Curse

Burning Nexus · Nov 25, 2006, 05:30 PM // 17:30

Hey guys,

Just bought guild wars nightfall yesterday and am loving it. I have played numerous RPGS before though so I have caught on pretty fast. I sort of figured the elems were the "glass cannons" or "nukers" of GW, and usually thats exactly what I like to play (correct me if they arent the DDs of GW).

Anyways, I was wondering if you guys could provide me with a good PvE build. I normally always hunt with my brother (whos a dervish) and would like the "nuke" build as opposed to a build where you sacrafice damage for suvivabilty. I am currently only level 5 btw.

Also...how long does secondary proffesion take to untrain?

Thanks guys

Ozric · Nov 25, 2006, 06:16 PM // 18:16

Bah, sorry bout the double post!

Ozric · Nov 25, 2006, 06:19 PM // 18:19

Level 5? Erm,..geez. It's been too long since I've been there, I'm not totally sure what's avaiable to you. But if these skills are available, I'd think something like:

Flare, Fireball, Firestorm, Liquid Flame, and erm,....

Crud, anybody got a list of Core and Nightfall only skills handy?

Well, search this list and see what's available to you. Nightfall is still new and the links for those entries don't appear to have been updated yet though, just see what ya got. I don't think I'd really be that concerned about that though at the moment. Just continue on your leveling and with that uncover new towns and thus new skill trainers. After you start aquiring a larger repetoire of spells, you'll come out with your own build or you can search this board for a veritable cornucopia of Fire, Earth, Air, or Water builds. Good luck!

Untraining a secondary takes no time at all. After you've chosen your initial secondary profession in Istan and go over to the mainland, you'll be able to change it to your preference quite painlessly once you reach the Sanctuary.

Francis Crawford · Nov 25, 2006, 08:12 PM // 20:12

Fireball is the most cost-efficient fire damage skill you'll get for a LONG time. Liquid Flame is a somewhat inferior Fireball.

Fire Storm is terrible, unless you're fighting plants who can't run away or something like that.

People sneer at Flare, but at low levels it's underrated.

Glyph of Lesser Energy and Fire Attunements are musts.

I really liked going Ele/Mesmer, and using Ether Feast for self heal. As a low level character, you want to max out fire magic, leaving very few points for any other attribute, and Ether Feast is good even at 0 or 1 Inspiration Magic. Other Mesmer skills will also come in handy at low and medium levels of the game.

That's as precise as I probably should be, since I don't know the skill progression in Nightfall.

Phoenix Arrows · Nov 25, 2006, 08:22 PM // 20:22

Fire Storm is somewhat okay now, with the smarter AI update of not running away too early. Liquid Flame is like a Fireball that can't miss, but it requires the target to be attacking or casting to do AoE damage.

Thom Bangalter · Nov 25, 2006, 10:54 PM // 22:54

At low levels, stone dagger spam is very effective. Once you get to the mainland cap searing flames and go to town.

I should note that up to the release of searing flames eles tried to be glass cannons and failed, they were far better in a utility/support role.

www.gw.gamewikis.org will be your friend, I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.

menelik_seth · Nov 26, 2006, 01:24 AM // 01:24

I beg to differ with Thom; the Elementalist is my favorite character as well and although I do not have Nightfall yet (and hence no Searing Flames), I have yet to have any problems being a "glass cannon" =P

It's all about the skills you bring, and your synergy with your party. Your pretty early into the game, so in time you'll figure out what skills are most effective against the foes u are up against.

Ensign · Nov 26, 2006, 02:04 AM // 02:04

Get Searing Flames. That's really the only Elementalist skill that lets you pretend that you're a nuker. Personally, I don't think that character is very good, but it does actually deal a respectable amount of damage.

Peace,
-CxE

menelik_seth · Nov 26, 2006, 10:42 AM // 10:42

...not to mention snares, knock down, blinding, weakness, burning; and it synergizes well with most secondary professions that have expensive spells and can benifit from a larger energy pool... and it does deliver, blow for blow, a pretty large dosage of unconditional elemental (and armor ignoring in the case of spells like obsidian flame) damage.

pingu666 · Nov 26, 2006, 03:42 PM // 15:42

ive just hit the D: wall. my 119damage spells will often only hit for 38 now, on the highlevel targets...

menelik_seth · Nov 26, 2006, 08:06 PM // 20:06

lol well I've found that some beasties are more resistant to one element, and less to others. Then you have ranger class beasties that have high elemental resistance; while the rest (dunno about dervishes an paragorns) have low resistance.

You'll rarely hit the full 119 dmg in a high level area; but u can get pretty close, depending on the targets elemental resistance. If you hit a new area and find that the monsters are highly resistant to fire (for example) switch to water, or earth. Then try to pick off the softer targets first, and leave the rangers for last.

EDIT: some of the Level 20 convicted criminals (Jade Arena repeatable quests) take full elemental dmg, I've seen a few 119's and 127's pop up, and they weren't spirits. They were level 20, so maybe level 20's with low elemental resistance feel the full brunt of elemental dmg...

Xpl0iter · Nov 27, 2006, 05:31 PM // 17:31

@menelik_seth

Read what Ensign has said. And memorize it. It is true.
I am an ele for over a year and can run any build in existance for eles. I know how gimped their damage is when compared to other class. Searing flames does make them feel better, and atm, is the best dmg fire elite available through NF campaign.
Want to try them out? Immedietly run to Dark Island found in Tyria and try to mess with Foes over there. Bosses Specially.

Stone summits in Southern Shiverpeaks is another place.

Regardz
Darkest Elementalist.

menelik_seth · Nov 27, 2006, 06:05 PM // 18:05

@Xpl0iter: I completed henched and pugged my way through Prophacies and Factions with my Elementalist (missions and quests). It's my main character, and I hope to take him into Elonea when I get Nightfall (sometime this week hopefully). I look forward to capping Searing Flames, from all the hype on these boards, it sounds like one kick ass spell.

I wouldn't call elementalists "gimped" in any way though; I'm beginning to think we are both playing two different games.

Now, I'm not familiar with how the Elementalist class plays in other MMO's so I have no frame of reference. But the fact is, from my personal experienced; I've pugged all over Tyria and Cantha, and I've been through enough FoW runs to make me bored with the place, and not to mention the countless SF runs and whatever else my Guild Needs "Seth, bring the ele" for.

I never have had any problems finding a PuG, in any quest or mission across both campaigns; and whenever I step into an especially crowded area I'm hit with several invite requests at a time. So, if the Elementalist is as "gimped" as you say, then shouldn't I be the last character people invite?

I honestly don't know what the complaints are about tbh. I've played a few dmg dealing builds such as SS Necro (haven't tried minion mastering yet, that looks hella fun), and barrage ranger; and I especially found the SS necro to be impressive... but I still can't see how that makes the ele "gimped".

In the end of the day, it's a profession I enjoy playing; and I haven't ever had the feeling that I was lacking in any way...

I'll revise my thoughts after I cap Searing Flames tho; it might be the spell to get me interested in Fire Magic again, cuz I swear, I've nuked till I puked

there's so much more to the Elementalist than meteorshower, I have to hench to really enjoy the profession because that's all PuGs expect of me.

Francis Crawford · Nov 27, 2006, 09:02 PM // 21:02

I played all the way through Prophecies and partway through Factions with non-Meteor-Shower fire builds, and did just fine. I probably was less powerful than an SS necro, but so be it. Except in optimized repeat-farming builds, nobody cared, least of all me.

If you're in a big enough group, enchantment stripping is a crushing problem only in isolated areas. In the rest, dual Attunements let you do a lot of damage.

I do think that if there are multiple nukers in a group, they should either all be running Searing Flames -- else the on-fire parts of the builds could get redundant -- or all running Meteor Shower. And the latter only if they time them right. Three Meteor Showers going off at 1-second intervals will kill a large majority of all enemy types ... Actually, the two tactics can be used together, although energy concerns will only allow you to focus on one or the other for each particular battle.

Francis Crawford · Nov 27, 2006, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Double post.

menelik_seth · Nov 27, 2006, 09:28 PM // 21:28

I remember one time I went out with my guild for an UW outing. We had an SS necro, and I came with water magic to aid with snaring the smites and some dmg.

I'll tell ya, we got a lil sloppy and our SS had a hard time keeping SS up (it kept getting smitten away), and ended up dying... and in the end, I was the sole dmg dealer with the only other person being a monk that kept me alive. Saved us from wiping.

So ya, SS necros can do more dmg, so long as their hexes aren't removed. Elemental dmg is mostly unconditional attack spells (except for spells like Searing Flames, and the few hex spells like Lightning Surge that have a duration before they are set off). So I'd say Elementalists are more direct in dealing aoe dmg, while SS necros are sneaky about it

Apples and oranges tho.

Xpl0iter · Nov 28, 2006, 04:50 AM // 04:50

ele dmg is uncodnitional based on ARMOUR. So armour level is a condition indirectly if you think. Dmg is affected by the level of armour.

An ele against high level monsters are not sufficient at damaging. If you have played ele as you claimed you have, then its very obvious. Ofcourse, it is only apparent if you play other damage dealing characters as well to be able to compare them your self. Try FoC (Feast of Corruption) sometime, you may fall for it. *shrugs*

Later in game, ele job is more of a utility type character than that of a damage time, In Tyria Specially.

It is as simple as that.

Santra · Nov 28, 2006, 06:36 AM // 06:36

heh. so for us newbs,

If an Ele becomes an end game support character, what would qualify as an end-game damage type?

LightningHell · Nov 28, 2006, 06:43 AM // 06:43

Searing Flames. That's the only viable Elementalist option, really.

Being able to deal damage doesn't mean being able to deal damage to warrant the waste of skill slots involved. My monk might want to carry Power Attack. That's still damage, it's just nowhere near practical.

TLLOTS · Nov 28, 2006, 09:23 AM // 09:23

Even Searing Flames isn't all that great. I gave it a spin with my elementalist not too long ago, but while the damage was better than anything we currently have, it's still pretty damned depressing.