Don't forget you have your own nearly spammable single target knockback as well with Warped Blast.
After I got Pandamonium I have to be nearly asleep to not top the damage charts in a scenario, so no you don't have to worry about hitting 16 and still not being able to put the pressure on.
As for the Mastery Trees, I don't know how they don't look appealing to you. Demon has Aegis and Rift, Changing has Endless Pandamonium, Mist and several other things, and Havoc has bolt of change which if you haven't used it, you turn into a single target god. Bolt of Change + Mutating Blue fire=two shotting people at 40 if both crit.
Well, I'm convinced enough to give Magus a fair shot, especially with the queuing change that just went in, and the knowledge that eventually Maguses are due a buff. That, and my Sorceress' fragility is really starting to chap my ass.
Your double-crit argument isn't too convincing, though; aren't the odds of two crits in a row something in the area of 1-3%? :P
Your double-crit argument isn't too convincing, though; aren't the odds of two crits in a row something in the area of 1-3%? :P
Depends entirely on your crit rate. Chaos Unleashed tactic alone would add +15% to the crit rate of both the spells he mentioned. With the right tactics, gear and renown mastery buffs, I could see 25-30% spell crit being attainable in the long run. That works out to a 6-9% chance to do back to back crits. It's no I-win button, but every 10-20 targets...
15% crit talent? Well slap my ass and call me Charlie.
Guess I'll give 'em a fair go tonight. Now I have to, in my usual way, mentally debate the value of the various trees before I'm even remotely high enough in rank for it to matter for the rest of the day! Yay!
I'm not topping any damage charts with my rank 7 magus, but it is nice to be basically ignored in the tier1 scenarios.... 0 deaths means that I actually do a fair amount of damage/kills by the end.
Lots of Arrers plus the Big Shootin' mastery talent that decreases the Plink time by 1 second are huge and go far towards bumping up the Squig Hunter's dps. LOA is such a powerful, loud, noticeable attack that enemies in RvR that find themselves the target of it usually run away at full speed, making it a particularly good way to harass healers.
It was shown in the Alliance forums that Lots O Arrers does more damage overall, in theory, than Plink, even with the 1s tactic. Also Lots O Arrers ticks 7 times over the 2 seconds it is active and thus has 7 chances to crit.
Based on this information, I would argue that the tactic that gives 50AP for a critical hit using a Big Shootin ability is incredibly useful. If you crit just twice during a Lots O Arrers attack, you will have paid for the cost of the ability entirely and some. And you crit alot. I had over 5k crits before I was level 5 with my Squig Herder.
The tactic is useful for all of the Big Shootin abilities and should probably be on everyone's tactic bar that spends points into the Mastery line.
I can't stress enough how often and how fast I can burn through SH's AP. This tactic changes that completely.
Lots of Arrers plus the Big Shootin' mastery talent that decreases the Plink time by 1 second are huge and go far towards bumping up the Squig Hunter's dps. LOA is such a powerful, loud, noticeable attack that enemies in RvR that find themselves the target of it usually run away at full speed, making it a particularly good way to harass healers.
It was shown in the Alliance forums that Lots O Arrers does more damage overall, in theory, than Plink, even with the 1s tactic. Also Lots O Arrers ticks 7 times over the 2 seconds it is active and thus has 7 chances to crit.
Based on this information, I would argue that the tactic that gives 50AP for a critical hit using a Big Shootin ability is incredibly useful. If you crit just twice during a Lots O Arrers attack, you will have paid for the cost of the ability entirely and some. And you crit alot. I had over 5k crits before I was level 5 with my Squig Herder.
The tactic is useful for all of the Big Shootin abilities and should probably be on everyone's tactic bar that spends points into the Mastery line.
I can't stress enough how often and how fast I can burn through SH's AP. This tactic changes that completely.
Isn't that tactic restricted to only going off once every 3 seconds?
I'm not sure how it works with the Engineer and Magus, but I think the Squig Herder is probably one of the tougher classes to play. The problem is directing your squig to attack, as well as DPSing. SH's have no real AoE's worth mentioning (Exploding Arrer' don't count). So as you engage a target in RvR, you're constantly re-targeting, and re-purposing your squig - and squig's don't move fast at all. So it takes a bit of caution before you can set him lose, 'cause you might not see him again for a while.
Of course, we've only got two real worthy PvR squigs, so you can detonate one of them, and re-summon the other instantly, but the ranged squig is bugged, and really, 2nd best to the horned squig.
m i rite or whut?
Edit: Also - any SH's figured out how to use Head Butt? My horned squig gets the ability, but it's not showing up on the ability bar. Bug?
I'm not sure how it works with the Engineer and Magus, but I think the Squig Herder is probably one of the tougher classes to play. The problem is directing your squig to attack, as well as DPSing. SH's have no real AoE's worth mentioning (Exploding Arrer' don't count). So as you engage a target in RvR, you're constantly re-targeting, and re-purposing your squig - and squig's don't move fast at all. So it takes a bit of caution before you can set him lose, 'cause you might not see him again for a while.
Of course, we've only got two real worthy PvR squigs, so you can detonate one of them, and re-summon the other instantly, but the ranged squig is bugged, and really, 2nd best to the horned squig.
m i rite or whut?
Edit: Also - any SH's figured out how to use Head Butt? My horned squig gets the ability, but it's not showing up on the ability bar. Bug?
I think Head Butt is actually the ability for your Battle Squig summon, where you are inside the squig and control him with his own guts.
I'm really wishing they switched some of the squig bonuses, I really like the Gas Squig's ability for working from range, but it has an armor buff.
The Horned squig has the max range buff, but is a melee squig.
The Spiked Squig I'm pretty sure is bugged, I really need to test it some more, but I dont think his ability is firing / landing. It is pretty easy to check though, since it applies a DOT / Bleed, just need to use it outside of RvR :P
Path of Stabbin seems really really neat, and has some interesting synergy, where the Gas Squig gets an attack that actually heals itself as well as the Battle Squig you are riding in.
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MWO: Adamski
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Psychotic OneThe Lord of No PantsParts UnknownRegistered Userregular
edited October 2008
The spiked squig will not use his core attack but will fire off his poison dot you get at level 17. While yes the new power is nice it doesn't debuff the crit chance by 47% like the core does so I would say Spiked is bugged till they finally hot fix it.
Farty squig is a game changing ability for squig herders, farty squig and sticky squig give you some much needed skills. Farty gives you some nice burst AOE, and sticky lets you run into an alliance attack in a scenario, pop it, and voila. Half the attack is paralyzed, the rest, (since noone talks to each other) runs off and arrives 10 seconds early and is slaughtered buy your intact force.
Remember you can spam squigs for farty squigs as fast as farty squigs reloads. Farty squigs is a core ability for you, so your low level squigs are just as effective at going boom.
So was reading a thread on Warhammer Alliance about the Magus, and they were parsing combat logs and running tests to see what the Intelligence damage coeffecient on DOTs were.
The Daemonology Cone-AE DOT gets 150% of the Damage bonus from INT (Daemonic something)
The Havoc Single Target DOT gets 7% of the Damage bonus from INT (Transmogrifying something)
The Changing AE-DOT gets 7% of the Damage bonus from INT (Glean Magic)
I seem to recall Pandemonium also being on the low side, but the DD portion getting the full bonus.
Changing Winds, the 1s cast Changing DD that hits 3 times also gets the full bonus.
As I posted over in the SE thread, I think I figured out why I can't get into the Magus despite really wanting to. It just feels sort of like despite everything I'm having no actual impact on the battle (even if I am--the point is I don't feel it).
When I'm on my Sorc and nuke an entire group for 500, I know I just scared the shit out of one or two healers; when I'm on my Witch Elf and outright obliterate a Bright in the back, it means OUR healers are getting a break; when I'm on my Black Orc and saving some Sorceress' hide, I know their team is getting massacred as a result.
I just don't get any of that sense with the Magus.
Yeah top damage sure, I don't have many problems doing well on the chart either, but is any of that damage even relevant? Maybe to you it is (I guess Engineers are very different), but for me, no one runs, no one dies, no healers get antsy; they just keep right on keepin' on, kill me, and get right back to it.
What I figure when I'm doing scary AOE with my sorc is diverting heals, or forcing them to use AE heals. When I start pounding healers, my hope is that they're forced to heal themselves or die, and this puts the people that were getting heals in a real bind.
I figure the Magus does the same thing, but more insidiously. If I hit shattered shadows and the targets all have dots ticking, well that's certain death looming very quickly.
Farty squig is a game changing ability for squig herders, farty squig and sticky squig give you some much needed skills. Farty gives you some nice burst AOE, and sticky lets you run into an alliance attack in a scenario, pop it, and voila. Half the attack is paralyzed, the rest, (since noone talks to each other) runs off and arrives 10 seconds early and is slaughtered buy your intact force.
Remember you can spam squigs for farty squigs as fast as farty squigs reloads. Farty squigs is a core ability for you, so your low level squigs are just as effective at going boom.
That's pretty much all I do once I get inside a besieged keep, ie send Horny up the ramp at a random target in a crowd of Order and then KABOOM. Summon another, rinse and repeat. Endlessly. There is no way to defend against it aside from coming down the ramp to kill me, and I have Black Orcs and Chosen packed in three-deep between me and you.
What WAR tries to do is create two paths for the Squig Hunter:
1. The standard Hunter/Pet combo where the Pet holds aggro while you bang away from a distance (hence the Horned Squig extra range, since Horny doesn't hold aggro well giving you more time to crap your pants when the mob comes at you)
2. A flipping of the roles, where you do the Melee damage in Squig Armor while Gassy farts away from a distance. Hence the armor buff, to make you survive longer when Stabbin'. In theory Spikey should be doing this, too, but he's bugged right now.
I can't get behind the farty squig. His attacks just seem too slow, and the DPS is too weak. When I send a squig lose, I need him to fuck shit up and do it fast. The farty squig does neither. I think the heal mechanic is a novelty at best - if you're in squig armor, a weak HoT isn't going to save you against a dedicated melée class. Frankly, squig armor seems more like a novelty than anything else. The attacks you get with it are a poor substitute for the variety and lethality of bow attacks. Sure, the SH has a few melée attacks, but they are attacks of last resort at best.
And head butt isn't available in Squig armor. It doesn't even appear in the skill list, which tells me it's a pet ability. Any 21+ SH know what the deal is?
And head butt isn't available in Squig armor. It doesn't even appear in the skill list, which tells me it's a pet ability. Any 21+ SH know what the deal is?
When you say Farty Squig do you mean Gas Squig? Farty Squig is a skill that makes your squig explode. The only reason to use Gas Squig is the +100% armor bonus you get when he's out, it pairs nicely with being in Squig Armor.
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FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
edited October 2008
I think Spikey is meant to be the Ranged DPS Squig, but him not now working properly.
I think Spikey is meant to be the Ranged DPS Squig, but him not now working properly.
That would be correct, yes. Which is why I normally use Horned or Gas Squigs in PvP currently.
Not really, the Spikey Squig ability is an instant cast, which means he can chase down his target and regular melee, while throwing spikes while chasing, or in the middle of melee combat.
On the Magus front, I think I have found the niche a bit better, using the Changing tree, I use the Glean Magic as much as possible to do AE dot and lower the resist of my target, then spam Changing Winds and Surge of Insanity when its up, and will eventually add in Pandemonium to the rotation.
If there are a number of order players around the corner, then I use Glean Magic and Infernal Blast to pop around corners and get my damage on, then duck back. Also making sure to keep a Flamer or Blue Horror summoned behind the corner where they can throw out their AE attacks.
I managed to do 48k damage at L13 in Mourkains Temple, so the potential is definately there.
And head butt isn't available in Squig armor. It doesn't even appear in the skill list, which tells me it's a pet ability. Any 21+ SH know what the deal is?
When you say Farty Squig do you mean Gas Squig? Farty Squig is a skill that makes your squig explode. The only reason to use Gas Squig is the +100% armor bonus you get when he's out, it pairs nicely with being in Squig Armor.
Yeah, my bad - gas squig I meant. The farty squig is a nice dps burst short term, but I don't detonate him the second he's sent into RvR scrum. I prefer to frenzy, and if he is low on health then make'em go kaboom. I thnk there is much more dps potential in the long term keeping hIm alive. Farty squig is nice when you need the last bit of burst dps for a RvR kill.
And head butt isn't available in Squig armor. It doesn't even appear in the skill list, which tells me it's a pet ability. Any 21+ SH know what the deal is?
When you say Farty Squig do you mean Gas Squig? Farty Squig is a skill that makes your squig explode. The only reason to use Gas Squig is the +100% armor bonus you get when he's out, it pairs nicely with being in Squig Armor.
Yeah, my bad - gas squig I meant. The farty squig is a nice dps burst short term, but I don't detonate him the second he's sent into RvR scrum. I prefer to frenzy, and if he is low on health then make'em go kaboom. I thnk there is much more dps potential in the long term keeping hIm alive. Farty squig is nice when you need the last bit of burst dps for a RvR kill.
AoE will soon kill the squig if you don't blow him up ASAP, and you get a free one immediately for doing it too. Just send in a low level, blow it up, and then instant summon the squig you really want.
As I posted over in the SE thread, I think I figured out why I can't get into the Magus despite really wanting to. It just feels sort of like despite everything I'm having no actual impact on the battle (even if I am--the point is I don't feel it).
When I'm on my Sorc and nuke an entire group for 500, I know I just scared the shit out of one or two healers; when I'm on my Witch Elf and outright obliterate a Bright in the back, it means OUR healers are getting a break; when I'm on my Black Orc and saving some Sorceress' hide, I know their team is getting massacred as a result.
I just don't get any of that sense with the Magus.
I'm with you. I got my MAgus to 11 and I am running Scenarios over and over, trying to do something effective but its just not happening. I drop my Flamer, debuff, dot and die to a WH or die to a Bright Wizzie. /shrug
I can't get behind the farty squig. His attacks just seem too slow, and the DPS is too weak. When I send a squig lose, I need him to fuck shit up and do it fast. The farty squig does neither. I think the heal mechanic is a novelty at best - if you're in squig armor, a weak HoT isn't going to save you against a dedicat.....
I've never played a SH, but that made perfect sense
I think Spikey is meant to be the Ranged DPS Squig, but him not now working properly.
That would be correct, yes. Which is why I normally use Horned or Gas Squigs in PvP currently.
Not really, the Spikey Squig ability is an instant cast, which means he can chase down his target and regular melee, while throwing spikes while chasing, or in the middle of melee combat.
Spikey Squig is a ranged squig, he doesn't melee. And the ranged ability is broke at the moment. At least that's what several SH's have reported.
I have a level 20 engineer, and I gotta say he's excellent in PvP scenarios. If Magi are true mirrors then I don't get the complaints
My tools;
a 20ft area disrupt grenade (also does damage to one target) 1s cast - This is the casters bane, also decent damage
AoE 10 second root
an acid AoE grenade that does damage and lowers resistances. Instant cast, no CD - good for dotting an entire enemy team
a spammable knockback grenade, with a 10 second cooldown (also does damage) 1s cast - Inredibly fun and useful
a spammable knockdown, with my landmines (AoE damage) 1s cast - Super great, fun and useful
ranged AoE dot. 1s cast - Good damage, and spammable every 10 seconds or so. Good for lighting up a zerg
Ranged dot, instant - even more dottage, and easy to apply
Turrets, 2s cast - takes a lot of AP but can be worth it in scenarios like Mourkain
Morale Knockback
Combine these and you'll be able to disrupt most of the enemy force. I am doing it constantly in Mourkain, where these tools shine extra bright. I come up at top of the damage charts by a big margin, and I have several killing blows and I know I pissed off more than a few of my enemies. Seriously, you can chain-disrupt an entire team with the above tools, and that shit is super-important if you use it intelligently.
Oh and I hear about Magi crying about survivability? As an engineer I get a flak jacket, which increased my armor by a lot. At level 20, with level 17-19ish gear, I get around 40% damage mitigation. This is hardly bad. I assume magi get similiar stuff?
Unless I'm totally mis-informed - not really at the moment. I'm gonna try to stick with my Magus, but I'd put money on there being at least a little buffing to the class eventually.
Rear Admiral ChocoI wanna be an owl, Jerry!Owl York CityRegistered Userregular
edited October 2008
I know it probably makes me a dick, but as an Engineer I constantly blasted people off the walls of Ekrund (hell, it's the reason I loved it so much in T1) to keep them off of me and in the hopes of dealing damage to them. Turns out you don't suffer falling damage after a knockback. That just doesn't seem... proper.
Otherwise, being an Engineer is awesome. I'm always near or at the top of the damage charts, and I usually get a healthy amount of kills (often 50-60 unless Destro is really tearing us up). So far I'm really enjoying going the Grenadier specialization. I place a bombardment turret behind me and run up near the front lines to take advantage of my Expert Skirmisher tactic (25% more damage when within 40 feet, 25% less damage if you're any further), then I just acid bomb a close group, frag grenade, flashbang, and then firebomb the shit out of someone to get a kill as quick as possible, restoring my dots as needed. The double damage morale ability helps a lot, as well.
In Shadow Warrior news, i ticked over to 17 last night and specced into Skirmisher to get my spiral fletched AoE tactic. It was pretty effective, i was doing some good damage. i'll need to test further*, however my gut says its not really for me. It just wasnt panning out the way i like to play. I'll probably respec into Scout to see how effective the flame arrow ignore resists tactic is in comparison, as prior to leveling i was using the hell out of flame arrow. Also plan to spec Scout heavy in the long term.
*Was getting some weird lag problems last night where my abilities werent firing at the end of their cast time, but were getting delayed by 3-8 seconds or so. The flow of battle in the scenarios felt totally off, and there were a few "lag!!!" comments, so i think the server was to blame. I've read on other forums similar issues with high and full pop servers in certain scenarios. Hope its better tonight so i can test more.
I can't get behind the farty squig. His attacks just seem too slow, and the DPS is too weak. When I send a squig lose, I need him to fuck shit up and do it fast. The farty squig does neither. I think the heal mechanic is a novelty at best - if you're in squig armor, a weak HoT isn't going to save you against a dedicated melée class. Frankly, squig armor seems more like a novelty than anything else. The attacks you get with it are a poor substitute for the variety and lethality of bow attacks. Sure, the SH has a few melée attacks, but they are attacks of last resort at best.
And head butt isn't available in Squig armor. It doesn't even appear in the skill list, which tells me it's a pet ability. Any 21+ SH know what the deal is?
When you say Farty Squig do you mean Gas Squig? Farty Squig is a skill that makes your squig explode. The only reason to use Gas Squig is the +100% armor bonus you get when he's out, it pairs nicely with being in Squig Armor.
I use the Gas Squig when I know that the enemy is going to be clumping up. The AoE makes the pet decent, and is actually my preferred RvR pet because of it. I only use spiked when I need the dps and I know I'm not going to draw aggro. For RvR the only times I'll bring out the horned squig or the standard squig is when I am planning on blowing them up.
In Shadow Warrior news, i ticked over to 17 last night and specced into Skirmisher to get my spiral fletched AoE tactic. It was pretty effective, i was doing some good damage. i'll need to test further*, however my gut says its not really for me. It just wasnt panning out the way i like to play. I'll probably respec into Scout to see how effective the flame arrow ignore resists tactic is in comparison, as prior to leveling i was using the hell out of flame arrow. Also plan to spec Scout heavy in the long term.
*Was getting some weird lag problems last night where my abilities werent firing at the end of their cast time, but were getting delayed by 3-8 seconds or so. The flow of battle in the scenarios felt totally off, and there were a few "lag!!!" comments, so i think the server was to blame. I've read on other forums similar issues with high and full pop servers in certain scenarios. Hope its better tonight so i can test more.
I swapped out of skirmish after getting that tactic, then back into it later. Scout just didn't seem that useful so far imo (Level 21 SW). You still get hit from outside your range by casters, and for more damage and the damage you deal isn't good enough to actually do anything to melee or healers. When I switched back, I skipped the aoe spiral for now, and got shadow sting. Which is a great skill, another ranged dot that you fire off after broadhead, that lowers their healing by 50%. Lets you actually make a dent in tanks, and be a decent threat to anything else.
Plus by going in skirmish your spiral arrows do more damage, so you can actually stay in the fight/chase after objective runners.
Main thing im worried about, with my SW right now, is he seems like he is a bit to wide spread in his abilities, making him pretty mediocre in all of them. Or that he is at least a very late bloomer. Maybe barrage and flanking shot will help.
At rank 15 on my magus the damage output is terrible, especially the dots. The armor buff is annoying as hell and needs to be reapplied constantly. Pet turrets are rarely worth it. Our primary long ranged nuke fling red fire is worthless. The AoE snare has a 50% chance to break on damage and requires me to get close. The other single target snare I have has a 5 foot range.
It's a combination of a lot of things, but most of the time I feel like to excel at anything requires me to get much closer than I'd like to be. It's like I'm some kind of retarded battle caster that doesn't have the tools to cope with the the only role that really suits me.
Disrupting enemies is one of the only things I feel I'm even moderately good at, but it's boring as hell.
I gotta say that I personally think that disrupting and cockblocking the enemy is very fun.
tossing their healers about, knocking them all on their asses, annoying them with dots and grenades and disrupts until they're all so weak that you and your team can just run into them and wipe them out
No knockbacks on my magus atm tho, I'm sure things get better later on but atm it's fairly discouraging. Surge of insanity is the only real disrupt I have.
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After I got Pandamonium I have to be nearly asleep to not top the damage charts in a scenario, so no you don't have to worry about hitting 16 and still not being able to put the pressure on.
As for the Mastery Trees, I don't know how they don't look appealing to you. Demon has Aegis and Rift, Changing has Endless Pandamonium, Mist and several other things, and Havoc has bolt of change which if you haven't used it, you turn into a single target god. Bolt of Change + Mutating Blue fire=two shotting people at 40 if both crit.
Your double-crit argument isn't too convincing, though; aren't the odds of two crits in a row something in the area of 1-3%? :P
Guess I'll give 'em a fair go tonight. Now I have to, in my usual way, mentally debate the value of the various trees before I'm even remotely high enough in rank for it to matter for the rest of the day! Yay!
I am a freaking nerd.
It was shown in the Alliance forums that Lots O Arrers does more damage overall, in theory, than Plink, even with the 1s tactic. Also Lots O Arrers ticks 7 times over the 2 seconds it is active and thus has 7 chances to crit.
Based on this information, I would argue that the tactic that gives 50AP for a critical hit using a Big Shootin ability is incredibly useful. If you crit just twice during a Lots O Arrers attack, you will have paid for the cost of the ability entirely and some. And you crit alot. I had over 5k crits before I was level 5 with my Squig Herder.
The tactic is useful for all of the Big Shootin abilities and should probably be on everyone's tactic bar that spends points into the Mastery line.
I can't stress enough how often and how fast I can burn through SH's AP. This tactic changes that completely.
Isn't that tactic restricted to only going off once every 3 seconds?
Of course, we've only got two real worthy PvR squigs, so you can detonate one of them, and re-summon the other instantly, but the ranged squig is bugged, and really, 2nd best to the horned squig.
m i rite or whut?
Edit: Also - any SH's figured out how to use Head Butt? My horned squig gets the ability, but it's not showing up on the ability bar. Bug?
Its because of you that I've retired my Magus. He dies so fast and does piddly damage
All your fault.
I think Head Butt is actually the ability for your Battle Squig summon, where you are inside the squig and control him with his own guts.
I'm really wishing they switched some of the squig bonuses, I really like the Gas Squig's ability for working from range, but it has an armor buff.
The Horned squig has the max range buff, but is a melee squig.
The Spiked Squig I'm pretty sure is bugged, I really need to test it some more, but I dont think his ability is firing / landing. It is pretty easy to check though, since it applies a DOT / Bleed, just need to use it outside of RvR :P
Path of Stabbin seems really really neat, and has some interesting synergy, where the Gas Squig gets an attack that actually heals itself as well as the Battle Squig you are riding in.
MWO: Adamski
Remember you can spam squigs for farty squigs as fast as farty squigs reloads. Farty squigs is a core ability for you, so your low level squigs are just as effective at going boom.
The Daemonology Cone-AE DOT gets 150% of the Damage bonus from INT (Daemonic something)
The Havoc Single Target DOT gets 7% of the Damage bonus from INT (Transmogrifying something)
The Changing AE-DOT gets 7% of the Damage bonus from INT (Glean Magic)
I seem to recall Pandemonium also being on the low side, but the DD portion getting the full bonus.
Changing Winds, the 1s cast Changing DD that hits 3 times also gets the full bonus.
MWO: Adamski
When I'm on my Sorc and nuke an entire group for 500, I know I just scared the shit out of one or two healers; when I'm on my Witch Elf and outright obliterate a Bright in the back, it means OUR healers are getting a break; when I'm on my Black Orc and saving some Sorceress' hide, I know their team is getting massacred as a result.
I just don't get any of that sense with the Magus.
it's certainly a more active playstyle, but that just makes it more fun to me
oh and the landmines. They're great fun
I also can't wait to get my magnet and other bombs
I figure the Magus does the same thing, but more insidiously. If I hit shattered shadows and the targets all have dots ticking, well that's certain death looming very quickly.
What WAR tries to do is create two paths for the Squig Hunter:
1. The standard Hunter/Pet combo where the Pet holds aggro while you bang away from a distance (hence the Horned Squig extra range, since Horny doesn't hold aggro well giving you more time to crap your pants when the mob comes at you)
2. A flipping of the roles, where you do the Melee damage in Squig Armor while Gassy farts away from a distance. Hence the armor buff, to make you survive longer when Stabbin'. In theory Spikey should be doing this, too, but he's bugged right now.
And head butt isn't available in Squig armor. It doesn't even appear in the skill list, which tells me it's a pet ability. Any 21+ SH know what the deal is?
When you say Farty Squig do you mean Gas Squig? Farty Squig is a skill that makes your squig explode. The only reason to use Gas Squig is the +100% armor bonus you get when he's out, it pairs nicely with being in Squig Armor.
That would be correct, yes. Which is why I normally use Horned or Gas Squigs in PvP currently.
Not really, the Spikey Squig ability is an instant cast, which means he can chase down his target and regular melee, while throwing spikes while chasing, or in the middle of melee combat.
On the Magus front, I think I have found the niche a bit better, using the Changing tree, I use the Glean Magic as much as possible to do AE dot and lower the resist of my target, then spam Changing Winds and Surge of Insanity when its up, and will eventually add in Pandemonium to the rotation.
If there are a number of order players around the corner, then I use Glean Magic and Infernal Blast to pop around corners and get my damage on, then duck back. Also making sure to keep a Flamer or Blue Horror summoned behind the corner where they can throw out their AE attacks.
I managed to do 48k damage at L13 in Mourkains Temple, so the potential is definately there.
MWO: Adamski
Yeah, my bad - gas squig I meant. The farty squig is a nice dps burst short term, but I don't detonate him the second he's sent into RvR scrum. I prefer to frenzy, and if he is low on health then make'em go kaboom. I thnk there is much more dps potential in the long term keeping hIm alive. Farty squig is nice when you need the last bit of burst dps for a RvR kill.
AoE will soon kill the squig if you don't blow him up ASAP, and you get a free one immediately for doing it too. Just send in a low level, blow it up, and then instant summon the squig you really want.
I'm with you. I got my MAgus to 11 and I am running Scenarios over and over, trying to do something effective but its just not happening. I drop my Flamer, debuff, dot and die to a WH or die to a Bright Wizzie. /shrug
I've never played a SH, but that made perfect sense
Spikey Squig is a ranged squig, he doesn't melee. And the ranged ability is broke at the moment. At least that's what several SH's have reported.
My tools;
Combine these and you'll be able to disrupt most of the enemy force. I am doing it constantly in Mourkain, where these tools shine extra bright. I come up at top of the damage charts by a big margin, and I have several killing blows and I know I pissed off more than a few of my enemies. Seriously, you can chain-disrupt an entire team with the above tools, and that shit is super-important if you use it intelligently.
Oh and I hear about Magi crying about survivability? As an engineer I get a flak jacket, which increased my armor by a lot. At level 20, with level 17-19ish gear, I get around 40% damage mitigation. This is hardly bad. I assume magi get similiar stuff?
Unless I'm totally mis-informed - not really at the moment. I'm gonna try to stick with my Magus, but I'd put money on there being at least a little buffing to the class eventually.
I am a freaking nerd.
Otherwise, being an Engineer is awesome. I'm always near or at the top of the damage charts, and I usually get a healthy amount of kills (often 50-60 unless Destro is really tearing us up). So far I'm really enjoying going the Grenadier specialization. I place a bombardment turret behind me and run up near the front lines to take advantage of my Expert Skirmisher tactic (25% more damage when within 40 feet, 25% less damage if you're any further), then I just acid bomb a close group, frag grenade, flashbang, and then firebomb the shit out of someone to get a kill as quick as possible, restoring my dots as needed. The double damage morale ability helps a lot, as well.
*Was getting some weird lag problems last night where my abilities werent firing at the end of their cast time, but were getting delayed by 3-8 seconds or so. The flow of battle in the scenarios felt totally off, and there were a few "lag!!!" comments, so i think the server was to blame. I've read on other forums similar issues with high and full pop servers in certain scenarios. Hope its better tonight so i can test more.
- Surge of Insanity (aoe disrupt)
- Tzeentch's Grasp (aoe root)
- Glean Magic (aoe debuff dot)
- Warping Blast (Spammable single target knockback, 10s cd)
- Demonic Infestation (landmine)
- Baleful Transmogrification (spammable dot, no cd for Magus)
- Demon (turrets)
I use the Gas Squig when I know that the enemy is going to be clumping up. The AoE makes the pet decent, and is actually my preferred RvR pet because of it. I only use spiked when I need the dps and I know I'm not going to draw aggro. For RvR the only times I'll bring out the horned squig or the standard squig is when I am planning on blowing them up.
I swapped out of skirmish after getting that tactic, then back into it later. Scout just didn't seem that useful so far imo (Level 21 SW). You still get hit from outside your range by casters, and for more damage and the damage you deal isn't good enough to actually do anything to melee or healers. When I switched back, I skipped the aoe spiral for now, and got shadow sting. Which is a great skill, another ranged dot that you fire off after broadhead, that lowers their healing by 50%. Lets you actually make a dent in tanks, and be a decent threat to anything else.
Plus by going in skirmish your spiral arrows do more damage, so you can actually stay in the fight/chase after objective runners.
Main thing im worried about, with my SW right now, is he seems like he is a bit to wide spread in his abilities, making him pretty mediocre in all of them. Or that he is at least a very late bloomer. Maybe barrage and flanking shot will help.
It's a combination of a lot of things, but most of the time I feel like to excel at anything requires me to get much closer than I'd like to be. It's like I'm some kind of retarded battle caster that doesn't have the tools to cope with the the only role that really suits me.
Disrupting enemies is one of the only things I feel I'm even moderately good at, but it's boring as hell.
tossing their healers about, knocking them all on their asses, annoying them with dots and grenades and disrupts until they're all so weak that you and your team can just run into them and wipe them out
I think it's hilarious