defiler AA help

[kr8ztwin]

<p>I have read thru a lot of posts and see mixed feelings about most AA builds.. Some going Str / Int others Wis/Int and so forth.  What I am looking for is a break down AA build for a Defiler that would dou acting as a dedicated healer and then also a raid type AA build.</p><p>Most of my playing is spent in dou with everything from a scout class, fighter and even an Inquis.  Want to make sure that my AA's are in the most beneficial tree's.. Also want to be able to have a Raid AA line that I can swap to when I chose to.</p><p>Any assitance would be greatly appreciated</p>

[Griffildur]

<p>I don't like STR line tbh. I used it and never felt really impressed with it. If your pet dies you pretty much lost all benefits and the recast  time is huge. You'll never manage to recast it in a fight.</p><p>That said, I am going down Wis line all the way to the end. The end line ability is very usefull , it has saved my group mates countless times, even tank. Does not work all the time, of course, but all in all , is very usefull to have and gives you and other healers an extra chance to keep people alive.</p><p>I use Agi and Sta lines as well.  Replenish is a very useful ability. reuse time sounds good in theory, I invested 7 points in it but I am starting to wonder if it really helps as the every point increases your reuse with 0.1 secs ! all in all a 0.8 seconds reuse speed for 8 AA points ... tough one.</p><p>From defiler tree, i went for prevention line, the reuse time on the emergency wards is great and really helps. I have mixed feelings about soul ward, however there is a lvl 80 fabled amulet that is a quest reward in JW that heals you for about 4k hp so one idea is to cast sould ward if things get bad and the quickly heal yourself with that so you can continue healing the group.</p><p>Voice of the ancestors might be worth upgrading with full 5 points, didn't do that yet though due to lack of points !</p><p>Cannibalize is a must as well so i took that line .</p><p>From the new tree i choose hp and mana boosts , plus better heals, wards etc, Pretty much ignored all debuff improvements as they re too little to count much anyway.</p><p>Basically whatever can support the group in any way is worth taking .</p><p>I only have 125 AA points now so have to be really carefull about choices made. There are lots of goodies in our trees !</p><p>Int line is a must in solo play . debuff speeds and stuff from defiler tree  ? waste of time in group setup, we can just apply our normal debuffs and use the points somewhere else.</p><p>That's just my oppinion anyway. Everything that improves our wards / heals must be taken. Ritual of Alacrity is very good as well. Melee improvements ? Leave them to mystics <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. Do take that shield bash though as it can prove very usefull when fighting mobs that need to be interrupted before they do something nasty to the group !</p><p>That pretty mcu summarises my thoughts on defiler AA's <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />.</p>

[Sedenten]

<p>I duoed a ton with my wife's bruiser leveling up, and tended to focus heavily on healing.  Until 65, I was STR line but to be honest when I changed it out for STA I never looked back.  For duoing while leveling I found Cannibalize and Curseweaving in the defiler tree indispensable.  The debuffs do make a huge difference and were extremely power intensive until I picked up Curseweaving.  For the shaman line I'm a stickler for STA and  WIS.  Once RoK came out, I added AGI down to max heal crits for the shaman tree.  It was at that point I first picked up Curseweaving (I had Soulward prior to that).  For soloing, I simply kept my healing profile.  I did try more of a DPS build (AGI/STA/INT), but didn't really like it and didn't notice a huge increase in my ability to solo more quickly.</p><p>I do feel that Soulward is an asset to have if you keep it close at hand and remember to use it in an emergency situation.  The drop in hit points is risky, but it has become second nature to quickly fire a group heal with ritual immediately following to get my health back up.  I cannot remember the last time I've died from using Soulward and use it quite frequently in both raid and group situations.</p><p>Keep in mind the above was pre-TSO.  I've juggled my AA's around a bit to test the new AA's out and can say any of the enhancement for wards/heals are nice.  I couldn't say whether going that route would be better than the shaman/defiler tree choices you have, though.  Once you get up there in AA's, the healer stance is quite nice for the extra 15% bonus to base heals (which affects all heal/ward procs, bane of warding, item clicks, etc., as well).</p><p>When you get to the point where you're raiding frequently, your AA build will depend on your gear choices.  High-end defilers tend to drop Cannibalize once they get power proc items that make power a non-issue.  I'm still stuck on the idea of a traditional EQ1 shaman and can't bring myself to drop Canni either way.  Hexation is one of those AA lines that has been debated back and forth, but it can be powerful on some fights even with it's immunity limitation. </p><p>The best advice I can give would be to try out what has been suggested over time and make a determination on which one works best for your playstyle. </p>

[Quylein2]

<p>My raid setup I belive is great for Main tank group I've tried many other set ups and this one works well for almost any encounter.</p><p>Agi 4/4/4/8 crit heals are nice but if your getting in a decent raid setup and have good gear this line is fast becoming obsolete, I'm over 100% heal crit and will make a change soon. Although it's a safe bet to have this maxed if your gear is still being aquired for heal crit</p><p>Sta 4/4/7/8/1 this has helped many of times with the fast cures it leaves more time to do other things and can help with alot of encounters where 1 tick could mean life or death for some, as well as coagulate; I've put many people in my purple club with this line it's a life saver in many raids when spike dmg was almost enough to kill a few in the grp but just didnt quit kill them. I wouldnt raid anything serious with out it</p><p>Wis 4/4/6/8/1 this line is for the templar's and tanks in the group it can help alot on some dps depending on if your in ot group or just in normal group in general, everyone loves the ROA so you cant really go wrong here. Reuse is the number one abilty on wards imho before even faster casting so it's nice to have 8% as well as Ritual used right before a group heal (and OL proc) can almost if not 96% of the time group heal to full.</p><p>Defiler tree</p><p>Terror - 3 / E-warding - 3 / Shroud of Armor -5 / words -5 / shrine -4 = Soul ward; yes it maybe a gamble if used in some places but this is a great abilty just not to have</p><p>Malis - 3 / Whip - 3 / Corruption - 3 / Pandimonium -5 / Emacite -3 / Soul cani -5 = Canibalize, sorry been to useful not to have in some pugs and on a rez or powerdrain here and there it's got it's uses alothough not a ton it's something that's keeps you self sufficiant</p><p>Bane of Warding - 5 ; this line i feel is more a personnal choice over a the Canni line, though 10 points have to be wasted to get Hexation and even then it's a lackluster ability with very little chance to ever recast in a single fight. I'm sure others can prove one way or another how this is a good ability but overall it's less needed imho over the other end lines</p><p>(I droped the debuff line for TSO since the debuffs are almost always last on my list of things to do during alot of fights and the debuffs work just fine once it's dispatched with other scout debuffs) I will would however work 20 points in this with curseweaving)</p><p>TSO tree</p><p>5 Max Health 5 Deity pet (alot say the pet is worthless but i think with my pet the extra AGI means extra avoidance = more survavability if getting hit) same reason I want more hit points. As a Defiler if you need more power all the time your probly doing something very wrong although some just like the numbers. General is really wasted 10 points for anything overall and I personally belive the worst aa's in TSO.</p><p>This is my personal feelings towards the new AA's and seems to not be shared by alot on this board or anywhere I've read so take it as it's read. I really think shadows line was well thought out for the average shaman / defiler and helps balance alot for those w/ and w/o saweet gear</p><p>Prayer of healing -5 Bigger healing is a no brainer as a healer</p><p>Protective prayer -5 More mitigation values even after the cuve is great for the whole group as well as any Tank getting mit values debuffed which seems to happen alot in TSO</p><p>Secular Protection -5 More Resist mitigation on Poision and Disease seems to be pretty nice since alot of the new mobs seem to like to use these type of abiltys against the group. Lets face it not everyone is gonna have great resists and this is decent enough to help out others in your group ( these resists only apply if your defiler of course)</p><p>Seal of Faith - 5 I seem to get hit from time to time some one somewhere said this was for templars however I tend to disagree, yes yer not going to tank raid mobs however survabillity is key and every little bit helps.</p><p>Tribal Frenzy - 5 More hitpoints/power lets face it we are in the MT groups becuase we can give more dirrect hitpoints to the Tank what better way to keep your spot then to not be out buffed by a mystic =) You know they will choose this one</p><p>Kindred resotration - 5 It reads like it is suppose to be awesome it's min effect at best I've seen it parse zone wide in a raid at it's highest 3% total for me better then 1% that Overloaded heals is doing at the present.</p><p>Prophectic spirit -5 Bigger single wards is self evident</p><p>Pandemic -5 This is where I disagree with alot sayn this is a waste I think alot just wanted their cake and eat it too, but to me this is a great ability. Before TSO this spell was in my book doing nothing never used if ever now it's used when it's up. It's ability to heal/regen mp and do dmg all in one fail swoop it's worth every point.</p><p>Ancient Bulwark -5 Faster and bigger heals to my most used direct heal is a must I think would be for any raid healing defiler worth every point as well</p><p>Warding Spirit -2 Always nice to have bigger heals overall I'm happy with this ability although the longer debuff times makes it's kinda a pita</p><p>I have my second set up as my group/pug/dps stance and it has worked well, i'll go over it in the near future but the STR line is definally viable in many ways I just dont think I would use it for a MT raid setup. As said before your pet dies then your whole line is for nothing.</p>

[firewolf]

<p>I used the following spec for group, raid and solo:</p><p>Shaman : str44682, agi 4448, wis 44682</p><p>Defiler: Curseweaving, Cannibalise</p><p>Dropped soulward line for TSO</p><p>TSO:</p><p>5 - power, 5 - hp</p><p><span >5 - Prayer of healing, 5 - pet buff</span></p><p>5 -<span >Kindred resotration, 5 - </span><span >Prophectic spirit, 1 - pet proc</span></p><p>On raid and TSO instances, the dog hardly ever die. With a dirge in the group,  it can hit for 200 - 1400++ damage and sometimes double attack.  The dog did about 200dps in clearing PR.</p>

[Besual]

<p><cite>firewolf wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I used the following spec for group, raid and solo:</p><p>Shaman : str44682, agi 4448, wis 44682</p><p>Defiler: Curseweaving, Cannibalise</p><p>Dropped soulward line for TSO</p><p>TSO:</p><p>5 - power, 5 - hp</p><p><span>5 - Prayer of healing, 5 - pet buff</span></p><p>5 -<span>Kindred resotration, 5 - </span><span>Prophectic spirit, 1 - pet proc</span></p><p>On raid and TSO instances, the dog hardly ever die. With a dirge in the group,  it can hit for 200 - 1400++ damage and sometimes double attack.  The dog did about 200dps in clearing PR.</p></blockquote><p>Only 200DPS? My "best" doggy parse has been about 850DPS zone wide in VP with about the same AA setup. Of course it depends on our group and I had bersi / monk / dirge / brig / swashie in this case. With both pet buffs from the TSO tree doggy has a to hit chance of 90-95% even against orange con mobs. High to hit chances => many hits => many procs (ward / AoE immune).</p><p>I like the pet buff more then the about 150AC or the few pointsof noxious resists you can add to our group buffs. 150AC more and a the slightly improved noxious resi might be good for causal groups but IMHO are to low to for people with raiding gear.</p>

[firewolf]

<p>I'm usually in mage heavy group keeping them alive with a troub or dirge. Would kill to be in that group, but can only dream given that we are just a casual raiding guild...<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[flowercivicsi]

<p>Ugh the AA discussion.  The sad thing is that I'm at 160 and I don't even care about getting AA's to 200 as there is nothing worth while to spend them on.  Now the below information is of my spec only and note that each player is different, and you will need to play around to find what works best for you.</p><p>Prior to TSO</p><p>Shaman</p><ul><li>WIS - 4-6-4-8-1</li><li>STR - 4-4-8-7-1 (Yes I like my dog)</li><li>AGI 4-4-4-8</li></ul><p>Alt Spec (STR is not always best for specific encounters)</p><li>WIS - 4-6-4-8-1</li><li>STA - 4-6-4-8-1 (the enchanement on single cures will allow for you to cure a group in lesstime with singles than a group cast... coag is very nice too for that over zealous swash or coercer) <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></li><li>AGI 4-4-4-8</li><p>Defiler:</p><ul><li>SoulWard</li><li>Cannibalize</li><li>Curseweaving</li></ul><p>For TSO I dropped curseweaving totally to allocate within the new shadow tree... No I do not miss it and I have only noticed a difference within the cast rate for those four debuffs it affects... resistance was unchanged. (I checked resistance from before and after to see that the resistance was never affected... I would think that is bugged) </p><p>Right now I would recommend dropping Soulward though since clerics got the super heal that never hurts them, and just eats our group ward.  Soulward was made totally useless in TSO, just like curseweaving was made useless in LU 43.  (aside from the casting factor) Maybe that dog bite will save the day... /sarcasm off</p><p>As for TSO AA's we have a nice breakdown of the TSO AA's within the sticky as most of the shaman/defiler tree needs to be addressed.  (crosses fingers that they address our class for once)  We also have pictures of the new abilities as well.  As for where you should spend them... I would recommend minor heal, single target ward, enhance precognition, and group heal.</p>

[Rayche]

<p>I'm trying a spec lined out by Razieh on the EQ2 Flames Defiler forums. I like it so far.</p><p>I've dropped canni in favor of Hexation, and kept soulward and curseweaving. I still use soulward from time to time. Rarely, but it's not made useless in TSO.</p><p>I'm unhappy with the Defiler/Shaman situation as well, but you're taking it a bit too far. There's only so much complaining you can do before the devs just stop paying attention to what you're saying.</p>

[flowercivicsi]

<p>It's safer for you as well as your tank to allow the Templar to Sacrifice and you take care of the templars damage until we see what happens with future changes.  Why take a chance on risk when you have a sure bet from another class?  All you need to do is have the templar place it on a macro to warn you to get those group wards back up to protect the rest of the group. </p><p>As for Hexation, that is a very nice ability, but the immunity is a little nuts.  I used to use it for a while as you can totally tell when that ability is in how much it helps.</p><p>Hehe, well the vast majority of defilers don't speak up and say anything here.  If you say nothing at all how will the developers ever know there's even an issue?  I have been playing this class since 2005, and I really enjoy the depth within this game as a whole as well as the challenges that it brings.  I have played a ton of them, and this one is pretty much the best imo.  I guess you could say I'm trying for one last time before I give up on MMO's all together.  Perhaps it will be for the best though as I can get back into volunteering for animal shelters! <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> I miss playing with the kittys and puppies, but cleaning the crates... I dont miss one bit!</p>

[Rayche]

<p>My littlest dog spent all day yesterday eating poop from the back yard, then spent all morning yaking it up on my kitchen floor.</p><p>MMOs > Dogs atm.</p><p>But yeah, I totally understand where you're coming from. It boggles my mind how long it takes to get some kind of change made. I betrayed to Defiler to improve my healing ability for high end raids. It helped a little. I lost MASSIVE diversity, and with TSO I'm not even sure I upgraded my healing ability any more. I still find some of their niche abilities to be a help, but overall I feel somewhat crippled as a healer.</p><p>Sony really needs to get a handle on what a Shaman is, and give us the tools (Gear, Proper Spells, AA's) to excel at it the way other classes can.</p>

[flowercivicsi]

<p>This time of year dogs consider those poopcicles!</p><p>I have one dog that does that, and he is the one that is never allowed to lick me.  My girl avoids those things like the plauge though... maybe a male dog thing.  Females rule anyways <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p><p>OMG I got it! change the leg bite we have on the shaman tree to a disease damage dot called "Sprit Dung".  It would totally need an animation with the dog turning around and squatting on the mobs feet, and the strain face going on...  J/K, but the animation would be funny!</p><p>Too much coffee today...</p>