New BD, Need Advice

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I've just quit exc hib and started mid, made a BD, since everyone has to have at least one uber overpowered class, was just wondering how i should spec him. I've read countless guides, and all seem to have advantages and disadvantages, at first i was thinking Suppression/Darkness, but was later told that Darkness is rather a weak line, and that the DD spells can often pull the aggro onto you. Then i though of going Suppression/BA, and then was told that although the DoT spells were quite strong, the pets that you get are weak compared to the other lines, so im a little stuck. Any advice is welcome. BTW i want to be able to solo, not have to group to kill yellows.

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[Vell]

Do you want to play more in RvR or PvE?


For RvR go high BA (for AE dots) with some supp to get healer pets and medium lifetap.

For PvE go high supp and the rest in whatever you want.

 

[kaod]

For either RvR or PvE 47/48 Supp is what you should look for with the rest in either of the other 2 depending on preference.

Darkness has the advantage of making your "double nuke" dmg tighter (highest base dark spell + highest Lifetap), plus the chance to lower the resist for more lifetap dmg.

BA is quite nice too, giving you the aoe and double dot capability, but tbh I think darkness is stronger than BA.

Both BA and Dark lines pets are too crap to be primary - so you are better off using high healing supp pets to keep you alive whilst you double nuke.

 

[Vell]

It should be pointed out that all of the healer pets heal for 15% of the targets hp's.

The higher level ones don't heal for more than the lower level ones. The only difference high level healer pets make is that they stay alive a bit longer, but as any lvl50 BD will tell you, they die pretty quickly anyway.

So the only thing you really get from speccing higher in supp is a better lifetap. Which is of course a very powerful spell. But I don't think it's worth loosing your ae dot for.

But that's just my opinion.

Yes, the pets in the other lines are bad, but ALL pets are bad, due to the pathfinding/AI of them. You can quite easily get by on 3 lower level healer pets, and get the better spells from the other lines.


Anyway, whichever spec you choose, you will be able to solo yellows, and most oranges. My BD, currently half supp/half BA, can kill oranges quite easily, and reds most of the time.

 

[~Clarky~]

after only playing my bd till 22 then deleting it, i was originally Darkness, and could solo w/o the need of any pet (even though darkness pets are utter shite - dd pet = always resisted, and the debuffer .. does it debuff or :\?) and i respecced to Suppression at 20.

bg @ 22 was a blast.. just the downtime was insane ... get a Crack bot and ur set .. + the degrading items was also sucky - but all in all, very fun, even if suppression is over powerd ...

i gave up with downtime and now started my sorc .. to kill supp bd's

 

[kaod]

Originally posted by Vell
It should be pointed out that all of the healer pets heal for 15% of the targets hp's.

The higher level ones don't heal for more than the lower level ones. The only difference high level healer pets make is that they stay alive a bit longer, but as any lvl50 BD will tell you, they die pretty quickly anyway.

Not true, the higher levels heal for more.
It's been tested both in the states (read it on VN boards and I think even the TL said the same) and then I did it myself because I didn't believe it.

Level 18 healer takes about 10-12 heals compared to the level 48 pet (capped) 6 or 7 heals to get a BD to max health.
Higher level pets have more dex/qui too it seems and get the heals off faster.

This is why after they properly implemented the 75 level pet cap, it made more sense to go with 2 high level pets, compared to 1 high, 2 low, or 3 mid level ones.
I noticed a LOT of difference between the pet setups - even without my level 18's dying - I would.
With 2 capped max level healers, I always lasted a lot longer.

 

[kaod]

Originally posted by _abraxis_
after only playing my bd till 22 then deleting it, i was originally Darkness, and could solo w/o the need of any pet (even though darkness pets are utter shite - dd pet = always resisted, and the debuffer .. does it debuff or :\?) and i respecced to Suppression at 20.

bg @ 22 was a blast.. just the downtime was insane ... get a Crack bot and ur set .. + the degrading items was also sucky - but all in all, very fun, even if suppression is over powerd ...

i gave up with downtime and now started my sorc .. to kill supp bd's

Dark Pets have the really annoying aoe debuff too, which was great fun for me in spindel.
I've read that the TL wants to change this though - thank god.

Typical that it takes a whole power bar to get ready to move out for RVR - buffing self + (creating &) buffing pets, when some of the buffs are supposed to be aoe, and one of the spells you DON'T want aoe on the idiot pet does it.

btw: focus snare is bugged (and is crap), and class specific RA is ae bugged also, in case you didn't know.

 

[old.Rei Ayanami]

Band wagon spec / Suppression: Healing pets and lifetap. This si a very popular spec and must be fun although i haven't tried it out

Bone Army spec: This spec is extremely good in PvE, the Dmg buff on your pets and you dots works great together and you can chain red mobs if you can handle it

Darkness spec: Ok i am currently speced BA, but i'm gonna respec to Darkness. I think this is the most stable RvR spec. you have nuking pets, 50% cold debuff resist (pets and your baseline nuke is cold) so you can do extreme damage to enemies. Although i haven't tired this spec i would recommend it for grp RvR

 

[Fantasyez]

Debuff (Body Resistance)
Target's resistance to Body damage is lowered.
22 Boost Bonecaster Enemy 0s/15s/5s Rng: 1500 -15% body (Genr) 10 power
34 Support Bonecaster Enemy 0s/15s/5s Rng: 1500 -30% body (Genr) 16 power
46 Bolster Bonecaster Enemy 0s/15s/5s Rng: 1500 -50% body (Genr) 24 power


im afraid your cold debuff is changed to body

 

[kaod]

Originally posted by Fantasyez
Debuff (Body Resistance)
Target's resistance to Body damage is lowered.
22 Boost Bonecaster Enemy 0s/15s/5s Rng: 1500 -15% body (Genr) 10 power
34 Support Bonecaster Enemy 0s/15s/5s Rng: 1500 -30% body (Genr) 16 power
46 Bolster Bonecaster Enemy 0s/15s/5s Rng: 1500 -50% body (Genr) 24 power


im afraid your cold debuff is changed to body

Yep - the darkness debuff (works initially against cold resist I think) debuffs body for lifetap.

I've tried both Supp and Dark as primary and can say that Darkness is awful. I'd never have a primary that wasn't suppresion as you don't do enough damage to win - lifetap will get resisted a lot and return too little.

At least with heals/taps/debuffs and occasional double nukes - you can stay around long enough to run out of power and wave a stick at the enemy.

 

[kaod]

Originally posted by old.Rei Ayanami
Darkness spec: Ok i am currently speced BA, but i'm gonna respec to Darkness. I think this is the most stable RvR spec. you have nuking pets, 50% cold debuff resist (pets and your baseline nuke is cold) so you can do extreme damage to enemies. Although i haven't tired this spec i would recommend it for grp RvR

Nuke pets are great in theory to beef up your attack - in reality they are resisted so often they become a annoyance.

So for bandwagon / supp spec - really IMHO, read: Sane and only logical Spec.

 

[optical-]

If you wanna play the spec that all the albs/hibs want nerfed for being "overpowered", spec Supp.

 

[old.Rei Ayanami]

Well without the non cold debuff i wouldn't go Darkness if i was you. Only thing that remains is Band wagon BD or BA. And BA is mostly PvE farming anyway. So to be a good BD i suggest supp is the way to go

 

[kaod]

Originally posted by old.Rei Ayanami
Well without the non cold debuff i wouldn't go Darkness if i was you. Only thing that remains is Band wagon BD or BA. And BA is mostly PvE farming anyway. So to be a good BD i suggest supp is the way to go

So as I said, it's not really jumping on a bandwagon, it's logical.

 

[Shaki/Aeis]

According to the US BD specific forum the mage pet do hit often enought in rvr. But they are really bugged and resufe to cast dd spells if they are not at a certain range from it's target. So if the target move around the pet will move around a lot too^^
Probably bugged in a few other ways too.

Good thing with a darkness BD is that you would be cool and if lvl 50 you would be the only one on the server I think

 

[kaod]

Originally posted by Aeis
According to the US BD specific forum the mage pet do hit often enought in rvr. But they are really bugged and resufe to cast dd spells if they are not at a certain range from it's target. So if the target move around the pet will move around a lot too^^
Probably bugged in a few other ways too.

Good thing with a darkness BD is that you would be cool and if lvl 50 you would be the only one on the server I think

We must read different threads if you are talking about VN boards

Maybe it was a different patch too - Not only did I read about them being resisted a lot (remember they will con green) - but studying their hit rate at level 40 - they were bad v same level and higher level mobs...

so...

The distinction of being the only 50 Dark spec is actually better than BEING 50 dark spec IMO.