This guide is aimed towards players that reached level 80 and want to start doing PvE group content (normal dungeons as well as raids) with their Tempest of Set. I am not going to talk about PvP as I do not play PvP at all.
-------- Introduction --------
The Tempest of Set is one of the three priest classes which means your main part is being a Healer, however, none of the priests should be played as a Healbot, this is incredible important since healers in AoC work differently than in other games, all your heals wont do much if the fight lasts far too long when the healers donât help doing damage.
So: No group will need a healer that uses no damage spells but nor do they need a healer that doesnât use any healing spells.
To find a good spot between healing and DPSing it needs some experience, which you will easily gain when playing your class long enough.
Additionally to healing, the ToS is a great supporter for mana users and for pushing the overall DPS of your group with spells that increase your magic damage and combat rating and group wide mana leech and restoration buffs.
-------- The feat trees --------
Generally said, there are two main specs a ToS can use:
Aura of Nebthu and Serpent Transmutation (called Aura / Bubble spec):
Aura of Nebthu and Fangs of Set (called Fangs spec):
NOTE: Obviously, you can switch a few points as you like, these feat templates are just a basic idea of what these specs look like! Switch points if you feel some feats are not necessary or missing!
So, where do you use these specs? Simple. You can use the Aura / Bubble spec for almost everything, T1, Khitai HM, T4 or T5, this is the most basic form of a ToS spec and is useful everywhere since you got all the important feats that every encounter in the game needs.
The Fangs spec is mostly used whenever there are really hard hitting melee bosses, Fangs of Set used in the right moment can save a tanks life or make boss fights like the last one in Wyrm a lot easier. Additionally, I tend to use this spec in case I am the only healer in a 6 man group since it makes healing tanks (even if they are not that good geared) a lot easier.
-------- Most important feats in detail --------
In this section I will go over the most important feats and explain them with a few details on how they work or when the itâs the best moment to use them.
Passives and miscellaneous
Growing Storm
This feat allows you to spam your blue heal as much as you want if you keep this stack up (pls donât spam blue heals, itâs useless 
), with each stack it reduces the mana cost by 25% which will save you a huge chunk of mana during a fight since Storm Field, Charged Blast, Call Lightning and so on will all give you 1 stack whenever they hit an enemy.
Ether Absorption, Coalesce Ether, Blood Mana
Mana leech. Lotâs of it. Mages and PoMs will love you for having it. Ether Absorption is a magical mana tap passive only for you, Coalesce Ether is a magical mana tap passive for the whole group, melee hits have a chance to restore additional mana points. Blood Mana is a magical mana tap boost. Try to use it whenever a mage activates his critcal buff from spellweaving, that way you will keep their mana up all the time (more damage equals more mana leech), or just use it whenever you are running low on mana.
Setâs Life Spark
Self Ressurect with a 30 minutes cooldown. Not much to say about it. Besides being generally useful this will be your only spell to reduce your aggro
Force of Lightning
The target you select and enchant (as well as all players near that target) with this spell will gain Armor and Spell Penetration which basically makes them ignore some armor and protection to deal more damage.
Storm Blood
A bubble that makes you invincible against electrical damage (and restores a little bit of mana), it also disables all your selfrunning damage spells like Storm Field. Mostly used in T4 at the Entity to kill the Commanding Death things, other than that it can help in situations where you get aggro or need to disable your selfrunning spells (like in Scorpion Caves unchained if you get targeted by the toxin)
Power of the Serpent Ring
This is your little helper to make your life in a lot of situations easier. You need to hide from a magical AoE? No, just activate this bubble right before the cast ends and stay where you are. You want to avoid a group wide stun? Activate this bubble. You want to resist a nasty DoT? Guess who will be the only one in the group without this DoT? There are many situations where you can use this bubble, I canât list every single one here, it would be too many, just test a little bit and you will find out where you can use it (and in case it does not work, you still got your self resurrect).
Serpent Transmutation
As cool as it sounds, it sadly does not transform you into a cool looking snake 
Like some people like to say, itâs the âOh Sh*t!â button whenever you are about to die. Itâs a bubble that increases all your resistances to 133%, you heal from taking damage. In case of melee attacks: make sure to activate this bubble before the enemy starts to hit you, otherwise the damage will still go through (thats the problem with resistance increasing bubbles unlike damage deflection bubbles like the PoM has), your bubble will be on cooldown and you will still be dead.
Thundering Voice
Interruption spell, itâs needed for T3 and can be generally useful to interrupt hard hitting trash mobs.
Empowered Life of Set
Every time you use your blue heal you will get a buff that adds more damage to any of your next spells, this also translates to all your team members (and pets as far as I know) that get hit by your blue heal â some more damage for everyone.
Damage spells, damage buffing
Storm Field
Your bread and butter of damage, spamming Lightning Strike is a common tactic by many unexperienced ToSes but extremely ineffective when compared to using Storm Field. The main benefit of it is that you can actvate it and do damage while doing other spells or generally being mobile. With the feat tree I posted above you will have extra critical rating on it AND it will be cast faster than normal, keep this spell on cooldown whenever you are fighting! (Later in this post I will explain Storm Field more in detail!)
Aura of Nebthu
Secondary Storm Field! Well, almost. Itâs a more hard but slower hitting version with a longer cooldown. Wait a few seconds before activating it so that the tank can grab aggro. If you think the tank locked aggro then keep this spell on cooldown.
Storm Crown
Another Storm Field! Okay, letâs say itâs Storm Fieldâs little brother. The main purpose of this spell is not the damage, itâs really low. The main use of this spell is the debuffing, damage increase and mana restoration that you and your group gets.
You will gain a little bit of magic damage and combat rating (the combat rating is not important for you) when having this feat active, however, all other group members will get additional little electrical damage hits for every melee hit they do. These hits can crit too and make DTs very happy. And on top of that all, each melee hit has a chance to restore some mana for every mana user in your group (even melee Necro pets can trigger all these effects!). Keep this always on cooldown!
Call Lightning
AoE damage around the target you attack, increases your base spell damage a little bit.
Column Lightning
Long cast time but strong damage, it also applies a little DoT which is really nice to have on the boss since it adds some more DPS. Can be used while having Storm Field active.
Charged Blast
Quick damage spell which should be kept on cooldown all the time, is not blocked by Storm Field.
Fury of the Elements
Instant AoE spell (around your character) which hits for quiet some damage, the cooldown is a little long.
Triumphant Life of Set
This buff adds damage to your blue heal, whenever you use it your enemies around you will take some damage once the cast finished. More damage potential, always nice to have.
Idol of Set
Just as Storm Crown, this little stationary idol will grant lots of benefits to players near it:
The idol itself will deal some damage to targets nearby, itâs not much but at least something. The targets it hits will be cursed by Resonance, this will make each melee hit / spell hit done by any group member deal additional damage in a range of 260 - 320 electrical damage (depends on gear and debuffing). Everyone that stands near the idol will get a buff from it which increases their magical damage and combat rating even further, each melee hit has a chance of restoring mana again.
And lastly, you will get a stack of even more magic damage for every team member or pet that is nearby the idol, this buff goes up to 6x and increases your magic damage by almost 100.
So: always stand near it or place it where it is needed the most if you canât stand at the same location all the time and keep it on cooldown!
NOTE: After placing the idol it may take a few seconds (approximately 3 - 4) until you get all the effects, keep that in mind before using all your nukes instantly!
Debuffs
Curse of Set
Probably the best elemental debuff in the whole game. It got a huge radius, low cooldown and applies a elemental ruin effect (-15% elemental resistances) to all targets in itâs radius. Additionally, every melee user has a chance to get a combat rating buff when hitting a cursed target.
Lightning Sparks
Of course, this spell does damage but itâs really slow, I mainly use it as a filler when all other things are on cooldown or as a quick single target debuffer (-10% elemental resistances). You donât need to wait until the whole cast finished to apply the debuff, you can roughly interrupt the spell right before the first damage number pops up in order to debuff the target.
Healing
Vital Shock
Itâs a single target spell that will restore some health, mana and stamina to all allies near the target it hit, the healing can also critically hit. Use this whenever the tank starts to get damage and needs some quick refreshment.
Sadly, other than this spell you only got your standard healer spells, nothing else.
Fangs of Set
Ok, this one is not directly a healing spell but I often use it when solo healing (or where hard hitting bosses are) since it increases the targets miss-chance by 90% and lets the tank avoid some serious damage if timed right and used in the right situation (look at the healing part of this guide). Remember that it only works for melee attacks (most melee attacks, there are special ones that are not affected by Fangs of Set).
Once the target gets affected by Fangs it will gain an immunity against it and similar feats (BS Bewilder or DTâs Warped Dread) so make sure not to waste it or block it in unnecessary situations as it can save fights.
Also: The spell got a very tiny AoE effect, if two enemies stand next to each other very closely you can affect both with Fangs!
Other useful spells
Eye of the Storm
I guess this is more something for PvP but for PvE itâs basically another magic damage buff. If you know you donât need to move for the next 20 seconds you can activate this spell as it will make you extremely slow and makes escaping really hard.
Glorification of Set
A group wide protection spell, buffs all (magical) resistances by almost 1000 points, save it for AoE damage to shield all members from some damage or for the tank in case he gets low on health at magical bosses.
Condemnation of Set
Basically the same but stronger and only against holy damage, generally useful in T3 and sees very little use outside of that since not so many bosses use holy damage.
-------- Storm Field - Your most important spell --------
Why use Storm Field over Lightning Strike, when Lightning Strike does more damage? Many unexperienced ToSes might ask this question and it can be answered very easily:
When spamming Lightning Strike you canât really use your other spells. You either lose DPS because you canât use Lightning Strike when casting heals or debuffs or you canât use your healing / debuffing spells while using Lightning Strike.
Another problem Lightning Strike got is that the spell itself does not have any real synergies with other spells, unlike other classes, take Shock Strike from Demonologists for example: they stack up to make a spell instant and make some spells cost no mana, therefore itâs a vital part of a demonologists spell rotation. A PoM can do similar things with his Smite spell, the ToS however got no real benefits from using Lightning Strike.
Now letâs take a look at Storm Field:
Itâs a self centered AoE spell that deals damage automatically every 2 seconds to enemies near you whenever this spell is running. The damage is roughly half of what Lightning Strike does BUT now you will be able to use all other spells besides Lightning Strike.
Letâs say you use Storm Field and Lightning Sparks, this results in the enemy taking roughly the same damage as if you were using Lightning Strike (Strawman gets ~1400 damage from Lightning Strike and ~1400 from Storm Field + Lightning Sparks) but in the end the enemy gets additionally debuffed from Lightning Sparks. This way of âcombiningâ spells opens up a lot of ways to increase your DPS and your overall flexibility since you are not limited to chose between damage or healing / debuffing, you can basically do both at the same time.
Other benefits you get from using Storm Field:
- Storm Field got increased critical rating from your feat trees
- It can hit enemies around you, Lightning Strike can only damage targets around your initial target (AoE damage around it)
- You are mobile, you can move as much as you want, Storm Field will continue to do damage as long as the spell is active
Due to Storm Fieldâs flexibility making a strict rotation like many classes got it is really hard and not really needed since most of the tim you will need to adapt to the encounter you are fighting but I will talk later about that.
-------- AA Talents --------
General
Pressing and Decisive Strikes to boost your critical damage and critical hit rating, you wonât really need any other perks.
Archetype
Steadfast Faith and Celestial Gaze. First one is important for Khitai dungeons, itâs used to remove ruin effects, Celestial Gaze is a frontal cone healing that shouldnât be use before you get at least 1500 healrating, otherwise the mana consumption wonât be worth the healing it does.
Since Celestial Gazes does not occupy a AA talent slot you can use the critical hit and healing buff for your big heal for your second slot.
All the passives on the left side are nice to have, 5 seconds less cooldown for your big heal, 50% more self healing from your blue heal, 5 seconds longer green heal and so on.
Class
Idol of dark Rejuvination, another idol spell, this time it wont buff your damage, it will become a very powerful stationary healing spell after the stack you get from it reaches 4x. Even with 0 healrating it heals almost as much as your big heal does. The only big downside: Itâs stationary. If the tank moves out of it you wont be able to heal him with this idol. I would actually advise you to train this talent first since it has greater potential to save team fights, additional healing is always nice to have, especially tanks will be thankful if they donât have good gear yet!
Coiled Serpent, strong channeling damage spell that deals damage to all enemies nearby the target. Really great damage spell and it burns mana which can be useful in T3.
Improved Charged Blast, makes your Charged Blast have a lower cooldown, really useful to have this spell ready all the time since you should keep it on cooldown most of the time.
Obviously, you should train all the passive feats, like protection, damage increase on spells and so on but the ones I listed here should be your first priority since they will make a very big difference in damage and healing.
-------- Rotation --------
The Rotation⊠well, this is a tricky one to be honest. Some ToSes I see randomly start with any spell and just keep on using them in a random order and I can kinda see why: There is no strict rotation like a BS or PoM or any other class got it, there is a lot of free space on what spell you can use but as a general guideline: Buffing / debuffing before damaging!
That means, you should prioritize your buffing spells before using all the damaging spells to maximize the additional damage you can get from all your buffs.
So, generally speaking I start fights like that:
- Healing Lotus
- Life of Set
- place Idol of Set near the position you and most of the other group members want to stay (right after the tank pulled, not before!)
- activate Storm Crown
- activate Storm Field
- Curse of Set
- Call Lightning
- Aura of Nebthu
- Fury of the Elements
- Charged Blast
- Life of Set
- Lightning Spark
- Charged Blast
- Column Lightning
- Healing Lotus
âŠ
This is only a general idea of what a ârotation might look likeâ, I never really use the same since every encounter got different time windows, so you need to improvise and think in advance.
Most of the time you will be in melee range which is your most effective range, all your main spells (Storm Field and so on) have a rather short range (when compared to other spells) so they pretty much force you to stand near the boss.
-------- Spellweaving --------
On level 50 you become able to use Spellweaving, it will make you stationary and become stronger over time but also weaker in terms of defenses.
Spellwaving itself grants you buffs that become stronger with each stack it gets (the longer you spellweave the more stacks you will have), ranging from critical hit chance increase on certain spells to more AoE damage and so on.
Eventually a bar will pop up where you can choose one of 5 different buffs, the most important one here is called Overload. This buff will make lots of your spells take longer to cast (25%), however, your Base Spell Damage will be buffed by 50% which will make all your spells deal a lot more damage than before. The longer cast time is something that can be really annoying and can reduce your overall DPS a lot but there is a little trick to bypass this a little bit, for example:
Storm Field normally takes 1.5 seconds to cast, with Overload it would take 2.3 seconds. However, if you start to cast Storm Field and activate Overload right before the cast ends, you will get additional damage for the first hit without having to wait for the longer cast time. You effectively saved some uptime of Overload and cast a few spells faster. This can be done with all spells but is mostly useful for Storm Field, Column Lighning, Aura of Nebthu or Call Lightning.
-------- Healing your group as a ToS --------
As a ToS you donât have that many healing spells and options, due to the high amount of damage buffing and mana restoring you are limited to the very basics of healing spells, namely the Green Heal, Blue Heal and Big Heal. The user Piankhi made a really great post on how these basic healing spells work since they are the same for all classes. If you are unsure how these spells work you should really check his guide out:
The only real special healing spell a ToS has is Vital Shock, itâs basically a bad version of the PoMâs Lance of Mitra since it got a long cooldown and not the AoE potential the Lance got. Use this spell whenever the tank starts to take damage since the healing it provides âcanâ be good if it crits but most of the time itâs just a quick boost heal to all nearby allies to give a quick refreshment.
Like the Bear Shaman the Tempest got two protection spells, Glorification of Set and Condemnation of Set, both provide a huge boost for the groups protection, Glorification will have a smaller bonus but it gets added to all magical resistances, Condemnation will only buff protection again holy damage but the increase is a lot higher. Use these whenever you need to, in cases where strong magical AoE damage is incoming to your tank or group.
Fangs of Set can be used whenever your tank gets really low, it makes the boss miss his melee hits and will act like a short bubble for your tank, giving him time to regenerate some health. When used correctly, Fangs can prevent 4 melee hits from a boss, this is especially useful for encounters where the boss getâs an enrage buff or something similar. Since most BSes run around with Bewilder (which got the same function) you wont need to have your Fangs spec active all the time, switching to the bubble spec will make lots of things much safer for you.
Lastly, the Idol of dark Rejuvination, as I said, even with no healrating at all it functions like a second big heal. As far as I know this heal got no restriction on how many people it can heal, so with ~6k healrating you can burst a full raid of 24 people up for ~4.5k health in one second but this brings us to the downside of this great spell: Itâs completely stationary.
If people donât stand in the range of itâs AoE healing you wont be able to replace it, so make sure that you place it where it is needed and try to communicate (the way of doing it can vary, sometimes itâs enough to rapidly jump near it and suddenly everyone will gather there ) with your team members that they should go near the idol so you can heal them.
-------- What gear should I use? --------
A good start is the Scarlet Circle gear, it got really high damage but very low healrating, since your class AA heal (Idol of Dark Rejuvination) is already strong without any healrating you can easily do most easy dungeons (talking about Khitai HM dungeons in Northern Grasslands, Chosain, Kara Korum) with this gear.
If you want to do harder dungeons, like Vile Nativity, Unchained old world dungeons or T4 raids you should start to mix your gear with a few healrating pieces. The easiest way to get healrating is using Yag-Kosha gear but your damage will be pretty low.
The unchained gear is a really great mix between strong damage and high healrating (it comes close to the niveau of both T4 sets), the main parts (epic ones, hands, chest, head and wrists) are the ones you are looking for since all other parts of this set only got very bad statistics (they are only blue).
As a good starter weapon you can use the staff âTail of the Vaaghasanâ from Tamarinâs Tigers. This weapon is the first good healrating weapon and can be used until you finally get T4 weapons (or higher).
The first useful necklace can be bought from the Wolves of the Steppes, it unifies wisdom for damage with healrating.
Rings are tricky to get as ToS or PoM, the Clan Vigids got strong but overpriced rings. The best rings you can get are the Raidfinder rings (again, healrating + wisdom and magic damage) or optionally the Chaos rings. These rings are especially important because you can slot Chaos gems into them, the Emandua blessing will be a great boost for your healrating (2 items with that blessing give you a buff for 600 healrating). Before you are able to reach these rings you can use the blue crafted ones from the trader (Dreamerâs Keepsake), they got constitution and a good amount of magic damage and critical rating, you can probably use them until you get T4 rings.
The T4 damage set (Dragonking) is the set you should focus on, take the healrating set parts if you can get them but they shouldnât be your priority because their damage is even lower than the one from the Yag-Kosha set.
To sum things up:
- Scarlet Circle gear and buy the crafted rings from the trader, put magic damage gems in them
- get some better healrating items like Tail of the Vaaghasan or Watcher of the Den
- try to get the main pieces of the PoM / ToS unchained set
- get rings from the Slithering Chaos and focus on the T4 Dragonking set as well as the T4 damage weapons
- optionally try to get the T4 rings
- try to get some more healrating items from the T4 Thousand Blossoms set (in case you need to switch to more healrating for certain encounters)
I am aware of the fact that there are many special weapons and other items that might give you an extra bit of more damage and so on but I didnât want to make this section too complicated due to the fact that T4 gear is so easily accessible nowdays it has become almost worthless farming for a specific Khitai item that you can quickly replace by a T4 item by doing a few RFs.
-------- Conclusion --------
Even though the ToS got limited healing abilities you make up for it with great damage from yourself as well as many little buffs for your group members, you should always try to keep all these little buffs up so your group constantly benefits from those, it will make encounters a lot easier due to the generally higher damage output of the whole group.
Also, the flexibility of this class makes it a great choice if you donât like to follow strict rotation rules to make your class effective.
I hope this guide helps some clueless ToSes out there to get a general idea on how to play the class more effectively, if you find anything I could add or explain more in detail feel free to post you ideas!
