(10-27-2013, 05:02 PM)Naunet Wrote:Quote:Stoneskin is flat-out amazing
It's not. For 266 mana, you can place a shield on a target that absorbs damage equal to 18% of the target's HP. If your tank is a PLD and let's say, for the sake of discussion, that they're in full Darklight, then they probably have ~5.5k HP. That's a whopping 990 damage abosrbed. My Cure I can crit for well over 1k HP and regularly heals for 800. My Cure II heals for ~1.3k and can crit for nearly 2k. Cure II has the same cost as Stoneskin. Cure II's cast time is also significantly less than Stoneskin's. This makes Stoneskin horribly inefficient in a mana:heal ratio unless your tank happens to be a WAR (which, if the tank has 8k HP, would mean your Stoneskin is absorbing 1440 damage). Stoneskin is a spell you cast at the start of a fight or when you have nothing else to heal and feel like buffering your tank's HP a bit (and then it's only really worthwhile if your tank happens to be a WAR).
It doesn't seem like you understand. That 266 mana is not even a factor since you're mainly applying Stoneskin before fights happen, in which case your mana will regen to full anyway. You're not using Stoneskin while your tank is taking damage. You're using it before he does and in between damage spikes. Your Cure spells are for while he's taking damage.
The only time I cast Stoneskin is after a mob is killed or if during a boss fight (or any other fight, really) there is a lull in the damage taken. Otherwise, it's more efficient to cast Cure.Â
You really should keep Stoneskin up on everyone in the party as often as you can.
Kate Lander
