Gear and stats

[Nevsky]

Hi.

Recently returned to the game, so Khitai is fairly new to me.
I have been aiming for Scarlet Circle gear to keep a high level of dps but I am wondering a) if this is a right choice to begin with and b) should I get other faction pieces to complement heal rating?

On that subject, how much heal rating should I aim for (as far as celestial gaze and dark idol goes?) without letting damage suffer?

Also, is the Tamarin staff best in slot (excluding t3 craft and t4)?

Any other tips of faction tidbits that are useful like rings, cloaks and so forth are welcome too.

Regards,

[longtail]

Take a look at http://cynarablog.wordpress.com/2012...st-armor-sets/ - especially the graph showing magic dmg vs heal rating. There's a sweet spot of sorts at ~1000 heal rating and ~600 magic dmg for a Khitai mix (biased with SC) that makes for a decent general purpose set.

In so far as Heal Rating is concerned, a very rough rule of thumb is ~1000 makes AA heals worth while 2000+ makes them pretty awesome. However, there are few cases where you need AA heals. Most of them time you're better off using Coils, which means you'll want a more DPS oriented set of gear. Anyway, as you can see from Cynara's graph the ~1000 Heal Rating/~600 magic dmg mix is a nice trade off - you won't get much more DPS by ignoring Heal Rating so you might as well have ~1000 even if you're only using Celestial Gaze.

First weapon to get is a quest pole reward you get from BRC. Tamarin staff is a fine choice, but not before your SC armor. Another good/popular option is a pair of Tome of Black Gales (T3).

Look at http://aoc.is-better-than.tv/armory.php for gear. Wolves neck is good - I'd give it a higher priority over Tamarin staff. Tons of ring options for DPS (SoJ have a heal rating ring and shield, although none are outstanding on their own, being able to buy 3 pieces is great if you have nothing better).

[Nevsky]

Currently I am using 2x t2 tos books for weapons, which are alright as far as stats go, so I will take you up on the advice and focus SC (and any priests or kosha pieces that drop can be used to boost heal rating) for now.

As far as other pieces go; This toon is very old and I am still using Iron Tower HM necklace (amulet of souls?) and dreamer's keepsakes (they are truly awesome for boe!) along with cloak of jovus which was pretty good back when I played (before t3).

I have access to most content save t4 so if you have any tips for trinkets and cloaks, and where to go to find them, I would happily accept info I think Tian and Vile has a decent cloak, right?

[Ruhenous]

One tip for gear...

I'd go for a full set of SC gear, except for one piece. The Yellow Priest hands that drop from Den of the Crowmen are by FAR the best hands in the game short of t4. More magic damage, more heal rating, similar crit rating.

As far as accessories go...

Necklace: Watcher of the Den(Wolves of the Steppes)
Rings: t3 are by far the best choice, but the Cang-Jei ring is also good if you have nothing better.
Cloal: If you're in a guild that can do it, Wings of Salvation that drop from Tian time trial is the best(maybe even better than t4). If not, t3 cloak or the cloak from Vile Nativity are best.

[Nevsky]

Thank you. I have those hands already, so I'll go for the remaining three SC pieces. How does the Ardashir head compare to SC? At least for my bear compared to dps (tamarin) I gained a lot of heal for a cost of just a little damage. [edit] just noticed that ardashir head had a huge damage drop compared to SC, but I guess I can have it until I have enough rares.

I appreciate the other tips immensly!

[Khaletohep]

Cloak -> Vile Nativity. Easy to get, great stats.

Rings -> Dreamer's Keepsake will be the best for a long time. Quest reward from road symbol quest, T3 and T4 are all relatively hard to get and have only a miniscule upgrade. Dreamer's Keepsake also has +Con/HP, which gets more and more important the more Kithai gear you get.

Armor -> Don't overdo the +damage. ToS can be a first class damage dealer even with full healing gear. Playstyle and feat setup have a greater influence here than one or two more points of +damage.

Chest -> Scholars of Cheng-Ho (looks stupid, but has +Crit and very high +Heal)

Legs -> drop from Enigmata of Yag or AI district, best is from Yellow Priests (maximum mix of Crit, Heal, Dmg)

Head -> drop from Ardashir Fort (easy to get, got mix of stats, saves you 200 HM tokens you can spend on a good chest or weapon) or Children of Yag Kosha (+Crit and very high +Heal).

Small parts -> whatever you can get while farming HM tokens. Yellow Priests, Scarlet Circle, Children of Yag Kosha. Some Mage gear can be useful, too.

Weapon -> buy from Tamarin Tigers. Expensive, but very good. Lacks HP, but has a very good mix of Crit, Dmg and Heal.

Necklace -> Wolves of the Steppes (max Damage, max Heal) or drop from Ardashir fort (great HP to counterbalance the small HP boni from Kithai gear)

[m4gg0t]

I wouldn't bother with heal rating. It doesn't justify the reason to stack so much heal rating for a minimal gain. I would just stack full on DPS for PvE. On my BS I done testing and I don't see the point in stackin heal rating and losing out on DPS as I heal just find with the heals I already get.

[Bibik]

Heal rating is overrated before T3.5/T4.
Not very usefull in most HM except when tanks are nubs or undergeared. And anyway heal rating don't do miracles.

Best healing is vanilla hot/burst healing with perfect aggro rotation from tanks :3

[Ruhenous]

I wouldn't bother with heal rating. It doesn't justify the reason to stack so much heal rating for a minimal gain. I would just stack full on DPS for PvE. On my BS I done testing and I don't see the point in stackin heal rating and losing out on DPS as I heal just find with the heals I already get.

On a BS...you can get in the ball park of 2300 heal rating without losing any DPS IF:

1.) T4 heal rating blunt
2.) Full Tiger's gear
3.) Rear Guard.

And you can still crank out some serious DPS.

But, back on topic. To be honest, heal rating isn't the end all, be all of healing. You'll do a lot more healing with well placed blues, greens and big heals than you will with the AA heals. I'd much rather take the DPS AA's than the healing ones, simply because I'm of the train of thought that if you can't DPS in a group setting, you're a waste of a spot.

[m4gg0t]

Well it's just me. I think it's retarded to stack heal rating gear for slightly better AA heal when you can already heal very well with out them and lose damage when you can be killing a boss faster.