Got Winter's Storm (850 dmg x 3 waves) yesterday, trying to figure out how to use this spell effectively...

When I solo, I root/rot, so I snare, root and cast dots to cook the mob. I tried using this as well and root breaks after the second wave hits, which means the mob is out of the original AE range and the third wave never hits anything. So when would I use this when soloing...

When I tried this in group, the mob got hit, as well as the tank, which he resisted, but still didn't like. So how do I use this effectively in a group situation?

Please help!!! 2550 Damage is to good to not use this spell!!!!!!

In a group, target the tank or the mob. The tank will usually (unless the mob is very tall) be hit by one of the waves, but unless you are in a pvp enviroment, it won't do any damage. In a raid, target the mob. Note that you can crit on any or all of the waves, so your theoretical maximum damage is 5100 (2550 X 2). Since rain spells are often resisted, it is a good idea to debuf the mob before using this spell.

"Targeted AE" sounds like our quadding spells - Fist of Karana, etc.
I usually call the Winter's Storm line "Rains" but whatever floats your boat.

I like the rain line myself, but rains are still usually not as efficient as the straight up nukes we get - especially if you get items that help single DDs like improved damage or our ornate gloves. This is because of the high resist rate of rains. I believe I read someplace that rain spells have a hard coded chance of resist, in addition to any innate resists a mob may have. So the damage/mana ratio isn't as good as it could be just seeing the spell on paper.

As with all AEs, be careful of using these spells indoors with multiple levels (like some dungeons) as you can hit mobs on different levels and create some ugly trains. Usually if there's enough vertical distance it won't hit mobs on other levels, but better safe than sorry.

My experience with rains: Rains will deal up to four discreet "pieces of damage," by which i mean a wave of 850. But it will only deal that damage in three waves. I'm sure there are a lot more rules involved but based on these observations I tailor my use of the rain.

So: I find the best use of rains is when there are TWO monsters in camp (and no chanter, obviously). Basically, find a target within melee range of the monsters you want to hit. If the mobs are stacked on top of each other, you can target one of the mobs to cast. If the mobs are both meleeing one target (i.e. the tank hopefully in a PVE server), target the tank to cast.

With this set-up, you should get TWO waves of TWO hits - one on each mob. In theory you could do 1700 damage to each target, base, and up to 3400 to each target if you crit each wave for each target (very rare, most i've ever critted is three of the four). So you could get 3400 dmg base for 500 mana or 6800dmg for 500 mana if you get lucky and crit a whole bunch. Then again, I've had times when mobs have resisted every single wave (that really sucks).

Against a single mob you will get three waves and could do 2550 dmg base or up to 5100 dmg if you crit all three waves (it's happened, but very rare).

Against three or more mobs, the rain will only do ONE wave for a maximum of 4 targets hit.

I hope this helps! I'm trying to /feedback to get the mana consumption on the 66 rain fixed - it's WAY out of line with our earlier rains AND out of line with other classes' rains.

Got Winter's Storm (850 dmg x 3 waves) yesterday, trying to figure out how to use this spell effectively...When I tried this in group, the mob got hit, as well as the tank, which he resisted, but still didn't like. So how do I use this effectively in a group situation?

Please help!!! 2550 Damage is to good to not use this spell!!!!!!

Well, its easy, log out to the server selection screen, select a new, non pvp server, log in, and create a new druid. If you want to keep playin on a pvp server, load up moonfire or some other single target nuke, and forget about using your rain spells in a group.

You really should not be using AE rain spells in groups or raids unless you know for certain there will not be any adds or spawns as part of the fight. You have to be able to control your damage and agro during fights, and rain spells are not the spell to use.

In my experience, the situations where you can reliably use rain spells are very limited. The worst thing you can do is have an enchanter mezz a raid add in the middle of AE spell and break mezz.

Oh come on half the time the enchanter wont even notice your rain spell breaking mez as some Sk/Necro has already dotted the poor thing. :whistle:

Just FYI. I run into alot to druids that do not know that the "rain" line of spells will either hit one mob 3x, two mobs 2x, or 4 mobs 1x. Now, lets think this through... IT IS JUST LIKE OUR MAGIC BASED AE, with what I call an alternate ("rain") use. It works great when quadding in fire.

This is my small contribution, in thanks for all the help this board has afforded me.

Keep up the great work guys.

Piggy

You really should not be using AE rain spells in groups or raids unless you know for certain there will not be any adds or spawns as part of the fight. You have to be able to control your damage and agro during fights, and rain spells are not the spell to use.

In my experience, the situations where you can reliably use rain spells are very limited. The worst thing you can do is have an enchanter mezz a raid add in the middle of AE spell and break mezz.What you have said is true for ALL AE spells, not just rains. I totally agree - do not use AEs "unless you know for certain there will not be any adds or spawns as part of the fight."

However, I disagree that rain spells can't be used to control your damage and aggro. Rains are a LOT more useful in groups and raids than our quadding spells because they're more versatile and flexible. Of course, you always have to be careful of mezzed mobs - that's just common sense. Rains are also more mana efficient than PBAEs unless you're in a dedicated AE group. I also get the impression that they are lower aggro than our DDs because the damage is spread out over time. Naturally, DDs are more precise aggro, can't argue against that, but I find you can put out more damage with rains and DDs combined than with DDs alone.

Just FYI. I run into alot to druids that do not know that the "rain" line of spells will either hit one mob 3x, two mobs 2x, or 4 mobs 1x. Exactly - rains have a larger AE radius than our quadding spells (mobs don't have to essentially be stacked on each other), with the added versatility of being useful against 1-4 targets. Plus, it's fun to watch, to boot!

Their drawbacks are high resist rates and lack of damage focuses leads to a lowered dmg/mana efficiency from what you would assume on paper.

The lack of control of damage or aggro is simply the fact a mob can be aggrod into/path by/mezzed into the middle of a rain spell that would have been otherwise unaffected. Once you cast the rain spell you have to hope that onlyt he mobs you wanted enter the AE range, and of course that they dont leave.

A lot of times its hard to judge the timing of a raid clearing mobs as monks pull without concern. One ae landed on a newly pulled mob is sure to get you aggro.

Rain spells, as viewed from a Zek server:

Rarely if ever used in group, unless it just happens to be group formed all of the same team, in which case let the Rain fly ~ its not bad DPM at all when the crits appear with frequency.

When charming, I primarily pet tank, in which case I let the Rain fly ~

Back in the day, Rain spells were a deadly means of defending a zone-in. I recall many moons ago, amassing a force in attempts to take Sebby or Chardok away from the enemy (this is way back when these were highly contested primary exp zones). Dozens of people zoning in simultaneously to find a throng of casters casting Rain spells ... lots of folks died pretty damn quick heh. Just brutal :)

My understanding from the mage class boards is that rains have an innate 20% chance of being resisted. So you will almost always see one wave fully resisted. This lowers their efficiency to below our best single target nukes.