by Brohg » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:26 pm
Glowing Stone of Expulsion is stronger than BA5
Aegis is a stopgap, imo. If you're not hard up, Skull is WAY preferrable. Also available at this point are Bazu Stones, which can be made into Anguish-level armor pieces (hands, feet, bracers in particular, since those Ritualchanter's pieces are weak) with Anguish level foci of choice. If Titans is taking out Anguish guys, you should also be farming Matriarch Shyra and Council of the Nine raids (possibly Bloodeye, depending on how many of your melee are fitted out with 2.0s for dps). If you go for the Bazu Stone option, you free up secondary slot for the shield from Emperor Draygun, or a superdiscount Shield of the Planar Assassin, for which you generally only have to compete with rangers :p
As for Screech, the conflicts have seriously gone away a lot since the Werewolf Skull quest was introduced. It upgrades and supplants the Form of Protection clicks, and stacks with Screech buffs, leaving only the choice between ac & hp. Regen really need not apply. Either of those is a reasonable choice, so since you have the hp clicky, you can deprioritize an ac click. If you pick one up incedentally via the Skull, then you use it for exp, and hp on raids. nbd, really.
In the larger picture, if a shaman managed to acquire a Ward click (Quarm Ring, Uqua Cloak only options unless the datamined Mayong loots actually drop), then the choice becomes even easier. Ward doesn't stack with Form of Defense clicks (ac buff conflicts in the traditional fashion without "screech" nonsense), it does stack with Form of Endurance. So without any question, with any/everything available, Ward+Endurance is the choice. (+Aura of Pure Arcanum, natch')
