or crystal staff with mana up (or stick of faith! that thing rocks :p ) but if you don't have problems with mana, go with homu /acumen. If you have big problems with too little mana, go with homu /conversion. But you'll die easy with conversion.
Yes, conversion is THE way to go for raids. Nothing else, ever. But even for normal groups it rocks. When you go with a nuker group as a recharger, you WILL run out of mp sooner or later if the group is not SH only. With conversion SA, you will run out of mp later than without it. So it is all about preferences - do you want less, but longer breaks (say every two buff rounds) or shorter mp breaks, but more often (say, after EVERY buff round)?
Stating flat out "if you run out of mp, the group sucks" is silly. It depends on WHAT group you are in. Yes, there are groups where you will never run out of mp. But there are also groups which kill VERY fast, but you WILL run out of mp, no matter what you do, even if you sit on the ground all the time to regen. And no, those groups do NOT suck, they just trade killing speed for increased downtime.
Also if you duo with a SpS or Sorc, you will not be able to avoid downtime. Same thing there - with conversion, you will be able to have downtime less often, and since the length of the downtime usually does not matter that much in duos (you go for a smoke, grab something to drink, go to the bathroom, etc.), conversion is the better SA there. With conversion, I have downtime every two buff rounds in blazing swamp when duoing with a SpS or Sorc. With an acumen homu, I have downtime EVERY buffround.
Please note that I do not claim conversion is the SA for all situations. In fact, I always run around with both an acumen homu and a conversion homu and use the one which fits the situation.
When you just got into C grade, conversion actually might not be what you want to use right then and there because you will have VERY low hit points when using it. It is better suited for 50+ characters. Also, since it is a % based mp bonus (plus 60% max mp), it gets better and better the higher level you are.
So my recommendation would be to get either a mana up staff (crystal staff) or a homu with acumen. Both are good for C grade starters, and the crystal staff is cheaper to get. Later on, you probably should get an acumen weapon and a conversion weapon.
I started out with a mana up staff and later on got the two homunculus (first the acumen one because I like the casting speed, later on the conversion one after I saw the amazing mp increase when I tried out a clannies homu with that SA). I then realized I no longer used the mana up staff - I either wanted the casting speed (you get addicted to acumen SA once you tried it out) or the increase in MP via conversion. Mana up was in between the chairs - neither was it fast, nor did it give me the super mp of conversion. So I sold the staff. Right now, I am scratching at lvl 76, and I am still happy with my weapon choice.
I like Divine. It's looks are better on a female. :cool: It converts one of the virtually useless INT points into WIT and it comes with oodles of MP (~320 more than karmian) and +5% pdef.
You don't get the +15% casting speed bonus of Karmian. But you make that up partly (about +5% cast speed) with the extra WIT point, and get homu with acumen.
If this is your first char then I say try for Karmian with a weapon (anything) because at the end of the day, your armour is more important (pdef pdef pdef).
If this isn't and you have money. Divine with acumen sword for PvE and PvP, conversion sword for raids if you are a recharger. if you are a healer for a raid it depends on how fast you'll need to be casting. But a conversion sword should work out.
@BtB - Crystal staff can get BtB2, one of the top C staff's get BtB4 and a SoES gets BtB5 which the weapon I use at the moment but i'm going to craft a branch soon I hope as a-grade key mats come down in price and put Acumen on it. (here's hoping I can get 50mil for the crystal)
I used to have a crystal staff with bless the body on it. It's the +10% hp kind.
That'd be a reasonable way to go -- quaff a couple potions and you could cover almost every buff without relying on humans. :D
We have three SE in our clan...from what I can tell...these seem to be the best set ups.
Karm for Robes, hands down!
Now for a weapon you have a few choices:
Mage Staff - Crystal Staff, cheap and efficient
Homunkulus - Fast casting...but thats all really...actually not so great...and expensive
Glaive - Strange I know...but with root and a polarm, you can solo...
Crystalized Ice Bow - Cheap...and good for soloing also, and not too bad in pvp...
What says Sylvart is just right...
In a large group conversion is good (I still like acumen and casting speed over 1k...) +CON seems like mantadory, so is +WIT. In a well-suited group you won't grab aggro and even then you still have chance to root and/or recieve a few hits.
The only one issue w/ conversion are magic crits, so just in case you opt for that make sure you have good jewelry.
I use conversion nearly all the time in larger groups, and I really cannot remember the last time I died in standard PvE. Must have been months, and no, I do NOT use 10 bsoe each day :) On the other hand I know SEs with health SA weapons who die two times each day in pve (seriously). Maybe playing style is important here, too. Since I always carry around both weapons, I can switch to the acumen one once my MP go below the without-conversion max.
The only recent time I used the acumen homu constantly in a large group was when we explored forge of gods. The mobs there do loads of damage and sometimes spawn six mobs right on top of you, using conversion there would have been too risky. Of course in sieges or when I know that pvp is bound to happen somewhere I do not use the conversion SA. With conversion SA and buffs I have about 2.6-2.7k HP. With acumen weapon and buffs it is more like 4.6k HP. It's not that bad.
What says Sylvart is just right...
In a large group conversion is good (I still like acumen and casting speed over 1k...) +CON seems like mantadory, so is +WIT. In a well-suited group you won't grab aggro and even then you still have chance to root and/or recieve a few hits.
The only one issue w/ conversion are magic crits, so just in case you opt for that make sure you have good jewelry.
Yes. Remember that what I post here is from my experience as a high lvl SE. I use majestic robe set and unsealed majestic jewelry, and in the groups I am in we usually have either a prophet with btb or a bishop with boa lvl 6. So the HP I have with conversion SA are not THAT low. I can definitely survive a bit of a beating by mobs, and somebody with sleep is always around if it's a ranged attack mob that my root does not help against. The situation IS different when you just turned 40. Conversion SA is not something you really should use right when you turned SE, the hit points will be too low then. That's what I wrote above there, too. But when you are higher level (maybe 50+ or 60+), you can use it in pve very well. Most prophets and healers (ee, bishops, se) I know have one. Not as the only weapon, but they DO use it in larger groups.
Ahh that reminds me: if you can fall upon SoES w/ BtB5 it's just ok to wander w/ conversion weapon. However it's a bit tricky because if u use it urself you will lose extra mana from conversion. Just ask a nuker (or anyone else that can trigger the SA) to toss a few heals on you. You can do that if you buff 1st then fall under the boost of conevrsion and then buff yourself w/ SoES.
I use conversion nearly all the time in larger groups, and I really cannot remember the last time I died in standard PvE. Must have been months, and no, I do NOT use 10 bsoe each day :) On the other hand I know SEs with health SA weapons who die two times each day in pve (seriously).
dude, that has nothing to do with what SA you use...
HP sa = its more likely you survive if you get aggro.
Conversion SA = its more likely you die if you get aggro.
nothing changes that, ok if you die less when you use conversion it means you are in a better group, that holds aggo, or you aint fighting AOE mobs, or something like that. its not cuz you hawe low HP... so dont say conversion makes you survive better :)
nothing changes that, ok if you die less when you use conversion it means you are in a better group, that holds aggo, or you aint fighting AOE mobs, or something like that. its not cuz you hawe low HP... so dont say conversion makes you survive better :)
Have I said that anywhere? :confused: I think you completely misunderstood what I tried to say.
of course the chance of dying is greater with conversion SA. I just disagree with the statement the poster above there did that conversion="suicide". Because it is not. When I play with conversion SA for half a year in large groups and in nuker duos and practically never die in pve, it is for me a completely viable SA option - and health SA seems to me to be overkill (I either want to deliver my heals fast, or I want to deliver lots of recharges, and health SA helps me with neither of it, because it only helps in situations I obviously do not get into anyway). So yes, conversion does not help you survive better. But it does help you do your JOB better in many situations. And health SA in anything else than PVP is like walking around all day with a lifejacket, kneepads and a doctor in tow, just because something MIGHT happen on your way to work.
1st let me thank all of you for all this info. thank you so much.
I think im going to go with Divine Set for armor.
For my weapons am going with Crystal Staff mana up for buffing and healing ( party ). For PvP and PvE im going with a Homunkulus's Sword w/Acumen .
Sounds good, you will have a truckload of mp with divine+mana up. Only thing is that your casting speed will be kind of low (divine set gives only +1 wit), but once you switch to the acumen SA you should be ok.
None of your weapons deal good damage, though, so you cannot really solo (well, maybe the undeads at the entrance to DV with disrupt undead), but in a party you get better exp anyway :)
Question on BtB SA, does the effect lvl matter much? as in an crystal staff effect lvl 2 and someone say SoES effect lvl 5, it still only give 10% more HP right? Also what other useful SA on weapon for buffing? I already have magic regen SA and hope to get BtB SA so I can add 2 more buff to my friend and clanny.
and BTW: there an low mid grade C dagger that is for mystic and can have Mana up SA, not too many people know or have this:) plus you can use a shield with it. it patk and matck are alsmot equal each other, any1 know which dagger i'm talking about:)
Thanks
1st let me thank all of you for all this info. thank you so much.
I think im going to go with Divine Set for armor.
For my weapons am going with Crystal Staff mana up for buffing and healing ( party ). For PvP and PvE im going with a Homunkulus's Sword w/Acumen .
what you all think?
I think you'll do just fine, the only thing I might change is trying to get your hands on a Ghoul Staff with mana up instead of the Crystal Staff.
Whoever was wondering if there was a SA for BTB in C grade, there indeed is, on the Demon Staff.
and BTW: there an low mid grade C dagger that is for mystic and can have Mana up SA, not too many people know or have this:) plus you can use a shield with it. it patk and matck are alsmot equal each other, any1 know which dagger i'm talking about:)
Thanks
The dagger you are referring to is the Soulfire Dirk. It got SAs added with C4, one of which is Mana Up.