First time playing Astrologian... need some advice/tips

[Cynfael]

The unfortunate and perhaps unavoidable issue with abilities that mitigate damage like Expanded Bole is that they are actually useless in the wrong context, and some players don't understand this.

It's kind of like the SCHs who run around dumping Sacred Soil because the buff looks good on paper; they don't imagine how a 10% damage mitigation can be a waste of a stack unless they stop to ask themselves if it actually helped them use fewer healing actions and realize that the answer is usually no.

[Cleftobismal]

The unfortunate and perhaps unavoidable issue with abilities that mitigate damage like Expanded Bole is that they are actually useless in the wrong context, and some players don't understand this.

It's kind of like the SCHs who run around dumping Sacred Soil because the buff looks good on paper; they don't imagine how a 10% damage mitigation can be a waste of a stack unless they stop to ask themselves if it actually helped them use fewer healing actions and realize that the answer is usually no.

Depends, I may use sacred soil when aetherflow is off CD so I don't waste what I had before. But that's another class to discuss /o/.


Bole is pretty damn useful, especially if the tank is being hit by more than one target. Because what it literally does for you is reduce the HPS requirement so you can DPS more. I don't use it for this situation on purpose. I only do it when i meet the inevitable after I royal road a bole, then placing the next consecutive bole I get in the spread and then I'll get a third bole after a redraw. zZZzZzZz


It's also wonderful to use on a DPS that is about to get hit by a boss tethered/marked mechanic. Especially if they have a vulnerability debuff.



Otherwise if the tank hp lost is not that quick, yes it would be useless to use it, even if the point is to dps longer.

[Cynfael]

Depends, I may use sacred soil when aetherflow is off CD so I don't waste what I had before. But that's another class to discuss /o/.


Bole is pretty damn useful, especially if the tank is being hit by more than one target. Because what it literally does for you is reduce the HPS requirement so you can DPS more. I don't use it for this situation on purpose. I only do it when i meet the inevitable after I royal road a bole, then placing the next consecutive bole I get in the spread and then I'll get a third bole after a redraw. zZZzZzZz


It's also wonderful to use on a DPS that is about to get hit by a boss tethered/marked mechanic. Especially if they have a vulnerability debuff.



Otherwise if the tank hp lost is not that quick, yes it would be useless to use it, even if the point is to dps longer.

Yes, there are uses for Bole; when I talk about unnecessary mitigation, I'm mainly talking about Expanded Bole since some ASTs (and SCHs) seem to forget that these buffs constitute a situational use of resources.

Just as I would sooner throw another Energy Drain than cast an unnecessary Sacred Soil, I'll redraw, RR, or click away a Bole that won't help in a meaningful way. Hell, there are fights and phases of fights where even a Bole thrown directly on the tank makes no noticeable difference in healing requirement since my shields and/or regens are enough to handle it.

[randysquirrel]

We do sometimes have to wait a few draws for the ast to get the set up, but would rather that than and be able to push through phases and ignore mechs

[Thrivaios]

I think my biggest piece of advice to a new AST is: get a feel for your party. If you're like me and you do a lot of PUG groups via DF, you'll run the gamut on different players and as a result you'll have to change your play style. There is some really great advice in here I won't duplicate but my tip is this: just keep practicing and learn who you're running with. Sometimes you'll need to adjust your buffs/debuffs depending on player skill, speed of the run and of course luck of the draw.

For example, maybe you've got a really bad group so you throw an arrow on yourself for faster casts instead of the DPS, to save your Lightspeed CD for a boss. Or perhaps your cohealer is blasting through their MP for some reason, so instead of laying it down on royal road, you give it to them. Playing an AST to me is learning to play smartly to the group you're given. And that comes with continued regular practice, which includes mistakes.

Good luck!