Role of the Venomancer
The Venomancer, being a very versatile class, is able to take a variety of roles in a squad. They can do anything, except for healing.
Debuffer
Venomancers have a lot of debuff and DoT (damage over time) skills which makes them the most powerful debuffers in the game. While every class has a few debuffs, the Venomancer have the largest number of debuffs, including the pets, as well as the strongest ones.
- Purge (level 13)
- Removes positive effects (buffs) from the target.
Sage: 5m AoE purge Demon: shrter cooldown by 5 sec, 25s cooldown
Some bosses have self buffs and sometimes those self buffs can hurt a lot. A Venomancer purging those self buffs is essential to make the squad's life easier and the risk of deaths smaller. Instances that usually require purge: TT2-2, TT2-3, Nirvana, FCC.
- Amplify Damage (level 23)
- Makes the target receive 20% more damage.
Sage: damage taken increased to 30% Demon: damage taken increased to 25%, duration increased to 26 seconds
This is the reason the other classes love us. Amplify Damage will make the monsters and the bosses receive more damage resulting in faster killing. Try timing it with the Blademaster's Heaven's Flame (the dragons) and the genie skill Extreme Poison for even greater results.
- Soul Degeneration (level 33)
- Prevents target from regenerating HP and MP.
Sage: reduces maximum HP by 20% Demon: cuts target's evasion in half for 20 seconds
This particular skill is not very useful but sometimes it may be handy on bosses that have a high regeneration rate such as the Phoenix boss in FCC. Keep in mind that Soul Degeneration will cancel Amplify Damage and vice versa. This skill is mainly wanted for the sage version of it which saves up a lot of time by removing 20% of the HP of the boss (it also reduces experience gained so it should not be used in FCC). While Amplify Damage will cancel Soul Degeneration's curse, the HP reduction will not be canceled so it is recommended to start with Soul Degeneration and follow with Amplify Damage.
- Ironwood Scarab (level 9)
- Reduces enemy's physical defense by 30% for 10 seconds
Sage: reduces the physical defense by 40% for 20 seconds Demon: has 20% chance to reduce the physical defense to 0
A very useful skill for classes that deal physical damage as well as your pets. Remember that it costs some chi so be careful on how you manage it.
- Myriad Rainbow (Fox Form + Human Form) (level 79)
- The target has a chance to be affected by:
Bleed: 4500 physical damage over time. Poison: 4500 Wood damage over time. Armor break: Physical defense reduced by 100%. Mind break: Magic defense reduced by 100%. Lasts 9 seconds.
The chance of the DoTs is higher than the chance of the breaks. Perhaps the first has a chance of 50% and the latter has a chance of 20% (just theoretical numbers). It may not be reliable but it's an extra debuff we can add so why not? Remember that it costs 800MP and some chi so be prepared to burn some MP while using them. Their major advantage is that they are instant and therefore they can be casted easily and fast.
- Demon Venomous Scarab (level 89)
- Reduces target's Wood resistance by 30% for 6 seconds
A skill that increases your skills' power as well as the Mystic's. It should be used as an opener followed, usually, by Ironwood Scarab.
- Demon Parasitic Nova (level 99)
- Makes targets take 30% more damage
It works in a similar way as the Blademaster Heaven's Flame and it stacks with Amplify Damage.
- Pet Skill debuffs
- Howl: reduces target's magic defense by 36% for 15 seconds(max level)
- Pierce: reduces target's physical defense by 36% for 15 seconds(max level)
- Threaten: reduces target's physical attack by 36% for 15 seconds(max level)
- Slow: reduces target's movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds (max level)
- Shriek: interrupts target's channeling, 100% chance (max level)
Tips for debuffing. Combinations and tricks!
- 1. Amplify Damage has the same cooldown as the Blademaster's Heaven's Flame so it's possible to time both skills all the time. Amplify Damage should be cast first, not the opposite as the Heaven's Flame debuff is shorter in duration.
- 2. The typical combination/order of debuffs is: (Sage Soul Degeneration) -> Amplify Damage -> (Extreme Poison) -> (Tangling Mire)-> Myriad Rainbow Fox Form -> Myriad Rainbow Human Form -> (Demon Venomous Scarab) -> Ironwood Scarab -> Howl (Pet) -> Pierce (Pet - if you are demon and Ironwood/Myriad didn't proc) -> repeat
- 2. Be careful what skills your pet is using so that they won't overwrite your debuffs (such as Ironwood and Myriad).
Luring
Tank
Venomancers, when using the right pet, are able to tank monsters and bosses. There are case in which, depending on equipment and build, they can tank themselves but most of the time the pet will be tanking.
- Suitable Pets for tanking
- They are often referred to as 'tank pets'. They have high defenses and usually decent to high HP.
- Land - Instances
- Baby Hercules (level 1, 9999 Source of Force)
- Glacial Walker (level 19)
- Crystalline Magmite (level 18)
- Shaodu Cub (level 20)
- Armored Bear (level 80)
- Eldergoth Marksman (level 43, ranged tanking)
- Air
- Baby Blazing Phoenix (level 1, 9999 Phoenix Feathers)
- Windwalking Piggy (level 30)
- Water
- Abysmal Turtle (level 5)
- Celestial Plumpfish (level 80)
Time and life saver
Now matter how good a squad can be, bad things may occur. The Venomancer's role in those situations is diverse. The most important role is to keep the Cleric alive at all costs and this includes keeping yourself alive.
Survival Skills and panic buttons
- Metabolic Boost (level 26)
- Resotres 50% of your HP (max level)
Sage: resotres 60% HP Demon: cooldown reduced to 210 seconds
This is your basic and most common survival skill. However, you may want to keep it in case you will need an instant HP restoring after a ressurection. It has a long cooldown.
- Bramble Hood (level 59)
- Reduces damage taken by 75%, reflect 200% of damage received
Bramble Hood is going to be a life saver in many situations. Keep in mind that you need two sparks in order to use so so take care of your chi manangement.
- Feral Concentration + Absolute Domain or Demon Summer Sprint (level 79)
- Grants invincibility for 10 seconds but stuns you
With Feral Concentration you will become immune to any type of damage but the major drawback, apart from the 3 second channeling, is that it stuns you. In order to avoid the stun Absolute Domain (genie skill) or Demon Summer Sprint can be used. It consumes one spark.
- Lucky Scarab (level 49)
- has 95% chance to stun the target for 2.0 seconds
Sage: stun effect lasts for 3 seconds Demon: reduced cooldown to 10 seconds
A short but quite reliable stun. It's useful for when you want to run away.
- Parasitic Nova (level 59)
- has a 67% chance to make them chaotic for 8.0 seconds,
in which they are unable to move or attack and suffer more damage
In reality that percentage seems to be higher. It's really useful when you want to quickly immobilise a big amount of mobs. Be careful, however, as you might pull some serious aggro once the chaotic effect wears off.
- Befuddling Mist(level 19) + Leech (level 39)
- reduces the
target's accuracy by 70% for 8 seconds + has an 80% chance to steal 600 HP
Not really an emergency life saver but the combination can be quite useful sometimes. First you lower the enemy's accuracy and then you steal some HP back. Demon Befuddling Mist also reduces target's speed by 30% for 3 seconds and increased the HP restored to 800HP. Sage Befuddling Mist hits harder and Sage Leech has 100% chance to steal HP back.
- Useful genie skills
- Wind Shield: reduces damage received by 15%
- Tree of Protection: increased max HP by 26% and heals 16% of your HP
- Second Wind: restores your HP
- Holy Path: increases movement speed to 15.0 m/s
Buff and chi
Another important role of the Venomancer is to buff and pass chi. The Venomancer has only one buff Bramble Guard (level 16) which reflects 60% of damage received (Sage: lasts 20 seconds, Demon: returns 75%). This should be cast on the tank of the squad (who is usually a Barbarian or a Blademaster). Reflects not only helps the tank "deal" more damage but also helps him generate more aggro.
Another essential skill of the Venomancer is Lending Hand (level 46) which passes a spark to a friendly target (Sage: has 25% chance to cast without consuming a spark, Demon: has 25% chance to transfer two sparks). Sparks should be passed to the tank, Barbarians especially need chi for their main aggro skill Flesh Ream. You can also pass a spark to the Barbarian after he uses Invoke (which eats 2 sparks) or after they use Spark Eruption. In FCC, sparks should be passed to Clerics after they use Regeneration Aura (BB). Never hesitate to ask your squad whether they need a spark or not.
