chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
29 - Individual Dungeons:
Cloak Tower:
The only thing dangerous in here are the eyes of Gurugmesh (I can’t spell it), that have AOE prones. The rest of the mobs are painfully easy.
Cragmire Crypts:
The danger here is Tavern Blackdagger himself. He can teleport and his swings actually hit very hard. In that fight, if you are kiting him around, be sure to hit the archers on your way.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Throne of Idris:
A relatively easy dungeon, the real danger is Idris’s black stun balls. If you don’t get hit by them, you will be fine. The Direheims can hit pretty hard, but are slow and easy to dodge.
Lair of the Mad Dragon:
The hard part here are the Erinyes. They have an AOE heal, so your team must focus them down and kill them first, or else they will heal all that damage you already did. If you have a low team DPS, be sure to freeze/stun/prone them so they can’t use their heal.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
The Gray Wolf Den:
Some of the monsters in here have AOE charge attacks with a knockback to them. You must avoid those as you make your way through. I found the clear very easy.
This boss is a nightmare for CW. If you watch her closely, the slow attacks she has are easy to dodge, but she has some quick attacks that are difficult. Her charge has a much shorter timing than the charges from the normal monsters elsewhere, so you must dodge immediately. The worse part is she periodically spawns shadow wolves that can one or two shot you - they are very painful.
So you have to get out of there quick and slam icy terrian. If the wolves aggro on you, you might not have casting time for OF or steal time. Personally, this fight i dropped shard for fanning the flame to increase DPS on the boss. Ray of Enfeeblement is also a great option here.
Incredibly difficult to solo, but if you have some space to pew pew you should be able to get some good DPS on her.
The Frozen Heart:
The issue in Frozen Heart are the golems - which you cannot control. They have a smash attack, which causes a brief prone, and an AOE chill attack, which freezes you. The wolves also have a freeze that does tons of damage, and like always, if the archers wail on you you’d be in trouble. I would be sure to dodge the AOEs first, drop IT on the archers second, and launch my rotation as i kite.
The clear wasn't so much hard as it was long, the golems have a lot of HP and you have to fight the first boss 3 times. With a full team, it goes much much faster.
Hrimnir’s attack do tons of damage and can freeze and knock you back, so you must dodge them. Luckily, all his attacks are slow so if you watch your feet you shouldn’t have an issue.
In a full team, if you aren't geared the idea situation is to have someone kite (i've done it on GWF, GF, CW, DC). If the kiter doesn't have the regen/lifesteal/potions/etc to take the arrow shots, you can have someone take out the archers. A HR seems idea here, but a CW can make due to.
The rest of the team can attack the boss. His attacks do hurt but he is painfully slow. The spikes from the ground appear with plenty of time, his axe takes forever, and he throws an iceball with a charge.
Hrimnir has a good amount of life, so keep fighting and he will go down. A great way to burn him is a TR stacking wicked reminder.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
The Lair of the Pirate King:
Very much like the wolf den, there are monsters with AOE charge attacks you must dodge, else get knocked back. That’s really the only challenge, as the rest of the encounters are things you have seen before.
The boss acts like a whight with a lifesuck attack, so you must stay out of his AOE.
In all honesty, this dungeon is a faceroll. Cragmire Crypts is harder. My response when i was soloing was "is this even epic"
Note: Blue followed behind me to get chests and enchants. She didn't help me fight along the way.
Spellplague Caverns:
The clear itself isn’t bad, but you have a lot of AOEs to dodge, as most of them come with a stun or a knockback. If you have fleet footwork though, the monsters themselves are slow and predictable. If your team is struggling, slow down.
The amount of stuns in this dungeon is really the problem. If you have issues, just slow down and pull less. If you run out of stamina and you get chain stunned, you're dead.
The last fight really isn’t so bad, but you do have to stay out of their AOEs. You can’t control the adds so they will be clouding up your screen. Personally i tilt my camera way up and watch my feet. Remember that the floor falls as you fight and you will be fine.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Temple of the Spider:
Monsters here hit hard, but luckily there aren’t many prones, stuns or knockbacks, though some webs can root you. I mostly just kite to the dirders and blow everything up on them.
The challenge in this dungeon is the web attack. You won't be able to move or dodge well, leaving you vulnerable to painful things like blademasters and driders, so watch you feet. Also, unlike almost every other control effect soulforge does NOT free you from web, so chain death is a serious risk. If you pull smaller, the clear isn't that bad.
Syndyrth can heal herself, so you can drop your daily when that happens to prevent the heal. If you surround her, she will not port and it will make the fight much easier.
Note: Syndyrth seems impossible for me to solo, as i don't have the single target DPS to out damage her heals. She is actually pretty easy in a group, however. I heard that a Fury SW can solo her with TT - but remember SW have really great single target DPS, and CW DPS is almost all AOE.
Caverns of Karrundax:
This dungeon has been nerfed so much, but in general it just long with a lot of fire attacks. There are (no longer) many prones or knockbacks, but the mobs here can be hard to control and can really hurt you. That said, if you take it one encounter at a time, the clear is easy.
Pyraphenia is actually more difficult than Karrundax. If you get past the first boss, the other two are relatively easy. There is, however, a lot of red on the ground, so it's important to watch you feet.
Now, there are many encounters you can sneak by. I learned the hard way while soloing that THESE ENCOUNTERS ARE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT THAN THE BOSSES. Forgecallers, especially in multiples, are very dangerous and take a long time to kill. There was once I was fighting two forgecallers and then got ambushed by two magma brutes. I died and I don't know where those brutes went. This is why groups sneak around these encounters. (Also might be why cryptic hasn't forced you to kill them).
The dragon is also relatively easy as he is predictable and doesn’t have much HP. The danger is the hurlers (their version of archers), so kite around and catch them if they are giving you an issue. She was actually surprisingly easy. You can kite the adds, catch the kobolds with steal time and icy terrain, the wyrmlings are painfully slow and easy to dodge. The danger is karrundax's fireball, which is indicated by the GIANT RED CIRCLE ON THE GROUND.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
The Dread Vault:
The clear is very long with lots of stuns from mindflayers and a suck and prone from the thoons. These are very dangerous, so if you have any issues, slow down and pull one by one.
The last boss is a real pain, but in epic you can go to the back corner and take the adds little by little. Once the adds are clear you can hit the boss, but expect a very long fight.
At ⅔ and ⅓ health, he will spawn a boss from another dungeon (not kidding), with all of his adds that can freeze and stun you (also not kidding).
I soloed normal dread vault once and I beat epic dread vault once per class, and that’s it. I really dread this place.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Castle Never:
An ideal dungeon for us, as it is basically a giant AOE fest. In section one, the clear is easy except for the hallway of death (prone to lag spikes) and the spitters just before the spider. The spider himself isn’t difficult.
In second two, we now have some red wizards and archers, which are obnoxious, but if we can hit the archers early, then stay out of the red, we should be fine.
The beholder has some big AOE stuns that are very long. Getting hit can sometimes mean death, but luckily his HP is low and he melts very quickly. The skullcleavers that spawn hit hard, but are easily killed and controlled.
In section 3, the clear to the shadowfell is easy. In the shadowfell, the pulls after the traps must be taken one by one as the monsters can really hurt and the witches can stun you. However, if you don’t overpull, you should be fine.
Xivros is relatively easy, as his attacks are slow and predictable. The issue is the wights and his AOE personal lifesuck, which is extremely painful. If you stay out of that the fight shouldn’t be back.
Second four clear is more of the same - wizards, archers, wights, skeletons, zombies, and one cube. Personally i like to pull everything and blow it up That said nothing here is too bad and if we drop IT and OF on our way through we should be fine.
The dracolich is just a dragon with a ton of adds, and adds you’ve already faced. Follow the dragon strategy above. However, there are hands that erupt from the ground you must dodge. You can also dodge them on a 2 count, so if there is no lag, you can get into a rhythm and timing and it’s easy
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Malbog’s Castle:
A long clear with some difficult mobs that really hit hard, it’s more of the same. By the time you get here and you’ve done the other dungeons, it should be nothing to bad for you to handle. If you are a relatively new player, do something else first.
Fulminorax has some dangerous AOEs to dodge, but that's not the real danger. Periodically Valindra will port down and either choke a teammate or summon a portal that produces whights. If she comes down the team must target switch and nuke her before she can accomplishh her goal. If you fail, either your teammate will die or you will get a portal which constantly spawns wights, which can eventually overwhelm you.
At ⅓ and ⅔ hp, Fulminorax will fly and spray lightning at you. It really hurts, so walk to a clear area and make sure you don’t get hit.
Valindra’s Tower:
The clear is a very basic, and imo, obnoxious AOE fest.
Valindra herself isn’t very bad, but in phase two she will occasionally grab a teammate with a phantom hand, which you must kill to set them free. If the caskets spawn, each team member has an area to stop them from spawning. If you fail they produce dangerous whights.
At ⅓ and ⅔ health, There will be an intermission with ghosts and lightning. This hurts a TON (one shots most people), and hence you must stay out of it. If the team goes in the same direction, it is pretty easy.
In the last phase she will spawn a ton of caskets. You can either try to close one round and then burn her or just burn her from the beginning. Either way, you must have the DPS to take her out before you are overwhelmed
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Epic Shores of Turen:
The clear itself is inelegant, but the monsters here can easily one-shot most CWs, so mustn't overpull and be careful.
The boss fight is obnoxious, he has 3 attacks. A fireball (slow and easy to dodge), a firebreath (slow and easy to dodge) and dancing flames (quick and hard to dodge). Hopefully you have a tank drawing his aggro so you don’t have to dodge the dancing flames, but if you don’t you should just study his animation carefully until you get his animation down - but i am warning you, it’s quite difficult.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Epic Lair of Lostmauth:
The clear is pretty straight forward, but the mobs hit extremely hard and can kill you quickly.
The first boss fight is single (or dual) target, so just stay back and try to do as much DPS as possible.
The second boss fight is two scorpions, which typically one person kites one away while the team kills the other, then wails on the remainder. Their attacks are slow and easy to dodge, but the real threat is fire from the sky, which is easy to miss.
Lostmauth himself is easier than the scorpions, IMO. It is a single target fight, so follow the dragon strategy and stay at distance. Watch your feet for the spikes and the air for the fireballs and his AOE, but you have the space to dodge. At the intermission, take a corner and step into the middle if there is an AOE under you. Finally he will die, which doesn’t take too long, and if you are lucky you will pull a belt.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
30 - Wrapup
A Few things:
I don’t care about gear score and neither should you! The only thing that matters is team effectiveness, so there are ways to increase your GS, yet get worse and also decrease your gear score and get better. Always do what makes you play best and not what inflates your GS!
I don’t care about paingiver and neither should you! There are so many errors in how this is calculated, particularly with smolder and tyrannical threat, making the SW look like she is doing more damage than she is and the MoF look like she is doing less damage than she is.
Secondly paingiver does not count buff, debuff, control, teamwork, etc, all of which are extremely important.
Therefore the paingiver charts are so crude they are essentially meaningless. I would do my best to ignore them.
I just want to say, thank everyone for reading. Hopefully this was helpful. Feel free to leave note and constructive comments. Flaming or trolling will be met with heads, spikes and walls. Thank you, until next time.
Chem, I sincerely appreciate the mention in this. Your build is great and works very well for you, but wasn't suited as well for my playstyle, which was why I ran off on my own. But I wouldn't have known where to start without the help you gave me in the beginning. I am forever thankful to you for the patience, time, and help you gave me along the way. Keep being awesome!
Love your post Chemboy, its well thought out. I appreciate all the time you have taken to write all this out for the community..major thanks.
My Sylph, Cantankerous Mage, Willow O Wisp - Active bonuses not showing on character sheet when I have them in my active slots or even when equipped.
Sylph - +50% control Resist
Cantankerous Mage - +15% Control Bonus
Will O Wisp - +25% control Resist, +15% Control Bonus
My character screen with those companions active/equipped shows:
Control Bonus - 0%
Control Resist - 0%
It shouldn't it be?:
Control Bonus - 30%
Control Resist - 75%
Thoughts?
P.S. Line of the year - lawls
"Menzoberranzan Renegade - Quite honestly, if you are paying 200$ for this pack, you can make yourself a fat gnome CW, ride a donkey, call yourself Sancho, and follow around a GWF with an Int of 8."
Life is full of drains, I prefer to be a fountain
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chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
LOL yeah man, i'm listening to Don Quixote when i can't sleep. LOL.
It doesn't show up on your sheet, but it does take effect. Test it, it will be noticeable.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Carla also makes a good point - implicitly. Your gear, spec, and playstyle must be synergistic. That's why there isn't a cookie cutter build, but rather a guide. You might find something slightly different that works better for you.
This guide, along with Grimah's guide, are the two single best guides for CW's that exist.* Thank you for writing this guide Chem. I very much appreciate all of your help and guidance. I truly wish there were more CW's, and more players, like you. I'm going to respec tomorrow based on this guide. I especially like all of the pictures. There are some beautiful shots here.
Just one small, small thing. You wrote Entangling Force isn't very useful. Actually I found a terrific use for it - in Epic Shores of Tuern. There just really aren't all that many mobs IMO to get a lot of use out of Shard here, I think, so I slot Entangle instead, and I begin an encounter by entangling one of the really dangerous mobs before they go into an immunity (like a Rage Drake or a Green HR). I also use Orb of Imposition here so Entangle lasts a really long time. I don't know if that is the *best* encounter to use here, but I do find it quite useful. Anyway, something to think about.
So just a quick FYI I'm fairly certain that Focused Wizardry actually works on all smolder ticks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems hard to pass up to me.
MoF/Thaum CWSS/Thaum CWIV/Protector GFSW/Combat HRSM/Destroyer GWFWK/Executioner TRDO/Faithful DC
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chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Points - thanks man! If we do a ESOT together, i'd like to see it.
In ESOT i've experimented with Fanning (mastery), conduit, icy, ST - because I agree, these 5 mob pulls really makes shard less useful.
Spacejew - not to my knowledge. I switched out of FW recently, and i certainly noticed less DPS is in ELOL, but the problem is I have been running ELOL a lot recently.
If you try this out on preview or in a dungeon let me know, because if FW affects smolder then you have to take it. (I actually woke up this morning thinking about this very question... lol).
Power: Power a damage increase for all your spells, approximately 3% more damage per every 500 power in comparison to 0 power. This is a linear relationship and hence high power ratings do not suffer the same diminishing returns as other stats. However, before diminishing returns hit, almost all the other options are better. This is why high-end players all end up power stacking because they have nothing else to put the points into. However, power stacking is something for late game growth.
Just a minor quibble here. Power does experience the same diminishing returns as other stats, but in a non-obvious way.
Power boosts the base damage of your powers. So at 0 power, a 1% damage bonus is going to be 1%. However, when you already have a 50% damage bonus due to power, a 51% bonus isn't 1% more damage. It's 1% more base damage.
Kalec does a fantastic job of providing examples and the math behind this in that post you linked. But what that means is there actually is a point at which your power is too high, especially in regards to crit (based on your severity) and you would actually benefit by stacking more crit at higher power levels.
You can see in his work a graph posted that shows how the actual DPS gain from power diminishes as you increase your level of power.
Power is still a fantastic investment point for point, but it doesn't work exactly how you say it does.
"Meanwhile in the moderator's lounge..."
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chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
That's exactly what i meant, ironzerg. My apologies if that wasn't clear. It's roughly 3% per 500 in comparison to 0 power.
That's why in my example upgrading 1000 points from 6300 power is closer to 4.3%, not 6%.
With MoF - everything procs off of crit, so we can't follow that graph strictly because crit means more than just straight damage (though it is accurate for almost all other situations).
Now the issue which isn't covered there is when we power stack late game, which is a good investment point for point if we are just adding points, what are we losing? What i mean here is say we trade an defensive item for an offensive item. Yes we know power is the best offensive stat for us, but is it equal in value to that defensive item we lost? That's a more difficult question.
chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Also - UPDATE:
I double checked my logs, and focused wizardry does effect smolder. I am not worried about data contamination because i was soloing for both tests. Thanks to spacejew for reminding me of this. Guide and photo has been updated.
I double checked my logs, and focused wizardry does effect smolder. I am not worried about data contamination because i was soloing for both tests. Thanks to spacejew for reminding me of this. Guide and photo has been updated.
Right now I'm built almost entirely around damage dealing with the following build:
I've done a whole lot of testing with a MoF and as near as I can tell this is optimal for virtually every situation with my personal play style. People might disagree with Reaper's Touch and Arcane Burst but frankly Scorching Burst is a lot more amazing than anyone gives it credit for. Especially when it buff's it's own damage (And your encounter damage) by 15% and can either be rapid tapped for quick AM stacks while encounter's are down or charged for a surprisingly large AoE strike.
I understand that you personally don't like this at-will but I think perhaps you haven't taken the time to really play with it. In team settings, with buffs/debuffs, I've had this at-will crit for 75k damage on one fully charged cast (On 5 targets of course). This doesn't include the follow-up critical Smolder damage. It takes advantage of every damage boost you throw at it and as a filler in between Encounter cycles it performs better than anything else I've tried including simply holding down Chilling Cloud.
Flat Damage Bonuses/Detractors
+15% from Arcane Mastery
+15% from Frozen Power Transfer
+15% from Swath of Destruction
+10% from Reaper's Touch
+5% from Malevolent Surge
+5% from Tempest Magic
+3% Arcane Enhancement
+3% Wizard's Wrath
-10% from Focused Wizardry
So ultimately, in a perfect situation, that's a 61% damage buff to SB which enables a 51% bonus to all Arcane encounters. Smolder is also Arcane damage, which is an important consideration when talking about Master of Flame builds.
Thanks for taking the time to write this guide. It was clearly a lot of effort. I know we don't agree on some particular points but don't take that as a criticism of you or your style. You're more open than most to alternative options and I give you kudos for that! I've also played with you in Castle Never and you definitely know what you're doing.
MoF/Thaum CWSS/Thaum CWIV/Protector GFSW/Combat HRSM/Destroyer GWFWK/Executioner TRDO/Faithful DC
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chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited September 2014
Oh yeah man, I do know there are some people out there who love scorching burst. What I don't like about it is that it makes me stand still and charge and it's my personal style to play with a lot of movement.
That's why here I give more suggestions because I think your playstyle and your spec has to match up, and just because our styles are little different i don't think it's a huge night and day difference. These people who get so upset about a few percentage points of DPS and worry about their runs being 1-2 minutes shorter are pretty silly to me. You have to play the way you love to play.
As for reaper's touch - I know Carla also uses that feat and it works with her playstyle. Since I don't use Scorching Burst, the arcane burst feat is wasted on me, but if you were using it every single time that might add up to a lot of damage. I feel like I have time to get in one good at-will rotation, which i use for frozen power transfer.
The feat I really love personally is critical power. As you can see I think AP gain is very imoprtant and that boost every twenty seconds means a lot to me.
Anyway - your build is good too. There was someone talking that "there is only one way to play, it's SS/Thaum/Vorpal," that's because it's max personal DPS, and all considerations otherwise are silly. Personally i disagree because your toons are played by humans, and humans have preferences and different abilities and inclinations. Shouldn't our builds reflect how we actually play instead of how some cookie cuter says we should play? At least that's my thought.
Don't remember who you were playing on when we were in CN, but hey, CN is a blast now. I've gotten OP enough i can do door to door pulls and just kill everything at once XD.
Oh yeah man, I do know there are some people out there who love scorching burst. What I don't like about it is that it makes me stand still and charge and it's my personal style to play with a lot of movement.
The point of disagreement we have here is that you don't absolutely need to fully charge SB.
You can rapid-tap this at-will which doesn't require you to stand still any more than any other at-will. Even the rapid tap is AoE, even though it's a rather small one when doing so. If anything, SB requires you to hold still less than other options while leaving you the choice to charge it when you're able to do so. More than anything else I run Arcane Burst and use SB for another 15% to Smolder. As you say, it's all about Smolder and more specifically it's all about critical smolder.
I run Vorpal because MoF is just as reliant on critical hits for damage as Spellstorm is. You can run Terror or Plaguefire as a choice but debuff is the realm of DC. MoF can do a little debuff, it's true, but I find CW to shine in damage ergo I will build for damage and play off other people's debuff/buff. Vorpal ties in with Endless Consumption and Lifesteal which is vitally important to my survival.
I've seen how you pull in CN and frankly you don't have time for any at-will's fighting 50 things. My consideration is that after all the trash is dead I want to do significantly more damage to what is left since those are the 'hard' targets that need the most killing.
All in all it doesn't really matter what your second At-Will is. I'd just suggest putting your three power points in it, putting it in your second at-will slot, and trying it out every once in a while. It just might surprise you how much you like it once all the trash is dead.
Certainly MoF does less damage than Spellstorm but what people forget to mention is that MoF still does more damage than anything else other than Spellstorm and SW. (And Spellstorm loses to SW as well.)
MoF/Thaum CWSS/Thaum CWIV/Protector GFSW/Combat HRSM/Destroyer GWFWK/Executioner TRDO/Faithful DC
I tired to stay MoF after the changes, but the fanning the flame nerf made the parangon path underwhelming. The CD is now awful and from a great mastery spell (8 targets cap just FYI) we're down to an under average spell which is good in non-sustained fights in pvp. Well let's just say that the spell is now worthless. In the meantime they buffed spellstorm and storm spell which didn't need a buff at all. So i had to give up about fire to get back the 30% missing damage thanks to a class feature requiring 0 brain cells to use perfectly. I'm still convinced that fire is better in pvp but the spells, my god, they're awful now. Cryptic should have nuked spellstorm hard instead of playing with fire...
I'm glad someone acknowledged the value of ice storm. And I know who convinced you about this one! Hmm ice storm...
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chemboy613Member, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 1,521Arc User
edited October 2014
Spacejew -
I'll try it out sometimes, worth looking at for sure. Some people really love that will.
The thing is that CW can debuff the room whereas DC can hit 5 targets - maybe. So while we might debuff the primary target, the DC will certainly not debuff secondary targets, especially if the pull is large. When you add in the fact that DC attack rate is relatively low, i don't think DC is effective enough as the conventional wisdom dictates. (however, i do have a debuff DC and she is great at debuffing bosses, but not necessarily rooms).
That said when i run the math on whole room debuffs for CW, i can't justify carrying a vorpal. My damage and team damage is simply not different enough to justify it. There is a lot of perception bias with vorpal, and i think the community things it's better than it really is. Not saying it's bad or anything, but it's definitely overrated.
megenubbie - Awesome thank you! I certainly have the opinion my build is "the best" but I also know good players with some varriations in this build that perform very well. When people are arguing between these so called "best builds" and "terrible builds" the team performance (only thing that matters, really) is probably different by what? 5%? 10%? and your skill and ability to play is worth far more than that. The honest truth is if you play with a build that is 5% "worse" and yet you play that setup 20% better, your performance is improved. You have to enjoy what you do, of course.
Also the thought that "do exactly as i do or you suck" is just the epitome of arrogance. There is always more to learn, the game is always changing and we can't ever assume we have it all figured out. That's why this is a living guide and not a build, per say.
I also think the dungeon rundown will help new players - but what they need to practice is positioning, timing, your rotation, actually controlling, etc... and it's hard to write about that. I hope that some extra info will help them here. The purpose of a guide is not to say "look at me, i have 18.3k GS and i can solo epics" more like, "these are things that will help you improve."
LOL yeah Dio, I know ice storm is good, the damage multiplier is huge. It's very situational, but when those situations do arise, it's a great option.
The thing is that CW can debuff the room whereas DC can hit 5 targets - maybe. So while we might debuff the primary target, the DC will certainly not debuff secondary targets, especially if the pull is large.
If anything, MoF is able to take the most advantage of the HV set with the interaction between CA/SD driving an almost endless supply of Oppressive Force and the most debuff the class can possibly do.
If you really think about it Critical Conflaguration isn't even necessary if all you really care about is driving team damage though debuff and control. Icy Terrain and Oppressive Force by themselves interact to keep Swath, Terror, and HV going forever if you keep things situatated. Keeping them situated is easy with EF on tab giving you all x3 defense buff's from HV and x5 Arcane Mastery. That leaves your last slot open for either Shard or Steal Time while generating so many AP that you can literally fire back-to-back Oppressive Force or an OF then a FI if you want to be nice.
What I consider 'control' is keeping things bunched up while keeping them dazed or frozen but I suppose it starts to matter how many pets you have with control bonus on what you use. I can't imagine a situation where I wouldn't want EF on Tab if control is something I cared about. (Which is one reason why I usually say Alacrity is the best thing in the Oppressor tree.) Now that Singularity is toast I personally think that EF on Tab is one of the best options if you care about grouping.
You're an odd duck Chem. You build yourself as a Tank instead of a debuffer or a controller. It works, I like it, and you play it well but I'm oddly surprised that you didn't like Oppressor for a lot of reasons. Sure, it's end-cap is pretty bad but for a team oriented control/debuff/tank spec it's actually decent in the right circumstances. It's lack of damage should be less of a concern for someone like you.
MoF/Thaum CWSS/Thaum CWIV/Protector GFSW/Combat HRSM/Destroyer GWFWK/Executioner TRDO/Faithful DC
Comments
Cloak Tower:
The only thing dangerous in here are the eyes of Gurugmesh (I can’t spell it), that have AOE prones. The rest of the mobs are painfully easy.
Cragmire Crypts:
The danger here is Tavern Blackdagger himself. He can teleport and his swings actually hit very hard. In that fight, if you are kiting him around, be sure to hit the archers on your way.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
A relatively easy dungeon, the real danger is Idris’s black stun balls. If you don’t get hit by them, you will be fine. The Direheims can hit pretty hard, but are slow and easy to dodge.
Lair of the Mad Dragon:
The hard part here are the Erinyes. They have an AOE heal, so your team must focus them down and kill them first, or else they will heal all that damage you already did. If you have a low team DPS, be sure to freeze/stun/prone them so they can’t use their heal.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
Some of the monsters in here have AOE charge attacks with a knockback to them. You must avoid those as you make your way through. I found the clear very easy.
This boss is a nightmare for CW. If you watch her closely, the slow attacks she has are easy to dodge, but she has some quick attacks that are difficult. Her charge has a much shorter timing than the charges from the normal monsters elsewhere, so you must dodge immediately. The worse part is she periodically spawns shadow wolves that can one or two shot you - they are very painful.
So you have to get out of there quick and slam icy terrian. If the wolves aggro on you, you might not have casting time for OF or steal time. Personally, this fight i dropped shard for fanning the flame to increase DPS on the boss. Ray of Enfeeblement is also a great option here.
Incredibly difficult to solo, but if you have some space to pew pew you should be able to get some good DPS on her.
The Frozen Heart:
The issue in Frozen Heart are the golems - which you cannot control. They have a smash attack, which causes a brief prone, and an AOE chill attack, which freezes you. The wolves also have a freeze that does tons of damage, and like always, if the archers wail on you you’d be in trouble. I would be sure to dodge the AOEs first, drop IT on the archers second, and launch my rotation as i kite.
The clear wasn't so much hard as it was long, the golems have a lot of HP and you have to fight the first boss 3 times. With a full team, it goes much much faster.
Hrimnir’s attack do tons of damage and can freeze and knock you back, so you must dodge them. Luckily, all his attacks are slow so if you watch your feet you shouldn’t have an issue.
In a full team, if you aren't geared the idea situation is to have someone kite (i've done it on GWF, GF, CW, DC). If the kiter doesn't have the regen/lifesteal/potions/etc to take the arrow shots, you can have someone take out the archers. A HR seems idea here, but a CW can make due to.
The rest of the team can attack the boss. His attacks do hurt but he is painfully slow. The spikes from the ground appear with plenty of time, his axe takes forever, and he throws an iceball with a charge.
Hrimnir has a good amount of life, so keep fighting and he will go down. A great way to burn him is a TR stacking wicked reminder.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
Very much like the wolf den, there are monsters with AOE charge attacks you must dodge, else get knocked back. That’s really the only challenge, as the rest of the encounters are things you have seen before.
The boss acts like a whight with a lifesuck attack, so you must stay out of his AOE.
In all honesty, this dungeon is a faceroll. Cragmire Crypts is harder. My response when i was soloing was "is this even epic"
Note: Blue followed behind me to get chests and enchants. She didn't help me fight along the way.
Spellplague Caverns:
The clear itself isn’t bad, but you have a lot of AOEs to dodge, as most of them come with a stun or a knockback. If you have fleet footwork though, the monsters themselves are slow and predictable. If your team is struggling, slow down.
The amount of stuns in this dungeon is really the problem. If you have issues, just slow down and pull less. If you run out of stamina and you get chain stunned, you're dead.
The last fight really isn’t so bad, but you do have to stay out of their AOEs. You can’t control the adds so they will be clouding up your screen. Personally i tilt my camera way up and watch my feet. Remember that the floor falls as you fight and you will be fine.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
Monsters here hit hard, but luckily there aren’t many prones, stuns or knockbacks, though some webs can root you. I mostly just kite to the dirders and blow everything up on them.
The challenge in this dungeon is the web attack. You won't be able to move or dodge well, leaving you vulnerable to painful things like blademasters and driders, so watch you feet. Also, unlike almost every other control effect soulforge does NOT free you from web, so chain death is a serious risk. If you pull smaller, the clear isn't that bad.
Syndyrth can heal herself, so you can drop your daily when that happens to prevent the heal. If you surround her, she will not port and it will make the fight much easier.
Note: Syndyrth seems impossible for me to solo, as i don't have the single target DPS to out damage her heals. She is actually pretty easy in a group, however. I heard that a Fury SW can solo her with TT - but remember SW have really great single target DPS, and CW DPS is almost all AOE.
Caverns of Karrundax:
This dungeon has been nerfed so much, but in general it just long with a lot of fire attacks. There are (no longer) many prones or knockbacks, but the mobs here can be hard to control and can really hurt you. That said, if you take it one encounter at a time, the clear is easy.
Pyraphenia is actually more difficult than Karrundax. If you get past the first boss, the other two are relatively easy. There is, however, a lot of red on the ground, so it's important to watch you feet.
Now, there are many encounters you can sneak by. I learned the hard way while soloing that THESE ENCOUNTERS ARE MUCH MORE DIFFICULT THAN THE BOSSES. Forgecallers, especially in multiples, are very dangerous and take a long time to kill. There was once I was fighting two forgecallers and then got ambushed by two magma brutes. I died and I don't know where those brutes went. This is why groups sneak around these encounters. (Also might be why cryptic hasn't forced you to kill them).
The dragon is also relatively easy as he is predictable and doesn’t have much HP. The danger is the hurlers (their version of archers), so kite around and catch them if they are giving you an issue. She was actually surprisingly easy. You can kite the adds, catch the kobolds with steal time and icy terrain, the wyrmlings are painfully slow and easy to dodge. The danger is karrundax's fireball, which is indicated by the GIANT RED CIRCLE ON THE GROUND.
Overall, surprisingly easy T2. Not bad at all.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
The clear is very long with lots of stuns from mindflayers and a suck and prone from the thoons. These are very dangerous, so if you have any issues, slow down and pull one by one.
The last boss is a real pain, but in epic you can go to the back corner and take the adds little by little. Once the adds are clear you can hit the boss, but expect a very long fight.
At ⅔ and ⅓ health, he will spawn a boss from another dungeon (not kidding), with all of his adds that can freeze and stun you (also not kidding).
I soloed normal dread vault once and I beat epic dread vault once per class, and that’s it. I really dread this place.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
An ideal dungeon for us, as it is basically a giant AOE fest. In section one, the clear is easy except for the hallway of death (prone to lag spikes) and the spitters just before the spider. The spider himself isn’t difficult.
In second two, we now have some red wizards and archers, which are obnoxious, but if we can hit the archers early, then stay out of the red, we should be fine.
The beholder has some big AOE stuns that are very long. Getting hit can sometimes mean death, but luckily his HP is low and he melts very quickly. The skullcleavers that spawn hit hard, but are easily killed and controlled.
In section 3, the clear to the shadowfell is easy. In the shadowfell, the pulls after the traps must be taken one by one as the monsters can really hurt and the witches can stun you. However, if you don’t overpull, you should be fine.
Xivros is relatively easy, as his attacks are slow and predictable. The issue is the wights and his AOE personal lifesuck, which is extremely painful. If you stay out of that the fight shouldn’t be back.
Second four clear is more of the same - wizards, archers, wights, skeletons, zombies, and one cube. Personally i like to pull everything and blow it up
The dracolich is just a dragon with a ton of adds, and adds you’ve already faced. Follow the dragon strategy above. However, there are hands that erupt from the ground you must dodge. You can also dodge them on a 2 count, so if there is no lag, you can get into a rhythm and timing and it’s easy
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
A long clear with some difficult mobs that really hit hard, it’s more of the same. By the time you get here and you’ve done the other dungeons, it should be nothing to bad for you to handle. If you are a relatively new player, do something else first.
Fulminorax has some dangerous AOEs to dodge, but that's not the real danger. Periodically Valindra will port down and either choke a teammate or summon a portal that produces whights. If she comes down the team must target switch and nuke her before she can accomplishh her goal. If you fail, either your teammate will die or you will get a portal which constantly spawns wights, which can eventually overwhelm you.
At ⅓ and ⅔ hp, Fulminorax will fly and spray lightning at you. It really hurts, so walk to a clear area and make sure you don’t get hit.
Valindra’s Tower:
The clear is a very basic, and imo, obnoxious AOE fest.
Valindra herself isn’t very bad, but in phase two she will occasionally grab a teammate with a phantom hand, which you must kill to set them free. If the caskets spawn, each team member has an area to stop them from spawning. If you fail they produce dangerous whights.
At ⅓ and ⅔ health, There will be an intermission with ghosts and lightning. This hurts a TON (one shots most people), and hence you must stay out of it. If the team goes in the same direction, it is pretty easy.
In the last phase she will spawn a ton of caskets. You can either try to close one round and then burn her or just burn her from the beginning. Either way, you must have the DPS to take her out before you are overwhelmed
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
The clear itself is inelegant, but the monsters here can easily one-shot most CWs, so mustn't overpull and be careful.
The boss fight is obnoxious, he has 3 attacks. A fireball (slow and easy to dodge), a firebreath (slow and easy to dodge) and dancing flames (quick and hard to dodge). Hopefully you have a tank drawing his aggro so you don’t have to dodge the dancing flames, but if you don’t you should just study his animation carefully until you get his animation down - but i am warning you, it’s quite difficult.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
The clear is pretty straight forward, but the mobs hit extremely hard and can kill you quickly.
The first boss fight is single (or dual) target, so just stay back and try to do as much DPS as possible.
The second boss fight is two scorpions, which typically one person kites one away while the team kills the other, then wails on the remainder. Their attacks are slow and easy to dodge, but the real threat is fire from the sky, which is easy to miss.
Lostmauth himself is easier than the scorpions, IMO. It is a single target fight, so follow the dragon strategy and stay at distance. Watch your feet for the spikes and the air for the fireballs and his AOE, but you have the space to dodge. At the intermission, take a corner and step into the middle if there is an AOE under you. Finally he will die, which doesn’t take too long, and if you are lucky you will pull a belt.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
A Few things:
I don’t care about gear score and neither should you! The only thing that matters is team effectiveness, so there are ways to increase your GS, yet get worse and also decrease your gear score and get better. Always do what makes you play best and not what inflates your GS!
I don’t care about paingiver and neither should you! There are so many errors in how this is calculated, particularly with smolder and tyrannical threat, making the SW look like she is doing more damage than she is and the MoF look like she is doing less damage than she is.
Secondly paingiver does not count buff, debuff, control, teamwork, etc, all of which are extremely important.
Therefore the paingiver charts are so crude they are essentially meaningless. I would do my best to ignore them.
I just want to say, thank everyone for reading. Hopefully this was helpful. Feel free to leave note and constructive comments. Flaming or trolling will be met with heads, spikes and walls. Thank you, until next time.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
Fox Stevenson - Sandblast
Oh Wonder - Without You
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
- Dylan Thomas
Still a new MoF, but the info is much appreciated
Thanks for the hard (comprehensive) work!
My Sylph, Cantankerous Mage, Willow O Wisp - Active bonuses not showing on character sheet when I have them in my active slots or even when equipped.
Sylph - +50% control Resist
Cantankerous Mage - +15% Control Bonus
Will O Wisp - +25% control Resist, +15% Control Bonus
My character screen with those companions active/equipped shows:
Control Bonus - 0%
Control Resist - 0%
It shouldn't it be?:
Control Bonus - 30%
Control Resist - 75%
Thoughts?
P.S. Line of the year - lawls
"Menzoberranzan Renegade - Quite honestly, if you are paying 200$ for this pack, you can make yourself a fat gnome CW, ride a donkey, call yourself Sancho, and follow around a GWF with an Int of 8."
It doesn't show up on your sheet, but it does take effect. Test it, it will be noticeable.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
Just one small, small thing. You wrote Entangling Force isn't very useful. Actually I found a terrific use for it - in Epic Shores of Tuern. There just really aren't all that many mobs IMO to get a lot of use out of Shard here, I think, so I slot Entangle instead, and I begin an encounter by entangling one of the really dangerous mobs before they go into an immunity (like a Rage Drake or a Green HR). I also use Orb of Imposition here so Entangle lasts a really long time. I don't know if that is the *best* encounter to use here, but I do find it quite useful. Anyway, something to think about.
See you in game!
In ESOT i've experimented with Fanning (mastery), conduit, icy, ST - because I agree, these 5 mob pulls really makes shard less useful.
Spacejew - not to my knowledge. I switched out of FW recently, and i certainly noticed less DPS is in ELOL, but the problem is I have been running ELOL a lot recently.
If you try this out on preview or in a dungeon let me know, because if FW affects smolder then you have to take it. (I actually woke up this morning thinking about this very question... lol).
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
Just a minor quibble here. Power does experience the same diminishing returns as other stats, but in a non-obvious way.
Power boosts the base damage of your powers. So at 0 power, a 1% damage bonus is going to be 1%. However, when you already have a 50% damage bonus due to power, a 51% bonus isn't 1% more damage. It's 1% more base damage.
Kalec does a fantastic job of providing examples and the math behind this in that post you linked. But what that means is there actually is a point at which your power is too high, especially in regards to crit (based on your severity) and you would actually benefit by stacking more crit at higher power levels.
You can see in his work a graph posted that shows how the actual DPS gain from power diminishes as you increase your level of power.
Power is still a fantastic investment point for point, but it doesn't work exactly how you say it does.
That's why in my example upgrading 1000 points from 6300 power is closer to 4.3%, not 6%.
With MoF - everything procs off of crit, so we can't follow that graph strictly because crit means more than just straight damage (though it is accurate for almost all other situations).
Now the issue which isn't covered there is when we power stack late game, which is a good investment point for point if we are just adding points, what are we losing? What i mean here is say we trade an defensive item for an offensive item. Yes we know power is the best offensive stat for us, but is it equal in value to that defensive item we lost? That's a more difficult question.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
I double checked my logs, and focused wizardry does effect smolder. I am not worried about data contamination because i was soloing for both tests. Thanks to spacejew for reminding me of this. Guide and photo has been updated.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
Right now I'm built almost entirely around damage dealing with the following build:
http://nwcalc.com/cw?b=cn4:13ydj4:13ydj4,13n30i3:100000:1z00uv:150u00&h=0&p=mof
I've done a whole lot of testing with a MoF and as near as I can tell this is optimal for virtually every situation with my personal play style. People might disagree with Reaper's Touch and Arcane Burst but frankly Scorching Burst is a lot more amazing than anyone gives it credit for. Especially when it buff's it's own damage (And your encounter damage) by 15% and can either be rapid tapped for quick AM stacks while encounter's are down or charged for a surprisingly large AoE strike.
I understand that you personally don't like this at-will but I think perhaps you haven't taken the time to really play with it. In team settings, with buffs/debuffs, I've had this at-will crit for 75k damage on one fully charged cast (On 5 targets of course). This doesn't include the follow-up critical Smolder damage. It takes advantage of every damage boost you throw at it and as a filler in between Encounter cycles it performs better than anything else I've tried including simply holding down Chilling Cloud.
Flat Damage Bonuses/Detractors
+15% from Arcane Mastery
+15% from Frozen Power Transfer
+15% from Swath of Destruction
+10% from Reaper's Touch
+5% from Malevolent Surge
+5% from Tempest Magic
+3% Arcane Enhancement
+3% Wizard's Wrath
-10% from Focused Wizardry
So ultimately, in a perfect situation, that's a 61% damage buff to SB which enables a 51% bonus to all Arcane encounters. Smolder is also Arcane damage, which is an important consideration when talking about Master of Flame builds.
Thanks for taking the time to write this guide. It was clearly a lot of effort. I know we don't agree on some particular points but don't take that as a criticism of you or your style. You're more open than most to alternative options and I give you kudos for that! I've also played with you in Castle Never and you definitely know what you're doing.
That's why here I give more suggestions because I think your playstyle and your spec has to match up, and just because our styles are little different i don't think it's a huge night and day difference. These people who get so upset about a few percentage points of DPS and worry about their runs being 1-2 minutes shorter are pretty silly to me. You have to play the way you love to play.
As for reaper's touch - I know Carla also uses that feat and it works with her playstyle. Since I don't use Scorching Burst, the arcane burst feat is wasted on me, but if you were using it every single time that might add up to a lot of damage. I feel like I have time to get in one good at-will rotation, which i use for frozen power transfer.
The feat I really love personally is critical power. As you can see I think AP gain is very imoprtant and that boost every twenty seconds means a lot to me.
Anyway - your build is good too. There was someone talking that "there is only one way to play, it's SS/Thaum/Vorpal," that's because it's max personal DPS, and all considerations otherwise are silly. Personally i disagree because your toons are played by humans, and humans have preferences and different abilities and inclinations. Shouldn't our builds reflect how we actually play instead of how some cookie cuter says we should play? At least that's my thought.
Don't remember who you were playing on when we were in CN, but hey, CN is a blast now. I've gotten OP enough i can do door to door pulls and just kill everything at once XD.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
The point of disagreement we have here is that you don't absolutely need to fully charge SB.
You can rapid-tap this at-will which doesn't require you to stand still any more than any other at-will. Even the rapid tap is AoE, even though it's a rather small one when doing so. If anything, SB requires you to hold still less than other options while leaving you the choice to charge it when you're able to do so. More than anything else I run Arcane Burst and use SB for another 15% to Smolder. As you say, it's all about Smolder and more specifically it's all about critical smolder.
I run Vorpal because MoF is just as reliant on critical hits for damage as Spellstorm is. You can run Terror or Plaguefire as a choice but debuff is the realm of DC. MoF can do a little debuff, it's true, but I find CW to shine in damage ergo I will build for damage and play off other people's debuff/buff. Vorpal ties in with Endless Consumption and Lifesteal which is vitally important to my survival.
I've seen how you pull in CN and frankly you don't have time for any at-will's fighting 50 things. My consideration is that after all the trash is dead I want to do significantly more damage to what is left since those are the 'hard' targets that need the most killing.
All in all it doesn't really matter what your second At-Will is. I'd just suggest putting your three power points in it, putting it in your second at-will slot, and trying it out every once in a while. It just might surprise you how much you like it once all the trash is dead.
Certainly MoF does less damage than Spellstorm but what people forget to mention is that MoF still does more damage than anything else other than Spellstorm and SW. (And Spellstorm loses to SW as well.)
I'm glad someone acknowledged the value of ice storm. And I know who convinced you about this one! Hmm ice storm...
I'll try it out sometimes, worth looking at for sure. Some people really love that will.
The thing is that CW can debuff the room whereas DC can hit 5 targets - maybe. So while we might debuff the primary target, the DC will certainly not debuff secondary targets, especially if the pull is large. When you add in the fact that DC attack rate is relatively low, i don't think DC is effective enough as the conventional wisdom dictates. (however, i do have a debuff DC and she is great at debuffing bosses, but not necessarily rooms).
That said when i run the math on whole room debuffs for CW, i can't justify carrying a vorpal. My damage and team damage is simply not different enough to justify it. There is a lot of perception bias with vorpal, and i think the community things it's better than it really is. Not saying it's bad or anything, but it's definitely overrated.
megenubbie - Awesome thank you! I certainly have the opinion my build is "the best" but I also know good players with some varriations in this build that perform very well. When people are arguing between these so called "best builds" and "terrible builds" the team performance (only thing that matters, really) is probably different by what? 5%? 10%? and your skill and ability to play is worth far more than that. The honest truth is if you play with a build that is 5% "worse" and yet you play that setup 20% better, your performance is improved. You have to enjoy what you do, of course.
Also the thought that "do exactly as i do or you suck" is just the epitome of arrogance. There is always more to learn, the game is always changing and we can't ever assume we have it all figured out. That's why this is a living guide and not a build, per say.
I also think the dungeon rundown will help new players - but what they need to practice is positioning, timing, your rotation, actually controlling, etc... and it's hard to write about that. I hope that some extra info will help them here. The purpose of a guide is not to say "look at me, i have 18.3k GS and i can solo epics" more like, "these are things that will help you improve."
LOL yeah Dio, I know ice storm is good, the damage multiplier is huge. It's very situational, but when those situations do arise, it's a great option.
Everything you need to know about CW:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?780981-Chem-s-CW-Compendium-Everything-you-need-to-know
If anything, MoF is able to take the most advantage of the HV set with the interaction between CA/SD driving an almost endless supply of Oppressive Force and the most debuff the class can possibly do.
If you really think about it Critical Conflaguration isn't even necessary if all you really care about is driving team damage though debuff and control. Icy Terrain and Oppressive Force by themselves interact to keep Swath, Terror, and HV going forever if you keep things situatated. Keeping them situated is easy with EF on tab giving you all x3 defense buff's from HV and x5 Arcane Mastery. That leaves your last slot open for either Shard or Steal Time while generating so many AP that you can literally fire back-to-back Oppressive Force or an OF then a FI if you want to be nice.
What I consider 'control' is keeping things bunched up while keeping them dazed or frozen but I suppose it starts to matter how many pets you have with control bonus on what you use. I can't imagine a situation where I wouldn't want EF on Tab if control is something I cared about. (Which is one reason why I usually say Alacrity is the best thing in the Oppressor tree.) Now that Singularity is toast I personally think that EF on Tab is one of the best options if you care about grouping.
You're an odd duck Chem. You build yourself as a Tank instead of a debuffer or a controller. It works, I like it, and you play it well but I'm oddly surprised that you didn't like Oppressor for a lot of reasons. Sure, it's end-cap is pretty bad but for a team oriented control/debuff/tank spec it's actually decent in the right circumstances. It's lack of damage should be less of a concern for someone like you.