Talk:Starlight Sphere

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• Coles* *Notes* *instructional*:

Take the Raw Channelling and Dedicated Cambrinth Use feats. Prepare SLS at the amount of mana you want it to function at since you cannot boost its strength above that value without recasting it. This will likely be a very low amount until you can maintain it without running out of attunement. Don't worry about not being able to maintain it at your personal cap, since TM learning is based on creature difficulty and is only slightly modified by the damage boost from increased mana. Use cambrinth as a fuel source if you are having issues with mana management or do not know Raw Channelling. E.g. low mana days, low skill, etc. Deep Attunement and Efficient Channelling are almost must haves for this spell because of the high attunement cost. Use a constellation that is tied to the Defence skillset to reduce attunement drain.

• Basic Information*:

The spell is a cyclic spell. This means that every time it pulses it requires a cost in mana or attunement. This cost is drained from invoked cambrinth, held mana, and if you know a certain feat, directly from your attunement. This pulse is also when the spell triggers all of its effects. Each pulse a sphere that is already attacking a target will attack again. A sphere that is not attacking a target (e.g. you just entered combat, or the previous target died) will face a new target on the next pulse. If you are not in combat then the sphere will idle on each pulse. Any pulse where the sphere idles, the mana cost is reduced by a very large margin. (e.g. a 15 mana sphere acts as only a 3-4 mana sphere for determining costs on an idling pulse.) This is why you will find a sphere really easy to maintain outside of combat, but it sucks your attunement dry when in combat.

• Target*:

Starlight Sphere is cast at a constellation in order to harness that constellation's energy. This will create a different coloured sphere with different speeds depending on the constellation used. The constellation has to be in the sky or the spell will fail. It doesn't have to be viewable with the naked eye nor does cloud cover matter. All that matters is that it is above the horizon.

Once created, it will automatically start attacking anything that engages with you. Alternately, you can direct it to attack something of your choosing by using POINT SPHERE AT <target>.

• Sphere* *stats*:

The strength of the sphere is based on your TM skill and is modified by how much mana you prepare the spell with. Unlike standard spells, harnessing mana or invoking cambrinth does not increase the power of a cyclic spell, but instead act as a fuel source for it. For this reason, in order to increase the strength of your sphere you have to prepare it with more mana.

The sphere's speed is tied to the skillsets that the constellation is linked to when observing for prediction. If the constellation fills the Offence prediction pool then the sphere will pulse every 8 seconds. If the constellation fills the Defence prediction pool then the sphere will pulse every 12 seconds. If the constellation is linked to neither offence or defence (or presumably both, although none of these exist) then it will pulse every 10 seconds.

• Upkeep*:

There are 3 ways you can fuel your sphere's mana cost every pulse. They are listed in the order they are used from first priority to lowest priority below.

1. If you have cambrinth invoked then the sphere will drain an amount of mana from the cambrinth equal to the prep amount on every pulse. E.g. if you prepared SLS with 20 mana and had 60 mana stored in your cambrinth, then on the first pulse it would drain 20 mana leaving you with 40 mana in your cambrinth. 1a. If not enough mana is left in the cambrinth to fuel a pulse then it will drain all of it, count that amount toward the required mana cost, and the remainder will be drawn from the next available source below. 1b. If you know the Dedicated Cambrinth Use feat, then you can use INVOKE CAMBRINTH SPELL to prevent cyclic spells from draining mana from that cambrinth. This is useful if you want to use the cambrinth for standard spells and not your cyclic spell. 1c. Using INVOKE CAMBRINTH <amount> will limit the amount drained every pulse to the amount specified.

2. If any mana cost remains and you are holding mana then the sphere will drain an amount of mana from the cambrinth equal to the remaining prep amount on every pulse. E.g. if you prepared SLS with 15 mana, didn't use cambrinth, and had 25 mana held, then on the first pulse it would drain 15 mana leaving you with 10 held mana. 2a. There is no way to prevent a cyclic spell from draining your held mana like there is with cambrinth.

3. If any mana cost remains and you know the Raw Channelling feat then the cyclic will drain an amount of attunement based on the remaining prep amount on every pulse. The amount of attunement drained is based on your skill, which means this effectively functions as though you were casting a standard spell every time it pulses. 3a. If you do not know the Raw Channelling feat then the spell will collapse if there was not enough mana provide by all the previous sources.

• Useful* *Feats*:

-Raw Channelling: Hands down the most useful feat to know for cyclics in general, especially Steps of Vuan and SLS. Without it, you have to provide all of the cost on each pulse from cambrinth and/or held mana. With it, cyclic spells become set and forget. ('Set and almost forget' in the case of SLS, because attunement management is an issue unlike with SoV. See tips below for ways to manage the very high costs of SLS.) -Dedicated Cambrinth Use: This is useful if you know Raw Channelling to allow you to maintain a cyclic and still use cambrinth to power standard spells. Without it you will have a hard time casting normal spells using cambrinth while maintaining a cyclic. This can also be used to allow you to cast standard spells without draining your cambrinth while maintaining SLS with that cambrinth, regardless of whether you know Raw Channelling or not. -Deep Attunement: Cyclic spells can cost a lot of mana to maintain, especially SLS. This feat increases your attunement regen and is worth getting regardless of whether you want to excel at cyclic spells or not. It is almost necessary if you want to use SLS, however, because of the high costs. -Efficient Channelling: The attunement costs per pulse for all cyclics are reduced by 10%. Only really useful if you know Raw Channelling. More focused than Deep Attunement, but has a more noticeable and direct effect. Very useful to help mitigate the high cost of SLS. -Efficient Harnessing: This reduces the attunement cost for harnessing mana using the HARNESS command. If you are using held mana to fuel a cyclic then this can be of use, but the effect is so focused that I don't think it's worth getting for this use specifically. If you harness a lot of mana regularly, then it can be of use in general but don't get it just to improve your cyclic capability.

• Tips*:

-SLS is incredibly mana intensive, even with moderately high skill. With low skill you are best off using cambrinth as your fuel source by charging it with about half the prep amount twice every pulse. This is very RT intensive, however, and requires constant management of the sphere. Note: You only have to invoke the cambrinth once, but even if actively charging it the link will fade every 5-10 minutes or so. Pay attention for when that happens so that you can re-invoke it so you don't lose your sphere unexpectedly. -If you wish to use regular spell casting while doing the cambrinth method, then you will need to know the Dedicated Cambrinth Use feat and use INVOKE CAMBRINTH CYCLIC to prevent standard spells from draining your cyclic's fuel source. -Held mana can also be a way to fuel your sphere, although it doesn't allow for regular spell casting at all and can eventually lead to fried nerves. -Forget about using SLS on low mana days unless you have very high skill or are willing to do the cambrinth or held mana method. The attunement drain is too ridiculously high otherwise. -If you are having attunement issues, use a constellation that is tied to Defence. This slows down the pulse rate which means the attunement drain also slows down. It won't be attacking as fast, but that is moot if you can't maintain it at the faster speed.