Spam Skills - Guild Wars Forums

BooRay · Jan 24, 2006, 02:35 PM // 14:35

I see alot of mention of spamming a target or ally with certain skills. Can someone direct me to a thread that details this or explain what this means and how it works. I am a m/ne healer that is trying to learn how to keep my party alive quicker and this spamming issue I have no idea how it works. Any help?

quickmonty · Jan 24, 2006, 02:42 PM // 14:42

Spam skills are low energy/quick recharge time skills. You can keep casting them over and over. Skills such as (but not limited to) Elementalist's Flare, or Monk's Orison of Healing, Healing Touch, Mend Ailment.

hope this helps

BooRay · Jan 24, 2006, 02:45 PM // 14:45

That does help some, I guess I was under the impression that there was some quick way to cast these out on the party, party member or enemy instead instead of clicking the skill bar or corresponding number for the skill and the corresponding party member individually.

striderkaaru · Jan 24, 2006, 02:46 PM // 14:46

as monty said, "spamming" is the use of a skill as many times as possible. you usually want to use a skill as soon as it refreshes. however, only do this with good energy management. as a mo/n, offering of blood gives you just that.

LifeInfusion · Jan 25, 2006, 02:17 AM // 02:17

Spamming isn't a good idea unless you are running an elementalist with 5 energy skills and some kind of energy restoration.

W: Spam = no energy left, can't do combos
N: Spam = no energy left, not effective
R: Spam = some energy (with high expertise), can't do combos
Me: Spam = no energy left, not effective
Mo: spam = no energy left, overheal

Fyre Brand · Jan 25, 2006, 04:54 AM // 04:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion

Spamming isn't a good idea unless you are running an elementalist with 5 energy skills and some kind of energy restoration.

W: Spam = no energy left, can't do combos
N: Spam = no energy left, not effective
R: Spam = some energy (with high expertise), can't do combos
Me: Spam = no energy left, not effective
Mo: spam = no energy left, overheal

You know that's a bit debatable. I have a monk and I use a 5 energy spam build quite often.

OP ~ Having a spam build doesn't mean you fire off all of your spells all the time like an idiot. It means (like quickmonty said) these skills are lower energy faster casting and recharge than average. You still need to pay attention to the health bar and not overcast. It's important to learn how much you're healing and use it wisely. Spammability (<-- is that even a fricken word?

) is the ability to fire off spike heals when you need to. So if are fighting the mursaat and they hit someone with a spike and degen then you can fire off Word of Healing, Dwayna's Kiss and then Orison as an example.

I'm sure there are spike heal builds in the monks forum you could check out. Another good thing is heal party. Sometimes when you are facing too much overall party damage spike heal and then follow up with heal party.

Since you are a necro you could also bring Well of Power to supplement energy and health. In lots of cases it's a better elite to have than Word.

NatalieD · Jan 25, 2006, 05:15 AM // 05:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fyre Brand

Spammability (<-- is that even a fricken word?

) is the ability to fire off spike heals when you need to.

Er, no. It's not spamming if you only use the skill once in a while. Spamming means casting it pretty much whenever it's charged, and even then only for skills that recharge in a few seconds. The best example would be that once-upon-a-time flavor of the month, the Ether Renewal smiter. Dealing damage and gaining energy for each cast meant finding the most spammable skills - namely, Draw Conditions and Reversal of Fortune - and casting the living hell out of 'em.

I still disagree with LifeInfusion, though. You just have to know what you're doing when you spam a skill. F'rinstance, I often spam Blinding Flash when I'm playing an aeromancer, with my stacked attunements and an occasional Drain Enchantment sustaining the energy cost. A R/W with a hammer and some Expertise can spam Irresistible Blow for good damage output. Maybe I'm using a less strict interpretation of the word than LifeInfusion, but using a skill every four or five seconds counts as spamming in my book.

Fyre Brand · Jan 25, 2006, 06:03 AM // 06:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatalieD

Er, no. It's not spamming if you only use the skill once in a while. Spamming means casting it pretty much whenever it's charged, and even then only for skills that recharge in a few seconds. The best example would be that once-upon-a-time flavor of the month, the Ether Renewal smiter. Dealing damage and gaining energy for each cast meant finding the most spammable skills - namely, Draw Conditions and Reversal of Fortune - and casting the living hell out of 'em.

I still disagree with LifeInfusion, though. You just have to know what you're doing when you spam a skill. F'rinstance, I often spam Blinding Flash when I'm playing an aeromancer, with my stacked attunements and an occasional Drain Enchantment sustaining the energy cost. A R/W with a hammer and some Expertise can spam Irresistible Blow for good damage output. Maybe I'm using a less strict interpretation of the word than LifeInfusion, but using a skill every four or five seconds counts as spamming in my book.

Er, yes. Maybe if you are an "aeromancer" or a "once upon a time ether renewal smiter", but the OP is asking how this relates to being a good healer. And I will pretty much stand by what I said here. IF you are a healer and build with heal spamming skills you don't just fire them off non-stop when no one needs healed. Yes, spamming a skill is firing it off as fast as you can, but a heal spam build doesn't do that non-stop without a reason to heal. In fact you normally don't heal unless you need to. If you are firing healing skills off without stopping ever I am sure you will be posting a thread on energy management.

NatalieD · Jan 26, 2006, 06:21 PM // 18:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fyre Brand

Yes, spamming a skill is firing it off as fast as you can, but a heal spam build doesn't do that non-stop without a reason to heal. In fact you normally don't heal unless you need to.

How can you call it a heal spam build if it doesn't involve any spamming?

Yakumo · Jan 26, 2006, 06:56 PM // 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatalieD

How can you call it a heal spam build if it doesn't involve any spamming?

To me, a heal spam build is one where if there is a need to spam a lot of healing, then it is capable of doing so. If there isn't a need to do a lot of healing, then why waste energy in firing off spells left, right, front and centre?

I believe Fyre Brand is just giving a word of caution about energy management. Just because you have a heal spam build, it doesn't mean you have to always spam away like there's no tomorrow. But if you need to, you can... Spamming with reason...

heavy metal rules · Jan 26, 2006, 11:31 PM // 23:31

during the pvp ch.2 character event, there was an excellent assassin skill called repeating stirke offhand attack must follow offhand attack so after following my chain of attacks i just spammed it over and over like 5-6 times at the cost of 5 energy, very nice attack

NatalieD · Jan 27, 2006, 02:31 AM // 02:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yakumo

To me, a heal spam build is one where if there is a need to spam a lot of healing, then it is capable of doing so. If there isn't a need to do a lot of healing, then why waste energy in firing off spells left, right, front and centre?

I guess that makes sense, but it seems like it's stretching the term into near-uselessness. I mean, I occasionally find myself spamming Reversal of Fortune for a while with my boon prot build, but I think it would be misleading to refer to it as a reversal-spam build.

LifeInfusion · Jan 27, 2006, 05:03 AM // 05:03

Spam to me is smacking every number key from 1 to 8 (or 7 if 8 is a res) nonstop every 1 to 2 seconds.

ange1 · Jan 28, 2006, 03:17 PM // 15:17

i regularly spam orizon word, kiss as soon as i hit divine spirit

Jay the Jake · Jan 31, 2006, 12:44 PM // 12:44

as a protect monk I spam my warriors as well as other members of the party, especially when doing FOW and new UW runs. reversal of fortune and protective spirit spammed back to back work nicely on a warrior taking dmg. tht way i can same my shielding hands on the caster that have lesser armor.

BooRay · Jan 31, 2006, 01:40 PM // 13:40

The thread has generated many thoughts of wisdom and its much appreciated. What I have found out through trial and error being a newb is that there are healing skills that you can cast pretty consistantly while maintaining a good energy pool since they dont drain that much and from what was stated, is spamming.

Through experimentation I have found that divine boon is vital with any healing & orison is quick fast and effective paired with boon, dwaynas kiss is ok but must be paired with enchantment like watchful spirit to take full advantage and healing seed I dont like since its takes 15 energy and I find my energy drained if I toss that out with enchantments and spam heal if needed. Mending offers some energy reg and I have yet to try that approach or really use that skill at all. Problem is that I am finding a fine line between being a healing monk and protection monk. I play with a w/mo most of the time and maybe I should change approach and try protection based skills, I am so confused...LOL

Bottom line is that I have alot to learn as a monk. Its a hard profession to learn and even harder to master since you have so many factors to deal with, energy mgt, protection, keeping everyone alive and NOT DIEING by aggro, <-----VERY IMPORTANT, ect ect ect.

I have also found that if you want to be heavy on casting you must obtain good armor that offers extra energy and regen and have offhands/weapons that do the same for you char. I dont have the luxury of those items yet but I will someday, until then thanks again for all the advise.

Jan 24, 2006, 02:35 PM // 14:35	#1
BooRay Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Des Moines IA Guild: None Profession: Mo/	Spam Skills I see alot of mention of spamming a target or ally with certain skills. Can someone direct me to a thread that details this or explain what this means and how it works. I am a m/ne healer that is trying to learn how to keep my party alive quicker and this spamming issue I have no idea how it works. Any help?

Jan 24, 2006, 02:42 PM // 14:42	#2
quickmonty Ancient Windbreaker Join Date: May 2005	Spam skills are low energy/quick recharge time skills. You can keep casting them over and over. Skills such as (but not limited to) Elementalist's Flare, or Monk's Orison of Healing, Healing Touch, Mend Ailment. hope this helps

Jan 24, 2006, 02:45 PM // 14:45	#3
BooRay Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Des Moines IA Guild: None Profession: Mo/	That does help some, I guess I was under the impression that there was some quick way to cast these out on the party, party member or enemy instead instead of clicking the skill bar or corresponding number for the skill and the corresponding party member individually.

Jan 24, 2006, 02:46 PM // 14:46	#4
striderkaaru Desert Nomad Join Date: Aug 2005 Guild: Scars Meadows [SMS], Retired Officer Profession: W/	as monty said, "spamming" is the use of a skill as many times as possible. you usually want to use a skill as soon as it refreshes. however, only do this with good energy management. as a mo/n, offering of blood gives you just that.

Jan 25, 2006, 02:17 AM // 02:17	#5
LifeInfusion Grotto Attendant Join Date: May 2005 Location: in the midline Profession: E/Mo	Spamming isn't a good idea unless you are running an elementalist with 5 energy skills and some kind of energy restoration. W: Spam = no energy left, can't do combos N: Spam = no energy left, not effective R: Spam = some energy (with high expertise), can't do combos Me: Spam = no energy left, not effective Mo: spam = no energy left, overheal

Jan 26, 2006, 11:31 PM // 23:31	#11
heavy metal rules Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: cape cod, ma Guild: {bkr} bad karma ressurection Profession: W/	during the pvp ch.2 character event, there was an excellent assassin skill called repeating stirke offhand attack must follow offhand attack so after following my chain of attacks i just spammed it over and over like 5-6 times at the cost of 5 energy, very nice attack

Jan 27, 2006, 05:03 AM // 05:03	#13
LifeInfusion Grotto Attendant Join Date: May 2005 Location: in the midline Profession: E/Mo	Spam to me is smacking every number key from 1 to 8 (or 7 if 8 is a res) nonstop every 1 to 2 seconds.

Jan 28, 2006, 03:17 PM // 15:17	#14
ange1 Wilds Pathfinder Join Date: Aug 2005 Profession: Mo/	i regularly spam orizon word, kiss as soon as i hit divine spirit

Jan 31, 2006, 12:44 PM // 12:44	#15
Jay the Jake Frost Gate Guardian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: central United States Guild: BrotherhoodoftheChoosen Profession: R/Mo	as a protect monk I spam my warriors as well as other members of the party, especially when doing FOW and new UW runs. reversal of fortune and protective spirit spammed back to back work nicely on a warrior taking dmg. tht way i can same my shielding hands on the caster that have lesser armor.

Jan 31, 2006, 01:40 PM // 13:40	#16
BooRay Ascalonian Squire Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Des Moines IA Guild: None Profession: Mo/	The thread has generated many thoughts of wisdom and its much appreciated. What I have found out through trial and error being a newb is that there are healing skills that you can cast pretty consistantly while maintaining a good energy pool since they dont drain that much and from what was stated, is spamming. Through experimentation I have found that divine boon is vital with any healing & orison is quick fast and effective paired with boon, dwaynas kiss is ok but must be paired with enchantment like watchful spirit to take full advantage and healing seed I dont like since its takes 15 energy and I find my energy drained if I toss that out with enchantments and spam heal if needed. Mending offers some energy reg and I have yet to try that approach or really use that skill at all. Problem is that I am finding a fine line between being a healing monk and protection monk. I play with a w/mo most of the time and maybe I should change approach and try protection based skills, I am so confused...LOL Bottom line is that I have alot to learn as a monk. Its a hard profession to learn and even harder to master since you have so many factors to deal with, energy mgt, protection, keeping everyone alive and NOT DIEING by aggro, <-----VERY IMPORTANT, ect ect ect. I have also found that if you want to be heavy on casting you must obtain good armor that offers extra energy and regen and have offhands/weapons that do the same for you char. I dont have the luxury of those items yet but I will someday, until then thanks again for all the advise.