Curse

mint · Mar 29, 2006, 12:49 AM // 00:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

Hm...not too bad, but throw away Aura of Restoration and get in Crystal Wave. Just my preference.

Personally, I find aura a much more useful skill than crystal wave. To start, I don't think you'll have the energy to make the three slots used for whirlwind, as, and crystal wave worth it. Also, aura is a freaking lifesaver when your HB gets interrupted while you're bleeding, or if you're tanking more than 5 or 6 smites.

LightningHell · Mar 29, 2006, 09:07 AM // 09:07

Actually, after looking at it again, I think you have to throw Aura away for Essence Bond. You just won't be netting enough Energy, IMO.

Avarre · Mar 29, 2006, 10:53 AM // 10:53

I'd second lightning, when running 9 heal 8 prot (which is, imho, the correct stats to use), it really helps to have dual energy boosts. Especially as all your damage is energy based.

As for stats... 8 prot, 9 heal, 16 earth, 5 more to whatever would work.

paramoreLoverSam2006 · Mar 31, 2006, 09:37 AM // 09:37

What do you think of a proffesion to be a E/MO? I think they work quite well, because you have the ability to heal and to do some other cool things with them as well. BTW guys, do you know where the preist of Bathalzar is? It says my account has free unlocks and i dont know where the preist is, i already crossed the ascalon wall. Any advice?
SAM

LightningHell · Mar 31, 2006, 10:59 AM // 10:59

The free unlocks are only for your PvP character; that means, it is only available to your PvP character when you unlock the specified unlock skill/rune/item. Go to any PvP Arena, and you will see one.

The E/Mo is my overall buffer, 55-er, Heal Party spammer. I love playing one of those.

S_Serpent · Apr 02, 2006, 10:05 PM // 22:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountaindew

what I like about guild wars, is that the choices really r unlimited.
I have been testing a build that I believe will be able to solo old UW for sure, maybe even new UW.
I call it the 8x10 build. due to that each skill it uses will take 10 energy and the casting time of non-upkeep skills will not exeed 1second. So if used properly, it is almost impossible to interrupt. And that without glyph of concentration. The build can be used as 55hp for soloing, or as 85hp with 2 man farming (in which case you-the E/Mo, can die once, then be resed to have 15hp and use mending to counter all the damage you will get).
Here are the skills:
1) Mending
2) Balthazaars' Spirit
3) Healing Breeze
4) Protective Spirit
5) Whirlwind
6) Aftershock
7) Obsidian Flesh
8) Aura of Restoration

I also use a 20% longer enchants on a sword, plus, of course all superior runes. Don't remember the exact attributes, but mending should be +3 regen and Prot S should last about 15 seconds including the time bonus gained from 20% longer enchants mod. All the other points go to earth magic. With knockdown (by using whirlwind) my aftershock does close to 200dmg per hit. And since recharge of Whirlwind is 8s and Aftershoch is 10s, that means I can repeat the cycle after every 10 seconds. So in 40s I can do up to 1000 dmg, which I think is pretty good.

Before I go to battle, I cast Mending, Aura of Restoration and Balth spirit. Prot spirit should be up at all costs. Obsidian Flesh as well to protect your enchants. There will be approximately a 5sec loop when your enchantments are is danger cause of Obs Flesh cooldown time.
Only use Healing Breeze when taking a lot of damage.

If u go as 55hp, then I guess you can leave either AoR or HB and take anything u like instead.

The idea of the build is to get close to your enemies and get hit as much as possible, since BS will recharge your energy per hit. Skill and Experience of a player are important 2.

I hope to recieve some good critique with explained points.

I tried this build, and I can stay alive, but just find not enough damage output to kill the aatxes. When I team up with a necro it's a breeze.

Anyone of you did this build solo? Really would like to see, perhaps I'm missing something

I even had to swiths aura for essence bound because I got through my energy fast.

Cheers,

S_Serpent

El_Inferno · Apr 04, 2006, 10:23 PM // 22:23

thats my problem too ... to stay alive is np but the dmg :-/

anyone any ideas?

onedevildog · Apr 06, 2006, 01:45 PM // 13:45

I liked the idea of a 55 E/Mo, so I took a spare set of armor, bought extra superior runes, and equipped a stashed -50hp offhand. Now properly equipped, and armed with just enough information to be a hazard, I found I had three concerns to work through: energy management, damage output, and survival.

I'm certainly no expert; these are just some things I've been working up to. I haven't gone to UW yet, since I still haven't capped Obsidian Flesh, so I haven't tried to test on Aatxes. Thus far I've tested only on Trolls outside Droks for what that's worth.

Energy Management: This turned out to be pretty simple. I found I had to run both Essence Bond and Balthazars Spirit, otherwise I would run out of energy and could barely maintain Protective Spirit and Healing Breeze. Blessed Signet was an option, but energy return wasn't very good, and it was subject to interrupt. The various "attunement" skills helped, but not enough, and they took up a slot I needed for other skills.

Damage Output: I finally settled on Aftershock and Crystal Wave, which I felt had the best combination of damage vs. cost, cast and recharge time. I tried a variety of combos from among the various elements. Inferno and Flame Burst did nice damage, but seemed a bit slow. Whirlwind and Aftershock does great damage, but the monsters flee the AoE, which I felt didn't help (and this could get your partner killed in a 2-man UW run). Water skills were not effective, since Frozen Burst has lower damage output, and Deep Freeze with 3sec cast was interrupted (plus what good is slow movement when you are intentionally standing there and taking hits).

Survival: I run Mending and Protective Spirit always (of course), and I need Healing Breeze almost always as well. I also settled on using Ward Against Melee, which takes the heat off when I'm getting beat down, but still let's enough hits through to give me energy from Essence and Balths. This is where I truly missed having Bonetti's Defense on my skill bar. I tried a few different options, but none really worked out well. Mist Form held promise, but I found I lost my energy return from Essence and Balths while Mist Form was active (resulting in death from no energy). I haven't tried Kinetic Armor, but I have read it is a good option provided you can cast spells frequently enough to refresh it.

I've been procrastinating on going out to cap Obsidian Flesh, but when I finally get it, I'm gonna try some UW runs. The only option I see is to give up Ward Against Melee so I can equip Obsidian Flesh, so it looks like I'll have to lose my ward...

Well, that's about it for now. Again, I'm no expert, and this obviously doesn't directly apply to UW (yet). These were some of my thoughts and experiences, though I'm still very early on in the project.

Francis Crawford · Apr 06, 2006, 02:14 PM // 14:14

Some quick reactions:

Flameburst casts more often than Aftershock, for more damage, and Inferno casts as often as Crystal Wave, so I don't understand that point at all.

I also don't see the point of Kinetic Armor if you're going 55 HP.

When you go to cap Obsidian Flesh, remember that if Maxine Coldstone spawns, Harm Coldstone won't. And the text descriptions of where he is are screwy. Find an actual map with an actual X on it to guide you to where he'll be. And take a full set of henchies, And plan your own skill bar for the fact that he runs Obsidian Flesh.

(But not Permanent Obsidian Flesh.)

I didn't understand whether you'd tried Ether Prodigy as your elite.

Evilsod · Apr 06, 2006, 02:22 PM // 14:22

Erm, you do realise that the very first words of Ether Prodigy read 'Lose all Enchantments'. Do that and your...erm... dog meat?

I've been using Mark of Rodgort + Immolate (for nightmares) and Ether Renewal as my elite to go E/Mo in UW. Never had energy problems vs Aatxe since i can cast a barrage of spells and end up with 72 energy. Its a sure fire way of getting through the aatxe...the grasping however.... only ever killed 1 group of them and that was sheer luck of them not interrupting MoR and Ether Renewal letting me kill em before they fear me spammed me to death.

LightningHell · Apr 06, 2006, 03:21 PM // 15:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

Flameburst casts more often than Aftershock, for more damage, and Inferno casts as often as Crystal Wave, so I don't understand that point at all.

He doesn't want to fork points into fire because that would mean putting points away from Earth.

Also, CW negates armor.

onedevildog · Apr 06, 2006, 09:54 PM // 21:54

First, thanks to all who posted about my comments... I certainly wasn't trying to be definitive about what would or wouldn't work; just wanted to offer my seat of the pants impressions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

Flameburst casts more often than Aftershock, for more damage, and Inferno casts as often as Crystal Wave, so I don't understand that point at all.

Well, I can't say you're wrong... I initially went with Flame Burst and Inferno, since it certainly looked better on paper. However, once I started experimenting, I found the fire combo just didn't seem quite as effective. Maybe fire is better; I can try a stopwatch next time to get no-b.s. kill times. In the end, both combos were good, I just like the earth combo better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

I also don't see the point of Kinetic Armor if you're going 55 HP.

No argument from me on this; I simply brought it up as something that might be worth trying. I think my approach on this was to use Kinetic Armor to mitigate damage when you are really getting beat down. I still haven't tried it though...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

I didn't understand whether you'd tried Ether Prodigy as your elite.

No I didn't try it, not only for the reasons already stated by others here, but because I don't have it yet. I'm willing to test it, but it doesn't look like a winner on paper (at least as I see it).

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

He doesn't want to fork points into fire because that would mean putting points away from Earth.

Also, CW negates armor.

Very nicely stated

It certainly is a bit simpler to have it all in earth skills, especially with my personal liking for Ward Against Melee. Also, I think Crystal Wave ignoring armor really helped make the earth combo better in the end than the fire combo.

I enjoy trying different/unusual (sometimes useless

) skill combinations, so I guess I'll head back out and experiment more

Evilsod · Apr 06, 2006, 09:59 PM // 21:59

I'm not quite sure if this is accurate, but when i was testing out earth magic without using Obsidian Flesh as elite, i picked Stone Daggers. If i remember rightly they could instagib Dying Nightmares saving you the elite slot.

LightningHell · Apr 06, 2006, 11:48 PM // 23:48

They do?

I don't think so...however, a few wand attacks can kill them, so 2~3 Daggers would kill it.

Anyone have armor stats on them?

Megla Zero · Apr 07, 2006, 01:57 AM // 01:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

They do?

I don't think so...however, a few wand attacks can kill them, so 2~3 Daggers would kill it.

Anyone have armor stats on them?

Armor = Crap
Health = Crap

2 Wand Shots from my max dmg customized wand on my necro kills each of them, so I would imagine that Stone Daggers should be able to nail at least one of them... but if you get 2-3 of them at once, you're screwed ^^

El_Inferno · Apr 09, 2006, 12:50 AM // 00:50

sooo i finaly had some time today for some more try outs with my e/mo, here my results:

my basic skill setup is, [55hp ofcourse ]:
Obsidian Flesh [Elite] (Earth Magic)
Protective Spirit (Protection Prayers)
Healing Breeze (Healing Prayers)
Balthazar's Spirit (Smiting Prayers)
Mending (Healing Prayers)
Essence Bond (Monk other)

so i have 2 slots open for dmg skills

i´ll just post my 2 "best" attempts:

first tryed Lightning Touch + Ice spikes ( lightning touch dmg increases cause of the water hex for ~30 so touch = 80dmg + 30-40 ice pikes)
this would have been enough dmg, problem here was i always got interrupted while casting the hex

next try was: obsidian flame, crystall wave + kick out obsidian flesh for glyph of engery
enough dmg, some interrupts on obsidian flame and the glyphe but it worked quite well. first aaxte died, but after that my energy was so down cause of the exhaust (glyphe cause of 15secs recharge only at every second or third flame possible) i just died.

now i spend too much platin and i´m realy tired (and near creating a monk for soloing :P )

anyone any ideas / improvments on how for example not get interrupted at the water hex + lightning build, or any other possible water hex then ice spikes which got faster cast time or more dmg, or any other help, i would be realy happy

Murder In China · Apr 09, 2006, 01:50 AM // 01:50

Why not use Whirlwind+Aftershock?

El_Inferno · Apr 09, 2006, 11:33 AM // 11:33

aftershock= area effect = enemies run away
whirlwind = area effect = enemies run away

not very good idea :P

Avarre · Apr 09, 2006, 11:40 AM // 11:40

You need 2 AoE attacks in the spance of 3 seconds to trigger fleeing, so used sparingly those an work fine

Evilsod · Apr 09, 2006, 12:09 PM // 12:09

What does it matter if they run off anyway, whirlwind/aftershock wont have recharged before they come running back so you've lost nothing. All the damage comes and goes before they flee, unlike Balth Aura etc.