Primer
The rankings assume that the involving fights are in a 1v1/2v2/3v3 context, without usage of carrot cakes/item heals.
Novice
Ranking: S
Heals 8%/8%/16%/16%/24% every tick at 2.3/1.95/1.95/1.6/1.6 seconds. Lasts for 5 seconds, and is canceled upon any damage taken
This is important everywhere in the game, made mandatory by pvp with the amount of damage other players can deal off of such few attacks. Whether or not you win certain fights will depend on your ability to evade and perform safe casts of recover until you can kill someone who can’t.
You don’t need lots of points for this to be effective. 8% or 16% heals is more than enough to fill your entire health bar within a full duration of the effect, to the point where the 4th and 5th point is something you only would need if you have high hp and desire to be very aggressive to the point where you are walking towards people as you are healing.
Ranking: S
Increases movement speed by 3%/8%/12%/16%/25% for 10/10/10/15/15 seconds.
There are a few instances where you can live without this. But in it’s place has to be something with enough mobility to justify what you lose here, like Blink. Everyone including Mystics can use this ultra versatile skill for practically anything, chasing, kiting, juking, etc.
Before, this used to have the same property as Recover, being dispelled upon taking any bit of damage, now being exempt from this condition, it’s amazing. In a game where mobility = survival, any source of additional speed is a essential boon you need in your kit. Paired with this, speed buffs also affect the distance of your dashes for even more agility. Mind the mana cost, and use this frequently to close distances, and vice versa.
Ranking: B
Throws a fast moving rock dealing 5 pure damage. 0.35/0.3/0.25 cast time, and 2/1.45/0.9 second CD.
Upfront, this is a universal ranged attack that has damage consistent enough, that around 4-6 hits of this can urge the average health pool of a player to go Recover. It’s use doesn’t end there, as it’s real power lies in how ridiculously ******* fast this spell comes out, to the point that this spell can be combo’d both into and out of almost everything you can do in the game. Dashing? Toss a rock. Casting fluxbolt? Add a rock to it. About to jump in on someone? Start off with a rock. Anything with a longer cast time can be interrupted if timed very tight as you make your move as well.
This is placed at a B tier though, in relation to other spells you can invest points into and get more use out of however. Novice skills have ample utility, but by the time you invest into Legup and Recover, you’ll have to start speccing your actual class skills, and the extra utility you get from Novice is just about peaked. If you plan to fight Mystics, really consider this spell, but consider what a extra point in Blood Gush or a Fluxbolt would do for you instead. There’s use for Rock Toss, but you have to find it where you can.
Fighter
Ranking: S
Deals 19 (100%)/ 25 (174%)/ 31 (244%)/38 (316%)/44 (388%)/51 (460%) physical damage in a circle around caster, adding a slow for a short time. 0.3 cast time.
Manacost: 6/6/8/8/10/10 CD: 3 secs
If you’re a Mystic, you hate this. If you’re a Fighter, you love this. It says something that at base numbers, the max rank has so much power. It’s high damage, lightning fast cast time and sheer AoE makes this a outstanding skill that every fighter build should consider taking. It’s great for going on the offensive, and powerful when defending against a approach. A critical hit stomp is equivalent to a crit rocket from tf2, keep that in mind.
In a fight, your aim is to land this on your enemy at every opportunity. If they survive, you finish them off assisted by the lasting slow debuff it applies. Remember that dash distance is affected by movement speed, and combo into a skill or flurry of weapon swings. Outside of throwing yourself at someone to hit this, just having the skill puts a circle around you that makes people keep out unless they are sure they can hit you safely. Use it frequently but wisely, you can very easily end up OOM.
Ranking: B
Grants 5/8/15/20/25/32 attack power for 8 seconds.
Manacost: 5 CD: 12 secs
This is just a straight up damage steroid for weapons and skills. 5 mana for about as much attack power as a full gear set of killer.
Use to be aggressive, pressure and make space for either teammates or scare someone into letting you regen. Taking this means you not only take a slot away from more mobile abilities for your bar, but skill points that could go into them. It’s a great supporting ability though for what you already do best, and can even be great for a Killer gear replacement (tank builds).
Ranking: C