understanding your class

FanFon - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Of all the classes in pwi, I know the least about venos. Besides soloing what are you guys really good at?

We are good at soloing? Wow... too bad nobody ever told the bosses about us. They smash our pets into the ground and it's over in a few seconds. Unless it's a Hercules, of course. Which isn't particulary cheap --- in fact, when you can afford one you might not need one anymore.

Really good... not sure about that. I guess mining comes to mind --- if there's a monster too close to the mine, other classes have to pass or fight the monster before harvesting, opening a window for someone else to "steal" the mine. I can let my pet keep the monster busy while I harvest.

And luring, of course. But that would be too obvious for an answer.

You can probably help out in parties a bit. Amp might actually be useful, although it means you are basically locked into Foxform. With enough damage on the party, amp should be able to add more damage than what you could deal yourself.
I wouldn't expect too much from Purge, considering that the game doesn't visually separate the buffs from the debuffs, and the target will probably be "full of debuffs", running out and getting recasted.

Yindra - Sanctuary wrote: »

We are good at soloing? Wow... too bad nobody ever told the bosses about us. They smash our pets into the ground and it's over in a few seconds. Unless it's a Hercules, of course. Which isn't particulary cheap --- in fact, when you can afford one you might not need one anymore.

Really good... not sure about that. I guess mining comes to mind --- if there's a monster too close to the mine, other classes have to pass or fight the monster before harvesting, opening a window for someone else to "steal" the mine. I can let my pet keep the monster busy while I harvest.

And luring, of course. But that would be too obvious for an answer.

You can probably help out in parties a bit. Amp might actually be useful, although it means you are basically locked into Foxform. With enough damage on the party, amp should be able to add more damage than what you could deal yourself.
I wouldn't expect too much from Purge, considering that the game doesn't visually separate the buffs from the debuffs, and the target will probably be "full of debuffs", running out and getting recasted.

Amp only takes like 2 seconds to cast. How is that keeping you in fox form? Fox Form - Amp - Human Form - Lending Hand to tank - DD - Repeat.

Lythianaa - Dreamweaver wrote: »

We also have the lending hand skill, passing spark every minute to anyone that needs it is always good, since venos do not use spark as often as the other classes (or at least I do not).

Make it 15sec for Demon/Sage Lending Hand.

Well in squads Venomancer is mostly good as Debuffer, Puller, Chi pot, Tank and DD

Debuff
Amplify damage - Makes target take 20% more damage (25% in demon, 30% in sage). Two venomancers with maxed Amp are enough to keep boss debuffed nonstop. They just need time their debuffs well. In result boss takes 20% less time to be killed.
Ironwood scarab - Decreases targets pysical defence by 30% (40% for sage, 100% for demon (20% chance to cast)
Myriad rainbow - Two of the effects possible to cast are mind break (100% magic defence removal) and armor break (100% physical defence removal)
Sage Soul Degeneration - Decreases target's HP by 20%. Works like archer's ST.
Demon Parasitic Nova - Aoe skill. It has chance to make enemies around chaotic too (they can't attack or move). In Demon version those chaotic enemies take 30% more damage
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Bramble guard - Helps to keep aggro on melee mobs/tanks.
Purge - Removes positive buffs from target. No other class can do it, except archers with lunar bow or BMs with TT90 polearm.

Puller
It is much easier and safer for a venomancer to pull a mob or boss out of group of mobs. First of all - pulling with pet helps to avoid aggroing nearby mobs (Zeal genie can do it too...). Second - venomancer doesnt need to go that close to mobs so there is less chance to aggro others accidentally and veno can keep a safer distance too.
Besides, I have yet to see a boss who can outrun demon venomancer with demon fox form. They pretty much can keep running at 9.9m/s (with lvl3 Summer Sprint) almost non-stop.

Chi pot
Lending hand - Venomancer can send 1 spark to any player with only 1min cooldown (15sec for sage/demon and demon has even chance to send 2 sparks. Sage can send a spark without consuming one). Venomancer has pretty small use of sparks. From caster skills only Iroonwood and Parasitic Nova needs chi. And using single/double/triple spark isn't really worth it as there are classes which can deal more DPS by triple sparking as venomancer. Not counting other class debuff skills which needs chi (BM's HF) or that barb needs chi for tanking or cleric who needs 2 sparks for BB/RB...

Tank/DD
Venomancer is like mini squad as both, veno and it's pet, can deal damage. In TTs, Damage reduction other players suffer from, doesn't affect venomancer's pet. So pet pretty much deals as much if not more damage as other squad mats.
Also Herculess is good for tanking many bosses, expecially in TT as Herc can keep aggro pretty well on TT bosses. Otherwise herc is pretty bad on keeping aggro. But don't expect that all venomancers will have hercs and herc-less veno doesnt mean he is bad one. Herc is pretty costly extra (80mil worth now?). It is like looking for barb with ~11k hp at lvl70

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But if you meet a venomancer who does at least half of it (expecially Debuff/Chi pot part) then you can consider you found a pretty good venomancer b:chuckle