Curse

Sir Velron Rosemoon · Jun 30, 2006, 08:07 PM // 20:07

Everywhere I look it's fire. Fire, fire, and guess what, more fire. With a hint of Air spiking on top. So I decided to make a new ele, lvl him up, and see if I could find a good geomancer build out there. Problem is, I don't know many geomancer, or even ele's for that matter.

So, I have come here to ask and beg if I must, for a decent geomancer build that either includes knock down, high dmg, w/e. I just want to try an awsome pve build that is not fire for once =/

So please =)

Son of Urza · Jun 30, 2006, 08:43 PM // 20:43

Dragon's stomp/earthquake are both good, with high AoE damage and knockdown. Unfortunately, this comes at the heavy price of 25 energy, exhaustion and a 3 second casting time. One good way to exploit them is the old warder earthquake+aftershock combo. If you're going to do that in PvE, I would recommend Armor of Earth, as you will not survive melee range combat as an ele without it. Obsidian flame is also a powerful, armor ignoring damage skill, but using it repeatedly will decimate your energy bar.

For close-range AoE's, look into Teinai's Crystals and Crystal Wave, two duplicate skills that deal over 100 armor-ignoring AoE damage at high earth magic. THEIR disadvantage, however, is the fact that they not only have a long 20second recharge but also cure all the stuck enemies of all their conditions.

I personally think that the best use for earth is the defensive skills; wards and armor can greatly increase you and your party's survival rate. For pure damage with a little self-defence, I would recommend simply going fire with earth for armor of earth. I do know that that is not what you want to do, and I will let you do that.

One possible build that I have considered is a build utilizing the powerful earth armor spells to enable the incredibly powerful point-blank AoE's that the fire and earth lines have. You could investigate further into that for me, as I never managed to get to that.

Lafayette · Jun 30, 2006, 10:50 PM // 22:50

You should try a geomancer build. They are extremely effective and fun. And rare.

How about this:

Earth Attunement
Glyph of Energy [elite]
Obsidian Flame
Stoning
Crystal Wave
Ward Against Melee/Elements (depending on location and foes encountered)
Rez skill

And I either took Heal Party or Armor of Earth or, more rarely, Earthquake. It was primarily about using Glyph of Energy and Obsidian Flame to spike, and using Crystal Wave and Stoning during the Glyph's recharge. None of the skills are that expensive and the glyph easily keeps exhaustion under control (or non-existent). This was in Prophecies so there aren't any Factions skills.

Other times I have used Glyph of Energy and Earthquake for KD spiking builds (both have a 15 second recharge so match well):

Earth Attunement
Glyph of Energy
Earthquake
Aftershock
Crystal Wave
Armor of Earth
Ward Against Melee/Elements
Rez skill

Using Armor of Earth you can 'tank' enough to use Aftershock and Crystal Wave then retreat. Aftershock of course does more damage after Earthquake but it and CW do very nice damage on their own without the extra KD bonus.

I haven't tried out many of the Factions earth skills yet but many of them look fun and effective. Using Armor of Earth (and/or Kinetic Armor) then using Shockwave and/or CW/Teinai's Crystals and/or aftershock can be some effective PBAoE damage.

Earth's defensive skills are very nice too. Ward of Stability helps a lot in the forest with the hammer warriors, and ward against melee/elements are obviously useful according to which foes you're fighting.

Plus, a pure geomancer makes a very effective farmer. If you don't have a 55 monk it is a good alternative. E.g. Elemental Attunement, Earth Attunement, Armor of Earth, Kinetic Armor, Whirlwind, Aftershock, Crystal Wave, Aura of Restoration. Bye bye minotaurs.

Hollerith · Jun 30, 2006, 11:26 PM // 23:26

I think the most effective Earth damage build I made centered around Enervating Charge/Stoning with some Obsidian Flame thrown in, and Ash Blast looks like it could be a fun skill to use with it. Always liked Eruption and Earthquake, but usually won't work unless you Sac Glyph the KD.

For a pretty fun ward build in pve I run

Obsidian Flesh
Ward Against Melee
Ward Against Elements
Ward Against Foes
Kinetic Armor
Earth Attunement
Serpent's Quickness
Res or Obsidian Flame

Lord Cooper · Jul 04, 2006, 08:23 AM // 08:23

heres my geotank build:

Geo-tank (hydra farming build)

E/W

Stats:
Earth: max
energy storage: max

kit:

any rod with a 20% enchantment bonus. galigords staff is the obvious choice here.

Skills:

stone daggers
kinetic armour
armour of earth
obsidian flame
crystal wave
earth attunement
ward of stability
ether renewal

Tactics:

before initiating aggro cast earth attunement and kinetic armour. aggro with stone daggers to keep kinetic up (kinetic renews itself everytime you cast a spell). then cast armour of earth. hydras like to drop meteors and they will do so fairly early in the fight so get ward of stability up to avoid being KD'ed and interrupted. spam stone daggers as much as you like and recast your enchantments as necessary. use ether renewal only when you have all enchantments up for maximum effect and spam stone daggers to get max healing and energy back.

with this build and with practice it is fairly easy to take out a group of 3 hydras using just stone daggers as damage. for bigger groups use the bigger damage spells but be wary of the exhaustion from obsidian flesh. with practice 8 hydras at a go is achievable.

points to remember:

never let kinetic armour drop in a fight
time your ether renewal so that it isnt interrupted by meteors (or make sure you have ward of stability up)
cast kinetic armour before aggro as it has a long cast time.

if you dont have ward of stability you can go warrior secondary put points in tactics and take balanced stance instead.

Lord Cooper · Jul 04, 2006, 08:28 AM // 08:28

im also working on a geotank build that will hopefully address the inherent weaknesses of the build and allow me to take on hexers and strippers/interrupters with the same ease i take out warriors

got a prototype build on paper just need to test it out

BaconSoda · Jul 05, 2006, 04:52 AM // 04:52

I ran this a while ago: E/Mo or E/Rt

Earth Magic 16 (12+1+3)
E.Storage 13 (12+1)
Protection 3 (if you use rebirth)
Restoration 3 (if you use Flesh of my Flesh)
Healing 3 (if you use res chant or Restore life)

Stone Daggers
Stoning
Churning Earth/Eruption
Obsidian Flame
E.Quake/Dragon Stomp
Second Wind {E}
E.Attune/Aura of Restoration/Wild Card
Res

Point is to get exausted, use second wind to regain energy, spam Stoning/Stone Daggers, use Churning Earth/Eruption with E.quake/Dragon Stomp (make sure they're stuck in it with knockdown)
If you get loose on the exaustion use Obsidian Flame and it'll build up really quick. If your confidant that you're Second Wind can keep you supplied with energy drop Earth Attune and Bring Aura of Restoration, or whatever. I used this build in PvE by the way...