Pale Master Guide

[Portalcat]

Crafted Eternal Chilling Darkness today.

It does not trigger off of damage from either death aura or negative energy burst. This includes both the damage to myself which heals me as well as damage to surrounding enemies, which I would think should count.

It does trigger off of necrotic ray and the damage from finger of death whether mobs save against the death effect or not.

It still seems quite strong because it triggers off of finger of death, but it would be improved if it is fixed to work with death aura and negative energy burst.

I've filed a bug report and posted a thread in the general forum here.

[Portalcat]

Okay, so eternal chilling darkness procs off of wail, enervation, and energy drain as long as they pass spell resistance checks.

This is quickly becoming a straight-up +50sp every 45s.

[Andoris]

Okay, so eternal chilling darkness procs off of wail, enervation, and energy drain as long as they pass spell resistance checks.

This is quickly becoming a straight-up +50sp every 45s.

Thank you for being the guinea pig and testing this for us.

It is a bit disappointing to see it not working with DA, however; with everything else working your going to be procing all the time anyways.

Is there any visible timer to let you know when the 45 seconds are up?

[ssternlight]

Crafted Eternal Chilling Darkness today.

It does not trigger off of damage from either death aura or negative energy burst. This includes both the damage to myself which heals me as well as damage to surrounding enemies, which I would think should count.

It does trigger off of necrotic ray and the damage from finger of death whether mobs save against the death effect or not.

It still seems quite strong because it triggers off of finger of death, but it would be improved if it is fixed to work with death aura and negative energy burst.

I've filed a bug report and posted a thread in the general forum here.

Cool.

Do you know if it processes off of the enervation SLA (or any necro SLA) as we'll? More of an opinion thing: Have you found the extra 50 sp every 45 seconds particularly useful thus far? More so, say than a theoretical extra 3 "storm" shots of some flavor.

[Portalcat]

Thank you for being the guinea pig and testing this for us.

It is a bit disappointing to see it not working with DA, however; with everything else working your going to be procing all the time anyways.

Is there any visible timer to let you know when the 45 seconds are up?

No.

When the effect procs, a 30s timer comes up similar to Fey Energy Tap, but it disappears as soon as you use the temporary spell points.

I've found that using the timer on death aura has offered a way to track it. Honestly though, there isn't much need to track it outside of testing purposes - I can just assume I'm getting extra sp every 45-50 seconds for as long as I'm actively casting necro spells or DPSing a red name.

Cool.

Do you know if it processes off of the enervation SLA (or any necro SLA) as we'll? More of an opinion thing: Have you found the extra 50 sp every 45 seconds particularly useful thus far? More so, say than a theoretical extra 3 "storm" shots of some flavor.

It does trigger off enervation SLA (only one I've tried so far). My guess is that would would trigger off all of the other SLAs. Someone pointed out that it seems to be procing off of any spell that can proc shiradi procs.


I've only run a few quests, but it does clearly help. It's a lot of free sp between shrines.



I wouldn't take the dragon breath clickies except on some future swap weapon.

[Wipey]

Does it work with Nether Orb temporary sp proc ?
It probably has nothing to do with each other but you know ...

[Portalcat]

Does it work with Nether Orb temporary sp proc ?
It probably has nothing to do with each other but you know ...

Well, it does seem like it can't be active at the same time as Fey Energy Tap.


It's a moot point, though. A 2-hander gives higher DCs than two weapons, and moreover, I'd opt for 2 thunderforged weapons over 1 thunderforged and a nether orb.

[ssternlight]

Well, it does seem like it can't be active at the same time as Fey Energy Tap.


It's a moot point, though. A 2-hander gives higher DCs than two weapons, and moreover, I'd opt for 2 thunderforged weapons over 1 thunderforged and a nether orb.

The observation that Eternal Chilling Darkness (ECD) doesn't stack with Feywild Tap (FWT) is an interesting (and disappointing) result. Last night I realized that 50 SP every 45 seconds equates to 666 SP (Turbine humor?) rather than the 960 SP that FWT provides over 10 minutes. So, after using FWT to cushion the initial buff costs, you're basically getting an average cushion of 66 SP/minute with a (4x) emergency 196 SP instant (re)buff. That does seem nice -- especially for extended raids. That saves 2-3 superior or 3-4 major pots for sure -- more depending on how long ECD runs.

A bit off-topic but, with respect to the Tier 2 +7 Wyrmic spell penetration option mentioned by Andoris up thread, does anyone know if this stacks with the Piercing Spellcraft enhancements? If not, that potentially frees up points in each tree. For Magistar, this could lead to raising caster/max caster level by 1 (Master of Necromancy) for Necro spells -- which is worth another DC I think? This would allow someone to drop an Greater Intelligence for Ruin without effecting DC's. For Draconic, it seems like it could be used to increase school spell power or maybe reflex.

Finally, other than the Meridian Fragment, does anyone have any thoughts for what might fit into a second orange slot (2 stick option) that's "orange?"

And as always, thanks for sharing experiences -- to everyone.

[Portalcat]

For Magistar, this could lead to raising caster/max caster level by 1 (Master of Necromancy) for Necro spells -- which is worth another DC I think?

It does not. Caster level isn't used in the DC calculation - spell level is.

Finally, other than the Meridian Fragment, does anyone have any thoughts for what might fit into a second orange slot (2 stick option) that's "orange?"

Any red spellpower augment you want.

I've not been impressed by the Meridian Fragment. It's really only offering a bonus worth taking if you're getting hit enough to keep it stacked up. The problem is that we're extremely squishy for an EE build and our entire survival strategy is based on not getting hit as much as possible. The -6sp ends up being a drop in the bucket that doesn't change how often we can afford to cast such spells.

I will drop mine for impulse +138; my red slot has corrosion +138, and the tier 1 forged bonus is nullification 150. I'm acid spec'ed for Draconic burst and breath, and the impulse feeds ruin - I think this is where we want to sit for boss DPS given the U21 undead-heavy raiding endgame, since acid hits everything and ruin is just stupid good now. Most of your DPS comes from burst, breath, and ruin right now and you want them to hit everything, so acid spec is the way to go right now.

[Andoris]

I
I will drop mine for impulse +138; my red slot has corrosion +138, and the tier 1 forged bonus is nullification 150. I'm acid spec'ed for Draconic burst and breath, and the impulse feeds ruin - I think this is where we want to sit for boss DPS given the U21 undead-heavy raiding endgame, since acid hits everything and ruin is just stupid good now. Most of your DPS comes from burst, breath, and ruin right now and you want them to hit everything, so acid spec is the way to go right now.

Personally I like Fire (it is amazing the damage you can do for 8 sp and scorching ray), although Acid is also a very good choice. Also agree on Meridian frag.. as we are now restricted to a quarterstaff for the ideal weapon, there just is no room for it. You are better off slotting elemental damage. Later, when we have more mats than we know what to do with -- I see a use for it in a 2 weapon layout focused on nuking.

As for Ruin.. I have been running it through the last ETR (including multiple runs of the new raids) and although I still hate it (way to expensive and it costs me 0.5 DC), I think it is going to be part of my feat selection going forward. Its ability to bypass any Boss DR is something that can't be replicated.. and with end game being what it is currently.. I can't see losing it from my toolbox. That being said.. if you are not running the new raids as part of your end game, then the additional point of DC is better for EE questing.

[ssternlight]

Thanks to you both for the thoughts -- and oops on the caster vs spell level mistake.

[ssternlight]

For the two scepter scenario, any suggestions on whether it is better to take the +7 spell penetration or a +6 DC to enchantment -- thereby permanently freeing up the cloak slot for the deathwrym cloak instead of the sages mantle and gaining +1 DC to Enchantment at the same time? Or something else?

[Portalcat]

For the two scepter scenario, any suggestions on whether it is better to take the +7 spell penetration or a +6 DC to enchantment -- thereby permanently freeing up the cloak slot for the deathwrym cloak instead of the sages mantle and gaining +1 DC to Enchantment at the same time? Or something else?

The Deathwyrm cloak is nice, and I use it as a swap item, but I can't see it being better than 1 enchant DC in content where there are fleshy monsters to hold.

Spell pen is really only an issue with drow assuming you have at least your 3x Wiz past lives, but a tier 2 weapon is ML26. So, really, this would only help if you ran drow content over-level. In U21, I don't think the spell pen 7 option fills a niche for us big enough to spend the resources on.

[ssternlight]

The Deathwyrm cloak is nice, and I use it as a swap item, but I can't see it being better than 1 enchant DC in content where there are fleshy monsters to hold.

Spell pen is really only an issue with drow assuming you have at least your 3x Wiz past lives, but a tier 2 weapon is ML26. So, really, this would only help if you ran drow content over-level. In U21, I don't think the spell pen 7 option fills a niche for us big enough to spend the resources on.

Good point on spell penetration -- still wonder if it stacks with the piercing spell-craft.

The patch 1 notes say that the +100 tier one USP effect is now an implement bonus. Do you think that this and the 138 equipment bonus augments is a winner if you can find the slots?

Finally, what I was suggesting -- just to be sure I'm following what you said -- was that taking a Tier 2 +6 Enchantment School focus on a one-hander would enable me to drop the Sage's mantle entirely and slot whatever cloak I wanted (in this case Deathwyrm as the standard) while gaining a +1 DC to enchantment at the same time.

[Portalcat]

Good point on spell penetration -- still wonder if it stacks with the piercing spell-craft.

The patch 1 notes say that the +100 tier one USP effect is now an implement bonus. Do you think that this and the 138 equipment bonus augments is a winner if you can find the slots?

+100 potency is still an equipment bonus. The notes refer to a bug fix wherein forged weapons weren't giving the implement bonus in addition to the crafted spellpower (unless you slotted a spellpower augment); now they do.

I still think it makes most sense to take 150 nullification, and slot two 138 augments on a two-hander. If you ran two one-handers, you'd probably forge potency on the second.

Finally, what I was suggesting -- just to be sure I'm following what you said -- was that taking a Tier 2 +6 Enchantment School focus on a one-hander would enable me to drop the Sage's mantle entirely and slot whatever cloak I wanted (in this case Deathwyrm as the standard) while gaining a +1 DC to enchantment at the same time.

You end up in the same place on enchant versus running a two-hander with sage's mantle and lose a DC to necro, conjuration, and everything else. I think it's better to just run a two-hander. Deathwyrm cloak is a nice healing boost for us, but it's not eye-popping, which is what we'd need to give up necro or enchant DCs.

At this moment, the only things I'm willing to sacrifice DCs for are energy burst, ruin, and maybe the draconic package that gives sense weakness and dragon breath. With ruin in the mix and more focus on raiding, I'm leaning away from the sense weakness package now. I'll have to play around with shadows upon you a bit over the next few days to see if it pans out as a candidate worth twisting over a point of int.

[Portalcat]

Unless I'm missing something, shadows upon you got a nerfbat from its originally proposed version, and no longer has the -2/-4/-6 breakdown for the initial debuff, but just a flat -2.

With a single target, a cooldown of 20s, and the fact that it's not efficient to smack that target a bunch of times to reduce its saves, this doesn't seem compelling.

A shame, but it does keep the twists from becoming confusing.

[peng]

Epic Destinies:
Primary Destiny - Draconic
Intelligence (6), Energy Sheath [Electric] (2), Go out with a bang (2), Energy Burst: Electric (2), Dragon Heritage: Electric (3), Draconic Knowledge (2), Dragon Breath (1)
Twists: Fatesinger: Echos of the Ancestors: Magister (3), Magister: Necromancy Specialist (2), Shadow Dancer: Intelligence (1)

Is this still accurate? Why would you take +20 elec spellpower and +1 caster level and mcl on elec spells over t3 energy burst? the damage that adds over time far outweighs the extra spellpower and caster level if you ask me. If you've dropped a point of int to add ruin, you can drop the last ED int to fit some of it back in, get rid of an int twist, or even fit in energy vortex for more dps.

What setup are you using if you're in magister? shadowdancer?

Have you considered empyrian magic from divine crusader as a t3 twist?

Passive Bonus: Whenever you cast a fire, light, or healing spell you gain a stack of Empyrean Fervor. Each stack of Empyrean Fervor gives you +2 Sacred bonus to Universal Spell power, +1% Sacred Bonus to Critical Chance with all spells. Duration: 10 seconds. Stacks 10 times.

Unless I'm missing something, shadows upon you got a nerfbat from its originally proposed version, and no longer has the -2/-4/-6 breakdown for the initial debuff, but just a flat -2.

With a single target, a cooldown of 20s, and the fact that it's not efficient to smack that target a bunch of times to reduce its saves, this doesn't seem compelling.

A shame, but it does keep the twists from becoming confusing.

The 20s cooldown and 20 sp cost are a bit much, but the extra stacks of reduced saves proc whenever *anything* damages the mob. in a full party, if you hit a mob with shadows upon you and check the examine window, it will often have a full 10 stack within a second or 2. And the stack reduces by 1 every 5 seconds. So even after the original debuff wears off, it will generally still have some debuff for a while. In a long boss fight it's trivial to keep it at -12 saves full time. You could even keep 2 bosses at -5 to -12 saves if you switch back and forth between them.

[Eth]

For the two scepter scenario..

Just a general advise...if you make 'sticks', I'd always make kamas. There might be a point in the future where you want to splash monk for some reasons.

[SirValentine]

Just a general advise...if you make 'sticks', I'd always make kamas. There might be a point in the future where you want to splash monk for some reasons.

I prefer Short Swords. They become Ki weapons with only 1 AP spent, and are Martial in the meantime, so you can Master's Touch away that stupid "non-proficiency" icon.

[Andoris]

Is this still accurate? Why would you take +20 elec spellpower and +1 caster level and mcl on elec spells over t3 energy burst? the damage that adds over time far outweighs the extra spellpower and caster level if you ask me. If you've dropped a point of int to add ruin, you can drop the last ED int to fit some of it back in, get rid of an int twist, or even fit in energy vortex for more dps.

What setup are you using if you're in magister? shadowdancer?

Have you considered empyrian magic from divine crusader as a t3 twist?

The build in post #2 is a bit dated -- it is on my list of things to update this week.

My primary destiny is Draconic (fire focused atm), I never bother with Magister and I only used shadowdancer while leveling Martial epic past lives (Consume on a PM is awesome btw). The only thing of real value out of Magister is the potential for +1 int due to not needing to twist [Spell School] Specialist.

The difference between a T2 energy burst and a T3 burst is 4.5 points of base damage / level. If we look at overall damage a T3 burst will do an average of 23 points of base damage per level, +1 Draconic knowledge you would be typically casting burst at caster level 26, for an average base damage of 598.

A T2 burst with +20 elemental spell power and +1 caster level will do an average base damage of 18.5 per level, typically casting at caster level 27, and a 20% boost due to spell power, for an average base damage of 499.5, modified to 599.4 due to the spell power boost from dragon heritage.

So a T3 energy burst and a T2 energy burst with the three extra points thrown into dragon heritage/knowledge is as close to equal as you can get. Additionally, with dragon heritage/knowledge your Dragon breath is much more powerful as well, making that a clear win in my book.

Energy Vortex requires me to stand next to mobs for an extended period of time -- that is not a place my PM wants to stand . If I am standing next to a mob, it better be dead soon after.

As for Empyrian Magic, the only damage spells I cast often is Energy Burst, Dragon Breath, Necrotic Ray, and Delayed Blast Fireball (once in a while for clean up). There is no way I would get Empyrian stacks to anything meaningful. Also, if I am going to dedicate a twist slot to boosting spell damage (versus DC's), there is no substitute for Sense Weakness.