Thank you everyone for tips/suggestions/compliments/directions etc. I might take you up on the combat offer, Shamarah, I'd like to learn to fight. I've made my mind up on the cooking, that's a definite. Now I just have to choose my third guild skill.

I'd help you in-game, but Caerulo isn't in the best of moods at the moment, so I'm helping you here.

So between Healing, Astrology and Hexes.

Hexes
The overwhelming general consensus is that Hexes are a must if you plan on becoming a good combatant.
Basically, hexes just lets you afflict. That's it. But it's incredibly useful, according to the resident combatants here.

Astrology
Astrology is extremely interesting, but extremely complicated. It requires an Astrologer to explain to you how the skills works. It has nice utility abilities, like scry, boosted health/ego/mana at certain times, etc.
The main bulk of the skill revolves around being able to afflict with rays, and giving bonuses to yourself and allies with spheres. The effect depends on the alignment of the planets, which an astologer will be able to explain.

Healing
Healing is generally not used much in PvP, although it has nice utility abilities, like curing insanity and insomnia.
All of Healing's abilities heal afflictions without consuming the required elixers, but take ego instead. You also get to cure other people.


Lastly, the most important one is about which one interests you. For example, Caerulo took Hexes, even though he isn't that interested in combat. He took hexes because he wants to study the glyphs used for hexing.

Spheres can be used to weaken your enemies too if they are aligned right.

If the sun is opposite the sign it's effect will be highly detrimental if the others are in positive alignments you could lower your targets intelligence cheaply and they can not remove the sphere until they find an astrologer who can cast the opposing sphere.

Though this all requires good alignments so it's not a tactic you can rely on using all the time, but I'm guessing it would be nice for a Shadowdancer to heavily weaken their enemies magical resistance

Well, before Hexes had Whammy or Doublewhammy, I think Astrology was the combatant choice for Wiccan skills. But yes, Hexes is only your ability to afflict, however.. You have plenty of hunting capabilities already with Nightkiss, Sprite, and Nymph, etc. Believe me, it\\'s not a bad idea just to take hexes even if you don\\'t fight. It\\'s good to have a skill geared primarily towards defending yourself, which Hexes does without the randomness and learning curve of Astrology. Not only that, but Hexaura can also make it possible to the point where you\\'re partially impervious to getting jumped. If you\\'re hunting on Prime, and you have Hexaura up while maintaining your hexes so they don\\'t fade.. An enemy of yours would walk into them, thus getting hit by the first one you put up.. ( Usually Vapors, btw ). Giving you plenty of time to spore away or just fight them. Wiccans, when given the right tools, can be very hard to gank or jump. That can be said about any archetype of course, but I think Wiccans have it slightly better in that respect.

I gave every third skill a reasonable try when Tael was young, I took Hexes.. Never looked back. At all.

Astrology was never the choice for combat, it's way too unreliable .

Tell Tuek that.

Tuek might have done it for a while but I can't think of any other fighter who did.

Hexes used to suck to the point to where Astrology was probably the better choice. This is, of course, only what I\\'ve heard. Thank Tuek for all the neat little Hexes changes we have today.

Maybe my memory is just mixed up, but I thought something like doublewhammy was around before astrology was introduced...I didn't have hexes back then though, just got beat up by hexen every once in awhile.

Tuek went astrology to see what it was like, and stayed around long enough for the syzygy then went back to hexes. Hexes has always been the combatant skill (hello allhex and 2-affliction locks).

Astrology isn't that hard to understand. It's just hard to explain.
Also, it's too unreliable to be used for serious combat. An Astrologer is more of a buffer/debuffer than an affliction-giver, good for support before combat, but not in the actual fight.

If Tuek was able to fight with Astrology, good for him. But it doesn't mean Astrology is good for PvP, it just means Tuek was good enough to do something even with it. Hell, Asmodea was able to do offensive things even with Healing. Kicked my arse a few times, before I managed to invent/ask for a counter-tactic.

Hexes are THE PvP choice. Vapors are extremely good, especially if paired with another hex in a doublewhammy. Double sleep, stupidity, impatience, anorexia... sky's the limit. The skill's simplicity is it's advantage here.

Also finally, I'm 99% sure that (double)whammy was implemented a long time before Astrology came out. I was active when both of these happened, I should know.

yeah it was. Tael was just thinking weird. Doublewhammy and whammy were both available but could not be used in conjunction with having a hexaura. But as laysus said two affliction locks (Anorexia asthma) literally killed anyone without focus mind back then and if you combined that with paralyse impatience, they couldn't even run away. The old strategy i miss was hexaura allhex and target someone withotu focus mind. Laysus also tried astrology back when Tuek took it up.

What's a good skill level for effective Shadowdancer combat, is trans all three skills a must?

hexes at least to sleep, night to at least slaugh? and trans night or trans wicca and night to choke would work i think

Here's what I've gathered in-game and on the forums:

Night
Up to Choke --> room aeon, for sticking afflictions on target.
Transing Night will give you Nightkiss, which is very very nice --> damage reduction, +1 int, better bashing attack.

Wicca
Toadcurse is going to be your only instant kill, so you'd want to trans Wicca --> turns target with half mana into perma-aeoned toad that can only ribbit and move.
If not possible, then aim for Slaugh/Pooka --> Slaugh does some afflictions, pooka lets you mess with equi/balance and other useful stuff.
If that is also not possible, then Redcap --> bleeding which forces clotting that uses up mana.

Hexes
Bare mininum is up to Whammy --> masked hex throwing, plus you get vapours along the way.
Then DoubleWhammy/Sleep --> doublewhammy sleep sleep is standard wiccan move.
And having Hexaura at Trans is nice too --> lets you bring your hexes around.

I don't know why people say toads are aeon'ed now. It's more like swim speed then aeon since the change.

Hexes is really the only way to go for a wiccan.



The minimum would probably be redcap in wicca, trans night, and doublewhammy in hexes.

But obviously to compete on the top level you're going to need trans of all those.

obviously to be the best you need to trans, but to fight competantly you need, redcap in wicca, succumb in night, reckless in hexes then you will be able to take down most people (though takes a lot of practice) but dont expect to take down the bes twith just these (i said that already but just emphasising)

Isn't swim speed similar to aeon? You get a delay, and if you input another direction during the delay, the second direction's delay starts again.