Sit down class!, Everyone pull out your notebooks, get a pen handy, pay me the compensatory bottle of Tequila and get ready to learn!
Now for our First Lesson, Lets take a look at The basics...the Tools of the Trade if you will!;
Spells:
Obviously every Bit Helps and Getting your RK3 spells should be Very High priority for you! (as well as your Type3 Augs), heres a List of my personal spell setup when im full burning a big ugly!~
1.Impose For Blood - (12935 Dmg, Procs Chaotic Power *30-160% DoT Dmg Mod*)
2.Dichotomic Paroxysm - (17774 Dmg/tic Base + 250% return as Lifetap)
3.Pyre of Jorobb - (4243 Dmg/tic Base)
4.Ignite Synapses - (3654 + 467 Dmg/tic Base)
5.Pyre of Marnek - (3666 Dmg/tic Base)
6.Ignite Thoughts - (3156 + 404 Dmg/tic Base)
7.Annihilation - (3023 Dmg/tic Base)
8.Glistenwing Venom - (3087 Dmg/tic Base *Decays*)
9.Pyre of Hazarak - (3023 Dmg/tic Base)
10.Termination - (2742 Dmg/tic Base)
11.Smouldering Shadow - (2384 Dmg/tic Base )
12.Chaotic Liquefaction - (Chance to proc one or both of Liquefaction (1970 Dmg/tic Base)/Pyre of the Lost (2283 Dmg/tic Base) + 10% Disease dmg mod/116 point dis/poi Debuff on mob)
Preliminary Subins for Average length fights (2-3m+):
9.Mortiferous Wounds - (2170 Base Dmg/tic) - begets Violent Proliferation2 (12835 Dmg/tic Base)
10.Mortiferous Wounds - (1969 Base Dmg/tic) - begets Violent Proliferation1 (11088 Dmg/tic Base)
11.Necrotizing Wounds - (1624 Base Dmg/tic) - begets Violent Necrosis (9143 Dmg/tic Base)
These are to be used at the very beginning of fights on boss mobs then switched back out for the primary spellset, once the Recourse triggers these may be switched back in once more
Keep in mind this is by no means the Perfect spell set
P.S ~ All Dmg Values Derived from the Highest rank of each Spell
Alternate Spell sets for Specific Encounters; Swift // fire // poison // mezz/charm // undead // rezz // AE
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It's Dangerous to Go Alone! Take this acquiescent Slave with you and force it to take upon itself the greater portion of the danger you yourself will bring upon your party...
Pet Care:
Your pet is your single greatest Ally, in Group or Raid play he can lend you an incredible degree of power. Whether he's tanking a TBM named and staying alive on mere RB heals for the final 90% of the mob despite the fact your merc just got 1 shot by a DoT not 15s into the fight (This actually happened, I'm not exaggerating) or he's freely giving you credit for his Raid DPS which honestly rivals some of your fellow PCs, You have the duty... neigh... privilege of assuring your tiny companion is capable of doing his very damndest.
As far as Equipment Goes, I've done some parsing regarding the benefits of PC gear for your pet and will thenceforth provide the link for the results;
EXAMPLE PET GEAR :
Gear.....................................................AC........Attk
Chipped Shards of Dread ( Ear )................61........18
Foreman's Spiked Bracer (wrist)................96.........26
Tae Ew Stitched Spaulders (shoulder)..........67........32
Banded Feather Streak.............................120.......23
The Matriarch's Hunting Vest (chest)..........194.......27
Stalker's Poisonous Wristband (wrist).........114.......19
Ring of the Fearborn (ring).........................64......37
Carved Bone Totem (range)........................65......26
Snake Tooth Sandals (foot)........................112......22
Blunder Blockers (hands)...........................113.....20
Last Light Bolters (legs).............................146.....25et
Equipment Parses;
With this you should be able to form a general idea of what you can/should be providing your pet. Please note that you should NEVER give him a back slot item, as it will replace his Cloak of Enhancement - (Note the version of the cloak your pet receives is dependent on your rank of Enhanced Minion
Getting him Buffs should be equally important to you if you intend to sincerely suck less, assuring Full Chanty/Ranger/Shaman/Beast Buffs is a decent starting point. On raids, it's to your benefit if you can get him fully buffed during a preparatory period, this will allow you to cast Frenzy/Second Spire/Lingering Nightmares on your pet and Suspend him prior to your next encounter to allow you to pop out a fully Burning pet on engage whilst still having those very burns on cooldown! (Please Note, Don't ever... ever use Second Spire During any fight, it's only real use is preburning your pet)
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Billy! we have yet only just begun the lesson, Somebody wake him up please! *sigh*, lets keep the ball rolling with some "Minor" DPS mods, keep in mind lil ones...Every bit helps!;
Augs:
As mentioned prior, the Irae Faycite shard augs are a must buy, in addition to that if you're earnestly attempting to maximize your output, I recommend forgoing traditional augs in your Primary/Secondary/Range slots, below are the best examples I can come up with for Proc augs
Ancient Diamond Spellcharm - (900 Base Dmg Proc, Slot 4 for your Epic)
Bone Shards of Frozen Marrow - (1050 Base Dmg Proc, Slot 8 for your Epic)
Exotic Gem - (900 Base Dmg Proc, Slot 8 for your Secondary)
Sodkee's Sympathetic Stone - (225 Base Dmg Proc, Slot 8 for your Range)
The following Data was derived off of separate 100 cast attempt parses
Proc Rate Breakdown for Sympathetic DD Augs;
1 Proc Aug = 35% Overall Proc Rate off Detrimental Spells
2 Proc Augs = 81% Overall Proc Rate off Detrimental Spells
3 Proc Augs = 118% Overall Proc Rate off Detrimental Spells
4 Proc Augs = 157% Overall Proc Rate off Detrimental Spells
By slot (With 4 Augs):
Primary (Slot 4): 41% Proc Rate
Primary (Slot 8 ): 36% Proc Rate
Secondary (Slot 8 ): 38% Proc Rate
Range (Slot 8 ): 42% Proc Rate
It can probably be safely assumed that the proc rate by slot would normalize over a longer period of time, all things considered there doesn't appear to be any real importance as to which slot you dedicate your strongest proc aug to. We'll assume the mean to be 40% proc rate~
Over the Course of 100 casts, Assuming perfect Crit Rate with 793 Spell DMG and no other Mods:
Bone Shards of Frozen Marrow = 250080 Additional Damage
Exotic Gem = 220000 Additional Damage
Ancient Diamond Spellcharm = 220000 Additional Damage
Sodkee's Sympathetic Stone = 84760 Additional Damage
I know this is pretty overly optimistic, but meh to you sirs, meh~
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Dammit DV didn't clean up his Druid Pie, excuse me while I clean up this Mess!....While im busy here's a Historcal Instructional Video about Clickies!;
Clicks/Tricks:
Blightbringer's Tunic of the Grave - (Considered by most to be the Holy Grail of OP'd Clicks, this little baby will Increase your DoT Crit Rate by a rediculous 40% for 30 Seconds ...*1 min with proper AA's/Foci)
Robe of Whispered Death - (Got Bloodmagic Running? well here's a Treat for you!, When clicked this robe will incur a 378 HP LoT on your target for 42 seconds ...*Roughly 1.5 mins with Proper AA/Foci*... Giving you a much appreciated hand on staying alive!)
Shadow Vexed Silk Robe - (A Pet Lifetap proc Clicky!, who doesn't hate having to watch your pets hp while your burning and yearnin? lets be honest its annoying as **** but with this little baby you can atleast take your mind off of the bastard a bit more and make sure Chaotic Power is running! *There is a raid version with a better Proc and shorter Recast, but Goodluck finding someone to come do those TSS Raids!*)
Dagger of Death/Aged Shissar Deathspeaker Staff (Shared Timers) - (Grab one of these, dagger preferably, for some extra free DPS)
Miragul's Greaves of the Risen Soul - (Long cast time makes it kind of unwieldy)
Necromantic Dragon Bone - (Bonus 22511 Base Dmg Lifetap for dangerous moments)
Holgresh Elder Beads - ("Wait a sec...has he gone crazy?" you're thinking...no indeed i haven't, Prior to ANY event/engage you can click an eye of zomm out and Nuke it with Impose to Proc Chaotic Power! its simple yet extremely effective for boosting your parse power)
Ancient Hedgewizard Brew - (6500 Base Dmg Proc off any Detrimental Spell - This stacks with Cascade of Decay and Flesh to Poison, great free DPS option) *Expendable
Tonic of Efficiency Affinity IX-XI - (Adds 1 Tic to all Non-Swift DoTs, You can use Potions up to 19 levels lower than the spells you're casting for the desired effect) *Expendable
Swarm Pets:
Darkwater Soulslaver Robe - (Roughly 410k Dmg per cast)
Amulet of the Drowned Mariner - (Roughly 100k Dmg per cast)
Vicious Rabbit - (Roughly 85k Dmg per cast)
Cermaic Raptor Statuette/Ceramic Butterfly Statuette - (Roughly 85k Dmg per cast) *Expendable
Jury-Rigged Arc Worker - (Roughly 85k Dmg per cast) *Expendable
There's a few others like Cloth Cap and Dog Whistle but their damage is so minimal it's mostly just a favor to mages to be casting them.
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Foci's:
I don't think I need to go into too much detail here, Raid > Cult Raid > Group, fairly simple.
In addition to worn foci, it's extremely important that you use the Twinge of Pain II Tribute buff, it'll shave about .2-.3s off each DoTs' casting time
Empowerment of Shadows - (Aquired via the Deathwhisper Shard of the Ancients *Epic 2.5*...this being one of the most sought after Necro toys, improves your innate DoT Crit chance rate an additional 2%! aquiring it however is a total Pita... unless you buy me some Tequila /hint /hint)
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Alternate Advancement:
The basis of all uberness, AA points are not only incredibly easy to obtain by a Necro...but the AA's themselves are mostly innate making it fairly easy to max your potential. Since most of these are pretty self explanatory, I don't really feel the need to explain what they do unless someone comes to me with a misunderstanding regarding one. I will however post the innate DoT crit table to give you an idea of where you stand in regards to your innate crit rate~
aa PATH:
Read-Only: AA Guide / Path (Checklist) MASTER - Necrotalk.com
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As you can see, your innate crit rate is 72% at max AA (might be 71, as the first rank of blood tithe may not be 2%). This means we're pretty much perma 100% crit rate during raids, as auspice currently adds an additional 33% for a total of 105% (Your CoA Robe is officially sadsauce :/). In the rare instances that you do not have Auspice, both your CoA robe and Intensity will bring your crit rate all the way up to 112%/122% respectively... Bard Epic/Fierce eye will bring it to 94%, gimply ass bards (CoP4 does dick all for us if you're curious)~
AA's That I've been asked about:
Reluctant Benevolence: Although the description states that RB will only fire off lifetap spells, it's very important that everyone be aware that RB can and will proc off any Detrimental Spell above level 90 with a set mana cost, This Means DoTs/Nukes and even your cast swarm pets. Weapon procs should not trigger RB whatsoever though it has been reported within the necro channel. As a sidenote, Chaotic Liquefaction will almost always proc RB due to it's multi-cast attempt nature, so don't die like a noob please!
Gift of Deathly Resolve: When you activate the AA you'll be given a 1m10s Buff "Gift of Deathly Resolve" in your main buff window, this is not the indicator that you have a twincast in the barrel! You need to cast a Direct Damage spell (Impose/Combust/Call Skeleton ___/Chaotic are prime Options) to trigger the short durtation buff "Deathly Resolve" in your song window, this 21s buff is your actual Twincast buff and the next level 91+ DoT you cast whilst Deathly Resolve is on you will be Twincasted. Simply Keep alternating in nukes and continue through your DoT lineup!
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Execution:
This is where it tends to get tricky, and I'm loathe to give away all of my secrets, but I will do the favor of giving you a general idea of what your burns should be. I'm going to give a breakdown for a general length/devoid of mechanics mob, I can give more detailed advice for individual encounters upon request, but I expect everyone can make their own adjustments.
To begin the encounter, you'll generally want to get all 3 of your Wounds DoTs on the Boss asap as previously mentioned, only once the primary DoT has roughly 30s remaining before it triggers the recourses should you engage in your prebuffing for the main burn.
Main Burn
Prebuffs;
Focus of Arcanum: Lowers the probability of spells being resisted - Lasts 5m
Mercurial Torment: Additional 25% spell haste for DoTs (yes this stacks and equates to an additional .2-.3s off your cast times) - Lasts 4m
Silent Casting: Just because FDing mid burn is lame - Lasts 2m
Flesh to Poison: You'll want to have as many counters available as po - Lasts 2h/24 counters
Frenzy of the Dead: It does this! and you'll want to hit your pet with it prior to busy time
Lingering Nightmares: Grants your pet 10 counters of an 18k lifetap proc
Actual Burn;
Gift of Deathly Resolve: Any DD spell you cast will grant you a twincast on your next DoT - Lasts 1m 10s
Glyph of the Cataclysm: Increases DoT Crit Dmg by 60% - Lasts 2m
Hand of Death: Alternate/Unlimited counter version of Chaotic Power, Increases DoT damage 30-120% - Lasts 5m
Third Spire of Necromancy: Increases the damage of Critical DoT tics by and Additional 175% - Lasts 1m 30s
Embalmer's Carapace: Increase crit DoT Dmg by an Additional 125% - Lasts 46s
CoA Robe (Curse of Muram): 40% to your DoT Crit rate (Only if there's no Auspice on you) - Lasts 1m
Secondary Burn
Funeral Pyre: Increase base DoT dmg by 40% at the cost of increased mana usage. This does not Stack with Chaotic Power/Death's Grip and is therefore to be used separately - Lasts 2m
Itensity of the Resolute: 50% DoT crit rate, same rule as the CoA Robe - Lasts 1m
This should be a good baseline for any aspiring Necro who's tired of Pallys outdpsing them, I won't go into things like cast order/weaving and timing the burns and all that fun stuff. I've also likely missed something or other along the way, but I'm still reeling from finishing Clannad and lack the motivation to do much more than what's laid out in this post already. If anyone notes any errors or omissions just let me know and I'll see that it gets fixed.
Here are some Resources to Aid you in your Journey to the top!!!!!!!~
- Here's a link to a very user friendly site for planning your gear (As much Heroic Sta as you can muster is a good thing!) -
EQ - Tier 1, Call of the Forsaken (Raid)
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Necrotalk.com - Powered by vBulletin used to contain some cool info, but it's fairly lame these days
