Curse

Jeydra · Jun 13, 2011, 04:19 PM // 16:19

1) SF Eles fail. Terribly. That means Fire can't be salvaged for heroes, the entire attribute is pretty trash in all but the most select areas.
2) N/Rt healers are good, and they can bring offensive spells (most importantly Strip Enchant) too. I've had a few times when I ran out of resses with N/Rt healers though, that's a consequence of losing UA.
3) In view of the Titan quests having foes with armour so high that Lightning Orb hits squishies for ~80 damage, I'm seriously thinking of using more Mesmers. The big problem is that without mercenaries one can only have two Mesmers, which forces at least one other offensive caster. Necro offensive damage is terrible, which still means the Ele has to occupy the last slot. Hm.
4) I'm not making headway with a viable Blood bar. The damage output is just terrible, arguably weaker than Curses. Oh well.

@AndrewSX - there are no mandatory heroes for everyone I would argue, and everything in the game can be done sans any single skill or template. If you mean "mandatory" as "immensely important" though I can safely say that the MM, SoS and SoGM are all "mandatory". SoS especially is the single most powerful template available.

I can't guarantee that this setup is the most effective for non-Ele players. Elementalist playstyle is pretty much forced to be E/A AP Air (there's only one viable elite choice for offensive Elementalists ...), which is itself much supported by spiky damage. That's what the Invoke Eles and Mesmers do. For other offensive players I have no guarantees since I haven't played them, although chances are they will at least work.

@Morte66 - staff, I like my heroes balled up together nicely. That makes it easy to run forward (with Fall Back) and retreat (also with Fall Back, although in this case nobody will be overextended).

Morte66 · Jun 13, 2011, 05:59 PM // 17:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeydra

3) In view of the Titan quests having foes with armour so high that Lightning Orb hits squishies for ~80 damage, I'm seriously thinking of using more Mesmers. The big problem is that without mercenaries one can only have two Mesmers, which forces at least one other offensive caster.

Have a go with a Panic mes plus a N/Me with Esurge, Wastrel's Demise, Wastrel's Worry, and whatever. The Mesmer has the Fast Casting to maintain Panic, and the Necro has the energy to maintain 2x Wastrel's.

Quote:

I can't guarantee that this setup is the most effective for non-Ele players. Elementalist playstyle is pretty much forced to be E/A AP Air (there's only one viable elite choice for offensive Elementalists ...), which is itself much supported by spiky damage. That's what the Invoke Eles and Mesmers do. For other offensive players I have no guarantees since I haven't played them, although chances are they will at least work.

This article has served my necro and mesmer very well, almost as well as my ele. My rit clashes with your rit builds, but the other stuff works well for her.

My melee guys have found the bomber/healers/mesmers/invokers useful, but I tend to also want things like orders or multiple copies of splinter and MoP which are irrelevant to eles. And the tactics can be a bit different when you want the aggro on yourself.

Quote:

@Morte66 - staff, I like my heroes balled up together nicely. That makes it easy to run forward (with Fall Back) and retreat (also with Fall Back, although in this case nobody will be overextended).

I thought so. I'm trying that build with orders tacked on in physical teams. It looks promising. It was just damn useful in Gyala Hatchery for healing turtles, too.

And N/Rt healers are the business.

AndrewSX · Jun 13, 2011, 07:28 PM // 19:28

Sure Jeydra, don't get me wrong, was just saying that ele's doesn't have heroes so mandatory like for a meele are a smiter or a channeler, for example.
Cracked armor and blood ritual back-up are everything you'd ask your heroes prolly.
Rest is quite free.(Though spirit+minions are one of the best optin out of there).

Causs · Jul 05, 2011, 12:11 PM // 12:11

Hello. I'm relatively new to Guild Wars and playing as a Elementalist. I find this a very interesting build and I am busy with gathering all the skills and heroes (+ doing all the campaigns is nice for my HoM!).

But my question is.. what weapon and armor should I use? Excuse me if this is a newbie question but I really have no idea!

Thanks in advance,
Edwin

Mashiyu · Jul 05, 2011, 11:16 PM // 23:16

First of all, gathering all skills in that team build requires playing nearly trough all campaigns + EotN. Until then, you could use builds from the stickied Basic Guide to Playing Elementalist or -gasp- your own builds(*). Once you've played through normal mode, you can use this team build in hard mode (or try another profession).

The weapon and armor question is also answered in the stickied Basic Guide to Playing Elementalist. Don't worry if you don't have the perfect weapons - weapons are only fine-tuning and not game-making/breaking as in other online games.

Btw: You found the right subforum and didn't make a new topic for that question ... but why didn't you read the stickied Basic Guide to Playing Elementalist first? That would have you made the best new forum user

(*) This is the place where the community tells you that you can play through normal mode (or the whole game) with any half-decent (or even empty) skill bar, but tbh that's only true if you have good (or imba) heros behind you. (henchmen and heros with default skill bar are not considered good (or imba )).

AndrewSX · Jul 06, 2011, 06:30 AM // 06:30

Pretty much, if you're new to the game/ele, you should check out that thread. Keep in mind tho that is kinda outdated (latest update in the 2009 ehe), so don't take everything that's written there as pure gold (Invoke has changed since then, just first thing you could notice).
For quick answer anyway: 40/40 set for casting is the best (but not mandatory)*, a defensive shield+spear set when under attack and maybe a staff, for ene shortage situations.
For armor you shold have the Superior Vigor (+50hp), a proper head piece for element you're using, and for the rest....personally i use Blessed insignas (+AR under ench, and if you're not ench in battle there's something wrong) plus rarely a Rune of recovery if you feel you're going to face Daze (insc "Soundness of mind" on shield can help too), but is really optional.

* 40/40 set is kinda expensive to get unless : you drop a focus with "Forget me not" insc already on-get the collector's/crafter's wand+focus. Crafters in Vasburg Armory/Leviathan Pits in Faction can give you a cheap 40/40 set if you don't care the skin. If you want different skins, the focus can cost a bit for the "Forget me not insc" (like 20-30k).

Lishy · Jul 06, 2011, 01:49 PM // 13:49

Just a cool side-note, but many enemies actually have lower elemental armor than they do physical!

The problem is we're using fire damage on fire based enemies and such. But many shiverpeaks enemies are weak to fire damage! Likewise, cold damage is incredibly useful in other cases. Do note that cold damage does not well on the following:

* Centaur
o Centaur Scouts
o Losaru Bladehands
o Losaru Bowmasters
o Losaru Lifebands
o Losaru Windcasters
o Maguuma Avengers
o Maguuma Enchanters
o Maguuma Hunters
o Maguuma Protectors
o Maguuma Warlocks
o Maguuma Warriors
o Shiverpeak Longbows
o Shiverpeak Protectors
o Shiverpeak Warriors
* Eidolons
* Elemental
o Avalanches
o Chilling Wisps
o Frozen Elementals
o Ice Imps
o Icy Stalagmites
o Maelstrom Djinn
o Shattered Elementals
o Water Djinn
o Whirling Wisps
* River Drakes
* Skale
o Bog Skales
o Bog Skale Blighters
o Bog Skale Iceteeth
* Mergoyles
* Mergoyle Wavebreakers
* Titans encountered during Defend Droknar's Forge
o Dark Titans
o Frost Titans
o Icy Brutes
o Titan's Hearts
o Titan's Malices
* Tundra Giants

In contrast, cold damage excels in fighting some of the game's hardest enemies:

* Destroyer
o Destroyers of Bones
o Destroyers of Compassion
o Destroyers of Deeds
o Destroyers of Earth
o Destroyers of Flesh
o Destroyers of Hope
o Destroyers of Hordes
o Destroyers of Lives
o Destroyers of Sinew
o Destroyers of Souls
o Destroyer Spawns
o Destroyers of Thoughts
o Destroyer Tremors
* Devourers
o Carrion Devourers
o Crimson Devourers
o Plague Devourers
o Whiptail Devourers
* Elemental
o Burning Spirits
o Flowstone Elementals
o Ilsundur, Lord of Fire
o Ruby Djinn
* Obsidian Behemoths
* Stone Guardians
o Stone Crushers
o Stone Rains
o Stone Reapers
o Stone Souls
o Temple Guardians
* Titans
o Burning Titans
o Fists of the Titans
o Hands of the Titans
o Madness Titans
o Pain Titans
o Risen Ashen Hulks
o Sparks of the Titans

It's really all about changing your element to accomodate. But if you want my opinion, air is the best element because it is the most neutral to most enemies (Only Imps and earth elementals resist it), and it has awesome spells like Invoke Lightning!

expugnare · Jul 11, 2011, 06:31 PM // 18:31

Hows WOC HM treating you?

Jeydra · Jul 12, 2011, 11:25 AM // 11:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by expugnare

Hows WOC HM treating you?

Nothing much to say, the difficulty level's on par with Slaver's HM. Bit of aggro control and everything is easy; attack-move still works but there's a risk of accumulating deaths. Also a bit funny how ANet are clearly building against metagame builds with stupid skills like Verata's Aura, but whatever.

Regarding the N/Me Wastrel's spammer, one big problem is that said build carries neither hard res nor Command shouts, a big drawback in the age of bar compression. I've not tried it, but I'm sceptical.

Still got to update this thread with more armour-ignoring damage for dealing with Titan HM missions where foes are level 40++ etc ...

thetwistedboy · Jul 12, 2011, 04:06 PM // 16:06

^ and some of those titans have Panic for ultimate fun.

AndrewSX · Jul 12, 2011, 04:33 PM // 16:33

Haven't tested my ele neither in Titan HM (too lazy to do the NM ones

- but if armor is directly related to level, which are 40ish...well.) or WoC (started it only on my Mes).
For what i've heard tho, WoC have a armor/level inflaction in Hm, but not so large (aka: they're though in nm too.)...not like Titans, but neither like WiK (where armor inflaction was nearly 0).

Pugs Not Drugs · Jul 20, 2011, 04:10 AM // 04:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeydra

Nothing much to say, the difficulty level's on par with Slaver's HM. Bit of aggro control and everything is easy; attack-move still works but there's a risk of accumulating deaths. Also a bit funny how ANet are clearly building against metagame builds with stupid skills like Verata's Aura, but whatever.

I would actually say its harder than most of Slaver's, but still easier than Forgewright (with heroes, that is).

The real reason I am posting is that I had a lot of trouble with one quest, Tracking the Corruption. I had to end up using a tank and spank build to do it, because I just couldn't using my normal tactics. So how did you guys do it? I know about the choke point thing, but I think the problem boiled down to the fact that with a MM, the minions went all out and aggroed everything, but without one, I didn't have enough squishy targets for the enemies to waste AoE on. So how did you guys do it without resorting to a cheap tank build?

Jeydra · Jul 22, 2011, 03:59 PM // 15:59

Couldn't tell you since I hadn't gotten to the quest (killing Afflicted is way too tedious) but since you asked I went out and finished. It's difficult. Not impossible, but difficult. I failed many times before succeeding with this build:

Fortunately the difficult parts come quickly into the mission, so I managed in an hour

I actually lost AP twice this time - that's the price of not having spiky heroes - but I with AP down I spent all my time micro'ing and I finished quite handily. Perhaps Panic does conflict with Spiteful Spirit, but when mobs are this big normal concerns go out of the window. I would've used EoE, but I never got that desperate.

Remember to fight where the monsters only come in one direction!

EDIT: Lol I only just realized Norgu was running with 12 Illusion - he still had his Dom headpiece on ...

pakhavit · Jul 23, 2011, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Cheap tank build FTW

Shadow form is just for lawl

Xenomortis · Jul 23, 2011, 09:16 PM // 21:16

Last time I checked this was for an Elementalist player and the question was how to do it without a 'cheap tank' build.

Swingline · Jul 24, 2011, 08:51 AM // 08:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by pakhavit

Cheap tank build FTW

Shadow form is just for lawl

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenomortis

Last time I checked this was for an Elementalist player and the question was how to do it without a 'cheap tank' build.

I just micro'd a hero bonder and ran a SH bar. Fire AoE spells incinerated them while in full panic mode with MS keeping them on their asses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeydra

Perhaps Panic does conflict with Spiteful Spirit, but when mobs are this big normal concerns go out of the window.

Skills like Panic, SS and Ineptitude work wonders when collapsed on the same target. I called a target in the middle and the group went boom.

Milennin · Aug 06, 2011, 09:56 AM // 09:56

Is Spirit Siphon really better than Boon of Creation? I know BoC is an enchantment, and has its weaknesses. However, it's a more reliable source of energy. Spirit Siphon seems good, but is the AI smart enough to use it wisely? As in is the AI not going to use twice in a short time, wasting time and energy overcasting SS when they keep standing near the same spirit before it can regen enough energy?

Also, why no Union on the Soul Twist build? Wouldn't Union be far superior over Dulled Weapon, or am I missing something here?

Outerworld · Aug 06, 2011, 03:33 PM // 15:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milennin

Is Spirit Siphon really better than Boon of Creation? I know BoC is an enchantment, and has its weaknesses. However, it's a more reliable source of energy. Spirit Siphon seems good, but is the AI smart enough to use it wisely? As in is the AI not going to use twice in a short time, wasting time and energy overcasting SS when they keep standing near the same spirit before it can regen enough energy?

Also, why no Union on the Soul Twist build? Wouldn't Union be far superior over Dulled Weapon, or am I missing something here?

At 16 Channeling, Spirit siphon nets 11e and is also on a 3 sec recharge. Assuming that you're always near a spirit with max energy (which is a pretty safe assumption) then BoC won't even come close to Siphon.

**Marty Silverblade** · Aug 06, 2011, 11:23 PM // 23:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Milennin

Also, why no Union on the Soul Twist build? Wouldn't Union be far superior over Dulled Weapon, or am I missing something here?

You reserve ST charges for the more powerful Shelter and Displacement. More uptime on them is worth more than Union (at least, that's the idea anyway, I haven't played around with enough ST Rit variations myself).

Milennin · Aug 09, 2011, 07:53 PM // 19:53

I've tried with Dulled Weapon a few times, but for me it seems to work worse than Union.