Masters

[Luckyburrito]

I'm looking to work on my masters. I'm lvl 53 and was just wondering what spells folks think should be mastered first. I've started with the taunts so far. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Yourbestfriend]

Get them all bud. And Damage abilitys > taunts

[Jackula]

You can look up a full list of your skills at <a href="http://eq2ref.com/abilities/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2ref.com/abilities/</a> Your best choices depend on how actively you are leveling/playing your guardian, what you are trying to tank (heroic group content vs epic raid content), and how full your money pouch is.  I find it hard to justify to you buying every master you can get your hands on from level 57-70 if you are leveling slowly, don't plan on raid tanking, and aren't doing fairly well financially. It is possible to level very quickly in EQ2.  If you are leveling up fast, I wouldn't recommend buying masters of any skills you are going to outlevel in the next few weeks.  Almost all of your skills/abilities level 57 or lower will be replaced by level 70.  Use that link above to check your skills and see what you will be replacing as you level. Tier 7 masters are more common than ever.  You'll be able to buy them for much less than what many of us paid for them.  Sadly though, you won't be able to enjoy them for as long.  We are going to be getting an expansion at the end of this year, and the level cap will be raised from 70 to 80.  That will make most of your skills level 67 and lower obsolete too.  You might not mind a master skill becoming obsolete 6-7 months from now if you only paid 5p for it, but be much more upset if it is a skill you paid 25p-50p for.  Keep that in mind when you go shopping.  Personally, the only good thing I can think about all the masters I have that will becoming obsolete is they will make leveling from 70 to 80 a little easier.  I try to not think of how much money I spent getting them. It's nice to have  as many of your skills at master level as possible, but if you aren't raid tanking, I think masters are overkill.  Adept 3s should be sufficient for most heroic group content. If tanking regular group mobs is what you're doing, only splurge on masters only if they're cheap (5p or less) or are really great skills.

[Mechase]

It really depends, if your planning on raid tanking then get every master you can 57+, if your just tanking heroic stuff adept 3 is just fine with the exception of taunts maybe. In a single group aggro management depends solely on that group's make up as opposed to a raid where you have to hold aggro against 23 other people, thats where higher DPS will come into play.

[Docimodo]

<p>The main thing about masters imo is the chance to hit increase.</p><p>If you are talking about masters you can use right now then I think you should just stick with adept 3 on all spells being replaced at end game. So at 53 you have I think 3 endgame skills that can be mastered. Reinforcement, Intercept and Rescue.</p><p>As for endgame if you have low cash flow just harvest yourself all the adept3 rares you can bare to as it's practically free when compared to buying masters this way (adept3 on everything is better than m1 on only a few and adept1 on most).</p><p>You can probably catch a few bargains on common or unwanted masters so the amount you need harvest depends on the market and how 'hardcore' you like to play.</p><p>I'd probably go first for getting protection M1 as my first so you can choose Flay at M2. (thats two less rares you need to get and you have two of the most powerful skills already!) </p><p>Then once those two are done I'd rank the spells to get for <b><span style="font-size: x-small">regular group gaming</span></b> as below. Some tips: Assuming you are on a budget, If the cost to buy them as master is higher than roughly 2/30 of the total money it will cost you to upgrade all of your spells to adept 3 then skip it and just get it as adept 3. Some skills will be quite rare though and depending on your server's market and the amount of cash you can generate it may be worth spending quite a bit more to get it immediately. (dont forget though we are getting the level cap raised to 80 at the end of year which if I'm not mistaken renders all skills below 67 obsolete (except, I hope, the following: rescue, intercept, reinforcement, sentry watch, tower of stone and obliterate which are likely to become rare to extremely rare as people won't be killing/farming much t7 content let alone t6 content when that happens)</p><p>Anyway heres a bunch of spells grouped in similar priority brackets (priority on some spells may be increased or decreased for raid situations and if you are raid tanking you should have a feel for what you need first yourself.). </p><p>[Obliterate*, Retaliation strike, Sever, Merciless Charge, Vindictive strike, Inflaming Defense, Steadfast Stance]</p><p>[Group wide Buffs, Stonesphere, Sentry Watch*, Perfect Strike, Besiege, Confront, plant]</p><p>[Moderate, Sustain, Buffet, Staggering blow, Desperate Charge, Goading Assault, Overpower, Compression, Reinforcement*]</p><p>[Tower of stone*, Wall of Force, Command, Rescue, Intercept, Unyielding Vigilance]</p><p>It all depends how you are going to play as some stuff is either extremely used or extremely rarely used etc...</p><p>Hope this helps ya!</p>

[Kirianna1]

<p>Tower of Stone question:</p><p> What's the difference if it's at Adept 1 or Master 1? Nothing changes in the description of each? Do you take less damage? Or did I miss something?</p>

[Snorm]

<p>Upgrades "Lower the amount of damage taken by the shield". No exact amount is given. People have stated that the damage to the shield varies based on the quality (Fabled/Legendary/Treasured) of the shield. I've not personally noticed this, but then I've not tested it particularly.</p><p>I think AIII on a fabled shield hits for around 6% per intercept. It's a little hard to test as you need something that hits hard enough to proc it, and you don't always get the full three hits before it expires. Also if you die, you get a 10% damage bonus for equiping... woot woot.</p><p>Snorm -- 70 Guard</p>

[Wilin]

Kiandra@Antonia Bayle wrote: <blockquote><p>Tower of Stone question:</p><p> What's the difference if it's at Adept 1 or Master 1? Nothing changes in the description of each? Do you take less damage? Or did I miss something?</p></blockquote> Adept3 is 6%. Master1 is 4%. (per attack absorbed)

[Mechase]

Aye, the above poster has it right.  I was actually please when I got my ToS mastered because I didn't know the difference. That's 8 uses per shield at M1, not too shabby. Helps a little with the repair costs at the end of the raid night too.

[Kirianna1]

That's good to know. Thanks!!