Curse

Skylancer · Jan 02, 2007, 06:44 PM // 18:44

Hi there!

Let me clear a few things before I start

1. This is my first post ever, so it's not gonna look very professional I guess

2. English is not my primary language, but I will try to make myself understandable.

3. I designed this build by myself and I did not copy it from another player. I do not know if there are any similar builds or builds that serve the same purpose.

4. This build is not made for dealing damage, if your looking for some major
dmg build, this isn't the place for you

4. This build requires 2 characters to fully function, I will explain why.

Ok let's start!

Profession: E/Me
Name: Constant Knockdown
Type: PvE (PvP is possible, will add build for PvP)
Category: Interrupt

Attributes:
Air Magic: 12+3
Energy Storage: 12+3+1
6 attribute points at your disposal

Skills:

[card]Lightning Strike[/card][card]Whirlwind[/card][card]Glyph of Elemental Power[/card][card]Thunderclap[/card][card]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/card][card]Arcane Mimicry[/card][card]Aura of Restoration[/card][card]Resurrection Signet[/card]

[skill=big]Thunderclap[/skill]

Second party member:
Profession: E/N or N/E (doesn't really matter)

Crucial Attributes:
Blood magic 12 (or higher)

Crucial Skills:
[card]Blood Ritual[/card]

[skill=big]Ether Prism[/skill]

The other slots are at your disposal, just make sure your hero/friend has the above skills.

Things you need:
Shocking Feathered Flatbow (of Fortitude, can be something else) >> shockbow.JPG
with the +5 energy inscription. (You can get this bow, without the Shocking bow string and without the bowgrip of Fortitude at Weaponsmith Ruricu in Crystal Overlook, see http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Weaponsmiths_%28Nightfall%29#Crystal_Overlook_weap onsmith_Ruricu for more information.

5 Radiant Insignias (energy bonus on every armor part)
2 Runes of Attunement
1 Rune of Superior Air Magic
1 Rune of Superior Energy Storage
1 Rune of (Min,Maj,Sup) Vigor to regain some hp

Summary:
Ok as I stated above, this build is not made for dealing dmg. The purpose of this build is to constantly knockdown a foe and thus support your team by making foes (or preferrably mobs) incapable of doing anything (except skills that activate instantly & such)

How does it work?
Thunderclap knocks down a foe, everytime they get struck by lightning dmg. So with a shocking bowstring on your bow, you can knock down a foe consecutively without having to use air magic spells that eventually drain to much energy, since Thunderclap already drains 6/7 energy when you strike a foe. (with 15 Air magic)

Why not use a melee weapon or another kind of bow?
Melee weapons and staves have an attack intervall of 1.33 sec or 1.75 sec, which is less than the time a foe needs to get up after being knocked down (approximately 2.0 sec) Hitting a foe with a (Flat)bow will be more effective and efficient because the flatbow has an attack intervall of 2.0 sec, knocking foes down each time they get up.
All succesfull hits with TC will cause energy drainage, and foes can't be knocked down whilst they're getting up, thus making some melee attacks a complete waste of energy once you hit them while they're still down.
(See video, link at bottom of post)

Energy Management
To reduce the energy drained by TC, I use Glyph of Elemental power, which raises your elemental attributes by 2. Giving you lvl17 in Air Magic. With lvl17 Air Magic, TC will drain 6 energy iso 7.

So now your knocking down foes and getting low on energy. Here's where your hero/ally becomes important:
- Use Glyph of Lesser energy to reduce the energy cost of Arcane Mimicry and Ether prism.
- Cast Arcane Mimicry on your ally.
- AM now becomes Ether Prism. Cast Ether Prism at approximately 40 energy to fill
your energy gauge back up.

Now you can start the process all over again.
Have your ally use Blood Ritual all the time to regen energy.

* Whirlwind can be used to knock down attacking foes when you aggro to much.
* Lightning Strike can be used if you need to knock down a foe quickly because the bow can be too slow at some moments.

PvP build
This is the PvP version of the build, although it's not very effective; monks can easily remove TC because it's a hex. And the energy management sucks.

It's very funny though and really bugs players

Profession: E/P (or any other profession that gives energy regen/management)

Attributes:
Air Magic: 12+3+1
Energy Storage: 11+1
Motivation: 6

Skills:

[card]Lightning Strike[/card][card]Whirlwind[/card][card]Lightning Orb[/card][card]Thunderclap[/card][card]Song of Power[/card][card]Air Attunement[/card][card]Aura of Restoration[/card][card]Resurrection Signet[/card]

(Have also tried with Zealous Renewal (D) but that would only return 10 energy since you will only hit 10 times in 20 sec.)
[card]Zealous Renewal[/card]

This also requires the shocking flatbow >> shockbow.JPG

*Note, this PvP build is very unstable, not really very effective, but it's a good laugh when you succeed. (Don't comment to much about this)

Hints and tips are always welcome!
You are free to change this build with your own favorite skills and such.
Feel free to post it anywhere, credits go to me though

Grtz, Skylancer

* Update (Credits go to Francis Crawford)
You can use a weapon(set) with "Seize the day!" Inscriptions before you cast Ether Prism to raise your max energy by 30 points at least.

- I have recorded a video to enlighten things a little bit, although the quality isn't very good.
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jwfetwmTWw

* Update
- Added skill icons with mouseover
Don't know how it works? Check: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10067189&referrerid=&highlight=sk ill+card
- Some minor adjustments

Dr Strangelove · Jan 02, 2007, 07:36 PM // 19:36

1. A few things... sup energy storage makes baby freezie cry.

2. Arcane mimicry is only up 25% of the time, hardly enough to effectively use an elite energy management.

3. You've used two players to shutdown on a few enemies at a time. That really isn't an efficient use of a team. At any rate, since this sin't really useful in PvP, you might as well have the second character be a BiP so he can help out the rest of the team too.

Fluffy Butt · Jan 02, 2007, 07:52 PM // 19:52

hmmm, for a first time, very good job! You list the skills, equipment and even the stats for the skills. However, this build has a huge energy management problem even with the Glyph.

I had this idea once, sadly it didn't turn out very good. I couldn't get enough damage and couldn't attack fast enough. It turned out to be a unsuccessful build sadly. One more thing, try using

Conjure Lightning - Enchantment Spell. For 60 seconds, if you're wielding a lightning weapon, your attacks strike for an additional 13 lightning damage.

Also if you had a N/E and instead of Blood Ritual use BiP (Blood is Power) for a even more faster energy regen. Once again so you get the point, good shut down build, but not enough damage. Plus a good elementalist with regular powerful attacks is good on any team (for henchmen yes, this is very useful.)

I'll try this build, I'll let you know how it works.

Fluffy Butt · Jan 02, 2007, 09:09 PM // 21:09

Ok, I tried this build, and I'll be happy to post pictures BUT PAINT GOT DELETED!!!!!!!!!! So I can't post them. However, this build kind of stinks, little damage and very little energy even with a BiP necro (hero) This build isn't good. If anyone can tell me how to get Paint back on to my computer after my stupid little brother deleted and its not in recycle!!!

Francis Crawford · Jan 02, 2007, 10:13 PM // 22:13

If you're going to use Ether Prism, shouldn't you have a +energy/-regen weapon set to switch to when you cast it?

Skylancer · Jan 02, 2007, 10:32 PM // 22:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

1. A few things... sup energy storage makes baby freezie cry.

2. Arcane mimicry is only up 25% of the time, hardly enough to effectively use an elite energy management.

3. You've used two players to shutdown on a few enemies at a time. That really isn't an efficient use of a team. At any rate, since this sin't really useful in PvP, you might as well have the second character be a BiP so he can help out the rest of the team too.

Thanks for your comments

1. Could you tell me what you mean with your first point?

Makes baby freezie cry?

2. If your saying that arcane mimicry has a long recharge time, your absolutely right, but this seemed the best way to regain alot of energy in a quick way, I guess you'll have to fill the recharge time with spamming BR and Glyph of Lesser Energy before you cast TC again.

3. I see your point. This build was originally created to counter the UW aggrobreak update in december. An UW party (containing, knockdown, tank, healer and spiker or something) could have some real benefits out of this one. However I haven't been able to test it in UW fully.

Skylancer · Jan 02, 2007, 10:40 PM // 22:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

If you're going to use Ether Prism, shouldn't you have a +energy/-regen weapon set to switch to when you cast it?

Good point, I'll add it to my thread

Switching weapons does cause a little delay though.

nothing special · Jan 02, 2007, 10:50 PM // 22:50

Thuderclap for me, is a RA fun build (I wouldn't be able to finish anyone off, but my opponent's reactions are hilarious), that has occasionally resulted in a Glad point here and there.

It's relatively similar, but I run 16 in air (I'm pretty sure you mean to as well, but the helm point is in ES), so that Glyph of Elemental Power drops the energy cost to 5. The last few points I usually ignored, though I'd occasionaly put them in WS for Brambles.

Also, Fluffy, I'd advise not using Conjure Lightning, as Thunderclap drains each time they receive air damage, so it would trigger twice per KD.

If this is more PvE/UW oriented, and you've got a tank, could a Geo Ele with Bed of Coals suffice?
EDIT: @skylancer below - The geo ele would play the role of tank, no additional KDs on him. Simply offering a few ideas to build off the constant KDs

Towards your PvP choices, how effective is Song Of Power? The 25e cost doesn't seem to be made up for in the 11 seconds it is in effect.

Thunderclap PvP

E/R

Air - 12 + 3 + 1
ES - 12 + 1, Major if you'd like
WS - 3
Vigor Rune, rest attunements
Energy bonuses on armor, I like keeping +10 while enchanted on Chest/Legs
+5e Shocking Shortbow of Defense/Fortitude/Enchanting.

Shock Arrow - The quicker recharge allows me to spam it every 2s if my arrows are blocked
Gale
Glyph of Elemental Power - This drops the cost per hit down to 5, which you might want to change (it might have since the video).
Thunderclap
Whirlwind
Air Attunement/Aura of Restoration/Windborne Speed - your choice, mostly to get the armor bonus, though they each have their uses
Brambles - A bit of extra damage and pressure, rarely have a chance to replace it after the battle begins.
Res Sig

Less damage compared to your version, more emphasis on Ticking them off. Brambles is mostly to fill a spot, I really haven't changed the build since Nightfall came out, I'm sure there is a better skill to use.

Skylancer · Jan 03, 2007, 12:33 AM // 00:33

@ nothing special:

Geo ele, being the tank, with bed of coals in his skillbar could add some burning yes, if that's what your after

Geo ele, not being the tank, (replacement for TC ele) with unsteady ground + bed of coals or whatever your thinking of would not be able to counter the aggrobreak in UW, since it isn't permanent

Geo ele to support the TC ele will only mess up TC ele's energy (if that Geo ele uses knockdown skills)

About the PvP build: Many varieties here, really gets to players