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Tuco's Setup (Critique Welcome!) Mk. II

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Tucoh:
Hi all, I figured I'd write down how I have my new box setup configured in case it's helpful to anyone seeing the videos I've made. For posterity the previous thread is here: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/tucos-setup-critique-welcome.240258

All my videos are here: https://www.youtube.com/@jimmyw404/videos

I typically switch up the characters I play each year to try out new things and move with the meta. For Night of Shadows I'm rolling with:

* Shadowknight (new!)
* Bard
* Shaman
* Mage1
* Mage2 (new!)
* Mage3 (new!)
All the gear I have is group-gear. My warrior had all the chase gear, but my shadowknight

I use an 34" monitor with 3440x1440 resolution similar to https://www.amazon.com/Alienware-Curved-NVIDIA-Edgelight-Monitor/dp/B07YLGH9Q5 and a Logitech G600 mouse https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Gaming-Backlit-Programmable-Buttons/dp/B0086UK7IQ

I use the below software:

* Custom UI built on Sparxx: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PnuCt0PRMG_vCfu-9BQre4cky8wJsgMa/view?usp=sharing
* https://gambosoft.eqresource.com/downloads.php
* https://eq.gimasoft.com/gina/Triggers.aspx
* https://isboxer.com/

My ISBoxer usage is fairly straightforward. I try to do 100% of my playing on the tank. I find that trying to be too ambitious with precise control over the non-tank characters only works on easy content, so I keep things simple where I can.

* All my characters have four primary "attack" buttons broadcast to each character, Q, E, 1, T
* I have two broadcast buttons that are hit at the start of most fights. They assist the tank and cast some prep actions
* I've got general overrides like a "pop burns" or "defensive cooldowns" button that is broadcast
* Each character has some other abilities that are broadcast like the shaman's slows, CC abilities, malo, group heal etc.

Tucoh:
Shadowknight:
I rolled him a few weeks ago to replace the warrior and still learning how to play him. I recommend looking at http://eqshadowknight.net/showthread.php?t=9052 and http://forums.eqfreelance.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=959a66cb53f859374874bee6360c1ca3&topic=16303.0 for real information. I'm able to play the SK more like a normal player can because it's my driver.



I have an absurd amount of GINA triggers that I rely on for problems know what buffs are active. I keep the defensive ones grouped on the bottom-left and the offensive ones on the top-right.

Next to that I have a list of critical statuses with each character like whether they are invis'd, are unable to attack their target, are interrupted etc.

On the top right is all the DPS stuff and it's very mage focused. I have timer bars for swarm pet abilities, Firebound Conjunction, the Gamparse DPS overlay. I also have three columns of text showing the hits from the mage's DDs: Chaotic (yellow), Spear (orange) Of Many (red). I found these text columns useful for getting a numeric feel of how much ADPS I have or in the case of the Of Many, whether I'm maxed out on swarm pets. I have a GINA trigger for when I DD for higher than 2.5m, which happens on Of Many with a good crit and ADPS.


The ones on the left are grouped by source or SPA type. Starting from the top it's:


* SK always up buffs
* Bard songs
* Shaman always up buffs
* SPA162 buffs (Fyrthek Mantle, Brace for Impact)
* SPA451 buffs (Reaver's Bargain, Dichotomic Shield)
* SPA168 buffs (Corrupted Guardian Discipline, Guardian's Bravery)
* SPA178 / weapon lifetap (Lich Sting, Leeching Embrace, Mortal Coil)
* Lifetap procs (Rousing Consumption)
* Misc stuff from runes, to mage's Elemental Earth to Cadcane's Skin
This is totally overkill but I found it super useful to not only learn all the different defensive abilities available to warriors/shadowknights, but to also develop an instinctive sense of what defensive cooldowns I should weave in or what is currently active.

On the right side of the shadowknight's cast bar I have a list of his lifetap DoT (Bond of Bynn) and mobs I've recently slowed.

On the warrior I was very focused on increasing incoming healing, for my shadowknight that has ridiculous lifetapping I'm more focused on increasing his effective HP pool. So I'm more interested in the bard's dirge / spiteful line, the mage's elemental form, shaman slows, etc.

Bard:
The bard ties everything together, even moreso when I was using a warrior instead of a shadowknight. I use him for track, double invis, pulling etc, along with massive ADPS and respectable DPS. I highly value his defensive songs including Reckless Renewal, Dirge of the Restless and Spiteful. I use him to pull only when necessary.

I typically use a melody that is aria -> war march -> reckless -> dirge -> spiteful. I mix in insults / crescendo. I stopped using DoTs with the shadowknight in favor of dirge/spiteful but might bring them back. I also tried using the fire spell damage song but don't know how useful that is.



He's on a monitor adjacent to the main monitor, so he doesn't show up in videos.

Shaman:
The shaman is responsible for primarily healing along with slowing, CC, ADPS and rarely I use him for DoTs. I try to use his pet but generally he's targeting the tank and blindly dumping heals into him. I sometimes use his knockback/root spells for CC on pulls, but I view that as somewhat of a crutch compared to just tanking everything in a big pile.



Mages:
The mages have a two multi binds:

* When I'm not Of Many capped: Swarm Pet -> Chaotic -> Spear -> Of Many
* When I'm Of Many capped: Swarm Pet -> Of Many -> Chaotic -> Spear


Much of my DPS focus is on getting Of Many capped. There are five primary pets in the group. Each mage can spawn 3x RS swarm pets, though it takes a bit to warm up. The bard's Lyrical Prankster is hit on CD and provides a high uptime for 5x pets. Each character has their own 10m swarm ability which I try to stagger out. I have a few Cloth Caps but haven't integrated them in yet and don't know if they are worth it.

The mages themselves trade a bit of ADPS with their RS synergy that provides a pre-crit SPA302 bonus, but that can't be readily staggered. They also have Elemental Form that provides a modest post-crit SPA124 bonus and gives the group a 9500pt rune that procs enough to sustain until there are more than a few mobs beating on the SK.

I've started experimenting with Firebound Coalition, but the cost of organizing the cast of it and the frequency with which mobs die before it fulminates makes it less useful. If there are some high HP mobs in NoS I'll probably use it more, but the 3.6million damage that Firebound Conjunction does is just not that much higher than what a mage can do in the few seconds of cast time it takes.

It's critical that all the mobs being cast upon are malo'd. I try to take turns with the mage's Winds of Malaise to keep that up, and also have the bard primary wielding a Darkened Journeyman's Walking Stick to proc in case there are gaps.

I'm exclusively using water pets, but am experimenting with having the three mages disperse their target to ETW #1, #2 and #3 slots. This provides some relief to the SK while taking advantage of all the different ways mages have to AE heal pets. This strategy will become less useful as the SK gets gear/AAs, or if the mobs in NoS deal too much damage (and I have to chose a more durable pet at the cost of less DPS).

Docs on mages and DPS this exist:

* https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pcjtEpB9U9bkaWz1REh1hAMQFCNTgPSa0bv7glZSBXQ
* https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eTfXdF3SUr3QlC-nsKZSHib5QjcIkgeyif1BfUKbzv4But in difficult situations it's difficult to do anything more than the most simple of buff coordination and it's very easy to miss critical buffs while trying to keep all the mobs wrangled and everyone alive. Finding ways to attain this coordination without increasing APM is a key part of what makes this game fun for me.

Tucoh:
Here's a video of me doing my favorite ToL mission, Oubliette of Light

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kps_XEYPMX4

The adjustment to my strat with the sk/mages is pretty minor. The group only loses modest DPS when they aren't meleeing the mobs so I don't need to try harder to ensure the chars are in range in the first phase or aimed at the mob in the second phase.

Here's the overall DPS



and the DPS on Fade when I popped burns:

Tucoh:
Here's a video of me doing Close the Gate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9zLGmHN5vs

I've tried different techniques for utilizing the NPCs and blood tendrils near the start of the mission but find it easiest to just stand by the gate and smash the mobs as they come out.

Overall DPS

Tucoh:
Video of Shei Vinitras: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzALW5YcD38

When looking at it closely, this fight shows the weakness of my broadcast system where my shaman will futilely spam heals while I'm trying to get him to specifically cast Shackle. My previous group had a paladin who had a much more responsive root AA than the shaman's Shackle spell, and had fewer long casting spells to interrupt. The shaman also has to balance Shackles with cures, though I've gotten to the point where I can kill Shei before I need to cure.

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