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 SleepCat's Venomancer Guide

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SleepCat
Director
SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

SleepCat's Venomancer Guide Empty
PostSubject: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptySun Jun 28, 2009 5:19 am

A Venomancer is first and foremost a support class. It specializes in debuffing targets and acting as a secondary damage dealer while being self-sufficient enough so that the Clerics can have one less class to worry about healing. With a Mag build and Robe set, they can be a decent DDer. But they'll die just as easily as a Cleric or a Wizard. With a Heavy Armor build and maxed Fox Form, they are essentially untouchable by Barbarians, Archers, and BMs. But then they'll get killed by magic classes. The obvious solution to offset these weaknesses is to choose an option in between those two, which is the light armor build. The downside is that the Light Armor build is that it's an all-rounder, with no particular strengths. An important thing to remember when deciding on what build you want to go for is that attributes have diminishing returns. The more points you allocate to a particular stat, the less improvement you'll get per stat point. Of course, this is a gradual process so it's nothing to fret over, but over time it is something to consider.

The Robe/Magic build for a Veno works by adding 3 points into Magic each level, and using a formula for Strength, whereas (Your level + 8) / 2 = Strength. The rest of the stats are free to go into Vitality or into even more Magic, although most people would probably prefer more Magic. With this build, you'll potentially have the ability to solo bosses that a Light Armor Veno can not, solo very well, deal very good damage, have high magic defense, and have fairly high HP. The downside is that you won't be able to use Fox Form very well, which is really half of a Veno. The pure robe Veno is really split between full mag and vit build, although vit build tends to be PvP based whereas mag build is PvE based. Split the points according to your own preferences.

The general Light Armor consensus is to allocate 3 points into Magic, and 1 point into Strength and the last point into Dexterity each level. With this stat distribution, you should be able to use your current level Magic Weapon and Light Armor. As a special bonus, you'll also be able to equip the most updated Robe set if you choose to do so. As yet another bonus, you'll get a pretty crit rate bonus from all the Dexterity. However, this build suffers from a lack of HP and in terms of pure defense, a full robe or a full heavy will get you more magic/physical resistance. It's only that LA gives a compromising point between both builds.

The Heavy Armor build is rumored to be very difficult to pull off at lower levels, so it is advised that you lay off it until you get to an endgame level then restat. The current Heavy Armor trend is really attached to the HA/AA combination. It's very stat dependent, so you'll need a high level tome, cape with stats, helm with stats, and most likely ornaments with stats too. The real benefits for HA/AA is the very high flexibility of the armor. You are able to switch armor at real time, giving you the ability to full defend against physical attacks or magic attacks or a target that uses both by mixing and matching your armor in the middle of combat. As a bonus, HA/AA foxformers are great thanks to the souped up attack from the str stats. On the downside, their magic attack suffers from not having as much mag as a full or hybrid mag arcane Veno and lacks the few extra crit points that an LA Veno has.

As for weapons, it's mostly personal preference. Magic Swords have the lowest magic attack range, making them fairly stable without much spike damage. They also have the highest physical attack limits, which makes them more ideal for Fox Formers. Glaives have a mid magic attack range, but the lowest physical attack limits. However, they look badass and generally have very nice bonuses on their TTs, so they're 2nd in terms of popular Veno weapons. Patakas generally have higher physical attack limits than Glaives, but they always have the widest magic attack range, making them either very spiky or very crappy. They're also the least popular types of magic weapons for some reason. However, they highly benefit magic casters so if you like being unique and hate Fox Forming, this one's for you.


Last edited by SleepCat on Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:36 pm; edited 3 times in total
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SleepCat
Director
SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

SleepCat's Venomancer Guide Empty
PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptySun Jun 28, 2009 5:19 am

Petsmart!


To get over the question, "What is the best pet in the game?" early, I would just advise you to buy battle pet packs until you get 9999 Source of Forces and 9999 Phoenix Feathers so you can start the game with a Hercules and a Phoenix. If you're on a budget like the rest of us, you'll have to go through it the harder way.

I would recommend you to start with the Scorpion as the starter pet because endgame, it'll have the highest attack rating outside of the Cash Shop pets. Even if you get the Phoenix later on, the Varicose Scorpion (Lv. 2) would still be pretty nice to have when you feel like PKing in Secret Passage where flying pets will be disabled. However, it's not an essential pet if you're not interested.In City of the Lost, you'll probably be seeing people selling Volcanic (Lv. 18)/Crystalline Magmites (Lv. 17) and Petite Sawflys (Lv. 8). Until you get enough money for the Cash Shop pets, go ahead and purchase those so you can save yourself some time on traveling and effort to catch those pets. Anything under 5000 coins should be a reasonable price. The Volcanic Magmite is .1m/s faster than the Crystalline Magmite and comes with better skills. The Crystalline Magmite will have marginally higher stats, so it's really just a matter of preference for deciding which one you want. Skills, although fairly expensive, can be purchased for pets, but stat points cannot. The Magmites are primarily for tanking, which is the main purpose of a pet. In place of both the Magmites, there is now the Glacial Walker. Whereas his defenses and attack power aren't as high as the Magmites, his magic defense and HP rockets past the Magmites, making it the supreme tanking pet choice. You'll be using it a lot. The Sawfly is the budget Phoenix. You'll need it to do your air and water quests, but probably not for land quests since it dies very easily. With those two pets, you're pretty much set until Lv. 80 when you finally get a decent water pet and the water quests start going too deep in the water for you to fish with your Sawfly. The particular water pet is the Celestial Plumpfish, which is actually a very nice pet with good stats. The reason you wouldn't want a pet Turtle or Undine is because unlike flying pets, water pets can only be used in the water. This can be pretty limiting and personally, I hate fighting in the water or in the air. If you really have the patience to consistently raise a low level water pet though, go for it because the Turtle will have a higher defense than either Magmites later on.

Most Venomancers get their Cash Shop pets around Lv. 60 or so. Go ahead and start saving up as soon as you start playing and don't bother wasting money on equipment since if you're half-decent, you'll outgrow your stuff in no time. Not to mention that since your pet will be tanking for you, you can do fine without wearing any armor at all. Most people start saving up for a Hercules since you can farm Twilight Temple for materials that you can sell. Twilight Temple is a particular dungeon with bosses that you kill simply to get materials that you use to create special weapons and armor. It's fairly sought after, although how much money you make depends on the market. If you don't like relying on the in-game market and don't mind fighting mobs endlessly for cash, go ahead and get the Phoenix first, since it'll improve your killing speed by 50% or something like that. Or you can save yourself 40 million coins altogether and just stick with the free pets.

What I just recommended is pretty much optimal for hardcore players. If you don't care about being pro and all, you can honestly do fine with any pet you want. Common pets, rare pets, whatever. On the subject matter, rare pets are pets that usually spawn once every 12 hours and are usually adorable, so everyone wants them. They're also terribly hard to catch because of this and they're fairly expensive if you want to just buy them. I don't know much about catching rare pets, so I won't be able to help you there. The rare pets are the following:

Frogling (Lv. 9) - Best magic tank in the game. It has a combination of decent attack, very high magic defense, decent physical defense, and good HP. Unfortunately, most mobs use a combination of magic and physical attacks, so the times when a Frogling will be more useful than a Magmite is very rare. Because of this, getting a magic tank of any sort is not essential. On the bright side, a Frogling is fairly cheap for a rare pet if you really want a magic tank.

Snow Hare (Lv. 20) - Just for looks. Unlike other rare pets, it spawns hourly, so it's also fairly cheap compared to other rare pets. It doesn't excel in any aspect other than cuteness.

Tabby Plumdrop (Lv. 20) - Fairly decent magic tank and a pretty fast pet so it can work as a good puller as well. I'll explain more about pulling later.

Shaodu Cub (Lv. 20) - Decent overall pet. Also one of the most expensive rare pets for some reason. It has good defense and magic defense so if you don't like giant Magmites, this can pretty much replace Magmites as your main pet.

Windwalking Piggy (Lv. 30) - Godly tank pet. Higher HP than a Magmite, very high defense and magic defense, it's a very good tanking pet. Unfortunately, it's not so good at attacking which means you'll steal aggro from it everyday. It's also the only rare flying pet, if it means anything.

Cuddly Puppy (Lv. 30) - Good puller due to its very high speed. Other than that, it's pretty much the same as a Tabby Plumdrop.

Kowlin (Lv. 60) - Pretty much the best puller in the game due to its top speed, which can outrun everything except for a maxed land mount. It also has a fairly good attack and magic defense. However, it has one of the lower defense and HP ratings, so you can expect it to die as much as your Sawfly.

Armored Bear (Lv. 80) - The Armored Bear is basically a Shaodu Cub clone with marginally higher ratings in defenses and marginally lower ratings in offensive power. But hey, it's pretty much the coolest looking pet because it's a bear with armor. That aspect alone is reason enough for you to get one.

Don't forget to feed your pets every 5 minutes with pure or spring water. Don't bother with all the other stuff unless you have a Cash Shop pet. When you're running low on water, buy 200 pure water from the pet person and it should last you for another few weeks. If you're cheap and don't like spending 50k every so often, create a new venomancer, lvl it to Lv. 3, do the pet quest and get the free 200 water then send it to your main through mail.

Unless you're PvPing or really hate your pets losing aggro, you should be able to get by without touching any of your pet skills. Pet skills can be bought and upgraded at Mrs. Zoologist, who happens to be at the southeast corner of Archosaur. Pet skills can be upgraded up to Lv. 5, at one skill level per 20 actual levels.

For completion's sake, here's a breakdown of the pet skills:

Bash - Everyone's favorite aggro skill. Honestly, a pet with high attack power with a maxed out Bash can do some pretty good spike damage in PvP, but everyone prefers Flesh Ream because it does more damage overall.

Elemental Bashes - Stuff like Fireball, Icicle, Sandblow, and such are the exact same thing as Bash, except they're elemental. They actually count as magic attacks, so it's fairly decent in PvP against physical defense heavy classes.

Threaten - Lowers target's physical attack by up to 32% for 15 seconds when maxed. Not only is it useful for giving you some extra time to nuke mobs instead of healing your pet, but it's actually a very nice debuff PvP-wise.

Tough - When maxed out, can reduce all damage taken by half for 15 seconds. If you've aggroed too many mobs but you're too lazy to get out of the situation, you could always use this. Absolutely useless in PvP.

Roar - Draws aggro from all mobs around the pet. No need to waste your money unless you're always in an fb/TT with no barbs and you actually care about the rest of the team. :p

Boost - Your pet self-heals a small amount of HP. It has a fast cooldown, so it could possible compliment you when you're healing your pet against a tough boss. On the other hand, if you would have such a difficult time tanking something, you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

Pierce - Drops the target's physical defense. Pretty obsolete, since your Ironwood Scarab won't stack with it and has a much better cooldown.

Howl - Drops the target's magic defense. Since the only other way a Veno can cast this debuff is through a Lv. 79 skill, it's not too bad of a way to rack up your numbers after casting amp damage on your target. Unless you're foxforming anyways.

Flesh Ream - Causes bleeding over 9 seconds, the damage is based on the pet's attack. Thanks to the fact that Flesh Ream doesn't suffer a 75% damage reduction in PvP, it is pretty much the godliest ability out there. With the advent of Genies, this isn't as brutal as it used to be, but it's always a good idea to keep it around incase you find someone who doesn't have an anti-bleed. :p

Deccelerate - Decreases the target's running speed for 5 seconds with only a 10 second cooldown. Worthless in PvE, but in PvP when fighting kiters, use this followed by a stunning blow then kill. :D

Screech - Interrupts channeling. It's not so great until maxed, which is when it'll have a 100% success rate. Then you can be cancel spells like a pro. The crappy part is that pet skills have a 1-2 second delay so make sure you time it right. :D

The following skills are rare skills that can only be found through the Dragon Temple event on Tuesdays.

Pounce - Gives a fairly high chance of stunning the target for 3 seconds and increasing your pet's attack speed at the same time. Not an essential skill, but everyone could always benefit from an extra stun. :)

Claw - Increases the pet's attack for an hour. Good buff but has no real strategic importance.

Reflect - Returns all physical damage the pet has taken by up to 70%. Fairly decent.

Blessing - Increases the pet's HP for an hour. Good buff but has no real strategic importance.

Protect? - Increases the pet's physical defense for an hour. Good buff but has no real strategic importance.

Shell? - Increases the pet's magical defense for an hour. Good buff but has no real strategic importance.

Blood Imbibe - Steals target's HP and converts it to the pet's HP. Not much info on this because the ability does not exist in the game yet.

Soul Imbibe - Steals target's mana and converts it to the pet's HP. Not much info on this because the ability does not exist in the game yet.

Spirit Seizure - Steals target's mana and converts it to the pet's HP. Requires Soul Imbibe Lv. 3. Not much info on this because the ability does not exist in the game yet.

Sacrifice - Sacrifice HP to deal damage. Not much info on this because the ability does not exist in the game yet.

Fordobreak - Deals extra damage and reduces enemy defense. Not much info on this because the ability does not exist in the game yet.


Last edited by SleepCat on Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
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SleepCat
Director
SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

SleepCat's Venomancer Guide Empty
PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptySun Jun 28, 2009 5:22 am

Skillful


The following only applies to a Robe/Light Armor Veno build. I know absolutely nothing about Heavy Armor Venos. If you don't care about PvP nor being a helpful Veno, the only skills you really need are Venomous Scarab, Heal Pet, Revive Pet, Metabolic Boost, Nature's Grace, and Soul Transfusion. Kill everything with Venomous Scarab, heal your pet when it's low on HP, revive it when it is dead, use Metabolic when you have 50% mana remaining, use Soul Transfusion then Nature's Grace when you have 50% mana remaining but your Metabolic Boost cooldown isn't over yet. If you don't make much mistakes and you never get a sneak spawn on you, you'll be perfectly fine all the way to Lv. 105. Most likely, you'll probably get bored of that 5 minutes of starting that, so you'd probably decide to get what skills you want instead and develop your own style. Due to the large amount of skills, I'll break this down into a list.

Human Form Branch

Venomous Scarab (Lv. 1) - Upgrade this whenever you can and spam it whenever Ironwood Scarab is on cooldown. It's pretty much your grinding skill here due to its low mana cost. PvP-wise, you'll want to avoid using this as much as possible simply because it's too basic to have any good usage. The exception is if you have Demon, whereas the wood resistance debuff would very much be reason enough to use it.

Ironwood Scarab (Lv. 9) - The 25 chi is well worth the cost, considering that will pretty much be your strongest nuke throughout a good chunk of your career and has a little physical debuff as an added bonus. Regardless of your build, it's a good idea to use this as your opener. If not to give a good start with some foxform hits, then at least to give your pet some added damage. Not to mention that both Sage/Demon added effects to it are quite nice. One important note is that the Demon Ironwood Scarab only has the 20% chance of reducing the target's defense by 0, and the innate 30% defense reduction does not exist.

Blazing Scarab (Lv. 19) - Damage over time spells have a very split base, with one side saying it is useless to upgrade it past Lv. 1 while the other side says it's a great way to damage the target while kiting around in PvP. I liked it myself back in the lower levels, but nowadays, I only find it useful to fill in the macros while waiting for the Venomous Scarab cooldown time. Both Sage/Demon versions of the spell doesn't add too much to it either.

Frost Scarab (Lv. 29) - The general consensus is that it's not a bad spell per say, but the 1 spark cost is very costly, at least until you gain your 3rd spark. From my usage of it, it's not too bad, but the frostbite chances are too low to justify the usage unless you get the Sage version which shoots up the 80% chance of freeze to a 95%. The 3 second freeze from Demon isn't too bad but you might as well just use Stunning Blow if you really wanted to freeze the target.

Noxious Gas (Lv. 39) - A staple for the Herc user Veno. Even without a Hercules, this move is pretty nice. It does fairly decent damage and the DoT time is only a mere 9 seconds so it's not too bad to use at all. The major problem with this is the 2.5 casting time, which really hurts a Veno because a Veno is all about speed and the casting time does not justify the only mediocre damage. Not to mention the mana cost. Not recommended outside of DDing a boss or AoE grinding. The Sage/Demon paths don't add much to it either. It's either more damage for Sage or a measly 1 second cooldown reduction for Demon.

Lucky Scarab (Lv. 49) - Finally, another real staple spell you get at Lv. 49. Does spike damage as high as Ironwood and at max, has a 95% chance to stun the target for 2 seconds. Not that the stun is useful for actually stunning, but it's a much needed addition, since a Veno really lacks movement debuffs. What stops this from being a great grinding spell is the mucho mana cost and a very long 15 second cooldown. The 2 second cooldown reduction from Demon doesn't help too much either, but the 1 second addition to the stun time from Sage does. In PvP terms, it's great for knocking casters out of something like Tempest as well as using it to follow up Ironwood to make an easy charm tick.

Parasitic Nova (Lv. 59) - Major damage, great major debuff, major AoE range, major casting time, major mana cost, major cooldown, and major spark cost. So in terms of just about everything, it's big. The terrible problem with this is that the chance to cause chaotic is static at only 67%, so it's not really reliable for anything other than spike AoE damage. It does this really well, since at Lv. 1, it still matches damage to my Sage Ironwood. With Sage, a 50% chance of only consuming 1 spark may make it more accessible for regular usage, but it's still nothing you can spam. If anything, it's great as a follow up to a Sage Lucky Scarab if the 3 second stun does go off so you get enough time to fire Parasitic Nova off. I can't say anything about going Demon for this, since I was never a fan of the 67% chaotic chance and since the bonus damage only applies to chaotic targets, there is too much to risk for just that spike damage.

Human Form Support Branch

Bramble Guard (Lv. 16) - A Veno's only party useful buff. Typically, it's used on a tank so they can keep aggro a lot better. Not particularly necessary, but people will love you for it. Note that this skill has no effect in PvP or TWs, only in duels and PvE. Regardless, max this as soon as you hit Lv. 59 because it opens way to Bramble Hood.

Metabolic Boost (Lv. 26) - One of the key skills that makes a Veno the godly grinder that she is, this recovers a really nice chunk of your HP for absolutely no mana cost. Although the cooldown seems fairly long, most Venos use this in conjunction with Nature's Grace and Soul Transfusion to make the timing of the cooldown absolutely perfect. More about this endless grinding cycle will be explained below.

Nature's Grace (Lv. 36) - Same thing as Metabolic Boost, but for your MP instead. Max it.

Bramble Hood (Lv. 59) - Returing 200% damage and reducing damage taken by 75% for 15 seconds is about as godly as a Veno can get, even though the return damage effect is removed in PvP/TW scenarios. Although alot of people swear by Bramble Hood as a life saver, which it really is, I find the 2 second delay is a bit of a deterrent in emergency situations where you really want to scram before the mob gets even 15 meters to you. Nevertheless, using this in conjunction with Soul Transfusion should be a great escape mechanism when something goes terribly wrong.
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SleepCat
Director
SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

SleepCat's Venomancer Guide Empty
PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptySun Jun 28, 2009 5:22 am

Fox Form Branch

Fox Form (Lv. 9) - This spell is best used to go into fox form, which is really the other half of a Veno. Even for a pure caster Veno, it's pretty important to get this up to date because the physical defense boost can be a life saver when you're in a pinch, and a caster Veno is really lacking in the physical defense department. For the LA and Heavy Veno, you need this too. So basically, this is something every Veno needs to get. This skill is also a major deciding factor for whether a player should go Sage or Demon because that 60% movement boost for Demon is amazing, as is the 30% pd and 50% accuracy boost for Sage. With Sage obviously catering towards Fox Form users and Demon catering the casters who could always use a quick escape. All about what you want to be for this one.

Fox Wallop (Lv. 9) - Other than the damage boost, a 40% channeling speed reduction for only 3 seconds is pretty crappy. Not that the chi cost is an issue, but this skill overall is pretty useless. The 50% chance of not consuming 20 chi for Sage doesn't help either. The only redeeming factor for this skill is the 20% chance of making all hits critical for 5 seconds on Demon. How's that for motivation to finally spam this skill? Otherwise, leave it at Lv. 1

Befuddling Mist (Lv. 19) - Much better than Fox Wallop. the 70% accuracy reduction can really hurt those Barbs and BMs without the Misty Forest Ring, plus you don't need to constantly spam it thanks to the long 8 second duration. Both Sage/Demon versions of the skills give fairly nice improvements to the skill too, so you might as well max it if you're ever planning on using Fox Form.

Stunning Blow (Lv. 29) - Yea, that 1 spark cost may look a little pricey, but when you get multiple sparks in your bag of tricks, a mere spark for 8 whole seconds of freezing the target will start looking very attractive. The best usage for this is against a melee class, whereas you stun them, get some distance and you should be able to get a free cast of Parasitic Nova. Given that you have 3 spark to complete the whole combo anyways. Also note that the Demon version of this has a potential 3 second stun, making it a quick and easy interrupter.

Leech (Lv. 39) - My single favorite skill in the entire game. An 80% chance to leech a good amount of HP with only a 6 second cooldown is reason enough to use Fox Form. Useful for tight spots, runs without Clerics, waiting for Metabolic/Nature's Grace cooldowns, and just about in any situation where you don't have full health. Not only that but this skill doesn't actually leech Hp from the target. It simply gives you the extra HP. This means that even if Leech misses or the target is already dead by the time it hits, you'll still regen the health. While the Demon grants an extra 200HP regen to leech, it simply does not match a 100% success Leech of Sage. Max this one out ASAP and use it.

Consume Spirit (Lv. 49) - One of the lesser popular Fox Form skills, it reduces your current health by a percentage to regen mana. With this maxed out and a Sage Leech, you can pretty much juggle between the two skills to keep yourself in top shape concerning your HP and MP without the need for Metabolic Boost or Nature's Grace. However, it's best not to waste your time using this skill in PvP because there are no good benefits outside of keeping yourself in tip top shape in a grinding environment.

Malefic Crush (Lv. 59) - Like Parasitic Nova, there are really better usages of 2 sparks. However, Malefic Crush does not suffer from a major channeling time and burning 1.6k mana from the target can actually be useful on BMs and Barbs when used in conjunction with that Genie skill that also drains mana. If you're not looking for draining the target's mana, just spend the sparks on something like a Spark Eruption or something instead.

Fox Form Debuff Sub-branch

Purge (Lv. 13) - PvE wise, you'll probably never touch Purge unless you do TT2-3s or TT3-xs. So other than the two bosses, there is no real justification to use Purge at all, especially since regular mob buffs aren't too big of a threat either. When you switch topics to PvP, Purge suddenly becomes a beacon of light. Take a maxed Beast King's Inspiration, which gives a bonus 30% HP. In about 3 seconds of Purge, that's 30% of the target's HP gone. Mix and match it with any buff the target may have. The more buffs they have, the more fun you have Purging them. Add in the tiny AoE boost from Sage and the mass clutter of people in TWs and you got yourself a full support Veno. Highly recommended in PvP, stay away from it if you're staying away from PvP.

Amplify Damage (Lv. 23) - When a Veno is not tanking a boss in a squad, Amp Damage basically defines the Veno's role in the team. While in ordinary grinding scenarios, you probably won't be using it much unless you happen to be in Fox Form when you see an Inc Life mob. But in specialized scenarios such as PvP and bosses, you would want to max this out ASAP to save some wear and tear from the tank and clerics' charms or prep to dish out some major nukes. In a PvP situation though, don't make Amping the target a priority, although it's a nice plus if you have the time to soup up the debuffs before nuking the target. Both Sage/Demon verions are pretty nice, with Sage taking up a bit of the advantage, although there's no clear cut winner of which path to take for this skill. Recommended.

Soul Degeneration (Lv. 33) - No one ever sees this because no one ever uses it. In theory, it sounds terrible, and in practice, it doesn't fair much better. There was an experiment to see if Soul Degen can possible halt the regen effect of Diamon Sutra or Ironheart, but the results were never posted. just tested this awhile ago and it does not halt the regen status effect. This means Soul Degen only halts the base regen, which is crap in the first place. Absolutely useless in PvE. The Sage effect of reducing maximum HP by 20% sounds particularly attractive by using it to follow up a Purge on a Barb buffed target to really cut down the HP. The demon version has a 20% chance to self-buff yourself to cause 100% crits for 5 seconds. It's not too bad, but wasting time on casting this debuff 5 times just to get 5 seconds of crits is not worth it, especially considering foxform damage spikes aren't that great. You could switch forms to do a 100% crit Ironwood if you get lucky, but in actually PvP situations, it's not likely to be in your favor. Avoid it unless you have the Sage book for it.

Crush Vigor (Lv. 43) - I won't blatantly say that the Veno Fox Form skill branch sucks, but the later portions with Consume Spirit and Soul Degen really kill it. Crush vigor is obviously useless in PvE, but if used well in PvP, it can't be all that bad. It could potentially be used alongside with an Archer or Fist BM to really kill someone's chi and sparks in PvP/TW, but it's really situational and really requires a squad effort to make this really effective and preferable to something like Amp Damage. Don't bother unless you've got some lofty tricks up your sleeve with this skill. Demon Crush Vigor is a different story. 50% chance to gain one spark simply by using it means it's something you can spam just before amping the target while waiting for foxform cd.


Last edited by SleepCat on Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:38 pm; edited 3 times in total
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SleepCat
Director
SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

SleepCat's Venomancer Guide Empty
PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptySun Jun 28, 2009 5:22 am

General Support Branch

Melee Mastery (Lv. 19) - Easy. You use Fox Form, you level this. You don't, you don't level this.

Wood Mastery (Lv. 29) - Really minor boost to your damage, but you might as well max it anyways.

Soul Transfusion (Lv. 29) - A step above Bramble Hood, this is pretty much a much have skill for a Veno. A fairly short minute cooldown for you to instantly exchange HP and MP percentage values, for a cost of up to 100 chi maximum. This means you don't even need any chi to use it, although if you do have chi, it'll still consume it. This means there's no debate on whether to spend your spark on Bramble Hood or Soul Transfusion throughout most of the game, since you can use both of them in conjunction given that you cast Bramble Hood first. Great survival skill and great grinding skill. Must have.

Summer Sprint (Lv. 29) - Gives a very nice speed boost for 5 whole minutes for a low mana cost. Quoted from me and a few other people, when we were playing another class aside from a Veno, we all agreed that this was the single spell we missed the most. Although not essential in PvEing or if you have a mount, it's absolutely a blast to use when in fbs or doing WQs on an aerogear. Highly recommended.

Lending Hand (Lv. 46) - PvE and PvP, you'll never be using this because it does absolutely nothing. TWs are too hectic for you to figure out who even needs a spark. The only real useful thing Lending Hand is for is to give the tank a spark every once in awhile so he can keep aggro better. If you do fbs and TTs alot, get this. If not or if you have a very good tank you always hang out with, then you don't need it. It's pretty cheap though, so it's not really a bad idea to get it regardless. Personally, I find the demon version of this to be a bit detrimental, because if everyone's doing their job right, the tank shouldn't go all the way down to less than a spark left. Sage wins this round.

Lv. 79 Skills

Myriad Rainbow (Fox Form) (Lv. 79) - There are actually two Myraid Rainbows. One for Fox Form and one for standard form. The developers at PW really gimped Venos in this area, since we essentially have 2 real Lv. 79 skills because the 3rd one is just a duplicate of the other Lv. 79 skill. For the normal person who's practical and not rich enough to afford both Myriad Rainbows, get the Fox Form one instead. The difference between the two other than which form its usable in is that the Fox Form one has a much shorter range, but it has a 15 meter AoE. the AoE factor makes all the difference, especially in a TW situation where it'll definitely be pretty fun to spend that hefty 800 mana to screw up a group of TWers. Note that Myriad Rainbow causes random status effects, which means sometimes you'll get one on a target, sometimes you get all of them on a target, or sometimes it'll even do nothing. The Bleed and Poison are useless. The big reason anyone would get Myriad Rainbow is for the 100% Armor or Mind Break status. Reducing the defense by 100% is essentially reducing it to 0, which makes this skill very attractive to Sage Venos who'll miss out on the 20% 0 physical defense in a Demon Ironwood Scarab. According to Solandri, the Bleed/Poison each have a 50% chance of activating, while each break has a 10% of activating. This indeed puts it on par with Demon Ironwood in terms of general breakage, although if you're only interested in armor break, Demon Ironwood is preferable. In regular situations, the 800 mana cost is way too much so the best usage of this is through bosses where you can take the risk of using this gamble skill.

Myriad Rainbow (Lv. 79) - Unless you have alot of cash to burn and you really want to use Myriad Rainbow in a controlled situation where you don't want to aggro close by mobs from the AoE, don't touch the standard Myriad Rainbow at all.

Feral Concentration (Lv. 79) - When the description says at the cost of being able to move for 10 seconds, what it actually means is that you yourself are stunned for 10 seconds. With this in mind, it seems like a pretty bad waste of a spark unless the tank just died and you don't mind taking aggro while the cleric quickly tries to pull the tank back together. In that case, this would make a great escape mechanism along with Bramble Hood and Soul Transfusion. What makes this really magical though is through the use of an anti-stun pot. Pop one before using this skill and voila. 10 seconds of invincibility while you get to terrorize mobs and PKers alike. If you have a nice apothecary level and don't mind making a few anti-stun pots, this skill would be a great addition to your list.

Feral Concentration (Lv. 79) - When the description says at the cost of being able to move for 10 seconds, what it actually means is that you yourself are stunned for 10 seconds. With this in mind, it seems like a pretty bad waste of a spark unless the tank just died and you don't mind taking aggro while the cleric quickly tries to pull the tank back together. In that case, this would make a great escape mechanism along with Bramble Hood and Soul Transfusion. What makes this really magical though is through the use of an anti-stun pot. Pop one before using this skill and voila. 10 seconds of invincibility while you get to terrorize mobs and PKers alike. If you have a nice apothecary level and don't mind making a few anti-stun pots, this skill would be a great addition to your list.

Since I don't believe anyone has any Lv. 100 skills yet, and I have no personal experience with them, I'm going to omit those skills from the guide.


Last edited by SleepCat on Thu Oct 15, 2009 2:55 am; edited 1 time in total
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SleepCat
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SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
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Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

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PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptySun Jun 28, 2009 5:23 am

Veno-only Techniques


There are two things every Venomancer should learn or know. The first is non-stop grinding, the second is luring.

The goal of non-stop grinding is to grind and grind and grind without the usage of any charms, minimal usage of pots, and never ever stopping to meditate or do anything else except for grinding. The three key skills to this is using Nature's Grace when you're at the appropriate MP amount, then when it does down to the relatively same level again, use Soul Transfusion then Metabolic Boost. When you're back at the same level, Nature's Grace's cooldown should be over and you can repeat the pattern. At lower levels, you'll probably need some pots to supplement the pattern, but as you max out the 2 skills, it'll be easier and easier on you, given that you don't ever get touched by a mob. If your pattern is disrupted by ressing a dead pet or getting ninjaed by some mobs, you could potentially fix everything by going into Fox Form and Leeching anything that moves whilst using Soul Transfusion until your HP and MP levels are both near full. It's that simple to grind with a Veno.

Luring is easier to master, since you can practice as soon as you get a pet at Lv. 3. Simply stand far away from the target, preferably 24 meters or so, order your pet to attack the mob, and as soon as the pet shows the attack animation, unsummon it. Chances are, you'll see the mob do damage to your pet and vice versa, and the mob will start after you immediately or delay a bit before running at you. At this point, you can start running if the mob is fairly quick, or you can take the time to quickly re-summon your pet and have it block the mob before it gets to you. When you resummon your pet, you should notice that it wasn't damaged at all by the mob, despite that numbers showed up right as you unsummoned it. It's that simple. Luring is mostly performed when you want to draw a specific mob out of a crowd of mobs that aggro. It's also much easier to lure on melee mobs due to their short ranged nature. This technique is invaluable in FBs and especially TTs, so learn it and learn it well.

So Sage or Demon?


Everyone's favorite question. In general, Sage is more defensive driven, PvE based, stable damage, and conserves more chi to unload those spark eruptions. Demon is often described as being more PvP based, offensive, and spike damage. For the Venomancer though, it also splits into the paths that Sage is more friendly for Fox Formers, while Demon benefits Human Form Venos even moreso. Personally, I'm inclined towards Sage due to the main factors of the 100% Sage Leech, Self-Purifying Summer Sprint, and the +50 chi Sage skill. Not to mention that as an LA Veno, increasing the usefulness of Fox Forming allows me to utilize both forms of the Veno even further. On the other hand, the Demon Masteries that increase crits, the 20% chance to make all hit crit for Demon Fox Wallop, the Demon versions of Venomous and Ironwood, the 75% Bramble, and 90 sec cooldowns for the regen skills are just as attractive. Also note that a good chunk of the Sage/Demon skill books are very difficult to find or make, especially with so little players being in the upper 90 range at this point in the game. If you're not planning on staying around long term enough to get the benefits of the upper level Sage/Demon skills, feel free to decide simply based off of the Lv. 89 Sage/Demon skills.

Even if you haven't decided at Lv. 85, you still have a lot of time to think about it.

If you have any further questions about Venos comments about my spelling, formatting, or whatever else you want to ask me about Venos, feel free to ask me here. And this guide has been split into multiple posts because of the forum message size limit. I don't believe any of the text here are actually quoted from anyone, since I typed it all myself. This guide was originally started in order to enter Blake's Guide Contest, but I never really managed to finish it in time. It's sort of a good thing though, since I've managed to learn a lot more new things, especially about Sage/Demon in between the time I started this guide and now. Enjoy the result of about 2 month's worth of research and many more months of personal experience. :p
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WilliamBlake
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PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptyThu Jul 02, 2009 12:02 am

An absolutely outstanding guide, Sleep. Kudos, I am so impressed that I even feel like making a Veno -- but I won't, because I hate them :P
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WilliamBlake
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PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptyThu Jul 30, 2009 8:36 pm

sleep, you should consider submitting this guide to the PWWiki guide contest.

http://pwi-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=366231

i think it has a really good chance of winning as it is, you just need to remove the exposition from the ending. if you don't want the fish, sell it and pocket the coin!
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SleepCat
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SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

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PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptySun Aug 02, 2009 4:59 am

Hm...after reading it a few times more, it feels more like a skill guide than an actual class guide to me. But I'll take up your suggestion and try entering it in the contest after I fix it up a bit. :D
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SleepCat
Director
SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

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PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptyMon Sep 07, 2009 10:33 pm

Edited description for Soul Degeneration.
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SleepCat
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SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

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PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptyThu Oct 15, 2009 2:56 am

Added information about Myriad Rainbow activation percentage rates.
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AJWLion
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AJWLion


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Age : 34
Location : Rapid City, South Dakota

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Class: Archer
Level: 91

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PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptyThu Oct 15, 2009 6:56 pm

Great guide Sleep! Man, you would have kicked my butt in the contest. :P
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SleepCat
Director
SleepCat


Posts : 440
Join date : 2009-04-13
Age : 103

Character Stats
Class: Venomancer
Level: 102

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PostSubject: Re: SleepCat's Venomancer Guide   SleepCat's Venomancer Guide EmptyThu Jan 21, 2010 12:35 pm

Weapon Progression


Since they're so popular, I decided I might as well add a weapon progression section to my guide. The early levels are easy, just keep using your quest/supply weapons, or if you're rich, go Mirage Sword -> Order of the Stars -> Wheel of Fate. The Legendary route actually isn't too bad, considering that you can resell either for profit or to break even thus ending up being as cheap as the quest reward route. From level 60 on, let's start by examining the most popular weapon paths all the way through level 100.

60+
Ancient Arbor (Magic Sword) TT60 Full TT chained weapon
Dragon's Will (Wand) Legendary

Not too many choices here. Dragon's Will isn't seen very often but it has some bombing nice stats. While AA beats out the Magic Attack bonus by about 20 or so, Will adds about 6~8 Mag as well as a 1% crit. If you're not planning on going the Magic Sword TT route, then Dragon's Will is a great weapon to use. But since you can still find plenty aftermarket TT70s for fairly cheap, I would say to save those TT60 runs and just get Dragon's Will for now.

70+
Grief's Breath (Magic Sword) Channeling based TT70 line
Ashura's Sign (Magic Sword) Crit based TT70 line
Sakyamuni's Light (Magic Sword) PD based Legendary
Acalanatha Wand (Wand) Mag Atk based TT70

Long ago, Acalanatha Wand was considered a premium choice for Wizards and Clerics because not only does it have great stats, but it eventually upgrades to the TT80 Gold Wand. But it's not long ago and you're not a Wizard nor a Cleric so I would say to cross that option out. On the TT70 Magic Sword lines, Grief's Breath simply sucks. Venos don't need extra MP and while the Vit is good, the PD on Sakyamuni's is better. Ashura's Sign isn't bad, but considering Sakyamuni has the invaluable 216 PD and is cheaper than any of the TT70 lines, it's what I personally prefer for the 7x range.

80+
Endless Ambiguity (Magic Sword) Channeling based TT80 line
Yaksa (Magic Sword) Crit based TT80 line
Sakra-devanam-Lundra (Magic Sword) TT80 Gold
Acalanatha Wand: Sunflame (Wand) TT80 Gold
Sensoid Emptiness (Wand) FF85 Gold
Glaives of Divinity (Glaive) Legendary Lv 79
Wheel of Life (Glaive) TT80 Glaive line
Aquadash (Glaive) Mag based FF85
Emerald Flame (Pataka) PD based FF85
Single Butterfly (Glaive) Warsoul

The 8x range weapon variety exploded after Anni Packs brought in FF weapons into the mainstream market. Unfortunately, they aren't that great except for Sensoid Emptiness, which has the exact bonus stats as the TT99 Broken Dream other than its attack ratings. If you're not too worried about Mag Attack, then it could potentially be a near-endgame weapon. Sunflame isn't too bad, but you can get Sakra for roughly the same price and the stats on Sakra are far better. Glaives of Divinity aren't that great but it's one of the cheapest 8x weapons and can last you long enough for Requiem Blade if you're a HA/AA hurting for extra stat points. Wheel of Life gives Dex for god knows what but like Glaives of Divinity, it's more aimed towards the HA/AA stat heavy audience. While plenty of people say Endless Ambiguity is THE TT80 green to get for the 3% channeling, I personally see Yaksa as more valuable for the 216 PD which is the same as Sakyamuni, since I was never a fan of Maximum Magic Attack like that on Ambiguity. In the end after much debate, Single Butterfly/Mysto Caster have been decided to be the best choices for a level 8x player.

90+
Requiem Blade (Magic Sword) Stat based Lv 89 Legendary
Blade of the Red Dust (Magic Sword) 6% channeling TT90 Gold
Innocent Reverie (Magic Sword) Crit based TT90 line
Wraith Conqueror (Magic Sword) Channeling based TT90 line
Beamhoof Slicer (Magic Sword) Weapon of the Sages
Ardent Soul Shadow (Glaive) TT90 Gold
Wheel of Denied Fate (Glaive) TT90 Glaive line
Solar Flame: Conqueror (Pataka) TT90 Gold

Ardent Soul Shadow and Solar Flame: Conqueror should be crossed out of the list first. The reason no one uses them is because of the Ancient Evil gold mats needed, and like the TT80 Gold Wand, they're pretty mediocre for the 20mil+ price tag. If you're aiming for a Gold, consider the Blade of the Red Dust instead. With the ever so cheap Sacred Mother's Aura, the 6% channeling and +77 MA are much more worth it, although I'll have to warn you, it's an ugly weapon and Dust of Devils aren't that much cheaper than Devil Souls. Wheel of Denied Fate is like Blade of the Red Dust with only 3% channeling, but it gives about 15 bonus Mag stat instead of the useless 335MP. In fact, Wheel of Denied Fate is arguably better than Blade of the Red Dust unless you're desperate for the extra channeling.

Beamhoof Slicer is without a doubt within the top 5 endgame weapons for a caster class, including Venos. 10% channeling and +250 Max MA is enough said. It's also considered one of the cheapest endgame weapons there is, since you only need 35k rep and collect all the badges. Requiem Blade as I mentioned in the 8x lines, is not that great unless you're hurting for stat points. On the two TT90 green lines, Innocent Reverie gets the dirt with the the +262 eva bonus, which is a junk stat. On the other hand, collecting Dust of Devils for Wraith Conqueror is a bitch. Do note that Wraith Conqueror opens up 3 TT99 green lines while Reverie only gets 1 green and 1 gold. If you're looking at TT99 options, it's not too late to switch to either lines. If you're looking for a Lunarglade endgame weapon, then stick with Requiem and start saving up. Otherwise, the TT90 green lines are as cheap as you can get for the early 9x range.

95+
Buddha's Leaf (Magic Sword) LG95 Gold
Garuda's Flame Wing (Magic Sword) PD based TT99
Scaredevil (Magic Sword) MA based TT99
Mirage (Magic Sword) Mana based TT99
Broken Dream (Magic Sword) HP based TT99
Inferno-Heaven Ravager: Souless (Magic Sword) Spike damage based TT99 Gold
Neon Purgatory (Wand) LG95 Gold
Aura of Buddha (Wand) Lv 99 Legendary
Fate Denial: Godspeed (Glaive) TT99 Gold
Dying Spirit (Pataka) LG95 Gold
Midnight Black (Pataka) Legendary Lv 97
Divine Aegis (Pataka) Non-chained TT99 Gold

The Lunarglade line opens at about 60mil+ each weapon, but they're popular enough to be considered mainstream and somewhat affordable. Dying Spirit is an unusual Pataka with +91 PA and bonus Str stats, it's not a bad pure foxform weapon. The problem is that it's a Pataka, and the lower attack rate will take at least 2 -.1 interval gears to make up for. Buddha's Leaf is a pure defensive weapon, focused on PD reduction and resistance. It's not worth 60mil. Neon Purgatory is the most popular caster Lunarglade weapon. It mimics the TT100 Magic Sword stats other than the 4% crit rate and it refines slightly higher than it thanks to the Wand attributes. As an endgame weapon, this is pretty popular with Venos. Midnight Black and Aura of Buddha are nothing but placeholder Legendaries, since even TT90 weapon stats beat them out. Divine Aegis is pretty similar to Buddha's Leaf but it's way cheaper. If you're just aiming for a Nirvana weapon, starting from Divine Aegis is a budget way to upgrade.

Fate Denial: Godspeed is a preference weapon for Clerics and Wizards endgame, and it'll do quite nicely for Venos as well. Bonus Mag and Vit stats and 6% channeling is always good. Inferno-Heaven Ravager: Souless is the Crit line of the TT99 Golds, and not a bad alternative if you went with Innocent Reverie back at TT90. 3% Crit and +142 Max MA makes it a spike damage based weapon. The TT99 green line extends to 4 choices this time. The not so great Innocent Reverie gets Scaredevil this round, which I think is a great offensive weapon with +84 MA, Mag stats, and 2% crit. It's more stable damage than the TT99 Gold Magic Sword and cheaper too. Mirage would've been great if it weren't for the added Mana pool stat. 6% channeling and 360 Mana is a Cleric weapon, not a Veno. As a survival weapon, Broken Dream wins out Garuda's Flame Wing. Looking at 168HP from the Vit stats or 2% PD reduction, the 2% PD reduction evens out with the 168HP only if the physical attack deals 33k damage. On second thought, you'd be dead regardless if something hit you for that much. After deciding on that, Broken Dream seems indefinitely better.

Endgame: Rank 8 vs. TT100 vs. Nirvana vs. Weapon of Sages vs. Warsoul

Warsoul costs about a few billion coins, so we'll scratch that one out. Also if you get a well statted OHT100, it can substitute as a great endgame weapon but that's unreliable. On the topic of randomness, it'll probably take ages to get the perfect Nirvana weapon too, so we'll cross that off as well. Starting off, Weapon of Sages, specifically Beamhoof Slicer, is the cheapest endgame weapon. Rank 8 is probably the most expensive one but also has the highest attack ratings next to Warsoul. TT100 is not great in pure attack nor stats compared to Rank 8, but it has 6% channeling and 4% crit on the same weapon, not to mention it is Nirvana upgradeable if you're looking even further.
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