Curse

Pick Me · Jan 03, 2007, 04:25 PM // 16:25

Hi all,

I've never made a primary Elementalist before and I was wondering if this build would work in PvE (and this is my first time creating an initial thread).

E/N

Blood Magic: 12
Energy Storage: 12 + 1 + 1
Air/Fire/Water Magic: 3 + 1

Dark Pact
Conjure Lightning/Fire/Water
Vampiric Gaze
Aura of Restoration
Ether Renewal (e)
Blood Renewal
Plague Sending
Rez Signet

Cast Aura of Restoration, Ether Renewal then Conjure. Then DP (spam). If my math is somewhat correct, if you have 450 health, then you lose 45 health per cast of DP. Aura will heal you about 300% of DP's cost which is 5 energy. So you gain 15 health. And with ER, you gain 13 health per enchantment, so you have 3 enchantments, which makes it 39 health per cast of DP.

You will not suffer any health loss and you gain 2 energy per enchantment, which is 6 energy gain per cast. This covers for the 5 energy you use per cast.

Granted, ER only lasts 7 seconds (with a recharge time of 30), so would this still be feasible?

I have Blood Renewal there for more health regen, can cover as an enchantment cover, as well as a nice enchantment that the next ER cast can utilize to give you more energy regain.

So, I'm just asking if this is a good build or not? Again, only for PvE.

If it is, it will solidify my desire to create my E/N. If not, is there a way to improve on this build to make it more desireable to use.

I already though of interupt and kd builds for an E/N.

Thank you.

Kellogs · Jan 03, 2007, 05:42 PM // 17:42

ya ya that's awesome

Acidic Won · Jan 03, 2007, 05:50 PM // 17:50

would be a good concept if ER wasnt nerfed to all hell..idk what your going to do for the rest of your time when your not DP spamming.. twiddle your thumbs?.. you only have 2 damage dealng skills.. i think you should choose and element.

Francis Crawford · Jan 03, 2007, 06:25 PM // 18:25

Ether Renewal builds are discussed mainly in the farming forum, because they're mainly used for solo farming.

A typical build is:

Ether Renewal (E)
Earth Attunement
Stoneflesh Aura
Kinetic Armor
Aura of Restoration
Stone Daggers
Sliver Armor
Aftershock

Of course, there are many many variations on that build; it's fairly rare that I or anybody else will use it in exactly that form.

Anyhow, what it's good for is holding up under a LOT of attack, while doing some damage. In a large PvE group, it's likely that a lot of that defense would be wasted. Sliver Armor and Aftershock also aren't that great unless the enemies are focusing their attacks specifically on YOU.

And one tip -- ALWAYS carry an enchantment-extending mod if you use Ether Renewal.

Pick Me · Jan 03, 2007, 08:17 PM // 20:17

Thanks for the replies all.

Yes, I do have extended enchantment staff and I think I also have a 1/2 recharge item too, but I'll have to double check (It may be on the same staff, or I may have a rod and off-hand that extends enchantments and cuts recharge time). I just didn't mention equipment because as I said, I didn't create one yet.

I don't like to solo, so I don't expect to start taking things on all by my lonesome self.

Therefore, I don't think I really need additional armor. Yes, I'm aware that PUGs will demand I go nuke, but just seeing if it could be a good thing. Heros are nice to have around, as they don't care if I nuke or not.

I just like experimenting, so when I do create my Ele, I'll see how good or horrible it truly is.

Francis Crawford · Jan 04, 2007, 03:29 AM // 03:29

Well, it's an interesting try.

Frankly, I suspect you'd have a better build using Ether Renewal to power, say, Flare and Immolate at 16 Fire, rather than Vampiric Gaze and Dark Pact at 12 Blood. In particular, if the energy numbers work out that Conjure [Element] is even relevant to your life, you'd surely be better off with the near-uninterrupted spamming of a more standard build.

But hey, if you enjoy it -- it's also not so crazy a build that you should never ever consider running it. And it might even be downright good against some particularly high-AL opponents who like to condition you.

Sauron the Evil · Jan 04, 2007, 04:27 AM // 04:27

In short no. Pve needs - no - requires aoe damage - in most cases and as an elementalist in PVE aoe damage is your job. At first glance necromancer looks like a viable second profession, but in reality its not. Sorry for shooting down your build.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main Page Here is a site that has some good elementalist builds, start there.

Francis Crawford · Jan 04, 2007, 04:46 AM // 04:46

20 points of lifestealing or armor-ignoring single-target damage per second (ranged), which is about what this build would generate, is not by any means strong. Searing Flames builds would in most cases outperform that even against a single target, and be in reality vastly stronger because of the AoE. Just about any other build would outperform it in single-target damage as well.

But hey -- if he wants to play it with his heroes and henchies, what's wrong with that?

Just please don't join a PUG with this build; it would be unfair to the other members.

LightningHell · Jan 04, 2007, 04:48 AM // 04:48

Nup, doesn't work.

As an Elementalist, use Elemental attacks (namely Searing Flames), or go support.

Of course, some stuff is not so horrendous that you can't run it. Yours is such a case. You'd probably be better off running something else, but it's...runnable. Just not optimal.

Oh yes, and Aura sucks. Blood Renewal sucks as well, as well as Plague Sending.

Francis Crawford · Jan 04, 2007, 05:33 AM // 05:33

Aura is good for two things:

1. Covering Attunements or other important enchantments against medium-intensity stripping.

2. Giving you the equivalent of 4-6 pips of regeneration.

Mending sucks. Aura doesn't suck.

Ensign · Jan 04, 2007, 06:28 AM // 06:28

Here's a diagram for you:

[Good Builds]:::[Cookie Cutter Templates]:::::::::::::::::[Mediocre Builds]:::::::::::::::[Average Forum Builds]:::[Flare Spammers]::::::[Bad Builds]::::::::::[Your Build]:::::::::::::::[Empty Skillbar]

LightningHell · Jan 04, 2007, 08:22 AM // 08:22

Aura may look good on paper, but when you're taking damage, the best thing you could do would be to kite. Kiting will mitigate a lot more damage than if you stood there and cast spells with Aura on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

Here's a diagram for you:

[Good Builds]:::[Cookie Cutter Templates]:::::::::::::::::[Mediocre Builds]:::::::::::::::[Average Forum Builds]:::[Flare Spammers]::::::[Bad Builds]::::::::::[Your Build]:::::::::::::::[Empty Skillbar]

Aww, come on, Ensign, don't be a spoilsport.

Dr Strangelove · Jan 04, 2007, 09:56 AM // 09:56

The whole point of aura is to cover up other enchants. The HP return is negligible when it matters, and glyph of restoration would be a better self heal anyway.

As for the other stuff.. it's like you went through the list of elementalist and necro skills and chose the worst possible ones you could grab with a straight face.

For future build design, try thinking about what you can do better than any other profession. Eles have snazzy defensive wards that will help your unkiting henchies out, a few nice AoE spells, and piles and piles of energy management that can be used on anything (hint: heal party). Base your build around any one of those 3 ideas and you'll have a winner.

LightningHell · Jan 04, 2007, 11:17 AM // 11:17

Problem?

He doesn't have any enchants that are devastating to him when stripped.

Dr Strangelove · Jan 04, 2007, 11:38 AM // 11:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

Problem?

He doesn't have any enchants that are devastating to him when stripped.

Duh, it's covering the conjure

LightningHell · Jan 04, 2007, 12:26 PM // 12:26

Oh, he has conjure....cross whatever I said about Aura then.

Pick Me · Jan 04, 2007, 02:07 PM // 14:07

Thanks for the critism all.

Aura, BR, Conjure are all enchantments that help boost the energy regain and health regain with Ether Renewal.

Yeah, onces ER is gone, then those enchantments tend to do nothing.

Hmmm.... now I have to rethink of creating an E/N. I don't like being E/Me, E/Mo, E/W, E/P, E/Rit.

Thanks all for your comments.

Ensign · Jan 04, 2007, 11:48 PM // 23:48

You have to ask yourself what skills Necromancer has that are better than what Elementalist offers - for starters, Dark Pact is not one of them. More than that, what skills or jobs do they offer that can support what you do with an Elementalist - or, alternatively, perform better on an Elementalist than on a Necromancer? For instance, Elementalists can't raise minions but on a secondary they're much worse than on a primary. Hexes on the other hand don't neccessarily benefit from Soul Reaping that much, so an Elementalist/Necromancer with, for instance, Ether Prodigy and Curses might be worth looking at.

In my experience though the big reasons to go Ele/Necromancer are Order of Pain and Dark Fury. You have a ton of energy to support those from Ether Prodigy and they work reasonably well as a supplemental set of buffs. Necromancers can remove enchantments as well, but as a secondary Mesmer offers more in that role.

If you want to explore E/N, those two routes are the ones I would persue.

Peace,
-CxE

Pick Me · Jan 05, 2007, 07:25 PM // 19:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

You have to ask yourself what skills Necromancer has that are better than what Elementalist offers - for starters, Dark Pact is not one of them. More than that, what skills or jobs do they offer that can support what you do with an Elementalist - or, alternatively, perform better on an Elementalist than on a Necromancer? For instance, Elementalists can't raise minions but on a secondary they're much worse than on a primary. Hexes on the other hand don't neccessarily benefit from Soul Reaping that much, so an Elementalist/Necromancer with, for instance, Ether Prodigy and Curses might be worth looking at.

In my experience though the big reasons to go Ele/Necromancer are Order of Pain and Dark Fury. You have a ton of energy to support those from Ether Prodigy and they work reasonably well as a supplemental set of buffs. Necromancers can remove enchantments as well, but as a secondary Mesmer offers more in that role.

If you want to explore E/N, those two routes are the ones I would persue.

Peace,
-CxE

Thanks Ensign.

I normally don't bother with Dark Pact with my Necro, but I thought I'd give it a chance with ER. But since it seems ER has been nerfed way too much, I doubt I'll use DP, DF, nor Orders either.

I've always thought both Orders should have a longer duration for them to be useful (in my eyes).

Thom Bangalter · Jan 05, 2007, 07:30 PM // 19:30

with a +20% enchanting mod you can keep it up all the time. (orders, that is), without having to worry about the cast time as much and how that effects your health loss, energy, and skill usage.