Hello.

This should be a small overview about the Cabalists Skill lines, their most important abilities and expected roles in PvM and RvR.
While I don't want to explain every single ability, I want to give an overview for new players.
If you want to check out the abilities in detail, check out any character builder like play.nixian.eu .


Matter:
Damage over Time (Baseline DoT, specced DoT and specced Area Effect DoT, Emerald Simu DoT) -> PvM
- Damage over time is primarily used in PvM to do damage over a longer period of time.
- DoTs are usually unwanted in RvR due to the fact that DoT breaks many kinds of Crowd Control (Root, Mezz, Snare) over a long period of time!
If such an effect is broken, the enemy gets a so called <resist timer>, making him invulnerable for that kind of CC for a given period of time (same as if the effect would have run out completely). Crowd Control is an essential aspect of DAoC, in RvR more than in PvM situations. Only use DoTs in RvR if you know what you are doing and try to never break any kind of CC!
- Area Effect DoT is amazing for PvM and can be great for large scale RvR to leech RP's, but it will weaken your own realm in that
fight, due to potential CC breaks and given resist timers.

Damage Shield (Pet) (Specced Damage Shield) -> PvM
- Damage Shield (casted on the Pet) is a focus cast (you need to stand still without interruption to kep it focused) reflecting damage back to the Attacker. The focus runs out if: your pet dies, you move, you get attacked/rupted in any kind of way, you run out of mana (focus costs mana per pulse/tick) OR your selected target dies!
- Damage Shield is a great tool for PvM, while you will search long to find enemies in RvR attacking your pet with dmg shield running.

Nearsight (specced Nearsight) -> RvR
- Nearsight has a 2300 range and reduces the castrange of an enemy for a given period of time, up to 65% reduction (41 matter).
- While nearsight can be used in PvM to force casting/shooting mobs to stop or step closer, it is mainly used in RvR!
- Due to the fact that Nearsight-Heal das not exist pre-TOA, Nearsight can only get purged or you need to wait for it to expire.
- In short. Mighty ability! Long castrange, short casttime and it disables every caster or forces him to step closer (what he doesn't want to) or further away (out of your range).
- As far as I know Nearsight has no effect on Spreadheals/Groupheals.



Body Desctruction:
Lifedrain (baseline lifedrain 179dd 60%, specced lifedrain 174dd 90%) -> RvR
- Lifedrain is a DD, transfering a certain percentage of the damage as HP to the caster. While situations in which you get/got damage and you lifedrain are rare, direct damage is the way to go in RvR (difficult to heal, easier to change target and manage CC).
- The basline lifedrain (lvl 50 cast) has slightly superior dmg towards the specced one (lvl 45 cast only), while less life transfer. Because of that, the specced lifedrain would only make sense in situations, where you get damage (especially with Mastery of Concentration). In every other situation the baseline lifedrain is <better>.
- In short: Lifedrain = DD = good burst damage for RvR. DoT = better for PvM, because less mana costs for more dmg (but long period of time, easy to heal in RvR).

Desease (specced single desease, specced area effect desease) -> RvR
- Desease reduces the targets movement speed, slightly reduces its strength and reduces heal effects casted on and healed by the target. Desease does not get interrupted by damage (so desease + DoT is possible). Desease itself breaks CC when applied to the target.
- While Desease can and will also be used in PvM, it is one of the top Cabalist abilities for RvR!
- Desease can get cured by <Cure Desease> (cleric, friar ability), while casting 1 ae desease on 4 targets it means that someone has to cast 4 x Cure desease. AE-Desease is amazing vs more than 1 target and becomes even more valuable when fighting vs large scale zergs.
- Desease + following burst damage is amazing. Heal effects get reduced, therefore healing against burst damage becomes much harder.

Root: (baseline Root) -> PvM / RvR
- Root reduces the targets movement speed by 99%, therefore he can't move at all. You can cast while beeing rooted. Root can get broken, the same way Mezz and Snare can get broken. There is no <Root-Heal>, beneath using Purge (RA, every 30 mins). The combination of Nearsight + Root can disable enemy caster for a long period of time.

Debuffs (baseline Strength debuff, specced attack speed debuff) Both PvM and RvR, but not that important.
- As it says, debuffs reduce a specified value. Debuffs are nice to have but not essential for Cabalists (Other situation for Sorc with AE-Dex/Quick or AE-Str/Const debuff).

Lifetransfer Both PvM and RvR, but not that important.
- Costs Mana and HP of the user and heals the target. It can safe situations due to fast cast speed, but you will rarely have the time / the role to use it in RvR.



Spirit Animation:
Create Simulacrum (Pet) -> PvM / RvR
- The Cabalist can create several kinds of Pets. Amber (Stun proc -> there is no resist timer for petstuns!, Consti selfbuff), Saphire (Lifedrain Proc), Ruby (Caster), Emerald (Desease and DoT proc), Jade (dmg shield selfbuff). Amber and Emerald are generally used for RvR (due to their CC and rupt ability), while Saphire / Ruby and Jade are more relevant for PvM.
- You can control your pet trough several commands (follow, go to and so on). You can create a button (quick bar) of any command by Shift+LeftMB on that command button (Pet interface).
- Pets in RvR are used for Interruption! Lots of it! (Search enemy healing or casting classes to send your pet on)

Reclaim Pet -> PvM / RvR
- The <Reclaim Pet>-Ability is one of the reasons why every Cabalist should spec at least 3 in Spirit as soon as he can.
- Reclaim Pet destroys your pet and creates mana (if used with a proper focus staff and if the pet had 100% HP, you will gain mana troughout this process). Therefore Cabalists have the ability to regain Mana by Casting and Recycling their Simu. As far as I know, Amber and Jade Simulacrum give the biggest amount of mana (idk if this correlates with their HP or any other reason) but try it out on your own.
- Reclaim or Recycle will make PvM much easier. It can help in RvR, if you are out of fight or your pet is in range for recycle. Both rare situations

Pet-Buffs -> PvM / RvR
- Pet buffs increase specified stats of your pet. All the pet buffs are nice for PvM and RvR. One of the most important Pet-Buffs fpr RvR is the movement speed buff. Unfortunately minstrel speed does not overwrite or stack up with it, therefore if you buff it to your pet, it will get lost after a period of time.

Resistance Debuffs -> PvM, too. RvR damage / burst +++
- Resistance Debuffs reduce the resistance of the target. While a 50% Body Debuff does not mean you do 50% more damage (due to damage calculation), the increased damage is massive anyway. The Resist Debuff (in this case as in most cases Body) is amazing for assisting caster groups, every additional Body Nuker raises its viablity.
- Some groups run with 2x Caba, 2x Sorc, therefore 4 body nuker. Which means if the debuff is applied, they all no more damage, resulting in massive burst damage.

Snare (specced single snare, specced AE-Snare) Don't use it!
- Snare is quite the same as Root, while the snare value is different. Snare also shares the same resist timer as Root.
- Snare/Root as every CC gets reduced by resistances and the Realm-Ability <Determination> (Arms, Merc, Bersi, Savage, Hero, Blademaster). Reducing the duration of CC by up to 75% for these classes. Avoid Root/Snare for them and only let your tanks/offtanks snare/peel them. As far as I know, weapon snares/stuns are not affected by Determination (only casted CC).



Roles / Specs and Strategies:
PvM - Matter:
Matter spec, no matter what, is the most efficient PvM spec. Matter spec could go up to 50, while for lvling and farming 46 for the last AE-Dot is fairly enough. More especially helps with high lvl named NPC's.
There are 3 basic lvl strategies:
- Cabalist + Ruby Pet. Both dots on target, run in a circle around the Ruby. Both dots tick while the Ruby is casting.
-> Orange mobs chainpull. Easy mode.

- Cabalist + Amber/Jade. Send your pet into a big spawn of aggro mobs, try to gather as many as possible, cast AE-DoT, run/sprint until the DoT runs out, recast AE-Dot and run. Repeat until dead.
-> Blue to yellow mobs, as many as you can pull together (until your pet dies)! Fastest way to lvl / farm solo (as Caba). Challenging.

- Cabalist + Cleric + Amber/Jade. Activate the focus dmg shield, send your pet into a spawn, let them damage your pet (cleric needs to heal before the pet dies). Cast AE-Dot 1-2 times, recast focus shield, wait for them to die.
-> Amount and colour depending on Caba and Cleric, you need to try out. Challenging.

Matter Cabas usually don't need a group. You can group up and provide good damage, but most Cabas lvl alone/duo.


RvR - Role
The most important abilities in RvR are: Nearsight, Desease, Body Debuff, Damage and your Pet as Rupt.
To provide all of these abilities, many RvR Cabalists choose Tri-Specs like 25 Matter, 34 Body, 33 Spirit.
If you are the only Cabalist in an 8 man group, these Tri specs provide as much utility as possible.
With this spec, your typical role is primarily Interruption! Nearsight for every Caster, Desease for every tank/offtank, if anyone calls for burst damage, Desease + Body Debuff + DD on set target.

If you run in a specialized 8 man group, with more than 1 Caba, specialized Specs can make sense. (eg one with 46 Spirit for highest Body debuff, rest in Body for damage). In this case your role could change to for example assist leader and damage.
These groups are effective but uncommon, therefore I would personally not spec for such a setting.

Greetings

Great post. A few corrections and additions:

Nunki wrote:Matter:
Damage over Time (Baseline DoT, specced DoT and specced Area Effect DoT, Emerald Simu DoT) -> PvM
- Damage over time is primarily used in PvM to do damage over a longer period of time.
- DoTs are usually unwanted in RvR due to the fact that DoT breaks many kinds of Crowd Control (Root, Mezz, Snare) over a long period of time!
If such an effect is broken, the enemy gets a so called <resist timer>, making him invulnerable for that kind of CC for a given period of time (same as if the effect would have run out completely).

wrong at the patchlevel that is running on Uthgard. CC immunity here is always 1 minute regardless of how long the CC effect lasted! So 20 sec DoT gives your target 20 sec immunity to root, snare and mezz (because those CC effects break from damage) and if root or mezz are applied in the meantime it gives them an additional 60 sec immunity timer for that CC type -> never use DoTs in open field group fights, only in zerg fights to leech RPs.

Nunki wrote:Nearsight (specced Nearsight) -> RvR
- Nearsight has a 2000 range and reduces the castrange of an enemy for a given period of time, up to 65% reduction (41 matter).
- While nearsight can be used in PvM to force casting/shooting mobs to stop or step closer, it is mainly used in RvR!
- Due to the fact that Nearsight-Heal das not exist pre-TOA, Nearsight can only get purged or you need to wait for it to run off.
- In short. Mighty ability! Long castrange, short casttime and it disables every caster or forces him to step closer (haha as caster).
- As far as I know Nearsight has no effect on Spreadheals/Groupheals.

should be 2300 range. And yes grp heal and spreadheal (=> cast an amount of heal points on yourself (thats why disease on the healer affects spreadheal value and not on the healed target) that get than spread to damaged grp members in range dependend if they need it or not) are not affected by nearsight.

Nunki wrote:Desease (specced single desease, area effect desease) -> RvR
- Desease reduces the targets movement speed, slightly reduces its strength and reduces heal effects on the target (no effect on group heal and spreadheal). Desease does not get interrupted by damage (so desease + DoT is possible). Desease itself breaks CC when applied to the target.

see above for spreadheal mechanic -> disease on the healer reduces spreadheal value casted by that healer, disease on the target reduces single heal and grp heal value on that target.

Nunki wrote:Root: (baseline Root) -> PvM / RvR
- Root reduces the targets movement speed by 99%, therefore he can't move at all. You can cast while beeing rooted. Root can get broken, the same way Mezz and Snare can get rupted. There is no <Root-Heal>, beneath using Purge (RA, every 30 mins). The combination of Nearsight + Root can disable enemy caster for a long period of time.

important addition: root is a 99% snare! So root immunity makes the target also immune to melee snares for 60 secs -> rooting a det5 tank is a last resort move and should only be done in an absolute emergency as long as you have a melee peeler in your group.

Dromina wrote:Great post. A few corrections and additions:

Nunki wrote:Matter:
Damage over Time (Baseline DoT, specced DoT and specced Area Effect DoT, Emerald Simu DoT) -> PvM
- Damage over time is primarily used in PvM to do damage over a longer period of time.
- DoTs are usually unwanted in RvR due to the fact that DoT breaks many kinds of Crowd Control (Root, Mezz, Snare) over a long period of time!
If such an effect is broken, the enemy gets a so called <resist timer>, making him invulnerable for that kind of CC for a given period of time (same as if the effect would have run out completely).

wrong at the patchlevel that is running on Uthgard. CC immunity here is always 1 minute regardless of how long the CC effect lasted! So 20 sec DoT gives your target 20 sec immunity to root, snare and mezz (because those CC effects break from damage) and if root or mezz are applied in the meantime it gives them an additional 60 sec immunity timer for that CC type -> never use DoTs in open field group fights, only in zerg fights to leech RPs.

Nunki wrote:Nearsight (specced Nearsight) -> RvR
- Nearsight has a 2000 range and reduces the castrange of an enemy for a given period of time, up to 65% reduction (41 matter).
- While nearsight can be used in PvM to force casting/shooting mobs to stop or step closer, it is mainly used in RvR!
- Due to the fact that Nearsight-Heal das not exist pre-TOA, Nearsight can only get purged or you need to wait for it to run off.
- In short. Mighty ability! Long castrange, short casttime and it disables every caster or forces him to step closer (haha as caster).
- As far as I know Nearsight has no effect on Spreadheals/Groupheals.

should be 2300 range. And yes grp heal and spreadheal (=> cast an amount of heal points on yourself (thats why disease on the healer affects spreadheal value and not on the healed target) that get than spread to damaged grp members in range dependend if they need it or not) are not affected by nearsight.

Nunki wrote:Desease (specced single desease, area effect desease) -> RvR
- Desease reduces the targets movement speed, slightly reduces its strength and reduces heal effects on the target (no effect on group heal and spreadheal). Desease does not get interrupted by damage (so desease + DoT is possible). Desease itself breaks CC when applied to the target.

see above for spreadheal mechanic -> disease on the healer reduces spreadheal value casted by that healer, disease on the target reduces single heal and grp heal value on that target.

Nunki wrote:Root: (baseline Root) -> PvM / RvR
- Root reduces the targets movement speed by 99%, therefore he can't move at all. You can cast while beeing rooted. Root can get broken, the same way Mezz and Snare can get rupted. There is no <Root-Heal>, beneath using Purge (RA, every 30 mins). The combination of Nearsight + Root can disable enemy caster for a long period of time.

important addition: root is a 99% snare! So root immunity makes the target also immune to melee snares for 60 secs -> rooting a det5 tank is a last resort move and should only be done in an absolute emergency as long as you have a melee peeler in your group.

Extremely good clarifications / specifications. Of cause nearsight is on 2300! Will edit those passages as soon as I have time.

@Nunki,

Thanks for this post, very informative. I'll be using it as I learn to RvR on my Cab.

Do you have any suggestions on what RA's to get and in what order if I'll primarily play tri-spec? Any thoughts would be great.

Cheers!