Looking for information on Avoidance and tweaks for a new toon!

[Riner]

I am trying to set up a tamer\mage who for the most part will attempt to stay out of the fight but for those times he is attacked directly I am trying to work out how to avoid being hit with melee. There is no room on the template I'm working with to add bushido which leaves me with either working with Parry or Evaluate Intelligence and Anatomy, I think, I don't really have room for a weapon skill either so not sure how helpful a mage weapon such as the Balakai staff might be. I am kind of leaning towards arming a spellbook and Hephaestus shield. Currently, I am planning Taming, Lore, Magery, Evaluate Intelligence, Resist Spells, Hiding, and either Anatomy or Parry. I am open to adjustments to this build and lastly as the toon will primarily be used in Champ Spawns acting as a protector, it is likely that the opportunity for PVP exists. So. what advice or changes would you suggest?

Thanks,
Riner

 

[Groo]

Get 'Swords of prosperity". Spell Channelling, Mage Weapon -0 skill, Luck 200, Faster casting 1. You will defend with your magery skill while casting invis.
My tamer\mage is doing fine in Decite

 

[Pawain]

Protection spell and invis is how we avoid getting killed. Use 120 weaving instead of a melee skill.

 

[Scott1234]

1. Macro to equip balakai shaman staff (mage weap -0) when monster hitting/on you (unequips SDI/slayer book).
2. shield equipped in other hand. Luck 190 shield, hooks shield, hephestus, vesper chaos shields are common choices.
3. ‘macro to unequip shield if you use potions.
4. ‘invisibility on self macro.
5. most PvM magery mages run with protection on. faster casting is always effectively zero here, so don’t worry about faster casting on items.
6. parry approaches useless below 80 dex.

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

When being attacked, my Death Ray Tamer/Mage © uses a Balakai's Shaman Staff+Hook's Shield, Anon's Boots, Tangle, Conjurer's Garb, Quiver of Infinity and Mana Phasing Orb for a total of -0 Mage Wep with 45% DCI at 120 Magery. Makes me very hard to hit for most monsters. If i get Disarmed though, the DCI doesn't matter. When blasting with Death Ray, Chain Lightning or E-Bolt (when my 120 Disco+CB Triton has the enemy's attention), i use a Slayer Spellbook or 50% SDI Spellbook instead of Balakai's Shaman Staff.

 

[Scott1234]

When being attacked, my Death Ray Tamer/Mage © uses a Balakai's Shaman Staff+Hook's Shield, Anon's Boots, Tangle, Conjurer's Garb, Quiver of Infinity and Mana Phasing Orb for a total of -0 Mage Wep with 45% DCI at 120 Magery. Makes me very hard to hit for most monsters. If i get Disarmed though, the DCI doesn't matter. When blasting with Death Ray, Chain Lightning or E-Bolt (when my 120 Disco+CB Triton has the enemy's attention), i use a Slayer Spellbook or 50% SDI Spellbook instead of Balakai's Shaman Staff.

if you are using death ray against a target that has no slayer (like virtuebane) you are better off keeping balakai staff equipped, or a 1 handed spell channel mage weap -15 with MR9, if you aren’t leeching enough mana in wraith form. Death ray doesn’t use SDI last I checked.

 

[Merus]

As others have pointed out there are a couple pretty good mage weapon options:

My bard/protectors generally wear a mid-range luck suit (@1800ish) so I like the swords of Prosperity.
If you’re not going the luck suit route, the Bakakai staff is an excellent choice.

 

[Maith Ceol]

I added hiding onto my tamer. She isn't really a tamer, she's a healer of people and pets but I found that I needed to be able to defend myself. If the hiding fails, I use invis potions on a macro (and invis earrings I picked up at an auction as a very last resort). I use necromancy since I already had SS to soothe the dead (and also to heal myself while my bandies are healing others) to finish stuff off (at a huge karma hit fyi) when it starts to run off and I use Animate Dead as additional protection/offense when things are hairy. She is decked out in Luck and carries necro regs because I just don't have to use it that much.

Hiding really helps. I don't have all 100 pts invested but it's enough to be able to break line of sight and usually get hidden to break the aggro.

I think you just have to be flexible and you know, raise the skills you think you want. Then, you can either stone off the ones you don't use and try another template. That char is literally my oldest char and I just finally got to where I like playing her maybe six months ago? So basically ... you do you and see how things shake out!!!!

 

[Acid Rain]

Pro Tip: For easy hiding use wall of stone (stand directly next to it in the middle when trying to hide) to break LoS. Wall of stone also breaks LoS for spells giving enough time to cast inviso even against spam casters. Can lay down 3 walls surrounding yourself on all sides, hide will almost always work if you have minimal skill.

 

[Stinky Pete]

I added hiding onto my tamer. She isn't really a tamer, she's a healer of people and pets but I found that I needed to be able to defend myself. If the hiding fails, I use invis potions on a macro (and invis earrings I picked up at an auction as a very last resort). I use necromancy since I already had SS to soothe the dead (and also to heal myself while my bandies are healing others) to finish stuff off (at a huge karma hit fyi) when it starts to run off and I use Animate Dead as additional protection/offense when things are hairy. She is decked out in Luck and carries necro regs because I just don't have to use it that much.

Hiding really helps. I don't have all 100 pts invested but it's enough to be able to break line of sight and usually get hidden to break the aggro.

I think you just have to be flexible and you know, raise the skills you think you want. Then, you can either stone off the ones you don't use and try another template. That char is literally my oldest char and I just finally got to where I like playing her maybe six months ago? So basically ... you do you and see how things shake out!!!!

This seems like a fun template. Care to break it down and share the numbers for me?

 

[The Black Smith]

Death ray doesn’t use SDI last I checked.

that a fact?

 

[Maith Ceol]

This seems like a fun template. Care to break it down and share the numbers for me?

Sure. I have Juo'nar's Grimoire on a hotkey for necro spells, bringing my Necromancy up to 100 when I have to use it. Originally, she was a swords person but then switched her focus to healing. I had trouble keeping myself alive, even with a weapon skill and tactics so I stoned that off. I've alternated between 100 and 110 in skills but I've found this works pretty well now. I have to be strategic in my choice of animals because they are not for offense, but for defense. So, high HP are great or high magic works nice too SOMETIMES. My favorite is my fully trained High Plains Boura. It's high HP, HP regen and poisoning makes it ideal and it's lack of DRAMA like the dragons or the really high end animals makes it better for my skill set. I set it to guard and it does and doesn't need me looking right at it ALL THE TIME.

When I train on pirates, I usually use a couple lower end animals, as long as they are able to kill orcs. Once we are on the ship, they kill the orcs and then I sic 'em on old hook eyes. I raise the dead orcs to fight against their former captain and it works out pretty well!

Any suggestions are, of course, welcome!

 

[Maith Ceol]

that a fact?

"The mage focuses a death ray on their opponent which does damage based on magery skill, evaluating intelligence skill, and mastery level as long as the mage has mana and the target is in range. Death ray applies the energy damage type to the target. SDI is not considered when using death ray. Death ray damage is dramatically increased when an applicable super slayer or lesser slayer (preferred) spellbook is equipped in hand. "

 

[Stinky Pete]

Any suggestions are, of course, welcome!

Try putting 120 ninjitsu on her. Drop SS and necro and bump up your hiding. Ninjitsu is the best defense there is. If you find yourself in a pickle, spam mirror images and pop into cat/dog form. Might be worth a shot, but I'm biased and I'll try to shoehorn ninjitsu onto any template I can find.

I do love a template that's not boring though, so thanks for that.

 

[Maith Ceol]

Try putting 120 ninjitsu on her. Drop SS and necro and bump up your hiding.

But then I couldn't hear people swear when they are dead!!!

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

that a fact?

Yes, SDI doesn't affect Death Ray damage at all. Therefore, it doesn't really require an expensive SDI suit to fully maximize it's damage output. Death Ray is affected by Magery and Eval skill (real), Mastery Level, Slayer Spellbooks, and victim's Energy Resist. Death Ray itself also lowers the victim's Energy Resist by a flat -10 (even able to bring it into negative resists), and it stacks with other resist debuffs, like Discord, Rune Corruption, and Conductive Blast.
My Death Ray Tamer/Mage © build is able to maximize the damage output of Death Ray with 120 Magery/120 Eval/Lvl 3 Mastery, Slayer Spellbooks and a tanking pet (Triton or Cu) that applies 120 Discord+Conductive Blast. With a Slayer spellbook equipped, it's basically a WoD going off every 3 seconds on the victim at any Health %, while also buffing everyone else's Energy Damage against that foe.

 

[Bombastic Fail]

@Maith Ceol

Random thought (if you haven't considered it yet):

If you are a healer of MANY, (a group, pets, other players, etc) all at once, maybe look towards a bard? The peacemaking and/or provo masteries are EXTREMELY useful. You can basically be giving everyone extra stats & hci/damage & a "regen" like heal every 3 seconds (based on your real bard skills) with provo OR all regens and dci + lower damage taken with peacemaking (also based on real bard skills). And that's not including you also either peacemaking/provoing/discoing mobs while giving the buffs.



Downfall to these though:
Huge skill investment. Need real skills for maximum efficiency.
Tons of mana usage.
Can NEVER hide. It will reveal you as soon as your bard buff ticks.
If you take too much damage too quickly, your buffs falls off and will need recasted.
Can pull a lot of aggro if you aren't careful.


If anything, it's another option or idea!

 

[Anon McDougle]

@Maith Ceol

Random thought (if you haven't considered it yet):

If you are a healer of MANY, (a group, pets, other players, etc) all at once, maybe look towards a bard? The peacemaking and/or provo masteries are EXTREMELY useful. You can basically be giving everyone extra stats & hci/damage & a "regen" like heal every 3 seconds (based on your real bard skills) with provo OR all regens and dci + lower damage taken with peacemaking (also based on real bard skills). And that's not including you also either peacemaking/provoing/discoing mobs while giving the buffs.



Downfall to these though:
Huge skill investment. Need real skills for maximum efficiency.
Tons of mana usage.
Can NEVER hide. It will reveal you as soon as your bard buff ticks.
If you take too much damage too quickly, your buffs falls off and will need recasted.
Can pull a lot of aggro if you aren't careful.


If anything, it's another option or idea!

The biggest issue with playing a buff bard is TOT make it next to impossible with everyone running around after spawn as fast as they can

 

[Maith Ceol]

@Bombastic Fail I did think about that actually.

We have a bard in our guild who uses the bard masteries very effectively. Now, we also have in our guild people who run around like crazy people and while I would love to be able to heal everyone I'm not going to run around, trying to heal everyone. I'll either follow one person or do what I do that I'm going to talk about in a minute.

I think once the game lost a lot of population, people had to adjust their playstyle to a more independent playstyle. So rather than standing with your healer and letting them heal you, people started running off to heal themselves or whatever. I'm not saying it's bad I'm not saying it's good I'm just saying I've noticed a shift in playstyle from before versus now.

When we go with a large guild presence to any event or whatever, I usually try to stay near the bard. There's a couple reasons for this. First of all, to heal him because he is doing his regenerative circle of yay. Second, when people get into trouble they run towards a bard knowing that they can provoke the monsters that are chasing them onto something else. This gives me an opportunity to heal them at the same time. In a group situation, a bard running their masteries is the most important person in my opinion for me as a healer. They will keep stuff away. They will manage the spawn. In a ToT situation they will not be running around pulling paras everywhere. They are usually mages so they can mass cure before my bandages kick in, making for a really nice one two punch of healing. Next to a bard, I can be fairly effective in a group. Bards are the calm in the middle of the chaotic storm and this gives me a little circle to hang out in and heal people and pets.

When I play by myself, or if I'm training some weird animal, this template works pretty well. I have thought of adding more offensive skills but I really do enjoy seeing what people type when they're angry and dead LOL. I really do enjoy finding a way to make my defensive animal companions work for me. Right now, I'm trying to figure out what two slot or maybe three slot animal I can have that can disarm a pirate and damage it but not so much that I can't train other animals on it.

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

Right now, I'm trying to figure out what two slot or maybe three slot animal I can have that can disarm a pirate and damage it but not so much that I can't train other animals on it.

You really don't want to Disarm a Dread Pirate. They have a ton of Wrestling skill, and become incredibly hard to land hits on when Disarmed. It's like how Medusa has a ton of Wrest skill as well, and becomes a lot harder to kill when disarmed of her bow (her melee has a higher Base Damage than her bow too, so she hits a lot harder and lands those hits a lot more often as well).

 

[Maith Ceol]

You really don't want to Disarm a Dread Pirate. They have a ton of Wrestling skill, and become incredibly hard to land hits on when Disarmed. It's like how Medusa has a ton of Wrest skill as well, and becomes a lot harder to kill when disarmed of her bow (her melee has a higher Base Damage than her bow too, so she hits a lot harder and lands those hits a lot more often as well).

Oh that's good to know ... thank you!

 

[gwen]

@Bombastic Fail

When I play by myself, or if I'm training some weird animal, this template works pretty well. I have thought of adding more offensive skills but I really do enjoy seeing what people type when they're angry and dead LOL. I really do enjoy finding a way to make my defensive animal companions work for me. Right now, I'm trying to figure out what two slot or maybe three slot animal I can have that can disarm a pirate and damage it but not so much that I can't train other animals on it.

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

@PlayerSkillFTW is right
Don't give disarm to per for pirating.
Wanted weird templates? I have some :
Lowland or Ruddy boura , trained to 3 slot ~~~60 taming or less. Theoretically can be 30 (means zero real skill needed) if you give Ruddy 3 improvements only : 1 skill ,:AI or FWW, 1 resist, rest in HP , fits in the 4*120 bard
5* Lesser HiRyu (grasping claw) +Provo mastery to heal them . Very high initial damage , Up to 108 wrestling. Need 100+ Bushido or 99 taming/lore to control
Stygian drake ( 4slot , untrained with Magery mastery out of the box , jumps on ships, 85 taming /lore needed: 50 + 2*15 jewels + Library talisman is enough. your tamer is good right after character creation. With 50 real get and jewels you'll be able to rest your pet too .
it
Slime (eats everything : boots, fish , gear can be trained , gets around 2400 training points!!! )
Beetles (fire or giant in so many variations)
Ferrets (have no time for those yet)

Real skills : 4*120 bard , 4*50 Taming, Lore Vet, magery , 40 Medi and imbued jewels to support most of the above setups (except Lesser H )

 

[PlayerSkillFTW]

Right now, I'm trying to figure out what two slot or maybe three slot animal I can have that can disarm a pirate and damage it but not so much that I can't train other animals on it.

Also, if you're just looking for a low slot pet to tank the Dread Pirate as you level other pets on him, then a skill-trained 2 slot Triton works great. 650-700 HP, 110-130 Wrest (the Dread Pirate will rarely land hits on it with their bow), and Healing ability.