Sylph Series Part 2a: Gaia

(Posted by Eliatan of the DolyGames Team)

Edit (Oct. 2014): When this was originally written, what is now called Eve was then called Gaia.

Hey you guys, in the second enrollment of my sylph series, we're talking about the ever-popular Gaia! Just an FYI about your man Cosmos, Gaia is his absolute favorite sylph, because she's so pretty and pink and flowery -- like a corsage and he's Ken at the prom. Hehe :P

Squeesquee! Ohhhhhhh, COSMOS! ♥.♥

Before we get started
I'll specify in advance that this is a guide for Gaia, and not her refined form, Hercules. I'll definitely try to do posts on the refined sylphs, but that may take a bit, as I'll need to at least see each in action before I go saying anything about them :\

Who should have one?
Gaia is a valid option for players of all classes. Whether just a secondary sylph for World Boss and other single target play, or as a main PvP sylph (the sylph you put the most resources into), there are reasonable justifications for anybody to build up a Gaia.

Which are the best skills to get for her? (In order of priority)

1. Jupiter's Wrath - Step one to single target DPS glory.
• Description: 225% + 225 damage to a single back row target. 80% chance to make a random skill unavailable for 2 rounds. 
• Powerful and with only an 8 second cooldown, this is an awesome skill. It prioritizes players, which means even if troops are still in play, this should be your lead PvP move with Gaia, to take a chance at removing one of your opponent's important skills.
2. Unstable Voltage (Passive) - Single target DPS glory.
• Description: Increases attack by 5% everytime damage is taken. Stacks up to 50%, lasts 2 rounds.
• This is an extremely powerful passive. Put yourself in front of your troops for World Boss to take full advantage. During group battles it can stack up to the full 50% quite quickly for huge delphic power! 
3. Flash Storm - Extra single target DPS glory.
• Description: 240% +265 damage to random single target (prioritizes players) and deals 20k damage to troops.
• Powerful, but with a 45 second cooldown, can only be used once per awakening, which is why Jupiter's Wrath is more appealing.

What about the other skills?

1. Roll of Thunder - Just don't bother.
• Description: Deals 150% + 100 damage to a random target. Floating damage +20% for 2 rounds.
• I think this is supposed to be a potential replacement for Thundering Strike, Gaia's most basic attack, but it's not at all worth the balens. I'm always a bit iffy about the benefits of floating damage.
2. Jupiter's Blessing - High cost for questionable return.
• Description: Crit rate and crit damage increased by 10% for 3 rounds.
• There aren't many of the 500 Awakening cost blessings that I like, and this is no exception. The skill comes at a really high awakening point cost for what it is. 
3. Master of Thunder (Passive) - A nice passive, but not an imperative purchase.
• Description: After taking damage, chance to increase crit rate by 15% next round.
• While I like this passive, especially when it procs as I'm about to delphic, it's chance-based and probably triggers at best once per awakening. Also, for obvious reasons, this is only for players with a crit build.

When are the best times to use Gaia?

• Single Target PvE -  World Boss, Sky Trail, Necropolis, Spire -- any time you want to hit one monster, Gaia's your girl.
• 1 vs. 1 PvP - Gaia is a great single PvP sylph, particularly for players that set themselves up well before awakening. Unlike Iris, Hades, or Apollo, Gaia has no defensive or healing abilities, so it's better to go into sylph form healthy or at least shielded.

What are the cons to building an Gaia?
There are very few drawbacks to choosing Gaia as your main sylph, but I'd say if anything, her popularity is the biggest issue. Since it's well-known that Gaias are all over the place, most people will stack up a lot of electro resistances to counter her -- you won't have that issue if your best buddy is a Pan. Another notable downside to Gaia is her fragility -- she's very "Kill or be killed" So, if that mentality suits your personality and playing style, that's great. If not, you may want to consider a creative alternative.

For Mages picking Gaia
Also, if you're a mage choosing Gaia as your primary sylph, and plan to use her in Class Wars as well, you really have to commit your resources -- don't get caught up putting sepulcrum into other sylphs until she's in really good shape. Enchanting her a lot will help your HP and refining into Hercules is an urgent project. While Gaia is great against knights and archers, cracking mage MDEF is another story. I'm sure there are lots of tales about how much people can crit mages for, but it's simply very high risk to bring this sylph to mage Class Wars. Since he has a skill to reduce MDEF, Hercules is a much more viable option, to even out things out against the PATK pet users.

Gaia naming contest!
Here's my Gaia, Hoegaarden (Who-gah-den), what a cute Belgian white beer (witbier)! Comment with the best name for a Gaia (doesn't have to be the name of your Gaia), and I'll name my mine after YOU for a week :P

Iris naming winner!
Winner for the Iris naming contest is Michael Aldrete (tell your parents they're awful for not keeping your name under 12 characters) for suggesting Katara! Avatar's an awesome anime and it's Iris-appropriate :)

Next up, Amazon Queen!

Check out the other Sylph series post!
Sylph Series Part 1: Iris

Sylph Series Part 1: Iris

(Posted by Eliatan of the DolyGames Team)

Hey you guys, been meaning to start a series of posts on sylphs for awhile now, so hopefully I have my thoughts together by now lol :). I'll start out doing one post on each of the six, but please let me know in the comments if there are any sylph-related topics you'd like me to post about, and I can get to them in the future.

I thought Iris would be a good place to begin, since she's the most versatile.

Who should have one?
Everybody should have an Iris. Especially for archers and knights, if you don't have the option to use Iris, your overall utility is considerably less than it should be.

Which are the best skills to get for her? (In order of priority)

1. Rain Dance - Congratulations! You're super useful.
• Description: Restores 133% + 500 HP to all teammates. Similar to a mage's Blessed Light, this is the obvious first choice.
2. Master of Water (Passive) - Congratulations! You're exceptionally annoying.
• Description: Acheron Wave (Delphic) has a chance to bind target for a round. What this doesn't specify is that it's a very high chance to bind. More often than not, this passive skill will work if the person has it. It is so fantastically obnoxious when you're on the receiving end.  
• This is my 2nd recommendation for anybody who plans to use Iris in a lot of PvP situations (particularly good for group PvP). If you just want to use Iris for PvE support, forget about it and skip to (3). 
3. Ice Armor - Congratulations! You're a mage.
• Description: Cleanses debuffed allies. Equivalent to a mage's Purification, when combined with Rain Dance, you've made yourself a nice little faux-mage. This is especially great to have if your Spire team contains zero or one mage in it.

What about the other skills? (Edited in 7:48pm 2014-05-10)

1. Tsunami - I'm personally not a big proponent of it, though I think many believe this is the second choice after Rain Dance.
• Description: Deals 145% + 156 damage to all enemies and removes one debuff from ally with the lowest HP. 
• It's not all that powerful of an AoE, and its cleansing ability is pretty useless outside of single PvP play, which is not Iris's specialty.
2. Neptune's Blessing - High cost for questionable return.
• Description: Healing effects increased by 20% for 3 rounds. Consumes 500 Awakening points.
• This skill comes at a really high awakening point cost for what it is. And a 20% heal increase isn't worth spending a skill slot on. 
3. Spirit Well (Passive) - A luxury passive of uncertain value.
• Description: The target of Warm Spring has damage reduced by 5% for 3 rounds. Similar to the QTE on a mage's Restoration skill.
• It's unlikely that this passive is going to be the make-or-break buff in most cases. Best case scenario, it will land on your team's tank and help break the fall from big front-row delphics. 
• Not something I'd recommend to small budget players. At all.

When are the best times to use Iris?

• Any time you're short a mage.
• Group Anything - Unless you have 2 or more mages, whether it's PvP or PvE instances, groups almost always benefit from at least one Iris. 
• Tanking - Iris is the only sylph with passives giving both PDEF and MDEF increases (3% of each).  I really like knights that combine her and apollo shield in Arena or Guild Battle, where they just absorb damage and healhealheal, while everyone else AoE bombs the hell out of the enemies.

What are the cons to building an Iris?
Though Iris is incredibly versatile and okay in most cases, she is really not ideal for single PvP situations. Iris's biggest weakness is to electrical attacks. Since Gaia is rightfully one of the most popular sylphs, this puts Iris at a huge disadvantage if other players aren't around to help absorb some of those big electro hits. For these reasons, I wouldn't recommend that anyone build an Iris as their main sylph (the one you choose to put the most resources into), unless you really don't care for Class Wars or Battleground.

Iris naming contest!
Here's my Iris, StellaArtois, what a pretty Belgian lager! Comment with the best name for an Iris (that isn't ObamaCare, because I've already heard that one and think it's hysterical), and I'll name my Iris after YOU for a week :P

Next up, Gaia!

Check out the other Sylph series post!
Sylph Series Part 2: Gaia

Share Your Pets' Names!

(Posted by Eliatan)

Hey you guys, promise I’ll try to keep releasing semi-constructive content, but I wanted to do a post on pet names just for fun ^^

As most of you know, and I have a little example below, once you get a sylph, you can name and rename it for free. I love all the various themes people come up with. Mine are all named after beers:

I named the pets of an archer I play after the Carter family:

Another personal favorite, which I won’t post here, is a friend that names all his sylphs different euphemisms for a certain part of the female anatomy ...

And then of course there are the ones named after yours truly :P Wartune has fulfilled all my dreams of being likened to a fun size candy.

So what do you guys name your pets? I’ve seen so many different themes. A lot of people name them after their friends, TV and movie characters, colorful ways of telling people to go f*** themselves ... lots of options! Please share and gimme a good laugh!