Curse

ubermancer · Jul 09, 2006, 04:17 AM // 04:17

Shortly before I quit Guild Wars, I was playing with my Elementalist in Tyria. I was running a sliver armor geo-tanker solo build, and was amused by how easily soloable Talus Chute was. With my build (elite - ether renewal) I enjoyed what little opposition the Grawl, Giants, Trolls, Stone Summit and Ice Imps posed. (the damn gryphons were simply a bitch to kill, but ultimately possible)

After that, I decided, what the hell, Ill go into Ice Dome and play in there. I was amused by how I was able to kill a Stone Summit Heretic, though it took me a couple of tries (read: I was at 60dp... and it was new armor, no vigor rune!!). I never got the opportunity to test this before I gave my account away, but I believe I could solo Ice Dome.

The build revolves around using Kinetic Armor and Armor of Earth, so enchant stripping is a problem. Some sort of expendable cover enchant will be needed. To severely limit the scope of this problem it will likely be necessary to use Obsidian Flesh. Disrupting Chop is a problem, so Mantra of Resolve. Channeling provides energy management and applicable cover enchant. Simply out damaging those yak-slapping monks is more or less not an option, so energy lock them with Spirit Shackles.

Kinetic Armor
Armor of Earth
Channeling
Mantra of Resolve
Spirit Shackles
(Obsidian Flesh) {E}

That leaves you with 2(3) skill slots left - it really depends on how good you are at outplaying those damn Stone Summit Arcanists. Stone Daggers is a notable staple for fueling Kinetic and Channeling. Sliver Armor does absurd damage when you are facing many foes at once, which is kinda the idea behind Channeling.

Keeping your health up is a damn good plan, so Aura of Restoration and Ether Feast are notable options. Something else I worry about along those lines are the Rangers, with their Melandru's Arrows. Interupting, blinding, or elsewise avoiding the consistantly high, armor-ignoring damage they deal would seem to be necessary. Say, Earth has a spiffy new skill which Blinds regularly doesnt it? And Mesmers have ways to shut a character down, right? Yeah, you can figure something out.

From those skills it should prove feasible to wade into Ice Dome, having basically everything deal -0 (or near enough) to you. Did I mention your shield? No? Well you'll be using a -2 enchant -2 stance shield... maybe -3/-2, if you like. Your weapon is obviously +5 energy 20% enchanting.

The strategy would be to keep your important enchants from being removed by the heretics, via a combination of Obsidian Flesh and a cover enchant. Continually watch any rangers, so you can interupt/elsewise disable their melandru's arrows. Keep resolve up as long as there are carvers. Golems are no threat except through their snares.

You will bide your time, healing yourself and energy locking the monk. Once you are confident they have no energy, kill 'em... be sure to keep them drained, and dont attack before then as itll (probably) just reduce the usefulness of Spirit Shackles.

After that, Id suggest the rangers since they require the most active attention. But if you have problems with the Mesmers, they are plenty worth of attention. The gnashers and carvers are a joke, but make sure you dont run out of energy from the carvers as channeling becomes less efficient (all the while, resolve remains costly).

Dont overspam, dont underspam. Find the equilibrium where energy management, and the 9 second window are both met.

Sorry this isnt a full detailed guide, but like I said, I only tested it once or twice, and quit the game before I got around to perfecting it.. though I am -confident- I could clear Ice Dome using those tactics, as I was able to kill a group with 60dp, no vigor rune, and unideal skills.

ibex333 · Jul 09, 2006, 04:35 PM // 16:35

All I can say is.... Why wasnt I the person you gave your account to??

Why_Me · Jul 09, 2006, 06:20 PM // 18:20

Awesome, I'll be sure to try this out. I've soloed many places with my elementist, but I usually use a perma-obsidian flesh build or an ether renewal build. I was gonna try a perma-obsidian flesh build here soon, but it tends to run out of energy considering you need to have an elementist attacking you, or a ranger (canflagration, not greater canflagration, makes all arrows turn to fire, elemental damage). This could work much better, and spirit shackles never crossed my mind as a way to shut down mesmers.

ubermancer · Jul 09, 2006, 11:29 PM // 23:29

Monks, spirit shackles is to shut down monks. You can try to spread it out if it lasts long enough, but thats a good deal of inspiration.

And I never gave my account to you because I dont know you, and XoO declined RFE's request for admittance back when we were competition, so... kinda went to a guildie who had long ago given me my second account.

ibex333 · Jul 10, 2006, 05:43 AM // 05:43

Heh.. you do know I was joking, right?

I am not aware of your grudge with XoO... I'm just a member.
Too bad you quit GW. You were an active member in these forums, and you helped a lot of ppl. I'm assuming you switched to a different game or got sick of GW, because no other reason is good enough to quit. Things like college, work, wife, kids, and the sort dont qualify..

(jk)

ubermancer · Jul 10, 2006, 06:01 AM // 06:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibex333

Heh.. you do know I was joking, right?

I am not aware of your grudge with XoO... I'm just a member.
Too bad you quit GW. You were an active member in these forums, and you helped a lot of ppl. I'm assuming you switched to a different game or got sick of GW, because no other reason is good enough to quit. Things like college, work, wife, kids, and the sort dont qualify..

(jk)

Yeah Im well aware you were kidding, and no grudge.

I quit because it was taking up too much time, and when I am interested in something I tend to devote *all* my spare time into it. I switched from GW back to programming, and am now making my own MUD (multiplayer online text based RPG)... spent this weekend looking for apartments (I moved again) and coding an AI capable of following the flow of a conversation! Got a couple more days of coding ahead of me, but its looking good.

[well mines not actually pure text, it instead uses some graphics to relay things like character portraits, maps, and room layouts easier]