Overview

The Spellslinger is an agile, dual wielding pistol user. With the ability to deal massive damage or heal its allies, it’s a flexible and fast paced class. Attacking and healing from range, it wears light armor and is capable of entering “The Void”. This 3rd dimension lifts the Spellslinger out of the world and allows him to walk through The Void in order to avoid enemies or escape other players. Utilising Spell Power, the Spellslinger can surge their attacks so that certain skills deal significantly more damage. In terms of damage, they’re incredibly powerful and are regularly at the top of the damage charts while there healing is still just as potent.

Mechanic

The Spellslingers primary mechanic, as mentioned above, is known as Spellsurge. On the user interface you’ll see that you have 4 circles just above your skill bar. These indicate your Spell Power. Once these 4 circles are depleted you won’t be able to use any more Spellsurged abilities until your Spell Power recharges. Your Spell Power recharges at the same rate in or out of combat and takes around 12 seconds from empty to one full circle. Be aware that 1 circle represents one skill so at any one time you’ll only ever be able to Spellsurge 4 skills before you run out of Spell Power. Due to this, you’ll find that as a Spellslinger your damage will spike massively when you can Spellsurge, followed by a lull as your Spell Power recharges. Although there’s a damage gap between having a full amount of Spell Power and when it’s charging, a Spellslinger is more than capable of dealing significant damage by default.

Playstyle

As you might expect from a light armored class, the Spellslinger is relatively squishy. Although you can happily survive for long periods of time if you stay at range, most encounters in WildStar, whether PvE or PvP, involve fights a little more mid-range. As a result, it’s hard to stay entirely at the back firing away as the majority of the time you’ll be in range of melee attacks. Fortunately the Spellslinger has a multitude of skills that allow you to keep some distance:

  • Gate
  • Into the Void
  • Flash Freeze
  • Chill
  • Spatial Shift

Despite these skills rooting, slowing or disorientating your opponent their cooldowns are long. As a result, you’ll have to know how to kite well to be successful with the Spellslinger. One incorrect dodge against a melee opponent or if you miss one of your defensive skills, you’ll quickly pay the price. I’d sincerely recommend that you take at least 2 defensive skills as although this will hurt your damage output (two less skills to deal damage) it will allow you fight and live longer. Just be aware that you’ll need to keep moving at all times.

When it comes to Spellsurging and as you can only Spellsurge 4 skills at once (if you have maximum Spell Power) before you run out, you really need to monitor your usage. Although you can Spellsurge the vast majority of a Spellslingers skills, I’d really only recommend you surge a handful of them. Surging things such as your auto-attack is simply a huge waste because their surged damage return is poor in comparison to other skills.

Admittedly this makes playing the Spellslinger somewhat one-dimensional. Its rotation is very limited if you’re to squeeze out maximum efficiency from your Spell Power, meaning your play can become repetitious quickly. Running through the same skill combination time after time isn’t easy for everyone to stomach. Skills I’d recommend you Spellsurge:

Assault

  • Charged Shot
  • Ignite
  • Wild Barrage
  • Rapid Fire
  • True Shot

Support

  • Runes of Protection
  • Healing Salve
  • Healing Torrent
  • Void Spring

Tips & Tricks

  1. Don’t feel pressured to constantly use your Spellsurge. Allow it to charge to full if needed so that you can apply a high pressure spike.
  2. Remember to never use your Spellsurge with your auto-attack.
  3. You can turn Spellsurge on and off. You’ll need to frequently do this is you’re to avoid wasting your Spell Power on skills that offer poor Surge use.
  4. Try to ensure that you’re always positioned on the edge of combat. By doing this it will ensure you can run away easier so that you can save your defensive skills.
  5. Spellslingers have very narrow telegraphs so ensure that you only use your skills if you know that they will hit your opponent. True Shot in particular is very hard to hit, so it’s useful to pair it with Gate or Flash Freeze to guarantee the damage.
  6. When using Into the Void you can heal yourself and cancel it at any time by reusing the skill. This is sometimes useful if you need a quick break before reappearing and finishing off your opponent.
  7. Remember to always use your auto-attack (Quick Draw). This is your bread and butter for damage and with a moderately sized telegraph, it’s capable of hurting small groups of enemies quickly.

Strengths

  • Exceptional mobility.
  • Capable of slowing and rooting multiple targets during early levels.
  • Good range and damage.
  • Makes for an excellent single target or small group healer.

Weaknesses

  • Relies heavily on kiting opponents to survive.
  • Can be killed easily due to wearing light armor.
  • Very popular.
  • Difficult to play well due to the need to kite, manage cool downs and control your Spellsurge.

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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Lewis is a long standing journalist, who freelances to a variety of outlets.

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