Kibannu

Cal, when you say 'Storm(Single)' what does that mean exactly? I'm only 75 but I'm just doing my research on how to maximize my DPS since I'll be raiding soon.

Thanks.

Pinski

It means, single-target!

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Kibannu

Well no shit :P Storm is an AE spell, was just curious how it was different than casting on the encounter?

Pinski

If there's only a single mob, it's lower in the casting order because it's not as good whereas if there's more than 1 mob, it's higher because of the fact that it'll do more damage.

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Kibannu

Ah ok cool. Fair enough.

Thanks.

Isodali

This post is so outdated. But it does seem relevant with a few updates. Anyone who debates that Beam should not be cast every time it is up as soon as it comes up, is not a high parse DPS Illy.

I start every battle possible the same way to acheive 4k plus parses, I have done 5k on a few occassions.

Tank calls 5 seconds, cast

Flash of Brilliance
Illuminate
Prismatic Adornment - macro it to a low delay scout or fighter.

Construct of Rationality - Start casting as tank brings mob back if resisted forget it until you have nothing else to cast later.

Chrono
Beam (recast everytime this is up)
Brainclot
Pessimism
Beam
Chromatic Shower (only if long battle, do not use for short battles)
Beam
Gamma Storm
Beam
Prismatic Adornment (recast everytime this is up)
Daunted
Beam
Brainclot
Beam
Drain Consciousness
Beam
Pessimism
Beam
Brainclot
Gamma Storm
Beam
Prismatic Adornment
Beam
Withdraw (Remember this one doesn't dmg till it wears off, so never cast close to end of fight)
Beam

You should get the idea from here the key is to watch your active spells window so you are not duplicating your efforts and wasting a cast on something that is already working. Also resists refreshes and other cirmustances can come up so this list is just a guide to learn from.

Pessimism and Brainclot are the only 2 dots you have that can be cast over itself and reset the timer. If you don't want to actively watch your active spells window then Illy DPS is not for you.

If you run out of shit to cast click regalia and get a Brocks Thermal shocker from Bonemire quest, thing hits for max 1600 and can proc.

Set your hot bars and know what each spell does and don't forget that while dps is great if your not debuffing or using your utility spells that have an effect on the mob you are not helping the raid/group as a whole.

Get it into your head that if you want to do max dps you want to click Beam get that damn thing cast every chance you have it will be 40% or more of your dps every fight.

Macro Prismatic Adornment to the MT and just leave it on the tank all the time if it wears off recast it in the anticipation that the Tank could pull at any second.

Short duration group buffs, don't let them sit just click em on every time they are up as a mob is being pulled. Getting thru the first 10 to 15 seconds of battle until the mob is debuffed is the toughtest part.

Melee dps is ok if you go that route but were just to squishy and it diverts your attention from casting. So IMHO I say forget the melee shit and leave it to the fighters. But if you must melee make a macro.

line 1: /target Tank name here
line 2: /autoattack 01

And make sure you have a button nearby to shut of melee in case you need to mez.

As for gear you need 600 to 750 spell dmg increaser
50 plus Crit rate
Gear that procs dmg is your best friend the calculation for procs is on a 3sec spell cast well we can get 2 casts in that amount of time so we can double the proc rate during any given encounter.

I am sure many have a lot to say about AA's I can and have hit 5k on encounters and I have only finished Tier 1 of RoK rad zones. Here is my setup.

Mana Flow 1
Agi 4,8,8,8,2
Sta 4,4,7
Int 6,4,4,8,2



That's all i got, questions, comments, concerns?

p.s. I use a nostromo N52 game pad to help me cast faster and play better.

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Isodali 80 Illusionist

Pinski

Casting Pessimism before brainclot will lower your DPS. The debuff in a raid situation isn't all that important, not to mention brainclot is unresistable, so tbh it should be your first spell cast because of this.

The fact that you're casting your stun before your stifle is also a huge lowering of DPS. Stifle is worth more DPS than your Stun, and it's also worth more DPS than Storm. Your order also lacks Prismatic Adornment, and also casting it on a tank = bad idea. Casting it on a Rogue, Brawler, or Dirge(in that order) is your best option for max DPS.

__________________
How many times do you hear it? It goes on all day long
Everyone knows everything And no one's ever wrong
Until later...
Who can you believe? It's hard to play it safe
But apart from a few good friends We don't take anything on faith
Until later..

Isodali

I knew I forgot a recast of something, I am at work so I just winged it. But you are right I constantly recast Prismatic. I also macro a scout or whomever has the fastest auto atk that i can find. But even the tank uses up all 3 charges of Prismatic before it is available again so there is not dps loss for that. I will take your advise on Pessimisim and Brainclot & Stun vs stifle. I also see no harm in putting a dps scout in for the Prismatic macro that can be left to interpretation. See edits above.

Also I have Storm and Shower where I do because of multi mob encounters, personally for me it is best to cast them early to get the extra dps in but I can see how moving the stifle up to replace shower could add dps not to mention shower takes forever to cast.

Also I look at what spells I have mastered so the list is slightly biased.

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Isodali 80 Illusionist

Zormik

Quite importantly is to realise there is no such thing as a perfect casting order (a priority order is usefull ofcourse). The faster you realise that the faster your dps will go up. The way i max my dps is by looking at what spells run out when and what spells are up (with a priority ofcourse). It's a quite hectic way of playing but that's imo the difference between doing good dps (doing good dps as an illu is not hard) and doing uber dps as an illu (which is a bit harder). A good illu doesn't have time to read chat and cyber during raids, that's mostly how you recognise an illu worth a damn

For the rest well, i agree with pretty much everything pinski said.

There are a lot of threads about gear but there are certain pieces that are easy to get like a choker that are pretty much a must have for every mage. Depending on the class and the quality of the healer, a good healer will still manage to dps in between.
Items that increase your BASE damage are really by the best pieces we can get like: cm orb (darn it doesn't want to drop for me!), the choker and trak belt (a bit less since it's a silly clicky instead of a proc). Then you have other items like death chimes, wand of malice and the hood of dark dealings in soh that are pretty powerfull procs. But with the wand of malice if you're already an illu who knows how to dps you have a high risk of pulling aggro (i suppose, i still have to get my hands on it).

Also comparing parses from people with other guilds is kinda unrealistic, the best thing you can do is compare your dps with the other mages in your group/raid. If you're parsing on par with wizards (if they know what they are doing) you're doing what you are supposed to do. Also expect a big drop in dps vs. mobs with a lot of cc-effects, lowering casting times, ..., we're very sensitive to those kind of debuffs.

Also i tend to precast flash or illuminate, depending on what's up, precasting construct on the pull is gonna get resisted a lot.

Prismatic adornment is something i precast and try to get running on 2 people by the time the fight starts (i often don't try cause if you melee you don't have much time to start timing things, chainpulls ftw lol). It gives you a nice dpsboost .

Also not running in to melee, well what can i say, i run in on pretty much everything unless it has some nasty aoe. With dispersiongear you can survive a bit better so melee ftw.

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Isodali

I agree with you 100% this is meant to be a starter guide which will help new Illusionists figure out how to DPS. You eed to make it your own based on your group makeup and gear setup.

As far as Prismatic Adornment how do you get it going on 2 people when the reuse timer and the spell timer are the same?

Unless you are close to VP geared don't even bother doing melee on a mob with AE's. Most likely you will be in a mage group with a Fury that is DPS'n too and you will just piss them off making them heal you all the time. I am not saying don't try just don't go out of your way to make it happen if it makes your casting dps suffer.

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Isodali 80 Illusionist