LA_MERC_Cowboy_From_Hell
January 19th, 2005, 04:04 PM
I wrote this tutorial for a pay site I belong to and it's been regarded as solid and even stickied. I thought I'd share it with you guys.
I've done a fair amount of research on both the WoW boards and Thottbot and I've come up with these combos as being a great way to deal damage and still maintain your mana pool. This begins and lvl 18 and can be tweeked at 20 and 34
Needed:
Best wand you can get. You'll have to search the AH for whats available. 100+ in wand skill
(Im currently using a Thunderwood thats a lvl 22. Next BETTER wand isnt till 34)
Best dagger you can get...but for the buffs you want these: 100+ in dagger skill
lvl 18 = Evocator's Blade
lvl 20 = Black Fang
lvl 22 = Shadowmancer's Claw
lvl 34 = Hypnotic Blade
Now you need an off hand weapon that provides buffs...
At lvl 18 you can get Buccaneer's Orb of either spirit or intellect +5 (choice is yours)
Should also have your armor geared toward intell/spirit buffs for obvious reasons
Strat:
Apply your buffs PW: Fortitude and Inner fire
Locate the mob you want to attack and use the max distance strat for pulling.
Apply your PW:Shield...wait till your weakened soul counter is under 10 (you'll see why later)
Use your wand to pull the mob and as the shot tracks the target move back creating distance. This further lessens the chance of adds and give you time for casting.
As the mob aggros and comes at you cast PW:Pain to start the DOT...keep backing up creating distance till your cool down timer is up. Pain can be cast while moving (but Im sure yo know that).
When your cool down is up, cast smite since it's your slowest casting spell. The mob shouldn't get to you till you are about at 50% on the cast.
Now drop a mind blast on the mob.
At this point you should have the mob at around 75% (or less) and have yet to take any damage.
Use a dagger strike and immediately shoot with your wand. If you time it right, you should see a triple tick above the mob. PW:Pain, dagger and wand should all hit almost on top of each other. Mob should be around the 40% mark now and your shield is about beat up if not gone totally.
You have 2 choices now...recast shield using mana (your weakend soul timer should be finished. Thats why we waited) or take the damage. I switch between the two depending on what my goals are at the time. Taking damage is no big deal because you won't be casting anymore spells so delay isn't an issue. We can always shield + heal if it gets bad.
With practice you'll be able to time your dagger and wand hits to stack nicely. You MAY need to reaply PW:Pain when the mob gets to about 15% but again, thats a personal choice. I do that when i have adds because at that point PW:Pain is a "set it and forget it" spell. I can go loot his corpse after I take out the adds.
Assuming this was a sinlge agrro you should be looking at the following on your health/mana bars depending on the path you took.
recast sheild/PW:Pain: Health should be 100% and mana at around 70%
no recast and took damage: Health should be around 65% and mana should be 85%
I like to take the damage if its a single aggro because I can cast a renew on myself and both bars will be back i the 90s by the time I get set for my next mob. Good for grinding.
If I get a double or even triple aggro its still manageable if they are the same level (or just under) as me.
For doubles you want to do the recast strat and reapply Pain (even if its still working) when the main mob is around 15% becasue he will run off and die. Switch to the secondary mob and do exactly like you did with the first. If you get worried you can drop a second mind blast on the secondary mob to speed things along but you really won't need to.
For triple aggro it's gets dicey but is doable. You will really need to be on your game with your dagger/wand hits to get out with your ass in tact.
Work the main mob like before but switch to one of the other mobs and drop a Pain on him just to get him started. Switch back to the main mob and go into your dagger/wand routine. Your shield is going to die fast but don't reapply right away. Your health should be full so take a little damage, after all priests ARE healers. Get your main mob into that "gonna die" zone and restick that Pain. He SHOULD run away. Now throw that shield up, retarget the one with Pain still ticking and fear both of them . If one resists it...time to head for safety because you aint gonna make it. While the other 2 are running in circles drop a heal on yourself (it pays to know which of your heals is the fastest..use that one).
You should still be targeted on the Pained one. If he's in range (he should be) Mind blast him. With a little luck, he should be in 60% range and just about done fearing. Start wanding him till he back on you and go to dagger. Watch the Pain because it should have died by now. Reapply it. Youre back to having 2 mobs on you but your shield is still up for a few more hits. Keep beating on the mob youve been working on till he's dead.
By now your shield is gone and youre taking damage but mob #2 is either dead or running off to die. Move over to mob 3. This is where your intell buffs come into play BIG TIME. Youre mana (depending on your intell) is gonna be gone or real close to gone. You need to be wanding.daggering the last guy as much as possible. Depending on your remaining mana you can either flash heal or PW:Shield. Again, personal choice. I tend to go for the shield since its an instant cast. I also have improved shield so my weakend soul is significantly shortened. You may have to use heal if your WS timer is still up. Just don't use renew. Renew = dead in this situation.
If you can get that shield up, youve all but won the war. Just keep beating on him till he runs off and blast him in the ass with your wand. If things went semi smoothly, you should have about 5-10% mana and under 25% health but you just killed 3 mobs solo and lived to tell about it.
There are several variables in this scenario like how many resists you get, the level of the mobs and how many (if any) dodges you manage to sneak in. Taking on 3 mobs of your level is never recomended but you CAN survive with a cool head and alittle luck.
Hope this helps all you priests out there. As for the dagger/orb/wand strat, that will work just as well for the other casters. Just have to insert your applicable spells where warranted.
GOOD LUCK!!
I've done a fair amount of research on both the WoW boards and Thottbot and I've come up with these combos as being a great way to deal damage and still maintain your mana pool. This begins and lvl 18 and can be tweeked at 20 and 34
Needed:
Best wand you can get. You'll have to search the AH for whats available. 100+ in wand skill
(Im currently using a Thunderwood thats a lvl 22. Next BETTER wand isnt till 34)
Best dagger you can get...but for the buffs you want these: 100+ in dagger skill
lvl 18 = Evocator's Blade
lvl 20 = Black Fang
lvl 22 = Shadowmancer's Claw
lvl 34 = Hypnotic Blade
Now you need an off hand weapon that provides buffs...
At lvl 18 you can get Buccaneer's Orb of either spirit or intellect +5 (choice is yours)
Should also have your armor geared toward intell/spirit buffs for obvious reasons
Strat:
Apply your buffs PW: Fortitude and Inner fire
Locate the mob you want to attack and use the max distance strat for pulling.
Apply your PW:Shield...wait till your weakened soul counter is under 10 (you'll see why later)
Use your wand to pull the mob and as the shot tracks the target move back creating distance. This further lessens the chance of adds and give you time for casting.
As the mob aggros and comes at you cast PW:Pain to start the DOT...keep backing up creating distance till your cool down timer is up. Pain can be cast while moving (but Im sure yo know that).
When your cool down is up, cast smite since it's your slowest casting spell. The mob shouldn't get to you till you are about at 50% on the cast.
Now drop a mind blast on the mob.
At this point you should have the mob at around 75% (or less) and have yet to take any damage.
Use a dagger strike and immediately shoot with your wand. If you time it right, you should see a triple tick above the mob. PW:Pain, dagger and wand should all hit almost on top of each other. Mob should be around the 40% mark now and your shield is about beat up if not gone totally.
You have 2 choices now...recast shield using mana (your weakend soul timer should be finished. Thats why we waited) or take the damage. I switch between the two depending on what my goals are at the time. Taking damage is no big deal because you won't be casting anymore spells so delay isn't an issue. We can always shield + heal if it gets bad.
With practice you'll be able to time your dagger and wand hits to stack nicely. You MAY need to reaply PW:Pain when the mob gets to about 15% but again, thats a personal choice. I do that when i have adds because at that point PW:Pain is a "set it and forget it" spell. I can go loot his corpse after I take out the adds.
Assuming this was a sinlge agrro you should be looking at the following on your health/mana bars depending on the path you took.
recast sheild/PW:Pain: Health should be 100% and mana at around 70%
no recast and took damage: Health should be around 65% and mana should be 85%
I like to take the damage if its a single aggro because I can cast a renew on myself and both bars will be back i the 90s by the time I get set for my next mob. Good for grinding.
If I get a double or even triple aggro its still manageable if they are the same level (or just under) as me.
For doubles you want to do the recast strat and reapply Pain (even if its still working) when the main mob is around 15% becasue he will run off and die. Switch to the secondary mob and do exactly like you did with the first. If you get worried you can drop a second mind blast on the secondary mob to speed things along but you really won't need to.
For triple aggro it's gets dicey but is doable. You will really need to be on your game with your dagger/wand hits to get out with your ass in tact.
Work the main mob like before but switch to one of the other mobs and drop a Pain on him just to get him started. Switch back to the main mob and go into your dagger/wand routine. Your shield is going to die fast but don't reapply right away. Your health should be full so take a little damage, after all priests ARE healers. Get your main mob into that "gonna die" zone and restick that Pain. He SHOULD run away. Now throw that shield up, retarget the one with Pain still ticking and fear both of them . If one resists it...time to head for safety because you aint gonna make it. While the other 2 are running in circles drop a heal on yourself (it pays to know which of your heals is the fastest..use that one).
You should still be targeted on the Pained one. If he's in range (he should be) Mind blast him. With a little luck, he should be in 60% range and just about done fearing. Start wanding him till he back on you and go to dagger. Watch the Pain because it should have died by now. Reapply it. Youre back to having 2 mobs on you but your shield is still up for a few more hits. Keep beating on the mob youve been working on till he's dead.
By now your shield is gone and youre taking damage but mob #2 is either dead or running off to die. Move over to mob 3. This is where your intell buffs come into play BIG TIME. Youre mana (depending on your intell) is gonna be gone or real close to gone. You need to be wanding.daggering the last guy as much as possible. Depending on your remaining mana you can either flash heal or PW:Shield. Again, personal choice. I tend to go for the shield since its an instant cast. I also have improved shield so my weakend soul is significantly shortened. You may have to use heal if your WS timer is still up. Just don't use renew. Renew = dead in this situation.
If you can get that shield up, youve all but won the war. Just keep beating on him till he runs off and blast him in the ass with your wand. If things went semi smoothly, you should have about 5-10% mana and under 25% health but you just killed 3 mobs solo and lived to tell about it.
There are several variables in this scenario like how many resists you get, the level of the mobs and how many (if any) dodges you manage to sneak in. Taking on 3 mobs of your level is never recomended but you CAN survive with a cool head and alittle luck.
Hope this helps all you priests out there. As for the dagger/orb/wand strat, that will work just as well for the other casters. Just have to insert your applicable spells where warranted.
GOOD LUCK!!