Flash of Light (FoL) Guide

[Lunani Snowfyre]

Post by ???,
As far as I know I am the biggest proponent of this spell on the forums, so it only seems appropriate for me to respond at some length here.

Flash of Light is, in my opinion, one of our best and most under-utilized spells. It's a life-saver when soloing, it's a ghetto fear spell, a ghetto mez spell, a fast-casting taunter, and a fantastic "get the hell off the caster, you!" spell, all for almost no mana and very little casting time.

I'll cover each of these points one by one.

Life-saver when soloing

As mentioned in the post above, if you need to run away because the warder is dead (or not yet summoned) then a quick FoL (easily cast between blows) and two steps back out of melee range will cause the mob to take off running, giving you plenty of time to head for the horizon yourself. Just make sure that the fear-pathing that the mob is using isn't the same direction you're taking... kinda defeats the purpose if you and the mob both take off in the same direction.

Ghetto fear spell

Sometimes if I'm soloing a particularly tough mob that I can't normally beat (Gorgul Paclock of Burning Woods, for example) this works great. It's just like fear-kiting, only you have to keep re-casting FoL to keep the highest aggro.

To explain: When a mob is blinded, it will run away as though feared *IF* the person who is #1 on it's hate list is not in melee range. If you cast FoL and the mob doesn't run, that means the #1 hate target is still fighting. If that person steps back the mob will immediately run until FoL wears off.

So to fear-kite, you must make sure that your warder is NOT out-aggro'ing you... and the best way to do that is to keep re-casting FoL. You could also toss in a DoT or two, but it's difficult to get off a spell with a long casting time while the mob is running away from you with no snare.

One last tidbit... if you cast FoL on the mob and it keeps hitting someone else, re-casting FoL a few times will often get the aggro on you, and if you're standing back while casting that means the mob will head for the hills.

Ghetto Mez

You will get adds. If you have a competent enchanter, no problem. If not, using Flash of Light to keep the adds entertained is a great way to relieve the stress of corpse recovery. Just keep re-flashing them as they come running back until the main mob is taken care of.

If someone in your party has Root, FoL is great for getting the mob away from the party before it is rooted.

Fast-cast Taunter

While there may be other spells that taunt better, none of them cast as fast and for so little mana as FoL. This is important when trying to maximize your own melee output... you want to miss as few swings as possible. This will become even more effective when they fix our swing-timer being reset when casting.

The other advantage of using FoL as a taunter is that if the burn-happy wizard nukes the bejeezus out of the mob while it's blind, it won't turn him into tomato paste. Instead it will take off running.

"Get the hell off the caster, you!"

This has saved the lives of many, many casters in my groups. (Heck, even saved the lives of a few tanks who were less than a bubble of health).

If the poor s.o.b. is running from the mob, it's easy. FoL will make the mob turn tail and run instantly because the person he's chasing is already moving back out of melee range.

If the soon-to-be-hamburger guy is just standing there, accepting his fate, then you need to flash the mob and then quickly say "Back up!" Once he backs out of melee range, the mob will wander off at his best speed.

There may be more uses for this wonder spell that I haven't discovered yet, but the above alone rates this spell a permanent gem-slot when I'm playing.




Posted by Thrashum -- Easiest way to get FoL,

You would think your first spell rank would be really easy to find but nope. It seems FoL is one of those that you can only get in a few places. Thanks to an experiment to see how well a truly interactive city in EQ might work we now have a very simple way to obtain that spell.

Make yourself a Froglock Shaman, do the n00b quest and find the banker to get your free 5 gp. Now use the nifty find feature to locate your spell vendors. you'll run a short ways and then start up a hill, your vendors are spread out along this path. The first one on the right sells your FOL.

Put the spell in the shared bank, delete the nasty frog, log in your beastie and presto. Your free FoL with no muss and no fuss.



Edit: Added Thrashum's FoL post to this guide

[Hereki]

You can't buy FoL in Shar Vahl, but you can get it as a quest reward.  It comes from the Whisperlings quest, as well as a couple of other low level shaman and beastlord spells (Strengthen, Endure Cold).

http://www.paullynch.org/cgi-bin/Everquest-blosxom/VSBL/05whisperling.story

[Lastermaul]

I love using FOL to farm items with. Standing and turning in a circle while casting FOL on bats or worms or whatever I am farming. My warder will then take care of the mobs as they return, while I continue to cast on any and all mobs in the area. Before the mobs despawn I loot the nice little pile of bodies and start all over again. It is also helpful if the mobs are not in close proximaty and I have to wonder around. When FOL wears off the mob comes looking for me, my warder kills and I loot. I have filled several backpacks full of silk in an hour or so of doing this. Great fun.

[Toenee Dateyegur]

Or you could go to Oasis of Mar and by it at the gypse camp by the lake.

Go to FP via the PoK Book. run through EFP/WFP, zone into N.Ro, run along the water, zone in to OoM and run along the water again untin you pass the dock and the hill. Hang a right and you'll see the camp just ahead. I think the vendoe is the first woman NPC. Buy and run out the way you came in.

[Zorthar]

I need to mem this spell and work on divination to try some of these tactics out.

[GurBur]

Flash of light can be bought in PoK library by Vicar Thiran (14,1104,-30).

Also in Neriak Foreign Quarter at Beastlord/Shaman Guild by Gartok (-555, -403, 5)

[Zorthar]

FoL can be bought in the Iksar Shaman guild.  When I get on tommorow I will update this post with who you can buy it from.

[sharszaik]

I dont remember which merchant it was , but FoL is in Cabbilis , just check the shammy merchants downstairs.

[Nekokirei]

I never quite grasped the concept of kiting while playing my monk.  After playing as a Beast and a recent moment of satori, I guess the Monk skill of Initimidation can be used as "ghetto" fear, but the skill moves at a crawl.

Anyway, I was in N. Qeynos working on my casting skills and on the gazillioneth "I Fippy Darkpaw will slay you all <BARK>" it occured to me, "hey!  that article on Beastlord's talked about FoL for kiting...what the heck, give it a go"

I checked to make sure I wouldn't irritate anyone if I bounced Fippy around, got a little ways out from the gate on the next <BARK>, waited for Fippy's arrival--he was punctual as per usual--and smacked him w/FoL.  Sure as heck, he turned tail,  ran, FoL wore off, he came back, I rinse and repeat.

Aside from being great fun, I found this pretty handy for understanding the use of FoL as a kiting tool, and better still, why I'd want to kite.  Granted at my level, nothing in the Newbie Yard is going to add to Fippy, plus he's not going to clean my clock--learning range of FoL, fizzles, getting my one Nuke or DoT off as he ran, stepping out of aggro, etc.  Both definite advantages for someone who's never grasped the kiting concept and never played a caster.

I think it was an ideal environment for learning and having a great time.  Plus a different spin, for me at any rate, at getting revenge on Fippy.

/em grumbles about those times when low on hp and Fippy started wailing on my lowbie monk back during Klik drone fights.  :)

[Dorrogtr T`A]

Awesome guide, I agree that it's underutilized because the only time I've ever had a use for it, was when we had a pet group in the Plane of Valor Outside Cave  :)

[Mneumenth]

I think you can buy this in Kaladim, as well...at the Cleric vendor, if I recall correctly.

[djchyevolved]

I found while searching online.. Allakhazam has a list of vendors that sell FoL go to http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spell.html?spell=201 In that list they list Qeynos for those of you that don't know Vendors in Qeynos will not Sell to Vah Shir

[KirishuRN]

They will if you are Vah Shir and use sneak.

[Buzak]

well, using blind as CC might work in the lower ends of the game, but if you use it in just about any highlvl zone and you will see adds swarming all over you. the only real use for this in high end is for aggro(and its the best spell for this) just make sure you are in melee range..