Skills effect in CTF

[Energizeric]

I've seen mention in the CTF thread that some sorcerer skills are nerfed. For example, someone mentioned that Frost does not freeze or even slow anyone, but is just basically a damage skill with no special effect. Perhaps we can make a list of the various skills and what special effect (if any) each one does in CTF, and how they each differ from how they perform in PvE. So anyone who has played CTF so far, please post your experiences below with each skill you have.

[Arcana]

so far that I know is fireball do stun in AoE.My frost bolt didnt do any effect and gale force not even push back enemy.So yeah just wait what will devs do with this because its still just a test.

[Valsacar]

Skills effects would be none, it's pointless to even try. Rouge kills you in one hit, warriors can as well. I just played a round where I chased a warrior from one side of the map to the other, while he had my flag, hitting him with everything. He never died, he turned in my flag, turned around, one hit and I'm dead.

[Arcana]

Time shift do slow when in range.Just found it

[wawawa64]

so far that I know is fireball do stun in AoE.My frost bolt didnt do any effect and gale force not even push back enemy.So yeah just wait what will devs do with this because its still just a test.

I am sure gale force stun as well as give you the speed boost (not when you carry the flag). Have to check again to see if gale force still give me the dodge bonus.

[wawawa64]

Skills effects would be none, it's pointless to even try. Rouge kills you in one hit, warriors can as well. I just played a round where I chased a warrior from one side of the map to the other, while he had my flag, hitting him with everything. He never died, he turned in my flag, turned around, one hit and I'm dead.

yeah, one hit from rogue is 90% of my health. and Frost only gives DOT with no slow/freeze effect.

[Energizeric]

Yeah, I just played for about a half hour. I had lots of kills, but only sorcerers. I was able to take most sorcerers since I've got good gear, but I didn't kill a single rogue or warrior that I remember. Rogues are the hardest as you can't get hit even once. Warriors take a while to kill me, but they always do eventually.

I'm probably a bad example for PvP though as I'm terrible at it. In PL I died at least twice for every kill I ever got.

[asifaiab]

frost makes u slower

[asifaiab]

i got a bunch of bad items and i can kill rouges in 10 secs and warriors in 20

[asifaiab]

Yeah, I just played for about a half hour. I had lots of kills, but only sorcerers. I was able to take most sorcerers since I've got good gear, but I didn't kill a single rogue or warrior that I remember. Rogues are the hardest as you can't get hit even once. Warriors take a while to kill me, but they always do eventually.

I'm probably a bad example for PvP though as I'm terrible at it. In PL I died at least twice for every kill I ever got.

i use arcane shield so rouges cant damage me then i keep on spamming gale, fire, and lightning
it works

[CosmoxKramer]

fireball stun (works)
fireball -25% hit (unsure)
Lightning Strike stun (works)
Frostbolt extended slow (works)
Frostbolt freeze (doesn't work that i have seen)
Gale Force knock down (doesn't work that i have seen)
Gale Force speed (works)
Gale Force dodge (works)
Shield knockback (unsure)
Time Shift slow (works)
Time Shift stop (unsure)
Curse (don't know anything)

correct me if i'm wrong on any of those.. Also, if anyone know the curse duration with/without the extended duration.

[Pulenski]

fireball stun (works)
fireball -25% hit (unsure)
Lightning Strike stun (works)
Frostbolt extended slow (works)
Frostbolt freeze (doesn't work that i have seen)
Gale Force knock down (doesn't work that i have seen)
Gale Force speed (works)
Gale Force dodge (works)
Shield knockback (unsure)
Time Shift slow (works)
Time Shift stop (unsure)
Curse (don't know anything)

correct me if i'm wrong on any of those.. Also, if anyone know the curse duration with/without the extended duration.

I'm not so sure that the freeze slow applies at all... from my experience so far it only damages and applies DoT.

Fireball definitely stuns and DoTs, not sure about the minus hit chance but even if it does I'm not sure how much more useful that will be compared to something else.

I have heard the gale knockback doesn't work either although I haven't got that skill to try myself.

Timeshift definitely slows down but doesn't root.

I'm still with my PvE build fireball frost timeshift and heal.

[Aintgerman]

We must ask for a Pvp where only sorcerer can fight :P

[Energizeric]

I've gotten a lot better with some practice. The best advise I can give to others is to keep your distance and kite the enemy. If you try to tank you are going to lose against a rogue or warrior. If they charge at you, then use a skill that stuns them and then retreat to a safe distance. Remember that they cannot hit you at a distance, but you can hit them, so you are safe as long as you stay away. As for rogues with bows, I have found them to be pretty easy as they don't hit that hard.

[CosmoxKramer]

Oh yea. Stay max distance and get a Watchers rifle. I don't do Gale force because knock down does work and I stay ranged. Also the extended slow from frost bolt does work. I don't have any other slowing ability and I see them slow down. Maybe not the basic frost bolt but the increased duration slow does work. I do charged fireball, charged frost, charged lightning for 3 cc abilities and improved heal. If I kite well enough and stay aware of where I saw enemies I can keep alive with heal pretty well. I found shield is negligible when a rogue + 1 more comes at me so I decided kite + heal > shield for ktd ratio

[Arcana]

The arcane shield have a great use in pvp because the decrease damage base of % of your opponent damage so when rogue deal large amount of damage it also cut large amount of that damage which about max 45%.Surely with good timing of heal,"smart" mages can stand longer.
About the frost bolt,it isnt always slow the target(I wonder why)it only about 50% (try 10 times frost and slow 5 times).
Talking about keep distance from enemy is hard lol.Rogue can rush to u after shot u with aimed shot.And warrior haha the warrior can kill mages in many way.they can jump and rush then spin or pull u to him and spin and crush u.So yes mages is ranged class and we have to keep distance from enemy but the way HOW you do that is the question.

[Pulenski]

I really haven't noticed the slowing effect from frost and I use it a lot. I have 4/5 frost aswell. The snare from timeshift is much more significant at any rate. My PvE build is DoT and it actually seems pretty effective now that I am playing a bit more. The key really is to minimize close contact with the enemy and to land your stun first.

[drgrimmy]

I really haven't noticed the slowing effect from frost and I use it a lot. I have 4/5 frost aswell. The snare from timeshift is much more significant at any rate. My PvE build is DoT and it actually seems pretty effective now that I am playing a bit more. The key really is to minimize close contact with the enemy and to land your stun first.

The slow from frost has to work as another mage has done it to me. Do you charge it? I am
wondering if it only works with a charged frost. I usually don't charge and also don't notice
the slow to the enemies. It sort of looks like the aoe effect you get with mobs in pve which
works with the charged skill. I too have 4/5 frost without the last upgrade. The other thing I
am wondering is I find the freezes, knockdowns etc don't always work in pve if the enemy is
already frozen, knocked down, etc. In PvP I usually use frost uncharged immediately after a
charged fireball. Maybe its slowing effect does not work as my enemy is still stunned by
fireball. Any thoughts? Unfortunately I don't think the effects of these skills are straightforward,
and they are hard to test in the mayhem of PvP. Even after 500 plus kills, although I have found
a relatively effective strategy, I still don't completely understand all the effects of the skills.

[Pulenski]

I don't normally bother charging frost no. I'll have to start trying though if thats the case. I usually drop a timeshift on my enemy too so maybe thats being screwing with it a bit. I'm quite certain that uncharged frost doesn't apply any snare as I've been running from enemies and using it(& no other spell) and its done nothing but damage. Would also add that I've found that in PvE the CC from frost doesn't always trigger on mobs even when it's the only spell used.

I'll post back here if I find anything useful regarding charged frost in PvP.

[drgrimmy]

Gale does blow back the enemy too. Does not seem entirely consitent but it works. Unfortunately it
has to be aimed unless converted to aoe. Recently I have been running gale with the aoe, speed
boost and dodge options. Found it a good extra measure to keep those pesky warriors off you. I do
all my other attacks and when he get close or it's time to run I do a charged gale. Do not have to be
facing the warrior but can be running away when release. You potentially knock him back plus get the
speed boost and dodge to get away to a safe distance to do your charged fireball and other ranged
attacks again. Seems to have worked pretty well in a few 1v1 encounters with warriors.

Oh, another nice tidbit which I don't know if you guys have noticed. I seems to me that uncharged skills
have to be aimed to hit an enemy (you have to be facing them) whereas charged skills hit the nearest
target even if your not facing the enemy (at least for fire and frost). Good for if you are trying to run
circles around a warrior :)

[Energizeric]

Gale does blow back the enemy too. Does not seem entirely consitent but it works. Unfortunately it
has to be aimed unless converted to aoe. Recently I have been running gale with the aoe, speed
boost and dodge options. Found it a good extra measure to keep those pesky warriors off you. I do
all my other attacks and when he get close or it's time to run I do a charged gale. Do not have to be
facing the warrior but can be running away when release. You potentially knock him back plus get the
speed boost and dodge to get away to a safe distance to do your charged fireball and other ranged
attacks again. Seems to have worked pretty well in a few 1v1 encounters with warriors.

Oh, another nice tidbit which I don't know if you guys have noticed. I seems to me that uncharged skills
have to be aimed to hit an enemy (you have to be facing them) whereas charged skills hit the nearest
target even if your not facing the enemy (at least for fire and frost). Good for if you are trying to run
circles around a warrior :)

Funny how the best us sorcerers can do is discuss which skills to use when running away from warriors. haha!

Shouldn't we be discussing how to take down the warrior and kill him?

[drgrimmy]

Hehe so true! Call me suicidal but I often like taking on a lone warrior when I find one.
It's so satisfying to kill one solo or watch them put their tails between their legs and run.
Against the average tank, I think your chances are good, but against ones who know what
they are doing I think your chances are low. My strategy...

Charged fireball, charged frost, rifle shots until... charged fireball, charged frost, rifle... etc. While
doing all of this you run circles around or away from the tank. These charged skills and rifle shots
will hit the tank even without you having to turn to face him. When he gets too close, charged gale.

Will kill over time, but unfortunately often interrupted by another enemy coming and killing you
or by or some teammate coming and stealing your kill as this often takes a while :(

[dakota1988]

im about to respec, so do you guys have any idea about which one is better between :

1. lightning stun vs fire dot

2. lightning vs frost bolt

3. arcane shield + 3 nuke vs arcane + heal + 2 nuke

thx in advance!

[CosmoxKramer]

I have updated the table a bit based on testing some more. also added some comments.

fireball stun (works)
fireball -25% hit (unsure)
Lightning Strike stun (works)
Frostbolt extended slow (works) - probably <50% chance to work (only tested with extended slow)
Frostbolt freeze (works) - Seen it freeze someone 1 time in about 1000 casts, so not reliable even if it does technically work
Gale Force knock down (works) - i don't use the "aoe" upgrade and it does a 1-2s stun probably 75% of the time when i charge it (i charge most skills for pvp)
Gale Force speed (works)
Gale Force dodge (works)
Shield knockback (unsure)
Time Shift slow (works)
Time Shift stop (unsure)
Curse (don't know anything)

[CosmoxKramer]

In line below



1. lightning stun vs fire dot (fire dot is ~50 damage over 5 seconds. I take any CC > small damage boost that i can usually, unless i'm trying to have a PVP build that works ok for PVE)

2. lightning vs frost bolt (i took frost for better damage since frost has inconsistent CC)

3. arcane shield + 3 nuke vs arcane + heal + 2 nuke (2 nuke feels too week to me, i am arcane, gale, + 2 nuke, and gale kind of works as 1/2 def and 1/2 nuke)

[Pulenski]

Hehe so true! Call me suicidal but I often like taking on a lone warrior when I find one.
It's so satisfying to kill one solo or watch them put their tails between their legs and run.
Against the average tank, I think your chances are good, but against ones who know what
they are doing I think your chances are low. My strategy...

Charged fireball, charged frost, rifle shots until... charged fireball, charged frost, rifle... etc. While
doing all of this you run circles around or away from the tank. These charged skills and rifle shots
will hit the tank even without you having to turn to face him. When he gets too close, charged gale.

Will kill over time, but unfortunately often interrupted by another enemy coming and killing you
or by or some teammate coming and stealing your kill as this often takes a while :(

So is the watch rifle a must have for you? I'm unsure of it... And you would recommend gale force? Which points in gale exactly do you have? I considered a while ago but then decided not to go for it as some people suggested it wasn't that helpful.

[drgrimmy]

So is the watch rifle a must have for you? I'm unsure of it... And you would recommend gale force? Which points in gale exactly do you have? I considered a while ago but then decided not to go for it as some people suggested it wasn't that helpful.

Yes, I believe that the rifle is a must have. The skill damage is over 20 points greater than with
the clever flamestrike. It also has a much longer range, does not need to be aimed, and has
a pushback proc. The dps of the clever flamestrike means nothing if: 1) you are using charged
skills and don't have as much time for your weapon attacks; 2) you can't get close enough to
hit your enemy; 3) you are not always facing your enemy to aim the flamestrike (eg with the rifle,
you can be running from a warrior and fire the rifle behind you at him without turning around).
So yes in my opinion a must have for PvP.

I have yet to decide which upgrades I want for gale... yet I have always had the speed boost
to keep up with warriors and rogues in my party (you don't want to be left behind as they are
piercing and skyward) and for speedy getaways :) I am still debating on the aoe, but I like how
u don't have to aim it.

[Pulenski]

Yes, I believe that the rifle is a must have. The skill damage is over 20 points greater than with
the clever flamestrike. It also has a much longer range, does not need to be aimed, and has
a pushback proc. The dps of the clever flamestrike means nothing if: 1) you are using charged
skills and don't have as much time for your weapon attacks; 2) you can't get close enough to
hit your enemy; 3) you are not always facing your enemy to aim the flamestrike (eg with the rifle,
you can be running from a warrior and fire the rifle behind you at him without turning around).
So yes in my opinion a must have for PvP.

I have yet to decide which upgrades I want for gale... yet I have always had the speed boost
to keep up with warriors and rogues in my party (you don't want to be left behind as they are
piercing and skyward) and for speedy getaways :) I am still debating on the aoe, but I like how
u don't have to aim it.

Ok, thats nice. I've just been using mine and have to agree with you definitely. It hits harder and the extended range is also very handy. So it really is a must have. If after this update we get free respecs I will be trying out the gale with with speed and AoE, hopefully it will help with kiting as it can be quite tricky playing on laptop / chrome. Assuming you go for frost over lightning because of the extended range?

[CosmoxKramer]

i do gale with just speed and dodge and with that i have been trying my Flamestrike again and kind of like it. It does require me hiding a bit behind a warrior or other people running in, but after i blast of some fireball/gale, i can do a charged flamestrike for AOE and stun from the charged weapon attack. it works pretty good when 2 groups collide and i get to hide back a short distance I understand the Rifle is better, but since i'm using Gale force i find i have to be in closer anyway with aoe or just cone because of the short range. so i do a lot more AA dps than i did before making flamestrike viable again.

[Energizeric]

I'm stubborn and refuse to respec. I got fire, lightning, frost and heal. I don't want shield, I just want STS to fix the imbalance.

[Pulenski]

I can't shrug off the itch to respec a new build as I'm still fire, frost, time, heal. Agree about shield, I prefer heal as I use it a lot not just for myself but for my team mates when they need mana or healing.

Thinking about dropping timeshift for lightning or gale...

[CosmoxKramer]

you know the great part about this game is it makes you think about skill combinations. PL, you just get everything you want. I would love 5-6 action slots, but nope. So some days i just feel like going all 4 offensive skills, some days i want shield or heal and some days i want both lol. seems there is a skill set that could handle some groups/mobs and other skill that would work better in other situations. So much fun. props to STS =)

[meanakric]

I have seen two mages using flamestrike together, it's like machine gun... killer machine. Imagine a team of flamestrike mages. Haha...

[Energizeric]

Mages do make good teammates, they just cannot solo.

[Patricks]

I have updated the table a bit based on testing some more. also added some comments.

fireball stun (works)
fireball -25% hit (unsure)
Lightning Strike stun (works)
Frostbolt extended slow (works) - probably <50% chance to work (only tested with extended slow)
Frostbolt freeze (works) - Seen it freeze someone 1 time in about 1000 casts, so not reliable even if it does technically work
Gale Force knock down (works) - i don't use the "aoe" upgrade and it does a 1-2s stun probably 75% of the time when i charge it (i charge most skills for pvp)
Gale Force speed (works)
Gale Force dodge (works)
Shield knockback (unsure)
Time Shift slow (works)
Time Shift stop (unsure)
Curse (don't know anything)

Shield knock back works, but its pretty useless so I got rid of it. It's not like the distance they get knocked back is any usable amount of difference. Only ONE time was it truly useful when I used it to bump a warrior away from the goal just as he was about to score the flag, and then we killed him.

[JuiceBox]

Shield knock back works, but its pretty useless so I got rid of it. It's not like the distance they get knocked back is any usable amount of difference. Only ONE time was it truly useful when I used it to bump a warrior away from the goal just as he was about to score the flag, and then we killed him.

I kept the knock back on shield. I shielded against a rogue with razor shield and while he was sliding back he can't do anything else. To describe it would be a sliding stun. I manage to follow up and wand him to death while he was still sliding. Also it set him nicely for another fireball.

Without the knock back he would be still on top and jumping around.

It does have some uses, but I agree that the knock back should be further. And if anyone can confirm, if you're knocked back by a shield do u lose your charge?

[Cero]

i tested curse skill. it sucks.
short range and has a short duration like 3secs evwn with the 2secs upgrade. you'll know if curse is.in effect because there will be a storm cloud over their toons.

i first tested it in pve then i
removed it as fast as i can after 1pvp game.

[Yakiniku]

i tested curse skill. it sucks.
short range and has a short duration like 3secs evwn with the 2secs upgrade. you'll know if curse is.in effect because there will be a storm cloud over their toons.

i first tested it in pve then i
removed it as fast as i can after 1pvp game.

Haha yea I tested this in one of the daily bard quests a while back. The fireball DoT is actually affected by curse if I remember correctly, so I counted the duration based on that. It seems to be literally about one or two seconds without upgrade like you said, and then another two seconds if you upgraded it. So basically you cast it so your (and your party's) next hit will hit for 15% more (upgraded). Meh. Wasn't worth a skill slot and all those points to me, so I dropped it pretty quickly.

[CosmoxKramer]

thanks for the curse posts. I tested in pvp too, but i wasn't sure if the cloud was just a 1-2 second animation and the de-buff continued to last or not. the dot from fireball is also variable and i believe based on about 7.5% of actual fireball damage. So in a way when you cast a fireball with a dot and your fireball skill says (177-214) or after 40% damage reduction it does 106-128. essentially you would see
106-128 damage
+(106-128)*7.5% (8-10 damage)
+(106-128)*7.5% (8-10 damage)
+(106-128)*7.5% (8-10 damage)
+(106-128)*7.5% (8-10 damage)
+(106-128)*7.5% (8-10 damage)

Something along these lines so it seems. Because the dot amounts seems to vary 1-2 points for Fireball and maybe even more for Time Shift dot. This is why i think it is a ratio of the base spell damage. Because of this, it is hard to tell through pve testing and using a dot or spell for that matter, how long Curse lasts....

[Cero]

i alays get average of 10dmg from fireball.
how much does the frost dot gives? btw does the frost dot only effects when enemy is slowed?

i dont use frost so i dont know. i want to compare frost vs lightning. so far i can kill mages by
charge fireball +lightning+ 2gun shot + lightning (+fireball to be sure:) ) combo, if lucky.

hows fireball frost combo does?

[warbluefish]

I have updated the table a bit based on testing some more. also added some comments.

fireball stun (works)
fireball -25% hit (unsure)
Lightning Strike stun (works)
Frostbolt extended slow (works) - probably <50% chance to work (only tested with extended slow)
Frostbolt freeze (works) - Seen it freeze someone 1 time in about 1000 casts, so not reliable even if it does technically work
Gale Force knock down (works) - i don't use the "aoe" upgrade and it does a 1-2s stun probably 75% of the time when i charge it (i charge most skills for pvp)
Gale Force speed (works)
Gale Force dodge (works)
Shield knockback (unsure)
Time Shift slow (works)
Time Shift stop (unsure)
Curse (don't know anything)

reduce hit chance just worked once for me. only just after i respec and add the hit chance skill. it worked the first fireball in pvp. maybe a bug? never seen it work again afterwards.

[warbluefish]

i alays get average of 10dmg from fireball.
how much does the frost dot gives? btw does the frost dot only effects when enemy is slowed?

i dont use frost so i dont know. i want to compare frost vs lightning. so far i can kill mages by
charge fireball +lightning+ 2gun shot + lightning (+fireball to be sure:) ) combo, if lucky.

hows fireball frost combo does?

one thing good about frost is that it cast fast. u cast lighting first then frost. the frost will hit the target before lighting. it always does the trick. but since the sript thing for rogue. it just to hard to survive. easy to kill rogue if u survive the first att wave. i got one shot kill almost 70% of the time right now. no a good feeling.

about fighting warriors. if its a well build and fully geared chance r slim. we can stun but the dmg r too low. their heal r too good. and could kill u with a skyward plus windmill. the skyward stun and slow down is really annoying.

[CosmoxKramer]

I may be bugged now, but I have frost bolt and upgrades 1-3, and frost DoT is now doing 23+ damage per tick...that is nuts and double fireball. This new DoT damage is much higher than in the pre 1-31 patch...

[Cero]

I may be bugged now, but I have frost bolt and upgrades 1-3, and frost DoT is now doing 23+ damage per tick...that is nuts and double fireball. This new DoT damage is much higher than in the pre 1-31 patch...


how often does the slow/freeze effect?

[Linkincena]

Shield knockback doesnt work .. tried it many times...

[warbluefish]

i think that watchman riffle . fireball lighting shield and heal is a good mage skill comb in pvp. but the dmg is too low when pve.

here is the another unfairness to mage. rogue and warriors pvp skills r perfect when pve. but mages r not. it almost need two absolute differnt skill set for pvp and pve.

maybe mages r all rich. :)

[Cero]

Shield knockback doesnt work .. tried it many times...


the knockback works when enemy is in close range.