Fin~

Well, this day had to happen. I just didn't expect it to happen so... quickly. The three of us have now all cancelled our subscriptions. I intended to stay with it until 50, but I'm having huge motivation problems even just logging in.

I won't launch into what I think is wrong with the game... either you already know, or you're too low level to know... all that really needs to be said is that the game turns into something ugly after level 35 or so. I don't want to put anyone off buying Aion as it's entertained me for two months, a bragging right that most games could never claim, so it's definitely worth the purchase. In perhaps a year or so, the game will be fit for release.

Until then... adios!

I will bite no longer.

Sorcery VII

Just kidding, I don't fear gladiators. Ah hah hah.. hah...

It has perhaps been to long since I last graced this blog with my ravings. Perhaps I have simply become too sedentary, the grind of the 40's distorting my perception of reality to think that it normally takes a week of laborious, uninteresting work to get anything done. Or perhaps whenever I think of creating something, my massive unsorted fraps folder immediately springs to mind, putting me off for the rest of the day. But here I am on this fine sunday night... err... monday morning, my desire for Aion sated and usual website haunts depleted, spurred on by an appreciative forum dweller into completing part seven of my ramblomatic column... so let's get to it!

Last week I dropped some pointers about fighting the first four classes on the list: Temps, Glads, 'Sins and Rangers. Today I shall go into fighting Clerics, Chanters, Spirit Masters... and other Sorcerers. Please note that while I PvP a lot, I probably haven't seen the best my realm has to offer and thus my danger-ratings of various classes may be a tad off. In addition, this doesn't cover level differences. Onto the flesh!


vs. Clerics

Clerics are tricky. Depending on the situation, they're either nuts you just need to put some elbow grease into cracking, or inevitable death from above. What are the various situations, you might ask?

Cleric on the ground

Expect the cleric to run, if not immediately then towards the end of the fight. Scroll down to Cleric on the run when this happens ;). Standing there blasting spells won't win this fight for you. You can approach this one of two ways: the usual CC-burst combo with a dash of silence and some conventional spell-slinging to finish, or get in close for wind weaving. Make sure to insert silence and slow into your weaving to prevent running. If silence is unavailable and the cleric doesn't run, wind weaving will outdps their heals. This is a very one-sided fight; the hardest part is keeping the cleric still.


Cleric in a group

Typically a grouped cleric won't try to run, making that aspect of the fight easier, but the issue here isn't the cleric: if you want to kill him, you're going to have to somehow survive the damage and lock downs of his buddies. If you're grouped, great. End of guide -- I'm not going into that aspect of PvP... yet! As a solo sorcerer, your options here are limited. If the cleric's buddy is a ranged class or healer, consider bailing. If it's a melee class then it's not so bad.

The tactics here are essentially running in, CCing the friend with tree/sleep/snares and obliterating the cleric with wind weaving/aether's hold as fast as humanly possible. If the CC breaks then don't bother reapplying -- you'll want to drop the cleric ASAP. If the other class is squishy (scout/mage/possibly chanter) you could do it the other way around: tree the cleric, silence when tree breaks (faster than sleep).

Fun to pull off when it works. Embarrassing when it doesn't -- I've only ever managed to win against a cleric-ranger combo once. An element of luck is required (bad cleric? cleric not paying attention to partner's debuffs? bad partner? huge element of surprise? them not taking a single sorcerer seriously?).


Cleric in the air

A skilled flying cleric can give you a real test of skill. Their tactic essentially is to DoT you and run around dispelling/healing themselves. You will have exceptional difficulty getting in range to do the DPS required to bring a cleric down as they can dispel all of your snares and flying's increased speed makes your 25m-range a lot shorter than you'd like.

Something that works for me is to snare them with Frost or Root to buy a couple seconds of catch-up time, during which you silence them and cast your remaining instant snare while closing the distance for either a tree-inferno-shock or going straight into wind weaving.

As with a grounded cleric, if they stop to use their most powerful heals in such a setting, you can close in for wind weaving which, hopefully, seals your victory -- you should be able to out-DPS their healing.


Cleric on the run

As with a flying cleric, an instant snare followed by silence and another instant snare allows you to gain some distance. It's not as difficult as fighting a flying cleric though, as your 25m range counts for more. At any point if you feel confident you can get it off, try for a tree. Aether's Hold, if available, is excellent for putting a panicking cleric into stand-still-and-heal mode.

You'll want to catch them fast though, as their root is on a ten-second cooldown.


Cleric on the run, in the air

Good luck catching that thing. A flying cleric can dispel all of your snares and fly out of range of almost all your cast time spells while healing any incidental damage you manage to do to him. If you're Asmo, you might have some luck with Boon of Quickness combined with an unrecoverable snary-silency-piece-of-burst, but us bleached ravens (to appropriate a Nezekan legion name) really have to hope it's a crappy cleric!

And on to general tips...

• Clerics have short duration shields such as Blessed Shield. It's not much of an issue -- it's essentially just a preemptive heal -- but it will block an Aether's Hold attempt, so watch their buffs!
• While a cleric will open with damaging attacks, they usually won't be in a position to recast them if you keep on them. They may not hurt as much as your attacks... but then, you can't heal. Offense is your best defense.
• If a cleric gets to that panicky stage where they feel compelled to stand still to cast their best heals on themselves, you will probably kill them.
• In flying group PvP, consider CCing the cleric instead of targeting them first. They are an absolute bitch to catch!
• Their 4000 DP ability is rather nasty. Fortunately, you can dispel it with a potion.
• Difficulty: Low.
• Difficulty to kill: Medium-Impossible depending on circumstance.

vs Chanters

After that mammoth of white space dedicated to the Cleric class, this should be refreshing. Chanters can only heal if standing still, and to less of an extent than a cleric: wind weaving will result in a quick chanter death, especially if you weave silence in. If you need to kill one quick, Aether's Hold works in a pinch.

• Difficulty: Free Kill

In all seriousness though, look out for them if you have your shield down: their crits can knock you down, interrupting what you were reading or popping your monocle.

And I do have a monocle.

vs Spirit Masters

Spirit Masters are the huntards of Aion, but fortunately one of the less common classes. It is difficult to find an SM that knows how to hold a tome the right way up. In most circumstances you will find these creatures and paste them into the ground very quickly while laughing (until the dot tick interrupts your animation). But do not underestimate... Spirit Masters are one of the most powerful solo PvP classes, if not the most powerful, and if by chance you do run into an SM that doesn't suck... be afraid. Well, you won't need to put any special effort into being afraid... the SM has you covered. (Un)fortunately for me, I haven't run into the best SMs on my server in a 1v1 setting, but I've still run into enough not-shit examples to give some valuable pointers.

What makes them so powerful? A few major abilities stand from the rest:

• They can dispel your buffs... this includes your shield.
• Most of their damage is DoT-based, which bypasses your shield anyway.
• Fear is a godly CC -- imagine if Sleep didn't increase Elemental Resistance or break on damage and you have Fear. They have three spells which has this effect, for 14 (lucky) to 41 (unlucky) total seconds of taking full damage while being able to do nothing.
  

Fear is somewhat mitigated by two factors: an SM's damage is limited and you move constantly away from them while affected by it. It's classified as a mental debuff, meaning it is dispellable, but only by a cleric who knows you're feared (most go straight for the physical dispel when they see a green health bar).

The general tactic here is to inflict massive amounts of damage on them and locking down their casts as often as humanly possible.

• Open with tree and cast inferno when there's 3.5 seconds remaining, or vaizel's wisdom+tree+DB+inferno (make sure to include a half second gap between DB and inferno when using Vaizel's wisdom or the inferno will clip the tree before it breaks, doing pitiful damage). The goal here isn't just damage, it's to kill the SM's shield.
• Follow with silence, or if you want to risk it, Ice Chain + silence to lower his mobility (an important psychological effect in PvP aside from its practical uses). Expect him to use his dispel potion here.
• When his shield is down, Ice Chain + Frozen Blast to get your stun in and/or Sleep+Aether's Hold. Don't be afraid to break sleep with AH's initial damage; the subsequent pew pew laser hits will do full damage.
  
• Close the gap asap (preferably when you tree him) for freezing wind weaving.
• Most SMs have their own silence spell (it's a Stigma); save your dispel potion cooldowns for this. Recast your silence whenever it's off cooldown.
  
• You can expect them to eventually fear you. If they're any good, it'll be a chain fear. At level 42+ they have an instant fear, too. There's nothing you can do when this happens, just hope you'll ride it out.
  
• Blind Leap between/before fears to help trip him up.
• This is a perfect example of a PvP situation where stacking HP or MR is the vastly superior choice (I'm going to try stacked MB though one day, for the hell of it xD).
  
• While you can reapply tree/sleep mid battle for a burst wind up or Aether's Hold, make sure you do it quickly -- their DoTs are still in effect and you're giving his abilities a chance to cool down.
  
• Their pet constitutes a lot of their damage. Many abilities of theirs can only be done via their pet. But don't attack it; rather, just root it out of the way or tank it. Don't waste precious seconds and cooldowns on tree/sleep.
• Wind weaving's exceptional DPS really shines versus an SM, but be aware that they have a 1.5 second cast point blank AoE fear (an essential SM stigma ability). Be ready to blind leap out of range. Don't let this put you off wind weaving an SM, though... even if leap is off cooldown or you're not fast enough, the exceptional damage of weaving will often interrupt such spells.
• When your shield is dispelled but off cooldown, wait a couple of seconds then reapply it. Their dispel has a cooldown and chances are they won't even notice the reapplication due to DoT damage bypassing it.
  
• Ground Difficulty: Medium-Hard.
• Air Difficulty: Hard. An SM in the air can DoT you up and simply fly out of range. They're at least easier to catch than a cleric, though. No Aether's Hold.

vs Sorcerers

The fairest fight you could possibly imagine and also one of the most fun.

The first thing to realise is that you're probably both going to open with the same thing: Tree and Inferno. It's a good opener; as long as their shield remains up you are unable to Aether's Hold or Shock them. The issue is getting that opener! If you are both aware to the other's presence, you'll probably just end up treeing each other at the same time. If this happens, a good tactic is to Soul Freeze the instant you come out of it then follow into a few seconds of weaving before backing off (they can do the same thing back to you) or sleep + inferno.

Of course, such fights are very fluid; a dispel potion blows the above tactic out of the water for example. One method of securing your tree before them is to backleap into them before they are in range of you, causing them to untarget you. In such a situation you can even opt for a Sleep opener if you plan on needing another CC burst later.

• If silenced, run out of range or if you can't or are too close, use a dispel potion. If you've saved Leap and aren't too close to him, you can use that to avoid the silence entirely (or get some distance to walk it off).
• Freezing wind is, as usual, great... but this is an equal fight so you can expect the same on you. You may think that initiating a wind weaving fight to be counter productive, but whoever does initiate it has the damage edge that in my experience can overcome even a large HP pool difference. Often, enemy sorcerers won't even know about wind weaving.
  
• Chances are, you'll both have double shields during this fight. Be ready to tree+burst again, or root, silence and weave the shield away. Root prevents him from moving until the shield is gone (or they use a dispel).
• Use your DoTs carefuly... you might need to CC them in a jiffy.
• Don't wind up a CC-burst unless you have something good to go with it like Inferno.
• Don't cast Aether's Hold with their shield up, or without first silencing or treeing them.
• If your shield is down and he's trying to Aether's Hold you, be quick on Ironclad (this will be tough for me as I'm planning on putting Illusion in its place -.-)
• If you have Vaizel's Wisdom or Boon of Quickness, you will have a massive edge. Damn Asmodians.

Vaizel's Wisdom: it's like a portable chanter

Spell Tips
Not a brand of cigarette

Root and Winter Binding
Better late than never: The duration of these two spells remain full in PvP. Rejoice! It can of course be dispelled with a potion, but this isn't always an option for your opponent. Especially if your opponent is a Spirit Master's pet.

Vaizel's Wisdom
Is this stigma worth it? Short answer: yes. Long answer: yeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. In addition to its usual faster-spells funk, it also speeds up your animations... this not only means it's a blanket +25% casting speed, it also means more Aether Flames in one Aether's Hold! Be wary when using this with Tree, DB and Inferno though: Inferno will go off before Delayed Blast by about 0.5 seconds and clip the tree, so pause briefly after casting DB. What it won't do is lower cooldowns... so don't use this with Freezing Wind weaving unless you want to weave longer cast time spells.

Wind Cut Down ranks II, III and IV
At present, WCD 2 and 3 stigmas are very expensive. Too expensive in my humble opinion. The small increase in damage for a temporary stigma simply cannot be justified at that price. Rank IV is the highest level WCD however, so there's no harm in aiming for that if you are fantastically wealthy. Rank I remains effective up into the 40's but I will also forgive you for swapping it out for something else for the time being.

Ice Harpwn
As if we didn't have enough harpwn in our lives, we get this sexy beast. This technically does slightly less damage than Wind Cut Down does total, but it does it instantly and will do full damage to monsters that are immune to bleed effects. It does significantly more damage than Flame Harpwn and is on a separate cooldown. Its long cast time makes it umm-ahh for PvP but I won't know until I've actually tried it. For PvE however, this thing is sex.

Frost/Frostbite
You can get this spell from an instance (Aetherogenics Lab for Elyos, Alquimia Research Center for Asmodians) or with a ridiculous amount of kinah from the broker. I was lucky and got it on my first run. Aside from looking exceptionally cool, it has many uses. Its damage is nothing to be scoffed at; it's like a ranged Freezing Wind in that aspect (and is a great spell to weave into Freezing Wind, too). It is a brilliant burst spell when combined with other spells. Its slowing component is great for snaring runners or slowing persuers, but it's also great for something else: breaking glide. I still laugh hysterically whenever I frost someone's wings away as they glide off a cliff. The awesome spell animation just adds to the effect!

It's not all good, though: the slowing component of this spell seems to be at the bottom of the snare food chain. Not only will Ice Chain and Robe of Frost's slow effect both overwrite Frost's slow, they also prevent Frost's slow effect entirely. One second left on Ice Chain when you cast Frost? Frost's slow won't take effect. Gladiator hit your robe of frost just as you use ice chain? Apparently, Robe's 4 second slow is more important than Frost's 12 second slow. If you want to use this spell for its slowing effect, make sure your target doesn't have any other slows on it already. Wait for them to wear off before you use it.

Soul Freeze
The silence effect of this is fantastic for most classes.
Gladiators: No real effect (prevents their self-heal but they probably won't die before it wears off).
Rangers: Prevents silences, sleeps, evasion.
Assassins: Prevents ambushes, aethertwisting, evasion.
Clerics, Chanters, Sorcerers, Sprit Masters: Prevents everything.
Templar: I haven't experimented enough to know what silence blocks for them :(

Magic Fist
This spell is worth two Aether Flames. If you normally are able to get 4 Aether Flames and a Fist off, all good... but if you seem to only get 5 shots sometimes and 4 most of the time, consider using fist one shot earlier than you would. Only managing 4 flames and missing the fist is really lame.

Boon of Quickness (Asmodian)
A godly spell, every Asmodian sorcerer should aim to acquire this Stigma. Two second Infernos. One second harpoons. 0.75 trees and 0.5 second silences. In addition, it stacks with a Chanter's Word of Quickness for... you guessed it... instant-cast spells. You will literally run out of damage spells to cast. It doesn't stack with Wisdom stigmas though, so you can forget about using Vaizel's at the same time ;).

Boon of Strength (Elyos)
500 MB = about +41% damage. It does not stack with Wisdom stigmas. Given that its cooldown is 20 times longer than Zikel's Wisdom for a mere +16% on damage, I cannot recommend this Stigma.

Jump Casting
When fighting a melee player, jump casting every spell can add up to a few meters of distance. How do you jump cast? As you finish casting any timed spell, just before it ends, tap jump in a direction. You will continue to finish the spell animation as you jump. Not worth it if you'd be jumping up hill but it really does allow you to get another spell or two in.

Next issue of Sorcery: Sorcerer Stigmas: an overarching review and preview.

Sorcery VI

Welcome back ladies and ladyboys! Today I will touch on PvP. I, like everybody else, am learning... but that doesn't mean I can't share what I've learned thus far with the world. There are some classes I wish I'd fight more (or fight more skilled ones at least) but I believe I have some down pat :). In addition to my ramblings, there is a (somewhat old) translated korean strategy guide for the sorcerer.

Get good enough and maybe* you can solo this

PvP's a whole different spaceship of shugo compared to PvE. No longer do rotations come into play; PvP is all about proactivity and reactivity, learning to anticipate what your opponent(s) are doing and what spell to cast for the situation. This is essentially where skill comes in... the pursuit of skill is the pursuit of knowing the perfect move to make given any situation. Still, there are some tips that can be transmitted via blog medium! Note that all of this comes from a pre-level cap sorcerer (41) and thus may not be current at 50.


Gear

What to wear you might ask? The top koreans seem to lean towards full HP or full Magic Resist. Those are two defensive stats I respect, but I wouldn't drop Magical Accuracy entirely -- it's just too important in PvP. Can you imagine if your roots were resisted with a decked gladiator hurtling towards you? Or a resisted silence? Doom is what comes to mind.

To this end, the best Abyss gear has HP on it... but of course they require badges. So often you just need to improvise. As I previously mentioned in another issue of Sorcery, HP just isn't around on leveling gear as much as I'd like. Sometimes you just need to pick up that MP gear just to keep current with the gear's Magic Resistance, etc. So instead, dedicate a larger percentage of your sockets to HP instead. MR manastones can wait for the highest levels, when you start finding HP gear more readily available. I would also keep some room for MA manastones, but don't bother with MB manastones for PvP -- you have tons of damage. Your main focus is on survivability and HP, MR and MA all work towards this goal.


Moves

Master backleap. It is fantastic if only for confusing your opponent as to where your location is. Against ranged classes it's brilliant for getting up close and personal for some Freezing Wind weaving. Against a class that will open with CC, such as a spirit master or sorcerer, leap will untarget you allowing you to get it in first but you'll need to still be close enough to get it off, which means backleaping.

Practice weaving Freezing Wind. Get close to someone and cast it, followed by any damage spell (the faster the better, so prioritise Fusion, Wind Cut Down, etc first) then repeat. It's your highest damage rotation -- if used against a Cleric, you may even find that you'll outdps their heals with nothing else required. Best used against clerics, rangers and SMs, but also great against Sorcerers if they're not used to weaving FW... you'll have the upper hand.

The Abyss is my dancemat

Jumpcasting: most useful with Winter's Binding. If you cast Winter's Binding and jump, you can cancel the animation entirely, giving you precious seconds to move while your opponents are instantly snared. It's difficult to time right (I still suck at it) and there's no visual indication of the WB working so this is definitely something to work on :). On another note with WB, consider breaking your CC with it on templar or gladiators: it will keep them in place without bumping up their elemental resistance... though this is a bad idea on Assassins as they can aethertwist your spells or if your opponent has the presence of mind to use a dispel potion.

Tab chaining: when casting Ice Chain, you can change target and Frozen Shock a separate target. Brilliant if two people are chasing you, or you're keeping someone off you and want to interrupt the healer, etc. Situational but good to keep up your sleeve.

Skew the fight towards happening on the ground: we can't leap or Aether's Hold in aerial combat. In the abyss this is mostly psychological, for eg if you have the jump, land before opening and they'll be less likely to open their wings. If you have the time or potions and your opponent will be tricky, consider running or CCing until they have to land.


vs. Templar

Prior to the highest levels, templar don't do jack all damage. Templar will only pose a threat if they have the best gear with dps manastones, or in that it takes so long to kill them that someone else might run into you. But that doesn't mean you should slack: the length of the fight is his advantage. You can't just burst him down or chain him all day; depending on the room you have to move, he will eventually whittle down your shield.

• Keep Ice Chain on him constantly. When IC comes off cooldown, there's a 2 second window in which to recast it before it wears off him, so plan into the future.
• Use Flame Cage... the lack of Tree/Sleep is not substantial versus a templar but the time taken to kill him is. :P
  
• Constantly move unless you have a Frozen Shock up your sleeve and are confident you can get a good round of spells off before you need to move and/or recast IC.
• If he does get in melee range (due to incompetence, or speed, or confined area) he will likely get your shield down eventually. Fortunately, by that time, you probably have it off cooldown again :). It's best to make sure shield is kept up, otherwise he can drag you into him every 30 seconds.
• Save leap for whenever he uses Inescapable Judgement. The movement slowing effect will kick in even if you have shield up. Shield prevents you from being dragged to him though.
• Possibly the hardest part of the fight is finishing the bugger off. He will likely know that the fight is not going his way long before his end. Be ready for a chase scene with roots and ice chain!
• Templar can easily prevent Aether's Hold, so only do it if he's unable to use any abilities, ie. is tree'd.
• It may not be the hardest fight in the world but don't get cocky. He has all the time in the world to whittle your shield and health down.
• Robe Choice: Cold for control. Flame is also acceptable. Earth's regen is not required; the fight is long but the dps is not intensive.
  
• Ground Difficulty: Low
• Air Difficulty: Low. Cons: no leap. Consider abandoning Flame Cage and treeing him when he IJ's
  

vs Gladiator

I previously thought these little shits were free kills, until I found some that don't suck. Gear really is the measure of this fight though: someone decked in gear can obliterate you the first time they get up to you if you're not careful, while others won't get through your shield. Don't hang about to see which type your opponent is.

• As with Templar, try to keep Ice Chain up. This time however, be a bit more conservative: you do NOT want this guy catching up to you so tree or root if you think he will before your IC finishes.
• Don't Cage him: you'll need your CC.
• Keep Mobile. I cannot stress enough that he can't be allowed to make contact with your squishy arse.
• If he does get up to you, he'll more than likely get through your shield. When that happens, you can be knocked down by his crits (which are plentiful) and stunned (not cool) and Aethers Hold'd (which will likely spell your end). First priority is thus reshielding if available. If not, get the hell out of there! Leap, Root, Tree, do anything you can to get some distance between you.
• If your shield is down and he's about to get in range (or is in range), Ironclad in anticipation of stuns/knockdowns/aether's hold.
  
• If he uses Charge, chain CC him until it wears off.
  
• If he potions your root, use your other roots (Winter Binding for eg) or CC him instead for some distance.
• Gladiators have ranged abilities which will eventually whittle you (or your shield) down. It's important not to string the fight out for too long.
  
• Fight in bursts. Tree, Burst, Sleep, Burst, etc.
• Robe Choice: Cold: their ranged attacks will slow them ;). You want to drop them quickly so flame is also acceptable. Earth's regen is not required.
  
• Ground Difficulty: Low-High (depends on gear and setting). Cons: can be knocked down by crits when on ground.
  
• Air Difficulty: Medium-High (depends on gear and setting). Cons: no leap, jumpcast or aether's hold; harder to judge distances.

vs Assassin

Finally, a worthy opponent. The assassin was the anti-sorcerer prior to 1.5 but PvP damage reduction sorted that out. Now the two classes make for a fun and fair fight. I've seen two general tactics work against this class.

Approach one: Burst + Control

Similar to the gladiator, you attempt to slow or CC the assassin and do your damage in chunky bursts. The pro to this style is that if pulled off correctly, they'll have less contact with your squishy arse. The cons? Assassins have two anti-sorcerer abilities, Evasion (resist one spell) and Aethertwisting (stigma, resists two spells), each on a separate 30 second cooldown. You need to get around this by using quick spells such as Fusion or a FB+Blaze chain to burn the resists away before applying your CC/burst. You also need to keep a mental timer on when these abilities cool down. You can use Flame Cage to instantly burn one of their resists away but be careful: if mistimed and the cage lands, you've just fucked half of your CC and much of your burst for fifteen seconds ^^. You can use Robe of Cold for this but there's a good chance it will break on of your CCs if they make it to melee range.

Approach two: Freestyle DPS

Perhaps not the most traditional method, it is none the less one I found that works none the less. The disadvantage of using Flame Cage on an assassin is that you can't tree or sleep them. The advantage is that you don't need to worry about it getting through aethertwisting... as you won't be using Tree/Sleep anyway! With this method, instead of CC + Burst, you instead just use movement and sustained damage with quick damage spells. It's a more on-your-toes method and will get your robes quite dirty.

Use Robe of Cold and stay on the move. Whenever he hits you he will be slowed. Erratically change your direction and Freezing Wind as you pass him. Use Flame Cage to burn his twists at every move, and keep it up on him regardless for the dps. Root and jumpcast Winter's Binding where possible to get distance. Don't bother with ice chain unless you have good distance and you know his twists are on cooldown; instead, just cast quick spells like Soul Freeze, Flame Fusion, Wind Cut Down, etc. Disclaimer: I haven't tried this tactic on someone with less than 200 ping yet ^^.

Since learning to kick Vylette's arse, tension has been high

Back to general tips...

• Learn what the Evasion and Aethertwisting buff icons look like. Never cast a noteworthy spell like Root while they are active. Instead, wait them out or burn them with quick spells. Remember that a mistimed Flame Cage will screw up your tree/sleeps for the next 15 seconds.
  
• Only cast Aether's Hold, Inferno, etc. while they are tree/sleeped or you are certain their twists are on cooldown.
• Oceanic players (all players?) aren't optimal while on a moving target. Using movement and robe of cold you can actually Freezing Wind a skilled assassin to death.
• Keep mental note of their twist cooldowns. Even if you get a root off, they might twist your ice chain, inferno, etc. Cancel casting important spells as soon as you see a twist icon appear.
  
• The assassin will get in range to get some damage in several times during the fight, guaranteed.
• Only use leap to escape melee if you can't CC them (cooldown or twists up).
• If your shield is down and they're in melee range, Ironclad in anticipation of stuns/aethertwisting/spin.
• Silence locks down a LOT of Assassin abilities; use it whenever you can get it in. Similarly, Magic Resist will prevent a lot of abilities (such as the ambush stun) from taking hold.
• Clairvoyance will not work against a level 34+ assassin; they get advanced hide.
• Robe Choice: Cold. This is not a damage fight, it is a control fight: cold will serve you most of the time. Earth's regen is not needed and Flame's damage increase is not substantial enough.
  
• Ground Difficulty: High. Cons: he can aether's hold you.
  
• Air Difficulty: High. Pros: assassins aren't very effective when you move erratically. Flight gives you an extra axis :). Cons: can't aether's hold, leap or jumpcast.

vs Ranger

Another close fight. Whoever gets the opener has the advantage: we can unload some amazing burst and then silence them. They can unload some amazing burst and then silence us.

• Dispel potions are a must. If you bawlk at their price, don't complain when you get nailed to the wall. You need dispel potions to break their silence ability; don't use it for anything else.
• If you get the air jump on them, a good burst chain is
  Sleep -> Delayed Blast -> Ice Chain -> Frozen Shock -> Soul Freeze
  Follow that up with damage spells. Save your tree for a second round of burst... I always forget to!
• If you get the ground jump, it might be best to skip IC and go for Aether's Hold.
  
• He'll likely dispel your silence, or it'll wear off before you've killed him, so be ready to dispel his.
  
• Silence messes up rangers pretty bad. You'll notice their previously amazing damage go to hell. Many rangers don't anticipate silence: work to this.
  
• Unlike other ranged classes, rangers don't have any shielding or stun prevention. Everything you do eats into their finite health.
• Every window you give the ranger is a window in which they can sleep or silence you.
  
• Ranger's sleep last something like 12 seconds in PvP, compared to our eight. In addition it doesn't mess with their damage, unlike our sleep. If they do get a sleep off on you, expect some nasty burst. If you have shield up it will rip through it and probably be capped by a nasty stun. Magical resistance really is undervalued.
  
• If they had the opener, you can expect that sleep to be the end of you.
• If you had the opener, you can tree or sleep them for a second round of burst.
• As with Assassins, rangers have Evasion. Since that's only 1/3 of the spells that a assassin can resist, it's easy to forget about it. Try and keep it in mind and watch for the evasion buff icon.
• Most rangers won't bother laying traps against a sorcerer. Use that to your advantage and backleap into them for some FW weaving! Be aware of traps if chasing a fleeing ranger, though.
  
• Unlike Assassins, the Ranger's hide skill can be seen through with Clairvoyance.
• If a ranger gets the jump on you, your best move is to Soul Freeze them (rather than tree) and go from there. You have a fighting chance if they don't dispel it.
• Robe Choice: Flame. Cold will break any trees/sleeps you place on them most of the time, switch quickly if fighting a ranger. Earth's regen is not needed as the fight will not last long.
  
• Difficulty: High. Pretty much depends on who gets the jump.
  

As with all PvP combat, difficulty relies entirely on the skill of the opposing player, the gear of the opposing player, the level difference and the setting. Keep that in mind if you lose to a templar in a 5 meter by 5 meter arena or kick Spirit Master's arse who is 5 levels below you.

Dueling is the safest and most efficient way to get your skills and tactics up. Duel everyone you see and accept all requests, especially if they're a couple levels higher than you! Just don't take duels seriously: there's no honour at stake, nobody will think any less of you if you get creamed. Use the duel to learn. Try unproven tactics, make intentionally stupid moves to see if you can recover, and above all don't whine or give any excuse if you lose, even if it's valid. It just makes you look like a tit.


Spell Tips
The ubiquitous section

Boon of Iron-Clad
This ability, when used, will overwrite your Stoneskin buff. As stoneskin prevents everything that Ironclad does, never use it while Stoneskin is up!

Lumiel's Wisdom
I feel confident enough now to call this an essential sorcerer ability. Never abandon this Stigma, ever, or you will run Out Of Mana!

Boon of Clairvoyance
At level 34, Assassins get advanced hide. Clairvoyance will no longer see stealthed assassins past that level. Rangers are still uncovered, though.

Aether Flame
I previously had this hotkeyed and could get four during one Aether Hold, sometimes five. Since moving my abilities around on my bars, I need to click it now... and appear to be getting five reliably every time I use it. I have no +attack speed or +spell speed gear as of yet. Anecdotal or pro tip? You decide!

Soul Absorption
As this abilities damage directly affects how much mana you gain, consider using Zikel's Wisdom (if you have it) whenever using it for maximum mana gain.

Lightburst/Shadowburst
I've used this twice in PvP so far. The first time against a chanter which one-shot him, doing 4000 damage. The second time against another chanter which also one-shot him, doing 4500 damage. Both chanters were within my level range. My 5k health cleric buddy in my guild was also one shotted yesterday. If you have Zikel's Wisdom, you can add another +25% onto that damage. It's official chaps: we can one shot people.

Soul Freeze (aka Silence)
I mention this spell in this issue but you may be wondering what it is. Well, here you have it: a 30 second cooldown, 8 second silence, 1 second cast ability that inflicts a good amount of damage. If that sounds overpowered... well, it is. That said I'm damn glad I have it as it definitely makes certain class match ups a lot more bareable. In PvP it should essentially be cast whenever it's off cooldown as silence kills a LOT of abilities for all classes (and it's technically the highest dps non-DP spell we have, excluding Inferno). Silence can be removed with a dispel potion of the appropriate level.

Flaming Meteor
If this looks good, I'll forgive you. In practice, it rarely stuns. It's also awkward to cast... you need to select the ability then wait about a second before clicking the target area, otherwise it will make your character start running off into the distance :|. Its AOE damage is also lackluster: in PvE it does about 1000 damage to everything in range... with a recast of 5 minutes. I have yet to make this spell work for me.

Frost/Frostbite
This upcoming spell (for me) is almost insulting for other classes. Yup, we get another snare... and what a snare! You can think of it as Root, but instead of the target being unable to move until you damage it, it gets slowed for a full twelve seconds and takes a nasty spike of damage. The cons? Apparently, you can only get it from instances, not city vendors.


Next issue of Sorcery: Sorcerer, Spirit Master, Cleric and Chanter PvP tips!

Sorcery V

After posting information about stats and spells, I think it's high time that I get into rotations. I'll also correct some of my information in previous Sorcery installments. Screw editing old posts; I'll keep this column stream-of-consciousness. I've broken off from leveling with Tora and Lewin for the most part and find myself soloing both PvE and PvP to a greater extent... which is fantastic for my XP and sorcerer learnings, if not my ability to survive running into a rifting group xD. This guide will assume you are level 34. You're likely not, so subtract abilities you don't have... it should not affect the rotation any.


Solo PvE

By now you've probably figured out a good solo rotation so I won't go into this much. If you're taking around 25-30 seconds per monster then it's worthwhile to not hold back. First use Lumiel's Wisdom or Zikel's Wisdom if you have either of them.

DB -> IC -> FS -> Fusion -> Cage -> (Wind Harpwn) -> Harpwn -> FB -> Blaze

Certainly makes a difference from WoW, doesn't it? That's a complete chain of unique spells. By this point it should be dead, whatever it is. If not, either whip your book/orb out or harpwn/fb until it is, depending on its remaining health. If you've stacked HP exclusively or don't have wind cut down then you may need to insert more harpwn. Blink if you need to and don't be afraid to use root, it's only a minute cooldown, you'll be fine ^^. While casting instant spells such as Blaze and Cage you can run away from the mob (don't backpedal).

Of course, not all monsters last that long. Monsters in the abyss for example tend to be somewhat frail. For this we need a pair of rotations... to rotate between.

DB -> IC -> Fusion -> (Wind Harpwn) -> Harpwn -> FB -> Blaze -> FB
IC -> FS -> Fusion -> (Wind Harpwn) -> Harpwn -> FB -> Fusion -> FB

Yo dawg, i heard u leik rotations... Er. The reason for a pair of rotations is to save your cooldowns. You will otherwise kill one monster excessively fast and then have to muck around killing the next in line for hot fiery death. Cage is generally not worth bothering with against monsters that die quickly as if it doesn't get its final few ticks in, it's inefficient damage-per-mana wise. The rotation of DB and FS means that you'll always open with an acceptable piece of burst.

Of course, every two minutes you can always just cast the following gamebreaker...

DB -> IC -> FS -> Fusion -> Inferno -> (anything)

... but you didn't need me to give you an excuse to use Inferno :)


Group PvE

I refer here, of course, to proper groups: tank, healer, instance/elites, etc. Our role here changes to a cross between damage mitigation (via Crowd Control) and damage dealer. Your damage rotation changes in that you won't always have things off cooldown when your tank pulls the next monster and some spells just aren't as worthy of your attention: in fact, rotation is swept aside in preference to a priority system. The standard priorities, in order:

• Cage
• (Wind Harpwn)
• Fusion
• Blaze (yes, blaze -- but only if you're finding yourself getting resists)
  
• Harpwn
• FB

Other spells have their place, of course: IC->FS is quite helpful for its chance to interrupt monster abilities if you can anticipate it or take some heat off the tank. Inferno is just worth casting whenever it's off cooldown (but watch your burst threat!), as is Aether's Hold. On that note, if using Vent, announce when you're using Aether's Hold so that other classes can make use of it. If there's multiple mobs, you're not using CC and you have Fire Burst, use that whenever it's off cooldown.

But perhaps our greatest group role is CC: Crowd Control. This usually needs to be designated by your tank first. Treeing or sleeping a monster that's in melee range of everyone is likely to be broken by Gladiator AOE or even by the tank himself (it's hard to see if some monsters are slept, such as the gargoyles in Fire Temple). Simple old Root can be used on monsters that don't have ranged attacks. If tree is resisted you can use sleep. You can use both root, tree and sleep to indefinitely disable two mobs, or temporarily disable three. I've noticed in Aion that you really need to announce that you're doing CC before you CC, or have marks up before you CC, or it's likely to be broken.


Solo PvP

This topic deserves an entire section on its own (hmm, good idea!) but there are some openers and conditionals that usually ring true no matter the situation. If they haven't seen you, open with Delayed Blast. If they're likely to run, cast IC. If you're unlikely to need to CC them after opening on them, use Cage.

If they've seen you, cast tree. From there you have lots of options:

• Delayed Blast + Inferno, or if you need to move, get your distance + Inferno, making sure the tree will run out before Inferno goes off. DB will break the tree for you if you don't need to move.
  
• If they're likely to run, DB + IC + FS + Inferno is a decent opener. They'll have a moment of time though between IC and FS, so make sure you're not fighting something that can mess you up during that time (such as a ranger) and are close enough that they don't get out of range.
• If you need to move, you can either settle with opening with IC or Sleep them, giving you an additional chance to wind up an opener. Note that having both CC's on cooldowns is risky though!
  
• Sometimes it's best to open with Sleep so that you have CC in a snap, in the form of tree. Particularly useful against melee classes or shield classes.
• If it's a mage with a shield up then here's a nice rotation I've found: Open with sleep if possible, nuke them with a damage spell or two (inferno works), time a tree to go off before sleep wears off and then continue with your real opener. This takes a nice chunk out of their shield before the fight's started. I should note however that I don't know for sure whether or not Tree/Sleep's elemental defenses also apply to the shield. If they do then this rotation isn't quite as awesome as I've made it sound :(
  

Fusion is a very nice spell but be aware that it is very flashy. Someone seeing it under their feet will immediately have a psychological impression that they are taking damage. If you're trying to wind up a burst on someone like a healer, consider taking Fusion out of your rotation: in my experience it causes a lot of players to wise up to me and move out of range.


Group PvP

Again, CC comes into play here, but not just disabling CC this time: Ice Chain becomes very handy to allow your melee classes to close the distance or prevent runners. Root becomes somewhat less reliable due to its tendancy to be removed by clerics or dispel potions. On that note, if there's a cleric in the opposing party's group, either focus him or CC him: he'll just dispel his team mates. Call out spirit masters and sorcerers and tree them if they have their shield up: your damage dealers will carve through his shield like butter without breaking the tree until it is down. If there's a ranger you want to CC, make sure they're not attacking you or you're not using Robe of Cold as his delayed shots + RoC's proc will break any CC you put on him.

Also, calling Aether's Hold on a healer is a must: unless there's another cleric or they have lots of CC, he's likely fucked :)


And finally, some more spell notes!

Zikel's Wisdom
I'm a complete idiot, of course this is available for both factions xD. It's also a worthy replacement for Lumiel's Wisdom as the additional damage means you don't need to spend as much mana on spells to kill your target. It gives you a flat +25% damage for its duration and appears to still be awesome if it takes your MB past 1200.

Curse of Weakness
I still haven't tried this stigma yet, but I've found out higher ranks raise the percentage of damage taken per spell cast. The level 40 version (rank 2) takes a whopping 10% of your target's health off per spellcast! I am so getting that.

Robe of Cold
This spell will break any CC you've placed on your attacker, if they are able to get some shots off before you cast the CC. This mostly means rangers but it can also mean casters and glads/assassins with their bows out. Switch to another robe if you're fighting them and need CC.

Wind Cut Down
It's as sexy as it looks: Flame Harpoon with an additional 600 damage as a dot component (at 31 with average MB). GET IT.

Tranquilising Cloud
Last issue I said it had a massive range. I misread. It's only a 5 meter radius on your target. Sorry ;)! It also doesn't raise any elemental defenses. So if you have 3000+dp consider using it to wind up an extremely nasty burst of damage on whomever you're fighting. I also have yet to test this but I suspect it lasts the full duration even in PvP.

Fire Burst
This stigma turned out to be really underwhelming. The 500 AOE damage it does in PvP at level 34 is not worth bothering with and the 1k every 14 seconds in PvE isn't used as much as you'd think. It's not a completely arse spell, it's just not worth a stigma slot in my opinion. Lumiel's or Zikel's are more preferable.

Flame Fusion
As mentioned, this has a real psychological impact in PvP, possibly even more so than Inferno: it's an extreme visual indicator that you're taking damage from a high damage, bursty class. Use it sparingly if against someone likely to run. Also, resistances can go negative in Aion -- this spell will make your target take more damage even if their resistance is at zero.


!! Holy Shit Bonus Section !!

Level 37's incoming and I'd like to give my first impressions after mulling the new abilities over.

Magic Fist
This spell completes Aether's Hold for Sorcerers... literally. Thought Aether's Hold + Four Pew Pew lasers were cool? Make the fourth pew pew laser do 3x the damage >:). This effectively gives us the equivalent of six pew pew lasers per Aether's Hold but more than that, it raises our burst we can do during that four seconds, which while previously unhindered due to the immobility of AH, was... let's face it... somewhat average in the DPS/burst department. I can't wait for +20% attack speed gear. Heh... we get to fist people (snicker)

Vaizel's Wisdom
If this doesn't look big, shame on you. As far as I know it doesn't reduce animations, only spell cast time, so it's not a blanket -25% spell casting time ability... but it'll make your inferno 4 seconds instead of 3, Ice Chain and Flame Harpwn 1.5 seconds instead of 2, etcetera. You can see the appeal of this in a PvP setting and I definitely want to acquire this stigma.

Soul Absorption
It looks like a flame harpoon on a 5 minute cooldown, yes, but it should instead just be looked at as... Life Tap. Yes, Life Tap from WoW. It takes 10% of your health and gives you 500+ mana in return. It's simply a mana management spell. The damage is just icing.

Hooray at more abilities to place on my burgeoning bars....


Next issue of Sorcery: Sorcerer PvP tips!

Sorcery IV

The three of us have been somewhat off and on this last few days so I'm not quite the level I'd like to be. Nonetheless I have plenty of more titillatingly tasty information for my flying saucer friends. In this issue of Sorcery I will talk about level 25-35 abilities and revisit some familiar spells for yet another dive into tips and tricks for PvP and PvE.

Pay heed and even you could be as rich as us one day!

At level 28 and 31 you get a few more spells. The sexiness of one level 28 spell in particular is not immediately apparent...

Aether's Hold
Aside from doing a modest amount of damage, this spell will throw your target into the air for four seconds, rendering them unable to do anything. But it has a reasonably long cast time (2.8 seconds), a two minute duration and four seconds doesn't really seem like much of a window to do anything, right? I mean, it's great if you want to snare something that's melee in more style than Root for a quick getaway, but it's pretty underwhelming.


Aether Flame
Enter Aether Flame: an ability you'll pick up three levels later at 31. This spell can only be cast at things in the "Open Aerial" state, which means Aether's Hold and other class spells -- yes, Sorcerer isn't the only class that can do it. It's instant cast and has a 0.5 second cooldown (which is shorter than its animation) so you can spam it to your hearts content while the creature is floating in the air. When you first get this spell, you'll be hitting for about 450-500 damage per cast and will be able to get it off about four times before the spell expires. If you run forward as you cast each flame, you'll get +10% magical damage from the movement bonus.

Sounds decent? It gets better. As you level you will have access to +attack speed gear. This gear won't speed up your spells but what it will do is speed up the after-cast animation your character does before it lets you move or cast your next spell. Get up to +20% of this gear and a decent enough ping and you can fire seven Aether Flames during one Aether's Hold. I shouldn't really be going this high in this issue, but at 37 you get an additional AH-only ability that does even more damage and ends the AH effect.

The best use of this spell, aside from taking down monsters quickly of course, is to burst someone down without them being able to react -- this immediately would scream HEALERS to the PvP-inclined sorcerer but it also means any class you anticipate being able to seriously inhibit your ability to win within the next few seconds, such as someone trying to get a CC on you, someone prone to running, someone with a key ability about to cool down, etc. In addition, if somebody else uses their AH equivalent to throw an enemy up into the air, you can use Aether's Flame freely on their target. If on ventrilo, announce when you are about to use AH for full group synergy. And if you're a gladiator reading this, don't knock them down until the end of the AH! Let us get some pew pew lazers in!

There are two drawbacks to the spell: one, for its full effect, you need to be able to cast at your target unmolested. In a group PvP setting this may be easier said than done. Two, it appears to have two resist checks: one for the damage and one for the actual AH effect. If either of these components resist, your target won't get AH'd. In addition there appears to be a hidden AH resistance that raises with level; some abilities raise your resistance to it.


Boon of Clairvoyance
I have run into so many Assassins that don't realise we have this ability. Still, skilled scout classes will use Hide anyway in order to delay your reactions and get the advantage. Make sure to have this ability accessible for a speedy cast.


Zikel's Wisdom (Stigma)
I haven't seen this on the TB, but then I haven't exactly been religious about checking that tab. Perhaps it's for Asmodians only? Anyhow, this is essentially the [Talisman of Ephemeral Power] of Aion, for you WoW folks. Strike that -- for you old school WoW folks. With a 15 second duration and a 30 second cooldown, this effectively gives you +150 Magic Power as long as you remember to use it. The fact that you only have it up half the time isn't necessarily a drawback; you can use this when you need burst the most or when casting your most heavy damage spells in succession. +300 power is equal to about +25% spell damage. Remember that power caps out at about 1200, so if you're above 900 power, consider a different stigma or a different gear set.


Curse of Weakness (Stigma)
I should probably play with this stigma, as on paper it seems somewhat underwhelming. If your opponent doesn't shield or heal, this Curse will kill them after twenty spell casts on its own. That sounds great, and if this damage goes through shields it would definitely be worth considering. However if it doesn't go through shields, it won't do much against Sorcerers and Spirit Masters which practically gain their entire HP bar worth of damage absorption through shield when used in PvP. Clerics can simply dispel it. Other classes just don't use magic abilities enough for it to really shine.

That said I really need to purchase and toy with it. What if it works on PvE bosses -- an entire 5% of their health bar whenever they cast? Would Templar fall faster due to their high HP pools? Due to our high damage, would Clerics be more concerned about healing themselves rather than dispelling when facing one of us? I will get back to you on this ability.


Robe of Cold
The damage is nothing to write home about but that's not why you want this spell. If you thought we were overpowered versus melee already, this spell will just have you shaking your head. This is the perfect PvP robe to use, especially in a group PvP setting where it's a lot more difficult to keep tabs on all of your melee opponents. However, in settings where there is constant PvP or your burst is especially important, the other two robes may well take precedence.

"Aww hell, how am I gonna beat her now"

Boon of Iron-Clad
This is where duels and practice in PvP pays off. This spell may have a short duration but it basically means that besides sleep and tree, you cannot lose control of your character. Against some classes it's obvious when this should be used. Sorcerers? When they're casting Aether's Hold or about to Frozen Shock. Rangers? When they've placed their equivalent as a trap. For others, it's a little more guessy. Against Assassins and Gladiators you'd want to cast this as soon as they get in range of you after you've been kiting them around a little, or in anticipation of an Ambush. Practice really does bring out the best of this spell. Make sure you bind this to an easy-to-reach key.


Wind Cut Down (Stigma)
I haven't had a chance to try this spell yet. It looks fantastic: about the same damage as Flame Harpwn and it puts a bleed on the target, all in a quick cast package and an element that we don't have any other spells in. Its 16 second cooldown isn't too bad and the bleed passes through shields. According to comments, the bleed is two ticks of about 300 (power modified) damage at level 31. Very nice -- the thing is, it's a stigma ability. By the time you get this ability you've unlocked your third Stigma slot, but about now is when you need to start choosing what you really need. An AoE stigma's coming up. What will you ditch for it?


Tranquilising Cloud
By the time you get this spell, you've got lots of damage abilities already. Inferno does as much damage as your 2000DP ability so it's time to think about what else that DP can be spent on. Though expensive, this spell fits the bill. Be careful of using in a PvE setting due to its massive range; you could sleep monsters that weren't attacking you in the first place, which will annoy them. In a PvP setting however, this is essentially a Sleep Storm with an epic cooldown: insanely effective if you use it at the right time. Sleep a group then go to town on their healer or their squishies.


Inferno
I was excited about Aether's Flame and when level 31 came, so did I. But this spell stole the limelight: It's essentially an Aetheric Spell/Pandaemonium Focus that uses mana instead of DP and has twice the cast time. In fact in my testing, it does slightly more damage <.>.

It also looks incredibly cool.

The mana cost is somewhat hefty so make sure you cast Lumiel's Wisdom (if you still use that stigma) beforehand. The best time to use this in PvP is when your opponent is around half health (or whenever it's safe to use it if the situation is a bit prickly) for an ridiculously high chunk of burst they won't recover from.


Fire Burst (Stigma)
I found this Stigma last night and can't wait to equip it when I hit 34: Ice Sheet is getting the fuck out of here. With its twelve second cooldown granting us the ability to cast it multiple times per fight, this stigma could be called our first true AoE ability. It's quite good too: The damage of Flame Bolt hitting everything in a 5 meter area. In PvE this has its obvious use, although be careful of breaking CC or using it too quickly for the Tank's liking. In a group PvP situation you similarly need to be very careful of breaking your own or somebody else's CC but if that is not an issue, jackpot. Get a few sorcerers with this spell and watch chaos ensue.

~~~

Finally, a few notes on some old favourites.


Lumiel's Wisdom
Chances are this is sitting in your bank while you roll with Tree and Ice Sheet. Might I recommend getting it back out at level 30? Venturing into the Flame Temple instance for the first time, I really wished I had; my mana dropped faster than a fat man strapped to a rocket aiming down. On my second run I made sure I came with this stigma equipped and my mana problems went away.

Delayed Blast
I haven't done extensive testing but I think this spell goes through shield. So if you've CC'd a mage and plan on going to town on their shield, make sure to skip Delayed Blast until you're ready to play or it'll break the tree before you're ready for it to. Of course, this also means you should cast it on a Mage or Sorcerer if they're a low health but have just thrown up a shield (cast Flame Cage as in this situation as well as it also goes through shield).

Stone Skin
While this ability is up, aside from not taking direct damage, you will also resist stumble, stun and similar effects. A Templar's Inescapable Judgement will fizzle, another sorcerer's Frozen Blast won't stun you, a gladiator's knockdown will only knock down their confidence, etc. However if a spell is only partially absorbed by your shield, the status effect will still kick in, for example if Frozen Blast finishes your shield off and a few points of damage get through.

Freezing Wind
Tried and tested, I have yet another use for Freezing Wind. When fighting another Sorcerer, I previously noted in my PvP video that it's a bad idea to get in melee range for Freezing Wind. I was wrong: if the occasion arises, run up and cast Freezing Wind... then immediately Blind Leap away. Not only did you get some unrequited chunky damage in, there's a good chance your opponent is going to momentarily flounder around trying to FW you back, giving you precious time. In either case you'll get the full effect of Blind Leap's untargetting.

Ice Sheet
Since the debuff is applied instantly to anyone passing through it but stays for the full duration even if they leave the area of effect quickly, it's fantastic to cast on the ground infront of you when you're trying to run away from a mob of enemy players.


By level 31 you've probably noticed that your bars and hotkeys are starting to get somewhat packed. Well you have cause to despair: there's a lot more room you're going to need to make.

Sorcery III

Today we're going to be talking about the aspect of Aion you either love or hate... the professions. Specifically, the ones that are good for us aether cannons. The three best for us are:


Alchemy

• Orbs and Books
• Manastones
• Potions
• Scrolls

If orbs and books caught your eye... shame on you! That's a single slot and we rarely auto-attack. What alchemy is best at is supplying you with manastones, potions and scrolls. The orbs and books are just icing on the caek. You can craft most types of white manastones... I can't see Magical Accuracy in there for example... which, through quests, can then be exchanged for green quality stones. All classes need potions and ours is no different; mana potions can really come in handy for those of us who find we lose more than we gain and instant-healing potions can only be crafted or awarded through quests. In addition, alchemists can craft flight potions, coveted by all. Cha ching! Finally, scrolls are extremely handy - especially the +running speed ones. If you find yourself slowed you will find yourself unable to glide. The best +running scrolls can push you just fast enough to allow gliding.


Handicrafting

• 2x Ring slots
• 2x Earring slots
• Necklace slot
• Head slot

"Handicrafting, Zot?" I hear you say. Yes, handicrafting. It's not just for rangers and chanters - as the above list shows, it covers a full six of your item slots. Everyone needs jewellery too, so it's a good profession to go with money making in mind. In addition you can craft Bows and Staves, which while useless to you, sell pretty damn well. They also use almost exclusively different materials to jewellery, essentially turning materials that would otherwise be worthless to you into expensive weaponry. And if you're wondering what goes in the head slot, it's glasses. Shades, man! You can make fucking shades!


Tailoring

• 5x Armour slots
  
• Head
• Belt

Looking at this, Sewing Tailoring is clearly a kickass profession for Sorcerers. You can fill all your armour slots using tailored gear, plus your head and belt slots (which are technically accessories, not armour). The side benefit of this profession is that you can craft leather armour equally well, expanding your possible money making avenues, though they use practically the same materials as cloth armour. What really makes this profession stand out is that it is only one of two professions that only requires one crit to create a blue item.

In both Handicrafting and Alchemy, to create a blue item (excluding recipes that require a boss drop or the like), you must first create a white item and have it crit into a green. You then use that green item in another recipe, which creates another green, but can crit into a blue. So you essentially need a double crit. In tailoring, you simply craft green gear and it has a chance to crit into a blue. Armoursmithing is the only other profession which does this.


There's also Cooking, which gives food buffs. The only other thing cooking can make are candies which essentially are just muck-around items that transform you into creatures for shits and giggles. If that sounds like your thing, cook away!

You can get all professions up to 399 if you have the time and inclination, however you can go above 399 in two professions only... so make sure to check out the 400-450 recipes to see what appeals to you most. You can always just start a profession to see if it appeals to you; there's no commitment apart from time if you stay below 400. Another factor of deciding which to level plus 400 are titles; you get special titles when you max a profession. In general most of the Elyos ones are decidedly shit compared to the Asmodian ones, but for sorcerers Elyos titles aren't too bad. In the end it's not really something you can revolve your entire decision around. There are plenty of titles in the game.

• Alchemy Expert
  Elyos: +44 Maximum HP, +2% Atk Speed, +4 Wind Defense
  Asmodian: +36 Maximum MP, +2 Magical Accuracy, +3 Magical Res
  

• Handicrafting Expert
  Elyos: +2 Flight Time
  Asmodian: +8 Accuracy, +3 Evasion, +2% Atk Speed
  

• Expert Tailor
  Elyos: +52 Maximum HP, +3 Flight Time, +3% Flight Speed, +6% Speed
  Asmodian: +8 Magic Boost, +2% Flight Speed, +2 Flight Time
  

• Cooking Expert
  Elyos: +1 Physical Att, +8 Magic Boost
  Asmodian: +36 Maximum HP, +36 Maximum MP, +5% Speed
  

At level 50 you get access to sexy but expensive Daevonian armour quests that reward extremely good items. So good that they aren't even on the armoury at the moment. At one point you'll need a crafted item for the quest... a very expensive Heart of Magic. And not just any old heart -- you need it to crit. Only those of us who bothered with a profession can enjoy this money sink ;). You don't need to worry about which profession if you have this in mind as all professions can craft the Heart of Magic.

I'm currently leveling Handicrafting and yes, it can be quite boring to level. When I hit 170 I made a point of stopping, gathering some actual crafting materials and making some items to sell; the fun of creating your own gear, the tasty possibility of crits and getting lucky blue items makes it all worth while. :)

Come on! Buy my expensive but well crafted stuff!
It won't fit in the TB :(

Finally, a note: nothing is Bind On Pickup with professions. If someone else in your legion has Tailoring, everyone has tailoring (assuming the guy is fine with spending his time on guildies). In addition, all professions can craft siege engines and the item required for the incredible level 50 gear.


Next issue of Sorcery: Level 25-35 ability ins and outs

Sorcery II Addendum

Since publishing issue II of Sorcery, I've come across some more little interesting uses and situations for the spells I covered. Enough to warrant an addendum post!

Crowd Control
Sleep and Tree may be the kings of CC, but in PvP they are deminished: both only last for eight seconds on a player. This means that they need to be more tactfuly cast. For example, at the start of a fight in order to start the fight with a delayed blast ticking away and a powerful spell winding up. Root appears to last longer in PvP, but I haven't tested this for sure. Root certainly is an epic pain in the rear when it's cast on me, that's for sure.

In addition, when cast on a flying player, CC doesn't pause their flight timer. With Sleep->Tree->Sleep->Root->Sleep, you've performed a massive hit to your opponent's flight bar. Brilliant if they're trying to run, or you're fighting over the open abyss.

But what's really special about Sleep and Tree? They only break if the target takes damage. Tree another sorcerer and go to town on their shield; the CC will only break when the shield is broken or the CC ends.

It's also great for comic relief. Didn't know the tree scaled...

Delayed Blast
As mentioned above, it's great to cast on a CC'd player to improve your initial burst and get the damage edge. It's true that Tree/Sleep's elemental defense increase will nerf its damage, but that only gives DB an additional use: to break the CC. After casting DB you can follow up with a high damage nuke spell without fear of its damage being reduced into nothing; DB will end the CC before the nuke hits.


Winter Binding + Blind Leap
I stated that WB has a long animation, and this is true. However there is a point where before you can start moving again, you can use Blind Leap. This seems to cut the time you need to wait in half. It's risky to use two escape abilities at once but if you really need to stay out of melee range and don't have Root or similar available, this combination can save your hide.
And seriously, practice backleaping.


Ice Sheet
A stigma ability I failed to mention. It's our "second" AOE ability (if you count WB as the first), though on a three minute cooldown and with a small radius. Still, it's instant cast. It's a great spell to cast on a stationary ranged class (preferably one that already has been slowed or stunned); the damage is mediocre but the "FIRE OSHI-" instinct kicks in and your opponent will often prioritise moving out of it rather than doing something effective. If fighting against melee it has less of a use, but you can cast it between you and them if you need a slow in a snap. You might even try kiting them around it :).


Frozen Shock
Typically after casting Ice Chain you'll cast FS because it's chained or just because it's a nice ability to use in general. Consider saving it for when a healer or ranged class is at a point where you have a decent chance of nuking them to zero; the stun gives you plenty of time to wind things up and prevents them from moving out of range or healing or otherwise preventing your onslaught. To that end, it's best to either open with Ice Chain and then save FS until you're ready, or not cast IC at all if you anticipate needing FS before IC would cool down.


Freezing Wind
I've been mucking around with FW more and I've got to say, it's one of my favourites now. It's essentially a melee range flame harpoon with its castbar in reverse; instant cast with a 2 second cooldown. The huge thing about this is that with it, Sorcerers do the highest burst AND the highest DPS when in melee range. Yeah, read that again. Don't believe me? The next time you're in a group and your group mate is under attack, run up to the guy. Cast FW followed by a cast-time spell or chain, then repeat, eg:

Freezing Wind -> Flame Harpwn -> Freezing Wind -> IC+FS -> Freezing Wind -> Flame Harpoon -> Freezing Wind -> FB+Blaze -> Freezing Wind ... etc

They won't last long enough for the full chain. Or you won't, cause you're suddenly in melee range and they're not stupid. But then, if you're playing a Sorcerer, you're already open to taking risks ;). The other drawback to this is that it FW is quite mana expensive so you can't really keep it up in a PvE setting without resorting to potions or rest.

Finally, as an instant cast spell, it's great for casting on fleeing players if you can get in range. Backleap helps a lot there.


Next issue of Sorcery: Sorcerer professions

Sorcery II

Now that we have some basics on the various stats we can run into (there are more towards endgame, but I'll get to that), I shall now take the task upon my shoulders to communicate the best uses behind your lowbie sorcerer spells. I am currently level 24 now so I guess this post will touch upon the first, most immediate half of the sorcerer arsenal.

It's not pink, it's a shade of red

You are of course wondering. "But Zot," you say, "the spells already have descriptions on them! What could you possibly add?" You are of course right, dear reader. Add a chuckle in there for effect. But certain spells may not seem entirely useful, or you may not realise the full awesomeness behind them. Allow me to edjumacate.

Note: I mention CC. If you don't know what this is, it stands for Crowd Control and refers to disabling a player or creature to the point where it is useless. Examples are sleeping a monster or freezing a melee monster away from the group.

Root
You start with this spell but probably just used it to try to kite before you got Ice Chain, then turning your back on it, only using it when you're trying to escape or catch an enemy. This spell only has a one minute cooldown, so don't be afraid of using it whenever an unslowed monster makes it up to you alive and isn't almost dead (use it before the monster gets within range of you though, as if the monster starts casting something, it will go off no matter how far you get away from him. an aion 'feature' xD). It's also an excellent CC for melee monsters or players; just root them in place for 20 seconds, it's like an instant sleep. At higher levels this is less useful versus players due to the availability of dispel potions.

Stone Skin
Aside from a massive health pool and CC, this is our only defense against ranged classes and pesky assassins. It's also the only thing between us and death when somebody gets the jump on you. Keep it up on you at all times when not in a city! And don't refresh the shield until it's down to its last minute of duration, in case you need to refresh it when it's needed but you just wasted it a minute ago.

Sleep and Curse of Roots (stigma)
Your two "main" crowd control spells, these completely lock out a monster for their duration (PvP duration is 8 seconds). The main difference between the two is that tree (curse of roots) has a 1.5 second cast versus sleep's 2 second and a longer cooldown. The two don't share a cooldown so with these two spells you can lock two monsters out (though the tree will break before it is off cooldown so be ready with a root, slow or tank). In PvP it is thus best to cast tree due to its quicker cast time as you are more likely to get it off. Speaking of PvP, these spells are excellent for gaining your bearings; simply cast it on any other class and you can regain your senses, especially if you've just had someone get the drop on you. Against Spirit Masters, always CC their pet!

Note that both spells raise the elemental resistances of your target. This means that they'll take less damage on the first spell you cast at them, so either wait for it to wear off, get someone else to break it or don't open with your highest damage abilities. It's important to nail that resistance distinction: Elemental resistance resists a portion of magical damage, Magical resistance resists spells entirely.

Flame Cage and Erosion
Back in the magey levels you received Erosion, a decent Damage over Time (DOT) spell. That will eventually wither and die as you level up as it has no extra ranks for sorcerers (only SMs). What sorcerers get instead is Flame Cage which is pretty much the exact same thing, except with fire damage. Cast it when something is almost dead and running out of your range, or when the monster you're fighting is expected to live for at least nine seconds more after you cast it -- if it dies earlier, the spell is not as efficient and you're wasting mana. Using either Erosion and FC triggers a short cooldown on the other, so at lower levels you can actually get both dots up. This is particularly useful when doing the level 18 elite areas as the monsters last long enough to get the two spell's full benefit.

Dots typically look arse when you look at the tooltip. "Only 30 damage!" you say. You need to add it up. If left to run for its full duration, a level 16 Flame Cage does 424 damage. Congratulations, you've just done 424 damage with an instant cast spell!

Robe of Earth, Robe of Flame
There is a Robe of Cold too, but let's stick to the <=25's. You'll pick up Robe of Earth early on and thank Aion for that. Natural Mana Treatment is your passive mana regeneration stat and it's always working. There's no "five second rule" or anything. RoE helps keep your mana rolling. You will pick up Robe of Flame eventually and I'm happy for you, Ima let you cast it, but Robe of Earth is one of the best robes of all time. Cast RoE if your mana goes down too fast for your liking. Blind Leap
Nyerk yeah. This is one of my favourite spells. It's free, it's fast and it doesn't have much of a cooldown. It's the perfect spell to cast when a monster's getting close to you; simply leap and you'll barely notice the ability lockout while it's cast... you're back to casting damaging spells almost instantly. But that's not all! You've pulled a monster and you want to get it back to your tank? Turn around and leap forward into the fray. You'll want to get used to turning+leaping. It's a valuable asset to catch up to anyone or anything, or to further escape from something you're running from.

There is a trick to it of course. In order to change the direction you're facing in Aion, you must use a movement key; turning while in a midair jump doesn't cut it. So you need to nudge your direction key in the opposite direction to that which you want to move in (or turn around while holding your right mouse button), then hit Leap. Note also that you need to account for lag; if you're a lucky 50 pinger you won't need to, but if you're in the mid 200's (like me) you'll need to pause for a fraction of a second between turning and leaping or you'll leap in some random direction off to the side.

Winter Binding
Firstly, this thing may be instant but it takes time to for the animation to run through and you can't move while doing so. This means you need to time it to go off before things get up to you, preferably. If you can't, well, casting it's better than nothing ^^. Another thing to note is that it has a massive 15m radius. If casting in the wilderness you will probably freeze some random monster and it'll chase you in eight seconds. If cast in an elite area, I hope your group is the type to laugh an accidental wipe off. This massive radius is a boon in PvP however; you can get near the front lines of a group and freeze them all in place, giving people time to escape from melee or burst down someone before they can retreat for healing. It's also good for catching runners in smaller scale PvP if you're near them. Finally, it's perfect for using against Rangers or Assassins that use hide. It's the first AOE ability you get (and the last for quite a while) and it does the trick of knocking them out of hide. You can see where they're moving for a few seconds after they hide; make use of that to judge where they're going to place your WB.

Delayed Blast
Chances are the first time you saw this spell, it confused the pants off you. What the hell is the use of it? Well, go out right now, cast it on a monster and follow it up with Flame Harpwn. You'll notice that DB triggers as your harpwn hits the target for incredible burst damage. Follow that up with a quick FB->Blaze for extra splodey fun or IC->FS to screw up any healing your target might be attempting. In PvP this is one of your best tools against healers but the burst comes in handy against all classes. You'd be amazed how much someone panics after they take such a massive hit.

In PvE this spell is useless to cast during a fight. Where it shines is before the pull while soloing: it does not alert a monster until the damage component comes into effect (or the spell is resisted ... stack up on MA :P). Thus an excellent rotation is open with DB followed quickly by Ice Chain. The two should go off at roughly the same time, essentially giving you chunkier Ice Chain damage. Note that if you're soloing monsters you should avoid casting FS after DB->IC as Delayed Blast has a 30 second cooldown. When you move onto your second monster, open with IC->FS then reset your rotation back to DB->IC for your next. Efficient use of cooldowns for the win!

Freezing Wind
Right at the apex of this issue comes level 25's Freezing Wind spell. It's essentially an instant melee-range high damage burst spell, perfect for finishing off monsters or players. It's also great to cast while you're trying to gain some distance from something that has closed in, assuming it won't break any snares. But don't be tempted and actually run up to something that's attacking you to use it. Exceptions to that rule are classes that aren't any better off in melee range, which pretty much just means Spirit Masters (don't run up to rangers; they have traps, and other sorcerers have Freezing Wind!).

Absorb Energy, Mana Treatment and Lumiel's Wisdom
With these three spells (and Robe of Earth) you should never truly run out of mana. It can take some getting used to but you need to get into the habit of using mana regeneration spells as soon as they are off cooldown (obviously Absorb Energy and Lumiel's Wisdom take precedence here as they don't require reagents). Lumiel's Wisdom in particular can be hard to get used to, but if you do keep it up every time it's off cooldown, you effectively make everything you cast 25% cheaper. I recorded a grinding session which I'll youtubeify eventually in which I was at or below 10% mana for the entire duration without pausing or resting.

But at lower levels, stock up on potions or prepare to rest a lot

And finally, a brief note on Illusion Gate
With only a one minute cooldown, feel free to use this spell around your city to get a fast trip back to the obelisk for free. ^^


An addendum to this issue containing further tips and tricks is located here.

Next issue of Sorcery: Sorcerer professions