Enchanter Guide (from 03) [Archive]

redghosthunter

05-06-2011, 02:54 PM

This is the best ENC guild I've ever come across. The date 03 is nice cause it is still early on in time-line.

http://www.therunes.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=806&p=7140&hilit=allure+Cajoling+Whispers+Cajoling#p7140

An Enchanter Guide

Postby Ualaa » Oct 10th, '03, 20:41
I found this guide a long time ago (several expansions) and thought I would share it. While a little outdated, it was immensly helpful for my first enchanter character. It is more geared towards a beginning or intermediate enchanter then to an end game player, but there might be something in it for anyone.

Doesn't hurt to check it out. Thanks to the author of the guide, for some great information.

Enchanter
*Thanks to Taeinea T`Pau of BristleBain*

Introduction

The Enchanter is probably one of the least well understood classes in EverQuest. While it is rare to find players who can master their classes well, finding a good enchanter can be terribly difficult, because a poorly played enchanter is so memorable to others as to discolor the entire notion of the value of the class. Anyone, who has experienced a bad enchanter, especially if the bad enchanter was the first experience with an enchanter, would find it difficult to believe that enchanters can contribute to a party. But, as any high-level player will tell you, enchanters rock. A well-played enchanter contributes more to a party than any other class possibly could. If you seek to follow the path of the enchanter, you must learn to work with the powers you earn. You are not a wizard, and you will never be a wizard, so get over the idea of blasting your enemies with potent, offensive spells of massive damage. You will never be able to best a wizard in raw spell damage. Never. In fact, among all pure spellcasters, enchanters are directly responsible for the least amount of damage of any caster -- including clerics, shamans, and druids. But enchanters are seldom direct; the power of an enchanter is the ability to manipulate the elements of his environment to bring about an outcome favorable to the enchanter. But the price of this awesome power is simply this: the enchanter requires elements in the environment to manipulate in order to triumph! An enchanter in a vacuum is equal to a vacuum. Fortunately, enemies present themselves as elements of the environment to manipulate. An enchanter might not be able to handle a single attacker effectively, but watch him easily dispatch two or three without breaking a sweat! That is what it means to be an enchanter. An enchanter manipulates -- abilities, circumstances, minds -- and the results can be amazing.

But when an enchanter makes a mistake, the enchanter will likely be the first (of many) to die -- which, if you consider it for a moment, is only fair. Unfortunately, the mistakes of others can cost an enchanter dearly, too. But part of being an enchanter is learning how to minimize these situations, and that education comes with the experience of growing up following this path.

Creating an Enchanter

When you first seek to create an enchanter, you will need to select a race and some statistical adjustment. Many enchanters have somewhat differing opinions on which is best, but that just demonstrates personal preference is the deciding factor here. As you grow up, the primary statistics for an enchanter are clearly charisma and intelligence, but be advised that these statistics can easily be increased with items and spells. Getting both stats to 200 should be an ever-present goal for an aspiring enchanter. As to how to start, I recommend putting at least half of your available discretionary points into charisma. Charisma is so vital for an enchanter that you cannot start out with too much of it. Many of the spells upon which an enchanter depends are influenced by the charisma of the caster. With a sufficiently high charisma, the enchanter will prevail most of the time. An uncharismatic enchanter is a poor wizard -- and a poor enchanter. There is an alternate viewpoint on this subject, and that is that stats should be put into elements that the enchanter isn't likely to be able to advance much in the game -- such as strength and agility. Because charisma and intelligence are so easily modified with items and spells, it makes sense. You will not find lots of items for spellcasters which improve your other stats, but there are lots of items for enchanters for improving intelligence and charisma. Unless you are playing a twinked enchanter, however, you won't have access to them for many, many levels. Beyond that, an enchanter has two primary statistics, not just one. Wizards can often easily get their INT to 200, but an enchanter with an INT of 200 has probably sacrificed some of his potential charisma to get it there. With a higher charisma, the enchanter would have fewer resists on many important spells and would therefore spend less mana. Being a dark elf nets an enchanter certain advantages, including ultravision, and easy access to the metal enchantment spells. Gnomes are marginally tolerated in Neriak, however, so Illusion:Gnome is just fine for sneaking into Neriak. Gnomes can tinker, which gives gnomish enchanters an extra skill (besides jewelcraft) to master. High elves have a (relatively) high base charisma already, which would arguably make them better than other races for enchanters, but keep in mind that charisma is the easiest of all statistics to enhance with magical items and especially magical jewelry. In general, I recommend selecting a race that is appealing to you. What I do not recommend, however, is selecting a deity to worship. An enchanter is far more capable of succeeding in Norrath as an agnostic than with a deity selected -- NPC's can smell religious faction from far beyond your clipping plane, which will make illusion spells worthless in many circumstances. If you do select a religion for your enchanter, know that you will lessen your own ability in doing so. You cannot sneak into Neriak using any illusion at all, if you worship certain deities. Invisibility and a lot of luck will be your only means into that city. If you have an RP reason to select a deity, then do so. Otherwise, opt for agnostic. You'll appreciate the flexibility it gives you later. Once the enchanter is created and in the game, it is important to spend the five available practice points on various skills. Piercing is probably a good choice to start; alteration, abjuration, channeling, and conjuration are probably the best remaning choices. You could substitute divination for conjuration. Do not put any points into trade skills (i.e. jewelcraft) or any languages at this time. Also, do not put any points into Evocation just yet. Once you hit 2nd level, put a point or two into each of the other weapon skills you can, and always make sure that you practice them at each level, so that you have the flexibility to choose what kind of weapon you use as you find new magical weapons.

· At low levels, all spellcasters are generally out to do the same thing -- level quickly. At lower levels, all spellcasters generally operate as poor to marginal melee types with some offensive spell capability. This is especially true for the first four or five levels. There really is no other way to play.
· At fourth level, however, an enchanter gets the first spell which helps define his class -- Mesmerize. It is quite likely that a low-level enchanter will neglect the use of this spell, and it's little wonder that he would -- after all, it's damage that counts. Only by killing creatures, or helping to kill creatures, can an enchanter hope to increase his power and ability. And it's still the way of the wizard or the way of the mage which makes this possible.

· The low-level enchanter may or may not use a pet. Ideally, at fourth level, the enchanter should begin to use Juli's Animation, as the animation is a vital protective mechanism for an enchanter at lower levels. The enchanter is terribly weak at these lower levels, and the extra damage and damage absorption that an animation can provide is great for saving the enchanter's life. But know that the use of pets tends to drop off at higher levels. The tactics that the enchanter learns with pets at this stage will not likely be used much, if at all, at higher levels.

· Be aware that an enchanter's pet is uncommandable. It only responds to attacks on the enchanter or the pet, and it never backs off. Because of this, it quite often interferes with an enchanter's first efforts at learning to use Mesmerize, which only slows down the growth of the enchanter. This is not, however, much of an impediment to play, as the enchanter is not expected to have mastered Mesmerize yet, and, in all likelihood, none of the players he would or could group with would understand how to work with Mesmerize, anyway.

· Beyond that, Mesmerize and its more powerful versions all depend heavily on the charisma of the enchanter, which is quite probably still low. For best effect, the enchanter's charisma should be in excess of 170 points. Mesmerize, in case it is not clear, is a spell which, when not resisted, stuns a target for fifteen seconds, provided the target takes no physical damage during that time (i.e. loss of hit points). At low levels, where many players solo, and grouping is not unlike the tenative first dating steps that teenagers make, the usefulness of Mesmerize will not become apparent. It is, however, a fantastic defensive spell -- in the event that the pet is dead, and the enchanter is low on HP and mana, a quick Mesmerize will let the enchanter escape. It is a great emergency escape spell. Mesmerize also may or may not (depending on which theory of the week is being promoted) wipe a creature's hate list, meaning that it may completely forget about the enchanter if the enchanter gets far enough away before the spell wears off.

· At lower levels, another great spell for an enchanter is Color Flux. This spell is an area effect stun spell, which stuns enemies around the caster (but not the caster himself). The duration of this spell is initially maybe two or three seconds, but it's usually long enough to get another spell cast. Just make sure that you never use this spell near a guard, or any creature which is not normally aggressive to you, as, even resisted, this spell will turn an indifferent creature into a hostile one very quickly. Unlike Mesmerize, Color Flux and its line of spells is not broken by damage. Eventually, this spell will increase in duration up to around six seconds.

· Remember that, until 8th level, the spells that you have for damage are actually damage-over-time (DoT) spells. That means that, by repeatedly casting these spells, the damage over time component never gets to complete, which makes the spells less mana efficient (meaning that you spend more time meditating). However, you usually will not be able to afford to wait for the spell's damage to finish kicking in, so this simply makes the enchanter more mana inefficient at lower levels.

· Another 4th level class-defining spell is Tashan. Tashan is a spell which lowers the magic resistance of the target. Enchanters only use magical magic. Enchanters do not use elemental-, poison-, or disease-type magics, and largely have no defenses against them. But in the realm of magic alone, the enchanter reigns supreme, and his spells for influencing magic are greater than any other's. Tashan will likely be the opening spell cast by any enchanter on a target, since it means much greater likelihood of success when casting other spells. Fewer resists means less mana spent, which is always a good thing. This spell is also handy for other casting classes, as it means that their magical-based attacks and spells will have a much greater chance of succeeding.

· At 8th level, an enchanter gets his first direct damage spell -- Chaotic Feedback. This spell starts at 43 points of damage, and grows to 48 points of damage maximum at 13th level. It has a long recast delay (all enchaters' direct damage spells suffer from this), so an enchanter will still be unable to dish out damage like a wizard (even though a wizard at this level hardly rivals an enchanter in terms of damage per cast). The problem with this spell, however, is that it is the first one to use the skill of Evocation, so the first thing an 8th level enchanter must do is go put some training points into Evocation. Either put twenty points into it, or be prepared to go practice casting this spell on a corpse until skill improves to more than twenty. It is beyond frustrating to attempt to use this spell and have it fizzle eight times in a row because the enchanter does not know how to use evocative magic.

· At 8th level, an enchanter also gets a pet that is capable of hitting magic creatures. At this level, the wisp becomes a potential candidate for hunting, and the cash which can be made at this level by simply hunting wisps and selling the light stones and greater light stones to NPC's (and many PC's will now buy greater lightstones for seven platinum) is truly amazing, compared to the copper that the enchanter has been scraping to collect until now. Be sure to always cast Reclaim Energy on any pet which isn't the most capable pet you can summon (at level 8, you should be able to summon a pet that is 9th level, and therefore appears yellow when you consider it). Cast Tashan on the wisp, back off when the pet starts attacking the wisp, and throw your 4th level DoT on the wisp. Then watch the health of your pet and the wisp. If the pet reaches 50% health, start blasting the wisp to draw it onto you. If you have a magic weapon (get a magician to summon a dagger for you, if needed), melee the wisp, too. If not, be ready to use up all your mana blasting the wisp.

· Whatever you do, do not let the wisp kill your pet. Get used to the idea of getting hit a lot -- it will happen. You have to be willing to lose a large percentage of your hit points when soloing. It beats dying. Learn to balance the damage that your pet takes and the damage that you take. Your pet heals a lot faster than you do, however, so if you are soloing, let the pet take more damage. Just don't let it die -- or your chances of dying dramatically increase.
· One tactic that you can always use is to summon a new pet once your pet is slain. This means keeping your pet summoning spell memorized -- or, at least, keeping Mesmerize handy and using that to keep your enemy occupied while you re-memorize the pet spell and then cast it.

· At 12th level, an enchanter gets a new DoT, and a new pet, and has by this time become a wisp hunting machine, no doubt. But the enchanter also gets a taste of another defining spell -- Charm. Charm is one spell which can turn defeat into victory. Charm turns an NPC into a commandable pet. And, because NPC's are much stronger than PC's, the higher their levels are, the more power an enchanter gains when using this spell (and its higher-level versions). Charm has two very large drawbacks, however. One is that the spell, when resisted or broken, causes the formerly charmed creature to hate the enchanter with a passion. The other is that it depends on charisma like no other spell, and an enchanter with an average charisma (in the 80-110 range) will find that the spell behaves in a manner that is most euphemistically described as "worthless". At lower levels, you may practice using this spell, but only with an understanding party. You will rarely use this spell when soloing at this stage.

· The charisma of the caster of Charm and Mesmerize and Stun-type spells affects the resistibility of these spells. A creature continues to try to break charm as long as the charm effect is in place, and casters with a low charisma will find that the charm spell lasts a very short amount of time, if at all, because NPC's get to attempt to resist the spell every few seconds. With a low charisma, the spell gets resisted rather quickly. With a very high charisma (160+), the spell is resisted much less, and it is much less likely to wear off at any given opportunity. So, when using any such spells, a high charisma is vital.

· Because the low-level enchanter rarely has the charisma needed to really use these spells effectively, the low-level enchanter is doomed to frustration when trying to use the spells which define his class. Thus, many enchanters behave as poor mages, with poor ability to blast, and with poor, braindead pets.
· Other 12th level spells include an attack slowing spell (Languid Pace) and a random-duration stun spell (Whirl till You Hurl) and a hate list remover (Memory Blur). Languid Pace is one of the better debuffing spells that an enchanter will get. While there are many strength debuffing spells, and the DoT's also debuff STR and AC, the effect of debuffing a creature's strength (there are three different lines of spells for this) is less than the effect of slowing his attack speed. Additionally, fights don't often last long enough for a third STR debuff spell to make much of a difference at all. (Cast DoT [with STR and AC debuff], then cast another STR debuff, then try casting another... creature is usually near death by now... Cast Languid Pace as first spell, and reduce the damage taken from the creature by 35% or so...)

· Whirl till You Hurl is a curious spell. Some enchanters hail it as a great addition to their arsenal, and others complain that it is too unreliable to use. You'll have to test it and decide for yourself, but I found other, better ways to do what that spell used to allow. (It was nerfed beyond all recognition many moons ago.)
· Memory Blur is another trademark spell. Memory Blur wipes the hate list of creatures below 30th level, and then has a chance of doing so for creatures higher than 30th level (less likely the higher the level). (The hate list is the list of creatures that an NPC hates at the moment, based largely on the amount of damage a creature has done to the NPC, but some spell effects, such as charm, can move the enchanter to the top of the hate list.) Any creature below 30th level cannot resist this spell. While wiping the hate list is not sufficient to get a creature to leave the enchanter alone, it can be enough to stop a creature from frenzying on a well-beaten tank who is trying to back off unsuccessfully, and it can be used to great effect to calm down a creature that you've attacked but which is normally not aggressive.

The Young Enchanter

At level 16, the enchanter gets a new direct damage spell, a new pet, and some rather interesting spells. The second spell of the Mesmerize line, Enthrall, becomes available. Enthrall is like a double-mesmerize, lasting thirty seconds instead of fifteen. Also available via research is the spell Mesmerization. Mesmerization is an area effect mesmerize spell. It affects the target and all potential enemies within a radius of effect around the target, which can include the caster. This spell is the great train smasher, the one which can turn a nightmarish hell of massive death into an orderly procession of slain foes. But, at level 16, it suffers from two nasty problems. One is that, if the enchanter's charisma is not high (at level 16, it is probably quite low), then the creatures affected by the spell will resist often -- and be very interested in seeing a dead enchanter. The other is that it is a matter of professional pride never to mesmerize one's self. Once an enchanter starts using this spell, an enchanter will mesmerize himself on occasion. It's embarassing.

· One thing an enchanter might notice at this stage is that different versions of the various mesmerization spells will not overwrite one another. If a target is mesmerized, he cannot be enthralled. If a target was mesmerized with Mesmerization, he cannot be re-mesmerized with Mesmerize. Consequently, using these spells together takes some organization. Generally, Mesmerization and only one Mesmerize-type spell would be memorized at any one time. At 16th level, the enchanter probably is not skilled enough to prevent distractions from interrupting his spells, so Mesmerize, with its much faster casting time, is still a better choice than Enthrall.

· Another thing a young enchanter will discover is that Charm fails to work on creatures higher than 18th level. It will not be until 24th level that the enchanter gets another Charm spell (Beguile) which will work on higher-level creatures. On the other hand, there are usually lower level (under 18th level) creatures around yet, who still make good pets, and still outdamage everyone else in the party.
· From this point on, the enchanter starts to come into his own as a valued addition to a party. Tanks will begin to clamour for Quickness, and the enchanter will begin to see how his ability to do indirect damage really starts to make a difference to a party. Before now, the enchanter had some serious ability (if underdeveloped) to reduce the amount of damage done to a party. Now, he has some serious ability to increase the amount of damage that a party does.

· In fact, at this level, because of Quickness, an enchanter has the ability to add value to parties consisting of members much higher than his level. Because of Tashan, an enchanter can join a party of higher-level spellcasters and contribute to the success of the magical attack and effects that higher-level spellcasters are trying to employ.
· At 24th level, an enchanter with Alacrity (Quickness II) can easily join a group of 30th+ level tanks and be a valued addition. And Memory Blur can be used to great advantage in such parties.

· Part of being a young enchanter is learning to use your skills. However, you will find that you have no idea what your skills are until you reach 20th level or so, and even then, knowing what they are is not the same as knowing how to use them. It will take time.
· However, rather than continuing with a discussion of enchanters at each stage of his life, I want to discuss effective tactics. Some of these transcend mundane considerations such as character level.

Tactics -- Crowd Control

The act of mesmerizing creatures is probably the birth of a real enchanter. The beginnings of awareness of the utility of this type of spell indicate the turn away from the common magicks into the realm of enchantment.

· The mesmerization spells turn a train into an orderly progression of slain foes. That is what this line is really for. NPC's become far, far too powerful as time goes on. Groups are used to defeat these enemies, but when the odds are six on six, six ultra-powerful NPC's versus six mediocre players, it becomes time to change the rules in order to win the game. The enchanter, with Mesmerize, is the key to changing those rules.
· An enchanter seeks to put creatures under his control by mesmerizing them, and keeping them mesmerized, while the party works on defeating one enemy at a time. An enchanter who does this effectively changes a single six-on-six fight into six five-on-one fights, while the other creatures stand their drooling, waiting their turns. The ability to do this, and do this well, can mean the difference between life and death for an enchanter's party.

· But this does have a price. An undisciplined party, an untrained party, will likely attack whatever foe happens to be standing near -- including mesmerized targets. Damage wakes up a mesmerized target, and, especially at higher levels, the creature is going to remember who mesmerized him, and will likely be quite angry with the enchanter for doing so -- more angry, in fact, than a few blows from a sword will make him. A party that does not know that it should only attack one creature at a time, and let the enchanter or the puller call which target to go after next, or a party with members who simply refuse to cooperate, will only get the enchanter killed very often.

· It can take considerable effort to train a party to use the enchanter effectively. Fortunately, as levels go higher, people generally realize that there are better ways to do things, and following the enchanter's lead becomes an accepted way of life. It may require many deaths, and it always requires a lot of patience. Unfortunately, in one of life's little ironies, the people most suited to being enchanters are least likely to be patient.
· If you can be patient, you can win. If you can get a single party that you always adventure with, and you learn to understand each other, and operate as a team, not as a group of players acting individually and sharing XP, then all of EverQuest will open to you and your party, and you'll be able to take on odds that boggle the minds of ordinary players. The next best thing is to make sure that everyone you group with is educated on the ways of the enchanter, and learns to work with you instead of against you.

· The key to mastering the mesmerization spells is being able to accurately predict when something is going to wake up and get it mesmerized again before that happens. Remember -- you can reapply the same spell to a mesmerized foe. If you use Enthrall, you can enthrall all your foes and keep round-robin enthralling them while your party takes out a single target.
· You can also use Mesmerization when there are a large number of foes to be addressed at once. But be careful with this one. You will mesmerize yourself on occasion, especially if you are near the targets that you cast on. Ideally, if your puller grabs a whole train of creatures, repeatedly casting Mesmerization every 10 seconds on your puller (assuming you're on a carebear server) will generally keep everything nicely mesmerized until the party deals with each one individually -- but you need to run back, away from your puller, not to get yourself caught in the area of effect. Target your puller, run away a bit, and cast. If anything resists and comes for you, enthrall it.

Timing is everything with these spells. Learn to use the tick of your mana bar (see tactics on mana management, later in this guide) to time the duration of the spells (or use a wrist watch, for real accuracy). Realize that you would have to cast Mesmerize constantly if you have to keep three creatures at bay -- round robin among the three creatures. Realize that you will get a resist every now and then, and plan for that resist as part of your casting. Switch to Enthrall or Entrance at higher levels, because you'll never get a chance to rest if you don't -- trying to keep three or more targets mesmerized requires the use of higher-level spells, because it is simply impossible to cast Mesmerize fast enough to keep any more than three creatures mesmerized, assuming no resists.

It takes practice. If you want to master enchantment, you have to test it, have to push it, to see exactly how far you can go with your spells. Your first test should be seeing how long you can keep a single enemy mesmerized. Until you are certain that you can keep a single creature mesmerized indefinitely, you need more practice. From there, you work on keeping two creatures mesmerized indefinitely. Use Enthrall. Use Mesmerization. Once you can keep two creatures mesmerized indefinitely, three or more becomes easy to do.

· To improve the usefulness of Mesmerization, find ways to increase your magic resistance, so that you can cast it at close range and have a reasonable chance of resisting it. An enchanter gets Endure Magic, Resist Magic, and Group Resist Magic -- the enchanter should always have the strongest one of these buffs up that he can. (Group Resist Magic is about 15 points stronger than Resist Magic, so at 49th level, you should always cast Group Resist Magic on yourself, even if the group size is one!) Likewise, look for items which increase magic resistance. There are several good ones out there.

· Once your magic resistance exceeds 100, it will be quite difficult to mesmerize yourself -- although it still isn't impossible! Fortunately, there are two things to note about Mesmerization. One is that it will usually wear off the caster a couple seconds before it wears off the enemies, meaning that a quick enchanter will have an opportunity to cast a second time before taking any damage from the NPC's. The second is that, if a creature does resist and the enchanter mesmerizes himself, he'll probably get hit in the next second and thus be broken from the mesmerization, anyway.

· Be aware that any damage will break any mesmerization effect. This includes area effect spells, area effect weaponry, and DoT's. It is vital that any enchanter who is doing crowd control not be hampered by players who insist on using these items near, near, or on (respectively) any mesmerized creatures. In particular, area effect damage spells will rarely, if ever, act as more of a taunt than a remembered Enthrall. Similarly, a DoT on a creature you're trying to crowd control will only be a persistently re-awakened foe, who hates you, the enchanter, a lot more than whoever cast the DoT.

· Your best friend, as a crowd control expert, is a healer who is watching your back constantly. Your worst enemy is someone else who wants to help you with crowd control. As an enchanter, crowd control is your job. No one else has any business even attempting to do so while you are around. A bard's mind control songs (bards can mesmerize and charm, too) do not stack with the enchanter's various spells. Nor can they overwrite one another. If you have a bard around casting his sleep song, he just prevented you from doing what you do best, and he should be singing his mana regen song (at level 32+), anyway.

· But even worse than this is someone who tries to help you by trying to taunt something off you. This is the bane of enchanters everywhere. A friendly wizard, not doing anything else at the moment, decides to help you by taunting something off you which is already quite furious with you for having attempted to mesmerize it. You manage to cast Enthrall, and the well-meaning wizard then hits the creature with his dagger for four points of damage.
· There is no way that anyone, even a paladin with a Fiery Avenger, has a snowball's chance in Lavastorm of taunting a creature off of you with melee damage alone. You must educate your party members in the proper ways to help an enchanter when something is on him. These are:

KILL THE CREATURE. If the would-be assistant cannot kill whatever is frenzied on you, the enchanter, in a single round, then there is no point in attempting to melee it or cast damage spells on it. Ice Comet might not be enough pure damage to taunt a creature off an enchanter, but if the creature can be killed with a cast of Ice Comet, then cast, wizard, cast!

HEAL THE ENCHANTER. Healing the enchanter is the best taunt possible. Even though it probably won't taunt the creature off the enchanter, it will buy the enchanter some more time to get the creature under the enchanter's control.

TAUNT THE CREATURE WITH NON-DAMAGING SPELLS. Root, Snare, Engulfing Darkness, various stuns, Blindness, Malaise, Drowsy, whatever -- these spells are all effective taunts, and will generally give the enchanter a little breathing room to get the creature back under control. If the enemy is rooted, the enchanter can at least back away. Great wizards will use root spells a lot like mesmerize, against melee-type enemies, anyway. If you find a wizard who can do this well, keep him.

· Any other course of action by a would-be helper will only get the enchanter killed. In particular, attempting to damage the creature to taunt it away from the enchanter will only get the enchanter killed, since the common sequence of events is: enchanter mesmerizes creature, assistant damages creature, creature hits enchanter, enchanter scrambles to mesmerize the creature again (usually while screaming at the assistant), assistant damages creature, etc., etc., etc.

· It is important that most party members are acting against the primary target that was called by the enchanter or the puller. Getting everyone to do this will usually obviate any panicked scrambling to get a creature mesmerized again after a helper "helps" you with it, since the helper will instead be working on the primary target, which most assuredly is not interested in the enchanter.
· In order to do crowd control effectively, there are a couple of additional skills which are required. The first is being able to target your target with your mouse quickly and efficiently. This takes practice. You have to learn to be able to find the precisely right pixel to target precisely the right creature from among your party and the several NPC's that are all in your field of view. You have to be willing to run around to be able to target, or to switch you view so that you can target. It is not hard, but it does take practice!

· You also need to realize that your job is to know everything that is going on with your party and your enemies at any time. You need to watch the health bars of your party members -- it's not just the cleric's job. This will tell you where trouble areas are -- maybe you messed up and didn't mesmerize something! You also need to watch the text display. If you are using Color Shift, you will get messages about the effect of the spell on every nearby creature. If you think you're dealing with four creatures, but you get six messages back when you cast Color Shift, then clearly you have two new arrivals that you now have to deal with.

· If you ever see a new "a Solusek kobold says, 'Half-elves like you are better left dead!'", know that you probably have a new spawn that needs your tender guidance immediately. Watch and see who is casting spells, and who is doing damage. The sudden appearance of "a lava duct crawler bites SheBob for 90 points of damage!" when you are nowhere near lava duct crawlers probably means that you have a new train to deal with. Stay alert. Be active.
· Crowd Control does have its limitations. There are some creatures who are immune to crowd control (and usually any form of stunning). These include Ice Giants, Fire Giants, and Dragons. There are also magically immune creatures, occasionally within Norrath, but most certainly on the various planes, who will be completely resistant to anything you throw at it, but will nevertheless perceive you as a threat worse than any other. In these cases, crowd control is extremely difficult -- if possible at all. Perhaps you can add a chapter of your own here.

· In summary, you have to be aware, and you have to control the fight. There is no skill that an enchanter needs to master more than this one. This is Crowd Control 101 through Crowd Control 499. If you can learn to do this well, then you are a professional enchanter. Everything else that an enchanter adds is just icing on the cake.

Tactics -- Color Series

The Color Series will likely find a permanent spot on the memorized spell list of every enchanter. Color Flux, the first spell, is an area-effect, point-blank stun effect, centered on (but not affecting) the enchanter. It allegedly depends on the charisma of the caster for its resistibility, and my experience suggests that this is true.

· The primary difference between the spells in this series is the area of effect. The duration of the spells improves with the level of the enchanter, and, in fact, is the same for all three spells, at any given level. The difference is area of effect. Color Flux, 4th level, is practically skin tight. Color Shift, 20th level, has a larger radius of effect. Color Skew, 44th level, will generally cover an entire room.
· Usually, and especially at lower levels, this spell is used to give the enchanter some breathing room to cast another spell. Color Flux casts amazingly quickly. Initially, merely casting the spell will give enough time to cast a second spell (assuming that Flux wasn't resisted). More powerful spells generally have longer casting times, however, and there will come a time when Flux just doesn't last long enough. The solution to this is accurate timing and running away.

· The moment the spell takes effect, start backing away from the target. There is some delay between the time the spell completes casting, and the time that you can cast another spell. During this time, move. The moment you can cast again, do so -- and the spell will finish as the creature starts running toward you, rather than just before he hits you and interrupts the spell.
· The series really shines, however, when two spells (Color Flux and Color Shift) are both memorized, and used round-robin to keep creatures stunned for more than 90% of their remaining lives. Using all three is also possible. The reason that it requires two or three spells where one should suffice? Recast delay. All of these spells suffer from a recast delay around twelve to fifteen seconds. Given that the stun lasts around six or seven seconds (maximum), it is impossible to cast one spell often enough to keep anything stunned for more than 45% of the time. Using two spells, however, keeps it stationary for much longer. Using all three would give 100% coverage. Fortunately, because the duration of these spells is not different, these spells do overwrite one another. They do not, however, affect mesmerization in any way (other than to annoy a mesmerized creature inside the area of effect).

· Practice using these spells round-robin once you get Color Shift. (It's 20th level, research only.) The damage that you can prevent is phenomenal. I tested this tactic against the Steel Golem in the Lost Temple of Cazic-Thule. With a 38th/39th level ranger, while I was 33rd/34th level, the two of us were able to defeat the steel golem by ourselves. I tried it two ways -- one with debuffs, and one without. Both left us with 80% health and me with 20% mana. The tactic was this -- Alacrity the ranger, Tashan the golem, then Flux and Shift repeatedly. The debuff method had me casting my DoT, Tepid Deeds, and two STR debuffs, then Flux/Shift repeatedly. Both ways required 80% of my mana for success (or, perhaps, using 80% of my mana meant that we didn't take much damage...).

· I have used this tactic many times in Lower Guk. One time, my party (which I didn't know well) had jumped down into the undead area, and had managed to get a nasty pull of a wan, a dar, and a third froglok ghoul (shin?). At that time, a dar was pretty lethal. I charmed the wan, sicked it on the other froglok, and then cozied up to the dar, stunning it repeatedly. To the amazement of everyone, we survived. Compliments galore await you when you pull something like this off. But before you start patting yourself on the back, remember that all the enchanter does here is make it possible for the party to pull off the impossible. Keeping a dar stunned by one's self is a sure route to yet another corpse recovery. A bad party here would have had resulted in many deaths.

· This tactic is also useful while waiting for the evacuation spell to kick in. When "Evac!" is called, the enchanter should go stand on the evacuator and start round-robin casting these spells to get all attention off the druid or wizard. You can also use this tactic to buy time for your party, should you feel like sacrificing yourself, and you have no means of escape. These stuns taunt quite well, and they will get resisted sometimes.

Tactics -- Charm Series

Charming is something that the enchanter can do better than anyone else. While some classes can charm undead, and others can charm animals, nothing is immune to a sufficiently powerful enchanter -- except perhaps dragons and deities. Yes, I have attempted to charm Nagafen. Attempt is the operative word. I have never successfully gotten any spell I cast to stick to Nagafen except the Tashan series (even when standing right between his two front legs), so it hardly surprised me that I could not charm Nagafen.

· There are four spells in the charm series: Charm, Beguile, Cajoling Whispers, and Allure. Charm only works on creatures up to 18th level. Beguile, which comes in at 24th level, works on creatures up to around the low to mid 30's. Cajoling Whispers works on creatures up to 45th level, and Allure (49th level) has no level restrictions at all. Even at 50th level, you will likely only use Allure if a creature that you intend to charm is higher than 45th level (it has a longer recast time than Cajoling Whispers). Cajoling Whispers can last several minutes, which is generally more than enough time for a pet to assist in dealing with his former allies.

· In order to use charm effectively, you must have a high charisma. Anything above 140 is workable; above 170 is useful; 200 is ideal, of course. With charm spells, a charmed creature gets to attempt to resist the charm every few seconds. Resistance for charm-type spells is determined partially by the charisma of the caster. (Level is, I believe, more important.) The higher the charisma of the caster, the less likely that the charmed creature will successfully resist the spell each time that he attempts to resist it. Once the spell is resisted, it is broken. Each spell also has a fixed maximum duration, which increases with the level of the spell, but the maximum duration is rarely reached.

· Charm is an element of crowd control. But it should never be used in place of crowd control. If there are six creatures attacking the party, getting five of them mesmerized is the first order of business. Then it is quite easy to charm one (even though he won't do anything until he breaks mesmerization). It is usually a good idea to send the charmed creature after the same creature that the party is currently fighting, rather than sending the charmed creature after one of the other mesmerized targets. The reason for this is safety. If charm breaks early, the charmed creature will be very angry with the enchanter. If the charmed creature is fighting something that isn't mad at someone else, then the charmed creature and his former target will both be all over the enchanter -- making it much harder to restore control.

· However, as you get higher in levels, you will find that you become quite expert at regaining control, even in the face of opposition. Just remember that the random number generator might decide to betray you, and don't be surprised when you find two nasty creatures all over you, and you die because none of your tactics for regaining control succeeded.
· You should have a hot key for "/pet attack" if you use charm much -- which, at higher levels especially, when you have the charisma for it, you should do often. No one can do more damage than an enchanter and his charmed pet -- especially if that pet is a fire giant.

· You can re-charm a creature, but you cannot do so until after it has broken the first charm. Make sure you have a high charisma, and the watchful eye of a healer on you, and you will always outdamage anyone around you. NPC's always hit much harder than PC's of an equivalent level. And any NPC that you are capable of charming is guaranteed to be stronger than any pet that you or anyone else your level can summon. Which is stronger -- a (49th level) guk knight, or the (40th level) pet of a 49th level necromancer?

· When charm wears off, your former friend will probably (but not always) want to thank you properly for messing with his mind. This usually involves much damage to the enchanter. Usually, you will find it quite simple to get Enthrall cast on a single target, even while it's hitting you for full damage. If your buddy brought back friends, use Color Flux to get some breathing room.
· One thing to be aware of is the effect of DoT's on charm. Never bother attempting to charm a creature that has had a DoT placed on it, unless that DoT has fully worn off. The reason for this is that the creature, once charmed, will still be annoyed at whoever put the DoT on him, the moment the DoT does damage. This means that the charmed creature will be able to attack the party member that cast the DoT -- even though the party member cannot fight back, since the party member cannot attack your pet! While this is a handy tactic for getting necromancers and druids killed with experience loss, it is not easy to set this up, and getting someone killed three or four times in a row with this will probably make him a bit suspicious. Unfortunately, the "/pet back off" command only works until the DoT kicks in again.

· One way to get this to work is to make sure that the charmed creature does attack something which no one else is fighting. This way, the creature puts the charmed creature on its hate list, and then the creature will start hitting the charmed creature. As long as something is out-damaging the DoT, then the charmed creature won't go after the party member who cast the DoT. But getting this set up takes practice to do -- even then, it's still not easy -- and it still runs the risk of having both the charmed creature and its former sparring partner coming back to you if the charm wears off.

· As always, practice is the key. You'll find, as you improve your charisma, that charms become highly valued, highly useful spells.

Tactics -- Debuffing

An enchanter is supposed to be a master of debuffing. While an enchanter does have a wide variety of debilitating spells at his disposal, experience and practice will teach an enchanter that not all debuffs are created equal.

· Keep in mind that EverQuest is really two games in one. There is the non-PvP portion of the game, and then there is the PvP portion of the game. Unfortunately, most of an enchanter's debuffs are more suited to PvP than non-PvP. If you are involved in PvP, then debuffing is an absolute must. If you are in non-PvP mode, then debuffing has its uses, but isn't as important.
· The basic debuff that enchanters have lots of is strength reducers. At the highest levels, an enchanter has the ability to reduce the strength of a victim by as much as 100 points. This can have a drastic effect on a player. Unfortunately, its effect on other creatures is relatively minimal, and I advise against wasting time with strength debuffs when fighting NPC's. Debuffs are a major taunt, so frequently the only reasonable time to cast them is once some serious damage has already been done. And since there are three different series of spells which act as strength debuffs, including our DoT series, by the time all three spells (and one of Tashan/Tashani/Tashania, of course) are cast on a single target, the target is almost dead.

· Besides, the enchanter usually has his hands full simply doing crowd control. If an enchanter doesn't have crowd control to do -- especially when only ever dealing with one target at a time -- and the duration of the fight is expected to last awhile, then strength debuffing has its uses. But my experience is that the extra time spent debuffing strength only serves to increase the duration of the fight, and therefore the number of times the enchanter gets hit. More-times-hit times less-damage-per-hit is approximately equal to fewer-times-hit times more-damage-per-hit.

· Using the strength debuffs in PvP, however, can turn a fully armored paladin into a nicely rooted weakling who can't budge from his current spot. No tank with an ounce of sense would dare to challenge an enchanter more than once....
· The Languid Pace series, however, is usually a very effective debuff, since it reduces the attack frequency of the target, and it only requires two spells (one from Tashan, one from Languid) instead of four or five spells (one from Tashan, one from feeble line, one from disempower line, and our DoT -- and one of these three will usually be resisted, requiring it to be cast a second time) to achieve virtually the same effect -- reducing the damage taken by the tanks.

· Mana Sieve is an interesting debuff. One tactic is to use it repeatedly on, say, Lady Vox. It is rumored not to cause hatred in whoever it's cast upon, and since Vox never took any real interest in me, despite having cast it six times on her, it clearly isn't much of a taunt, in any case. (After all the tanks were dead, and Vox was wandering around, she still didn't summon me to her.) However, in most cases, it is not all that useful. Drain 200-350 points of mana from the target, or do 200-350 point of damage to it? Which is more effective? In general, since NPC's have so much more mana than PC's, Mana Sieve is pointless. Against PC's, however, it can be quite effective, since it can be used, against an enthralled PC wizard, for example, to drain away all his mana, leaving him completely helpless. Couple that with some strength debuffs, and the wizard is stuck for good.

· The enchanter also has a spell for reducing intelligence and wisdom (Curse of the Simple Mind), but its utility is debatable. While it could be used to lower the INT and WIS of a foe, and thereby reduce the size of his mana pool, Mana Sieve is probably better at just stripping away the mana to begin with.
· Taper Enchantment, Cancel Magic, Nullify Magic, and especially Strip Enchantment and Pillage Enchantment, are all quite useful debuffs. In particular, against shamans that SoW, this should be the first spell cast against such a creature. Anything with magical shielding, too. And, in PvP, it is vital to use. Stripping away buffs before actually engaging an enemy PC reduces the toughness of that PC by at least a couple levels. An enthralled target can easily have his buffs stripped -- just beware that you could strip off the Enthrall, too, and so be ready to regain control.

Tactics -- Buff Management

· As an enchanter increases in level, he becomes called upon more and more to cast a wide assortment of beneficial spells on other players. Clarity is the one that will get requested most often, but there are plenty of other buffs in an enchanter's arsenal, and a good enchanter will see to it that his party members have the best available buffs at all times, conditions permitting.
· An enchanter should always keep himself buffed when in battle situations.
· There are basically ten or so different buff lines that an enchanter acquires over his lifetime, along with a couple others which limited usefulness. However, rather than discuss what these buffs are, I would like to discuss tactics for making sure that your party and your friends never lack your buffs.

· In particular, Clarity will be requested often. It costs 75 mana, which is maybe ten seconds worth of Clarity-enchanced mana regeneration, but being able to cast this on others will net the enchanter more good will than an infinity of SoW's. So mana management becomes vital. The next section will discuss this more fully.

· A handy tactic I learned from a cleric in my early years was to buff one's self first, and then buff everyone else. Since buffs last the same amount of time, regardless of who they are cast on, this gives the enchanter a way to know which buffs are wearing off, so that he can apply them before the party needs to ask. This works well for any buff the enchanter keeps on himself. Quickness is one series that tanks will need to be trained to ask for, unless the enchanter wants to a) buff himself with it, too, or b) use an actual stop watch for timing purposes. Using the stop watch would put you into the realm of Master Buffer. I could never bring myself to that point. If you manage to perfect this, so that you're already buffing someone before they are asking for it, and no one ever actually has to ask for a buff, then you've far exceeded my perfectionism in this topic, and I will be required to kneel before you should I ever see you.

· Try to spread out buffs. Some buffs have different durations, and so there will be times when two buffs start wearing off together. This is also part of mana management, and with practice, you can keep buffs going all night long, simply by keeping them rotated.
· As a general rule, find out what classes each party member is, and what their prime stats are, and also what they plan to do, so that you can know which buffs are applicable. There is no reason to cast Clarity on monks (except for personal amusement), or Brilliance on a wizard that already has 201 INT. However, you might not think to cast a charisma buff on a druid that plans on charming sonic bats -- but the druid will appreciate it! Keeping your party buffed with the buffs each member needs or wants, and still managing to pull off crowd control on groups from hell, and still managing to cast Clarity on the line forming outside the room you're camping, and still managing to throw in the killing shot on that kobold that's about to start running, is actually quite satisfying. Enchanters who manage to pull off all of these things simultaneously are the ones who give enchanters a reputation as being a "god class".

· Because of the wide variety of buffs that an enchanter (or, really, any high-level buff class) has available, it becomes an exercise in managing which buffs are memorized, if any. Because of the frequency of requests for Clarity, I would often keep Clarity memorized, and swap it out for other buffs as needed. This means a lot of opening the spell book to switch out which buffs are memorized. It is painful, but it is important to get good at doing it. Now that you can re-arrange your spellbook, you can put all your useful spells, and all your buffs, fairly close together, so that they can be swapped in and out rather rapidly. With practice, it will become fast and easy to do, and no one will ever be more than five seconds away from a buff (mana permitting).

· Once re-arranging the spellbook became possible, I stopped keeping Clarity memorized at all in intense battle situations. I would keep a Rune spell in the bottom slot, and swap it out with buffs when needed. In fact, my spell list usually consisted of:

Cajoling Whispers or Allure or DD/DoT

Mesmerization

Tashan/Tashani/Tashania

Color Shift

Mesmerize/Enthrall/Entrance

Color Flux

Languid Pace/Tepid Deeds/Shiftless Deeds or a fear spell, if applicable

Clarity/Rune/Buff/DD/DoT/Debuff/Other slot

· In a buffing crisis (lots of mana, lots of buff requests), I would use the lowest two spell slots for buffs, swapping out Tepid Deeds and Rune, replacing them once done. With each spell or pair of spells, just spin around and target people who need each buff. Once done, switch to another spell or pair of spells and repeat. Eventually, the crowd dissipates.

Tactics -- Mana Management

An enchanter can double or triple his effective mana by simply making sure that he is either expending mana or meditating. In battle situations, nothing else matters. Any moment that you can sit to meditate, do so.

· Here is an example. Puller pulls three creatures. Enchanter enthralls two of them while the party fights the third. The enchanter immediately sits down, waits three mana ticks (watch your mana bar!), then stands back up, and casts enthrall again on the two enthralled creatures. Then the enchanter sits back down and waits three mana ticks, then repeats. Using this method on a single creature, an enchanter can not only keep the creature enthralled indefinitely, but also slowly regenerate more mana than is being expended keeping the creature enthralled. With only a single creature and enthrall, wait four mana ticks. Reduce by one mana tick for each additional creature being enthralled. Reduce by one tick for each resist. If more than four creatures, use Mesmerization instead. Recast until all desired creatures are under control. (You did remember to raise your charisma, didn't you?) Once everything is mesmerized, sit down and meditate for tick or two.

· Now that Entrance has had its casting time and recast delay reduced signficantly, it is now probably sensible to use Entrance at higher levels, which would likely allow you to round-robin as many as eight or nine creatures (although with very little time for meditation, which makes Mesmerization more likely a better choice).
· All good spellcasters learn and use this tactic. If you aren't casting a spell, you should be meditating. (I copied it from a couple of good wizards that I watched doing it.) Clarity is great, but it's no substitute for meditation.

· Even better, however, is noticing this one fact: meditation and healing occur in "ticks" -- usually around five to six seconds. What the game seems to do is this -- every time a tick occurs, it checks to see which mana-enhancing effects are in place, and then increases your mana by the amount dictated by the conditions that were in effect at the moment of the tick. If Clarity is on, then a certain amount (usually not a visible amount each tick) is added to the available mana. If the caster is meditating (or merely seated above 35th level) at the moment of the tick, then even more is added to the available mana. If both are in place, then even more is added. (The bardic mana song seems to do its own thing, using a completely different tick, about half-way between the regular ticks, for determining when to add mana.)

· Well, the time of the tick is what is vital. If you can time the moment that the tick occurs, then you can stand up, do something, then quickly sit back down, and, as long as you are seated (or meditating, if below 35th level) at the moment that the tick occurs, then you will be considered to be meditating, and you will regenerate mana. You can quickly stand back up, wait about four seconds, then sit back down again, and check your mana bar -- again, it will increase.

· Now, it is unlikely that you could cast any but the fastest casting spells between ticks, but it is possible. Tashan and Color Flux are quick-casting, and can easily fit in between ticks. Other spells just manage to squeak in -- although the recast delay is more of the issue here.
· When you combine Clarity and strict mana management, it is extremely unlikely that you, the enchanter, will run out of mana ever. (This is not true for other spellcasters!) I spent many a night averaging 50% mana, and I would never deny Clarity to anyone unless my mana was below 20% -- and even then, it wasn't a denial, it was a postponement. There is nothing more exciting in EverQuest than managing a huge battle and, near the end, scraping by on 10% mana while still keeping the last two remaining creatures enthralled while the party rests before taking on these last two, and being able to cast a couple buffs on party members, too, while a third creature spawns, and then you manage to get the third one under control, too!

· If you can manage to do all that, then you aren't just a pro -- you're a master in my book.

Tactics -- Defensive Spells

Enchanters do get minor defensive spells, which, while technically buffs, are nevertheless too frequently ignored by enchanters. These spells include the Rune series, the Berserker series, and Feedback.

· As you get higher in level, the cost of the various Rune spells (up to Rune III, anyway) becomes trivial, and keeping the Rune spells up when in battle situations, or during any potential danger, is not only important but also life-saving. In the middle of a battle, one of the best spells an enchanter can use to protect the life of a friend is to use a Rune spell. Consequently, during battle sequences, having Rune memorized, or available to be memorized quickly, really adds value to the enchanter.

· Even when a creature completely resists the enchanter's spells, the creature cannot resist the effects of a damage shield placed on himself or someone else.
· The Rune series uses spell components, which makes its use prohibitive at lower levels. At higher levels, it becomes important always to have jaspers on hand to cast Rune III. Rune IV is arguably better, but it requires a spell component that costs twelve times as much, and requires 25% more mana, for a mere 25%-30% more protection. For defensive purposes, Rune III is generally a better choice. It can be recast rather quickly, usually faster than damage is being applied to the target.

· When possible, telling the victim to back off and mesmerizing the creature is a better choice. But this isn't always possible. In some cases, the creature may be much higher level than the caster. The creature might simply be immune to mesmerization. Or the enchanter might be suffering from low charisma at a given moment. In these cases, crowd control is difficult to impossible, and so other tactics become necessary.
· The taunt factor of the Rune series is at least as bad as (and probably worse than) healing, so you cannot use them a lot in a fight, without risking death.

· The Berserker series is a component-free way to give someone a damage shield. It is primarily a short-duration strength increaser. It is not much of a damage shield, however -- much less than the Rune series -- and it suffers from a penalty to agility, which many melee types do not want. Consequently, you will rarely get requests for these spells, and I would recommend using them only in a situation where the enchanter has no spell components for Rune, and he needs to do something to give the cleric time to heal. It is unlikely, however, that these spells would even be memorized when such a crisis presents itself, so these spells are unlikely to be useful.

· Feedback is a moderately good passive damage spell. It does eleven points of damage to any attacker each time the attacker strikes the protected creature. It is often ignored by enchanters who spend any amount of time with druids or magicians, however, since each of these classes offers a better passive damage spell. But when none of these casters is around, or when they are but aren't casting their own passive damage spells (fire shield, or thorns, or whatever), buffing the puller with this spell before he goes to pull can add up. And if you ever have a pet summoned, using this spell on the pet can be useful if the pet is frequently being hit.

· Feedback should have been a shield that reflects up to eleven points of damage back on the attacker -- not just passive damage, but reflecting some damage back. (That's what feedback is -- feeding something sent out back to what fed it.) Unfortunately, it's just a passive damage shield. Don't let the name deceive you.
· An enchanter's Haze line of AC-enhancing buffs is better than nothing, but not quite what a cleric has available. If you have no cleric or paladin around, using these spells can shave a few points of damage off an enchanter during each fight -- as well as for anyone else in the party. The effect is largely negligible, however. It is probably better for melee types who, with a much higher armor class already, might perceive a real difference in damage being done. Use these spells on yourself and your pet, but don't expect much from them.

Tactics -- Illusions

At higher levels, illusions are more than just useful for sneaking into enemy cities. Most illusions have some form of benefit that they bestow on the enchanter. Unfortunately, they may only be cast upon the enchanter himself, which limits their usefulness.

· The first important one is Illusion:Dark Elf, which provides Ultravision for those who don't have it. Unfortunately, being a dark elf isn't the best way to make friends in most areas of the game, so its uses are somewhat limited.
· Illusion: Troll now (finally) grants an extra point of regeneration per tick. If you don't have a healer, or your healer is low on mana, then use this illusion to help reduce the amount of mana your healer will have to spend, or to reduce your own down time. Just don't do it in areas where trolls are hated. Always consider any nearby NPC from a distance before approaching him with this (or any other) illusion on, of course.

· Illusion: Water Elemental grants the ability to breath under water. Unlike Enduring Breath, it requires no spell component, but it does alter racial faction.
· Illusion: Air Elemental grants the ability to levitate. It also requires no spell component, and also alters racial faction. With this illusion, Aviaks will generally regard the agnostic enchanter indifferently -- not that that matters much....
· Illusion: Fire Elemental grants a twelve-point passive fire shield. It beats Feedback for damage. If you need a passive damage spell for yourself, use this instead. Just beware that many NPC's hate elementals, so don't use this around guards.

· Illusion: Earth Elemental simply grants +10 STR. Since this is the same as the first level enchanter spell, which costs much less mana, there is little reason (except perhaps to change racial faction) to use this spell at all.
· Illusion: Skeleton is mostly for amusement purposes. While it might offer some general protection from undead, don't count on it. In most dungeons, the undead there have dungeon-related faction, and racial faction cannot make up for dozens or hundreds of deaths to the denizens of the dungeons.

· Illusion: Dry Bones Skeleton is similar to Illusion: Skeleton -- but it also adds a +25 Sv Fire bonus, which is the only elemental protection spell an enchanter ever gets.
· Illusion: Spirit Wolf gives enchanters a very indifferent faction with most creatures. I guess the thinking is that a Spirit Wolf is pretty much ignored by everyone (if you saw a hazy, spirit-like wolf wander by, watching you, but otherwise minding its own business, would you be upset?). Howeve