Raid conjuror looking for advice

[Twofeets]

<div></div><div>I've seen some of this discussed on another thread, but it was off topic from the OP.  Hopeing to get some more info this way...</div><div> </div><div>Im a level 60 conjuror in a raiding guild.  All of my spells are adept III, with the exceptions of my master II's and 2-3 master 1's.  In 'normal' situations my DPS is outstanding, usually in or at the top of the DPS parsers (Rangers sometimes beat me out).</div><div> </div><div>There are a few situations though where Ive found myself nearly useless, resigned to being a crack dealer (mana shard) and a 3rd rate healer (sacrifice master 1).</div><div> </div><div>1) In the gates of Ahken Aten (or however its spelled) we fight A LOT of AE mobs (seems most of them have some type of AE).  In addition, since we do a x4 raid with 115-18 people we sometimes rely on crowd control.  This is VERY limiting to my DPS</div><div>   a) my pet gets killed appx every 20-40 seconds</div><div>   b) pyrotechnics has an AE component which apparently breaks mez</div><div>   c) our fire seed line has an AE component which breaks mez.</div><div>   d) Ive been told (But not sure) that our damage shield breaks mez (I know that druid damage shields affect the encounter, but the description on ours is 'target' not 'target encounter' like druid damage shields are.</div><div> </div><div>So, with a pet with a very short lifespan, and only able to use 1 swarm pet, my DPS is usually near the bottom of the list (well, I can beat the templar at least). </div><div> </div><div>What can I (if anything) do different?</div><div> </div><div>2) Resistances-  Our air pet used to be either slash or pierce, now its always pierce.  Pierce seems to be one of the most common resists for raid mobs.  Fire resistant/immune is also a very common resist.  Some mobs have both.  Is there a work around, or am I just [Removed for Content] in these situations?  (especially ones where crowd control is used). </div><div>   a) Ive tried using my tank pet, but his DPS is pathetic</div><div>   b) I love my fire pet, but if they're resistant to pierce and fire, he's useless.  In addition, I cant use him if we're mezzing.</div><div>   c) One of our dots, swarm pets, and damage add/damage shield are all fire based.</div><div> </div><div>This isnt a gripe, I just hate feeling useless on a boss encounter, and in some raid zones I run into this A LOT.  Rangers and melee types can simply switch weapons.  We're not so lucky...</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>3) Well, I was going to list other situations, but realized that finding a way to solve 1) and 2) would solve them as well <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.</div><div> </div><div>Thankyou</div><p>Message Edited by Twofeets on <span class="date_text">01-08-2006</span><span class="time_text">10:35 AM</span></p>

[Magu]

<span><blockquote><hr>Twofeets wrote:<div></div><div>   a) my pet gets killed appx every 20-40 seconds</div><div>   b) pyrotechnics has an AE component which apparently breaks mez</div><div>   c) our fire seed line has an AE component which breaks mez.</div><div>   d) Ive been told (But not sure) that our damage shield breaks mez (I know that druid damage shields affect the encounter, but the description on ours is 'target' not 'target encounter' like druid damage shields are.</div><hr></blockquote><span>a) Not really any way around this. In situations like that, sometimes it's better to use the pet as a mana battery and just cast like nuts.b) I haven't tested this, but it shouldn't be that way. If it is, don't use it. It's not like pyro is a huge amount of damage.c) So cancel it, it's a very tiny DoT when it procs.d) This is completely false. Since it's not an AE proc, it can't break mez.<blockquote><hr>Twofeets wrote:<div></div><div>2) Resistances-  Our air pet used to be either slash or pierce, now its always pierce.  Pierce seems to be one of the most common resists for raid mobs.  Fire resistant/immune is also a very common resist.  Some mobs have both.  Is there a work around, or am I just [Removed for Content] in these situations?  (especially ones where crowd control is used). </div><div>   a) Ive tried using my tank pet, but his DPS is pathetic</div><div>   b) I love my fire pet, but if they're resistant to pierce and fire, he's useless.  In addition, I cant use him if we're mezzing.</div><div>   c) One of our dots, swarm pets, and damage add/damage shield are all fire based.</div><hr></blockquote></span>a) While he'll do slightly less damage, ALL of the scout pets special attacks do cold damage, not piercing. You may miss out on the normal hits, but he'll still do nice damage. Especially with BP/EV.b) Fire pet does encounter locked AEs, they should not break mez.c) Which really doesn't do all that much, comparitively.</span><div></div>

[XtremSummo]

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Our Damage Shield does not break mezzes.</div><div> </div><div>I'm not convinced that Pyro breaks single-mezzes. I've tested it with a wizard mez and it never broke it in 10 concrete tests.</div><div> </div><div>I also don't think that the Blazing Seed line breaks single-mezzes with its "on death" encounter AoE proc.</div><div> </div><div>The difficulty comes when Mezzers are using AoE mez - which is broken by AoE effects - and not backing that up with single-target mezzes. It's standard play strategy for AoE crowd control to use AoE mez/root to gain control and then single target mezzes to hold the mobs - which won't break to AoE effects. The difficulty with some raids will be that if there are a huge number of mobs being mezzed, it may not be entirely practical to establish single mezzes on all of the mobs.</div><div> </div><div>Having said all of that, this isn't only something that affects conjurors. Many other classes also have AoE effects which they are unable to use in that situation. The conjuror has the Air pet's cold damage + some single-target DoTs and nukes and is able to contribute as a result. You won't be top of the DPS pile but you won't be standing around doing nothing.</div><div> </div><div>X</div><p>Message Edited by XtremSummons on <span class="date_text">01-09-2006</span><span class="time_text">12:38 AM</span></p>

[Twofeets]

<div></div>dont expect to be the top DPS all the time, but I cant stand feeling useless, so Im trying to learn all I can about other peoples tactics.I guess Im going to have to get together with our coercer if I can catch her between raids and do some extensive testing. Ive read the spell descriptions, and I know what is and what is not supposed to break mez. It seems however that mezz still frequently gets broken, and when that happens things get ugly.I had been told that dots casted before the mez break mez, but AE's casted after the mez only affect the single target. Even so, prior to mezzing the common tactic is for the raid leader to give the NO AE order. While we may not be an 'uber' guild, we can take most of the DOF raid content with 3 full groups, so we're not exactly inexperienced either. It just seems 'something' is breaking mez, and since we havent pinned it all down, we play it ultra safe.

[XtremSummo]

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><p>I just did some very quick basic testing of whether DoTs cast before the mez will break the mez on subsequent hits. This is definitely true. Both with single target DoT on the mob to be mezzed, and AoE Dot with a different mob in the group being mezzed. You'd need a confirmation from your mezzers that everything is mezzed before using the AoE DoT.</p><p>With that in mind you'd need to be careful about ordering a fire pet to attack before mezzing was complete too. Fire Pets of high enough quality will use Wave of Flames which is an AoE DoT. Since you can't control when he uses it, you'd have to hold back your fire pet until after the mezzing is complete.</p><p>Also, the Earth pet has an AoE Knockback, an AoE damage attack (Telluric Roar) and of course an AoE taunt. These attacks shouldn't break single-target mezzes - but you'd have to wait until the single-target mezzes are fully established before sending him into attack and before using your AoE nuke.</p><p>Another option is arranging the raid such that your target is pulled away from the adds after mezzing. Encounter AoE range isn't all that wide - about 10 metres from memory. Certainly, you don't need to be all too far away for your AoE effects not to reach the other mobs.</p><p>In any event, if your coercer looks back through his battle chat, he should see a message along the lines of "XXX wakes up mob", which will show exactly what broke the mez in the situation given. That way you can pin down accurately what and who broke the mez and adjust your strategy accordingly.</p><p>X</p><p>Message Edited by XtremSummons on <span class="date_text">01-09-2006</span><span class="time_text">03:48 AM</span></p>