View Full Forums : One druid secret I'll now reveal: roots.


Aitrus
04-01-2005, 11:22 AM
I've been keeping this one to myself, but now I figure what's the point.

Some of you may have even figured this out.

Do not use your highest rank root.

I use my rank 3 root (both for nature's grasp and entangling roots).

It costs less mana and holds longer than rank 4, 5, and 6. I did a lot of testing to check this out.

Each new root rank has the potential to last longer, but it also does more damage making it more likely to break itself. I've noticed that root will very rarely hold after a starfire, but usually it'll stick for a few seconds at least after a moonfire. Maybe its just superstition, but I think the rate of root breakage depends on the amount of damage being inflicted.

Root ranks work like this:

Rank 1, 20dmg/12sec. 50mana.
Rank 2, 50dmg/15sec. 65 mana.
Rank 3, 90dmg/18sec. 80 mana.
Rank 4, 140dmg/21sec. 95 mana.
Rank 5, 200dmg/24sec. 110 mana.
rank 6, 270dmg/27sec. 125 mana.


At level 60, Rank 1, 2, and 3 will always hold for their full duration if you do not hit the player with anything. Ranks 4, 5, and 6 are more sporadic and will almost always break themselves before reaching their full duration. Rank 6 can last up to 27 seconds, but will rarely last more than 7 or 8.

I found the optimal to be rank 3. It's a guaranteed 18 second root, no surprises. Rank 4 will sometimes go the full 21 sec, but it may also break at 12-13 sec.

The second benefit of this, in addition to guaranteed holding times, is the reduced mana cost. We don't root for damage, we root to keep something in place - crowd control / stun. Rank 3 root costs just 80 mana... that's 36% less mana than rank 6 root (45 mana to be exact).

If you want you can use rank 1 or 2 to reduce the mana even more, but the duration is also reduced so the payoff isn't as good in my opinion.

In pvp you don't want to root someone, and have the root break itself after 2 seconds, allowing him to interrupt your regrowth. You need to know its going to hold for a while. The high ranks will break sometimes very very early on in the timer. The ranks 1-3 will pretty much never do this.

So if you want to get the most out of your roots, at lvl 60 use rank 3 instead of rank 6 for both entangling root and nature's grasp.

Cenaurius
04-01-2005, 11:34 AM
has blizzard ever released any detailed information about entangling roots and its chance to break? if so i'd appreciate if someone post it here, at work blizzard's sites and almost gaming sites are blocked :(.

Macwood
04-01-2005, 12:11 PM
Nice! Thanks for the info Aitrus.

This should help when I'm dueling my ranger friend who likes to run out of melee range and fling arrows at me.

Blittz
04-01-2005, 01:59 PM
wow, thanks for the info! I'll be changing my spell sets around a little now

roughcoat
04-01-2005, 07:16 PM
Does this generalize to level 43 as well?

Fadė
04-04-2005, 04:00 PM
So, ergo, one should use the lower level nature's grasp as well? Since, higher levels of NG will cast higher levels of ER.

I thought that there were supposed to be level restrictions on ER, such that lower level ER wouldn't catch a higher level mob/player. Or, is the resistance effect determined by the level of the caster and not the level of the spell? (i.e. If I'm level 20 and the mob/player is level 30, she's more likely to resist my spell due to level and not due to the rank of the spell)

hertzsae
04-05-2005, 01:51 AM
I remember reading somewhere that all abilities that limit movement like roots only work for a max of 15 seconds while in PvP. If that true, there would be no reason to cast anything other then lvl 2 roots. I could be wrong, please correct me if I am.

Also, I believe that resists are vs. the caster's lvl and int. So I doubt it would be more likely to be resisted. I always assumed that the lower rank roots would have a higher chance of breaking early thats why I use my highest lvl. Thanks for advice, I'll be trying it out.

Aitrus
04-05-2005, 08:10 AM
Yeah you use a lower level of NG as well.

On the 15s thing, I was actually thinking about that the other day, would have to test it a bit more and see if that's how it works.

But lower level roots hold people just as well as high ones, in testing I ran all of my roots vs a lvl 60 rogue friend, checking to see how long they would hold as long as I didn't do any damage.

I have been using lvl 3 roots and NG since then and have not noticed any difference in holding times compared to lvl 6 in pvp. In pvp I rarely need or want it to hold for 15 seconds though, usually I just need it long enough for a regrowth and a starfire, so like 5-6 seconds.

Majitsu
05-15-2005, 03:28 PM
Can someone tell me if this info is up to date with the latest patch 1.4?

Right now Im at lvl 29 and noticing my lvl 3 root/grasp sometimes only lasts 2 seconds which is very bad... Will that change as I lvl up?

Tygre
05-16-2005, 04:29 AM
It depends what lvl mob you are rooting Majitsu. If the mob is even level to you or above, it has a much higher chance at breaking early on. The lower level the mob, the longer it will hold. Or at least this has been my experience, also at lvl 29.

Kabaoum
05-16-2005, 10:13 PM
erm, you do know that nature damage doesn't break root, right? if you use moonfire the root has a chance to break, if someone melee's the target the root has a chance to break, if you use starfire the root has a chance to break.However, if they sit and take the nature damage from the root, it will not cause the root to break early. The same with your wrath spell. If you root and spam wrath, root will not break early, so you would want to use your highest rank because it lasts the longest and does the most damage, unless your in a situation where the target will be taking damage from muliple sources, in which case the more mana efficient lower level root will probably work better just because it's probably going to break early anyway :D

Majitsu
05-16-2005, 10:42 PM
Ok so a lower rank spell will not effect the change of break regardless of the lvl of person I am fighting?

I dont really care about mobs. Just PVP. I noticed that root usually last just long enough for me to cast a regrowth on myself before I have to go bear form again... so cant really spam wrath.

Kabaoum
05-17-2005, 10:22 AM
the level of the target in comparison to your level does make a difference. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that a root will only last 50-75% of it's max against a player, and that could have a 15 second cap. I generally don't rootrot people, but when I try out a balance build sometime in the future I'll get more experience with the subject. If you just need it to hold long enough to get a heal off, I would take Aitrus' advice and use rank 3, but if it comes to you trying to rootrot other players, use your higher level one, it should work much better.

Mazikeen
05-17-2005, 11:00 AM
My opinion is still out here. I have my root set to the highest level at 60. I don't seem to have a problem with people breaking it, especially npc's. It seems a bit unpredictable, as if most of the time they'll either break it immeaditely, or it'll hold the bulk of the duration. I have yet to try a lower level root, it's attractive to me only becuase of the lower mana cost. If it would hold the npc target for the same duration, that would be a win.

For example, I was doing the 50 yep quest the other night as I desperately needed it out of my log. Found some big named 54 out in the area, on the off chance he might drop something figured I'd try him out. He was guarded by a 57 caster, they were linked, I kited out once as he hit very hard and I didn't expect the double pull.

I went back, root pulled on the named, and took out the 57, added a root on the named after a bit for safety. Then had another 56 npc warrior come around the corner, I threw another root on the big guy and finished off the warrior I added another root somewhere in there to keep him still just in case. By the time I turned my attention to the named, he was at 46% health.

Becuase of that use of roots and such on npcs, I am staying with my high level. I am going to go back to that area and root some 56+ with the lower levels of root and see how it performs. I think in pvp, if the root can hold a 56+ effectively, (for me that's 10 seconds, I use root most often in pvp for 8 second bandage, not heal) it would be a very nice mana saver, and may offer me an additional rejuv or such in a exteneded pvp battle, thanks for the suggestion.