nuke, higher mana cost, used when I have twincast running, fickle goes off, or when I want a big nuke
7. Fickle Flames (lvl 95) - my main nuke because it triggers frequently my next fire nuke to be more powerful
8. Twincast (lvl 85) - about 20 seconds of twincasting every spell, used almost every time it's up
9. Thaumatize Pet (lvl 83) - mana regen and a small nuke, used every time it's up
10. Surge of Arcanum (lvl 95) - massive DS, high mana cost but awesome DPS, cast on main tank, always cast throughout fight vs named
11. Molten Veil (lvl 94) - damage proc, always up on main tank
12. Renewal of Sirqo (lvl 93) - smaller pet heal, rarely used unless I'm without my merc
12a. Famished Flames (lvl 95) - higher DS, cast on main tank, used when it is up or saved for named

Group w/ Tank - I swap out my pet heal spells, because they simply aren't needed til the main tank dies

4. Strike of Many (lvl 92) - useful when plenty of pets are out, used when AA Host of Elements is cast, or a similar AA from another class

Fighting Summoned Critters - more mana efficient nuking vs. summoned, much higher chance of drawing aggro from main tank/pet

2. Abolish the Divergent (lvl 93) - efficient nuke, can lower resists, can proc massive damage
4. Ruinous Servant (lvl 90) - high damage pet, cast when the lower level abolish procs Gift of Mana AA line
11. Annihilate the Divergent (lvl 88) - used alternatively with higher level Abolish nuke

Pet Buffing - spells I always keep on my pet

1. Burnout X (lvl 91) - increases attacks, haste, ac, and pet strength
2. Velocity (lvl 58) - increases movement rate, so fluffy is always by my side
3. Aegis of Kildrakaun (lvl 79) - as above
4. Iceflame Armor (lvl 94) - a pet DS, a damage proc, and a 2 hit rune
5. Arcane Distillect (lvl 85) - third in our line of auras, does not help fluffy, but will improve pet damage for every other pet around, including Host of Elements and Rampaging Servants

All these spells will typically have lower level counterparts every 5 levels, to a point.

Some mages will advocate using macro's to one button cast all your nukes in a fight as soon as they are available, saying it maximizes DPS. I don't like doing that. I like deciding what spell to use on the fly - more of a hands on approach to things, and gives me a sense of situational awareness.

I start a fight with Malo. I always use the AA, because it lands almost every time. Then I start the nuking with Fickle. If I get a proc, I follow up with Spear. If not, I follow up with Bolt. If I get a Gift of Mana, I cast Surge on my pet/tank. If surge is still up, I cast my Rampaging Servant. If I get a gift of mana proc and a fickle proc, then I cast my Spear (it happens more than you would think).

If I get an add that my pet can't handle without help, then I chain cast rampaging servants at the add, and keep my pet focused on the other one. If the mob can kill my rampaging servant quickly, I also throw in my Host of Elements. This trick will generally only work on 1 add. If there is more than 1 add, my pet better be able to handle the extras or I gate.

I use a ton of tricks fighting named, so I'll talk about that after AAs.


B. AA's

I figured Fluffy was the only thing between me and those heavy hitting mobs, so my primary focus was beefing him up. In doing that, I always go for improvements that are always on first.

1. Pet Discipline - Allows you to tell your pet to hold, essential for pet control; opens up the even more critical:
2. Advanced Pet Discipline Rk 1 - Enables pet focus, allowing your pet to focus on your target. Essential for having fluffy keep aggro whilst you nuke.
3. Pet Affinity - Allows group spells and MGB's to land on Fluffy. Very useful for AFKing in the guild lobby.

Now we get into making Fluffy a serious tank:

4. Elemental Alacrity / Elemental Agility / Companion's Agility / Sturdy Companion - All passive mitigation / avoidance
5. Elemental Durability / Companion's Durability - Increase Fluffy's HP
6. Mend Companion - Insta-cast big heal for Fluffy
7. Replenish Companion

9. Fortify Companion - Helps w/ mitigation/avoidance more than the description implies (confirmed by how fast my merc burns through mana)

Now that Fluffy can take a beating, time to focus getting out of bad situations.

10. Gate - It's fast casting and always at the ready on your hot bar.
11. Companion of Necessity Rk 1 - Don't increase the Rk until you can go to Rk 3; Used to clear aggro. I use this to break camps too. Send Fluffy in, focused on one mob. Send the Companion at an add. back Fluffy off. The mob he was on will follow him back to camp, the one or two adds will not and will lose aggro. This only works to clear aggro on 1 or 2 mobs.
12. Host of Elements - This buys you time on an add. If Fluffy has one more add than he can handle well, I cast a Rumbling Servant at the add, then roll the host out on it. I will then chain Servants at the add between nukes on Fluffy's primary target. Often having these out has given me just enough time to gate as the mob kills them one at a time.

Now to work on mana efficiency / DPS.

12. Malosinete - Rarely gets resisted, and enhances the damage of your nukes.
13. Spell Casting Fury - Gives you crits
14. Spell Casting Mastery - Lowers mana cost
15. Spell Casting Subtlety - Only as necessary, when you start getting aggro all the time, and only enough to no longer draw aggro off Fluffy. I went without this for a long time, but admittedly getting it allows you to start nuking harder sooner on fights.
16. Fury of Magic / Destructive Fury - More boom for your mana buck
17. Gift of Mana - Procs quite often for a free mana next spell.
18. Improved Twincast - Twinprocs the next 8 or so casts; careful aggro management required here.
19. Elemental Form: Fire - leads up to:
20. Heart of Flames - Harder nukes; leads up to:
21. Fire Core - Harder nukes.
GREAT POST!!!!

my Q is
1. should i use < VOA > Rk. III or the new ROF Rk. II in the solo and group line up
In the time of chimpanzees i was a monkey .....and Curious george is my long lost brother
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