Curse

drmoughton1805 · Dec 12, 2010, 04:26 PM // 16:26

I would like to do a Fire Elementalist/ Ritualist build but I'm not sure what Ritualist Attribute I would like to use, please help. I have all Chapters, and would like to use this build for PvE Normal mode and maybe later Hard mode. Thanks for all your help.

Lord Mip · Dec 12, 2010, 04:41 PM // 16:41

What would you like to use it for? PvE? PvP? Normal mode? Hard mode?

In case it is a build for normal mode, I would at first stick to Fire magic and Energy Storage alone. The Ritualist secondary has some good spirits but they're outclassed by your fire magics in normal mode. Once you enter Hard Mode, you can start to think of using the Channeling Magic attribute for some strong spirit spells, such as Signet of Spirits (Elite) and Bloodsong. Communing also has some good spirits with a big energy cost but a nice side effect, such as interrupting, removing enchantments and extra damage versus hexed foes. This attribute line also has some defensive spirits such as Union and Shelter, but these are less effective on an Elementalist than on a Ritualist because their health matters and the Ritualist primary attribute increases Spirit health.

If you want maximum efficiency as an Elementalist though, I would either recommend Fire Magic for Hard Mode or Air Magic for Hard Mode. If you take your first few steps in Hard Mode, be sure to check out this thread for some detailed information on what is effective.

I hope this helps

maxxfury · Dec 12, 2010, 04:42 PM // 16:42

We an help you better if you let us know what chapters you own, what elite you have available ect..with maybe a general idea of what you would like us all to help with... like maybe a barebones skill bar? and i suggest you edit that into the OP before this is closed for a rules breach...

It wont be a really optimised bar but either way, with fire i guess you could run a basic searing flames bar with splinter weapon (and maybe Arage) from channeling @10 for physical buffing...

Or you could just pussy out and go for a gimped (but still pretty strong) sos spirit handler setup..sos, bloodsong, blah blah

ajc2123 · Dec 12, 2010, 05:05 PM // 17:05

If you just wanna make things go boom (which I think you do since you are choosing fire magic) I would go channeling if you REALLY wanna use secondary skills.

Skills like spirit rift will help you do more damageYou can cast splinter weapon on any melee/ranged attackers you might have and ancestors rage is strong armor ignoring cheap damage if you want a little more active role.

Restoration magic is another good choice for utilities/extra healing like flesh of my flesh or life/spirit light.

I cannot really recommend communing magic unless
a) you are a ritualist
or
b) you are using a full spirit build.

If it were me, I'd go channeling for spirit rift. But it depends on your goal/style of playing.

LifeInfusion · Dec 13, 2010, 01:31 AM // 01:31

Fire Magic is basically Searing Flames or bust. Meteor shower is only decent for disruption, the damage is mediocre. Mind Blast + Rodgort's Invocation is okay too, but not in Hard mode.

In Hard mode, spamming Splinter weapon with 10 channeling Magic does more damage than any non-air magic elemental damage though. I've had Rodgort's Invocation (130ish listed damage) hit for 30-40ish.

TheGizzy · Dec 15, 2010, 05:13 PM // 17:13

I'm just now beginning to explore the various secondary professions in conjunction with my elementalist primary. I've completed Prophecies, dinked around a bit with Nightfall & Factions, done a few things in HM (mostly WiK bounties/Zaishen Quests) and am currently focusing on EotN and WiK.

One of the secondaries I use with some frequency is ritualist. As someone else mentioned, being able to lay down an SoS (Signet of Spirits) line can be very handy, especially if I've got my SoS hero along with me.

The problem is, unless you're going to buy the skill packs from NCsoft, and then obtain tomes (normal & elite) by buying them from the trades in big cities like Lion's Arch or Kamaden... you're going to find that the skills you CAN access in normal mode early on are fairly limited, and not giving you really fantastic benefit. You have to work your way up to be able to capture the really good skills, and often find that you end up in a loop of skill hunting... "Ok, I need SKILL A to kick butt on this mission... but to get that, I need SKILL B so I can beat the baddie who has SKILL A. But gosh, if I'm going to beat the baddie who has SKILL B, I really need SKILL C." On and on and on.

Honestly, that's what finally sent me off to buy the skill packs... I was spending so much time in pursuit of specific skills so I could do certain things I really wanted to, that I'd end up going DAYS without playing the parts I WANTED to play, just because I was so busy chasing down some other skill I thought I needed to do it.

My toon started out as an Elementalist/Ranger. Two professions I felt comfortable with, based on other games. Then I read a lot of things that indicated to me that this was a bad combination. That I would find being a ranger almost useless.

But being a ranger with a lvl20 attack cat sure was a happy thing when I was trying to Ascend. I wiped the Doppleganger in 38 seconds... fired one arrow. My pet tromped all over it and wiped the floor with it. I stood back and watched.

Ritualist can be a lot of fun for a secondary profession... I think the spirits can offer some really interesting support to an elementalist. Assassin is another popular one, because of the whole Assassin's Promise thing. I tried it out, it's pretty darn effective.

In the end, it's a secondary profession... so it often depends on what specifically I need on any given quest/mission in terms of where I stick my attribute points. If I'm just running a general ele/rit combo as part of normal questing, I might carry SoS and thus put points into Channeling. Being able to use Vampirism, which is a Sunspear rank skill for ritualists, is also very handy... and doesn't require me putting points in anything but my regular elementalist attributes. Signet of Ghostly Might combined with Dissonance is handy if I need some extra interrupt power but don't want to have to pay a lot of attention to it... so if I'm taking that along, I dump points into Communing.

It really depends on WHAT I'm taking out with me on any given adventure.

Remember, you're not locked into any one place for your points... you can assign/reassign them at will (in towns/outposts), so play around with it. Make a few different builds, give them unique and descriptive names and save them when they prove effective. Then swap to something else when you need a different lineup.

**Marty Silverblade** · Dec 15, 2010, 10:31 PM // 22:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheGizzy

One of the secondaries I use with some frequency is ritualist. As someone else mentioned, being able to lay down an SoS (Signet of Spirits) line can be very handy, especially if I've got my SoS hero along with me.

You can't have more than one spirit of each type up at a time. Running two SoS bars means that the second time SoS gets used, the spirits from the first one die and are replaced with the new ones.

Quote:

The problem is, unless you're going to buy the skill packs from NCsoft, and then obtain tomes (normal & elite) by buying them from the trades in big cities like Lion's Arch or Kamaden... you're going to find that the skills you CAN access in normal mode early on are fairly limited, and not giving you really fantastic benefit. You have to work your way up to be able to capture the really good skills, and often find that you end up in a loop of skill hunting... "Ok, I need SKILL A to kick butt on this mission... but to get that, I need SKILL B so I can beat the baddie who has SKILL A. But gosh, if I'm going to beat the baddie who has SKILL B, I really need SKILL C." On and on and on.

Honestly, that's what finally sent me off to buy the skill packs... I was spending so much time in pursuit of specific skills so I could do certain things I really wanted to, that I'd end up going DAYS without playing the parts I WANTED to play, just because I was so busy chasing down some other skill I thought I needed to do it.

This isn't really true. Sure, some skills are really overpowered and take no mental capacity to use (like spirit spam bars) that trivialise PvE, but you don't need them like you claim. You can always just unlock skills with Balthazar faction and buy them anywhere in the relevant campaign if there's one skill in particular that you want anyway.

PS: If you want to run SoS, rather than something that helps you do your ele stuff better, you're better off playing a Rit.

LifeInfusion · Dec 17, 2010, 09:45 PM // 21:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty Silverblade

PS: If you want to run SoS, rather than something that helps you do your ele stuff better, you're better off playing a Rit.

Probably the exception is crit scythe and ER eles.

For OP:
Anyway, if you run SoS on an ele you're better off making a Rit. At least you haven't dumped a thousand hours on ele yet.

For PVE rits are the damage kings of the casters (120+ single target dps easily with no real skill to do, just painful bond +SOS), followed by Necros. Necros need physicals to pull off damage (orders, barbs + SS).

Don't shoot yourself in the foot thinking you'll do damage in Hard mode though. Be happy if you get 70% damage on 60 armor casters (if you're aren't using air).