I just recently came back to EQ2 after a big disappointment from release. I played a Wood Elf Bruiser and decided this time to try out a caster and decided to go with Illusionist. I read posts everywhere talking about how great Stifle is etc.... I have a spell thta drains power and stifle's and I never use it. All it seems to do is cause aggro onto myself from my pet. Can anyone please tell me what it is good for and what it does? Thanks,
Stiffle rocks because it prevents a mob doing anything hostile! Kind of like a stun but mob can still move and have i think normal defence skill (when stunned you and mobs get hammered to hell as their defences are almost nil, I think). As a conjuror, I use my AoE/DoT/stiffle to slaughter and incapacitate mobs
Stifle prevents mobs from using combat arts. All they can do when Stifled is move around and auto-attack. For example... stifling a caster mob essentially renders them useless, since they can't cast anything and the melee damage they put out is meager. Stifling a mob can drop a mob's DPS significantly, and often turn an impossible fight into a trivial fight depending on the class of the mob you're facing.
Thank you very much, well I guess i'll be using that much more often now. Maybe you could answer me one more question? How the heck do i get my forum name changed from Paul Barrett to something other then my RL name? I have looked everywhere and won't seem to let me change it.
Stifle prevent mob from using any spells or combat arts, except some of those specials that named mobs use. So if the mob is stifled it only hits you with autoattack, which is much lower damage than those combat arts. If you are in a group you will see a big difference in damage being dealt to the tank. Often I even pull with a stifle, especially if mob is a caster, and let the tank to intercept mob with a taunt. It is a great thing to stifle a mob, but do not overestimate it if your tank pulls a mob that is orange to him/her. Those can do massive damage even with autoattacks. You seem to be interested in solo. I cannot comment how it is at low levels now, but if you are fighting a single caster mob stifle is great spell to use. Getting aggro shouldn't trouble you too much against those. A lot of mobs are too easy at low levels to tell the difference, but eventually you will learn to love your ability to stifle.
This wasn't part of your question, but it might be later on: Pacify prevents a mob from auto-attacking or casting spells/CAs, but doesn't prevent it from moving. So your line-up of crowd control effects includes: Stun -- complete incapacitation: no spells/CAs, no auto-attack, no movement. Effect lasts through damage. (Short duration. Not sure if it also prevents parry and riposte.) Mez -- complete incapacitation: no spells/CAs, no auto-attack, no movement. Effect is broken by any damage. (Long duration.) Stifle -- prevents spells/CAs. Auto-attack and movement still possible. Effect lasts through damage. Pacify -- prevents spells/CAs and auto-attack. Movement still possible. Effect broken by any damage. Root -- prevents movement. Spells/CAs and auto-attack still possible. Two different types: damage break (has a chance to break when target is the subject of any hostile action, eg. damage or debuff) and periodic (has a chance to break only at certain points in its duration). Enchanters get Binding Light at 19, which is an interesting combination of Root and Pacify -- pacify knocks out spells/CAs and auto-attack and the root component prevents movement, making it a kind of ghetto mez.
Pacify doesn't knock out spells/CAs, it only knocks-out auto-attack, and it does last through damage. Its just, that on Binding Light, it doesn't.
Although it generates a fair bit of hate, being unable to use any spells/CAs means they won't be hitting you too hard. Combine it with the Dismay line (which lowers melee level) and they won't be doing much damage at all. Any decent tank should be able to out-taunt your stifle effect. Alternate stifle with stun and you can keep a mob pretty well crippled all the time. (You can throw in your AE stun to fill in the gaps).
Funny, I was originally under the impression that Pacify only knocked out auto-attack (my illusionist is only a baby, haven't played around with Pacify much yet) ... but after poking around the forum, several people were saying it knocks out spells/CAs too, doh! Begs the question, though... what's the point of putting pacify on Binding Light? If you root a mob, you're likely going to move away anyway, so melee auto-attack is already non-issue -- it's the ranged spells/CAs that are the major problem. I guess the only time the pacify component of Binding Light is useful is against ranger-type mobs that have ranged auto-attack (which are relatively few and far between).
What is this 'Pacify' that you speak of? A spell or a type of effect? If so which spell has this effect. I have no idea what it is and am feeling pretty stupid right now.
None of our spells have the effect pacify. But there are other classes that have the effect pacify on their spells(it looks like they added it with LU13). Well, Binding Light has that effect, but as you read the description, one-hit and the pacify goes away.
Pacify is what the Templars got for thier version of mezz....it stops all auto attack and combat arts, it only last 12 sec (for Templar) and it is broken by any damage at all. Debuffs will not break it. So....it is just like a mezz. Templars also have it as a side effect on a nuke....if you nuke the mob, it pacifys it for about 2 or 3 seconds after the strike. This allows for less interuptions for your next cast. Most abilities are the exact same across the board, so I am assuming that it works the same with the Illusionist.
Hehe, see, this is why I wasn't 100% sure of the effects of pacify -- everyone has a different account of the effects. I've been too lazy (and had too little time to play recently) to test properly for myself, but suffice to say it's the root effect that I use Binding Light for, pacify is just an added extra that may or may not be particularly handy... I certainly don't factor this one-shot-break pacify into my crowd control strategy when I have a host of other mezzes, stifles and stuns available!
Pacify is the counterpart to Stifle. While stifle will keep mobs from casting and other moves that cost power, pacify will keep them from using autoattack. Pacify just like stifle is not breakable by damage per se. But if they are secondary effects on spells, they may or may not get removed as soon as damage is done. some examples: coercer root: secondary effect Pacify will get broken by any damage. warlock VI: interrupt + pacify, will not break on damage. illusionist root: secondary effect Stifle will get broken by any damage. inquisitor root: secondary effect Stifle will not get automatically broken by damage. edit to add: pacify atm is not working like it is stated in the spell description. it will also block CA and spell casting (and i think even moving). Message Edited by zitha on 10-18-2005 12:36 PM
