Obviously, after so many years in development the creators of the game made many improvements to D3 to make it stand out. New unique classes are introduced, skill system is revamped, each class can have hundreds of different spell combinations, sockets work differently than before, but most importantly players can sell items for real money, making sure everyone will take this game very seriously.

If you really want to get ahead of other players in Diablo 3 a quality strategy guide will get you further than you thought possible. By getting a quality guide to help you understand the game better, level up faster and know where to get the best equipment and most gold you’ll be able to stay ahead of the competition and perhaps even make some money doing so.

Believe it or not I actually found 16 different Diablo 3 strategy guides, which is more than I’ve found for any other game, including MMORPGs. That alone should tell you that the demand for help in D3 is massive. I doubt I’ll be able to do a very thorough review of each and every guide, but I’ll try to list the better ones here regardless.

 1. Killerguides Diablo 3 Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Over 40 different games covered in several hundred guides tells you that Killerguides are very experienced and serious when it comes to strategy guides. Their writers are expert gamers who play through these games over and over again and know so many insider tips and tricks that most players never will.

Killerguides D3 strategy guide includes a guide on classes, telling you every little detail about each one, as well as different strategies for fighting groups of monsters, bosses, and of course other players. There are very detailed recommended builds for every class that will tell you how to get the most damage in every situation. Equipment guides are also very helpful as they can also give you an advantage by knowing which stats you should aim for. The gold guide included helps you figure out how to farm more of it extremely quickly, especially since some of the spots they mention also yield other valuables that can easily be sold on the auction house.

To conclude, Killerguides published yet another excellent strategy guide and I highly suggest you give it a try.

Download: Killerguides D3 Strategy Guide

2. Natalya’s Diablo 3 Mastery Guide

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Natalya’s Diablo 3 guide is pretty well written and detailed. It includes most of the stuff you’d find in Killerguide: guides on classes, equipment, spells and skill sets, runes, boss strategies, walkthroughs and leveling guides for all acts, Pve & PvP builds, gold making, and a couple of other chapters. They go into great detail explaining things, yet all of it is very easy to understand regardless of your previous experience with Diablo series.

Of course the guide also features free updates, which seem to be coming frequently, with new strategies being added often. Natalya’s guide is just as good as Killerguides and for a change it’s hard to decide which one is better: it’s just a matter of personal preference, so it’s up to you which one to get.

Download: Natalya’s Diablo 3 Mastery Guide

More guides will be reviewed shortly.

Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

D3 Strategy Guide

• Introduction: Arms and Armor, Skills Overview, Party Role, Races
• Skills & Spells
• Class Mechanics
• Mystic Facts, Caster Mana Pool, Spellweaving, In/Out of Combat
• Longevity: Placement, Teleport Jaunt, Aura of the Swift, Conclusion
• Mana Regeneration: Passive Regeneration: Basic Regeneration, Passive Regeneration: Crystals, Reactive Regeneration, Active Regeneration: Mana Infusion, Active Regeneration: Essence Drain, Active Regeneration: Arun’s Tear (Mana Orbs), Conclusion
• Dispatching Orbs: Mechanics, Fortifying Camps, Drawing Circles, Aggro Management
• Pet System: Thrall of Protection, Thrall of Vengeance, Thrall of Life, Destruction Spirit, Conclusion
• Auras and Buffs: Buff, Auras
• Gameplay
• Tips & Tricks: Damage Calculation, Itemization, Scaling, Spreading Damage
• Soloing & Duoing: DPS Cycles, Sharan Bolt, Spirit Wave, Wrath of the Earth, Spirit Drain, Curse of Agony, Spirit Summon: Lightning
• Conclusion

Introduction

If your idea of fun is to head into battle with a combat pet at your side, wielding primal powers to harm and heal, empowering your allies while cursing your enemies, you may want to walk the mystic’s path.

Mystics operate in many different niches. They fight at close quarters, healing and boosting their allies, draining and destroying their enemies. They channel powerful auras to enhance whole groups. They summon allies to draw attention, to fight, to heal, or summon entire parties from one location to another. Add extensive crowd control and the capability to resurrect fallen allies, and you can see why the mystic is a critical factor in any successful party.

Arms and Armor

The scepter is the focus of a mystic’s magic, which emanates from the world around him. With this instrument of power, mystics perform a wide array of skills for healing and harm. Their armor, like that of all arcanists, is robes of cloth, but their skills – and their magical pets – ensure their survival on the battlefield.

Using the power of their scepters, mystics drop healing orbs, apply short-term boosts to attack power and speed, drain hit points, and restore mana points, all while doing respectable amounts of damage using their terrific area-of-effect attacks. They stun, curse, sear, smite, and otherwise deal death to their foes. They convert the life force of their enemies into mana for their party, and summon creatures of the world to aid them in battle. Small wonder they earn the respect of other classes for their power and versatility.

Skills Overview

Mystic skills focus on supporting their allies and controlling the flow of battle. Though able to contribute to overall damage, mystics really shine when enhancing their allies with auras or snaring and stunning their foes. They have a superb area-of-effect attack that damages their foes while also replenishing the mana of party members. With a simple gesture, mystics can remove enhancements from their foes and debilitating effects from their allies.

Mystics can teleport away from danger, or summon their allies together for a quick regroup. Their resurrection skills make them popular comrades on the field of battle. When all else fails, mystics call on their magical allies to aid them—a guardian to draw a foe’s attention, an avenger to inflict pain and suffering, or a healer to keep the mystic healthy.

Party Role

Mystics provide in-battle enhancement and replenishment while offering superlative crowd control and respectable damage. They add to the longevity of any party, can seize an out-of-control situation and dominate it until their allies are on the offensive again, or simply unleash their own magical fury. Because cloth armor offers little protection, mystics must time their escapes well and always know what’s going on in a fight. Mystics make their comrades better at what they do—and a whole lot more.

Races

The most unwanted question you will ever find for every MMO that have a Class/Race system of the sort. There is nothing like “Race stats” in Tera online, but there are some Racials skills, active and passive. You will find a list of them here (coming soon). If you are only watching the paper, basically Humans and Castanics do the trick because of their Racials. However it’s been heard that changes will be made in order to get a more “useful & balanced” Racials skill system, keep on track.

I’ll tell you what I’ve told to EVERY single player that asked once “what’s the best race to be a…”: play what you want to play. It’s as simple as this. Really, Racials will only help you one fight every couple of hours or so, don’t pick a race you’ll not like. Because playing something you like will satisfy you, and that’s why you’re playing a game!

Skills and Spells

This is a list of the Mystic skills & spells. The name has been changed. They are now correct with the English Beta test version. I’ve also added some information based on my perception of the game: The Locking Type (in ‘Target’).

Locking Type:

• Lock on – Means you have to wait for the client to accept your target(s). They’ll be highlighted in green.
• Following – Means you’ll only have to have the cross hair on the target when activating the skill. Even if the target moves, it will hit it.
• Standard – Mean the projectile will not automatically hit the target; you have to aim considering its movement.
• Circle – Mean the skill is deploy a ground pattern hence including every possible target in the AoE.

Sharan Bolt

• Obtained: 1 / 4 / 10 / 16 / 22 / 28 / 34 / 40 / 46
• Power: 11 / 13 / 19 / 28 / 41 / 59 / 87 / 126 / 184
• Mana Cost: 32
• Range: 20m
• Target: Following
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: None
• Upgrade: Power up [+25% Power].
• Description: Blast a fast spiritual shot. Damages are decreased after 10m.

Mana Infusion

Metamorphic Blast

• Obtained: 2
• Enhanced: 8 / 14 / 20 / 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 / 50
• Power: 26 27 / 55 / 80 / 116 / 170 / 248 / 362 / 528
• Mana Cost: 163
• Range: front : 7.5m side: 3.5m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 2.5s
• Lock: 180° Front
• Upgrade: Power up [+25% Power].
• Description: Launch two consecutive Spirit waves dealing damages in front of the caster.

Thrall of Protection

• Obtained: 4
• Enhanced: 8 / 12 / 16 / 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 / 40 / 44 / 48
• Mana Cost: 875
• Cast: 2.8s
• Cool down: 10m
• Upgrade: Focus [10% Cool down reduction]
• Description: Summon a Spirit Guardian for 10 minutes or until it dies. It will assist the caster. Generate a great amount of threat. It will sometimes knock down the target.

Metamorphic Smite

• Obtained: 6
• Enhanced: 14 / 20 / 26 / 32 / 38 / 44 / 50
• Power: 59 97 / 142 / 207 / 303 / 442 / 645 / 941
• Mana Cost: 250
• Range: 20m
• Cast: 1s
• Cool down: 5s
• Lock: Frontal small Circle
• Upgrade: Focus [10% Cool down reduction] – Bond [-41 Mp]
• Description: Deal a fair amount of damages with high knock-down chances in an AoE in front of the caster.

Teleport Jaunt

• Obtained: 8
• Mana Cost: 120
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 10s
• Upgrade: Impulsion [+25% chance to reset cool down].
• Description: Teleport the Mystic 14 meter away in the camera direction.

Corruption Ring

• Obtained: 10
• Enhanced: 16 / 22 / 28 / 34 / 40 / 46
• Power: 14 21 / 31 / 45 / 66 / 96 / 140
• Mana Cost: 625
• Range: 7m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 15s
• Lock: Centered Circle
• Upgrade: Protection [-50% incoming damages] – Premonition [+300% knock down resistance] – Bond [-100 MP]
• Description: Channel a drain around the caster during 10 seconds. When finished, the spell changes. Allowing the caster to revert the life absorbed into Mana for allies around him. The more damages done, the more Mana regenerated.

Retaliate

• Obtained: 12
• Enhanced: 18 / 24 / 30 / 36 / 42 / 48
• Power: 45 66 / 96 / 141 / 205 / 300 / 437
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 15s
• Lock: Centered Circle
• Upgrade: Power up [+25% Power] – Focus [10% Cool down reduction].
• Description: Only usable when the caster is knocked-down. It removes the knocked-down state unleashing a powerful close range attack.

Thrall of Vengeance (Also called ‘Summon: Elemental of Lighting’ by some patch notes)

• Obtained: 12
• Enhanced: 16 / 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 / 40 / 44 / 48
• Mana Cost: 875
• Range: 20m
• Cast: Instant
• Cooldown: 22s
• Upgrade: None
• Description: Summon a spirit of Lightning – 6 meters away – that will assist the caster for 17 seconds, dealing moderate damages.

Volley of Curses

• Obtained: 14
• Enhanced: 20 26 32 38 44 50
• Power: 82 119 174 254 372 541 789
• Mana Cost: 163
• Range: 15m
• Cast: Instant & Mobile
• Cool down: 1.4s
• Lock: Lock-On
• Upgrade: Duration [20% additional duration] – Bond [-33MP]
• Description: Poison the target for 10 seconds, dealing continuous damage each 2 second. It can be stacked up to 3 times.

Sonorous Dreams (Also called ‘Sleeping Sands’ by some patch notes.)

• Obtained: 14
• Enhanced: 44
• Mana Cost: 750
• Range: 18m
• Cast: Instant & Mobile
• Cool down: 35s
• Lock: Lock On
• Upgrade: Bond [-150MP]
• Description: Mesmerize 2 targets for 18 seconds in PvE, 8 seconds in PvP.

Spirit Cleanse

• Obtained: 16
• Mana Cost: 32
• Range: 19m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 2.5s
• Lock: Lock on
• Upgrade: Tracking [+2 Targets].
• Description: Remove all negative effects on 2 allies.

Thrall of Life

• Obtained: 16
• Enhanced: 20 / 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 / 40 / 44 / 48
• Mana Cost: 875
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 35s
• Upgrade: Focus [10% Cool down reduction]
• Description: Summon a Fairy spirit, healing with Priest’s skills. It will dispel, heal single x2, heal AE, HoT and AE dispel for 12 seconds.

Titanic Favor

• Obtained: 18
• Enhanced: 24 / 30 / 36 / 42 / 48
• Power: 1335 1848 / 2555 / 3529 / 4874 / 6729
• Mana Cost: 350
• Range: 19m
• Cast: 1s
• Cool down: 2.5s
• Lock: Lock on
• Upgrade: Tracking [+1 Target].
• Description: Heal up to two targets and adds a HoT for 10 sec.

Resurrection

• Obtained: 18
• Power: 11
• Mana Cost: 1700
• Range: 4m
• Cast: 7s
• Cool down: 20s
• Lock: Small circle front
• Upgrade: Focus [50% Cool down reduction] – Bond [-500Mp]
• Description: Resurrect one target (the closest in front of the caster).

Aura of the Swift

• Obtained: 20
• Mana Cost: 125
• Range: 20m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 2s
• Upgrade: Bond [-50Mp]
• Description: Enchant the Mystic’s group, gaining +10% move speed in and out of combat. The aura will continually drain 30 MP each 2 seconds from the caster.

Summon Group

• Obtained: 22
• Mana Cost: 1000
• Cast: 4.5s
• Cool down: 20m
• Upgrade: Bond [-640Mp]
• Description: Summon the whole Mystic’s group to his position. Work only in the same zone.

Regression

• Obtained: 24
• Enhanced: 50
• Mana Cost: 1000
• Range: 8m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 1min
• Lock: Medium centered Circle
• Upgrade: Focus [25% Cool down reduction]
• Description: Dispel all Buffs on each hostile target around the Mystic.

Titanic Wrath

• Obtained: 26
• Mana Cost: 875
• Range: 8m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 8s
• Lock: Small front circle
• Upgrade: Duration [35% additional duration] – Bond [-100MP]
• Description: Raise the attack power of allies around the Mystic by 20% for 25seconds.

Aura of the Unyielding

• Obtained: 26
• Enhanced: 38
• Mana Cost: 250
• Range: 20m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 2s
• Upgrade: None.
• Description: Enchant the Mystic’s group with the power of fog, gaining +30% (+40%@38) increased critical resistance. The aura will continually drain 30 MP each 2 seconds from the caster.

Arun’s Tear

• Obtained: 28
• Mana Cost: 500
• Cast: 1.3s
• Cool down: 5s
• Upgrade: None
• Description: Creates a Mana orb in front of the Mystic. The Orb stays for 5 minutes, and is dedicated for the group the first 2 minutes. Picking the Orb gives 639 MP.

Mire

• Obtained: 32
• Mana Cost: 750
• Range: 18m
• Cast: Instant & Mobile
• Cool down: 1m
• Lock: Lock on
• Upgrade: Focus [20% Cool down reduction]
• Description: Ensnare two targets by 90% for 5 seconds but increase their knock-down resistance by 100%.

Aura of the Tenacious

• Obtained: 36
• Mana Cost: 750
• Range: 20m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 2s
• Upgrade: None
• Description: Enchant the Mystic’s group, The aura will continually drain 30 MP each 2 seconds from the caster.

Thrall of Obliteration (Also called ‘Summon: Elemental of Destruction’ by some patch notes)

• Obtained: 38
• Enhanced: 42 46 50
• Mana Cost: 1250
• Cast: Instant
• Cooldown: 10m
• Upgrade: None
• Description: Summon a spirit of destruction, taking a Golem form. It will attack once and disappear.

Vow of Rebirth

• Obtained: 42
• Mana Cost: 250
• Range: 4m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 15
• Lock: Ahead
• Upgrade: Focus [40% Cool down reduction]
• Description: Buff the closest ally in front of the Mystic, upon death he’ll be able to resuscitate automatically.

Ancient Binding

• Obtained: 42
• Mana Cost:437
• Range: 18m
• Speed: Slow
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 30s
• Lock: Standard
• Upgrade: Duration [50% additional duration]
• Description: Blast a slow bolt dealing no damage but snaring for 50% for 5 seconds.

Curse of Exhaustion

• Obtained: 46
• Mana Cost: 1000
• Range: 18m
• Cast: Instant & Mobile
• Cool down: 3m
• Lock: Lock on
• Upgrade: Focus [20% Cool down reduction]
• Description: Disenchant 4 targets, making cool-downs 20% longer for 20seconds.

Shara’s Lash (Also called ‘Flash shot’ in some patch notes)

• Obtained: 50
• Mana Cost: 500
• Range: 10m
• Speed: Fast
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 15s
• Lock: Standard
• Upgrade: Duration [40% additional duration]
• Description: Blast a slow bolt dealing no damage but will stun all targets in a small AoE.

Aura of the Merciless

• Obtained: 50
• Mana Cost: 750
• Range: 20m
• Cast: Instant
• Cool down: 2s
• Upgrade: Bond [-300MP]
• Description: Enchant the Mystic’s group with Rage, dealing 100% more critical damage.

Class Mechanics

As a Mystic, I would add that you have to predict everything that will happen to suit perfectly your role. The class is rated 5 starts in the class selector, and this is not for nothing. The very first thing you have to like in playing a Mystic is to Lead – or at least, lead the support in the group.

A Mystic might excel in everything, from keeping a fair DPS amount to healing a full party on a deadly boss. But for both, you have to get some experience on the game. Learning mobs and mates patterns (especially mates), how do they move, when will they move, when do they needs Mana, how do they back up, etc.?

Every single aspect of a fight is important for a Mystic. You’ll ALWAYS have something to do: support, harass, prepare orbs or damages dealing.

Now we have a base to refer to. We’re going to talk a lot about every aspect of the class, which goes without saying, about the game mechanism of each spells. How do they work? How do they scale? What chain gives the best DPS results? Etc. At this point, most of the theory crafting is still on my “to do” list. If you want to help, feel free to contact me.

Mystic Facts

Caster Mana Pool

You should have noticed the “big” swimming Mana pool you’ll get at the beginning of the game. Every class in Tera does not see this pool vary a lot, and it’s hardly like it will go over 2 times upon reaching level 50. You will notice that each spell of the Mystic has a specific Mana cost, which stays the same regardless the rank or level of the spell. This could roughly means: “your gameplay won’t evolve at all”. This statement is hopefully quite false – as you will see – because you’ll gain news key abilities that will greatly affect the overall gameplay of the Mystic – renewing it.

Spellweaving

I know you are, as me, tired of the classical MMO where you can hear the so lame “Not enough Mana”, well those days are over!.. or not. At least, you won’t hear this in Tera. The fact is, when casting a spell, regardless of it’s casting time, you’ll invest 50% of the Mana cost of a spell upon hitting your hotkey. Meaning you can lose a very great deal of mana, just launching spells without taking any care.

For example, as it will happen, eventually your tank will die, and you’ll have rez him. However, you’re the second aggro in Tera, meaning, that launching a 1k7 MP Cost spell isn’t wise until the aggro ring is over someone else. Canceling that rez because the boss’s rushing you will make you lose 850 MP, which is a freaking lot when your tank is dead and everything seems to accelerate. Know this fact !

In/out of combat

Actually, the combat mechanism is a bit broken, or at least, I think it is.

You’ll find yourself pushed out of combat more than half on the group fighting time, because you’re not doing any damage to mobs. This is not really a problem; you’ll get loots and experience like you were 100% in combat mode. However you’ll also gain the “Go in Peace” passive buff, increasing your out of combat run speed. You have to be aware of it, because in some situation running faster means, getting closer to the mob as well. Getting closer means… well, you’ll see by yourself!

As a bit more of explanation here a Q/A quoted from Terafans.com:

Alkys7 : “I have a question on this – So if you aren’t doing damage to a mob then you are out of combat? regardless of if you are healing/debuffing/ccing? and that your party is all in combat?”
Manta : “You are indeed pushed out of combat after a couple of seconds when not doing any hostile actions. Debuffing, CCing or attacking are valid hostile actions, while Healing or summoning pets are not considerate as hostile.

So if you stick with healing/dispatching orbs, you’ll get soon out of combat. Then, you’ll “benefit” out of combat buffs, like the speed bonus.

Longevity

Mystics are one of the top most mobile classes in Tera. Cloth armors are not absorbing any damage at all, and it’s more likely you’ll be trampled and killed on the spot by any angry Mini Bosses.
Well then, Mobility and prediction are definitively our greatest weapon.

Placement

The Mystic is a Swiss-Knife hence his position during a fight is constantly evolving. Depending of the configuration of your group, you can be from Main healer to secondary DPS, be a Mana Battery or an Orb Spawning Runner. Be sure to adjust your crystals and auras depending on your role and your team’s need. A “in fight speed” boost is never useless if you can avoid being trampled.

Teleport Jaunt

This is your “bread & butter” spell. This spell is everything for the Mystic’s longevity. With a bit of reactivity, even on Korean servers, or under heavy latency, you will be able to avoid 99% of the blows. With some practice, you’ll even be able to use it in an offensive way. Be sure to take the upgrade, this is probably the most precious tool we have. Being able to teleport twice in a row is just a life-savior when chased by anything bigger than you.

The Teleport Jaunt might be used to support a group as well. We’ll see later in the guide that orb arrangement is more like a science – the Spiritwalk is a nice “base step” to spawn orbs around a fight. You can even use it to jump onto other players to quickly deliver mana, buffs or aim right.

Aura of the Swift

Until you get level 50 and get Aura of the Merciless (AotM) this is probably one aura you should always have on. The buff will work during fights, and this is where it shines. Combined to a “in combat speed” crystal, you’ll be already avoiding most of the incoming damages. Never forget to get an “out of combat speed” crystal as well if you’re running a support / healing job.

Conclusion

Just be ready for anything, and when I say be ready, I mean it. Your lack of defense will not forgive much. Don’t forget to hit your burners when things are getting too close. Using the Teleport Jaunt to dispatch orbs, or support players by jumping into melee range might be safe, but before doing so, you must be sure of your aggro gauge.

How you’ll feel ending up stuck between your tank and the boss?

Mana Regeneration

Basically, this is where all starts. Without Mana, no spells, and without spells, no cookies! There are 3 different types or Mana income: Active, Passive and Reactive – and up to 5 ways to gain Mana as a Mystic. Let’s check that.

Passive Regeneration: Basic Regeneration

This is the obvious one. Each class has either a Regen or a Degen of Mana. Mystics, like all “Cloth wearing” classes, have a natural regeneration. The Mystic class has a 30 MP regeneration each second, plus the bonuses given by your weapon (2 at lvl 1, 21 at lvl 48 and so on).

Regardless of the amount, the Basic passive Mana regeneration will not exceed 1% of your Mana pool per second considering you have a stuff around your level. You can’t be counting only on this income of MP to get your group running, event solo this might be troublesome, considering one Aura cost 30 MP/2sec, two will totally freeze your Mana.

Passive Regeneration: Crystals

This is where the Crystals come handy! You might pick 3 different MP crystals. The first one is the sustained Mana regeneration each 5 sec. This is your best friend. As soon as you’ll be able to slot 4 crystals, you’ll see a nice addition to your Mana replenishment.

If I take the theory on a level 34 with 4 crystals, the standard crystals are +24 each 5 sec, meaning this is +19 MP/sec. With 48 standard crystals, it’s +23MP/sec. Now if you want to invest a little bit, which is maybe not a really good idea considering the fact Mystics are paper-armored, buying rare crystals will take you far higher.

At level 23, it’s +25MP/sec (consider I’m using 4 crystals and the first gold appear at level 27, so only for theory sake). For 35ish crystals, it’s a +30MP/sec bonus! Roughly, this is the Mana required for maintaining an aura. Both other crystals on the other hands are only viable if you’re a DPS. One will trigger on a critical hit in the target’s back. The other on a knock down effect. So in other words, using “Wrath of the Earth” like crazy, or always being behind the target.

As a Mystic, this isn’t going to happen a lot. If you’re running solo, you’d better want to slot other offensive crystals, like damage bonuses to standard mobs, or anything that suits your needs better.

Reactive Regeneration

This one is almost always forgotten; in Tera you’ll find a lot of stuff, armors and weapons, giving random bonuses like, 0.8% Mana pool regenerated when casting any spell or chance to trigger a Mana regeneration buff. Keep in mind all those bonuses are only situational. You can’t base your Mana regeneration on them at all.

Active Regeneration: Mana Infusion

Meet your mate! This is THE spell you’re going to use the most in Tera! You’ll get it really late in the game: level 2. So, how does this little wonder work? Easy, you have 4.5sec cast time to get the Mana treatment buff; you can cast it either in or out of combat. The only restriction is on the buff itself. Any hostile skill launched (like a Sharan Bolt (( was Spirit shot, our basic attack)) in the air) even without hitting anything will cancel the buff. Any direct damage income will also kill the buff, note that DoTs don’t dispatch it.

Let’s talk about the buff itself now! It lasts for 20 seconds and will give you 100 additional Mana each seconds for a total of… 2000 MP. I’m saying “additional” because it’s not canceling your basic passive regeneration, and will stack with triggered effects – even with potions.

It can be upgraded to give 20% increased ticks, getting the amount of Mana regenerated at 2400 MP. Considering the mechanism of a Mystic, and because this WILL be your only true MP regeneration solution, you will have to segment your gameplay depending of your use of Mana. I’ll come to it in a later part of the guide.

Active Regeneration: Essence Drain

That spell is a deception. If it’s powerful enough in the early part of the game, it becomes more and more useless as most classes are getting bigger Mana Pools. Basically, this spell has 2 components; the first one is a channeled direct damage in an Area around the caster. It will pulse 10 times, and damages will be dramatically reduced for each additional mob in the zone of effect. After the last pulse, the spell icon changes to reveal the second components. The same area is used to give a strait amount of Mana divided between your allies in the zone. As I said, in early game, the Mana amount is quite good, and frankly you’ll be loved for using it.

In the higher sphere, the spell is simply forgotten. I’m not even sure I’ve used it efficiently after learning the Arun’s Tear (Mana Orbs) skill. The Mana healing is for every ally in the zone, meaning that your pets, and ungrouped players will also be counted in the sharing. Be sure to teleport away from your pet/group mate if you want to be the only benefactor of the spell.

Active Regeneration: Arun’s Tear (Mana Orbs)

Be ready to be loved for what you now are! A light technician who will be able to light up every zone of the game – Transforming any combat zone in a real show. Seriously, this skill is awesome. Combined with some practice and knowledge of the other classes, you’ll be a leader on the battlefield.

The discussion about orbs placement and a Mystic leader role will take place later in the guide; we’ll focus on the spell and the self-use right now.

Costing 500 Mana, taking 1.3 sec to cast, and giving back a strait 639 MP to the picker – this is why Mystics are loved – this is also the WORST way to regenerate but the fastest one in times of need.

Let’s explain a little bit. For the Mana treatment, you’ll have the first 100 Mana after 4.5 sec after hitting the button, and you’ll be at +200 MP at 5.5s and +300 at 6.5s. If you were to create a Mana orb and eat it directly, you’ll be (roughly with the lag) at +139 MP at 1.5s after hitting the button, then, there is a 5 sec cool down, meaning that the second +139 MP wouldn’t be before time 8s.

Pretty lame huh? But I’ve not explained this just for nothing. There is a real utility in directly consuming a spawned Mana orb, and that’s the case when you are lacking the time to wait for 4.5 sec, or when a mob is chasing after you. If you’re lacking the Mana to cast your Life Thrall (Fairy spirit), think fast and spawn a Mana orb. With your natural regeneration, you should almost be able to summon it straight after consuming the orb. In the same way, 500 MP means only one heal and the waiting time to launch a second, 639 MP +1.5sec means almost two heals in a row, but will your tank will stand that long ?

Once again, this is pretty much situational, but knowing that fact has saved my ass multiple times. Of course, this is only a soft alternative; you could have taken a Mana potion. On the other hand, if you are soloing, spawning some orbs before a combat and consuming them during is a really handful way to replenish Mana during a fight.

Conclusion

You should now know everything about the regeneration of the precious blue fluid as a Mystic. Keep in mind that this chapter was only focusing on the Regeneration as a “solo” Mystic in a group.

Dispatching Orbs

The potion-drop system has been seen in several MMO’s recently. Most of European players are not yet used to it thought. The first thing you are going to learn as a Mystic is to communicate with your group. Not everyone knows that a Mana orb is suited for a DPS more than a tank or a support. You have to teach them, and I really mean it.

Mechanics

Ok, so we’ve already talked about the Mana orb in the Mana Regeneration section. For those who skipped that part, Mana orbs are not designed to be used by Priest, Sorcerers or Mystics as they only give a small 639 MP.

Archers, Slayers, Berserker, Lancers and Warriors however, are the one that might use them – with better results for pure DPS classes. Lancers and Warriors have to use their “basic” attack to generate aggro anyways. The others DPS’ers might not want to spend their life regenerating their mana, they’ll eventually pick blue Orbs.

About the Arun’s Vitae (Life orbs), I highlight the fact that the orb will dispel any negative effect on a player consuming it. Meaning that placing Life orbs near tanks might help them curing the Crushing blow DoT if you’re busy, dead or far away. In the other hand, combats are always evolving in random directions when facing Mini Bosses – as an excellent Mystic, you are to provide Orb support for your group, hence knowing where to place orbs for maximum efficiency.

Once again, you’ll have to communicate with your group so they understand the pattern you’re using to drops orbs. From here, there is a lot of ways to spawning orbs around a battlefield. We’ll focus on two “main” ones.

Fortifying Camps

The first one might be the most common and the most intuitive. When bashing in an area you don’t want your orbs dispatched everywhere, or it will distract your group mates and they will be losing the focus on the battle searching for the orb they’re looking for. In this situation, I usually spawn between 1 life for 1 mana to 1 life for 3 mana.

What you want is a campfire, then, just spawns orbs right next to it. Stack the blue orbs together. In the 30ish a DPS class might only need 1 orb, but in the late game, they need at least 3. Expand a bit the Life ones. The less time it takes for a player to shop orbs, the more automatic the process will be, and you want to keep a difference between both orbs, I mean, something else than the color.

Players won’t always remember Life orbs give a HoT and consuming more in a row won’t help them at all – especially when the situation is critical. So basically what you want to do is to set a “Safe spot”, where players can quickly replenish Mana and Health and get back ASAP in the fray. This is mainly used against Small and Standard mobs, if you’re doing this with Big mobs, you might encounter a problem when eventually, the ‘biggy’ will want some orbs too.

One last thing, I used that pattern a lot back in the levels 30ish, but no more. Mainly because it makes everyone go toward the same spot. Meaning a low life DPS in distress might get ganked by a mob following someone already grabbing orbs.

Drawing Circles

One spot isn’t enough for most of the fights now, Mobs are fast and healing necessity is inconstant. So I had to get some time to rest and think clearly how I could shape a pattern obvious for anyone, useful and handsome.

And there came the “Orbs Circles”! Well basically it’s more of a hexagon, or some complex geometry shape, but we’ll call this a circle for the Holy cow sake. So, how does that pattern works? Fair enough, I’ll explain everything.

First of all, you have to understand the composition of your group, and then calculate how much Mana orbs they need to get from 0 to 100% MP, and how much damages may take during the fight. For a Slayer for example, at level 50, I would say 2 Mana and 4 Life Orbs. For a Berserker, 4 Mana and 2 Life Orbs. This gives us an amount of 6 Mana and 6 Life orbs on the field. The next step is to gauge the mob you’re going to hunt; do his attacks push people far away from each other? This step is up to your personal experience.

Begin by spawning Life orbs; drop them in a circle around the zone where the fight will be. We’ll call this the “Life circle”. Depending on the group composition and the size of the mob, you can add another layer of orbs, but one meter outside from the first one. Each orb must be spaced by about the distance of your Spiritwalk. Now let’s see the “Mana Circle”. Periodically, drop a Mana orb on the inside of the circle. When you’ve finished dealing with the “Life Circle”, you should get back where you dropped blue orbs and drop as many as needed to replenish the bigger Mana pool. Once again ignore, Priests and Sorcerers.

You should end up with a functional pattern or orbs that will help DPS heal themselves, wherever they are around the mob. With this, you can focus on your Tank and help DPS, even if you are the main healer. The only thing you have to be aware of; you will have to spawn back orbs when they’re popping off, or consumed as soon as possible. If your tank is pushed away from the center of the circle, he’ll land in orbs, and might use them the time he’s replacing the mob.

Aggro Management

Like anything in the game, the aggro is well done. There is not really any calculation that has been made yet, be sure that dropping an Orb, Life more than Mana, do get you up by a fair amount in the aggro list. If you never heard the term ‘OVERAGGRO’, you’ll quickly understand its true and deep meaning. As a mechanism, a part of the aggro is generated when you begin to cast the spell, this is why you want to drop as many orbs as possible before a fight.

The aggro system is based on a ‘per period’ rule, that’s what I can come up with. Meaning, if you need to heal like crazy, you’ll have to watch when your tank is taunting or, when your berserker (who’s trying to tank) will slash the mob so don’t over aggro. Orbs are phenomenal on aggro generation, be sure to pop them when you’ll be totally forgotten by the mob.

Pet System

The Mystic Pet System is relatively simple. Probably too much. You have 4 pets at your disposal: 1 Tank, 1 Healer and 2 DPS. Each one will assist you when they’ll be summoned. Let’s check in detail how they work.

Thrall of Protection (Tank Spirit)

The very first spirit you’ll have. It proves really useful when you’re soloing. The Guardian is the Tank, and will generate a great amount of threat but almost no damage. It will constantly assist you, meaning that if you do any hostile action toward a mob, the Spirit will attack it.

Be aware that a Mesmerize IS a hostile action, meaning you have about 50% chance that the Spirit is going to rush & hit your Mez. Its behavior and pathway make it almost always aggro packs of mobs when traveling – and if you’re already attacking a new one, it will bring all its friends in your aggro range. In the early game, channel swap to dismiss it.

Thrall of Vengeance (Lightning Spirit)

Thrall of Life (Fairy Spirit)

Probably the Spirit you’re going to use the most. This little fairy is, in fact, a priest! Upon summoning, she’ll try to stay near you, throwing every support spell she has. If you let her heal you the full 15 seconds she’s up, you should be 100% life or almost.

The Fairy will :

• Dispell,
• Single heal (self heal)
• AE HoT
• AE Major Heal (small circle)
• Single heal
• AE dispell.

The pattern sometimes varies, but be sure that the first 2 things she’s going to do, are a single dispel on you, and a ‘single heal’ – looking like the Priest ‘Self Heal’. In most of the fights, it will be quite hard to get allies in the major heal circle. You should just keep the fairy for yourself. The Fairy will ‘work alone’, meaning you can still focus on your mates while she’s getting your life up.

The position the fairy spawn is always the same, by understanding this, you’ll be able to almost heal like a priest – well, don’t dream – I’ll cover this part later in the guide.

Destruction Spirit

This Spirit is a cool addition to the Mystic, and be sure most people will be frightened by the Golem the first time they see it, yelling “ADD ADD” everywhere and dodging the red circles on the ground.

So, this ‘Destruction Spirit’ is a stone golem, when summoned it will assist you by attacking once your last target. Be sure to have already done an offensive action before in the fight, or the golem will probably just sit around for the lousy 5 seconds where it stays up. So far, I only saw 3 types of attacks, the artillery one (yeah with those 3 circles on the ground), the main ranged attack and the… hum… jumping-stone one, which is the scariest one for your melee friends.

As soon as the attack is complete, it will probably get back to you, or follow you and pop out. The damages are quite impressive. I’ve seen some 50k damage on a crit once (mob same level as the spell). The only bad point is the cool down. 10 minutes is nothing close to bring this spell in the ‘useful’ group. This is a situational only pet, that may only save a 1% boss wipe, or helps you bash 10+ mobs at the same times killing half of them on the spot.

Be aware that it was possible to make this biggie hit twice if you ‘spawn’ him right into the fray. Nevertheless, since the 17-03-2011 patch I’ve not seen him doing it.

Conclusion

So, if the Spirit System is quite automatic, it’s far from being a ‘great’ aspect of the Mystic – but you can call this a Toolbox. You don’t want pets that can’t be controlled, breaking random crowd controls. Except for f the awesome Fairy, all others are only situational.

Auras and Buffs

The Mystic is mainly a support class, meaning several of his buffs should be ‘supporting’ at a point your party. Up to level 50, the Mystic has only 4 auras and 1 buff, let’s check them!

Buff

Let’s begin by the lonely buff you’ll have. The ‘Titanic Wrath’ is just kicking butt… until you have seen the Priest version. In my opinion, this spell is just broken.

Priest has a 17% bonuses to the attack power. We have better : 20%. Yay! But it’s finished now. Priest can buff, in an 8m circle around them, for 15minutes for 675MP, we can only buff allies in a 6m circle and for… WTF? 25 seconds? and… HOLY CRAP 875MP ? Seriously, this is ridiculous.

However, I have almost never played with a Priest, meaning this buff, was the only one I had to constantly maintain of my mates. This is doable. It will kill your Mana pool. But il will accelerate most fight dramatically. So, if you’re not planing to play with a priest, I suggest raising the upgrade so you can buff for 35seconds (or such) and be ready to have a hardcore time with your Mana.

Auras

Finally, some useful buffs. You’ll have 2 different kinds of Auras, and 2 Auras in both for a total of 4 skills. Only one benefit from an enhancement.

The first two ones are the Unyielding (Fog) enchantment and the ??? (Spirit) enchantment. You can maintain only one of those two auras. In the mid game, you’ll only have the Unyielding (Fog) one, protecting for 30/40% critical hits. Later, you may want to switch to the ??? (Spirit) one, helping A FREAKING LOT your mates. The Aura will give 20 Mana/tick to all your group, which is a lot for DPS classes. This is also the time when you’ll slow down your Mana Orb generation.

At this point, most of the people compare the aura to Crystals and find it useless. As a reminder, crystals are X MP each 5 seconds, and X is not higher than 38 for the rare version of the level 48 one. Comparatively, each 5 seconds you regenerate 100 MP, which is, really, a lot!

The two others are the Swift (Quickness) and the Merciless (Rage) one. Personally, I have the Quickness on every time I’m not fighting, or not fighting hardly. As soon as I’m hitting some serious fight, i’m switching to Rage. You can’t really want to miss the huge boost it gives.

You should be aware that Auras have a 20m range. Meaning, you have to place yourself in order to maximize the effect for your group. This might not always be easy. The ??? (Spirit) aura will nullify the Beserker loss of mana, always stick near them and they’ll be able to socket damage dealing crystals.

Gameplay

Welcome in the most worked out section of this guide. Now that we’ve seen the mechanism from a neutral (sort of) point of view, I’ll talk (more?) about my experiences and the perception of the class I have.

Actually calculations have been made after 30/50+ hours of bashing. It’s been done on level 48 non elite mobs. I might add that those calculations are restricted to this website, as I’m not planning to share false or half-false information.

Most of the Theorycrafting I’ve done for other Games (like Wow on Elitistjerks) has taken me months of bashing, to understand every mechanism and variable. So please, be aware that all those results are only here for scale, and not (yet?) for precise calculations.

Tips & Tricks

Damage Calculation

From what I’ve seen, damage calculation is quite simple. I’ve taken out bonuses on gear and crystals, because it’s easy to add a fair % to your DPS, and you know what you’re going to seek. The weapon is what gives you the most ‘upgrade value’, and this is why all weapons are overpriced. You to DPS more ? Get a new weapon.

Itemization

From my point of view, it’s useless to begin enchanting before level 30/35. I’m telling this not to shock everyone, but I wouldn’t enchant stuff before the maximum level. The stuff in Tera is renewed quite fast, a Golden 27 is not as a good as a Rare 31, and only a couple dozens of hours separates those levels. Will you invest all your millions in +6 that will be useless in less than a playing day ? I wonder.

However, I must admit, some Golden stuff has really interesting bonuses. And, as heals aren’t scaling at all with your stuff, you might want to hold that staff regenerating a lot of mana for some times.
But this is already a ‘group’ mechanism, because you’ll switch to a higher level weapon to max damages as soon as you’ll be alone.

Scaling

So, this topic could be an Everquest or even a Meridian one. We’ve seen every MMO’s guides talk about skills and DPS – Damages per Second that is, literally – and then we all have upgraded our gear and.. WTF?? Surprise! the DPS wouldn’t increase by the freaking lot we would have imagined.

This is because DPS upgrade is scaling with gear upgrade OR NOT! Some of the spells, and especially DoT’s and Pet’s when MMO are release, are kinda broken, and won’t follow same rules as every spells. Regarding Tera, Mystic’s Cruse of Agony, and Pets are standalone spells. Which means, they’re not scaling with your attack power – this has been confirmed.

You will see them scale, and shout ‘lies’ however it’s because in PvE on Tera the level IS playing a part in damage calculation. So, once again, those calculations i made, are with ‘low 50ish stuff’. At the beginning you might want to put DoTs, and get the lighting out, but… when you’ll have a decent Golden Lab Scepter, or some crafted +6~9, you… will totally forget them.

Spreading Damage

So yeah, in Tera most of the spells are a little bit of an AoE. I’m not sure about this mechanism for other classes, but it seems similar to me. Spells that will hit a second, a third or a fourth target will see their damage reduced by a strait amount. The actual theory-crafting reveals it as a fair % based on the maximum damages. Independent to attack power, spell power, distance or level.

These are the values:

• 1 Target : 100%
• 2 Targets : 80%
• 3 Targets : 60%
• 4 Targets : 45%

I will refer to them as “Standard spreading”.

Soloing & Duoing

So, what about soloing huh? Well, this is basically the only way you will be able to DPS properly. The Mystic is far from being a power-house when we’re taking about DPS, but actually, you can put up quite a bit. Let’s see what weapons do we have to bash everything’s around us.

DPS Cycles

So, if you skipped everything to just get the fruits of my experience, I can already tell you that without a doubt, the main DPS sequences for a Mystic are theses ones:

• For most of the mobs : M.Smite > M.Blast > Sharan Bolt
• For bigger mobs, you can go for : Volley of Curses > M.Smite >M.Blast > Sharan Bolt

And there are so many reasons. I’ll explain everything in the next sections. As a quick call:

• This chain will work on everything, Pockets packs, Med + Pockets, 2~8 Meds or either Mini Bosses and of course Elites.
• Begin with 3 stacks of the Curse of Agony on every elite mobs, or though Meds you’ll encounter, and try to maintain them.
• Do NOT spend your life maintaining the Curse of Agony, depending on your stuff, it’s damage output difference might be low.

We dispose of 5 direct offensive plus 1 pet (and a half).

Sharan Bolt

This is our very first attack and the one we’re going to use… well almost anytime. The DPS output is only getting killed if you’re at more than 10 meters of your targets. You might want to upgrade it for the 25% more damages. Be aware that the +25% bonuses only apply to the spell attack power, and not to the overall attack power used in the calculation of the damages with the spell.

So, anytime you’re going to hit the button, you have to be within 10 meters of your target to max out damages. This spell is instant but has an animation, and this is where you gonna meet your old friend: the latency.

With my “Theorycraft” setup, the spell hits for 1228, but it takes more than 1 second to reload and cast against, exactly 1.28 sec. An actual Korean player only have 0.90 sec of animation, gaining around 60% DPS. This is of course, approximate, but from comparison to several Korean players, it always has tend to those numbers. Yep, this is crazy.

Anyways, this is also why this spell is going to be the last to use, when nothing is up. There is also no spreading as the bolt is going to hit the mob you had under the cross-hair when launching the skill.

• Spamming European : 1064 DPS
• Spamming Korean : 1719 DPS

Spirit Wave

The second attack you’ll gain, and the first AoE. Be aware that the two waves launched haven’t the same range. The first might hit a target when the second doesn’t. You might want to upgrade it for the 25% more damages. Be aware that the +25% bonuses only apply to the spell attack power, and not to the overall attack power used in the calculation of the damages with the spell.

We are still in the same case as the Spirit shot, with the heavy latency. However, this will be far less affected because of the cool-down. Let’s talk about the spell.

The 2 waves are consecutive, but the second one is the one that does less damages, has also a shorter range, about 3 meters front and 1 meter side. Damages are spread independently. If you hit 3 targets with the first wave, you’ll have a 40% damage malus on its damage, while if the “small wave” hit only 2, its damages will only be reduced by 20%.

The damages of the “Small wave” are about 43% of the “Big wave” damages, so you really don’t want to miss them. Spreading damage looks “Standard”.

Wrath of the Earth

This is the most powerful attack Mystics have, combine that with a nice knock-down chance and you end up with a decent spell. This will why you want to stand as close as the battle as you can when soloing/duoing. You might want to upgrade it for the 20% less cooldown. It will make you only gain 1 sec, but it’s a nice boost.

This is our mighty powerhouse. Yeah we do have one between a bunch of useless spells. The upgrade is really a small one, you might want to think about it. To help you, here’s a small chart of the boost in the DPS you’ll notice. You’ll notice the upgrade does boost you DPS by about 20% which is greater than expected.

There is not much to say except the area of effect is quite small, better to be careful, especially when trying to hit 2 mobs and aiming ‘between’ both, you’ll end up hitting none more than one time. The DPS value of the standalone spell is not to consider here, because we gonna use the spell only when up.

Specs :

• Most powerful spell,
• High knock-down chances,
• Standalone 1164 DPS,
• Standard Spreading.

Spirit Drain

Once again, this spell is a joke, well, until you’ve got enough attack power to make it worth. If we’re going for straight damages cycles, you can forgot this one, the not upgraded Spirit strike will hit harder. Forget upgrades if your aim is to get maximum DPS output.

This skill is simply of no use actually here. The DPS is simply too low, considering the fact the spell roots you in place. Not talking of its absurd range. Channeling it will block you from moving or applying the Curse of Agony. Spamming the Spirit Strike is far better, and if you need mana, pop a pots.

Specs :

• Channeling required,
• 10 ticks, approx 744 DPS,
• Spread damage dramatically reduced.

Curse of Agony

This one is a nice addition to the Mystic’s skills, but is it really effective? You should get the additional time upgrade, it’s useful in every situation.

So, this is our only Damage over Time, and that’s the shame, because it’s not scaling with gear. Once again, we’re on the wrong side to maximize the effect. We know that the targeting is at least half a second faster in Korea, and you will always have to lock your targets. If you add this the animation time (you can move during the animation), and the 3 launches requirement to get it to max DPS, then you’ll roughly lose 6.5 seconds.

I would have loved to compare this to something like… say the Spirit strike. But you can see that on an European server, the Curse will still only be an ‘addition’ to Mystic DPS. I will as well pass the explanation about how reapplying it. You can guess with that level of latency, trying to wait the last second it is just a dream.

For the sake of knowledge as well, Koreans apply the Curse in 1.5 second. This is as well a 60% upgrade (yeah, approximately).

Specs :

• 3 stacks : 867 DPS
• 6.5 sec to raise,
• 2 sec every 10/12 sec to maintain.

Spirit Summon: Lightning

Hail to the most useless skill we do have. Really, you’d better be ready for something in competition with the “Firecamp Seeker” of the Priest. His attacks aren’t scaling with anything, and work like a spirit shot. Meaning if you want it out of harm in a fight, it’ll eventually do fewer damages due to range.

As a reminder, the pet does spawn 6 meters in front of you when summoned, meaning that if you’re not careful, and pops it too far away, you’ll lose 15% damage. The pet only launches 5 attacks, and like the Curse of Agony, this is by no way scaling with our attack power.

So, now the numbers… 5 attacks for 1548 are… ack… this is painful. Imagine just a second the Game Designer that thought of this spell ? Or eventually the intern that balanced it? Anyways, the pet stays 17 seconds, and that’s what it’s going to cost.

Specs :

• Primary Mystic waste of Mana
• Premium DPS : 455 DPS

Conclusion

Hopefully you found this post useful. All credit for the guide goes to Manta of Nightside guild! Note that some of the information in this guide is subject to change.

If you have anything to add to this guide, feel free to post in the comments below.

Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

TERA Mystic Guide

Best part: it’s completely free! (except for the internet bandwidth)

First things first though: you’ll need an Android-powered device for this to work. This works on iPhone and iPad as well, but for the purposes of this short guide we’ll stick to Android. You’ll find detailed steps of exactly what you need to do to “play” SWTOR on your mobile device below:

1. Get TeamViewer

TeamViewer is a piece of software which you need to install on your PC. You can download it on the link provided, and surprisingly the application is entirely free of charge. You will need to create an account on the same website (again, free), and make sure to remember all the details. Additionally, make sure you create the account on the PC you’re using to play SWTOR.

If you need help setting anything up, I suggest you refer to the instructions on the official TeamViewer website. The application is fairly straightforward and you’ll likely figure it out pretty quickly.

2. Get TeamViewer for Android

Go to the Android App Market and download the TeamViewer Android app. When it’s installed on your table or mobile phone, run it and log in with the details from step #1. You can also download the TeamViewer for Android as well as iPhone and iPad on the official website (click the “Mobile” tab).

3.  Connect to your PC

That should be it! If you set up everything correctly, you should be able to see your PC’s desktop on your mobile phone. It isn’t the prettiest sight ever, but it’s more than enough for what we need.

Below is a screenshot of how The Old Republic should look on your device:

Just enough to bring up the companion menu (hotkey “N”) and send them to do missions. You can use the little keyboard icon to bring it up.

A couple of extra notes. This consumes fairly high amounts of bandwidth, so consider yourself warned. If possible, try to use a Wi-fi connection. Additionally, you will need to move around or just hit the “Space” key every now and then to prevent logging out for being AFK.

Do note that you won’t really be able to do much else in SWTOR, but if you want to grind some credits while at work this will be perfect for you!

Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

SWTOR: Level Up Companion Skills on Your Smartphone

With so many dedicated fans it’s no wonder many are searching for quality guides online. While previous CoD titles didn’t really have any, the sheer popularity of this game has created a strong demand for detailed and helpful strategy guides to help players learn the game faster and better. With ever sequel more and more features are being added and the game is becoming more complex, so read on to find out exactly how these strategy guides can help you get better.

Reviews:

1. Kosh’s Modern Warfare 3 Strategy Guide
2. BradyGames’ Modern Warfare 3 Guide

1. Kosh’s Modern Warfare 3 Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Kosh is an extremely experienced gamer that has some amazing record-breaking scores in most games. He’s the author of some other highly successful guides for quite a few games, including the top-rated guide for BF3: Relik. His years of experience and highly skilled play translates into very helpful strategy guides, and Kosh’s MW3 Strategy Guide is certainly no exception.

This is THE one Modern Warfare 3 guide you simply must read if you’re even thinking of attempting any sort of online play. The competition there is fierce and if you want to level up fast and unlock all weapons, perks and attachments it will help immensely with each of those aspects. This MW3 strategy guide goes a lot further though and teaches you every single detail about all available weapons and their attachments. You’ll never again be confused as to which one you should use. It’ll also tell you all about various game modes, and teach you how to effectively counter your opponents.

The other amazing part of Kosh’s MW3 guide is that is contains a detailed and efficient maps guide which will show you the best locations to get kills and killstreaks without much trouble. Each available Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 map is covered and this kind of information I wasn’t able to find anywhere else.

Of course while there are a ton of advanced tactics and strategies in this MW3 strategy guide there are also plenty of tips aimed at beginners at this game, so you’ll find a lot of basic stuff that will help you in case this is your first time with Call of Duty. Additionally, there’s a step by step singleplayer campaign guide, just in case you ever get stuck.

Kosh is also the only author that provides video guides as well. In short, this is a very detailed and extremely beneficial guide that really will help you get better at this game in more ways than one. Highly recommended.

2. BradyGames’ Modern Warfare 3 Guide

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

As a publisher of official game strategy guides, BradyGames is undoubtedly experienced with guides. However, that hardly means these guides are nearly as useful as others. This strategy guide is 350 pages long, but most of the content in it can be easily found on other websites online.

If you’re a complete beginner to Call of Duty I suppose BradyGames MW3 Strategy Guide could prove useful, as it does have references to a lot of stuff in game like weapons, attachments and perks. However, none of that info goes into too much detail and won’t give you much if an advantage. There are some tactics covered, but nothing you won’t figure out on your own after a few weeks.

Basically, if you want a paperback guide this is your only options, but you would do a lot better with Kosh’s MW3 guide.

Conclusion

While BradyGames is a relatively useful guide for beginners, it’s what you would expect from an official strategy guide. Kosh really knows this game a lot better than most players you will ever encounter in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and his extensive knowledge and experience definitely makes for a much better guide. Despite being unofficial, it’s miles ahead and my top recommendation.

Download Kosh Guide Now

Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

Modern Warfare 3 Strategy Guide

Battlefield 3 is the newest installation of this game and features many improvements from previous titles. While it’s often been said it’s a bit lacking in singleplayer campaign, the multiplayer experience is superb and will keep you busy for awhile no doubt.

However, it can also be frustrating. Even players who have experience in previous BF titles found themselves dying a lot and not being able to contribute much to their team, as BF3 is still quite different from other Battlefield games. Since tons of players have been looking for some guides and help online, I’ve decided to review the following Battlefield 3 strategy guides which will help you learn the ins and outs of this game a lot faster:

1. Relik’s Battlefield 3 Strategy Guide
2. Starks Battlefield 3 Mastery Guide
3. PrimaGames Battlefield 3 Guide

1. Relik’s Battlefield 3 Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Relik’s guide is definitely my favorite Battlefield 3 resource. It’s unlike anything else you will find online and really is quite helpful to have. It breaks down every part of the game and gives you a detailed overview and analysis.

First, it has a really detailed walkthrough of the single-player and co-op campaigns. In Relik’s Mastery guide you’ll get detailed instructions and step-by-step guide on beating every level and you’ll always know how to complete a mission as fast and easy as possible. Furthermore, it has video commentaries that will guide you through each of these missions as well.

But the single-player game guide is just a small part of what Relik has to offer. The guide is focused on multiplayer gameplay and as such has tons of quality tips which will help you beat your opponents consistently in Battlefield 3. First off there’s the generic BF3 multiplayer strategy guide which will give you plenty of advice on how to take advantage of every situation. This usually comes only with extensive playing experience and most skilled players will be reluctant to share this kind of information with new ones.

Next, you have a detailed guide with every single map available in BF3. It will show you the best sniping and camping spots, little-known map secrets where you can kill people again and again, team and solo tactics that win over 80% of games and more. It’s incredibly helpful and an absolute must read.

There’s also a bunch of other guides for classes, weapons, routes, vehicles, progression/leveling and more. Overall, the amount of information you will find in Relik’s Battlefield 3 Strategy Guide is absolutely amazing and it’s my strong recommendation you give it a shot if you wish to improve your gameplay.

2. Stark’s Battlefield 3 Mastery Guide

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Stark’s BF3 guide is a bit less detailed than Relik’s, but still very useful. It contains a beginners guide covering all the basics of the game: if you’re completely new to Battlefield I’m sure you’ll find it helpful. It gives you an overview of game concepts, classes, interface and such.

Much like Reliks guide Stark’s also has a guide for the singleplayer campaign. It’s just as useful as the one in Relik’s guide though, but there are no videos unfortunately.

Furthermore Stark guide includes information on all four classes in the game, giving you an overview of their differences, their gameplay strategies, kits and unlocks and more. Again, not as detailed as what you’ll find in the guide reviewed above but it’s still quite useful.

There’s also a weapons guide included that gives you a list of all available weapons in BF3, including a list of their pros and cons. It’s useful if you’re trying to figure out how to use a weapon most effectively and especially if you don’t know how to properly customize weapons.

The multiplayer strategy guide will show you how to best play in each different mode, how to play as a team and overall improve your skill level. Additionally there’s a guide on multiplayer maps that will show you the locations of turrets, vehicles, tactical spots and more.

Overall Stark’s guide is pretty good but it’s simply not as detailed as Relik’s guide. However if you’re looking for a good alternative for some reason, you have it.

3. Prima Games Official Battlefield 3 Guide

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

As is the case with most official game guides this one isn’t too useful either. Basically it’s an overview of the game, and while it is now and then helpful it won’t really teach you nearly as much as the two other guides will.

It does contain some map descriptions with basic strategies, teamwork tactics, weapons and classes breakdown and a couple of other things, but it’s not nearly as detailed as Relik’s and Stark’s BF3 guides.

It does however come as a paperback or hardcover guide so you might prefer to read it that way. It’s up to you whether you want to get it, but I’d advise you get Relik’s guide if you truly with to improve your gameplay.

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Battlefield 3 Strategy Guide

It is somewhat disappointing that there’s only one guide for Crysis 2 available, but on the other hand the guide is very detailed and well done, so I don’t think it even needs any competition at this point. Hopefully you will find both my review and the guide itself as useful as I did.

1. Zobias Crysis 2 Strategy Guide (review) – rated 5/5

1. Zobias Crysis 2 Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★★★★ 

As I already mentioned, this is currently the only available Crysis 2 strategy guide. Fortunately I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by it however as it does contain plenty of quality tips, tricks, strategies, tactics and guides you will surely find useful.

For me the most useful part of Zobias C2 strategy guide is the one about nanosuits and weapons. Knowing the differences, stats, mechanics and other ins and outs of them is crucial to having more success in defeating your opponents. It’s especially important for multiplayer games in which you battle other players: you will want every possible advantage you can get there, and that’s exactly what this guide provides.

Breakdown of classes is also useful, but for me not nearly enough as the overview of every single multiplayer map, along with the strategies, choke points, tactical map advantages, screenshots, and tons of other information. With this you’ll know exactly what the pro players constantly use to get incredibly high scores in matches, and no we’re not talking about any kind of cheats or hacks here. Just by knowing the terrain and the map will give you a significant advantage over others, so make sure you don’t skip this part of the strategy guide.

Overall Zobias clearly put a lot of effort into writing this guide and his tips don’t come from some Crysis 2 forums or blogs, but obviously he knows it because he has spent an incredible amount of time actually playing the game. If you want to keep dominating other players in online matches over and over again this guide is exactly what you need.

• DOWNLOAD ZOBIAS HERE

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Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

Crysis 2 Strategy Guide

In many ways, Rift is similar to World of Warcraft, as well as other games. For example, many of the mechanics are similar to WoW, but with the addition of something which is similar to Warhammer Online’s public quests system, and more. Basically, another MMORPG game, but this one will not be released unfinished and with hundreds of annoying bugs. The developers are making sure of it, and while it’s still early to tell, Rift might very well be a worthy competition to WoW.

Leveling in Rift works pretty much as in other MMORPG games. It’s nothing innovative and groundbreaking: the same old process of doing quests, killing X amount of monsters and grinding. You can however speed up the process a great deal by following a quality leveling guide, which is exactly what this page is about. I’ll be reviewing ALL Rift leveling and strategy guides and help you figure out which one is the best.

Currently, there’s quite a lot of different leveling guides available for Rift, some of them good and some even bad. Make sure to read the reviews below carefully before you purchase one.

1. Xerxes Rift Mastery Guide (review)  – rated 5/5
2. Killerguides Rift Strategy Guide (review) – rated 3/5
3. KFGuides Rift Leveling Guide (review) – rated 3/5
4. Rift Blueprint Guide (review) – rated 2/5
5. Rift Domination Guide (review) – rated 2/5
6. Fero’s Rift Strategy Guide (review) – rated 2/5
7. MMO Guide Mart’s Leveling Guide (review) – rated 2/5
8. Kalmar’s Rift Guardian Leveling Guide (review) – rated 1/5
9. Catari’s Rift Defiant Leveling Guide (review) – rated 1/5

1. Xerxes Rift Mastery Guide

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Xerxes guide is my favorite guide for a number of reasons. First of all the leveling guide is the most detailed one and includes an impressive amount of screenshots and maps to guide you through quests. Some other guides (although not all) have maps and screenshots but it’s not nearly as much as in Xerxes.

Xerxes Mastery Guide also has really insider stuff about callings and souls. Some guides just post the beginner stuff inside with a few additions, but Xerxes clearly has a lot of experience playing all classes and his recommendations on equipment, stats, soul builds, soul pairings etc. are invaluable. This really is the professional, expert advice you will want to read.

This guide also includes a ton of additional bonuses, all of which are really useful: dungeons, professions, PvP, puzzles, platinum making, the list goes on. Overall Xerxes guide no doubt stands out from the competition and you won’t regret if you get it.

2. Killerguides Rift Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

A very, very frequent mention on this site, Killerguides was once again the first to publish a guide for Rift. It received several updates since then and overall is relatively decent, but there are some things that just bug me too much about it.

It includes battle strategies, equipment breakdown, solo and group tactics, raiding techniques and guide, as well as a leveling guide. However, most of the stuff in Killerguides Rift Strategy Guide is just beginner information, unless you get all 5 Rift guides by Killerguides. The guides specific to callings, namely Rogue, Cleric, Mage and Warrior have more advanced and useful information, however they do come at a higher price than most other guides (although you do get a large discount if you purchase them all).

Overall Killerguides deserves a 4/5 rating, however it would be much nicer to have all the info packed in one single guide rather than have five different ones.

3. KFGuides Rift Leveling Guide

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

KFGuides is in fact a very decent leveling guide. It includes maps and screenshots and the quest info is nicely outlined and easy to follow. The only issue is that it’s only for the Defiant faction.

Another bad thing is that KFGuides Rift Leveling Guide doesn’t have any additional bonuses to make it a worthwhile purchase. The few guides they do have can be viewed for free anyway, and aren’t really that useful (mostly dungeons and puzzles).

4. Rift Blueprint

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Rift Blueprint has enough content to make it a decent guide but not enough for me to recommend it over any of the guides above. Simply put the content and guides aren’t as detailed and useful. It does have a ton of beginner guides but it simply doesn’t cut it: these tips won’t help you stand out from other players too much.

The leveling guide inside is not even a leveling guide but rather a few notes about quests and doing rifts. The most useful part is the comprehensive dungeons guide giving you boss strategies and locations, but the same can be found in Xerxes guide, therefore there’s no reason why you would want to download Rift Blueprint.

5. Rift Domination Guide

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Similar to Blueprint and Fero’s guide, Rift Domination doesn’t really have anything useful which would make me recommend it to anyone. Beginner guides won’t do much good to anyone, and the lack of any other useful content makes me not want to even write a more detailed review.

I do have to give at least some credit to Rift Domination guide though, as there are far worse guides (see below), but unfortunately I can’t recommend it. It won’t help you dominate.

6. Fero’s Rift Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Fero’s guide is almost identical in quality as Rift Bluprint. It doesn’t have any secrets or all that many useful tips and strategies. Again, beginner guides, the same dungeons guide as you can find elsewhere, and a few tips and notes that won’t really do you much good.

I recommend you skip Fero’s guide.

7. MMO Guide Mart’s Rift Leveling Guide

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

MMO Guide Mart is a new website which will apparently publish guides for MMORPGs. However, their very first guide is the one for Rift, and it’s extremely lacking.

MMOGuideMart’s Rift Leveling Guide is an incomplete leveling guide, with only a few beginner guides as bonuses. The only good thing about it is that it’s cheap and has a nicely designed cover, but that’s really no reason to download it.

8. Kalmar’s Rift Guardian Leveling Guide

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 

Kalmar’s guide does have step-by-step quest guides which I can’t say for all other guides, but the guide is currently incomplete despite being advertised that it is. The only thing Kalmar provides is a 1-19 leveling guide for the Guardian faction, and even that isn’t that well done.

Personally I much prefer to have Xerxes guide which has a ton of really useful bonuses, and a more detailed and complete leveling guide — for both factions.

9. Catari’s Rift Defiant Leveling Guide

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 

Other than KFGuides this is the only Defiant faction specific leveling guide, and it ain’t a good one either. Incomplete, with absolutely no bonuses whatsoever.

If you didn’t notice yet, Catari’s guide comes from the same author as Kalmar’s guide, and as such suffers from the same issues. Skip it.

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Summary

Xerxes guide is hands down the winner here. Massive amounts of useful content, and the most detailed leveling guide. Best buy, highest rating, top recommendation, etc. Download Xerxes, you will love it.

Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

Rift Leveling Guide

DCU Online has just gotten out of beta, and many players are eager to start playing it. The game is not nearly as hyped as most other MMORPG titles usually are, therefore the aren’t that many fansites, forums and blog talking about the game. The amount of useful information a new player can get about the game without actually playing it for countless hours is ridiculously low, unless you happened to come across a quality strategy and leveling guide.

The guide reviews below will hopefully give you an idea why it’s good  to have one such good guide, and where you can get it.

1. Razer DC Universe Mastery Guide – Rated 10/10
2. Killerguides DC Universe Strategy Guide – Rated 9/10
3. DC Universe Secrets Guide – Rated 7.5/10

1. Razer DC Universe Mastery Guide

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★★ 

Razer DC Universe Online Mastery Guide is not the first nor the last guide I’ve read for this game, but it certainly is the best one. It has many, many different chapters explaining pretty much anything you’d want to know about this game.

We’ll kick it off with a review of the leveling guide, which I’m sure most of you are interested in. Basically, it’s awesome. It has a great deal of missions and quests listed with detailed descriptions and guides on how and where to complete them. In addition it provides maps so you’ll never get lost. That’s unfortunately not something I’ve found in other guides.

As for other content, it has guides about powers, abilities, mentors, items, PvP and a lot more. It’s all very well done, nicely written and outlined and anyone will be able to follow and understand the tips and strategies explained.

Razer DC Universe Guide is at the moment my definite recommendation and I advise you to give it a try and see why it’s so good.

2. Killerguides DC Universe Online Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ 

A well known and popular publisher of MMORPG guides, Killerguides was the first publisher who released a DC Universe strategy and leveling guide. Even though their guide is really good in my opinion, Razer guide above is much more detailed and still my favorite read whenever I need to look up some information about DC Universe Online.

Killerguides DCUO strategy guide includes several different chapters: powers and abilities guide, group and solo strategies, skill point recommendations and more. The biggest and most important part is of course the leveling guide, which is nicely outlined and will help you get to the level cap faster.

In addition, Killerguides does have a guide to questing and PvP as well, but whether you want to get those or not is up to you. Basically, you can check Killerguides guide out if you’re for some reason looking for an alternative to Razer guide, but other than that you can skip it.

3. DC Universe Online Secrets Guide

Rating: ★★★★★★★½☆☆ 

The last one on my list of DC Universe leveling guides is Tony Sanders’ DCUO Secrets Guide. This guide has a few things going for it and it’s a decent guide, but it’s quickly falling behind with the updates and constant new content being put into other guides.

It does contain many info that you can find in other guides, but it’s just not as detailed and comprehensive as Razer or Killerguides above.

Overall, I would recommend you check out one of the two guides above rather than downloading DC Universe Secrets Guide, which you might regret later on.

Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

DC Universe Leveling Guide

Unfortunately there’s only one worthy Civ 5 strategy guide, but fortunately it’s a really good one. It helped me greatly with both singleplayer and multiplayer with hundreds of tips, tricks, tactics and strategies I’d never think of. I still haven’t beat the AI at Deity difficulty but I’m slowly getting there . Read my reviews below:

1. James’ Civilization V Strategy Guide
2. BradyGames Official Civilization V Strategy Guide

1. James’ Civilization V Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★★★★ 

When I first got my hands on this Civ5 strategy guide I was afraid it’ll lack content since it was published almost right after the release of the game. However, the author clearly snagged a beta key very early on since it was impossible to develop so many different strategies in such little time. And I’m not talking about newbie tips you can find on every other Civ V fansite: these strategies are very detailed, step-by-step guides on how to consistently win games with any civilization. Pure gold.

Build orders are covered, as are building details, wonders, unit strengths and weaknesses, social policies, diplomacy, victory conditions and a lot more. Confused on how many cities you need for your empire? How to increase happiness while still maintaining a military dominance? Want to know how to get a technology victory while your opponents is still in the Renaissance era? With this guide you’ll find out all of that and more, while your opponents beg you for a peace treaty.

Bottomline is, this is the only decent guide available for Civilization 5 and it’s an amazing one. Whatever questions you have about Civilization V this guide will answer, and if you really want to dominate other players online this is exactly what you need.

2. BradyGames Official Civilization V Strategy Guide

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

BradyGames and their official strategy guides are rarely any good. Basically, the official game websites often have more detailed information, but people still keep buying these guides and wasting money. I’ve read more than a few of these and was always disappointed.

Civilization 5 has an in-game Civilopedia which is basically what this guide is, but not even that detailed. A printed version of the basic game information and statistics. There are no insider strategies, no useful tips and tricks which you can’t get elsewhere for free.

Even though it’s not much of an investment since you can get this for under $15, it’s simply not worth even that much. I’d recommend you rather get the unofficial guide which costs the same but is worth five times as much.

Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

Civilization V Strategy Guide

Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) introduces a lot of new elements in the series and having a quality leveling guide next to you will make sure you get to see and experience content way, way faster than without. For an overview of FFXIV leveling guides read below!

• Chrono FFXIV Mastery Guide

  Rating: ★★★★★ 

• Killerguides FFXIV Strategy Guide

  Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

• FFXIV Domination Guide

  Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

• FFXIV Secrets Guide

  Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

• Steve’s FFXIV Mastery Guide

  Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 

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Post from: Leveling Guide Reviews

FFXIV Leveling Guide