Query concerning cold damage - Guild Wars Forums

Deftones_Korn_Unloco · Nov 08, 2007, 10:39 AM // 10:39

Hey

I was just looking over a number of skills and trying to think of uses for skills that I came across whilst on GuildWiki. I wanted to know how effective or not so effective cold damage can be in the Necromancy line (due to the fact that I play my Necromancer quite often these days). When I clicked on the link to cold damage this bit intrigued me, when it stated, "This type of damage is often overlooked in PvP (with fire damage and lightning damage being more feared), so its proper use can surprise an opponent." I keep wandering what it means by saying, "...it's proper use..." Does anybody have experience with cold damage to know what this could mean? If this means the fact that certain spells slow down an opponent then, I guess I've just answered my own question in a way. However I keep an open mind that Necromatic spells also do cold damage minus the slow down effect, so I guess what it boils down to is, in terms of damage how effective is cold damage?

Thank you in advance.

Yol · Nov 08, 2007, 10:43 AM // 10:43

Well, you could start with spinal shivers.....
http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Spinal_Shivers

kaheiyeh · Nov 08, 2007, 10:43 AM // 10:43

Well, most people are prepared for fire and lightning spells/hexes so they have certain skills themselves which can help or easily counter these types of damage or reduce them.

By equiping your team with cold damage skills and weapons, you could easily surprise a team as they aren't usually prepared for cold damage which isn't really part of the metagame at the moment.

Valeria · Nov 08, 2007, 12:10 PM // 12:10

I think only few have some special defense against fire or earth damage. More likely against all elemental damage at once. So i don't think that 100 cold damage will be any better than 100 fire damage.

But maybe you can surprise the enemy by freezing(hex) him more than with burning(condition)

Deftones_Korn_Unloco · Nov 08, 2007, 12:47 PM // 12:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yol

Well, you could start with spinal shivers.....
http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Spinal_Shivers

I really appreciate all the responces so far, they've each been helpful have offered different insights and opinions.
The first reply to do with spinal shivers is what I was looking for, and is indeed very effective. I was so concentrated on Death Magic and just skim read Curses, that I missed this completely. So thank you for laying it out on the table, it has opened up interesting ideas for a build I'm currently working on.

Of course if anyone else has something to offer to this topic, I'd be more than happy to read it. Any advice, suggestions and opinions are more than welcome and will be really appreciated.

gremlin · Nov 08, 2007, 01:35 PM // 13:35

Rangers with Greater Confragration "all physical damage is elemental damage" and Winter "all elemental damage is cold damage"

Works in pve since you can set up your defences and dictate the damage type as either fire or cold.
Don't now about uses in pvp.

Savio · Nov 08, 2007, 02:54 PM // 14:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deftones_Korn_Unloco

"This type of damage is often overlooked in PvP (with fire damage and lightning damage being more feared), so its proper use can surprise an opponent." I keep wandering what it means by saying, "...it's proper use..." Does anybody have experience with cold damage to know what this could mean?

It means that wiki people like to make up random information.

HawkofStorms · Nov 08, 2007, 06:12 PM // 18:12

Yeah, I'm with Savio. That article is kinda out of date (like back when there was only Phrophecies out of date) and other kinds of elements were not seen much in PvP.
Water magic is useful in PvPing for snaring.... not "unexpectedly damaging opponents." In fact, water magic had become so popular that you pretty much see it being run by pretty much every top 100 guild in a balanced team.

Sneaky Mcsneaksneak · Nov 08, 2007, 06:22 PM // 18:22

The only reason that I could even think of that cold damage would surprise an enemy in pvp is in the fact of shield switching to prevent damage. Most keep fire and lightning damage reducer shields, but cold damage is rarely mentioned. Imo, not really worth trying in pvp, if it became prevailent, people would carry the cold damage reducing shields.

iridescentfyre · Nov 08, 2007, 08:56 PM // 20:56

In most situations, it will matter much more that its Elemental damage than Cold damage. Warriors have 20% less armor vs. any element, Rangers have 100 AL vs any element, etc. As a martial class, I highly recommend having an elemental weapon on your swap presets. As a Necromancer though, your spells are what will cause the most damage. Many of your best ones use Shadow damage and ignore armor in the first place, I wouldn't worry too much about Cold.

You're right about Fire and Lightning damage to a certain degree, but probably just because those tend to be the most heavily-used. If anyone would have insignia or special armor stats against an element, its usually one of those. However such armor buffs tend to be a poor choice for weapon mods, insignia, etc and few use them. They don't even add that much armor anyway.

Adam144 · Nov 08, 2007, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by gremlin

Winter "all elemental damage is cold damage"

As far as I know, Winter is a pretty much useless skill.

I read on wiki that it converts damage AFTER the effects of armour..

So say against a destroyer, one of my normal attacks with my max dmg fire staff would cause 7-10dmg, with Winter it would still cause 7-10dmg because it's not affecting the type of damage until the armour has already reduced it.

Fril Estelin · Nov 08, 2007, 09:16 PM // 21:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adam144

As far as I know, Winter is a pretty much useless skill.

I read on wiki that it converts damage AFTER the effects of armour..

So say against a destroyer, one of my normal attacks with my max dmg fire staff would cause 7-10dmg, with Winter it would still cause 7-10dmg because it's not affecting the type of damage until the armour has already reduced it.

Winter is pretty useful against Chars and Titans (and a lot of fire-based creatures) isn't it?

Toutatis · Nov 08, 2007, 09:28 PM // 21:28

Winter is also useful in the Rilohn Refuge mission, where an environmental effect makes all earth damage hurt a lot more than usual. Winter lets you bypass this potentially devastating effect.

Also, you can also combine Winter with Mantra of Frost to gain better protection against all incoming elemental damage without having to suffer the additional physical damage that would would take if you used Elemental Resistance.

HawkofStorms · Nov 08, 2007, 09:47 PM // 21:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toutatis

Winter is also useful in the Rilohn Refuge mission, where an environmental effect makes all earth damage hurt a lot more than usual. Winter lets you bypass this potentially devastating effect.

Also, you can also combine Winter with Mantra of Frost to gain better protection against all incoming elemental damage without having to suffer the additional physical damage that would would take if you used Elemental Resistance.

Yeah... but you could just ruin mantra of flame/earth/lightning and talior it to the enemies you face.

And no Fril. It doesn't help. That's why its bugged.

Ministry Of Peace · Nov 08, 2007, 11:34 PM // 23:34

In pvp a lot of people carry lots of shield with +10AL vs damage type. Since for example fire and lightning is more to be expected, these shields might be on the quickswitch bar. If you use cold damage, they will either take longer to switch to a cold shield, or not have one at all.

Nov 08, 2007, 10:39 AM // 10:39	#1
Deftones_Korn_Unloco Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: In a country, in a city, in a house. Guild: Kirins of Holy Light Profession: Mo/	Query concerning cold damage Hey I was just looking over a number of skills and trying to think of uses for skills that I came across whilst on GuildWiki. I wanted to know how effective or not so effective cold damage can be in the Necromancy line (due to the fact that I play my Necromancer quite often these days). When I clicked on the link to cold damage this bit intrigued me, when it stated, "This type of damage is often overlooked in PvP (with fire damage and lightning damage being more feared), so its proper use can surprise an opponent." I keep wandering what it means by saying, "...it's proper use..." Does anybody have experience with cold damage to know what this could mean? If this means the fact that certain spells slow down an opponent then, I guess I've just answered my own question in a way. However I keep an open mind that Necromatic spells also do cold damage minus the slow down effect, so I guess what it boils down to is, in terms of damage how effective is cold damage? Thank you in advance.

Nov 08, 2007, 08:56 PM // 20:56	#10
iridescentfyre Desert Nomad Join Date: Mar 2006 Profession: W/	In most situations, it will matter much more that its Elemental damage than Cold damage. Warriors have 20% less armor vs. any element, Rangers have 100 AL vs any element, etc. As a martial class, I highly recommend having an elemental weapon on your swap presets. As a Necromancer though, your spells are what will cause the most damage. Many of your best ones use Shadow damage and ignore armor in the first place, I wouldn't worry too much about Cold. You're right about Fire and Lightning damage to a certain degree, but probably just because those tend to be the most heavily-used. If anyone would have insignia or special armor stats against an element, its usually one of those. However such armor buffs tend to be a poor choice for weapon mods, insignia, etc and few use them. They don't even add that much armor anyway. Last edited by iridescentfyre; Nov 08, 2007 at 08:59 PM // 20:59..

Nov 08, 2007, 10:43 AM // 10:43	#2
Yol Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Feb 2007 Guild: GameAmp Guides [AMP] Profession: E/	Well, you could start with spinal shivers..... http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Spinal_Shivers

Nov 08, 2007, 10:43 AM // 10:43	#3
kaheiyeh Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: May 2005 Location: Australia Guild: Reapers of Solace Profession: Mo/A	Well, most people are prepared for fire and lightning spells/hexes so they have certain skills themselves which can help or easily counter these types of damage or reduce them. By equiping your team with cold damage skills and weapons, you could easily surprise a team as they aren't usually prepared for cold damage which isn't really part of the metagame at the moment.

Nov 08, 2007, 12:10 PM // 12:10	#4
Valeria Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Germany Guild: PaRe Profession: W/	I think only few have some special defense against fire or earth damage. More likely against all elemental damage at once. So i don't think that 100 cold damage will be any better than 100 fire damage. But maybe you can surprise the enemy by freezing(hex) him more than with burning(condition)

Nov 08, 2007, 01:35 PM // 13:35	#6
gremlin Furnace Stoker Join Date: Oct 2006 Guild: GWAR Profession: Me/Mo	Rangers with Greater Confragration "all physical damage is elemental damage" and Winter "all elemental damage is cold damage" Works in pve since you can set up your defences and dictate the damage type as either fire or cold. Don't now about uses in pvp.

Nov 08, 2007, 06:12 PM // 18:12	#8
HawkofStorms Hall Hero Join Date: Aug 2005 Profession: E/	Yeah, I'm with Savio. That article is kinda out of date (like back when there was only Phrophecies out of date) and other kinds of elements were not seen much in PvP. Water magic is useful in PvPing for snaring.... not "unexpectedly damaging opponents." In fact, water magic had become so popular that you pretty much see it being run by pretty much every top 100 guild in a balanced team.

Nov 08, 2007, 06:22 PM // 18:22	#9
Sneaky Mcsneaksneak Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Sep 2007	The only reason that I could even think of that cold damage would surprise an enemy in pvp is in the fact of shield switching to prevent damage. Most keep fire and lightning damage reducer shields, but cold damage is rarely mentioned. Imo, not really worth trying in pvp, if it became prevailent, people would carry the cold damage reducing shields.

Nov 08, 2007, 09:28 PM // 21:28	#13
Toutatis Walking Wiki Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Isle of Medication Guild: Visitors from Aranna [VFA] Profession: Me/E	Winter is also useful in the Rilohn Refuge mission, where an environmental effect makes all earth damage hurt a lot more than usual. Winter lets you bypass this potentially devastating effect. Also, you can also combine Winter with Mantra of Frost to gain better protection against all incoming elemental damage without having to suffer the additional physical damage that would would take if you used Elemental Resistance.

Nov 08, 2007, 11:34 PM // 23:34	#15
Ministry Of Peace Krytan Explorer Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: req 12 land Guild: guildless for the time being Profession: P/	In pvp a lot of people carry lots of shield with +10AL vs damage type. Since for example fire and lightning is more to be expected, these shields might be on the quickswitch bar. If you use cold damage, they will either take longer to switch to a cold shield, or not have one at all.