Reserved Post:
First things First this will be a long update. All spells will be given a brief summary that its targeted for the beginner evoker. This summary will contain whether the skill is non-timered (N/T), Timered (T/V), other (O/T). The summary will also include whether the spell coefficient is "known", "estimated", completely unknown stats. Following the brief summary there will be a heavy in-depth explaination of the skill's mechanics in-game. Along with an expected *Learning Curve* time frame to fully understand how to properly use the skill.
Spectral Bolt
Summary
(O/T) Spell Coe rank 1 (1.0077)-Known- per ball. Rank 10 (1.1~25) Estimate. 1 second cooldown locked tied to casting animation.
Suggested Foci:
Prism, Radiant, Lens
--In-depth--
cast a phasing ball that at 12.7 meters spreads outwards. Each 5% increase in range skill modifier moves the ball split back by 0.25 meters. Range can extend to 36 meters (even though it will appear green at 38 with max range damage is limited to 36.1~4 meters). Full damage actually will happen at 13.1~3 meters. Cast this spell for full damage at 14 meters if the enemy isn't advancing. Cast at 19 meters if the enemy is advancing. Because of the rof attack speed bug this skill is great at phasing enemies with out any phase modifiers. Very damaging and often overlooked. About a 25% chance of phasing shulgoth at c level 5. The skill gains damage with each character level up, this gain is so small in comparison to rank increases its not worth mentioning.
--Learning-Curve--
Expect to be able to use this skill from the start of the game. Practically speaking the least used spell in-game. Expect 15-30 minutes to develop a decent grip on timing and placement of the ball in regards to your enemie(s) distance.
Fire Storm
(N/T) direct attack spell 300 shots(rounds) per minute(5 shots a second). Spell coe Rank 1 c level 1 (1.00)-Known-. Spell coe rank 10 c level 50 (above 2.5 per ball) Estimate has higher damage than my tempest. Within 10 meters when maxed most damaging spell for the evoker.
Suggested Foci:
Axis( to oxford circus station), Core (with 22% total increased use rate{available at oxford})
--In-Depth--
Any + use rate gear heavily affects this skill can get to 7-8 shots per second. Max is 10 per second when you hex edit above 100% use rate. High power cost at low levels you will have to inject often. Power cost doesn't increase as much as other non-timered spells so can be a good 1 point wonder. Because of the attack speed bug any use rate above 22% will net 1 more ball per second and firestorm gets the attack speed bug as well. The summary is correct within 10 meters is the highest damaging spell in-game outstripping tempest by a fair amount. Hard to come up with an estimate for coe's because tempest was known. So its higher, but for sure 2.5 is a low estimate.
--Learning-Curve--
Very easy skill to use early on. Simply put once you know the power costs involved its easy to use. 1-5 minutes total.
Word of Fear
(T/V) Fear based focus rated curse. Unknown fear coefficient. Will not directly cause fear in most enemies. When combined with a fear based attack ( angelic orator BM, or Venomous Sprit evoker) can cause fear. Amplifies fear based attacks, because of a bug probably, this skill is ineffective beyond level 5.
Suggested Foci:
Radiant has evidently an inherent higher fear attack strength. Allowing this skill to be effective on necros and beasts//trash monsters (non-demons) up to level 36~40. This however must be used with a maxed fear rank and maxed venomous spirit.
--In-Depth--
In Order to make this skill effective you have to combo it with venomous spirit and use a radiant with + % evocation skills in its mod. Fear strength is affected by this once thought useless mod. This however still is outstripped by level 40 on almost all monsters. This is still wasted skill points in both skills.
--Learning-Curve--
You shouldn't be using this skill unless you play a *hardcore* style in single player games. WILL NOT WORK ON BOSSES EXCLUDING SHULGOTH.
Venomous Spirit
(O/T) 1 second cooldown, 1.5 second casting animation, So even though the cooldown is at 1.0 seconds you are hard locked at 1.5 seconds. Spell coe (1.97) rank 1 c level 1 -Known- Unknown fear coefficient. Spell coe rank 10 c level 50 (2.7~9) estimate approx half the damage of the known coe of hellfire. The spell can auto-track a target up to a total distance of 72-84 meters ( only within its 36 meter radius of attack.
Suggested Foci:
{damage Prism, Lens, Radiant}, (Fear is the locus)
--In-Depth--
Bug locks the spell at 1.5 seconds because of casting animation. Moderate chance of fear up to level 20-22 depending mob strength type (demons have the strongest fear defense beasts are weakest). Low power cost for the damage. Spell doesn't gain that much damage for either rank or c level increase. The fear based portion gains a heavy amount for rank and c level, but it slowly gets outstripped by monster defense increases. Can be used effectively with word of fear till about level 30-33 up to nightmare Shulgoth.
--Learning-Curve--
1 minute for damage portion, 10-12 hours combined with Word of fear and is only effective for fear up to level 40.
Demon Spine
(N/T) Spell Coe at rank 1 c level 5(1.5)-Known-, Spell coe rank 10 level 50 (1.9~2.5) estimated. 25 meter range 1 second cooldown spell. Any direct increase use rate gear decreases its cast time minimum cast time is 10 shots a second (600 rounds per mintue). 1 of 5 skills that targets more than 8 enemies and "pierces".
Suggested Foci:
Prism and radiant for stun, Lens for damage
--In-Depth--
Great skill can be used effectively against mobs for the entire game, even better when combined with stun. The estimated coe comes from its increase in damage which I hex edited a couple of locus and my skills on an evoker and compared rank and level differences. Dont increase ranks for damage, but stun is a great portion of this. Stun does work with a critical hit, but because of a bug the only stun attack strength that "counts" is coming from your focus only. Moderately low power cost for killing speed. May or may not have an inherent and HIDDEN +10% critical chance base increase.
--Learning-Curve--
Much like firestorm, simple point and shoot mechanics. 1 minute to target 1 opponent. 10-15 minutes to get multiple opponents targeted with 1 shot (lining them up on purpose).
Dual Focus
1 or 7 points simply enough rank decreases only your willpower costs.
--In-Depth--
If you plan on equipping at least above all blue colored items As I explained before you will struggle if you play legitly. This skill will lower your willpower costs by 84 when maxed. Combined with a controlled gear selection you can still do the same stuff you could do with 2 prisms instead using radiants.
--Learning-Curve--
If you play legitly your entire lifetime of the character. Stats are gonna be an issue for evokers the closer you get to end-game area's. 20-40 hours
Drain Power
(O/T) Spell coe of 0.2 over 1 game second-known- Non-elemental based drain. Each enemy locked onto increase your base power recharge rate by 20-120%. Max range of 20 meters Not affected by range mods. Has a cone field of effect, no maximum on enemies targeted. (because of the cone it mostly will stay under 6 enemies)
Suggested Foci:
All of them base stats are unaffected by focus ratings.
--In-Depth--
First available drain skill, so explanation of how drains work for damage. Damage is based off a rate of fire per tick count. I.e. 1 of 4 skills that has no rate of fire count. The game runs on 20 game ticks per second. Everything in-game is calculated off that. Your not actually doing 0.2 damage, your doing 0.01 damage per game tick. It just happens that in 1 game second (20 ticks) the rate of fire adds up to 0.2. All damage in game uses the "tick" method of equating damage.
--Learning-Curve--
1 minute to understand the mechanics. 10-15 minutes to get more than 9 opponents targeted in its cone effect at once.( hint try moving your crosshair in a tight circle slightly inside your opponents models.
Brom's Curse
(T/V) 10-20 meter health curse cast. Affects 2-12 targets within 20 meters. Curse range unaffected by range mods. No damage coefficient. Health is given to the attacker in health per second, not health per attack like in the description.
Suggested Foci:
Locus will receive slightly higher health recovery if casted is affected (slightly) by focus ratings
--In-Depth--
Health gained is based on a percentage equation of total health, focus rating, damage of attack, and rank of the curse. Heavy weighted formula in which really only spell rank matters. differences of about 20-40 health per minute between ranks, differences of about 10-12 health per minute with each 500 hp pool total.
Before 1.2 this skill was absolutely essential because it was a health per attack skill, not health per second. The 1.2 nerf went Way way to far.
--Learning-Curve--
Simple and non-effective curse. 5 minutes total till you want drain life instead.
Bone Shards
(O/T)10 meter stun bone cast, 6 second cooldown, no casting animation can get to .5 seconds of cooldown before your use rate wraps from hex-editing. spell coe rank 1 c level 1 (5.5) -Known- Spell coe rank 10 c level 50 (5.5) -Known-
Suggested Foci:
Prism and Radiant for sfx attacks, Lens for damage
--In-Depth--
Spell damage doesn't increase with rank, however stun attack strength does. About the only skill besides the glitched tempest and arc legion that can consistently stun longer than 1 second nightmare Sydonai. Radius affects this skill NOT range. So there is no actual maximum range for this spell. Huge hidden stun sfx adder you will be stunning 99% of the time with this skill above level 2.
--Learning-Curve--
1 minute to learn this as a defensive 1 time skill. 10-20 hours to get the proper gear together to turn this into a skill that allows a 6 second interval in total stun time. I.e. can let you switch gear sets to get a third or even fourth attack skill (timered) in.
Lighting field
(T/V)2 second cooldown splash skill. Initial Coe rank 1 c level 1 (2.5) -Known- Durational splash tick coe 0.1 per game tick over 80 ticks. Spell coe rank 10 c level 50 Initial (3.5~4.0) Durational splash tick (same)
Suggested Foci:
Prism and Radiant for sfx, Lens for damage
--In-Depth--
Hard casting animation lock at 1.2 seconds of cooldown. Any use rate above 72% is wasted. Initial spell coe refers to the damage done Only if the "ball" hits a target directly. Low end sfx attack strengths for everything, but shock. There is no in-game cap on the radius of spell's and this one can get to around 44 meters without hex-editing. Great mob skill when rank is maxed.
--Learning-Curve--
1 minute to target and # of monsters caught in its field. 2-3 hours to get the *lobbing* motion and range right to hit an enemy directly at a distance.
Spectral Lash
(O/T) Spell Coe 1.5 -Known- explanation of damage in in-depth section. rank 10 level 50 spell coe (2.2~5) estimate. Starts at 18 meters and reaches 45 meters at rank 10. Many bugs exist with this skill's "locking" animation for its drain effect.
Suggested Foci prism//radiant for sfx, Lens for damage
--In-Depth--
Spell coefficient is 1.5 over 1 second or more specifically 0.075 per game "tick" that is each time the game counts a tick the spell does 0.075 damage per beam. In-animate objects like tree's common shrubs, and etc cancel the spells tick counter by trying to lock onto that object. You will still drain power and have the range animation in effect, so its a good idea to let the skill subside and "relock". Because this spell only as a set counter it cannot have any attack bugs with it.
--Learning-Curve--
5 minutes to understand the mechanics, damage, and range potential at each rank. 2-3 hours to understand all of this skills bugs and faults. 6-8 hours to master when combined with spectral lash mastery and spectral curse.
Arcane Shield
(O/T) Casting cool down of 12.7 seconds hard locked meaning it will always have a cooldown of 12 seconds. Spell duration is increased by +boost skills % duration only. You have to hex-edit add property for increased use rate for evoker skills % (not evocation %) if you want to decrease the cool down. Cool down is hard locked at 11 seconds minimum.
Suggested Focus: Locus
--In-Depth--
Shields are increased at rank 1 by 3.63636 * the minimum strength of the primary focus (right hand). Not effected by any other modifiers. Shields get about a 1400 max boost if played legitly. Not an effective skill past monster level 30, because of shield overload bugs inherent in all monsters. If your wanting to increase the duration of arcane shields you need the modifier +boost skills duration %
--Learning-Curve--
1 minutes to learn as a defensive 1 time skill, just to get the proper timing to get the most out of the skill.
Venomous Armor
(T/V) Thorns based overlay skill has a maximum "retaliate" range of 13.7 meters. Casting duration increased by 5 seconds per rank max of 65 seconds rank 10. Cooldown is decreased by 1 second per rank. At rank 5 cooldown is removed, however inherent skills cost always results in a 1.8 second cooldown. Known fixed coefficient of (.2224) ( all ranks all skill levels)
Suggested Focus: Locus
--In-Depth--
Locus adds the least amount of thorns damage but yields the highest armor ratings. Unknown formula for calculating armor modifier. Armor is combined with gear stats before adding in boosts to overall armor. At high levels of boost (+ 60%) can yield close to 90% damage reduction. Thorns damage is {1+(damage received% of total health)*(1+damage modifiers)*(1+elemental damage modifiers)*(.2224)} * |0.6|<--- only if your dual wielding
--Learning-Curve--
A true defensive 1 time skill 1 second to learn and use. 1-2 hours to understand the damage and range affects of the thorns portion.
Flame Shards
(T/V) Fire based explosion skill. Shoots a maximum of 4 shards from the primary foci. Known coefficient of (2.12) rank 1 c level 1. Estimated coe of (2.5~3.25) rank 10 c level 50. Skills is best used by placing individual shards on the "ground"
Suggested Focus: Lens and Prism for damage, Radiant for sfx, and Core's for use rate.
--In-Depth--
Contrary to belief Shards explosions *DO NOT STACK* in 1.2 *If all the shards explode at the same time*. Theoretically you could hit the ground and an enemy and each shard would go *off* at a different game tick. I.e. if all shards explode in the same game "tick" only 1 shard is counted. This skill is best aimed at the ground, or the environment to avoid having the shards explode in the same game tick count. Shard radius of explosion is 1.72 meters (1.2)
--Learning-Curve--
1 second to target a single enemy with more than 1 shard. 10 minutes to target more than 3 enemies with 2 shards each.
Summon Ember
(O/T) Sole summon based skill for the evoker costing a specific and current amount of your power pool. Gains a significant but "unknown" ignite based attack effective to within 4 levels of your current c level at 5 levels and above this summon is worthless. 2 second cooldown if the ember dies.
Suggested Foci: Not currently affected by any stats other than c level
--In-Depth--
Yeah he is cute, dont expect anything past level 42 in nightmare though.
--Learning-Curve--
1-5 minutes to realize he wont be effective in nightmare.
Drain Life
(N/T) Drain laser attachment skill. Drains life up to 20 opponents dependent on a "conical radius of attack". High power cost must have end-game skill for *hardcore* players
Suggested Foci: Prism's and Radiant's for sfx, Axis for power costs.
--In-Depth--
Highest source of replenished life in game. Can exceed 3 stacked nanodyne health injectors. 3*(18000 health per minute). Life drain is based on a formula that is similar to this. ***Monster attack multiple*(4.33334% of total health)*(6.7% of skill rank)*(0.2%* c level)*** Where monsters is the total number of source drains, life is total health maximum pool, skill rank is (1, through 7), and c level is character level. This formula is approximated, meaning I did my best to show the relative strengths of each portion. Note this skill becomes Highly effective at very high character levels. DO NOT EXCEED more that 32,124.64444 health per second, at this point the game can become very glitchy, may *wrap-around*, may deny health pack resoritives, may deny power regen, may even result in instant death (if your life is a low health pool total). Weak attack based coefficient of (0.12) Constant, known.
--Learning-Curve--
Just like drain power in targeting affects. 5 minutes to target more than 8 enemies at once. (this assumes you mastered drain power already)
Skull Splitter
(T/V) 2.5 second cooldown spell -Known_ coe of (0.7784)(doesn't change) per shard hit. Moderate power costs. A fractaled explosion of shards skill locks at 1.8 second cooldown due to casting animation. The more bounces it makes before exploding the *higher* spread (and speed of each individual shard) becomes on explosion.
Suggested Foci: Horrible sfx attack strengths, uses the lens for damage
--In-Depth--
The initial skull does 1.0 Coe if it doesn't explode, but directly hits a target. The skull always explodes at 12.8 meters from the primary foci *or* after 5 bounces Whichever happens first. Can be highly effective if the skull is "bounced" at 7-9 meters once directly in-front of your intended opponent. Highest damaging 1 time spell in-game, loses to firestorm after the second cast. Will kill most monsters with 8 or less shards up to appropriate monster//gear levels.
--Learning-Curve--
5 minutes to target 1-5 enemies with a single skull. 10-12 hours to understand skull explosion distance, damage, and spread types according to the bounces the skull makes. 40+ hours to get more than 20+ shards to hit a single opponent.
Tempest
(T/V) Hard locked casting animation of 2.5 seconds, 8 second cooldown. -Known Coe of (11.92) per strike. Estimated coe of (14.5~15.5) per strike c level 52 rank 10. Best possible skill to use for the beginning evoker.
Suggested Foci: Core for use rate, Lens for damage, and Prism//Radiant for sfx attack.
--In-Depth--
Initial rank yields 18~20 strikes over 10 seconds. Does vary in total amount of strikes. Multiple storm fields can stack. Highly effective skill can be used throughout the whole game. Does have a ROF attack speed bug, be cause the each strike is an actual drain effect over 4 game ticks.
--Learning-Curve--
1-5 minutes highly defensive skill actually. 10 minutes to understand the maximum *reach* of the strikes. 4-6 hours to master the attack speed bugs.
Blink
(T/V) starts at 20 seconds and decreases with each rank point spent. At high levels can be a very defensive kiting skill. Minimum cast cooldown of 1 second.
Suggested Foci: Axis for power cost its the only focus that affects this skill.
--In-Depth--
The skill is affected by only 1 naturally occurring stat in-game. That being power cost for evokers skills. A natural augment on the Axis focus type. If you hex-edit, the stat + evoker use rate % ( *not evocation*) effects this stat. Even when non-hex edited 2.2 seconds of cool down is plenty fast
--Learning-Curve--
1-5 minutes to learn your crosshair should be slightly above where you want to go. 20-30 minutes to use this as a fast kiting or fast transport skill. (i.e. blinking into a mob casting spectral curse then hellfire behind you then blinking back to let the mobs get hit by hellfire)
Concentrate Damage
(O/T) In the sense its available when its available, has a 6-12 second cooldown period. This period cannot be hex-edited to be smaller
Suggested Foci: Core and Prism for damage
--In-Depth--
Simply put this spell increases your damage by the directly stated amount. It is the same exact modiier as placing a +damage relic mod in your focus. When maxed with dual focus can replace 4 dual stat damage relics. (17%, +14%)
--Learning-Curve--
About 1 second to understand the skill cancels and cooldown begins the second you move. 10-20 minutes to combine with known range maximums for each attack spell. Often combined with spectral lash or Tempest.
Swarm
(T/V) 6 second cooldown. Hard locked casting animation of 1.2 seconds. Initial COE (you have to hit the monster directly) 2.5 -Known- Duration coe 7.5~9.0 over 6 seconds (thats 240 game ticks. Increases heavily with ranks in poison attack strengths. Definitely misstated attack strength %'s for poison
Suggested Foci: Core for use rate, Prism and radiant for sfx, and Lens for damage
--In-Depth--
Hidden attack strength bug, may be separate from the known attack speed bug. Actual poison attack strength is about double of the listed spell statements. Spell lasts for 6 seconds, is affected by all stats excluding +evocation % damage. Has a very good chance of poisoning anything on its own, when combined with poison damage modifiers becomes highly effective at procing poison affects. Should not be overlooked, when combined with Spectral curse *most* monsters will move so slowly that you'll simply be able to avoid attacks all together.
--Learning-Curve--
5 minutes to get more than 4 monsters in its attack radius. 3-4 hours to get range, speed, and lobbing down properly to target and ranged ( past 20 meters) monster to get hit with the initial attack. When combined with Spectral curse about 2-3 hours to maximize poison and curse effects to their full advantages.
Spectral Lash Mastery
(T/V) Actually hard- locked to spectral lash target frame sequence of 1.2-2 seconds. -Known- Coe of 5.5 increasing by -Known- 0.5 per rank so at rank 10 its 10.0 even. Does not get more coe per character or monster level.
Suggested Foci: Prism//Radiant for SFX
--In-Depth--
This skills explosion does *stack* with flame shards, and spectral curse. Does not stack if the damage occurs in the same game *tick* frame. I.e. If two monsters explodes at the same time ( 1 due to a shard or other effect and the other to a spectral lash death. The death lash gets canceled. Explosion radius varies dependent on monster model size. A typical zombie would be 4 meters total. Past level 3 has a high chance to phase nearby monsters.
--Learning-Curve--
1-5 minutes to understand best models to attack are the large ones for radius. 5-6 hours to master the combo effects of spectral lash, lash mastery, spectral curse. 10 hours to make it an effective build that can be used in end-game area's. 30-40 hours to combine with swarm, lash, and spec curse for attack speed reduction and lash explosion damage.
Elemental Defense Drain
Places a % based curse which boosts defensive elemental armor ratings, and reduces the monsters armor ratings by a %. 1 time Great offensive spell for sfx percentages.
Suggested Foci: Core to apply this curse to multiple monsters for sfx damage boost
--In-Depth--
Armor modifies are a straight up boost in %, the armor boost is modified by curse duration, not +boost skills. Elemental attacks are heavily bugged for monsters in end-game area's Even with high armor stats ( +5,000) phasing, stunning and igniting may still all happen frequently with this curse even on. (thats 15,000 for each armor in your display). However the % reduction for sfx attack can be absolutely vital to getting stun effects to last longer. All sfx curses are also modified by Curse duration. So if you want to max the effectiveness of the skill grab gear for + curse duration.
--Learning-Curve--
1-5 minute for placement range and targeting the proper monster (hint always target demons.). 10 hours refine gear choices to maximize this skill
After Life
Simply put, Costs about the same power as drain life and needs a dead body. Whereas drain life only needs a target and has the same power cost.
Suggested Foci: None, not affected by focus ratings
--In-Depth--
Seriously, ---Drain Life--- is better in almost every aspect.
--Learning-Curve--
1 minute to realize 1 rank point spent in drain life is more efficient than 7 rank points in after life.
Arc Legion
(N/T) A drain skill has not timed portion. -Known- coe of 2.2 per beam over 20 game ticks. (0.11 per game tick per beam). Does not increase damage in rank or c level ups. -Known- coe of shock effect 2.5 per 20 seconds of game tick increasing by 25% per rank point spend max of 6.25 per 20 game ticks (shock damage tick). Has an attack rate speed bug.
Suggested Foci: Axis for power costs, Prism//Radiant for sfx, Lens for damage
--In-Depth--
Arc Legions attack rate speed bug is actually 2 fold.
Bug#1 Every 20 game ticks damage for elemental is calculated, all 20 game ticks are added up resulting in +20X the actual elemental attack damage.
Bug#2 Every beam that targets a single monster gets its own inherent elemental attack. Does stack with the prior bug resulting in and Huge increase is base attack strength over --**ANY**-- other spell in-game. IT will be your highest source of elemental attack strengths in-game even at level 1.
Highly effective sfx skill approximating to 160X the normal amount of low skills like firestorm. about 8x stronger than all of the other drain skills.
--Learning-Curve--
1 second, It auto targets, selects up to 8 monsters, and has a moderate low power cost for damage output. Also is a highly effective 1 point wonder skill.
HellFire
(T/V) 3.2 second Casting cool down Casting animation hard locked at 1.5-75 seconds. -Known- intial coe of 4.5 over a 3.3 meter inner field. Also -known- intial coe of 2.0 over a 6 meter field. (thats 2 stakcing fields.) -known- duration coe of 11.5 over 5 seconds (200 game ticks). Unknown coe estimated at rank 10 c level 48 of 14.0~16.0 intial and 12~16 over 5 seconds.
Suggested Foci: Axis for power cost, (its a massive power consumption spell) Lens for damage, Prism//Radiant for sfx
--In-Depth--
Due to the double stack field ignite has a high chance of happening with this spell. Duration is Affected by + boost skills. There is no in-game limit on radius size so the spell can get large if played legitly about 60 meters or so. If an enemy is placed in the *inner core* of the spell has a better chance of ignite it seems than arc legion. So its ignite attack strength is bugged for sure. Ignite status affects is effect by curse duration. You can get a above 1 minute in ignite status with this spell and elemental defense drain.
--Learning-Curve--
1 minute to learn best placement for non-moving targets withing range. 2-4 hours for best placement for moving (but non-advancing) monsters. 8-10 hours for placement of advancing monsters.
Spectral Curse
(T/V) Ranged Curse based spell that lowers speed, marks the target for violent destruction *really violent*, and has a range of 20 meters. -Known- COE of 6.0 per explosion in a 6 meter radius. -Known-rank coe of 1.0 per rank (Thats 15.0 per explosion at rank 10) again 6 meter radius
Suggested Foci: Core's and Axis'
--In-Depth--
Can get up to 60% reduction in total speed with a single cast. Range of 20 meters for the curse locked 6 meter radius from outer extremity of monster model ( i.e. the bigger monsters have a larger radius). Bosses will not explode. Bosses will be slowed, if combined with a strong poison attack can be highly effective. Great skill to cause lag//monster death. Very fun if understood how to play properly.
--Learning-Curve--
5 minutes to get the skill down to where you can cast/kite/kill 3-4 mobs in quick succession. 15 minutes to combine with poison to reduce boss attacks to a crawl. 20+ hours to combine and make a decent build based on poison attack gear and skills.
Should Not be considered a secondary skill. So many situational uses that it really should be something you think about when planning your evoker.
