updated casting order/priority for illy

returning player looking for just what the title says an updated casting order/priority list for illy

and maybe some aa's to compare from what i have setup or some names that i can check eq2wire

thanks in advance

Have honestly never seen much of a good order for Illy in a good long while. Not very much to cast in a way of dmg.

My only advice, keep communication open with group with buffs/temps/ect. Wiz/lock will love you if you time a TW with them at max increment.

I would have to say we have a lot of things to cast for massive damage. Reply is correct, but after searching for a post that explains what a "decent" not great, but not bad Illusionist would do, none to be found, so... here you go.
Just what I do, by no means the best out there, but it's a start for you.
1. AA lines. As usual, find a good Illy on the EQ2U site and copy his aa lines, I personally have a spreadsheet with my characters that has the choices that I can put for white adorns, and what my purples should be, and spares if I need them, such as power proc, resistance gear, whatever.
2. Stats, as a raider with AOM, you are shooting for the following stats and if you can't obtain them, obtain them in the order I suggest.
Crit chance, 900. New mount and new weapons makes this one pretty easy.
at 600 CC, you get a hit, 700, a chance at a legendary crit, 800 a chance for fabled, and 900 a chance for Mythical crit.
Cast speed, 100%, this is minimum, Forerunner's cognizance or magnitude will give you 15% to CS, Reuse, Recovery.
Cast speed goal is at least 200% though, because Unda Arcanus hits hard with more doublecast. The higher the DC,
the harder Unda will hit.
AB MOD explained below, but it's importance lies here.
Haste, no more than 200 because the excess into Flurry is not important anymore.
Multi Attack, no more than 120 because that's were you see the best benefit, (might even be 100 now). But, be careful
when you hear people say "raids will bump that up higher", true, but a lot of classes are dumping what used to be 'must
have' aa lines because of how powerful everything else is. I personally don't use IA anymore because not one scout
comes to raid and needs 25 dps, compared to what other aa lines offer.
Reuse and recovery, should be at 85% self buffed. Run a Forerunner's in group's raids and this will be at 100%.
You want to run those at 100% even if you are just grouping, for max casting.
AOE auto, 100%, Easy to get to but not as important as other stats, remember, this is in order top to bottom. Procs are "when you damage an opponent" so you want to hit as many "opponents as possible".
Accuracy, 10% min, 16% optimal. I am even trying things out at 20% right now, not sure what the minimum is since I
am over 98.6% hit rate in raids.
Double Cast, 50%, you will probably be at 38-40%, but eventually with more gear, you will get there. Also, excess cast
speed increases this. 100% equals roughly 6-7% DC.
Spell weapon Damage bonus, WDB, 1-30%, because I am not melee specced, this doesn't matter much, but with the new
greens, and 1 piece of gear to change out, mine is at 45%, it's ok to be low because you are using Focused Damage,
and Forced Ranged so it's not as important to gear this part of you up.
DPS 600, this one I have at 350 right now because I need more in Ability modifier. DPS affects more of your weapon
attack, and since I am not caring about my focused damage right now, it's low, I want it at 600, but I chose to get my AB
mod from 22 to 32 and it has paid off in a big way. So I would say this can be any number over 200 for now. Try to get it higher.
Now,
ABILITY MODIFIER: Min. 20k - suggested 26k, I am trying out 32k and loving it.
This one is up for debate, but with my testing, we have 5 spells that are hitting for over 60k on the high end once you start your Time Warp. AB MOD is 50% of your highest Spell/CA, so you can modify up to 50% of Speechless, Pychic Trauma, Master's Smite and others. When you start getting all this clicky gear, max potency procs, and your Time Warp chain going, your Crit bonus and Potency creep into 1,200 to 1300. This increases your spells a lot, and while they may not read more now, it will. Speechless reads 53,933 as I sit. It reads 70,000 full buffs, so I believe a safe number to be at for Ability Modifier is 22 for standard players, but if you are raiding, I wouldn't want to be anything less than 28k. I am at 32k right now and seeing a large benefit from the boost. The loss in auto attack dps only dropped my auto from 440k zonewide to 400k zonewide, while my full dps zonewide skyrocketed. Here is a trash line from ACT. If you know how to read ACT here is a few stats, and if not, 8m is the parse. Pools raid.

3. Gear choices, I suggest you just check out what other chanters are wearing, anything with Amplifying power or Uplifting will benefit the raid and you, anything to boost your CB and POT is a must, I don't have the upgraded wrists/fingers but my gear on eq2u is pretty solid. I still need to change out one set of WDB over to a Casting speed set on the left side. I started out with WDB in every slot thinking my auto attack was the business!, Not so much, sure you can get up to 1m auto attack damage, but focus on AB mod and DC and see how much more you can do, you will love it. I also imbued my Wand with Magic damage from the "Essence of Mind". Boosted my auto attack up a bit, nothing to write home about.

4. Casting order maybe's:
This depends on how you specced, but here goes my opinion of a good casting order.
Doppleganger, Phase, Illusory Allies, Lockdown, these will get you in trouble if not used correctly so put those somewhere where you can't hit them during raid unless you know how to use them. Deaggro on a named can be a very bad thing, but when used correctly, is pretty awesome. Using Dopple and Illusory on Torso when you joust out is a must, makes him stop and target them giving your raid a chance to be ready for the next round. Just an example.
Bewilderment and Ultravioloet Beam are very low dps and for epic mobs, not important, you have plenty to cast so I wouldn't worry about those. I do cast Bewilderment if we want to stun mobs because it does affect Epics for 1.3 seconds.
Regalia works, but it's so fast to be dispelled, you can't benefit from the AOE prevent in raids.

Power. It is your job to remove the blue from the mob's power casting bar.
Absorb Magic (Dispel) and Manatap: two power removing , increasing spells. Use as necessary.
Mana Cloak increases group power slowly.
Extract mana wow.. if you need 105 power every 4 seconds, cast it, otherwise, may not be worth casting.... ever.
Mana Flow don't forget, this increases your power as well, so cast it often if needed. If anyone is below 60% power or even close than you could cast this on them, and after the 15 seconds, you both get 40% power. Takes 10% of your life, so macro that for healers if necessary. (wow, never thought about it but can this be toggle off early?)

Crowd Control: Bewilderment to stun them, then barrier of Intellect, entrance and Phantasmal Awe to control them.
In Ossuary, the strat is to mez the add on the first named, take your pet off auto and cast entrance and
it stays put for 45 seconds, usually disappears before than. Other illies who are good can chime in
more on crowd control, I haven't had to do much of it.

Continued:
MY CASTING ORDER:
Encounter heavy mobs get greens and blue's, including manatap, and single target mobs get reds. Simply put.

Typical casting order:
Savante, as tank is pulling, and I put doppleganger on him just because it may take a spike hit from him.
Chronosiphoning for speed debuff on mob and increase for you!
Prismatic Chaos, Macro'd to Wizard (summoner), cast whenever it's up and less than 2 hits left, it's in my spell timer window. If he has more than 2 hits, then I cast it on high dps, also macro'd, so I have two macro's but usually just need the Wizard.
Jolly Jake's Jack (raid charm) (Massive 40 second potency proc),
Manatap, 25 meters, low damage, starts power drain
Absorb Magic, Continues power drain, maybe dispels mob if needed, but definitely power drain.
Theorems, this is a high damage rating, cast whenever it's up if possible, 6 ticks of damage that quick is awesome.
Unda Arcanus, if mobs are on tank, safe to use, 15 second recast so get it in quick.
This is a typical start to any mob, then, as we go into different types, this is what I typically do:

Chromatic Shower, low starting damage, 5 seconds of dots.
Chromatic storm, 6 seconds of dots.
Chromatic Illusion, great damage to lot's of mobs
Blinding shock if within 10 meters, on trash< I stay in 10 meters instead of ranged, just for this every time it's up.
Nullifying staff for arcane debuff
Spellblade's counter very handy, not cast, but handy for Interrupts, it's fast cast and does a great job interrupting, such as
on the tall named with the purple floor in Castle Highhold up top, easy to interrupt his crap.
NOW, all your procs and dots are in, starting to hit hard and expire, and your Jake's Jolly Jack raid charm has your potency at the highest you will be,
Clicky: Totem of the Draconic Oracle, (Broker), increases POT, CB 12 seconds,
Chronosiphoning again.
Time Warp, Peace of Mind, Flash of Brilliance, Spell Bind, Chromatic Shower!
Note: During Chromatic Shower, if you cleared the reuse of Time Warp, cast Time Warp again, right after you see the
red text "Time Warp is now available for use" in your chat channel. If not, roll fast into any of the following spells
You can't really go wrong using any one of these and in order for me to describe the perfect casting order, you
have to understand that every mob is different. But these are the preferred choices I use with a quick run down
below them for what order I would do them in.
Unda Chromatic Illusion Speechless Psychic Trauma Brainburst Nightmare Blinding shock Chromatic Storm
Paranoia Master's Strike Theorem's Prismatic Chaos Arcane Bewilderment Aneurysm

Single target after Chromatic shower Prismatic Chaos, Unda, Speechless, Pyschic Trauma, Theorem's.
2 -3 encounter after Chromatic Shower, Unda, Theorem's, Chromatic Illusion, Chromatic Storm, Prismatic Chaos
more than 3, after Chromatic shower, Unda, Chomatic Illusion, Chromatic storm, Arcane bewilderment (deaggro).

TEMPORAL MIMICRY, in our raids, we have an awesome Wizard who macro's to the raid force, and a trigger in ACT that says "Fiery blast in 3" I macro Temporal Mimicry to the Wizard and your dps will be insane. I think our top hit so far was 68 million for Temporal Mimicry. You can use it on a Warlock as well, but no matter who you use it on, make sure you have this in BEFORE they cast their big buff, you need that 3 seconds to finish casting what you are casting, and click Temporal Mimicry on that person. Then they can cast their big hit and you just ride the wave of DPS. If you don't time this perfectly, you won't see the potential it can do.

Final note: I hope other Illusionist chime in here because I have been playing one for only 4 months now. I will say though that I have spent many nights scouring the ACT and figuring out what works the best for me and my raid force, and this is what I have. Hopefully it helps you get a good idea of what you have available, and maybe helps you.
Good luck and have fun!

Naneeja put together an excellent post with good guide lines to follow. I will add my thoughts on a few topics below.

Stat Priority

AoE Auto - My raid force always has a Conjuror present, I don't pursue anything beyond 75%. The Conjuror prestige will give you 25% once the increments are in place.
Disruption - Shoot for 2500, this will bring you close to the 30% variance reduction percentage. A pure double cast belt and cloak plus magical skill adornments will help you get close while Flash of Brilliance is running.
DPS Modifier - I personally do not sacrifice DPS mod for ability modifier. However I am able to reach 30k Ability mod while maintaining 600 DPS mod with my current gear. It would not be a bad Idea to sacrifice DPS mod for ability modifier if you are struggling to reach your desired number for that stat.

Casting Priority

Nightmare - Maintain this to keep the targets arcane mitigation de-buffed. *Spell timer window is useful here.

Blinding Shock & Unda Arcanus Spiritus - These two are by far my favorite spells, both can be cast while moving. Be sure to always cast Blinding Shock right away so It is ready again for the next Time Warp cycle. Unda will hit much harder at 20 meters ( It will hit for nothing at 21 meters with no modifier ) so It is beneficial to joust out to 20 meters when casting it. Make your way back to 9 meters for blinding shock ( Tip - use Arcane Bewilderment or Chromatic Illusion as you move back in as both can be cast on the move ).

Theorems & Prismatic Chaos - High priority, despite the lack of an ability to double cast. I always cast these prior to my temporary buff rotation, and again to catch the tail end of time warp so they each gain 3 additional triggers. I only use scouts and the occasional tank for Prismatic Chaos, they trigger it more efficiently then all other classes. It is also good to have two to three targets for Prismatic Chaos in cast your primary target does not use them all before the spells reuse timer runs out for whatever reason. *Spell timer window is useful here.

Chromatic Shower & Chromatic Illusion - Chromatic Shower is a superb green AoE for linked encounter and still solid with only one target. Chromatic Illusion is a superb blue for open AoE encounters and a fair filler for single target that can be cast on the move.

Psychic Trauma - Always use it! Unfortunately all ticks beyond the first will not double cast.

Mimicry - Extremely powerful when used at the right time. It works well at the end of your temporary buff cycle on a tier one caster. Many players are adding group or raid say to inform enchanters when they are going into their biggest damage spikes. Recast time on this one is longer then all your other spells so It will only line up with time warp every other time. Using it again when it is back up is tricky but you don't want to let it sit unused for long or it will not line back up with your time warp cycle. Using this on yourself when you are unsure who you should cast it on at any given time is not a bad idea if you are sure you can string together 12 seconds of awesomeness! In raid I have at least three targets for Mimicry, top AoE parser, top single target parser, top sustained parser, and myself.

Know your Bard! - In linked encounters when a bard lays down a solid VC drop what your doing and go through all your greens and blues until VC has run its course, open with the ones with the shortest reuse timers.


Gnomad ~ Crushbone

thanks for all the info guys been a great help appreciate it

Allow me to retort. Not really a retort, but I could not resist the reference.

First: Spend a lot of time with ACT. Know the spells that live on the top of the parse and recast them when they are up, while considering your TW reuse timer. Unda, Blinding shock, Chromatic Illusion, Psycic Trauma, etc...

Second: My cast order for TW, and how I typically open fights is, Jolly Jack, Flash of Brilliance, Spellbind, TW - get the 5 sec timer going (and let people get debuffs in) - then Chronosiphoning (cast speed), Peace of Mind (TW reset), Nightmare (debuff), and (pre-cast to land at the beginning of TW) Chromatic Shower, then Chromatic Illusion, Blinding Shock, Unda (if Unda is increased by my DC and my DC is at 100%, it follows that Unda will hit +100% if cast during TW), Daydream, Brainburst and Arcane Bewilderment... at which TW is complete. I complete this entire order in 5 secs on many occasions, but not all, depends on cast speed temp buffs and such.

I then cast as CAs come up, depending on a group fight or single target, always conscious of the timing of my Pot buffs and TW recast. There is no difference in raid on TW becuase my target and I have agreed on the timing above. As an asidde, I macro a stop_casting in front of TW to be sure it gets cast.

Lastly: Never (almost never) cast Peace of Mind without casting TW first, this is just basic Illy ****, but I cant resist saying it after being in a few two-illy groups and being shocked at the stupid play.

And, for the record, I have hit Unda for nearly 50mil in a group fight, so I think my theory on the 100% DC is correct, please tell me if you guys know I am wrong on this point. I am curious.

Yes, it is correct, you get 100% more damage from UAS during TW. You can hit a dummy with and without TW to see the difference. So using it during TW is a must.

it's no thinking about Unda, it' given that it hits twice harder with TW on top of the % of Dc you already have. It's in the description of a spell. I wish coercers have something like TW for 5 sec

Saved for my future guide.

May I suggest Chillen that you look at Chronosiphoning in your order, using it after TW.
IF I am correct, 30 seconds duration will give you plenty of time to get that in before TW.

Time warp= 5 seconds till damage
Peace of Mind,Flash of Brilliance, Spellbind = 3 seconds of stuff, plus server spell lag! A must to plan for!
Kidding.
Sort of...
Chromatic Shower , when you start casting this, you will see the red text and then it finishes, the timing is amazing if you haven't tried it. THen you can either continue with your rotation, or cast TW again.
Either way, you are all correct that you want to make sure you hit Unda during TW for the massive damage boost.

Naneeje, chrono is the first thing I cast after TW, its in the rotation above. And I put Flash and Spellbind up before I hit TW because I want to be into dmg spells by that point in my rotation. My thinking is the raid/group debuffs are going in the first couple of seconds so thats a great time to cat my own temps, as opposed to during the 5 sec TW delay.

Ahhh, now I re-read your post and see that you were saying to cast chrono before TW. There are other reasons to this initial timing, most of which are the casters in my raid expect my TW at that time. Also, I can cast the guffs while getting in position, cant cast chrono on the move.

wow, good idea... knowing that you can cast those two on the move... I need to think about that. Thanks Chillen.

Casting Priority

Time Warp - Others*(may vary based on the amount of mobs and type of encounter), Unda, Theorems and Prismatic Chaos at the tail end of time warp cycle. I think it is very important to use these two spells at the tail end of your Time Warp cycle. Each will gain an additional 3 triggers and you should be at a high end of your potency spike. I lead with these two spells prior to using Time Warp so the reuse timer lines up with the tail end of Time Warp. In addition they will gain addition triggers based on when you begin casting them, so as long as you start casting them they will gain the addition triggers even if Time Warp expires before you finish casting them. I would check ACT and see what these two spells are hitting for during your potency spikes not counting legendary, fabled, and myth crits. My double cast is 50% so forsaking some DD and dot spells to cast these at the tail end of the Time Warp cycle seems best. The spells you forsake to cast these 2 have a good chance of double casting with out Time Warp if you are at 50% double cast.


I see Illusionists spending points in Daydream. I am not sure if they are going deeper into that line but below are my thoughts about that AA line.

Daydream - Do you find that this one is worth the 10 points? The Initial hit is slightly weaker then Ultraviolet Beam(filler/low priority spell for me) and the ticks are half the damage of the ticks from Brainburst.

Dreambarrier - 1430 mitigation is nice but you can raise your resists well above the checks even with only 2-4 white resist adorns. So not worth it IMO. Perhaps for a survivability spec but I still don't think it is going to make or break you.

Dreamweaver's Trance - +75 Disruption is nice but again you can get close to 2500 with out it, and above 2500 if you have raid gear. 10 Points for 75 Disruption is too much.

Mesmerizing Trance - Only useful in PVP.

*Others - Most commonly Chromatic Shower, Blinding Shock, Arcane Bewilderment(Single Target) or Chormatic Illusion(AoE) ON THE MOVE (joust out 15-20 meters) see above.

Regards ~ Gnomad

Just to point out, the move should only be at the beginning of a fight. With all the proc gear we have that says "stay in place" we try to set up at 19m and not move the whole fight, seems to work in most cases, even the 20m joust, you seem to not get hit at 19meters. Just my thought on that.

As far as the Daydream line of your AA, I absolutely use points in Daydream because I want that extra DOT. DoT's are always nice!
I do not however.. put any more points in that line and I don't know any of my personal friends that do either. I don't think it's worth it, but I do think the initial points in Daydream is for the DoT.

Blinding Shock is extremely powerful especially in AoE encounters. I find it best to joust in ever 30 seconds to 9 meters to ensure it hits. Firm Stance items tick every second for 1.2 so it will take a little under a minute to reach its max. Perhaps if this is your item of choice staying out on single target encounters will be best. I prefer Practiced procs on wrists and Amplifying effects on fingers, both allow the player to move about freely. If everyone in my group has Practiced Power III once this effect reaches its potential of 54 for each player the group will have gained 324 potency. I am still working on getting Practiced Aim, the crit bonus version of this item. Amplifying effects are stronger then Firm effects if you have enough people wearing them. Half the fights in game require you to move your feet at some point. Personally I do not like items that discourage player movement throughout a fight. I like to move around it keeps me awake!

*Keep in mind these are all raid drops(one version of Amplifying available via the meta collection). I am not sure what level of play the OP is involved in. If someone does not have a Firm Stance item available to them there is no need to plant your feet during any fight.

Regards ~ Gnomad