Curse

Istaro · Sep 25, 2011, 02:36 AM // 02:36

I've been playing for about 6 months now and I have a character that's basically given the whole game a once-over. Unfortunately, it's a dervish, which locks me out of the "Kurzick or Luxon Armor Statue" HoM point, which happens to be a critical part of my plan to get 30/50.

So I started a brand-new Factions character—an E/Me, as it happens. I've made it to Kaineng Center (just finished Vizunah Square), and I need to finish up to Eternal Grove or Gyala Hatchery. I have no interest in continuing the character after that.

My "build" right now is basically just the skills I started with (e.g. Flare, Fire Storm, etc.). I only made it through Vizunah Square thanks to the opposing team, and I'm probably not going to make it much farther unless I put together something better than just Flare-spamming.

So I'm trying to come up with a simple build that'll get me most of the way through Factions. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, and I can get pretty much any non-PvE non-elite, but I'm not going to be getting access to any PvE skills, and there's not much in the way of elites available this early. In fact, I looked through the wiki's list of elites by capture location, and the only decent ones I could find (either early on in Factions or, in the other campaigns, soon after the point at which foreign characters join) were Searing Flames from early Nightfall and Water Trident from early EotN.

Which do you guys think is a better starting point for a build? Or something else entirely? There's also Double Dragon, but it seems risky to take a caster so close to the action, and I could also get Master of Magic from Consulate Docks, but I'm not sure what I'd do with it. I'm leaning towards Searing Flames, but I wanted to ask for opinions from more experienced elementalists.

Any advice would be most appreciated!

ultimak719 · Sep 25, 2011, 02:46 AM // 02:46

Of the choices you currently have, going for Searing Flames would be the best bet. But, if you can get an elite elementalist tome, I would say go for an invoke lightning air build because of the armor penetration.

Wenspire · Sep 25, 2011, 02:59 AM // 02:59

Since I am guessing you will be playing in Normal Mode, fire will be a good line to run with. I'd probably go with Searing Flames as your elite. Just have Glowing Gaze for some added energy return to go along with it. If you want to run Meteor Shower for AoE damage along with knockdown, you could always prep it with Glyph of Sacrifice to eliminate the long cast time.

When you start doing Hard Mode, that's when you will start running into damage problems and have to be pretty picky about what you have on your bar.

Plutoman · Sep 25, 2011, 04:01 AM // 04:01

My advice, as a long-time ele, is go with invoke. It's very much superior to searing flames. Get an elite ele tome, cap invoke on the derv, get invoke, get the skills chain lightning, lightning orb, attunement, and aura of restoration, and the last 3 skills are pretty open to whatever you'd like (shock arrow, more damage, etc). It's a universal bar that'll work pretty well everywhere, and it'll spike those pesky rits down quite a bit better than SF will.

I use a bar like that for all general play, including places like the DoA and UW. You can get more power out of abusing AP and PvE skills, but it's a pretty simple and relatively powerful playstyle.

If you can't get an elite ele tome, or don't wish to spend the money, then Searing flames is the best bet - run it with glowing gaze, attunement, AoR, glyph of lesser energy, and then I usually use liquid flame with it. A rez and whatever other skill you'd like is left over.

Istaro · Sep 25, 2011, 04:13 AM // 04:13

Wow, fast responses! Thanks for the advice, folks. Invoke does sound fun, but I was definitely hoping to save on the 5-10k for an elite tome, so I think I'll go the Searing Flames route. Hopefully the lack of armor penetration isn't going to be a problem in NM.

LifeInfusion · Sep 25, 2011, 10:50 PM // 22:50

Actually Elementalist is getting an update soon (don't know how soon). It seems you aren't laying hard mode so it's not as big of a problem.

If you are just trying to get armor... you could play anything really. But if you want a decent build you need to be a bit more specific as to what skills you have already.

Getting to Kaineng center means you have direct access to Lion's Arch and Kamadan too.

Kamadan's hero skill trainer has Blinding Flash, Glowing Gaze, Intensity, Lightning Bolt, Meteor.

Kamadan's skill trainer has Aura of Restoration, Ebon Hawk, Glowing Gaze, Ice Spikes, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Orb, Meteor, Ward Against Melee.

You can pickup Glyph of Lesser Energy in Seitung Harbor, which is before Kaineng Center. You need this for most Elementalist builds.

The skill trainer Michiko in Kaineng Center carries Blurred Vision, Rust, Stoning, Ward Against Melee , Ward of Stability.

Blurred Vision can also be picked up in Lion's Arch at the skill trainer Firstwatch Sergio.

Fire: Meteor, Glowing Gaze
Air: Blinding Flash, Lightning Orb, Glyph of Lesser Energy
Water: Rust (for AoE only), Blurred Vision, Ice Spikes (AoE), Glyph of Lesser Energy
Earth: Ebon Hawk, Stoning, Ward against Melee, Glyph of Lesser Energy * Earth is bad in NM
===============================================
You said you could get any PvE non-elite?
Fire: Meteor, Fireball (AoE), Liquid Flame (AoE), Immolate, Glowing Gaze, Fire Attunement --> try to get Searing Flames... Lava Arrows could be put in here but it's a waste of energy most of the time
Air: Shock Arrow, Lightning Orb (spike), Glyph of Lesser Energy, Blinding Flash, Chain Lightning (AoE), Gale, Air Attunement --> try to get Invoke Lightning
Water: Shard Storm (damage is pretty shoddy but has snare...), Rust (AoE), Ice Spikes (AoE), Blurred Vision, Glowing Ice/Glyph of Lesser Energy, Water Attunement --> Water Trident is crap damage (same damage as Ice Spear)

or you could be creative and mix it up:
12+1+2 Air & 12+1 Water, 3+1 Energy Storage: Shock Arrow/Glowing Ice, Blurred Vision, Chain Lightning, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Lightning Orb, Air Attunement, Aura of Restoration, Res
12+1+2 Fire & 12+1 Water, 3+1 Energy Storage: Meteor, Fireball, Liquid Flame, Immolate, Glowing Gaze, Ice Spikes, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Fire Attunement

or ditch Elementalist skills and mix it up:
12+1+2 Air, 10 Protection Prayers, 8+1 Energy Storage: Shock Arrow, Chain Lightning, Aegis, Protective Spirit, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Lightning Orb, Air Attunement, Aura of restoration
12+1+2 Fire , 10 Protection Prayers, 8+1 Energy Storage: Meteor, Fireball, Liquid Flame, Immolate, Glowing Gaze, Aegis, Glyph of Lesser Energy, Fire Attunement

Air is superior unless it's really packed in like Vizunah square, to capitalize on Fireball/Liquid Flame (Rust/Ice spikes do pitiful damage after armor , less than Mesmers' Unnatural signet or Cry of Frustration).

For earth, waiting for 20 recharge wards & 30 second recharge on Eruption/Churning Earth sucks. You'll be doing 90-100 or so before armor reduction with Ebon Hawk/Stoning...which is bad due to projectile status but leaves much to be desired considering you can get 25% armor penetration from Lightning Orb and Chain Lightning with similar numbers and more potent effects (cracked armor and AoE respectively). If you go Fire, since most Factions mobs don't have Fire resistance and it's Normal mode, Fireball/Immolate/Liquid Flame make Ebon Hawk/Stoning look very bad.

*Adjacent range AoE is rather shoddy since other classes do it better. Nearby is better.

Non-elite AoE damage options tend to be shoddy outside of chain Lightning, Fireball/Liquid Flame.

Side note:If I were to start in factions and get Luxon/Kurzick armor I would make a Necro (because spamming spirits with a Rit is boring as hell and Anecestor's Rage+Channeled strike + Spirit Rift+Splinter Weapon doesn't cut it ; Doom needs spirits). Almost everything leaves bodies until the end where you have Shoriken (especially Afflicted). With necro you could run a MM and steamroll, or run Barbs + Weaken armor + insidious parasite + enfeebling blood + desecrate enchantments/defile enchantments, or blood with order of pain + Blood of the Aggressor / Vampiric Swarm/Angorodon's Gaze to offset HP loss ...Mesmer is more difficult without elites(Keystone signet)+PvE skills such as cry of pain because you're relegated to Clumsiness+wandering eye+signet of Clumsiness + images of remorse or Wastrel's spam/Mind Wrack,Fragility+Shatter delusions /overload +unnatural signet + cry of frustration +mistrust (which isn't as good as Ele in NM).

Istaro · Sep 26, 2011, 02:11 AM // 02:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion

Actually Elementalist is getting an update soon (don't know how soon).

Huh! I didn't know that. That'll be interesting to see, although there's a good chance I'll be done with this character by that time. Thanks for all the skill tips.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion

If I were to start in factions and get Luxon/Kurzick armor I would make a Necro

Yeah, in retrospect, I might have picked something other than ele, but I said to myself "I'll go ele to get used to the play style for GW2, because that's what I want to play there", even though the play style will probably be way different. Oh well, I've already sunk a bunch of time into this, so I might as well finish.

I'm going to try something like this: Searing Flames, Arcane Echo (for constant SFage for 20s), Fire Attunement, Aura of Restoration, Arcane Mimicry (to use on Cynn to get dual attunement and bring down the cost of SF to 1e), Mark of Rodgort. Spamming SF might get boring but I've only got six missions left.