Raiding 101

From BA Wiki

Components of a Raid

Raid Leader

This person’s job is to plan the raid formation; they also ensure there aren't AFK's when the raid is about to zone or pull an encounter, coordinate pull spots with the main tank, and a large number of other small things. This is one of the more difficult tasks in raiding, but a good raid leader ensures everyone is ready and able to do their job for the projected amount of time required to complete the raid.

The Main Tank (MT)

This is the Fighter charged with being the big hero. The person charged with this duty must do all they can to keep aggro on the encounter, so that everyone else in the raid can do their job. Pull the mob to the predetermined spot, and stay there so healers can find max range.

Main Assist (MA)

In a raid there is often more than a single enemy in the encounter, the main assist's job is to direct the DPS (see Damage Per Second) of the raid to the enemy. Generally before the encounter is engaged, an order of engagement is decided, the MA will target them in that order until each is eliminated. By having a main assist, DPS is directed all at the same mobile. There are two ways for DPS to use the MA, the easiest is to simply always have the MA targeted, and attack the enemy through Implied Targeting. The other is to use a /assist macro which you can setup and put on a hot bar. This allows you to directly target the mobile, and through implied targeting, you can be sure the enemy is always targeting the MT. It isn't important to have an MA for encounters that only have a single mobile.

Backup Tank

In many cases a backup tank is used in the event the MT is expected to lose aggro, or unavoidably get hit with an attack large enough to kill them. When facing an encounter where very little is known, it's a very good idea to have a backup tank ready to take aggro should something unexpected happen.

Healers

Your primary job is to make sure the MT stays alive, secondary, yourself and your group. Max Heal Range is your best friend! In almost every raid, there isn't reason for healers to be any closer than max heal range from the Main Tank.

Damage Per Second (DPS)

Scouts and Mages, this is what most of you do best! Wizards, Warlocks, Necromancers, Conjurors, Rangers, Assassins, Swashbucklers and Brigands - your primary role in a raid is to make sure the necessary amount of punishment is given to the enemy, before its given to your MT! You must be the master of your class, and learn what the threshold of your damage needs to be - if you pull aggro from the MT with your DPS, you'll surely die.

Power Regen

This consists of the Bard and Enchanter classes primarily, with a small role of Necromancer and Conjuror as well. Bards have their power regen songs, and enchanters get their Breeze line, for most raids it is necessary to have a source of power regen in each group, although most importantly where there is an abundance of healers, and the MT.

Buffers

Buff classes are important, but nearly every class brings some group buffs to the party that can be vital for survival. Each player and most especially the raid leader need an awareness of the capabilities of each class' buffs and abilities. For example; If the target you are facing has an unavoidable poison AE DOT, it would be very wise to have classes that buff poison resist, and have group cure noxious in each party.

Sacrificial Lamb

This poor person is used for many purposes. Many times they are used to test the damage types an encounter uses, or as a puller so the MT can stay in position. For example an encounter is known to do an AE stun immediately at the start of the fight. Send in a non vital class to take the hit, and the MT can then come in and control aggro. They can also be used to spawn encounters and sometimes, get them killed just for fun!

Raiding Time

Homework/Preparation

• Use the forum to sign-up as early as possible
• Having a 100% armor and extra specific gear for specific resists
• Having high quality food/drink for the duration of the raid
• Having power regeneration totems for the duration of the raid
• Carry minimum of 2 Invis Totems for classes that do not have this ability
• Having a minimum of 2 repair kits
• Having potions that are capable of curing DoT's or Instant Heal potions
• Having potions that increase mitigation and stats
• Make situational macros (Main assist to let Raid know when to attack, Wizards letting Raid know when rooting a creature, ect.)

Macro Help: http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=Newbie&message.id=69655

• For those not worried about spoilers, research the mobs and zone map

Punctuality

• Everyone at the designated meeting area 30 mins. before Raid Zone-In
  • If you cannot make it that early, park you character at the meeting point before you log the previous night.
• This should give the Raid leader time to organize groups
• All AFK's should be out of the way 5 minutes before zone-in time
• Raid Leader, Main Tank, Main Assist, and specific roles clearly outlined
• Goals of Raid clearly defined
• Lower graphic and particle effects to the lowest setting

Intra Raid Behavior

• Listen to the Raid Leader
• Advice/ Suggestions to Raid Leader should be done by PM'ing and not over TeamSpeak
• Never revive unless told to do so by Raid Leader
• Never cast evac/escape until Raid Leader announces
• Do not click anything / Do not aggro mobs
• Everyone staying behind the main tank (except for designated recon)
• Everyone target through Main Assist
• Everyone, besides healers, delay 5 seconds at the start of fight or wait for Main Assist to signal when to enter fight
• Have pets set to "Do not defend you or itself" to prevent accidental aggro
• Be careful of casting AoE's- make sure aggro has been established and weary of accidental aggro
• Do not forget about the use of Hex Totems and Imbued wands
• Start the encounters with stuns/stifles... combat slows, arcane mitigation debuffs, DoT's, ect.
• Keep TeamSpeak chatter to a minimum
• Only going AFK during designated break times... if emergent, then place AFK tag on, autofollow, and let group leader know
• Consistently use HO's specific to your groups role

HO Help: http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tips&message.id=512

Post Raid

• Fair distribution of items in a safe area
• Excess Raid loot will be sold for an Alliance Raid bank that will fund buying extra repair kits, food/drink, totems, specific instance items for future Raids
• Returning to the forums to post positive, constructive criticism

General Raid Class Distributon

~Groups will need to change/adapt depending on encounter~

1. Main Tank Group:

• Guardian - Traditional Main Tank
• Dirge - Power regeneration spell / single-target hate increase
• Templar - Reactive Heals, Prevent AoE's - Sanctum spell, Cure Arcane
• Warden
• Fury - Fast Immediate heals, Increase mitiagtion for grp and MT

6th spot in MT group is interchangeable:

• Conjuror - Massive mitigation buffs, health-to-mana shards
• Coercer -50% hate gain for MT, combat power regenation buff
• Shadowknight/ Paladin -avoidance buff, mitiagtion buff, heals/wards
• Brawler -Avoidance buff for MT, group haste bonus, +DPS

2. Main Assist Group:

• Guardian / Berserker - Main Assist
• Shadowknight - mitigation buff for Main assist, self- heals, FD
• Warlock - DPS, Can provide Main Assist with power
• Necromancer - FD, ressurect people, create hearts for mana
• Warden - Reactive Heal (Claw)
• Inquisitor

3. DPS Group:

• Paladin -Can heal, Ressurect, Ammends spell to reduse hate
• Illusionist - Incredible INT buff for INT based DPS
• Wizard - DPS
• Warlock - DPS
• Swashbuckler
• Defiler

4. DPS Group:

• Monk
• Troubador
• Brigand
• Assassin
• Ranger
• Fury

Class Raiding Attributes

Conjuror

Fire and Cold mitigation (large amount); mitigation to all attack forms (small amount); increase Defence; a continous proc buff that inflicts a fire DoT on target, if target dies, it blows up in a group-based AoE (can only be cast on group members); Call of the Hero (summons group or raid members to you, very useful! But costs 1gp per cast); create Shards of Essence (clickable item, converts health to mana); like necromancers, conjurors have the Swarm of Bats DoT that debuffs the targets Defence.

Monk

Monks have a line called Martial Discipline, usable on one party member only. It grants the monk a chance to shield an ally from melee attacks by allowing the target a chance to use the monk's avoidance check after their own avoidance check. Useful on the main tank to help keep her from taking damage, or on the enchanter or priest in case they gain aggro. Monks also have a group haste buff line called Wisdom of Zephyl- the Master spell is a 21% group haste buff! Self feign death ability, as well as a group one (Fall of Phoenix). One of the AA lines (agility) ends with the spell Altruism - when the target of this spell dies, they will (instead of dying) fd and heal 5% of their health. Monks also have a self casting spell that dispels mental, heat, cold, poison, and disease, usable every 2min.

Necromancer

Can Feign Death and resurrect folk if things go wrong with luck. Can cast resurrect on dead allies. Can create Hearts (clickable, gives you mana over time); can debuff mob’s Defence with Swarm of Bats DoT. In addition, necromancer's are able to act as healers. Has two group buffs - Sta/Int (75 each), and Power/Disease mit/Poison mit (504/882/706).

With Necromancer spells upgraded to Adept II: Buff: Self buff Lich/Archlich gives 1% in-combat power regen per tick (2% at Master) at the cost of HP. Necros generally don't have power issues, and therefore don't need to be grouped with a power battery class. It is helpful, however, to be put with a class that can provide in-combat health regen, to counter the drain from Lich. Debuffs: Swarm of Bats (-14.7 defense), Drawing of Souls (-57 Str/Int), Loathsome Mark (-74 Wis/Sta), Necromantic Brand (Pet proc buff, -980 Disease/Poison mit when it lands). - All mages get Cure Arcane, single target, 10 second recast. - All mages get a targetable See Invis buff, which is important in certain raid zones.

Fury

Buffs:

• Increase Physical mit of goup. (420's @ ad1 490's @ad3)
• Increase Heat & cold Resist of group (@ ad1 1 is 650ish heat, 550ish cold)
• Increase Inteligence & wisdom of group (43 each @ ad1 i think)
• Vim; Increase Intel and max power of target (ad1 of lvl44 version is 62 intel 343 power, i think the ad3 of 58 version is like 90 5 intel and 650 power)
• Porcupine; Increase Physical Mit of target for 36 seconds while stunning caster (1200 mit ad1, 1400mit ad3, 1600mit m1) Use this to max the mitigation of the MT if you know a big hit is coming. (2.5min recast)

Debuffs:

• Decrease Agi & Wisdom of target, 36sec (Easier to hit both physical and with spells)
• Decrease Focus skill & casting skill (Easier to interrupt casting) Also Interrupts on casting & again on termination,36 sec

With those Fury can be used in an MT group to buff mitigation/resistances, or in a caster group to give a massive increase to the powerpool/dmg output of casters. If you load a 58+ Fury with ad3's in a group with at least 4 wizards have the fury use intel/wis group buff & Ferine Vim on 4 of the casters) Thats +150ish intel and 650ish power for those 4 casters. (Total that is basically adding 1k to their powerpools not to mention the huge damage boost from 150 extra intel) This would also give them a 50ish buff to wizdom for better resists to AOE spells if they are hit. Furies have the Bristlepelt line of damage shield spells that deal piercing damage to an enemy whenever the shielded ally is hit. May only be used on one ally.

Warden

Wardens have the Barbcoat line of damage shield spells that deal piercing damage to an enemy whenever the shielded ally is hit. May only be used on one ally.

Mystic

Mystics have the Keening Haze line of spells which decrease the target's attack speed and offensive melee skills. Mystics also have a group arcane cure.

Defiler

Defilers have the Degeneration line of spells which decrease the target's attack speed.

Illusionist

Illusionists bring LOTS to a group/raid: (1) Group invisibility. (2) Mesmerize, including mezzes which prevent the mezzed target(s) from being affected by AoE spells thus not breaking mez (truly marvelous!) (3) Single target haste. (4) In-Combat Power Regeneration buffs. (5) Increased wisdom/intelligence/power pool buffs. (6) Stuns and stifles that actually work on epic targets, though to a reduced degree.

Brigand

Has lots of defensive debuffs (physical mit, magical mit, defense, parry, agility), and some offensive debuffs (attack speed, strength). Probably the most notable are

• Dispatch - 13 second duration, 1 minute recast, 3080 point debuff against all types of damage.
• Devitalize - 1 minute duration/recast, 1960 point debuff against all physical damage.
• Ruinous Rake - 1 minute duration/recast, 1736 point debuff against all magical damage.
• Self buff Amazing Reflexes (level 52) makes brigands immune to AEs that aren't directed at them. The buff drops for 30 seconds if the brigand gets hit by riposte or a direct attack. This makes them a good class to put in a group that lacks healing/cures, if they watch their aggro and positioning.

Rogues get a See Stealth ability attached to their self-stealth, which is important in certain raid zones.

Dirges

Highly useful 'utility', but lower end DPS scout class. They use several debuffs for encounters which decrease melee stats (STR & AGI), mitigation, slows targets (up to 33%) and decreases ATK speed (up to 25%). A dirge also has a full arsenal of disease and melee dots and direct damage attacks.

Dirges are an extremely welcome buff class to most regular groups and a near requirement for a full raid. They are commonly placed in the primary group of a raid that holds the MT, three distinct healer classes (cleric, druid, shaman), and a conjuror (situations will vary).

Most commonly (Disclaimer: Encounters vary, therefore, so does what is cast) for raid and/or exp groups, each taking a concentration level:

Wailing Elusion (Screeching Elusion): Increases Parry 33 (Level 46 Master I)

• Bria's Inspiring Ballad: In-Combat Power Regen 46 (Master I)
• Hyran's Seething Sonata: Single Target STR 56 with a Hate Gain of 31% (Adept I)
• Percussion of Stone: 10% chance to cast 'Stoneskin' (I've personally see this absorb for over 2100 points of damage on Undorett of Despair). (Adept I)
• Tomb's Calm: Diseased based 'proc' for 12% (Adept I) (this 'proc' typically produces more 'hate' for a MT in a raid then Riana's, the DPS increasing spell)

Other useful Dirge spells for melee heavy groups:

• Harl's Awakening Strain (increases STR & AGI)
• Dissonant Boon (increases crushing, piercing, slashing, & ranged)
• Riana's Scornful Distain: DPS for group members by 19.7% (Adept I)

Special Encounters and Misc.:

• Oration of Sacrifice: HoT for over 2000 HPs (Master I), but stifles caster and removes health of the dirge. Recasts every 45 seconds.
• Noxious Dissertation: Increases mitigation vs. DIS & POI
• Elegy at Death's Door: In-Combat rezz, recasts every 30 seconds.
• Wail of Horror: AE stun