[ENC] hINT or hSTA? LS era

Discussion in 'Casters' started by Vumad, Jan 8, 2024.

  1. Vumad Cape Wearer

    Are hSTA augs are better for ENC than hINT augs?

    hINT gives spell shielding and mana. I think for raiding WIZ, NEC and MAG that hINT is probably the way to go. Most of the damage they take is from spell damage.

    ENC however has a higher chance to take melee damage than the other casters due to our CC role. We are at a greater risk of running out of HP than we are running out of mana. I don't think the mana benefits from hINT are as impactful for ENC as they are the other casters.

    Since the HP saved from the hINT spell shielding is about equal to the HP gained from hSTA, and the hSTA helps with incoming melee damage while hINT does not, it seems like there is still a good argument for ENC to stack hSTA rather than hINT.

    Any thoughts on this? I

    For type 7/8, I used to stack HP, but I am moving towards stacking SP DMG the same as the other casters do at the expense of some HP. Open to thoughts on this as well.
  2. Vumad Cape Wearer

    Lazam's Tune hSTA 118, hINT 55, hAGI 55 = 76
    Tribute to the Fallen hSTA 55, hINT 118, hAGI 47 = 73.3
    Equivalence of the Trepid Water hSTA 69, hINT 69, hAGI 69 = 69

    It also seems that hSTA has higher hAGi than hINT. An extra 8 hAGI per aug going hSTA over hINT. We will have... like 13 slots with T1 type 5 augs? that's like 104 extra hAGI going the hSTA over the hINT route.

    Are there meaningful benefits to our melee avoidance and mitigation using hAGI wearing silk?

    I will most likely use the hAGI and Harmony Tier2 and Tier3 Type 5s due to the net total higher stats over stacking additional hSTA/hINT tier 1 augs in those slots. Any thoughts?
  3. Szilent Augur

    A thing to check out is if your character is maxing out their benefit to Spell shielding from hero stats. Especially with trophies engaged. Additional heroic int beyond 4000 still benefits mana pool (16:1) and mana regen (1:25), but doesn't benefit survival.
  4. fransisco Augur

    We can totally ignore the mana regen aspect. 25 hint is 10 mana in a minute. Mana pools of half a million? combat Spell costs of 5-15k? Mana regen from hint is utterly worthless. An extra 100 mana regen is like 1 mindrend every 8-10 minutes.
    Not sure why anyone mentions the mana regen component.
  5. Verily Tjark Augur

    Can we get a cage match set up for Szilent and Fransisco? Or maybe just jello wrestling?
  6. Vumad Cape Wearer

    I did notice that hINT and hSTA augs are inverted, so if you look only at those 2 stats, the total hSTAT is the same, just swapped. However, hSTA augs have 8 more hAGI than hINT augs. hAGI doesn't have large benefits for us, but it may help the decision if on the fence b/t hINT and hSTA.
  7. fransisco Augur

    I recently saw it mentioned that heroic strikethrough for group is 50% and raid is 75%.
    Makes me think the hint idea is off in some cases. hagi will still give a dodge impact, whereas hint gives nothing.
  8. Vumad Cape Wearer


    It is not accurate to say hINT gives nothing. hINT gives spell shielding which reduces a lot of incoming damage on raids. hAGI can improve our melee mitigation. hSTA increases our HP.

    For WIZ, NEC and MAG, hINT makes a lot of since because they need the mana and should be avoiding melee damage. Most of their incoming damage should be from spells.

    For ENC, we pull aggro differently than the other casters. We are more likely to take melee. hINT provides no melee protection. hAGI provides no spell damage protection. hSTA provides no protection but increases HP.

    I decided to stick with hSTA as my primary stat. I have always HP focused and I think that is still a good idea since we get an extra +8 net heriocs in STA, AGI, INT using hSTA over hINT. I am not sure that hINT is so much more valuable than hSTA that giving up 80-100 hAGI is worth that choice.

    One change I am making however is that I always HP focused, but on my type 7/8, I am going to try out using SP DMG as my primary stat choice and HP as a secondary stat this expansion.
    minimind likes this.
  9. fransisco Augur

    True. I'm looking at it from a group perspective (which is VERY under represented on these boards). HInt gives spell/dot shielding, but most damage group enchanters take is melee by far. In a raid situation, thats probably much less true.
    minimind likes this.
  10. Vumad Cape Wearer



    I mostly agree. I have played ENC for a long time and a lot of that was not always in raid gear or with raid tanks. That is why I stacked HP and STA. You are definitely correct in current content where they are few AEs. In TBL, there were a lot more AEs. However, spell damage still eats our melee runes, so I have always been a big believer in HP even in TBL. I do understand where you are coming from with the hAGI.

    It's important to note however that...

    AGI - STA - INT
    118 - 36 - 47 = 201
    55 - 118 - 55 = 228
    47 - 55 - 118 = 220

    When you choose a hAGI aug, you are taking a 27 hSTAT penalty PER aug.

    We have 20 slots (no type 5 in primary). Assuming the ENC in question does not raid and wont have the 4 current type 5 raid augs. I'm also going to assume that the ENC in question uses the T3 and T2 hAGi, hSTA, hINT and hHAR type 5 augs which is 8 slots. That leaves 12 slots to fill with T1 augs. An ENC choosing to stack hAGI will have 324 few hSTATs in our top 3 stats than a ENC that choose to stack hSTA, and 96 fewer than one choosing to stack hINT. I understand the argument supporting hAGI, but the net impact of choosing hAGI augs is huge and I simply cannot see (at this time) how that tradeoff nets an advantage over hSTA or even hINT.

    Personally, as a raider, I keep a 2H equipped for the DPS. My T2 hAGI aug is in my shield bandolier with a mana proc 1H and my T2 hINT in my 2H bandolier. I will likely wear all 4 T2 and T3 augs because of the net stats over T1 augs and I may choose to keep the NoS T3 hHAR aug for the same reason.

    I did decide to stack hSTA (for T1 augs) this expansion with some consideration for hINT augs. I can't see hAGI as the right choice.
  11. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    Everything I've read (I don't know the formulae, unfortunately) says that SD is a fairly worthless stat to focus on. You may want to research it a bit before committing to a lot of new augs.
  12. fransisco Augur

    true, SD is like using toiletpaper for armor. Its technically not nothing, but its so very small.
  13. Vumad Cape Wearer


    Well, type 7/8 only have so many options of stats to worry about. I think if I was wearing group gear I would be still focusing on HP, but I'm fully T2 raid geared these days and I can afford a small HP sacrifice for a small increase in DPS.
    Tatanka likes this.
  14. Vumad Cape Wearer

    I worked through my type 5 augs and this is how I am getting things situated on all of my characters. This has really made it easier to optimize my type 5 stuff.

    Raidloot.com
    Click Login and login
    Click Profiles tab, follow directions
    .../output inventory
    ...Upload character file (this auto opens that character)
    ...Select your character (if not already open)
    Click Augs
    Scroll down to type 5

    In the top slots, use... (Charm - Range)
    NoS raid aug
    ToL Raid Aug
    EoK Raid Aug
    LS Raid Aug (when you get it)
    LS T3 hHAR, hSTA, hAGI, hINT
    LS T2 hHAR, hSTA, hINT
    NoS T3 hHAR

    That's 12 slots, leaving 8 left, or if you don't raid, that's 8 slots, leaving 12 left.

    Start from the bottom of the list and work up adding T1 augs. I choose hSTA, you might like hINT.

    For now I put my T2 hAGI aug in my shield and a T1 hSTA in my 2H. I mostly use the 2H but I have a mana tap 1H bandoliered with my shield.

    Note:
    The NoS T3 hHAR aug is 73 to all stats
    The LS T1 hSTA aug is 76 average to our 3 stats
    The LS T1 hINT aug is 73.3 average to our 3 stats
    The LS T1 hAGI aug is 67 averaged to our 3 stats

    This means...
    if you like hSTA, Consider LS T1 to replace NoS T3 hHAR
    if you like hINT, Consider either LS T1 hINT or NoS T3 hHAR aug
    if you like hAGI, Strongly consider keeping the NoS T3 hHAR Aug