Best skill cycle for Mega combos?

[Tengotengo]

Due to it being highly contingent on the other classes skill usage, what would people suggest a good skill cycle would be?

I stick to one cycle usually, which is root/break/scream/blast, or just scream/blast to get a combo in before I get killed. With one set of 55-56s I maybe got one or two megas, mainly out of luck. With another, I specifically remember 6 megas against the Sewer Queen, and a few against King too.

So, what does everyone think?

[adwin]

I usually stick with my finger dance combo I posted a few months back in Phys' thread (the later version).
Unless I want to pull a mega combo, but that's basically against bosses only.

[WhoIsThis]

It's very hard to pull off a mega combo when you want it I have found. More often than not, it seems to be by accident. I guess your only option is to pay attention to what your other teammates cast. Ideally, you'll have companions that cast in some sort of logical sequence and not button mash, but otherwise, it's likely that you'll see it more often by accident.

Bears have the upper hand I think because nature strike is very visible. Shattered to some extent is too. If you see a mage casting frostbite and a bear stomping, break armor. The mage one is the hardest to pull off due to the slow recharge of drain life. Break armor then crushing blow is hard to see.

[adwin]

Oh, I just noticed that it was about megas.
Hmm, one of them starts with a thorn wall, shatter scream, and the mage chains in with lightning.

[Raulur]

During trash mobs, you usually won't see many just because the mobs die so quickly. During boss fights, I just make sure and hit the roots and break armor as soon as they become available. That tends to set off a lot of combos, and the more combos there are the better the chance at mega combos.

The one I see the most is the one with the coffin, and I see it a ton during boss fights.

[Otukura]

During trash mobs, you usually won't see many just because the mobs die so quickly. During boss fights, I just make sure and hit the roots and break armor as soon as they become available. That tends to set off a lot of combos, and the more combos there are the better the chance at mega combos.

The one I see the most is the one with the coffin, and I see it a ton during boss fights.

I still haven't seen either of the other two, but I've seen the coffin 500+ times easily. Gets rather annoying...

[WhoIsThis]

During trash mobs, you usually won't see many just because the mobs die so quickly. During boss fights, I just make sure and hit the roots and break armor as soon as they become available. That tends to set off a lot of combos, and the more combos there are the better the chance at mega combos.

The one I see the most is the one with the coffin, and I see it a ton during boss fights.

Same here. Which is what I find the strangest. Here - the coffin one is pulled off by mages:

http://www.spacetimestudios.com/show...ht=mega+combos

In theory, it should be the most rare combo of them all due to drain life being such a slow recharging skill (12s). And yet, it is the most common combo. I myself have pulled it off many times by accident. The archer one I have seen the rarest. The bear one is the one with all of the flame.

[Tengotengo]

I'm looking down the list again...

so let's see, there's Hell Storm.

A bear walls some mobs, then hit with a thorny wall immediately. The mage has to finish the Nature stirke, then the bear has to hold off until AFTER the combo to hit his scream.

Hell Storm = Thorn Wall > Lightning > Hell Scream.

Pulverized = Ice Storm (or frostbite...or freeze procs? Are auto-bows freezing now?) > Stomp > Armor Break. That's a possible bear/bird only combo.

Pwned = Cruel Blast > stomp > drain life. Guess we're all in on that one.

I think we see so many Pwneds is because there's a lot of Paladins running around now.
I think I have the answer.

Stupid bears.

[Raulur]

Yeah the one with the flames is the one most likely to pop up during trash mob clearing. That one is nature strike + hellscream I think?

I have still never seen the other one. I think it is the least likely because bosses cannot be frozen, although some mini bosses can be rooted. Most trash mobs are dead after a shattered combo, and nobody is likely to waste the mana on break armor for a sliver of life.

My opinion on why the coffin one pops up so much is because bears and birds are likely spamming break armor and crushing blow during boss fights. After that, it only takes a mage to use drain life to finish it off.

One last thing: It has been my experience that you can thorn wall even before the bear beckons, and nature strike will still trigger when the mage uses lightning. If you have a group where a mage and bird (us) are always on the heels of the bear, sometimes it pays off to root slightly before or during the beckon to give the best chance for the nature strike + hellscream mega.

[WhoIsThis]

I suppose there is one benefit to all of this. Before, mages largely had a support role in boss fights. Healing, reviving, and using their spells to supplement the damage of birds (although pure int mages with staffs and dex mages can do a respectable damage in their own right; often attracting the aggro of bosses) was the main job. Now, mages can finish the combo for extra damage.

I've managed to pull off the bird one once. But it was completely by accident. The bear one is useful against mobs, although nature strike from a pure int will often decimate mobs anyways. You see it more often when running with pallies.