DD Caster Guide (My version)

[Smashbros]

well i thought i might aswell post 1 up here as i get a few people asking me in game what stats to put points into, which gems and everything else that a caster gets asked about his build.

NOW keep in mind please that i am not the best caster out there, i am almost at cap (about 4 or 5 hours of grinding and ill be there) and all things i post are MY OPINIONS if you dont agree then please let me know, but also stat reasons why otherwise ill ignore you

im also a necro

ok firstly people ask:

"What stat should i get to 100, what build should i do??"

easily answered:

what ever you feel like, you can go with a cookie cutter skill base and say ill get this to x and this to y and not lvl w and so on and so forth.

I have my stats spread out as this (currently at lvl 69.5)

Melee - 59
Magic - 83
Defence - 59
Recovery - 77

now some will bitch about why am i using recovery etc etc. it helps me therefore i use it. simple as that. if it didnt help me, then i wouldnt use it :O

ok now my stats spread out in those skills are as follows:

Melee:

STR - 207
DEX - 104
PST - 166

Magic:

INT - 265
CNC - 143
MST - 141

Defence:

AGI - 159
CNT - 159
DUR - 159

Recovery:

PRE - 177
MRE - 177
REG - 177

NOTE: these are base stats without bonuses/penalties to stats due to armour and weapons.

ok now we have the stats out of the way and on to the rest of the build

my build is a mix of PvP and PvE as some would notice, by doing this i can battle against mobs/others fairly effectivly.

what i have done is lvled all my stats evenly till about lvl 35 in which case i could solo skelly and i sat there for a few weeks fixing things.

things that i fixed:

i upped my magic stat to about lvl 70 and lowered my recovery right down, (not to 1 but low enough) and stayed on lvl 32 for awhile, i was killing fast enough for it to be worth it, with large exp gains and lots of trophies.

after that i lvled myself to lvl 46 and then was helped PL aswell as doing alot myself aswell to hit lvl cap. there were a couple of reasons for this that ill explain later.

Skill wise, as a necro and focusing on DD magic, my DD gems are made up of Red and Black DD gems. the skills that i lvl are:

Skills needed to lvl!! (besides the actual magic, staves and amount of gems able to be used (1st skill in each section)

Life Magic:

Revitalize
Mental Conservation
Shared Bliss
Eternity


Psych Magic:

Wizadry
Divination
Gem Handling
Replinsh
Replay
Perseverance
Mana Vault

Death Magic:

Sleight Of Hand
Destruction
Inferno
Necromancy
Longevity
Everence
Burning Soul

Protection:

Suiting
Parry
Combat Recovery
Impedance
Mirrored Blade
Combat Endurance
Combat Concentration
Banish Light
Grime Resolution
Null Mind
Battle Mending

Weaponry:

Critical Strike
Overcrit
Two Handed
Hemorrhage
Double Attack
Crush Spec
Smash
Precision
Strikethrough


In my pouch i have a mixture of DD gems and support gems. ALL gems in my pouch have a purpose and are not there as mere fillers. i find this may cost more, but is more effective in battle.

i have my pouch is currently not full or optimised as i have not had the cash to do that lately:

23 DD gems (mix of red and black)
2 flare ups
12 Manaburst/Invigorate gems (these give me mana/energy back)
4 Balance Gems
4 stun/daze prevention gems
1 gem haste gem
1 taunt gem


a few last notes:

When lvling magic and staves and amour skills try to keep them a lvl or 2 above your current player lvl, this is simply to make kills easier.

Being a caster costs a ****load of money, and if your not willing to spend that much gold on it forget it, also if your not willing to sit there and WATCH and interact with every battle then dont be a caster. it saves you time in the long run.

What i done with PLing is common and the reason behind it is this: You get the exp of fighting a black (generally more then what you would get soloing reds on your own) the kills are shorter, and the faster you lvl up the better the trophies you can use are, therefore you get more exp in the long run.

Enchant all your weapons and armour, this makes you stronger. as a caster what i do is this: Helm, Breastplate and Weapon have Int enchants on them (i personally sink all penalities into MRE but any Recovery skill works well) and my sleeves and leggings have STR enchants on them.

With stats hitting the cap (eg magic, melee etc hitting lvl 100) i dont believe it is necessary to do, sure it gives you more stats in those skills, but what about the others. each 1 has a different function that is useful to different people that like their char to be different ways. I have a bit in everything as it seems to me, so far, that it is a stronger build in the end and that is ultimatly what we want.

For thos interested to see how strong my build is my damage ranges from 1 (as all the gems i use do that min damage) to a high crit of 665. my average hit though is around 2-300 (this is with flare up)

with my staff, im currently using the 67 staff, Blue Morpho Wandstaff, i can hit at usually around 120 on a regular hit, but hit up to around 320 with a high crit.

If you have any questions then either ask them here of PM me in game (im always on but not always here sooo in forum is good aswell) my char name is Smashbros

cheers all

It is not a bad guide Smashbros and I respect your experience. I am due for a test soon so I'm not gonna be long on this. Three observations :

1.) Remedial Focus and Eternity are useless if you don't use any healing gems, right?

2.) You distribute your Melee points between STR and PST (which is less needed than MST) and your Magic points between all three skills (INT, CNC, MST). Since INT is more important for casters than STR (not a lot more important, simply more important) why not focus all your enchants on it?

3.) Your stats are not bad considering the PLing you've been doing but in the long run, the Recovey points you put in PRe, MRe and Reg can be made up for by more/better mana/energy replenishes/cantrips (EDIT : And more AC so you won't need any Reg) and you will have more points to distribute to INT/CNC/STR or whatever else makes your char more imba :P

Good luck in the future Smash and go get that 69 staff !

What about a 100 140 80 0 build ?

Why is strength so high? I am level 8 and a newbie, but i find that accuracy with a staff is a big problem. I primarily raise my dex.

Originally Posted by Guessingo

Why is strength so high? I am level 8 and a newbie, but i find that accuracy with a staff is a big problem. I primarily raise my dex.

Staffs are considered crushing weapons, and strength alone supposedly accounts for both damage and accuracy. From level 1-20 (and even until 40), a caster might need to rely on his/her staff damage to supplement the damage from his/her gems.

The inherent accuracy of the staff itself is a factor, so certain staffs are preferred for their accuracy. Personally, I prefer anything with good accuracy and above.

[Tridius]

jsut something interesting i noticed

can an admin confirm that strength improve accuracy with a staff? I have been raising my dex since I thought that improved accuracy.

[Tridius]

yes str improves accuracy with crush weps, this is a known fact

[Smashbros]

Originally Posted by weirdgrivi

It is not a bad guide Smashbros and I respect your experience. I am due for a test soon so I'm not gonna be long on this. Three observations :

1.) Remedial Focus and Eternity are useless if you don't use any healing gems, right?

Eternity also helps with the Balance gem as it is a continual mana/energy replenisher, as every caster should be using 1 that skill is needed for that.

2.) You distribute your Melee points between STR and PST (which is less needed than MST) and your Magic points between all three skills (INT, CNC, MST). Since INT is more important for casters than STR (not a lot more important, simply more important) why not focus all your enchants on it?

Str is mainly for earlier game, as i am a necro i focus on black magic more then red, which some may believe to be a bad idea as red does give more damage, i believe it evens out with the necro bonus to blacks, and they also use less energy then reds do mana.

the str enchants ive been told are a stupid idea before aswell, my theory is, why not try to get as much damage as you can out of everything you have available to you?? the staff is a major damage factor early on, and latter in game it isnt needed as much, but is still helpful.

also at end game, once (for me anyways) i finally get an epic armour (would like the 88s lol) ill be changing my enchants to help with MSt and PSt, and keep the Int enchants on there. depending on the other stat skills that increase your bonuses on everything will depend on if i take some Int off and put some Cnc on.


3.) Your stats are not bad considering the PLing you've been doing but in the long run, the Recovey points you put in PRe, MRe and Reg can be made up for by more/better mana/energy replenishes/cantrips (EDIT : And more AC so you won't need any Reg) and you will have more points to distribute to INT/CNC/STR or whatever else makes your char more imba :P

i actually disagree, at the end of a mob battle, unless i crit myself cause of daze i only need to regen approx 100 hp. the ONLY reason i have anything in recovery is so that it is less time between battles regenning my mana/energy and also so that working with other skills my mana/energy will replenish in battle from when i get no gem draws that help me replenish them. at current point in time i have: 184 pre. and i can regen about 4-5 energy per tick, as i am waiting around 6 seconds for each new gem to come out thats roughly 16-30 energy i get just from waiting for a new gem. now mix that in with the other skills that we got (Revitilize and replenish) i get around 11 energy per tick. which works out at 44-66 for waiting.

now that should make sense to everyone that it actually does help, sure i could focus on my magic and take everything out of recovery, but then when i run out of mana/energy im a sitting duck.


Good luck in the future Smash and go get that 69 staff !
nope wont be getting it the 78 has a base of +14 int, plus a +30 int stone in it thats +44 before other skills.

with Double Bond at 100 it takes the enchants from my staff alone to a +88 int, and then if i use Stat Enchancement at 100 aswell, i would be getting a +110 int. now as i need more int then i do hitting with a staff i think ill stick with this

Originally Posted by Nomicon

What about a 100 140 80 0 build ?

as stated above, (in this post), recovery helps alot and i believe it to be benificial.


and yes str helps with the accuracy and how often you hit. also the accuracy on the weapon has a major impact aswell for staves.