Curse

dambros · Jun 17, 2007, 05:40 AM // 05:40

Hello there, I'm starting in GW and I have no ideia about buildings.

After reading a lot, I decided to make and ele/mesmer and I need some advice.

What build should I use to do good at both PvE and PvP?
And do you guys think this combination is a good one? Or an Warrior/Mesmer would be better?

Thanks for reading and sorry for the poor english.

Dr Strangelove · Jun 17, 2007, 07:23 AM // 07:23

First of all, you can change your secondary whenever you feel like about 1/4 of the way through the game, so that's not really a huge issue.

Elementalists tend towards nuking things from a distance and party support, so if that's what you want, great.

Warriors, on the other hand, are for dishing out single target DPS on the front lines. They're pretty different playstyles, so just pick whichever you want. Blowing things up, or beating them in the face, it's all good.

As for builds, the game has several hundred skills that you can change at any time. Try mucking about with what you have, and if you're still having trouble post what you've got. There are literally thousands of builds out there, posted around this site and pvxbuilds, check those out if you're really not confident in the skill system.

Pick Me · Jun 17, 2007, 01:38 PM // 13:38

E/Me isn't a bad combo. Many people seem to like it. They like utilizing arcane echo from the mezmer side to duplicate some spells.

Enchantment removal, or hex removal from the mesmer side can be good with e-management, saving yourself from dangerous hexes, hex breaker is another good one. Most of them aren't used, because it is the job of mesmers or monks to remove these harmful things, your job is to do damage.

Dr Strangelove is correct about builds and gives sound advice about 2ndaries.

LifeInfusion · Jun 17, 2007, 03:56 PM // 15:56

As far as popular secodnaries:
E/Me is one of the best combos if you're talking about Renewal nuking. (Arcane echo works wonders)

If you're talking about PvP, e/mo was popular back a while ago because you can pump out those heal parties when you use ether prodigy. (This isn't very viable now and has been replaced by E/Rt with Weapon of warding + Wielder's boon.)

A lot of elementalists use E/D with points in Earth prayers for Mystic Regeneration.

Searing Flames (Fire magic) elementalists don't rely rely on their secondary at all, so it might be a good idea to be an E/Mo or E/Rt just for the reusable resurrection combined with Glyph of Sacrifice.

E/A is used for solo farming mainly. So that isn't really a viable combination unless you are out to make cash.

SUMMARY
Basically as an elementalist you will need to pump up the magic attributes to be useful. It is usually seen that you have 11 or 12 in fire/air/earth/water and the rest of the points in a utility attribute and energy storage.

As a secondary, just don't choose Warrior/Paragon/Ranger and you'll be fine.
-Ranger --> you have no expertise
-Warrior --> not melee, at best you will have tactics line to use
-Paragon --> a lot of adrenaline and shouts, which will basically contradict the idea of an elementalist that uses spells

dambros · Jun 18, 2007, 04:22 AM // 04:22

Thank you guys for answering.

Since I have only the first GW, I'm gonna have to stick with E/Mesmer or E/Mo.

I chose E mainly because in most of rpg, magic players does the most damage and are great at PvP, and with a "silence/nuker" (mesmer)... it should be fine.

I want to know just if Warriors buildsare better at PvP and/or PvE since the Tank ability (like a W/Mo)?

Is Necro class good with what kinda of combo? N/Me for anti melee ?

Dr Strangelove · Jun 18, 2007, 06:05 AM // 06:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by dambros

I chose E mainly because in most of rpg, magic players does the most damage and are great at PvP, and with a "silence/nuker" (mesmer)... it should be fine.

I want to know just if Warriors buildsare better at PvP and/or PvE since the Tank ability (like a W/Mo)?

Is Necro class good with what kinda of combo? N/Me for anti melee ?

Warriors actually do deal very impressive damage in Guild Wars. Against single targets, a warrior will always do more damage than an elementalist. However, if you can routinely catch 3+ targets in your spells, your damage will end up being higher (unless the warrior is spamming triple chop ---> cyclone axe, then it's more equal).

Don't tank. Remove the idea of tanks from your brain. Tanks fail in guild wars at everything but a few very select endgame areas. Even there, they still kinda suck. For PvE, it's more expedient to blow things up than to stand around letting them hit you. For PvP, the other team will ignore you to rip apart your team, then gank you. Don't tank.

Warriors are very useful in PvE/PvP for killing things. Elementalists are good at killing things in PvE, but are more of a support caster in PvP.

I wouldn't bother with too many mesmer spells on your ele. A primary mesmer can run them much more effectively, and you have plenty of great ways to blow things up with your own skills. Some people like arcane echo, but really, it's not that great. Go with E/mo if you're not sure what you want, it's the most versatile.

Necros in PvE have a two main choices. You can have massive minion armies that kill everything while you don't take a scratch. You can cast Spiteful Spirit and laugh as enemy mobs blow themselves up in seconds. The rest is really just details. In PvP, they're more about overwhelming the enemy with degenerative and shutdown hexes, until the defenses on the other team break down, and everyone dies all of the sudden.

Francis Crawford · Jun 18, 2007, 07:48 AM // 07:48

Every profession can be useful in different ways.

Minion Master (Death Magic) necros do a lot of damage in PvE and are a lot of fun. They're useless in most forms of PvE, however. Another advantage to being a necro is that you can get the great elite spell Spiteful Spirit relatively early. It's bad in PvP too, however ...

Francis Crawford · Jun 18, 2007, 07:48 AM // 07:48

Every profession can be useful in different ways.

Minion Master (Death Magic) necros do a lot of damage in PvE and are a lot of fun. They're useless in most forms of PvE, however. Another advantage to being a necro is that you can get the great elite spell Spiteful Spirit relatively early. It's bad in PvP too, however ...

dambros · Jun 18, 2007, 11:23 AM // 11:23

Hmm very nice answering.

So taking the advice Dr Strangelove gave me think I don't need to go with a shield if I make a Warrior. I was thinking about a Hammer build using W/E, or some kinda of a "Paladin" using W/Mo.
But since I have no experience on this game I have no ideia which one I would do better (or at least a little better hehe) or which is is more efficient.

Same for the Ele, but if the Ele is just support I really don't think of going this way. I prefer some char that can do the killing on PvPs.

Sorry for so many noob question, the problem is that I had trouble lvling the last char I made (I was trying a 55 monk), it took me like 2 days to reach lvl 5... I'm probably doing something wrong, so what's the best way to lvl up faster?

Dr Strangelove · Jun 18, 2007, 05:47 PM // 17:47

Shields are nice for the extra armor, but yes, hammer builds are perfectly fine in PvE, although swords and axes have very high damage as well. When I say "tanks suck" I mean that builds specifically designed to soak up huge amounts of damage suck. There's nothing wrong with bringing along a self heal or a single defensive skill, just make sure you keep that in check.

Wammos have mending touch available to them. If I catch you throwing healing prayerson a warrior though, I'm personally going to come to your house and slap the stupid out of you. As for the other warrior combos, you'd be better off posting in the warrior forum, as I don't play with them that much.

Remember that you can instantly create level 20 characters for PvP, so don't let that influence your decision on a PvE character too heavily.

Finally, don't set out with a single build in mind. The cool thing about Guild Wars is that you can change up whenever you want. For instance, on the two classes I play most, elementalist and ritualist, I have 20-30 builds in my templates, and I often add more or change those slightly. If you pidgeonhole yourself into something like "55 monk" the game will be very hard at times, and will probably be unbelievably boring.