Apoligies in advance if this has already been answered elsewhere, but I did do a search and didn't find any answers so: I was wondering if anyone has a good writeup of what druid debuffs stack and which ones overwrite eachother. I am currently lvl 81. Assuming that the in-game information is always clear enough, there's always trial and error, but if not, is there a way that I can figure it out myself?
So... debuffing rules: 1) use them... a lot! 2) see #1 Ok, on to the stuff you wanted to know: The spells: Fire 1 (AC/Attack/Fire resist): Hand of Ro (level 61), Grasp of Ro (86), Grip of Ro (91) Fire 2 (AC/Attack): Ro's Illumination (62), Sun's Corona (67), Grasp of Ro (86), Grip of Ro (91) note-at 86/91 the two are combined into a single spell Cold 1 (AC/CR): Chillvapor Breath (77), Coldwhisper Breath (82), Bracing Breath (87), Enduring Breath (92) Cold 2 (AC/Attack): Gelid Frost (79), Blanced Frost (84), Argent Frost (89), Silvered Frost (94) Fire Dot (AC/FR/dot): Withering Sunray (81), Scorching Sunray (86), Blazing Sunray (91) Cold Dot (AC/CR/dot): Gelid Moonbeam (89), Algid Moonbeam (94) The stacking: You can cast a Fire 1, Fire 2, Cold 1, Cold 2, a Fire Dot (of the above) and a Cold Dot (of the above) for a total of 6 debuffing spells (and dots). They really add up, and on mobs over 80, the attack debuff is very significant. The debuffing dots have a special code that only allows a single cast on a mob, such that in a group with two druids, or a raid, you can only have one sunray and one moonbeam on the mob. All other dots (the insects, the other fire one) you can stack as many as you can. The AA: At 81 you get an AA called Hand of Ro. This is the same as your level 61 spell. Buy it and you free up a spell slot. It will not get extended by armor detrimental duration effects, but you can recast it easily enough. At 91 you get an AA called Blessing of Ro. This is almost the same as Grip of Ro (less AC/Attack, more FR). Note: the 86/91 Something of Ro spells have a healing component (it heals the target of the target). The AA spell does not have this. The other spell(tm): We have another oddball spell line: Skin to Something. Vines (73), Mulch (78), Flora (83), Leaves (88) and Foliage (93). This spell turns the mob into a plant (not visually, it only thinks it is a daisy) causing an increase in fire damage. This is generally a good thing, especially around anyone who casts fire spells. On the other hand, your tanks and healer would prefer the shaman Feral line which turns mobs into animals (not visually) and will cause the mob to not hit successfully as often. The summary: At 81 you can smack up a mob with six debuffs: Hand of Ro, Sun's Corona, Withering Sunray, Chillvapor Breath, Gelid Frost, and Skin to Mulch. Upgrade the debuff/dots every five levels and add in the Moonbeam line at 89.
Skin to XXX also flags the mob as plant, which adds a massive amount of damage from necros, in RoF it is our 4th best dot line if the mob is planted.
Thanks for the replies. I am surprised to hear that Sun's Corona and Gelid Frost stack. From what I have read, it would seem that one would overwrite the other?
There is one good and easy way to find out. Oh, did i mention it is fun too? Take a friend/bot (not a merc), or just yourself, and head over to The Arena. The easiest way is through PoK, there is a book near the Soulbinder to there. Go into the middle of the Arena (through the tunnels) until you are under the Arena effect. Have the victim (or yourself) remove all buffs and armor (you need to lower your resists as much as possible) with bonus points if you can get tash/malo from someone. Write down your baseline AC, attack, FR and CR. Then, one at a time cast the various debuffs on the victim. Don't forget to heal if you cast the dot (and don't run out of mana!) Write down the stats as you cast and stack each spell. Good luck!
Skin to XXXX vs feralise line, If shammy cast his 1st you can stack yours (ie skin to x). If druid cast 1st it blocks the shammy one. Shammy wont be able to refresh until druid one drop. So both can be used. Just need to pay attention to order.
Here is a link to some charts which show the debuff stacking. I need to update them for RoF but since you are level 81 it should be fine for you: http://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Druid#Druid_Debuff_Spells The problems with our debuffs are: Too many. Far too many spell gems needed. Some should be combined. The AA versions are worse than the spells. An even bigger problem than the AA versions being worse than the spells, the better spell versions can not overwrite the worse AA versions!
