LA/AA Hybrid Guide.

Isala - Sanctuary

I'm sure we've all seen the guides, maybe had some questions, etc. There are plenty talking about casters in Robes, some of Heavy Armor, but nobody has really gone in depth about Light Armor, or more specifically, in this case, a Light Armor/ Arcane Armor.

So, I'm going to try to use my experience, and knowledge to expand upon what we know about the LA/AA Veno, and its capabilities.

NOTE: This is a PvE guide for now, but will be updated later with PvP advice.

I. Stats

Stats are very simple. Add one point of Str and Dex each level, and 3 to mag. Leave Vit alone, although, you can add some if you wish, but be warned, you'll be crippling your magic. Or, you can improvise, and use a Tome to cover any stat you'd like to manipulate. For instance, I have 20 Vit, and used a Tome to increase my Magic back to 3x.

II. Skills.

You'll be getting all the skills, being able to use both Fox, and Caster, but certain ones should be prioritized. I'll cover all of them that you can learn directly from the trainer, as certain skills later require items, such as pages, and books to learn. Caster spells are in Blue, Fox Skills are in Green, and spells that can be used in both are Orange.

Venomous Scarab. This is your Caster Spam spell. Fire it over and over and over again.

Ironwood Scarab. Your major Caster Debuff spell. Decreases Physical Defense, which makes your pet hit harder.

Blazing Scarab. Your first DoT (Damage over Time) While not extremely effective on mobs while grinding, due to long Cooldown, and duration, using this spell against Bosses is a great way to deal damage, as it will continue to tick on them for as long as you keep using it. Combining it with other DoTs, especially from other players, is highly advised.

Noxious Gas. Your AoE. Good Damage, and an added DoT effect make this a very powerful spell, and with a 3 second cooldown, you can get a lot of use out of it.

Frost Scarab. For the cost of one spark, you launch a fierce attack with a chance to add a DoT and Slow effect. It does pack a punch, and the DoT is decent damage as well.

Lucky Scarab. An absolute necessity. While the stun percentage is low to start, and the stun is not long lasting, it is very beneficial to a luring Veno, especially when the mob you've lured is casting, as the short stun will interrupt the spell. NOTE: It's still not a guarantee to land, as even level 10 is not a 100% chance, but it does have a very high chance of landing. Best for those times when you know you're going to get hit by a spell.

Parasitic Nova. It costs 2 sparks, but is a huge AoE, with a 66% chance to freeze and seal any enemies it hits. Very powerful, very costly, but a necessity for any Veno planning to do Rebirth.

Wood Mastery. Increases Wood Damage. It affects all your spells, ending at a 20% increase at level 10.

Metabolic Boost/Nature's Grace. These are your self healing spells, which cool down every 5 minutes.



Soul Transfusion. Switches the percentage of your HP and MP, and combined with the previous two skills will allow you to grind forever.

Summer Sprint. Increases your moment speed for several minutes, gaining in speed each level.

Heal Pet/Revive Pet. Kinda obvious. Dead pets are not a good thing.

Fox Form. Max this ASAP. Each level increases the defense and accuracy you have in Fox, and allows you to use Fox Skills.

Bramble Guard. Useful on the tank, or on yourself in Fox Form.

Bramble Hood. Your emergency button. Costs 2 sparks, but reduces damage taken, and deals back an extreme amount. Also an interesting spell to use when tanking a boss in Fox Form. Cast this before you charge in, and a Melee Boss will take a very, very large amount of damage in the first few seconds of the fight. If you're partying with another Veno, simply have them cast Bramble Guard on you after Hood expires, as Hood overwrites Guard.

Lending Hand. Transfers a spark to an Ally. Requires you to have said spark, but giving Chi to a Barb tanking a boss, or a Cleric needing chi to use skills like Purify is always a good idea.

Befuddling Mist. Your Fox AoE. At maximum level, reduces Accuracy by 70% for 8 seconds, and cools down in 3. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. You'll see why later.

Fox Wallop. For a little Chi, this spell hits a mob, and reduces channeling by 40% at level 10. Useless against Bosses, but effective against casting mobs.

Leech. An 80% chance to gain HP with every cast, increasing in amount per level. Another Must Have.

Stunning Blow. At the cost of one spark, it might seem like a waste, but it allows you to freeze an enemy for several seconds. As you generate Chi quickly in Fox Form, it's not as bad as it seems.

Consume Spirit. At the cost of a % of your HP, you gain a small amount of MP, increasing per skill level. Great for boss battles with no AoE, as your Leech Spell will recover the HP you have lost. Even better for battles when there is a Cleric using Regeneration Aura, or Blue Bubble, as it has come to be known.

Malefic Crush. A 2 spark AoE that unleashes powerful damage in a wide radius around you, and causes Manadrain. Manadrain doesn't affect mobs, but the powerful blow will cause a large amount of pain to anything you hit.

Purge. A useful spell, this removes all buffs from a mob, decreasing in cooldown each level.

Amplify Damage. IE, the Boss Killer. For a period of time, increasing per level, you cause a mob to take 20% more Damage.

Soul Degeneration. Prevents Regeneration of HP and MP while this curse is in effect. Gains a more useful effect when a Veno obtains the Sage version, as it decreases maximum HP of the target.

Crush Vigor. Causes a target to lose Chi when it is hit. A strictly PvP skill.

Melee Mastery. A Passive Skill that increases our Physical Damage. At level 10, it boosts by 120%. Completely necessary to cause any real damage in Fox Form.

Each Veno is different, so I suggest you take a look into the specifics of these skills on a site that gives you the hard numbers before deciding what is right for you.

III. Gear

You'll be using two sets of gear, based on your current foes.

Arcane Armor. Pretty obvious what you'll be using this for. Casters. Which means that getting all 5 resistances is a NECESSITY. Bonuses to HP, Magic, and Channeling Time are what you'll want to see on your gear here. Extra Resists couldn't hurt, either. You'll want to shard these with HP, as you don't plan on getting hit while wearing these, so Physical Defense is not important.

Light Armor. Your gear for getting hit. Or not, since as I mentioned above, Befuddling Mist has a 70% reduction of Accuracy. Now, what does that mean to you? It means that while, yes, you want all 5 resists on your gear for things that cast while using Melee attacks, you're going to be looking for very specific things on this gear as well. HP, Physical Defense, and Evasion are your friends, and any + Str, Vit, or Dex bonuses you can get your hands on.

You'll be sharding this with Evasion. Why Eva, you might ask? Again, Befuddling Mist. Now, some of you might be saying, "That's dumb. There's no way Evasion can possibly be that effective." And you'd be right, sort of. Evasion isn't that effective, but against a mob with lowered accuracy? You're talking a very, very large change to miss, and when you obtain gear like THIS? Notice the 30% evasion increase. On RINGS. Which means that you can wear two of them. 60% increase in Evasion from just a couple of rings, which gets multiplied by all the extra Evasion you've put in your gear, not to mention the other gear that adds + 10% Evasion? It adds up quite well, as you can see.

IV. Genies.

Ah, yes. The genies. There are a handful of skills that would provide a ton of use to you, but I'll suggest the 4 best that you might want.

Blinding Sand. At level 10, it's a 70% reduction of accuracy, and a 10% increase in casting time. Sound familiar? Yep. It's a genie version of your own Befuddling Mist, with a bonus. Guess what? There's a reason I suggest a redundant skill. They stack. So, anyone that tossed the numbers together gets the obvious answer of a combined 140% accuracy reduction. What does that mean? A simple, single number for Accuracy during the duration. 0. That's right. The two reduce any unbuffed Accuracy stat to nothing more than a goose egg.

Earth Strand. A miniature version of your Stunning Blow with Range. Use this to stop the mob long enough to catch up with it so you can hit it with the real deal.

Tree of Protection. Everyone loves Tree. It's an epic healing spell. Enough said.

Extreme Poison. The Genie Amp. Which stacks with Amplify Damage. And who doesn't like causing mobs a ton of pain?

V. Pets.

Yes. There are certain pets a Veno like this will love. Let's count them down, shall we?

Crystalline Magmite/ Hercules for tank.

Level 75 Huggy Hare. Why? 2 reasons, and a third you can add. The bunny comes with a high level Pierce, which reduces Physical Defense, and Shriek, which stops channeling. Perfect for the tanking Fox, and if you want, adding Threaten would be a good idea to decrease the Melee damage you take.

Level 61 Sower of the Flame. Why? Fast lure pet, and comes with 2 aggro skills and Howl. For those times when you need quite a bit more magic damage. While not the greatest lurer, as stated below, I use him for the multitasking capabilities.

Level 80 Celestial Plumpfish. While not obtainable until level 80, it is basically a Magmite of the sea. Great Physical Defense, Decent Magic Resist, and a ton of HP. And as an added bonus, nowhere near as huge as a turtle.

Other Venos have also suggested alternate pets in addition to the ones listed here, such as using a Snow Hare instead of a Huggy Hare, which would actually be preferable, as obtaining a Snow Hare is much faster than obtaining a Huggy, as the Snow Hare is available at level 20, and while rare, spawns every hour, instead of every twelve.

Also, it is advised to try other water pets, to fit your own needs, water Undines are a good choice for a water pet as well.

Now, as for a lure pet, I have heard that an Eldergoth is useful due to range, and while yes, it is quite the trooper, and has decent skills to boot, I prefer a Soft Cactopod for the job, myself. While it has less HP than an Eldergoth, it has higher defense and magic resist. It moves a bit slower, has a little less attack, and has no skills besides level 1 Toxic Mist. But, having no skills will allow you to customize it a bit more, such as giving it skills like Roar, which grabs aggro, or Tough, which reduces all damage taken, and Boost, which is a heal that the pet can use to keep itself up.

Honestly, pets are really a Veno's preference, and nobody will ever pick the same pets for the same tasks. Try some out, or read some advice about pets for yourself. Discussions about various pets are all over the forums, and various websites, so just look for the pet in question, and see what other Venos have to say about it.

VI. Tactics.

So, now that we have the basics, what are you going to be doing?

Well, for grinding, you have the choice to cast, or go Fox to fight. Change your tactics based on the mob. For instance, an Earth mob dies fast to Wood Damage, which is our spells, while a Wood mob will just shrug off spells. Does it Melee? Fox might be a good idea. Toss on your LA, and meet them head on. Or does it prefer to cast and kite? Toss on your robes, and slap it with distance attacks.

Or are you tanking a boss? If it's a caster, stay in your robes, send your Sower of the Flames to increase Magic Damage, and plug away. Melee? Put on Bramble Guard, your Light Armor, and go to Fox. Use the Huggy Hare to cut its Physical Defense, and Attack, and Shriek to block any surprise spells it might have, like a nasty AoE. Keep spamming Befuddling Mist, and if your HP starts dropping too fast, hit the boss with Blinding Sand a couple times to make all Melee miss.

Got a barb tanking? No problem. Depending on the AoE, you can stand back, or get close. Be very careful of those deadly close range Physical AoEs. You can not survive those. If they have a long range physical AoE, get on top of the boss in Fox, and spam Befuddling Mist and Blinding Sand. Your clerics will love you, as the normally brutal attack will miss entirely, allowing a BB to be uninterrupted. Magic AoE? Use the Huggy Hare again. Shriek, along side a barb's Alacrity will stop that dead in its tracks. Remember, while fighting in Fox, that you have Amplify Damage, and spamming that as much as you can will cut that boss fight short.

VII. Conclusion.

Light/Arcane Armor Hybrids have a lot of choices available to them. While they are not by any means as powerful as a Robe build with boosted Magic, or a Heavy Build for physical damage, we do both quite well. Our lack of HP is our most severe weakness. I can not stress that enough. HP is very, very important. Refining your gear, and finding proper bonuses is ESSENTIAL for survival. If you still find yourself lacking in HP, put on a helmet that you can wear. You can't wear the best HP helmets, but one that is socketed with HP shards, and has HP bonuses will help immensely. And refine it a few times if you can.

VIII. Appendix.

Thanks to _River for the input on pets, as well as the advice on Skills.
Thanks to Aaryana for the advice in general.
Thanks to Damewort for the build idea.
Thanks to TearValerin for putting up with my crazy ideas, and telling me why they were crazy.
And if I've forgotten someone, thanks to you too.

Any advice, suggestions, and questions are welcome, because this is a guide in progress, and any new information will be updated.

_River - Heavens Tear

mmm.... I appreciate that you've written all of this, but I don't think this applies to all light armor/arcane armor venos and hybrids.

Vit is an important part of being able to survive since, in arcane gear we are noticably weaker, the added hp will help us to last longer in case a mob breaks loose. Also, where hp and pdef shards come in handy for arcane gear. For the light armor, if its a caster type mob, there's no evading that with those shards in your gear. It would probably be more beneficial for some of us to put in hp shards for more survivability. I haven't used any evasion shards and I've made it to 89 without using them. I use only citrines in my light armor and it fits my build perfectly.

However I understand each person is different, and your input is good

Also, I'm not so sure lucky scarab is really a must have, given the stun is a chance to land. They don't always land and if they don't, you are in for a lot of trouble. Getting the higher levels of it does increase the chance to stun, but there will always be times where it won't land and if it doesn't and you're in a pinch, there's not much one can do unless your pet knows pounce (even then that's a chance to land too). While I understand that the stun can interrupt channeling, to have to count on it landing, isn't as efficient.

As for other skills, the Blazing scarab adds decent DoT. It always hits with the fire damage (unless target is immune to fire).

Wood mastery is also a good thing to look into, as the added wood damage will help kill things quicker, especially if you have noxious gas (aoe poison DoT).

Another must have skill, especially for the higher level TT runs, is purge. Mobs can buff themselves with beneficial things, bosses do the same. If you're in a party doing a TT2-2/2-3, purge is a must have as the ape boss buffs himself every 15 seconds or so if I recall the timing. The buffs cause him to hit really hard on tanks and it is crucial of a veno to have that so the tank has a higher chance of surviving.

Don't forget to level foxform whenever possible, as it adds more phys def, accuracy for when fighting in melee combat in your foxform, and also the reduction of mp lost is 20% at level 3.

Now for pets....

I'm sure a lot of us will agree that we all have our own tanks of all shapes and sizes.

However, if someone has chosen to raise a snow hare, instead of taming a huggy, or if someone tames a celestial eido hare (level 89) these 2 work just as well as a huggy hare, with the only thing you have to do is upgrade the shriek capability to interrupt channeling. I know my celestial eido hare has level 3 shriek and interrupts channeling 80% of the time, however if you spam it on a boss that you're not tanking, be prepared to pull hate from the boss/mob you're interrupting. (Spoken from experience in TT runs where I've spammed it too much xD).

Sower of the flames... last I had checked we had the conversation about luring pets. This pet works, however the speed and lack of ranged attack makes it a not so well puller. Its speed might be quick, but when I lured with it (as I had one at one point in time) the attack itself took too long. My kowlin, or even an eldergoth would be more efficient at luring than a sower of the flames.

Aggro skills are varied through all the different pets. Shaodu cubs have pierce, flesh ream, pounce, and tough. As a kowlin also has, bash, flesh ream, pierce, and howl. Eldergoths have bash that I know of please forgive me as I don't know any other skill they have.

Water pets depend on the veno. I have tamed a celestial plumpfish, got rid of it at 85 for the asgard plumpfish, then also got rid of that one and tamed an undine mistic, which I prefer over both plumpfish. Her attacks are stronger, I will admit she has less hp than the plumpfish but with her mdef higher than her phys def it makes it easier to take on more than one mob in the water. Her speed is also a good feature of the undine. At her current level she "runs" in the water at a speed of 8.7m/s. Water pets are strictly up to the individual players though, much like the tank pets and pulling pets. (as has been discussed in many previous threads).

Once again, your information is good and thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this up

Matche - Heavens Tear

_River - Heavens Tear wrote: »

[...]

The stats you provided wouldn't be accurate for the light armor sets given that you only add 1 str and dex per level. At level 69, with the dark shinguards of hedes molder, its required 73 str/dex. Adding one per level, you would have to wait until level 73 to be able to wear the light armor.

[...]

A small clarification to this part @_River. You begin this game with 5 points in each stat, and adding one each level to str and dex, you end up with a sum of [current level] + 4 str and dex points, therefore on 69 you should have 73 str and 73 dex, if you followed the build correctly...

_River - Heavens Tear

Matche - Heavens Tear wrote: »

A small clarification to this part @_River. You begin this game with 5 points in each stat, and adding one each level to str and dex, you end up with a sum of [current level] + 4 str and dex points, therefore on 69 you should have 73 str and 73 dex, if you followed the build correctly...

Ah that's where my calculations were off ^^;; Thanks! I knew I had forgotten something. Let me edit my previous post.

Isala - Sanctuary

_River - Heavens Tear wrote: »

mmm.... I appreciate that you've written all of this, but I don't think this applies to all light armor/arcane armor venos and hybrids.

Vit is an important part of being able to survive since, in arcane gear we are noticably weaker, the added hp will help us to last longer in case a mob breaks loose. Also, where hp and pdef shards come in handy for arcane gear. For the light armor, if its a caster type mob, there's no evading that with those shards in your gear. It would probably be more beneficial for some of us to put in hp shards for more survivability. I haven't used any evasion shards and I've made it to 89 without using them. I use only citrines in my light armor and it fits my build perfectly.

However I understand each person is different, and your input is good

Also, I'm not so sure lucky scarab is really a must have, given the stun is a chance to land. They don't always land and if they don't, you are in for a lot of trouble. Getting the higher levels of it does increase the chance to stun, but there will always be times where it won't land and if it doesn't and you're in a pinch, there's not much one can do unless your pet knows pounce (even then that's a chance to land too). While I understand that the stun can interrupt channeling, to have to count on it landing, isn't as efficient.

As for other skills, the Blazing scarab adds decent DoT. It always hits with the fire damage (unless target is immune to fire).

Wood mastery is also a good thing to look into, as the added wood damage will help kill things quicker, especially if you have noxious gas (aoe poison DoT).

Another must have skill, especially for the higher level TT runs, is purge. Mobs can buff themselves with beneficial things, bosses do the same. If you're in a party doing a TT2-2/2-3, purge is a must have as the ape boss buffs himself every 15 seconds or so if I recall the timing. The buffs cause him to hit really hard on tanks and it is crucial of a veno to have that so the tank has a higher chance of surviving.

Don't forget to level foxform whenever possible, as it adds more phys def, accuracy for when fighting in melee combat in your foxform, and also the reduction of mp lost is 20% at level 3.

Now for pets....

I'm sure a lot of us will agree that we all have our own tanks of all shapes and sizes.

However, if someone has chosen to raise a snow hare, instead of taming a huggy, or if someone tames a celestial eido hare (level 89) these 2 work just as well as a huggy hare, with the only thing you have to do is upgrade the shriek capability to interrupt channeling. I know my celestial eido hare has level 3 shriek and interrupts channeling 80% of the time, however if you spam it on a boss that you're not tanking, be prepared to pull hate from the boss/mob you're interrupting. (Spoken from experience in TT runs where I've spammed it too much xD).

Sower of the flames... last I had checked we had the conversation about luring pets. This pet works, however the speed and lack of ranged attack makes it a not so well puller. Its speed might be quick, but when I lured with it (as I had one at one point in time) the attack itself took too long. My kowlin, or even an eldergoth would be more efficient at luring than a sower of the flames.

Aggro skills are varied through all the different pets. Shaodu cubs have pierce, flesh ream, pounce, and tough. As a kowlin also has, bash, flesh ream, pierce, and howl. Eldergoths have bash that I know of please forgive me as I don't know any other skill they have.

Water pets depend on the veno. I have tamed a celestial plumpfish, got rid of it at 85 for the asgard plumpfish, then also got rid of that one and tamed an undine mistic, which I prefer over both plumpfish. Her attacks are stronger, I will admit she has less hp than the plumpfish but with her mdef higher than her phys def it makes it easier to take on more than one mob in the water. Her speed is also a good feature of the undine. At her current level she "runs" in the water at a speed of 8.7m/s. Water pets are strictly up to the individual players though, much like the tank pets and pulling pets. (as has been discussed in many previous threads).

Once again, your information is good and thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this up

Thank you for pointing all this out to me. I was typing it up in the middle of the night, and guess I forgot to add a few things. I'll add your suggestions to it as well.

EDIT: Guide has been editted. Thank you _River.