Curse

Fril Estelin · Jan 24, 2007, 05:35 PM // 17:35

Hi,

I'd like to have your opinion on my current build for PvE:

water magic 15
energy storage 12 (energy 76)

[skill]Icy spear[/skill]
[skill]Aura of restoration[/skill]
[skill]Armor of mist[/skill]
[skill]Deep freeze[/skill]
[skill]Frozen burst[/skill]
[skill]Ether renewal[/skill]
[skill]Water attunement[/skill]
[skill]Glyph of lesser energy[/skill]

Basically in a typical attack I would launch (in this order) Glyph of lesser energy/Water attunement/Aura of restoration/Armor of mist/Ether renewal (Ether renewal may be cast later depending on distance to foes), then Deep freeze (unless foes are nearby in which case I go for Frozen burst) and lots of icy spears. Of course this is most efficient with pools of monsters because of AoE and I have to renew the Armor of Mist and Ether renewal to stay protected and high on enery (I'll use Elemental attunement once I cap it!)

Any opinion or suggestion may be most welcome.

Dr Strangelove · Jan 24, 2007, 06:24 PM // 18:24

There's a lot of things fundamentally wrong with this (sorry).

1.Ether renewal is so weak as to be not worth using on pretty much everything but a geotank. Water attunement and glyph of lesser energy is more than enough to keep your energy up.

2. Armor of mist is really a running skill. You don't appear to be set up to run. If you really feel you need defense (you shouldn't if you let harder targets stay up front) armor of frost is a better choice.

3. There's no point in having snares if you're not going to use them somehow. Slap a maelstrom or some other such damage over time pulsing spell into the mix so you have something you hope they'll stay in. Otherwise, you're better off with another element.

4. Frozen burst is generally a weak choice in PvE, and even weaker on a bar that has no other point blank spells. You just don't want to be in smacking distance of the monsters if you can't help it.

5. Lack of a rez skill. If you're henching everything it's ok, but other people will be awfully testy if you don't bring it.

Using prophecies only, here's a sample build using only water skills and no elites (which I'm assuming based on your skill choices).

Water 12+3+1
Energy Storage 12+1

Ice Spear
Deep Freeze
Ice Spikes
Maelstrom
Water Attunement
Aura of Restoration
Glyph of lesser energy
Rez/Blurred Vision

If you get soem elites, feast of corruption (necro skill, swap for ice spikes or deep freeze) fits this build well, as does water trident (swap for ice spear), oeward vs. harm (swap for blurred vision).

Good luck!

Stormlord Alex · Jan 24, 2007, 08:07 PM // 20:07

I prefer Frigid Armor (a Nightfall skill unfortunately) as a defensive buff for water, it's a constant +40~ AL vs. physical and burning immunity. As for elite choice... Ether Renewal is kinda shabby atm. I never find I need elite energy management as a water ele, the (buffed) attunement and Glyph of Lesser Energy are enough to keep my energy high. Damaging or utility elites, particularly Shatterstone, fit in better with a water build.

The general water build I run is:

Water Magic - 12 + 1 + 3 = 16
Energy Storage - 12 + 1 = 13

[skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill]
[skill]Shatterstone[/skill]
[skill]Vapor Blade[/skill]
[skill]Blurred Vision[/skill] or [skill]Frigid Armor[/skill]
Usually [skill]Maelstrom[/skill]
With [skill]Freezing Gust[/skill]
[skill]Water Attunement[/skill]
And of course... [skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill] or the Sunspear variant.

What I love about Water is it's flexibility... In areas heavy with melee foes, for example, you can drop Maelstrom for an AoE snare instead, like
[skill]Deep Freeze[/skill]. And if you need healing, you can drop a skill for [skill]Aura of Restoration[/skill] or [skill]Glyph of Restoration[/skill]
Of course, this is a simple Water build... there's other builds I fool around with, like Prodigy-Water/Healer or an AB Air/Water build with Storm Djinn's Haste. I <3 the Nightfall skills!

Whatever. Have fun. ^^

Fril Estelin · Jan 25, 2007, 11:13 AM // 11:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

There's a lot of things fundamentally wrong with this (sorry).

On the contrary! Thanks for your comments, I wouldn't have posted if I didn't feel that there was something wrong

Quote:

1.Ether renewal is so weak as to be not worth using on pretty much everything but a geotank. Water attunement and glyph of lesser energy is more than enough to keep your energy up.

You're right, I actually just got the 1st elite. I'm thinking of actually going for elemental attunement which should give me more energy saving if I'm not mistaken.

Quote:

2. Armor of mist is really a running skill. You don't appear to be set up to run. If you really feel you need defense (you shouldn't if you let harder targets stay up front) armor of frost is a better choice.

Well I personally like the ability to run and I usually go with 2 healing henchies so I'm not too worried with armor. But I'll try to see the difference.

Quote:

3. There's no point in having snares if you're not going to use them somehow. Slap a maelstrom or some other such damage over time pulsing spell into the mix so you have something you hope they'll stay in. Otherwise, you're better off with another element.

I've got 2 atm and you suggest to get 3 looking at your build, right?

Quote:

4. Frozen burst is generally a weak choice in PvE, and even weaker on a bar that has no other point blank spells. You just don't want to be in smacking distance of the monsters if you can't help it.

Well I've often seen situations in PvE with henchmen that foes can be more or less close to me, and when using Icy spear I'm obliged to move closer, so I thought that having Deep freeze and Frozen burst helped me in tackling the two situations and alternating between long distance foes and those attacking me close (even if I'm usually taking 2 warriors to avoir that!).

Quote:

5. Lack of a rez skill. If you're henching everything it's ok, but other people will be awfully testy if you don't bring it.

Yep that's a PvE hench build, usualyl for PUG I remove slot 6 for rezsig.

Quote:

Using prophecies only, here's a sample build using only water skills and no elites (which I'm assuming based on your skill choices).

Water 12+3+1
Energy Storage 12+1

Just a very simple question: how do you get the "+1" in water (I've got 12+3)?

Quote:

If you get soem elites, feast of corruption (necro skill, swap for ice spikes or deep freeze) fits this build well, as does water trident (swap for ice spear), oeward vs. harm (swap for blurred vision).

Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your suggestions!

Fril Estelin · Jan 25, 2007, 11:21 AM // 11:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex

I prefer Frigid Armor (a Nightfall skill unfortunately) as a defensive buff for water, it's a constant +40~ AL vs. physical and burning immunity.

I'll do that when I'm finished with GW, or if I feel Armor of Mist is not strong enough, thanks for the tip!

Quote:

As for elite choice... Ether Renewal is kinda shabby atm. I never find I need elite energy management as a water ele, the (buffed) attunement and Glyph of Lesser Energy are enough to keep my energy high. Damaging or utility elites, particularly Shatterstone, fit in better with a water build.

Since it's a Factions skill it'll have to wait too. Sounds like a really cool water skill. And it sounds from your build that Maelstrom is one I should really use.

Quote:

What I love about Water is it's flexibility... In areas heavy with melee foes, for example, you can drop Maelstrom for an AoE snare instead, like
[skill]Deep Freeze[/skill]. And if you need healing, you can drop a skill for [skill]Aura of Restoration[/skill] or [skill]Glyph of Restoration[/skill]
Of course, this is a simple Water build... there's other builds I fool around with, like Prodigy-Water/Healer or an AB Air/Water build with Storm Djinn's Haste. I <3 the Nightfall skills!

Whatever. Have fun. ^^

Where can you find those last builds? I tried on GWiki without luck.

Thanks for your tips!

xarchitect · Jan 28, 2007, 11:34 PM // 23:34

The extra +1 comes from your head piece armor.

The comment regarding snares needing Damage over Time spells is valid. Maelstrom continues to do damage at that location for 10 seconds. When snared, the mob will try to flee, but the snare slows them so they take more of the effect. All the spells in your bar only deal a single blast of damage. A snare doesn't deal damage over time, it just slows over time.

As for energy management, you seem to have too much. 3 e-management skills on a skill bar for PvE is pretty high. Factor in your 2 long recharge snares and 2 self defense skills, leaves you spamming one mediocre skill for most of the battle.

Since you want to play water and only have Prophecies, you should go after Water Tident before Ele Atune as your next elite. Water is fun to use, play and experiment with a few more damage skills and find a way to use snares and create damage over time as a result.

NinjaKai · Jan 29, 2007, 09:11 AM // 09:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fril Estelin

I'll do that when I'm finished with GW, or if I feel Armor of Mist is not strong enough, thanks for the tip!

If your a water ele I would reccomend using Frigid Armor in Nightfall. Since many of the creatures there inflict burning. In Vabbi its an especially useful skill for stopping Djinn turning you into grilled elementalist.

Skuld · Jan 29, 2007, 10:51 AM // 10:51

Consider this build, it is mainly a PvP one (why run anything but Searing Flames in PvE

) but if you really want water, its pretty good

[skill]Water Trident[/skill][skill]Freezing Gust[/skill][skill]Deep Freeze[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Water Attunement[/skill][skill]Extinguish[/skill][skill]Glyph of Sacrifice[/skill][skill]Resurrection Chant[/skill]

The last 3 can be switched around for Rebirth, or Ward Against Melee or Frigid Armor, Ice Spikes for more damage, etc.