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Xornn glanced up from his rough hewn desk for a moment, sensing his young
apprentice shuffling in the other room. Perhaps his study lessons were a bit
excessive tonight. 'Oh well,' thought the old high elf, 'better he find my training
to demanding than the battles he faces.' There was a bit of rhythmic chanting in the
far chamber, even audible through the heavy oaken door. Xornn felt a small crack of
a smile creeping onto his tired, aged face and smote it quickly--so his apprentice finally
got the spell right, no need to get emotional.
BOOOOOOM!
The hinges of the door buckled and stone powder dripped away from the mounts.
Xornn stared impassively at the damage, waiting for the door to open as it would...
now.
Jakonis, high elf apprentice to Xornn Mier`noen, Master of the 6th Circle, pushed
the door open on complaining hinges that groaned as they bent into angles they were
recently warped out of. He was young, and though his body was tired, his eyes and
cheeks were full of fire and somewhat controlled excitement. 'Still too emotional,'
thought the master, 'but I suppose I was full of zeal at some time, too.' The young
apprentice's robe was scorched and still smoking at a point, apparently from the proximity
of the enchanter's explosion.
"Are you alright?" Asked Xornn, sure to hide his genuine concern.
"Y-yes, Master Xornn. I finally got it right, but my aim is off."
Xornn made a point of staring at the damaged door for a second then returning his
looming gaze over Jakonis. "I've noticed. You'll have time to work on
that." His apprentice visibly shortened at the thought of more practice
tonight; his master had pushed him hard tonight. Jakonis spoke up on his own,
generally not allowed during training...
"Master, I don't understand why I have to practice so much to use such spells
as these... this is not what will save myself and my friends when adventuring..." he
drifted off, already scolding himself for speaking, as Xornn just let the eerie silence
linger for a good while longer, till Jakonis seemed ready to melt.
"You will become a master with all of your powers, for the most unlikely spell
will save you in the most unlikely of times, thereby saving your 'friends'."
But you've done enough tonight, your aim can wait until the morning. Jakonis barely
held back a sigh of relief--his shoulders looked tired.
"Yes, Master Xornn." He paused a moment, as was appropriate, to
phrase his thoughts correctly; such discipline was necessary in order to make him think
before acting, but think quickly. "Shall I fetch a supper for you before I
retire to sleep?"
Xornn waived a dismissing hand at the thought of eating, "Nay, I've eaten my
fill already today," he lied, no need to be helpless, apprentice before him or no.
"Besides, you've got a door to repair before you get any sleep, and we're
starting in the morn quite early. Now run down to the Shop of All Hollows and see
about getting some fresh hinges."
Jakonis slumped visibly this time, but quickly straightened himself, hoping Xornn
had not noticed, or at least wouldn't scold him. "Yes, Master Xornn, right
away." He shuffled out of the chamber quickly, retrieved his travelling cloak
and hustled out the door. The shop would be closed already, but Xornn knew Jakonis
would figure something out--he showed promise in that.
As Xornn went back to scratching a quill upon parchment, a smile crept onto his
lips.
There are 42 separate "spell lines" or effects, available to the enchanter,
more than any other caster receives, rivaled only by the shaman. Some are essential
to enchanting, others are merely parlor tricks that will see little to know use. All
of them should find their way into your spellbook, if only to know you've completed your
collection. Listed below are the 49th (12th Circle) and below spell lines you will
attain as you become a master enchanter. Further spells at the 13th Circle and on
will see discussion, but not here.
Nuke
Chaotic Feedback (8), Sanity Warp (16), Chaos Flux (24), Anarchy (34),
Discordant Mind (44)
Pure mana to damage. Magic-based all-or-nothing nukes, because the resist check
is for the built-in stun effect (only a split second, but interrupts casting). No
stun equates to no nuke landing. The stun is also a large source of aggro (all stuns
are) which is what leads to enchanter nukes being labeled "uber taunts".
With an 8 second recast on all of our nukes, chain-nuking is often utilized to speed
firepower. Not really that lacking in mana efficiency, enchanter nukes lack
time-efficiency.
Charm
Charm (12), Beguile (24), Cajoling Whispers (39), Allure (49)
Truly one of the most awesome spells in the enchanter arsenal, as well as one of the
most dangerous. With one cast, a power-hitting, high-hitpoint,
created-to-challenge-players-in-groups mob becomes your pet. Capable of dropping
mobs more powerful than itself, or several in a row that are weaker, especially with your
assistance. However, this mob is yours for a purely random duration; at any moment
you could be the only thing near the top of the ex-pet's hate list. Truly, the risk
versus reward is extreme in both directions. An amazing power both in solo and group
situations, granting the ability to transform a deadly attacker into a powerful ally.
Duration will always be randomly generated, though is seems a higher Charisma will
help lower resists on your initial cast. Level-caps on the target mob are the real
difference between the various charms, as Charm only allows you to affect up to a level 24
mob; after that you must use Beguile, which bears a larger mana cost, and greater casting
time. With each upgrade, it takes more mana to charm your target, and a longer
casting time to establish your hold.
PB Stun
Color Flux (4), Color Shift (20), Color Skew (44)
Fast-casting, short-duration, point-blank stuns; these spells stun mobs in a radius
centered on you, buying time for further uninterrupted casting, as well as offering the
ability to "stun-lock" at 20th level and on. Mezzing, charming, and
rooting are the most common follow-up casts to these spells. Casters cannot cast
while being hit (as reliably, anyway), and only the enchanter is equipped with spells to make
casting time available--we're built to be rushed. As you reach 44th level and attain
Color Skew, you will discover that first you don't usually have room in your lineup to
keep three color stuns memmed, and also that you can channel Color Shift as easily as
Color Flux, but more on that later, under stunlocking and the appropriate Circles.
Root
Root (8), Enstill (29), Immobilize (39), Paralyzing Earth (49)
There are two classifications for the Root series; short duration and long duration.
The longer durations (Enstill and Paralyzing Earth) carry longer casting times, but
the chance of a very long root time accompanies them. The 39th and 49th roots also
have a lower resist rate, making them hold better, but at a much higher mana cost. All
roots allow a save to break each tic, as well as every time a direct damage source lands
(such as nukes), meaning that holding a mob that is being nukes is still best left to 8th
level Root. When not being nuked, the higher level roots can be quite useful, though
most fights will never last long enough to require more than a 30 second hold or so.
The real point is what root does, and that's aggro-management.
Rooted mobs attack the closest melee target available, making it a fantastic way to force
a mob to fight the PC/Pet you want it on. The movement stop is a perk, useful when
soloing or stopping a running mob. Root allows the enchanter a cheap and controlled
way to aggro the animation, or a fast save to get a mob off of a caster, or to keep a mob
aggroed on the closest tank (rather than say... the weakly armored ranger), or perhaps
just a chance to let the enchanter meditate in peace after a debuffing round. Don't
rely on one of the many root casters to do these things for you however, except possibly a
wizard, who has lived by Root for ages; you never know when you'll need a root now
and your group may not realize it. Root is also one of the single most effective
ways for anyone in your group to assist with crowd control. Rooting isn't
going to break mez (as long as it's not a damage root that healers get), and the worst
thing that could happen is someone rooting a mob right before you charm it. Even
that isn't so bad, as if it was rushing you, interrupted charm would have been a lot
worse.
Single Mez
Mesmerize (4), Enthrall (16), Entrance (34), Dazzle (49)
Mezzing is the most oft-called upon power of crowd control. For a short
expenditure of mana, a single mob is stunned for a set duration, or until damaged in any
way. The effect can be renewed over itself, meaning that if you can meditate back
the cost to cast mez before the duration fades, you can hold a mob in place forever (and
you will sometime). By the time an enchanter has Clarity, mez-medding is quite
simple. By 50th level, with a meditation around 25 mana/tic, combined with 6
mana/tic from Clarity, over the course of Dazzle (125mana 96second mez--or 16 tics) you
can regain 340 mana in 14 tics, leaving 2 tics (12 seconds) for renewing mez, even with a
resist. Allowing 2 tics per additional mob, it's possible to hold 3 mobs mezzed at
once without running out of mana for a very long time. Probably the most difficult
part of mezzing is targetting; Target Nearest NPC can help out a lot, and be sure to keep
a large clock (or watch with very visible seconds) near you when timing durations.
Just a quick glance can give you a spot to check on how long you have till mez runs
out. Mezzing also carries with it a small memory blur ability, seeming to be more
effective with the smaller mez spells. However, breaking mez is a science that tanks
should learn quickly. Always have them Taunt twice if possible, and open with a Kick
or Bash as they break mez. If this is still getting you rushed on the break, or this
isn't available (say with a non-taunting tank as your lead fighter, then don't forget you
have a spell called "Root", which is great for aggro management, and you always
have it memmed anyway, right?
Attack Slow
Languid Pace (12), Tepid Deeds (24), Shiftless Deeds (44)
Hands down, the most powerful debuff available to the enchanter. while the enchanter
gains their slow spells more quickly, the shaman has the ability to cast slow faster, and
more efficiently; however in the absence of a shaman, the enchanter is left with the task
of slowing a mob. Secondary to the primary slows (enchanter & shaman) is the
bard, who can use a snare/slow song at no mana cost, and kill two birds with one stone.
To understand the amazing level of effectiveness granted by an attack slow,
consider the effects:
A standard mob has an attack delay of 30, swinging every 3 seconds, or gaining 20 attack
tics per minute of combat. A 50% slow (attained around 40ish) turns the delay into
60 (New Delay = 30 / 0.5), reducing the mob to a 6 second attack tic, 10 swings/minute!
With one cast, you have cut the offensive ability of the mob to half.
No other debuff is as effctive as this. Simplify the effects to whatever
explanation impresses you most--half damage output; doubles tanks' hit points; doubles
tanks' haste (as they will inflict twice as much damage before receiving 20 attack tics in
return).
Whenver it is possible, someone must attack slow every mob fought, always--to do otherwise
is to ignore the most effective debuff in a melee combat. If stunlocking or fearing,
then an attack slow isn't needed, but groups don't do this often, and attack slows are the
priority to land.
MR Debuff
Tashan (4), Tashani (20), Tashania (44)
1 second casting time, 10-30 mana cost, for an unresistable magic resistance debuff.
Magic resistance. Every spell in our books saves against magic. In 1
second you can quickly and easily make your own spells more effective. At 44th,
taking 1 second and 30 mana before a slow is better than waiting for 6 seconds to bounce
200 mana off of a mob (Shiftless Deeds). Yes, tashing mobs does carry some abnormal
aggro, but with just a little care (and/or rooting) it can be quickly and effectively
dumped onto any mob that might be on the receiving end of magic-based spells in
the future.
Berzerker Shield
Berzerker Strength (20), Rampage (39), Berzerker Spirit (49)
Massive Strength buff accompanied by a negative Agility, but also bearing an ablative
HP Shield, which allows you to ignore the next (x) damage received (200 with Berzerker
Spirit). Unfortunately the effect of the spell is only marginally useful.
First, the duration is only 5 minutes, requireing constant re-application.
Secondly, when the HP shield fades, so does the rest of the effect. At 49th, the HP
shield of 200 is used up very quickly in most fights. Combined with an
attack slow, this can be used as a pseudo-heal on your tank to buy heal time or (more
likely) to keep your animation from taking damage while soloing. Basically this
spell is used most effectively as a rune that will not use up a reagent each cast, but
carries a 12 second recast delay with it.
AoE Mez
Mesmerization (16)
One of the most powerful contenders in the crowd control arsenal--if used correctly.
Also extremely dangerous, much like charm--and many times an aquired taste among
enchanters. This is basically a level 4 Mesmerize (24 seconds), with a 5 target
capacity--including yourself. While the short duration requires a bit of casting to
maintain, a well-placed AoE Mez can lock down an incoming train rushing a caster/healer...
when you just can't afford the time required to single-mez mobs. If 4 mobs jump a
tank--single mezzing and perhaps a bit of PB stunning will do just nicely, and be much
safer. When a train adds and rushes the cleric? Well you'll get one--maybe
two--of them mezzed before the healer is juice on the wall. AoE Mez cannot
be overwritten by single-mez, meaning that you either stay committed to refreshing AoE Mez
often (and single-mez resists as they break free)--which isn't bad as 70 mana comes back
quickly as you get high enough that you need to AoE Mez with frequency, or
utilize charms and roots to set up the mobs for a switchover to single-mez. You can
charm an AoE mezzed mob, then renew your AoE, and of course your pet will not be affected.
Learning the right time to AoE (not around higher level mobs that resist
too much) is the true discipline required to master this power. This is a spell that
should always be ready to cast if there is a possibility of being trained, even
though it may go the whole night without seeing a single casting. Also important, is
to raise you MR as high as you can, to minimize the chance of mezzing yourself if you
stand too close to the target the effect will radiate from. 100+ MR leaves the
chance of mezzing yourself extremely slim.
Dispel
Taper Enchantment (1), Cancel Magic (8), Strip Enchantment (24), Nullify
Magic (29), Pillage Enchantment (44)
As you can see, enchanters are the undisputed masters of dispelling; while most
casters can the ability to dispel magical effects, the enchanter gains the ability to not
only strip up to 4 and a time, but to cancel effects as though they were up to nine
levels higher! The 1st and 8th level versions cancel one effect, the 29th cancels
two effects at 4 levels higher than your level, the 29th cancels up to 4 effects, and the
44th Pillage Enchantment cancels up to 4 effects at 4 levels higher than normal. (At
53rd enchanters gain the ability to dispel as a 62nd level enchanter.) There are two
primary uses for dispelling (outside of the PvP environment, which is the aim of this
guide); removing damage shields, and removing charms from players and charmed pets you
have buffed--removing both the charm and buff together. In order to dispel a player,
they must be in your group. When you begin encountering mobs with damage shields,
dispel it quickly before debuffs are cast, so you don't catch them as well, and healers
will thank you. (The average 40ish warrior, dual wielding will have an attack delay
around 20, and with dual wield in double attack, land about 60 hits per minute. With
just a 10 point damage shield on a mob, that's 600 damage per minute per tank
that is being stopped with one dispel. For further proof, don't dispel a DS'd mob
and see how much your tanks melt.
DOT
Shallow Breath (1), Suffocating Sphere (4), Choke (12), Suffocate (29),
Gasping Embrace (49)
A mana efficient DOT (comparable to same level DOTs other casters/healers have) which
carries the added effect of a DD impact, as well as a Strength & Agility debuff.
At 49th level, it's 50pt DD, -30 STR -30 AGI, and 660pt DOT, all for 200 mana!
The downside? Duration. A mob must sit still or be running (natural or
feared) to take full damage from a DOT, and hte DOT takes 108 seconds (1min 48sec) to go
to duration, inflicting a full 710 points. Lowering STR has very little effect on a
mob (more explained in STR debuffs), and lowering AGI drops AC by 1 for every 3 points (10
in this case) so only the AGI has any real impact and even that is small. At 49th, a
necromacer's lifetap DOT (which nicely adds the damage done to the necro's HP), does 720
in 54 seconds. So why such a long duration for the enchanter DOTs?
(Specifically 29th and 49th, Choke and below are fast DOTs.) The debuff effect
attached requires a longer duration so that the mob stays debuffed. Unfortunately,
the debuff has minimal effect. Still, if you have longer duration fights, where the
DOT will go to duration, this is a very good, extremely mana efficient source of
damage. However in the fast paced fighting of EverQuest (even soloing), the 29th
& 49th DOTs will see little use.
Shaman Debuff
Disempower (16), Listless Power (29), Incapacitate (44)
Dubbed "shaman debuffs" because the shaman gets them first, and typing
AC/Strength/Agility Debuff takes too much space up. This debuff can honestly be put
about on par with enchanter DOTs when a good melee of 2+ tanks/pets is in the fight.
While the STR drop incurred by this spell is rarely useful, the AC & AGI drop
(thereby dropping more AC) can severely lower the AC of a mob, making them much easier to
hit, and therefore bring about a faster kill, preventing damage to the group, which is the
goal of all debuffing. Especially handy when fear kiting, as the AC drop can make 2
or more pets much more effective--although if only one pet is on the mob, a DOT will
usually have more effect, and the concern for spell slot room will usually limit you to
one cast or the other.
Fear
Fear (4), Chase the Moon (16), Invoke Fear (39)
Fear causes a mob to run to "fear wells", a certain set of points/paths in
every zone. They have maximum durations of 18, 36, and 48 seconds respectively, and
check for a break each tic. A feared mob cannot cast, attack, or use its special
attacks. Feared mobs also take full damage from DOTs, making them very handy spells
in fear kiting situations. Fearing a snared/darknessed mob will cause it to slowly
flee you (the safest way to fight in the game usually), but usually will require a partner
for the enchanter. Trying to kill a mob running at full speed is difficult at best,
as your animation (or any pet for that matter) does not hit will on the full run.
Fear can be useful also in sending a mob running away, outside of its seek radius, thereby
forgetting you. It is possible to snare a mob with Strength debuffs by encumbering
it, but more on that in Strength debuff tactics; it's very costly in mana and very
conditional as well.
Manatap
Wandering Mind (39)
This spell carries with it one of the banes to all enchanters; a recast delay.
A two and a half minute delay to be precise, which means it must get its own spell slot if
you wish to use it. However it's extremely powerful--by casting this spell on a mob
with mana (you won't be able to cast on non-mana mobs), you gain a "mana regen over
time"... MROT? Basically the efect is 6 mana per tic for 20 tics (2 minutes,
120 mana). That's Clarity on you for two minutes, and yup, it stacks with
Clarity! This spell can be a very welcome addition when fighting in the proximity of
casters frequently, but teach your tanks to leave the casters till the last kill, allowing
you to possibly milk another manatap from them. Note that even if a mob dies after
being tapped this way, you will still possess the mana regen effect for the full duration.
Manadrain
Mana Sieve (34)
This spell carries no long recast delay, costs 150 mana, and can drain away up to 370
mana from your target. No one receives this mana though, it's just lost.
During raids against mobs that heal or nuke excessively, a bank of enchanters sieving mana
in a "chain-drain" can be quite effective. (Lady Vox the Complete Heal
casting dragon comes to mind.) Outside of raiding situations, this spell will see
little use, and mobs that cast are usually easier to just stun when they try to heal, and
doesn't require a special slot set aside (because you always have at least one PB
stun memmed, right?).
Single-Stun
Whirl Till You Hurl (12), Dyn's Dizzying Draught (29)
This spell is highly resistant, and even when it lands, it checks to break every
second, and every time the mob is bashed, possibly every time damaged. What this
equates to is a practically useless spell unless used on green mobs that are no danger to
you (as your level overcomes the horrid resist rates). However when the spell works,
it can land a stun effect for up to 30 seconds, and DDD is a backup stun when you have an
early break, though it's mana cost is prohibitive. The reason this spell line is so
bad is that at one time it was so good. Encounters were trivial with an enchanter
chain-spinning mobs till they died--so Verant nerfed the spell line into a useless pile.
Blind
Eye of Confusion (8)
Blind will cause a mob to move somewhat erratically, but do not think it will keep
you from being attacked. Basically if a mob would need 3 seconds to close a gap
between you and it, the mob will need 4 seconds if blinded. Blind will last up to 18
seconds, with a save each tic. The true use of Blind spells is during PvP fighting,
both to disorient your opponent, and keep them from "bagging" (putting away
their equipment in bags so you can't loot them when they die).
Aggro-Reduction
Lull (1), Soothe (8), Calm (20), Pacify (39)
Like Whirl Till You Hurl, this spell line was a one time immensely powerful, allowing
caster to calm a mob for 2 minutes so that it wouldn't aggro or assist mobs beyond the
radius the spell reduced it to. (1 pace in the case of Pacify... mobs are wider than
one pace.) This so trivialized encounters that should have been crowd control
nightmares (as single pulling was easy), the spell line was nerfed into oblivion by giving
it an extreme resist rate, and giving bounces the chance to aggro. Still, it does
possess some use on green mobs, where your level drastically reduces the chances of
resists or drawing aggro.
Memory Blur
Memory Blur (12), Reoccuring Amnesia (49)
The blur line allows you to do just that--make a mob wipe its hate list clean.
However, the higher level a mob gets, the less likely this is to work. By the time
you push into the 40ish range, memory blur isn't very effective, and you will find that
rooting a mob is usually more handy; it casts faster, requires less mana, is always memmed
anyway (right?), and will usually allow the tanks to resume their positition at
the top of the hate list before it wears off. Often enough to compare to the times
memory blur doesn't work at least. Memory Blur is also extremely handy for PLing, as
you just take a mob to near death, blur it, and then whoever kills it gets the
experience. This is because wiping the hate list also has the side effect of erasing
the damage list, thereby starting the race to 51% over again. Reoccurring Amnesia is
a repeated Memory Blur, that appears (very difficult to tell how well it works) to try
wiping the hate list on cast, then retry every tic for 4 tics or until it succeeds--you're
still only getting one blur from it, just a blur 4 times as likely to take hold. As
Memory Blur can often take several casts to "take" at higher level, this is
necessary. However, blurring just says, "Soandso blinks a few times,"
rather than giving a resist. (The spell is unresistable... whether or not
it works is another thing.)
AoE Memory Blur
Mind Wipe (39), Blanket of Forgetfulness (49)
AoE blurs are just a regular blur, and more. They blur everything around the
target in a large radius, including your animation if it's fighting (more on that in
Kamikaze Tactics), and for some reason seem to land better than single-blurs (not heavily
researched, just an opinion really). The principle is still the same however; you
see a lot of "blinks a few times" then find out if it took hold.
Can be useful in raids when a healer or caster is being summoned by a mob (say during a
planar raid) and an AoE blur can get the mob back to fighting the tanks quickly and
efficiently, or also used in tank-mezzing (see Glossary) in order to get the mob to fight
a different tank while another gets healed.
Animation
Pendril's Animation (1), Juli's Animation (4), Mircyl's Animation (8),
Kilan's Animation (12), Shalee's Animation (16), Sisna's Animation (20), Sagar's Animation
(24), Uleen's Animation (29), Boltran's Animation (34), Aanya's Animation (39), Yegoreff's
Animation (44), Kintaz's Animation (49)
These are our loyal, kamikaze pets. Kamikaze, because once they start a fight,
they fight to the death, unless you find a way to make them stop (memory blur). They
are dumb, uncommandable, don't have a good defense, don't really damage as well as a mage
or necro pet (though for their level they actually hit harder... just don't summon at as
good a level), and generally serve only one purpose:
They are a target for you to haste. Enchanters are only powerful when they have
something to manipulate, and our animations are no exception. While they won't tank
with the staying power or damage output of a mage or necro pet, they are quite capable of
acting as a relatively free DOT that does signifigant damage. At level 12, your
animations will be able to inflict magical damage, and by level 29 they will dual wield if
you hand them any one handed weapon that is Secondary Slot equipable. At 39th they
begin to regenerate at NPC rates (30hp/tic) and by 44th all summons will regen quickly.
Whereas a magicians pet is about tanking the mob till it dies, or the necro pet
tanks until the fear kite is going, the enchanter just hopes his animation survives the
fight while putting some extra damage on the mob. Enchanters can solo quite well
with their animation (especially if charm soloing doesn't fancy your nerves), but just
consider them one more tool for playing EverQuest the way you enjoy. Be warned that
if you intend to do any crowd control in a group, then an animation is a bad choice to
have up. Once you are hit, your little friend will be all over it, as deathly loyal
servants tend to do. Because you can't command it, you can't guard it, which can
cause your animation to wander a bit in cramped areas or spots with bad pathing.
Your pet will always attempt to stand northwest of you when possible, so if the thing you
want to camp is northwest of where you meditate, get used to looking at Mr. Kamikaze a
lot.
Strength Debuff
Weaken (1), Enfeeblement (4), Ebbing Strength (12), Feckless Might (20),
Insepid Weakness (34), Weakness (44)
Before I discuss the usefulness of a pure Strength debuff (which enchanters excel
at), let's talk about how damage works. I used to think enchanters were real math
geeks, memorizing every number they could find and constantly doing calculations during
battle, but warriors scare me. They've gotten the most accurate formula for damage
computations to date, and that's what I base my opnions of STR debuffs on, and they've
held sound through hours upon hours of testing. When a mob is struck, the damage
yielded is derived from the damage of your weapon, your skill with the weapon, your class
damage bonus (warriors gain this from 28th on) and your Strength. Unfortunately, the
STR portion involves dividing your STR by 100, yielding about a 10 point damage difference
between 100 and 200 Strength. Even so that's a lot of extra damage--if your hits
averaged higher because of this. However, your most common hits will be your weapon
damage x2 + class damage bonus, and weapon damage x2 + class bonus + 1. The second
most common damage strike will be 1 + class damage bonus. Harder hits due to
Strength will be much more rare, and even having 1 Strength will have very little impact
on your damage output. However it WILL lower your Attack Rating (ATK) by lowering
strength, but as hitting is controlled primarily by level and weapon skill, even this
won't be a massive impact. Now add on top of that--a mob's damage appears
to be based on it's level doubled, plus or minus a mob type modifier. STR has never
shown me a reduced damage hit, or reduced the strength that the mob hits with for me.
It has shown a slight decrease in the amount of hits, but it's a very
minimal improvement, not even approaching the effectiveness of just throwing an attack
slow for much less invested mana. (To get a large STR drop, you must toss on your
STR Debuff, Shaman Debuff, and DOT the mob.)
So why would you ever use a STR debuff? Well firstly it's very handy in PvP, but I'm
not here to talk about PvP, so skip that... but obviously a warrior with 1 STR and 100+
encumberance won't be getting around too well. A snare effect can be achieved
through STR debuffing, if you can get a mob encumbered. There are only two
ways to achieve this, though--the first is to fight mobs that are always carrying large
amounts of coin or bronze armor, the second is to carry around something heavy (like a
block of clay) to hand to the mob. Unfortunately, this often requires charming the
mob, as killing even non-KOS mobs tends to make them KOS eventually. While this will
allow you to fear kite solo, it's quite mana hungry, and with the time you will invest in
encumbering a mob, you will be better off just getting a snare/darkness partner.
INT/WIS Debuff
Curse of the Simple Mind (29)
Remember mention of those parlor tricks? This is one of them. A quick
casting debuff that might actually serve a little purpose in PvP (15 INT or WIS is 150
mana at level 50 lost), but in the normal PvE game, this spell only does one thing of true
usefulness--"Soandso looks stupid."
AoE Nuke
Gravity Flux (39)
If you make a habit of adventuring with wizards or druids that like to multi-kite
(snaring multiple mobs, rounding them up, then nuking them all at once till they die),
then this spell will allow you to actually help. Otherwise, this nuke will see
practically no use, ever. When it lands, the mob is thrown extremely high into the
air, and falling damage can be quite fun for PvP application.
Mana Regen
Breeze (16), Clarity (29)
Every tic, these spells regen mana... 2/tic with Breeze, 6 with Clarity. Quite
simply, this is just an amazing buff, allowing you to enhance every caster in the group.
If someone in your group can use mana, buff them. Be prepared to be asked for
crack, coffee, c1, and about a thousand rude ways to interrupt you. Some enchanters
weather this storm of mana regen requests, others hole up like hermits and react very
badly to requests. Some people will donate, others will be asses. Just
remember it's only one person, not everyone is rude and callous. Make sure druids
remember that you gave them regen when you need a port, and cast these buffs on every
wizard you ever see. They will be the one saving your life some day, when they burn
down a mob you can't hold any longer in seconds.
Personal Shield
Minor Shielding (1), Lesser Shielding (8), Shielding (16), Major Shielding
(24), Greater Shielding (34), Arch Shielding (44)
Every caster gains this line of spells, allowing you to buff your AC, HP, and MR.
This is a critical buff to have up at all times, as it's akin to wearing a very
good breastplate a warrior would have on. The hit points are something all
enchanters need at all times, and the MR is very useful when AoE Mez is flying around in
cramped quarters. This line will not stack with the Talisman series of the shaman
(pure HP buff), so tell them not to cast it on you, as the MR and AC is just as important
to you.
Charisma Buff
Sympathetic Aura (20), Radiant Visage (34), Adorning Grace (49)
Charisma does lower resist rates when both mezzing and charming, and this is
a free way to get a large buff to your Charisma (40 at level 49). Optionally, you
might want to toss this buff onto anyone doing some charming, plus be prepared for
requests to get CHA buffs from low CHA classes looking to buy something.
Intelligence/Wisdom Buff
Insight (39), Brilliance (44)
Insight raises primarily WIS, and some INT, and Brilliance is the opposite.
Buff it on any caster that doesn't have 200 INT or WIS for healers, as it's a lot of extra
mana. However, it's not a large priority when mana is tight, as a half mana cleric
is getting nothing from this cleric until medding to full. A gallon of water in a 2
gallon jug is the same as a gallon of water in a 3 gallon fishtank.
Strength Buff
Strengthen (1)
This is 10 STR, and enchanters never get another STR buff, which is odd considering
the Berzerker Shield series. This spell really never needs cast, ever... label it
among parlor tricks if you like, but at low level that small ATK raise the STR will give
might be worth lobbing on.
Rune Shield
Rune I (16), Rune II (24), Rune III (34), Rune IV (44)
These are an ablative HP shield like the berzerker series, only they have no recast
delay, take longer to cast, and use a reagent (Malachite for 16th, Bloodstone for 24th,
Jasper for 34th, and Peridot for 44th). These are a nice buffer to have up (long
duration till used up) when about to make a big crowd control break-in, or to buff up the
puller. They stack with anything, and classes able to consume their HP for mana are
able to "chew up" these shields instead.
AC Buff
Haze (4), Mist (12), Cloud (20), Obscure (29), Shade (39), Shadow (49)
This is a targetable AC buff, quite useful actually. Only a small amount weaker
than equivalent cleric AC buffs, and much more mana efficient (70 mana vs 300 mana at
49th). Buff yourself and other casters with this buff and let the cleric blow mana
on the tanks, who need every point of AC they can get.
Haste
Quicken (16), Alacrity (24), Augmentation (29), Celerity (39), Swift Like the
Wind (49)
Haste. Increases the attack speed of target, be it your animation or a tank.
Don't bother hasting mage and necro pets, their pet buffs will take care of that,
and include other stats. Augmentation is actually a weaker haste than Alacrity, but
is longer duration and includes Stamina regen, AC and AGI (thus AC) buffs. Haste is
the most effective aid you will offer to all melee groups, period. 60% haste at
49th, means that in a two tank group, you've added more than a third tank to the group
that doesn't take xp, as far as damage is concerned.
Vision/Levitation/Breathing
Enduring Breath (12), Serpent Sight (12), Levitation (16), Ultravision (29)
Shifting Sight grants infravision, and Ultravision is self-explanatory.
Barbarians, humans, and erudites will love you for these spells, and at night in the
outdoors all non-dark elf pullers appreciate the vision. Enduring Breath forgoes the
need for air when travelling underwater, and Levitation allows a person to float (slowly
drifting down). Enduring Breath requires a Fish Scale reagent, and Levitation
consumes a Bat Wing. All of these spells help a player in their environment, hence
the same spell series.
Invisibility
Invisibility (4), See Invisible (8), Invisibility versus Undead (16),
Improved Invisibility (50)
Fairly self-explanatory spells. Note that turning invisible will kill your
animation, break charm, and See Invisible will not allow your pet to survive you blinking
out. Improved Invisibilty is a self-only spell, that grants a 10 minute set duration
invis. (Invisibility and Invis vs Undead are random duration.)
Remote Viewing
Bind Sight (8), Shifting Sight (20), Cast Sight (34)
Parlor tricks mostly, and a chance for some nifty screeshots. This spell allows
you to see through the eyes of your target, and you can also "hop scotch" to
other targets you pick up during their travels. Duration is until your stamina runs
out, though the farther way the target gets the more jumpy the "transmission"
gets. Nice way to pass time when you're bored, and actually had use once
when a rogue was trying to find my corpse and I was using his eyes to tell him if I saw
anything familiar. Note that any spells you cast while using these spells will still
come from you, with normal range restrictions. You can renew your stamina
with stamina regen spells during the effects. Bind Sight is just the borrowed sight,
20th is with infravision, and 34th uses ultravision.
Stamina Regen
Invigor (24), Extinguish Fatigue (44)
Both of these spells will increase stamina regen drastically; Invigor will cause a
stamina bar (the yellow bar) to fill up in just a tic or two, while Extinguish will flat
out fill the bar as it lands. Tanks wielding heavy weapons can often get low on
stamina, making them swing sluggish and reducing their combat abilities minorly.
Keeping the cleric or shaman on their butts while you hop up to refresh stamina is a good
use of your powers.
Identify
Identify (16)
Some items in EverQuest have special information attached to them, discernable by
cast Identify on them. Very few times have I used this spell, however it will
supposedly begin requiring more use in the future.
Direction
True North (1)
This spell will spin you to face North when cast, which does actually come in handy
when you're totally lost and your friend says, "As long as you don't head north
you'll be fine."
Faction Buff
Alliance (8), Benevolence (20)
Faction setting for the current target will increase until you zone for you.
Alliance can possibly shift a mob one direction (say from dubious to apprehensive) and
Benevolence can usually always get one shift, sometimes two. (It depends on the
distance from Indifferent cons... the closer to the middle you get the easier it is to
slip one way or the other.)
Enchantment
Enchant Clay (8), Enchant Silver (8), Enchant Electrum (16), Enchant Gold
(24), Enchant Platinum (34), Enchant Vellium (44), Enchant Adamantite (49), Enchant
Brellium (49), Enchant Mithril (49), Enchant Steel (49)
Each one of these spells requires a bar of the appropriate metal for a reagent, and
it simply turns the item into an enchanted version of the first. The Silver through
Vellium spells are for making enchanted jewelry, and the last four metals are used in
crafting enchanted cultural armors (Mithril is for High Elves, etc). At one point in
time, the "enchant ore" spells required a large amount of extremely rare gems in
order to enchant bars, but this requirement was taken away by Verant, as no one was
interested in dumping huge amounts of resources for very substandard armor (considering
the level required to enchant the ore). I've not seen Enchant Clay as of yet, but
I'll assume it's planned for pottery.
Bottled Mana
Thicken Mana (12), Crystallize Mana (20), Clarify Mana (29), Distill Mana
(39), Purify Mana (49)
Each spell in this series has application in Tailoring, Pottery, and/or
Smithing--such as Thicken Mana for Wu's Gauntles, Crystallize Mana for Imbued Idols (also
required for Enchant Clay), etcetras. (I did not know these were all implemented,
thanks Teraine!)
Sentinel
Sentinel (8)
Possibly one of the most annoying spells in the game, as it spams people in the area
of it's casting continually with messages of being watched. Worse for you is that
every time a mob passes through the radius (centered on where you cast it) you are
notified. The spell will last for about 6 minutes, but does actually have some
use. The primary time I would use this spell was when I needed to run to buy food or
meet someone from the docks, and didn't want to miss the boat. I just cast Sentinel
and ran off. When the ship arrived, I was notified of it's pulling up to the dock,
allowing me to run up quickly to get on. I've also found this spell useful when
camping a spot and needing to keep my head in the spellbook (pre-35), so a sentinel
dropped where the pop would be was handy for letting me know when to stand up.
Still... mostly a parlor trick.
Bind/Gate
Gate (4), Bind Affinity (12)
I list these as one spell series because they both deal with your bind point.
Gate teleports you (self only) back to your bind point, and Bind Affinity allows you to
change your bind point to just about anywhere, or bind group members in city zones and a
few other special spots.
Damage Shield
Feedback (29)
This is the only damage shield enchanters receive, inflicting 11 per hit. While
this isn't much compared to the higher level DOTs of mages and druids, it is better than
nothing, and quite useful when soloing. This will also stack with Illusion: Fire
Elemental, granting 25 per hit!
Illusions
Minor Illusion (1), Half-Elf (4), Human (4), Gnome (8), Wood Elf (8), Dark
Elf (12), Eruidite (12), Halfling (12), High Elf (12), Barbarian (16), Dwarf (16), Tree
(16), Iksar (20), Ogre (20), Troll (20), Earth Elemental (24), Skeleton (24), Air
Elemental (29), Water Elemental (29), Fire Elemental (34), Drybone (39), Spirit Wolf (39),
Boon of the Garou (44), Werewolf (44)
24 different illusions, one that's targettable (on 44th level or higher). Each
illusion grants something, be it faction or special abilities. A general consensus
shows some upset at no more illusions received after 44th, but the largest request among
enchanters is for Illusion: Religion, so that you can hide that, and not be forced to play
Agnostic.
Learn all of these spell lines, and master what situations all of them are good for, as
understanding exactly what your spell line can do is the way to learn tactics and
understand why they work, as well as giving you an idea of how new ideas should
work... speaking of Tactics.
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