TACTICS!

[Tom3]

Hiya guys,

I only just recently rolled a coercer, I hit lvl 22 and think its great fun.  But I am having a slight problem with tactics.  My main is a 42 warlock, and as such I'm not quite sure as to how to play a coercer.

 

I was wondering if some of you could give me some tips on what tactics are good to use, when grouped and soloing.  If you can't remember the tactics you used in you're low 20's, still post the tactics you use now, I'm keen to learn about this stuff.

 

Thanks.

 

P.S. Have a good Christmas :smileyhappy:

[Signal9]

HO's will be your saving grace.  They add considerably more to our total damage than to any other class, because our main nukes do so much less than other classes.

 

Get your roots and charms upgraded as high as you can, root-rot/root-nuke will still be a primary method of killing mobs.

Use AoE mez on v and vv groups (4 or less only, spell has a 4 mob limit), add single-target mezzes on top of that, and get your reactives on the mob that you will kill.  Reactives+nukes/DoTs will kill a blue vv just about the time the next mob in the group's mez drops.  Re-mez the others, and kill the loose one.

 

Do not trust the duration on any app level charm, get it to adept3/master 1 asap.  Mobs attacks are at the level of the charm spell you use, so it makes a HUGE difference in both the mob attack, and the charm duration both.

 

Experiment, do stupid stuff, and see what works.  This class is made up of contradictions, and insane situations.  We can handle absolute chaos better than other classes.

 

Avoid getting hit if at all possible. We're past the days of 1 mob CA doing 85% of our hp, but melee will still kill us surprisingly fast.

 

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.  We need all the feedback we can get.  (Just be honest, even if 1/2 of the coercer community doesn't generally agree.  We need honest assessments more than pie-in-the-sky)

[Furrfoot]

Do as little as you can get away with yourself. This is the main difference to warlock I guess.When soloing, get high quality charm, sick your pet, and assist through it sparingly. Hold back casting AEs, pets suck at AE aggro, but are usually quite decent at single targets (use demeanor or +DPS buff on pet, drop resist buff for it). When doing heroic group encounters, start with AE mez and pick them off singly with root and charm pet. In general this makes killing a heroic group of 4 quite easy at the expense of a long fighting time. Do not expect to gain exp faster than doing solo encounters this way.In groups, it very much depends on the situation. If your group is gimped, CC and damage prevention via mez, stuns, roots is useful. If your group is good, charm something and concentrate on pet handling, this is more DPS than you yourself could manage, because reactives work slow with a good tank. If your group is in between, just try reactives, dots, nukes and wail (lvl 50+) etc. for a little riskless DPS, but beware of mass AE reactive procs.In big raids, you are most likely a mana battery for a DPS group, or buffer for MT group (mana cloak is your friend there). Rule #1 is to not die and keep your buffs up. Think twice before using reactives, and forget charm. Chain casting our nuke with dots intersparsed is a good tactic. A few raids benefit from CC, but always follow the official lead doing this.Furrfoot60 Coercer

[Aranieq]

Be aware of your target... turn up the target rings or higlight target from options.

Use the target arrow and implies target highlight.  when 2 groups of mobs come in its important to see wich ones are getting the ae mezz and which your tank is on. 

 

make macros... you don't have time to explain what types of ae's break mezz and which mobs are conected, and why the mob you have rooted to save the cleric isnt moving while they try to pull it back... use a macro that says for ae mezz that blue/green ae's will break and for single mezz only blue ae breaks (HO ae breaks everything)  I even have a GAME ON macro that just says everything under controll now AE away... Communication is part of CC. Don't expect them to know your class, thats your job.

 

Use the keyboard, don't rely on the mouse you have to be fast.  use F1-6 for group target and assist tank fast back and forth to keep eye on what his target is if your mezzing. nearest target key and an assist key to switch targets faster.  when you want to find the mezzbreaker cycle through the f1-6 keys find the guy on the wrong mob. 

 

Don't freak out when mezz gets broken it will .. often. mezz when its applicable not just because you have to controll everything.. and protect yourself first when mezz breaks through roots/long stun/agro reducers/blink ... next make sure healer is protected.. root stun (remezz if you like the group).

 

if a group wont let you mezz and your judgment says they cant take the chaos.. ie you all keep dying... drop their dps's and get a pet. don't haste it so to keep agro for mt or resist buffs but keep it for a seconddary tank it will make the fight go much faster. Allways keep the pet as main target after you have sent it in.. assist through it.. need to be quick on mezz if it break to recharm. Charmed pet is great asset to many situations practice charm kiting solo to be more comfotable in groups.  get a feel for how long it tends to last on particular levels.  if the tank drops and people are folling suit they rarely will alow you to mezz in the chaos to get it under controll... charm and rez and back to work.  Obviously wont allways work but good tip to save.

 

Versatility and communication... allways be flexible and keep the group aprised of whats going on. we do a lot of "mysterious" stuff to them and it can go flawless and make rediculously hard mobs managable when everyone is on the same plan.  Don't get pigeon holed, evolve with the situation.  [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] I love being a Coercer =p