Questions About F/p Mages
This is probably going to be a suuuuuper long thread with a ton of questions, since I've never really played anything besides a bishop ... I'm sorry if I sound like an idiot, or questions have been repeated. Thanks for all your help
So yeah, I've always kinda played a bishop, but I chose to move onto a new character & make a F/P. I'm currently level 82, following the SP guide on Basil. I understand a lot of a F/P's damage may come from DoT, but just exactly how effective is it, especially at lower levels? I know when I'm training somewhere like Jesters or MP3, I can kill a mob with just a few explosions. I can lay down Poison Mist, but I feel like it might actually be slower & may be more effective on monsters with high HP. Playing an F/P is literally like running around, trying to keep my Poison Mist up, where I feel like Explosion may be more effective since DoT can't kill anyway ... maybe I just don't understand DoT
I think it's fascinating how even skills like Big Bang & Meteor Shower have DoT, but after laying down all those skills, is it actually faster just killing it with Paralyze, or relying on DoT to bring down the monsters' HP? o.o
I guess my main question is, how exactly do you train with DoT? I feel fail lol ...
Additionally, do the Poison Skills' DoT stack? Such as Poison Breath & Poison Mist?
When bossing, which skills prove to be the most useful? Assuming you're laying down all those skills, will you get hurt during DR if the effects of DoT are still up? I'd also love tips on bossing with F/P since I'll probably start bossing early, more often than training.
On my bishop, I'm currently at a 50k self-buffed range, 52k with Echo. Assuming I transfer over these equips, approximately what will I be hitting? Additionally, I know Elemental Wands/Staves can potentially benefit F/P mages. I don't know which ones though lol ... (fail. Avoided them like plague on bishop). I'm using a 222m.atk VIP Wand with 50% boss & 6% total damage and I plan on transferring that, although I do understand Elemental Wands & Staves do give F/P a decent %boost. Would it be better if I transfer my wand over, or if I find an Elemental weapon? Even if the Elemental weapon is clean, will it allow me to do more damage than my VIP? @_@ Those Elemental weapons are so. Pretty. By far my favourite weapons in the game, & I'm not gonna lie. I'm half hoping it'd be better for me to get one even if it makes me dirt poor LOL
Lastly, any general tips? F/P is such a unique class and I love it, but I can never find any F/P mages in game for advice & whatnot D: I am SO sorry if any of these questions have been frequently answered in the past. I feel like such a dumb turd LOL. Thank you loads, especially if you just read this entire post of stupidity<3
6 Comments • Newest first
Wow, you guys were all super helpful. Thank you!
And @TroiSky, I will NEVER abandon my bishop ever. If I end up having to re-equip my F/P to fund it in order to keep my bishop's range, I will ! ):
Bye Chelsey, the Bishops will miss you
@HKittyZ
Technically speaking it doesn't matter too much what order, but Arcane Aim does activate from Fire Demon or Big Bang or even Mist at times. With my order you begin using paralyze at nearly it's most powerful extent.
@cccurified
At the last moments of Mist Eruption you are able to cast skills that have the same action sequence. It's a mere 0.5 second delay but during that time you can cast mist faster than you can cast Paralyze. Paralyze has a forward casting action sequence, and switching from Paralyze to Mist would put a slight delay.
But in the end all these little tricks and whatnot only amount to minimal increase in DPS. Maybe 1 or 2% faster at killing bosses.
[quote=HKittyZ]Also, what's the optimal order of attacks for F/P? I've never really thought about it. I always did Mist > Gears > Para until AA is active > Demon > Breath > Big Bang > Erupt > repeat.[/quote]
If you're going to climb ropes/walk a distance, I have a habit of charging big bang during those rather than use tele. Well, depending on the distance, you can tele once or twice even then charge big bang.
I don't normally use Mist right after Eruption, because some of the DoT would've been there for about 5 seconds (Eruption doesn't cancel DoT, Mist still has its effect after a few seconds). Hence I use Para for a while then Mist.
I hardly ever trained late at night because pressing all the keys for DoT skills made to much noise. However with your funding, I think you can get away with 3 or 4 layers of DoT to hit max with ME. Although I'm not too sure since I retired my f/p before the recent skill changes.
1) DoT damage is not the reason we get DoT skills. When you use Mist Eruption, and you have DoT damage stacked, it gets a LOT stronger. In fact, if you use Paralyze, Mist, Fire Demon, and Poison Breath, Mist Eruption is almost twice as strong as with just Mist or just Mist and Paralyze. If you add Meteor and Big Bang, you can hit cap with just 20k range. Mist Eruption is the primary reason for DoT stacking. Not the damage of DoT.
2) All Fire/Poison DoTs stack. They also stack with several skills from other classes like Venom.
3) When you're bossing, always use DoT, because it stabilizes damage even when you're stunned, seduced, locked, etc. Bossing is more complicated than other classes. But it's still just a pattern. Mist -> big bang (if possible) -> fire demon -> poison breath -> paralyze until arcane aim is maxed, then Mist Eruption, rinse and repeat. The only time you don't use Mist Eruption is if you're very funded and the damage cap makes your dps worse.
4) You do not get hurt for DoT damage, or Ifrit.
5) Elemental 1, 2, 5, 6 are your friends. 10% damage boost for fire and 5% damage boost for Poison. It's glitched and Nexon hasn't fixed it since forever, so don't expect the 10% poison boost any time soon.
6) If you have 50k self buffed range, you will be hitting approximately 300k critical per line of Paralyze (that's 300k x 4) after Arcane Aim, around 300k per second after stacking all DoTs aside from Meteor, and you will hit max damage Mist Eruption. I don't know when Mist Eruption becomes useless, but always keep Mist up, and the DoT stacking won't hurt during bossing.
They should make Mist Eruption hit 15 times.
And just so you know how amazing F/Ps are at bossing: We have the highest % damage per second if you do things properly and time things right, and I've been soloing Hilla in minutes. My guildies can do hardmode hilla, without too much funding (slightly more than you)