What root should I be using

[Schmandis]

Newbie-ish 48 Shaman here. I have been using my lowest level (19) Root spell for a while. Enstill costs a bit more mana and is a longer cast, but I'm noticing it breaks very often. I decided to keep using my 19 Root spell for efficiency purposes. Mostly root rotting and using slow with pet.

Am I doing it wrong?

[GinnasP99]

Keep doing what you're doing until paralyzing earth

[Baler]

Keep doing what you're doing until paralyzing earth

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Use "Root" until you get PE.
Enstill isn't worth the mana given how often mobs break root on server ticks(ever 6 seconds) here. You could litterally cast root and 1ms later a server tick happens, root break formula is checked and failed, mob breaks root. It's a nightmare. People have theories about different roots working different ways, but the sure fire route is Root -> PE. Skip enstill.
Get your level up, Don't grind mobs that have high MR.

Immobilize at 51 is better than Enstill but it's still not worth it to be brutally honest.
Paralyzing Earth is level 56, cost 100 mana and lasts at full length 3 minutes.

---
I have a theory that things like root breaks and charm breaks on p99 are coded to be more difficult thus giving a more hardcore classic feel to the server. I can't tell you the number of times I've had and seen roots/charms break back to back to back. I always say afterwards I wish I recorded that, It's beyond stupid.

[Schmandis]

Thanks for the tips. Does Malisement help with root lasting longer?

[Baler]

Thanks for the tips. Does Malisement help with root lasting longer?

Anything that lowers the targets magic resist will help. That's not to say that it will gurentee they don't break root. But yes it will help, I malo targets who are prone to breaking.
This is also very situational. You have to factor in your mana, add chance, surroundings, etc.

Also I know what you meant but based on how you worded it, to avoid confusing anyone. It won't make your root spell last longer but should help make sure that it lasts it's full duration.
Every 6 seconds on the server it runs the root break chance formula while a mob is rooted. Magic resist is in fact a part of that formula. The level of the person casting root may be a factor.

[Schmandis]

Thanks Baler. Onward to 56!

[Baler]

And thanks to GinnasP99 for starting off with solid advice! :)
ps. Using shm pet against a slowed target can be very effective. As long as you're not resummoning your pet often or at all, those buggers cost a lot of mana. And they do add some extra dps.

[Spyder73]

Can confirm that Paralyzing Earth is OP

[dude]

You should use the best root you have. always have regen and sow on and if your low on mana you cani for it. I have done 3 cycles on a mob could have done 4 if needed. the cycles go like this;

pull with slow
1st dot (disease)
2nd dot (poison)
root

cycle 2
2nd dot
root

cycle 3
2nd dot
root

should be dead by now if not

cani till root breaks
1st dot
2nd dot
root

not dead yet
run away this is going to kill you :)

[maskedmelonpai]

can confirm, enstill a poopy spell. it break a lot and cost more, so do/did not use.

[dude]

I must be very lucky with my roots. always used the best I had.

[fash]

Any root has a % chance to break when the mob receives direct damage. If the mob will be receiving direct damage and thus be prone to breaking root, use a low mana root if you need to save mana. If you're parking mobs for cc, use the long duration root line: enstill, paralyzing earth, fetter. If you know you're going to need to quickly root mobs, use the fast cast line: immobilize, fetter.

[skarlorn]

My friend Nibblewitz put it in a way that really made it clear.

The effect of Root is Root, no matter how much mana you spend on it.

Enstill sucks, PE is good, use Root until PE.

[botrainer]

Even the 56 shaman root brakes more often than I would have liked in sol B, im 56 and have issues finding a decent place to exp due to the crappy root system on this server.

[Baler]

Any root has a % chance to break when the mob receives direct damage.

I forgot to mention this one detail but it does not invalidate my post. :(

[Borak]

Any root has a % chance to break when the mob receives direct damage. If the mob will be receiving direct damage and thus be prone to breaking root, use a low mana root if you need to save mana. If you're parking mobs for cc, use the long duration root line: enstill, paralyzing earth, fetter. If you know you're going to need to quickly root mobs, use the fast cast line: immobilize, fetter.

This makes sense to me. As a paladin, I only ever got Root and Enstill. Because I root to CC, and not to damage the mob, Enstill is ABSOLUTELY better than Root.

If you intend to damage the mob, listen to the others. But strictly from a CC perspective, Enstill > Root.

[Jimjam]

Sometimes I'll have a couple of roots loaded. There are a few reasons for this, but the primary one is short roots are good to give the tank a 30 sec grace period to taunt and piggyback off tash/slow/whatever aggro, whereas longer duration roots can work better for cc.

[Tecmos Deception]

As a chanter, I've used root all the time until PE and then still most of the time until fetter.

My thoughts are that the faster cast time is a big deal when trying to root something that's hitting you, or trying to root something that is charging towards you before it reaches you, etc. That's reason enough for me to like root over the other ones as a chanter, though I can see why tougher classes wouldn't be as concerned about .5 seconds more cast time.

Concerning the duration? Well... as a chanter at least, I often don't want something parked for 2-3 minutes or having to monkey around with dispel to be able to reposition a mob. Furthermore, that longer duration is sometimes wasted like if you reroot something that is just dead in 4-5 ticks anyway.

Concerning efficiency/mana cost? Root and enstill have the same mana:max duration ratio. But it is more likely root will go 8 ticks without an early break than enstill will go 16 ticks without an early break, even if you aren't dealing any DD that can break early on its own. Root casts so fast that you can easily avoid missing med ticks if you want to micromanage that, or even if you don't care to pay attention to it you'll still only miss 1 in 3 root casts on average anyway.

For pure CC use, or for dot-heavy classes... especially when casting on a mob that is tashed or malod or whatever... I could see enstill having use. But short of that I would never use anything but root until PE, and for the two classes that get fetter even PE is kinda meh in most situations IMO.

[brightlights]

I personally go with whatever root will last the longest. Like you say Tecmos, being beat on sucks.. but I prefer a stun/root that I know will last long enough for me to handle whatever else is fucked up at the moment, like a charm break etc..

It's true, it's a big deal trying to root something that's hitting you, but its a WAY bigger deal when you have a bad pull, and you're about to get it all locked down, but then roots start breaking and... well.. "ITS GAME OVER MAN GAME OVER"

[Troxx]

My friend Nibblewitz put it in a way that really made it clear.

The effect of Root is Root, no matter how much mana you spend on it.

Enstill sucks, PE is good, use Root until PE.

This. Low level root has superior balance of duration, cast time, and mana cost of all shaman roots until PE. If the middle ground roots had a negative resist mod on then they might be worth casting.

[Triiz]

Concerning the duration? Well... as a chanter at least, I often don't want something parked for 2-3 minutes or having to monkey around with dispel to be able to reposition a mob. Furthermore, that longer duration is sometimes wasted like if you reroot something that is just dead in 4-5 ticks anyway.


I love it, but sometimes Fetter is a pain in the ass. Everytime you want to move a mob that you previously fettered, it's pretty much guaranteed to last 3 full minutes without breaking even 1 second early.

Now that Taper Enchanment has been changed to only reduce the time left of an effect instead of completely eliminating it I need to mess around with it and Fetter duration. Would be nice if you could get an unwanted Fetter down to like 20 seconds so you could charm/whatever before the mob is charging at you.

[Floraline]

So what about when you're rooting running rock golems in The Hole? As a sham, my instill is often resisted. Wouldn't "Root" always be resisted?

[Triiz]

So what about when you're rooting running rock golems in The Hole? As a sham, my instill is often resisted. Wouldn't "Root" always be resisted?

No, Root and Enstill have the same resist mod. The level you get access to the spell is irrelevant, only your current level matters.

[Jimjam]

So what about when you're rooting running rock golems in The Hole? As a sham, my instill is often resisted. Wouldn't "Root" always be resisted?
This raises an interesting question, are resist more or less likely on the initial cast than the periodic early break checks?

Is it better to try stick an instil on a resistant mob and hope it lasts after it lands or use root and refresh each time it breaks early?

[xtraball]

You should use the best root you have. always have regen and sow on and if your low on mana you cani for it. I have done 3 cycles on a mob could have done 4 if needed. the cycles go like this;

pull with slow
1st dot (disease)
2nd dot (poison)
root

cycle 2
2nd dot
root

cycle 3
2nd dot
root

should be dead by now if not

cani till root breaks
1st dot
2nd dot
root

not dead yet
run away this is going to kill you :)


Why not Root before DoT ?

[dude]

Why not Root before DoT ?

Because it is slowed and root last longer if its done last, you also don't have to hot key sending your pet in. Dude likes to be efficient.

[Jimjam]

Why not Root before DoT ?

Shaman DoT have a direct damage component which is liable to break a root.

[xtraball]

Thanks !