Curse

ultima desturcto · Dec 09, 2006, 09:04 PM // 21:04

I have just been thinking of this recently, having got NightFall - Earth Magic skills have increased in defense and power. I am now wondering if duo runs for 2 eles can be achieved through The Underworld, by means of 1 tanking and 1 AoEing. I havnt planned completely and am looking for advice, this is the General idea so far:

TANK
1. Armor Of Earth
2. Kinetic Armor (might not need all of 1., 2. and 3.)
3. Stoneflesh Aura
4. Ward of Stability
5. Grasping Earth
6. Obsidian Flesh (to escape render enchantments)
7. Earth Attunement
8. Aura Of Restoration

Other Possibilities for tank depends on secondary, for example
- Dervish = Mystic Regenaration- has the same recharge as AoR (& Fleeting stability for constant stability compared to the 4 seconds when the ward ends, to when it is regenerated
- Warrior = Bonettis defense
- Mesmer = Mantra of earth (adding Stone Striker in for Armor Of Earth, and could also replace earth attunement)
It may also help to add Sliver Armor, Bed Of Coals (To do a fair amount of damage tho i dont know what to replace Etc.
Knockdowns are with Bladed aatxes, and you could use whatever healing spell, Mystic regenarationor AoR

DAMAGE DEALER
For this I was imagining a Fire/Earth combo, with 2 energy skills. However, I'm not sure how much faster it would be compared to SS - But doesnt, require the foes to attack the tank.
Possible Skills may be;

1. Earth Attunement
2. Fire Attunement
3. Sandstorm
4. Meteor Shower (Maybe with the tank using Bed Of Coals to set foes on fire)
5. Churning Earth
6. Eruption
7. And 8. to then be filled with Healing skills, Res spells, or a skill such as Quickening Zepher to help spells and tank.

I have been trying the E-W UW soloer, but have not found it at all successful, and imagen this would be much faster between two people.
Please reply on here
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF WAT MY FIRST DRAFT LOOKED LIKE, BELOW IS THE ACTUAL DRAWN OUT BUILD

Haggard · Dec 09, 2006, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Out of interest, what was it that causes knockdowns?

Plus, for your tank to be able to maintain kinetic aura, it will need some kind of spammable spell (stone daggers is basically built for this), in addition to a minor amount of healing (aura of restoration maybe, or perhaps even glyph).

Francis Crawford · Dec 10, 2006, 01:25 AM // 01:25

Obsidian Flesh doesn't stay up 100% of the time unless you go /Ran for Serpent's Quickness.

Senrath · Dec 10, 2006, 02:08 AM // 02:08

You don't need Obsidian Flesh to stay up 100% of the time. From what I understand you just put it up to give you enough time to kill the Dying Nightmares.

Why_Me · Dec 10, 2006, 03:48 AM // 03:48

First off, you stated in the post that Bladed Aataxes knock you down. No they don't. They interrupt, not knockdown. Here's what I would use for tank.
Obsidian Flesh
Armor of Earth
Stone Striker
Mantra of Earth
Symp Visage
Ancestors visage
Stoneflesh Aura
Kinetic Armor

Even with grasping earth, they would still scatter, however if you timed the AoEs correctly with MS, it might be able to kill them before they run everywhere.

Francis Crawford · Dec 10, 2006, 05:22 AM // 05:22

How much damage do Aatxes REALLY do, and how much of that is armor-ignoring?

ultima desturcto · Dec 10, 2006, 08:51 AM // 08:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Why_Me

First off, you stated in the post that Bladed Aataxes knock you down. No they don't. They interrupt, not knockdown.

Oh i guess that would have been useful to know, but I was sure I got knocked down, but yes their skills show different.

I'm obviously no expert at bladed attxes, but an example of damage is (with 60 armor) 280 for an attack.

Ok here goes...

I have gone over this again, with help from Nechtan Thaumaturge and Why_Me's advice, this is my second attempt on both eles. BTW Nuker looks as if it can work, but may require changes.
TANK E/Me
Skills

1. Mantra Of Earth
2. Stone Striker
Those two together reduce damage by 42%

3. Kinetic Armor
4. Armor Of Earth
These decrease the damage to about 11 (with first 2) from Aatxes.

5. Stoneflesh Aura
Stops, all other damage allows the possibility of larger aggros.

6.Obsidian Flesh
Saves enchantments whenever a dying Nightmare, decides to be funny.

7. Sliver Armor
Deals immense amounts of damage, especially against smites - will help nuker significatnly.

8. Grasping Earth
This only has 12 second recharge so u can use it to keep kinetic up along with another skill, it also stops the enemies a considerable amount and saves the Nuker, on odd occasions

Attributes
Inspiration, 10
Earth Magic, 15 (11+1+3)
Energy Storage, 11 (10+1)

Equipment
Choice of armor is not important providing it has 60 armor rating, though battlemages may help.
Weapon - I am going to suggest a Totem Axe and a Shield (Damage - 2 (while Enchanted) and Health +45 (while Enchanted))
Adding a Superior Vigor I am sure will help.

NUKER/DAMAGE DEALER
Skills
Probably will have to resort to fire, as Earth really only has a few AOE effective damage spells

1. Glyph of Lesser Energy
2. Fire Attunement
To Retain energy

3. Mark Of Rodgart
Effective degen works well with later skills-

4. Fire Storm
5. Searing Flames
6. Glowing Gaze.
May seem an unusual combination, but every hit on Fire storm will Ignite Rodgart. Savannah Heat is there for a lot of damage, approximately 40 DPS, aswell as igniting Rodgart. Fireball can also be used to bring back fleeing foes, aswell as kill nightmares instantly and do a lot of damage.

7. Ancestor's Visage
8. Sympathetic Visage
As soon as 1 recharges needs to be cast on Tank, then there will hopefully be no problem from interrupts aswell as some attacks. such as Sever Artery

Attributes
Illusion, 10
Fire Magic, 15 (11+3+1)
Energy Storage, 11 (10+1)

Equipment
Weapon is not particularly important, using a staff with 11-22 fire damage and extra energy will help, for example i would use a replica of Rago's Flame Staff

Ok now this has been tested and works tho i have made some changes to nuker and the tank's last skill. BTW it is possible for a nuker to kill a grasping darkness, if one were to break off, but the nuker still has to remember to cast visages otherwise aatxes will eat the tank.

Francis Crawford · Dec 11, 2006, 07:32 AM // 07:32

Since I've never been to the UW, I have to ask a basic question -- how does the tank hold all the aggro, when it's the nuker who's doing the damage?

ultima desturcto · Dec 11, 2006, 05:14 PM // 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

Since I've never been to the UW, I have to ask a basic question -- how does the tank hold all the aggro, when it's the nuker who's doing the damage?

Ah, knew that would come, the order of casting and placing is the harder part. Basicly, the tank tries to aggro the bladed aatxes and as many grasping darknesses as possible, the Nuker has to stay out of the tanks spell distance (or he will be attacked), until the monsters have settled around the tank. Then the tank has to shift to the bottom of the stairs (if the tank goes for the right first, advised). Then, the nuker goes into the hiding place to the right of the stairs, and soon after the tank has to move (advised as soon as the nuker moves) to cover the hiding place FROM HERE NUKER IS COVERED (if done correctly), from then the nuker can use (visage if/when needed) glyph of lesser energy and mark of rodgart, then cast firestorm, followed by two searing flames with a glowing gaze between, providing the grasping darknesses hadnt used scatter, they will more or less be dead. Then spamming visages, searing flames and glowing gaze (BUT not firestorm if aatxes have under 50%, as they will scatter) will kill the aatxes quickly.

The left hand side has no hiding place, but the stair location can be used again, this part is easier to split the grasping darknesses and the aatxes, for the aatxes, the nuker can hide between the two ghosts (Does no work for darknesses as they go through ghosts) closest to the stairs on the left and for the grasping darknesses they will follow to the right hand stairs (but the aatxes leave), after the hall has been covered, moving along to the smite crawlers is a gd option, with possibly only 1 battle along the way, which the walkway is not big enough for the aatxes to go past and the tank can cover.

I apologise for the lack of pictures and video guides.

Heelz · Dec 12, 2006, 02:17 AM // 02:17

The tank shouldn't need Obsidian Flesh. One cast of Stone Daggers will kill one Dying Nightmare. That lets the tank do some damage, but I guess you're vulnerable to double spawns, or if you're not paying attention when one pops up.

ultima desturcto · Dec 12, 2006, 08:34 PM // 20:34

That is a good point, one i considered, but it is too risky and the tank generally benefits from the fact that they dont have to rush to kill nightmares. It did happen once or twice accidently, where the nightmare came up late when retreating (to allow the nuker in) and rendered the enchantments of the tank after Obsidian flesh had finished, killing us for the infinite time. ^^

cyrus_tk · Dec 13, 2006, 02:34 PM // 14:34

How fast is this compared to other builds.

ultima desturcto · Dec 13, 2006, 05:34 PM // 17:34

Sorry, I cant compare, dont know how long SS/55 takes as I haven't tried with either, this does tho seem fairly quick if done well the Tank normally takes about 30 seconds once aggroed to settle and move, then the nuker can kill all grasping darkness in under a minute and then a further minute against the remaining aatxes.

cyrus_tk · Dec 13, 2006, 06:05 PM // 18:05

Ok me and my friend tried this and we seemed to have a probelm wiht them scattering form the aoe. how do you come by this?

ultima desturcto · Dec 13, 2006, 07:30 PM // 19:30

At a guess, I would say ur nuker used fire storm when they were under 50%, try to avoid this as they will run, this with mark of rodgart should really be your first spells, besides even if they do scatter, wand them back and they should also be moving slowly due to grasping earth