Carapace anti-magie can be used in dozens of scenarios on both trash and bosses to intentionally soak magic damage. All damage absorbed still counts as damage taken. This is a very important defensive ability as it can massively increase your self-healing via Death Strike while also generating Runic Power.
Certain abilities, normally things that are sourced to the environment,
do not count as damage taken and will not increase Death Strike healing.
Secousse and Grievous are some of the worst offenders of this, but there are quite a few boss abilities that are also bugged in the same way. The ground targeted lightning strikes on
Avatar de Sephraliss, Break Water from
Hadal Sombrabysse, Call of the Deep from
Viq'Goth and Burning Arsenal from
Chevalier-capitaine Valyri all display this behavior. Be wary of these and do not intentionally soak them with Anti-Magic Shell as it will not benefit your Death Strikes.
Bosses You should almost never have to overlap cooldowns on bosses.
- Arme runique dansante – This is generally used on pull, especially if you are starting the fight with low Bone Shield charges. During the pull it is best used when you are low on Runic Power and need to build resource without taking damage.
- Sang vampirique – Use when you have Runic Power and are taking a large amount of damage.
- Robustesse glaciale – Generally used as a panic button when low on Runic Power and in danger of dying.
- Carapace anti-magie – Use anytime there is unavoidable magic damage. If a fight has no unavoidable magic damage but has ground effects that you can soak, it is a good idea to do so with Anti-Magic Shell to increase the size of your next Death Strike. A prime example of this is the first boss in King’s Rest.
Trash It is common to overlap cooldowns on trash during large pulls in high keys and then begin kiting once you run out of defensives.
- Tempête d’os will no longer be enough to sustain you by itself when you are doing large pulls in 15+ keys. I try to start every trash pull with Bonestorm to help with initial threat and healing. It is best to combine this with Dancing Rune Weapon, Icebound Fortitude or a healer external like Ecorcefer. Try to avoid using it with Vampiric Blood because it will not benefit from the 30% increased healing received, only the 30% increased HP. It is capped at 3% max health per mob no matter what healing increases you have. It is not scaled by Versatility either. Even if you only have 4 mobs and 25% increased healing it will not increase the amount healed past 12% per second.
- After the initial Bonestorm + Dancing Rune Weapon, you will be sitting at full Runic Power with 5 stacks of Hemostasis. It is best to follow this with Vampiric Blood which is normally enough to keep you alive by rotating Death Strikes and Blood Boils with the occasional Heart Strike thrown in if you can spare a global cooldown.
- Potion de soins côtière and Pierre de soins should be used when on the gcd and you will not survive until the next Death Strike.