Curse

Francis Crawford · Apr 04, 2006, 09:01 AM // 09:01

It seems I can solo every ettin in Kryta except one.

I don't know of the Luxon Settlement quest ettins are permanent for everybody, but I still have them. Anyhow, I left Beetletun, killed the ettins in that zone, came over to North Kryta, and killed all the ettins there too -- except Smuush. I got into a standoff with him and rarely even got his health too far down. This is the second time I've managed to kill all his buddies but not nail him.

Both times the build was Earth/Ether Renewal:

Ether Renewal (E)
Aura of Restoration
Kinetic Armor
Armor of Earth
Earth Attunement
Stone Daggers
Aftershock
Sympathetic Visage (first time)/Arcane Echo (second time)

I guess Crystal Wave might add more damage than Arcane Echo, but I don't see where it would be enough to matter, given all his Healing Signets. Ditto Obsidian Flame. I also doubt swapping in Rust would do the trick.

But if I go a lot more offensive with this build, I'm not sure how to survive all the way to the one-on-one with him.

Has anybody figured out how to solo a Level 24 Ettin with Endure Pain (Defy? The non-elite one), Healing Signet, and Backbreaker?

I don't see how a Mist Form/Water Magic build with perpetual Rust, Ice Spear, but lame other damage would get the job done either.

Am I missing anything?

Lord Cooper · Apr 04, 2006, 10:01 AM // 10:01

hmm is there any reason why you cant go earth/fire? earth for the armour buffs and fire for offense? you should be able to keep up a pretty constant barrage of damage that way

Francis Crawford · Apr 04, 2006, 11:00 AM // 11:00

Maxing out fire and putting Energy Storage at 12 (optimal for Ether Renewal) really cripples Earth Magic.

Compromising on the level of Energy Storage lessens the selfheal and energy management alike, in a build that would stress both of them (lower AL, Attument that doesn't cover everything, although the latter isn't a big issue).

I've used Fire damage/Earth armor Ether Renewal builds before, but I doubt they're optimal.

SolarisGW · Apr 04, 2006, 11:28 AM // 11:28

There was never an Ettin in Nebo i could not kill with this. Unless you really can't stand Water Magic, i suggest you give it a try, just make sure you have an enchantment enhancer weapon like Galigord's Stone Staff or Rago's Flame Staff.

Water Magic: 16
Energy Storage: 11
Inspiration Magic: 8

1. Armor of Mist
2. Water Attunement
3. Aura of Restoration
4. Mist Form {€}
5. Rust
6. Channeling
7. Ice Spear
8. Frozen Burst

What people usually forget (myself included, until i actually put this build together and gave it a try) is that after casting Rust and at 16 Water Magic, every Ice Spear will deal 124 damage while Frozen Burst will deal about 200 damage. Since Healing Signet takes so long to cast under Rust, you can pull 3 attacks under the -40 AL which should be enough to drop him down and even if it isn't, he will die when Endure Pain ends.

LightningHell · Apr 04, 2006, 01:59 PM // 13:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolarisGW

4. Mist Form {€}

That's funny...I never noticed a skill/euro exchange center in GW...

Anyways, nicely thought out, I'll have to try it out later.

Rust is a must...*Off making a Geo/Hydro build*

Francis Crawford · Apr 04, 2006, 11:33 PM // 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by SolarisGW

There was never an Ettin in Nebo i could not kill with this. Unless you really can't stand Water Magic, i suggest you give it a try, just make sure you have an enchantment enhancer weapon like Galigord's Stone Staff or Rago's Flame Staff.

Water Magic: 16
Energy Storage: 11
Inspiration Magic: 8

1. Armor of Mist
2. Water Attunement
3. Aura of Restoration
4. Mist Form {€}
5. Rust
6. Channeling
7. Ice Spear
8. Frozen Burst

What people usually forget (myself included, until i actually put this build together and gave it a try) is that after casting Rust and at 16 Water Magic, every Ice Spear will deal 124 damage while Frozen Burst will deal about 200 damage. Since Healing Signet takes so long to cast under Rust, you can pull 3 attacks under the -40 AL which should be enough to drop him down and even if it isn't, he will die when Endure Pain ends.

I've never tried that build, but I'd have to say my main concerns about it are:

1. All the Stone Daggers the Earthborn Ettins hit with.
2. Getting Mist Form interrupted by Backbreaker. Or waiting to put it up again until Backbreaker goes off, and hence having a particular bad case of:
3. Periods when Mist Form isn't up.
4. Lack of much self-healing if things go too wrong ...

Hmm. Frozen Burst/kiting might give time to ensure Mist Form goes back up promptly ...

WinespringBrother · Apr 04, 2006, 11:55 PM // 23:55

I'm able to solo-kill Smush's cousin Whoop in the troll cave in Talus Chute (along with his subordinates, though not level 28 Smush himself) with a variation on your earth build: Aura, Obsidian Flame, Armor of Earth, Kinetic Armor, Crystal Wave, Whirlwind, Aftershock, Essence Bond (E/Mo build). Earth:16, Air:9, Energy Storage:11. The exhaustion is a factor, you have to alternate Crystal Wave and Obsidian Flame to wear Whoop down, who doesn't have as good healing as Smush. Plus Whoop spends a lot of time casting Frozen Soil

which gives you a breather. Also, after I kill all the regular trolls and go after Whoop by himself, I turn essence bond off, for faster energy renewal.

Francis Crawford · Apr 05, 2006, 05:01 AM // 05:01

Looking again, I see Armor of Mist answers some of the questions.

I'd forgotten how cool Channeling can be in the right situation. Haven't used it for a month or two.

Subbing in Arcane Echo for something is very tempting, for speed. But I bet none of the energy management stuff is expendable.

Mantra of Earth would probably answer some of my Stone Daggers questions, but I don't know that there's room for it.

SolarisGW · Apr 05, 2006, 05:03 PM // 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

I've never tried that build, but I'd have to say my main concerns about it are:

1. All the Stone Daggers the Earthborn Ettins hit with.
2. Getting Mist Form interrupted by Backbreaker. Or waiting to put it up again until Backbreaker goes off, and hence having a particular bad case of:
3. Periods when Mist Form isn't up.
4. Lack of much self-healing if things go too wrong ...

Hmm. Frozen Burst/kiting might give time to ensure Mist Form goes back up promptly ...

I never bother to kite really. I just stand there and spam Ice Spear and Frozen Burst when available. All the healing i ever need is in the form of Aura of Restoration. Getting 16 hp per Ice Spear is enough to keep me alive and kicking. There is a 5 second period when Mist Form is not available but usually when that happens the 1st Ettin is already dead and the 2nd is using Healing Signet so only 1 or 2 Ettins are hitting. If there are more than 2 Ettins around you, i suggest you cast Armor of Mist and kite until you can cast Mist Form again.

If you really really want to make sure you are not hassled by Backbreaker, you can go Elementalist/Ranger to make sure you're under permanent Mist Form, although you will lose Channeling which is *THAT* good in this build. Besides, only Fatfist carries that skill and he needs 10 adrenaline ticks before he can hit you with that so it's not that fearsome.

As for the Earthborn Ettins, well i have to say i haven't met those yet

. I read they have Daggers, Grasping Earth and Eruption which you will have to dodge. On the other hand, they are level 14 and you have a +42 AL from Armor of Mist. I would say that additional AL, coupled with Aura of Restoration would be enough to kill the Earthborn Ettins because they don't have Healing Signet.

Francis Crawford · Apr 06, 2006, 01:31 AM // 01:31

Uh, Mist Form stops Backbreaker??? Are you very sure of that????

Killing the Earthborn Ettins isn't too hard given enough time. And in my Earth build they're only hitting me for about 1 point of damage per dagger. But there can be three shooting at once, as well as a couple of meleers. I must confess to not carefully tracking how often those daggers hit. And to just standing in the Eruptions -- I don't notice them, and maneuverability isn't my long suit ...

In other news, I cleared the troll cave outside Drok's with little problem. That was with Stone Daggers, Aftershock, and Arcane Echo in the "damage" slots on an Earth/Ether Renewal build. And due to an error outside (caught behind a tree and just didn't see what was happening), I went in with 15% DP, so there's some slack there.

Then for the heck of it I turned around and walked to Ice Caves. It turned out I hadn't done the Seeking the Seer quest anyway. Even got a couple of mediocre gold drops (how much is a 15>50% req 10 Composite Bow w/o other good mods worth?) But one has to kill a lot of necros one at a time, followed by their children the bone fiends (tip -- kill fiends first -- otherwise they'll be Taste of Deathed by somebody who I presume has a higher AL).

I guess I might try old Fatfist sometime again in the Earth build with Stone Daggers, Arcane Echo, and Rust. I don't think I've tried that combo, and one can pump a lot of daggers into the Healing Signet. And it wouldn't take a lot of points in Water to make Rust pretty permanent, given that I can spare the energy. That build should make ordinary ettins faster too.

Francis Crawford · Apr 06, 2006, 02:15 PM // 14:15

Well, accepting the Can't We Just Get Along? quests seems to have made Fatfist go away, so I'm going to have to remain permanently unsuccessful on this one.

pegasux · Apr 07, 2006, 04:16 PM // 16:16

yeah i'm pretty bummed out that they took away the uber ettin farming spot =(