Bonedancer Discussion - Phoenix Freeshard

I'd like to start a discussion on race, spec(leveling and final), starting stats, RA's, etc.

I know Troll has higher con, so it (might be) better for suppression spec to stay alive longer. I'm not sure what the final specs for BD tend to be.
Kobold has the dex advantage making the staff do more damage while swinging, though it's probably negligible.

Is bone army better than suppression for leveling? Do I swap to suppression when I hit 18 for the first heal pet?

Any tips are welcome.

Fri 3 Aug 2018 6:29 PM by Seigmoraig

Bone Army is the best to level up in the initial stage since you can double dot and the bone commander is the same in both specs. Once you get 18 (20 once live) you can respec supp and get the healing pet and spam insta lifetaps.
Troll is best because of high con since you don't need to actually cast any spells (insta)
As for Kobold, the damage you deal with your staff is so negligable, the massive con boost Troll gets will outshine the paltry damage increase your staff will get.
Something could be said about Valkyn since they have high racial resists but this would be the only reason I would roll a Valk since they run ugly and have low con (45 base vs kobold 50 and troll 70)

Valkyn 3% Slash,2% Thrust,5% Cold,5% Body total 15 points
Kobold 5% Crush,5% Energy total 10 points
Troll 3% Slash,2% Thrust,5% Matter total 10 points

Specwise for RvR 47 Supp for last lifetap and rest in Dark for the body debuff
For PvE farming solo, use the same spec
PvE farming in tandem with a cave shaman go BA to get the AoE DoT

Fri 3 Aug 2018 6:49 PM by Magesty

I would still go Kobold for RvR. You should be casting your base nuke and root whenever possible, even if you can sustain in melee. The extra 20 con isn't worth giving up a disproportionate amount of casting speed.

At this point in the game suppression is the best spec for both solo PvE (once you get healer pets) and RvR. It has infinite sustain and the damage is decent. If you don't want to rest after running out of mana you can just melee pull. In RvR you can do solid DPS with your shouts and baseline nuke as well as hold up well when being attacked due to pet heals and LT shouts.

Bone Army Pets do decent damage with the damage add, but the DoTs are barely over half the delve value of a normal DoT spell. I'm sure this spec will perform passably, but you will be lacking burst damage and relying on pets that can be easily CC'd. Depending on how pets perform against higher level monsters on Phoenix this might be the best spec for leveling in a group.

Darkness gets the mage pets, which could be of some value here since pet nukes appear to be a little wonky, but the commander is still melee only. The DD/snare is of little value. On paper this is the weakest of the three specs, but it still has killing power. This spec is also arguably better than suppression for group leveling.

Unlike a lot of other casters the BD has three spec lines that can actually be used, but suppression is by far the most powerful.

Mon 6 Aug 2018 8:51 AM by Falken

For RvR if you are solo go supp and once you get purge you literally can't be killed, unless your pets get mezzed and then its likely but this is true with all BD specs.

For group RvR either full dark (for red mage pet) or split dark/sup so you get castable melee absorb buff for group

For farming full BA with 2 melee pets + 1 healer

As far as leveling goes I found BA to be the most useful in groups as you had AOE dot for bomb groups, and melee pets that helped with hit code and did decent dps with the damage add. Solo is supp to be safe, but BA works for solo you just dot + kite, but it does take quite a while and isn't brain dead like supp.

Mon 6 Aug 2018 12:38 PM by heardstheword

Falken wrote: ↑
Mon 6 Aug 2018 8:51 AM
For farming full BA with 2 melee pets + 1 healer

Isn't supp the only line with a healer? How can you go full BA if you have a healer pet

Mon 6 Aug 2018 2:13 PM by Seigmoraig

heardstheword wrote: ↑
Mon 6 Aug 2018 12:38 PM
Falken wrote: ↑
Mon 6 Aug 2018 8:51 AM
For farming full BA with 2 melee pets + 1 healer

Isn't supp the only line with a healer? How can you go full BA if you have a healer pet

48BA / 24Sup would get you the second healer pet while getting the last warrior pet.
Only thing you lose is the last spec Dot....52d instead of 55d O_o

Mon 6 Aug 2018 4:05 PM by Falken

heardstheword wrote: ↑
Mon 6 Aug 2018 12:38 PM
Falken wrote: ↑
Mon 6 Aug 2018 8:51 AM
For farming full BA with 2 melee pets + 1 healer

Isn't supp the only line with a healer? How can you go full BA if you have a healer pet

You get your first healer pet @ 18 in supp line, so you could go 50 BA / 20 supp and get it. It is weak, and frail but its free heals that keep your commander alive unless you are trying to fight 2+ mobs at a time in which case you can heal your commander with pet heal (which is more effective as BA).

Thu 9 Aug 2018 4:56 AM by Warpfield

You might want to recheck that since they nerfed the BD and made it unviable.

Thu 9 Aug 2018 7:05 AM by Natto

Warpfield wrote: ↑
Thu 9 Aug 2018 4:56 AM
You might want to recheck that since they nerfed the BD and made it unviable.

In what way?

Thu 9 Aug 2018 12:51 PM by Seigmoraig

Warpfield wrote: ↑
Thu 9 Aug 2018 4:56 AM
You might want to recheck that since they nerfed the BD and made it unviable.

What are these nerfs you speak of ? I can't find them

Thu 9 Aug 2018 4:49 PM by Vkejai

Think he refers to the lvl cap of all 3 pets now put in place