Age of Conan: Tempest of Set Class Overview
MMORPG.com Age of Conan Correspondent Mike DeHart writes this overview of the Tempest of Set, the Stygian healer in Funcom's Age of Conan.
Tempests of Set in Age of Conan are the official priest class of the Stygian nation. They worship the snake god Set and call upon lightning powers to deal excellent single-target and area of effect (AOE) damage. They also have the ability to heal and resurrect allies. This guide will provide you with an overview of the tempest class, their pros and cons and give some helpful builds to get you started.
- Archetype: Priest
- Permitted Races: Stygian
- Weapons: One-handed blunts, one-handed edged, polearms, daggers, bows, crossbows, and thrown weapons.
- Armor: Cloth armor, light armor, and shields.
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Overview:
The Tempest of Set is the healing class of Stygia, and although they are formidable group healers, that is only a small part of the class. The tempest is more of a healer/DPS hybrid than a pure healing class. Their healing ability isn’t as powerful as a Priest of Mitra or Bear Shaman, but they make up for this with strong damage spells and crowd control. The tempest has seen more changes than just about any other class since release, but they still remain quite powerful. They are also quick levelers due to their ability to efficiently AoE grind using lightning attacks like Storm Field and Column Lightning.
Pros:
The tempest can deal out the most damage of all three healing classes. When combined with root and mez abilities he/she can be a formidable opponent against both monsters and other players. They get nifty snares and mez abilities fairly early on. Quicksand at level seven and Cobra Stare at level 13 for example. And unlike some classes that scale poorly as higher levels, the tempest only gets better as he/she levels higher. Throw in the tempest’s ability to heal and resurrect other players and you have a class that is not only great in groups but is one of the best solo classes in the game.
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Cons:
Don’t let that big shield fool you, tempests are restricted to light armor so they are squishy and won’t last long toe-to-toe with a melee class for very long. Since they are primarily offensive-focused, they lack many of the defensive abilities and shields that Priests of Mitra have. Also, the tempest’s damaging spells, though very powerful, are very mana intensive. A tempest spamming Lightning Strike will soon find his/her mana pool dry up very quickly. Although they have solid offensive abilities, the tempest’s healing spells are lacking compared to their Priest of Mitra and Bear Shaman counterparts. So if your top priority is healing, the tempest probably isn’t going to be your best choice.
PvE and AOE Grinding:
As a tempest, you shouldn’t have a problem with most enemy NPCs as long as you use quicksand well and keep Healing Lotus on yourself when necessary. If you do get stuck in melee always remember to use active blocking and double tapping to avoid taking full damage. If you’re finding mana (or lack thereof) to be a serious issue try to use items that increase your wisdom as this increases your mana pool. Also, always remember to carry plenty of mana potions for tight situations. You might also think about investing points into general feat tree abilities that will help with mana regeneration such as Ether Flow and Saintly Warrior. Questing and normal grinding is your best bet until the late 40s and early 50s. By then you should have the splash damage to attempt AOE grinding. While it is much riskier than conventional grinding, you can electrocute a lot more NPCs in a lot less time if you master this technique. Usually the best formula is to apply all your HoTs (heals over time) and Storm Crown and then run or sprint through the NPCs you’re fighting and aggro them with melee. Begin casting Storm Field and use active blocking to stay alive. Throw in a Column Lightning if the NPCs are especially difficult and they should be falling to your might in no time. This is just a basic combination though once you get a feel for AoE grinding you can customize your spell combos depending on what the situation calls for. AoE grinding is even more effective with a group, especially with a tank or healer to mitigate damage.
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PvP:
As a healer, just like almost every other MMO, you’re going to be targeted first most of the time in PvP. Add on the fact that tempests have arguably the worst defense of all three healing classes, and you’ll find that melee classes seem to have a homing radar on you. Remember that double tapping is going to be your best friend in PvP. Double tapping is simply hitting one of your directional keys twice. If you do it quickly you will receive a temporary buff as well as faster movement and better dodging especially when used in conjunction with sprint. Each directional double tap has a different effect:
- Forward – gives you a temporary stun buff that allows you to stun a player for 1.5 second with a successful melee hit. This stun happens fairly often, around 40 or 50 percent, and can provide you with time to get back at range or at least interrupt whatever combo your enemy was about to smack you with.
- Left/Right – Temporary magic resistance buff of 10 percent.
- Backward – The most useful for dealing with melee attackers, and a favorite of tempests, double tapping your back button gives you a 50 percent evasion buff for a short time.
Your goal should always be to get back at range. From there you can root, mez or just electrocute the heck out of the enemy. Don’t forget to heal and slap your HoTs on yourself and your allies, they’ll really appreciate it since good healers, especially in PvP, are always in short supply.
Talent Builds:
The tempest’s two main feat trees are thunder and lightning. Generally, thunder is considered the healing/utility tree and lightning is for damage. It is best to max out one or the other at 80, either for group utility or damage, depending on what you want to do endgame. However, while leveling I believe both trees have useful abilities and I would advise putting points into both as you level, depending on what you will do. For example if you know you’ll be grouping a lot the idol abilities in the thunder tree are very helpful to both the tempest and his teammates. However, generally more damage = faster grinding so I’d recommend investing most of your early points into the lightning tree. If you do plan on AOE grinding, improving Storm Field in the lightning tree is a necessity as well, namely investing in the spells Set’s Storm, Set’s Brutality and Titanic Storm.
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