Curse

Hugh Manatee · Feb 11, 2012, 08:25 PM // 20:25

glyph of Sacrifice/mindbender
meteor shower
mark of roggort
any fire aoe(invoke rodgort, firestorm, fireball, whatever)
assassin's promise
ebon honor standard
pain inverter
extra slot

^that's pretty much gotten me through a lot of tough times backed by earthbind and a minion and spirit wall, and since everything was on fire and hexed i could use discord if i wanted to or SF heroes or whatever. Has anything changed that would put assassins promise out of business? I heard invoke lightning was good for awhile but was buffed shortly after i left gw for awhile and was nerfed shortly after my return, so i never got to run with it.... Basically are any of the new elites or skills worth trading in instant recharge on all my skills for? I've seen that thing with glyph of energy and earthquake/d-stomp, and it looks promising(when not using AP i used an unsteady/churner or i combined the above with an earth henchmen/hero, i like the earth line), but is it any better then my instacasted meteors that are instarecharged in seconds...?

My thing was i always liked to move from mob to mob, blowing stuff up( hence mindbender instead of glyphsac) and air of superiority and the recharge ebon standard(I forget if thats wisdom or courage or what) seemed less reliable then my good old AP(air of superiority did ok, but the wisdom standard was clunky) so i'd give up my elite for that and leave other stuff behind... Starburst looks interesting, as does shockwave, kinda Glaivy, but the recharge on double dragon and such is putting me off....

For the adhd crowd: Assassin's Promise used to own pve's balls with a sledgehammer, is that still true, or is there a bigger hammer(or will ap get nerfed like it should be)?

_Aphotic_ · Feb 11, 2012, 10:09 PM // 22:09

AP is still extremely viable. All the update did was improving the variety in what skills were viable to Elementalists.

Xenomortis · Feb 11, 2012, 11:03 PM // 23:03

Here's what the Ele update did for player Eles:
1. Rodgort's Invocation, Fireball and Immolate are viable on AP bars as a Fire variant.
2. Obsidian Flame can be used as a spike skill on the Earth AP bar.

Nothing else really mattered. AP still dominates; it leads the other elites by a substantial margin. It always has done and I don't see that trend changing ever.

Shrimz · Feb 11, 2012, 11:58 PM // 23:58

Here's what I run for my fire AP caller

Fire Attunement
AP
Glyph of Sacrifice
Meteor Shower
Liquid Flame
YMLaD
Finish Him
Ebon Vanguard Assasin Support

Relyk · Feb 12, 2012, 04:19 PM // 16:19

Searing Flames or Elemental Attunement for spiking groups. You can always use AP if you prefer to pewpew stuff to death instead of spiking it all at once.

Kunder · Feb 17, 2012, 03:35 AM // 03:35

One thing to note is that the armor nerf made AP Snow Storm viable in a lot of places. Destroyers/Titans in particular get eaten alive, and everything that isn't a warrior takes a solid beating when Cracked Armor is on them. EBSoH even works with it, if you can make room for it in an AP build.

Other than that, Shrimz posted what is pretty much the optimal PvE ele build nowadays.

kgptzac · Feb 17, 2012, 05:56 AM // 05:56

I thought EA is more optimal since it's a neverending energy pool that you the caster doesn't need to worry about enemy doesn't die at correct timing.

InStars · Feb 18, 2012, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgptzac

I thought EA is more optimal since it's a neverending energy pool that you the caster doesn't need to worry about enemy doesn't die at correct timing.

It depends - in areas with ench removal EA would suck.
Although, in areas with heavy hex removal AP could suck.

Swingline · Feb 19, 2012, 06:26 PM // 18:26

The ele update just gave eles more variety other than the boring AP bar. I did WoC HM with Searing Flames and EA fire eles quite easily so the gap between those builds and AP closed considerably. Unfortunately AP will remain the best player elite for eles because the stupid skill remains untouched by the nerf bat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgptzac

I thought EA is more optimal since it's a neverending energy pool that you the caster doesn't need to worry about enemy doesn't die at correct timing.

Its a very good skill now but the hero AI doesn't cover it properly. I have seen my heroes leave it as the top enchantment and thus rendering it vulnerable to enchant removal. It only really hurts in enchant removal heavy areas where the 20 second recharge seems like an eternity.

Kunder · Feb 19, 2012, 08:57 PM // 20:57

The thing to keep in mind is that FH + YMLAD deals 260 damage _instantly_. If anything has <260 health then cast AP and jam down those two immediately, the chance of the hex being removed is nil. The only things that can stop it are instant removals like Veil, a really unlucky interrupt, or your own ping getting in the way.

Quote:

The ele update just gave eles more variety other than the boring AP bar. I did WoC HM with Searing Flames and EA fire eles quite easily so the gap between those builds and AP closed considerably. Unfortunately AP will remain the best player elite for eles because the stupid skill remains untouched by the nerf bat.

FH/EVAS/Snow Storm are what need the nerfbat, not AP.

Jeydra · Feb 19, 2012, 11:13 PM // 23:13

Just remember that AP provides a fantastic amount of control in addition to fine pure damage. The gap between AP and the rest of the Elementalist elites may have narrowed, but it's still pretty big.

Swingline · Feb 20, 2012, 12:00 AM // 00:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kunder

FH/EVAS/Snow Storm are what need the nerfbat, not AP.

The only reason those PvE skills seem OP is because AP allows them to be with its near instant recharge capabilities and energy management all rolled into one skill. Those two capabilities completely take away the 15 and 30 second recharge the two skills have to balance them out. Think about it, you never see these skills without AP.

You also need to think about the poor monk for a minute. The only viable smite skill is RoJ, what else is there to bring for damage when RoJ is on CD...