Curse

Francis Crawford · Jan 12, 2006, 10:13 AM // 10:13

Hi!

I just have access to the elites in the desert and near Camp Rancor so far, and thus for my Ele/Me Ether Renewal seems better than the alternatives.

I've had it for a few days now, and a solo farming build that works OK is something like:

(Elite) Ether Renewal
Fire Attunement
Aura of Restoration
Armor of Earth
Kinetic Armor
Immolate
Incendiary Bonds/Flame Burst/Fireball
Flare

"OK" = kills 2 or 3 hydra or griffons at a time w/o superior runes, w/o the last thirty attribute points, and w/o me being 100% optimal in what I'm doing. The build has 180 energy per minute to devote to attack spells with near-max fire damage, plus over 100 energy once per battle, plus giving me almost 100 extra AL.

The calculation is this: Figuring 5 enchantments, 3 energy spell/enchantment/Ether Renewal, 5 spells/Ether Renewal, and 2 Ether Renewals/minute, the calculation starts at 230 energy/minute (80 from regen plus 75 each per Ether Renewal). 90/minute go to enchantments if Kinetic Armor is cast twice/minute. That leaves 140 per minute for fire spells, plus 30%, plus 30% of the 30% and so on, less rounding. And that figures the cost of the enchantments into what's regened. So I can add in the 80 or so energy I carry into a battle, plus extra since I cast AoR and FA a while ago and they've recharged, plus 30% bonus from FA, and so on.

My problem is this -- if I need to carry rez sig, cap sig, or both -- and/or if I have to run something like Hex Breaker -- what do I take out? Ether Renewal gives 30 energy and 200ish (perhaps wasted) health per enchantment, per minute. Fire Attunement, besides the generic enchantment benefit, produces almost 25% of the total energy available for damage. The armor spells each halve the damage I take (degen/conditions aside), as long as I stay away from the wrong hexers, at no net energy cost. The fire damage spells are needed to use the energy available for damage. (Well, maybe Flare's not efficient, but including it over something better gives me two extra spells during Ether Renewal per minute, for 30 energy plus the health regen.) Aura of Restoration is giving, besides the enchantment benefit, 800+ health per minute, and with its low casting time it can actually be spammed prematurely; if that takes me up to a 6th spell per Ether Renewal Aura is giving me a total of 1200 health plus 40 net energy per minute, and is the only thing other than teammates giving me health when Ether Renewal is not running.

I have NOT spent a lot of time with this build testing how powerful it truly is, but "on paper" it seems really strong -- unless, of course, it's up against sufficiently effective enchantment strippers/disrupters.

It's tough to give any of that up! So guidance would be much appreciated ...

Edit: Well, I don't always get 5 spells in, truth be told. It especially helps if I remember to wield an enchantment-lengthening staff when I cast Ether Renewal ...

Further Edit: I imagine that if I had Aftershock, a pure Earth build would be better. But all the same other questions would still apply; I still don't know how to make the build nearly as effective without a total of 3 damage-dealing spells plus 5 enchantments.

Francis Crawford · Jan 13, 2006, 06:12 PM // 18:12

Bump.

Does anybody have experience running Ether Renewal?

Antheus · Jan 14, 2006, 12:50 AM // 00:50

Since you have defined the purpose of build, you might want to take a look at an almost identical build here:

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=84577

I've been using that one for a while now, and i have yet to run out of energy.

As for number of enchants used by ER.

If you are playing in group, with protection monk and have someone else putting enchants on you, its easy to get more than 5. Solo, its about it.

Since you're /Mo anyway, essence bond/balthazar's spirit is the usual energy supply for farming.

I only substitute it for earth attunement or elemental attunement if i'm going after slow hitting mobs or places where there's only small groups.

+20% enchant duration mod helps a lot. Also, there's nothing wrong with spamming "useless" spells to ressuply. If i get in a tight spot, i'l just hit any recharged spell (armor of earth, aura of restoration, even essence bond). At the very least, it will cost you nothing, since regained energy will ressuply you.

As for essense bond/balthazar's spirit, the more mobs you have on you, the better. kinetic armor/armor of earth combo can handle 8-12 griffons/minos and 3-4 hydras (knockdows become a problem).

If you want to go after hydras, the best way is to change secondary to warrior for one of the anti-kd stances.

Another critical thing is, get as much out of energy you're using, so make sure to up the earth to 16, the harder you hit, the faster you kill.

Francis Crawford · Jan 14, 2006, 06:04 AM // 06:04

Thanks!

I was talking about solo farming, and I'm actually playing El/Me.

In a good battle I can kill 3-4 hydras or desert griffons or Enchanted Weapon Guys. In a bad one I go down fast. The runs don't last long.

But that's lacking 30 attribute points, any superior runes, and enough experience. And it's with fire-centric builds.

So there's room for improvement ...

EXCELLENT point that the monks help in a group.