What makes a good ENC vs. merely an OK one?

[TheFishyOne]

'ey guys,

I've recently picked interest back up in my Chanter, and from what I can tell, everyone and their pet goat still has a chanter. That said, the higher levels I've talked to in-game agree that "good" chanters are still quite rare. That said, if any high levels have input on traits that separate the wheat from the chaff where ENCs are concerned, I would very much like to know.

For the record, my chanter's stats are SLIGHTLY misspent. He's a Gnome (which I would NEVER change, because Gnomes are Awesome and Cool.), has 25 CHA (Which I also like, because with gear and self buffs. he has 196 CHA, making his mezzes and especially lulls VERY reliable, even against yellow and red con mobs) but 5 points in STA rather than INT (which isn't a huge deal in the long run, because Gnomes are so damn smart). Anyway, he's level 33 now, so I don't believe it to be worth a reroll.

Thanks for the input, and if you've ever personally grouped with me, please be brutally honest (In game name is Zeebos Bugenheimer). Thanks!

[Daldaen]

Someone who is fast with the keys

If you don't have a "Cycle nearest NPC" Hotkey, set one up.

When 4 mobs arrive in camp stacked on top of each other, that hotkey is godlike for mezzing them all (or after you AE mez, to slow them or mez or root them). The hotkey however isn't classic. But I doubt they can fix that as it's a code issue.

Also someone who can always handle a charmed pet. Enchanters who don't charm are a huge pet peeve of mine. Makes me want to smack them and make em reroll a magician.

Beyond that... Someone who keeps everyone Clarity and Hasted who matters, keep yourself buffed with HP/AC buffs and runes when applicable. Never /sit next to your charmed pet, always /pet guard it away from where you are sitting. Play in a 3rd person view to have a larger field of view. Be vocal in your group, let them know what you're charming and what you're mezzing. Don't spam but make sure you are grouping with people who won't chain break your mezzes.

[Tecmos Deception]

Your stats are just fine, you definitely don't need to reroll. Loraen wishes he put more points in charisma with his gnome, and the points in stam instead of int aren't a big deal.

Cycle between last two targets is a very important hotkey to have and use.

Read (well the ok enchanters might read it, the good ones probably STUDY it) Loraen's enchanter guide: http://wiki.project1999.com/Loraen%27s_Enchanter_Guide


Chanters are really dynamic. When you're grouping, you're expected to buff clarity, haste, and probably magic resists; you'll be expected to CC with mezzes and help interrupt casters; you'll be expected to charm a pet. If you're really wanting to excel, you'll do stuff like CC melees with roots instead of mezzes because they last longer and cost less, and you'll order your group to kill X before Y because you don't have Y debuffed yet or because you want to manadrain the mezzed caster one more time before it dies, and you might even be helping pull because lull spells are awesome with a chanter's high charisma!

The only way you can manage all of that stuff is to know how well you can handle any given NPC as a pet given the group and camp you're in. A simple example of this is that you don't want to be having charm break frequently when you're in a group with a druid healer and a warrior pulling 4 mobs at a time. Knowing what spells you want memmed 24/7 depending on the group and camp and if you have 1-2 slots to spare to swap in your other spells as needed is important. You don't need to be wasting tons of mana keeping bedlam and/or rune on yourself when you're grouped with a cleric who can double your HP with buffs + drop quick heals on you when you need.

It's also important to know your limits when it comes to CC. Lots of times while leveling you might be dealing with NPCs that are yellow or red con. You need to make sure your group knows if you can CC those or if the tank needs to deal with the highest level mob first while someone kites the others or you try to CC them or if he tank needs to tank 2 at once or what.



I'm out of stuff for now. Chanters rock :p

[Tecmos Deception]

always /pet guard it away from where you are sitting

This can be good advice, but it can also be bad! Sometimes pets who are guarding instead of following will bug off through dungeon walls when a fight finishes and they are trying to return to their guard spot, resulting in very nasty trains when charm breaks or your pet dies (or at higher levels, when your pet dies/breaks after he has damaged a 51+ mob enough that it summons you down into the depths of a dungeon and kills you).

[Daldaen]

4) The ones who actively seek ballin ass gansta necros to join them.
Nothing says a good time like having mez chain broken from a DoT stack.

[Malone88]

Having a key set up to cycle through mobs is hugely useful.

Also, having a macro set up with has your pet assist MT is useful also.
Something like:

/assist JoeTank
/pet back off
/pet attack

The root spell line is INFINITELY useful since our root doesn't break mez,
especially Paralyzing Earth and Fetter. Low mana, fast spells that pin
mobs for a long time. Also useful for those non-hybrid tanks who can't
hold their agro worth crap.

Have AE Mez memmed at at all times. Trivial to tie down a pack of 3+ mobs
and can be used to hold pet down when he breaks so you can tash and theft
of thought him before re-charming.

Use Rune 3 and Berzerker Spirit as your rune spells. Jaspers are hella-cheaper
than Peridots.

Lastly, know which pets are good ones, specifically rogues like Osargen (Highkeep),
Initiate Familiar and Gypsy Musician in MM, to name a few. When you get Theft
of Thought, then caster mobs like Spectral Curates (KC) are great pets because you
can tap their mana before re-charming.

All I got for now.

[Pint]

the best enchanters are gnomes, so since you've already covered this point you are already better then your peers.

[goshozal]

My favorite measure of a good enc is when I know they're soloing, and I see:

"You will not evade me, Soandso!"
"You will not evade me, Soandso!"
"You will not evade me, Soandso!"

and then I /who and they're still alive.

[Tecmos Deception]

My favorite measure of a good enc is when I know they're soloing, and I see:

"You will not evade me, Soandso!"
"You will not evade me, Soandso!"
"You will not evade me, Soandso!"

and then I /who and they're still alive.

Especially when there are multiple mobs doing the summoning! Although sometimes that could indicate the chanter did something bad, even if he manages to survive it :)

[TheFishyOne]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I appreciate it.

[phacemeltar]

knowing which mobs to mez and when to do it. it helps to be able to time when your cc will break so you can avoid wasting peridots.

[Daldaen]

GamTextTriggers is quite awesome for enchanters. I guess less so since you can't box here... But when I boxed a chanter having GTT have overlay timers on each mez I landed letting me know when it would end , or when charm broke if I were tabbed to another character. That saved me so many wipes.

I guess here it would just be handy for timing when slow / mez will end on multiple mobs.

[Xelris]

1)Adaptability and Creativity

Enchanters have a huge array of tools. Knowing what to do and when and the optimal loadouts to deal with any situation thrown at you make the difference between a good enchanter and a great one.

2)Situational Awareness

This is absolutely key to this class more than any other. Pay attention to everything.

What is the mob casting? Who is it casting on? Should you bother to interrupt or wait for something more critical? Will you take aggro on something else due to the PBAOE? Where are you on the hate curve? If I lull that one and crit fail, what's plan B? What's in the room I can't see? What classes of mobs are we fighting? (this one can be huge, as it can dictate whether you're dispelling mage DSs, corner-pulling casters, front-loading stuns or drains for healers, etc). Ask yourself if there's anything else you can do to appreciably help the situation, and you'll always have more options.

3)Die well.

Even the best enchanters die. Resists happen, healers go afk, someone fatfingers an AOE, you eat a harmtouch at the exact wrong time, whatever. Should real disaster strike, you're a front-line caster and are usually the first one dead. This goes for any class but attitude can carry the day here. Learn from the death, suck it up and keep going... and perhaps reflect on whether your death was due to not enough attention to #1 or #2 on this list.

4)Learn the priorities of other classes and use this to adapt the situation (see #1 and #2).

Got a rogue and a warrior who's having aggro trouble? Your attention to root might help tremendously. Got a good pally and a good cleric? Seriously consider a charm pet. Got another chanter? Perfect, cover each other's ass... and so forth.

5)Courtesies

Being on top of buffs goes a long way. If noone has to ask for anything, that's usually enough for them to at least want to group with you again.

----
So, yeah, really not that different from most classes between what makes one "good", although with the amount of control an enchanter has you should be taking a lot of initiative with your abilities compared to most. Happy hunting :)

[Swish]

Stay safe, fight protected (rune up pals)

[Tecmos Deception]

3)Die well.

Kind of connected to this, I personally keep a full set of charisma gear in my bank so that I can do my own CRs (lull resists aggro you pretty frequently at 150 charisma, but not so much when you have an extra 80+ from CR gear from the bank!). It's pretty damn clutch when you're soloing somewhere like HS, although a lot of other dungeons are too far from cities to just go grab the extra gear quick and gate back to the dungeon entrance (like seb).

Every other thing Xelris said is super correct also.