Alright, I’m kinda just putting this here. This is MY build. How I LIKE to play my toon. If YOU don’t like it, don’t use it. No telling me this is wrong or that should be that. This is how I like to play.
Read /
Disclaimer: I do not know everything about the class nor do I pvp (often or well), this is simply a beginner’s guide to burst ("cookie cutter") for them to play around with. 2 free talent compasses from Shylia, don’t waste them. Play your mm and get used to the skills and your own playstyle before you decide how to change you build. (Yes I am also aware of the talent compasses from Achievements)
^Read
Right then… now that that’s out of the way:
Axy’s Burst Build
This is just a simple "Step by Step" of how to build your very own Axy feel free to "veer" off course or switch some points around. However, you should be talenting yourself to maximize aoe damage, that’s what burst mm’s are for.
About my playstyle/build:
1)I have built myself to be a minitank, I grab adds and trash mobs, especially from healers if I can.
2)I prefer to go the hp/def route over the pvp oriented eva build. I might get hit, but I wont’ die from it.
Here’s dr4koe’s take on evasion build: I’m no expert.
http://fw-forum.perfectworld.com/sho…1&postcount=17
3)If there are more than 1 enemies in front of me, I AoE. Unless told not to by party.
4)I POT! I do not ask for heals unless I am the only one taking damage, effectively "tanking." As an AoE machine, get used to being somewhere 45%-75% health and learn to POT in most and any situations.
5)During boss fights, I acknowledge my dps is subpar, I do not waste mp by spamming aoe’s (Penetrating Shot excluded since that just helps increase damage). I do however, make sure Hunter’s Mark, although also subpar is ALWAYS up on bosses. I also do use my earth single target skills, even fire at will.
6) I do not use Crack Shot Time often. I should, but don’t.
7) I use Flammable as a lifesaver and dps in certain situations.
8) Soul Resolution is my friend, blocks 70% of max health. That’s pretty comparable to mage’s shield imho.
Talents:
Tier number (levels)
Link
(Talent order) Feel free to switch it up, however important skills will be highlighted in pink
I recommend Aesica’s Calc, because it’s not broken, but if you can’t use it, I’m in the process of adding FW’s.
Tier 1: (Level 20-24)
(2 in Heat bullet, 3 in Lava Burst)
Tier 2: (25-29)
(5 in Flame Mastery)
Tier 3: (30-34)
(1 in Rake of Fury [aka Flamethrower], 2 in Soul Burn, 2 in Discrete)
Tier 4: (35-39)
(3 in Scorching Heat, 1 in Flammable, 1 in Swift Penetration)
Tier 5: (40-44)
(2 in Back Up Fire, 1 in Lava Burst, 2 in Swift Penetration)
Tier 6: (45-49)
(1 in Rake of Fury, 4 in Bullet Screen)
Tier 7: (50-54)
(5 in Flame Profession)
Note: Swift Penetration, Efficient Penetration, Shrapnel, and Undying rage points past this point are pretty interchangeable. However, you should max Penetrating Shot dps as much as you can. What I am listing is how I leveled and what points I put where.
Tier 8: (55-59)
(3 in Motivate, 1 in Burning Rage, 1 in Swift Penetration)
Tier 9: (60-64)
(1 in Rake of Fury, 2 in Efficient Penetration, 2 in Undying Rage)
Tier 10: (65-69)
(2 in Extended Burning, 1 in Lava Burst, 1 in Efficient Penetration, 1 in Shrapnel)
Tier 11: (70-74)
(2 in Eneverating Fire, 1 in Burst of Rage, 2 in Shrapnel
Tier 12 / 13: (75-80)
(1 in Rake of Fury, 1 in Velocity Shot, 4 in Speed of Fire)
Note: Velocity Shot is mistranslated in game. It actually does 100% base atk +4xxx bonus damage. It’s not 15%+100 
Just thought I’d point that out.
Somethings to consider about instances:
1)Your AoE is going to be massive, especially when you couple Quick Reloading (with Back up Fire) and Rake of Fury. The 0 cd allows for a massive amount of damage, burn stacks, and what have you, but you will be stealing a crapload of aggro from tank. Be wary when using as you will need to be the center of the heals.
2)Your Single Target dps is going to fail, miserably. Be prepared to longer questing/aoe questing/longer boss fights.
3)You should/will be asked to aoe off tank in instances lik AoS Round 8 where multiple adds spawn and would initially go for the healer(s) since Tank is focusing on boss(es). Your healers should recognize this as you are the one pulling the adds off of them (MM’s have medium armor, so they are slightly less squishy than priests/bards) and should heal you accordingly.
4) Learn2potion. You will be consuming mana and hp like mad in instances (esp if you’re aoe’ing) be prepared to have potions/tonics in your quick bar for easy access.
Some things to consider about talents:
1)The Discrete/Flammable combo is my personal playstyle, I don’t know how many mm’s actually go this route, but if you feel you don’t use weakening cloud enough, feel free to respec and put those points somewhere else. I personally recommend Soul Resistance, but since this is such a later talent you might need to switch some around to make sure you’re putting points in.
2) Many MM’s take Speed of Fire earlier in game. I hardly use Fast Action, so I felt these points were useless and might respec them later after the new expansion comes out.*
3) I only put 2 points in Heat bullet and Discrete because these talents aren’t particularly that great, they are the gateway to better talents. Two is what you need to unlock those talents, that’s why they are there.
4) I only put 2 points in Undying Rage…. mostly due to lack of points and the lack of a notice in difference.
5) Soul Resistance will probably be my next "come back and fill" talent once they raise the cap. **
About * and **. I am actually thinking of respeccing because I focus more def/hp than eva, and to tbh, I don’t use Fast Action nearly enough to really put points into Speed of Fire rather than Soul Resistance. However I am in the minority (I believe) about these talents, so feel free to experiment or level or whatever to see which path you’d prefer.
Somethings about SKIPPED talents:
1)Zealous Support - I feel this speaks for itself, however, since I don’t use Fast Action in 99% of fights, why would I need to reduce the cd or chance of losing the buff? This is a more pvp oriented skill.
2) Scorching Blood - Again, speaks for itself. On a pve server, fire resistance is bs. I don’t know of any bosses, instance or wb that atks with fire. I could be mistaken, but you don’t need this. Even in pvp where it might be viable, those points would be much better spent elsewhere.
3) Stone Smelt - yet another pvp skill >.>". However, this is even more useless as it requires a burn effect (which granted isn’t hard) but also Pulse Shot which I honestly forget I even have 95% of the time (not even on a hotbar I don’t think) because the damage is pitiful, don’t need ensare in pve, and it’s an earth skill so yeah, not needed.
4) Soul Catch - Unless you’re fighting small mobs, you’re not going to be using this talent efficiently, and I usually only use BR or DS during boss fights, and during a boss fight 1 soul bullet at the end isn’t going to do squat. This is probably another more pvp skill for mass pvp, but in the end, it’s pointless pve.
5) Soul Spark - That "Anger State" isn’t exactly the easiest to get into, and the health isn’t all that spectacular. Points much better placed elsewhere.
6) Soul Resistance - as I said, I will probably respec myself to include Soul Resistance, either with or without Speed of Fire, still deciding.
Gears:
The stats you should be concerned with the most are:
Hp
Attack (Fire attack also counts heavily).
Defense
Accuracy
Evasion
Crit chance/crit damage.
Mostly in that order but obviously if you seem to be lacking in one you should focus on gemming/gearing that way.
I mostly have Warded Stout gears (Hp/def) with quite a bit of Atk and fire atk in the mix. I have about 200+ fire attack which between Soul Snipe, MFB, RoF, VS and soon Burning Swirl, it’s just as potent as regular atk, but slightly cheaper imho. Since acc and eva seem to be more pvp oriented I usually skimp on eva (acc just helps me hit stuff and helps my team hit stuff with Accuracy Guidance) but as I said before, feel free to go an eva build rather than def.
Fire Mastery is optional imho. I do not think gears give nearly enough (I think +10 is the highest I’ve seen) for it to be substituted for atk or even fire atk. The RoF burn and Soul Snipe burn are affected by your fire mastery, so don’t ignore it completely, however, since off hands give you +50 or so, definitely go for the offhand over other equipments (off hand +elem atk is +120 at best I believe).
Offhands should be masteries because they give so much.
On gears like head, weapon, shoes etc. They HIGHEST I have seen is 10. That is 1% damage. Tell me that in the same slot 40-50 atk, even if it is elemental is not better.
So let’s do the math.
With 2100 atk my RoF does 4790 base damage.
For 1 gear, that’s NOT offhand would I prefer 38 atk, or 1% damage? (worst and best cases I’ve seen respectively.
1% of 4790 is 47.9. So that’s a what? 10 damage point difference between the worst case and best case? I bought my gears a long time ago, so I’m not entirely familiar with the market, but I’m sure elemental atk is much more common and cheaper than mastery.
Obviously I am closing in on that teeter point where my damage would be better off with fire mastery. But you can train mastery and have offhands. It’s not vital to buy a ridiculously priced piece of gear because it has mastery. Btw, increasing atk also increases your effectiveness of your mastery.
DMG = ((Atk-def)xbase dmg multiplier + bonus damage)*mastery. (if I am correct in the placement of mastery, it might not affect the bonus damage at all)
Therefore, fire atk is also affected by mastery. Because for a fire skill fire atk and atk are treated as the same. I never said don’t get fire mastery, I’m just saying don’t spend too much worrying about it, especially lower levels.
If you have no other options, Earth atk is not a bad option either as your two more powerful Single Target atks are earth element (Exorcising bullet has a +5% crit chance and ofc Exteme Sniping’s 200% atk) not to mention you’re first AoE is also earth based. However, it should be only if you have no other options. I would forgo earth mastery all together because re ids would be better than +5 or +10 earth mastery (which is .5 or 1% damage increase). You should not be using an earth off hand, unless you got it for free and do not have an off hand at all.
Dyos/Nyos
I do not really know anything about the Dyos/Nyos feature. Read all that you can and I will update as much as I possibly can as I figure some stuff out for myself.
I did choose Nyos, but a friend chose Dyos so we will see which is better.
http://fw-forum.perfectworld.com/sho…1&postcount=16
If you are going to respond….:
Axy! Is my build alright? - I can’t answer that for you. You’re build is how you want to play and I can’t tell you what’s right and wrong.
I can’t find the good gears you mentioned! Am I going to fail? - Unless you’re trying to go to FP or AS, just make sure you have a good party with you. I’m level 78, my gears are for level 70+ instances and my play style. If you can’t find warded stout gear at level 50, don’t worry, just be sure to pot.
{insert other MM’s name here}’s build is totally different! Who’s should I follow? - who ever you want, see #1.
I followed your build and I keep dying! - well it’s not for everyone, try eva or even more HP. Be sure to spam your pots, shied and flammable whenever possible.
Yeah, your build works for pve, but it doesn’t work for pvp! - *ahem* see Disclaimer at the very top.
I feel useless in boss fights! What should I do? - keep Hunter’s Mark up, spam MFB, SS, and maybe Penetrating Shot and eat a cookie.
Everytime I party with a mage they steal aggro what am I doing wrong? - probably nothing. Mage’s dps and MM dps come from two rather different ranges. MM’s have a really high base atk bonus on our skills where as Mage’s are often determined by the amount of mana they have or something like that >.>" However, if they are stealing aggro, don’t QQ about it, there’s no written rule that says you have to off tank, in fact mage’s sometimes off tank better at higher levels because of their mana shield. Just be prepared to get mob aggro back should mage die.
I keep stealing aggro from tank! Even at bosses! Help! -For trash mobs: pot pot and pot. If healer/party is giving you lip for it, stop aoe’ing and see what happens. As for bosses: You are either OP or have a crappy tank. Solution? Find a more OP andless crappy tank.
What jobs (like cooking/bot/alch) should I take? - this is truly a matter of personal choice. I’d take Bot/cook/alch, and if you really want to get to the good recipes, also fish. Everything else is really all about what you want to do.
But this is a "build Axy" thread, what jobs did you take? - bot/alch/cook to begin with, then fish, mining, scavenger, froze bot when it got to lvl 6 and took jewelcrafting. O.o
Axy! What about soul and precision? - You see that sticky up at the top of the page, go look there.
Credits go to Axym.
