Curse

Sir Maddox · Jul 18, 2005, 09:25 AM // 09:25

I switched to Water at Yak's Bend.

A bad choice? Possibly.

More fun? You bet.

dansamy · Jul 18, 2005, 10:48 AM // 10:48

I should also admit, being an ele/monk myself, that up until the fire islands I was pure fire. Once we got there, and with the utter drought of monks in that portion of the game, I healed alongside either Mhenlo and Lina or played support/backup healer for a primary monk player. I have taken 2 ele/monks thru the entire mission storyline, and I have played monk in hiding for both trips thru the fire islands. I have done rather well in that role though. I have not yet repeated a mission due to failure in that area of the game.

Auntie I · Jul 18, 2005, 11:50 AM // 11:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kishin

An interrupt Ranger is a born and bred Elementalist killer. None of the Ranger interrupts are tied to interrupting weapon use, so I don't know what you're talking about there. Distracting Shot and Savage Shot stop spells just as well as other skills (the second even does more damage because of it) and Incendiary Arrows and Choking Gas let you land multiple interrupts one after another (I think my record stands at about 7 with just Choking Gas) for total lockdown. 90% of Elementalist skills beg to be interrupted with their casting times, and Incendiary Arrows and Choking Gas, you can even nail the fast ones like Wards. Furthermore, Rangers are highly resistant to any retaliation by said Elementalist due to their armor.

500 damage is only 50 DPS. A warrior can do that. But that's a digression. Yes, Elementalist are the kings of damage, no one argues that. They are, however, slow to bring their power to bear and a good Ranger can ruin that as fast if not faster than a Mesmer.

Oh yes. As an Elementalist I hate Rangers with interrupts. All those lovely AOE skills come with long cast times that are a piece of cake to interrupt. Mesmers aren't the only class that cause us trouble. On the other hand I love it when I'm playing with a Ranger and I know that they'll be causingthe enemy that much trouble.

It's very much a love / hate relationship!

Alcaza Bedabra · Jul 18, 2005, 12:09 PM // 12:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansamy

For PvE, I still use fire. Especially in UW/FoW runs where the tanks can hold aggro on several and I can set them on fire. For PvP, I am experimenting.

I hear that Air is better for PvP.

Looking at the types of spells, I would have to agree.

Mithie · Jul 18, 2005, 12:14 PM // 12:14

With regards to the poster who said Earth magic isn't recommended because an ele shouldn't tank, I play an e/r with earth and trapping skills that can tank and deal damage very rapidly, as well as dishing out a good number of conditions. I use defensive earth spells combined with wilderness survival defense spells to stand in the middle of enemy mobs while laying down traps right then and there. Ward of melee/dust traps/eruption ensures I don't get hit, and spike traps/barbed traps/flame traps can dish out a good number of damage while the warrior next to me can gash them all to death. A high energy storage score combined with the optional ether prodigy or ether renewal will ensure I've enough juice to sustain the damage and recover gracefully if the odd trap happens to get interrupted.

Of course, without saying, this works only for pve.

Quote:

I hear that Air is better for PvP.

Looking at the types of spells, I would have to agree.

Yes, nothing is more annoying than having your monk totally shut down by a good air elementalist player who shoves spike after spike into your healing sprees.

Phades · Jul 18, 2005, 12:23 PM // 12:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithie

Yes, nothing is more annoying than having your monk totally shut down by a good air elementalist player who shoves spike after spike into your healing sprees.

Hmm your comment makes me wonder how long a e/me could keep someone flat on their back using gale with arcane echo before the exhaustion became too bad. Probably a me/e would end up doing it better via blackout echod and using gale as backup.

KvanCetre · Jul 18, 2005, 01:48 PM // 13:48

The problem I have with air is that its mostly single-target only. Add that with the exhaustion and it doesn't work out too well, especially in higher level areas which you could be using fire storm and meteor shower to tear enemies apart.

Too many geomancer skills seem to require you to be close up to the action, so I'm not a fan of those.

Besides that, I use a fire wand(max damage, stats) that I found and use conjure flame for my basic attack. When you reach 14 fire and max damage fire weapon, flare becomes a waste of energy.

Mithie · Jul 18, 2005, 02:09 PM // 14:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by KvanCetre

The problem I have with air is that its mostly single-target only. Add that with the exhaustion and it doesn't work out too well, especially in higher level areas which you could be using fire storm and meteor shower to tear enemies apart.

Too many geomancer skills seem to require you to be close up to the action, so I'm not a fan of those.

Besides that, I use a fire wand(max damage, stats) that I found and use conjure flame for my basic attack. When you reach 14 fire and max damage fire weapon, flare becomes a waste of energy.

When you become an air elementalist, you resign yourself from the role of the primary damage dealer to that of a supporting sniper. Though air ele's see much more use in PVP due to the ability to put out high spike damage, it's still a very useful character in PVE.

1. Many of your bread and butter air spells cause exhaustion; this means you have to time each spell EXTREMELY well to drag out your stamina and prolong your usefulness on the field.

2. Mix in non-exhaustive direct damage spells from your tertiary school to compliment your damage, such as fireball or phoenix, if your tertiary school is fire. (Your primary should be air and secondary should be energy storage) which you could cycle when your target isn't doing anything interesting. You should also carry along some sort of energy management skill, such as air attunement. You can also swap your elite air skill for ether prodigy (careful, prodigy also causes exhaustion) or ether renewal, if you feel you're cycling too slowly.

3. As a supporting sniper, your target should always be an enemy priest who's denying your team damage, or a mesmer who's shutting down your warriors. You should maintain a constant knockout/interrupt cycle on that particular enemy as the rest of your team chews through the rest with relative ease. If you have a hammer swinger in your party, then it shouldn't be too hard to knock-lock an enemy hero or someone equally problematic.

In short: if you're playing an air ele, you're not there to deal damage; you're there to deny the enemy mob caster support.

Xelig · Jul 18, 2005, 06:08 PM // 18:08

My advice to the OP would be to spice it up a bit. Keep trying the other elements, test out the skills, see what you think. Remember that the elements have different specialisations, so you need to base your decision around your role.

* Are you there purely to lay down as much damage over time as you can, to as many targets as possible? Fire is undoubtedly the most efficient AoE damage dealer.

* Are you going up against smaller groups of tougher mobs, such as hard bosses with just a couple of "henchmen" each? Air will give you the biggest, fastest single-target bang for your buck.

* Do you need a defensive boost? Earth has some great armour and resistance boosts, plus some utility to harrass the enemy with AoE knockdowns and snares.

* Do you need more utility? Water has a good mix of single-target and AoE damage spells with lots of snares, plus some interrupts and a few defensive skills.

To be honest, PvE is generally a lot less taxing on elementalists than PvP. The mobs aren't necessarily smart enough to take out your monk first; they're rarely bright enough to move out from long duration AoEs or to take out ranger spirits that form the backbone of your strategy; they helpfully huddle close together in big groups and settle in for a fight rather than running around to avoid projectiles and AoEs.

The result is that you often don't need defense of Earth, because your monks aren't immediate primary targets as they are in PvP. You don't often need the snares from Water because the mobs don't run away when you're about to finish them off. Sure, you can play with them for fun if you like, and each set will give unique advantages. But you're usually going to be the main class in the group who can really take advantage of the "AoE-friendly" mob AI by dishing out insane amounts of damage to groups of 8+ mobs simultaneously. Rarely will you need to fill another role in a PvE group beyond mass damage-dealing.

Quote:

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Elementalists are the primary damage dealers in the game.
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This is a pretty common myth. Not sure why, except that it's a persistent role-playing stereotype. But in this game, warriors do the most damage, rangers second most, and elementalists come in third.

Depends if you're talking about PvE, PvP, single-target, AoE, etc. If I layer Firestorm, Searing Heat, Inferno and Flame Burst on a group of 4+ mobs, I can do more AoE damage in the next 10-15 seconds than the warrior will do in the next 5 minutes. If you're talking about sustained damage against a single target, then yes, a warrior or ranger is going to knock any elementalist out of the picture. In PvE, though -- which is what the OP was addressing -- AoE is your friend more often than not.

Quote:

And common belief is that air does not have aoe. This is false. Air does have aoe, but not as many skills as fire.

True, but the air AoEs all have drawbacks. Chain Lightning only hits 3 targets and causes exhaustion; whirlwind and lightning touch are pbAoE and have very mediocre damage for high cost compared to Fire; and Thunderclap is possibly the most usel-- ... erm, situational Elite out there.

For 15 energy Chain Lightning may hit 3 targets for 106dmg +25% armour penetration... but, without causing exhaustion, Fire Storm will hit as many targets as it can -- and you can easily get 6, 8, 10 targets -- for 240 damage each because they're too dumb to move.

Quite simply, no other element can compete with Fire for raw damage:energy efficiency. And being as the need for utility in PvE is often limited due to limited mob AI, you can really make the most of that raw damage output in PvE.

I know many people abhor PvP simply on principal but, if you're really interested in exploring the other roles of an elementalist and the capabilities of other elements, I strongly suggest you at least give PvP a decent try with an organised team (try the 4v4 team arenas in Droknar's Forge, don't do random PvP!).

Kuku Monk · Jul 18, 2005, 06:10 PM // 18:10

Sadly enough my, Me/E is pure fire. I solo a lot or roll with henchies so I need something to do massive amounts of damage, which the Me just doesn't have.

GraFFix · Jul 18, 2005, 06:38 PM // 18:38

N/E and I used fire all the way up to ring of fire then switched to water for the last few missions. Maelstorm worked well and stopped them from casting which helped my whole team.
I play mostly blood/curse necro but i always bring 1 ele skill with me that can do some AOE damage, be it fire storm, meteor shower with fire or maelstorm with water.

Now that ive beat the game I will go back and play around with other secondary professions. My first choice being Mesmer then switching to a death necro. just want to try all aspects of all characters.

TheGreatBoo · Jul 18, 2005, 08:45 PM // 20:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xelig

For 15 energy Chain Lightning may hit 3 targets for 106dmg +25% armour penetration...

Yeah, chain lightnings only 10 energy. Haha. But yeah other then that I agree. Also, in my opinion, the air elites suck. I use a mesmer elite to keep my mana pool up instead.