Curse

saitou · Dec 19, 2009, 06:55 AM // 06:55

Glyph of Energy is one of my favorite skills because of its flexibility and fairly low recharge. Here is a build I use a lot to take advantage of it together with the heavy hitters in Water Magic. I have a feeling a lot of people have used something like this at one point or another, but I haven't seen any in the usual guild wars build spots so here goes. Comments and suggestions are appreciated.

E/Me
Water Magic - 12+1+1
Energy Storage - 9+1
Inspiration Magic - 9
Illusion Magic - 3

Glowing Ice
Glyph of Energy
Deep Freeze
Maelstrom
Winter's Embrace
Mantra of Resolve
-optional-
-optional-

This is a PvE build, so Mantra of Resolve can be kept up all the time, which is nice to have since the important skills take 2 seconds to cast. In a full size party you should almost never run into energy problems, thanks to GoE and Glowing Ice.

Use GoE and DF at the start of battles to help control the mobs, and feel free to keep using this combo as needed. GoE recharge is 10 seconds, DF recharge is 15 seconds, and Maelstrom recharge is 30 seconds. For a quick impact you can cast all 3 together for only 30 energy, but for longer battles it is best to save a GoE for each DF and each Maelstrom. The 3-2-1 ratio on recharge times makes this pretty easy, especially when using a 40/40 set.

Winter's Embrace is a quick cast perfect for keeping someone in a maelstrom, or just as an additional snare that can keep 1 target slowed 100% of the time together with DF. This can be replaced with "You Move Like a Dwarf!" for extra damage but 1 less water hex, if desired.

There are many variants you can make off of this, but I think it's important to note that no enchantments are needed. This makes you less of a target and again more versatile. Some ideas for optional skills:

Shrinking Armor + Cry of Pain - AoE damage
: synchronizes well with DF since they are both "in the area"
Lightbringer's Gaze - ditto
Ether Feast - great self-heal
Drain Enchantment - self-heal, ench removal, e-management
Summon Ice Imp - alternate option for winter's embrace
YMLAD - ditto
Energy Blast - more useful with higher energy storage (drop mantra)
Res (e.g. Sunspear Rebirth Signet)

I like builds I can use almost anywhere, and for PvE I think this is one of those. I hope this writeup was helpful, let me know what you think.

HigherMinion · Dec 19, 2009, 10:33 AM // 10:33

Well, it certainly has alot more use than a Searing Flames nuker in Hard Mode; with the interrupts from Maelstrom and snares. Not sure about the damage, but it looks solid enough for an elementalist. Throw on BuH and Intensity maybe and you'll get there.

saitou · Dec 19, 2009, 02:16 PM // 14:16

Yeah the pve-only skills really help with the damage.

I didn't realize it before but Shrinking Armor (and cracked armor) both go with the freezing theme rather nicely.

S{R}Raptor · Dec 20, 2009, 03:53 AM // 03:53

Might want to think about using Water Trident to help control and keep people in maelstrom. Water Trident is an elite, but i have had pretty good luck with deep freeze and maelstrom, then nailing the one enemy that removes the water hexes to kite out of the AoE. WT would get you about 60dmg plus a 2 second knock down meaning they get another 2sec of maelstrom dmg. Water attuenment and/or gliph of lesser energy are pretty darn nice at helping you manage energy to.

Glad to see another person seeing the benifits of a hydromancer. The only thing that kinda annoys me is the long recycle time of some of the good snaring skills, but my ranger secondary with serpentine's quickness, helps out in that regard.

saitou · Dec 20, 2009, 05:03 AM // 05:03

Water Trident would be fun to play with but it would be a very different build, especially with a different stance like serpent's quickness. That's cool you got it to work with both DF and Maelstrom though and still managed your energy. I don't think I would be good enough a player to do that, lol.

The thing I like about GoE is I can keep casting big spells for as long as the battle lasts, which can be quite a while sometimes, and I don't have to worry about my attunement being stripped. I used a variant of this to fight through DoA with a balanced team, including the 19(?) waves of enemies that come before you face Mallyx. With a 40/40 set waiting for recharge isn't much of an issue, but I agree it would be nice if they were a bit faster.

WhiteAsIce · Dec 21, 2009, 12:14 AM // 00:14

Honestly, I like using Water spells too, but there aren't many effective builds in PvE.

* Technobabble > GoE + Maelstrom. TB does armor-ignoring, albeit low, damage, and dazes. Even though daze doesn't last long, TB recharges fast enough.
* Winter's Embrace - foes don't move much in PvE unless you cast on the melee, and if they bug you, Blurred Vision solves that.
* Why spec into Inspiration just for Mantra when you could have Mindbender to cast faster?

Elite problems:
* Glyph of Energy - explained above
* Water Trident - foes don't move too much in PvE unless they are melee, and YMLaD! is a better KD move
* Ward Against Harm - EBSoC is just as good. WAH is only needed in places with heavy fire damage.
* Shatterstone - I would rather go /N for Necrosis spamming
* Icy Shackles & Mind Freeze - no need to snare in PvE, just blow them up

If I want to use Water, I don't looking for damage, but rather utility. I love using Necrosis, so I tried to include that while using decent Water spells:

Curses 6
Energy Storage 11+1
Water Magic 12+1+1
--- OgRDc2y8S3grDQivDtl7OrlQDA ---
Necrosis
Blurred Vision
Glowing Ice
Ward Against Harm
Technobabble
Rip Enchantment
Mindbender
Water Attunement

saitou · Dec 21, 2009, 02:10 AM // 02:10

Snaring is the main point of using water. Snares (especially DF) help a ton in PvE, not only keeping the chaos to a minimum and making it easier on the monks, but helping the other damage dealers to kill faster with AoE. Can you get by without snares in PvE, sure I guess, but it's a lot easier with them.

I don't see any problem with GoE mentioned other than that it takes up your elite slot? If all you wanted was Maelstrom I could understand your argument for TB, but GoE here helps with DF as well. Don't forget about precasting! You get 15 seconds to use it and it recharges in 10.

I agree utility is the focus though, not damage, and TB and Blurred Vision are both good for utility. I hate Mindbender with a passion though, since I feel like I'm constantly under the gun to cast it. Mantra lasts a long time so I can focus on other stuff. Everyone has different playing styles though.

Why do you have Mindbender in that build anyway? So you can spam Necrosis more? Just curious. Water Attunement isn't doing a lot for you either. Looks pretty useful otherwise.