Savant Questions

[Silent-Death]

Hey guys,

Finally, the savants came out! I quickly made my level 14 sorc into a Fire Savant II(I had all the equipment for it). Its a BLAST. I can honestly say Im a much better nuker now, I crit normal fireball(not DBF) 1,147! The SLAs are also good for trash mob with low hp. Although, all this leads me into these questions . . .

1. Whenever I use the Scorch/Burning Hands SLAs, they always proc two times each. Eg, when I cast Scorch, it usually does 175 damage, but I always see two lines in a row of 175 fire damage. Same thing with Burning Hands. Is that normal?
2. Whats better for nuking? Was thinking of AoE nukes, coz single targets are easy to kill with FoD, but I can go that route if its better. I was thinking of going Water Savant some time soon, but not sure. Ive heard Air Savants are good, but Im not really feeling the Electricity thing, I think its a bit too slow(no idea why, tho).
3. What are the other animations for the other Elemental Savants? Thats what I love the most. For Fire Savants, we get the flaming hands. So far, Im the only one Ive seen who's a Savant. (Gosh, I use the word Savant a lot).
4. Not really a Savant Question, but is DBF(Delayed Blast Fireball) better than FoD(Finger of Death) at this level? Ive only one slot for level 7 spells.

Thanks in advance!

[Zzevel]

As an Earth Savant I look like hellboy, my right hand is a big stone mass (a stone gauntlet?) and it smokes all the time. I think I would autofail any spot/sneak check...

[Postumus]

As an Earth Savant I look like hellboy, my right hand is a big stone mass (a stone gauntlet?) and it smokes all the time. I think I would autofail any spot/sneak check...

nice!


My water savant has 'cold hands' that leave trails of snow flake mist when he's featherfalling.

The rays seem much faster, farther, and more accurate.

I've mentioned it before but I still can't get over it, I hit a low level mob with a Niac's for 1175 yesterday. It was averaging around 180's with high 500s for crits.

Ice Storm is good enough that I don't miss the old firewall yet.

I'll be running higher level content tonight, and should hit water savant 3 so I'll be interested to see how effective the 3 SLA is.

[Silent-Death]

nice!


My water savant has 'cold hands' that leave trails of snow flake mist when he's featherfalling.

The rays seem much faster, farther, and more accurate.

I've mentioned it before but I still can't get over it, I hit a low level mob with a Niac's for 1175 yesterday. It was averaging around 180's with high 500s for crits.

Ice Storm is good enough that I don't miss the old firewall yet.

I'll be running higher level content tonight, and should hit water savant 3 so I'll be interested to see how effective the 3 SLA is.

Oh nice! 1175 on Niacs? Is that Niacs Cold Ray? If yes, ****. I thought it capped on level 5. Howd you get it so high? :O And yeah, same, my Scorch do the same damage.

I dont even use firewall anymore, only on boss fights. Fireball/Scorching Ray/Scorch is my new cycle instead of Firewall/Fireball. its cheaper too!

What about Air Savant?

[Postumus]

Oh nice! 1175 on Niacs? Is that Niacs Cold Ray? If yes, ****. I thought it capped on level 5. Howd you get it so high? :O And yeah, same, my Scorch do the same damage.

All the caps are raised for your savant spells lines.

I'm really not sure how I hit for 1175, nearly double what it crit for on other mobs, but I'll be trying to replicate it again. I was so shocked when it happened, I cut and paste it into gen chat.

And if I can get that with my gimpy sorc, I'm sure some others out there are doing really crazy stuff.

[goodspeed]

As an air savant I look like raiden, well not really but id be cool!

However my hands pulsate with air and electricity around them. Blur just completes the effect.

With the right hat and a shine job on his eyes I could make em raiden.

[ProdigalGuru]

Heightened Niac's.

Air Savant has a Blur-like animation, and leaves vapor trails that look like little farts, LOL.

My SLA Lightning Bolt crits were as high as 1333.

Ball Lightning was potentially doing 1450 to an area.

Wind Walk is awesome.

I hit an awakened vulnerability, double stacked Eldar's tick for 1700+ on a Frost Giant in Reavers.


Funny thing was, people kept asking me why I wasn't using Firewall.

[Musouka]

Funny thing was, people kept asking me why I wasn't using Firewall.

Funny, I get the same thing with my earth savant. Yet when the quest is all said and done, and I have 60 kills more than the best DPS in the group, they all say "fire what?"

[Silent-Death]

Okay, thanks!

I have another question. Is it okay to specify on two elements(enhancement wise)? Im going fire/elec. Already got Storm V and Fire VII(or VI whatever thats 50%). Although, all the enhancements for fire are all maxed out(crit etc).

Thanks!

[Postumus]

Okay, thanks!

I have another question. Is it okay to specify on two elements(enhancement wise)? Im going fire/elec. Already got Storm V and Fire VII(or VI whatever thats 50%). Although, all the enhancements for fire are all maxed out(crit etc).

Thanks!

I maxed out water, and I'm maxing out electricity as well.

I've heard people say you can max out three lines, but it seems to me you'd be giving up a lot of other good enhancements for that.

[Majere_Aumar]

2. Whats better for nuking? Was thinking of AoE nukes, coz single targets are easy to kill with FoD, but I can go that route if its better. I was thinking of going Water Savant some time soon, but not sure. Ive heard Air Savants are good, but Im not really feeling the Electricity thing, I think its a bit too slow(no idea why, tho).

Air savants are FUN but not so good. The lack of an SLA AOE makes them slower to kill multiple targets (my experience being dreaming dark on elite so far). The super jump and knockdown immunity rock in quests though, and the free featherfall saves an item slot (until people start crafting ff into their items). Works well with the new electric surge DOT.
I tested water on Lamannia, and think air savants are better. Same story, no SLA AOE, and one of the sla's is a save for no damage. Again, works well with the new chill DOT.

3. What are the other animations for the other Elemental Savants? Thats what I love the most. For Fire Savants, we get the flaming hands. So far, Im the only one Ive seen who's a Savant. (Gosh, I use the word Savant a lot).

Fire and Earth look the coolest imho.

4. Not really a Savant Question, but is DBF(Delayed Blast Fireball) better than FoD(Finger of Death) at this level? Ive only one slot for level 7 spells.

Take DBF if you're a fire savant, thats the big boom spell for that class. I'd also take fireball spell as well so when you want to unleash hell on groups, you can constantly spam these 3 spells ( plus meteors).

Is it okay to specify on two elements(enhancement wise)? Im going fire/elec.

I think the two new damage over time spells are awesome value. If either lightning or cold savant, I'd go with both of the damage lines just for the DOT damage. In a boss fight, use eardweller, equip both a cold + lightning major lore item and go to town.

My opinions in red.

[shagath]

Air savants are FUN but not so good. The lack of an SLA AOE makes them slower to kill multiple targets (my experience being dreaming dark on elite so far).

Weird. Totally different from what I've experienced. Electric loop and lightning bolt are both aoe(hits multiple targets doing damage). Very helpful with solo farms of evon1, ewiz-king and echrono in my experience. Very fast when combined with chain lightning and ball of lightning on multiple targets.

[Zachski]

Don't forget Chain lightning.

As for an SLA... well... you're not meant to rely entirely on SLAs :P

[HastyPudding]

Don't forget Chain lightning.

As for an SLA... well... you're not meant to rely entirely on SLAs :P

I found the air savant's SLA's to be rather pointless. Take shocking grasp; it's a very underrated spell, and with the new spell cost, it is highly spammable (even more than before) and good when throwing about lightning bolt or chain lightning would be a waste of sp. However, the SLA's cooldown is 6 seconds; this makes the shocking grasp SLA completely useless, as the entire point of the spell is it's ability to be spammed relentlessly at close range, and the -2 sp cost doesn't justify using it if it can't be spammed.

Electric Loop SLA is only slightly better (and still loses it's spammability, which makes the original spell more useful), and by the time you get the Lightning Bolt SLA, the 12 sp cost (compared to your 3k sp) and faster cooldown of the actual spell is superior.

The problem with air spells is there isn't a sustained, static damage spell such as Wall of Fire, Incendiary Cloud, Ice Storm, Cloud Kill, or Acid Rain. All of the other elements have one, except air (force doesn't count, but it would be nice to see Isaac's Lesser/Greater Missile Storm).

[Zachski]

You can use Empower and Maximize for free on the Shocking Grasp SLA. So it's more like a -27 Sp cost.

Same for Electric Loop and Lightning Bolt.

They're most meant to be used in the event that you reach <12 SP.

[Elaril]

You can use Empower and Maximize for free on the Shocking Grasp SLA. So it's more like a -27 Sp cost.

Same for Electric Loop and Lightning Bolt.

They're most meant to be used in the event that you reach <12 SP.

I think I'd have to disagree with you somewhat here. I find myself using the SLA's to take out smaller quantities of mobs that a full on nukeing isn't necessary for. I.E. the logistics (levers, number of mobs, grouping with non zergers etc) prevent me from pulling sufficient quantities of aggro to justify the sp expendature. I've found that I'm able to stretch my SP bar much further than I have in the past by spamming SLA's where previously I might have used ball/chain lightning.

[Zachski]

I think I'd have to disagree with you somewhat here. I find myself using the SLA's to take out smaller quantities of mobs that a full on nukeing isn't necessary for. I.E. the logistics (levers, number of mobs, grouping with non zergers etc) prevent me from pulling sufficient quantities of aggro to justify the sp expendature. I've found that I'm able to stretch my SP bar much further than I have in the past by spamming SLA's where previously I might have used ball/chain lightning.

Then use it for that