Where to go from here? (Evie skillset)

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Sunureu13 wrote on 2011-07-21 23:47

So far, I'm a 52 pure staff, at about 11.5k AP. I can solo just about everything that's not Irukul, BL, and Lagh. I'm just not sure what I should be working on atm.

Combat:
C Mana Shield (capped for my level)
9 Firebolt
9 Magic Arrow
C Focus (capped)
E Mana Mine
A Magic Mastery/Critical Hits (capped)
E Flying Sparrow
F Mercury Trap ( I never use it)
E Mana Amber
A Ice Spear (capped)
A Blind Arrow (capped)
C Golem Mastery/Create

Training:
A Int Mastery
D Will Mastery
A Agility Mastery

Restoration:
E Transform Erg
9 Standing Endurance
A Campfire
F Healing Corona
F Revive
F Life Flare
F Health Mastery
F Potion Mastery

SP:
F Everything (I don't use Clipped Wings)
Intex wrote on 2011-07-22 00:09

You should probably rank fireball as it's a strong yet low cool down nuke. Aside from using ice spear and blind arrow when they are off cool down, you should be using fireball as your main damage spell. Max Corona, it only takes 570 AP to completely max it but adds 500 HP per heal. Revive is another great utility spell but is only useful if you have it at high ranks. It only takes 990 AP to max it and you'll revive people with more HP than a feather. Mana pistol is better than other alchemy skills so max that when you have the AP.
Arendel wrote on 2011-07-22 01:04

Magic Arrow should go before Firebolt. The damage from the r6 mastery combined with its high rate of fire, fairly long range, and quick SP regeneration make it the ideal damage-dealing skill. Firebolt is slightly more situational since you would need to be able to get in closer to the enemy and hope it isn't moving away from the attack, but at r6, it's almost as strong as rA Ice Spear (which has yet to be uncapped), so it's a good idea to cap it eventually. Make sure you keep Mana Amber capped for your level, as well.
Joker wrote on 2011-07-22 01:18

REVIVE... ASAP
RebeccaBlack wrote on 2011-07-22 03:27

1. Healing Corona or Magic Arrow
3. Fireball
4. Mana Amber
5. Revive or something, if you want.

I guess it's up to you from there.

This assumes you're going for maximum damage (or in the case of Corona, a lot of support). Mana Amber is the "OH ****" button and in later battles I think it'll be very helpful if this is your first time going through them. If you're experienced, maybe the stamina reduction won't help you much because you won't use it enough to matter.

Fireball is damn near useless compared to Magic Arrow later on because it moves so slowly that the AI can decide you're going to miss it and in some cases you can't do much about that. It's the kind of thing you're not going to be firing off every single cooldown like Ice Spear or Blind Arrow. Yeah, it has its uses, and its guaranteed hits, but they certainly don't come every 5 seconds or however long it takes the thing to cooldown, thus wasting its "intended" usage and making it relatively underpowered compared to some other spells.

Oh, and prepare for Reverse Gravity and Mana Pistol, but especially Mana Pistol, because they're kind of a big deal. Reverse Gravity is something you'll only use a couple times a fight and it's more of an "ooh, look how much damage I can do in one hit!" thing after you put any points in it. Mana Pistol, however, is undoubtedly worth it.
Sora wrote on 2011-07-22 04:10

Sigh.. I miss the great support from pre-evie patch, having dedicated healers was awesome :< the game was more interesting that way, now its just DPS war...
RebeccaBlack wrote on 2011-07-22 04:40

Quote from Sora;522033:
Sigh.. I miss the great support from pre-evie patch, having dedicated healers was awesome :< the game was more interesting that way, now its just DPS war...

I completely disagree.

Prevamp staff Evie was boring as hell and completely unneeded. All that healing really is not necessary and I think Evie does a better job with support/keeping people alive now that she can freeze, clear mobs incredibly fast, and do other neat things rather than just stand around and blast two fireballs every once in a while. From a healing perspective, sure, she was "better" before. But from an overall defensive perspective, it's close.

I definitely feared I would need that healing after getting so used to it before the revamp came. But after playing the new one... there was no doubt in my mind which was better for survivability.
Arendel wrote on 2011-07-22 07:52

Quote from Sora;522033:
Sigh.. I miss the great support from pre-evie patch, having dedicated healers was awesome :< the game was more interesting that way, now its just DPS war...

She was never really supposed to be a dedicated healer. If she seemed to play that way at times, it was because of poor gameplay design. Before the revamp, Evie had a tough time doing the two things the developers intended for her to do: ranged burst damage and traditional party support. Mind you, she was supposed to be able to do both of these things to a reasonable degree of proficiency--not just heal.

Unfortunately, all of her spells--healing included--cost an excessive amount of stamina for very poor returns. Even healing was not her strong suit, as she could only heal a few times for a meager amount of HP per attempt before getting tired. In some cases, this would be enough to keep someone alive, but it came at the cost of Evie's ability to get any real amount of damage in. In more dire circumstances, most of the party would be close to getting wiped out, but Evie would not be able to save all of them at once, which meant she wasted stamina just to be bad at healing and attacking. Scenarios such as the latter might suggest a lack of ability on the behalf of other players, but nonetheless, they did occur and mostly served to highlight Evie's shortcomings.

With Evie's revamped mechanics in place, she is now able to play the way she was supposed to. Her new method of healing is somewhat unorthodox, but it is much more efficient, as all (or at least, the majority of) party members can have a significant portion of their HP restored when they decide they're ready. It also comes at a very low stamina cost and allows Evie to keep her attention focused on ranged DPS rather than being subjected to the role of healbot. In this way, she retains her supportive ability while gaining the ability to dish out damage she never could back when 3-4 Magic Arrows meant exhaustion and a minor dent in the enemy's HP.

I would certainly not give up the current Evie for the old one--not even for the sake of making things "interesting." Frankly, prevamp staff Evie was the furthest thing from interesting, and she had too many weaknesses to be enjoyable in demanding situations. The new Evie can basically do everything the old one could, and she can do it much better.
Rinne wrote on 2011-07-23 20:31

Hmm. You don't have Ice Blast? Ice Blast is extremely powerful. I only use Fireball when enemies are too close for Ice Blast's range or if Ice Blast is on cooldown. I'd suggest increasing Willpower Mastery so that you'll get more crits.

If you feel you need more defense, you'd want to up Mana Amber and Mana Shield. With the nerfs to enemies, you probably won't notice any issues until boat 6 or the raid bosses. I felt that boat 7 was easier than 6. Also, if you run in groups a lot, you probably won't need those two as much.

If you do run in groups a lot, you may want to consider Healing Corona and Revive. Revive is fairly cheap to rank up. I absolutely despise Healing Corona, but it can come in handy when you're in a tight spot. Potion Mastery is also very cheap to level, so I recommend getting that.

Mana Mine actually seems to be pretty powerful but I haven't ranked it on any of my characters and rarely use it. Golems aren't very useful later on because they tend to die very quickly or get in the way, but they don't cost much to rank up. I think Mana Pistol is the better choice because you can use several of them in one battle, and enemies seem to have trouble hitting them. I once screwed up and died to the Giant Spider, then my Mana Pistol solo'd it for a few minutes and killed it.
Claudia wrote on 2011-07-23 22:43

Why only rank E Transform Erg? :V
RebeccaBlack wrote on 2011-07-24 06:09

Quote from Rinne;524311:
Hmm. You don't have Ice Blast? Ice Blast is extremely powerful.

Probably just forgot it. But in case you didn't, max it asap because it's wonderful for trash mobs.

Also, Corona is amazing, I don't know how anyone could hate it.

Mana Mine is basically useless. If you're an incredibly skilled staff Evie I guess you may place one here and there. But lol. Just lol. Who even does that? It's nice for Trampled Plains because it stuns the wolves when they charge at you (but didn't even those get nerfed?). That's all I can think of.

Golems are nice because they're an extra distraction. But personally I hate using them because setting it up is annoying.

Mana Pistol can't finish bosses.

Quote from Claudia;524467:
Why only rank E Transform Erg? :V

Because no one wants to pick that **** up lol.