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[Guide] Controlled Chaos: The Math Behind Earth Ecaflip ----------------------------------
Introduction:
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Hey there!

Before I start, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm a long time Dofus player and an addict to roleplaying games in which thinking out of the box and number crunching are involved. I might not devote too many hours to the games but I like to analyze them to the fullest, and in that spirit I wanted to publish this guide.

Let me get one thing out of the way: I'm by no means a Wakfu expert. I've gotten around level 40 when I decided my former class (Xelor) was boring me slightly, so I took the challenge of my old Dofus favourite: Ecaflip. Knowing how the earth spells work, I didn't want to start my character the wrong way, so what followed is an intensive session of number crunching, rerolling and spell testing in order to work out the ultimate spell layout.

My conclusions have been quite interesting, and some of them in direct opposition to the consensus. The obscure nature of the Earth Eca spells have gotten people to make some completely wrong assumptions (such as considering Craps great and Three Cards and Roulette terrible). The objective of this guide is getting rid of these myths and working out some general strategy for earth ecas.


Note: In case you were wondering how the hell am I supposed to be publishing a guide for earth ecas and asking a basic earth eca question on the same page, the other thread was my brother on the wrong acc (mine was left logged in) ^^. He should've waited and asked me for advice when I came back home haha.
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Average DPAP table:
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One of the major reasons, if not THE reason why Ecaflip's spells are misunderstood is the difficulty to calculate the actual damage output, so the first obstacle I wanted to tackle is calculating the average damage for each earth ability, taking into account all posible cases, including whiffs, heals, chance buffs and whatnot.

The units I will be using are Damage Per AP (DPAP) and Critical Damage Per AP (CDPAP) as I think they accurately represent the power of a spell. It's important to make a distinction between normal and critical since many ecaflip spells don't scale linearly on crits, thank to negative side effects not happening on the critical version of the spell or otherwise being diminished (such as in the case of heals). For the table, it is assumed the spells are being cast by a level 100 Eca with 100 in every earth skill, wearing no gear and having no other effects, hitting a 0% resist enemy.

The table is built using a flexible mathemathical formula that I won't write in the shape of an equation not to make things too messy, but here's it in the shape of three steps if you're interested (together with the example of Shi-Fu-Miaow):

---Step 1: Calculate the damage, or negative damage (heal) dealt by every version of the spell: (Shi-Fu-Miaow: 40 damage case A, -6 damage case B ).
---Step 2: Multiply the damage on every case by its percentual chance of happening: (Shi-Fu-Miaow: 40*0.67, -6*0.33)
---Step 3: Add the results from step 2 together, multiply by 3 (to factor the +200% earth damage) and divide by the AP number (Shi-Fu-MIaow:
(40*0.67 - 6*0.33) *3 /3) = 24.82.

So without further ado, here's the table:

------------------------------------------------DPAP -------------------------------------------CDPAP

Heads or Tails ---------------------------- 27-------------------------------------------------- 43.5
421 ---------------------------------------- 33.2 --------------------------------------------- 49.8
Craps --------------------------------------- 28 -------------------------------------------------- 42
All or N. ------------------------------------22.5(*) ---------------------------------------------- 34.5 (*)
Jackpot ------------------------------------- 23.8 ------------------------------------------------- 34.8
Lottery ---------------------------------------39 ----------------------------------------------------- 58.5
Shi-Fu-M. ---------------------------------- 24.82 ------------------------------------------------ 50
Roulette ------------------------------------- 10.5 ------------------------------------------------- 36
Three cards (no pick)(**) ------------- 48.75 ------------------------------------------------- 72.75
Three Cards (pick)--------------------- 49.41(**) ------------------------------------------- 84.875(**)
All In ------------------------------------- 24+1.2*AP(***)--------------------------------------- 24+2.4*AP(***)
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(*): Only for the "turn-ending" outcome. If AoN works the AP consumption is null, therefore DPAP and CDPAP would be infinite.
(**): Considering the non-bugged version of three cards, as explained on the tooltip or wakfu wiki. Three Cards is listed twice, the first one considering you don't pick a card (spell damage only) and the other considering picking a card).
(***): Note the nonlinear scalling. The AP bonus is capped at 10 AP for normal and 5 AP for critical.

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Spell Rundown:
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Some of the results on the table were surprising, weren't they? Right off the bat, 421 comes out as a much better version of Craps, where intuition would tell us to trust craps more. Similarly, spells that we wouldn't have though as damaging (three cards) come out as extremely powerful, where apparent powerhouses such as all-in appear mediocre. However, numbers only aren't enough of an analysis. In this section I go through every spell, giving them a ranking (1 to 5 stars) and commenting them and their uses, all of this in my humble opinion of course.

------Heads or Tails (****):
Hot is the basic nuke, and as such is a bit mediocre compared to the stronger ones. Its power level is compared to craps, on a slightly more limited but more versatile range. It's good for finishing off enemies, as the heal won't kick in if damage was enough to kill. Anyway, being a forced addition to every build, it actually comes down handy as it covers point blank range and packs a decent punch.

----Craps (**):
Overrated by most Ecaflips in my opinion, is a spell that ranks very close to Heads or Tails in power. Its only real advantages are a long range and the flexibility offered by a low cost. The non-critical version is marginally stronger than HoT but the critical comes behind since heal on HoT won't increase. Anyway, it gets ** stars because it's redundant with HoT except on the occasions in which range is vital.

----421(*****):
As you can figure out doing the math yourself, 421 is the most damaging non-wakfu costed spell in Ecaflip's repertoire. A little shorter ranged than Craps and with a harder to manage cost, but the difference is very noticeable, enough to warrant choosing 421 as your main damage spell. A build without 421 is going to be left behind in terms of damage unless you plan on spamming Wakfu-spells such as Three Cards or Lottery, sacrificing options as Cat's Tree or the air branch in exchange.

----All In (****):
Most ecas I've talked to regard this spell as one of the most damaging instinctively. While their intuition is not completely wrong, the amount of AP you must spend to statistically warrant this superiority is huge. In order to surpass the DPAP obtained with 421, you must spend no less than 10 AP on All-In. This is because All-In doesn't scale linearly, as shown on the table formula. Since the chance of doubling increases per AP spent, the statistical average damage grows with the amount of points spent at once. The critical version reaches full power at 5 AP, but at a meager 36 CDPAP, underwhelming compared to other spells.

This considered, All-In should rank well below 421 as it's only better under some (hard to attain) conditions and has a strictly worse crit. However, All-In is a very useful spell for one very specific reason: When Ecaflip's Tarot increases your Critical Failure percentage, you should be casting All-In. If it whiffs, no AP will be spent. Therefore, you can circumvent even a 99% critical failure chance by spamming All-In until it works. These opportunities for the Eca to nullify bad luck should be exploited properly.

Other reason why All In is good is that it serves to round up your AP costs while you reach your desired level of AP. For instance, in a build with 421 as your main attack, you would be at half steam until you get another 2 AP. Thanks to all-in, you can spend those points and do damage without the need for Craps.

----All or Nothing (***):
All or Nothing is yet another misunderstood, but not bad attack. The inconvenient short range, the necessity to cast it as the last spell in a turn and the possibility of leaving you rooted without chance of escape make it a bit hard to use, but the results are more than worth it. Needless to say, it must be cast as the last spell in a turn and spending every single remaining AP. if it whiffs, the damage output is low but not terrible, but if it works, hey, free damage!

Would rank higher if it was a bit more flexible, but the endless list of conditionals makes it awkward to time and use correctly.

----Jackpot: (*):
Costly, awkwardly ranged and underwhelming in terms of damage. Non-crit 421 hits harder than a critical Jackpot, and the possibility of reducing Lock doesn't make up for it by a long shot. A spell to be avoided.

----Lottery: (***):
Costly, and more importantly, Wakfu-costly, but makes up for it with impressive raw power. If you like spectacular numbers, go for it, altough more consistent high damage is offered by Three Cards. Again, whether to stick with Lottery / three Cards or not depends on your build and how you're planning to spend your Wakfu Points. If you're going to use Cat's Tree or the Wakfu options offered in other skill trees, I do not recommend spending much in those.

----Shi-Fu-Miaow (**):
SFM is a mediocre spell that gets much better when it crits. The increase is in fact more than double. S-F-M has a very versatile range and, at worst, its damage is comparable to HoT, so it's not that terrible to have. Generally, you prefer playing HoT except when your Tarot pulls a critical card, in which case SFM isn't that bad of an option. However, 421 is strictly superior and thus SFM ranks low.

----Roulette(***)
Roulette has been called a bad spell by many people, and I can see where they are coming from with that. non-crit version is absolutely terrible. 10 DPAP is so small it doesn't justify having an area. However, there is an interesting niche for Roulette: When Tarot draws a high critical bonus, Roulette becomes surprisingly good. Why? Well, a critical roulette will ALWAYS draw the perfect result (that means, a black square under every enemy and a red square under every ally). Therefore, if you're fighting multiple mobs and you get a critical bonus, it's a great option to dive in and roulette. 36 CDPAP on an area is more than satisfactory, specially when it comes with a heal!

----Three Cards(*****)
Thee cards, another misunderstood genius. Most people I've talked to obsess over the crappy side effects and miss the point: Three Cards is the single most damaging spell in Ecaflip's repertoire. More so than Lottery, and by a large margin. It's important to realize than Three Cards has more DPAP and CDPAP than Lottery EVEN if you decide not to pick the card.

It's interesting to comment on the decission of whether to pick the card or not. Again I shall remind that 3c is currently bugged and only draws the +1AP bonus (which is amazing for us). In case it wasn't bugged, picking up the card after a non-crit Three Cards isn't going to change the DPAP much (the extra damage offered in the shape of a returned 1 AP is compensated by the possibility of healing). However, the resistance lowering effect is always a bonus. What really matters is picking the card up during a crit. In a crit, heals aren't possible, so the pickup is going to end up well.

Altogether, 3c is an awesome spell, sensibly better than Lottery in every situation. If you want to have Wakfu Point weaponry in your build, I recommend 3c.


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The perfect build:
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Wow, that was a nice ride! Now that we've gone through all these skills and ranked them, you might be wondering: Okay so... What now? We have skills that cover all ranges and complement each other, but what is the PERFECT build?.

After these obsessive hours of testing this is my personal opinion:

421 // All-in // Three Cards // Roulette

OR

421 // All-In // Three Cards // All or Nothing

OR

421 // All-In // Roulette // All or Nothing (Best for a build that uses WP elsewhere)

These builds are designed to prevent redundancy. 421 is the main nuke, supported by HoT for shorter ranges. All-In covers our back making us critical failure proof. Then the rest two spells are a free combination of Three Cards, Roulette and All or Nothing. Players who wish to spend their wakfu points elsewhere must choose the version without Three Cards, and the rest can choose whether to keep the critical goodness of Roulette AoE or the high risk-high reward power found in All or Nothing. In any case, all of these builds are better on a 2 AP character, since that willl make it possible to cast two 421s in a turn, going for maximum damage output, or a tremendous 3c, 3c combo.

Any builds that stay away from that scheme are going to, again in my humble opinion, make your Ecaflip worse. It's important to understand that the "perfect build" I posted doesn't necessarily have the "best" skills. For instance, you could argue that Craps is a better skill than All or Nothing, and I might agree. However, Craps is redundant because of 421+HoT, while AoN fills a different niche. Same happens with roulette. What good is it to have 4 skills that do the same job on slightly different ranges? (to put an extreme example, a build with S-F-M, HoT, Craps, Jackpot and 421). It's better to have a consistent skill for each job, and my builds before achieve that. Now go and enjoy your powerful kitty!

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The strategy:
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Of course, what good is to have a perfect build if you don't know how to use it? A good earth Eca must back its skills up with good supports, the adequate stats, and the right objectives in combat. This guide won't cover gear as gear choices are vast and most importantly can be taken back, unless abilities and stats which are definitive.

Stat Build:

An Earth Eca benefits from Critical Strikes, so leveling up Crit Strike is an interesting option. However, the ratio at which crit strike is gained isn't too great, which makes AP the main alternative. Altogether, I'd recommend splitting points between crit strike and AP. Anywhere from 1 AP rest crit strike to 2 AP rest crit strike. Consider spending more heavily in critical strike if your build comes with skills that benefit more from criticals (such as Three Cards or S-F-M), and lean towards AP if you plan on going earth/air (since extra AP makes rabies scale wildly).

Passive/support:

First off, an earth eca needs Ecaflip's Tarot. Even more if he is earth/air. Skipping Tarot on an ecaflip is boring and wrong. The possibility to capitalize on good turns and adapting our strategy to the cards can't be skipped. For instance, if watching out for Critical bonuses and using your Three Cards on that moment, or exploiting the AP bonuses going into rabies + claw rampage (if you're also air) are examples of proper tarot usage. Using the Tarot properly also involves working around the drawbacks: Nullifying Critical Failure thanks to All-In is the main example of this. Last but not least, use the summoned Bow Meows intelligently. More often than not, using their kittikaze ability is worse than simply putting them in the way, as they'll attract the attention of monsters and work as a meat shield.

Second, you'll need Double or Quits. This ability is great when maxed as it statistically improves the Eca's damage output. However, that doesn't mean it should ALWAYS be used. To maximize the efficiency of Double or Quits, ask these questions to yourself before using it:

-What's the reward?
-What's the risk?

For instance. DoQ may be exactly what you need to finish off an enemy, since he has the exact amount of HP at which a DoQ will kill him. This is a great reward. However, a DoQ that will potentially leave the enemy at 1 or 2 HP is not so good.

Then what about the risk? Imagine your last hit did 1 damage for whatever reason, and your opponent has 2 HP. The reward may be mediocre (you need two DoQ to kill) but the risk is null (failing will still leave the enemy in the HP range in which he'll be killed next turn). So by all means go for it. As the opposite example, your last damage, a strong Lottery might have dealt 200 damage, and your enemy is at 1 HP. The reward is good (killing) but the risk is huge. DoQ here is not a good idea.

Always asking those questions is great, instead of mindlessly using DoQ every time.

Critical Master is a must. The extra crit chance is nifty but the crit damage is what really shines. Max this up!

The last points are up to you, and depend on whether you're making a mixed build or not. My main Eca is earth/air and gets Rabies and Paws Off, but you might prefer Cat's Tree or any of the water supports.






That's all for now. Hope you liked the guide and if you spot something wrong, please tell me! Or of course if you want another section, I'm listening =).

Excellent guide! It helps to look at earth skills at a different angles.

My philosophy is that if I have chosen to play a character based on luck, I will not reroll my Eca no matter what earth spells I get . I rather accept them as my luck\misfortune and stick with whatever Lady Luck gave me, trying to make out the best from what I got. I believe it is the best way to play that character and rerolling it until you get a right set up feels like a sort of cheating for me )

In my opinion, I will still choose best spells over good coordination, although it's true that once you have chosen 3 card, better not having Lottery. All or Nothing does provide chance for you to deal infinite damage but it is not very flexible. Same feeling for Roulette, it is a bad spell and I don't look forward to critical hit. As I have said in the other thread, Earth spells of Ecaflip are not strategically important, so it will be more convenient to get easy to use spells - those that deal decent damage, low cost if possible and flexible range. With that, you can ease your mind of which spell to use and can balance the spell exp allocated to each spell, thus result in having high earth elemental bonus.

I don't look forward to critical hits specifically either, but the thing is, sometimes Tarot gives you a +60% or even +90% Critical bonus, and in those cases many spells change their face completely. I agree with your point about spells being easier to level up if all of them are generally useful and not only situationally, but in a all-level-100 scenario I'd rather have Roulette for the odd chance of landing a good AoE, than another, weaker version of 421.

The thing is, if you draw one of my "perfect builds" you can choose your AP/crit split so that you always have a viable string of spells to use at all ranges from 4 below. That makes spells souch as Craps and SFM strictly obsolete.

To each his own anyway =) My Eca doesn't have the perfect build, I have SFM where Three Cards should be heh.


This post has been edited by Aranfalc - August 26, 2011, 19:23:56.

Wow, that's a really good guide. Very thorough and detailed, and written in a reader friendly manner >w< great job!

I need to swap my Water Ecaflip's single Earth spell to Three Cards then. I really thought Jackpot is awesome till now. TwT"

Hey Aran, Joker here
In my case the perfect build for me it's what I have: HoT, 3 Cards, AoN, Craps, and 421, I spend a lot of time like you examining the earth brench and in every game i'm always looking forward a pvp build.
Let's Begin:
Heads or Tails (****): A very good spell that we can use in any moment specially when we doesn't have WP anymore.
Craps (*****): One of the best spells in my opinion, try to fight against a ranged class without Craps you'll see that will be much harder, or even against a close combat class, you can spamm Craps while you run, during some turns you'll be in advantage, also have a low cost and if the dice rolls 7 the damage increase 50% and if the dice rolls 7 with a critical hit the damage will be much better.
421 (*****): Another great spell, a good cost, nice damage/ range and if the dice rolls 6 the damage increase 50%, with a critical and rolling 6 the damage will be great.
All In (**): Personally i dont like this spell cause to reach the max potential you should spend all of your AP, and thats turn you predictable and not versatile.
All or Nothing (****): I love this spell, that helped me a lot of times, you should use in the right moment, but if you have a good critical rate like me, almost 60% without tarot or any bonus, you can finish your turn attacking the enemy or even the air to try to get the bonus AP to use another spell to do a massive damage.
Jackpot (***): Not my favorite spell, a high cost to use ( against an AP taker xelor he won't let you use this spell ), not too good damage, low range but don't have a line of sight ( for who doesn't know when a spell don't have line of sight you can attack the enemies behind the walls, tress, rocks or anything like this ) that can be great if you use in the right time.
Lottery (***): Can do a great damage ( or not ), the gambler spell, if you have the chance to use Lottery 2 times and with luck to cause the high damage will be a great turn for you, specially in a critical hit.
Shi-Fu-Miaow (*): This spell have a good damage, a good range but the chance to heal the enemies it's too big and that's sux, personally I don't think it's worth it.
Roulette (*): High cost, very low damage and can heal the enemies, in a critical hit can be good but I think you have better options, in pvp it's useless.
Three Cards (*****): My main spell, a good cost/ damage/ range, in a critical hit can be a very powerfull spell, the cards it's interesting you can get the AP to help you to use again or even another spell, the -%Earth Resist that helps to your damage or can heal just a few of the life of the enemy, so it's totally worth it. So like I said, that's my opinion about the earth brench for who want to do an earth eca for pvp.Good job for the initiative to do the guide to show for the new ecas about the system of the spells.
Cya
Joker ^-^y


This post has been edited by -Joker - August 27, 2011, 11:38:04.

Thank you for your answer! It's great to have another point of view, specially because most of my experience is PVE =).

I still disagree about some points, specially craps. You must understand that, to manufacture the table in my guide, I taken into account every little possibility. This means, the possible of damage increase from Craps hitting double 7 is factored in, and same in critical. Taken all that into account, the difference of damage with Head or Tails is negigible (in fact, head or tails has a better critical). This gives Craps that extra 1 range the ONLY advantage above Head or Tails, which isn't worth it in my opinion. If range is so crucial, you can always expand HoT's =).

The rest I pretty much agree. You should give Roulette another look however. High cost for bad damage, true, but not so in a critical. During a crit it does 36 CDPAP in area (similar to all-in) PLUS it heals you and your friends. Worth giving a chance at least!


As a minor update, I rerolled a new kitty and she's got a build I love:

-421
-All or Nothing
-Roulette
-Three Cards

She doesn't have All-in to cover her critical failures, but she can do a lot of interesting things!

How I said you in a PvP ( x1 ) Roullete really won't help you in anything, and even if it is a pvp group, normally if your group are smart you will try to focus your attack in just 1 person until he dies, so you'll use your spells with massive damage like 3 Cards or Lottery
About Craps I still think its a great spell with our biggest range and a good damage, you can use this and run, go behind a tree after attack to the enemy doesn't attack you or anything like this, so it's a spell that will let you more versatile, but its my opinion XD

I really like the way you think!

But I have to disagree on some points:

1. Jackpot is a spell as good as Roulette, why? The real power of an area attack is the feasibility of using in the right moment, moments that can target more than one enemy without causing friendly fire. Jackpot in this regard despite the low damage, is much better than Roulette, in fact the no need for vision helps for the perfect aiming. Roulette is very unreliable, when you receve the critical bonus your not always in position to reach more than one target.

2. The high level Double or Quits with the right build can at specific times be used for healing allies or yourself. It is not a safe process but it can turn the tide of battle. Perfect spell for this are Head and Tail, Jackpott and Roulette for self healing. I'm no certain, but maybe Cat Tree can help prevent suicides.

3. All or Nothing is to my a must have! Did you see that if it critical hits you can win back 3 Ap instead of 2? If you are the crasy tipe u can win back 4 AP for 2 uses or iven 5 AP for 5 uses.

4. The most damege non Wakfu spell is Head and tails by far. Try using it on the side or on the back of your target and you'll be surprised. >=D (The +% of side and back damege is not included on heals.)

And for last I agree with you, Craps is not that good spell, it's ok but not a must have.


This post has been edited by Egua-Man - September 02, 2011, 18:48:02.

To be honest worst class of all.Since it can die instant if u pull bad card pf,i need 1 year to kill a rabbit...

Three cards is probably the best wp skill to use, but to be honest i think lottery is way more fun!
I love to see ppls jaws drop when i crit 330 and add another 400 with Double or Quits  

Just trust in the Heart of the Cards, pray and kill one sheep to offer to Ecaflip God and have a Jedi's Heart, that you will always do a massive damage even with HoT + DoQ

ps: Egua, AoN you can just use 3 times per turn.


This post has been edited by -Joker - October 08, 2011, 21:16:52.

Well, if you dislike "all or nothing" style of play and somehow unreliable nature of Eca earth, you always can play air or water builds. Sure, they are not as powerful as Iop or Sadi, but they have some nice spells(with water being one of the few classes out there with the ability to heal themselves in battle) and are quite interesting to play.