What to do with your first 50 AAs. (Because I said so!~)

[arieste]

<p>Starting AAs for defiler.</p><p>Disclaimer: This is not a guide to the best AA spec, only to getting the most out of your AAs as you level up. It's also based on certain personal playstyle preferences, but I think would be good for any defiler.</p><p>Because there is a few people asking on what to do with AAs when leveling up, I thought about what I would do if I had to level my defiler over again. If I was re-starting at level 1, here is what I would likely do:</p><p>Note: I plan my AAs with the intent to respec. Meaning, I will take what is better NOW, then change it later. Plan out your respecs well and you will always have your best AAs.</p><p>1st:</p><p>Shaman Tree: WIS 4-8-8 (if you're up to here and you're not liking ritual or can't manage dog dying, respec to STR 4-4-4-8 and then get the end special)</p><p>2nd:</p><p>Defiler Tree: Decaying up to Cannibalize (you don't get forced canni until 52, so don't put points in it if you're still a lowbie). (The alternative option is to do Prevention up to soul ward (you don't get Spirit Circle or VoA until mid 50s, so keep in mind. The AB shroud AA is better than you think too). I would do Cannibalize due to bigger power problems throughout lower levels (but Soul Ward line is more "healy".)</p><p>3rd: </p><p>Shaman Tree:</p><p>Get a few more AAs and then respec to STR: 4-4-8-8-2 (if you did str in step 1, start working on your 2nd Defiler Tree)</p><p>4th:</p><p>By now you are at 70-80 AAs and are probably getting close to level 70. So you now need to decide what you want your final AA spec to be and then fill out the rest of your trees and respec as necessary. There are plenty of good threads on that.</p><p>Reasoning: </p><p>Wis 4-8-8: Wis2 is the fastest way to significantly improve your healing ability. Plain and simple, there is no other line that provides any kind of decent benefit for under 15 AAs. This why it's first. Since we are doing Wis2 anyhow, might as well grab Wis3 (at least temporarily) since it does amazing damage and will help a TON when soloing.</p><p>Decaying: This is really a toss up between decaying and prevention. I prefer decaying because I tend to solo a lot through the lower levels. If you are a 100% group animal, it might be better to do Prevention until you get 22 AAs in the defiler tree and THEN respec over to Cannibalize. The reason you want cannibalize is that at lower levels defilers don't really have any of the awesome power regen tools we eventually get, you can also combo Canni with Ritual for total leetness. So when the whole group is OOP, you'll be happily healing on full power - RAWR! Soul Ward is great, but for group purposes your 2 emergency wards should be more than sufficient for emergencies and this would be overkill. (Different story for raids, but you are still a gimpy level 40 and not raiding).</p><p>STR: I would leave this until the 50s because that is when your dog really starts to die a lot, you also start dealing with a lot more stunnig and other crap, so having your dog ward helps. This also sets you for your "final" AA spec, since the STR line is pretty much mandatory for it. </p><p>Cheers and good defilin to yas.</p>

[Laenai]

<p>Nice post Arieste! And thanks!</p><p> I've solo-ed and duo-ed my defiler almost all the way through her levels, and now is about the time to look at raiding.</p><p> I went fully down the STR and WIS lines on the shaman tree (dog buffs FTW!).</p><p>I went down the prevention line on the defiler tree because the endline ability is cool as all Hell, but its been very tough to use efficiently without eating pavement myself. I'm getting there though!</p><p>Now I have 30 AAs left till 100 and I'm eyeing that Curseweaving endline ability covetously.</p>

[baguetteovenfresh]

omg thank you! i have been struggling along not knowing what to do with my eof AA. what do you end up putting your second line of aa in kos? i was told the cure cast time reduction one is good for raiding.

[arieste]

baguetteovenfresh wrote: <blockquote>omg thank you! i have been struggling along not knowing what to do with my eof AA. what do you end up putting your second line of aa in kos? i was told the cure cast time reduction one is good for raiding. </blockquote> There are a whole bunch of guides to KoS AAs with detailed explanations. The general consensus is that the best for raiding is STR/AGI.  This is the majority opinion, but not the only one.  It also depends on your role and guild and stuff. I am personally am STR/WIS atm althought Ive tried every other line except STA.  I would switch to STR/AGI/WIS if i had a better weapon to take advantage of the dps from the AGI line, but I dont and am not likely to get anytime soon.

[knightofround]

I agree with your first 20 AAs... WIS 4-8-8 is great for lower levels. But I would put the next 29 AAs into the KoS tree as well. The KoS abilities are so much better than the EoF abilities. Yeah, the decaying line would be great for soloing...but I don't know about you guys, but low-teir healers can find groups within 5-10 minutes on my server. If I could do it over again, I would go WIS 8-8-8, then respec to STR 4-4-6-8-2, then flesh out to STR 4-4-8-8-2, then and then go Wis 4-4-8, then go WIS 6-8-8-0-2. If I'm raiding in the MT group all the time, I'd probably run with INT 4-4-8-8 instead of the WIS line. AA #50-54 would go into Enhance: Abasement, #55-57 would go into Enhance: Degenerate, #58-62 goes into Enhance: Tendrils, #63-67 goes into Enhance: Umbral trap, #68-70 goes into Enhance: Poison DoT. Then respec to max out cursing line (minus fear) and get curseweaving. Then put the next 5 points back into the Tendrils line. Then go 3 in bane of protection, 3 in enhance: fulginous sphere, 3 in enhance: green DoT, 5 into enhance: cannibalize,  2 into enhance: defile. Then respec to max out both cursing and prevention lines, with both curseweaving and soulward. (Maxing out the entire left half of prevention line AAs) Then add 5 more points back into Enhance: Tendrils. Then the last 3 points into Enhance: Bane of Protection. Then go back to the KoS tree to put one more point into STA. And that's 100 AAs! I would argue that STR/AGI is terrible for raiding. Mystics, Wardens, and Templars cure so much better than us, that cure duty is best left to them. Heal crits are negible compared to the utility of ritual+group heal in OT groups, or the +800 all resists to group dog buff in MT groups. It doesn't make sense for us to melee during raids because wards are the first line of defense; plus we need to get our awesome debuffs quick before spike damage kills the tank. The only situation where I run in and melee is if I'm with a melee dps group; and the main reason I do that is so they can benefit from Spiritual Circle.

[baguetteovenfresh]

<cite>knightofround wrote:</cite><blockquote> AA #50-54 would go into Enhance: Abasement, #55-57 would go into Enhance: Degenerate, #58-62 goes into Enhance: Tendrils, #63-67 goes into Enhance: Umbral trap, #68-70 goes into Enhance: Poison DoT. </blockquote> what is abasement? the first in curseweaving line? (slow/dps reduction)? what is the poison dot? <a href="http://www.eq2ref.com/aa/index.php?class=Defiler" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://www.eq2ref.com...[Removed for Content]=Defiler</a></a>

[knightofround]

Yes, e: abasement is e:cursing. Posion dot is E:Malaise