Curse

The Chimpster · Apr 11, 2006, 12:26 PM // 12:26

This is my attempt to replace the echo/renewal nuker which I have come to loathe and detest as it's the reason why eles have become redundant to MM/SS necros.

This build generates more damage, can still knockdown but has no exhaust!

If you're going to use this build on another forum I would ask that you post the link rather than the post itself! I've spent a lot of time on the build and would appriciate a small amount of credit

CLASS
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E/Mo

BUILD SETUP
----------------

The armour itself doesn't really matter. Fire is best for PVE and Air is best for PVP (and better looking, 15k anyway

).

Make sure you use the 20/20 collectors fire staff or ragos staff with an enchant mod and health mod if poss. So a hale head +30 and an enchant mod +20%.

ATTRIBUTE POINTS
-------------------

12 in fire magic, third eye + sup rune = 16
10 in Energy storage magic + Minor rune = 11
8 in earth magic + minor rune = 9
2 in air magic + minor rune = 3
1 in protection spells = 1

SKILLS
--------

Lava Font
Whirlwind
Inferno
Flame Burst
Kinetic Armour
Elemental Attunement
Fire Attunement
Rebirth

METHOD
----------

Basically the joy of this build is that it doesn't run out of energy, for at least 45 seconds anyway

Fire attunement gives you 30% of your energy back and elemental attunement gives you 50% of it back!

= 80% of all energy back from fire spells = Every 10 energy spell only costs 2 energy + energy regen covers most of that naturally.

Kinetic armour is a great armour buff (+56 armour with this build) with no slowdown. Essentially it lasts for 8 seconds but resets itself every time you cast a spell. This means you can keep it up indefinatley with this build and have just under 120 armour for most of the time (so long as you're not stripped).

First off, you charge into a group with ele attunement and fire attunement. Fire up kinetic armour just before you move in (not too close though as you don't want it inturrpted). You then use lava front (5 secs, 35 damage), followed by Whirlwind (adjacent foes hit for 29 damage and all attack foes knocked down), followed by inferno (adjacent foes, 135 damage), Flameburst (adjacent foes, 120 damage). While inferno does more damage and is cheaper, flame burst has a quicker recharge times so generally you use it more often.

Thankfully all these skills are cheap and quick to recharge with no exhaust. (ie inferno costs only 10 energy without fire attunement up, takes 3/4 of a sec to cast and regens in 20 secs, cheap as!). In fact this build is one of the cheaper builds I've played, kinetic armour 10, whirlwind 10, inferno 10, flameburst 15, lava front 10, ele attunement 10, fire attunement 10. Flipping cheap!

So you can spam to your hearts content all the day long.
The order of my spells goes as thus...

Lava Font, Whirlwind, Inferno, Flameburst, Lava Font, Whirlwind, Flameburst, Inferno (rinse and repeat).

The reason why I've included whirlwind is because it keeps more foes in range of the lava font (as enemies generally scatter before it ends) due to the knockdown against attacking foes. This also will give you more breathing room if you get targeted.

Use an enchant mod on a staff to make the attunements last that little bit longer. With a 19% staff which I use, I get only about 5 secs of ele attunement downtime.

The final thing to bear in mind is that none of these spells require an active target as such so if kinetic is running low just cast flameburst to regen it until you re-engage with foes.

This build works great in terms of damage output, however, without a good monk or two (even with kinetic armour up), you become to easy a target. If you have steady healing throughout, you can toast two warriors attacking you without need to worry. It's even more effective if they're focusing their efforts on another target. The key is positioning yourself in between enough for the spells to cause the most damage, to the most targets.

PVP
----

In terms of PvP useage, this build seems to be ideal for warrior take downs as generally they move up front first. Would be very interesting to use in conjunction with a trapper (spike trap and barbed trap particularly) or prehaps a knockdown/slowdown water ele. The real problem I was facing for a few matches was hammer knockdown warriors who have a nasty habit of targeting me and inturrupting me to hell. Thankfully, due to the speed of some of the spells, that isn't a problem, only when your enchants run out.
What I generally did when warriors were charging at me was cast lava front before they arrived (only just) and then proceeded to bomb the crap out of them. Seemed to work ok, I took out two sword warriors this way on my lonesome. Timing is key!

I'm interested in any comments or possible improvements to the build. Please feel free to be brutal with it!

Francis Crawford · Apr 11, 2006, 12:47 PM // 12:47

Whirlwind looks kind of blech in there, unless you need it to buy anti-interrupt time to recast Elemental Attunement. I think you'd do a bunch more net damage replacing it with Aftershock, for instance, or with the admittedly slower-casting Fireball. Or just Immolate; not everything has to be AoE. Or any other damage spell you like.

Aura of Restoration would provide considerable self-heal, and would be a cover enchantment against lightweight enchantment stripping (against heavyweight stripping the build of course doesn't work at all).

Galigord's staff is pretty cheap nowadays.

If you don't care about additional duration on the renewals of Kinetic Armor, you can afford to switch to another weapon for over 45 seconds at a time, e.g. a Defensive Staff of Defense.

But those are all nits. Basically, it looks like a good build!

The Chimpster · Apr 11, 2006, 03:23 PM // 15:23

Thanks for your comments.

In Re to the whirlwind comment, the reason I'm using is really for the knockdown alone. It keeps targets in range of lava font for a few more seconds allowing you to follow up with inferno/flameburst combo before they start scattering. The build (imho) already does enough damage with lava font/inferno/flameburst combo due simply to the fact that A) they're quick spells to cast and regen and B) because they're all low energy. I did use to have fireball in place of kinetic armour but found that I very rarely used it due to the cast time as you realised yourself.

I considered aura but thought that 4 enchants was considerable and if I did my maths right, kinetic armour would save me from a lot more damage than aura would heal (in theory).

The staff swaping point is well made and I agree wholeheartedly. I have a 20/20 fire collectors with a +30 +5 mods on which I swap too if needed. A +60 HP staff would go down a charm as the build is still very suceptable to degen from necros/mesmers. The only reason I'm using it is to reduce the ele attunement downtime.

Let me know how you find it in PvE if you do try it :P

carbajac · Apr 11, 2006, 06:08 PM // 18:08

I like it. I think adding Whirlwind gives Lava Font a purpose. If you're worried about knockdown, there's that new spell in Factions called Ward of Stability, where you can't be knocked down. Finding a place to put it in that build is another question though. It looks like it can do some very good damage. I just may have to try this one out.

The Chimpster · Apr 11, 2006, 10:33 PM // 22:33

Aye, let me know how you find it.

I was using it in the defend north kryta mission last night and was being whinged at by the random monk I picked up because I was too near the enemies (fool :P). What he seemed to keep failing to realise was that the renewal nuker in the party was getting the crap beaten out of him and was next to useless for most of the quest (down with echo nuking I say!

). :P A good bonder goes a long way when using the build that's for sure.

I think it's a good mix between offence and defence. Most ele builds I look at either focus too much on one or the other (generally at the expensive of energy managment).

Let me know how the play testing goes.

Lorir · Apr 12, 2006, 12:01 AM // 00:01

Just to say archane echo and flame burst is a lot of fun

i'd drop whirlwind for archane echo. (i know its an E/Mo, but only for rebirth - depends if you like the damage or backup rebirth..and since your in melee range your probably going to be the rebirthee anyway)

btw, not sure if the AoE nurf made them run from burst??? Have only used AE<>burst pre nurf. Would drop lava font if they dont run from burst, higher damage if they're siting there taking hits.

Francis Crawford · Apr 12, 2006, 01:26 AM // 01:26

I just don't see where Whirlwind's knockdown causes enough incremental damage to make it quite as powerful in net damage is, say, Aftershock would be -- even if every single adjacent enemy is attacking at the moment.

That said, it seems close, so if the knockdown also has other uses (like interruping one attack per enemy ...), great.

torquemada · Apr 12, 2006, 07:36 AM // 07:36

Hm, I was considering something similar a while ago, but it never got serious. Nice one, will try it out tonight (will drop rebirth for rez tho).
You could use wards (ie vs foes, vs. melee) for more slowdown or as protection. They last for 10 secs even at earth 1 and are easily spammable with some energy management

Just glad someone's coming with PBAoE build that uses earth for protection and fire for blastoff. And I always loved lavafont as a means of "get out of here, pesty Warrior!"

Here's my suggestion:

1. Dual Attune
2. Kinetic
3. Rush to designated target(s)
4. Ward vs. foes (slowdown)
5. Whirlwind
6. Lava font
7. Blast em (inferno/flameburst)!

More or less in that order...

EDIT: Am uncertain if you'll be able to spam enough to keep Kinetic up...

The Chimpster · Apr 12, 2006, 09:31 AM // 09:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorir

Just to say archane echo and flame burst is a lot of fun

i'd drop whirlwind for archane echo. (i know its an E/Mo, but only for rebirth - depends if you like the damage or backup rebirth..and since your in melee range your probably going to be the rebirthee anyway)

btw, not sure if the AoE nurf made them run from burst??? Have only used AE<>burst pre nurf. Would drop lava font if they dont run from burst, higher damage if they're siting there taking hits.

Flameburst/inferno doesn't cause the scatter effect as far as I can tell. Lava font obviously does, hence the reason why I've included whirlwind as a means to keep them in range of the duration of lava font.
Generally I've played this in a PvE Environment where foes always are attacking 9/10, and so it always knocks down surrounding foes, which I find to be a very useful feature.
In terms of PvP, eles are just one of those targets warriors love to rush at I find so again, this is a very useful defensive feature.

The ward idea for slowdown might be a great idea, it may be a good way to replace whirlwind (so ward against foes, or possibly grasping earth as all the damage I'll be doing is elemential).

EDIT
Just tried with ward against foes and it just doesn't work the way I'd hope, 50% slowdown isn't enough to keep them in range of lava font. In fact, it usually makes matters worse as it takes longer for them to get back to your position to get nuked on. Whirlwind is staying in my skill bar, it may not look like it works on paper particualary but try it, the knockdown works a charm.

torquemada · Apr 12, 2006, 11:07 AM // 11:07

Ahh....it was just an idea anyways...

Will try it...damn work!

carbajac · Apr 12, 2006, 10:49 PM // 22:49

I tried it in Random Arenas. It worked pretty good. A prot monk with Protective Spirit kind of stalled my progress though. But on the good side, I got a warrior to run from me instead of the other way around. That was nice.

Also, I fought a team with no warriors, just rangers and casters. It was tough because they run around a bit more. If you can't get lava font off before they run away, it makes the build tough.

The Chimpster · Apr 12, 2006, 11:01 PM // 23:01

Good points. I haven't rigously tested this build on a PvP basis, just an hour or two on random arenas like you have. I'm more of a PvE player and so this build is probably more suited for that environment.
However, like you noiticed, it's great for warrior take down as they will sit there and attack you for ages until they realise that they're getting whooped

(thank goodness for stupid W/Mo's that think they're invincable

).

Prehaps a ward against foes would be a better choice for PvP (in place of whirlwind). You could cast that up first and then cast up lava font, keeping warriors in range until it was too late.

For PvE though, I still think whirlwind is more effective because of the points I've mentioned above.

Thanks for trying the build though

Lord Cooper · Apr 13, 2006, 07:20 AM // 07:20

i havent tried the build yet but here is a suggestion. take out fire attunement and put in ether renewal. with 3 enchantments up its good for 48 health and 6 energy for each spell u cast while its up. with a 20% enchantments staff you can get in 4 stone daggers thats 192 health and 24 energy. plus the energy return you get from ele attunement. however you need a quick spammable spell to make it work so either flare or stone daggers needs to be swapped into your build somewhere. i would swap out lava font personally for stone daggers.

to be honest though im not entirely sure why you are using fire? if its an anti warrior build surely earth or air would be better as they have armour penetration. crystal wave for example completely ignores armour so surely would be better against high level warriors than flameburst?

if you are worried about hammer knockdowns then go warrior secondary and take balanced stance.

Francis Crawford · Apr 13, 2006, 07:27 AM // 07:27

Lord Cooper -- you just proposed that he run two elites together.

Lord Cooper · Apr 13, 2006, 07:36 AM // 07:36

ooops

just testing ya.. well done for noticing

ok so scratch what i just said then.. or swap ele attunement for ether renewal ( i like ether renewal

)

The Chimpster · Apr 13, 2006, 08:46 AM // 08:46

I don't

7 seconds worth for a 30 second recharge spell has always seemed naff to me.
Elemential attunement is going to save me far more energy than renewal will give back to me. True, I don't get health from it, but hey - that's a monks job.

All the earth spells are capped off at 85 max damage and only one of them ignore armour (that's AOE anyway). Earthquake is a long casting spell and easy to interupt (as well as causing exhaust, something I've tried to avoid). My fire spells though do 135 damage and 120 damage respectively and recharge quite a bit faster (crystal wave = 20 secs, aftershock = 10, earthquake = 15 = 45 secs. lava font = 4 secs, flameburst = 5, inferno = 20 = 29 secs). Because they recharge faster you can use them far more often (duh

), and do a heck of a lot more damage.

For only one armour ignoring spell (that screws up most warriors and rangers who use conditions), it doesn't seem worth the swap, especaially as if I factor in obsidion flame I'm going to get major exhaust problems.

Don't get me wrong, I love earth magic, I just don't think it's as effective for offense in this style of build.

Lord Cooper · Apr 13, 2006, 09:00 AM // 09:00

where do you get crystal wave only does 85 dmg from? it does 100 against lvl22 hydras and obs flame does 112/ although i admit that is at max dmg..

and yes the main reaon i like ether renewal is the fact it gives health back.. i like my builds to be as self sufficient as possible i dont like having to rely on someone else to heal me. they may be busy low on energy or dead!

The Chimpster · Apr 13, 2006, 09:16 AM // 09:16

Which is why I've included kinetic armour, +56 armour is a hell of a buff for negating damage, ether has too much downtime for it to be reliable, especially for this build. All I can say is try it and see what you think.

Lord Cooper · Apr 13, 2006, 09:28 AM // 09:28

yea i will try it tonight it looks fairly solid... ill be trying a few builds tonight by the looks of it

im in for an interesting night

kuwlij · Apr 13, 2006, 07:18 PM // 19:18

i'm currently solo farming jungle trolls south of henge of denravi with a pyromancer build similar to this one. this is what's in the skillbar

1. Fireball
2. Flameburst
3. Incendiary bonds
4. Phoenix
5. Inferno
6. Aura of Restoration
7. Fire attunment
8. Armour of Earth

before i advance into a mob i cast fire arrunment then aura since they last for a minute. then advance as soon as they come for me i hit Armour of earth and target the closest foe and hit all the attack spells from 1 through to 5 in that order. The order is important because of the scatter some PBAoE skills cause. by the time you've cycled through them you should find the mob oblitterated and can finish anyone who may have gotten out cos of scatter with fireball or flameburst.

my attributes are:
Earth Magic 7 (6 + 1)
Fire Magic 16 (12+ 1+ 3)
Energy Storage 12 (9 + 3)

with fire attribute up to 16 you can produce :

119 + 127 + 84 ( 2 sec set on fire ) + 119 + 95 +142 = 686 Fire Damage + 3 seconds set on fire.