I’ve got my dark wizard in the low 20’s and was thinking about going PS rather than the more common choice if SH. There are a lot of good posts about the PS, but I still have questions, and I’ve read that the d-grade summons are not very worthwhile so I haven’t been able to try out my toon as a summoner to see it I like it. Do I basically sit back and heal my summon while it does all of the work? How is the toon played on a daily solo pve grind basis? Is this an extremely expensive toon to play, crystals aint cheap? Or should I just keep on as a nuker and go SH when I hit 40? I though the PS would offer more variety in game play.
no, you will not sit back.
You will mellee side on side with your Phantom.
With L40 you can play some levels like a wizard but later you will mellee.
You will play with mana management and try to get the aggro or try to avoid it.
If it is expensive?
I think not. Because you have not to care to buy the best equipment.
If you have a trustworthy dwarf as friend or know one, the crystals you have to use are not so expensive.
If you know you want to become a PS never sell the D Equipment. Let it crystalize.
An other option you can do. Create a Dwarf and level it to 20 to crystalze by yourself.
O.K. I could see how crystallization of items would help with the adena cost. But how are the summons controlled etc? Do they have action icons like pets? Do they just attack anything in range? Do I understand that I don’t use SS but the summon uses pet SS?
they have action icons like a pet does and you ahve to control it and tell it to attack or it will just move slightly when a mob attacks it.. until it dies or you order it to attack back
*Jumps on this Topic since it related to his favorite subject in L2* :)
Well, since you are in Dg, I suggest you try summoning your shadow and go grinding in the catas (heretics) for a while and see how it compares to your normal nuking grind. Do not use Silouette (spelling?) to gind b/c she will take 90% of your XP.
The basics to grinding as a summoner in Dg: Have a decent amount of Dg crystals with you, about 50, potions, beast ss, and dss/dbsps. Find yourself a nice spot in the catacombs and summon Shadow. Now, in Dg you can only summon your demons once every 6 hours, but they will stay up for 3 hours if you have enough crystals and don't let it die. You will basically be grinding in 3 hour intervals if you want to grind as a summoner. It is kind of nice to take breaks anyways, so it never bothered me in Dg, just don't let shadow die.
Shadow has a vampiric rage special ability, so this will really help you keep him alive, you will basically do a lot of nuking to first help shadow clear the room, and then just watch his HP and nuke every once in a while to help him kill mobs (unless you have a melee weapon, then you can fight beside him). Be sure to be well stocked before you decide to grind to get the most out of your 3 hours with Shadow. You can gind continuously with no breaks so XP should come in very fast.
Now, don't be taken aback by the fact that shadow will absorb 30% of your XP. You basically have a party of two people and instead of having a tank with you that takes 50%+ of your experience, your tank will only take 30% of your XP. So you actually gain XP at an amazing rate b/c you can kill so fast.
Hint for taking on bosses as a summoner in Dg: You can summon to help you attack bosses in Dg and even though you can;t unsummon in combat, you can still kill your own summon without flagging or any negative consequences. SO when a boss is almost dead, just nuke your Shadow or Shilouette a few times to get rid of it and you will get full XP when a boss dies. This works really well, and is super effective in raids.
So thats the basic know-how for playing as a "summoner" in Dg, you will find it is an extremely effective way to grind, espeically if you have a prophet buffing your summon.
ALWAYS REMEBER TO USE BEAST SS.
EDIT: As to how to decide to go PS or SH... it really boils down to if you want the sheer raw power of a true Nuker, or if you want the diversity of a Phantom Summoner which can be an effective: Nuker, tank, buffer, debuffer, healer, DD... You obviously won't be the best class at nuking or tanking, but you can do it if you need to/want to. However, you will be the best healer class IMHO as Nightshade can dish-out massive heals all at once while an SE or Bish only does half their heal at once, while the other half gives HP over time.
Just depends on your playing style and which class you will have more fun with. I have played both class and I personally enjoy my PS more, but thats obviously just me.
It depends from your character and your playstyle.
If u wanna be the damager you should make an SH
If u wanna be a player depended and protected by a powerful summon be a summoner.
I know i havent helped u much but i have these to say. Your other questions were answered from the others
Great post, Vhaidren!! That is what I was looking for. Now you’ve got me pumped to try a PS. A few more questions though:
1)How do I have Shadow keep agro if I am Nuking to clear room? I’d get smoked in my robes if I took agro from multiple mobs.
2)Do the beast shots go in my inventory/tool bar or into the summon’s
Thanks again.
The beast shots you buy from a pet manager will go on your tool bar and you use them just like you would use your own shots, you can even put them on "auto". Shadow will hold arrgo because his attack is that powerful. In Dg summons are super effective, thats why you can only summon them once every 6 hours, so as long as you let him get a few hits off before you nuke, she should keep the arrgo. You will also find that you almost don't need to bother nuking at times because he can take the mobs down quickly on his own, you can just play the part of a healer if you are afraid of attracting arrgo.
Also, this is just fyi, as a summoner you don't really need a weapon... a ng weapon with bsps for healing is actually all you need at times should you become a true summoner. Thats why summons cost crystals, because they are your weapon so they need some cost. Consequently, most people have cash for both d/c crys and a decent weap, so what I personally like to do is decide which armor and weapon I look coolest in and use that! :) In Cg I got theca and some spirit duels for the pdef and HP bonus, but also b/c I looked good in them and in Bg I used doom and sword of limit duels b/c it made me look all dark and mysterious. ^^ However, having a summon as a main weapon also allows you to buy a cheaper weapon that only takes one soul/ spirit shot per move, which saves you a bundle. Again, that was just random information.
So the magic attack rating on my weapon does not affect the effectivness of the servitor heals? That sounds too good to be true. How many beast shots does Shadow use? Does it use more as it levels up?
the shadows info when you summon him will say how much he uses i think.. but my guess would be likely 3 shots a smack. And yes the m.atk does matter on heals, atleast heal from player to player but not very significantly.. my SE is using lowest d grade weap and heals me for 325 and she's lvl 58 and if i'd put on a bigger weapon the heals wouldnt go much higher than 350-375 due to the overtime effect cutting initial healpart in half. I would guess it worked the same on summons. So you still get a very potent heal using low grade gear
The Shadow consumes 2 Beast SS if my memory is correct. I have created a PS as I like the playstyle more, but she is left to lvl40 until I get that Karmian ready... I would suggest a Mana Up weapon though as the Soulless you are getting at lvl40 drains your MP as a payment for summoning an unholy creature... I got the soufire dirk...
Question here, I thought it is the Soulless that has VR, not the Shadow... :s
It is Shadow that has the VR, Soulless has 2 very weak AoE spells.
I also suggest you go light armor and duel swords or a dagger as a summoner and fight along side your summon. You will only be an effective nuker for a few more lvls past 40 and seeing how D elves have such high dmg out-put, it is silly to sit and let you summon kill everything for you while you stay back and heal it... fight with it, kill monsters faster, try and tank some so that you take dmg instead of summon so you arn't healing it every 10 secs.
The amount of SS the pets use increases with level, but as a PS you will probably solo most with Soulless which uses less SS than the Shadow. As far as Soulless's aoe's, the poison is pretty weak, but the corpse burst spell does about as much damage as any other aoe skill. I've pulled too many mobs and had it magic crit with parasite burst to save my life a few times.
On a side note, someone said that as a PS you will be a good healer with your Nightshade. While it does have a very effective heal (similar to a Paladin's sacrifice) it in no way makes you as good a healer as a Bishop, for example. Any healer class can heal MUCH faster than your nightshade and Bishops / EE's have Major heal which does heal all at once, not just half now half later. Bishops also have Greater battle Heal, Major Group heal, and Benediction. You're no healer as a PS. Honestly, your Nightshade would be better off tanking since its hate skill also does hex and gloom and if it dies its no real loss, unlike a real tank.
I would say that a nuker will level more quickly, but will require better gear. You will have an easier time of soloing and die a lot less on a PS though. I have gone out overweight and still managed to solo just fine and keep my MP nearly full the whole time when there are herbs around.
O.K. 2 more questions about the summons. Do the summons use the xp they leech to level like wolves? If not, do they gain in strength/effectiveness as I level or only as I buy the upgraded levels of the summon?
If u want a good DD and good solo exp go SH. He can xp very good and unbuffed,but if u have acu,berz,dance of concentration-mystic and empower u really rock!!! PS is very good too. Nightshade has a great heal(i think its Group heal not sure I'm not pro in PS but I'm pro in SH) and Soulless has Poisounous Cloud. At earlies 50(40-50) you can play as a wizard(with twister and shadow spark) but after 50 you going Melee with Duals and light armor. And if u play with tranfer pain you can play as a semitank.
Wow, looks like I can’t go wrong with either of the 2 classes. Sh’s are giving props to PS’ and vice versa! Hopefully one last question. People have mentioned using Shadow to tank and Soulless to nuke. Do these summons actually have skills to use or do they just do their thing when you target and click attack? I’ve only summoned Shadow once, and I didn’t see anyplace where there were actual skills to use. Sorry for keeping this thread so long. :o