Dont know why your being out parsed by a bard?
Your pet getting dominated every time you blink?
Is your pet turning around pointing and laughing saying you suck and to re roll?
No worries!
In this guide will cover the basics as well as some of the intricacies of the conj class.Will also focus on getting raid ready.
Will cover:
General overview of the class
Spells/Stats/Gear/Modifiers
Pet management
Group set up/Buffs
Spell rotation
Group play
Being Raid ready
Why play a counjuror?
Conj is a high damage class with good utility and great versatility with help from their summoned pets.We don't melt faces like wizards......so if expecting to shoot laser beams out of your eyes don't read any further.
In solo/group and even raids Conjs have some of the highest survivability through means of our pets.With having a tank for solo or a damage pet to split off some of the aggro you as a whole generate in groups and raids....be prepared for the jealousy tells.
Now don't get me wrong versatility and survivability is all great and good but our #1 job in raids is to DPS.Sure we can pass out shards for a little bit of power or summon that late person to the raid.....but don't let that tiny bit of utility go to your head cause our main job is to DPS.
Spells/Stats/Gear/Modifiers
SPELLS:
When starting our you wanna get your main pets and Aoe/single target nukes so get them first to help you progress through the levels.As far as everything else like buffs ....well they will help but that is your preference cause do to your cash flow you might be limited.So go pets first then nukes and don't worry whole lot about buffs.
When reach T8.................
Upgrade them all!
There really is no logical reason not to.To maximize the most out of your Conj you upgrade everything weather it is a improvement of 1 pct or 20.Money or the availability of rares is so abundant that using any excuse to not upgrade to atleast adept 3s as long as it is a improvement is just being lazy.So do it cause this is first step if want to be respectable imo.
Stats:
Most important is int.This will improve the base damage of spells as well as improve your power pool.Next is Stam ....that improves your HPs.
Now as your leveling up int is main focus of what you wanna raise.But when get to t6/t7/t8 stats as well as resists become something less to worry about through nature progression of the gear you will obtain.
Having a good selection of gear to boost resists is nice and prob only is only a thought to different back up gear choices for raiding if based solely on stats.
So all in all stats is almost meaning less to worry about because they will come.
Gear/armor/weponary
You put alot of time and effort towards getting gear that when you equip it really should mean something.When you look at a piece of gear DO NOT LOOK at the quality tag of the item.It shouldn't matter if something is handmade,treasured,legendary,fabled....most important thing is if it is worth to wear by improving your character......then thats what you want.
What you want here is damage procs till about t8.From T8 on damage procs take a back seat more towards + spell damage and +crits.Having a wide array of damage procing gear/power procing ear/Modification procs is the way to go.While trying to keep a good balance of +crit and +spell adding goodies from proc gear will enhance your character greatly.
A Beginner base to shoot for is +40 pct crit and +500 spell damage then work your way up from there.
Besides proc gear there is also click activated gear.When you click the item the effect is applied to you.Their are some great items but are situational at best.Most commonly are primary/secondary/ranged items that you can switch in and out with ease from your hot bar.
Remember tho when comparing no switchable items pay attention.You need to look at the recast of the item to see if its actually worth having it equipped verse a full time effect or a proc item.
+Effects and Modifiers
+Spell damage....+crit...+casting speed ect ect....what do these things mean and how do they work?
Can be complicated ...but its really not.will list what will mostly apply to the conj class.Will get these effects mostly from gear itself and plays the biggest part in gear choices along with procs.
+Spell Damage[aka BoE]-This effect is applied to the base damage of a damage spell.Base damage is the value of the spell it self and is increase by INT,Crits and direct buffs.Another commonly used term for +spell damage is BoE or bolt of energy......which was the name of the original effect.
Their is no max amount of +spell damage you can have....but the max a spell can benefit from this effect is half of the base damage of the spell.
Example: say your spell does 1000 damage....then the max amount of spell damage that can be apply is 500.
Now even tho a spell can have up to half of the base damage applied to it ................it doesn't apply it self the same to each spell.
Here is the formulas used to figure out the max +spell damage for each type of spell.
Single target nuke =50 pct of base damage
DoTs=50 pct of total base damage of the total damage of all ticks of duration of dot....applies on first tick.
Aoe nuke=1/3 of base damage of spell applied to each mob that the AoE hits
AoE dot=1/3 of base damage of the total damage of all ticks of duration of dot.Its applied to each mob that the spell hits with the +spell damage occurring on first tick.
Another example:
Say you cast shattering on a 5 mob encounter.The total damage of shattering is 1000 damage over the full duration.On the first tick the spell would hit with 333 extra damage.
+Spell damage is prob on of your biggest and best bang for your buck improvement.
+Crit.
This Improves your critical hit chance.Critical hits are a improvement to base damage of spell by up to 30 pct.Critical hits are applied before +spell damage and the hit rate is targets of your level.The max amount of crit rate you can have is 100 pct.Tho 100 pct is the max that is against same level targets and will scale down the higher level a mob is.The exact formula is unknown on the amount of scaling and its also debatable weather going above the max of 100 will negate the scale issue.
+CRIT is another highly sought after effect and should be first or second main focus along with +spell damage.
+Spell casting time
Reduces amount of time to cast a spell.Because of conj AA the need for this effect is minimal at best and is prob the last effect to worry about.
The max amount that you can reduce a spells cast time is 50 pct.
+REUSE
This is the most underrated Modifier in the game imo.After casting a spell you have to wait a certain amount of time before you can recast the spell.This effect reduces that time thus having the capability to recast it faster.
This modifier is difficult to obtain due to the rarity of gear that has this modifier on it.Tho there are buffs with this type of modifier like jesters cap but they are temporary.So all things considered +reuse is the one of hardest to obtain on a constant basis.+Reuse cap is 50 pct same as + spell casting.
+BASE DAMAGE
This modifier will increase increase the base damage of a spell.This modifier is with out doubt the hardest in game to obtain.Their are aonly a handfull of items that contain this effect.
IMO this is the Single best thing you can do to improve your dps by way of modifiers.This modifier will improve +spell damage and also the crit amount because it improves the base damage.Max on +base damage is unknown.
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MY Rankings OF Modifiers:
+base damage
+reuse
+crit
+spell damage
+spell haste
Now everyone has different gear so my rankings might be different from your own view....but that is how i value these.
Pet Management:
Now this here is prob one of biggest downfalls to a conj.....not paying attention and taking care of your pet.
Your pet is not only your side kick but it is a extension of yourself.
Here are a few things to note:
Pets have their own hate list and generate their own aggro.
Pets will have line of sight issues much more so then players...cause well they are stupid.
Pets will receive all group buffs and are limited same as players with distance.
When your pet dies all the aggro it accrued on its own while alive will be transfered to you.
As said earlier pets are stupid and will need to be commanded not to protect it self or owner if either or are attacked in anyway...They or you do not have to take any damage at all for the pet to engage a mob .
Now that thats done will continue.
Want to know best way possible to keep pet alive dureing raids?
Go and download Advanced combat tracker<ACT>.This is a parse program that allows you to time most any AE that a mob has in its arsenal.Its easy to use and set up......so go download it....use it and love it.
Besides that we have multiple spells/AA that will help protect the pet.But the most important thing is pay attention.We do not send the pet to attack and go /afk.
Pay attention to your pet if a mob repositions the pet will either likely do also or will stand their like a idiot and try to cast on something he cant see.Get to know your call servant spell cause you will use it alot.Even if pet is in casting stance it may not be able to cast spells so either watch its power or call servent to your location.
Basically learn to handle your pet ..its stupid as i said....so dont you be stupid and think can just send it out and not have to worry about it.
Group set up/Buffs
Simple what you want that will maximize your Conj and pets performance.
First and most important is a troubador in your grp.There is nothing in the game that will help you more.With Buffs that will increase crit/damage proc from casting spells and the ability to reduce your reuse time there is nothing better.Also to note with Troub epic the focus effects +Base damage group wide.
Arias-30 pct chance to proc damage...group wide constant buff that effects pet and you.
Maestro line-Another buff that procs damage off spell casts.Effects you and your pet.About 36 sec duration with a min recast.
Jesters cap-reduces reuse by about 40 pct.lasts 30 or so secs with a 90 sec immunity.Single target.
Harmonization: -reduces duration of dots by 10 pct/increases effects by 10 pct.
Those spells right there will prob increase a conjs dps by 20 pct.So without doubt a troubadour is irreplaceable to you.
Other Buffs to know about
:
Illusionist........synergism/tandem can be cast out of grp and 40 pct chance to proc damage with a deagro attached to it.If your lucky can be applied to pet......but takes concentration slot so often its on another mage.
Wizard -Ice lash.....damage proc from spell casts.....should be cast as often as possible.....group only
Warlock-propagations....constant buff that improves spells with pct triggers.....group only
Mystic Ancestry: AA that increases the trigger percentage of all of the target ally’s spells and items by 3%
Mystic/Defiler:Ritual of Alacrity: Mystic/Defiler AA that improves casting speed, recast speed and recovery speed of all spells by 33% (30 second duration / 1 min 30s recast).
Templar-Blessings increases item proc chances by 20 pct.
Templer/inquisitor:AA that increases the casting speed of group members by 50%, and the recovery speed of group members by 33%.
There are others that are minor but these are the main ones that you want.
Who do i buff.
Simple put seed on any melee or any one that will melee if no scout/fighters in the group.Put it on your self also.As long as someone melees seed will be put to use.
Since it takes a concentration slot will be limited on how many free slots you many have.
Put our ds first on a off tank that will be dealing with alot of adds or just put on main tank.The damage is credited to your total.The aggro also is accredited to your aggro.
Spell rotation-Raid focused
The most asked about subject imo.Simple rule here tho.....always be casting.Thats right we are indeed a spam class and with AA and class catered buffs we are designed that way.
A few points cause there are posts on this subject and is something everyone has to learn on their own.So everything here is generalized and not a be all end all rotation on a silver plater for you.
1.Always be casting something
2.Pay attention as to what your casting in relation to mobs health......dont bother casting blazing avatar when mob is at 10 pct health.
3.Snapping mandible/crystal blast line should almost always be casted in between every other spell.Its our highest damage spell use it every time its up.Unless its a encounter where its a AE encounter and your AE spells are up and ready.
4.Try to always precast Blazing before pull comes in.
5.Use communion/swarm as pull is coming in and time it so reach mob as soon as tank has aggro.
6.Dont waste elemental vestment/unity by precasting it and casting communion/swarms with it.
7.Elemental unity should always be used in connection with plane shift.
8.jesters cap should be on when casting plane shift and also should be on when elemental unity is gonna drop.Since the recast time doesn't start on elemental unity till spell has run its coarse ...it needs to end when jesters cap is on.
9.first spell cast in any rotation is frigid winds/winds of velious after precasts and immediately after casting of e.vestment/unity.
Those are some tips.As i said spell rotation needs to be learned and is always being fine tuned due to lag/buffs so on and so forth.Ater awhile you wont even need to think about what spell to cast ...cause it will become second nature.
Group play
Group play is a different ball game with conj effectiveness.A well played grp will steamroll through content.So as it is group play is prob conjs weakest point cause of speed of kills.A few things can do to maximize yourself.
1.Precast blaze and unlike a raid precast elemental unity as much as possible.
2.Only use fastest casting spells on single targets.....
3.AE encounters don't chain all your AE spells together.....most likely tank wont be able to hold it.
4.Save frigid winds for emergency.........never know when youll have to be the hero and kite the mob while group rezzes up.
5.Don't tab target....if have to use f8 or what ever /target cloest mob button is.
Not much else......just don't be stupid like using earthquake near doorways and such.
Raid ready
Whats that mean?
Exactly what it say when going to a raid be read and be prepared.
Use everything and have everything at your disposal.
Crit potions
cure potions
Clarity potions
Pearls
Good food and drink
City status signets....like rez and ae immune.
Repair kits
All these are easy to get so shouldn't have many excuses not to have em.
Have ACT up and running......you downloaded it right?
Reboot if have to....nothing will destroy a parse more then you lagging.
Check and learn the icons of the buffs you will want on you.
Make sure pet is set to not protect you or it self......nothing more embarrassing then pet running off to try to kill a mob cause mob fired off a AE of some sort then mob kills the pet runs to you and frontals AE the raid wiping out 3/4 of your force.........yes it has happened lol
Watch how mob comes in and if can be in back of mob melee it.Thats right as long as there isn't a ae it has that can kill you there is no reason not to melee a mob.Each spell has recovery time witch is you cant cast another spell,generally its .5 secs.In that half a sec in your in melee range you will swing at the mob and do damage.That could mean like 50+ dps that your missing out.And you will be in range to use earthquake.So don't be lazy and click the swords crossed button.
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And in closing make sure your always trying and paying attention.Don't be lazy watch your pet and collect your loot.
When in doubt look here- A Counjour's guide
