JBB Usefulness

[Extunarian]

In the interest of not crudding up people's EC sales I was hoping to hear from shaman who use/have used a Jaundiced Bone Bracer.

Pros: 263DD mana free nuke
Cons: 8 second cast time

While I agree it's a nice item and I certainly plan on getting one, I don't think its genuine to say that this is a truly game-changing item. If that were the case I don't think we'd see any Iksar shaman.

Can anyone pipe in to say exactly how they use it? Is it situational or does it make sense to do nothing but click this thing in group all day? And how do you manage mana regen if you have to always be standing up and using this thing?

Thanks!

[Supaskillz]

I have never played a shaman so I will let someone else address your main question, but I do know when kunark first came out all of the clicky armor could sort of be tricked into allowing you to sit during the casting. You had to make a macro that would have you sit right as casting started and stand just before it finished casting iirc.

[Slathar]

In the interest of not crudding up people's EC sales I was hoping to hear from shaman who use/have used a Jaundiced Bone Bracer.

Pros: 263DD mana free nuke
Cons: 8 second cast time

While I agree it's a nice item and I certainly plan on getting one, I don't think its genuine to say that this is a truly game-changing item. If that were the case I don't think we'd see any Iksar shaman.

Can anyone pipe in to say exactly how they use it? Is it situational or does it make sense to do nothing but click this thing in group all day? And how do you manage mana regen if you have to always be standing up and using this thing?

Thanks!

I think it basically boils down to free damage. So, let us say you're root / DoTing in Charasis and find yourself facing more than you can chew. It'd be in your best interest to root/JBB down the last 10% of a mob than spend that mana on a DoT.

The utility of free damage is enormous and really is priceless. I guess it is up for debate, but I'd say this is a necessary item for any high-end shaman to own.

[baalzy]

If you time it right you only miss 1 tick of medding.

Unless you can regen more mana in 1 tick then you'd spend doing that same amount of damage and there isn't anything else for you to do in-group, it's low cost (small meding opportunity cost) damage.

I would think it would be especially useful when soloing to reduce the amount of healing you need to do on your pet to get ready for the new fight by simply reducing the duration of the fight at almost no mana cost.

It also would be useful to speed up farming when going after greens for whatever reason.

Once you hit 60 though and especially in raid situations where things are likely to resist you anyways, not going to be as useful.

[Stumpes]

IMO it is not a great item for grouping. For soloing it is great. It allows for the shaman to kill mobs quicker, especially under 20%.

It's a fun little trinket that is used a lot, but if you don't have one it's not a big issue. Probably one of the better pieces of Kunark gear though. The best my be Elder Spirits Sleeves.

[ElanoraBryght]

I posted this on another thread when someone was oohing over how OP this item is.

If you're killing mobs with 3k+ hp, it's going to take at least 14 casts (factor in some regen) to kill.
On blues and higher it will break root around 50% of the time.
On blues and higher you're going to get resists.

This is the slowest way to kill blues that I can imagine.

[Extunarian]

Thanks for the replies. This all jives with what I was thinking...can be a lifesaver in certain situations, nice free damage, but isn't one of those "how did I play before I had this" items.

Thanks folks.

[Knuckle]

It's a god damn worthless piece of shit, that time would be better spent cannibalizing for a DoT.
Correction, this is an awesome item for grouping, you can just autoclick bracer and not cast anything while you read the latest forgotten realms book.

[Messianic]

Thanks for the replies. This all jives with what I was thinking...can be a lifesaver in certain situations, nice free damage, but isn't one of those "how did I play before I had this" items.

Thanks folks.

Simplest way is to think of it like an extra dot to use instead of getting a med tick.

A definitely helpful edge, but not vital.

[Massive Marc]

IMO as a Shaman, you're almost always better off cani/meding during that 8 seconds. 260~ dmg in 8 seconds is bad, especially on Kunark mobs. It's not good for group and is mediocre for Soloing.

This is purely my opinion and other will definitely disagree.

[apenao]

IMO as a Shaman, you're almost always better off cani/meding during that 8 seconds. 260~ dmg in 8 seconds is bad, especially on Kunark mobs. It's not good for group and is mediocre for Soloing.

This is purely my opinion and other will definitely disagree.

I agree.

I didn't have it until probably some time into Luclin release, so I guess it was a lot better to have in kunark era. But it simply didn't fit my playstyle. I was/am so used to the canni-dance that I cannot stand the 8 sec wait.

That said, if some of them felt in my hand, I'd be happy.

[Hithrohir]

It makes new soloing methods viable. A correctly geared shaman can easily tank a slowed blue mob and take very little damage. Pull with malo + slow, pet attack, and then just spam bracernuke until the mob is dead. You'll spend virtually no mana and it's pretty decent DPS considering its lack of cost.

[Extunarian]

I was/am so used to the canni-dance that I cannot stand the 8 sec wait.

That's what I've noticed about the clickies so far.... I can't abide standing during a server tick after canni-dancing so long. I don't have Canni3 yet though, so maybe it will change once I don't *have* to be canni'ing between every tick.

[Truheart]

I certainly want one for its utility, and did use one on live. That said, I will be waiting til the prices stabilize - I think 15-25k is reasonable and expect the prices to stabilize at some point to that range.

[Grizlor]

Considering there are only so many shamans and the crypt will be pretty much permafarmed for hiero cloaks and 60 spells off chottal, it will probably end up being even cheaper than the 12k I paid for mine towards the end of kunark on Live.

[Phallax]

Posted this in an EC post as well.

Generally a soloing shaman thats taking on high risk mobs are slow+torpor tanking and dont cani AS MUCH as normal so this is what makes the JBB such a valued item. Its by no means a "must have to kill high risk" but it certainly makes things a lot easier.

Its by no means meant for grouping, altho Im not saying it should never be used in a group. Buts its mainly for the reason I posted that makes it a high valued item.

[Knuckle]

The higher risk the situation, the less sense it makes to waste it using an 8 second 260 DD ice nuke. You need to be mana up on canni while torpor tanking and dotting.

[soup]

It seems like people who have or had one generally acknowledge just how useful these things are and how nice having one is whereas the people who don't and never did have one seem to be unimpressed by it.

[Odeseus]

If you're tanking, wouldn't the 8 sec click be interrupted alot?

On live, I didn't get mine til late Velious era and rarely used it. Was useful in situations where I was low on health and mana, but didn't use it as a tool for every fight. I always found it comforting to have as many tools in the toolbox as possible, sort to speak.

[Extunarian]

It seems like people who have or had one generally acknowledge just how useful these things are and how nice having one is whereas the people who don't and never did have one seem to be unimpressed by it.

Not sure how you drew this conclusion....seems a mixed bag from both.

[ElanoraBryght]

I had one on live from 47 - 65. I have one here. My opinion of it still stands. Useful, but not game changing, and not worth the pp being thrown at it here.

But it's the second week after launch, and to some its worth it no matter what the price just for the status.

[Wenai]

Posted this in an EC post as well.

Generally a soloing shaman thats taking on high risk mobs are slow+torpor tanking and dont cani AS MUCH as normal so this is what makes the JBB such a valued item. Its by no means a "must have to kill high risk" but it certainly makes things a lot easier.

Its by no means meant for grouping, altho Im not saying it should never be used in a group. Buts its mainly for the reason I posted that makes it a high valued item.
Exactly.

JBB pretty much comes down to playstyle. On live I had a JBB from 45 right through to 65 and I pretty much used it to solo all the time.

For the most part I prefered to spend as little mana as possible when soloing (ie. Slow + Torpor + Epic and Poxx if needed) and just use JBB for my DPS. This meant that I could continuously pull with no waiting, and no delay between kills. I kept enough mana at all times so that if I got in trouble (ie. adds/repops) I would have the mana to deal with the situation.

If you put yourself in a situation where you are stacking disease and poison based DoTs as your DPS you will find yourself in trouble if you get adds because your mana is typically low when you are soloing that way.

Does using a JBB result in slower kills? Most definitely. Using your DoTs will result in quicker kills but at a huge mana cost. I personally feel that JBB puts in enough to DPS to warrant its price and demand; due to the way that I play. Does that mean everyone is going to want it? Not really.

As stated previously in this thread, JBB is NOT a grouping item. You can use it for soloing and/or duoing, but other than that it is not really a spectacular item. Your time would be better served recouping your mana for slows.

[Phallax]

The higher risk the situation, the less sense it makes to waste it using an 8 second 260 DD ice nuke. You need to be mana up on canni while torpor tanking and dotting.

Using canni specically so you can torpor tank is counter productive. As Torpor regen vs mana > cannis mana vs neg hp. So youre digging yourself into a hole if your slow tanking if you are constantly using canni. When you torpor tank you dont use canni quite as much as you do in a group or root/rot situation. Thus making JBB amazing for torpor tanking.

If you're tanking, wouldn't the 8 sec click be interrupted alot?


Thats what walls and corners are for. You can actually get JBB off quite easily when torpor tanking especially when its 75% slowed.


Again, its all play style and personal preference. Im just stating how I play and why "I" think JBB is valued.

[yaaaflow]

Mardur has a good post somewhere on these forums where he did the math on it - at level 60 it's pretty clearly better to not be using JBB and use the time/mana for other stuff, but when you can first start using it at 45 it pretty much beats almost anything else you can do DPS/efficiency wise. As you get further into the 50s it begins to lose effectiveness outside of some specific circumstances.

[Shiftin]

it's also worth pointing out that jbb is not on your spells global delay, meaning in the 2 seconds you couldn't be casting any other spell, you can be 1/4 of the way into a jbb cast.

[Amuk]

I remember on live in COM you could chain nuke mobs on the top ghost floor level with a jbb over and over - easy way to level~

[Wildas]

It's very useful, both grouping and soloing. 33 dps mana free and sustainable. With a pet, a shaman is going to be able to keep up 60 dps. That's equal to a mid 50's monk or rogue.

The 25 or so mana you'd get back in 1 tick is never going to be able to be used more efficiently.

It's a pretty damn big item.

[Ledzepp02]

Didnt want to read everyone elses' posts, but here's my reasoning, if it was mentioned, oh well:

You have a rooted mob.
1.) wait for mana tick
2.)click bracer
3.) at end of bracer cast, (no cooldown for other spells), mash Canni
4.) sit back down for next mana tick
5.) rinse repeat

Basically, you only miss one mana tick, but you get to canni and do a decent DD in the process, effectively gaining mana in those 12 seconds while doing damage.

That came to mind when I saw the post. Have never played a shaman but I expect that's what shamans will figure out is beneficial to it ;)

Ledz

[Mardur]

it's also worth pointing out that jbb is not on your spells global delay, meaning in the 2 seconds you couldn't be casting any other spell, you can be 1/4 of the way into a jbb cast.

Ding ding ding, this is the best way to use it.

Without getting into all the math I did previously regarding JBB, it's a nice item if you use it correctly, and can actually make you a bad shaman if you rely on it too much. There are very few situations where clicking it twice back to back is a good idea. The best shaman never stop casting spells, if you're lom then canni/torpor is way faster than sitting on your ass, if you have mana then you should be casting a heal or a dot or something. JBB is great to add in between casts however, as item clicks don't have a cool down like normal spells.

This is all true at 60, with gear and spells by the way. JBB is way more awesome at 45, obviously.

[Pyrocat]

Ding ding ding, this is the best way to use it.

It's great to use after slows/malo because if you don't have aggro after slow/malo, you will when you sit. The 8 seconds gives a nice amount of time for tank to build more hate.