Curse

Jeff Highwind · Feb 05, 2007, 05:09 AM // 05:09

Yea I just rolled a Proph ele after having alot of weaponry accumulating in my storage. I just got a few quick questions for my E/Mo though since i've done the spellcaster gig before.

1. Which is technically better for defensive skills: Earth Magic's Wards or Healing Prayers?
2. This one's kind of a 2 parter: A) What's the earliest elite I can cap in any campaign ; B) Is the ele spawn in Vizunah Square guarenteed?
3. Which is a better utility armor: HP armor or the (Element) Defense +10 armors?

-.- · Feb 05, 2007, 06:15 AM // 06:15

Earth Magic Wards with Healing Prayers.

There's Guildwiki to check...

I find +10 armor more helpful.

Jeff Highwind · Feb 05, 2007, 07:37 AM // 07:37

Yea I saw the wiki and the closest thing would be Mind Freeze or Elemental Attunement in Kaineng's Undercity. I might go with Mind Freeze because of the double damage potential and snaring for Maelstrom.

Coloneh · Feb 05, 2007, 07:51 AM // 07:51

elemental attunement is arguably the best elite for an Ele, and easily the best for a starting ele. Dual attunement give you simple, easy, effective builds.

Sirix Leai · Feb 05, 2007, 08:07 AM // 08:07

Personal views here and assuming PvE as I think I recall you saying you dont PvP much in tombs once.

1. Wards are preferablr to healing skills to me since its damage prevention rather than halfa**ed self healing. Aura of restoration is plenty of self healing if I even take it along.

2. As stated before, wiki...

3. Ive found extra defense to be far more helpfull than an extra 30 or so hp. I use prismatic insignias with a defensive staff mod. Most damage I take when Im on my ele is minor that kiting will resolve, or a spike that extra armor helps mitigate.

Alex Morningstar · Feb 05, 2007, 08:28 AM // 08:28

The best defense you can ever have as an ele in any situation is knowing when to move your behind out of the line of fire. Aura of Restoration is the best heal you can get if you have enough points in ES. Since any self respecting ele will have an attunement on, I'd run with tempest armor.

Double exhaustion spells are bad btw. Just a personal experience note though, if you insist... by all means.

Cebe · Feb 05, 2007, 08:32 AM // 08:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Highwind

1. Which is technically better for defensive skills: Earth Magic's Wards or Healing Prayers?

Earth Magic. Stoneflesh Aura = Teh Win. Damage Prevention > Self Healing

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Highwind

2. This one's kind of a 2 parter: A) What's the earliest elite I can cap in any campaign ; B) Is the ele spawn in Vizunah Square guarenteed?

In prophecies (assuming you follow the storyline) it would be in the Desert...the Oh, so useful elite [wiki]Ether Renewal[/wiki]. In Factions...hmm...again if you follow the storyline I guess it would be [wiki]Mind Burn[/wiki] and that's IF the guy spawns in Vizunah Square, and no, there is no guarantee of that. I think there are 4 randomly spawning bosses in Vizunah so you just take a Signet of Capture and hope... As soon as you get to Cantha, however, you can wander through to The Undercity and cap [wiki]Mind Freeze[/wiki] and [wiki]Elemental Attunement[/wiki]. As for Nightfall, if you follow the storyline, the first ele boss you will encounter is one in Consulate Docks (Mission)...he has [wiki]Master of Magic[/wiki]. If you want to go out of your way, however, and head down towards the Issnur Isles you will find a Scale boss with [wiki]Icy Shackles[/wiki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Highwind

3. Which is a better utility armor: HP armor or the (Element) Defense +10 armors?

Persoanlly I prefer the +10 armor. Or, if you get inscribable armor you can get Prismatic insignia to put on it. That way providing you meet the criteria you have +5 armor (minimum) vs anything. Maybe if you go for an Air/Water combo you can get 9 in both attributes and get +10 armor. the "(Element) Defense" armors after all are only armor vs elemental damage

LightningHell · Feb 05, 2007, 12:14 PM // 12:14

Don't want to hear my comments about the other posters? Skip to the end of the post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coloneh

elemental attunement is arguably the best elite for an Ele, and easily the best for a starting ele. Dual attunement give you simple, easy, effective builds.

On the contrary, Elemental Attunement will give you non-elite Elementalist centered damage builds, or a Blinding Flash spammer, of which both are not optimal. The lack of an Elite rules out Ether Prodigy, which gives you energy for your nukes, as well as being able to power out secondary spells (Heal Party, for instance). The lack of an Elite also rules out Searing Flames, which, albeit nerfed, may still be usable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirix Leai

Personal views here and assuming PvE as I think I recall you saying you dont PvP much in tombs once.

1. Wards are preferablr to healing skills to me since its damage prevention rather than halfa**ed self healing. Aura of restoration is plenty of self healing if I even take it along.

2. As stated before, wiki...

3. Ive found extra defense to be far more helpfull than an extra 30 or so hp. I use prismatic insignias with a defensive staff mod. Most damage I take when Im on my ele is minor that kiting will resolve, or a spike that extra armor helps mitigate.

1) Healing skills are good when it doesn't just affect yourself.
2) Aura of Restoration sucks.
3) The extra defense you laid out is Elemental only, I think. You might want to consider that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Morningstar

The best defense you can ever have as an ele in any situation is knowing when to move your behind out of the line of fire. Aura of Restoration is the best heal you can get if you have enough points in ES. Since any self respecting ele will have an attunement on, I'd run with tempest armor.

Double exhaustion spells are bad btw. Just a personal experience note though, if you insist... by all means.

1) Aura of Restoration sucks. Sucks sucks sucks.
2) I don't respect myself...

3) Double exhaustion spells are okay, as long as you don't spam the crap out of them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Earth Magic. Stoneflesh Aura = Teh Win. Damage Prevention > Self Healing

In prophecies (assuming you follow the storyline) it would be in the Desert...the Oh, so useful elite [wiki]Ether Renewal[/wiki]. In Factions...hmm...again if you follow the storyline I guess it would be [wiki]Mind Burn[/wiki] and that's IF the guy spawns in Vizunah Square, and no, there is no guarantee of that. I think there are 4 randomly spawning bosses in Vizunah so you just take a Signet of Capture and hope... As soon as you get to Cantha, however, you can wander through to The Undercity and cap [wiki]Mind Freeze[/wiki] and [wiki]Elemental Attunement[/wiki]. As for Nightfall, if you follow the storyline, the first ele boss you will encounter is one in Consulate Docks (Mission)...he has [wiki]Master of Magic[/wiki]. If you want to go out of your way, however, and head down towards the Issnur Isles you will find a Scale boss with [wiki]Icy Shackles[/wiki]

Stoneflesh Aura is not as good out of farming. It's not "Teh win", although it has its uses.

Ether Renewal is not good out of farming. In fact, it downright sucks.

1) Both? Ether Prodigy + Heal Party + Wards?
2) Wiki.
3) From your choices, HP. From all armors, I'd say +Physical.

Cebe · Feb 05, 2007, 01:46 PM // 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

Stoneflesh Aura is not as good out of farming. It's not "Teh win", although it has its uses.

Ether Renewal is not good out of farming. In fact, it downright sucks.

1) Both? Ether Prodigy + Heal Party + Wards?
2) Wiki.
3) From your choices, HP. From all armors, I'd say +Physical.

Personally I use Stoneflesh Aura only when there are lots of warriors roaming about...like that bit of Gyala Hatchery where you just get utterly swamped. Can help protect you in those sort of scenarios although I don't often take it when I go earth. I might take a ward if you're lucky although when I go earth it's usually for the AoE damage and knockdowns.

I never said Ether Renewal was good, unless you took my sarcasm the wrong way. Yes, Ether Renewal does suck really badly but the OP asked which was the first ele Elite he could cap...in Tyria, it's Ether Renewal.

*sigh* You see what saying you're an E/Mo does? Baaaad idea. EVERYONE thinks the ONLY thing an E/Mo can do is spam Ether Prodigy and Heal Party. Every time I see that suggestion a little bit of me dies inside.

Umm, You don't need to tell him to go to Wiki any more...I think my post more than covered it

Ashe. · Feb 05, 2007, 01:54 PM // 13:54

I capped mind burn in vizunah on my 2nd try...its pretty useless imo...the fast casting and exhaustion is a killer....also double dragon is right outside of the marketplace...but it also useless in my opinion.

LightningHell · Feb 05, 2007, 02:11 PM // 14:11

The problem isn't really what the E/Mo can only do, it's what it can do most efficiently.

From what I've seen, using Ether Prodigy to power out Heal Party and Blinding Flash and the like has been pretty high up on the list.

Jeff Highwind · Feb 05, 2007, 02:40 PM // 14:40

I've found Celestial Beaver's and LightningHell's posts to be quite helpful. Considering I purchased 2 cap signets in my guild the moment I got out of Presearing I will be manipulating all ends and means in order to get elites and max armor ASAP without spending much. And on the armor, I never considered getting +physical armor so thanks for bringing that up.

And oh yea, Aura of Resto does suck. With Immolate, Fireball and Meteor on my skillbar so far (Don't yell, still in Ascalon remember?) I find it's hard to spam non-Flare skills fast enough to get decent healing out of it.

Cebe · Feb 05, 2007, 02:47 PM // 14:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Highwind

Considering I purchased 2 cap signets in my guild the moment I got out of Presearing I will be manipulating all ends and means in order to get elites and max armor ASAP without spending much.

In which case, assuming this means you're getting ran to Droks to get your max armor there are a few bosses around there with elites, namely:

Whitman's Folly: [wiki]Glimmering Mark[/wiki]
Snake Dance: [wiki]Mind Shock[/wiki]
Frozen Forest: [wiki]Ward Against Harm[/wiki]

Alex Morningstar · Feb 05, 2007, 03:25 PM // 15:25

As far as a straight heal spell, Aura isn't exactly the hottest thing out there, but if you are doing your job of kiting and not tanking damage, it takes care of the damage you do receive. It isn't great, but it does the job.

At least in my experience.

Dr Strangelove · Feb 05, 2007, 04:24 PM // 16:24

The real job of aura isn't really to heal, when you're actually taking damage, you should be kiting, not casting huge spells. The real reason to bring it is to cover up other enchantments. Aura has a low cast time and low recharge, while all your attunement have high cast time high recharge.

Ether prodigy is certainly better for casting non-ele spells, but if you want to spam ele spells, you'll find that you have uncomfortable downtimes waiting for regen with ether prodigy up. Also, prodigy uses up your exhaustion pip, which isn't really optimal. At any rate, it's a very late game cap.

As for the best early game cap, I'm going to go with elemental attunement from Chung the Attuned in the undercity.

Jeff Highwind · Feb 05, 2007, 05:42 PM // 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

In which case, assuming this means you're getting ran to Droks to get your max armor there are a few bosses around there with elites, namely:

Whitman's Folly: [wiki]Glimmering Mark[/wiki]
Snake Dance: [wiki]Mind Shock[/wiki]
Frozen Forest: [wiki]Ward Against Harm[/wiki]

I plan to get Max armor at Kaineng actually. Droks runs nowadays range anywhere from 5-10k and that is somthing I can't afford on my budget. Kaineng (albeit having uglier armor imo) is much cheaper to access and I will be capping Ele Attunement/Mind Freeze there anyway.

Thom Bangalter · Feb 05, 2007, 05:57 PM // 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Highwind

Yea I just rolled a Proph ele after having alot of weaponry accumulating in my storage. I just got a few quick questions for my E/Mo though since i've done the spellcaster gig before.

1. Which is technically better for defensive skills: Earth Magic's Wards or Healing Prayers?
2. This one's kind of a 2 parter: A) What's the earliest elite I can cap in any campaign ; B) Is the ele spawn in Vizunah Square guarenteed?
3. Which is a better utility armor: HP armor or the (Element) Defense +10 armors?

1) healing is terrible, outside of gift, heal other, breeze, and heal party. So, Wards win, because mitigation is king.

2) Master of magic is really early, if you want to be a smiter. The ele spawn isn't guaranteed, and his elite is not very good.

3) I'm actually a huge fan of geomancer armor as a set, but if I had to pick one set to buy, I'd get +health every time, because every other set is too conditional for my tastes.

In regards to other posts I saw: prodigy is always good. Before searing flames hit (as well as the new gole), my bar was Prodigy/rodgort's/fireball/heal party/glyph of sacrifice/meteor shower/rez chant/draw, and it was pretty good. I'm really tempted to try out frozen burst these days because the damage is good and snares are a lot more useful these days in pve, but searing flames still owns when you're rolling in packs.

Coloneh · Feb 05, 2007, 06:17 PM // 18:17

uhm... LightningHell. reading your post im wondering if you have ever played ele. aura of resto sucks? it heals more than most self heals for 10 energy every 60 seconds. and i had more to say, but i want to go play my new paragon.

Dr Strangelove · Feb 05, 2007, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coloneh

uhm... LightningHell. reading your post im wondering if you have ever played ele. aura of resto sucks? it heals more than most self heals for 10 energy every 60 seconds. and i had more to say, but i want to go play my new paragon.

Sporadic small heals at inconvenient times do not an efficient self heal make.

LightningHell · Feb 06, 2007, 12:32 AM // 00:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coloneh

uhm... LightningHell. reading your post im wondering if you have ever played ele. aura of resto sucks? it heals more than most self heals for 10 energy every 60 seconds. and i had more to say, but i want to go play my new paragon.

When you take damage:

You kite.
You don't cast spells.

When you're not taking damage:

You cast spells.

See why Aura isn't good?

I should spend more time in my home forums, perhaps...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex Morningstar

As far as a straight heal spell, Aura isn't exactly the hottest thing out there, but if you are doing your job of kiting and not tanking damage, it takes care of the damage you do receive. It isn't great, but it does the job.

At least in my experience.

If I were playing with 1 hench monk, I would maybe agree with you, if I weren't bringing Prodigy along. (Healing Breeze still is better.) But with two hench monks who can heal, your hero monks, or human monks, if you're kiting, those people can patch up your lost health faster than aura.

Meaning, if you're kiting, you can't cast spells, but your healers can. Basically, anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

Ether prodigy is certainly better for casting non-ele spells, but if you want to spam ele spells, you'll find that you have uncomfortable downtimes waiting for regen with ether prodigy up. Also, prodigy uses up your exhaustion pip, which isn't really optimal. At any rate, it's a very late game cap.

I don't get this "exhaustion pip" thing. I use exhaustion spells when I need them; I never get such a problem. When you want to spam Ele spells, you're usually using Searing Flames, which takes up your Elite anyways.

I'll agree on the late game cap.