How to use melee reactive when soloing?

[Aanadorn68]

<p>I'm used to my coercer where the melee reactive was cast on the mob, so playing illy, where it seems the reactive is cast on a group/pet target seems more difficult.  At level 50 it seems my pet can withstand more melee hits than I can, so I am usually using him as melee.  But myself, I stand at a distance so casting the melee buff on myself doesn't make sense.</p><p>So I had a couple of questions on how you guys use this reactive.  First I'm assuming that as I go up in levels the mobs will tear into my pet more and more to the point where I will have to /range him and root and nuke.  At this point does the melee reactive become useless and drop off my list of solo spells?</p><p>Also, for the time being, is there an easier way to cast the melee reactive on the pet, maybe a macro?  I'm aware of /target_playername and such, but doesn't seem to work with the pet.  It's only a second to switch and switch back, but I'd rather streamline every available second possible.</p><p>I'm finding the transition from coercer to illy a bit rough, but am liking the illy overall.  The one issue I always had with  my coercer was even with all things maxxed root still sucked big time.  With the illy it's not a concern at all since the pet seems to cast it a lot, plus the stifles and dazes from the pet are really cool.  I just have to learn how to use him.</p>

[Skywarrior]

<p>Based on your sig you appear to have enough experience to understand that sometimes certain spells have rather limited application.  Illusionist melee reactive probably falls into that category once you start hitting Kunark mobs for sure.  The pet (and you) will die pretty quickly if allowed to melee for more than a brief period with almost any Kunark mob of near equal or higher level.  Root and call servant (and Phase once you get it) are fundamental tools for successful soloing at those levels, IMO.  Save your melee reactives for when you group with a real tank.</p><p>As far as fancy macros for using the buff while soloing, just target the mob.  Once your pet shows up in implied targeting, cast away.  But sending your pet in to melee range at 65+ (or whenever you hit Kunark) is going to likely just frustrate you. </p>

[Ol]

<p>The easiest way to do this is just to cast it on you pre fight, and pull the mob with your daze. when the daze gets ready to run out, stun the mob and let your melee hits fly away. casting it on your pet is near worthless, as it doesnt even hit that much, but if you cast it to yourself with a fast hitting wep it works out pretty well when the mob is dazed/stunned.</p>

[Faenril]

- In group/raid: Macro it to fast swinging melees. Rogues and brawlers are the best candidates for that. It is a good idea to macro it to at least 2 different targets (eventually more), so you can setup a rotation to alter target when some triggers are left unconsumed at recast time, you can cast it prepull, and you can deal easier with the afk/death/jousting. To create a macro right click the ability in your hotbar, click "Create Macro" and in the "target" field type the player name. At least it works like this with my UI. Edit the macro as your group/raid changes. - Soloing solo mobs: Put it on yourself, spam CCs at the mob while meleeing it. str line helps there as it will improve your hit rate, haste, and range. Most solo mobs should die before your daze or stun wears off, and they don't hit that hard. - Soloing heroic mobs: Same as solo mobs, but be careful <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Rotate your daze/stiffle/stuns to keep the mob locked down as much as possible, while meleeing. If you run out of CCs mezz/root (careful with dots...), back up, and wait for your CCs to refresh. If you go for the root and nuke approach just say good bye to prismatic adornment <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Aanadorn68]

<p>Thanks guys, I already understand how to cast it on a melee in a group situation, and already understand how to macro it on a player, and I also understand how to cast it on myself in a solo situation.  As I mentioned in my first post, these are not what I was asking about.</p><p>But I got my answer, basically soloing you either a) don't use it, or b) use it on yourself and use dazes/stuns to melee.  Even with daze/stun it seems like the mob is active long enough to tear through me pretty good, and the cast times of the daze/stun/melee reactives far outweigh the dps they (and autoattack) give, at least at my level it still makes more sense to root and nuke and use the extra cast times to nuke more.</p><p>I'm just trying to make this transition from coercer to illy, and my mistake is trying to 1 for 1 each damage spell, and it seems it doesn't scale that way.  I got in some more practice last night and got to 57, I'm very impressed with the root and nuke abilities when the pet is casting away, I rarely have to stun/daze.</p>

[SkyBee]

<p><cite>Naemesis@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>- Soloing heroic mobs: Same as solo mobs, but be careful <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> Rotate your daze/stiffle/stuns to keep the mob locked down as much as possible, while meleeing. If you run out of CCs mezz/root (careful with dots...), back up, and wait for your CCs to refresh. If you go for the root and nuke approach just say good bye to prismatic adornment <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></blockquote><p>Also, if it does get hairy and ya must mezz, then don't forget the /cancel_maintained commands to clear off all DoTs from mob.</p><p>Other words, make a mezz macro that says:</p><p>/cancel_maintained Chromatic Shower III</p><p>/cancel_maintained Brainburst VII</p><p>/cancel_maintained Chromatic Storm VI</p><p>/cancel_maintained Nightmare VI</p><p>/cancel_maintained Paranoia VII</p><p>*add whatever mezz after all this into the macro"</p><p>This will clear all the DoTs so they do not break the mez. Also, our single target stun, Paranoia, is considered a DoT since it applies damage after X amount of time has expired.</p>