Curse

LunchboxOctober · Feb 10, 2010, 05:43 PM // 17:43

Hello. I recently dusted off my side character and have been using this on him in HM. For the record, this build is garbage in NM because of the scatter, however the speed boost on HM foes triggers the KD from Churning Earth making this an effective build to keep foes from kiting your aoe spells.

The Foundation

Earth Magic........12+1+3 (or +1+1)
Energy Storage....9+1
Inspiration...........9
Air Magic............3+1

Auspicious Incantation
Arcane Echo
Unsteady Ground(E)
Glyph of Swiftness
Churning Earth
Eruption
Optional
Optional

Suggestions

Mindbender - reduce cast times
EVSoH / By Ural's Hammer / Intensity - additional Damage
EVSoW - faster recharge (drop glyph of swiftness)
Elemental Lord / AoR - heals / additional energy
Earth Attunement - for heavy e-denial areas.
Technobabble - For general caster hate

Equiptment
Nothing Special, 40/40 earth set or 20e staff. Enchant set useful with Mindbender.

Usage

Essentially the build pits the AI against itself. It will do one of three things:

1)Attack, triggering the KD from Unsteady Ground and keeping it in the spells range
2)Run, triggering the KD from Churning Earth
3)Cast, sadly you got nothing to stop this, but they still don't move.

Pretty standard nuking tactics: pre-echo and wait for aggro to settle. Cast Unsteady Ground followed by Churning Earth to ensure the mob is locked. Use Auspicious Incantion on Eruption or Arcane Echo (or the echoed skill) for energy management. Having Air at 4 allows Glyph to affect two spells, ideal for faster recharge on Churning, Eruption, and Auspicious.

The long cast times of the spells hurt the build, having Mind Bender or candies helps to prevent interuption / increase damage output. Using skills to increase damage is recommended because of the terrible output elemental damage has against some HM foes. Energy *shouldn't* be a problem. If Auspicious is used with Eruption or Churning Earth (at the end of battle pref) or used before Echo you should have no problems casting your aoe spells. At the end of the day you're not really outputting incredible amounts of damage, but being able to hold the mob from scattering and allow higher damage aoe builds have their full effect is worthwhile. If used with a Rituatlist carrying Earthbind you're laughing.

Questions, comments, and constructive criticism is always welcome. Trolls can go back to The Falls.

MasterSasori · Feb 10, 2010, 06:08 PM // 18:08

Very interesting Earth build. I have a few questions.

How is the emanagement? I am doubtful of any ele bar in PvE that lacks attunement.

Usually a 40/40 is sufficient enough for quick recharge of skills. I would save a slot (GoS) for something else to use.

I highly suggest using EBSoH. I use this for my ele bar and I find its ability to increase ele AoE significantly and is more long lasting than Ural Hammer and intensity.

A question I have is why should I run this over AP Earth ele? You don't need to worry so much about energy, out puts good damage, and has bar compression while you require Auspicious, GoS, Echo.

Consider posting the rit hero build. An SoS with communing for AoU/Shadowsong and Earthbind would be nice.

Xsiriss · Feb 10, 2010, 06:50 PM // 18:50

You seriously don't need to invest in inspiration. Use Earth Attune and Elemental Lord. Ebonhawk+stoning+glowstone=win,especially with a curses necro (enfeebling blood). And GoS is a waste of space.

ac1inferno · Feb 10, 2010, 06:57 PM // 18:57

I find it hard to go Earth Magic and not bring wards. This is what I use:

[build prof=e/ earth=12+1+1 ener=12+1][optional][optional][optional][ward against melee (PvE)][ward against foes][eruption][Glyph of lesser energy][earth attunement][/build]
Optional elite skill:
- [[Sandstorm]
- [[Unsteady Ground]
- [[Assassin's Promise] (change secondary profession to Assassin and raise Deadly Arts to 9)
Optional slots 2 and 3:
- [[Earthquake]
- [[Glowstone]
- PvE-Only skill of choice
- Res skill of choice

Works on heroes too.

LunchboxOctober · Feb 10, 2010, 08:25 PM // 20:25

Awesome, love the quick reply and input on the build.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

How is the emanagement? I am doubtful of any ele bar in PvE that lacks attunement.

It's much more active than passive energy management and unless you're in areas that have skills which will affect the energy cost of skills you shouldn't have any problems with energy. Auspicious used with Eruption gives you 43 energy in return, for a total gain of 13. Essentially you use it as often as possible with Eruption or an echo'd skill since you're not going to spam a 25e spell and any skill you copy you will be lucky to get off more than once. Considering you're not spamming skills and there is a 5 - 10 second pause before the next chain (depending on recharges) which allows the build to maintain it's energy through out most battles. If you're caught at the end of a mob with low energy you can always use Auspicious with Arcane Echo as you head into the next mob, then use it with Eruption to put it back up to normal. On average my energy sits between 45-55 of 70 (I like high health) after a mob. I find that using any high 25e spell with Auspicious pays quite well as energy management, and if used with glyph of swiftness you don't notice the downside of additional recharge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

A question I have is why should I run this over AP Earth ele?

I can't tell you what to run or play, that all boils down to your opinion and how you like to play the game. I'd still give it a shot and see if you like what it does. That's why I play it instead because I find it hilarious to watch the AI not know what to do while the rest of my party can see the pretty numbers their builds are designed to produce. It knocklocks foes if your frontline knows how to get them mobbed. It harrasses the AI's usual response system to AoE and just forces it to work against itself.
I guess after four years of just destroying mobs in pve I kind of just enjoy watching them squirm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

Consider posting the rit hero build. An SoS with communing for AoU/Shadowsong and Earthbind would be nice.

I don't recall mentioning any specific Ritualist hero build, I just said having another team member bring a skill that increases the knockdown length of skills for allies is beneficial to this build. You don't need it, it works fine with out it, just makes it harder for the AI to move out of range.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xsiriss

You seriously don't need to invest in inspiration. Use Earth Attune and Elemental Lord. Ebonhawk+stoning+glowstone=win

Dude, that's half a skill bar just to manage energy when this build does it with one (or two) skills. If that is how you prefer to run your build, fine, but you're going to run into problems with bar compression relying on those three skills.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ac1inferno

I find it hard to go Earth Magic and not bring wards.

I've had a falling out with wards since Paragons came out, but Ward of Stability is still viable against heavy KD areas. Interesting build though, I'll give it the college try.

Chthon · Feb 10, 2010, 10:13 PM // 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

A question I have is why should I run this over AP Earth ele?

I have the same question.

Arrogant Bastard · Feb 10, 2010, 11:30 PM // 23:30

I would use Earth attunement and AoS over the mes skills.

I would run something like:

Unsteady Ground
Churning Earth
Eruption
Earth Attunement
AoS
Optional slots: (Res, wards, glyph of sacrifice, arcane echo, pve skills)

MasterSasori · Feb 11, 2010, 12:40 AM // 00:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunchboxOctober

I can't tell you what to run or play, that all boils down to your opinion and how you like to play the game. I'd still give it a shot and see if you like what it does. That's why I play it instead because I find it hilarious to watch the AI not know what to do while the rest of my party can see the pretty numbers their builds are designed to produce. It knocklocks foes if your frontline knows how to get them mobbed. It harrasses the AI's usual response system to AoE and just forces it to work against itself.
I guess after four years of just destroying mobs in pve I kind of just enjoy watching them squirm.

You misunderstand my point, I'm not trying to be a douche, but in order to make this build convincing, you need to beat out the current fad for it to fly.

I enjoy your creativity though. On a totally off topic point: if you want some silly KD, try GDW and barrage for some lolz.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunchboxOctober

I don't recall mentioning any specific Ritualist hero build, I just said having another team member bring a skill that increases the knockdown length of skills for allies is beneficial to this build. You don't need it, it works fine with out it, just makes it harder for the AI to move out of range.

Well let me just conjure something up:

12+1+3 Channel
11+1 Communing
6+1 Spawning

SoS
Bloodsong
Splinter Weapon
Painful bond
Siphon Spirit
Shadowsong
Earthbind
Pain/Union/AoU

In theory it should work well and it synergizes. Who doesn't love SoS so long as its not behind a rock?

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunchboxOctober

I've had a falling out with wards since Paragons came out, but Ward of Stability is still viable against heavy KD areas. Interesting build though, I'll give it the college try.

I detest wards. Melee and Stability are the only ones I'd even consider and even then I rather use something else.

Frozen Ele · Feb 11, 2010, 01:37 AM // 01:37

As you pointed out, your build has no offense against casters; you build deals damage (and traps them in the AoE area), but unlike melee (in which you actively knock them down, preventing them from attacking for a while) you don't have an equivalent against casters.

As much, a suggestion would be the perfect anti-caster, AoE skill: Maelstrom. As the casters are trapped, Maelstrom would affectively interupt them and shut them down, as melee-ers are shut down as well. I suggest this caster offense because you frame this build in the light of shutting down/trapping enemies allowing for increased effectiveness from other AoE(DoT) sources.

Another suggestion would be including a water snare, namely Deep Freeze. Unfortunately, because of the recharge time and span of Churning Earth, Unsteady Ground, and Maelstrom cannot be kept up constantly (even with Arcane Echo, not all three can be kept up, and even with the spell, one of the three cannot be kept up indefinately). As such, as the spells end, the enemies will be able to move. In order to prolong enemy inactivity, snaring the enemies so that they could not move as quickly to the backline would be beneficial. Notably, Deep Freeze will end the affect of Churning Earth, since enemies will be moving slower than normal, so one would need to cast Deep Freeze as Churning Earth ends.

Based off of these two suggestions, there are a few implications. Primarily, since a new attribute is used and more attribute points will have to be invested, attribute points from other sources will have to be cut, namely inspiration. With this, the main source of energy management is affected, to which typical attunements will need to be used. Between Earth and Water Attunement, the water magic spells wil lcost more energy, so Water Attunement should be preferred over Earth Attunement.

Attribute-wise, since the affects from water magic (interuption, snare) will remain constant regardless of attribute in water magic, similar to the AoE earth magic spells, earth magic should be preferred since the point of this build is to keep enemies within the AoE radius and the earth magic spells deals more AoE damage.

Synthesizing the above suggestions, the attribute and skills list becomes:

Churning Earth
Unsteady Ground
Maelstrom
Deep Freeze
Optional
Optional
Optional
Water Attunement

Optionals include: Mindbender, GoLE, EBSoH, EBSoW, among others

Earth Magic: 16 = 12+1+3
Water Magic: 12 = 10+2
Energy Storage: 9 = 8+1

*Forgot to mention: I use a similar build on occasion, with the optional skills being formatted for a team with a specific strategy.

maxxfury · Feb 11, 2010, 01:45 AM // 01:45

Erm wouldnt deep freeze's snare cancel out churning earth kd's?

Frozen Ele · Feb 11, 2010, 01:48 AM // 01:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxxfury

Erm wouldnt deep freeze's snare cancel out churning earth kd's?

Yup, talked about that:

"Notably, Deep Freeze will end the affect of Churning Earth, since enemies will be moving slower than normal, so one would need to cast Deep Freeze as Churning Earth ends."

maxxfury · Feb 11, 2010, 02:45 AM // 02:45

gah! i need to stop browsing on the wii!! all that panning and zooming and fuzzyness makes reading a pita :P

/comment withdrawn xD my bad!

SmokingHotImolation · Feb 11, 2010, 11:47 AM // 11:47

Whats the point of Arcane Echo?

Frozen Ele · Feb 11, 2010, 01:05 PM // 13:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokingHotImolation

Whats the point of Arcane Echo?

Churning Earth and Unsteady Ground have a 5 second duration each, with a 30 second and 20 second recharge time respectively, so using Arcane Echo would allow one of the two to be kept up for longer (10 second duration vs. 5) (I would argue Churning Earth, because of its knockdown effect tied to increased speed and its increased recharge, I can explain that a bit more if you want).

LunchboxOctober · Feb 12, 2010, 01:09 AM // 01:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

You misunderstand my point, I'm not trying to be a douche, but in order to make this build convincing, you need to beat out the current fad for it to fly.

I understood your point, well not why you said I 'required' arcane echo the skill should be self explanatory, but regardless I didn't post the build to become the next 'must run' build, nor to convince the community that it is worthy to dethrone whatever meta people claim is the best to play. It's just an alternative you can use with Unsteady Ground and it will work the exact same regardless of how popular people deem it. Besides, isn't the current fad for Eles to play as Monks?

And off topic, it's not as unreliable to KD as Barrage + GDW is. Yes thats a great combo, but a 20-40% KD chance doesn't always work, and you can potentially hit more foes with this than Barrage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frozen Ele

As much, a suggestion would be the perfect anti-caster, AoE skill: Maelstrom.

That's putting too much on one bar to try and get off in the same time period to be as effective as you want. It's better to split that onto a water ele running Mirror of Ice or a interuption mesmer for the fast casting of it. Or just Technobabble, faster recharge, lower cost, not linked to any attribute except the title, doesn't require excessive energy management, and besides nasty caster bosses, it's effective.
Also, unless the caster is a healer, they seem to auto-wand when they get up from a KD which usually knocks them down again.

MasterSasori · Feb 13, 2010, 09:49 AM // 09:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunchboxOctober

I understood your point, well not why you said I 'required' arcane echo the skill should be self explanatory, but regardless I didn't post the build to become the next 'must run' build, nor to convince the community that it is worthy to dethrone whatever meta people claim is the best to play. It's just an alternative you can use with Unsteady Ground and it will work the exact same regardless of how popular people deem it. Besides, isn't the current fad for Eles to play as Monks?

Fair enough.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunchboxOctober

And off topic, it's not as unreliable to KD as Barrage + GDW is. Yes thats a great combo, but a 20-40% KD chance doesn't always work, and you can potentially hit more foes with this than Barrage.

UG and Barrage+GDW both KD but have different requirements. One can work better than the other depending on circumstances.

LunchboxOctober · Feb 14, 2010, 04:30 AM // 04:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterSasori

UG and Barrage+GDW both KD but have different requirements. One can work better than the other depending on circumstances.

This is true, but if using UG with Churning the AI has no defense against the KD since even monks will wand and they are designed to run out of AoE. Just tomato, tomato. If I'm phys heavy I like GDW, besides that I have trouble fitting it on my bar in lieu of other pve skills if I'm using 2/6 groups. If I got 8 humans in the party one of them *should* have it, unless we're all running around in some crazy gimmick.

MasterSasori · Feb 17, 2010, 05:10 PM // 17:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by LunchboxOctober

This is true, but if using UG with Churning the AI has no defense against the KD since even monks will wand and they are designed to run out of AoE. Just tomato, tomato. If I'm phys heavy I like GDW, besides that I have trouble fitting it on my bar in lieu of other pve skills if I'm using 2/6 groups. If I got 8 humans in the party one of them *should* have it, unless we're all running around in some crazy gimmick.

I can't imagine a group with more than 2 physicals lacking GDW. That would be just sloppy, especially if there is a ER or a rit.

Winry Sagara · Feb 24, 2010, 02:36 PM // 14:36

I use this build.

Attribute:

Earth Magic 12 + 1 + 3
Energy Storage 11 + 1
Curses 6

Great energy managment given by earth attunement and glowstone, mass blinding and KD for Melee enemies by Eruption / UG and Churning Earth. Pain Inverter for damage dealers and FH! for everyone. This build, supported by a Discord team is very very efficient.

MasterSasori · Feb 24, 2010, 04:36 PM // 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winry Sagara

I use this build.

Attribute:

Earth Magic 12 + 1 + 3
Energy Storage 11 + 1
Curses 6

Great energy managment given by earth attunement and glowstone, mass blinding and KD for Melee enemies by Eruption / UG and Churning Earth. Pain Inverter for damage dealers and FH! for everyone. This build, supported by a Discord team is very very efficient.

You should switch out a skill for EBSoH. You can really abuse it with the skills you are using. It also provides excellent support for just about any other class as well.