Curse

Archaeus · Jul 09, 2005, 11:57 PM // 23:57

Hello everyone,

...Yes, I know there was a thread called "Maximum Damage Elementalist", but the creator's goals were farming + soloing (PvE), in which case, he had to use fire magic for the AoE. Instead of that, let's try to make a build that deals the maximum damage that an Elementalist is capeable of for PvP.

Ideally, since players are smart enough to move out of meteor shower, fire storm, searing heat, etc, the choice for a PvP attribute for an elementalist is air magic due to its large single target burst damage, armor penetration, and generally short cast+recharge times. The energy cost for such spells can be hefty, but hey, that's the cost of crazy dps for a short time.

Here is the build that I've been testing out lately in the team/comp arenas, though I found it is useful in the RoF and FoW as well, since the burst damage can take down enemy monks in seconds, which leaves the rest of the mobs without any major, spammable healing.

(Don't mind exhaustion or energy costs too much for this build. The goal is to take down a single foe as quickly as possible, with a little self-preservation just in case the target gets ressed or if u have to take down another target quickly)

Profession: E/Me

Air magic: 12+1+3
Energy Storage: 10+1
Domination Magic: 8
(Use the best vigor rune you can afford as well, since this build doesn't have any protection skills)

Lightning Strike
Enervating Charge
Chain Lightning
Lightning Orb
Lightning Surge {E}
Air Attunement
Resurrection Signet
Backfire

A few notes:
1) Enervating Charge is interchangable with Lightning Javelin: use Charge if you're looking to debuff warriors, Javelin if you want interrupts. Both provide the same damage for the same energy cost, though EC recharges three seconds slower than LJ. With this rank in Air Magic, you get more than a twenty second weakness duration with a single shot of Charge on a target, so if you see a party member in trouble with an enemy warrior, just zap the warrior to greatly reduce his damage output (with his weapon, at least).
2) This build uses the classic Lightning Surge + Lightning Orb technique to deal more than 212 damage to a single foe at once (since Orb has armor penetration, the damage us normally more than 212. Lightning Surge is one of, if the only, air nuke that does not have armor penetration), which means it is capeable of taking down an enemy monk at about 40% life within the three seconds it takes to execute this combo, assuming you have >=25 energy. Add in a 20% cast time improvement on a storm artifact/wand/staff, and the combo can be executed much more quickly. Use strike/charge to finish 'em off if you have to. I've found that the burst damage from Surge+Orb makes self-healing for a monk VERY difficult, since many quick, small attacks can be healed easily by spamming Orison or Heal Area. If you don't mind the exhaustion stacking, you can use Chain Lightning in place of Orb for some good multi-target damage.
3) When you stack backfire with Surge+Orb against a caster target, that foe is as good as dead if he doesn't see the hex on him. I was running low on energy in the arena today when the enemy ressed their monk. I hexed him with backfire and had 15 energy left, so i gave him a lightning orb and just waited for some energy. He didn't notice the backfire on him, so he spammed orison and killed himself...I <3 mesmer secondaries.
4) Air attunement gets stripped often, though this really doesn't hurt too much. If you're going for a single target burst damage, just use attunement right before you attack, kill your target quickly (before a necro or mesmer can notice and strip your enchantments), and then the only penalty you suffer is the inability to reduce your energy costs for ~45 seconds. This can be helped by getting a 20% improves recharge time on air magic skills mod on your wand/staff/artifact/focus.
5) The resurrection signet is for energencies. This build relies solely on the monks in the party for healing and protection, so if the monk dies, get him back

This skill can be interchanged with another skill from domination magic or (my personal favorite) blinding flash. It works wonders for protecting you and your party, and with air attunement it's not too expensive either.
6) Though the damage output may not be quite so high, you could switch to Earth magic instead of Domination and bring along a Ward. I'd suggest Ward Against Foes or Melee, foes for easy escapes from warriors or melee for aggrivating them :P

My question: Is there any way to increase this build's damage output against a single target?

Please remember that this build is for maximum damage against a single target, but also must have a bit of versitility (e.g. Wards for defense and Chain Lightning for multi-taget damage) to be effective in different situations.

Questions, comments, and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated, but please keep the flames civilized.

jou_yun · Jul 10, 2005, 11:02 PM // 23:02

I'm also interested in this. I posted (http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=29162) a few days ago detailing a particularly lethal 2 person combo whereby 2 air/mes casters could dish out 424 damage to 2 different targets over a period of 2 seconds. I want to try it for fun but haven't found another air/mes to try it with (I think it will be fun even in PvE just to watch 2 targets die before they reach the party).

Arton · Jul 11, 2005, 03:44 PM // 15:44

I would switch out Backfire with Mantra of Concentration. You are looking to do high damage in a short amount of time. People know that and will try to disrupt you. So the mantra will go with this build better than Backfire.

Borak Bloodbane · Jul 11, 2005, 05:39 PM // 17:39

Elementalist/Mesmer

Lightning Strike
Lightning Orb
Chain Lightning
Blinding Flash
(lightning spell that weakens) name escapes me atm...
Arcane Echo
Energy Drain(Elite)
Reserection Signet

While using this build it is very effective against monks during a fight especially in the begining. Its only counters that i can think of atm are spellbreaker and obsidian flesh. First thing you do in this build is steal all of the energy from the monk and keep doing that throughout the fight and taking down their offense before you even go after the monk. If you have two people doing this you can take out the monk and one other caster for pretty much the whole fight. Really fun when it works well cuz you will see monks running away at the begining spamming orison cuz its all they can afford while their team gets decimated.

Borak Bloodbane(Knights Who Say Nee)

Emrys · Jul 11, 2005, 11:32 PM // 23:32

So in your opinion E/me > E/mo?

Red Locust · Jul 11, 2005, 11:49 PM // 23:49

People have been using lightning orb + lightning surge + chain lightning for as long as this game has been out. It's one of the best (certainly the easiest) ways of delivering lots of spike damage.

Borak Bloodbane · Jul 13, 2005, 01:40 PM // 13:40

I think that is the best prof and build for hurting monks. However, all prof combos and builds have their own perks and it just depends on how you use them. Elem/Mo just has a diff job than an Elem/Mes you cant really say one is better than the other.

zemelett · Jul 13, 2005, 05:01 PM // 17:01

One thing that i like to do with the air ele/mes is use arcane echo and echo {E}. So first I cast Arcane echo then double chain the target...then basically the same thing with echo only use Lightning Orb and then double orb them...its pretty potent when you have air up to 15 or 16 chain and orb do in the range of 100+ so when you double chain or orb someone their takeing 200 dmg before armor penetration...

Archaeus · Jul 14, 2005, 09:53 PM // 21:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by jou_yun

I'm also interested in this. I posted (http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=29162) a few days ago detailing a particularly lethal 2 person combo whereby 2 air/mes casters could dish out 424 damage to 2 different targets over a period of 2 seconds. I want to try it for fun but haven't found another air/mes to try it with (I think it will be fun even in PvE just to watch 2 targets die before they reach the party).

HOLY CRAP. That's one heck of an idea you've got there. The Gemini air spikers can really dish out the dmg. Two elementalists on two targets, working together, can achieve a higher damage output on both targets than would be possible for either of them to do alone, to a single target. very nice. I'm going to get one of my guildies to try this out with me. Jeez, if we had one guy spamming orb + shock + strike and another spamming surge + orb, we could take down a single target in <4 seconds. If we get two targets nearby, dish out some chain lightning and assign each ele a target, and voila. Two kills in <8 seconds most likely.

Good work. Thanks man.

Legendary Battousai · Jul 15, 2005, 08:14 AM // 08:14

use glyph of elemental power if you wish to do a lot more damage or what that other guy said, echo

Spiral_Riftwalker · Jul 15, 2005, 08:26 AM // 08:26

I've been using these skills and it works pretty good in PvE and PvP:

Air Magic: 12 + 1 hat + 3 (superior air)
Energy Storage: 11 + 1 (minor energy storage)
(still have 11 atts remaining, I need to do 2nd att quest >_>; I'd put'em towards Energy Storage to bring it to 12 + 1 rune)

Max Damage air wand w/20% recharge
Storm Artifact w/ +12 energy and 20% recharge/20% casting.

Lightning Surge
Lightning Orb
Chain Lightning
Lightning Strike
Enervating Charge
Air Attunement
Arcane Echo
Res. Signet

I usually go attune, Arcane echo, lightning strike, echo'ed strike, rinse and repeat. I guess you could echo Enervating Charge instead for the weakness aspect.

Hope this helps.
D.

Enigmatics · Jul 18, 2005, 12:32 PM // 12:32

The Surge/Chain combination isn't for damage persay, because it doesn't have armor penetration. Rather it's for the burst damage, and will be more effective if you want to take down your target before he or she can heal. I find archane echo useless, because it defeats the point of spiking. Instead you could sub conjure lightning.

Dzan · Jul 18, 2005, 02:24 PM // 14:24

Surge/Chain does indeed have armor penetration.

Enigmatics · Jul 18, 2005, 02:45 PM // 14:45

Surge doesn't have armor penetration, it just has 106 damage flat (at level 16 air).

Archaeus · Jul 18, 2005, 05:36 PM // 17:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Legendary Battousai

use glyph of elemental power if you wish to do a lot more damage or what that other guy said, echo

Glyph of Elemental Power only adds 2 to your elemental attributes. This adds, what, 12 damage (plus armor penetration, possibly) to ONE spell? I know that 12 more damage could mean the difference between spiking someone to death and seeing them healed at the last moment (and yes, I did say MAXIMUM damage spiker elementalist in the title) but is 12 more damage on ONE spell worth an entire skill slot, when you could bring a damage-dealing hex or a self buff (like Arcane Echo, Mantra of Concentration or Conjure Lightning, thanks for those suggestions guys)?

IMHO, it isn't. I tried out Mantra of Concentration without any points into Inspiration Magic and it worked beautifully. There's nothin' like watching a ranger use his Distracting Shot and not get an interrupt (and have to wait ~20 seconds before he can use it again), or standing up through an entire meteor shower with Mantra of Resolve.

Enigmatics · Jul 18, 2005, 05:50 PM // 17:50

It's mostly for pyros to use, with heavy aoe spells with long durations. You're right to bring an extra damage skill instead of glyph of elemental power.