I am new to the game and I chose Illusionist. I did fair amount of research on various aspects of the class. Now on AA build, most info out there focus on maximizing raid dps. But since AA can be reset, I want a build that will make my leveling/soloing easier. Agility line only favor long raids when you have to cast a lot. Time line helps your raid with time compression but the rest are solid DPS boost for solo. I am thinking of getting penetration and time lines. What would be your recommendation? Thanks.
I'm also leveling an illusionist! hehe Here is what I found out... I hope it helps! AA Abilities that are must-haves: Mana Flow- 10% power to anyone in raid, 10% to self, cost is 10% health/10% power Time Compression- 25% Casting Speed Haste, 50% Recovery Haste, 10% Reuse Haste. (Single Target, must be in Group) (Best for Warlock or Wizard) Illusory Arm- 25% Double Attack (Ranged and Melee) (Single Target, must be in group) Preferred AA Setup: KOS 4/4/8/7/1 AGI KOS 6/4/4/8/1 INT EOF All Time Line filled except Abolish Hope, All Enchanting line filled, other point is up to personal preference. (I personally put mine into single target mezzes) Why AA Setup is Preferred: This setup guarantees max DPS out of an Illusionist. A well-played Illusionist with the right gear can easily break 2k+ DPS. This setup also provides 100% Casting Speed Haste and 30% Extra damage when below 30% power.
Gamebler@Mistmoore wrote: Thanks. Yes, this build is for maximum DPS, but I would think that is for raid since those must-haves are only beneficial to the raid, but not self. I am trying to soling/questing, and I would prefer that my mezz and chain would not be resisted easily and would last longer, which is why I am thinking of penetration line. But I cannot figure out how to build my enchanter AA line. Int line is good overall with some garbage, agility line only helps if I have to cast many spells.
I am in the same situation (lvl 30 with 20+ aa). I made my decisions purely on my perception. My perception is that mez cuts down on incoming DPS drastically. So... I maxxed my mezzes on the EoF page first. I maxxed the single mez, root, and encounter mez. Regret? Absolutely not. My survivability has gone through the roof. Adds don't phase me at all, although I'd give my maintoon's right leg to have a heal once every five minutes or so. I very rarely die (the extended time on mez is the difference for me) -- some risky situations (like this morning I think I pulled out of a 4 add fight with 4% hps left). I haven't really decided where to go next. I was going to work on Time Compression, but I'm beginning to think that AGI is more worthwhile. Increased cast speed will help in those risky situations. Most of the time when I'm in danger, I'm casting a mez. The cast time is a little longer than I'd like when nasties are beating on me. I may very well respec the few AA points I've put toward Time Compression and head more toward the spell haste.
Agility is just plain good. Even though Illusionists are fast casters to begin with, more speed always helps, especially if you need to get a stun/root/stifle/mez off in a hurry. For soloing, I did Wis/Agi in the KoS lines. I found that I didn't bother with daydream at all, but the increase in casting skills and, to a lesser extent, the increase in resists are a nice thing to have when out in the field. For EoF I put 5 points into power regen, maxed out my most used spells in the penetration line and then went down the time compression line. I then just used my free respec to choose a more traditional layout.
Daydream is key for avoiding mobs when you're in a hurry, or harvesting! I'd recommend the Time line first, since it does help with dps, and then maybe go with enchanting. I wouldn't worry about agility until you have your spell list flushed out a bit. Keep in mind you're a utility class...a lot of our abilities (thankfully) are utility for other group members.
Good discussion to read as I was wondering the same question (AAs for leveling/soloing and NOT for raiding ... I use my main (Swashie) for that). I am also inclined to focus on Penetration as well as casting speed since spells being resisted are my biggest issue. Other issue is just sheer lack of AAs. I mothballed my chanter some time ago only have around 30 at level 70! So for me, it is not only a template issue but also a question of where to put my paultry few AAs first to help me live through the quest lines of ROK long enough to get more AAs!
This is a great thread for me since I am facing the same dilemma. I have a Illusionist that I played primarily before KoS came out. When I took him "off ice" he was level 42 with 2 AA's. I played a 70 Illusionist on a PvP server when KoS came out but have retired from pvp life. I have him at level 58 with 46 AA's and am at the point where I need to make some spec decisions. The first thing I did was go all the way down down the Time Compression line. I then went down the Penetration line since I got immediate "bang for my buck" spending points there. When leveling up it is especially nice to toss points in here since you won't necessarily bother getting Master or Adpet III's of these abilities until they are no longer upgradable. The two lines have improved my solo career since improved nukes and improved root have made taking down heriocs much easier when needed. Now I have 46 AA's I have a choice of respeccing and going down the TC line (21 points) and down the AGI line (24 points). I could see the combination of these two lines being great on dps. Is this what I should do? What I am planning is as follows: -21 Points into TC (to end ability) -24 Points into AGI line (to end ability) -Then spend the next 10 on (5)Sleep and (5)Root in the penetration line. This will help survivability and soloing. -Then spend the next 10 on maxing out the TC line for dps. -After that down the INT line for DPS Does this sound like a reasonable leveling plan? Once I start raiding I will respec to a raid setup. Should I toss 4 to 8 points into Daydream before going down INT to help with solo questing while leveling? I've never used the ability in the past but it sounds like it would be useful on invising through dungeons with see invis mobs and for inspecting/harvesting quest items without having the kill the mob (often) sitting on top of the item needed.
I recommend the STR line.. I couldn't imagine playing without it. I do more damage from melee then from my spells. I have the line maxxed, plus I cast the 25% double attackon myself from the EoF tree. Self buffed I am at 110% haste, 50% dps mod, 50% crit, 75% double attack. There are numbers flying all over the place when I melee, not to mention procs fly off like crazy with all that haste. It also gives some nice defensive bonuses, maxxed you parry 8% of all incoming attacks and the end ability counter-blade blocks not just spells like it says, but seems to block any combat art a mob uses, and it's recast is only 12 seconds. Root-nuke my butt, I go toe to toe with everything from orange solo up to blue heroics, just time your stuns/stifles/dazes.. Our biggest damage ability comes from the spell that procs damage on a melee attack.. I don't see why not enhance our own melee skills and cast it on ourselves soloing instead of standing back and slowing wearing down a mob.. /yawnfest -BC
The agi line is *not* just a raiding line. You will have perp V up very quickly, and it'll speed up your killing significantly. This is how my average fight goes at level 51 now. Root > Beam > Siphon (if it's not still up from last fight) > lobotomize > beam > wither hope > beam > prismatic strife on pet (he will go in to melee around this time) > beam > psychotic spectrum > beam. Sometimes I'll drop the psychotic spectrum for aneurysm instead if the mob is low enough. The last beam after psychotic isn't needed really, the mob is around 7% by then and will die quickly to dots anyway, but power is never an issue so I just toss it out anyway. All that takes like 12 seconds to cast thanks to the agi line. I wouldn't get time until after agi. Reducing the reuse on beam isn't that important when you can't chain spells super fast, and the rest of the line focusses heavily on dots, which don't shine unless you're soloing heroics. You don't even get color shower until 50. Lobotomize ticking faster is nice, but even then it won't tick very much, and I don't think I've ever seen the bonus damage from lobotomize, psychotic spectrum or color shower ending when fighting a non-heroic. As for the wis line and mezzes, I honestly rarely get resisted, and my mez lasts almost a minute. If I get jumped by multiple mobs I just use barrier and start mezzing them, never found a need for all the AA's in it.
Seth wrote: I agree with you that the agi line is not just a raiding line but if I releveled my Illusionist tree I would put 21 points into TC before even looking at the AGI line. This is how I progressed my line for soloing and would do it again if I had the choice. 1 Mana flow 2-22 Time compression line all the way to TC. Even though you can't TC yourself when you solo you can TC your pet. 23,24,25 3 points Single target mezz 26,26,28 3 points root 29, 30 2 points single target mezz 31, 32 2 points root 33-42 Max out TC line 43-45 whereever you want since you will respec at 46 At 46 Points RESPEC 21 into TC line 1 Manaflow 24 into Agi line 47,48,49 Single target mezz 50-54 Root 55 Cure Arcane 56-60 Regen buff (With agi line power starts to become a issue when chain pulling) 61+ Max out TC line (5 in each) then some of agi line. When I hit level 64 I chose mana regen buff as Master 2 and RESCPECed again dropping the 6 points I through into mana regen and cure arcane. At this point you can choose to "borrow" some points from the TC line and with 11 additional points start down another enchanter line. I've chosen to put 10 points into WIS (4,6) in order to make soloing easier. The agro range spell is handy. Once I hit 80 I will respec to a more traditional raid spec. Hope someone finds this useful.
Im an 80 illusiosnt that raids on weekends and solo during the week i have an aa respec mirror in inn room and change my spec depending on if i am raiding or soloing. (i have max 140aa points) when raiding i use Enchanter line Agi: 4-8-8-8-1 to max casting speed Int: 6-4-4-8-1 to max spell crit and 25% extra dmg under 30%power Sta: i throw the rest of my points into sta line for the heal crit group buff and the deagro spell to use on the wiz/warlock in my group Illusionst line I use: TC line Double attack line Mezz line for the 50% reduced resist When soloing Enchanter tree Int line Stays the same the dmg boost help kill stuff faster...faster you kill something the less of a chance it has to kill you Agi line: 4-4-8-6-1 casting speed bonus helps tuns in soloing or something close to that set up Wis line: 4-4-4-7 The ability just befor the end line in wis that adds Sub and reduced the reuse timer of your mez Rocks Illusionst tree stays the same for me since i have the 3 good lines speced out to the end ability The only thing i would say differnt from what i have seen people post here is put points in Wis line to get the Sub bonus and the reuse timer reduction befor puting points into The Illusionst tree mez line. i have noticed a much bigger reduction in mez resist with the wis line then the Illusionst tree mez line. so for a soloing illusionist lvling up i would got Agi/Wis first then move to the Illusionst tree for TC line and Double attack line... The wis line is all you need to keep your Mez resist low.. the illusionst tree mez line is something to work on once you get past lvl 70 and have extra AA points its just not worth puting points into untill then
As i see more Illusionists running around with 2H Staff like Staff of Impaler or not having their 2nd hand free, is it now better to drop perpetuality to additional specs and procs on the 2H or extra item? Most recommendations here seem to go AGI but both Siphon and Perpetuality wont work without 2nd hand slot free? I am a bit puzzled on what i see (grouped with my warden and some Ilu in Maidens Chamber lately, he had a 1.5k dps rating zonewide - ok, really well equipped, but anyway) and was constantly on top of the dps list. He didnt have his offhand free and that was close to the max dps i saw in that zone so far. Any hints or comments? Would like to get some hints without respeccing and trying around too much
Ebarel wrote: The agi line USED to require that you have your offhand free, but it doesn't anymore; they changed many of the AA weapon requirements several months ago. So no, there's no need to drop it.
