Edatx
06-07-2010, 03:17 PM
DISCLAIMER: This isn't the only way to play, spec, or itemize an Enchantress and I don't claim to be the best by any means. This guide is about WINNING an entire match, not a single 1v1, some tactics may frustrate your opponent(or even you).
Update 47750 changed the debuff spells and added new components. I will update the guide as soon as I evaluate them
The following guide is my take on successful PvP as an int-based enchantress. It is based on a lot of play testing, re-speccing, and getting owned by bow-bears. Currently I feel that I can beat or lose to any class or build (that is played well) and that PvP is actually pretty balanced in both 1v1 and group play.
[Stats]
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/9909/edatxstats.png
I put 112 points into int, and the rest into dex. I feel like any more points into int will cripple your critical chance. PvP is almost like jousting now, especially when everyone has their cool downs, hitting without crit is almost a guaranteed death. I had 15 M/s for a while but dropped to 13 M/s to pump my crit number to 30% unbuffed. Sometimes when I'm dodging my opponent, waiting on cool downs, I'll Firestorm to keep them away. With this build I have a 30% chance (when I hit) that I'll do major damage or outright kill my opponent.
[Gear]
Witch Toad Tiara of the Owl - 5 Int, 2% Crit, 3 H/S, 7 Armor
Mamboza's Voodoo Fire Pin - 60-74 Damage, 2.1 Speed, 7 Int, 2% Crit, 5 M/s
Mamboza's Croc Scale Robe - 7 Int, 2% Crit, 5 M/s, 38 Armor
Copperhead's Voodoo Doll - 7 Dex, 2% Dodge, 5% Crit, 13 Armor
Pretty straight forward and standard. I would probably wear a different helm but I don't really like farming and I don't have 100k to drop on a pink one. (Please devs, pvp gear? Please!) What I was shooting for was getting a good base of M/s, I think 10 is the absolute minimum, with as much crit as I could get. I think Enchantress got lucky with itemization because all the good pieces that are "standard" have crit on them. Again, I can't stress enough how important crit is. You will see a significant difference in insta-kill shots when you pump your crit.
[Skills]
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4995/edatxskills.png
Heal (5) - In PvP this is a highly situational spell. If you think that as an Enchantress your role in PvP can primarily be a healer, you're wrong. At this point in the game DPS is way higher than healing throughput. This isn't to say you shouldn't be spamming your heal, if you run up to a fight in progress the first thing you should is is heal all team members around. Winning in pvp isn't only about killing your opponent; it's about avoiding unnecessary deaths. A well placed heal will sometimes be the difference in a match.
Frostbite (1) - I really only grabbed this for utility and mostly use it when trying to run from someone when my firestorm isn't up (to knock them away). Sometimes it works-meh.
Lightning (5) - One of the more under rated PvP spells. If you crit someone with this kiss their a55 goodbye. Chain with Drain Life for a wicked combo. Lightning also has a debuff component making it a good opener in certain situations.
Resurrect (0) - Not going to rez in PvP yet. With the addition of a new rule-set this might become necessary.
Firestorm (5) - The bread and butter of Enchantress PvP. If you crit someone with this and they live (usually bears!) you should be pressuring them because they're almost dead. Most times a crit will outright kill your opponent.
Ice Storm (1) - Highly situational. Before PvP came out I thought this spell was going to be really important, but now I barely use it. In a 1v1 situation it's a terrible waste of time; in a group I think it's a much better use of time to Lightning -> Drain Life -> Firestorm. I pretty much cast this when I don't have any other cool downs up and I'm panicking; I'll probably end up dropping it soon.
Drain Life(5) - Another underrated PvP spell. This is great when used in conjunction with lightning. I've gotten a lot of "WTF?!?!?!" comments after dropping someone with this spell because no one knows you actually cast it. Also if your mana sheild is on cool down it's great because in the two seconds the fight lasts you get a damage spell and heal in one cast.
Weakness (0) - I didn't take this because it only debuffs damage by 25 at max rank and by the time you cast it you're probably dead.
Nightmare(0) - Same reasoning as Weakness but it's an armor debuff. I think both debuffs are a waste of time in PvP and if you really feel like you want to debuff put a Mojo wand on.
Magic Shield(2) - I both love and hate this spell. I love it because it keeps me alive, I hate it because if I get hammered and it saves my life I'm stuck running, OOM, with auto attack on. You should always have magic shield up when in a fight, if not you're probably going to lose. When I drop my point in Ice Storm it will go here for the extra armor.
Blessing of Vitality (5) - The 36 armor that it adds is pretty effective. I think fully buffed I get to 95 armor, which saves me mana.
Blessing of Might (5) - Not only does this give you 50% crit (extremely important to burst damage) but it will also give you 25 hit points. I can't count the number of times I've killed someone and had like five hit points left. This should ALWAYS be up when you're in fights if it's not on cool down, and if it is on cool down you probably should be ducking your opponent.
[Strategy - General]
I think the really cool thing about PvP in Pocket Legends is that you have to change your strategy up against different players. For example: sometimes I have to fight a bow-bear a couple of times to figure out what order they're using their skills and adjust the order I use mine. It might be better to open with a Firestorm and knock them out of range hoping they whiff their Slash or Beckon, others times you'll want to Lightning -> Drain Life -> Firestorm if they can't seem to one shot you.
To be competitive you must be able to play with more than just four spells. The four hot bar items just wont cut it in a competitive match and the recent interface enhancement that removed all zero'd out skills really helped clean the screen up.
Use Auto-Attack!
Magic Shield should be up as much as you can while fighting, and should be cast as late as possible. Too often I see enchantress blow their mana shield while chasing someone around a pillar. If you're chasing me and I see you cast this I'm going to hold out for an extra 4-5 seconds so that it drops mid fight. Same tip goes for both blessings, don't cast too early or too late, you want to go into the fight with at least six seconds left on each. You also don't want to be casting them when your opponent is doing damage to you; you're behind at this point and are going to lose.
Firestorm is not only useful for killing opponents when you're fully buffed, but for pushing people away from you when you're waiting for other cool downs. Don't be afraid to waste this cool down if it's going to save your team a point. If you've got good crit numbers you'll even randomly kill people while running for your life.
If you're not opening with Firestorm, open with Lightning. It has a debuff component (it says armor on the skill but when testing with someone they said it reduced their dodge, can someone else verify?), either way it's a great opener.
Heal your team, but don't think your healing alone will outpace the opponents DPS. You win fights by going on the offensive and pressing your opponent.
Sometimes you have to run when your cool downs aren't up. If you try to fight someone that you just killed, they're going to kill you because they have all their cool downs. This strategy boils down to if you're trying to win and be competitive or just having fun. If you're trying to win you have to do this.
[Strategy - 1v1]
Wait for cool downs. Again, it sucks, but if it's a competitive match you have to do it.
Against stun-locking bears, open with Firestorm. If they grab you first, and you didn't get your spell off, you're dead. If you land your Firestorm and knock them back, and they've either stunned your or not, you've screwed up most of their stun lock so press them. If they don't die when you're pressing them let them chase you and Firestorm again. You HAVE to kite these guys. Lightning -> Drain Life is your friend when pressing.
Against DPS-bursting bears it's a crap shoot. If they dodge all your stuff you're dead, if you land and crit your opener you should win 80% of the time.
Against bow birds, mix up your game. See if you need to open with Firestorm, if not then Lightning -> Drain Life -> Firestorm.
Against 2h sword birds, open with Firestorm and EARLY, they're going blast shot you and almost kill you with the damage modifier they get from the 2hander. If you firestorm and hit you have a fighting chance, if you miss it's over.
Against wand birds and bears: I used to think these guys were OP but not anymore. If they're killing you fast open with Firestorm, if not then get your drain life in before firestorm.
[Strategy - Group]
In a group fight, if you're getting focused toss out a firestorm to get people off you if possible. If not, Heal -> Lightning -> Drain Life -> Heal -> Firestorm is a pretty nice rotation. If you can keep your team alive while pressing your opponents you'll be extremely valuable.
Stay together. Too many times I've either fought a team that splits up and tries to fight 1v3, or been on a team where it's impossible to keep my team organized. These teams usually lose. (I know this should be obvious)
Teams that I've been on who have cooperatively waited for cool downs have been very dominant.
I know a lot of this is pretty simple but thanks for reading my guide!
Update 47750 changed the debuff spells and added new components. I will update the guide as soon as I evaluate them
The following guide is my take on successful PvP as an int-based enchantress. It is based on a lot of play testing, re-speccing, and getting owned by bow-bears. Currently I feel that I can beat or lose to any class or build (that is played well) and that PvP is actually pretty balanced in both 1v1 and group play.
[Stats]
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/9909/edatxstats.png
I put 112 points into int, and the rest into dex. I feel like any more points into int will cripple your critical chance. PvP is almost like jousting now, especially when everyone has their cool downs, hitting without crit is almost a guaranteed death. I had 15 M/s for a while but dropped to 13 M/s to pump my crit number to 30% unbuffed. Sometimes when I'm dodging my opponent, waiting on cool downs, I'll Firestorm to keep them away. With this build I have a 30% chance (when I hit) that I'll do major damage or outright kill my opponent.
[Gear]
Witch Toad Tiara of the Owl - 5 Int, 2% Crit, 3 H/S, 7 Armor
Mamboza's Voodoo Fire Pin - 60-74 Damage, 2.1 Speed, 7 Int, 2% Crit, 5 M/s
Mamboza's Croc Scale Robe - 7 Int, 2% Crit, 5 M/s, 38 Armor
Copperhead's Voodoo Doll - 7 Dex, 2% Dodge, 5% Crit, 13 Armor
Pretty straight forward and standard. I would probably wear a different helm but I don't really like farming and I don't have 100k to drop on a pink one. (Please devs, pvp gear? Please!) What I was shooting for was getting a good base of M/s, I think 10 is the absolute minimum, with as much crit as I could get. I think Enchantress got lucky with itemization because all the good pieces that are "standard" have crit on them. Again, I can't stress enough how important crit is. You will see a significant difference in insta-kill shots when you pump your crit.
[Skills]
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4995/edatxskills.png
Heal (5) - In PvP this is a highly situational spell. If you think that as an Enchantress your role in PvP can primarily be a healer, you're wrong. At this point in the game DPS is way higher than healing throughput. This isn't to say you shouldn't be spamming your heal, if you run up to a fight in progress the first thing you should is is heal all team members around. Winning in pvp isn't only about killing your opponent; it's about avoiding unnecessary deaths. A well placed heal will sometimes be the difference in a match.
Frostbite (1) - I really only grabbed this for utility and mostly use it when trying to run from someone when my firestorm isn't up (to knock them away). Sometimes it works-meh.
Lightning (5) - One of the more under rated PvP spells. If you crit someone with this kiss their a55 goodbye. Chain with Drain Life for a wicked combo. Lightning also has a debuff component making it a good opener in certain situations.
Resurrect (0) - Not going to rez in PvP yet. With the addition of a new rule-set this might become necessary.
Firestorm (5) - The bread and butter of Enchantress PvP. If you crit someone with this and they live (usually bears!) you should be pressuring them because they're almost dead. Most times a crit will outright kill your opponent.
Ice Storm (1) - Highly situational. Before PvP came out I thought this spell was going to be really important, but now I barely use it. In a 1v1 situation it's a terrible waste of time; in a group I think it's a much better use of time to Lightning -> Drain Life -> Firestorm. I pretty much cast this when I don't have any other cool downs up and I'm panicking; I'll probably end up dropping it soon.
Drain Life(5) - Another underrated PvP spell. This is great when used in conjunction with lightning. I've gotten a lot of "WTF?!?!?!" comments after dropping someone with this spell because no one knows you actually cast it. Also if your mana sheild is on cool down it's great because in the two seconds the fight lasts you get a damage spell and heal in one cast.
Weakness (0) - I didn't take this because it only debuffs damage by 25 at max rank and by the time you cast it you're probably dead.
Nightmare(0) - Same reasoning as Weakness but it's an armor debuff. I think both debuffs are a waste of time in PvP and if you really feel like you want to debuff put a Mojo wand on.
Magic Shield(2) - I both love and hate this spell. I love it because it keeps me alive, I hate it because if I get hammered and it saves my life I'm stuck running, OOM, with auto attack on. You should always have magic shield up when in a fight, if not you're probably going to lose. When I drop my point in Ice Storm it will go here for the extra armor.
Blessing of Vitality (5) - The 36 armor that it adds is pretty effective. I think fully buffed I get to 95 armor, which saves me mana.
Blessing of Might (5) - Not only does this give you 50% crit (extremely important to burst damage) but it will also give you 25 hit points. I can't count the number of times I've killed someone and had like five hit points left. This should ALWAYS be up when you're in fights if it's not on cool down, and if it is on cool down you probably should be ducking your opponent.
[Strategy - General]
I think the really cool thing about PvP in Pocket Legends is that you have to change your strategy up against different players. For example: sometimes I have to fight a bow-bear a couple of times to figure out what order they're using their skills and adjust the order I use mine. It might be better to open with a Firestorm and knock them out of range hoping they whiff their Slash or Beckon, others times you'll want to Lightning -> Drain Life -> Firestorm if they can't seem to one shot you.
To be competitive you must be able to play with more than just four spells. The four hot bar items just wont cut it in a competitive match and the recent interface enhancement that removed all zero'd out skills really helped clean the screen up.
Use Auto-Attack!
Magic Shield should be up as much as you can while fighting, and should be cast as late as possible. Too often I see enchantress blow their mana shield while chasing someone around a pillar. If you're chasing me and I see you cast this I'm going to hold out for an extra 4-5 seconds so that it drops mid fight. Same tip goes for both blessings, don't cast too early or too late, you want to go into the fight with at least six seconds left on each. You also don't want to be casting them when your opponent is doing damage to you; you're behind at this point and are going to lose.
Firestorm is not only useful for killing opponents when you're fully buffed, but for pushing people away from you when you're waiting for other cool downs. Don't be afraid to waste this cool down if it's going to save your team a point. If you've got good crit numbers you'll even randomly kill people while running for your life.
If you're not opening with Firestorm, open with Lightning. It has a debuff component (it says armor on the skill but when testing with someone they said it reduced their dodge, can someone else verify?), either way it's a great opener.
Heal your team, but don't think your healing alone will outpace the opponents DPS. You win fights by going on the offensive and pressing your opponent.
Sometimes you have to run when your cool downs aren't up. If you try to fight someone that you just killed, they're going to kill you because they have all their cool downs. This strategy boils down to if you're trying to win and be competitive or just having fun. If you're trying to win you have to do this.
[Strategy - 1v1]
Wait for cool downs. Again, it sucks, but if it's a competitive match you have to do it.
Against stun-locking bears, open with Firestorm. If they grab you first, and you didn't get your spell off, you're dead. If you land your Firestorm and knock them back, and they've either stunned your or not, you've screwed up most of their stun lock so press them. If they don't die when you're pressing them let them chase you and Firestorm again. You HAVE to kite these guys. Lightning -> Drain Life is your friend when pressing.
Against DPS-bursting bears it's a crap shoot. If they dodge all your stuff you're dead, if you land and crit your opener you should win 80% of the time.
Against bow birds, mix up your game. See if you need to open with Firestorm, if not then Lightning -> Drain Life -> Firestorm.
Against 2h sword birds, open with Firestorm and EARLY, they're going blast shot you and almost kill you with the damage modifier they get from the 2hander. If you firestorm and hit you have a fighting chance, if you miss it's over.
Against wand birds and bears: I used to think these guys were OP but not anymore. If they're killing you fast open with Firestorm, if not then get your drain life in before firestorm.
[Strategy - Group]
In a group fight, if you're getting focused toss out a firestorm to get people off you if possible. If not, Heal -> Lightning -> Drain Life -> Heal -> Firestorm is a pretty nice rotation. If you can keep your team alive while pressing your opponents you'll be extremely valuable.
Stay together. Too many times I've either fought a team that splits up and tries to fight 1v3, or been on a team where it's impossible to keep my team organized. These teams usually lose. (I know this should be obvious)
Teams that I've been on who have cooperatively waited for cool downs have been very dominant.
I know a lot of this is pretty simple but thanks for reading my guide!