Cascading Deathshield and Energize Ally

[Vanlor]

So this expansions seems to lend itself towards a lot more moloing with us pet tanking due to both more undead and just generally easier mobs than in UF by a mile.

Traditionally when molo pet tanking I have loaded my Aegis rk3 to spam midfight when merc is falling behind and pet heal when merc is falling really behind. We now have at least one new mid-fight pet spell (maybe 2?) and so I have a couple questions for those of you who have already done a lot more playing around molo in HoT.


1) With the new Aegis AA, is it even worth memming the spell anymore? Does the AA grey out the spell gem. Does the AA and the spell gem have the same reuse timer? (I have rk3 of the spell so would be losing at least 1 hit of invuln. by swapping purely to aa so I guess that's something minor to consider)

2) I read someone around here posting that Cascading Deathshield is half broken? The rune part works but not the heal? If that's true, have devs made any comments on the matter during beta/post beta? Seems like it might almost be worth replacing aegis in the spell lineup if it worked properly (maybe worth it anyway with the aa?)

3) I am assuming that Energize Ally is the new necrotize ally but there seems to possibly be some differences? The spell icon is different and according to alla it also has the effect:

• 4: Add Proc: Energized Lifeclaw rate mod 100

How long does that proc buff last and how does this spell work this time around?



I guess I am just trying to get some info on the specifics and in the field usefulness of some of these new tools. It looks, at first glance, like we have been given some potentially cool new stuff that might not have been fully carried through...

[AneXus]

Cascading Deathshield still works as a rune and has a really fast recast...but yeah the heal part is broken still.
The aa aegis is awesome, I don't worry with memming the spell anymore, but I didn't have rk III, I might would cast the spell on pet before engaging a named though.

[Licorace]

Cascading Death shield, was supposedly fixed and patched to test. Does anyone have info from test on the end result of the patch?

[AneXus]

Yeah I played around with it today, the fix is nice. In its fixed state you want to wait to cast it on the pet till he's already taken hits or else the heal really doesn't do anything, because of the way the spell works. So instead of throwing the rune on the pet before he engages a mob wait until he's at about 80% or so and cast it, the heals will take him back to around 85-87% (With em8, more than likely more with a weaker focus and less with mage gear/elegant defiant). The effect is very nice for buying time to throw a heal on the pet since he'll get about 4k worth of healing from the rune plus 4k worth of damage absorbed by the rune.

[Vanlor]

Yeah I played around with it today, the fix is nice. In its fixed state you want to wait to cast it on the pet till he's already taken hits or else the heal really doesn't do anything, because of the way the spell works. So instead of throwing the rune on the pet before he engages a mob wait until he's at about 80% or so and cast it, the heals will take him back to around 85-87% (With em8, more than likely more with a weaker focus and less with mage gear/elegant defiant). The effect is very nice for buying time to throw a heal on the pet since he'll get about 4k worth of healing from the rune plus 4k worth of damage absorbed by the rune.

Then it is still useless unfortunately--unless you want to load BOTH Aegis and Cascading. Aegis will still prevent astronomically more dmg than cascading when all is said and done.

The only benefit would be cast time, but it wouldn't really stay on your pet long enough to let your merc catch up in heals if you are killing anything worthwhile (and if you aren't killing anything worthwhile, odds are you don't need aegis or cascading lol).

[AneXus]

I don't load Aegis...I use the aa...

[Vanlor]

I don't load Aegis...I use the aa...

I use the aa too--and the spell... If you hit the AA first it doesn't grey the spell. Using the AA isn't a reason to not use the spell. It's the same thing as DA aa/spell--and probably any aa version of a spell.

[AneXus]

I see the spell version as a waste of a spell gem...I can cast the AA one before engage wait on the recast (if I want/need to), then recast mid-fight which serves my purposes just fine. I guess that is just differences in play style. Even with both the aa and spell version loaded of Aegis I can get 3-4 more runes of CDS on the pet than the aegises and spend lest time casting to do it. Granted Aegis will absorb more damage because it outright blocks 7-9hits depending on rank (if I recall correctly), CDS is just another tool I can use to up the survivability of my pet that is faster to apply, and can be applied more often.

[Vanlor]

I see the spell version as a waste of a spell gem...I can cast the AA one before engage wait on the recast (if I want/need to), then recast mid-fight which serves my purposes just fine. I guess that is just differences in play style. Even with both the aa and spell version loaded of Aegis I can get 3-4 more runes of CDS on the pet than the aegises and spend lest time casting to do it. Granted Aegis will absorb more damage because it outright blocks 7-9hits depending on rank (if I recall correctly), CDS is just another tool I can use to up the survivability of my pet that is faster to apply, and can be applied more often.

Yea I guess. It may also depend on where you are tanking. For clearing T4 camps molo (before we could slow) with EM8 I needed both Aegis. The spell aegis actually casts much faster than the AA one too btw since it is affected by reductions. I just know there were times when I needed both to make it through a mob and CDS wouldn't have cut it.

I don't see the spell version as a waste of a spell gem when it is used in place of CDS since it absorbs more dmg than CDS. Say you cast CDS 2 times in a fight instead of casting Aegis once (since CDS has exactly double the recast).

CDS is what 8k (by your numbers) if you add rune + heal. so thats 16k in a fight.
Aegis at weakest rank is 7 hits.

In order for CDS > Aegis you would need to be tanking mobs that are hitting for an avg. of 2286 a pop. Frankly, if you are tanking stuff that gimp you don't need Aegis or CDS. T4 named are hitting for what 8-10k now, trash for at least 4-6k? CDS goes poof in one to two hits in those situations where Aegis is absorbing at least 28k+.

The only real benefit I see is the cast time. Focused my Aegis spell is 3.0 sec, my CDS is 1.0. Odds are you won't ever need more than one cast of AA aegis and one of spell aegis in any one fight. If so your dps is probably low to be pet tanking.

[Morrbidd]

I was going to say what Vanlor said CDS is nice but hardly useful considering how hard things hit now.

I also use both the AA and spell for Aegis ( have rk3 of the spell ). I'm also weird in that I don't see how folks use Scorching/Slow combo as it takes too long to set up and often just gets me agro due to nuking for 30k. Playstyle differences I guess.

[Vanlor]

I was going to say what Vanlor said CDS is nice but hardly useful considering how hard things hit now.

I also use both the AA and spell for Aegis ( have rk3 of the spell ). I'm also weird in that I don't see how folks use Scorching/Slow combo as it takes too long to set up and often just gets me agro due to nuking for 30k. Playstyle differences I guess.

I thought that too on the time for slow and it really is too long in any grouping scenario, but if you are soloing I think it is still worth it and doesn't take long to set up. Pull with tash orb, cast terris on inc (sic pet in the middle of cast since you can send pet in while casting clickies/aas), as soon as pet has engaged hit scorching and then slow. If I have tash and terris on I have never gotten a smoldering or slow resist so far. I haven't used it a ton but it worked really really well when I did.

[Aiyee]

It may take awhile to set up, but it makes mobs SO much easier. Also it depends on which camp I am pulling, if i have plenty of room I tash at range then immediately hit scent AA which will land before mob gets to me. Then while casting scent I just turn toward camp and hit Whisper, then I cast scorch soon as mob gets back in range and send in pet mid cast. Hit fd after scorch lands during global cool-down, stand and cast slow will usually land before or about the time aegis is wearing off pet. And for the incredibly few mobs that do not mitigate slow, it is huge. Many fights mercs just casts promised for heals on those fights since RB procs will normally keep pet well healed when mob is slowed 70%. On tougher mobs and those with aes like the MG adds slow is a big difference.

[Licorace]

Love the spell now, gives merc time to catch up. I block merc heals Promised , elixer and CH. so my playstyle is different.

with AA aegis, and this my merc has no problems keeping up even on mobs like general Jayleel (sp)

Major Thanks (Am i really saying this?) to sony for fixing this.. and keeping the fast cast time.

And thnx for your post on info. Definately a killer Boost for us.

[Ragginbane]

I use the clicky pet da belt from under quarry along with aegis aa and that seems to work well.

[Quickener]

I use the clicky pet da belt from under quarry along with aegis aa and that seems to work well.

Which belt are you referring to?