Dragon Spellcaster's Guide

Dragons have 16 spells in their repertoire. 5 are self buffs, 3 are heals, 2 are debuffs and the most important 6 are damage dealers. Because dragons use only 16 spells and a spellbook can hold up to 200 scribed spells, dragons have the ability to keep many different versions of the same spell scribed and available for use.

Prime Bolt and Improved Prime Bolt are the main repeat caster spells and teched correctly, can deal enormous damage. Prime Bolt can be teched for accuracy (I always use this one), primal damage, primal range (if you want another means to pull, however it negates the repeater) and then customized for each damage type such as romp, gale, pierce, scorn and critical damage. Prime Bolt is best used in 1 on 1 fights.

The other 4 damage spells, Blast, Barrage, Gust and Tempest are for large number mob fighting. They are area effect spells that deal damage to all enemies within the radius of the spell. Pulling a large group of monsters, setting off AOEs one after another and watching everything fall in a neat circle around you is great fun! All four of these spells can be teched, but have a more limited range of techs available.

Scribing spells is dependent on your current adventure level and your base Primal skill. Because dragons get 8 points to Primal each level, adding training points to Primal is necessary if you want to be able to use the next version of a spell at the level it becomes available. Adding techs to spells adds to the base Primal requirements so adding additional training points may be necessary to scribe a teched spell. CAUTION ! The only thing that adds to base Primal is training points. Teching scales or claws or socketing crystals will only add to your CURRENT skill.

Choosing your faction and deciding early on whether to be a spellcaster or melee fighter can save much aggravation later. Helians are better spellcasters because their faction is power based, vs. Lunus which is strength based. That is not to say that a Lunus dragon cannot be a spellcaster and vice versa, linking your faction to your chosen fighting style just gives you a bit more of an edge.

So, you have all your spells teched to the teeth and ready to use. Now comes the fun part. This is really where you can customize your dragon to suit your play style. Spellcasting ability is directly tied to stats, specifically focus and power. Focus is mental quickness and chance to hit (the higher your focus skill the less your spells will miss). Power is mental force and effectiveness and increases magic damage (the higher your power skill the more your spells will hit for maximum damage).

Focus and power can be boosted in many ways. Training points (I have found) make the most difference. You can also add techs to scales, socket stat crystals in scales and claws, use dragon ability buffs, get biped buffs and use potions. How much you choose to add with training points is the tricky part and takes some playing around until you find the balance that works for you. Teching scales with stats can be expensive so choose wisely. I socket everything I possibly can with as many sockets as they will take. Swapping out crystals gives me greater versatility for the way I fight specific enemies.

If you don't have a problem getting biped buffs, ALWAYS ask for Gift of Alacrity. It speeds up your casting time shaving seconds off of each spell you cast, meaning the enemy goes down much faster. Gifts and enhances/raises of focus and power will obviously boost your spellcasting ability as well.

Spells can be used alone or in conjunction with abilities. I like galewind, breath of fire, and drain strike as they are good damage dealers to use up front. Tailwhip is a stun, giving me time to hit without getting hit back. Spiked scales is a damage over time ability and can be cast on the run.

The way I fight normally pulling a group is: head toward a group and start collecting em up, throw a breeze on the run, throw spiked scales on the run, collect the group, pull to a safe spot, throw refreshing breeze. By this time the whole group has usually caught up with me. Next I throw a mezz suited to the enemy hit style, then bombard them with AOEs. Watch em fall !

I tech all my breeze spells with cleanse but more importantly my true grit and promote vitality with cleanse because they both have only a 5 sec recycle time. This is a big help with removing bleeds, blights and such. Unfortunately nothing a dragon has removes stuns, you just have to wait em out and hope your health holds out.

Now here comes the part most dragons hate. Crafting. Yes, crafting levels do help you fight!! Every crafting level gives you 5 points per stat. Every 10 points you increase your focus increases your chance to hit with spells/abilities. Every 10 points you increase your power increases your primal spell damage dealt by 1.

Keeping your hoard level at or over the max for each level gives you an additional 4 points to armorclass per level. Having good teched armor scales, hoard at cap or over, teched spells, a damage crystal "of magic" in your claw and knowledge of the enemy you are fighting will all give you a great advantage in fighting.

Here's how I spread out my training points at lvl 100 : a whopping 540 into Primal (base is 1070 required to scribe triple teched tier V spells), 174 in focus, 144 in power and 200 in health. I have 144 more points I can play with depending on what I am doing (right now I have them in strength for crafting but can move them at will if I am going to fight a lot). My scales are armor base teched with health on all, focus and power on the rest except wings. Chest and both forelegs are triple socketed as is my claw. I have armor, health, focus and power crystals and a set of all the resistances to swap out as needed.

I believe I have fought every monster there is in Istaria and the only ones I can't take out solo are the named event mobs and ARoP bosses. Holth has been built as a pure spellcaster right from the start. Being a master spellcrafter has taught me how techs work and which ones are the best to use for each spell so that I can fight smarter.

I hope this guide will help with building your new or existing dragon. It is my take on spellcasting and I'm sure there are many other opinions on this topic as well.

Happy hunting,
Holth