Return of Reckoning

Hi all,

Although I'm aware of the discontent caused by a dps AM coming into a SC with no other (potential) healer, I've decided to open this thread for the ones who decided to pay tribute to mighty Teclis by running a DD Archmage ^^

I currently run the Duelist set with full intelligence talismans, green jewels with intell on it, same for belt, and the Passwatch Circlet because messed up when buying the set and was left with not enough tokens...
I upped the Asuryan tree and took the Increased Conductivity tactic.

How do you define your role in scenarii in particular - admitting that you're mainly soloing in open? I always have a mix of dev/stalker gear in my inventory in order not to ruin Order chances if I am the only player in a party that can actually heal and switch tactic to Discipline/Master of Tranquility/Hurried restore, but it leaves me with only two hots + heal group (if your party is squishy then.....) + Boon of Hysh... The lifetapping dot is not powerful enough when you switch to healing, in my opinion.
I often see DPS AM who could have changed the course of a scenario only by remembering that AM should never be pure healing or pure damaging but a mix of both

A few days before the alternative set was implemented, I had gaven up the idea of playing a DD AM, because of the healing focus on the T3 sets and because some of the spells were not available before rank 35 (Master of Force, Fury of Asuryan..). But I decided to give this set a try and felt my old feelings from live revived again.

For DPS AM reading this, what are your advices on the spec? I personally hesitate often between giving the remaining points in Isha to get the AOE snare OR giving them in Vaul in order to up the lifetap dot and Balance Essence.

By the way, has someone ever tried a full Vaul spec?

Love the spec already

To answer your question about vaul. I did vaul/ asuryan spec back whe. The game went live. It was decent. It did less damage, but could put out more healing than an asuryan spec. Personally, I like any spec I use to include asuryan up to scatter the winds. That debuff can be extremely helpful. Also, I through dos and heals regardless of spec as it is the AM's mechanic. Even if you are dps AM you can help with heals when needed.

You played Arcing Power that's it? With the aoe skill lifetap?
When I have to heal as a dps AM, I switch my stuff to willpower slotted dev/stalker and i switch tactics too. The healing abilities as a Duelist aren't significant enough to be useful IMO...

quick question since were talking about am

does the KB no tirgger/ignore immunites? cause i popped snare immunity and charged an am only to still get kb'd

TenTonHammer wrote:quick question since were talking about am

does the KB no tirgger/ignore immunites? cause i popped snare immunity and charged an am only to still get kb'd

Only Resolute Defence provided knockback/knockdown immunities as far as I remember, besides 4sec of BO/SM.

You need puddle no matter what spec you are in, it is singlehandedly the best utility spell you have access to whether you are healing or DPS. This honestly really gimps dps shaman/AM in terms of what they can spec for. The puddles should become core abilities since they are seen as mandatory for any build, and the 5pt abilities for each class should be reworked to help bring the healing specs of those classes more in line with the other 2 healers in each realm.

DPS AM works pretty well in 3 DPS setup 6 mans as you bring decent dmg along with some healing support and great utility to sort of make up for the lack of tank/healer. But as long as 2-2-2 trumps everything this will never be meta. As far as solo queing in scenarios you are going to get a ton of **** it's just a fact of life.

my normal spec for the am back then was healing with enough for scatter the winds in asuryan. The vaul spec I tried for giggles and it worked ok. But yeah the puddle is pretty much considered mandatory.

As far as getting grief players need to grow up and quit telling others how to play. If heals are so important to them they should roll a dang healer. Sorry pet peeve of mine. Healers just seem to take a lot of abuse and if they get tired of the abuse they get more for switching to dps spec. Which is why ATM I have solved my AM I think. Who knows it is my favorite class so I'll probably be back to it.

Belhannaer wrote:
How do you define your role in scenarii in particular

I have been able to play my DPS/Vaul AM more and beginning to form an opinion on them. They seem to play a similar role to say a grace WP however they heavier on the DPS side than the healing, good grace WP will double their damage in healing, and the scenario I seem to do well in it's around a 1/3rd healing to 2/3rds damage split. The problem with DPS AM is they fit best in a 3-2-1 group like Kotbs+Slayer+WP+RP+BW/SW+DPSAM, which is hardly meta. The DPS AM is competing against the SW in that slot too, and there is certainly advantages to one of the other in that kind of setup.

The grace WP actually has the ability to replace a healer in a 6 man allowing you to also have 2 guards which is vital. Or at least that is where Az seems to be trying to get grace WP to. DPS AM just doesn't put out enough raw damage/burst to really fit into a 2 dps setup.

With a little tweaking to the class mechanic, and some mastery/core abilities I could see DPS AM/shaman being very viable if the 2-2-2 meta is broken and hybrid classes in general become viable.

The problem with being healer with a Vaul spec is that you mainly single heal... The group heal in that setup (Asuryan until scatter and Vaul the highest possible) is too much weak to be significant...
Or you give up Asuryan and up Isha/Vaul, but then the question of willpower and healdebuff with Divine Fury.
I reach honourable healing scores while being dps but only with switching tactics and gear and that by taking the puddle I have the Isha path upped if only for a little points ...
It's interesting what you say about the AM/SW competition, I just wish I had the opportunity - only once lol - to play my AM like one would play a pure rdps, but the things being as they are, I mainly have to switch tactics/gear. I sometime forget to switch tactics, and only this is nightmarish when being the only one potential healer.