Chanter top slot discussion: swap or CC?!

[Tecmos Deception]

Mostly because I didn't know top slot refreshed differently from clickies than the other slots until after I'd already been playing a chanter on p99 for multiple years, an ... lol, just finished camping out even though charm broke while I was typing because my pet didn't get through my runes to cause me to stand up before camping finished...

Anyways... I don't use top slot as a swap. I've been considering it, basically by reversing the order of spells that I've always used in slots so that my top 1 is always a swap, #2 is often a swap, on down to my stuns and CC in the bottom. I'm sure I could get used to it in a week or two, especially since I'm still a bit out of a groove from my recent break anyway.

Buuuut it scares me to be playing without instantly-refreshed mesmerize/mesmerization. What do you top-slot-swap guys do when you're trying to get a charm break under control and one of the mobs resists your AE mez? Do you actually manage to reselect to the correct target and then cast a single-target mez before stun fades and it starts interrupting your casts? Do you just hope you have a stun off cooldown (I've taken to using flux-slant as a 1-2 punch on charm breaks to improve my chances of getting that first stun off without an interrupt during my time in POM, so I wouldn't have a stun ready in this situation usually)?

I (kind of) want to change, but change is scary!

[skarlorn]

Love the rejuvenated Tecmos energy lol

I've been an ignorant scrub all the way to 56 apparently, using my top slot as a swap slot or for the non-rune damage absorb buff while soloing.

I think i'm going to change it up now and put my mez in the top slot because i HATE - hate HATE getting punched during that 1 or 2 second downtime on the spell gem.

I tend to use slot 8 as my other swap slot for some reason

[Baylan295]

Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Mostly because I didn't know top slot refreshed differently from clickies than the other slots until after I'd already been playing a chanter on p99 for multiple years, an ... lol, just finished camping out even though charm broke while I was typing because my pet didn't get through my runes to cause me to stand up before camping finished...

Anyways... I don't use top slot as a swap. I've been considering it, basically by reversing the order of spells that I've always used in slots so that my top 1 is always a swap, #2 is often a swap, on down to my stuns and CC in the bottom. I'm sure I could get used to it in a week or two, especially since I'm still a bit out of a groove from my recent break anyway.

Buuuut it scares me to be playing without instantly-refreshed mesmerize/mesmerization. What do you top-slot-swap guys do when you're trying to get a charm break under control and one of the mobs resists your AE mez? Do you actually manage to reselect to the correct target and then cast a single-target mez before stun fades and it starts interrupting your casts? Do you just hope you have a stun off cooldown (I've taken to using flux-slant as a 1-2 punch on charm breaks to improve my chances of getting that first stun off without an interrupt during my time in POM, so I wouldn't have a stun ready in this situation usually)?

I (kind of) want to change, but change is scary!

My instinct is that except for in limited circumstances, the value of a top slot swap is comparatively low versus CC (whether Mez, or Root). My thought process is this: rare is the circumstance that I think “OMG I really needed: 1) rune, 2) berserker spirit, 3) charm, 4) nuke, 5) anything else” up and I don’t already have it. Spells that are swapped are not in your lineup because you typically have the time to remem them when needed. On the other hand, I have died so many times because I haven’t been able to get CC off for any number of reasons. I use slot 1 root, and maybe it’s worth a conversation about moving Mez, or aoe Mez to that slot, but I can’t imagine using it as a swap slot on the regular.

[Tecmos Deception]

Root is what I rocked in 1 while leveling, cause being able to fire it off quickly on multiple mobs was fantastic. Once dealing with summoners, and especially since the summon and root resist changes, I hardly ever root unless I know everything is sub-51. I either put level 4 mez or level 16 aoe mez in #1 usually, depending on where I am, the other in #2, and either fetter or rapture or a stun in #3.

1 for swap does have some utility besides convenience I think. Calming a big room of higher stuff where too many resists (not crits though) doesn't give you much time to get through it or something? Top slot calm. Twenty Two annihilating your little Brenn because forlorn deeds is getting resisted? Top slow slow. Starting a pull and you need to tash and slow asap but also want to get bedlam and charm loaded again asap in case of an early break? Top slot saves you several seconds on bedlam iirc. Stuff like that.

But yeah, I'm not convinced yet that that stuff is more important than being able to get off a mesmerize after the first one resists, but before slant wears off.

[Triiz]

You wont regret going swap slot top slot once you get used to it. The hard part will be getting used to it, I don't think I could change my spell lineup after having it the same for so long without dying multiple times due to the changes.

I'm not great at putting playing EQ strategy into words but there's not really a one size fits all solution to "what do you do if AOE mez resists". If you're fighting somewhere where AOE mez resists are a big problem can easily load a 3rd stun once you're using top slot as swap slot and completely eliminate any risk you wont have a stun ready.

I'm also a fan of the Color Flux/Slant combo on charm breaks but I've never died because I fired off those 2 stuns and was using top slot as a swap slot.

Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

1 for swap does have some utility besides convenience I think. Calming a big room of higher stuff where too many resists (not crits though) doesn't give you much time to get through it or something? Top slot calm. Twenty Two annihilating your little Brenn because forlorn deeds is getting resisted? Top slow slow. Starting a pull and you need to tash and slow asap but also want to get bedlam and charm loaded again asap in case of an early break? Top slot saves you several seconds on bedlam iirc. Stuff like that.

^This shit doesn't sound very clutch when it's written out, but it adds up. There are a lot of examples but one big time saver - A mob is mez'd with 12ish seconds left on mez. That is plenty of time to mem and land a tash/allure without having to re-mez costing you another 24 seconds if your new pet isn't mez'd on top of the other mobs you want it to fight.


Bedlam can be cast in 9 seconds instead of 12, 3 seconds doesn't seem like a lot but that's a 25% recast time reduction and it adds up when you are constantly re-meming the spell. Lull and Calm can both be recast 50% faster. Plus all the spells you can mem and cast instantly, Charms/Slows/Most buffs.

[enjchanter]

Tecmos if you want I'll link you some solo videos and show you why this is worth breaking the habit

Not to say your method is ineffective but maybe seeing it being actively applied might be interesting to you.

I'm at work and on mobile so I'll expound tonight but your one slot is the ultimate swap you will save an eternity of time swapping your spells there , long cooldowns are shorter and regular spells cast instantly , I use 1 and 2 as fluid swaps and I use 4 6 and 8 as what I consider "hard swaps"
4 is 99% of the time charm , 6 is 99% blanket and 8 is 99% skew, I call these hard swaps because I only swap these in a very situational encounter where I need more than 2 random spells up (junking a pet, pulling a mob I need to rapture etc)
But as far as 1 and 2 ? I'll swap these so frequently that id swap slot one to cast feedback on a newb mid fight. The speed is incredible

If a mob resists fascination by chance (rare) then I just go right into skew and hit an again or go straight into recharm.

Stay runed, my friends.

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by Triiz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm also a fan of the Color Flux/Slant combo on charm breaks but I've never died because I fired off those 2 stuns and was using top slot as a swap slot.

For real? How? Lol. Getting a flux resisted when dealing with a 51+ hasted, dual-wielding charm break is like my #1 cause of death. I regularly will get pushed or bashed enough that I can't get off slant (let alone a mez) before I die. Even a non-hasted pet, usually stuff in east since some pets in there manage the nameds if you just give them a torch and are quick on slowing the named, can get lucky and interrupt me a time or two resulting in a death. Maybe I need to try to figure out how to have my back to a wall/corner more often.

[Triiz]

Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

For real? How? Lol. Getting a flux resisted when dealing with a 51+ hasted, dual-wielding charm break is like my #1 cause of death. I regularly will get pushed or bashed enough that I can't get off slant (let alone a mez) before I die. Even a non-hasted pet, usually stuff in east since some pets in there manage the nameds if you just give them a torch and are quick on slowing the named, can get lucky and interrupt me a time or two resulting in a death. Maybe I need to try to figure out how to have my back to a wall/corner more often.

I didn't mean I've never died from stun resists, definitely have, just that I've never died from using stuns where I would have lived if I had AOE mez in top slot. Like you said if you can't get a 1.5 second cast stun off you definitely can't get off a 2.5 sec - 3 sec cast time mez.

I do try to stand in corners or at least against a wall whenever possible, but doesn't matter if you're getting summoned to a spot away from the walls.

[Tecmos Deception]

Originally Posted by Triiz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I didn't mean I've never died from stun resists, definitely have, just that I've never died from using stuns where I would have lived if I had AOE mez in top slot. Like you said if you can't get a 1.5 second cast stun off you definitely can't get off a 2.5 sec - 3 sec cast time mez.

I do try to stand in corners or at least against a wall whenever possible, but doesn't matter if you're getting summoned to a spot away from the walls.

Err, I didn't say what I meant to. Yes, if stuns get resisted (or even one of them, sometimes), then it's often too late for a mez to work anyway. I meant to address if stuns stick but mez resists, which doesn't happen a lot but can happen. Either mez in first slot can be cast a second time before slant fades, though mesmerization cuts it close.

Mmmm. I don't know. Maybe I'll try it just to see how it goes. I guess I still can try both ae and normal mez when they're not in top slot and only be risking the (hopefully slowed) other thing having a little better chance of disrupting the mez since ae is longer cast than a 2nd lvl 4 one.

[Triiz]

Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Err, I didn't say what I meant to. Yes, if stuns get resisted (or even one of them, sometimes), then it's often too late for a mez to work anyway. I meant to address if stuns stick but mez resists, which doesn't happen a lot but can happen. Either mez in first slot can be cast a second time before slant fades, though mesmerization cuts it close.

Mmmm. I don't know. Maybe I'll try it just to see how it goes. I guess I still can try both ae and normal mez when they're not in top slot and only be risking the (hopefully slowed) other thing having a little better chance of disrupting the mez since ae is longer cast than a 2nd lvl 4 one.

Like I said I'm pretty bad at explaining shit. If I'm fighting mobs that have a high chance of resisting AOE mez/stuns like East I keep a 3rd stun loaded, so there is always a stun ready incase of resist. 3 stuns is only practical if you don't mind only having 1 swap slot, which I don't mind.

If it's only pet + 1 mob he's fighting and you only have 2 stuns up, Flux>Slant>AOE mez>mob resists>you can still instantly cast single target mez before Slant wears off even if it's not in the top slot. If both the pet and the mob resist AOE mez and you only single target mez one I guess you'd be dead if you didn't have a 3rd stun loaded, pretty sure that's never happened to me and I not had a 3rd stun ready though. 3rd stun can be a live safer in other ways, like if Flux lands then Slant gets resisted against a hasted/DWing pet and you don't have time to cast a mez.