Curse

The Goat Riot · Dec 13, 2011, 05:21 AM // 05:21

hi all, i am hoarding skill points and such for cap sigs and didn't want to burn a point to get lightning orb if i don't have to.

the situation is this: i'm an ele, in nightfall, almost to the command post. i've been making do with the free skills given me until i figure out what line i'd like to specialize in. that being said, i like to check the wiki to make sure i'm not buying a skill i could have picked up with quests or otherwise "for free."

i noticed that lightning orb is offered as a free skill by profession changers (such as at the upcoming command post in nightfall). i am a primary ele, though, so obviously i wouldn't be changing over to a */E. in this case, if i talk to the profession changer, do i get the free lightning orb skill given to secondary eles? or am i stuck with having to buy it using a hero skill point from sunspear great hall?

thanks!

edit: link to the GWW LO page is here: http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Lightning_Orb

also, for those who are more well versed in the game than i am, what do you think of the upcoming unconditional exhaustion linked to invoke lightning and chain lightning? does that weaken invoke builds such that, in light of the HM armor reduction, running stuff like fire instead would be stronger?

HigherMinion · Dec 13, 2011, 05:48 AM // 05:48

There's probably a quest for it in Prophecies early game. Being in NF; there's a chance a hero skills trainer will have it or just buy it for 100g.

wilebill · Dec 13, 2011, 07:18 AM // 07:18

I like lightning myself. Exhaustion is however a severe annoyance that I try to avoid. If they do add unconditional exhaustion to invoke and chain lightning, off my bar they go. Annoying but not tragic and I will use them both as sticks with which to beat ANet over the head. They best beware.

Yesterday I used my ele in a HM vanquish and the following build worked very well.

OgBDg8OMTLggDXVZVeDjChD0CA use pvxwiki Decode to read

Blinding Surge is a very good elite. In HM ele damage sucks, but the conditions are worth applying. Especially when an evil axe warrior is in your face, Blinding Surge helps out a lot. Shooting the groups that ball up on your melee with BS also helps a lot. Damage is low but value in combat is high.

Glimmering Mark is also very good. In practice, just staff the target while the damage pours on, or shift target.

Lightning Surge does good damage plus kd but waiting for it to go off drives me nuts.

Thunderclap is great against bosses because daze is so very powerful. Keep it dazed and the party will take it down.

Ele profoundly needs work on damage end especially in HM. Thus it is annoying to see ANet trying to hit the ele with a nerf bat instead. The greatest danger to GW 2's future viability is ANet's nerf bat. They have never understood that the consequences of using it far outweigh the benefits; very costly misunderstanding for developers.

Quaker · Dec 13, 2011, 04:25 PM // 16:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Goat Riot

i noticed that lightning orb is offered as a free skill by profession changers...... or am i stuck with having to buy it using a hero skill point from sunspear great hall?

I don't think you can get it from the profession changer, but you can also get it from a skill trainer in Kamadan (But using a Hero skill point may be better). Don't be too concerned about using your skill points - you'll get lots of them as you progress through the game.

Quote:

also, for those who are more well versed in the game than i am, what do you think of the upcoming unconditional exhaustion linked to invoke lightning and chain lightning?

I've never been a fan of Chain Lightning anyway. It has too long a cast time and costs too much energy, so I don't use it often.

Jeydra · Dec 13, 2011, 04:44 PM // 16:44

If you need skill points I'm happy to give you as many skill points as I have materials to make Stars of Transference with.

Also strongly recommend against using the build posted by wilebill. Blinding Surge is terrible in PvE, as are almost all the other Air elites. It doesn't help that you can make better bars even if we stipulate that Blinding Surge must be the elite. The only Air elite worth using at the moment is Invoke Lightning. Unconditional exhaustion will definitely weaken Invoke and Chain Lightning, but without knowing the rest of the update I can't comment about what builds will look like after.

Quaker · Dec 13, 2011, 07:14 PM // 19:14

Jeydra - that's just because you can't think of an Ele as being anything other than just a damage dealer. Think outside the box. I use an Air Ele Hero whose main job is to blind the enemies (and do some spike damage) - the main damage is done by others in the group.

P.s. I haven't looked at the build that Wilebill linked, so I'm not commenting on that build.

Edit - ok, now I have looked. The build looks like a typical condition plus spike build. I'd prefer an additional blinding spell such as Blinding Flash instead of, say, Whirlwind or Aura of Restoration.

Martin Firestorm · Dec 13, 2011, 10:52 PM // 22:52

Invoke's pretty darn good now since the exhaustion is easy to avoid. When it's unconditional, even at a reduced rate, I don't see me using it anymore.

Kunder · Dec 14, 2011, 12:25 AM // 00:25

Lightning Orb can be bought from a Hero Skill Trainer in the Sunspear Great Hall.

As odd as it sounds, Hero Skill Trainers teach YOU the skill, which also unlocks it for all heroes on your account. You get a ton of free hero skill points (1 per sunspear rank, 2 per lightbringer, 1 per EotN race rank), go through the trainers and pick everything you like. You can also see the list of all skills available from Hero Skill Trainers in Nightfall and EotN. Altogether its a free 40-70 skills depending on how many titles you eventually get.

Why Anet named them Hero Skill Trainers I don't know. Should be "GET FREE SKILLS HERE <- TOTALLY LEGIT NO TRICKS"

Jeydra · Dec 14, 2011, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quaker

Jeydra - that's just because you can't think of an Ele as being anything other than just a damage dealer. Think outside the box. I use an Air Ele Hero whose main job is to blind the enemies (and do some spike damage) - the main damage is done by others in the group.

P.s. I haven't looked at the build that Wilebill linked, so I'm not commenting on that build.

Edit - ok, now I have looked. The build looks like a typical condition plus spike build. I'd prefer an additional blinding spell such as Blinding Flash instead of, say, Whirlwind or Aura of Restoration.

Blinding Surge does a good job of making you think you are being useful, when you aren't. This isn't PvP. In PvE, physical damage can be beaten in so many damage-dealing ways. You can hold aggro with spirits, minions or EBVAS. You can snare and kite with YMLAD. You can exploit the quirky melee AI (melee heroes aren't the only ones with this problem). Blind is an exotic luxury that you generally never need.

What's more, if I wanted to counter physical damage as an Ele (which is what blind is all about anyway) I would do it by bringing a 9-spec Aegis. With one non-elite skill, I achieve almost as much as bringing Blinding Surge, and I still have the room to bring more damage skills (which in Air Magic's case are Lightning Orb, Chain Lightning and Invoke Lightning). Not to mention you can apply Weakness better with Enfeebling Blood and Cracked Armour better with Weaken Armour.

The wilebill build listed is flat out subpar. I guess though that Glimmering Mark is also dumb, Lightning Surge is useless and so is Thunderclap, so at least it has the second most useful Air Magic elite in it, but like I said even if you stipulated that BSurge must be the elite, it's possible to make better bars.

The Goat Riot · Dec 14, 2011, 04:47 AM // 04:47

thanks for all the advice, everyone. i didn't know about hero skill points being bountiful; i thought i only got a handful so i was sitting on them trying to maximize the skills i picked. in that case, i'll just be happy and grab LO right away. spamming lightning strike or whatever that first skill is over and over just isn't cutting it.

one more general question i have is that everyone here seems to take for granted that melee enemies are cake or at least can be exploited. obviously, that isn't the case for me, because what typically happens is that i see a pack of enemies, i hold ctrl to bring up the names and then i select something "dangerous" to ctrl+space and kill first like a healer or those annoying chillblains mandragors that keep stripping my enchantments.

at this point, my heroes (i finally have all the istan nf heroes, moving along the story at my usual, casual player pace

) will charge at the target and do a pretty good job of kicking its butt.

HOWEVER, in the larger packs (i'm thinking some of the skale packs in mehtani keys or those hidden mandragors that i blunder into while i'm fighting another pack), where there are lots of melee enemies, they seem to charge right past my melee guys (mox, koss, and melonni), and kill off one of the ranged folks (namely, me or one of the monks).

is there a way to stop these melee guys from beeline-ing us in the back? i'd get the melee heroes to fight the melee baddies, but someone has to kill off the earth eles that spam ebon hawk and other spells at me (they always seem to focus me if i run in to contribute my 2 half cents worth of damage, so i find myself sitting in the back just using remove hex and mend ailment on my ranged characters using my monk secondary).

do i just need spirits or minions or something to distract the melee guys? or am i not engaging properly?

Martin Firestorm · Dec 14, 2011, 03:24 PM // 15:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Goat Riot

do i just need spirits or minions or something to distract the melee guys?

That's probaly your best bet. Kite if they come after you. See some of the other melee defenses in Jeydra's post. Rememeber, the AI attacks the lower armor targets--that's you and your other casters.