Curse

frickaline · Jun 28, 2006, 04:11 PM // 16:11

What, in your many varied opinions, would be the best choices for armor pieces for the ritualist were you to be purchasing some expensive stuff?

(e.g. Emissary's, Halcyon's, Harbinger's, Mystic's, Oracle's, Shaman's)

This would be for all around play, both pvp and pve.

Oso Minar · Jun 29, 2006, 12:14 AM // 00:14

It sorta depends on your playstyle. I'll describe my personal preferences. I have four full sets of armor currently (Halycon, Harbinger, Emissary, Shaman), so I'll list what I use them for, and what I potentially will use the other sets for (I plan on getting them).

Emissary - If you like being in the thick of things with weapon skills, this set's for you. I'm a Rt/W, and I definitely like the results when I decide to change things up and wade through the masses with weapon spells. It'll give you great melee survivability with skills such as Vengeful Weapon or Weapon of Warding, and it's great fun to be had to just get in and get messy on the front lines. In conjunction with long-lasting weapon skills, added to a Tactics shield, you can do pretty much anything from running to melee PvP.

Halycon - Standard goodness, it'll give you 7 energy at all times. I use this set when I spirit-spam. I like the energy, what can I say. I find that when I spirit-spam, I rarely get hit or even blinked at. I don't need extra armor or health, but in a pinch there are some times when I get low on energy (crazy-spamming without Boon of Creation up, etc.), and this armor helps out with that. This is what I got my "expensive" set in. The others are all cheap-o Kaineng Center version. I'm in this armor an awful lot.

Harbinger - More standard goodness, this time with 35 health all the time. This was my first set of armor, as I thought "Hey, mo' health, less problems, right?" Well, the results are certainly impressive if you really go for it. Naked (lol to the male's loincloth), you'll have 420 health. With rank 12 Communing and 12 Restoration (no runes or anything), and both Vengeful Weapon and Generous Was Tsungrai up, you have a whopping 750 health...naked! Now, add in that Harbinger's armor, and you'll have 785 health, not even counting runes. With the massive heal from a dropped Tsungrai pot, you'll find that Warriors and Assassins will just give up rather than try to kill you. This set is absolutely fantastic for Random Arenas, when survivability is key. As far as everything else, you'll need to specialize with Runes (I suggest Restoration) in order to make it suitable for everyday play. Certainly a good set, though.

Mystic - This set'll give you increased armor while activating skills. It works mainly for the long casting times of binding rituals. Now, you may think of this as a good thing...Almost every single build I use will summon at least one spirit, with a maximum of four or even five spirits! While yes, while summoning you're vulnerable, I find that the bigger problem with the long casting times involves Interruptions, something which is not covered at all by the armor. That stinkin' Ranger or Mesmer will interrupt you no matter what sort of armor you have (yeah, I'm bitter, I hate when they latch onto me). With other skills, surviving as a Ritualist under fire isn't that tough of a thing to do. Heck, even running gives a decent way to get out of some damage. If that Warrior comes at you, with a Ranger firing in the background, it's doomsday if you're still trying to summon spirits. Plus, that nice little interrupt will bring you up immediately, thereby negating your armor's benefit. So not only will you have a Warrior and Ranger gunning at you, you'll basically be wearing the common Ritualist armor with no benefits whatsoever. I'm scared of this set, as you can see. It'll be the last one I buy, if I even bother to buy it at all.

Oracle - Extra armor while holding an item? Seems like it'd be pretty situational -- I'm sure Professor Gai would love it, he's always holding something. Personally, I'm not sure of the benefit I would get out of this. I'm sure many spiker builds would be able to use this armor well. I can sort of envision a build centered around Explosive Growth, Destruction, and something like Cruel Was Daoshen to make a melee-spiker. Race in with the Daoshen pot, lay down a spirit, do a couple self-centered AoE's, then drop the pot and run the heck outta there. I can sorta see it when you're in the back lines and healing (In PvP, it'd be good to hold a Tsungrai pot while you go about your business as a safeguard), but I find that in the back lines, Energy is a more precious resource. When you hold an item, you lose the Energy that you would gain from your staff or wand+focus, and that might be worrisome to people. Also, when you are knocked down, you drop your pot. There are PLENTY of knockdown skills in this game, and when a Warrior's up in your face, the good ones will realize that by knocking you down, they will in essence destroy the benefit that you have given yourself. Just like the Mystic set, I think that when the armor's REALLY needed (melee up in you grillz, yo), it is hit or miss on the benefits. And that scares me. I'll get it before the Mystic set though, to see how well that Melee AoE spiker build would work.

Shaman - Some would say that this is great for a Ritual Lord, but I must disagree. I tried it, and while yes, it does give you some good benefits, I didn't find that my spirits were around enough to give the sort of constant benefit that I like. I still use this set, but it's more for my Channeling build. I use two spirits simultaneously (Pain, Destruction) so I don't get the full benefit, but the slight difference it makes is noticible. I would use Halycon, but my build never really falters on energy. And because I have no room for Restoration or Weapon Skills (Vengeful Weapon, Generous was Tsungrai), the passive benefit from Shaman armor is good enough for me. I'm not as much a fan of this set as I am the others.

Ritualist - Great if you're cheap. 'nuff said

Summed up version, listed in order of preference:
1. Halycon - More Energy, more able to spam skills in a hurry. Always active, and all builds use energy.
2. Harbinger - Hore Health, more time to react. Always active, and it will give you more time against both sword and spell.
3. Emissary - Some weapon skills last a long time, so the added armor is able to be perpetually present.
4. Shaman - Most Ritualist builds have spirits present. As long as they're active, you have added armor.
5. Oracle - Ash-holding spells often last a long time, so this would be an easily-maintained bonus. Knockdown = dropped item, though.
6. Mystic - For spirit-spamming, this would give armor during the delicate summoning process. Armor doesn't stop interrupts, though.
7. Ritualist - Hey, at least it's cheap. No benefits, though.

I wrote too much. If you read it all, you're a saint. Hope it helps!

sinican · Jun 29, 2006, 03:13 AM // 03:13

i use halycon chest and legs for a +5 energy and harbinger hands and feet for the little additional hp...

ive played the other armors and at first i use oracles but grew away from holding items because it defeats max wep dmg and the 20/20 faster cast/recharge... and like was said spirit don't stay up long enough

other than that as a rituallist i really havent had an issue with taking too much dmg or even being in agro in the first place... this is true universally... channeling/restoration/comuning i just don't seem to need the added defence bonuses... but i still always use staff wraps of defence and insightfull staff heads...

frickaline · Jun 29, 2006, 09:34 AM // 09:34

Thanks guys that does help, even though it is completely against my own thinking at the moment. But it makes me realize that I do need to think this through a bit more.

It seemed to me that the most all-purpose character seems to be the spirit spammer. It also seemed that a true spirit spammer should be pretty much casting spirits at all times. And, I'd think that the time they are most likely to take damage are when they are laying those spirits down (like for instance, from savage shot). Like Oso mentioned, its not going to save you from the interrupt, but it may help minimize the damage you take from the interrupt/targetting.

My choice here was mystic for chest and pants since thats where you get hit most, then for hands and feet, either energy or health. But perhaps I should test this out a bit before commiting.

MadHamish · Jun 30, 2006, 07:50 AM // 07:50

So, have you thought about the Oracle Armor when farming with the "Vengeful was Kanhei"-Elite? This is definitely the armor you want to have. The less damage you take the more health from Kanhei you will get.

Just my opinion. (And... It is working great)

Cheers!

Mad Hamish.

frickaline · Jul 02, 2006, 04:31 AM // 04:31

I ended up going with Halcyon for the energy. It works out pretty well for almost any build it seems.

Fr_3_aK · Jul 04, 2006, 01:21 PM // 13:21

Im one of those guys who gets a build and sticks to it.
I use Shaman armor because im a rit lord user with 5 spirits. I prefer to master this build and as such, havent bothered getting other armors or builds. For my skills this armor is undoubtably the best. You'd definently want the extra armor with spirits up, instead of the other option of +armor while casting. Rit lords dont want to be hit while casting fullstop... Grenth bless displacement.

As for looks i have:

No headpiece (fow teapot coming soon)
Kurzick 15k chest
Imperial 1.5k arms
Imperial 15k legs
Imperial 15k feet

Her Phoenix · Jul 04, 2006, 08:44 PM // 20:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr_3_aK

Im one of those guys who gets a build and sticks to it.
I use Shaman armor because im a rit lord user with 5 spirits. I prefer to master this build and as such, havent bothered getting other armors or builds. For my skills this armor is undoubtably the best. You'd definently want the extra armor with spirits up, instead of the other option of +armor while casting. Rit lords dont want to be hit while casting fullstop... Grenth bless displacement.

As for looks i have:

No headpiece (fow teapot coming soon)
Kurzick 15k chest
Imperial 1.5k arms
Imperial 15k legs
Imperial 15k feet

Can you post a picture on how that set's appearance is?

shadowfell · Jul 09, 2006, 08:34 AM // 08:34

Using Mighty was vorizun, you actually have more energy than you can have using the standed +5 primary hand, and +12 offhand. Holding mighty was grants you +20 energy, and +20 armor.

Servant of Kali · Jul 09, 2006, 11:05 AM // 11:05

As others said, depends what you use. I mostly use dmg spirits, or rlord prot ones. In any case, i have spirits around. Shamans armor is a no brainer.