Curse

kai200 · Mar 05, 2007, 02:20 AM // 02:20

Well, I just (re)started my elementalist, having been playing for quite a while and never thinking twice about being a primary elementalist. I know the differences between earth and water, however, I'm curious about just what people feel the differences between fire elementalist and air elementalists is/are.

Jeff Highwind · Mar 05, 2007, 02:41 AM // 02:41

I've actually played through the first half of proph as a Fire Ele and the 2nd half as Air Ele. Here's my observations:

Air Ele
+Aside from Lightning Orb/Hammer, Spells are 1s casting and for the most part unavoidable
+Using the right enchants, you can spam Weakness and Blind on 2 seperate targets permanently.
+Innate Sundering 25% on most spells
-Majority of the spells are single-target attacks, while suitable for PvP it's quite dangerous in PvE with large mobs
-Energy Hungry, the high damage spells are 15e+ while the 5e spells are weak sauce

Fire Ele
+Majority of the spells are AoE. Despite the new AI, this is still nice if the damage is instant and not over time (Fire Storm, Savannah Heat, etc)
+Spammable Burning with Immolate, Searing Flames and (the less popular) Mind Burn
+High damage without the need for sundering (imo tbh)
+Disruption with Meteor and Meteor Shower, and pressure from Burning
-Good AoE spells take 2-3 seconds to cast
-No Sundering, so true damage is dependant on target armor
-Recharge on some spells is painfully long.

Despite these perks and flaws, it all depends on environment. For Example, for PvE I run Searing Flames nuker while in PvP I run Dual-attuned Air Spike with Blind and Weakness spamming skills.

Hope this was helpful

LightningHell · Mar 05, 2007, 02:41 AM // 02:41

Fire = aoe
Air = single target

Basically.

If you were to ask for specific builds, that would be different.

However, Air has a hell of a lot more utility than Fire, which has none at all. Apart from Flame Djinn's...

Ensign · Mar 05, 2007, 03:41 AM // 03:41

By a hell of a lot more utility, you mean blind and weakness, right? Because that's the only substantial utility difference between the two lines now.

Peace,
-CxE

LightningHell · Mar 05, 2007, 04:54 AM // 04:54

Well, there is Gale, Windborne Speed; and blinding is already a hell of a lot of utility, in my book.

Air is shit compared to what it was before though.

frojack · Mar 05, 2007, 07:23 AM // 07:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

Well, there is Gale, Windborne Speed; and blinding is already a hell of a lot of utility, in my book.

Air is shit compared to what it was before though.

Yeah? Would you say that's because fire (and even the other 2) have been buffed damage wise?

Dr Strangelove · Mar 05, 2007, 07:33 AM // 07:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by frojack

Yeah? Would you say that's because fire (and even the other 2) have been buffed damage wise?

Air is kinda crappier now because of the gale nerf (3s KD to 2s KD) and because blind and weakness are damn near useless with the proliferation of drawbots and mending touch. In PvE, there's really better options for single target damage than an air guy anyway.

Yanman.be · Mar 05, 2007, 07:34 AM // 07:34

Apple vs Oranges! Who wins the battle? I bet it's the Banana!

LightningHell · Mar 05, 2007, 10:04 AM // 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by frojack

Yeah? Would you say that's because fire (and even the other 2) have been buffed damage wise?

I would say that, yes. Mostly because I had to make up something to make Air look not so shit as it is.

Stormlord Alex · Mar 05, 2007, 10:10 AM // 10:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corinthian

Fire is the best overall for destroying dumbass AI in PvE. End of discussion.

Fix'd

Overall, Air is single-target damage with some debilitating effects, whereas Fire is AoE damage with absolutely nothing else going for it (well... maybe Mind Blast/HP).

As the other posters here have said though, Air is pretty weak atm... Channeling's probably better for consistant, single-target damage (110 damage for 5 energy? Yes plx).

Silk Weaver · Mar 05, 2007, 10:24 AM // 10:24

E/A Mindshock was hot for a moment or too, though it's pretty fickle. You get a kill in a second, otherwise you should gtfo~

Fire has more utility now that it doubles as an energy management line (mind blast), that you can use it with heal party, weapon of warding, etc etc, and even Blinding Flash by invensting in a few points of air. Though, uhm, just saying you can.

I still don't like fire that much though.

Thom Bangalter · Mar 05, 2007, 10:37 AM // 10:37

I dunno, I'm still a big fan of gale/mind shock for interrupting aegis chains, the fourth worst thing in the meta at this moment. Blinding surge is phenomenal on an ele primary as well.

That being said, I think there are better options. If I want to warrior hate water is far superior, and If I'm running around in pve I don't think I've ever tried anything other than Fire unless I absolutely need to play something else. If I wanted to be doing ranged DPS I'd play a paragon.

Ensign · Mar 05, 2007, 09:23 PM // 21:23

Fire is significantly better for single target damage as well, due to burning.

Blind and Weakness are the reasons to run air...pretty much period.

Peace,
-CxE

Loot Junkie · Mar 06, 2007, 04:03 AM // 04:03

Isnt this discussion on the pve side of things? For getting thru the game with heroes/henchies, try running an air ele and use 2 hero eles set up with SF/Glowing Gaze and a MM hero.

bungusmaximus · Mar 06, 2007, 11:53 AM // 11:53

Actually an air ele in AB is pretty much the shit. That's more because of the AB meta (burst sins without monk bacline, anyone?) then because air is so strong. A lot of dead moments to put your attunements back up, mystic regen as cover enchant and self heal. Fire away for the motherland

.
AB is the only place where my air ele shines and she rapes one burst sin after the other.
I took her to TA once and that wasn't very effective though. Too many mesmers, no room to hide and cast attunements and slow casting spells that harm the caster more then the casters victim.

Danielle Reinora · Mar 07, 2007, 07:58 PM // 19:58

Greetings everyone! IMHO in PvE, Fire ele's are more useful in most areas of the game due to the area of effect damage it can do. The enemy groups up in skirmishes alot so Fire spells will damage enough of them to eventually make them scatter and ease off pressure off the healers having to keep the party alive.

In some PvE areas that require keeping NPCs alive or facing enemies with interrupt skills, I recommend bringing quick casting Air spammable skills and Blind and Gale to ease off the pressure of the NPCs getting attacked (Like Arborstone).

When you play in PvP, well it changes ALOT. Yes, I agree with most of the PvP posts here that focused attacks is what will help your team beat the other. There are some good fire skills (like Savannah Heat) that will work nicely if you can keep the target in the AoE. However, when this is being used 2 eles would work nicely. As for Air Eles, 2 configured with Glyph of Lesser Energy, Lighning Surge, Lightning Hammer, and Lightning Orb can really spike down a target (who doesn't have Protective Spirit on him/her). I've run this in AB and it works nicely as long as the both of you stick together and coordinate focused attacks AND have a healer/protector alongside you.

Anyways, there's more to this because there are so many playing styles and builds out there so this is just what I think. Feel free to send me a message if you wanna talk about it more and discuss attribute distributions and stuff. My ele's name is Priscilla Bumblebee.

Take care and have fun in the game! Byeeee

Slim · Mar 07, 2007, 11:54 PM // 23:54

Invoke Lightning, the awnswer to all your Air AoE needs. IMO the best air skill there is.