Curse

Sausaletus Rex · Apr 10, 2005, 05:18 AM // 05:18

I've been a bit negligent lately with articles and columns and the like. It's not that I don't want to keep writing it's just that other things come up, other responsibilities take precedence, and when it's a struggle to carve out another word, it's time to find something else to do. However, that doesn't mean I've quit entirely, far from it. Just that I'm behind. So, by way of apology here's a little preview of a build from a little something I've been working on. It's not 100% completed yet, in fact the details of it are giving me a bit of a fit at the moment and perhaps the rest of you can provide a bit of guidance there. Anyhow, I'll leave it up to you to figure out what the plan is here. Who knows, you might even guess what this might be featured in. I present the Bug Zapper:

Quote:

Elementalist/Mesmer

ES – 10 (9+1)
Air – 16 (12+4)
Ins – 9
193/200

Lightning Surge {E} (Air Magic)
Air Attunement (Air Magic)
Chain Lightning (Air Magic)
Conjure Lightning (Air Magic)
Lightning Orb (Air Magic)
Glyph of Elemental Power (Unlinked)
Mantra of Recall (Inspiration)
-?-

As I said, that last spot is proving troublesome. I've considered skills such as Lightning Strike, Gale, and Power Drain there but I just haven't hit upon something I really like just yet.

Davion · Apr 10, 2005, 05:24 AM // 05:24

There was this one the other day.....don't know if it will give you ideas or not but, hey....can't hurt.

http://guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2261

mostro · Apr 10, 2005, 06:04 AM // 06:04

Did they remove the elite status on mantra of recall? The skill description on the site still says that it's elite.

My personal preference for the last slot would be:
1. Power drain
2. Ether Feast
3. Glyph of Lesser Energy

Sausaletus Rex · Apr 10, 2005, 06:22 AM // 06:22

Ah ha! You've stumbled onto the secret. For, you see, I'm planning on using this build to demonstrate the awesome power of Arcane Mimicry! I'll simply grab Mantra of Recall from another teammate who's using ita and put it to good use here. (Are they buying it? I think so...)

Yeah, good catch. I can never remember that Lightning Surge is elite now so I always seem to want to match it up with another elite. The perils of having memorized and rememorized the skill lists so many times by now, I guess...

Okay, so I have two slots I don't know what to do with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mostro

2. Ether Feast

Ether Feast? Ether Feast? So, what, I can spend two seconds casting - before aftercast - to get 100 health, if that? Urgh, no. I'll leave the healing up to the Monks, thank you very much. Ether Feast is a great example of a skill that sounds nice but is too unwieldy because when you really need it to work it arrives just that little bit too late.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mostro

3. Glyph of Lesser Energy

GLE adds, at best, a pip's worth of regeneration to a character. But to do so, it requires you to tack 1.75 seconds - the casting time of GLE - onto your casting time. This is not a character who'll be running a damage marathon, this is an Air Ele. That means spike damage and a lot of it as fast as it can be delievered. Increasing casting times is a bad, bad thing. If it wasn't for Exhaustion, I'd go primary Mesmer for the Fast Casting. If it wasn't for the fact it's elite, I'd take Mantra of Recovery to cut my recharge times. Stringing together high damage skills as rapidly as possible is the goal here and GLE is going to shoot that right in the foot.

Davion · Apr 10, 2005, 06:30 AM // 06:30

Hmmm ok then.. What about Glyph of Concentration and Channeling..to fill the last 2 slots? Would allow you to not suffer a dazed interrupt, and it would give you something that would pay you back for using your spells.

Sausaletus Rex · Apr 10, 2005, 06:41 AM // 06:41

Channeling means you'll need to stand in close-range and cast to get any benefit out of it at all. Part of the reason to go with an Elmentalist is that you can sit back and blow someone out of the water at range. I'll pass on that one.

As for Glyph of Concentration, interesting. But it runs into the same problem with casting times as does Glyph of Lesser Energy. If you're that worried about being interrupted a better option would be Mantra of Concentration which is instant cast. It has a longer recharge timer at 20 as opposed to 2 but interrupts are, by and large, pretty inefficient things so if your opponent only has one, that's probably enough to eke by and if they have more then when you get hit with the first one and your Mantra gets ruptured you know it's time to start changing your tactics - You've got Conjure, you can still contribute.

Davion · Apr 10, 2005, 06:54 AM // 06:54

Heh... final thought then...

Aura of restoration ..to be a little more self-sufficient on the healing in the PvP arena.. (a little pressure off the monk couldn't hurt)

Inspired enchantment - temporary steal of a skill..never know what might prove useful from foe.

Frozen burst - ( i know its at zero level). but if you tick someone off enough to come at you..a little extra off-mode surprise couldn't hurt.

Excalibur · Apr 10, 2005, 12:56 PM // 12:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sausaletus Rex

I've been a bit negligent lately with articles and columns and the like. It's not that I don't want to keep writing it's just that other things come up, other responsibilities take precedence, and when it's a struggle to carve out another word, it's time to find something else to do. However, that doesn't mean I've quit entirely, far from it. Just that I'm behind. So, by way of apology here's a little preview of a build from a little something I've been working on. It's not 100% completed yet, in fact the details of it are giving me a bit of a fit at the moment and perhaps the rest of you can provide a bit of guidance there. Anyhow, I'll leave it up to you to figure out what the plan is here. Who knows, you might even guess what this might be featured in. I present the Bug Zapper:

As I said, that last spot is proving troublesome. I've considered skills such as Lightning Strike, Gale, and Power Drain there but I just haven't hit upon something I really like just yet.

Backfire Hex, 15en - 3cast - 20recharge - if foe tries to cast, takes damage
Power Spike Spell, 10en - 1/4cast - 15recharge - interrupts and causes damage on casting foe

I have a similar build on the go at the moment, however I stuck in power spike and backfire from domination. Power spike cus its quick. And backfire, despite taking some time, will hopefully render a singled out caster useless while you call the target and gain support from another nuker.

Nash · Apr 10, 2005, 01:01 PM // 13:01

Mine's looking like this right now:

Lightning Surge
Lightning Orb
Chain Lightning
Lightning Strike
Windborne Speed
Conjure Lightning
Power Drain
Inspired Hex

12+4 Air Magic
10+1 Energy Storage
8 Inspiration

Tuon · Apr 10, 2005, 02:13 PM // 14:13

What.. the.. hell are you guys talking about?

HotSnack · Apr 10, 2005, 03:31 PM // 15:31

I'm a bit iffy on Glyph of Ele Power. Assuming that spells are linear, you're making your spells take 1-2 more secs longer to cast for about 13 extra damage in most of your cases.

Also if you haven't burned out through exhaustion, then I'd take Gale.

Sausaletus Rex · Apr 10, 2005, 03:49 PM // 15:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davion

Aura of restoration

I'm not a big fan of self-healing as I don't usually plan for the Arena. It's very true that you're better off being much more self-reliant there because you just never know what group you're going to be in (Well, most Arenas. That suposed Meet-Up Arena where you can group should be a blast) and, at the same time, you're in a much smaller group so every character needs to stretch a little further to plug the gaps. Still, you're not running an Air Ele for survivability, you're running it to zap people until they're dead. If I was interested in the Arena, I'd be doing an Earth build with Armor of Earth and the Wards for defense, or an Air/Earth hybrid.

That said, Aura of Restoration is, well, awful. It works alright as it gives you health for casting spells: what you'd be doing anyway as an ele. However, it doesn't give you a lot of health at once. Like Troll Unguent it's something that works over time and you can't rely on to deliver a lot of healing at once when you really need it. If I had to pick a self-heal here, I'd go with Ether Feast over Aura of Restoration.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davion

Frozen burst

Frozen Burst is linked to Water. I'm already stretched very thin with my attributes, I could only get up to Water 3 or, in other words, have a Frozen Burst that's useless for doing damage. It could be used as a snare but then, I have Lightning Surge to deal damage and knock someone down as well which works well enough as a snare. And I could always pick up Gale for the same purpose, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davion

Inspired enchantment

Now that has possibilities. The reason I wanted Mantra of Recall was, of course, for the energy. Can't use it because it's elite (thank you so very much for pointing out the actual rules mostro...) but the need for energy is still there. Inspired Hex or Inspired Enchantments might work well to net me some energy with each cast. Enchantments won't, though as it's 3~13 linked to Inspiration. I have Inspiration 9 which means I'd get 3+((10/12)x9) energy when cast or about 11 energy (10.5 but there's rounding). Since Inspired Enchantment costs 10 energy to cast, that's only 1 energy I'm gaining. Hex cost only 5 energy with the same scaling so it would be a plus of 6 energy every 20 seconds. Not great, that's less than a pip, but considering it provides a bit of defense to the team as well, not too shabby.

The problem, though, is that it needs a hex to work. Which is relying on my enemy and the battlefield conditions to unfold how I like. I'm not sold on being so reliant on everyone else, which is why I like Mantra of Recall in the first place, it's a good way to get up to 15 energy every 20 seconds (More if you can get enchantment removal to target you during the 15~20 second interval where Mantra of Recall's recharged but hasn't ended) or to increase your regeneration by .75 energy a second without any external sources or conditions like Energy Drain or Power Drain have.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Excalibur

Backfire Hex
Power Spike

Those are nice spells - well, Backfire is, anyway, I'd take Leak over Spike any day - but they require some points in Domination to be worthwhile. As with Frozen Burst, I just don't have the points to spare to make them useful. I need energy and I can't use the energy management elites from the Elementalist so I'm pretty wedded to Inspiration, I'm just not sure which skill from there is best.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nash

Mine's looking like this right now

Windborne Speed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HotSnack

I'm a bit iffy on Glyph of Ele Power. Assuming that spells are linear, you're making your spells take 1-2 more secs longer to cast for about 13 extra damage in most of your cases.

Not all my spells. Chain Lightning. Which strikes three targets and is likely the spell to lead off in any flurry of attacks (Swiftly followed by Surge+Orb). There, the increased casting time (It's 1.75 seconds, as with every glyph) doesn't matter because it's at the beginning of a combination. It happens before the enemy is encountered, even, as glyphs last for 15 seconds so I can buff with it as the gates are opening, if not before. And the +2 to attributes is not a slight jump to damage but a jump to damage on each of those 3 lightning strikes. It depends on the armor of a target and just how much you're whittling away with penetration but it's a base addition not of 12 damage on a 106 damage nuke (Chain Lightning's easy, it's 6 damage a rank currently) but of 36 on a 318 AoE damage nuke. And, of course, it gets better as you add in AP. It's worth it from where I'm sitting.

I like Gale too but, yeah, exhaustion. Of course, for an ele the first five or so exhaustions don't really matter. And that knockdown is pretty tempting...

Nash · Apr 10, 2005, 03:55 PM // 15:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sausaletus Rex

Windborne Speed?

Relic runs. Pretty limited though and may be due for a replacement soon.

Sausaletus Rex · Apr 10, 2005, 04:15 PM // 16:15

Your ele's the one running the relic? Or your Warriors don't bother to carry a Sprint?

mostro · Apr 10, 2005, 04:35 PM // 16:35

Then I would probably take Power Drain and Inspired Enchantment to replace the Lightning Surge and fill the last slot.

With 9 Inspiration, Power Drain nets you 14 en which is always appreciated, though the recharge time is somewhat long at 25. I wish we can fit Energy Drain, but Power Drain would probably work fine as a substitute.

Inspired Enchantment is one of the better enchantment removal (still not great but serviceable), and it is practically free to cast. There is always a chance that the focus-fired enemy would have some sort of enchantment on him, so it probably won't hurt to bring along Inspired Enchantment.

Draken · Apr 10, 2005, 04:41 PM // 16:41

Quote:

Lightning Surge
Lightning Orb
Chain Lightning
Lightning Strike
Windborne Speed
Conjure Lightning
Power Drain
Inspired Hex

12+4 Air Magic
10+1 Energy Storage
8 Inspiration

almost exactly the build i have been using for the past couple BWE

sept i had envenerating charge instead of windborn speed. You will like this setup inspired hex is cool you get to spy on your enemy with it and powerdrain although not as good as gale for interupting doesnt have exhastion. I put shame in my build instead of conjure the energy nuetral interuption was what i was looking and i didn't need too many points points just some leftovers. I see the reasoning behind conjure though and may have to give that a go.

Glyph of Elemental Power i personaly belive is a waste of casting time. although since your going to be sitting around waiting for the right moment to deal your damage it would work but just get envenerating charge so you do another 50 damage or so.

I will warn everyone this build takes finnese to use you can't just lay into the first person you see in GvG. You may get frustrated with it late in battles when the exhastion builds up but it is nice for taking down that first monk. Oh and you cannot have more than one of these type of builds in a team having two people out with exhastion late game will let the enemy turn the battle around :/

I have some videos of these builds(they are only so so) but i dont have any space to display em.

Edit: I too like nash had winborne speed on a couple of occasions since somtimes your exhastion gets built up and you can then do the flag runs and keep the people who can fight in the battle.

walder · Apr 10, 2005, 06:06 PM // 18:06

This is a build I saw at TGH then I modified it a little. It is based more on staying power than burst damage:

Ele/R

Air 14 (+2/+1)
ES 11 (+1)
Wilderness Survival 10

Quickening Zephyr
Ether Renewal-E
Aura of Restore
Conjure Lightning
Air Attunement
Lighting Strike
Lightning Javelin
Lightning Orb

Quickening Zephyr allows you to spam more easily and when you are running out of energy you just slap on Ether Renewal and keep spamming. It won't have the initial damage output of the builds above but it will do damage for longer. You will want to use Strike and Javelin and when you have the energy use Orb. The only reason Aura of Restore is in there is because it helps Renewal. Apparently Renwal also heals now so this works as an arena build also.

Draken · Apr 10, 2005, 07:41 PM // 19:41

Decided i wanted to comment on Air Attunement. I was able to live without it easily since the downtime waiting for exhastion to go away was more of a problem than my energy late in battles. Waiting for energy to come back kept me from killing myself with exhastion. I didnt have the setup with manta of recovery though and im wondering if mantra of recovery will help this build because you will stack up exhastion so so fast. I think its the only skill you can mimicry though and i see why you want to make it work.

I think some people are missing the point of the build which is to take advantage of the lightning surge + lightning orb combo its so fn sweet

. Oh and on the side show off the mimicry trickyness i guess.

Ensign · Apr 10, 2005, 08:23 PM // 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sausaletus Rex

As I said, that last spot is proving troublesome. I've considered skills such as Lightning Strike, Gale, and Power Drain there but I just haven't hit upon something I really like just yet.

Serpent's Quickness or Rend Enchantments.

The core is:

Glyph of Chain Lightning Power
Chain Lightning
Lightning Surge
Lightning Orb
Lightning Strike
Conjure Lightning
Air Attunement

You aren't going to succeed with the energy destruction game with a Mesmer secondary, that takes a good 2-3 skills. So grab Quickness to recycle your nukes faster, or Rend to make sure you're hitting a naked target.

Peace,
-CxE

Draken · Apr 10, 2005, 08:48 PM // 20:48

Quote:

Glyph of Chain Lightning Power

Ahhh.. thanks for clearing that up makes so much more sense now

Im going to agree with ensign you can sort of use lightning surge to interupt resses so your not going to be lacking in that respect. So that leaves enchantment removal as my prefrence because what really kills this build is that anoying protective spirit and other protection monk spells.. when you use your energy it is very important that the target dies because all the exhastion this build racks up.

Edit: i like to add that depending on the team we face i would sometimes wait a bit in the battle before dumping so that the monks would use up some energy and have a lower heal per second rate. This is just one of those things you have to get a feel for since you can't physicly see it.