Using violet dance in pvp

csquared5

A reply I made on youtube grew and grew and then I realized I might have guide material on my hands. Here you go, enjoy.

Violet dance glyphs
-in mass pvp, always use gray glyph for pvp (give up magic attack and hp to get very low channel time, cast time, and cd time); this allows for fast in/out of violet dance
-in 1v1, you can use yellow glyph for extra magic attack IF the enemy doesn't dps too much (e.g., if you are fighting seeker, bm, barb, or any arcane class, such that you aren't really likely to need to quickly exit violet dance and heal yourself)

Violet dance pros
-handles purge well. Pious blessing can't be purged; ironheart stacks can
-essential for actually outputting any sort of offense whatsoever; if you can tank multiple enemies in melee range, you can stack up 20-30k of heal debuff on everybody nearby, which allows your allies to finish people off quite easily
-good against situations where the incoming DPS is LOW, but the potential for DPH is HIGH; e.g., fighting a seeker, bm, barb, where the average dps is low, but the occasional debuffed zerk-crits can charm bypass clerics quite easily

Violet dance cons
-doesn't handle dps well. High dps classes include geared archers and sins and dbs. Clerics tank dmg in violet dance through arrays and elven boon, which keeps the cleric's hp topped up while simultaneously debuffing enemy. However if incoming dmg is too high, cleric's hp will go down, and there are gaps where both arrays and elven boon are in cd. For high-dps situation, ironheart/stream of rejuvenation heals are much more effective
-doesn't handle chi-stealing well IF combined with high incoming dps. While cyclone is just as effective as ironheart for building up chi (provided there's an enemy you can hit nearby), arrays give low amounts of chi; if you need to use arrays to survive high incoming dmg, your chi will increase slowly, which will prevent you from sustaining the chi necessary to use defensive skills and keep enemies cced with sog

The problem with sins and dbs
-sins do both dps AND dph to a cleric; a highly problematic combination. is violet dance safer or not? This varies from one sin to the next. In general, if a sin's zerk crits are high enough that you tend to die more often to a charm bypass than to regular dps, violet dance is a bit safer. Viiolet dance also has the edge if sin tends to purge a lot with g17 daggers. If the sin doesn't have purge daggers, ironheart spam + the occasional vanguard spirit will keep you safe against most sins (combined with plume shell and the odd expel, of course)
-dbs dps tends to be a bit lower but their spike dph can be just as high as a sin, though less frequent; is violet dance safer or not? The danger of fighting db is that in violet dance that you'll be cced for much of the fight, and when you can't get many skills off, each skill use is hugely important. A single ironheart can output a lot more heal than a single array. However, if you can tank the db, the array is your only hope of generating offense. Situational at best. If its just the db himself, violet dance is probably fine. If its db + others, get out of violet dance, and try to remove yourself from the situation through kiting.

Survival tips
-try to remember to use pious blessing; it sometimes gets forgotten
-alternate plume shell and pious blessing
-when the incoming dps starts to overwhelm arrays, use your cleric ulti on yourself, and use pious blessing before exiting violet dance
-pious and wings of protection shield both get much more potent with increased hp, since their effect is based on target's hp (in this case, your hp); if you need to tank incredible incoming dps, stack all of them together at once to buy you time for genie/apoth
-don't forget to use master li's for 50 chi, since chi gain in violet dance can be a little trickier (I noticed I forgot to use master li's often enough in this video, something I"ll work to correct)
-remember to rebuff vanguard spirit frequently for 100% more phy def for 10s (incidentally, THIS skill is why sage is so much better at doing violet dance than a demon cleric; demon cleric's have no way of accessing the extra 100% phy def in violet dance)
-upgraded guardian light doesn't take chi anymore; I prefer to glyph it with blue for anti-stun, which allows clerics to avoid ccs without using genie/apoth (something that used to be impossible)
-pay attention to the incoming dps; if your arrays aren't quite keeping up with incoming dmg anymore, and plume shell is on cd, its time to use pious blessing and leave violet dance, to start using heals. You want to avoid being caught with all arrays/elven boon/plume shell all being on cd at the same time.

Weaponizing violet dance
-SOG is a weapon, not just a defensive skill; use it to lock enemies into place for 15s, stack arrays to 30k, and use your various debuffs (elemental debuff, physical debuff, mark of weakness, magical shackles); ALSO, try to get off a hit or two for good measure to tick defense charms (if you have time, thunder crash is best; gives you 45 chi, and it puts a metal dot onto target that ignores dmg reduction of SOG, so it'll reduce their hp more than a simple cyclone will; however if SOG is about to run out, avoid thunder crash, since thunder crash channel/cast time are both much higher than cyclone)
-*special note*; shackles is most effective for sins/dbs/archers! It doesn't hit the hardest on them (arcanes will take more dmg per 'tick' of shackles) but sins and dbs in particular output many more 'attacks' through their multi-hit skills like elimination, cursed jail, and life hunter, which in turn increases how often shackles 'ticks'; I've seen many sins/dbs suicide on shackles; if one is attacking you, a high stack of arrays combined with shackles is sometimes all you need to chase the sin/db away; TIP: shackles dmg is based off of your magic attack and and target physical defense at the time you cast your skill; to increase effectiveness, debuff phy def of target (can even use tangling mire on genie too), and if you can/if its safe, double spark or even triple spark to increase your magic attack prior to applying shackles (demon clerics can use spirits gift instead for a chi-less increase to magic attack)
-After SOG, try to either sleep or immobilize target, instead of just leaving them free to move; how to decide which to use? if allies are hitting your target (or will hit it soon) avoid sleep; if its just you, and you want to whittle target's hp lower with mark of weakness, and/or you haven't finished stacking debuffs yet, and/or you just want to keep target cced while you go for somebody else---then use sleep
-if you lack time to do all debuffs during 15s of SOG, take the enemy's class into consideration; magical shackles isn't very useful against heavy armor targets, nor is physical defense debuff, while on an arcane that your allies are helping you kill, physical debuff + shackles is the priority; if its just yourself, generally prioritize elemental debuff)
-never attack an enemy in violet dance unless you've put at least one array onto them (if you don't use at least one array, enemy is getting 400 heal per second from hp food, plus more besides from heals/charm/etc); array is generally the first or second attack you do on a target (second only if you had to cc target first with immobilize or sog or sleep)

When to use violet dance when working with others
-violet dance works better if you are with a small group of people (you +1 or 2 others)
-in violet dance, you can support allies through: purify, rebuffing, wings of protection (shield), and cleric ulti (doubles target hp and heals them to 100%, unpurgeable); even if target already has buffs, use of vanguard spirit (100% phy def 10s) is often warranted to help an ally tank dmg without needing you to leave violet dance; HOWEVER pay attention to the dmg they are receiving, and leave violet dance to heal once purify/vanguard spirit aren't enough anymore (especially: if your ally is caught by a debuff you cannot purify, such as paralyze, sb's 'perigean tide', cleric SOG, etc.).
-if there are many allies around you, and/or the allies you do have are taking big dmg, avoid violet dance (aka, remember that you are a healer at heart)
-in a squad of 10, you can go violet dance if: (a) you have 1 or preferably 2 reliable healers apart from yourself in squad; and/or (b) your squad is pushing enemy back and not taking much dmg; even so, ensure that you have gray glyph on violet dance so you can get back to healing/rezzing if required
-as solo healer in squad of 10, there are almost no situations where violet dance is a recommended for general use, unless it is simply to access pious blessing, and/or your squad is taking almost no dmg whatsoever