AA Path Pictures (recent)

[Eirgo]

<div></div><div>I know there is another post with AA screenshots - but some of the info is outdated, so I decided to post some screens I took a couple days ago (hopefully nothing has changed).  I think at the time I took the screens I was lvl 62 and was about 10% shy of the int cap - which will effect the damage ranges shown on some abilities.</div><div> </div><div> </div><p><a target="_blank" href="http://photobucket.com/"><img alt="Image hosting by Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/Eirgorn/STR.gif"></a></p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Image hosting by Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/Eirgorn/WIS.gif"></a></p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Image hosting by Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/Eirgorn/STA.gif"></a></p><p><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Image hosting by Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/Eirgorn/AGI.gif"></a><a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Image hosting by Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/Eirgorn/INT.gif"></a></p><p> </p><p>At work atm - but I will post my feelings on the skills a little bit later, as well as some questions I have concerning an ability or two.</p>

[Eirgo]

<div></div><div></div><p>My Opinions/Questions - feel free to post your own :smileyhappy:</p><p>(Note - Im not set on which path(s) I will take yet and have currently only spent 1 of my 6 AA points)</p><p>STR Line:</p><p>Animated Dagger:  I prob wont use this unless a) I find a nice dagger in T7 to replace prismatic 1 or 2 or b) the damage is upped on it enough to make it worth the hassle of swapping weapons out.  To be honest, I usually dont have a problem with power regen so I may just swap to an ok dagger anyways if I go with this line</p><p>Parrying:  A little more avoidance never hurt - but also not that valuable or worth the aa's in my opinion except to open up the next level</p><p>Wild Channeling:  Nice AA - I have a feeling it will noticeably increase my DPS.  However it does not effect our pets crit chances, so it really only modifies ~50% of my dps.  I assume we are given a higher % increase then other classes to compensate for this fact, but not sure</p><p>Implode:  Nice AE (as far as necros are concerned) and may have its uses in AE groups/raids when there is enough downtime between mobs not to be hurt by the 5s recast and rebuff of pet.  Not sure if its worth 8 points though</p><p> </p><p>WIS Line:</p><p>Animist's Transference: My direct hp -> health spell is usually sufficient to save group/raid members in a pinch, so Im not so sure how handy this will be.  It is too restrictive in my opinion since it cant be used to heal your pet (at least at low ranks), has the same 2s cast time as the transfer life line  and it has a 45s recast (opposed to 8s on transfer life).  If someone in your group/raid needs a quick heal, transfer life should suffice, if not I suggest getting another healer hehe.</p><p>Minions Barrier:   Seems to be very little direct avoidance for the aa spent.  May be useful if you solo alot.</p><p>Minions Uproar:  Not sure how I feel about +combat/casting skills.  I havent seen much proof that they help too much in many cases.  I know a Dev did a "test" in the warlock forums along time ago, but it only had like 50 samples and showed a minimal increase against yellow con mobs.  While it may be decent to have, I dont think it is worth the AA expenditure to get the line this far along.</p><p>Animist Bond:  Im not sure if the spell protects your pet for the whole 30s or for as long as he has power - Im assuming the latter (a 30s invulnerablity on your pet every 2min would be insane hehe).  I dont think this is worth the 24 pts you would have to spend in the line to see it.</p><p> </p><p>STA Line - I rarely solo so this line is not for me.  If you do solo and your tank pet sees the light of day, this looks like a good line.  An AE, Intercept and hate buff are all nice.  The final skill seems lacking though</p><p> </p><p>AGI Line -</p><p>Distracting Strike - Nice hate debuff,  not a waste of aa's if you are aiming for a higher skill in this set.</p><p>Cabalists Cover - Not bad, but hopefully your scout pet isnt taking many hits.  May help if you solo with your scout pet out for the added dps.</p><p>Minions Zeal - Increase seems abit low, but of course that is only at rank 1.  I assume this doesnt effect his special attacks.</p><p>Shadowstrike - May have limited uses in pulling or jousting while used in conjuntion with call servant</p><p> </p><p>INT Line -</p><p>Magic Leash - unlike the AGI line threat decreaser, this effects the pet.  My mage pet rarely gains aggro so I dont put much stock in this skill.</p><p>Minions Warding - could be nice to have your mage pet eat an AE for you</p><p>Arcane Minion - 1.3% casting time decrease seems low to me.  Maybe at higher ranks it is closer to 10%, which could make a difference</p><p>Empower Servant - seems nice since mage pets go OOP so quicky, but I dont know if its worth 8pts to save the hassle of just recasting the pet every few fights</p><p> </p><p>Ok, I think thats all of them.  I think I am currently leaning towards the STR line, but I welcome any feedback to help me decide.  Other that that I guess I could go the INT line.</p><p>Possess Minion - 1</p><p>STR - 4/4/4/8/8 = 28</p><p>+</p><p>INT - 4/4/4/8/0 = 20  or AGI 4/5/4/8/0 = 21</p><p>Thanks,</p><p>Message Edited by Eirgorn on <span class="date_text">02-28-2006</span><span class="time_text">09:51 AM</span></p>

[Bis]

<div>Heres the build I was thinking about taking:</div><div> </div><div>Posses Minion - 1</div><div>STR line - 4/5/4/8/0 = 21</div><div>AGI line - 4/8/8/8/0 = 28</div><div> </div><div>I hope they have some nice daggers to choose from at level 70. How much damage does the animated dagger do at rank 8?</div>

[jeanjuedi]

<div></div><div>Hmmm, thanks for the update Eirgorn, I am kinda disappointed with the Wisdom line being changed from % to hard numbers for the defensive and offensive buffs, but I guess that means it will be easier to choose other lines! </div>

[Eirgo]

<div></div><div>Yeah I felt the same way about the changes to the WIS line. </div><div> </div><div>Now it seems to me the best route to go is STR line + AGI/STA/INT line depending on which pet you want to specialize in.</div>

[Magu]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>Eirgorn wrote:<div></div><div></div><p>Cabalists Cover - Not bad, but hopefully your scout pet isnt taking many hits.  May help if you solo with your scout pet out for the added dps.</p><hr></blockquote>Look at it again - it does not say scout only <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />   This ability works for ALL pets, including tank/mage.</span></div>

[Nainitsuj]

<div></div><p>Personally I like the dagger part of the STR line.  Getting sick of seeing the staff of pet healing, the glowing wand of every mage, the basic wand of every mage, the long green stick of every mage or the lesser stick of every mage.</p>

[StueyMonst]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Nainitsuj wrote:<div></div><p>Personally I like the dagger part of the STR line.  Getting sick of seeing the staff of pet healing, the glowing wand of every mage, the basic wand of every mage, the long green stick of every mage or the lesser stick of every mage.</p><hr></blockquote><p>So every mage you've seen has quite an arsenal of weapons then :p</p>

[Eirgo]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Magus` wrote:<div><span><blockquote><hr>Eirgorn wrote:<div></div><div></div><p>Cabalists Cover - Not bad, but hopefully your scout pet isnt taking many hits.  May help if you solo with your scout pet out for the added dps.</p><hr></blockquote>Look at it again - it does not say scout only <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />   This ability works for ALL pets, including tank/mage.</span></div><hr></blockquote>Thanks for pointing that out Magus' - that gives the AGI line a bit more flexability and use.

[jeanjuedi]

<div></div><p>Took me a while, but I am looking at:</p><p>STR: 4/4/4/8/1</p><p>AGI: 4/4/4/8/0</p><p>STA: 4/1/0/0</p><p>I am really interested in how Shockwave scales.  102-171 melee damage is quite small, even though I would be using it mainly for the knockback ability.</p>

[Eirgo]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>jeanjuedi wrote:<div></div><p>Took me a while, but I am looking at:</p><p>STR: 4/4/4/8/<strong><font color="#ffff00">1</font></strong></p><p>AGI: 4/4/4/8/0</p><p>STA: 4/1/0/0</p><p>I am really interested in how Shockwave scales.  102-171 melee damage is quite small, even though I would be using it mainly for the knockback ability.</p><hr></blockquote>That last skill in the STR line costs 8 AAs :smileysad:

[Azan]

<div></div><div>If I'm reading this right both Perceptor's Bodyguard (str line) and Cabalist's Cover (agi line) works on any pet, not just the tank and scout pets respectively. Has anyone confirmed this to be true?</div><div> </div><div> </div>

[jeanjuedi]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Eirgorn wrote:<div></div><blockquote><hr>jeanjuedi wrote:<div></div><p>Took me a while, but I am looking at:</p><p>STR: 4/4/4/8/<strong><font color="#ffff00">1</font></strong></p><p>AGI: 4/4/4/8/0</p><p>STA: 4/1/0/0</p><p>I am really interested in how Shockwave scales.  102-171 melee damage is quite small, even though I would be using it mainly for the knockback ability.</p><hr></blockquote>That last skill in the STR line costs 8 AAs :smileysad:<hr></blockquote>I am confused by this.  Are you saying that I have to drop 8 AA's just to get Implode rank 1?  That does not make any sense.

[Eirgo]

<div></div>Yeah - each of the end abilities (Implode, Shadowstep etc) cost 8 points and there is only one rank.

[jeanjuedi]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>Eirgorn wrote:<div></div>Yeah - each of the end abilities (Implode, Shadowstep etc) cost 8 points and there is only one rank.<hr></blockquote><p>I could not believe this.  I don't see any of the last abilities that are worth 8 AA.</p><p>From Moorguard's AA faq</p><p>__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __</p><p>It costs 1 point to train a single rank in an achievement. In order to train the second ability in an achievement line, you must have rank 4 in the first achievement ability (rank 4, meaning you have put 4 achievement points into the ability). In order to train the third achievement ability in a line, you must have rank 4 in the second. In order to train the fourth achievement ability in a line, you must have rank 4 in the third. <font color="#ffff00">The final achievement ability in a line is especially powerful, and requires 8 points to train (and cannot be further improved).</font></p><p>__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __</p><p>I guess that means I will have to think about where to spread my AA's a little bit more.</p>

[evhallion]

<div></div>Bumping a good graphic list.

[Trinitymonger]

<DIV>Great list, thanks!  - can we get this as a sticky please?</DIV>

[Gargamel]

Yeah the 'endgame' of each line is pretty weak... I'm going into base stats, and the avoidance/criticle % buffs... they shoudl be the last the devs get around to nerfing.One big problem is the pet specific aspects of them... very hard to justify 8pts on an abiliy you can only use with one of your 3 pets.Then you have some like that shadow step or whatever that warps your pet... seems espically wortheless for 8pts that can earn you +32 in base stats.Only the 'implode' one is even close to being worth it.. and so will probably be the next thing to be nerfed.<div></div>