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Perhaps this is too early to post this, as Kalynne is only level 26 as of today. However, I've found that a lot of Venomancers in the guild are wanting some guidance when it comes to builds. Because of this, I felt I'd share my wisdom on the subject of Venomancer builds. Namely, I'll be talking about the PvE (Player v Environment) Venomancer build.
The Main Idea:
Nothing in the environment will stand in your way. You will be all parts of a party rolled into one: Your pet will tank. You will be a damage-dealer with your offensive spells. You will be a healer since you will have a skill to heal your pet. Essentially, you will be the best soloer this game has to offer. Now, there are drawbacks to this build, which I will touch on later in the pros and cons section.
Stat Distribution:
You'll be doing a Pure MAG build for your Venomancer. This means 1 point in STR and 9 points in MAG every 2 levels. This will maximize your damage-dealing potential with your spells, and also make you the most efficient you can be at healing your pet. This means two things: (1) your tank (your best friend) should rarely (or never) die since you will be able to heal it, and (2) when your tank does not need heals, you can unleash all your foxy fury with your offensive spells.
Equipment:
Like any Pure MAG build, you'll be wearing magic robes. You won't have the DEX for anything else. Wearing arcane robes means insane magic defense, and very low physical defense.
This means you will suck at PvP since anyone with physical damage (Archers, Blademasters, Barbarians) will destroy you in just a few hits, and they know to go for the Venomancer and not her pet. Unless you have a Phoenix ($120-$250 in real money, 20M-50M in coin) or a great damage-dealer for a pet, you will likely lose every PvP fight.
But don't lose heart! PvP is not the purpose of this build! We're going to be fighting those stupid mobs who will attack your beefy tank instead of squishy little you! With the mobs focused on your pet, you can feel free to heal or deal damage, whatever the situation requires. This is where your lack of DEX will come in handy. If you crit, you may steal aggro, and the mob will come for you. Needless to say, you're in major trouble, if not dead. With this build and this type of equipment, your critical hit rate will be very low (well under 5% most of the time). You won't steal aggro, and you can safely hide behind your pet.
Skills:
Now here's where I don't have much advice. Kalynne's not a high enough level yet that I'm experienced enough with the ins and outs of each skill to guide you correctly. One thing I can tell you, though, is this: ignore Fox Form skills. They require STR and DEX that you won't have in order to really be effective. You can get Fox Form and keep it leveled, but this is only for travel purposes. Fox Form lets you run faster (I think) and increases your physical defense, so you won't get jumped as easily as you run/fly from place to place. I'm going to look up a guide later, and then I can give more advice in this area.
Pets:
Here is the Venomancer's area of expertise. I used my starter wolf up until level 17 or 18, when I got a Crystalline Magmite. That Magmite is a great tank pet, and you can use it for a lot of levels. Some 4x and 5x Venomancers still use them! I don't know if that's a good idea or not, but my Magmite is still a good tank for me, so I keep him around. At level 21, I got a Snow Hare, and it has replaced every other pet. He can't tank great, but he does more damage than the Magmite. Plus, I can keep him healed and even do some damage-dealing at the same time. He can take aggro for 2-3 same-level mobs at the same time, as long as I spam heal him. That's good enough for me! You will want a better tank later, though, so I suggest a getting a bear when you can get him.
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
As I've said before, you will be an excellent soloer. Mobs that give other classes trouble will fall without much difficulty for you and your mighty pet. For example, the Werewolf Spearmen that gave Nayethe so much trouble (several hours for all quests, 60-70 Spearmen) were defeated in an hour or so by Kalynne and her bunny, inspirationally named Fluff.
Now let's talk about other PvE strengths of this build. Kalynne was useful in her own FB19 (Frost and I duoed it), which is almost unheard of for any level 19 player, as most of you know. At level 30, I am going to try soloing a FB19 without a tab-holder, and see how that goes. If it goes well, I've found a great source of reputation, EXP, and coin, as well as FB blood for legendary gear. If I can't do it at 30, I'm sure I can do it soon after that.
Also, you should almost never run out of MP. Your pet heal is powerful enough that spamming it should keep your pet healed except on the toughest of foes, and it costs relatively little MP. With you dealing damage and the pet tanking, mobs should fall fast enough that you don't waste a ton of MP on nuking. This means you don't need MP pots, and can sell them! And with the pet tanking, you shouldn't get hit very often, meaning all you need is a few HP pots in case of emergency. Plus, you eventually get a self-heal, which will cut down on the cost of pots, too.
Since repair costs will be low, and you can sell all of your pots, you will have more coin than the average player, especially if you rely on quest rewards and drops for most of your armor. I highly suggest doing this, as you don't really need good armor! Remember, the pet will be tanking, and you shouldn't get hit. So all you need for equipment is your latest and greatest weapon (make sure you have this!), and some good bonus stats on your armor. The coin will be nice for funneling to a main character (if the Venomancer is an alt), or buying nice things (fashion, etc) for you.
Cons:
You're going to be weak on the PvP side of things, so if you really want to fight other players, do not play this build. You might win against Wizards, or maybe another Venomancer, but you'd probably lose against many of the other classes.
Also, if you do steal aggro from your pet when fighting a mob, you're in trouble. You won't take many hits before you go down, but hopefully your pet will get aggro back in time to save you.
And your flying mount is a goofy blue manta. Lame.
So, I hope this guide is helpful for someone. I plan on updating it later on, once I learn more about skills and more about what all a Venomancer can do! Also, if you have suggestions, please post them here! It will improve this guide, and it will help me out a lot as I play on Kalynne.
The Main Idea:
Nothing in the environment will stand in your way. You will be all parts of a party rolled into one: Your pet will tank. You will be a damage-dealer with your offensive spells. You will be a healer since you will have a skill to heal your pet. Essentially, you will be the best soloer this game has to offer. Now, there are drawbacks to this build, which I will touch on later in the pros and cons section.
Stat Distribution:
You'll be doing a Pure MAG build for your Venomancer. This means 1 point in STR and 9 points in MAG every 2 levels. This will maximize your damage-dealing potential with your spells, and also make you the most efficient you can be at healing your pet. This means two things: (1) your tank (your best friend) should rarely (or never) die since you will be able to heal it, and (2) when your tank does not need heals, you can unleash all your foxy fury with your offensive spells.
Equipment:
Like any Pure MAG build, you'll be wearing magic robes. You won't have the DEX for anything else. Wearing arcane robes means insane magic defense, and very low physical defense.
This means you will suck at PvP since anyone with physical damage (Archers, Blademasters, Barbarians) will destroy you in just a few hits, and they know to go for the Venomancer and not her pet. Unless you have a Phoenix ($120-$250 in real money, 20M-50M in coin) or a great damage-dealer for a pet, you will likely lose every PvP fight.
But don't lose heart! PvP is not the purpose of this build! We're going to be fighting those stupid mobs who will attack your beefy tank instead of squishy little you! With the mobs focused on your pet, you can feel free to heal or deal damage, whatever the situation requires. This is where your lack of DEX will come in handy. If you crit, you may steal aggro, and the mob will come for you. Needless to say, you're in major trouble, if not dead. With this build and this type of equipment, your critical hit rate will be very low (well under 5% most of the time). You won't steal aggro, and you can safely hide behind your pet.
Skills:
Now here's where I don't have much advice. Kalynne's not a high enough level yet that I'm experienced enough with the ins and outs of each skill to guide you correctly. One thing I can tell you, though, is this: ignore Fox Form skills. They require STR and DEX that you won't have in order to really be effective. You can get Fox Form and keep it leveled, but this is only for travel purposes. Fox Form lets you run faster (I think) and increases your physical defense, so you won't get jumped as easily as you run/fly from place to place. I'm going to look up a guide later, and then I can give more advice in this area.
Pets:
Here is the Venomancer's area of expertise. I used my starter wolf up until level 17 or 18, when I got a Crystalline Magmite. That Magmite is a great tank pet, and you can use it for a lot of levels. Some 4x and 5x Venomancers still use them! I don't know if that's a good idea or not, but my Magmite is still a good tank for me, so I keep him around. At level 21, I got a Snow Hare, and it has replaced every other pet. He can't tank great, but he does more damage than the Magmite. Plus, I can keep him healed and even do some damage-dealing at the same time. He can take aggro for 2-3 same-level mobs at the same time, as long as I spam heal him. That's good enough for me! You will want a better tank later, though, so I suggest a getting a bear when you can get him.
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
As I've said before, you will be an excellent soloer. Mobs that give other classes trouble will fall without much difficulty for you and your mighty pet. For example, the Werewolf Spearmen that gave Nayethe so much trouble (several hours for all quests, 60-70 Spearmen) were defeated in an hour or so by Kalynne and her bunny, inspirationally named Fluff.
Now let's talk about other PvE strengths of this build. Kalynne was useful in her own FB19 (Frost and I duoed it), which is almost unheard of for any level 19 player, as most of you know. At level 30, I am going to try soloing a FB19 without a tab-holder, and see how that goes. If it goes well, I've found a great source of reputation, EXP, and coin, as well as FB blood for legendary gear. If I can't do it at 30, I'm sure I can do it soon after that.
Also, you should almost never run out of MP. Your pet heal is powerful enough that spamming it should keep your pet healed except on the toughest of foes, and it costs relatively little MP. With you dealing damage and the pet tanking, mobs should fall fast enough that you don't waste a ton of MP on nuking. This means you don't need MP pots, and can sell them! And with the pet tanking, you shouldn't get hit very often, meaning all you need is a few HP pots in case of emergency. Plus, you eventually get a self-heal, which will cut down on the cost of pots, too.
Since repair costs will be low, and you can sell all of your pots, you will have more coin than the average player, especially if you rely on quest rewards and drops for most of your armor. I highly suggest doing this, as you don't really need good armor! Remember, the pet will be tanking, and you shouldn't get hit. So all you need for equipment is your latest and greatest weapon (make sure you have this!), and some good bonus stats on your armor. The coin will be nice for funneling to a main character (if the Venomancer is an alt), or buying nice things (fashion, etc) for you.
Cons:
You're going to be weak on the PvP side of things, so if you really want to fight other players, do not play this build. You might win against Wizards, or maybe another Venomancer, but you'd probably lose against many of the other classes.
Also, if you do steal aggro from your pet when fighting a mob, you're in trouble. You won't take many hits before you go down, but hopefully your pet will get aggro back in time to save you.
And your flying mount is a goofy blue manta. Lame.
So, I hope this guide is helpful for someone. I plan on updating it later on, once I learn more about skills and more about what all a Venomancer can do! Also, if you have suggestions, please post them here! It will improve this guide, and it will help me out a lot as I play on Kalynne.
