WildStar Spellslinger DPS Guide
WildStar Spellslinger DPS Guide by Destrin
The Spellslinger is a highly mobile, long range, damage pumping, pistol wielding space cowboy/cowgirl with access to both physical and magical attacks. Combine that with some really nice utility abilities and some powerful heals and you just can’t go wrong in loving this Class.
So, What does it mean to be a Spellslinger? It means you wear light armor, so keep your enemies at a distance because you are kind of squishy. It means you have lots of choices when it comes to putting together ability loadouts in your limited action set. It means that you can prepare to have a lot of fun blowing things up!
If you are new to the class, welcome! You can find below that I have laid out a list of each of the Spellslinger’s assault abilities with some tips on how they function I have started with the most important ability the Spellslinger has, Spell Surge. Hopefully this will get you started in your quest of getting to know the Spellslinger. You will also find contained below a brief overview of the Spellslinger AMP.
If you are looking for some information on getting started at healing take a look at a this wonderful post written by Irullan.
Spellslinger Stats
There are only a few stats you really need to invest in that will increase your DPS as a Spellslinger: Finesse, Moxie, and Brutality.
- Finesse Increases your Assault Power, which makes your Assault Abilities stronger.
- Moxie Increases your Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Severity.
- Brutality Increases your Strikethrough (Hit Chance) and Critical Hit Severity.
All you really need to know is that you are going to want to stack Finesse as your Primary stat, Moxie as your secondary stat, and brutality as your tertiary stat.
Spellslinger Class Innate: Spell Surge
Spell Surge
Instant Cast
0.5 sec CD
Requires 25 Spell Power to activate.
While Spell Surge is active, your Assault and Support abilities receive a Surge Bonus.
The Spellslinger’s Innate ability can be argued as having the highest skill cap out of all of the Innates in Wildstar. Making sure you use Spell Surge wisely will directly affect your performance, so make sure you play with it a lot and get a good feel for it! With the shortest Cool Down of all the Class Innate Abilities you will be using it far more often than any other class. It functions like a toggle, So you will turn it on when you want to use it, and turn it off so you don’t waste some resources on your next cast.
Spell Power is the resource that is consumed when you use an ability with a Surge Bonus while you have Spell Surge active. In Short, You only burn your resources when your Innate is active (Toggled on). Each ability that is modified by a Surge Bonus will eat 25 Spell Power if cast while Spell Surge is active. You only have 100 Spell Power so you can either burn four abilities with a Surge Bonus all at once, or conserve your resources to make sure you have some at your disposal when you need it! The current passive regeneration time in combat from 0-100 Spell Power is 30 seconds. There is also an AMP (Critical Surge) that gives you a little extra regen that is worth speccing in to.
In the image above you can see the Spell Power resource indicator. Each bubble is 25 Spell Power.
Spellslinger Assault Abilities
I won’t go into as much detail as to listing the actual numbers listed on the tool tip or the equation for how the damage is calculated for each ability. Those will all change based on your level, stats, build, and Rune Sets so I will try to keep it “real”, and try to give you an idea of how they actually work instead. I may end up adding the damage calculation equations for each ability, but it is not included so far.
The Assault Ability Window seen above is where you are going to spend your Tier Points. You gain one Tier Point Per level starting at level 10. So when you hit max level (50) you will have 41 Tier points. When you spend Tier points in an ability it gains in strength. The small cells are minor upgrades and cost one Tier Point to upgrade. The large cells are the Tier 4 and Tier 8 Major Upgrades, and these cost five Tier Points to upgrade. The points you spend are not permanent, and there is a lot freedom in how you can spend your points as a Spellslinger. See below for a description of each ability and how they might benefit your playstyle.
New Feature: Hover over each ability name for a Tool Tip!
Quick Draw
1.0 sec Channel
No Cool Down
Range 25.0 m
Free Form – 20° Cone
Mobile
Deal a small amount of physical damage to 5 foes every 0.33s.
Surge Bonus: Damage Increased.
Tier Upgrade: Small damage increase per shot for both normal and surged versions.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Each hit grants a Swiftness for 1.0s. Swiftness: Increases Movement Speed by 20%
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: On channel end, grants an Empower for 6.0s. Empower: Increase Assault Power by 10%. Does not work outside of combat.
Destrin’s Comments:
This is your filler/spammer/basic ability (whatever you want to call it). You will only hit this when everything else is on CD, or if you have it at Tier 8, to keep that Assault Power buff up. Once you hit level 45 it will almost be mandatory for you to fully tier this ability to 8.
Charged Shot
2.4 sec Charge
See below for Cool Down
Range 35.0 m
Free Form – Column
Stationary
Deal Magic Damage to 5 foes.
C1: Small amount of damage, 2s CD
C2: Small amount of damage, 3s CD
C3: Half of C4 Value, 5s CD
C4: Deals a full buttload of damage, 10s CD
Surge Bonus: Reach full charge in 1.4s
Tier Upgrade: Small damage increase for each level of charge. C4 damage Increase is a nice gain.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Expands telegraph width by 1m and CAN NOW BE CAST WHILE MOVING.
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: C4: Deals a moderate amount of extra damage when Spell Surged.
Destrin’s Comments:
Charged shot has 4 levels of charge. The first three levels of charge are pretty much garbage. For Charged shot to be fully effective you will want to use a full charge, noted as “C4” above. Charged shot is one of your hardest hitting abilities and can be mobile at Tier 4. It is super effective so have fun with this one.
Ignite
1.0 sec Cast
No Cool Down
Range 35.0 m
Free Form – Column
Mobile
Deal a really small amount of magic damage every 1.0s for 6.0s and the last tick deals a small amount of magic damage to 5 foes.
Surge Bonus: Deal a small amount of magic damage every 1.0s for 6.0s and the last tick deals a moderate amount of magic damage to 5 foes.
Tier Upgrade: Small damage increase to each each and a slightly larger upgrade to the last tick.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Cast time and Global Cool Down reduced to 0.5s.
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: Normal and Surged versions can affect a target simultaneously.
Destrin’s Comments:
This little ability is strong enough to build a whole LAS and rotations around. It can be tough to monitor the debuff it applies but once you get it you will be glad you did. You do not want to overwrite your Ignite stacks because a lot of the damage comes from the last tick. Each Spellslinger can have 2 stacks of Ignite on a target if they both have it Tiered to 8, so don’t worry about overwriting each others, just worry about your own.
Wild Barrage
2.5 sec Channel
14.0 sec Cool Down
Range 25.0 m
Free Form – 35° Cone
Mobile
Deal a small amount of physical damage to 5 foes every 0.25s.
Surge Bonus: Deal more damage per tick and pierce 100% armor.
Tier Upgrade: Small damage increase to each tick.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Now affects 10 foes.
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: Snares foes by 50% for 0.5s.
Destrin’s Comments:
This is a nice secondary consumer/finisher/CD ability (whatever you want to call it). The Cool Down is too long for it to be one of your primary output abilities, but the channel time is good for when you are waiting for other Cool Downs to come off. Surge Bonus is also nice and is not a waste if you need to burn a little extra to get some more DPS in. This ability will be primarily used for Multi-Target fights.
Chill
1.3 sec Cast
7.0 sec Cool Down
Range 35.0 m
Free Form – Column
Mobile
Deal a small amount of magic damage to 5 foes and applies a snare.
Snare: Reduces Movement Speed by 35% for 4.5s.
Surge Bonus: Decreases cast time to 0.0s and reduced movement speed by 55%.
Tier Upgrade: Small damage increase. +0.25s to snare length.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Reduced Cool Down to 5.0s.
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: Normal: Snare Increased to 50%. Surged: Snare Increased to 70%.
Destrin’s Comments:
This ability is really a utility ability and does not belong in the Assault list. There are only a few fights that might require you to bring Chill. In open world you might want to bring it just in case. I rarely have this on my Bar.
Rapid Fire
1.0sec Channel, Multi-Tap – 4 Taps
10.0 sec Cool Down
Range 25.0 m
Free Form – 30° Cone
Stationary
Each Tap: Deal less than a moderate amount of physical damage 3 times to 5 foes.
Surge Bonus: Each Tap: Deal a moderate amount of physical damage 3 times to 5 foes.
Tier Upgrade: Small damage increase.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Restores 25% of a dash token each tap.
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: Each tap reduces True Shot’s Cool Down by 1.0s.
Destrin’s Comments:
This can be one of your best output abilities. You can put together builds that focus on mashing this baby whenever it’s off Cool Down. Be careful though, it may not be your best choice for highly mobile fights. With a 4 second stationary cast time you need to know you will have the time to plant and get this bad boy off every cycle. This is also one of your best abilities for conserving Spell Power and leveling in general.
Flame Burst
Instant Cast
8.0 sec Cool Down
Off Global Cool Down
Range 35.0 m
Free Form – Column
Mobile
Deal a moderate amount of magic damage to 5 foes.
No Surge Bonus
Tier Upgrade: Small damage increase.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Landing a Magic attack reduces Cool Down by 0.5 sec.
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: Landing a hit on foes that are under the effects of Ignite deals a less than moderate amount of damage every 1.0 sec for 2.0 sec.
Destrin’s Comments:
Flame Burst is a great ability. It does not hit very hard, but it is on a short cool down and off the the global cool down. It is hard to replace this ability with something else on your LAS as it is the only damaging ability we have that is off the global cool down. Be careful though, it will interrupt a channeled cast spell if you hit Flame Burst while that spell is channeling.
Assassinate
Instant Cast – 2 Charges
8.0 sec Recharge
Range 35.0 m
Free Form – Narrow Column
Mobile
Deal a moderate amount of physical damage to 1 foe above 30% health. Deals a large amount of physical damage to foes below 30% health.
Surge Bonus: Removes the below 30% health requirement for full damage.
Tier Upgrade: Good damage increase to both normal and Surged versions.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Increases Max Charges to 3,
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: Landing a Killing blow with Assassinate restores all charges.
Destrin’s Comments:
Assassinate is awesome! Fantastic for single target fights this ability is easily fit into almost any rotation. After it has been cast it only causes a 0.5 sec Global Cool Down. Almost all of the Spellslingers other abilities cause a 1.0 second cool down. The Surge Bonus is nice is for any Moment Of Opportunity on a PvE fight (when you are sitting on extra Spell Power). Its great for PvP too, those Surged Assassinate crits hurt!
True Shot
Multi Tap – 3 Taps
2.0 sec Cast
18.0 sec Cool Down
Range 40.0 m
Free Form – Narrow Column
Mobile
Deal a moderate amount of physical damage to 5 foes. Second Tap Cast Time 1.0s, Third Tap Cast Time 0.5s.
Surge Bonus: Reduced Cast Times to 1.3 sec for the first cast, 0.65 for the second Tap, 0.33 for the Third Tap.
Tier Upgrade: Good damage increase.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Pierces 50% Armor
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: Increases to a 4 Tap Maximum. The Last Tap is an Instant Cast.
Destrin’s Comments:
True Shot can pack a punch, but I hope you have good aim cause the telegraph is narrow. This long reaching sniper shot will make it’s way on to at least one of you builds.
Arcane Missiles
1.8 Sec Cast
12.0 sec Cool Down
Range 25.0 m
Free Form – 30° Cone
Stationary
Deal a moderate amount of magic damage distributed between 3 foes. Applies Expose. Expose: Reduces magic resistance by 5%. Stacks 2 times.
Surge Bonus: Deals more damage distributed between 3 foes. Applies Expose. Expose: Reduces magic resistance by 5%. Stacks 2 times.
Tier Upgrade: Small damage increase. Increases Expose by 0.5% per Stack.
Tier 4 Major Upgrade: Now can be cast while moving.
Tier 8 Major Upgrade: Deals full damage to each foe.
Destrin’s Comments:
Arcane Missiles is almost one of those things you need to bring. The Expose is a great debuff and will literally increase you and your party’s magic damage output by 10% at Base Tier (This is changing soon and will no longer such a large damage increase). Tiered up it’s even better. The Tier 4 Major Upgrade makes this ability a must have to any magic damage dealer. This ability will not be your best choice for large AoE fights. (Thanks Rex_Marksley)
If you are looking for a description of the Healing and Utility Abilities take a look a this post made by Irullan:
Spellslinger Healing: Getting Started
Spellslinger Assault AMP
You start to gain AMP Points when you reach level 6. You are going to want to start spending these immediately because they unlock some badass passive abilities. I usually start spending into the Assault Tree first because most of the Second and Third Tier AMP you can pick up are going to be the best for increasing damage output. I have only listed the AMP that are relevant to the DPS so there is some information missing here if you are looking for more Utility or a PvP build. Some AMP are purchasable at a reputation vendors for pretty cheap. If you are looking for there locations check out this post and save yourself some plat:
When you spend these point they are semi-permanent. Meaning that you will need to reset them at an Ability Vendor if you want to change them.
I will be adding the rest of the AMP later. I just wanted to get the most important DPS information on here as fast as possible. The AMP that are missing will not increase your DPS, but they will be good for reference as to why they will not.
See below for an explanation of the AMP shown above.
These are not numbered in the order in which to you want to unlock them. I am just showing you what you have at your disposal that will give you a DPS increase.
- Armor Pierce Line: Increase Armor Pierce by 2%. 6% total with full line.
- Assault Power Line: Increases Assault Power by 2.5% per point Spent. 7.5% total with full line.
- Strikethrough Line: Increases Strikethrough 1%. 3% total with full line.
- Critical Hit Line: Increase Critical Hit Chance by 2%. 6% total with full line.
- Critical Hit Severity Line: Increase Critical Hit Severity by 4%. 12% total with full line.
- Deadly Chain: Landing a Physical or Magical attack grants 1 stack of Empower based on damage type. Empower: Increase Damage Type by 1.5%. Stacks 3 times for a total of 4.5%. Lasts 15s.
- Vengeance: When an attack gets deflected you gain 6% Strikethrough Chance.
- Withering Magic: Landing a hit while Spell Surged decreases foes Magic Resistance by 7.2%. lasts 8.0s.
- Trigger Fingers: Using Quick Draw reduces Cool Downs by 0.5 sec.
- Critical Surge: Landing a Critical Hit grants 6 Spell Power. Can only occur once every 6 sec.
- Power Surge: While Under the Effects of Spell Surge you gain 8.6% Assault and Support Power.
- Gunslinger: Using an Ability with a Cool Down grants 2.5% Critical Hit Chance. Stacks 6 times.
- Assassinate: Unlocks Assassinate Ability
- Surge Damage: Using an ability when Spell Surged grants 10% damage Increase. Lasts 4.0s.
- Cooldowns Line: Increase Cool Down Reduction by 5%. 15% total with full line.
- Void Pact: Unlocks Void Pact Ability. (See Irullan’s Guide)
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