Rift - Return on the 4 new souls

Onidra, Drakmaul and I went to the test server to test the new souls available since Monday:

• Mage: Arbiter (Onidra)
• Thief: Doctor (Juliaan)
• Priest: Oracle (Juliaan)
• Warrior: Liberator (Drakmaul)

The videos were posted to reddit by Seatin, which you can also find on his YouTube channel.

 

Mage: Arbiter

Arbiter Tree of Souls

A mage who can tank, obviously, that intrigues. Before starting, I want to clarify that I don't have a lot of experience as a tank, mainly playing DPS on MMOs. So, my Mage is usually a Reaper or Choloromancer. In order to create my tree, I didn't search too much, putting 61 points in the Arbiter, 15 in the Chloromancer and 0 in the Archon (although it might be more interesting to make other combinations, I found it interesting to have a little more ability to heal myself while taking advantage of the Archon's Stamina upgrade).

The mage will thus be able to attack with water and air spells, requiring a melee weapon and charge (15). It will inflict damage, single-target and multi-target, including area attacks that will also apply shields, whether to allies or to the Mage. In terms of class-specific spells, I think I've identified two that will give real tank characteristics. Arcane Ward is 8 points from abilities:

And here is the very important second, the ultimate ability at 61 points, Ebb and Flow:

Among the capacities, in bulk, we find:

• passive or long-lasting personal improvements (the goal is therefore to always have these improvements activated for maximum efficiency):
  • reduces damage taken by 3% (1h).
  • increases Stamina by 138.
  • increases threat based on stamina.
  • the two abilities mentioned above, Ebb and Flow and Arcane Ward.
• spells to cast on oneself:
  • Places a shield that absorbs 30% of all damage taken for 6 seconds. Mana is reduced by 15% of damage absorbed (every 1 minute)
  • absorbs 100% of the Mage's total health for 10 seconds (every 2 minutes)
  • reduces damage taken by 20% for 4 seconds (every 30 seconds)
  • launches a self-healing (depending on the Charge).
  • gains mana by taking damage (no more Charge is gained)
• improvements for others:
  • Reduces the threat generated by the raid member, redirecting it to the mage for 6 seconds (every 30 seconds).
  • protects an ally, intercepting 50% of their damage and replacing the ally's toughness with the Mage's toughness (every 30 seconds, 2 minutes cooldown for the same ally)
• a single target taunt every 8 seconds, multi-target on 5 targets every 20 seconds and multi-target on 10 targets every minute (lasts 3 seconds)
• an improved taunt, bringing the enemy to the mage's location, forcing them to attack the mage for 3 seconds (every 45 seconds).
• a charge, very practical for quickly reaching contact (every 15 seconds, from 3 to 20 meters).

Florelia, from the Three Kingdoms Guild, invites you to discover all these skills in detail in this guide.

In the tree, we will inevitably find various improvements, increasing endurance, resistance, intelligence, damage suffered, but also all the previously mentioned spells ... Here are some talents that I think are interesting to understand how it works. of the referee soul:

I have only scratched the surface of the mage's mechanics yet, but the Arbiter seems very effective, possessing many spells to deal with the threat of enemies and protect his allies. On the other hand, on the damage side, we really only have one ability based on mana, all the others will require Charge, we will have to efficiently manage this resource between damage abilities (mono or multi) and auto. -heal (which consumes the entire Charge). Note that the ability that allows you to recover mana blocks the generation of Charge (if you do not understand why your Charge does not go up ... check that Cristallize is not active!).

 

Thief: Doctor

Trees of Souls Doctor

The Doctor is therefore the new soul of the Thief, who will allow him, like a Cupid, to use his bow to heal his friends.

At first glance, looking at the talent tree, we can see that the Medic benefits from a lot of healing spells (good luckily, he is there for that!), Basic for the most part single-target, but with talents in the tree allowing them to become multi-target, like Medicinal Leething, which can heal up to 4 party members for 33/66/100% of the heals performed.

Dispel is also part of the Medic's arsenal, with a classic single target, which removes 1 curse, 1 poison or even 1 disease. But also a multi-target ultra-dissipation which removes one of these three effects at 10 group members maximum.

To complete this palette of spells already well supplied, the Medic has shields to place on the group or himself, absorbing damage from enemies. And of course a resurrection in combat, in the event of a hard blow.

After a few games played with my buddy the Raptor, I who don't really plan to specialize in healing, I found the Medic to be relatively classic in his way of dispensing his spells.

Finally, I have the impression that we could very well replace the bow with a wand and the Thief with a Mage. The soul is nonetheless fun to play and rather easy to pick up for those, like me, who have not had the experience of playing healer.

 

Priest: Oracle

Oracle Soul Tree

The Oracle is therefore the new soul of the Cleric, who will specialize him in support. The soul is based on Emblems and Insignias, dealing damage to enemies and granting its caster various effects. He also benefits from many spells helping his allies in combat.

I'm a bit used to playing Support with my Thief with the Bard Soul, and although at first glance the way of playing might seem pretty much the same, there are still some small differences.

I didn't try to understand much about the talent tree, I put the 61 points in the Oracle soul to see all the skills, and 15 points in the Protector soul for additional healing. Obviously, the Oracle tree is very focused on support, providing skills and bonuses protecting your allies and giving them positive effects, but also on maximizing the damage of your emblems.

The ultimate 61 point ability is Battle Fury, which resets and reduces the cooldown of your Insignias to zero, as well as the Priest's overall cooldown to 1 second and lasts for 10 seconds. A skill that is available every minute. A real little burst, which can cause big damage to enemies while allowing increased protection for little friends.

In terms of capacities, we find everything:

• Emblems, which deal damage and give the caster bonuses:
  • Emblem of Alacrity: Inflicts Water damage and reduces the cast time of its next non-Emblem attack or heal and its mana cost by 33%.
  • Emblem of Ice: Deals Water damage and increases the damage or healing of its next attack or non-Emblem healing spell by 20%.
  • Emblem of Pain: Deals Death damage and applies Agony to the next non-Emblem attack, dealing additional damage over time.
• Badges, the main sources of damage
  • With a somewhat peculiar skill, Corrosive Insignia, which inflicts extremely high damage over time, but which in return increases the damage taken by 10%.
• A little care:
  • Cleansing Chant, a Dispel spell, but with a tree talent, allows a shield to be applied to the target equivalent to 2% of the Priest's health.
  • Defend the Fallen, which shields 10 allies and increases damage to all party members by 15% for 15 seconds. Recharge time: 2 minutes.
  • Icy Cascade: A classic heal, which consumes all Emblems, and increases the heal by 100% for each Emblem consumed.
  • Insignia of Protection: Has a 15% chance to shield the target when attacked, absorbing damage for 10 seconds.
• Inspirations, giving the party various effects each time a Badge is cast:
  • Inspiration of Battle: increases Attack and Spell Power and Critical Chance.
  • Inspiration of Survival: absorbs damage.
  • Inspiration of the Keep: Reduces damage taken.
• "Buffs" (positive effects), which increase characteristics, armor, speed.
• "Debuffs" (negative effects), increasing damage taken by enemies or causing additional damage.

The Priest therefore benefits from a fairly wide range of blows, allowing him to be extremely versatile, especially in association with other souls.

 

Warrior: Liberator

Tree of Souls Liberator

Drakmaul, from The Three Kingdoms Guild, invites us to discover his first experience as a healer with the new soul of the Warrior, the Liberator.

My first experience as a Healer will have been as a Warrior! And what a Healer! The complete set to support your group in turmoil.

• Treatments for the whole group:
  • Ameliorate: up to 2 health points in 503 seconds on 10 limbs; generates 10 attack point
  • Group assist: Up to 3 instant health points on 150 members; generates 10 attack point
  • Mass casualty: up to 1 hit points over 766 seconds for the entire raid; generates 15 attack point; Can stack 1 times
• Very good heal on your favorite tank (I was able to test on an "Arbiter" mage in cloth armor):
  • First Aid: up to 5 health points.
  • Quick Ramedy: up to 8 hp. 629 second cooldown and generates 15 attack points
  • Fast relief: up to 8 health points.
• Shields:
  • Castigate: up to 4 damage + 830 shield points on you
  • Mass rescue: a shield up to 3 points on 446 members of the raid. 10 minute cooldown.
  • Extraordinay care: An 8 point shield that lasts 644 seconds. Points remaining under 15 seconds heal you that much!

Dissipations, a rez in combat, a burst of healing ... I repeat: a very complete panoply. Being completely new to a healer, I found my marks quite easily. The above list is not exhaustive ^^

The Warrior set will therefore be complete and will therefore be able to assume all roles.

 

So much for this first overview which is not intended to explain in detail the operation and optimization of these new souls. Guides are starting to be published on this subject if you are interested in a little theory (links referenced by Rift Junkies):

• PTS Liberator Guide (Credit: RoughRaptors)
• An Introduction to Mage Tank (61 Arbiter) (Credit: Ianto Jones)
• Basic/Prelim Physician Guide (Credit: Durango)
• 61 Oracle Guide (Credit: Soulshield)