I just became a BD and I am having a hard time keeping my MP up. I always use noob buffs and a bracelet with a trinket that (suposedly) helps regenerate MP. I have looked everywhere for elixir of MS (C) and at this point I am not sure it even exists even though a search on the net says it does.
Bladedances always have MP issues if you don't watch it. As you lvl up your mana pool and regen rate will increase allowing you to hold up more and more dances. But, if you're hexing every mob and dancing you'll run out of mp quick. If you throw in a sting or two your mp will be toast in a matter of minutes. BD's are fairly straight forward in play style but there's alot of variation. The first lesson every new BD needs to learn is how to manage your mp. You'll get the hang of it, give it some time and patience. But, don't expect to be able to hold up dancing + debuffs + skills... there's not enough mana in Aden to pull that off.
Thank you Mystickal, glad to hear is not my noobness (well, i guess it is...). I am only hexing when absolutly necesary and that seems to help. My attacks consist of just basic slashing with SS. Even with just the basic attack, I can kill mobs 4 levels up at a very fast rate.
As long as i am not in a group, it is more of an issue to watch my HP.
also remember to let your dances completely wear off until u re-dance again. Not waiting is the worst thing u can do to burn your mp. i can see u already got a good idea of when to hex and ull get a system going where u hex every so often and still have lots of mp.
Absolutely! Let the dances fade completely before dancin anything else. This is part of the uniqueness of BD's and SWS's. Every other type of buffer can start buffing at anytime before or after they fade. A pp can start buffing a bit early to make sure no one ever loses a buff and there's no real hit on the MP. Try to do it on a BD or SWS and you get nailed. BD's are more time dependent. You have to get used to being on top of your game. It's not easily AFKable. You wanna take a break? The whole group takes a break. One of the down-sides, but on the upside, you are needed... in party, always.
Another thing to note is making sure you are only doing dances that are necessary. I will party with bd's on sub or on alts and they just dance these random dances that dont really do much to help. For melee classes fire, fury, warrior, for mage classes, mystic, con, although I'm sure you are aware of this by now.
Another thing to get used to is partying with sws. I subbed bd with my friend who subbed sws so we got the timing down pretty well. This is another thing to be careful of especially if you are not used to the sws, and you dont have your timing right.
It's quite annoying to have the BD dancing off time or dancing the wrong things and having them run out of mana, something I have experienced and done myself. GL
They seem to increase x-stat by 2 points (at least at C level). I dont have a formula yet that translates those two points into actual damage, defense, regen, etc. It will probably take me a bit to come up with one so if you guys let me dip into the well of knowledge (again) it will probably save me some time ;).
I used to have problems with MP when I was 40-46. So at that time I only used two dances at a time. I'm level 59 now, and I always make sure to hunt where herbs drop. That way, I can use 4 dances at a time, and replenish the extra MP with herbs. This always works unless I'm unlucky and don't get any MP herb drops. Generally, I'd always use fire, fury, and warrior, and then I throw in inspiration or light depending on what I'm hunting. I never use any of the other skills with the exception of drain life to pull the occasional monster.
And unrelated, maybe another more experience Bladedancer can tell me if there's any reason to use any of the other Bladedancer skills. I never use Sting, Freezing Strike, Poison, Poison Blade Dance, or Demonic Blade Dance because everything dies too fast for them to be useful.
hunting 2x or higher hp mops sting is very very useful. Most of the other dances are for rare situations, pretty much useless unless the scenario is just right and you can pull of poison blade dance into a huge group, or need freezing strike in pvp..
Sting is one of the best skills bd has when fighting mops with over 1x hp
I never use any of the other skills with the exception of drain life to pull the occasional monster.
And unrelated, maybe another more experience Bladedancer can tell me if there's any reason to use any of the other Bladedancer skills. I never use Sting, Freezing Strike, Poison, Poison Blade Dance, or Demonic Blade Dance because everything dies too fast for them to be useful.
Drain life is useless, better use hex - if it lands (and lands offen with blessed spirit shots) it decreases mob p.def by 30% and it is a lot! If you have to much mp, waste you mp only on hex or sting (for over hits).
Freezing strike can be usefull only sometimes in pvp when you try to reach yours enemy (pray it lands) other situation useless
Poison - useless
Poison blade dance - useless but very nice animation :)
Demonic blade dance - sometimes is good, when you face 5+mobs
Power break is on big question - it lowers enemy/mob p.attack, but its land rate is lower than hex, and as you say mobs dies too fast... Better lower mob defence than attack, because yours attack is so high.
Hex rules! I even suggest sometimes use less dances and use hex.
Also keep in mind that light dance (and holly weapon buff) works not only on undead, but also on demonic type mobs.
Arrest - usefull skill not only for PvP, but also for PvE when you want to root monster which runs away from you, attacks support, or even root mob = less mobs attacking you for that time.