Air Savant, SLA and metamagic

[Drimsdale]

I have a L7 Air Savant, with Maximise Spell. I can achieve very good SP economy by only using the Shocking Grasp SLA, with Maximise on, but the cooldown is just long enough to be inconvenient. If I use my other spells with Max on, though, I tend to burn through my SPs quite quickly (e.g. Lightning Bolt is normally 9SP, 34 with Max for only double the damage).

How are other Savants handling this? I'm tempted to just leave Max off most of the time, doing less damage with the SLA, but able to throw other spells around without breaking the SP bank, and only use Max when I need to go nova on something.

[ProdigalGuru]

It gets easier at tier 3.

I can run most things on ONLY my SLA's.

I use my other spells when I want to go nova.

[Jaid314]

air savant at low levels is gonna be tricky for you. i'd suggest you go earth or fire until 12, or at the very least 10. either way (ie fire or earth), your SLA will hit multiple targets at a time for close to the same amount of damage. and either way, you get a level 3 spell that will dish out respectable damage in an area (yes, i know technically lightning bolt is possible for air, but lightning bolt has absolutely terrible potential when it comes to hitting several targets)

the best part is that when you kite everything up into a group, and *then* drop a single fireball or acid blast into the middle of them, you'll kill a whole bunch of stuff with one spell, which is much more efficient. and anything that's left, you can finish off with your SLA (or vice versa).

once you get to 12, it gets a lot better. heck, for air savant, even 10 will be a nice improvement... it will give you access to ball lightning which is *much* better for gathering large groups and then nuking (and at 12 you can get chain lightning, another important spell, plus a cheap electric loop SLA)

but basically, your main problem is that you don't have any good AoEs yet. at level 12, your air savant will have shocking grasp, plus electric loop SLAs (and you should find that your loop is at least semi-reliable at dazing a few of your targets if you're decently geared, almost all of them if you've got really good gear), plus you'll have some stronger nukes for hitting lots of targets.

so hang in there, you're kinda still in a bad spot for air savant. in the meanwhile, try a different savant. specifically, try fire or earth. if you want to go air later, the transition period will probably be a lot smoother if you either save one of your dragon blood potions for that time, or don't choose earth (fire spells can still be useful for an air savant, but earth spells will be really hurting bad). you don't even need to take a *lot* of dps spells, either, so you could save your spell change potion for something important if you want.

that said, my recommendation would be towards fire... it really is by far the strongest at low-mid levels. burning hands, scorch, scorching ray, fireball, and wall of fire should give you all the tools you need while you wait for air to get stronger.

[Drimsdale]

Thanks for the advice! You actually anticipated another question of mine, as I actually intended to ask about targeting Lightning Bolt as well - I have difficulty hitting more than one enemy; sometimes I have difficulty targeting one! (There's a bunch of scorch marks on the roof of Delera's Tomb, for a start.)

I haven't used any Dragon Blood yet, so I suppose I could swap now, then swap back in a few levels time. At least the feat requirements are the same across all elements!

[Jaid314]

Thanks for the advice! You actually anticipated another question of mine, as I actually intended to ask about targeting Lightning Bolt as well - I have difficulty hitting more than one enemy; sometimes I have difficulty targeting one! (There's a bunch of scorch marks on the roof of Delera's Tomb, for a start.)

I haven't used any Dragon Blood yet, so I suppose I could swap now, then swap back in a few levels time. At least the feat requirements are the same across all elements!

you shouldn't need dragon blood that badly... you'll probably be fine between (for example) a burning hands SLA and a fireball for 3 days. if you still need another option in 3 days, you could swap in scorch or burning hands as a spell known as well, or scorching ray if you want a dedicated single target nuke.