Soloing Conj spec??

[Shellfire]

I'm new to the game, but I do like the Conj so far. In other games, mainly DAOC I played a healer so I like the CC and some healing, but I really love the pet.

Because I'm a pretty casual gamer I will not be in groups a lot, so I was wondering if there is a pretty good solo spec to attain for Conj's?

I see people saying SM and Zsomething are good, but I can't figure out what those are.

Thanks,

Shell

[Miriya_PS]

I guess SM (Staff Mastery) and Summoning is the best for soloing. But I think some mixed setup is far better, since you can go solo or group. But this "half/half" setup is not good at higher levels because it lack of good defensive spells, so it is not really useful for war zone.

Ranged Summon is a must as soon as you get them: Ghost, Lich or Zarkit. The Summon is good for soloing, and you can use the Protect Ally option when leveling in groups. It is important to Protect the ally who has longer range, so the Summon start its attack first and hit more times.

SM is good because you will not worry to much about mana and evasion/resist rates. If you level in group, you may not want to use every singe buff from SM because you will hit too much (adding Summon's hits) and your Allies will not get enough EXP.
I think Fast/Medium staffs are the best for this setup, I do not care that much about the range, I rather choose good damage. Longer range staffs would save you from a hit (maybe), but as a conjurer you should not have issues with health.

Mana Control is an important tree, too. Ambitious Sacrifice is a must, as high as you can use it. Dragon's Blood is good at low levels, but Mana Pool is far better when you get it. When leveling in groups, you can use Synergy Bond to help, but do not share too much (you should always have mana).
If you feel like it you can use Energy Barrier, but I do not like it. I think is a expensive spell for leveling and it becomes more useful at higher levels. The barrier is meant to prevent damage, but when killing mobs you can just Heal Self whenever you need.

Life is also a must, but I left it to the end because you do not need to develop it so much. If you can use Life tree to level 11, you will have 2 spells to heal yourself and 2 for you allies/Summon. Remember to combine Ambitious Sacrifice with Regen Self and you will never rest again.
You can develop Life tree to higher levels, but is not good for EXP. When going solo you should not receive so much damage, so Regen and Heal Self at lvl3 will be enough. Same goes for party leveling, since your group will kill mobs faster your allies will not receive so much damage, so there is no point in using high level expensive heals.

Solo: Just use your Summon and your Staff (with buffs) to hit hard and fast. Keep an eye on cooldowns and mana so you do not have to stop. To manage your mana, remember to use Ambitious+Regen Self.
Party: "Give" your summon to one ally (with best range in the party) and use your basic hit with some buffs. You can also Heal and give Mana to your allies, but do not over do it or you will not get any EXP at all. You need to hit (or your Summon).
Remember, in a good party everyone gets almost the same EXP. You should not play as "EXP Booster" to your allies, because you will take forever to grow a level.

PS: So long, I hope someone actually reads to the end :p. This might be not the best way, but is the setup I used to level my conjurers. I must repeat, this setup is only useful in the inner realm because its lack of defense.

[e30G]

Staff Mastery or SM is one of your spell disciplines and the Z-something is the Zarkit, or "Summon Demon" in your Summon tree. If you are in a hurry to level then this is an OK route to go. Personally, I'd use spells from the Mental tree and a Summon for solo grinding.

Staff Mastery is boring to use for me, and I find it dulls your skill as a player in general. Using the Mental tree is good practice and will let you learn a bit more about the fighting dynamics of this game. The downside is that you'll be consuming mana, and mana is hard to come by these days.

If you end up using Mental + Summons, try to use the crowd control spells in mental (Ivy, Will Domain and Beetle Swarm) and let your summon do the damage. A ranged summon is better than a melee one for this job. When the mob gets close, cast Blaze. You can also augment damage by using arcane missile. If you have enough points, you can also try to get a few staff magnifications from the Staff Mastery to further add to your damage output.

[monktbd]

Besides the suggestions above I want to add that a lot depends on your level to see what setups make sense for solo leveling.

On the damage dealing side one rule is usually to have the best ranged Summon you can have and to whether use Mental or Staff Mastery or a nice mix really depends on the level you have and how many points you can spare.

Mana Control is as suggested already very important to never run out of mana and combined with self heals makes you never rest again. If you opt for spell based dmg (Mental) don't forget to lvl Arcane Devotion to speed up casting.

I personally prefer now to grind with Mental instead of SM because I find SM too boring. Mental on the other hand keeps me busy casting all the time so I get tired pretty fast of grinding as well :p.

My current lvl 46 grind setup looks like this:

Mental 19
Mana Control 19
Summon 19
Staff Mastery 9
Life 11
others are at 1

I actually have Energy Barrier quite high because my usual finishing spell is a Blaze so the mob most of the times hits me once (unless I get the timing right and he does not hit me at all).

What level are you currently talking about?