Curse

Ace2001 · Dec 13, 2007, 03:38 AM // 03:38

Hey all. I recently took my ele to GWEN, and up untill this point had been a pure fire ele, but apon remembering that Destroyers have resistance to fire attacks (damnit!) I switched to a pretty good (in my opinion, mind you :P ) earth ele build. However, one of my guild mates said that water hexes/skills are better vs destroyers (mostly for the added slow down/speed reducage) and..I think he said they even do more damage than usualy? Not entirely sure about that last part. >.<

Anyways, I was just wondering if water hexes/skills are better than earth vs destroyers, and if so, does anybody have a good water build (sadly, I'm missing good air and water builds.. and the only water elites I have are Mist Form and Water Trident, so I don't know if any good builds can be based around those... or if I'll need to go capping.)

Btw, I have all 4 games, so theres no skill/elite that I can't get ahold of. :P

Thanks for any help that anybody can give!

Stormlord Alex · Dec 13, 2007, 04:07 AM // 04:07

I've not noticed Destroyers to be particularly weak against cold damage (and yeah, I'd notice the difference - Shatterspike at Hell's Pecipice tells you things), so, as an Ele, I'd merely do my best to shut them down and weaken them; and let the Necros and physicals do the hard work cracking that ridiculous armour of theirs.

As Destroyers, essentialy, tear through you with physicals - Barrage rangers and heavy-hitting warriors backed up by Order necros - melee shutdown is prime.
In practice, this comes down to either an Air Magic blindbot or an Earth guy with wards. Take your pick. Couple of semi-complete bars of the top of me head...

[skill]air attunement[/skill][skill]blinding surge[/skill][skill]enervating charge[/skill]shell shock[skill]glyph of lesser energy[/skill][skill]ward against melee[/skill]
12+1+1 Air
9+1 Earth
9+1 Energy

[skill]earth attunement[/skill][skill]glyph of lesser energy[/skill][skill]eruption[/skill][skill]unsteady ground[/skill][skill]ward against melee[/skill][skill]ward against foes[/skill]
12+1+1 Earth
12+1 Energy

The air guy offers more concentrated, controlled hate; whereas the earth dude is AoE. And Ward vs Melee is strong enough to warrant inclusion on both.
As for the empty skills, as always, PvE skills are very strong - the Ebon Wisdom Ward is a powerful choice, Alkar's Acid hurts a wee bit too.
Then there's [skill]death pact signet[/skill] for the awesomeness of combat-rez; and [skill]epidemic[/skill] could be of use on the air guy.

Whatever.

Toutatis · Dec 13, 2007, 04:17 AM // 04:17

I haven't noticed Destroyers to be particularly weak to any element either - just fire resistance, burning immunity, and I think a little earth resistance too but I'm still crunching the numbers on that last one (so I may be wrong).

One thing that I would try to avoid, however, is overuse of water hexes. The Destroyers of Thoughts use Hex Eater Vortex and Shatter Hex which can quickly turn a useful hex into a dangerous liability - if you do decide to go with a water build, scan the enemy groups before throwing out a hex.

Terraban · Dec 13, 2007, 04:55 AM // 04:55

I wouldn't suggest water at all.

Most are hexes, which like already mentioned, are just fuel for Destroyers of Thought, and they hurt.
Cold damage isn't anything spectacular against Destroyers.
Only Destroyers of Lives use fire damage, so Ward Against Harm is of little use.

Air and/or Earth is definitely the way to go. Well, and preferably some PvE only skills. Earth is my personal favorite, as I run it even when not fighting Destroyers.

Grammar · Dec 13, 2007, 05:08 AM // 05:08

As an Ele, it's best that you just forget about damage dealing when facing destroyers and instead concentrate on things like wards, conditions, and other utility such as Aegis.

Basically, as Alex stated, you have two solid options:
-You could go Air + wards Ele with blind, weakness, craked armor, and wards.
-Or you could go Earth Ele with wards, Aegis, and AoE damage/condition/KO spells (Eruption and Unsteady Ground are great).
Personally, I went with an Earth build because of wards and Aegis. The Air build can only have wards OR Aegis, but not both.

Whatever you decide to do, just makes sure your party has Ward againt Melee and 2 copies of Aegis. It'll make life much easier for you.

Cebe · Dec 13, 2007, 09:27 AM // 09:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex

[skill]air attunement[/skill][skill]blinding surge[/skill][skill]enervating charge[/skill]shell shock[skill]glyph of lesser energy[/skill][skill]ward against melee[/skill]
12+1+1 Air
9+1 Earth
9+1 Energy

= GG Destroyers, imo.

Sir Pandra Pierva · Dec 13, 2007, 10:10 PM // 22:10

lack of alchiers acid/10 all though shell shock does deal with that

Marverick · Dec 13, 2007, 10:12 PM // 22:12

Go Air.

[skill]Air Attunement[/skill][skill]Blinding Surge[/skill][skill]Lightning Orb[/skill][skill]Lightning Hammer[/skill][skill]Auspicious Incantation[/skill][wiki]Alkar's Alchemical Acid[/wiki] [wiki]Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support[/wiki] [wiki]Ebon Battle Standard of Courage[/wiki]

xDusT II · Dec 13, 2007, 11:49 PM // 23:49

Against Destroyer's I'm used to running:

B.Surge
Akar's Alchemical Acid
Splinter Weapon
Ancestor's Rage / Shell Shock / "You are all weaklings!" / Enervating Charge
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Ward Against Melee / Optional
Air Attunement
Death Pact Signet

Ace2001 · Dec 14, 2007, 12:58 AM // 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terraban

I wouldn't suggest water at all.

Most are hexes, which like already mentioned, are just fuel for Destroyers of Thought, and they hurt.
Cold damage isn't anything spectacular against Destroyers.
Only Destroyers of Lives use fire damage, so Ward Against Harm is of little use.

Air and/or Earth is definitely the way to go. Well, and preferably some PvE only skills. Earth is my personal favorite, as I run it even when not fighting Destroyers.

Would you mind if I ask what build you use?

And thank you all for the replies! I dunno if I should go air or earth..they both seem to be pretty good, but I'm leaning towards earth (since I only have earth and fire weapons/armor/etc. and I just can't afford to fully switch over to water or air.)

MasterSasori · Dec 14, 2007, 04:21 AM // 04:21

Not too sure bout the Water Ordeal. I'd stick with Air IMO

xDusT II · Dec 14, 2007, 05:20 AM // 05:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ace2001

Would you mind if I ask what build you use?

And thank you all for the replies! I dunno if I should go air or earth..they both seem to be pretty good, but I'm leaning towards earth (since I only have earth and fire weapons/armor/etc. and I just can't afford to fully switch over to water or air.)

Not much point going full earth. You may as well go Air and spec into Earth as well. You get all that you want out of the Earth line as well as the useful blinds in the air line.

Terraban · Dec 14, 2007, 06:40 AM // 06:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by xDusT II

Not much point going full earth. You may as well go Air and spec into Earth as well. You get all that you want out of the Earth line as well as the useful blinds in the air line.

Plenty of point in going full earth. Wards, almost as much AoE as Fire, blind, knockdown. Still have Cracked Armor with AAA.

Air only really offers conditions, good conditions though. Blind, Weakness, and Cracked Armor. Your damage will be somewhat lacking, however, except for AAA.

Edit:
Would also like to note, that Ward Against Melee, Aegis, Defensive Anthem, and any of the common blocks have a slight drawback against Destroyers. All of the Warriors carry [skill=text]Warrior's Cunning[/skill], which makes all of your blocking skills rather ineffective for the first ~10 seconds of battle.

Ace2001 · Dec 14, 2007, 07:03 AM // 07:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terraban

Plenty of point in going full earth. Wards, almost as much AoE as Fire, blind, knockdown. Still have Cracked Armor with AAA.

Air only really offers conditions, good conditions though. Blind, Weakness, and Cracked Armor. Your damage will be somewhat lacking, however, except for AAA.

Edit:
Would also like to note, that Ward Against Melee, Aegis, Defensive Anthem, and any of the common blocks have a slight drawback against Destroyers. All of the Warriors carry [skill=text]Warrior's Cunning[/skill], which makes all of your blocking skills rather ineffective for the first ~10 seconds of battle.

That's the only thing I love about my current ele build: It's based off of Sandstorm, Mantra of earth, and that one skill that converts all mele damage done to me to earth damange. (Aslong as theres no enchantment or stance stripping, I can pretty much tank just as good as a warrior can. I got this build from a guildie, but they did mention how it was more of a solo/farming build than a regular play build, I suppose that's why I find it to be a bit boring though interesting.) though they only told me 4 skills, and I figured I should carry earth attunement...so that was 5 skills, and I randomly added in 3 other skills. x_x (Ebon Hawk, some...earth skill that gives back energy if it hits a weakened foe, and another earth skill that knocks a foe down if it's weakend. Sadly, this is far too dependant apon the enemy becoming weakend/my skills not being interupted, and I tend to run out've energy quick too with spamming those three skills while waiting for sandstorm to recharge)

Which is why I think I need a better/stronger build, just not really killing quick enough. Though it's fun to go into the Asura territory, watch as all the mele dinos come charging for me, then watch as they do around 0 damage each hit. XD

Proff · Dec 14, 2007, 07:08 AM // 07:08

Whatever you've heard about water doing more damage is wrong, fire barely does any damage and they have the same resistance to air, earth and water spells.

xDusT II · Dec 14, 2007, 08:23 AM // 08:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terraban

Plenty of point in going full earth. Wards, almost as much AoE as Fire, blind, knockdown. Still have Cracked Armor with AAA.

Air only really offers conditions, good conditions though. Blind, Weakness, and Cracked Armor. Your damage will be somewhat lacking, however, except for AAA.

Edit:
Would also like to note, that Ward Against Melee, Aegis, Defensive Anthem, and any of the common blocks have a slight drawback against Destroyers. All of the Warriors carry [skill=text]Warrior's Cunning[/skill], which makes all of your blocking skills rather ineffective for the first ~10 seconds of battle.

Earth is a rather weak line, spare a few useful defensive skills such as the wards which can be secondary specced. Earth AoE has low sustainability. Sandstorm and Unsteady Ground are nothing to get excited about considering the other options available. Earth's main strength offensively is it's ability to deliver powerful effects in AoE form, such as blinds and knockdowns. The drawback is that alot of the useful Earth spells are rather expensive, especially coupled with the fact that the Earth line has relatively poor energy management spells.

Other than the AoE's, the Earth lines single target spells are rather lackluster as well. Ebon Hawk, Stoning Ash Blast and Glowstone is a rather mediocre combo and an especially ineffective and slow method to blind a target, and Magnetic surge / Obsidian flame aren't all that spectacular considering how little Destroyer's use enchantments.

Ultimately if your an elementalist you don't really have many solid options to deal big numbers to destroyers, or any high armored target for that matter. I'd rather just stick a Splinter Weapon on my frontliner and sit back blinding the nasty warriors and rangers while putting spare points into Earth for the useful Ward spells. Offensively, your options are Akar's Acid or simply buffing your physicals.