Brand new Illusionist = questions?

[mappam]

<DIV>I just started an illusionist yesterday. I have been sending in my twin to attack then I have been casting "kill" type spells from a safe distance. It has been working - so far.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I don't think I really understand the "root" type spells??? </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I read the description of say Sleep. It says something like "Puts the mob to sleep UNTIL it is attacked..." My question = why? If I want to put it to sleep ONLY long enough to run away? But if I want to attack and kill it - why put it to sleep? What am I missing? Root seems to be the same type question.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I looked at upgrading my twin = the description for the higher (adept +) is the exact same as the one I now have? So what is the difference? Nothing says that it will be stronger or faster etc - I am missing something LOL.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I am finding it funny to see a Twin Me - TeeHee - and having a lot of fun playing this new character - but I don't want to get into bad habits early in the development of her that will cause problems as she gets to higher levels. "We" are easily able to take on blues with little to no damage.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I just turned 10 - so brand new as stated above. Any and All information for this class (remember that I don't really know the names of the spells yet LOL so KIS = Keep it Simple) will help a lot. We live in Kelethin if that makes a difference.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>BTW - I have always played a melee type - my 'main' is a zerker - my 2nd is a monk - so something with spells and magic is new to me. Thank you in advance for any and all information, tips and advice.</DIV>

[TheWretched687]

That could be one reason to put it to sleep, the other is if you are attacked by two things put one to sleep continue on the other when you are ready attack the one that you have mezzed (or put to sleep). Illusionist are a crowd control class and i think the best at it.  They just make it easier for the group or solo with that ability rather than a root spell.  As far as pet i'd say upgrades have to do with HP and damage

[Tuppen]

<P>Your Personae -- (your pet)--when you get a new version of your pet, it is because the old pet spell will no longer summon  a pet of your current level.  For instance...while I was waiting for my latest Personae spell to be made by my sage friend (I earned two levels while waiting for him to finish my Adept 3 spell), I continued to use my old pet.   When I was level 61 and 62, my pet was still being summoned as a level 60 pet.  Now that I have my shiny new spell, my personae is summoned at my current level--63.  The better the quality of your pet (App 2, App 3, App 4, Adept 1, Adept 3, Master 1)--the better the quality of spells that your pet can cast.  If you have an Adept 3 personae spell, your pet will cast all Adept 3 versions of his spells.</P> <P>Root--Root is a handy thing to use in solo play.   When you send your pet in to cast spells and tank for you, sometimes your pet dies. Time it right if you can--cast and root the mob just before or just as your pet dies...then mesmerize the mob (put it to Sleep).  While the mob is mesmerized, you can cast yourself a new pet.   When your new pet is summoned, root the mob again before sending him in to fight it.</P> <P>Mesmerizing (mezzing---using Sleep and its upgrades)--when soloing, this spell is your friend.  You can use it like I described above, but you can also use it like the previous poster suggested.   If you are fighting a group, or if you get an add, you can use mezz to remove the extra mobs from the fight for a short time.  When they are mezzed, they just stand there and can't hit you or your pet.  Pay close attention to the duration of the spell--you may need to recast it if you are in a particularly long fight.  In groups, you will ordinarily only use your mezz spells when you get more than one encounter of mobs in harder areas or if you don't have a lot of Area of Effect damage classes in your group.  </P> <P>Hope my interpretation of these spells and when to use them is helpful.  I still consider myself a relative newb when it comes to my illusionist since my main is a 70 warden that I played for over two years--other folks may have better insights than me.</P>

[mappam]

<P>Thank you Wretched and Tuppen that was awesome! My illusionist is still so 'young' that I don't have a lot of upgrades on my spells so I didn't even think about what my pet would have.</P> <P>It is now much more clear - Thanks again!</P>

[Manii Names]

<div align="left">As a bonus note, your core mesmerize (sleep) spell line can be cast while moving, similar to the CA's you're used to with your other two characters.  This can be really handy when you're running away, or when you're travelling from place to place and something attacks you.  Hit the mez spell, /yell to break combat, and keep on moving,</div><div></div>

[Kaknya]

Something else that is nice from time to time, is that if you mez your current attack target, your personae will stop attack and run back to your side. If your in one of those battles where your pet is loosing health fairly quickly and the mob is only down to half health or so, I will mez the target a couple of times to let my personae heal up, then send her back in to finish up the mob.

[Sotaudi]

<FONT color=#ffff00></FONT><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> mappam wrote:<BR> <DIV>I just started an illusionist yesterday. I have been sending in my twin to attack then I have been casting "kill" type spells from a safe distance. It has been working - so far.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I don't think I really understand the "root" type spells??? </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I read the description of say Sleep. It says something like "Puts the mob to sleep UNTIL it is attacked..." My question = why? If I want to put it to sleep ONLY long enough to run away? But if I want to attack and kill it - why put it to sleep? What am I missing? Root seems to be the same type question.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00>Others have clarified, but just to be sure, you are describing two different things.  "Roots" and "Mezzes" are two different kinds of spells.  Roots prevent a mob from moving (although, they can still turn in place).  Mezzes not only prevent a mob from moving, they keep it from doing any kind of attacks as well (though there are a couple of mobs that can cast while mezzed).  So think of a mez as a stun that will break if the mob takes damage.  While mezzed, a mob just stands there drooling and checking its belly button for lint until the mez ends or someone damages it.  (By contrast, a stun also prevents a mob from doing anything, but you can beat the crap out of a stunned mob without breaking the stun.  A stun, however, is typically a much shorter duration than a mez).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00>On the other hand, roots primarily just hold the mob in place.  It can still autoattack, used ranged attacks, or cast CAs or spells while rooted.  But, for instance, a rooted melee mob with no ranged ability is just as effectively locked down as a mezzed mob if you root it out of range.  Also, it may not be true at your level yet, but our root has a shorter duration secondary effect that stifles the mob.  So for the first few seconds of the root, the mob cannot cast or use CAs either.  Also unlike mezzes, you can attack a rooted mob.  There is a small (5%) chance of breaking the root when damage is done, but a mez will always break when damage is done.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00>Thus, mezzes are used to lock down a mob completely, effectively putting it on hold until you are raady for it.  A root can be used to do that if you stay out of range.  But it is more often used to keep a mob out of melee range while you cast from a safer distance.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00>With regard to damage and Mezzes:  Mezzes are designed to prevent AOE damage.  That is, if you mez a mob in a multimob encounter and you or someone else casts an in or out of encounter AOE spell (area effect damage) on another mob, the mezzed mob will not wake up.  The mob has to be the direct target of the spell before it will be awakened.  There are a few exceptions.  That is, there are a few AOE attacks that break mezzes, but the most recent patch fixed some of these, so it does not happen all that often.  Also, for the most part, taunts or debuffs do not generally break mezzes even if the mezzed target is directly targeted.  Finally, you have to be careful with DoTs (damage over time spells).  If you mez a mob with a DoT on it, the next tick of the DoT will cause damage an break the mez.  Thus, to mez a mob that has a DoT on it, you either have to cancel the DoT (if you cast it) or you have to wait until the DoT wears off.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00></FONT><FONT color=#ffff00></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>I looked at upgrading my twin = the description for the higher (adept +) is the exact same as the one I now have? So what is the difference? Nothing says that it will be stronger or faster etc - I am missing something LOL.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00>As mentioned elsewhere, the quality of the spell that calls the Personae determines the quality of spells your twin casts.  Thus, upgrading your Personae spell basically upgrades <EM>all</EM> of the spells the Persoane casts.  Call him with an Adept 1 spell, and all his spells will be Adept 1 spells.  Call him with a Master 1 spell, and all his spells will be cast at Master 1 level.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I am finding it funny to see a Twin Me - TeeHee - and having a lot of fun playing this new character - but I don't want to get into bad habits early in the development of her that will cause problems as she gets to higher levels. "We" are easily able to take on blues with little to no damage.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I just turned 10 - so brand new as stated above. Any and All information for this class (remember that I don't really know the names of the spells yet LOL so KIS = Keep it Simple) will help a lot. We live in Kelethin if that makes a difference.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>BTW - I have always played a melee type - my 'main' is a zerker - my 2nd is a monk - so something with spells and magic is new to me. Thank you in advance for any and all information, tips and advice.</DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00>When you get used to the class, you will be able to take on much, much more than blues.  I have taken on single white ^^ heroic mobs without taking any damage.  Of course, my pesonae took a beating and had to be recast once while the mob stood there drooling with a mez, but it never got to me.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#ffff00>Illusionist is definitely different than playing a melee class.  You cannot take a punch like a tank can, and you do not do the DPS of a Wizard, but you do not need to take a punch or do a lot of damage if you can keep things locked down until you are ready to deal with it.  It is a great class to solo with and the first time you save a group from a wipe by locking down multiple adds, you can't help but love it.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> <HR> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><p>Message Edited by Sotaudi on <span class=date_text>01-31-2007</span> <span class=time_text>03:50 PM</span>

[Sotaudi]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Manii Names wrote:<BR> <DIV align=left>As a bonus note, your core mesmerize (sleep) spell line can be cast while moving, similar to the CA's you're used to with your other two characters.  This can be really handy when you're running away, or when you're travelling from place to place and something attacks you.  Hit the mez spell, /yell to break combat, and keep on moving,<BR><BR></DIV> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>That is correct.  The core mez is uninterruptable.  That means an Interrupt will not stop it from casting, which also means it is not interrupted by moving.  So the core mez can be cast on the run.  This is also true of the shorter duration "emergency" mez line you get later on.  It, too, is uninterruptable.  You will also eventually get a third mez line, which is an encounter mez (will mezz all mobs -- up to 5? -- in a linked encounter).  This mez, however, is not uninterruptable, so it cannot be cast on the move.</P> <P>Thus, you will have a long duration, uninterruptable mez for your main mez, a shorter duration, uninterruptable emergency mez, and an encounter mez that can be interrupted.</P>

[All]

I was playing around with an Illusionist today, too, and I have a question: Can you have more than one mob mezzed at once with the first mez spell you receive? I only ask because in some games I have played you could only have one mob taken out of commission at a time. Thanks!

[Miele]

Yes, you can mez more than one, but watch the durations, i.e.: 15s for the lvl 1 spell and 25s for the lvl 12 spell, the recast is 6 seconds for all the spell line, so do some basic math and find out how many you can mez <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Phineus]

<p>Between a troub and myself we were able to keep 8 or 9 solo triples mezzed simultaneously for some time. Takes practice and our very long duration mezzes help. </p><p> Good luck with the class. I have played probably half of all available classes and illus takes the most thought for me to play well. </p>