Curse

Francis Crawford · May 31, 2006, 11:20 PM // 23:20

I've nuked for most of the time I've played Guild Wars, but I've never liked Meteor Shower, and indeed haven't yet bothered to get Meteor onto my skill list.

With Factions out, I'm playing more group PvE again. This build is working pretty well for me.

Rez
Aura of Restoration
Elemental Attunement (E)
Fire Attunement
Rodgort's Invocation
Incendiary Bonds
Fireball
Immolate

The goal of the build is simply to pump out the maximum possible damage. An important side benefit is that it pumps a lot of energy through Aura of Restoration for self-healing.

Pitfalls include squishiness, enchantment stripping, and disruption (especially of Elemental Attunement or Rodgort's Invocation; if it's interrupted you don't get 19 of 25 energy spent back from your Attunements). Ether Prodigy might be a better choice as an elite, but I like the big energy numbers and don't enjoy playing Ether Prodigy (although I would enjoy having room on my skillbar for one more spell).

Note that with dual Attunements, 5 energy and 10 energy spells each cost 2 net, 15 energy spells cost 4 net, and 25 energy spells cost 6 net. But again, that's only if the spell resolves (and both Attunements are up).

Playing tips include:

1. Let the warriors run in before you fire a shot. That greatly reduces the change you'll be enemy target #1.

2. If Shatter Enchantment/Strip Enchantment is a major concern, cover Elemental Attunement with Aura of Restoration diligently.

3. Try not to set somebody on fire with two different spells at the same time. A good rhythm is Fireball-Immolate-Something Else.

Weapons I use are

A. (Most commonly) Rago's Flame Staff. This is best when enchantment stripping/interruption is a moderate concern.

B. Collectors' wand/offhand. This is best when nobody's bothering me at all,, and I simply want to maximize damage output.

C. Defensive collector's Staff of Defense. This is best when I'm taking a lot of damage.

My limit in any given fight is toggling between two slots situationally.

I also have an axe/shield set in my fourth weapon slot (for when I Ether Renewal farm), and I really should remember to switch to it before I'm killed so that I can have some immediate post-rez energy by switching back out.

And for armor I of course use Tempest, for the when-enchanted bonus. And a single sup rune (Fire); I just keep a hat around for each element, with a sup rune on it. (And a hat with a minor fire rune for when I have DP, but I never switch to it; if DP gets that bad I could use candy canes ...)

The Great Al · Jun 01, 2006, 04:49 AM // 04:49

I think if you hit someone on fire for 3 seconds, and then 3 seconds again right away, that it will go for 6 seconds. Don't quote me on that though

With only 1 25 point spell, and only 4 attack spells, it's not necessary to have both elemental attunement and fire attunement in. In fact, with those spells, you could probably get away with just fire attunement. However, I would take out probably fire attunement and put in Meteor. I love using meteor when I am very low on energy. It only costs 5 energy, does a lot of damage in a small (but not single target) area, knocks down everytihng in its range, and because it takes 3 seconds to cast, by the time it is cast, you have gained back pretty much all of the energy. Also, if you are very low on energy, the exhaustion won't even be noticable

Francis Crawford · Jun 01, 2006, 05:45 AM // 05:45

Suppose I just had fire attunement. Then I'd be spending around 17 energy/minute on Aura + Fire Attunement, leaving 63 for fire damage spells. Fire Attunement alone might, depending on the mix of spells, give about a 40% increase, so I's have somewhere under 90 energy/minute, plus somewhere over 100 energy/fight more (from my initial energy reserve).

Except in a short fight, I could run out pretty easily.

OK, suppose it were Elemental Attunement, which of course is better than Fire Attunement. Elemental Attunement + Aura cost a little over 20 energy/minute, leaving 60ish for fire damage. That's almost doubled by Elemental Attunement, leaving me 120/minute to spend on fire damage spells, plus now 160 energy once/fight. That could almost be enough, except for the problem of interrupts, enchantment stripping, and the like.

I even occasionally run low on energy with my actual build, when the disruption is heavy. For example, the last mission I did was Arborstone, and I certainly had some "down time" there. I'd run low much more often if I left out Fire Attunement.

LightningHell · Jun 01, 2006, 07:23 AM // 07:23

I think you could splash in a secondary skill, i.e. Power Drain or Drain Enchantment. Or you could just fit in Prodigy (and, IMO, replace Invocation with something else.)

Lord Cooper · Jun 01, 2006, 07:54 AM // 07:54

i would swap conjure flame in there somewhere... possibly in place of incendiary bonds, by using conjure flame you pump up the damage from your wand significantly allowing you to stay in a battle even with low energy. other than that looks like a fairly solid build. doesnt have the damage output of a nuker but then its not a nuking build.

LightningHell · Jun 01, 2006, 08:00 AM // 08:00

A nuker would have even less output in PvP.

Lord Cooper · Jun 01, 2006, 08:14 AM // 08:14

true.

Francis Crawford · Jun 01, 2006, 12:17 PM // 12:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Cooper

doesnt have the damage output of a nuker

I'd be very interested in seeing the arithmetic behind that claim.

4x (Glyph of Renewal + Meteor Shower) + Fire Attunement + Aura of Restoration = 106 energy used and 4x exhaustion incurred. Tough to keep that up for more than 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, 8x Fireball + 4x Rodgort's = the same damage as 4x Meteor Shower, with 168 points of degen as well, and for the Rodgort's case a greater AoE than the Meteor Showers. And there's enough energy left over for 2x Incendiary Bonds plus several Immolates before you even reach a steady state 80 energy per minute. (8 Fireballs is doable if you use two 20% fast recharge items.)

Now, truth be told, you can't quite cast all of that in a minute's time, but it's still relevant, because what happens in real life is that both builds are subject to interruption and other irritants, and thus both fail to live up to their theoretical potential.

(And Conjure Flame is useless in my build because you're casting pretty much nonstop -- which is better than taking out a damage spell and making time to wand. And no, I don't think the time left over to wand in a classing renewal nuking build is enough to make up for the damage advantage in my build.)

The big advantage to Meteor Shower is of course the knockdown. But from a pure damage perspective I think it's suboptimal.

Lord Cooper · Jun 01, 2006, 12:42 PM // 12:42

yea you might have a point.. i still dont like incendiary bonds though