Jaundiced Bone Bracer - to buy or not to buy?

[Troxx]

I never had a JBB and I don't regret it.

I might have leveled faster with it but I enjoyed playing the role and doing the jobs the shaman brings to the table duo/trio/group.

Fungi will help you be a better shaman - so I would recommend you go that route. If you don't already have one - I'd invest the money you do have on an iksar regen bp and resell that later to help finance your fungi. Even the illy regen bp is a game changer.

[Gumbo]

Originally Posted by Troxx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'd invest the money you do have on an iksar regen bp and resell that later to help finance your fungi. Even the illy regen bp is a game changer.

Funny thing about the Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate is the mob that drops the item looks to be easier to kill with less HP than it's PHs.

[jakerees]

Lol. You have almost 14k and want to save up 25k more for a fungi. You think you can get a fungi for 39k? Schnik will not allow that to pass.

[Troxx]

PS: if you really do want to buy one, I'm pretty sure I actually have one on my shaman that I never use (used). I'd have to double check - but if so hit me up.

PPS: I still recommend you go the regen route (Ikky and then Fungi) rather than buy the JBB.

[Lhancelot]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I would definitely recommend buying one. At level 49 having a JBB for soloing is really handy. Maybe not quite as handy as Fungi, but still really handy. With the JBB you can kill mobs by only casting a few roots (and maybe a heal, depending), especially if you also have the epic. Or you can cast your pet, slow the mob, and kill it with melee + pet + JBB (+ epic) damage. Either way, not having to cast DoTs (except epic) reduces downtime a ton, which means faster leveling.

Even when you get a little higher and can't just chain JBB all day, it's still a really useful item to have. And as others have said, if you save up the plat difference to get a fungi, you can always sell your JBB (just beware you might lose some plat on the deal: when I was playing a year or so ago JBB was selling for 20k-ish).

I agree with this.

I used my jbb till 55 lvl, and only stopped because I quit playing the shaman. The bracer enables you to spam a decent nuke using zero mana.

I solo'd tons of guards with it. Iirc, 49 is when you get a really decent pet. With that bracer I would slow Kelethin guards, let the pet tank them, wait till pet beat them down to 90% to get decent aggro then just spam nuked them.

That pet holds aggro, and you essentially can nuke those guards dead with that bracer and 1-2 dots while the pet tanks.

Another tip is if you have not done it yet, get a mage reclaim energy quested item.

These clickies can be used by shamans too from your inventory and make it so you can easily recast your pet spell until you get a good pet. This is important because a higher con pet is significantly more powerful than the weaker ones.

If you really want a fungi and have the time and patience, you could always take that 14k and play the tunnel. Buy low, sell high and within 1-2 weeks you will have 50k.

I realize not everyone likes to do that though, but honestly it's the easiest way for a casual who doesn't raid to make plats quickly.

If you buy a jbb, and find it not that useful for your play style, you can just resell it. They have held their price at 11-14k for months now, so you shouldn't lose any money on it.

[EdTuBrutus]

JBB is probably the most over-rated item in the game. It simply does not offer enough DPS to be useful. Using one will lower your efficiency.

The best case scanario, of an Ogre Shaman in melee range can do about 10% more dps with a JBB than with a GFG (and about the same dps with a PWC vs giant sized mobs) BUT the meleeing Shaman can canni without losing dps (as the canni cast does not reset the swing timer).

If you are trying to Rot mobs then the JBB will greatly increase the amount of recasts you need for Immobolise/Paralysing Earth, killing efficiency. And even if root never breaks, it would still only offer more DPS over canni-dancing for extra DoT casts between L45 and L53 when Canni-dance offers more DoT DPS than JBB.

If you have 14k sitting there, buy an Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate which you can sell when you have enough of the balance for a Fungi.

[EdTuBrutus]

Originally Posted by Lhancelot [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I used my jbb till 55 lvl, and only stopped because I quit playing the shaman. The bracer enables you to spam a decent nuke using zero mana.

This is the big myth about the JBB and why people think its useful.

The problem is that its just not true. Using a JBB costs mana.

You are not medding, you are not cannibalising. You lose mana every time you click a JBB. The opportunity cost for a Canni-dancing L53 Shaman for every JBB cast is 150 mana**. That's a LOT of mana for 253 damage.

** technically you should adjust this for the cost of maintaining Chloroplast but you get the idea.

[Teppler]

Originally Posted by EdTuBrutus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is the big myth about the JBB and why people think its useful.

The problem is that its just not true. Using a JBB costs mana.

You are not medding, you are not cannibalising. You lose mana every time you click a JBB. The opportunity cost for a Canni-dancing L53 Shaman for every JBB cast is 150 mana**. That's a LOT of mana for 253 damage.

** technically you should adjust this for the cost of maintaining Chloroplast but you get the idea.

What else are you doing dps with?

Dots aren't going to always be efficient, especially when the mobs get below 50%.

The longer fights go on the more mobs can dps you too.

There's opportunity cost to burning down a mob quicker than spending time canni/dancing.

[EdTuBrutus]

Originally Posted by Teppler [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What else are you doing dps with?

Dots aren't going to always be efficient, especially when the mobs get below 50%.

The longer fights go on the more mobs can dps you too.

There's opportunity cost to burning down a mob quicker than spending time canni/dancing.

If you are trying to maximise your effiency and killing as many mobs as possible in a given time, then you are doing dps with melee, pet and usually 1 DoT to outdamage pet. You will finish a low health mob with melee and pet.

If you are insisting on Rotting, even the lowest level pet will finish unslowed blue mobs at sub-DoT levels of health.

You can only ever get higher efficiency using a JBB between L45 and L53 and that is ONLY if you never get interrupts, never get root breaks. Because of this, you'll almost always still be better Rotting or Meleeing even in the theoretical golden zone for a JBB.

Also, and crucially for your second point, at 26.3dps *max*, using a JBB for your damage is the SLOWEST way to kill a mob you have available. It puts you at most risk for the most time of taking additional damage from the mob.

[Troxx]

It is most useful for the lowest levels where you can click it - after that it's meh. At the high level you do more damage using your spells + canni/med/etc.

As has been pointed out it is not a "free to cast spell" given its long cast time. You give up mana (med and canni), hp (sitting regen bonus), melee dps (if meleeing), and flexibility in support jobs while clicking.

If soloing, root breaks also means casting it costs you health in getting beat on.

Decent tool in certain situations but over-rated.