Hey guys,

Below is the Bonedancer class guide written by BD team lead Sheena back in 2003. I only found the French version, so I used google translate to make it in English. I have very little knowledge of French, so I did my best along with google translate to bring you this... Hopefully some of you will find it usefull. Original French version can be found here:
http://forums.jeuxonline.info/showthread.php?t=228286

Enjoy!



GUIDE TO THE BONEDANCER v1.2 (18/08/03)

By Sheena Iliachenva'ar (Team Lead BoneDancer)



This is only a small introduction to the new BoneDancer class and some of the spells and stats / values that can change from patch to patch due to the subtlety of the class. Any constructive feedback to help me improve this guide is welcome and I hope that some will find it useful in its own way. I also apologize for the jargon used and the different symbols I have tried to define but some have infiltrated. Finally I do not work for Mythic and this guide only reflects my personal opinion about the BoneDancer class. Use it at your own risk.



I. INTRODUCTION:

The Bonedancers (BD) are the following of Bogdar specialized in the maintenance of the souls of the dead and the invocation of remains of animated skeletons to execute his will. They decide the actions of their minions and get more as they progress. They invoke a skeleton commander or bone lord who in turn commands various sub-pets. Only high level commanders are able to control sub-pets so they can control 1 pet at lvl 15-29, control 2 pets at lvl 30-44 and finally 3 pets at lvl 45-50. The specializations are very different and offer a wide choice for collar to the style of play of the BoneDancer. The main features of the BoneDancer are Piety, then Dexterity and Quickness (unfortunately).

II. CREATION OF CHARACTER:

1) RACE

Only Kobolds, Trolls and Valkyns are able to become Mystics. Which race is the best? There is no real winner but some choices are more suited to a specialization than others. In general, all races have their advantages and disadvantages. All races start with 60 in piety which is the magic feature of the Mystic, so the races are equivalent on this level. Other interesting stats are dexterity and constitution, racial resistances and, lastly, strength and Quickness for the Melee. Let's see the races in detail:

Kobolds: They start with 70 dex / qui 50 con and 50 strength. They will cast their spells faster than the Valkyns and Trolls and have the smallest strength of the three races. Their constitution is slightly higher than that of the Valkyns, but much less than that of the Trolls and thus will not have as many points of life (HP).

Valkyns: They start with 65 dex, 75 qui 45 con 55 force. Their high Quickness does not help them much as Mystics except at the beginning when the Mystic must go more often to the Melee. Their weaknesses are their constitution and strength very low and a dexterity lower than that of the Kobolds. They become interesting at the level of the racial resistances whose sum is 15% instead of 10% for the Trolls and Kobolds.

Trolls: They begin with 35 dext / qui, 70 con and 100 of force. Their main weak point is their low dexterity and they will cast their spells more slowly than the Kobolds or Valkyns. But they will have much more HP than the latter two and will be able to carry many loots thanks to their high strength. The stick being based on the dext, the big troll force will be useless to the Melee.

NB: BoneDancers who want to specialize in Suppression will be forced to go to the Melee more often than their Skeletal Army and Darkness brothers and should remember this when creating the character.

2) HOW TO USE THE CHARACTERISTICS POINTS

There are 3 important stats for the BoneDancer: Piety, Dex and Con.

- PIETY increases spell damage and the amount of Mana. For this reason, I would say that a minimum of 10 points must be spent in PIETY.

- DEXTERITY increases the speed of spell casting, which is crucial when enemies rush you. Dexterity is also the stat that affects Melee performance with a Stick.
- CONSTITUTION increases the number of HP.

To avoid unnecessary expenses, it is common practice to put 10 extra points in CON and DEX. The trolls, however, may add +15 to dexterity and will not add anything in the CON. Similarly, Kobolds and Valkyns can put +15 in CON to the detriment of DEX. All these choices are valid and depend on what you attach the most importance to. To recap, here are the most common choices:

For all races: +10 DEX / CON / PIE
For Trolls: + 10PIE / + 15 DEX
For Kobolds and Valkyns: +10 PIE / + 15 CON


III. MINIONS

Pets is what defines the Bonedancer. Unlike Hel's Priest, only the commander is in the skeletal army base line. To have extra pets, the Mystic must specialize in one or more lines up to lvl 15. Specialization pets, also called sub-pets (minion), are not directly controlled by the player but leave through the commander , And essentially help the Mystic and the commander to do his job. Some can cast offensive or defensive spells, some damage the Melee and others are archers, depending on the specialization of the Mystic.

The minions are lower than the minions of the Priest of Hel. The commander is 80% of the player's lvl, except the last (obtained in the baseline at lvl 45) which is 82% of the lvl of the BD. The subpets are 75% of the lvl of the player OR capped to the lvl characteristic of the version of the invocation spell. The capacities of the sub-pets increase according to their lvl. To get higher lvl pets, you need to specialize in this line. Note that there is a total lvl cap on the lvls of sub-pets controllable by the commander. It is fixed at 75, which does not allow to spawn at the same time 3 subpets of maximum lvl (37).

Example: When I am lvl 17 with 17 in decay, I will use the summon 15 level pet buffer which will be 75% of my lvl, ie 13. Now if I level a little bit and I'm 24, if I use lvl 15's pet buffer, I get a pet that will be 75% of my lvl OR lvl cap of that version of lot that is 15. At lvl 24 I should Get a lvl pet 0.75X24 = 18 but this summation is capped at 15 so my sub-pet will never be lvl higher than that. Of course if I continue to specialize in suppression, at lvl 21, I get an improved version of the sub-pet buffer invocation. This cappe has 20 and so my pet is free to be at 75% of my lvl which is 18 when I am 24.
Lost ? Undoubtedly if you are used to the pets of the Priest of Hel but in fact it is quite similar to the operation of the pets of the theurgist. If you want good air, you will naturally specialize in air.

Here is roughly how the course of invocations of sub-pets evolves:

Lvl of the invocation -> lvl cap of the sub-pet

15 ----------------> 15
18 ----------------> 18
21 ----------------> 20
24 ----------------> 22
27 ----------------> 24
30 ----------------> 27
33 ----------------> 29
36 ----------------> 31
39 ----------------> 33
42 ----------------> 36
45 ----------------> 37
48 ----------------> 37

Another way to see this in the form of equations:

The commander's lvl = 0.8 x lvl of the player (for version 5, 15, 30)
The lvl of the commander = 0.82 x lvl of the player (for version 45)

Lvl of the sub-pet = (0.75 x lvl of the player) OR lvl cap (see table above) which is always lower.


For managing sub-pets, you can kill a sub pet without killing the commander and other sub-pets. Target the subpet you want to kill and click the release button from the commander's control panel. If you have anything else targeted, by default this will affect the commander and therefore all sub-pets so be careful.

IV. SPECIALIZATION

Now let's see the lines of specialization.

1) DARKNESS

This path of specialization is especially for those who wish to do damage directly (DD or nukes). They have access to nukers pets that cast DDs (fossilized mysteries) or who cast spells of debuffs before going to Melee (fossilized diviners). They also have an instant debuff resistance to body damage to make sub-pets more efficient, a CON / FORCE buff for pets and the same DD + snare as that of the Odin Priests. Commonly the tactic is to launch the DD snare several times before running to enjoy the 35% slowdown effect that lasts 30 seconds, then again DD snare until the mob's death; Or DD, DD, DD, root, leak, then DD until his death. With the possibility to overlap root and snare, it should be possible to DD snare and root. However, it can be tense that the pets nuke break the root with their DD. The specialization and core DDs are both of the cold type. Note that the body debuff that can improve the damage of pets nukers can improve the damage of the life drain from the specialization suppression list.

Nukers use body type DDs. They will only go to the Melee if they are really constrained.

The debuffer pets launch AE debuffs before going to the Melee.


2) SUPPRESSION

This path of specialization is more defensive. Unlike the fast damage inflicted by the Darkness Spec, the main spell cast to make damage is an average damage in instant with 4 seconds of recast delay. The sub-pets of this specialization are pets healers who have no offensive capability and heal only the player and his pets as well as a pet buffer that buffs and goes to the Melee. The other spells are an absorbing buff of 3-9% which can be cast on anyone but does not add to the buffs of absorbing characters of the rogues. This should make you loved by everyone in a group except rogues.

The other spells to note are an absorbing buff for the pets as well as an AE snare in focus. The focus of the snare does not even work in 1.64 In focus means that you DO NOT have to do after launching The snare so that it remains effective ). In this special, the Mystic may have the choice between letting the pets tank while the Mystic draws life drains, and go to the Melee by keeping alive with drains and pets healer that chain heal. Since the instant life drain does not depend on the dexterity of the BD, (4 secs of recast) and it will often be necessary to go to the Melee, the Troll will be particularly adapted to this spec. The drains of life are of Body type (note the good synergy between the DBs and dark DD and the DB spec suppression).

Heal pets heal between 7 and 17% of your HP per spell based on their lvl up to yours (ie the highest heal pets lvl heal better than the smaller ones). They also throw a buff regen of HP of 5 HP per tick.

Pets buffer launches damage shields, a 15% haste buff on the Mystic strip and pets as well as a bladeturn on itself occasionally.

3) BONE ARMY

The line of Skeletal Army specialization is played a bit like a cabalist with good pets tanks / archers and lots of DoT. You get a DoT in the baseline, one in the line of spec and an AE DoT, the latter two being able to accumulate with the first one. You also get a pet tank and archer, a dex / qui buff for sub-pets, an add-in for sub-pets (up to 11 DpS) in the specialization line. You also get a heal of pets in the baseline as well as a bladeturn at lvl 19. With these spells, solo you will let your pets hit the Melee while you launch your DoTs discreetly (at least it's the idea ). Your pets tanks will do considerable damage with add damage and tanking the same mob will give them a touch bonus similar to that of large groups. The Mystic can sweep with a debuff, let the pets take the aggro and then dot, and pets care if necessary. For a big fight you can take the aggro on you by throwing a double dot or heals, so be At a good distance from the mob (1500 for the DoT and 2000 for the heal of pets). With a secondary Suppression, you can get a pet that heal to relieve you of this task as well as drains of life if you take the aggro. The DOTs of the Mystics are of the Matter type and are cumulated with those of the Shaman.

Note for DoTs: If you look carefully, you will notice that the starting DoTs are very similar to those of the Cabalist. Their damage is equal for a certain time, then that of the Cabalist becomes much higher to the extent of the damage inflicted by the pets tanks of the Mystic. So when you are entitled to a pet, your DoTs are virtually the same; When you can make 2 it is rather 85-90% of that of the Cabalist; 3 pets it is 75 to 80% of that of the Cabalist; Finally when you can make 4, it is about 65-70% of that of the Cabalist. They always do a lot of damage, but the damage of pets becomes more and more important as you progress.

The fossilized soldier is a pet tank that tries to taunt his target.

The fossilized archer attacks at a distance and goes to the Melee when he is constrained.

V. IN GROUP

Just by taking a look at our list of spells, we can easily see that Mystics are not a support class. It is a class that is self-sufficient with different tools to make damage and keep alive. The only spell a BD can cast on other players is an absorption buff that is not available before the lvl 32+ in the line of spec suppression. Another aspect in which we are not very strong is the crowd control (CC). With only a basic root, and a snare AE (focus and - NdT - bugged: /) as tools CC aside our pets, we cannot hold aggro a mob from harassing our group. That does not mean that we are useless in a group, far from it.

First, the 3 spec lines have good tools to cause damage. The Darkness spec is the fastest with fast DDs. For spec suppression, apart from its high lvl absorption buffs, the DB will not bring much to the group. If he takes aggro, his healers and life drains will keep them alive for the time the group in which he is in charge. For the skeletal Army, the Mystic will rarely take the aggro because his DoTs will not be noticed by the mobs in battle (NdT: not fast enough especially -_-). They can launch in addition to DoT small drains of the line suppression or swinging basic DDs as additional damage.

Some group tactics:

Kiting to focus snare + AE DoT possible in a group with a shaman (AE with special abyss), a BD attenuation for the snare focus, a skeletal BD Army for the AEDoT. The strategy is simple. The shaman or the Mystic strip with an AEDoT on orange-red mobs. The mob should run after the puller running around the BD spec weak which launches its AE snare focus by 50%. Then the Shaman and the other Mystic strike AE DoT until the death of the mobs. It's cost-effective mana level, easy, safe, but it requires minimal room to turn around the BD down. It can also work with AE DD instead of AE DoTs but it will be less profitable. The AE DoTs allow to run more between two casts but can take more time than the AE DD ( I do not recommend this technique since the AE snare is not ... AE for now. )

Another technique of hunting is possible for Mystics skeletal armor or suppression. With the maximum possible pets healers, the BD pulls a group of orange mobs. As the mobs approach the Mystic, they are stunned by a Special Healer Pacification and a Hel Priest kills them with PBAEs. The duration of the stun should allow the healers to heal the Mystic that has pulled. This does not work very hard for mobs higher than orange because the BD will receive too much damage before the mobs are stun, the stun will be a bit resistant and the PBAE will not kill them fast enough. A Thane or Warrior in addition to keep the Mystic is welcome. If an AE DoT Shaman is available for this tactic, the Shaman and DB may alternate sweats and throw AE DoTs with PBAEs. A suppression spec of 18+ is sufficient. A good AF and a good quality of armor is necessary for the BD which pull by cons.

Apart from this, many pets add a considerable bonus to the touch. A group of 3-4 BDs each with 4 pets can see their pets touch all the time even if they are low lvl just because they are several to zerg the mobs and thus give each other bonus to touch. And even if the pets do not touch themselves, they make it easier for everyone in the group to hit the mobs. This becomes really obvious when there are several BD high lvl in a full group. The only difficulty is that the more pets you have, the harder it is to manage them. That's why Mystics are the only ones to benefit from commands / training (line / triangle / protect) and / spacing (normal / big / huge). This defines the alignment of the pets and how far they are from each other . This is the only effective parry against the AE mezz of the pets which are true DC magnets . I like using the training / line with / spacing normal in RVR to hide the number and nature of the pets I have but I prefer training / protect in the dungeon so that the pets are around me more compactly. A non-negligible data when we want to avoid aggro mobs.


VI. TEMPLATES

I do not advocate any particular template here but summarizes some of the most encountered possibilities. As a result templates are not ranked by preference or popularity. I have not tested them all myself and I know that many other variants are played successfully. Use them as opportunities and ideas to forge your own Mystic strip!

1) "TapDancer" 47 Suppression / 26 Darkness / 5 Bone Army (or 48/24 or 49/22 sup / dark)

This template gives access to the best drain of life and to excellent pets healers (lvl 36-37). It also gives access to a 15% body debuff increase damage to drains and basic damage DD. For a group, it offers a buff of absorption of 9% as well as a buff of force / constitution to improve the survivability of the pets. This template provides access to a good snare AE in focus to ensure a minimum of DC (Translator's note: I remember CC = Crowd Control) and kiting in HPE (NdT: good all this is fine ... but the snare is Not AE! At least for now .. ). Large open space is the key to this template. With 2-3 pets healers, life drains boosted by 15%, this makes the BD one of the most persistent spellcasters in the game. With a buff of 9% absorption, it must also be one of the most sought after by The non-spell-casting classes as well as the Priest of Odin BT. Weaknesses are the absence of an AE damage spell and the ability to make relatively low and costly damage to mana.

2) "BoneTapper" 47 Suppression / 26 Bone Army / 5 Darkness

This template is similar to the TapDancer offsets the fact that it replaces the ability to do damage in darkness, the force / consti buff for pets and the 15% body debuff by a single DoT and AE, a dex / qui buff And an add-on for pets. This template has a less good life drain from the body's debuff lack, but it has the same pet-level configuration as the TapDancer. Otherwise it gives access to the second AE DoT and greatly reduces the speed of DoTs. The dex / qui buff can allow the healer pets of heal a little faster which can be vital at the heart of the action in RvR.

3) "DarkTapper" 39 Darkness / 37 Suppression / 4 Bone Army (or 38/38 dark / sup)

This DB will benefit from powerful DDs using the Basic DDs (variance capped at +11 as object bonuses only), the second best life drain (no variance with +11 bonus objects and a higher Kingdom Rank or Equal to 3) and body debuff of 30%. This spec is really oriented towards the application of damage with the help of big DD and drains boosted to the debuff body ( this may well change when mythic nerf debuff resists ) but still has access to Good pets healers (capped with lvl 31), a buff of absorbance of 3 or 6% and a snare in focus of radius of effect of 150. It also has a very good buff of force / constitution for its pets. This template is a bit more aggressive than the TapDancer but without sacrificing too much defense / survivability and group utility.

4) "BoneHealer" 44 Bone Army / 31 Suppression / 4 Darkness (or 44/30/8 or 42/32/11 Army / sup / dark)

These DBs will have access to the second best AE DoT and DoT of spell, no variances on the DoTs, the third best drain of life and can opt to abandon the second best DoT of spell for a buff of absorbance of 3% and a They will have access to the lvl 36 warriors. They will have access to the lvl 36 pet and the lvl 33 fighter and the lvl 27 pet. It's a very balanced spec with good DoTs and enough survivability to see his enemies die from DoTs. The main weakness of this template could be the low damage caused due to a low Darkness spec. He should excel in strong defense with pets healers that keep the Mystics alive long enough for it to use its AE DoTs.

5) "DarkDancer" 50 Darkness / 20 Suppression / 4 Bone Army (or 48/22 or 46/28 dark / sup)

These Mystics bet on the pure power of their basic DD. They will also have a 50% body debuff to boost their relatively low life drain. They will have the best pets casters and debuffers, the best (or second best) DD snare without variance, best strength / constitution buff and basic healers pets. Big damage in sight with good DD snare cast at the same time as the body debuff of 50% and drains of life (lvl 17 or 22). In addition to the damage of the maggot pots boosted by the debuff resist 50%, these BDs will have the best ratio to level damage and rapidity but the price of an AE, a buff of absorption and high healers pets. This template can be difficult to progress at the beginning but will have a certain punch in RvR.

6) KeepDancer "48 Bone Army / 24 Suppression / 6 Darkness

Similar to the Bonetapper template, these DBs have access to the highest pet tank and the latest AE DoT. Dark points offer the first buff of force / con for army pets. A lower attenuation spec gives access to the lvl 22 drain. This specialization will excel in defense / stronghold, allowing flexibility to use archers for attack or three heaven lvl 24 pets to heal the Mystic while Balance of AE DoTs.

It is possible to think of a template Darkness / Skeletal Army doing more damage by cumulating DoTs and good DDs by abandoning any possibility of care / buff of the spec suppression and this seems to be a difficult path but who knows ... DarkBones "In the audience?

VII. News

There are questions that many Mystics can ask themselves and cannot find answers.

1) How does spell resistance work in RvR?

First, there is a chance to completely resist a spell cast against you. Complete resistance in RvR to a minimum of 15% chance, without taking into account the levels of the target and the caster. These 15% base can be modified only by the lvl of the spell used according to that of the target. The factor is 0.5% per lvl between the caster and the target. The percentage of resistance to magic, cast statistics or lvl in specialization do NOT affect this chance of complete resist.

So chance of complete resist = 15% + 0.5% x (lvl of target - lvl of spell).

One thing to keep in mind for those who use low-lvl life drain spells and who rely on interruption. If you use the lvl 1 life drain on a 50 lvl, you will have 15% + 49x0.5% = 39.5% chance of being completely resisted.

Then, if the spell touches, comes the resolution of the effect. The resist percentage of the target against the type of spell damage will determine the damage or duration of the effect. Damage and duration increase with Magic Feature (PIETY for Mystics), Specialist lvl (counting bonus items and rows of realms up to 50) and if the caster is higher than lvl Its target. Damage and duration decrease with the percentage of magic resistance, determination, etc. and target lvl.

Resistance debuffs only affect damage but not the chance a spell has to hit. They add 1 + 0.01% when the target of more than 0% to resist and only 0005 from the time the resist or a negative (50% less per point debuff that puts the target in a negative resistance - NdT: c Is the point that will be nerfed soon: the resist can no longer be negative ... it will be well worth having a body debuff of 50%! -_- ).

So if I throw a 50% body debuff on a target with 32% body resistance, this will multiply my damage by 1+ (32x0.01) + (18 x 0.005) = 1.41. 1.32 so for those who followed when debuff resist will be nerfed ). If my target has 55% resist, this will multiply my damage by 1.5.

Complete example: I am a lvl 50 Mystic with a 2/3 dark spell, counting the objects and bonuses of kingdom rows and I launch my basic lvl 43 DD on a lvl 50 target with 32% cold resistance (The basic DDs are of the cold type). So I have a chance of the base to be completely resisted by 15 (50-43) x 0.5 = 18.5%

If my spell touches, due to the variance of two-thirds of my lvl, I will make between 75% and 125% of [155 (basic spell damage) x 1 (2/3 spec) x 1.7 (for piety, Approximation because I have no formula for the effect of piety)] x (1-0.32) = 180 damage (approximately).

If someone has thrown a 50% cold debuff on my target, I will then (155 x1 x1.7) x (1-0.32) x (1 +0.41) = 254 damage with the same chance of being resisted completely.


2) How does HPE spell resistance work?

The chance of being resisted completely is also affected by the lvl difference between the caster and the target mob (sorry I do not know the Exact formula but this is the main factor). The chance of being resisted completely when fighting a mob of the same lvl is always 15% modified by the lvl of the spell and the lvl of the mob. The rest is identical to the RvR.

3) What RAs should I take as a BD Suppression spec?

Concerning the attenuation spec can also be interesting for the other speeds.

For BD Suppression, it depends on whether your secondary spec is dark or skeletal army.

Mastery of Magery: + 3% damage to drains and DD of Darkness.

Wild Power: it must be mounted a little to see a real effect. This gives a 5% chance to make 10-50% damage (average 30%). In PVE, it's between 10% and 100%. This is an average boost of 1.5% per level.

Mastery of Arcane: required to see the debuff and the DoTs make better effect. Similar to wild power in the sense that this gives an average boost of 1.5% per level.

Majestic Will: 5% reduction of complete resists (or 5% more chance of doing damage in full). Requires improved acuity 3. The basic chance of being fully resisted in RvR is 15% modified by the level of the spell and target. It can be said that it will never go below 15% at lvl 50 and if you rarely cast spells on players lower than level 40, you can quietly use level 1 and 2 of this ability. From improved acuity 2, Level 1 costs 6 points for a 5% boost, and Level 2 requires 10 more points for an additional 5% boost.

So to increase the damage according to your points, the best way is to take Mastery of Magery 1, Wild Power 1 (or Mastery of Arcane), Mastery of Magery 2, Wild Power 2, Mastery of Magery 3, Majestic Will 1, Majestic Will 2, Mastery of Magery 4, Wild Power 3, Mastery of Magery 5, Wild Power 4, Wild Power 5 (The question of the Wild Power 3 + utility and Mastery of Magery 5 in view of their cost is Another story). I will definitely stop at Mastery of Magery 3-4 to avoid the waste of points.

We are not profitable at mana level, so we will need it to the maximum. A tick is equivalent to 6 seconds regarding Tranquility.

Mystic Crystal Lore (MCL) out of combat regeneration by 30% mana per level of SCM. Timer 5 minutes. The total mana 50 is around 450. So 30% is 135 mana every 5 min.

Serenity: 1 point per level per tick. 10 ticks per minute so here gives 50 mana every 5 minutes per level.

Raging power: Regeneration of all the mana even bout 450 every 30 minutes..

Ethereal Bond: 3% of total mana per level. In fact around 15 mana repelled by the Cape ethereal level link. This increases of 3% that SCM will give you (30% x1.03, 60% x1.03 for ethereal link 1) but does not change the serenity of profits.

That said, I will go as well to research efficiency based on points: serenity 1, MCL 1, MCL 2 serenity 2, ethereal link 1, MCL 3, serenity 3, raging power, ethereal link 2, serenity 4, ethereal link 3-5. I'll stop ethereal link 1 saw the benefits in relation to items invested beyond are less interesting.


Do we need Concentration / Concentration Master? Less than other spell casters. If your secondary spec is skeletal army, forget master concentration. Your DoTs are slower than 15 seconds to master concentration and your drains do not benefit at all. You can benefit from concentration however to requie DoTS even if the opponent is on you. IF your secondary spec is darkness master concentration is probably better than concentration but it is still doubtful because of the cost in points. That would not be a priority for me.

Same for improved dexterity and master of the art. No effect on the drain. Most of the time you will have basic skill buffs in RvR. With good equipment and good buffs you will cap casting speed or get close quickly. Master of Art is preferable to improved dexterity in any angle but requires improved acuity 3. I put low priority but if you have already acuity improved 3 to master concentration, then it might be worth taking the level 1 or 2, especially if your secondary spec is darkness.


One thing that's important to me is our air survivability. IF you have spec suppression, you already have good healer pets and drains opted for care instead of damage. I would recommend highly for your interest in strength and improved constitution.

Resistance: 3% of your HP more per level. AT 50, here has given me in the 23 HP.

Enhanced Constitution: No buff we are generally well below 250. So the benefits will be fairly linear with this RA. At 50, here gave me 18 HP ..

Magic Resistance: + 3% resist to magic by level. That only reduces spell damage but also the duration of CC spells. My personal choice is that HP bonus protect both magical damage as non-magical damage and I take purge against the CC.

The Empty Mind: 10% magic resist per level (6,10,14) for 1 min every 30 min. Given the timer, I would put it in the bottom of my priority list. That costs just 6 points for a nice boost in battle. Probably better than Magic Resistance 4+. This is roughly the same as magic resistance 3. Both cost 6 points. One is 3% permanently, the other 10% for 1 min.

Given the increase in HP, I would take: resistance 1, improved constitution 1, spell resistance 1 Resistance 2, improved constitution 2, Magic Resistance 2, Resistance 3, improved constitution 3, Magic Resistance 3, etc. .. I probably will stop resistance 2-3, 2-3 improved constitution, spell resistance because at 2-3 we get beyond not much with his points.

Purge: 10 points. 30 min timer. Can be used to remove evil from the ground, the mez / stun / root / snare / DoT / debuff / disease. A must have reached a certain level.

Resilience of Death: A buff of 100 con in 500 unit radius completely unnecessary. If the con buff made pets really extremely resistant to damage melee and magic, this could be useful but has a timer for 30 minutes and still costs 10 points. This might be interesting if the pets were virtually immune to all damage for 1 minute, but it's still one of many unique abilities useless in realm of Midgard ( NdT: do not even think ... the tests were conducted by Sheena and it is here that reduces just over 30% of the damage melee but that magic level -you know what wipe 3/4 of the time your templates by AE reducing damage is laughable )

Regeneration : often too slow to have an effect. In addition you have pets healer and regen buffs HP so it is unnecessary for the downtime. Get more mana to summon pets and healers obliez regeneration.

Tireless / Long Wind: with regen end (NdT: This part of the guide was also written before 1.62 -_-) more available and use solely devoted to sprinting, distance running is certainly a better choice but is questionable . Can be 1 point for distance running. Waste for Mystics

Lifter: Waste. Can be useful when you are permarooted by a debuff force ( NdT: we cannot be permarooted by a debuff strength ). You can have one level for a cheap boost of 20%. That can help you carry wood for RvR. May be an option for non-trolls. Trolls can ignore it unless they want to invest in the machines of war.

Other RA (Arcane Master, Master Swimmer, Dexterity / Quickness Enhanced Companion Control, Veil of the Restoration) are all waste.

4) pets healers treat it all the same?

Minions healers heal better as their lvl increases. For level 50, the pet lvl 18 healer will heal 8-9 to cure 80-85% of life. It is 9-10% HP per heal.

At lvl 36, Minions healers will need only 5 heal to treat the same number of HP cad 16-17% of HP per heal.

5) What styles Minions do they use? ( NdT: I have a list a bit more specific on page 3 )

The commander Minions and tanks use positional styles depending on the weapon but they are the same if the weapon is 1 H or 2H. They must be in the right position to use these styles but do not position themselves to be able to place them.

Axe behind. DoT low bleeding.
Hammer: aside. low snare.
Sword: aside. haste debuff.

In my opinion the most useful style is that of the sword. The snare is rather pointless since you must be yourself melee for the pet to be in the right position. The DoT is so low that here will not be very useful level damage, but this will prevent a bleed effect.

6) Information on the armor specific to BD?

It resembles the epic armor ( NdT: new ) but with different stats. AF 51, qua 100 and 35% bonus. 95 cold DD procs of all parts except the jacket proc a heal of 180 HP. Here are the detailed pieces ( NdT: these are the stats pre 1.64 ):

Sleeves Brittle Bones: 22 pie, con 22, HP 60, +3 darkness
Breeches Brittle Bones: 22 dex, con 22, HP 60, +3 suppression
Boots Brittle Bones: 9% spirit, thrusting 9%, 7% energy, +3 darkness
Gloves Brittle Bones: 9% material, 9% blunt, 7% heat three skeletal army
jacket Brittle Bones: 22 dex, 22 pie, HP 60, three skeletal army
Crown Brittle Bones: 9% sharp, cold 9%, 9% body, suppression +3

7) how unique RA (Irresistible Death) is she?

Irresistible CON death gives a boost to all pets in AE 1500 (beware if they are / spacing huge some might not be in the area of effect of RA). For pets, the mobs and NPCs, this translates into an absorption factor.

On a lvl 41 commander hit the stick by BD 50 lvl:

Average Damage without RA = 80.6 per move (between 60-100)

means Damage with RA = 56.7 per move (between 45-70) So Irresistible Death gives power absorption melee damage of 29.6%

Death Irresistible does not affect the damage inflicted on pets by magic.

What is the effect of RA on the Enrage Companion pets BD? ( NdT: this RA was not given to Mystics while control companion that requires the aforementioned prerequisites RA was ... well it is unlocked by 1.64 for the enjoyment of Mystics and Dark Army )

From test versions 1.64 on Pendragon, Companion mad not give away 5% chance to critically per level. This affects all pets and also those who go melee.

Companion Enraged 1: 430 normal shots, 22 reviews, 150 Miss => critical rate = 4.8%

Companion Furious 4: 86 normal, 21 critical, 26 Miss => critical rate = 19.6%

companion Furious 5: 85 normal shots, 28 reviews, 28 Miss => critical rate = 24.8%

additional damage a commanding 41 to BD 50 was remarkable:

damage of a normal hit: 74.2 per move (between 59-90)
damage a critical hit : 98.2 (between 67-126) = 132% of normal damage shots.

The effect is real with reviews by 10-50% extra damage with an average of 30% critical.

In addition to the proven rate of 5% per level of critical and additional damage means 30% Enraged Companion gives an average of 1.5% of damage Minions melee more per level.


== End ==

can we open this up a bit more now...? coming up on 40 for BD and been BA with 18 sup. Wanting to talk about going supression for end game farm or stay BA..