Curse

Rothan Celt · Nov 12, 2008, 10:06 AM // 10:06

Okay ppl i would like you to take a look at this link....

http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/A_Dragon_Spike

Seen it now? Good! Right this build is being used a lot more in RA recently i RA a lot and have only seen this build being used recently. I have tried this build myself and you know what? its very fun and effective. I want other ppls opinions on this imo its a fun effective spike build which when used properly should spike a single target to death in a short time. Rangers and mesmers seem to be the ultimate counter of course interrupts are the prime factor to screwing up this build.

when i came up against this myself in RA I survived both times despite being the main target First time i was on my derv and the ele shadow stepped to me before he cast meteor all i did then was wild blow his stance and throw him back where he came from. The other time i was on my ranger i D shot his Meteor and kited from him as soon as he stepped to me.

Now i want other ppls opinions on this build as it seems to be growing in popularity. Hf posting

Luminarus · Nov 12, 2008, 10:34 AM // 10:34

U need to edit the link you posted, you have 2 http://'s.

Ive fought this, I find it a stupid build. Its easy to completely screw up through an interupt, its damage can only drop a full health caster. Its also a rather slow spike that one patient will save, and once every 30 seconds. It wins in RA because most teams dont have a competent healer, and you'll probably get atleast 1 kill every 30 seconds if not more. Not as good as a sin for a spike imo, but yeah. Anet will probably hit double dragon if it gets to bad.

Rothan Celt · Nov 12, 2008, 11:00 AM // 11:00

It does seem like somthing A net would nurf its just one more reason for me to bring Blanced stance on my monk. Sincasters are far to common in RA 2 aswell as the average KD lock war.

jonnieboi05 · Nov 12, 2008, 12:30 PM // 12:30

meh... this bar is pretty bad, imo. takes no skill to run an ele so i try to avoid the profession in general due to the lack of attention you need to truely pay in order to excel at it. as for being able to kill with it-- you would need to try and kill a complete noobie for it to succeed (which is VERY easy to pull off in a low-end PvP area like RA w/ all the PvE'ers in it. ^^)

~LeNa~

Strife17 · Nov 12, 2008, 12:43 PM // 12:43

30 Sec recharge

lol

The Arching Healer · Nov 12, 2008, 12:56 PM // 12:56

A kill every 30 secs isnt that bad, but this spike is easily countered by a single rof, so good vs a team w/o monk, mesmer or ranger. It doesn't kills warriors too.

Quote:

30 Sec recharge

40/40 sets rule

wind fire and ice · Nov 12, 2008, 02:39 PM // 14:39

thats bad,if you must run a spike on an ele use a shockwave spike.

Strife17 · Nov 12, 2008, 03:29 PM // 15:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Arching Healer

A kill every 30 secs isnt that bad, but this spike is easily countered by a single rof, so good vs a team w/o monk, mesmer or ranger. It doesn't kills warriors too.

40/40 sets rule

a lesser recharge rules more.

the 40/40 Doesn't trigger always my good friend.

jonnieboi05 · Nov 12, 2008, 08:22 PM // 20:22

agreed. 40/40 doesn't always trigger.

lol @ 30 second per ATTEMPTED kills

~LeNa~

Tyla · Nov 12, 2008, 08:32 PM // 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnieBoi05

meh... this bar is pretty bad, imo. takes no skill to run an ele so i try to avoid the profession in general due to the lack of attention you need to truely pay in order to excel at it. as for being able to kill with it-- you would need to try and kill a complete noobie for it to succeed (which is VERY easy to pull off in a low-end PvP area like RA w/ all the PvE'ers in it. ^^)

~LeNa~

This is Guild Wars we're talking about...

... I said nothing.

Well, Gale requires some selective ability to use efficiently, anyway.

Anyway, bar is bad. Partly because of no Deep Wound, partly because it takes too long to execute, partly because it takes too long to recharge.

-Lotus- · Nov 12, 2008, 09:36 PM // 21:36

this is funny

haha, people are baed

TheOrangeFalcon · Nov 13, 2008, 05:36 AM // 05:36

So i herd 1 bad spike every 30/15secs is gud.

Wait I heard wrong. Seriously, it's just bad. Meteor is screaming to be d-shotted and with great potential to over-extend with 60 AL the other team will love you.

Additionally, 7 skills dedicated to a spike is bad. BAD bad. Especially since it's no where near spammable. 15-30 secs of wanding is always lovely.

tmakinen · Nov 13, 2008, 08:44 AM // 08:44

Every time I see somebody sweating up a Meteor in AB (the only form of PvP that I still play) I let the spell resolve and then dodge it to make a point. Would fizzle that particular spike as well ...

Tyla · Nov 13, 2008, 05:44 PM // 17:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmakinen

Every time I see somebody sweating up a Meteor in AB (the only form of PvP that I still play) I let the spell resolve and then dodge it to make a point. Would fizzle that particular spike as well ...

I prefer to stand next to an Elementalist, because there's a 90% chance it's an SF Ele, and it's a 90% chance that that Ele is clueless and will cast a 1 second cast right next to you no matter how much you D-Shot SF.

Super Igor · Nov 13, 2008, 07:17 PM // 19:17

This build is bad + dont post links to pvxwiki on gurus unless you want some fireworks. :>

cerick · Nov 14, 2008, 02:12 AM // 02:12

Flame… flame
Turbo charged Zippo flames!!

Why is it that people only thing there are like three good skills in the game? And even less good builds. Why are so many posts are from people flaming how no build is good, or how it would be better only if the whole build were completely different? Or better yet, saying how easy it would be to counter a vetted and effective build. Lmao..

How many people here have ever known the exact builds of the whole team they were going to face? Or did Anet make a recent update that made people declare their build before a fight?

Anyone else here have a personal goal of reaching 1000 absolutely pointless posts?
Never mind, I see many people that are obviously way ahead of me.

Flame on people!!!

obsidian ectoplasm · Nov 14, 2008, 02:39 AM // 02:39

agreed, this is a lame build, but i wanna try this in TA for the Lols 3 spikers, and a monk :P

or 2 spikers a necro and a monk :P

_Nihilist_ · Nov 14, 2008, 06:35 AM // 06:35

...

It might work against a target who isn't paying attention, but you have a good point, not too much attention in RA...

Meh. KD during the cast of Meteor, and this 60AL spiker is as good as spiked. I love casters who Step to my Warrior. I have so many fun ways to make them take a dirt nap.

Jeydra · Nov 14, 2008, 01:55 PM // 13:55

I've played against the build multiple times in RA now and here's what I think:

1. The build is fragile. It has no self-heals and so on, and is entirely reliant on a Monk. Definitely a bad thing but not necessarily killing, since lots of good builds rely on Monks too.
2. The spike is not easy to catch as a Monk. No. The damage comes extremely fast and if it lands on someone who's already at ~75% HP, and you're casting a different spell at that time, there's a very good chance the target dies before you can heal him. Against that, if you watch the Elementalist for Meteor, you can tell that a spike is coming but discerning who the target is can still be hard, and you have to pay attention (so you can't watch for Insidious Parasites, Empathy, Visions of Regret before it's covered by Wastrel's Worry, etc). Add to that that most RA Monks do not carry prot except for Guardian, this spike definitely qualifies as a dangerous one.
3. The spike is dangerous. Running at 18 Fire (which is what it should in my opinion - it's a glass cannon already so why not make it even more of one) the spike does over 500 damage in quick succession. Meteor is a KD and you're pretty much guaranteed to take one tick of Double Dragon damage. After that you absolutely have to run - potentially deadly if you're already undre pressure - or you'll take the next tick of Double Dragon damage as well as Inferno / Flame Burst. And then after that there's the unkitable Liquid Flame. If you are not already at or near full health when the spike comes there is a good chance you die. Not to mention that defenses like Disciplined Stance aren't very effective against the spike (it's +24 armor, but the spike is still very damaging) and Shield Bash completely fails against it, as does Balanced Stance unless you have it up before Meteor lands. If the Elementalist picks a target already taking damage, he's likely to score a kill too unless the Monk has prot.
4. Spike is AoE. Think two Warriors gathered on a Monk. Two people at a time.

I would classify this build in the glass cannon caster-spike section - not something I would run and not something that works in TA, but probably a fun one to play in RA every now and then and definitely not as bad as some people make it out to be.

Some responses:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyla

Anyway, bar is bad. Partly because of no Deep Wound, partly because it takes too long to execute, partly because it takes too long to recharge.

Have you actually played with / against it?

Augury of Death is a dead giveaway of who the spike target is, although I suppose you could use it when there's no Monk in the team. It does not take long to execute - the spike starts when Meteor finishes casting, following which there's Double Dragon, Inferno / Flame Burst and the finishing stroke Liquid Flame. Takes no more than 5 seconds, it's pretty fast. Recharge is significant at 30 seconds, which is also partly why the build needs a Monk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheOrangeFalcon

Wait I heard wrong. Seriously, it's just bad. Meteor is screaming to be d-shotted and with great potential to over-extend with 60 AL the other team will love you.

This is RA - there's no guarantee you'll have DShot any more than you might have Blackout to use on a Monk. As for overextending, this is a caster spike. The range is cast range, unlike melee-based spikes. You don't have to overextend to hit an AL 60 target; if the AL60 target is out of range he's not contributing to the fight either, and you can always warp back to your team by cancelling Shadow Walk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmakinen

Every time I see somebody sweating up a Meteor in AB (the only form of PvP that I still play) I let the spell resolve and then dodge it to make a point. Would fizzle that particular spike as well ...

I'm not sure, it might be you can only dodge Meteor with a speedboost, but in any case you can only dodge Meteor if you are concentrating on it. Concentrating on dodging Meteor is the same as concentrating on avoiding Diversion. It takes time and mindpower, and while you're battling the Elementalist in a mindgame you might miss a spike or similar.

No this build isn't as terrible as some make it out to be. I don't like it because it relies on a Monk, but if other people choose to run it, well, it's up to them. I'll treat it with respect if I ever have to go against it.

-Lotus- · Nov 14, 2008, 03:29 PM // 15:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeydra

Have you actually played with / against it?

there is no need to actually test out every godawful build someone throws together. we know how skills work. we know how they synergize. we know PBAoEs suck. the formula for judgment isn't that complicated.