The Ultimate Burner Guide

This information on this page is fully or partially outdated, and may no longer apply to Shadowbane in its current state because Demolishing Spell is now percent-based. See Patch History to stay up-to-date on changes.

**Special Notice **

Do you love to see your name in headlines with PvP kill shots? Do you absolutely hate dying? Do you crave being the first one pounding the called target into submission? STOP READING - This guide is not for you.

If however you enjoy the challenge of playing a difficult, low survivability character, and you take quiet satisfaction knowing you truly are the MVP on the team (even if few others realize it), and that you alone contributed the most to your teams victory (despite the fact that you perish often), then continue on. You are the ANTI-PRIEST. You are a Doomsayer Burner!

A Rose by any other name...

Before we begin with the build, let's take a moment and think about your name. It is after all the very first thing in creating a new character. If you think "Super Burner" or "Whoopa**Doomy" are great choices, then please turn in your robe and staff at guild headquarters you have just been reassigned to bashbot. At the very least, chose a neutral name that does not declare your profession and make you target #1 instantly. "LeonardoDavinci" or "TeenageMutantNInjaTurtle" - fine. A better idea: use the character name for a bit of misdirection. How about "minoBarbarian" or some other low priority target. If you are well known in SB then avoid your personal "Themed" name. Using it makes you recognizable and a target. Best of all: if your guild has a spec group for mines (and they should) that has a themed name(and they should) go with that. Anything that helps you avoid notice and blend in is best.

Under Construction:

• Elf
• Mage
• Doomsayer

Remove five points from all stats except intelligence, which you must add thee points to.

Starting runes:

• Brilliant Mind
• Scion of Dar Khelegeur
• Wizard's Apprentice
• Increased Intelligence

In Game Runes:

• Intelligence of the Gods (fill this and dump remaining stat points into Constitution)
• Archmage
• Battle Magus
• Summoner
• Enchanter

Ideal Gear:

• Staff of the Crimson Circle (+20% pwr Dmg, +100 mana, +25% MR)
• Gloves of the Crimson Circle = +13 INT, 110 mana, 26% MR
• Hood of the Crimson Circle = +16 Sorc/War, 13 INT (Archamge doomy hood of genius is equal to this but far more expensive)
• Pierce resistant cloth boots of windlords
• Archmage's Doomsayer robe of Genius.
• 12/12 INT 35% Mana Recovery jewelry

Trains: Ideally, train nothing until you have filled the 40INT rune & advanced to level 75. There is no need to play this character until then.

TO BE EDITED. TRAIN NUMBERS ARE NOT CORRECT YET. ONLY THE BASIC TRAINS ARE LISTED.

Focus Skills

• Staff - 100%
• Sorcery - Max out until it gold
• Warding - 40%

Discipline Powers

• Demolish (Battlemagus) - 20
• Litany of Will (Archmage) - 20
• Infuse with Power (enchanter) - 20 (all 3 jewels should be buffed before you leave for work)
• Summoner Pet - 1
• Strengthen Pet - 1

Doomsayer Powers

• Corruption - 78 % minimum (consider 97 if Green Death works at 1 train - untested)
• Enfeeblement - 1
• Weakening - 1
• Spectral Bonds - 1
• Stun - 1
• Halgannon's Armor - 40
• Unleash Blight - 8 (single targ. health drain)
• Vel'Khev's Kiss - 40 (single targ. Mana drain)
• Unleash Taint - 40 (health DROT)
• Glimpse of the Pit - 1 (BLIND)
• Black Binding - 1 (mana dmg/stam heal)
• Crimson binding - 1 (health dmg/stam heal)
• Sign of Vel'Khev - 40 ( Mana DROT)
• Vengence of the Pit - 40 (pwr Dmg buff)
• Blight of Throol'Hrool Gen'aa - 1 (HR debuff)
• Corrupt the flesh - 1
• Leech of Souls - 40 (MR debuff)
• Gellegur Baleful Binding - 35 (buff stripper)
• The Green Death - 1 (NEEDS TESTING)

Your mission should you choose to accept it...

Simply put: YOU ARE THE ANTI-PRIEST You have the power to render the opponents priest useless in SECONDS ! This is your mission every time. You are at your strongest in small scale GvG action. (Primarily mines) you are also quite handy at banes but mine fights are where you shine the most. You also have the luxury of being able to ignore the called targets - unless the called target IS THE PRIEST in which case you need to be on him.

While you do burn down the mine towers (extremely well) once track is hot you must stop burning immediately and focus on your role as Priest destroyer ! Always remember: you are a group support utility character with a specific (very important) role to play. If you do it well your team will undoubtedly win the day.

You are uniquely suited to deal with a priest NOT BY KILLING HIM, but by taking away ALL his MANA in mere seconds and ensuring that he can't get it back any time soon. This renders ANY priest (or other caster) a defenseless, walking bulls eye. Do not attempt to go for kill shots until you are certain that every caster in the enemy group has been rendered harmless. If you run after that 6k HP dwarf priest when he flees in hopes of a kill shot your group may very well lose to the opponents OTHER priest. OR your team might take excessive losses from their Mage Assassin. DO NOT GO FOR THE KILLS until you know the enemy is beaten THEN help mop up the leftovers.

Any one have a light...?

The first (and easiest) role you play is that of burner. If any building, mine tower, wall, Tree of Life or bulwark needs to be taken down then you are the best man for the job. The task is easy. This is STRONGEST build in the game. No other characters can burn for more damage than you. Use "litany of will" and "Vengeance of the Pit" on yourself constantly, be in attack stance and you will be casting burns for around 1400 a tic ! Remember to watch the recycle timer on your burn. It is a DoT and tics for exactly the recycle time so cast it immediately when it's up. The only other thing to note is stacking burners. Perhaps you have a mage or two that want to help burning - that's fine just note that each burn OVERWRITES a previously casted one. This is OK because ALL OF THE FIRST TICS HIT REGARDLESS Just be sure to talk with the other mages and choreograph things accordingly. Your burn is definitely the best so you do not want another to overwrite yours. So you must be the last one to cast !!

Plan accordingly and that tower will be ashes in no time. You also have a gimp pet to help with the task. Pets CANNOT attack mine towers or Trees of Life but they CAN take down most anything else including bane stones! So summon and buff your pet when you have time, and let FIDO help when you are on an appropriate target.

Seek and destroy...

The moment you hear "Track Hot", your fun begins. Immediately stop burning! I simply can't stress this enough. The only exception is if you are certain that the tower/ wall etc. will fall with only one more cast. IF THIS IS NOT THE CASE - STOP BURNING! You will always be target #1 (yes it is more important to kill you than the priest - bard etc.) so there is no need to make the job easy by letting the enemy roll in and find you standing next to a huge beacon fire waving your arms. It's time to move.

The very first thing to do is cast Vengence of the Pit on your group's Priest (hold off on LoW for yourself if it's ready). It will do the priest more good than you in the beginning of the engagement. Also, be sure to recast your damage absorber.

Next, pick a spot and hide there. Remember, your goal is to annihilate the opponent's priest and it is usually bringing up the rear. Take a quick look around you and plan your hiding spot. If you picture the face of a clock with your group at the center and the incoming group at 12 then the best place for you would be 10 or 2 o'clock. I find that beside (about one casting distance) and slightly forward of your group is best for you. If terrain offers you a good spot use it! "How do I hide with a character that doesn't even have mage stealth?" you ask? Easy, ask your scout to camouflage you! Camo and using your surroundings are the two best things you can do to get out of sight. YOU MUST REMAIN UNNOTICED FOR THE FIRST FEW SECONDS OF THE ENGAGEMENT !!!!! OTHERWISE YOU WILL DIE. Unfortunately, best place for you to hide is also the best places for your nemesis: the enemy scout. He will be actively searching for you if he knows your about. He will also roll in ahead of his group WITH eyes up. he will then hang back and provide group support for his people. This puts him just about on top of you. if your scout is about then ideally he will occupy the enemy scout and buy you the precious few seconds you need. Be aware : That even camouflaged several characters in game can still see you. All shades, all scouts and any one with trained BH will spot you instantly.

Another possibility is run out of the camp. Yes you heard me right run completely away out of the camp and make a wide circle around to the enemy so you are flanking them from the side. This will take a few seconds and that's fine. The only drawback to this is you will most likely be running back in blind and it will take a moment or two to figure out where everyone is. It is better to watch all the incoming but don't hesitate to use this strategy if need be.

If all goes well you are now positioned and hidden from view as best you can. The WORST place for you is in the stack. You can't survive even one or two big AoE's AND the moment you leave the stack you WILL BE NOTICED AND TARGETED! MISSION FAILED. If all has gone well you are out of sight (the best you can be) and here they come.

And so, it begins....

Ideally, you are standing still (camo'd) and watching the opponent group charging in. Most always the meat characters and combat rogues will lead the charge followed by squishy casters with priests bringing up the rear. Now WAIT 5 SECONDS ! ! ! Doing so will give their Priest time to set himself in his support spot while his team engages yours. It also gives him a few seconds to get preoccupied with the fight. Within 5 seconds one of his people will need heals or debuff removed and his adrenalin will peak. This is the moment he is most occupied and most excited. This is the moment you strike because he will be least able to respond.

Begin with casting "litany of will" on yourself (if it's up) and sprinting to your ideal attack position (breaking camo). "where is that ?" you ask. ANSWER: One cast distance BEHIND the target. here you are furthest away from the focus of everyone's attention. You are furthest away from the stack and collateral damage. You are directly BEHIND him and off his screen making it even harder for anyone to see you. This will cost him precious seconds in responding once you begin.You are ironically where HE WILL RUN TO once you begin -enableing you to further apply the hurt. Now LIGHT HIM UP !!!!!

The best rotation to follow:

1. Sign of Vel' Khev - mana DROT [ 5 sec cast]
2. Enfeeblement - Int/Spi debuff [instacast]
3. weakening - dex/str debuff [instacast]
4. Baleful Binding - Buff stripper [3 sec cast] ** cast once or more as situation allows.
5. Unleash Blight - Single Mana Drain [3sec cast]
6. Leech of Souls - MR debuff [3 sec cast]
7. Black Binding - Mana Dmg/Stam heal [5 sec cast]
8. reapply steps 2,3,4,5 immediately.
9. cast Crimson Binding on target

Now in roughly 14 seconds (first cast goes unnoticed because he hasn't been hit yet followed by steps 2,3,4,5,6,7,2,3,4,5,8,) His purple buffs are blinking like an evil Christmas tree and his mana is disappearing quickly. If he is an extremely good priest he may have casted his debuff remover on himself twice and gotten enfeeblement AND weakening off already (unlikely but possible) only to see them reappear instantly. Do not be tempted to try stunning or blinding the priest. Odds are he's stun immune and you need both those spells for your personal defense. if you got all the way to step 9 he is down and out for the rest of this fight. Occasionally you find a complete novice on the priest or even better a macro in tow. If you recognize either of these skip reapplying enfeeblement, corrupt flesh, and weakening. all three are fast although unnecessary if the priest isn't attempting to remove them. Instead cast Unleash Blight (the single mana drain) twice. followed by 3-5 casts of your buff stripper. just getting his MR buff off his screen will permanently ruin his day.

About the time you hit step 9 he will be running away faster than Michael Jackson on his way to Disneyland. 100% of his heals have stopped. Not one of his team is getting debuff removal and he has MAYBE 10% of his mana pool left. At this point he is sarcastically casting his debuff removal on himself and watching his mana vanish. Very few group priests actually carry blue pots around with them but even if they do it will take a lot of time for him to flee, sit and pot up , remove his debuffs, pot up again , and get some mana then return to the fight. It works even better if you can manage to get Crimson binding on him . By then he'll no longer have any mana left and cannot cast his debuff remover. His MR is gone, and he'll have to wait out all the tics on CB before a pot will help him at all. He is out of the fight and you are a WANTED man Be assured EVERYONE in THEIR VENT now KNOWS YOUR NAME !

Now you must make a decision. If they have another priest then your job is not done yet. Make towards your next target (the other priest) and let loose with everything. Odds are good that you are well known and that priest is definitely not standing still. Do your best to root him or just follow him the bestt you can and attack his mana also. You will most likely be under fire yourself by this point. Their scout is normally the first one to respond the priests screams for help and likely the first to spot you. So let's discuss defense.

And it was all going so well until...

It's a fact. you are going to die on this character, and you will die often! Accept it and consider it part of the challenge. With such low health you can be stomped by almost anyone out there. The most likely character to get you will be their scout, followed by their mage assassin or bard. These utility characters are going to be the closest to their priest and quickest to respond to his screams in vent. How do you deal with adversity?

The best thing for you to do is deal with your attacker as best as you can but keep moving towards your target. If it's the scout blind then root him health drain him and keep moving! All scouts except vampires are helpless with a root and this will instantly stop him. If it's a assassin or bard blind, stun then root them. They can get out of it easier than a scout but you must keep moving and focus on YOUR TARGET. Your target is helpless against you - KEEP ON HIM until the point of death. Remember you only need about 15 seconds to remove him from the fight. Be persistent. If all else fails run away. Fleeing in the direction of your main group will not generally work . To do so only draws more eyes on you and it only takes a spell or two for you to drop you will never make it back to your priest for heals and even if you do your role in the fight is done - your victim has escaped and you've lost the element of surprise. Sometimes sprinting out of the fight is a good strategy. Often time a disciplined scout won't chase after you because that 1 kill shot on you requires them a) leaving their group without scout support and b) missed combat and even more potential kill shots (EVERYONE CRAVES GLORY IN THIS GAME) and c) they lose heals support for themselves. If you do make it out alive promptly sit and pot up and charge back in. You do have two health drains but Keep Moving!!! cast them on low def targets or mobs if you are away- only !!! (that target priest works as does any nearby meat character even your teams meat characters are viable as a last resort - they have huge HP pools AND are most likely receiving active heals from the priest.) The health drains will only slow down death. The don't heal for a whole lot and If you stand still and try to heal with them you will only take that much more damage while your target flees. Avoid targeting ranged characters with your health drains. Doing so will give them auto aggro on you and they are far harder for you to outrun or evade.

You also have a great buff stripper but it shouldn't be used unless you are one on one and fighting for your life . It simply takes too long and in the same amount of times most characters can damage you enough to kill you. It does work of Def characters though if you can blind, stun, buff strip 2-4 times they will often run from you knowing they have lost all their Def.

Don't be discouraged. There are a great many factors involved with this unappreciated job. Fatalities are high. Any character (except the priest) can kill you quite quickly just play through it and accomplish your mission. If you can hang in there long enough it gets easier. The longer you last the better the odds are that you ll make it to the end of the fight. Most deaths occur right at the beginning.

Use your brains. This is one squishy mage that MUST PLAY like a rogue, and you must do it without all the strengths that make rogues great.

Holy Cow... I'm still alive?

If you have destroyed the priest successfully and he has fled you must now chose. If there are more priests then your path is decided and you must continue. If not then by all means you can mana drain any caster with devastating results. The next best target would be their Mage Assassin. followed by their bard. Doing this would be to fill your role in group support to it's utmost. Once those have fled you can always help your group mop up the leftovers with Magebolt (it's focused on sorcery so yours will hit like a tank) or you can always chase after the priest and attempt a kill shot Green Death (and most of our other doomsayer debuffs work well here. Also keep an ear out for called targets. you can assist your teams assassin by helping to bury (DEEPLY) the Shadowmantle.

Your group has been doing their thing all this time as well and seeing as how their opponents had no priest after the first 15 seconds of the fight they are most likely winning. Stand back and nuke the leftovers

• If you obliterated their only priest but died, you did ok. Mission Accomplished.
• If you chased away the priest AND one more support character then died, YOU ROCK!
• If you did all of the above and lived to the end, you are near god-like.
• If you did this all, lived until the end, AND got a kill shot, you should be writing this guide!

Have fun - Play to Crush
See you on the battlefield,
-Cryfowl

References

• The ULTIMATE Burner guide