Help me make up my mind (Sage/Demon)
Reikara - Heavens Tear
Posts: 1,321 Arc User
Before I do something stupid D;
I'm 88, half way to 89 and I was 100% sure I was going sage.
I know the age old arguement: Go demon for PvP and Sage for PvE
which is a load of bullcrap in my book. I know a venomancer who has the
same build as me (Heavy/Robe/Human/Fox) and went demon for PvE
means. Also less chi used is VERY useful in PvP/TW, and it's not the only thing sage does.
I know almost every venomancer goes demon for the speed boost on fox
form, regardless of their build. However i'm not almost every venomancer
and my build is able to stand there and take hits, therefore speed dosen't
mean much to me, especially when genies have it anyway.
So, first of all I must consider my build in my choice, I know for a fact i'll never restat back to arcane or light again. I'm a heavy and arcane armour user, and I use both fox form and human form in pve/pvp.
So; the arguement for Sage:
Purge~Becomes aoe within a 5 meter radius. That would be ownage in TW.
Amplify damage~Target takes 30% damage instead of 20%.
Fox form~150% pdef and 250% accuracy increase. Great for a fox user.
Crush vigor~Target loses 15, instead of 8 chi everytime they're hit. (Would actually use it then)
Soul degen~Reduce target's max HP by 20%, great on barbs o_O
Malefic crush~ Targets lose 1800 mana over 3 seconds, instead of 9. Makes this skill seem more useful.
Melee Mastery~200% extra damage, instead of 120%.
Summer srint~Self purify
Parasitic nova~ 50% of the time it will only use one spark. Useful.
Lucky scarab~ Extra second stun. I'd level it up for this.
Noxious Gas~ Aoe and intial damage increased to 3054 each. (Instead of 2296)
Frost scarab~ 95% chance for frost bite. Instead of 80%.
Ironwood~ Phys def reduction increased to 20 seconds.
Self heals~ Recover 60% HP and MP
Wood mastery~ Wood damage increased by 25%
Arguement for Demon:
Ironwood~20% chance for armour break
Venomous~ Reduce wood res by 30% for 6 seconds
Bramble guard~75% damage reflect
Parasitic Nova~ Enemies take 30% more damage when sealed. (Like sage amp, only lasts 8 seconds though)
Wood mastery~ Crit rate+2%
Melee Mastery~Crit rate +3%
Fox form~ Speed increased by 60% after transforming
Fox wallop~ 20% chance to make all hits critical for 5 seconds
Leech~ Steals 800HP
Malefic Crush~ Burns 2400 mana over 9 seconds.
Crush Vigor~50% chance to gain a spark
Self heals~ reduce cooldowns by 90 seconds.
I'm not hyped up about crits either, already have 6% and I crit every 1-2 mobs. Very frequently. 79 skill does the same thing as ironwood, only with an aoe effect, more debuffs and a higher chance x.o
Also, I checked my build and stats for when i'm 90. Sage fox form would have my physical defense at 14562, while demon would have it as 13009. Not much of a big difference, 13k is already alot. Combine it with cleric+BM buff and nothing melee will hurt <_<;
So, if you were me, what would you choose and for what reasons?
I'm 88, half way to 89 and I was 100% sure I was going sage.
I know the age old arguement: Go demon for PvP and Sage for PvE
which is a load of bullcrap in my book. I know a venomancer who has the
same build as me (Heavy/Robe/Human/Fox) and went demon for PvE
means. Also less chi used is VERY useful in PvP/TW, and it's not the only thing sage does.
I know almost every venomancer goes demon for the speed boost on fox
form, regardless of their build. However i'm not almost every venomancer
and my build is able to stand there and take hits, therefore speed dosen't
mean much to me, especially when genies have it anyway.
So, first of all I must consider my build in my choice, I know for a fact i'll never restat back to arcane or light again. I'm a heavy and arcane armour user, and I use both fox form and human form in pve/pvp.
So; the arguement for Sage:
Purge~Becomes aoe within a 5 meter radius. That would be ownage in TW.
Amplify damage~Target takes 30% damage instead of 20%.
Fox form~150% pdef and 250% accuracy increase. Great for a fox user.
Crush vigor~Target loses 15, instead of 8 chi everytime they're hit. (Would actually use it then)
Soul degen~Reduce target's max HP by 20%, great on barbs o_O
Malefic crush~ Targets lose 1800 mana over 3 seconds, instead of 9. Makes this skill seem more useful.
Melee Mastery~200% extra damage, instead of 120%.
Summer srint~Self purify
Parasitic nova~ 50% of the time it will only use one spark. Useful.
Lucky scarab~ Extra second stun. I'd level it up for this.
Noxious Gas~ Aoe and intial damage increased to 3054 each. (Instead of 2296)
Frost scarab~ 95% chance for frost bite. Instead of 80%.
Ironwood~ Phys def reduction increased to 20 seconds.
Self heals~ Recover 60% HP and MP
Wood mastery~ Wood damage increased by 25%
Arguement for Demon:
Ironwood~20% chance for armour break
Venomous~ Reduce wood res by 30% for 6 seconds
Bramble guard~75% damage reflect
Parasitic Nova~ Enemies take 30% more damage when sealed. (Like sage amp, only lasts 8 seconds though)
Wood mastery~ Crit rate+2%
Melee Mastery~Crit rate +3%
Fox form~ Speed increased by 60% after transforming
Fox wallop~ 20% chance to make all hits critical for 5 seconds
Leech~ Steals 800HP
Malefic Crush~ Burns 2400 mana over 9 seconds.
Crush Vigor~50% chance to gain a spark
Self heals~ reduce cooldowns by 90 seconds.
I'm not hyped up about crits either, already have 6% and I crit every 1-2 mobs. Very frequently. 79 skill does the same thing as ironwood, only with an aoe effect, more debuffs and a higher chance x.o
Also, I checked my build and stats for when i'm 90. Sage fox form would have my physical defense at 14562, while demon would have it as 13009. Not much of a big difference, 13k is already alot. Combine it with cleric+BM buff and nothing melee will hurt <_<;
So, if you were me, what would you choose and for what reasons?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Post edited by Reikara - Heavens Tear on
0
Comments
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Why does everyone think that demon venos use fox form for running away only?
Anyway its not easy to obtain the skill books besides venomous, ironwoord and foxform at the moment. With that in mind, a HA veno could possibly benefit more from Sage rather than Demon if you are mostly going in foxform for tw. Unfortunately the Sage purge will have to wait a while longer ...0 -
So; the arguement for Sage:Purge~Becomes aoe within a 5 meter radius. That would be ownage in TW.Amplify damage~Target takes 30% damage instead of 20%.Soul degen~Reduce target's max HP by 20%, great on barbs o_OMalefic crush~ Targets lose 1800 mana over 3 seconds, instead of 9. Makes this skill seem more useful.Melee Mastery~200% extra damage, instead of 120%.
Summer srint~Self purifyb:bye
Lucky scarab~ Extra second stun. I'd level it up for this.
Noxious Gas~ Aoe and intial damage increased to 3054 each. (Instead of 2296)
Wood mastery~ Wood damage increased by 25%
Arguement for Demon:Bramble guard~75% damage reflectParasitic Nova~ Enemies take 30% more damage when sealed. (Like sage amp, only lasts 8 seconds though)Fox form~ Speed increased by 60% after transforming79 skill does the same thing as ironwood, only with an aoe effect, more debuffs and a higher chance x.o
People all seem to miss out fury bursts and the generic vig skills when talking about heaven/hell. Heaven WFs get a extra 200% mattack (Heaven fury gives 900% mattack, 500% pattack) while **** get a extra 150% pattack (700% mattack, 650% pattack). Heaven get 50 vig from Master Li's (1 min cd) which is v. useful in things like TW and allows you to spam skills more, Hell are able to make opponents lose 50 vig (30 sec cd).
Unless theres a method of getting the AMP's/Old Book Pages/Myst Pages that i dont know of yet here, only 15/26 of WFs heaven/hell skills are obtainable in game, out of which 7/15 are in fb99. When (if) those do come, the method of gaining them is normally 'lucky boxes' in the cs, so there far from cheap..0 -
Chrysocolla - Harshlands wrote: »5m isnt big, youll almost never get more than one person in it. Plus since its a fb99 book 90% of WFs will never see one let alone own it.
Ive never been able to get hold of it myself since FB99 books are v. hard to get, but from what ive heard its an extra 30% so it will be 50%? Still, once again, FB99 book so 90% of people will never get it.
None of the above are obtainable yet in the game since the only way to get them is through AMP's, Old Book Pages or Mysterious Pages and are therefore irrelevent?
Unless theres a method of getting the AMP's/Old Book Pages/Myst Pages that i dont know of yet here, only 15/26 of WFs heaven/hell skills are obtainable in game, out of which 7/15 are in fb99. When (if) those do come, the method of gaining them is normally 'lucky boxes' in the cs, so there far from cheap..
That's an extremely short sighted way of looking at things. If someone plans to play longterm and see the day when other areas of the game are implemented, then there's no reason not to add all skills into their thought process.[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]0 -
From what I gathered, I'd say human form benefit more from Demon and Fox form benefit more from Sage, reason being:
Demon Human
Venomous Scarab - reduces target's Wood resistance by 30% for 6 seconds.
Parasitic Nova - makes chaotic enemies take 30% more damage.
Ironwood Scarab - 20% chance to reduce physical defense to zero instead.
These skills are your bread and butter in human form and they get a lot of bonuses from going Demon.
Sage Fox
Amplify Damage - making it take 30.0% more damage for 20 seconds.
Befudding Mist - gives an extra 800 damage.
consume Spirit - Sage version always hits.
Leech - steals life 100% of the time.
Even though Dmon Fox Wallop has a chance to make all hit Critical in the following 5 seconds, but comparatively Sage takes the game here.
Since you said you use both forms, it'd be a really tough call.
I'd say it depends on your play style. Didn't mean to state the obvious, but if you tend to use Human form to de-buff and rush in Fox form for the kill, I'd say go Sage for the Fox form benefits.
Versus, if you use Fox form melee to basically build Chi and your main attack is in Human form, then go Demon.
There is no way I can include all possibilities but I hope to have gotten the point across.
Good luck.b:pleased0 -
Chrysocolla - Harshlands wrote: »Ive never been able to get hold of it myself since FB99 books are v. hard to get, but from what ive heard its an extra 30% so it will be 50%? Still, once again, FB99 book so 90% of people will never get it.Pretty much the reason hell WF is more popular..
Foxform speed increase is less usefull now with all the genie speed buffs anyways.People all seem to miss out fury bursts and the generic vig skills when talking about heaven/hell. Heaven WFs get a extra 200% mattack (Heaven fury gives 900% mattack, 500% pattack) while **** get a extra 150% pattack (700% mattack, 650% pattack). Heaven get 50 vig from Master Li's (1 min cd) which is v. useful in things like TW and allows you to spam skills more, Hell are able to make opponents lose 50 vig (30 sec cd).
I've been wondering for a bit, though its hard to confirm. sage and demon sparks dont say 'Physical attack' like 1spark and 2spark do. Instead they state 'Weapon damage' which leads me to believe potentially it effects magic weapon damage as well.
(else why switch phrasing from stating magic attack right before, ie. the way the brain thinks; you said magic attack in the previous wording you wouldnt jump ship and skip over saying physical attack).
Not to mention all veno spells state '+ xx% weapon damage' refering to magic attack on the weapon. So if the 'Weapon damage' refered to in the spark is the same as the 'weapon damage' in veno skills, that would mean demon spark -might- not be 'weaker' magically than sage afterall. Or I'm interperting too deeply into the wording.
(Again, reasons for presuming: 1, previous sparks all say physical. 2, They changed tense from magic attack to weapon damage. 3, Most spells include a %weapon damage modifier)
I will say the sage chi buff is most usefull for TWs, I'm always low >.<
Demon Venomous is drool-worthy, and when ironwood lands watch phoenix eat barbs solo.
For a HA user the negligable amount of extra pdef sage fox adds will only add around 1% more Damage reduction.
Sage Soul degen is godly.
@Rei you already talked to me ingame b:chuckle
You know what I chose, and why.0 -
Foxform, venmous, Ironwood.
Don't count on getting the books for any other skills.
That might help your decision.0 -
Reikara - Heavens Tear wrote: »Soul degen~Reduce target's max HP by 20%, great on barbs o_OObsessed - Heavens Tear wrote: »For a HA user the negligable amount of extra pdef sage fox adds will only add around 1% more Damage reduction.
And has anyone else noticed that the "+120% to pdef" for FoxForm 3 isn't really +120% of pdef? It's actually closer to +100%. I wonder where the discrepancy comes from.0 -
Eany meany miney mo?The VenoX: Heavy Pure Melee (Axe User with a hint of magic) Venomancer and Proud
Having fun since lv1
5 more levels baby!
^_____^
{=^.^=} < I'll never give up. Never give in. )
I'm for The Cursed!
pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=6561320 -
Solandri - Heavens Tear wrote: »You need to invert DR to see its true effect. Reikara currently has 11k pdef in caster form, which would be about 22k in fox form. That's 86.1% DR, or takes 13.9% of base damage. 11k*1.5/1.2 = 13.75k, so with Sage Fox Form she'd be around 24750 pdef. That be 87.4% DR, or takes 12.6% of base damage. Going from 13.9% to 12.6% of base damage is pretty significant - almost 10% less damage per hit.
Actually thats 11k in fox already, check the skills. Sage brings it up about 1.4k pdef. 1000 dmg hit turns into 139 vs 126 on your calc, a negligable difference in the end in terms of survivability. not enough to say its detrimentally better, or push sage foxform in it's favor, in my opinion anyways.
I'd rather have 60% speed for catching Catas in TW, catching runners in pvp, to run away from stray mobs or gankings, etc, etc, than take 10dmg less per thousand.0 -
Obsessed - Heavens Tear wrote: »Actually thats 11k in fox already, check the skills. Sage brings it up about 1.4k pdef. 1000 dmg hit turns into 139 vs 126 on your calc, a negligable difference in the end in terms of survivability. not enough to say its detrimentally better, or push sage foxform in it's favor, in my opinion anyways.0
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Solandri - Heavens Tear wrote: »Neat. Didn't know that character calculator could do that. It works out to about 8% less damage taken then. 1000 -> 237 vs. 218. For Reikara, that'd be equivalent to going from 3197 to 3453 hp vs. physical damage (+256 hp).
edit: well I guess the calc doesnt discriminate(stating 3 as 120%).. I was pretty sure level 3 was 100% though, and demon jumps to 120%. I distinctly remember there being an increase when I obtained demon fox.0 -
Some of my reasons for going sage:
Foxform:
If I want speed I can just use a genie or apoth items. The extra phy def adds a good amount and helps make up for my current low def. I won't run like a coward, I'll get in your face, tank your hits and kill you.
Ironwood:
I KNOW the def reduction will be there so I always get a 40% reduction for 20 seconds.
Chi:
In pvp chi is very valuable and being able to regain it very fast is really useful. I can easily sagespark + parasitic nova, causing a lot of damage and havoc when everyone in range has a high chance of getting frozen and sealed.
Melee Mastery:
With the attack boost, I actually do some fairly decent damage even with my currently not so great phy attack.
I pretty much used sage to cover my weaknesses and make myself a better all-around veno. I've already gotten huge benefit from that.Main characters
Celestial Sage Venomancer Zoe - 100
Sage Barbarian Malego - 910 -
I agree with Zoe on a couple things there, I know how hard it can be to gain chi in pvp, let alone TW >_<
To those who said that fox form skill is hard to come by, that's not what i've gathered from auction house. To those who say choose either sage or demon depending on what's available, I say no. I don't care if some skills aren't attainable yet, what matters is that they will be and I don't plan on getting to 89 just to quit. To those who say choose demon or sage for fox or human, if you read my post I stated I use both human and fox. It's neither one or the other, I use both forms equally in PvP and PvE.
Sage/demon summer sprint skill at level 92 also gives another increase on the speed boost on top of what the level 89 version also gives. Level 89 summer sprint gives a 35%speed boost while the sage/demon gives 45%. So the temp 60% speed boost on demon is also not so tempting anymore. Also, the extra damage on the melee/wood mastery can seriously help out since my magic attack got gimped from my armour build~ and my phys could always use a boost, rather perm damage than a couple extra crit %.
I also know the aoe 79 skill is fox form, and I use fox form too so..your point was...? e_e
Demon ironwood has a 20% chance on one target for armour break.
79 skill is aoe with bleed, armour break (phys def), mind break (mag def) and poison.
I think I know what I preffer o_O
Still indecisive. Demon fox form and sage fox form benefits have suddenly become kinda useless :x[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]0 -
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The 79 skills are also completely random. All 4 status ailments could trigger or none could. They also cost 800 mana per cast and are instant channel/cast. That'll drain your mana bar fast. At least with Demon Ironwood, you get good damage even if the armor break doesn't trigger and it only costs 175 mana. All in all, Demon Ironwood is a much better deal than the Myriad Rainbow skills.
I also don't think that Sage Ironwood is all that much better. 40% physical reduction really only results in 200-300 more damage from your pet. Aggro-wise and damage-wise the effect isn't all that big. Since you use foxform, you might have more uses for it. Do you cast Ironwood and then switch to foxform and melee? When you're grinding, does that physical defense reduction really affect your killing speed?
Also keep in mind that the Sage/Demon Summer Sprint books are some of the ones that can't be gotten yet. So, the Demon Foxform speed increase isn't all that useless.0 -
Yes, but it will be possible to get the sage/demon summer sprint in the future no? e_e
I'm not basing my choice on only what's available now. My mind set is that if I did go sage, I wouldn't be missing out so much on the armour break, even if the chance is small.. which demon ironwood is also
Phys def reduction helps alot..PvP or PvE. Whether it's purge+amp+human+iron or iron+fox+amp+purge it's always allowing me to kill faster..[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]0 -
if you are arcane go Demon. The Venomous scarab is much better than Sage. The extra Ac from sage fox form wont make that much of a difference anyway. And if you can ever get the Wood/Melee mastery books you will gain a greater benefit than a LA/HA would(diminishing returns). For solo amp Demon actually helps more 25% vs 30% but it lasts longer. And Demon Purge is actually better in TW in my opinion(small AoE range on Sage)
That being said for PvP Sage Amp is better(time doesnt matter if it longer than 10 seconds.) If you have decent AC from HA or LA Sage fox may make a difference since it is % based. For PvE(mostly solo TT) Soul Degen on Sage is Godly. As good as Sage STA for archers but at a lower lvl. Also for LA Sage wood mastery is better IMO since you already have 6% crit with no crit gear you want your crits to hit for more.
so in my opinion
Arcane-> Demon
LA -> Sage
HA dont have much expierence but would still say Sage0 -
Kittennice - Heavens Tear wrote: »Eany meany miney mo?
Catch a Were-Tiger by his toe...
Sry couldn't help it...
I would agree with the poster who said it depends on your PlayStyle are you in Human form more or Fox...Zetarana - Arcane Veno
Nephandus - Arcane Wizard
Faction: Nocturne0 -
Plicid, Reikara is both heavy and arcane user so sorting heavy/la/arcane wont do anything.
In my opinion I would choose sage because it has nice fox benefits like extra damage and extra pdef. After all Venomancers are magic based...0 -
92 veno here demon< well sage is good for def and pve/demon veno has speed and power for pvp. the speed also helps for rushing in pve so ur choose whats best for u[SIGPIC]b:angry[/SIGPIC]0
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I think the extra power from demon would hinder PvE in the form of being able to take argo from your pet easier so that would make PvE a pain, also with the fact that ironwood only has a 20% chance of landing and still doing alot of magic damage, again taking argo, and foxform speed boost is replaceable with a genie, only 6 seconds, and is rather cowardly and those are the main 3 skills you can get.0
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GO SAGE. being heavily armored results in far less damage output already, sage will make up for that most definitely. with venomous, cloud eruption genie skill, and the 50 chi skill, youll have 3 sparks within seconds of casting a 3x spark eruption. the 900% dmg increase + 30% mp boost will save on MP pots/charms and make your dmg way higher than demon can put out, almost 91 here, plan on getting it tomorrow, and let me tell you, im SOOOO glad i picked sage over demon.
not only that, the sage 150% fox boost in def will work wonders giving you herc like def :P.0 -
EDIT:Tear isnt worth the time of day0
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and your damage is far reduced than mine, theres nothing fail about it. your buffed damage was mine unbuffed in my lower levels, high 70s~low 80s and im not even pure mag >.>; theres one heavy caster on sanc in their 90s, and the only way they match my matk is with a +11 requiem blade. no matter what way you look at it, your mp, magic def, and magic attack, and pet heal are all gimped because you wanna be able to take a hit :P.
even light armor can out damage/heal you with the 90 glaive, as they dont need weird stat allocations/gears to balance them out, with the pure matk it gives, it should easily own your silly req blade. heck even if they dont want to stop at 270 mag to dump vit, they can continue on mag for more damage :P.
all builds have weaknesses, yours are mentioned above, as mine is being vulnerable to hits with only 2k pdef. but compensates for having all the above. you can adamantly defend it all you want, but you do gimp yourself quite a bit for having little strengths of good hp/def. even then some, you treat it as if it is a build on par with LA, and completely legit... but it isnt, its so awkward and hard to make viable, so hats off to you and rei for making it work.
go sink in a lake, heavy armor wearer.0 -
'herc like def' ?
last i checked, a lvl 9X herc should have 20k+ pdef when buffed...unless u mean the buffs increase herc's pdef TO 150% and not BY 150%0 -
this post was dumb. so i got rid of it because i cant find a delete button0
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'herc like def' ?
last i checked, a lvl 9X herc should have 20k+ pdef when buffed...unless u mean the buffs increase herc's pdef TO 150% and not BY 150%
He's not kidding, actually. A heavy Veno has similar physical defense to a Herc, and when you multiply both the Herc's and Veno's P-Def by 150%, it ends up being similar after the math as well.
Also, I'd go Sage. Faster cooldowns and DoTs, crits, and all the other special bonuses Demon gets makes it very tempting. But in my opinion, with your build the way it is, you should go for the simple raw damage and defense increase that comes with Sage. Seems to me you're built to be humbly effective, not fancy. Push your effectiveness even further with Sage.0 -
EDIT:Tear isnt worth the time of day0
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Thanks guys, and I have made up my mind then, sage it is.
I was hoping someone might bring up some good reasons for demon
on my build but I guess not. Heh ^^;[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]0 -
gl with your FB and 89 then rei :O!
and for obsessed.What good is your magic attack when my phoenix eats arcanes? Not to mention my damage is not any different than that of a typical LA user, or pure vit arcanes; which are 'typical pvp' builds.your mp, magic def, and magic attack, and pet healas mine is being vulnerable to hits with only 2k pdef.Seems to me you're built to be humbly effective, not fancy
your character development is what we'd label unique, good job making it work, novelty doesnt get very far sometimes, im sorry you just get butthurt when the weaknesses are labeled. its kinda sad, instead of defending your unique build like isala does, you just get all arrogant with me. meta game doesnt work how we always like, thus your silly phoenix excuse is null and void.0
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