Curse

Keaton McFelon · Apr 14, 2006, 12:04 AM // 00:04

ive been reading up on some ele spiker builds on some websites (including this one), but i just have some questions since I'm new to this.

would I have a better chance of finding certain element choices of spike groups over another (ie: are there likely to be more air spike teams than fire, earth, water spike teams in places like HoH?)

also, I've decided to develop either a fire or air spiker ele. In one article on another website, the air spike build is an Ele/Ranger, but my current build is based on an E/Mo. is this a bad choice for spike teams?

edit: i cant find many good articles for a good fire spiker. any suggestions?

Keaton McFelon · Apr 14, 2006, 08:57 PM // 20:57

wow, a whole day and no replies...i could really use some help guys

unholy guardian · Apr 14, 2006, 09:02 PM // 21:02

earth seems to be a good spike thing, obseidian flame people use a lot, plus earth has a lot of utility spell people use a lot. i dont know if e/mo or e/* something else would be better, i havn't dealt with a lot of that.

torquemada · May 22, 2006, 11:53 AM // 11:53

Typically you spike single target for max dmg in minimum time, so air line is optimal for this (or earth obsidian spike as unholy guardian mentioned):

Lightning Orb + Lightning Strike+Enervating Charge

Pack Blinding Flash (for pesky warriors) , ResSig, Ether Prodigy (to spam those skills like hell).

Actually you might swap Enervating Charge for Ligtning Surge, but then you miss elite skill for e-management.

Fill remaining slots with skills of choice (Whirlwind or Gale might be nice).

Since I'm fairly new to air spiking (usually play other classes or warder w obsidian flame), perhaps I gave you a bad input, but it's more or less on the right track, hopefully

Obsidian Spike, on the other hand is based mostly on the spell Obsidian Flame, which should give you a clear cca. 100 dmg output (ignores armor). You can precede the obsidian spike with Earthquake. Hopefully you'll get your oponent down, while using skills like Ward vs. Melee and Ward vs. Foes for protective purposes. Kinetic Armor is also nice. These skills will keep you alive between spikes.

Fire is not really useful for spiking, because it's mostly AoE dmg, and without armor penetration, so you'll discover that you do much less than nominal damage to your opponent. Besides, PvP teams do not tend to stack one upon the other.
Usable damagers here are Fireball, Rodgorts Invocation, Incendiary Bonds, Immolate. You'll soon find out, though, that you are spending insane amounts of mana for subpar damage output.

Water is used for snaring (slowdown) and it makes sense to combine witn fire AoE's in some situations, but it can be highly conditional. I'm not proficient with Water magic, so I'm not going to give you any kind advice on that

Remember that you need good coordination with your team and good spike caller. TS/Vent highly recommended.

Francis Crawford · May 22, 2006, 06:01 PM // 18:01

In a pure spike team, the target dies in a moment, after a single hit each from a lot of different attackers. Maximum damage from a single hit, after taking armor into account, comes from Lightning Orb or Obsidian Flame.

If you want to play in a 4v4 set-up, pure spiking isn't what happens; you just want to do a lot of damage fast. In that case, air seems like the only real choice. (Note: This is the only kind of PvP I've done, and not even a lot of that.)

As for what kind of teams there are -- read up on "rainbow spike" teams. It seems as if a lot of teams like to mix the kinds of hit in a spike, to minimize the chance that a single defense such as Aegis will cripple the spike.

My only successful PvPing was done with a build that featured Elemental Attunement/Air Attunement/Aura of Restoration/Blinding Flash/lightning damage skills. Enchantment stripping wasn't much of an issue. But each time I died and was rezzed, I wished that I'd used Ether Prodigy as the elite instead.

torquemada · May 24, 2006, 12:20 PM // 12:20

Just to add, playing lightning flashbot also gets me scared of those Assasins. Seems like good builds are emerging, and good assasins stay in the back to suddenly shadowstep and backstab me - sure ill flash him right, but not before I'm bleeding all over like a stuck pig, and the gank is underway.

Or is it just that I played warrior for so long that I forgot just how squishy ellies are??

tramssii · May 25, 2006, 02:25 AM // 02:25

I have a spiker ele/mo that uses air as well. I find it works out great, so there is no need to change it (note, other people may disagree). My build is a bit of a classic one starting with lighting surge (elite) followed by lightning orb. With 15 air your numerical damage is somewhere around 200 for the combined hit. Another good thing about surge is that it can knock war's flat on there but and you can get away.

the build i've found that works well in both pvp and pve (which is open for discusion) when i use it is:
15 air - 12 +2+1
14 energy storage - 12 + 2
remaining in protection

Lighting strike
Enervating charge
lightning orb
chain lighting
gale or blinding flash (what ever the fight calls for)
Lightning Surge (elite)
Air attunment
Rebirth

When looking at the build your thinking, well what about exaustion?
DON'T SPAM THE SPELLS THAT CAUSE IT! that's why i use three other spells for the main damage dealing in pve. Another thing about this build is that it takes a while to get used to. When you first start out, you're probably not going to like it. Trust me though, when you get the hang of it, almost nothing can escape your strike. If you have questions about how to use it. let me know, its a pretty old build that's still good. you just have to think through your moves and you'll be fine with any spike build.

torquemada · May 25, 2006, 08:20 AM // 08:20

Besides exhaustion, I was wondering is that Air attune really enough for this build to be comeptent. Usually I drop Surge for Elite e-management (which annoys me - ellies have to drop elite damagers just to keep energy up, and besides, there's no really good dmg elites).

tramssii · May 29, 2006, 04:01 AM // 04:01

honestly, it helps. You may not like only getting a third of the energy back instead of half with but when you take a higher costing spell, say lighting orb (15), and you get a third back you can cast smallers costing spells directly afterwards, like lighting strike, where as you couldn't before to get an additional 50 damage off. I like it, some people probably find it pointless. another thing to look at is that my energy storage is total at 14 so i have around 78 (i think) energy to play with.

Keaton McFelon · May 29, 2006, 02:28 PM // 14:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by tramssii

I have a spiker ele/mo that uses air as well. I find it works out great, so there is no need to change it (note, other people may disagree). My build is a bit of a classic one starting with lighting surge (elite) followed by lightning orb. With 15 air your numerical damage is somewhere around 200 for the combined hit. Another good thing about surge is that it can knock war's flat on there but and you can get away.

the build i've found that works well in both pvp and pve (which is open for discusion) when i use it is:
15 air - 12 +2+1
14 energy storage - 12 + 2
remaining in protection

Lighting strike
Enervating charge
lightning orb
chain lighting
gale or blinding flash (what ever the fight calls for)
Lightning Surge (elite)
Air attunment
Rebirth

When looking at the build your thinking, well what about exaustion?
DON'T SPAM THE SPELLS THAT CAUSE IT! that's why i use three other spells for the main damage dealing in pve. Another thing about this build is that it takes a while to get used to. When you first start out, you're probably not going to like it. Trust me though, when you get the hang of it, almost nothing can escape your strike. If you have questions about how to use it. let me know, its a pretty old build that's still good. you just have to think through your moves and you'll be fine with any spike build.

that looks like a good build. I'll try it out. thanks.

is echo nuking used in spike? (i would assume it is unneccesary because the purpose of spike is to be quick) but i am still interested in any echo or nuking build if you guys know any.

torquemada · May 31, 2006, 12:11 PM // 12:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keaton McFelon

that looks like a good build. I'll try it out. thanks.

is echo nuking used in spike? (i would assume it is unneccesary because the purpose of spike is to be quick) but i am still interested in any echo or nuking build if you guys know any.

Nope, not fire. They are mostly AoE, you'll never be effective in PvP with it (at least not as effective as Air spiker or Earth Obsidian Flame spiker). Also, energy requirements are insane and damage subpar (rememeber - air magic has armor penetration, Obsidian Flame ignores it, fire doesn't).

If you want an echo nuker build still (for PvE, mind you):

1. Immolate
2. Fireball
3. Rodgorts Invocation
4. Fire Attunement
5. Elle Attunement {E} or Glyph Of Renewal {E}
6. Arcane Echo
7. Incendiary Bonds
8. Meteor Shower

Also, you're right - fire nukes are slow in casting and recharge - you'd be interrupted to hell and back, believe me...