Casters are very crucial in a group going hand in hand with scouts.  Some divisions of casters are meant as stall tactics while others are mean to be your down and out dps person.  However as peter parker was told in spider man “With great power comes great responsibility” this meaning here if you use too much power you will destroy your group.  Hopefully at the end of this guide you will know the art of damage per second or dpsing as some call it and know when to use a light touch or when to go all out quote “Nuking” the snot outt of your opponent.

Enchanter: This class isn’t used for down right dps but is used for tactics and strategy when you are in battle.  Enchanters have many ways to inhibit as well as impair the enemy.  If used correctly this can even make name monsters seem like a cake walk but that as I said that is if they are used properly or correctly.  Timing is crucial if you are an enchanter class cause if you use something at the wrong time you can inadvertently aggro the creature onto you.

Sorcerer: This class is nothing more and nothing less than dps in its purest form.  Sorcerers have a glass jaw but can hit with a sledge hammer style force and thus is why they are hard to control.  As a Sorcerer class you must correctly gage your enemy and the group your in seeing how well your tank can handle aggro.  After some mobs you can start opening up a bit more finding what the breaking point is of the tanks aggro capacity.  If the tank seems to have none and establishes aggro quickly enough you can open up going all out.

Summoner:  Summoners were recently “Retuned” or as some say “nerfed” back into their place.  Even though they maybe tier 2 dps they are still top notch if you use the right stuff in the right situation.  Summoners by themselves are not dramatically powerful however if they use the right pet in the right situation they can be almost invaluable as dps in a group.  They have 3 pets type, Tank pet which has a good chance to steal aggro from the tank, Scout pet which does melee damage with a few spells if your a necro, and Mage pet which does pure spells from the necromancer’s grim heretic to the conjurors flame pet.

Caster Tips and Techniques:

1. Gaging the Enemy- As said the first thing you must always do is gage the enemy.  If the tanks aggro can break easily let them fire off their single and AoE style taunts first.  Then start going in firing off your mini nuke spells building up to your major stuff.  As a summoner class use your dps pet either mage or scout instead of your tank pet.  The reason being tank pets can sometimes steal the aggro away from a mob creating a mess of problems.  My SK is level 62 and I have poured on dps tactics mixed in with taunts as well as my shield bash.  There has always been that rare occurence when the summoners pet can and will steal aggro if given the opportunity.

Scout pets are usually a good choice for tight quarters combat because the developers have ramped up caster pets to where they will fire off that inadvertent AoE.  This AoE being a pain in the butt sometimes where it’ll aggro creatures from the other sides of the room or it will go through walls aggroing creatures in the next room.

2. Knowledge of Spells- Every caster class is different in its own right which can be a mixed bag in different situations.  If you know the full extent of your spells then you can help out your group no matter what situation your in.  Warlocks get a short duration AoE stun spell *LU24 stun nerf* that can buy you precious time if your in trouble.  If your group is in trouble and your in a somewhat safe area with little to no chance of new aggro then fire this off to help out your group.

Being knowledgeable about your spells knowing if they are single target, AoE, AoE cone, or are AoE group spells can really be beneficial to you.  If your in close quarters situation where you can’t fire off AoEs in general that doesn’t mean you can’t use AoE group spells.  However if you have massive amounts of enemies on you by all means you may need to take a hit for the team.  In a usual rule book a dead dps can be rezzed if the group survives but not a dead healer that didn’t pass out feathers.

Coercers and Illusionists fall into there own little rule book class because of how they engage in combat.  Illusionists can be a great asset because they get a pet that is a mirror image of themselves called a “Persona Pet”.  This pet won’t have the power of the illusionists spells but it will be up there depending upon the pets level.  This will be like having two illusionists in the group which can be beneficial again if used correctly.

Coercers are great class to play but they do take some time to really master.  They can control their enemies, drain power like their illusionist counter part, and stun/mezz/daze their enemies along the lines of their illusionist counter parts.  I have heard that the coercer’s ability to stun/mezz/daze opponents is greater but unfortunately I don’t know that for sure.  Knowing your spells as a Coercer/Illusionist can be a deffinate aid to your group.  I have been in groups where they wanted coercers to stun the enemies giving group members precious seconds to take that enemy down.

3. Knowing the groups spells/abilities- There are different situations where a specific type of caster can be of more aid than say another type of caster.  If you have a group say comprised of a SK, Inq, Nec, Assassin, War, defiler you have a pretty dang good poison/disease team.  Now the SK uses his blasphemy line spell decreasing disease resistance, the nec uses his pet decreases resistances further, then having the Warlock/Defiler do the same you can take down that enemy 10x quicker than if you just beat it to a bloody pulp.   The same goes if your in a group with say a paladin, temp, warden, wizard, conjuror, and ranger.  If the ranger uses his elemental debuff, the warden uses his ice dot/debuff, then the conjuror uses his pet with another debuff again you will take that opponent down 10x quicker than if you just beat it to a bloody pulp.

Rogues and Assassins can also be of great significance because they can buy special poisons that debuff the enemy’s resistances further assisting the group.  Debuffing is a great tool and when used correctly can majorly help out the group if your facing a tough opponent.

4. Special Spells- Some caster classes can get special spells that can be of great use.  Conjurors/Necromancers get their horde pets/dumb fire pets that they can use for added dps.  Even though they were severly nerfed by the AoE change and the 17.7% attack reduction they are still formidable adding crucial dps where it maybe needed.  Illusionists get a T6 special spell along these lines that creates a group of clones/illusionary allies of the group that like the summoner classes can add crucial dps.

Wizards and Warlocks *not sure on warlocks* get a supreme dps spell that needs to be used cautiouly.  For Wizards this is the infamous “Ice Comet” spell that if in master I form can do upwards of 4k damage almost near 6k if their Int is boosted.  However this spell should not be taken lightly as said it is a major and I mean Major Aggro magnet that will put a red X on your forehead with a tiny message to the enemy saying “Kill Me Now”.  I have been in a group before where a wizard has popped one of these off almost dooming them, even my Rescue taunt has sometimes failed me in those situations.

Coercers are in a class all of their own because they get the ability to control an enemy monster/NPC for a certain period of time.  This can be like adding another dps style monster to the group which can be an extreme help.  However there is always a chance that monster will break free of that charm endangering the group.  This is a liability but if controlled correctly where the coercer immediately stuns/stiffles/mezzs the monster before it has a chance to do the group harm that monster can be a valuable ally.

5. To AoE or not To AoE- Area of Effect or AoE spells can be a great help if you are facing more than one monster.  However if you are in a crowded hall way where there are monsters on the other side of a wall that AoE you fire off may go through the wall into that room.  This is a huge problem which plagues caster pets of summoners but more importantly plagues wizards/warlocks/sorcerers that have a bulk load of AoEs.

There are two distinct AoEs however one being the regular AoE that goes outward in a 360 degree radius within a certain range and the other is a group/mob AoE.  Warlocks get a spell that does Mob/Group mob AoE damage where it targets all the enemies that are in a group leaving others not in that group alone.  This is a good asset because you can fire this off without a care in the world because it doesn’t effect other mobs.

The best time to AoE is when there are no mobs near you that can be caught in the blast and when it is mostly needed.  Combining your AoEs when necessary along side your single target spells can help out greately in any situation.

6. Mana- This is a dire need of the caster and even the summoners pets rely upon mana.  As a caster you will chew through mana quite easily if you are going all out.  The first thing you should do is bring the best drink that you can buy so you can quickly regen much needed battle in a short period of time.  Sorcerers have a neat little ability that comes with a high price if they are not careful.  Sorcerers can basically “Cannibalize” themselves turning health into much needed mana.  If you must do this in a fight announce it to the healer of the group saying something like “I am now Cannibalizing myself” and this just tells them you are converting health into power.  This little warning helping to keep the healers mind on the tank not having to think that the caster is under attack.

Summoners get a interesting little ability for mana where they can get a “Mana shard” be it a heart *necromancers* or a splinter *conjurors* to themselves or to allies.  This mana shard will consome some health but will give back much needed mana to the tank/healer/scout/yourself when needed.  As a summoner you maybe badgered by the tank constantly for these things but it should be taken easily because these things can be crucial if the tank is facing an enemy that has power drained him/her.  Using the shard in that situation can allow them to keep using their taunts as needed.

Enchanters are the kings of mana in most respects because just like bards they can give added incombat power regeneration that does stack with the bards spells.  This incombat power regeneration giving more precious mana to every and is why the bard/enchanter class has been dubously title “Mana Batteries” in most respects.

*Closing Remarks*

Hopefully some of the pointers above will help out our new coming casters that do not know how the classes work or how to distinguish AoEs, single target, AoE Cone, or AoE Group spells from one another.  I also hope that this will help out some current casters that need a bit of reference for knowledge on their class.