Is shadowmancer the highest DPS burst in this game? I feel like it is the only class that I can easily hit over 100k with such aweful weapons.
No, actually. Shadowmancer does far less damage than, say, an Ele. I will use this criterion as basis (feel free to disagree): if we consider the skill as the total effect it has on a battle, i.e. 10x people getting 1000 dmg is better than 1x person getting 5000 dmg. Shadow’s only high-roller skill is Shadow Thorn which at lvl.10 has a 4x OH for 3.1k% (or 6.2k with Stepping Shadows) per cast while Ele has Meteor at 2x OH for 3.2k% per cast. You might argue that the overheat changes the “total” magnitude contributed by either spell, but truth be told that point is moot.
Supposing that you have the same amount of M.Atk on both builds counting only those spells, the only use you’ll have for OverHeat would be the elimination of extra enemies–a point rendered irrelevant by the fact that if you can wipe a whole horde of mobs with one skill, extra overheat on such a skill is quite unnecessary. Or, if it is, it certainly beats spending an entire 600SP on a spell with less overall effect. I mean seriously, if you can wipe out 10 units with two spells, would you really spend more just to hit another three?
In terms of overall kit, Ele has much better options as well. Shadowmancer, in addition to Shadow Thorn only has Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Condensation. Ele on the other hand has a plethora of other skills with which you can improve its overall damage, not to mention several other ways already present in its kit and transition classes in order to improve damage: Frost for Electrocute, Petrification for Fire and Rune of Ice for Ice skills. It merely becomes a question of "what sort of Elementalist do I want to build?’. If you want fire, go for Pyro2. If you want Ice, go for RC. If you want more options, go Warlock.
Shadowmancer’s kit on the other hand is both gimmicky and difficult to use. Inasmuch as I’d love to have reason to praise my favorite class, there are a few glaring flaws which need to be considered.
-
Shadow Thorn attribute requires a grounded target in order to receive the full effect of the spell’s attribute. The only way to get around this is to create a Kino xclass for Heavy Gravity. That’s two extra circles just to make one skill work. Due to just this, the skill is really restricting.
-
The moment other units step out of the “radius” of the “beads” created by Condensation they will not be damaged. This requires you to either be Cryo, Kino, or Linker.
If you are reluctant to go Kino2 for one skill, I would recommend getting just one level in Thorn for extra damage then dumping the rest in Shadow Conjuration. At the very least, Shadow Conjuration and its attribute hit flying enemies.
Thus, the nature of the core damage skills on the Shadowmancer make it necessary to have lower circles that help it in rather specific ways.
What Shadowmancer does excel in is utility, strangely enough.
-
Shadow Fetter is the only other skill that I know of in the Wizard tree that can root bosses–for 8 seconds no less! (swap works on bosses but its attribute does not).
-
One level of Shadow Pool is enough to help you out of a sticky situation and you can still get healed while invulnerable (or, at the very least, you get healed by heal tiles).
-
Last, Hallucination acts as a free Rune of Protection+attribute (only a few seconds though)–useful if you’re having difficulty casting a spell or, funnily enough, if you’re having difficulty casting Rune of Protection.
As for Sage and Warlock, I can’t speak for them. Maybe someone else can but I’ve little experience with them.
I’m not sure if there’s anything else to cover but that’s all I can remember. 
Note: I only did a 1:1 comparison of units and burst capabilities. Some may argue that Sdw with Link will give better damage but I can’t say that for sure. Most of these observations come from my experience as a Shadowmancer with a PKino core. Had I built him otherwise, my observations on gameplay would quite likely be different.
For a breakdown of all Shadowmancer DPS skills with attributes, their formulas are as follows:
-
Shadow Thorn + Stepping shadows = 3.1k x2 against ground targets -> 6.2k x 4 OH
-
Shadow Conjuration + Shadow Trap = 1.6k x (1+ (20 x 0.1)) -> 4.8k x2 OH
-
Shadow Condensation = 2.8 (no magic tricks)
Edit: Word ordering and fixed some sentences
2 Likes
Oh ok. I read the whole thing.
same, read the whole thing and i wish i went pyro2 and rc on my ele.
i dont even use warlock skills when i use my ele @_@
and meteor is just insane, high dmg and almost screen wide aoe
when i first used it i was like is this even for real? how is this a thing?
rc has BAD damage, its atm only good support imo ._. u should be glad that u pick lock xD
RC has bad damage? How come? 1787% with 2 OH (Destruction) and 1785% with 3 OH (Justice) are decent no? I’m no RC expert so I don’t really know.
It seems like RC has bad damage primarily because its spells as a class are rather gimmicky.
-
Rune of Destruction on the one hand gains power the more enemies are struck by its initial blast.
-
Rune of Justice is strong but only against Dark-type enemies and enemies affected by Mastema. In fact, if you combine Mastema and Rune of Justice against a Dark-type Monster, its damage goes through the roof.
I like using RC on my build (W1Cry1PkN3RCWlk1Sdw2) since it gives me extra fillers while I’m laying down my CC skills. My favorite combo would be Raise > Rune of Destruction > Shadow Condensation. The best thing about Rune Caster is that you get all these spells for one circle (consider that you have to have a whole 3 circles now to just get Meteor). However in terms of power level it honestly could be better. I remember a thread discussing this but I’m a bit lazy to find it for now.
rune of destruction is only good for apply 30% more damage debuff 
and rune of justice imo sux a little ><
True. Not to mention that for a skill with cast time, it simply cannot compete with stronger spells with and without cast times: Mastema, Pole of Agony, Shadow Thorn, Shadow Conjuration, Meteor, Electrocute (especially against Water-type or Frozen enemies), Storm Dust (seriously, whay couldn’t they just call the skill Maelstrom instead?). The list goes on.
The argument that it is merely a convenience class still holds though. The rune skills are better than nothing.
There’s a reason it was called the Elememe
1 Like