Curse

D A R K S O I F O N · Mar 10, 2009, 10:31 PM // 22:31

ele's are fun as. You can do anything with them from spikes in pvp or ra/ta to solo farmin in hm raptor or destroyer core. Very powerfull with the right builds and equipment.

zling · Mar 10, 2009, 11:13 PM // 23:13

Eles are capable of doing massive damage, although it depends on the area you're playing and what you're doing.
for normal game(normal mode on all campaigns) you can do a lot of damage with the Fire Magic line. Earth can also work for damage but is inferior to Fire in this case, it has more support and defense though, which is useful for other roles. for high end PvE(mainly elite areas) and HM(hard mode) your foes will have increased armor thus elemental damage(which doesn't ignore armor) will seem very crappy. in this case you can use the Air line which although doesn't ignore armor has 20% armor penetration, or you can use armor ignoring damage from a secondary profession and PvE only skills. an exception to this is farming, as HM farming requires damage inorder to whipe your foes and get their drops. the Ele is perhaps the best class for farming(excluding current perma form sins) mainly with the Earth line but also with some Fire builds.

PvP is a different matter. Fire Eles are very popular in HA, because a lot of maps reward AoE damage, and a lot of groups clump together, be it for PBAoE(point blank area of effect) heals, wards, shouts, etc. in GvG and arenas(RA and TA) Fire Ele is a lot less useful, however Water and Air work very well. these are mainly support classes, "midline" in GvG, but can also deal damage(nothing exceptional though).

so overall, if you're expecting your Ele to be like the classic DnD Wizard and Sourceress that deal huge amounts of damage(mainly AoE) you will be disappointed once you leave casual PvE. however the beauty of GW(guild wars) is that each class is unique and versatile, and different from their "classic" counterparts from other games. also the fact that you have a primary and secondary profession which adds even more to the versatility of each class. so using this line of thought the Ele can be great, you just need to know what to expect from it and try to think in GW terms instead of "classic" terms.

Voodoo Rage · Mar 10, 2009, 11:39 PM // 23:39

I used to think I was a pretty bad ass elementalist until I realized that it wasn't my searing flames clearing the mobs but rather my Sabway heroes. If you are really looking at AoE damage, the necro is probably what you are looking for.

Ele's are the best raptor farmer is you need a source of steady no-brainer income.

draxynnic · Mar 11, 2009, 04:13 AM // 04:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by eddie the reaper

Yes hitting 1 target with high armour will do less damage but so will any skill that doesn't do armour ignoring damage.

Also if you aggro right you'll never just be hitting one target with a fire skill, you can hit whole mobs.

The point you're missing is that there are other skills that can do area-of-effect armour-ignoring damage. Some are a little less direct, but the likes of Cry of Pain, Spiteful Spirit, Splinter Weapon, Ray of Judgement and countless others increasingly overshadow direct elementalist damage as the target's armour increases.

Which is probably largely why the other lines are so good at support - the merits of Earth and Water have already been described, while air is a good line for piling conditions and disruptions on a single target (especially if the target is a physical damage-dealer)... or even multiple targets through Blinding Surge and Thunderclap.

FoxBat · Mar 11, 2009, 05:58 AM // 05:58

Most of the armor-ignoring damage in the game is pretty well balanced vs elemental damage on level 20 targets. This causes an obvious problem when lvl 28 targets have at least 24 more armor. Although crack armor and battle standard can compensate some.

fatelord · Mar 11, 2009, 05:28 PM // 17:28

If u want a damage dealer ...eles are a bad choice ....smiter monks or necros are better ...esp against High level enemies ..

If u want to be a DPs machine then go with the scythe ...warrior , sin or a dervish ..

Test Me · Mar 16, 2009, 12:56 PM // 12:56

Fire eles will deal tons of damage in PvE, even on HM.

I don't know where the misconception of eles loosing their damage dealer role in HM comes from but add these to your bar:

[Ebon Battle Standard of Honor]["By Ural's Hammer!"]

Combined with some skills that damage a lot of foes at once like:

[Savannah Heat][Teinai's Heat][Searing Heat]

And you get a *ton* of extra damage.

It's not in the damage to a single target that the fire ele nuking is strong. It's in the area of effect. You just need a damage spell to touch the enemies for 1 damage, and then you add the bonuses and then you add the number of enemies, and then you add the number of times each fire spell causes damage and then you get the total damage bill an ele puts out there even in HM.

Most importantly, the damage is spread so there isn't much of a way that HM monks can out heal or protect the damage the entire party is on. Single target spikes can be very easily stopped by healing/protection, a burning hell will lead to fatalities.

Eles put a ton of pressure, they start the hell. If not by damage (though I see tons of yellow numbers flying by in the 50-100s range each second when playing my ele on HM), so if not by damage then by shutting down the opposing party for X seconds as they need to flee the area of damage and can't cast spells/attack and flee in the same time. (crowd control).

But I agree, it's another's class job (like the Necros) to finish things up. But Eles can make things go down way faster.

draxynnic · Mar 17, 2009, 03:10 AM // 03:10

That's a fair analysis, but while you'd be losing the big numbers (I'm guessing you're only getting into the 100s for the last pip or two of Savannah Heat, and that only for the lower-armour targets) and the burning, I'd be inclined to guess that Unsteady Ground, Churning Earth and Eruption would probably be doing more for your team in causing knockdowns and blindness, as well as gaining similar benefits from the standard and hammer.

That said, your build probably is the best, or at least close to being the best, when it comes to doing large amounts of damage as a HM elementalist. Assuming the targets don't have particularly high armour against fire and/or immunity to burning, of course.

Wish Swiftdeath · Mar 17, 2009, 08:21 AM // 08:21

mind blast ele's do good damage in 4v4

though i'd take shatterstone over them everytime

_Nihilist_ · Mar 17, 2009, 06:52 PM // 18:52

Nothing has natural immunity to the Burning condition. It has to be a spell effect.

Also, [Shatterstone] owns [Mind Blast] in 4v4. The Shatter spike huuuuuuuuurts.

faraaz · Mar 17, 2009, 07:21 PM // 19:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrael_Eveningsong

Nothing has natural immunity to the Burning condition.

says

draxynnic · Mar 18, 2009, 02:50 AM // 02:50

And that's just the most visible example - most fire creatures in EOTN are immune to Burning. Burning Spirits and Flowstone Elementals, for instance.

Laraja · Mar 18, 2009, 09:54 PM // 21:54

This is an interesting discussion. My first character was an ele and I've had a blast on her. Really really fun. I used a SF build on her for a while, and to tell you the truth, it was a lot of button mashing and not very difficult, but now in HM I find myself using an earth mesmer or earth assassin build with EotN rank spells in there like [By Ural's Hammer] and [Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support] and sometimes [Asuran Scan].

The ele can do many things, you just have to learn to get past the fire spells to do them and it was hard for me, but eventually very rewarding.

Jenn · Mar 24, 2009, 04:06 PM // 16:06

What do you want to do with your ele? Ask yourself that, first.

a) Mostly normal mode & big damage: ele is good
b) Mostly normal mode & offensive utility: I say offensive utility because if you use defensive utility heavily in NM... well, maybe you should uninstall. Offensive utility is good, but you can probably out-damage offensive utility with using regular ele skills.
c) Mostly hardmode & big damage: find something else other than ele
d) Mostly hardmode & offensive or defensive utility: Ele is good.

Basically, decide where you're going to use your ele, and what you want to be able to do with them. I originally picked ele as my main class because back then, only normal mode existed and I prefer casting to melee stuff. When HM came out, I got bored rather quickly. I had to adapt to the role of offensive/defensive utility, and that wasn't as fun for me. I'd rather just bring a paragon or a ritualist.

Snow Bunny · Mar 24, 2009, 04:22 PM // 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrael_Eveningsong

Nothing has natural immunity to the Burning condition. It has to be a spell effect.

Also, [Shatterstone] owns [Mind Blast] in 4v4. The Shatter spike huuuuuuuuurts.

a. Destroyers

b. Do you play 4v4?

_Nihilist_ · Mar 24, 2009, 09:00 PM // 21:00

Bad info on my part - I haven't carried an Ele in my party in EotN for the most part. If I did, it was a Blindbot or a Warder.

And yes, Snow Bunny, I play 4v4 on occasion. Just my preference on the skill is all.

Snow Bunny · Mar 25, 2009, 02:46 AM // 02:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrael_Eveningsong

And yes, Snow Bunny, I play 4v4 on occasion. Just my preference on the skill is all.

[mind blast][meteor][distortion][liquid flame][immolate][aura of restoration][fire attunement][optional] > [shatterstone] ele

3 of those + a monk = Glad title