Curse

The Great Al · Mar 29, 2006, 05:24 PM // 17:24

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Skills_by_Campaign

I'm only really familiar with fire, air, and energy spells...the two fire elite spells seem pretty awful and I wouldn't use them even if they weren't elite. Same with air...the least they could have done is have the target foe 'ride the lightning' to you, instead of the other way around (unless the site is wrong). The energy elites also don't come close to attunement or prodigy. anything worthwhile?

Linkusmax · Mar 29, 2006, 09:21 PM // 21:21

Shockwave is the only elite I would take besides Ether Prodigy and its ew.

Elaine Donnerbalken · Mar 29, 2006, 09:41 PM // 21:41

k i'll try to find some use use

Gust: can make sense used by a mesmer, working together with water elems. Maybe in combination with blackout.

Star Burst: could be useful in pvp. a cheap, spammable skill. If you hit only 1 target it doesnt hurt that much. If you hit more it was worth the additional cost.

Shockwave: again, could be useful in pvp as a substitute for earthquake (regarding the damage together with aftershock). If you try to use earthquake in melee, 3 seconds casttime hurt.

Unsteady Ground: if the description at Guildwiki is right it has no damage type, mayme this means that the damage is armor ignoring. 5 seconds aren't that much... if you stoot there 5 seconds and the damage would be armor-ignoring, it would be a total damage of 185 points. Not "that" bad, since a lot of people in tombs even don't run out of meteor showers.

Energy Boon: effective 15 mana, every 5 seconds... maybe if used carefully on characters with few exhaustion skills... but not that good

Shatterstone: 120 damage, seems to be for those water elems who also want to make "some" damage.

Second Wind: used carefully a very good mana engine. Build up some exhaustion using second wind. Then cast non-exhaustion skills. When low on energy cast second wind again . So, it sounds fine if you use no exhaustion-skills beside Second Wind.

I think I will try Second Wind, and maybe a me/e with blackout, Gust and Ice Prison (and also the twin of Ice Prison)^^

LightningHell · Mar 29, 2006, 11:50 PM // 23:50

If there are any good ones, I don't see them.

Rhunex · Mar 30, 2006, 01:48 AM // 01:48

Ok, I'll just go through them all(and explain why it's useless or useful to those who don't know what they do).

Gust. I can only see this working well if you have a hex or two, doesn't matter which, but the only reason to use such a thing is if you wanted the interrupt, 54 cold damage isn't a lot.

Ride the Lightning. If you have an air spiker build using lightning touch, this might be one to use. Costs 10 mana, and gets you close to an enemy. And it does a medium amount of dmg, at 63.

Double Dragon. Completely useless. Gives AoE damage for 2 seconds, up to 91 damage per second. Honestly it's not much better than pulling out a rodgorts invo or inferno other than its ranged. The 15 energy cost would be nice, if not for exhaustion.

Star Burst. This would be a nice way to do the same damage as flame burst, except it will take away 10 energy if you attack more than one person with it.

Shockwave. I like this one, costs 10, and does up to 41 damage to adjacent, nearby, and area all as different damages(so 123 approx). No exhaustion, so it'd be worth using in an earth build if you don't have an elite in it.

Unsteady Ground. Good if you want to keep melee people from attacking someone in a certain area, but really, it's useless. Other spells do this kind of thing more efficiently.

Energy Boon. Useless. You give 5 energy for 18 energy, and exhaustion. Not worth it unless your build has energy management problems.

Mirror of Ice. This looks good, if you notice someone about to use rodgorts invocation on you, this could block all of the damage, and do plenty of damage back on them. Costs 5 energy, so it's worth it.

Shatterstone. Does damage twice, for 15 damage. At high levels, this could be decent but you could probably have better.

Second Wind. Useless, if you think you need this, you need to watch how much you use exhaustion spells.

There are some good ones, but if you have a good elemental build, these probably won't change things up too much.

Formina · Mar 30, 2006, 05:43 AM // 05:43

One Elite Skill i'm really looking forward to is Mirror of Ice - 5 second cost, 1/4 second cast and 10 second recharge and lasts a whopping 60 seconds.

I was experimenting with Shatterstone in the preview event - it seems alright at 16 Water. Cast Shatterstone, then Vapor Blade immediately after to deal 50ish cold damage, then 170ish a couple of seconds later (provided your target has no enchantments on him.)

ehanks · Mar 30, 2006, 06:03 AM // 06:03

Shockwave is nice...fun aoe damage for a warder.

Star burst does great damage. I tried a E/A shadow step -> Star Burst -> Flame Burst in PvP. The spike is ~250 dmg to a 60-armor target, and the aoe range isn't bad. Fire eles can do some incredible point-blank aoe damage now, with Star Burst, and the recent update that increased some of the damage to fire spells.

I can't really speak for the others...didn't play with eles that much.

pegasux · Mar 30, 2006, 01:43 PM // 13:43

The only one I'm looking forward to is Shockwave. At 16 earth you do 53 dmg x 3 = 159dmg. This will be a nice addition to farming builds and so will Silver Armor. =)

Kyune · Mar 30, 2006, 07:10 PM // 19:10

Ride The Lighning: ->Shock->Aftershock, anyone?

Gust: Don't really like the cast time, but I don't think that will necessarily prevent it from being at attempted in GvG, since it does have affinity with some useful hexes.

Shockwave: I'm not particularly sure how I feel about this one--It suffers from after-cast delay like aftershock, and being an elite shockwave tries to occupy the same position at that additional cost....It's a decent spell, but I think what it comes down to is that the opportunity cost is a bit high. Could be fun with arc echo, though

Double Dragon: I think I would rather have mind burn.

Star Burst: Seems like kind of a weird compromise between flame burst and inferno...pity that even though it's touch, it's considered a "Spell" instead of a "Skill".

Mirror of Ice: The most use I could see coming from this would be insurance against high-damage Interrupts. But it won't stop the actual interrupt, nor will it stop spikes, or knockdowns. If the ability behaved more like spell-breaker, with a duration of actual effect and potential for other-ally targets, then it would be worth considering. Again...looks fun, but the opportunity cost is high.

Shatterstone: Not sure how I feel about this one either--I don't think I could justify it though, given the 2s cast and only a 3s window to take advantage of it--the caster can't gust on it, and lighting touch requires you to be point blank--rarely a good spot for an ele to be. That leaves Arc Lightning...:/

Those are my impressions, anyways. Can't really say anything about the energy management skills, as I haven't tried/thought much about them.

Hella Good · Mar 30, 2006, 07:44 PM // 19:44

I agree that the new nrg management Ele elites are inferior to the existing ones. It would be nice to see an elite that manages Exhaustion... and doesn't cause Exhaustion. Building up Exhaustion will be deadly when faced with Equinox, the new ranger elite spirit that causes double-exhaustion. Nothing to worry from the pathetic new mesmer elite Arcane Languor- it's vastly inferior to 99% of the Mesmer NON-ELITE skills.

I agree that the following Ele elites seem to be nice additions:

Gust: It doesn't cause Exhaustion, right? Low nrg cost, fairly low recharge. Could combine nicely with AS and other (not necessarily Ele) skills triggered upon KD.

Shockwave: A wonderful Earth elite. I've always though EM was lacking on the damage side and needed a high damage elite. This one seems to serve the purpose.

I think the following elites could be made useful if buffed:

Ride The Lightning: RtL + Shock + AS is a powerful combo. But RtL needs a damage boost. 15-20 damage on top of what it does seems fair. Not sure if it has armor pen but if it doesn't that should be added as well.

Start Burst: I don't see a problem with a low cost, low recharge elite, even though it might not be the most damaging of moves. But it has to be a skill. I also think the recharge could be slightly lower at about 7-8.

Mirror of Ice: Interesting spell... I still think it's lacking though, since- as many have pointed out already- it doesn't counter spell effects such as interrupt, kd, nrg loss, degen, etc. It's like an anti-ele skill... which is fine I guess... but Eles need protection versus Rangers and Mesmers mostly, not so much versus other Eles. Could be adjusted to at least counter any source of damage (attack, skill, or spell).

Unsteady Ground: I think it's a nice idea. What's the area on that though? It's not specified in the skill description. Seems to me it's pretty small. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Spells I don't see much worth in:

Double Dragon
Shatterstone
Energy Boon
Second Wind

Shatterstone · Apr 02, 2006, 07:14 PM // 19:14

i like shatterstone..............
its pretty kool haveing a skill named after you.

ehanks · Apr 03, 2006, 03:57 AM // 03:57

2 people have mentioned that Star Burst might be better as a "skill" than as a "spell". I disagree...here's my reasoning:

Being a "spell" means it is affected by fire attunement, so you get some energy back, and by aura of restoration, so you gain health when casting it

Being a "spell" means you can arcane echo it, which is only useable on spells

I guess the real problem with it being a "spell" is that you can't use it on a spell-breakered opponant in pvp? Or am I guessing wrong here? That is a real pain, and it would be nice to have a good damage skill that would bypass SB, but I think that the benefits of being a spell outweigh the benefits of being a skill.

Just my 2 cents.

dgb · Apr 03, 2006, 05:19 AM // 05:19

Shatterstone has all the problems that are associated with lightning surge. It's not *quite* as bad, I mean it at least does some damage, but it should be removed before it triggers.

Formina · Apr 03, 2006, 07:52 AM // 07:52

If I recall correctly, even if you remove Shatterstone, it still does the damage, judging from the wording of the description - "when Shatterstone ends, target foe takes xx damage".

Not entirely sure though so I would appreciate it if someone could correct me!

Xpl0iter · Apr 03, 2006, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

If there are any good ones, I don't see them.

I agree with this guy.

Checked most spells, and came up with similar conclusions.

Regardz

ASWSTD · Apr 05, 2006, 02:17 PM // 14:17

I could see Ride The Lightning being a useful skill for a burst ele... even with zero point in air since youd want them in fire.. Use ride the lightning to wrap into a clustered group inferno->flame burst->phoneix if theres time... though i wonder if your opponent has to be on the same level as you... if not this would be even better then as you could get up into an elevated group..

Mercury Angel · Apr 09, 2006, 10:20 PM // 22:20

Honestly? Almost none really. All the same fare as usual.

Gust might have a lot of potential with faster recharge mods and/or Quickening Zepyhr. Fast Casting if necessary.
Ride the Lightning I haven't played with. I can tell you that I already dislike the exhaustion on it, though. Ride the Lightning is the Air version of Aura of Displacement, a non-attribute skill, except it causes damage. Is the damage worth the exhaustion? Possibly, if it increases your spike value. I'll withhold judgement for now.

Shockwave is Earth's Inferno with a little better splash damage.
Not sure what I think of Unsteady Ground. The area size could be worse. The damage is standard AoE fare. The meat is the conditional knockdown, and I'm not sure it really matters. Shield of Judgment doesn't have a place in PvP because people simply strip or switch, and Unsteady Ground really much the same (despite not being strippable. The duration vs the recycle is worse anyway <_<). I think what I mean to say is that if it had been a non-elite skill, I don't think people would have complained about it being overpowered.

Energy Boon is not going to see use. 21 Energy at most every 30 or so seconds (30 to match exhaustion, slightly less time if you pace a slowly growing exhaustion) is largely unimpressive.

Double Dragon is meh. Basically an elite phoenix that is not much, if at all better. At least Phoenix doesn't cause exhaustion.
Didn't get to play with Star Burst. The idea is interesting though.

Mirror of Ice is an elite Hex Breaker for damaging spells instead (or perhaps Riposte/Deadly Riposte are better comparisons?) . I don't really see it being used , though. Not flexible enough. Once people see you cast it, they're going to simply switch targets if you're not important, and cast right through it if you're not. Most of the offence comes from rangers and warriors anyway. I think I actually like Sliver Armor much, much better than this, and it's non-elite.
Shatterstone... what? o_O Who spikes with water? <_< Water lacks the armor penetrating bonus damage of Air, and the armor ignoring burning extended damage of fire. You bring water for the utility. And if you're thinking of using Deep Freeze and Blurred Vision without energy management, you're insane. Particularly if you plan on casting anything else.

Second Wind is almost the equivalent of Ether Prodigy in energy gain. Despite it being non-attribute, the only profession capable of effectively running it is Elementalist, with high Energy Storage. One of your sets of equipment should definitely be a +30 en, -2 regen sets, which you can swap to while using it.
You're looking at about 55 energy gain every 30 seconds, or 5.5 pips. Compared to Ether Prodigy, it's not bad. Perks are, you don't lose health or enchantments, the energy comes when you need it rapidly, rather than over time, and it can't be stripped. Drawbacks are, you've got to be exhausted down to half a bar with very high energy storage to take full advantage of it, and the energy comes in huge spikes, meaning you need to be bone dry as well. In other words, it's very ham-handed (large and clumsy).

Honestly? I think for the most part, the few good non-elite skills in factions are BETTER than most of the new elites.

LifeInfusion · Apr 10, 2006, 02:22 AM // 02:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Formina

One Elite Skill i'm really looking forward to is Mirror of Ice - 5 second cost, 1/4 second cast and 10 second recharge and lasts a whopping 60 seconds.

I concur. That is about the only elite in factions that is really worthwhile. (IMO)

Gust looks good, but we only have TWO EARTH HEXES,so that leaves water. And gale is better KD since it isn't elite.