Best uses for binding word?

[riverer]

I've been looking at the mountain crash stigma set and wondering what I'll end up going when the time comes. I quite like the look of mountain crash, but rage spell and binding word are looking soooo bad. I slotted rage for the first time and despite putting it on/off loads of times during grinding, I couldn't tell a difference (lvl38) no matter how hard I looked.

So that's one wasted Stigma, I had binding word in that slot before and hardly used it at all. The snare is very brief for the cast time, and I never really got to grips with the physical silence part of it.


So, what exactly is binding word useful for, what are examples you'd use it and be thankful you had it.

I was wondering if its more useful when you have the ranged stun, stun->bind-> catch, or stun->bind->kill while unable to act or something like that.

Whenever I've tried to use it i've either got 'out of range', its been resisted or its just not felt like its made a difference.

[kr0sis]

When you consider the cast time, cast animation recovery time, and measly 5s duration I think it's hard to use it effectively as a snare. In the level 30-40 or so range I found the bind to be particularly annoying against melee classes as a combo breaker (especially assassin). I'm just under L42 now so I havn't had a chance to try it out in combination with IJ/SS, but it seems like the cast/animation/duration issue would still more or less exist. If you can actually catch up to the target (stun), booming smash seems to do a better job snaring overall. I just wish it had a shorter CD.

[Tyrant]

Would like to see it castable on the move, then it would be actually useable.

[riverer]

So is general opinion that mountain crash means 2 wasted stigma slots for these abilities? Seems a very high price to pay, even if it does look pretty good.

[raeyne]

hmmm, maybe you can use it when you see that gladiator trying to Precision Cut you, or that Assassin chasing after you (after he uses his ambush), or after the templar pulled you (with IJ) and is whacking you (and preparing for his chains).. or to 'silence' that ranger that is firing you down from high up on air, even though 5 seconds is short (and is cc potable, i think)... it might give u the chance to 1. run away from a disadvantageous situation, 2. the chance to lock them in a Knock Down/Stunned position..
If you think the cast time is too long pop Word of Quickness? Maybe?
Don't use it on the chase, it's not meant to be used that way..

[Consilium]

Binding word should not be used as a snare but the melee silence part of it is actually quite useful. A great strategy to use vs sins glads and temps is to stun use a quick chain then cast binding word and use another chain, then kite until the stun is back off cool down. The one problem is that it is potable, however since most of our abilities also apply debuffs potting is not a guarantee that it will take binding off. Binding can also be used in this fashion to pull off heals, in a stun heal bind heal heal rotation, of even just by itself since casting it prior to your heal will make it more difficult for them to interrupt your heal cast. It can also be used as a snare but it's not as effective and will require you to pull off a stun first to really benefit from the snare portion.

Rage is not the greatest stigma for pvp but it is still far from useless. Once you get recovery spell you'll find that you really have to spend far less time healing in most fights than you did before, so the downside of rage becomes less prominent. Whether or not to use rage really depends on the class you are fighting, for clerics, temps, and other chanters rage is great because the extra .3seconds it adds to recovery spell is really unnoticeable when you hardly ever have to cast heals vs these classes.

Judging by the comments about how hard clerics are to beat by some of the chanters on this forum i'm guessing that many do not know how to properly fight them. For essentially all other fights. (except maybe other chanters) the longer the fight goes on the better off we chanters will be, for clerics however that is not the case, extending the fight only results in a stalemate. For clerics you need to be unrelenting, you must constantly be chasing them forcing them to either kite your or take damage when they try and heal. This becomes much easier once you hit 42 because even if they never stop running sooner or later you are going to get a stun off and be able to deal some damage. The general strategy from the cleric is to wear you down with dots while kiting and healing. Any increase in damage is greatly helpful in this fight because the goal is to simply out damage the clerics healing long enough to pull off a kill, and if you keep your own HoT up it will counteract a good portion of the clerics dots allowing you to go long periods of time before healing. Rage becomes very useful in this situation in my experience.

In general whether or not you use rage depends on how likely you are to be bursted down by the class you are fighting. For classes with little burst, temps, clerics, sms, and possibly glads, rage is beneficial whereas for rangers, assassins, and sorcs it's more harmful. Either way neither stigma is useless, although neither one is fantastic either, they just need to be used in their proper place.

[riverer]

Thanks for the input.

Re-Rage- does it become more noticeable with higher lvls/gear? I mean I can see how it'd be fairly useful if it increased damage, but I really don't notice any increase. I was trying to remember numbers for my skills on mobs for over an hours grinding with it on/off and even with consciously trying to compare skill with/skill without I couldn't see a difference, so if there is one it must be extremely small?

[Eskopommi]

if you mean rage stigma, I think it affects only base attack. Unless I remember it wrong. SO gear doesn't matter.

[kr0sis]

Rage is not a huge boost, but considering it's debuff is rather minor it seems fairly balanced. At level 40 or so, the boost is only about +30-40 attack. But WoI is similar. Victory Mantra is also only +20. Food is only +10. Power shards, +25. I still use those, and they all add up. Would I notice taking any single one of them away? Probably not too much. Do I notice if I take them ALL away and I'm sitting short over 100 pts of AP? You bet. Part of the problem trying to measure it's effectiveness is that your natural damage range is greater than the benefit from the buff. It's entirely possible to use an ability with the buff, then remove the buff, then use the ability again and hit for more damage. That doesn't mean the buff doesn't do anything.

if you mean rage stigma, I think it affects only base attack. Unless I remember it wrong. SO gear doesn't matter.

It affects white base Attack, not green bonus Attack. This is how all % buffs in the game work. However your white base Attack is almost entirely based on your weapon, so saying gear doesn't matter is not accurate. Bonus +Attack mods or stones on gear are not boosted by Rage, but bonus +Attack from enchanting your weapon is.

[Kandrah]

One of the problems with this is that Binding Word doesn't work like an interrupt (and imo it should).
It never stopped an already cast ability from being executed - you have to cast it BEFORE they try to start a skill.

So, as pretty much most of your skills it's not a reactive skill but a preventative one.

[Soran]

Originally Posted by Kandrah

One of the problems with this is that Binding Word doesn't work like an interrupt (and imo it should).
It never stopped an already cast ability from being executed - you have to cast it BEFORE they try to start a skill.

So, as pretty much most of your skills it's not a reactive skill but a preventative one.

also kandrah, binding word conflicts with booming smash. I tested this and if you cast binding word with booming smash on, it says it cannot dsue to conflict with another skill. If you use booming smash binding is still in effect, it will overwrite it. How gay

[Cocowoushi]

Enhancement Mantra + Binding word sounds fun against Sins.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Ego]

its a group utility spell in my eyes, pop it on the sin who's beasting your sorc and give the sorc some breathing room. solo its worthless due to the cast time.

[riverer]

Originally Posted by Ego

its a group utility spell in my eyes, pop it on the sin who's beasting your sorc and give the sorc some breathing room. solo its worthless due to the cast time.

Thats a very good point, it does make more sense thinking of it like that.

[Kandrah]

Originally Posted by Soran

also kandrah, binding word conflicts with booming smash. I tested this and if you cast binding word with booming smash on, it says it cannot dsue to conflict with another skill. If you use booming smash binding is still in effect, it will overwrite it. How gay

0_0 seriously? I never noticed that, but maybe I was just "lucky" to not cast it when BS was on the target, but I haven't used Binding Word in ages.
That's pretty sad.