[all expacs but centered PoP to TSS] Understanding the Malo lines

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Adonhiram
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[all expacs but centered PoP to TSS] Understanding the Malo lines

Post by Adonhiram »

The whole Malo (actually we should say Malaise) line got a huge improvement in the September 2018 patch. All spells got an inbuilt resist modifier which makes the debuff easier to land. That resist modifier changes with the rank of the spell. I made a thread on my guildforum (Darkwind on Ragefire) more aimed at non-mages non-shamans, but it can't hurt to reproduce it here, my apologies to those who know this already by heart because they are long time mages :


1. To start with, there are two Malo lines, one unresistable line, weaker, and one resistable, stronger. On raid bosses, the idea is to use the unresistable one in combination with Tash to help landing the resistable Malo which is a very good debuff on all resistances but Disease. Both shaman and mages share the SAME spells for the resistable Malo line, but mages get only one single unresistable spell in Kunark era (level 60 Mala, -35 to all resists but Disease), whereas shamans get upgrades to the unresistable Malo (in OoW era, it would be the level 65 Malos, -55 to all resists but Disease). As a rule of thumb, the resistable Malo line is mana efficient, fast cast (3s) without recast delay, whereas the unresistable Malo is not mana efficient, has a longer casting time (5s) and a recast timer (10s). In addition to these spells, shamans get the Idol of Malo line of spells (basically an aoe Malo) starting in PoR expansion iirc.

If we summarize the situation which applies to DoN and DoDH era :
- Mages get the unresistable Mala (-35 to all resists but Disease) and Malosinia (-70 to all resists but Disease). They can get the clicky Malosinia mask in PoP from Saryrn in Plane of Time.
- Shamans get the unresistable Malos (-55 to all resists but Disease) and Malosinia (-70 to all resists but Disease). They can't get the clicky but they will have the Idol of Malo (aoe Malo) in PoR.
- Tash and the Malo line DO STACK FOR THE MAGIC RESISTANCE PART ('slot 2' for Tash, 'slot 3' for the Malo line). Using tash and the unresistable Malo helps in landing the resistable Malo which used to be resisted VERY OFTEN especially on raid mobs.
- The resistable Malo overwrites the unresistable one because the debuff values are in the same 'slots' but higher.
In the group game, shamans usually stick to Malos because it is unresistable and -55 is often enough on group nameds. On trash, they might not bother at all tossing Malos which is mana inefficient. Mages, however, will rather use Malosinia because their unresistable Mala is too weak (it is a Kunark spell) and raid mages all have their Plane of Time Malosinia clicky mask which makes it free to cast. Mages need Malosinia on almost every mob, as their nukes are often resisted, they don't get access to lures or low resist nukes except against summoned flagged mobs (they share an anti summon nuke line with druids btw). Even DoN "solo tasks" light blues resist from time to time mage nukes if not malosiniaed. (Alternative : have a druid alt or ask politely Tirya to cast the druid Immolation of Ro line of dots as they debuff also fire resistance, so mages won't have resists on their fire nukes).

On raids, Tash + Malos are required to have a reasonable chance to land Malosinia (see above). But this is true on bosses ; on trash, there isn't usually enough time, trash mobs die too fast to bother Maloing them (exceptions : Mastruqs in Tacvi, Lightning Commanders in Anguish...).

2. The September 19th patch introduced a major improvement to the resistable Malo line, id est Malosinia in DoN/DoD era : it introduced an inbuilt resist modifier to the whole resistable Malo line to make it land more often (less resists) on mobs. This malus the mob will roll against increases for each spell rank (expansion/era, and spell rank from TSS onwards), whereas there wasn't any resist modifier before. Some paranoid mages like Adon even suspected there was a hidden positive resist modifier to help mobs resist Malosinia... Therefore the first Malo, Malaise, gains a -10 resist modifier. Malosinia, which we will use till TSS era, gains a -40 resist modifier.

Obviously, these are excellent news. Also, for raids, it will help a lot on raid bosses (assuming Howl of Tashan which is currently best Tash afaik is casted too) :
- Before the patch :
Tash + Mala (mage) = -50 -35 = -85 to Magic Resistance --> to apply Malosinia, the boss rolls versus it with a -85 malus. Once Malosinia lands, the boss has his MR lowered by -50 -70 = -120 MR and all other resists but Disease lowered by 70 (other debuff's effects can add of course, like Hand of Ro which will stack with the FR Malosinia part).
Tash + Malos (shaman) = -50 -55 = -105 to Magic Resistance --> to apply Malosinia, the boss rolls versus it with a -105 malus. Once Malosinia lands, same maths, his MR is lowered by -120 MR and all other resists but Disease lowered by 70 (other debuff's effects can add of course, like Hand of Ro which will stack with the FR Malosinia part).

- After the patch :
Tash + Mala (mage) = -50 -35 = -85 to Magic Resistance --> to apply Malosinia, the boss rolls versus it with a -85 -40 = -125 malus. Once Malosinia lands, the boss has his MR lowered by -50 -70 = -120 MR and all other resists but Disease lowered by 70 (other debuff's effects can add of course, like Hand of Ro which will stack with the FR Malosinia part).
Tash + Malos (shaman) = -50 -55 = -105 to Magic Resistance --> to apply Malosinia, the boss rolls versus it with a -105 -40 = -145 malus. Once Malosinia lands, same maths, his MR is lowered by -120 MR and all other resists but Disease lowered by 70 (other debuff's effects can add of course, like Hand of Ro which will stack with the FR Malosinia part).
The result is the same, the effect of the Malo line of spells has not changed. But it will be really harder for the boss to resist the debuff because of the new inbuilt resist modifier. Of course, do not confuse the value of the debuff (the effect) and the value of the resist modifier (the mob's roll versus the debuff spell).

Looking at the numbers, it appears a pre-debuffed raid boss (Tash line and unresistable Malo line) has now a slightly harder resist check against Magic with Tash + Mala (-125 malus) as it had before the patch with Tash + Malos (-120 malus). Unless DBG tweaked some hidden things, this means mages might be sufficient for pre-debuffing bosses by casting Mala and then Malosinia, freeing therefore the shamans for essential duties like slowing except on particular resistant mobs where the old combination Tash + Malos (-145 malus now) is still required to land Malosinia. However, this requires if possible two coordinated mages, first one casts Mala, second one waits Tash and Mala are active before clicking his mask to try applying Malosinia.

3. From TSS onwards, the Malo line becomes even better. Not only does it improve the debuff value AND the resist modifier, but it also adds a NEW effect : a variable damage modifier for magic based nukes. Just as an example, here the spell data for the TSS resistable Malo which is Malosinise, I chosed the rank III one obviously :
Slot 1: Increase Spell Damage Taken by 1% to 7% (Before Crit)
Slot 2: Decrease Cold Resist by 80
Slot 3: Decrease Magic Resist by 80
Slot 4: Decrease Poison Resist by 80
Slot 5: Decrease Fire Resist by 80
Slot 6: Limit Max Level: 75 (lose 5% per level)
Slot 7: Limit Effect: Current Hit Points
Slot 8: Limit Type: Detrimental
Slot 9: Limit Resist: Magic
Slot 10: Limit Combat Skills: Exclude
Detrimental - Resist: Magic -70
As you can see, the value of the debuff raises from -70 to -80 to all resists but Disease. The value of the resist check raises to -70. And there is this new slot 1 which is the damage modifier for all magic nukes. Everyone in the raid using magic nukes will benefit from it.

I hope noone will ever again confuse Mala/Malos/Malosinia now. You see how important it is to land Malosinia early in the fight on bosses. Also, the whole Malo line is low aggro unlike the Tash line.
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