Solo AA build for levelling up with from scratch?

[KalChoeda]

Hi all,I've had a good poke around on the boards here and over at EQ2Flames; I've read a lot of advice on builds for Warlocks, including variants for soloing and grouping or raiding.  However what I don't seem to be able to find is advice on builds to use while actually <i>levelling up</i> - everyone always seems to pitch the builds at 70+ <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Well that's all well and good but so great for the newb EQ2 player like me <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Can anyone offer advice on a build for primarily solo play, levelling up from the very beginning?  I've seen <span class="postbody">WIS and STR highly recommended for the solo warlock, as well as the enhanced magi's shielding from the EoF tree, but how much and what order?  Work down the WIS tree first, or pile the first 10 points into magi's shielding?  I'm only in the teens at the moment with and just finishing off the new RoK newbie area, I have 10 AAs to work with right now, so maxing out Shielding and then starting to work on the WIS line would be a viable option for me right now.I have one other question (well I have loads but this will do for now) - I rolled Erudite, because it seemed like an "ideal" caster race from the powergamer point of view, but I'm honestly not sure I like the look.  I see a lot of people on here rave about the Ratonga, but can someone explain why?  Obviously they look awesome <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> , but how do the new racials work out for Ratonga Warlocks (or is it just mostly about the aforemention awesome-looking-ness?)Cheers all,Kal</span>

[Supp]

<p>I cant comment too much on racial traits. I typically go with juxtapositions, although my uniqueness hurt me when SOE did the racial trait revamp, yay for SOE for forcing a cookie cutter upon its fans!</p><p>Ahem, anyway. I assume youre looking for solo levelling up. Seems most warlocks agree that killing masses of wusses is the way to go, so, with that in mind, you'll want to concentrate on things that increase your group damage. In the EoF tree, that's the tree on the far right (Explosives). But I would only seriously enhance the green AE's. You dont cast Rift that much for it to matter, and Aftershocks is not all that. Put 5 in all the greens. You may be tempted to get Aftershocks because of your AA investment in that line, but dont bother. If youre not even close to 50, dont put any AA's into Devastation until you are, and then put 5.</p><p>In the KoS tree, I would first get Catalyst. Yes, I know it saps from your health, but if youre killing nonheroics, the extra guaranteed dmg boost will ensure they die before you do. This is to say nothing of the fact that Devastation/Apoc/Armageddon was enhanced on the EoF tree already making the crit that much bigger (not that you get that one until 50, prepare for heaven when you do). Although as I said earlier, 3 greens are enhanceable in the Explosives line, so you could use it with one of them until you get Dev. There are even times when you use Catalyst with the blue low dmg AoE DoT, because you may not want root breaking, so you cast the greens alone and then hit Catalyst/BlueDoT (forgot the name) as a backup device. Considering you had to put 3 AAs into that DoT in my configuration, it's not all bad.</p><p>My 2nd choice in the KoS tree will diverge me from the rest of my Lock brethren. I would put 4-4-8 in the STA tree (Battlemage). I havent checked lately, but it totalled 840 additional physical mit at 70. It scales you see. Who knows what it's doing for me now. You see, when you approach a group encounter, at or least when I do. I whip out with the group root, then Catalyst/Apoc, then the next two green AE's. By this point though, some of the encounter will have broken root, and it may still be alive, charging you, and beating you down. And so it would be good if you could take a beating. You would not frakkin believe the difference. I PLAN on getting beat on. Hehe. It allows me to completely irradiate the area without fear of death. Remember, crushing dmg is the most common health dropper in the game.</p><p>My 3rd choice in the KoS tree is the WIS line, all the way down to the bottom. If youre plannin on root/nuking a named, having that 12% power reduction makes a world of difference. </p><p>A couple more things. Props is [Removed for Content], but you dont really start getting much proc gear until T6, so you can reconsider your AAs at that time. Furthermore, I have no doubt that most of my Lock brethren feel that speed casting (AGI line in KoS and Hastenings line in EoF) is always the way to go, so I'll let them speak on that point. It does help quite a bit in raid, but your not raiding right now. Right now, you should be concentrating on the biggest boom you can create. I am frequently chided for going down Battlemage, and I'll always laugh at them for chiding me.</p>

[DwarvesR]

<p>For just starting out and soloing, as you are, I would indeed enhance magi's shielding with 10 points from the get-go.  </p><p>After that, I'd go down the STA line to 4-4-8-6-2.</p><p>From there, I'd then go with the WIS line to 4-4-8 also, then look at adding points to the 2nd and 4th boxes in that line for the damage increasers before finishing it out with the 12% power cost reduction.</p><p>What this does is maximizes your defenses.  In "the old world" this will make you well nigh invulnerable vs solo mobs, and will make heroic mobs that much easier to take on as well.  The magi's shielding ward will pretty much make you invulnerable to a single white-con or lower mob.  They won't be able to break through it for the most part.  The STA line will increase your mitigation, make you less likely to be interupted, and reduce how often you are resisted.  Beyond that, the manaward will enable you to have your power get taken instead of your health and since you have more power then health. . . it works out.  The WIS line ward will help you take less damage from caster mobs also.</p><p>Eventually as you get up in level, you'll want to respec off of this, though, since in RoK the mobs hit hard enough that this all won't help all *that* much anyway and if you haven't already mastered the root/nuke technique, you'll be doing it in a big way and fast.</p><p>Personally, I'm AGI/WIS spec'd in the KoS tree and working down the STR line for the additional crits.  In the EoF tree I have Focused Casting, Propagations, and Aftershocks, with nothing at all in E: Magi's Shielding.  I also have +495 spell damage from my equipment, so overall I can burn mobs down very quickly while I've got them held at bay with my root.  If they can't hit me, they can't hurt me, after all.  I keep my 2 stuns handy so that if/when the root breaks, I can stun and re-root.  Works quite well so long as I'm conscious of my surroundings to prevent adds.</p>

[knightofround]

Search is your friend =P<a rel="nofollow" href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=386092" target="_blank">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=386092</a>As far as racial traits go, dark elf / arasai / erudite are all pretty equal from a mage powergaming perspective. Personally I'd recommend an arasai, because even if you look silly having glide 100% of the time will save you alot of time in the long run because you can take short-cuts and do pulls that other toons simply cannot do.

[KalChoeda]

Thanks for the replies, guys <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[DwarvesR]

<cite>knightofround wrote:</cite><blockquote>Search is your friend =P<a rel="nofollow" href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=386092" target="_blank">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=386092</a>As far as racial traits go, dark elf / arasai / erudite are all pretty equal from a mage powergaming perspective. Personally I'd recommend an arasai, because even if you look silly having glide 100% of the time will save you alot of time in the long run because you can take short-cuts and do pulls that other toons simply cannot do.</blockquote>Dark Elf, High Elf, and Erudite all also have the racial "perma-safe fall" ability now also -- it's no longer limited to the fae and arasai.

[KalChoedan]

It's possible I might end up small-grouping my 'lock instead of strictly solo-ing him after all; how will this affect the build?  I'd be looking at an SK/Def/lock as the core of the group, with a Brigand and Monk who might occasionally join us.Thanks again guys,Kal

[Wildmage]

I put 5 points into the mages shielding Achievement on the Warlock tree then went down agility first faster casting= faster root= not dead Warlock. from ther I've started going down the STR line for crits then Ill probably go back to Warlock for Explosive and Hastening lines.

[DwarvesR]

<cite>KalChoedan wrote:</cite><blockquote>It's possible I might end up small-grouping my 'lock instead of strictly solo-ing him after all; how will this affect the build?  I'd be looking at an SK/Def/lock as the core of the group, with a Brigand and Monk who might occasionally join us.Thanks again guys,Kal</blockquote><p>If you're going to still be soloing quite a bit then what I posted before will still work.  Thing is. . . in the low levels, no tank can hold aggro off you if you go full burn anyway, so there's not much point in doing any of the aa's that will boost your dps.  If anything, you might want to look at the INT line for the de-aggroes instead.</p><p>Personally I wouldn't bother.  Rather than put the points there, you just hold back a bit.  And *when* you peel aggro you've still got your boosted mitigation and manaward to help keep you alive while the tank hopefully gets aggro back off you.</p><p>This is especially true in this trio you mention -- the sk debuffs disease, the defiler debuffs poison, and your 2 primary damage types are. . . . you got it.  Plus the SK's got a buff that will be increasing your spell damage too.  So they're boosting your dps already, no need for you to make it that much harder for them to keep aggro off you.</p><p>Later on (IE 55 & 5<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> the SK will get some really nice AE hate building things and will be better able to keep aggro off you so you can ramp up a bit then too.  That's about when you startgetting your ownm really nice dps booster abilities too, so. . .it balances out overall.</p><p>As I mentioned before, I solo without the STA line at all anymore.  In groups, unless I have a pallie tank with amends on me I have to hold back quite a bit, but it all works out still.  You can respec several times for free with the cards the achievement counselor gives you, so don't be afraid to do your own experimenting too.</p>

[KalChoedan]

Thanks very much for the advice, Jonna - much appreciated.  At the moment I'm playing in that group as a Dirge (when I'm not levelling up my Warlock!), but once I've caught up (mid 30s) I'm going to try just swapping the Dirge out for the 'lock with his current soloing spec (e Magi's and STA line so far) and see how it goes.  It's going to be an interesting change of pace, that's for sure!Thanks again,-k

[knightofround]

<span class="name"><b>DwarvesRUs</b></span>:Dark Elf, High Elf, and Erudite safe fall is not the same as Fae/Arasai glide. They all get safefall, but Fae/Arasai get glide, which is like having permanent jump boots.