My Arcanist/Shaman build

[imwithdummy]

My damage is spread across fire and lightning, for the most part, but most of the stuff I run across seems to be for other combinations, I'm not sure if I'm doing this right here, but is there somewhere where I can take a look at my level, my build, and try and pinpoint what armor type I should be shooting for? Maybe even where said armor is located? I saw a site awhile back that looked promising, but I'll be damned if I can find it again.

If anyone has any notes for my build, I'd appreciate it. I've got a couple points in the vine-catch spell (that slows stuff?) for a boss I was having a hard time with, that's going to go. Along with the single point for a pet. I asked for help a week or so ago, got some really good advice, so can anyone help me tighten it up a little more now that I'm mid-fifties?

One thing that'd be great? If there could be some kind of summary somewhere of what types of damage your skills are putting out...base damage. Like what you should really be prioritizing building on...is there anything like that or is it just a matter of mousing over skill after skill, reading the stuff?

I don't know, still pretty new and unsure and seems like I keep having 'oh crap' moments, where I wonder if my damage would be better by stacking another type of damage. Can anyone say if it looks like I'm doing it right? =P

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2M9RLb2

[Mochan]

What do you mean what Armor Type? Are you referring to Caster/Light/Heavy armor?

If so you generally should be going for Heavy Armor at all times, except when there's a nice caster piece with bonuses you need (usually part of a set).

I can't see your build (sorry Grimtools doesn't work for me) but in general if you are putting one point in a pet it's useless. You are probably still in Normal right? In normal it's not a big deal but it will be later on.

If you are having any kind of trouble with the game, the only advice I can give you is focus on one thing and one thing alone. Investing everything in doing one skill or attack really well will get you across pretty much anything in the Normal Campaign. Stack the bonuses on either Fire or Lightning, don't chase both. You will end up with maybe a decent in the other one but focus primarily on one damage type so you can really reap the benefits.

Fire generally isn't a good fit for Arcanist/Shaman. Lightning and Cold is the best fit for this class combination without some advanced knowledge and building.

As for a basic mouseover, the closest thing is the Character Status 2nd screen. Select the attack skill on your right mouse button, that'll show up in the offense status screen and you can see the breakdown of your damage as it is.

[Gregor]

If I had more insight to the character, I'd write differently.
Withing growing lv I can recommend some more points in Nullification.
The 40 seconds cooldown are that high, that it's great as a saving option , though not well enough to use it as an initial debuff, the debuff duration will also exceed the cooldown later on, and it can reduce more then a third of the % elemental mr, so it's a great tool, especially to remove the amount of stacking dots or debuffs on the character.
You might want some more bleeding resistance, suffering 107 damage, when you could recieve a 100 could be troublesome at points.

There are some things, like some items, where mousing over is no use, and it seems it's cut there or shown on a part my screen does not present.

I can recommend to know the skills and try recalling the names, that spares you doublechecking skills and helps you knowing what you do.
You might want to be familiar with your characters visual effects as well, so that you can distinguish your moves from the rest, avoiding incoming damage can get a lot easier by that.

It looks like you'r damage is also a result of your situation (Gear access).


So , this might go into a different way then your idea, though you can arrange that skillpoint distribution as well with that lv and without changing gear or devotions.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/dVbPBbYN

No guarantess on success, but it will change the way your character approaches and handles fights and what tools it got access to.

I assume someone else might have another great idea (-:

More skillpoints and gameprogress overall can broaden the avaliable ideas.

[Myagony]

Need to pick caster , ranged or melee. You can hybrid but you will have stronger toon if you dont. After picking one then can drop skills not suited for playstyle. Looks like you trying use pets/totums and be a caster with a melee attack.

I would go 2-hand, melee, lightning. Primal strike and brute force. Get devotion that calls more lighting down. pretty much oposite of what you are doing.

Should max a mastery asap and gain access to top tier skills and main stats.

[Halcyon]

Originally posted by Gregor:

There are some things, like some items, where mousing over is no use, and it seems it's cut there or shown on a part my screen does not

Use scroll wheel to scroll down while hovering over the item to scroll the tooltip.

[imwithdummy]

Originally posted by Mochan:

What do you mean what Armor Type? Are you referring to Caster/Light/Heavy armor?

If so you generally should be going for Heavy Armor at all times, except when there's a nice caster piece with bonuses you need (usually part of a set).

I can't see your build (sorry Grimtools doesn't work for me) but in general if you are putting one point in a pet it's useless. You are probably still in Normal right? In normal it's not a big deal but it will be later on.

If you are having any kind of trouble with the game, the only advice I can give you is focus on one thing and one thing alone. Investing everything in doing one skill or attack really well will get you across pretty much anything in the Normal Campaign. Stack the bonuses on either Fire or Lightning, don't chase both. You will end up with maybe a decent in the other one but focus primarily on one damage type so you can really reap the benefits.

Fire generally isn't a good fit for Arcanist/Shaman. Lightning and Cold is the best fit for this class combination without some advanced knowledge and building.

As for a basic mouseover, the closest thing is the Character Status 2nd screen. Select the attack skill on your right mouse button, that'll show up in the offense status screen and you can see the breakdown of your damage as it is.

Thanks Mochan, I'm on Veteran and just been using the pet as a distraction, something else for the bosses to latch onto, if even for a few seconds while I blast away. Yeah maybe its time I give that up...but lightning and cold, huh? Well that kind of gear seems to drop pretty regularly...possibly for a reason? =P Regardless, still focus on ONE of those, is what you're saying. Kk. Someone below you posted a build I think I'll try, but yeah seems like I've passed up a LOT of lightning/cold stuff in trying to find lightning/fire, which seem few and far between.

Gotcha on the 2nd status screen, thank you!

[imwithdummy]

Originally posted by Gregor:

If I had more insight to the character, I'd write differently.
Withing growing lv I can recommend some more points in Nullification.
The 40 seconds cooldown are that high, that it's great as a saving option , though not well enough to use it as an initial debuff, the debuff duration will also exceed the cooldown later on, and it can reduce more then a third of the % elemental mr, so it's a great tool, especially to remove the amount of stacking dots or debuffs on the character.
You might want some more bleeding resistance, suffering 107 damage, when you could recieve a 100 could be troublesome at points.

There are some things, like some items, where mousing over is no use, and it seems it's cut there or shown on a part my screen does not present.

I can recommend to know the skills and try recalling the names, that spares you doublechecking skills and helps you knowing what you do.
You might want to be familiar with your characters visual effects as well, so that you can distinguish your moves from the rest, avoiding incoming damage can get a lot easier by that.

It looks like you'r damage is also a result of your situation (Gear access).


So , this might go into a different way then your idea, though you can arrange that skillpoint distribution as well with that lv and without changing gear or devotions.

https://www.grimtools.com/calc/dVbPBbYN

No guarantess on success, but it will change the way your character approaches and handles fights and what tools it got access to.

I assume someone else might have another great idea (-:

More skillpoints and gameprogress overall can broaden the avaliable ideas.

Hey great advice...the "paying attention to your chr's visuals to distinguish them"...funny, just realized that the other day after continually dying, not realizing I was standing in something. Still need to work on it though, I keep forgetting.

Just like nullification...I always forget to use it...but also don't seem quite sure on WHEN to use it. Maybe it'd be helpful to have Grim Internals' "Show debuffs" stuff on? Eh...does it do anything when you're standing in a puddle of horrible, taking damage from whatever you're atop?

Think I'm going to try that build of yours, thanks for taking the time here, really appreciated.

[imwithdummy]

Originally posted by Myagony:

Need to pick caster , ranged or melee. You can hybrid but you will have stronger toon if you dont. After picking one then can drop skills not suited for playstyle. Looks like you trying use pets/totums and be a caster with a melee attack.

I would go 2-hand, melee, lightning. Primal strike and brute force. Get devotion that calls more lighting down. pretty much oposite of what you are doing.

Should max a mastery asap and gain access to top tier skills and main stats.

There's a lot to unpack in your last line here, looks like I've got some reading up to do. Leveling up skills all the way opens up some stuff, huh? Sweet!

Here's how I play:
I always walk around with at least a couple wind devils whirling around...when I encounter a mob, I'll cast another (I try to keep all three up), immediately drop a healing totem, a storm totem, and then spam the hell out of replicating missile, while alternately re-casting wind devil, heal totem, storm totem. I generally only use melee as an accident, I generally don't have much time to hit stuff...this seems to cut through stuff quick. When the second set of mobs spawns where the first died, they're pretty much dead as soon as they appear.

Bossfights can be brutal though; it doesn't seem to work as well on the tougher ones, which is why I have a point in pet...for distracting them some while I lay out my setup lol
Its definitely kind of a "busy" fight, with the totems and spell spamming, so yeah wouldn't mind cutting back on that some =P

Wonder if many other people have had this play-style and how well it worked for them in contrast with the more linear ones. Anyone?

[Fayte]

I use 1 point in pets for the same reason, just to draw some attention or have them proc a devotion, even on non-pet builds.

[imwithdummy]

Originally posted by Fayte:

I use 1 point in pets for the same reason, just to draw some attention or have them proc a devotion, even on non-pet builds.

Yeah this single point has saved my bacon plenty of times now...just having a few seconds to DPS on the boss here and there or whatever. Seems that most people don't think its the best idea, but its been working for me too...albeit in midgame

[Gregor]

Originally posted by imwithdummy:

Just like nullification...I always forget to use it...but also don't seem quite sure on WHEN to use it. Maybe it'd be helpful to have Grim Internals' "Show debuffs" stuff on? Eh...does it do anything when you're standing in a puddle of horrible, taking damage from whatever you're atop?

Think I'm going to try that build of yours, thanks for taking the time here, really appreciated.

You will find the debuffs right above your Energybar, you'll see an indicator on some durations, since they got something spinning, and ones it's at its start the debuff stops, a lot like temporary buffs, just on the opposing side. I personally do not use Grim Internals, so I've got no insight to that.
To the question if it can help to cast it while you'r on an effect.
Sometimes yes, since there could be resistance reduction effects on you, or a multitude of dots , that will not be reaplied , while the spell is on you.
Noticeable is the cooldown reduction of 4 seconds for 1 point in nullification to a specific amount of skillpoints.
The high frequency the spell can reach will make it useable differently and it also removes buffs from enemies.
With the Cooldown you will also not be able to upkeep the debuff, so you will notice damagespikes that will be different ones you reach a low enough cooldown with a long enough debuff.
The Aetherray got a lot of elemental attributes , so you could consider stacking -Elemental Resistance on winddevil for the resistance reduction effect.
The Aetherray itself is a strong skill, even though it offers limited movement and brings no durability with itself.
At a higher level you'll have more options on the variability of your build until then it's a lot about spending skillpoints how you like and believe to benefit the most.
Each level there will be a little reward in power, there's much variability and enjoy exploring that and the experience of a growing powerlevel (-: