Beginners Guide for Rift Necromancers

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy 1 Comment

Hey Bob here,

First of all, if you’re expecting an advanced Necromancer guide for Rift then I’m sorry, this isn’t it! This short guide is for beginners who are thinking about trying the Necromancer soul tree.

Okay, onto the Necromancer. Well, I can say it’s one of my favorite Mage souls, especially for leveling in Rift. You will have little to no down time with this soul tree, it will make leveling so much quicker.

The Necromancer is obviously a pet focussed soul tree and has a number of spells and abilities to improve the pet damage. It also has this thing called Deathly Calling. You have various spells which as well as doing damage, will also lay on stacks of these Deathly Calling.

The idea is that your pet will be more power and use up the Deathly Calling stacks for more powerful attacks and defence.

But to be honest with you, I didn’t find it work too well. It took me so much time to build up the Deathly Calling stacks and also the monsters were dead so quickly, that the system didn’t really work for me.

Maybe I’m missing something, please contact Rift Guide Review if I am!!

So my advice is put your first points (all 5) into Death’s Ally to increase the damage of your pet and yourself, instead of Deathly Plague (which improves the Deathly Calling ability of Plague Bolt).

I would continue putting points and get Soul Purge as soon as possible. You will notice a massive improvement in your DPS and survivability with Soul Purge.

At level 16 I advise your Necromancer to use this soul tree spec.
Necromancer At Level 16

I really didn’t have a problem with Mana with the Necromancer, so I didn’t bother with the Consumption and Greater Consumption spells.

After 16 you have a number of options but I branched into the Warlock soul tree for the extra DOTs and to get the Improved Void Bolt. I tend to use Void Bolt over Plague Bolt, as it has less casting time (when improved) and more damage.

Here is a great video of someone using various Necromancer and Warlock spells in PVP. He is quite high level but it will give you a taste of things to come…

Anyway, thanks for reading this short Rift beginners guide for the Necromancer soul tree. Trust me, give that soul a go and you will love it!

Rift Guides, Rift Leveling Guides , ,

My Favourite Rift Cleric Leveling Souls

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy Leave a comment

I wish I had more hours in the day to play Rift Planes because I now have 3 ‘main’ characters! I’m now playing a Mage, Warrior and most recently a Cleric. I haven’t tried a Rogue much, apart from trying out some Rogue tips from some guide but I’m sure I’ll get around to that as well.

Anyway, I’ve been playing my Cleric in Rift the most recently and I thought I’d share my favourite Cleric souls in Rift.

Shaman Soul

The main Rift soul I use for my Cleric is the Shaman soul. I find the Shaman fantastic when I level in Rift.

It has great big hitting abilities like Massive Blow, some defensive abilities (which I really like) such as Glacial Shield and finally some reactionary abilities like Fated Blow (used after being dodged or parried) and Glory of the Chosen (used after you have been critically hit).

The great thing about reactionary skills is they do not use a Global Cooldown.

Justicar Soul

The Justicar is my life saver soul in Rift. This allows me to take on many enemies in PVE, I’ve had 6-7 on me and just about survived.

You need to spend enough points to get Mien of Honor (10 points) and make sure you get the amazing Doctrine of Bliss spell which is a fantastic self heal.

I ended up spending 11 points into this soul tree to get the Reparation spell which is a kind of AoE melee heal. This isn’t so useful when leveling in Rift solo but it really comes in useful in groups or PVP combat.

Another amazing spell in the Justicar soul tree is Bolt of Radiance. This is a ranged spell that does pretty good damage and is instant cast. It has a cooldown but only of 8 seconds, so I use it very often in PVE and PVP in Rift.

Druid Soul

The final soul tree for my Cleric in Rift is the Druid soul. Various Rift guides suggest not spending any points into the Druid tree to get the very useful Faerie (which is great advice, as this pet really helps) but I actually spent 2 points into Druid to get the great Shield of Oak spell.

The Shield of Oak spell in Rift is an absorb type spell and it absorbs quite a lot of physical damage and is only on a 30 second cooldown. Plus it is on a separate cooldown from the Glacial Shield absorb spell from the Shaman tree.  They don’t stack but you can use one after the other.

By using Glacial Shield first then Shield of Oak when it runs out, has saved me so many times while leveling in Rift and also PVP.

So those are my three favourite soul trees in Rift for my Cleric.

My Rift Cleric

My Rift Cleric with Shield of Oak

Rift Guides, Rift Leveling Guides ,

Which Rift Guides Do You Want Reviewed?

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy Leave a comment

So far we have only reviewed the Xerxes Rift Mastery Guide found here.

We are in the middle of reading through two other Rift leveling guides (I’ll let you know what they are once they are finished!) but I’m interested to hear what guides for Rift our readers want us to review.

So if you have seen a Rift guide that you want reviewed or even a tip for Rift which you don’t know if it works or not, please Contact Us now and we’ll do our best to help.

I’d love to type more today but I’m late for Rift with my uber Mage Warlock / Necro!

Rift Guides ,

Sorry Rift Guide Review was down!

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy 2 Comments

Hey Bob here,

The servers hosting our website had a problem yesterday, so Rift Guide Review was down for some hours. So we’re sorry about that!

Everything is back and running now and we are busy gathering more Rift tips and reading through two Rift guides for us to review.

By the way, I just had to say, my Rift Mage tried out Soul Purge (part of the Necromancer soul tree) yesterday. All I can say is, you just have to try it out as soon as possible!

It’s a channelled spell which uses your Charge for power and does a good amount of damage. The gem through is it heals you and your pet lots as well.

The Soul Purge spell has made a massive difference in leveling in Rift as well as Rift PVP.

I’ll be updating our Mage Rift leveling guide (I know, it’s a little small at the moment) with more information regarding Soul Purge as soon as I can.

Also, check out the ‘Warlock/Necro/Dom’ video in our Cool Rift Videos page for a great video of a guy showing you various Warlock and Necro spells in PVP. One of them is the Soul Purge spell.

Rift Warlock

My Rift Warlock (one day!)

Rift Guides ,

More Rift Guide Reviews

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy Leave a comment

Hey Bob here,

As well as our own Rift tips, we have one complete review of a commercial Rift guide so far and that is the Xerxes Rift Master Guide review. So feel free to check it out.

However, we’ve had a load of our readers ask us for reviews of the other guides for Rift and also for more of our own free guides. We just want to let you know, we are on it! :)

We’re currently reading through two (possibly three) other guides for Rift and we’ll be writing up full reviews of these as soon as we can.

What I can say is some of them are mostly Rift leveling guide books and some cover a wider range of Rift tips.

When I say we’ll be writing, it will probably turn out to be little old me writing, as the other guys here at Rift Guide Review are too busy playing Rift! Errr I mean, they are too busy testing Rift to find out new interesting Rift leveling, PVP and class soul tips for you. ;)

Trion Rift

Rift Rogue Guide

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy 2 Comments

This guide will cover the basics, various roles for a Rogue in Rift and some recommended Rift Rogue souls.

If you want a Rift Rogue leveling guide then I’ll be writing that soon and will place a link here. Please check back.

THE BASICS

What are the Major Roles for a Rogue in Rift?

Rogues in Rift have 8 very different types of souls. And the first word which pops into my head is ‘variety’ and ‘flexible’ (OK, that’s two words!)

  • Assassin – The Assassin in Rift is your pure melee DPS soul but don’t expect WOW Rogue type damage
  • Blade Dancer – The ‘Dancer’ is also a melee DPS but they include various abilities to reduce damage to them
  • Nightblade – Another melee DPS Rogue but they can also do fire type damage
  • Marksman – The ranged DPS Rogue and great for kiting hapless Warriors
  • Ranger – For those players who like pets and want to go phyical ranged DPS then this is your class
  • Bard – This is your all rounder doing damage, buffs and even heals
  • Riftstalker – Kind of an off tanking soul tree
  • Saboteur – The Saboteur can use bombs, which work well in PVP

Rogue in Rift

 

Strengths

Like most classes in Rift, your set of skills great change depending on your soul tree choice but Rogues are particularly good at doing damage and support.

Weaknesses

There have been complaints that the melee DPS for Rogues are not quite good enough, making them more of a support and damage class.

But to be honest with you, I think that will be balanced out soon, the developers at Trion World really listen to us gamers.

Mechanics

The Rogue mechanic is pretty similar to the mechanics for Rogues in WOW. So you have energy and combo points.

So you begin at full energy and each type of skill you use, drains this energy. It rebuilds quite fast though.

You build combo points by using your skills, which are then drained for special finisher skills.

Stats

The recommended stats for a Rogue are;

  • Dexterity – This increases the attack power, critical chance and dodge of your Rogue. So this is a very important Stat.
  • Strength – Another important stat which increases the attack power and parry.
  • Endurance – More health which is always a good thing!

Rift Rogue

RIFT ROGUE RECOMMENDED SOULS

I’ll go into more detail in our Rogue leveling guide (finished soon) but for now, here are some of the fantastic souls for Rift Rogues.

Rift Bard Soul

Okay, stop laughing already! ;)

I’m being serious, the Bard soul is absolutely fantastic and a must for most Rift Rogue builds.

It has so much utility and even some healing as well.

Rift Marksman Soul

This soul is currently doing VERY good damage and being ranged is a big bonus. I think the developers will nerf this but for now, I highly recommend going for this soul.

Rift Ranger Soul

Assuming you put most of your points into Bard and Marksman, I would still pick the Ranger for the pet. You don’t have to put points into it, just get the pet.

RIFT ROGUE SUMMARY

Well I hope this small Rift Rogue guide has given you some useful hints and tips on how to enjoy and play your Rogue in Rift better than before.

You can also get the Xerxes Rift Mastery Guide which I’ve used and found useful.

Just to let you know if you buy the guide from the link below, I will get a commision but I have used their guide and my opinion of it is honest.

The Xerxes Rift Guide

Rift Guides , ,

Rift Planes of Telara Warrior Guide

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy Leave a comment

Rift WarriorsOne of the fantastic things about Rift classes is that we have so many choices and so many roles to choose from!

One of the things I found a little frustrating in another online game called Warhammer Online was each melee type of class had a number of different set classes, such as the Chosen which was a tank with okay damage options. But if I wanted to do some real melee damage, I had to level another completely different class.

You simply don’t have this problem in Rift Planes! You can completely change your ‘Warrior’ into so many completely new and different roles.

By the way, if you are looking for our Rift leveling guide for Mages then check is out at the Rift Mage Leveling Guide page.

First of all, if you’re new to Rift and thinking about playing a Warrior then you should go for it, they are great in PVE (Player vs Environment) and PVP (Player vs Player) and a good fun choice.

This is probably quite obvious for most gamers but in case you’re new to all this, a Rift Warrior has two major styles of play, with lots of sub choices.

These two play styles are a Tank, which means you soak up a lot of damage and attract the attention of enemies. This role is great in PVE, where you and your friends fight monsters in the game. And you’ll always find groups, people love tanks in their groups.

The other role is DPS (Damage Per Second), which basically means you are going to do loads of damage but can take less damage and won’t last long versus lots of enemies. This style is pretty good in PVE but it’s quite amazing in PVP, where you fight other players and have to finish them off really quickly.

To make the actual customizations to your Warrior (or in fact any of the classes in Rift), you choose a number of Souls. These Souls have a number of abilities and spells, from very minor low powered skills to very powerful high level skills.

Fun in Rift

In the very beginning, you will only have one Soul to choose from but later one there will be lots more as you level in Rift.

Now there are so many soul trees to choose from but a good recommendation to start off with are the Riftblade and Champion.

You will want to concentrate on the Riftblade skills the most with some left over points into Champion.

As you level through the ranks, use skills like Flamespear, Fiery Burst and Fork. In the mid levels, you can use skills like Freeze Armor before you use Flamespear and Fiery Burst.

Another useful skill is Thunderstrike which uses less power than the other attacks, so it’s useful in certain situation where you keep running out of power.

A great skill to use is Rift Surge. Build up 3 combo points first then use it.

Another cool thing about the Riftblade soul tree is that you can use a shield and still do pretty good damage, because the damage is set and less dependent on your items.

If you like the pure tank builds then a good choice is the Paladin. They have some great tanking abilities if you like that kind of thing. Personally, I like to stick with the PVP builds but you will have a problem getting into some dungeon groups as a PVP Warrior.

It’s not a problem though, just buy a second ‘Role’ and then you can have one Role for PVP and one for PVE tanking.

To sum up, the Warrior is a great class in Rift and can perform many different roles. The Riftblade is great for your Rift Warrior leveling with some amazing skills. And for those who like to play a Rift Tank then the Paladin is the choice for you.

I hope this Warrior guide has proven helpful to you while leveling or doing PVP with your Warrior. Just experiment and don’t be afraid to try out new Rift Warrior builds. That is all part of the fun.

If something doesn’t work out with a particular choice, that is no problem, just change your souls and skills back to what you had them before.

You can also get the Xerxes Rift Mastery Guide which I’ve used and found useful.

Just to let you know if you buy the guide from the link below, I will get a commision but I have used their guide and my opinion of it is honest.

The Xerxes Rift Guide

Rift Guides , ,

Rift Mage Leveling Guide

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy Leave a comment

This is more of a mini guide / post but I hope it will help you with your Rift mage leveling.

Just to let you know, if you’re looking for a Warrior guide for Rift then take a look at our Rift Warrior Guide page.

For most of the MMOs that I play, I normally go for a Mage type class (although in WOW, my main is a Warlock, mainly Demon spec), so in Rift the Mage was the class for me.

I think the imported thing to keep in mind is;

  • You need to take on many mobs at the same time.
  • Have some way of control agro (so you don’t have loads of enemies on you).
  • And have a way of healing yourself.

So with this in mind, I think a pet build like the Rift Necromancer soul, together with the Warlock soul is a great choice!

With the Rift necromancer soul, you’ll have a great pet for taking on these multiple mobs. The Rift Warlock soul will allow you to damage many enemies at the same time, not instantly (like a Pyromancer who does loads of AoE damage quickly) but using DOTs.

You’ll need to make sure you have the Life Leech spell active on your multi mobs and use other spells such as Dark Touch and Necrosis.

Rift ScreenshotI’d say keep Life Leech on 2-4 mobs, any more is very risky for you. Later on you can get Soul Purge to damage enemies and also heal yourself, so I think you could take on more mobs at the same time.

Obviously make sure you control the number of mobs that you pull and always keep an eye out for on your health!

For the third soul, I think the Dominator soul is a fantastic choice for your crowd control spells.

And you can use the Neural Prod spell (which is an instant spell) to finish off nearly dead mobs.

And finally use Transmogrify (another instant spell) for damage and it is also an amazing crowd control spell.

To sum up, try those three souls and experiment with the spells, pulling a number of mobs (start small and work your way up). Keep Life Leeching and use the other spells when you can and remember to use the instant spells whenever you can and when you need to finish mobs off.

You can also get the Xerxes Rift Mastery Guide which I’ve used and found useful.

Just to let you know if you buy the guide from the link below, I will get a commision but I have used their guide and my opinion of it is honest.

The Xerxes Rift Guide

Rift Leveling Guides , ,

Rift Tips and Rift Guide Reviews!

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy 2 Comments

OUR SEARCH TO FIND THE BEST RIFT GUIDE!

Here at Rift Guide Review, the place for Rift guides and full reviews of popular guides for Rift.

We have a review of the Xerxes guide which can be found here.

Rift Guides , ,

Reviewing the Xerxes Trion Rift Guide Soon

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Bob the MMO Guy Leave a comment

Hey, Bob here,

Rift Guide IntroSmall update. I’m in the middle of reading through a guide called Xerxes Rift Guide. It’s taking me longer than I thought, as there are so mini guides, which are a bit confusing but I’m getting there.

I’m quite impressed so far. They have a couple of real beginner guides (which I think most people will skip but I guess if you’ve just started Rift then they’ll be useful) as well as the advanced Rift leveling guides, Rift class guides and Rift warfront guides.

Trion Rift , ,