Enchanter Guide Update

[Splorf22]

So I have made a few tweaks to my enchanter guide http://wiki.project1999.org/Loraen's_Enchanter_Guide

First, we have videos! I added Tecmos' videos at: http://www.project1999.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110934 and made some of my own. I like mine better because they have 80s music!

Loraen vs the Chef http://youtu.be/F2M-Ykhk04U
Loraen vs the Armsman using the RoA (kind of) http://youtu.be/MNrBof1mWMM. I think this video proves that I am just as capable of being a tool as anyone else.

It's really not hard to post videos with fraps/videodub/youtube, so if anyone wants to send me something of them (doesn't have to be solo, anything cool or fun) I'll add it!

Second, I made some new magelo profiles for Velious. I'm actually pretty disappointed here. The semicasual one has 2100HP, 3100 mana, and 235 charisma (and the char is a cha build, if it were Loraen it would have 215 charisma). So thats a nice +350hp but it's not make-or-break shit. The hardcore one has 2400HP (and 900AC, classic warriors eat your hearts out), 3600 mana, and only 221 charisma. So I'm definitely looking for suggestions there for better gear. For starters I'd like to cap charisma on both toons without sacrificing too much HP, and get the semicasual variant to 3500 mana or so. Maybe its only the ToV raiders that are going to have crazy stats in Velious?

P.S. Look at the ridiculous hitboxes we have here. I'm well behind my pet and the chef is still hitting me at the 5 minute mark or so roughly.

[xCry0x]

Thanks for keeping this guide up to date.

Over the next week or so going to try to start learning how to charm solo crap on enchanter and the guide has already proven helpful giving me an idea of what spells to use!

[lecompte]

Thanks for keeping this guide up to date.

Over the next week or so going to try to start learning how to charm solo crap on enchanter and the guide has already proven helpful giving me an idea of what spells to use!

Says teh level 0 chanter.

Addendum: yes, thank you for the guide, very helpful -- amusing besides.

[xCry0x]

Says teh level 0 chanter.

Addendum: yes, thank you for the guide, very helpful -- amusing besides.

Step 1: Get RoA
Step 2: Get mana robe
Step 3: Forget charm

[Sinadin]

maybe I got it wrong, but you used epic and not the rod vs the armsman :p

[August]

Watching this I was like oh what's that staff it seems super helpful for charming.. Shissar Focus Staff...

http://wiki.project1999.org/Shissar_Focus_Staff

d'oh! Looks like ole' Tomtee won't be getting one of those for solo adventures.

[Tecmos Deception]

Do we have a 6th 60 enchanter in the guild? Cause that'd probably make for a pretty entertaining video, straight-up clearing from tube room down to tola/prot with 6 enchanters! Lol :)

Oh, we do!

Loraen
Save
Mauricewhite
Noogar
Tomtee
Tecmos


I'll even try to stream it live if we do! Let's do it!!!

[Splorf22]

Yes, I did forget to swap back in the ROA :D

The VP staff is nice but its not superfantastic. The small problem is that the casting time is 16 seconds which is annoying. The bigger problem is that it only goes up to 49. And a L49 pet won't break charm that much anyway. If it went to 51, it would be fantastic. If it went to 53, it would be as godly as the necro/wizard stuff is :D

And yes 6 enchanters owning lower sebilis would be pretty awesome, we should try sometime.

[Toodles]

Splorf, in Xornn's guide he gives a spell line breakdown. Do you concur with most of his comments? I find some of them to be dated later than the Velious era.

Note the two below regarding stun and pacify lines. I would disagree and find them to be very effective on p99

Single-Stun
Whirl Till You Hurl (12), Dyn's Dizzying Draught (29)
This spell is highly resistant, and even when it lands, it checks to break every second, and every time the mob is bashed, possibly every time damaged. What this equates to is a practically useless spell unless used on green mobs that are no danger to you (as your level overcomes the horrid resist rates). However when the spell works, it can land a stun effect for up to 30 seconds, and DDD is a backup stun when you have an early break, though it's mana cost is prohibitive. The reason this spell line is so bad is that at one time it was so good. Encounters were trivial with an enchanter chain-spinning mobs till they died--so Verant nerfed the spell line into a useless pile.

Aggro-Reduction
Lull (1), Soothe (8), Calm (20), Pacify (39)
Like Whirl Till You Hurl, this spell line was a one time immensely powerful, allowing caster to calm a mob for 2 minutes so that it wouldn't aggro or assist mobs beyond the radius the spell reduced it to. (1 pace in the case of Pacify... mobs are wider than one pace.) This so trivialized encounters that should have been crowd control nightmares (as single pulling was easy), the spell line was nerfed into oblivion by giving it an extreme resist rate, and giving bounces the chance to aggro. Still, it does possess some use on green mobs, where your level drastically reduces the chances of resists or drawing aggro.

[Tecmos Deception]

Regarding whirl spells: I find they work decently as long-range interrupts but that the stun rarely lasts more than a couple of seconds tops on anything that is dark blue (and being attacked). I even used them some in crypt to interrupt the guardians' heals... but it was less effective than pbae stuns or mezzing to interrupt except for the fact it is castable at long range and doesn't blur.



I dunno if lulls were more powerful on live at one point than they are now, or how badly the resist rate on them was nerfed (or whether the person writing about how "bad" lulls were was rocking 170 charisma buffed and was only level 54 or whatever). I do know that on here they are very nice when dealing with mobs up to level 51/52 (as a 60).

I probably only get 1 crit resist in 15 or 20 regular resists (with 250+ charisma) when lulling in HS south (no trash mobs above 52, everything is 49-52). But there is a pretty big difference between how many resists I get on a 50 or 51 compared to a 52... and 53+ mobs start to resist everything a LOT more than 52s do. Lulls are sweet, but really it wouldn't be any more dangerous to pull a camp of 4-5 in HS south by starting the fight with an AE mez than it would be to try lulling 4 of the mobs and singling the 5th.


I did NOT like using lull when leveling up though. I was as heavy of a charisma build as you can get basically, but I still got crit resists ALL OVER THE PLACE when leveling. I mean, as a high-20s enchanter soloing centaur city in SK, I would probably get a crit resist every 4 or 5 normal resists... which made the spell almost not worth using at all since a failure often meant 4+ mobs coming at me when it was often difficult just to kill 2 at a time. I can't really comment on lulls' performance between 30ish and 55 though because I just stopped using them and tended to engage big pulls with a mez. 55+ dealing with low/mid-dark blues, my experience is the same as it is at 60.


I want to say that I remember with my chanter on live, always trying to use my highest lull... and I remember writing off wake of tranquility as a death trap of a spell. But I don't remember the specifics. I could have been level 55 trying to lull Velious level 49s with only 180 charisma (since I wasn't 60 until after Luclin I know, and I tried to balance int and cha and never had gear better than stuff like SMR and crude stein and stein of moggok and mystic cloak).

[Toodles]

You noticed in 55+ scenarios though, say Crypt; groups are asking Enchanter's to pacify line mobs, rather than pull with AE Mez.

[Tecmos Deception]

The mobs you would lull in crypt are 51 or under.

I guess my stance on lulls currently is that they are convenient but not overpowered (or at least not any more overpowered than all the other shit chanters do). They usually save you the mana and effort of CCing a multi-mob pull while your group/pet picks them off one at at time. But they also force you to move through things more slowly than if you just CCed and charged in, and a failure with lulls is usually more dangerous than just leading off with an AE mez (imo).

[Splorf22]

OK the way Lull works on 1999 is that it has a resist bonus, i.e. it's easy to resist. So on (say) a L55 mob which will resist your spells maybe 40% of the time at 60 Lull will land maybe 20% of the time. So as long as you are lulling mobs that are decently below you in level, you can split most reasonable camps, although every now and then things get real ugly.

I am not sure how classic this is: Xornn thinks it's worthless but there are also some posts saying that Lull should be extremely badass (you can dig them up by searching the forums). And as Tecmos says it's not clear whether these enchanters were running around with 255 charisma; Xornn in particular charm soloed with 120 or something. Part of what makes lull so OP is that most of us just cap out when we get a critical resist solo instead of eating a nasty CR. Note that Bard Lull is even better - it does not seem to have the resist penalty.

From an absolute balance perspective, I agree with Thott: Lull is about 1000X more balanced than Feign Death. FD works on any number of mobs regardless of level and is unresistable (or I suppose has a 2% or whatnot chance to resist). Lull is practically limited to L55 - I tried to split the spore king away from his guards and gave up after 25 straight resists by a myconid reaver.

[Rhuma7]

Almost makes you want to play an enchanter.

Then you realize theres already too many groupies :(

[Pint]

can you post those velious magelos

[Toodles]

Sounds like this is more of a level based issue, particularly post 50.
Maybe the better question is whether these comments are accurate pre 50.

[falkun]

Note that Bard Lull is even better - it does not seem to have the resist penalty.

Having a 60 bard and a 35 PAL (with lull/soothe), my paladin gets many more lull resists than my bard did at his level (anecdotal). I don't stack CHA on either character, but the bard is usually around 143CHA while the pally is at 94. I pull often on both characters, and at least while leveling, I was much more confident lulling an even con on the bard than I am on the paladin.

The thing about bard lull is how well documented it is:http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/Lament.php

Even just taking the 2000-2001 data, bard lull resist rates were small (<10%) against even-cons.

Anyways, thanks for the guide Loraen. After the paladin, the next in line is my enchanter (and my first non-hybrid!).

[Splorf22]

Pint: The velious magelos are on the enc guide in the gear section or under the guild "Loraen's enchanter guide".

Deajay: FWIW I don't think Bard lull is OP - it only lasts 18 seconds. If it had the same resist rate as enchanter lull you would barely be able to lull 1 mob. Given your link to Thott's stuff I think its pretty likely that enchanter/bard lulls are both pretty close to classic.

Toodles: I used lull all the time leveling up (most recently as an enchanter on the PVP server in guktop and mistmoore) and it works fine, so I'm not sure what Tecmos is talking about.