Curse

Francis Crawford · Apr 07, 2006, 10:44 AM // 10:44

There's little new here, but unless I'm overlooking it this build isn't in the Build Directory yet. And before putting it in I want to have a thread on it.

Purpose

Solo farming. I've used it against meleers (ettins, mountain trolls) and some casters (e.g., stone summit gnashers)

What it doesn't work against

Hard core disruption or knockdown. Ditto enchantment stripping

Attributes

Earth -- max out at 16
Energy Storage -- 12 if you're running Rust, max out at 13 otherwise
Water Magic -- the rest

Skills

Ether Renewal (E)
Aura of Restoration
Earth Attunement
Kinetic Armor
Armor of Earth
Stone Daggers
Aftershock/Rust
Arcane Echo -- hence this is an Ele/Me build

Weapons

Galigord's Stone Staff is the obvious one, for its enchantment mod. And with Kinetic Armor renewing all the time, it's good to keep that mod in hand.

Alternatives for other weapon slots include the usual suspects -- AL, HP, Energy/neg. regen. -2 when enchanted shields can also be fun.

Generic Strategy

With all 5 enchantments up, every spell you cast under Ether Renewal returns 15 energy and 85 health, plus the additional benefits from Earth Attunement and Aura of Restoration. Spells to cast at this time are those with 1 sec or less casting times -- Stone Daggers, Aftershock, Aura, Armor of Earth. Even if it does you no other good, casting a 10 energy spell makes a profit. Having Arcane Echoed Stone Daggers lets you cast more of them, because non-recharge cooldown isn't an issue.

Strategy specifics by enemy or location, plus some more generalities

Ettins have Healing Signet, so bring Rust against them. Machine gunning echoed Daggers into a slow Healing Signet brings them down fast.

Caromi Wise and and other mesmers are a real pain. Kill them before killing their friends. Use Armor of Earth as a cover enchantment for Aura of Restoration (yes, I said that). Ideally, approach them with Aura, Armor or Earth, and Arcane Echo up, and get off the first shot with Stone Daggers. Pay no attention to that Caromi Scout until the mesmer is dead.

Against Stone Summit Gnashers, kill minions before you kill dwarves. Otherwise the minion will just get Taste of Deathed, which transfers the HP to a better armored enemy.

Generally kill rangers last. They have the best armor against elementalists.

If you can get a rhythm going in which you recast Armor of Earth and maybe also Aura (although it's not needed half the time) each time Ether Renewal is up, great. Otherwise, check all your enchantments before each casting of Ether Renewal.

Don't let Kinetic Armor go down, unless you're between mobs. If you're facing disruption, don't go too long w/o casting a spell, just in case the next one gets disrupted.

Don't get overconfident and attack a main mob without Kinetic Armor up. I generally cast Kinetic Armor a few seconds before the fight, walk a couple more steps towards the mob, cast Armor of Earth, and then start it. At worst, aggro them and cast it while they're running towards you.

Against disrupters, don't let Ether Renewal get disrupted. And if you're knocked down for most of the time that it's up, you can die soon thereafter.

If you've eliminated most of your enemies and you're too low on energy, you can corners in some castings of Ether Renewal and still win. If there are two other enchantments up, and you have 15 energy for Ether Renewal plus the first Stone Daggers, you're probably OK. Of course, you will be low on energy usually only if you either screwed up or got disrupted a lot.

Speaking of screwing up -- if you have a bit of DP for some reason, you should still be able to succeed.

XxForgexX · Apr 07, 2006, 06:26 PM // 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

Having Arcane Echoed Stone Daggers lets you cast more of them

Arcane Echoed Mending is better

Ira Blinks · Apr 07, 2006, 11:14 PM // 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by XxForgexX

Arcane Echoed Mending is better

ya, wtf is wrong with that?

Francis Crawford · Apr 08, 2006, 02:29 AM // 02:29

He evidently thinks either:

A. 50 damage per second isn't enough
B. Not at all

Ether Renewal can return to you 150+ energy/minute. The rest of the build doesn't consume your full 80/minute of regen, let alone your additional starting 81 or so energy. Net cost of a Stone Daggers is 4 energy.

You can fire a lot of those bullets.

BTW, it's possilbe that one could drop Earth Attunement for another damage spell, Arcane Echo Ether Renewal rather than Stone Daggers, and wind up doing yet more damage/minute. I haven't tested that.

Francis Crawford · Apr 08, 2006, 06:59 PM // 18:59

I just trotted out a version of the build with Stone Daggers, Aftershock, and Balanced Stance. Worked against the grawl outside Port Sledge, but not very profitably, and not at all once the monk boss showed up.

It worked well and fairly profitably against sand elementals however. And sand drakes, desert griffons, etc.

The key is recasting all the enchantments that need recasting -- and getting all the way through Ether Renewal -- during the 13 seconds that Balanced Stance is up.

oljomo · Apr 09, 2006, 12:35 AM // 00:35

Hi

personally i dont see the point of arcane echo in this farming build, i would prefer to take balanced stance and go against some kd heavy enmies like hydras (note that tehre becomes a point where crystal wave does more damage than aftershock, it just depends on the enemies your facing)

oljomo

Francis Crawford · Apr 09, 2006, 05:37 AM // 05:37

The Arcane Echo lets me fire off more copies of Stone Daggers per unit of time. Cases where I really like that include:

1. When Ether Renewal is up
2. While Healing Signet is being used
3. When I want to kill an annoying caster FAST.

It can also be used on Aftershock at times as a quick fight finisher.

Francis Crawford · Apr 09, 2006, 05:38 AM // 05:38

In other news, the idea of swapping sometimes to a -2 When Enchanted shield is a fun one. If casters are wanding me, it's generally for 2 damage per shot or less. So the shield definitely keeps some of the pressure off.

mint · Apr 09, 2006, 05:46 AM // 05:46

this build must have been so much fun before they nerfed ether renewal.

Francis Crawford · Apr 09, 2006, 05:52 AM // 05:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by mint

this build must have been so much fun before they nerfed ether renewal.

I wasn't around then. How did Ether Renewal work?

TGgold · Apr 09, 2006, 04:28 PM // 16:28

Why Aecho Stone Daggers? They already have no recycle time....

oljomo · Apr 09, 2006, 11:17 PM // 23:17

Hi

The -2 shield is a constant in my inventory while farming, the reduced damage really is noticeable, and is MUCH more feffective against warriors than casters (cos you get the fulll effects rather than just -1 tto 0). When your getting hit about 5-10 times a second, that -2 =+10-20 health per second=very useful (not that the build really lacks on healing, but it does sometimes if you are facing LOTS of enemies)

The key here is getting a +18-20% enchantment sword/axe so you still get that bonus. (fiery flame spitter is the best here)

oljomo

Francis Crawford · Apr 10, 2006, 02:05 AM // 02:05

Yeah. I have a +19% enchantment axe mod sitting around. I strongly suspect its highest and best use is to go on a FFS (and to make it easy on myself a nerfed one).

About the only build I can think of that would use it on anything else for is a W/E build using Armor of Earth. And I wasn't planning to run one of those any time soon.

I even have a character that needs to drop by Serenity Temple, so he'll be in FFS territory anyway.

Lord Cooper · Apr 13, 2006, 07:49 AM // 07:49

i prefer balanced stance to aecho.. no knockdowns from meteors hammer warriors etc. one less thing to worry about.

my build:

stone daggers
kinetic armour
armour of earth
obsidian flame
crystal wave
earth attunement
balanced stance
ether renewal

both armours give you 200 armour (+80 from kinetic +60 from armour of earth) meaning that a lvl22 hydra does 8 damage with each meteor 11 per fireball and 10 per inferno. melee attacks just do 1 or 2. this allows you to take on as many as you like using mainly stone daggers and the occassional crystal wave. ether renewal and earth attunement takes care of all energy and health issues. balanced stance means you can ignore those pesky meteors.

ive never really run with rust though i might give it a try. although i find fire far more efficient for ettin farming than any other element.. 6 ettins killed in under 15seconds is doable with fire