AA's for PVP

[Supermeng]

You guys know I'm nothing special in minis... Just shooting the breeze about the HoX Class AA's in PVP.

From the Beyond: I was exclusively using From the Beyond for a long time. I think it's the best AA for finishing off players who don't like dying. When they start to pull out of a fight with low health, you keep them in place with 3 charges, and hopefully get them dead with team effort. FtB gets the alot out of KD and Fear Resistance from morphing in Possesion Builds. It's a 2min ability that syncs with the +Magic Damage ability. FtB is also great for escaping situations, if you can string 2 or more charges together. Stringing charges together can also make for crazy fast travel when going for a fast flag cap.


Enslaving Fire: I recently have been running Enslaving Fire and I think it's very amusing. The animation windup is so bad, but AOE stun every 25 seconds is so good! Throw a pre-loaded Enslaving Fire into a fight already in progress, and create slow-motion horror for players who are trying to react to the stun in time. With a Flaming Hatred (pillar cooldown reduce) spec, I also feat the mana drain combo, which is fun to slap on casters.


Prince of Terror: I've lagged on picking this up because I can only land BtD 6 on:
1) people running away in a straight line.
2) people tied up in another fight/CC
3) in rare 1v1 moments when I'm calm enough to land it on a dodging target AND I have a gut feeling I won't get CC'd before it goes off.

That 1 minute cooldown is awesome. Landing this and Chains/Spitfire would be sick burst damage. If only BtD combos weren't so slow... My best gameplan would be to macro this ability with a CC, activate macro right before I do the combo-ender, and pray. I'm amazed by HoXs that use this AA successfully and can run gameplan around a slow-@$$ 4-step combo.


Red Shadows: I don't like this AA for PVP mainly because it does not give more options like FtB or Enslaving Fire. I've never done this, but I'm tempted to switch to my Red Shadow PVE spec on Totem Torrent for some fast totem burning. The 2nd self Rez would come in handy for dying in a cap zone or totem burn, then rezing when they leave.

What do you guys do that's fun with HoX AA's in PVP?

[Ruhenous]

I usually run PoT for my Possession spec. Pop PoT, DE, DM and then a ToX...stuff just blows up.

Also, use BtD 3 or 4 for most PvP encounters. 6 is situational, and I only use it if I think I can get it off.

[viroku]

I usually run PoT for my Possession spec. Pop PoT, DE, DM and then a ToX...stuff just blows up.

Also, use BtD 3 or 4 for most PvP encounters. 6 is situational, and I only use it if I think I can get it off.

This! Pot is my favorite perk, ftb is fun in certain minis but pot is so strong when used properly.
Like ruhenous said 3 and 4 are ranks to use but if you want to use 6 than preload it and hit just finisher. Dot is where the dmg is and dont try to hit all pre steps unless absolutely nobody is focusing you.

[Supermeng]

I usually run PoT for my Possession spec. Pop PoT, DE, DM and then a ToX...stuff just blows up.

Also, use BtD 3 or 4 for most PvP encounters. 6 is situational, and I only use it if I think I can get it off.

Interesting that you use PoT mainly to buff ToX and Chains, with going for BtD just as a bonus.

On a similar note, after throwing a BtD, there's time to use Firelance with the PoT buff still running. Firelance benefits from both +%melee damage and +magic damage.

Now I'm curious to run PoT with ToX, Chains, and Firelance in mind.

[Erock25]

My question is if you're using enslaving fire, what other silver perk do you use with it? None of them seem ideal. Quickening death would be the clear choice for me if the combo wasn't so damn long.

[Supermeng]

My question is if you're using enslaving fire, what other silver perk do you use with it? None of them seem ideal. Quickening death would be the clear choice for me if the combo wasn't so damn long.

Yea the silver perk options are limited. I'm running Feeding the Pyre, though I agree Quickening Death is the better offensive choice.

The thing about Quickening Death is that you get pushed into specs that don't have points left for root break. I thought I could never play without root break, but Mabus used to run Enslaving Fire/Quickening Death w/no general pretty well, so maybe it's time to mess around with that.

[Maelkjar]

Didn't try Feeding the Pyre yet, been running with Hunger for More whenever perking EF so far. It's not much, but i think its less useless than the other options at least.
I even prefer EF to PoT, because it helps a lot against Rangers and other targets which try to run for it.

The thing about Quickening Death is that you get pushed into specs that don't have points left for root break.

How is Quickening Death pushing you towards builds without use of the general tree??

[Supermeng]

How is Quickening Death pushing you towards builds without use of the general tree??

Enslaving Fire is the main reason I for go Silver Perk. After that, Quickening Death is most attractive secondary Silver Perk.

I like to buff Enslaving Fire by reducing it's cooldown. That puts me deep into the Avatar Tree.

Then, with Quickening Death, you want Stun of Xotli, and either Avatar of Xotli or Tongue of Xotli.

Most will opt for Tongue of Xotli. If you poke around with a feat builder, you'll see that there's not enough left to get Purge.

You can avoid feating Avatar Tree to have Tongue and Purge, but then Enslaving Fire is on a 40 second cooldown. 40sec is not terrible, but I enjoy having ES on 25 second cooldown.

Or, you can get Avatar and Purge, but then you have no Tongue or Stun of Xotli. Without Stun, there's no need to speed up morphing with QD, because then you generally pre-morph before a fight.

In my opinion, the best PVP build for Enslaving Fire and Quickening Death has no General, using Flaming Hatred and Avatar w/Stun Morph, or Flaming Hatred and Tongue.

[LunaticAsylumLA]

I tried all, but Red Shadows of Xotli is the best for me. I have the extra protection (I always opt for survivability) and armor and an extra life to pick up the flag. Recommended feats: possession/general.

From Beyond: I died a lot with T4 rangers with this one. But it should be great for chasing other mages. It is also very useful to get away from a mob of players chasing you with torches. Recommended feats: possession with charge damage and general.

Enslaving fire: I never used it, but I assume it goes well with 6xSkulls or Quickening Death. Hannibal uses it successfuly on Crom. Recommended feats: Avatar with Pillars feated/Possession.

Quickening death + extra DPS for Quickening death: I should measure DPS with it on several strawmans to see how effective it is. Going deeper the avatar tree is a good idea. Recommended feats: Avatar/Possession/General

Prince of Terror is mostly useful in PVE on motionless targets (Zodiac, for example). It is as useful as Exultation of Xotli for me (which I do not use), though Pillar Finishers with unholy damage might be good on PoMs with the armor buff, for example. Recommended feats: I am not sure.

You have a lot of tools to play with on HoX, and I feel the pain when someone Enslaves me with Fire or chases me with From Beyond.

[viroku]

I tried all, but Red Shadows of Xotli is the best for me. I have the extra protection (I always opt for survivability) and armor and an extra life to pick up the flag. Recommended feats: possession/general.

From Beyond: I died a lot with T4 rangers with this one. But it should be great for chasing other mages. It is also very useful to get away from a mob of players chasing you with torches. Recommended feats: possession with charge damage and general.

Enslaving fire: I never used it, but I assume it goes well with 6xSkulls or Quickening Death. Hannibal uses it successfuly on Crom. Recommended feats: Avatar with Pillars feated/Possession.

Quickening death + extra DPS for Quickening death: I should measure DPS with it on several strawmans to see how effective it is. Going deeper the avatar tree is a good idea. Recommended feats: Avatar/Possession/General

Prince of Terror is mostly useful in PVE on motionless targets (Zodiac, for example). It is as useful as Exultation of Xotli for me (which I do not use), though Pillar Finishers with unholy damage might be good on PoMs with the armor buff, for example. Recommended feats: I am not sure.

You have a lot of tools to play with on HoX, and I feel the pain when someone Enslaves me with Fire or chases me with From Beyond.

First mistake is picking flag as hox, that is not your job and you are not useful to the team doing so. saying self rezz is great for it is kind of sad.

From beyond is really fun feat and usually rangers can get in big trouble from it.

Enslaving fire it sounds nice but its one looong combo with obvious animation and can be interrupted and you kind of feel like sitting duck.

Prince of terror is my personal choice and its not just pve feat