Curse

topgunner150 · Feb 23, 2007, 12:50 AM // 00:50

I tend to stick to my water build as often as I can. I like the slow effect, and plus I mostly attack casters after my first round of freeze spells.
Ice Spear, Vapor Blade, Ice Spikes, Deep Freeze, Maelstrom, Water Attunement, Elemental Attunement, Aura of Restoration. I just keep my energy level high and just keep blasting. I think it works pretty well against casters, and not to shabbily on warrriors/sins/dervishes. It tends to work very well in Aspenwood Gate though when you're trying to take out NPCs.

Zeon · Feb 23, 2007, 02:37 AM // 02:37

I just started using water a week ago. It's very good for pvp. Well, I think it is. Anyway, these are my skills:

Aura of Restoration
Water Attunement
Frigid Armour(Prevents being set on fire)
Aracane Echo (use on shatterstone)
Shatterstone (E)
Deep freeze (slows down, aoe)/Maelstrom(same as deep freeze)
Shardstorm
Vapor Blade

The last 3 skills you can change around, but the rest you have to use.

Oh yeah, Attributes:

Water Magic:12+1+3(Sup. rune and headpeice)
Energy Storage:12+1(minor rune)

By the way, I'm working on a water solo, which I hope will work.

topgunner150 · Feb 23, 2007, 02:48 AM // 02:48

umm maelstrom is no where near deep freeze. Deep freeze is the largest AoE but is a one-hit for about 82 damage at that level. Maelstrom is a damage over time thing that only hits nearby targets for about 14 per second which also interupts and causes exhaustion.

Zeon · Feb 23, 2007, 02:56 AM // 02:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by topgunner150

umm maelstrom is no where near deep freeze. Deep freeze is the largest AoE but is a one-hit for about 82 damage at that level. Maelstrom is a damage over time thing that only hits nearby targets for about 14 per second which also interupts and causes exhaustion.

I usually don't use maelstrom because I hate exhaustion.

topgunner150 · Feb 23, 2007, 03:01 AM // 03:01

well i only use it to shut down casters. unfortunately they run out of it and even freezing them doesn't keep them in, so I end up just vapor blading them while they run and then spamming ice spear.

frojack · Feb 23, 2007, 07:10 AM // 07:10

Actually Maelstrom is only adjacent range, which is why it's so annoying. If it was nearby it would never leave my bar.

About the exhaustion. Maelstrom is a good 'my first exhaustion' skill, as it's recharge is equal to how long it takes to recover from one 'round' of exhaustion.

Cebe · Feb 23, 2007, 08:28 AM // 08:28

I personally don't understand what people have against exhaustion. A little exhaustion is no trouble whatsoever...least not when you have a pool of 70-90 energy. There still seems to be a great stigma around exhaustion giving skills...

As for Maelstrom. I love this spell. It's fantastic for shutting down overpowered bosses...and Heket, for me, seem too stupid to run out of it.

Pwny Ride · Feb 24, 2007, 03:17 AM // 03:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

I personally don't understand what people have against exhaustion. A little exhaustion is no trouble whatsoever...least not when you have a pool of 70-90 energy. There still seems to be a great stigma around exhaustion giving skills...

As for Maelstrom. I love this spell. It's fantastic for shutting down overpowered bosses...and Heket, for me, seem too stupid to run out of it.

There must be an awful lot of Heket in AB then

Kenji Akatsuki · Feb 24, 2007, 04:03 AM // 04:03

i once posted a build when faction was the new edition to gw, its probably still buried in all of the layers of ele builds. iono, when nf came out it seemed that one of the most effect single target slows was freezing gust, altho it seems unlikely to use because of its high cost (tho it did have a very good recharge speed to allow spamming)

i suggest placing ice spear as your low cost, high dmg spam and ice spikes for a relatively low cost aoe slow. here is my suggestion on skills to use:

ice spear
ice spikes
deep freeze
vapor blade (in conjuction w/ enchant removals [or not, depends on u])

there were problems w/ my water build that im still tweeking out but as for now you can try those four skills out in any combination and see for yourself

Operations · Feb 24, 2007, 05:17 AM // 05:17

Over a year ago, when I first got Guild Wars, I started Kylden out as a water Ele. Why? The best drop weapons I found were for that element.

Now, Kylden is my best decked out character, but he still uses water a lot, both PvP and PvE. Why?

Battlefield Control.

If you control how the enemy moves, you win. If the enemy can not move fast enough, the engagement is a largely foregone conclusion.

Out of all the elements, fire is my least used as a solo element. No utillity. I have a decent Fire/Earth build I use for PvE, but it's not good enough for PvP yet. Most of the time I spec as either Water or Air. Earth when I'm farming.

Neriandal Freit · Feb 24, 2007, 01:54 PM // 13:54

Battlefield Control is a great way to label what a Hydromancer does best.

topgunner150 · Feb 25, 2007, 03:39 AM // 03:39

my only real problem with water magic is this: ice spear has half the range of every other spammable magic

Pwny Ride · Feb 25, 2007, 05:30 AM // 05:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by topgunner150

my only real problem with water magic is this: ice spear has half the range of every other spammable magic

Thats not a problem...its only one skill. It doesnt make the water line any worse...seriously. Why would you even use that anyways?

frojack · Feb 25, 2007, 05:38 PM // 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pwny Ride

Thats not a problem...its only one skill. It doesnt make the water line any worse...seriously. Why would you even use that anyways?

I'd also call it the best line in the class if I didn't have to think about pve. It certainly ties with Air with Earth a very close second.

Fire, for all the buffs Anet seem to want to give it, lacks the utility it needs to be anything really special on it's own.

topgunner150 · Mar 06, 2007, 06:18 PM // 18:18

i use it as something to use while my other skills are recharging. I use elemtental attunement so i just spam it while waiting for the recharge. i just don't like how i have to get close to the opponent when i could stay in the back. It makes me more of a target. Plus i use ice spear cause i need some real damage in case my enchantment are taken away. stupid Naphui turtles.

Hyprodimus Prime · Mar 07, 2007, 12:55 AM // 00:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

I personally don't understand what people have against exhaustion. A little exhaustion is no trouble whatsoever...least not when you have a pool of 70-90 energy. There still seems to be a great stigma around exhaustion giving skills...

As for Maelstrom. I love this spell. It's fantastic for shutting down overpowered bosses...and Heket, for me, seem too stupid to run out of it.

I can explain. (IMHO) Its the "imperfectness" that throws me off. That I dont have a full energy bar. Growing up as an ele primary has done the same to my bias' on other casters too. Even though I play others now I cant help feeling something is wrong if your bar isnt perfect. I feel the same with health too. Its just "itchy" at the back of my mind when I see farmers in vids at 1/3 health not doing anything. I can play other casters and not afraid to use exhaustion skills anymore, but its still weird to me.

frojack · Mar 07, 2007, 07:53 PM // 19:53

I had a bad perception of exhaustion back in the day. However whenever I run a bar with 'grey' skills these days I am always surprised at how quickly it actually regenerates. I think generally people have exhaustion miss-conceptions engraved in the cranium.

I rarely run a bar with more than one exhausting skill though...

Effigy · Mar 07, 2007, 09:55 PM // 21:55

If Shock is good on a warrior with no more than 28 max energy, you better believe exhaustions skills are usable on an ele primary. The thing is you need some self-control. It seems like a common mistake to either spam exhaustion skills or avoid them completely. As long as you don't fill your bar with them or fire them off willy-nilly, exhaustion skills can give you a nice edge. Remember, they have that penalty because they're (generally) powerful skills.

Seraphic Divinity · Mar 08, 2007, 04:22 PM // 16:22

Alright... First off, the OP said 'PVP' not PvE, therefore any discussion of PvE is completely off-topic.. meaning... if you have any sense of courteousy in RA bring a res sig (or, as LH said, the glyph+res for something more competitive, unless you have faith in the 3 sec cast time with all those interrupts running about O_o)

And yes, as LH -also- said, E/Mo is most definately among the highly used and viable classes in PvP. ESPECIALLY in Top-Notch GvG's (Points to SM using Ether Prism Heal Party Ele..... *COUGH* WITH BLURRED VISION -stares at person who said blurred vision was bad- *COUGH*

If you're going to PvP with an ele, than the most viable area for a Water ele is GvG. Among the best classes for running flags/providing support and snares.
HA is also another place where the effects of a water ele are indeed useful.

It can also be effective in TA *points to the LS and ShatterStone Spike*

RA is where it is -least- useful. Unless (like in TA) you have a team coordinated around a water ele, a water ele is mostly support, and therefore is less useful in a 4v4 situation. You go into RA and your simply slowing down a game, not necessarily adding as much to a victory as an Air Ele would.

Dr Strangelove · Mar 09, 2007, 01:17 AM // 01:17

Summary of thread:

Bring a water guy for snares. If you don't need snares, why the hell are you playing a water ele?