Curse

Mak · Apr 12, 2005, 07:09 PM // 19:09

I was pondering a build for this coming BWE and came up with a possible way around the 120 sec penalty for an instant cast.

For example

Arcane echo + Meteor shower + Glyph of Sacrifice + Meteor Shower(echo)

The arcane echo expires after 20 secs; so wouldn't I be stuck with only the orginal recharge time on meteor shower, or whichever spell I choose to echo.

If this exploit works does any one have any suggestions for a spell to use this exploit with? I only used Meteor shower as an example, although it seems like it would kill someone, crippled or slowed, very quick.

Zrave · Apr 12, 2005, 07:14 PM // 19:14

Its not an exploit - the word you are looking for is "combo".

Now, is it worthwhile? Probably not.

Draken · Apr 12, 2005, 07:23 PM // 19:23

Well if anything is going to make meteor shower worth it... two casted almost ontop of eachother has the possiblity. meteor shower does have a tendancy to get interupted when the other team figures out you have it though.

This still has some big downtime though so to make a good build you would also have to figure out a way to be usefull during that time. This is not going to be easy to do either because mesmers have long cast time spells and your eating up alot of energy with the meteor shower so... it doesnt leave much in the way of elementalist spells either.

Edit: May just want to pick up echo and not be a mesmer at all if that gives you more options.

walder · Apr 12, 2005, 07:50 PM // 19:50

It's also not that hard to get out of the way of a Meteor Shower. I thought it would be impossible with the knockdown and all, but the time between the knockdowns allows you to stand and sneak to the side getting hit maybe once or twice. Thats the danger of using this skill. You run the same risk with Firestorm, however the casting time, recharge, and energy cost are much more reasonable.

Mak · Apr 12, 2005, 07:54 PM // 19:54

Could you dodge it with 2 meteor showers back to back?

An example build

Attribute Calculator Character Dump

Class: Elementalist / Mesmer

Assumed items:
+3 to Energy Storage
+2 to Fire Magic

Attributes: (cost)
Energy Storage: 10+3 (61)
Fire Magic: 11+2 (77)
Inspiration Magic: 10 (61)

Total attribute points used: 199/200

Skills:
1) Meteor Shower - (25,5,90) Exploding meteors strike the area near your target. Each strikes for 98 damage and knocks down anyone it hits. This spell causes exhaustion.
2) Arcane Echo - (15,2,30) If you cast a spell in the next 10 seconds, Arcane Echo is replaced with that spell for 20 seconds. Arcane Echo ends prematurely if you use a non-spell skill.
3) Glyph of Sacrifice - (5,1,15) Your next spell may be cast instantly, but takes an additional 120 seconds to recharge.
4) Fireball - (15,3,10) Fireball flies toward target foe and explodes on impact, striking for 98 fire damage in an area.
5) Conjure Flame - (10,1,60) Lose all enchantments. For 60 seconds, your attacks strike for an additional 14 fire damage.
6) Fire Attunement - (10,2,60) For 57 seconds, you are attuned to fire. You gain 30% of the energy cost of the spell each time you use Fire Magic.
7) Mantra of Resolve - (10,0,20) For 70 seconds, you cannot be interrupted, but each time you would have been interrupted, you lose 4 energy or Mantra of Resolve ends.
8) Energy Drain (elite) - (5,1,20) Steal 16 energy from target foe. This is an elite skill.

Draken · Apr 12, 2005, 10:10 PM // 22:10

Yeah as you can see your minium recharge time on a skill is 10 seconds which does suck but *shrug* if the meteor shower works well then it could be worth it so only testing will tell.

Dreamsmith · Apr 12, 2005, 10:58 PM // 22:58

This is a nifty trick for avoiding the extra 120 cooldown with Glyph of Sacrifice. The problem is, you're still penalized by losing a skill slot to Glyph of Sacrifice.

Since Glyph of Sacrifice itself has a 1 second activation time, it doesn't actually let you instantly cast anything (that would be cool), it just shortens the casting time to a second. Even without the cooldown penalty, Glyph of Sacrifice would be a marginal skill IMHO. I might bring it if I had any 5 second casting cost spells, and I really, really couldn't find a better use for the slot, but, nifty as it is, is even Meteor Shower worth two skill slots?

I thought of this a while ago, actually, and thinking about it was what made me realize just how "meh" Glyph of Sacrifice really is. Even without the cooldown penalty, I'm not sure if I'd find much use for it...

Freyas · Apr 12, 2005, 11:09 PM // 23:09

A friend of mine made a similar build using glyph of sacrifice/meteor shower with Oath Shot. He also ran Energizing Winds to cut down the energy cost, basically removing the downsides of Meteor shower, though sacrificing versatility(basically all he did was meteor showers and attacks with level 16 conjure flame). However, he could cast meteor showers instant-cast via glyph, at 10 energy via Energizing Winds, and only have about a 30 second recharge to worry about with Oath Shot. It also helped that he could cast 2 meteor showers back-to-back at the start of combat.

Meteor Shower works great on someone who is snared, and it is possible to stack 2 meteor showers on top of each other where the knockdown from the second cast occurs right after they get up from the knockdown on the first cast, making it impossible to move out of the AoE.

The Arcane Echo + meteor shower would work fairly well also- you'd get 2 meteor showers every 90 seconds, and one would be instant-cast. Other skills would generally be more useful to echo, though- if you're wanting Elementalist, you might look at Maelstrom.

ApOcAlYpSe · Apr 13, 2005, 04:02 AM // 04:02

Doesnt meteor shower knock down teammates too? i thought i read that some where. That would make this build iffy because if your warriors are in the fighting like they probably will be wont they be getting hit too? making this not as great as it could be. just a thought....

Freyas · Apr 13, 2005, 07:54 AM // 07:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApOcAlYpSe

Doesnt meteor shower knock down teammates too? i thought i read that some where. That would make this build iffy because if your warriors are in the fighting like they probably will be wont they be getting hit too? making this not as great as it could be. just a thought....

No, Meteor Shower has no effect on your teammates. There are no skills that are friendly-fire in any way: you can't hurt anyone other than an enemy or yourself, and you can't knock them down, give them conditions, etc.