slow and paralyze spell comparison

[Spikey_Flip]

recently lvled up to 13 and later today I'll buy slow from the AH.

Anyways, just wondering if anyone can say which spell is more effective? I know on other threads that people like to cast slow+para (+dia) but if you can only cast one of them to conserve mp for healing, which one will it be?

anyways for comparison's sake....

Paralyze: lvl 4 spell
mp used: 6
pros: 6 mana to cast !
ability to paralyze enemy's physical attack or magic cast.

cons: imo doesn't stick too long on mob.

Slow: lvl 13 spell
mp used: 15
pros: enemy's attack delay increased (but by how much? one of threads here say around 50% ?? can anyone verify this?)
less attacks = less mana used for healing = less downtime

cons: 15 mp to use
yes it slows an enemy but means it will still hit .


thoughts? opinions? rants? raves? hehe

oh and advanced happy turkey !

[Pilsbane]

Paralyze effect varies greatly. Sometimes it won't stop any actions on the enemy. Other times it will stop 3-4 actions in a row. These stopped actions are not only normal hits but their special attacks and magic too. For example, when I am Paralyzed if the paralyze is successful at stopping me from Provoking, then I cannot provoke again for 30 seconds when it refreshes.

I don't know the percentage on slow, but when it is cast on me my damage output goes down severely.

When fighting creatures that die quickly, debuffs aren't very important. When fighting stuff that hits hard and lasts a while, these two debuffs become invaluable, actually saving a ton of healing MP.

When we were killing leeches in Quifim, I'd say the leeches damage output got cut in half after they were paralyzed and slowed, saving the WHM a lot of MP for healing and in turn a lot of healing hate.

[Icemage]

In general, if you don't have enough MP to cast both and keep enough MP to heal your party, someone is doing something wrong, because that means you are rushing - and rushing is bad.

However, that being said, if you have to choose because of a bad situation, I would generally go with Paralyze over Slow. It has a lower MP cost, and both spells seem to reduce the same amount of damage over time, so that MP savings can go into an extra Cure.


Icemge

[Navia]

I'll throw in my 2gil and agree that Paralyze should be done in preference of slow if you can only spare the MP for 1 or stuff dies fast.
I time my paralyze to land the instant the puller has brought the monster to the tank since you dont want to be put in a position where the monster has already been beating on the party and you are halfway through the cast time of your first debuff, then you have to play catch up on the tank's hp, risking aggro :sweat:

For long fights like killing leeches in qufim or just IT monsters in general, para+slow is a must, not reapplying these when they wear off costs me alot more MP thats spent on cures.

[PetriW]

I try to always do Paralyze on inc (unless it's plain not needed), simply make a "/target <bt>" macro and a "/ma "Paralyze" macro. When mob is pulled try to target until you get the mob on target then simply cast paralyze as soon as the mob is in range, one provoke is enough taunt to land debuffs and a heal or two (not like I count :sweat: ) with no problem in my experience.