Group PvP Defiler Tips

[The_Brute]

<DIV>Hey all,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have a couple tips for you, and would like some in return.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>#1 - I usually distribute the resulting item from Crystallize Soul (or Distill Soul) to my groupmates before we start pvping.  With Crystallize Soul, this gives each member almost 500 points of a free heal.  This is especially useful for those long fights when I go OOP.  Or those unfortunate fights where I eat dirt.  I know that some defilers don't realize that you can distribute these to other people.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>#2 - Trying to catch a Q who is on a horse or saw you coming?  I use my single target fear to slow them.  Sometimes I will sprint up until I'm in range and then fear them.  This gives my group a chance to catch up and put them down.  It's really great when they start running into a wall, or off the dock and away from the bell.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-The Brute</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>(Zymotic on Nagafen)</DIV>

[Judist]

<P>Tip:</P> <P>In PvP camp on top of a griffon tower and wait for a Q to land. If the Q has no safefall use your mass fear.</P> <P>1) The fall is often 50% damage to players without safefall, a great way to start the fight.<BR>2) Mass fear is not offensive, it wont put you in combat.<BR>3) If the fear dosent "walk" them off the tower or they are 2 strong, just fly away.</P> <P>This is so fun at times. The Q lands and next thing he knows hes at 50% health and getting attacked. I've used this strategy to kill oranges or if I have a buddy or 2, kill reds.</P>

[overfloat]

<P>First are the critical points about wards in PvP:</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P>Irrespective of stun/stifle/interrupt/fear/mez effects, <STRONG>every</STRONG> time you take damage you have a chance to get interrupted -- whether it's spell DD damage, DoT damage, CA damage, autoattack damage. The amount of damage you take makes no difference to the chance of being interrupted. PvP involves far more individual strikes than you will ever see in PvE <FONT size=1>(mobs usually hit fairly slowly -- nothing like a 100% hasted swashbuckler, for example)</FONT>, so the number of potential interrupts from autoattack alone is <EM>huge</EM>.</P> <P>Wards <STRONG>absorb</STRONG> damage, they prevent it from actually hitting you, which <EM>completely</EM> prevents those interrupts. This is the primary advantage of wards in PvP, and is a huge boon for caster subclasses.</P> <P>The second major advantage of wards is preventing "spike" damage. Player character health pools are tiny compared to mob health pools, yet the damage on most spells/CAs is nearly the same in PvP as in PvE, meaning that many characters can easily be killed in one/two/three high damage shots in quick succession, faster than you can throw a heal. Wards effectively give people another few thousand HPs, which really helps to prevent those quick kills.</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P> </P> <P>That said...</P> <P> </P> <P><STRONG><EM>Ward</EM> yourself,</STRONG> <EM>heal</EM> others.</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P>Big generalization, but the idea is that avoiding interrupts is <STRONG>critical</STRONG> to healers. If a melee character is wailing on you, ward yourself as soon as possible to reduce interrupt chances -- <EM>then</EM> you can dole out additional healing to the group as necessary. If they continue wailing on you, maintain that ward on yourself (using single and group wards if necessary), because once it has dropped it's going to be 10 times more difficult to put it back on. If necessary, emergency ward yourself to maintain the unbroken chain of wards -- don't be afraid to use it.</P> <P>By the same logic: If you're having to throw single-target wards and heals on group members throughout a fight, try asmuch as possible to <EM>ward</EM> the casters (including yourself) and <EM>heal</EM> the melee. Obviously you can't do this all the time, but it will help your casters hugely.</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Try to keep the group ward up as consistently as possible. Even if you feel that the enemy isn't really doing all that much damage and that it's not really necessary, group PvP is completely unpredictable so warding your group in advance is <STRONG>greatly</STRONG> preferable to healing:</P> <OL> <LI>shielding damage is much more efficient than healing it, for shamen.</LI> <LI>to prevent you and your casters being interrupted.</LI> <LI>to minimize the danger of spike damage.</LI></OL> <P>Make your own life a high priority, especially if you're the only healer!</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P>Sounds selfish, but a surviving healer and can make or break a fight. Even if the entire opposition is beating on you and all you can do is heal yourself, it's not wasted -- they're not hitting anyone else in the mean time, so you're simply ghetto taunting. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Crystallized Souls to all group members who will take them, <STRONG>particularly </STRONG>mages.</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P>All different level versions of the Souls can be held simultaneously, so summon one of each for each person. The lower tier ones may not seem that useful but a 200 point heal -- even with a 2 sec cast -- could still make the difference between your group losing narrowly, or your warlock living long enough to AE nuke the entire opposing group and tip the balance.</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Fear is best used strategically, not randomly.</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P>Single-target is most useful for getting an attacker off you long enough to ward or have the tank taunt, for locking down their healer, or to prevent a scout from evaccing.</P> <P>AE fear can be used in a pinch to buy everyone (especially the group healers) a critical few seconds respite, or it can be used when you're already on the verge of winning to prevent them running, stop the scout evaccing, or stifle their healer to help drop them faster (usually if those extra seconds of enemy healing might cost a group member their life).</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Ward early, as soon as it looks like there might be trouble.</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P>If necessary, tell your group to hold back a second while you ward, rather than charging blindly in. Warding after you're engaged is 10 times more difficult, if your enemy knows what they're doing.</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Ignore your debuffs and DoTs until you are 100% certain you have warding/healing under control.</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <P>Some people will say this is sacrilege. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Your primary debuff is going to be attack speed vs. melee characters, and trying to pinpoint a particular class in the chaos of PvP can be very tricky, especially when you're responsible for everyone's health bar. On top of that, our debuffs aren't fast to cast, and your melee and AE group members are in a <STRONG>much </STRONG>better position to debuff during group PvP than you are.</P> <P>Our DoTs usually do negligible damage in PvP, particularly single target DoTs. If healing is completely stable, and/or if you have another healer, Aphotic/Defile/Scourge(AA) can actually do a decent amount of damage but require a pretty significant lead time. Other than that, single-target DoTs are only really useful to kill runners if your melee can't keep up... but 90% of the time, your mages, scouts and fighters are going to make your damage look like peanuts (since they don't have to worry about pulling aggro), so save your power for heals.</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Forced Cannibalize (and Manastone) early, as soon as warding/healing is stable.</P> <P> </P> <P>All I can think of for now ... maybe more after my conference call. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P><p>Message Edited by overfloater on <span class=date_text>08-07-2006</span> <span class=time_text>08:19 AM</span>