Intro
Since there seems to be a shortage of both Mentalist guides and Mentalists ingame, and since I'm a bit bored at the moment I thought I'd write a guide about them to get more people to know and play them. Keep in mind while reading that English isn't my mothers tongue and this is my first guide.
The Mentalist is often described as the most versatile caster in the game and that I think is very true. None other can do so many things as a Ment: crowd control (and getting rid of it), damage in many forms, healing, and both power and health regens and there are bound to come even more options with future patches.
This about sums it up I think, so let's go over to the real guide.
Starting out
If you are completely new to the game I suggest you go here and read this "Newbie guide". This really sums the basics of the game up very well, though some info is outdated or completely wrong. I'll try my best to correct what is wrong, though at some points I myself will be wrong too. For a glossary of some abbreviations, this might be handy: http://www.mit.edu/people/rei/game-terms.html
Spells
Before continuing to the character creation part, I'd like to explain the different spell lines.
These are Mana, Light and Mind.
This is a usually quite accurate spell list for Ments:
http://www.classesofcamelot.com/spells/H_Mentalist.asp
The spell lines might be confusing at first, but you'll get used to them soon enough.
Mana consists out of Way of the Moon and Holisms, Light out of Way of the Sun and Illusions and Mind out of Mentalism and Mind Mastery.
The Way of the Moon and Sun and Mentalism are "baseline" spells; you'll get them always, even though you don't spec for them.
In Moon you'll get your self AF shield, your self bladeturn and your self ABS buff. These help you prevent damage from melee. You'll also get a damage shield here, but that isn't really useful, since it does nearly no damage and it can break root.
In Sun you'll get a nuke and a stun, which doesn't break with damage and lets your enemies just stand there.
And in Mentalism you'll get a basic heal and a single target Dot.
For the spells in Holism, Illusions and Mind Mastery you need to spend your spec points.
So if you spec in Mana you'll gain spells in Holism and your base spells will get stronger.
Holism grants you a power regen (Pot), a health regen (Hot), a single target Dot and an AE Dot.
Illusions gives you a better, more damage and less power use, DD, an AE DD and a charm.
A single target mezz, a single target confusion, a cure mezz and a better heal come with Mind Mastery.
You will notice that items can increase your spec to above your level, to increase damage, reduce variance and give more pet control. +Mana items don't have much effect but +Light and +Mentalism items do. Always try to get as many Light and Mentalism items as you can.
You'll also get an ability called Quickcast, when you become a Ment at level five, which will cast the spell at two seconds, thus faster at low levels, and uninterruptible. Though this will cost you more power.
The charm in Illusions is rather a fun one, though it's a bit hard to use at the beginning. It doesn't permacharm, but it "ticks" every four seconds and every tick charms the pet for ten seconds. The advantage of the charm is that it allows you too charm higher level mobs. (your level*0.6)+(your lightspec*0.4) is the formula for this. So when you're 50 and you have 50 light spec you can charm mobs up to 50.
But items (cap for this is [level/5+1] at fifty this is 11) and Realm Ranks (one for every RR, so +5 at RR5 or +10 at RR10) can add to your light spec so you could gain 60+ light spec at 50. Which gives you level 54+ mobs for pets.
There are downsides to this too. Every tick drains power, though not a lot and with Pot 1 you won't notice it at all. Also your pet sometimes resists a pulse and when you're fighting a mob when this happens the mob will come straight for you. When your pet resists two pulses in a row, it will attack you. It will recharm again, but to be on the safe side better throw a mezz at it. There is a max range (2000) on the charm, so it'll break when your pet is that far away from you. When you're mezzed or stunned your charm won't pulse and this has the same effect as the pet resisting a pulse, i.e. attacking you.
The charm comes in six upgrades each will give more mobs to control, but drain more power.
You should note that when you control a level 50 human mob you should use the first spell because it drains less power and has the same effect.
Spec templates
Though DAoC isn't a cookie cutter game it can't prevent some lines from being better then others.
The game uses certain "breakpoints",0 1/3 2/3 and full spec, to determine the effectiveness of your spells: at 0 your spells will range from 25 to 75% of their delve value, at 1/3 that becomes 50 to100%, at 2/3 75 to 125% and at full spec you'll have a 100 to 150% variance.
You can always make your own template and when you build one line a bit, to 2/3 at least, you will be viable.
If you want some guidance choosing a spec, here it is.
There are three basic templates for a Ment, being: strongly specced in Mana or Light or split between those two.
Strongly in Mana: 48mana 6light 24ment
This gives you the last Dot in Mana, which combined with the mentalism Dot should do some great damage, the first charm in light, and some decent healing and mezzing abilities.
48mana 22light 11ment
Also comes with the last Dot, but gives more charm options and consistency and also gains less variance on your nukes, though it gives up the longer mezzes and better heals.
46mana 4light 28ment
Like 48/6/24 but gives cure mezz which is I think is more useful then the last dot.
Strongly in Light: 24mana 45light 17ment
Gives the last nuke in Light, the last charm and ae nuke, you get the third Pot and
the second Hot in Mana and some decent mezzing and healing. (This is my spec for those interested ;)
10mana 45light 28ment
Same as above but you lose the third and second Pot and second Hot and gain
cure mezz and more healing and mezzing power.
24mana 48light 6mentalism
Same as first but you give up healing and mezzing for a pet that is two levels higher, which isn't worth it I feel.
Evenly spent: 36mana 35light 19ment
You get the third last Dot, the for last ae Dot, Hot and Pot, allmost all charms, consistent nuking power and some nice heals and mezzes.
This spec does suffer from the fact that you don't have many high level spells, so they'll get resisted easier.
You could also go the Mentalism route but there are almost no Menty Ments out there, for the simple reason that they don't bring anything to a group that someone else can't do better.
Take Bards, who resemble Menty Ments the most, who might not have the DoTs or nukes but they gain better Pot, better mezzes, better heals, the same confusion, cure mezz, end regen, speed song, reinforced armor, rez, AE mezz, insta mezz, insta AE mezz, amnesia, buffs, damage shout, a weapon, better hit points...
Even Mana Ments are better healers; their health regen heals more hp and for less power, it draws no aggro and you can combine it with regular heals.
If you really want to be different you can go this route, though it'll be really tough.
No one wants to group with you, friends or guild excepted, and you can't solo.
Though they might change in the future, at the moment they are probably the most useless spec, and therefore not really fun, in game.
24mana 23light 42ment
You'll get the last heal with this one and the second-to-last mezz, while keeping the third PoT and some nuking power.
You can always go here and make your own template too.
Whatever you do I recommend you go Mana until you're fifty or got a good guild. This is because Light and Mentalism Ments are often turned down for groups. Mana offers much more to groups, so you'll level faster.
Character creation
Now that you've looked at the different spell lines, you'll need to make your character.
Elves, Lurikeen and Celts can all become Mentalists.
Starting stats for these:
| Str | Con | Dex | Qui | Int | |
| Celt | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Elf | 40 | 40 | 75 | 75 | 70 |
| Lurikeen | 40 | 40 | 80 | 80 | 60 |
The other stats are 60 for all and don't matter for Ments. Qui is useless too, since it affects how fast you swing your staff.
Elves have the most intelligence and high dexterity, Lurikeen have the most dexterity and Celts are the strongest and hardiest.
Dexterity is used to determine casting speed and weapon damage, which isn't important, intelligence for your damage and power, constitution affects your hit points and strength is only useful to carry more items.
So whatever race you chose put ten points in dex, int and con. You can put more in any, but that will suffer from diminished returns, something which is really built into every part of the game.
The difference between the stats is not big enough to make one race better than another. Though there are advantages beyond the stats.
Lurikeen are the smallest race in the game, and are therefore harder to see and target. Celts can be disguised as a less fragile class, when wearing a vest instead of a robe and not carrying a staff. Only Elves don't have anything special, except their looks, though those make it all up.
Just take the race you like best, since you'll have to look at him for quite a while.
Magicians
I'll describe the other "pure" casting classes too, incase one of them suits you better.
There are four "pure" casters: the Eldritch, the Enchanter, the Mentalist and the Animist.
The Eldritch is supposed to be the realm's main damage dealer, the Enchanter relies a lot on his pet and the Animist can summon many pets, who remain stationary.
Check out http://www.classesofcamelot.com/ for some more information.
As of this patch (1.62 on Europe) the Mana Enchanter is the most popular because of the snare nuking pet, focus damage shield, PBAE and the ability to debuff their own damage type, hence increasing their damage. Second comes the Mana Eldritch with also PBAE, snare nuke, AE snare nuke, disease and AE Str/Con debuff. Thirdly the Mana Ment for his Pot, Hot and Dots.
Then come the Light specs with all of them the stronger DD and some other very useful things, like nearsight, AE mezz and AE dex/qui debuff for the Eldritch, attack speed debuffs for the Enchanter and charm and the AE DD for the Ment.
Then come the Void Eldritch with high damage, long range bolts and a Ground Target AE nuke.
Animists are thrown in here I think, not many play them because they take some time and taught to play well. They gain stationary pets, which themselves then cast spells. They get almost as many options as Ments, but are harder to play.
Of Menty Ments there are almost none, because they only get a mezz, a heal and a confusion.
Enchantment Enchanters aren't many either, for only pet buffs come with Enchantments.
You'll notice that Ments might not be able to do the most damage, but they fulfill many different roles and also gain great damage. They're the most satisfying class, for they can truly change the course of battles, if played well that is.
Soloing
Go to max range, by casting and interrupting your castings by walking backwards till it says "Your target is out of range", then go a bit to the front and start toasting the baddie.
When you're Light you need to find mobs that are weak to Heat damage, like trees, furry animals and the likes. You need to try it a couple of times till you get the hang of it, but the basic is just this: If it's orange cast a stun on it (this is after level fifteen, i.e. when you got a decent stun), then just throw your DD at it, it should drop easily, barring the once in a blue moon resist. If it's lower just nuke it. You could also charm a pet, and together you could really kill fast.
Try this for some pets: www.enygma.net/charm
For Mana go to max range, cast your spec Dot and your Ment base Dot, maybe a stun and some nukes and then start whacking it in melee. You'll want to have armor that's at your level when you're a Mana Ment, for you'll spend quite some time meleeing (waiting for the Dots to kill your target) when soloing.
It's rather hard to kill oranges with Mana, so best stick to chain-killing, or AE Dotting, blues.
When you're split spec, just use the above.
Also try to never go below half power, because power regeneration is greatly reduced below that point.
Grouping
Your first role would be crowd control, always check whether there are other mobs tagging along with the pull. When there are any, and you're not in a PBAE group nor is there a bard in the group, mezz them. Every line gets at least the first mezz, so always keep an eye out for any adds.
Mezzing them will make the fight a lot easier, because you'll be given some more time to deal with each mob. Then you can deal with your other tasks.
If there isn't a healer in the group, you can act as the healer, especially so if your Mana spec. First throw your HoT on who you want to heal, then follow up with regular heals. Our HoT heals a large amount of hit points for ten seconds, during which we can cast normal heals and it draws absolutely no aggro. This makes the Mana Ment the second best or best healer in PvE.
If there are plenty of healers use our damage spells, but only after the tanks got aggro, thus when they've gotten some hits in. If you nuke or DoT too soon or too hard, you'll get the mob on you. Quickcast a stun when that happens, so the tanks can get aggro again.
When a healer or other caster gets aggro, you can also cast a stun on the mob.
Most important is that you don't set yourself to just one task, but that you always keep attention to whatever is happening. Something always can, and will often go wrong, but with the tools you have, you are able to save a group from a total wipeout.
Lately, a new trend has been coming on: focus pulling.
For this you need only a Mana Enchanter and a Mana Mentalist and it is the most effective method for gaining experience. The Enchanter just sends his pet, with focus shield on, into a large group of mobs who will aggro the pet. The focus shield then does huge amounts of damage to all those mobs, as long as the Enchanter keeps the shield up, he doesn't run out of power or the pet dies.
The Mana Ment provides both the best PoT and great healing, which makes this the best duo for getting experience. The downside is that you won't learn to play your character from this and other people may get excluded from groups.
As a Ment you won't ever need to solo, since you're able to group with almost any class. So you can always send a message to someone to start your own group, which you can then get more members for.
Equipment
You'll only be able to wear cloth armor and carry staves. It isn't anywhere near any of the other armors, but in PvE you don't really need anything better. As a Mana Ment you will want to upgrade your armor as much as possible, with the meleeing you have to do while soloing. Light Ments are able to kill their target before it reaches them, so it isn't much of an issue.
Your staff
however is more important, since it will make you spend less power a spell.
On the
staff there will, most of the time, be a focus rating, which forces back power
usage.
It works
like this:
80% power cost when focus is higher or equal to spell level
90% power cost when focus is 3/4 spell level
100% power cost when focus is 1/2 spell level
110% power cost when focus is 1/4 spell level
120% power cost with no focus at all in that specline.
Between a focus at your level lies forty percents difference, which you will notice when you're not using a staff. Drops are rather rare at first, but you can ask your local tailor for help at that time.
Tradeskills
Ments can take up both tailoring and spellcrafting.
Tailoring allows you to make your own armor and with spellcrafting you can put magical enhancements on playercrafted armor and weapons, which makes your effectiveness soar.
Here you can find a good tradeskill guide.
Realm Abilities
For fighting enemy players you will receive RPs. With these RPs realmskillpoints will come and with those you'll be able to purchase RAs. A complete list of these, with a builder, can be found here: http://www.ping.de/~sven/daoc/configurator.html.
Keep in mind that the more levels you buy in a skill the more points this will cost.
Purge is really useful for when you're mezzed or stunned and you need to get back in the action fast. Or when you get jumped by an assassin to cure the poison, stun... Purge is lifesaver and a must have.
MCL can be used every five minutes and gives you a third of your power back, which is very handy.
Severing the Tether is our class-specific RA and when used will make all enemy pets in the area turn on their master for a whole minute. This can make pets a liability for enemies, but isn't really worth it's cost at a low realm rank.
Wild Power for Light or Wild Arcana for Mana Ments increases your chance to critical hit, hence increasing your damage a lot.
Avoidance of Magic gives you more magic resists, thus you will take less damage from spells and crowd control won't last as long.
Mastery of the Art will decrease your casting time, so you can hit the cap, which officially is two seconds, but actually is one and a half seconds. The more dex you have the more use you get from this one.
Mastery of Concentration will allow you to cast even while being attacked, making it a very nice ability, but rather expensive.
Serenity is the same as exactly the same as PoT, thus very useful.
Toughness gives you more hp, based on your current hp. More useful if you have a lot of hp already.
Long Wind allows you to sprint longer, so you can get away from enemies faster.
Augmented Stats raises your stats a bit and are often required for other RAs.
Battlegrounds
The battlegrounds are practice grounds for "real" RvR, here you get to fight other players from the other realms.
There are four different BGs: one for levels fifteen to nineteen, one for twenty to twenty-four, for twenty-five to twenty-nine and for thirty to thirty-five.
There is
also a cap for the amount of RPs you can have:
125 for the
first, the second one 350, 1250 for the third and 3500 for the last.
Which means that when you exceeded the level cap or the RP cap you can't get back in that BG.
The BGs are one of the most fun experiences in DAoC and a welcome change from the monster bashing. With the realm skill points you'll be able to buy some handy RAs, like MCL, which is a great tool for reducing downtime.
At the moment casters are at the top of the food chain here, unlike "big" RvR, due to the lack of battle-turning RAs and spellcrafting by tanks.
RvR
When you get to the forties you can go check out the realm versus realm combat, you can go earlier but you will only be cannon fodder for the enemy. This is the most thrilling part of DAoC, because other players can't be controlled as easily as mobs.
There are two kinds of RvR: small-scale battles and huge zerg battles.
And there are two modes: low Realm Rank and high RR.
And then there is the patch we're on.
In this patch (1.62) casters shine in huge battles and against low RR enemies.
In those huge battles it is a lot harder to really target someone and casters can then unleash their spells and rain havoc on the battlefield.
Against low RR enemies, who don't have the overpowered RAs yet, a casters life is great too, you can still stop them in their tracks with a mezz or a stun and then finish them off without seeing half of your damage gone, because of resists.
But when you meet a high RR ganksquad, you suddenly see tanks on which your mezz does almost nothing, your damage is halved and when they get to you they smack you down in three to five hits. The main reasons for this are both spellcrafting and RAs.
With spellcrafting you can max every magic and melee resist, the resist cap is 26%, and combined with racial resists and resist buffs you can get to 50% magic resists. Spellcrafting just cuts half of your damage and your crowd control off. Pure tanks also have access to better RAs and much cheaper than anyone else.
One of the best RAs in the game is Determination, which reduces the effect of mezzes, stuns, roots, snares by 15% for every level of it. It is also a lot cheaper than any other RA. If you have Det 5 and 50% magical resists, a nine second stun might only last for one second.
Ignore Pain is a full self-heal, thus actually doubling their HPs. It costs almost a full mana bar to take a tank down and then he just presses IP and he's back to full.
These are some reasons why most ganksquads today exist only out of pure tanks, healers and some utilityclass.
Do keep in mind that this is bound to change, some months ago it were casters who ruled over the battles. Tanks didn't have any chance back then to kill a caster. So now the times have changed and they will keep doing so.
One exception to the above are casters that can debuff their own damage type, like the Mana Enchanter. The debuff strips all the resists for that damage type from the target after which your nukes do insane amounts of damage. When there is a Mana Chanter around always use /assist on him, this will give you the same target, and then start nuking. You'll see your damage doubled, which is nice.
Some useful links
Just some links: http://www.camelotaddict.com/index-links.html
More links: http://www.online-roleplayer.net/
Some nice info: http://www.classesofcamelot.com/
Realm ability builder: http://www.ping.de/~sven/daoc/configurator.html
Character builder: http://daoc.catacombs.com/cbuilder15.cfm
A great Ment guide: http://www.kinsmenofhonor.com/forum/printthread.cfm?Forum=2&Topic=75
Mentalists board: http://pub108.ezboard.com/bmypetmage
Team leader's site: www.wpi.edu/~jayrod/
That's all I can come up with at the moment but I do feel there's something to keep you busy.
Closing
I hope this little guide of mine taught you something, though you can't learn to play a class from a guide, you need to play it to experience the thrill of it all.
The most important thing is that you have fun, so you can do whatever you like. Since after all it's only a game.
If anything is missing I do think it can be found on one of the links.
If you want to help me improve this, you're welcome to e-mail me at pizzas@hotmail.com.
©Iemand
