Lots of questions about AA, Spell Weave and Pet Defenses

Anything relating to the magical arts (pets, spells, AAs).
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AbyssalStalker
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Lots of questions about AA, Spell Weave and Pet Defenses

Post by AbyssalStalker »

Good morning,

Just made level 100 thanks to the double XP. It's at this point in my Mages career I have to really think about fine tuning my character; what works, what doesn't work and what I want to include in my arsenal. I currently have ~3.6K AA for reference. I am a grouping mage - no raiding at all. I'm fully T1 ROF geared with a couple of T2 pieces. All my passives that affect my pet and my nukes are maxed for reference. Quick Damage is maxed as well. My mana pool is ~63K and my mana regen self buffed (no clarity pot / mind buff) is 279.

My first question regards my spell weave. If my group is not killing super quick I'll cast Malosenia when the mobs on it's way in, otherwise I just start my weave. For my weave right now I use rain of blistersteel first, then rain of scythes. I then cast 2 blasts of sand waiting for the rains to come off cool down. If I get a gift of mana I make a decision to cast either relentless servant or a spear of blistersteel. If the mob has > 50% I'll cast the servant since he has more time to make effective use of his damage. If he has <50% I send out a spear. While I've read to maximize DPS you always send the servant in first, I find it really crushes my mana. I don't want to run OOM because I like to have some if an emergency occurs and they need me to burn down quickly. I use the large modulating shard, wand of phantasmal modulation and gather magnitude to keep up with mana currently for reference. Is there anything I can do better regarding this weave / spell usage?

The next part is questions about AA. I'll break it down by each ability.

Fire Core / Vapor Core - My current burn is Silent Casting, Improved Twincast, Empowered Focus of Arcanum, First Spire and Fire Core. I maxed out fire core after reading information on this board and it's suggestion over Elemental Union and Vapor Core but it's only now that I realize it doesn't affect rains at all. As you read from above rains are currently my main source of damage. I feel like I kind of wasted the AA on Fire Core unless someone suggests a different (better) weave that doesn't utilize rains. Sure, it affects blast of sand and spear of blistersteel but it seems efficient. My question is, if I remain with the same Weave should I switch out to Vapor Core? It seems Vapor Core affects rains unless I'm missing something. Would it be worth the investment? Lastly in this section, First Spire affects rains, correct? I assume I should use first spire over 2nd?

Elemental Ward - I read that it may not be that great? I've read it only lasts 1 minute which is rather sad. Was hoping to set it and forget it. Also read that it is bugged. Has this been fixed? Does anyone find a lot of use in this AA? Just looking for input on this to help me decide if it's worth purchasing.

Mana Reserve - Slightly interested. However, I feel it has severe limitations. Only being usable at 20% seems rather cumbersome. I try not to dip down that far by using efficient weaves as stated above. I also read it only gives 12K mana, is that true? Just wondering if it's worth the investment. If someone convinces me to use my mana to the bone on a different weave I may pick this up. Just looking for suggestions on this one too!

Cloak of Shadows / Drape of Shadows - I'm not too familiar with the Fade effect. I read something about setting up a hotkey that implements group invis, pet backing up etc. If I use Cloak of Shadows will it work for my pet as well or do I need to use both simultaneously if I nuked and my pet was fighting? Vice versa for Drape of Shadows and I nuked - will I be faded as well? I guess overall I just need to understand these two AA's usability and practicality. I'm sure they're essential I just need a firmer grasp on them.

Arcane Whisper - I have found that I pull aggro fairly frequently. I use Companion of necessity usually to drop hate. Arcane Whisper could be another viable option. However, a 30m cool down seems rather excessive, no? Would this be worth my investment?

Hastened Wind Ward - On paper it sounds nice but only being effective at 20% HP is a bummer. How long does the buff last? Is it something I can put on my pet and forget or do I have to cast when he's super low on HP? Guess I'm wondering if it's worth the investment.

Lastly, I have questions about all the pet defense spells, AA's etc. I was 95 just three days ago and grinded my way to 100 so I haven't been able to test any of the ROF pet defense spells. I have the AA's fortify companion, host in the shell and Aegis of Kildrukan. I read somewhere that depending on what order the defenses are depends on how effective they are. If I just use the AA spells which order matters? If I'm using spells and AA's which order matters? Finally, are there any that just aren't useful regarding stacking and such? What should my ideal lineups be?

I apologize for the super long post but now that I'm 100 It's time to bunker down and get my Mage straight. I appreciate any response. Thank you so much!
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Sillaen
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Re: Lots of questions about AA, Spell Weave and Pet Defenses

Post by Sillaen »

Let me try and answer all the ones I can.

For grouping, my weave is:
RS, Rain, Rain, Fickle, Spear. You should always lead with RS. You are hamstringing yourself if you're waiting on GoM procs. Unless you are the only dps in your group your mana should hold up relatively well. I nuke hard to under 20% then mana rez, gather, rod click and rod click. That gets you back ~40Kish mana. Always use thaumatize when it's up and your other 4 rod clicks + gather should keep mana going until mana rez is back up. Summon up some more and rinse and repeat.

Fire Core / Vapor Core -

When you are burning something, you are doing an injustice to yourself not including your spears and salvo. My burn is RS, Salvo, Rain, Rain, Spear

Elemental Ward -

Don't really use it, so someone else can comment on that.

Mana Reserve -

Yes it's 12K and yes it's absolutely worth it.

Cloak of Shadows / Drape of Shadows -

CoShadows works like bard fade. Drops your aggro and invises you even though there's no invis icon.

Drape of shadows is for both you and pet, but no invis, so there's a hotkey built that is somewhere on here. It will fail if you have any extra pets up.

Arcane Whisper -

Not all that great since it's a hate over time reduction on a single target, but I use it on my burns anyway. Typically on my secondary burn after I fade.

Hastened Wind Ward - Second Wind Ward

I don't use this very often so I'll let someone else who uses it a lot comment.


Lastly - Pet defenses range from very important to medium depending on how you play. If your pet is usually the primary tank, then get all the pet defensive stuff 1st; AAs, spells, whatever u can to increase pet survival. If not, then you can do your personal dps, pet dps stuff before pet defenses.
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dorfillya
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Re: Lots of questions about AA, Spell Weave and Pet Defenses

Post by dorfillya »

Water elemental form can give a big mana regen boost.
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svenalo
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Re: Lots of questions about AA, Spell Weave and Pet Defenses

Post by svenalo »

Mana Reserve: To put the early comment another way, 12k of extra mana is the equivalent of another whole cycle of your casting weave, if not two cycles...so yes worth it.

Cloak/Drape: Excellent tool for all sorts of situations... Find yourself unacceptably high on aggro during a raid for some whacko reason? Hit one of these after backing the pet off. Need to try and split some mobs during xp times? Use these to help augment Companion of Necessity. And a whole lot more uses...

Fire Core: This is a must have AA. Period.
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