Ask Elb: Conjunctions, Part 1: The Basics

Ketani Asks:

Would you mind explaining how conjunctions work? What does each color mean? How do different combinations affect the mobs and your fellowship?

That’s an excellent question! One that I could answer in a few paragraphs… or that I could take above and beyond and turn all of you readers into “Conjunction” experts. Being the overachieving sort, I’m going to opt to make you all into experts in a series of posts on “Conjunctions”, technically called, “Fellowship Maneuvers” but also abbreviated as “FMs” or “CJs”.

Here follows Part 1: The Basics.

What, Precisely, Is a Fellowship Maneuver?

A fellowship maneuver or “conjunction” is an event which allows your fellowship to join forces via 4 individual attack options to form one larger, more powerful group attack. A fellowship maneuver begins when an enemy receives a special type of stun. This special type of stun can be induced by random chance on any attack or as an added effect of a skill, such as with the burglar skills: exploit opening, trip and exposed throat. Those burglar skills are not the only skills that open fellowship maneuvers but they are the most common.

What the Blazes is this Color Wheel?!

This color wheel is your fellowship maneuver skill selector. Each color corresponds to one of the 4 individual fellowship skills available to you. What you choose determines what you will deal (either large direct damage or moderate direct damage with moderate damage over time) or what you’ll receive (morale or power). If your fellowship forms a named fellowship maneuver through the correct order and combination of skills/colors it is possible for everyone in the fellowship to share in some of the effects or to enhance the effects being done.

For now, we’ll just worry about what each color does on it’s own.

Red: Ent’s Strength

Ent’s Strength deals large direct damage. This skill alters itself slightly depending on class. Mainly being that if you’re a hunter or runekeeper you have a ranged or tactical version of this respectively. Those versions of Ent’s Strength have a longer range in line with other offensive skills that those classes wield. Sorry, loremasters and minstrels you guys have to be in melee range for this color despite having tactical skills useable at range.

Green: Eagle’s Cry

Eagle’s Cry is the morale restoring option for fellowship maneuvers. The 20 meter range seen in the picture to the left is consistent among all classes and does not change.

Yellow: Spider’s Guile

Spider’s Guile gives moderate direct damage and moderate damage over time. One thing to really note about spider’s guile is that the direct damage will take the type of your main weapon, however, the damage over time will ALWAYS be common damage. Common is generally the most highly mitigated damage, so while it seems like yellows will do a lot of damage, a lot more of it gets mitigated than with direct, non-common damage. Spider’s Guile, like Ent’s Strength adapts it’s range and type for hunters and runekeepers.

Blue: Stallion’s Spirit

Stallions Spirit is the power restoring fellowship skill. Like Eagle’s Cry, its 20 meter range holds for all classes.

The Most Basic of Fellowship Maneuvers

The easiest fellowship maneuvers to execute simply entail putting together between 2 and 4 of the same color. Even doing simply this can amplify and expand the effects of using fellowship skills.

The stacking of 2 to 4 reds causes each red to do more damage than it would have done on its own, combining for a potent direct damage fellowship maneuver.

The stacking of 2 to 4 greens causes not only the initial heal of using a green but also a fellowship wide, short lived but very potent heal over time. Strength increases with each additional green from 2 to 4.

The stacking of 2 to 4 yellows causes multiple damage over time debuffs to be applied, including one with considerably increased potency.

The stacking of 2 to 4 blues gives an extra burst of power to everyone in the fellowship, even if they themselves were unable to participate. Folks actually using the blues also get the normal burst of power from having used it.

Looking Forward

This time I covered the very basics of what a fellowship maneuver is, what each color is, does and means. As well as how to use some very simply Fellowship manuevers. In the next installment I intend to cover some intermediate maneuvers as well as techniques for ensuring perfect execution.