Curse

Cebe · May 21, 2007, 08:33 AM // 08:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

Finally, the rez thing. I know you both think eles should never bring a rez, but really, the things are incredibly useful, especially in hard mode.

Why do people ALWAYS twist my words? I DON'T like to take a res (that is me, personally) because 95% of the time I play with heroes/hench or alliance members and we're good enough for most of us not to need a res. To my knowledge the only place I've ever taken a res on my ele is Fissure of Woe or the Underworld.

I've never said anyone should never take a res, the only res I hate with a passion is the terrible, god-awful, Glyph of Sacrifice + Resurrection Chant idea. 2 Skill Slots for one resurrect? No thanks.

As for your comment on my "ZOMG I MUST PACK MY SKILLZ BAR WIV TEH SKILLZ" mentality, well, there are slots in my builds which are "flexible", in general. For example, the earth build I use, I'm not altogether sold on Ebon Hawk and will often replace it with something which suits the situation better, such as another Ward. I like not taking a res, it makes me happy to not take a res, and yes, maybe it means I like to "live on the edge" but what else am I going to take? Just leave the slot blank? Personally I'd rather take another skill from the element's line that I'm playing with. (Just don't even suggest Heal Party...you know what suggesting that does to me...I start dying slowly

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francis Crawford

If I'm not capping I go /Ranger for Serpent's Quickness.

I've tried Serpent's Quickness with a Dual Attunement Air build. Pumping out Lightning Hammer is fun. While I'm on the subject of Air Builds, going back to Strangelove's Comment...I like Invoke Lightning, a LOT. And yes, maybe I am a sucker for making bolts of lightning appear from the heavens, but at no point did I say I didn't coordinate myself with Invoke Lightning Heroes, in fact I believe myself and Sophitia have played Invoke Lightning spikers from time to time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

To the OP: Searing flames is probably the easiest build to run, if you're not comfortable making your own builds, or managing the class.

Easiest? Yes.
Most Boring? Definitely.

Personally I find Savannah Heat and Mind Blast more enjoyable to use as elites in the Fire Magic line, although I will conceed Searing Flames is ok with large groups of eles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArKaiN

See why people hate stupid questions? The thread quickly degenerates into "This is what I use, and its HaXXoR awesome!"

Imo it generally degenerates into a flame war because people expect other people to use cookie cutter builds...no other builds are allowed and all non conformers to be cast out. Hmm... certainly not my view... although I had an interesting experience in the Ruins of Surmia Yesterday with my mesmer...I decided to try Arcane Larceny and Signet of Illusions. I was doing the mission with a lvl 20 friend (we'd ran back from LA) and pinged my, unorthodox, build. The lvl 6 monk we'd helped from GNW laughed and left immediately. *sigh*

(on a further side note Lava Font with 15 Illusion on a Me/Rt OWNS, in fact I'd go so far as to say "its HaXXoR awesome!"...

)

glountz · May 21, 2007, 09:43 AM // 09:43

I will talk only about Hard mode.

An Air ele for small parties with blinding flash. Many Air builds have already been posted.

For big parties, in areas with a lot of monsters, an earth ele with Eruption, and Unsteady Ground and Churning earth is very powerful. Why? Because mass blinding is a key feature to avoid physical damage in HM, and Churning earth will trigger on every monster, as they run 50% faster. A good way to keep them in other AOE's as well, like Bed of Coals.

[skill]Rebirth[/skill][skill]Earth attunement[/skill][skill]Glyph of lesser energy[/skill][skill]Unsteady ground[/skill][skill]Eruption[/skill][skill]Churning earth[/skill][skill]Stone daggers[/skill][skill]Ward against elements[/skill]

Bring a 40/40 recharge Earth weapons here.

Note: A rit with Earthbind works wonder here.

Sophitia Leafblade · May 21, 2007, 09:54 AM // 09:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

Sophitia and Celestial- I mean absolutely no offense when I say this, but you both have the same problem with your builds. You seem to want to do every job a given element can do, all at once. For example, the invoke lightning build here at the bottom looks like it's tyring to be a blindbot, invoke lightning spiker, and single target spiker with hammer - it's too much, you don't have the time, energy or skill slots to make all of that work. I know I suffer from "toy box" mentality, where I want to throw every cool looking spell on my bar, but you've gotta learn to hold back a bit.

My builds arnt trying to be anything in particular there simply builds I find to be very effective. My builds are made with skills that all of which ill use, if i have a skill i wont need, i wont equip it. I make sure my Builds can fight to the best of there ability, most of my Eles builds are highly offensive and yet i make sure they have enough energy management so they can continuously fight for long periods of time. We've all had Eles in our party (especially dual nukers) that release there st attacks and then do next to nothing for the next 2 minutes, my builds make sure i can keep on fighting until i cant fight anymore (ie im dead). Several of my builds have team support in mind even if its just a little like causing conditions on specific targets troubling other members of my team. Ill often Change my builds to fit the area im fighting in to keep them most effective.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

Also, don't feel too guilty about using your secondary. Eles are remarkably good at using their secondary, thanks to nifty energy management. A good way to go would be to add some self heals, since the elementalist options suck.

Actually i find Glyph of Restoration actually a Very good self heal, although its quite a long recharge on it, it does have a massive heal and its far superior to a lot of other self heals like Troll etc. I will often use secondary skills, but generally i prefer not to and concentrate my attribute points into as few attributes as possible. Attrib- 19 Invoke Lightning is considerably more powerful that an attrib 9 one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

Finally, the rez thing. I know you both think eles should never bring a rez, but really, the things are incredibly useful, especially in hard mode.

Actually i prefer to take a Res Whenever possible, infact i rarely go anywhere without a Res just in case. However while playing my Ele with Heroes or friends i know there isnt much need for one and so ill drop it for my self heal glyph (Yes before NF i never bothered with a self heal while with henchies and or friends since i trusted my allies to keep an eye on me. Before then i always equipped a res but next to never needed to use it)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

I've tried Serpent's Quickness with a Dual Attunement Air build. Pumping out Lightning Hammer is fun. While I'm on the subject of Air Builds, going back to Strangelove's Comment...I like Invoke Lightning, a LOT. And yes, maybe I am a sucker for making bolts of lightning appear from the heavens, but at no point did I say I didn't coordinate myself with Invoke Lightning Heroes, in fact I believe myself and Sophitia have played Invoke Lightning spikers from time to time.

Yup indeed we have and very nicely too. The build i mentioned was a general build i use that is not a specific team build. I do build a whole team "as one" sometimes but generally its more effective to let each member do what they do best - eg. Monks heal/Prot, Eles continuous high damage, mesmers shutdown and AL ignoring damage etc. etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Imo it generally degenerates into a flame war because people expect other people to use cookie cutter builds...no other builds are allowed and all non conformers to be cast out. Hmm... certainly not my view...

I dislike cookie cutter builds, ive avoid them whenever possible, id rather use my own build i understand how to use much more effectively and to better effect.

Cebe · May 21, 2007, 10:13 AM // 10:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sophitia Leafblade

Actually i find Glyph of Restoration actually a Very good self heal, although its quite a long recharge on it, it does have a massive heal and its far superior to a lot of other self heals like Troll etc. I will often use secondary skills, but generally i prefer not to and concentrate my attribute points into as few attributes as possible. Attrib- 19 Invoke Lightning is considerably more powerful that an attrib 9 one.

On the point of using dual elements. Whenever I do I generally sacrifice Energy Storage for the second, less important one. When I use two elements, or a skill from another profession, it tends to be less important than the element I'm primarily using, taking for example my build with Mark of Rodgort, Mind Blast and Steam, I have 16 Fire and 10 Water, since steam blinds for a nice amount of time without having to max out water.

Ensign · May 21, 2007, 10:57 AM // 10:57

Random thoughts on Ele builds after messing around with a lot of bars this weekend while vanquishing:

Savannah Heat is mediocre, especially in PvE. It isn't significantly better than Searing Heat / Teinai's Heat, and you don't need 3 copies of that skill on your bar. I haven't been a fan of the character in PvP (it has poor flexibility, and relies on your opponent sucking to be good), and it's just bad in PvE where the mobs do run. If I just had to run this archtype, I'd play around with Glyph of Renewal / Searing / Teinai's for 4x Heats per 32 instead of 3. But I can't think of a PvE scenario where that's what I really wanted.

Invoke Lightning sucks. Or, Invoke Lightning, the skill, is awesome, but Invoke Lightning, the character, sucks. In the areas where the skill is rocking, you are a bad Fire Ele. When it isn't rocking, you're some bad single target DPS caster at best. The reason to use Air in PvE is Blinding Surge. On paper you could compare and contrast Blinding Surge with Invoke Lightning, and both have their merits...but the Air line is really weak, and Blinding Surge makes a character that's like 3x as good as Invoke Lightning characters. Take another look if the Air line stops sucking horribly.

Earth is basically worse than a Fire guy that splashes the Ward you really wanted. Unless you're somehow making good use of a high specced secondary on Earth/X, Fire/Earth is just better.

Immolate + Mind Blast does basically the same thing as Lightning Hammer/Lightning Orb/Lightning Strike/Elemental Attunement/Air Attunement. Except without all the infrastructure and skill slots. Air without Blind and Weakness is Blood bad.

I really wish Water did anything in PvE.

When playing as a 'caster Ele' in any team situation, there are really only 3 bars you need to know - Searing Flames, Mind Blast, and Blinding Surge. Some permutation of one of those 3 templates is going to be the best character you can run 99% of the time.

For reference without thinking too much:

Searing Flames
Glowing Gaze
Mark of Rodgort
Fire Attunement
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Meteor Shower
Glyph of Sacrifice
Resurrection Chant

Mind Blast
Immolate
Fireball
Rodgort's Invocation
Searing Heat
Flame Djinn's Haste
Fire Attunement
Death Pact Signet

Blinding Surge
Enervating Charge
Lightning Orb
Lightning Strike
Air Attunement
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Storm Djinn's Haste
Death Pact Signet

Peace,
-CxE

Cebe · May 21, 2007, 01:43 PM // 13:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

Blinding Surge
Enervating Charge
Lightning Orb
Lightning Strike
Air Attunement
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Storm Djinn's Haste
Death Pact Signet

Out of interest why do you use Death Pact Signet as a res?

Don't get me wrong...I'm not criticising, I just wondered, why that rather than another?

bungusmaximus · May 21, 2007, 02:12 PM // 14:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArKaiN

See why people hate stupid questions? The thread quickly degenerates into "This is what I use, and its HaXXoR awesome!"
Then someone comes over and says something like "OMG Rodgort's Invocation sucks arse with SF!"(which, really, is stupid - RI is a nuke that makes people burn. duh.) and it becomes a flame war.

Fire eles waging a flame war, looks like people do exactly what they are supposed to do :P

Ozric · May 21, 2007, 04:33 PM // 16:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Out of interest why do you use Death Pact Signet as a res?

Don't get me wrong...I'm not criticising, I just wondered, why that rather than another?

Pretty much a full health and energy rez. Pretty sexy. I hadn't used it, but my guildies have been yakkin about how awesome it is.

Dr Strangelove · May 21, 2007, 06:16 PM // 18:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Out of interest why do you use Death Pact Signet as a res?

Don't get me wrong...I'm not criticising, I just wondered, why that rather than another?

I've been falling in love with death pact signet in PvE as well. It has the same effect as glyph sac + res chant, casts just as fast, and has a lower recharge. The point about if they die you die isn't that huge a deal, with a combat rez you're really trying to get people up long enough to win the battle. Noncombat rezzes can be used later to clean up the mess if need be.

Also, death pact signet makes you get no DP when you die, which is awesome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

Earth is basically worse than a Fire guy that splashes the Ward you really wanted. Unless you're somehow making good use of a high specced secondary on Earth/X, Fire/Earth is just better.

This would be true, except that the earth ticking AoE spells are insanely effective, especially in hard mode.

Unsteady ground gives you good damage, melee disruption, and generally snares things long enough for the full damage to hit.

Since all monsters in HM move faster than normal, churning earth is absolutely insane. The monsters attempt to scatter, and get knocked for doing so. The cast time sucks, but it's unbelievably useful to toss in when you're expecting scatter.

Eruption is a great "oh crap, everyone's dying" spell that gives you 10-15 seconds of breathing time where everything is blinded. Also, more damage.

What you get from all 3 of those is a similar effect to 3x searing heat with a snare thrown in, and complete physical shutdown for around 15-20 seconds.

On air guys, I haven't seen many compelling reasons to run blinding surge over dual attunement blindbots with lightning hammer and orb.

XvArchonvX · May 21, 2007, 07:48 PM // 19:48

@ ArKain: Saying that Rogdort's Invocation doesn't have good synergy in a SF build =/= starting a flame war.

@ Ensign: That SF build is really the best 'nuker' build available to a ele nowadays imo. However, unless you have at least 2 eles in a group running SF, it's pretty weak and little better than someone spamming Mark of Rodgort and Firestorm.

Ensign · May 21, 2007, 09:19 PM // 21:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

On air guys, I haven't seen many compelling reasons to run blinding surge over dual attunement blindbots with lightning hammer and orb.

You get move overall damage while blinding from the built-in hit on BSurge. Your energy is also much more stable (you don't get destroyed by interrupts / removal the same way) and you can still function well riding the bottom of your energy capacity. Also, if need be, you can support something from your secondary without real problems. The AoE on BSurge is not a joke either.

I think the core of the difference, though, is that the thing that makes Dual Attunements attractive is the prospect of spamming Hammer + Orb...but overall, I think that's worse than Immolate + Mind Blast. The attractive part of Air is blind + weakness, and when you start looking at your bar from the perspective of maximizing those (with a few Orbs slipped in, of course) then BSurge starts to pull ahead.

On Earth guys, I like exactly two offensive skills, Eruption and Unsteady Ground. You use them both exactly the same way though, as a ticking AoE to get melee off of someone (which is also how you use Searing Heat a lot of the time) and they're both really good for that. Unsteady Ground is cheap and fast enough that I'm happy to throw it at solitary targets if neccessary, Eruption needs a clump to be worth spending energy on. Both are excellent skills.

Things fall off dramatically after that though. I've been really unimpressed by Churning Earth, even on Hard Mode. First off it basically never gets used defensively since you have two skills that are just plain better for that already. So it's a purely offensive ticking AoE, which generally isn't very strong in PvE because when you get a good clump of their casters, you want to exploit that with sustained AoE to make 'em die in a clump, not make them scatter. Fortunately (or unfortunately) ticking AoE on ranged monsters causes unreliable scatter. Usually they don't scatter until the very end, and some of them don't move at all.

The knockdown part of Churning Earth does so little it's a bit of a running joke to me. Here's the crux - a monster moving faster than normal, that you target with Churning Earth while moving, can move far enough before the first tick that the damage misses completely. Mobs tend to decide to scatter just after a tick lands. So what that bonus realistically does on Hard Mode, is that the monsters in the very middle of the AoE, if they decide to scatter, will *sometimes* not make it all the way out in one second and be knocked down to take the final two ticks. Monsters who were more on the edge and decide to scatter make it out of the AoE consistently. You do get a few knockdowns with Churning Earth, but it is an exception more than a rule.

It's still playable though because the rest of your line is so bad. You don't have any attractive non-ticking AoE options at all. You can cast Earthquake, yippee. You can try and get fancy with the single target skills, but it's all just a fancy, less effective way of spamming Stone Daggers.

So basically every Earth bar I make ends up looking like this:

Unsteady Ground
Eruption
Stone Daggers
Ward Against Elements
Ward Against Melee / Ward of Stability / Obsidian Flame / Whatever
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Earth Attunement
Death Pact Signet

That is not a strong character. He's ok, and minimally functional, but certainly not strong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by XvArchonvX

@ Ensign: That SF build is really the best 'nuker' build available to a ele nowadays imo. However, unless you have at least 2 eles in a group running SF, it's pretty weak and little better than someone spamming Mark of Rodgort and Firestorm.

I think you need 3 to make it good. 2 are probably on par to a little worse than AoE-focused Mind Blast guys. Of course pretty much everyone runs with at least some heroes these days, so it's kinda hard to be stuck at two.

Peace,
-CxE

Coloneh · May 22, 2007, 03:50 AM // 03:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

I've never said anyone should never take a res, the only res I hate with a passion is the terrible, god-awful, Glyph of Sacrifice + Resurrection Chant idea. 2 Skill Slots for one resurrect? No thanks.

wow, you have got to stop saying this. sacc + chant can only be bested by DP signet. Im not saying to use 2 slots for rez, im saying that if your build could use glyph of sacrifice bring it along. I dont think youv really tried it, because as you have said you dont use fire, and M shower is really the only PvE skill that requires glyph of sacrifice. try it before you bash it please.

ArKaiN · May 22, 2007, 05:40 AM // 05:40

I'll vouch for signet of sac+MS+Res chant any day of the week. It's awesome.

Cebe · May 22, 2007, 07:40 AM // 07:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coloneh

wow, you have got to stop saying this. sacc + chant can only be bested by DP signet. Im not saying to use 2 slots for rez, im saying that if your build could use glyph of sacrifice bring it along. I dont think youv really tried it, because as you have said you dont use fire, and M shower is really the only PvE skill that requires glyph of sacrifice. try it before you bash it please.

Well now you mention it, no, my build has never really leant itself to Glyph of Sacrifice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ozric

Pretty much a full health and energy rez. Pretty sexy. I hadn't used it, but my guildies have been yakkin about how awesome it is.

Aye, I know what it does, but assuming you use it to res the Sin who ran in like the "tank" he is...would you REALLY want to res him knowing that he would just run straight in again and you'd die too?

I can see the potential use for getting Monks up mid-battle, for that, it would be awesome, but as for other players...I'd rather not take the risk.

Of course if the team is not bad enough to die...you shouldn't need it anyway

glountz · May 22, 2007, 08:44 AM // 08:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

Things fall off dramatically after that though. I've been really unimpressed by Churning Earth, even on Hard Mode. First off it basically never gets used defensively since you have two skills that are just plain better for that already. So it's a purely offensive ticking AoE, which generally isn't very strong in PvE because when you get a good clump of their casters, you want to exploit that with sustained AoE to make 'em die in a clump, not make them scatter. Fortunately (or unfortunately) ticking AoE on ranged monsters causes unreliable scatter. Usually they don't scatter until the very end, and some of them don't move at all.

The knockdown part of Churning Earth does so little it's a bit of a running joke to me. Here's the crux - a monster moving faster than normal, that you target with Churning Earth while moving, can move far enough before the first tick that the damage misses completely. Mobs tend to decide to scatter just after a tick lands. So what that bonus realistically does on Hard Mode, is that the monsters in the very middle of the AoE, if they decide to scatter, will *sometimes* not make it all the way out in one second and be knocked down to take the final two ticks. Monsters who were more on the edge and decide to scatter make it out of the AoE consistently. You do get a few knockdowns with Churning Earth, but it is an exception more than a rule.
-CxE

Churning Earth is more than okay in HM.
If you have more than one ele, that said. If another ele start throwing a searing heat on a clump of casters, he says it, so the earth ele can throw a churning earth. Chruning earth comes to the end of SH, when the casters try to flee, they fall, they burn, they die.
It works wonder.

Francis Crawford · May 22, 2007, 09:39 AM // 09:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blade Blacdragon

I don't know how to post the icons, and these are a lot of Proph only skills, but the build I did for all of proph, NF, and some of factions is:

MoR, Incendiary Bonds, Fireball, Liquid Flame, Rodgorts Invocation, Any quick AoE spell that lasts 5 seconds (or a rez), elemental attunement, flame attunement. Max fire and energy storage, go to down. Does SF for 10 energy.

If your REALLY that detail oriented, you can time IB, fireball, and liquid flame for a 2 second duration spike with lots of damage and lots of burning corpses. My guild loves it, nobody ever needs to bp/bip me, I am self contained (except for healing, which can be fixed if your tanks suck), and can provide all the damage a party needs.

Only time I switched was when I was bored and when I felt like OB tanking GoMadness :d

Not the best, but, it works flawlessly.

That's pretty much what I did pre-SF, but it was also pre the buff to MoR, so there was no point in including that.

I still question how much sense MoR makes in your build, given that your two biggest-bang spells cause burning on their own anyway.

I agree totally with your suggestion that a build which requires BiPping is problematic, although obviously there are appropriate times, places, and teams for such.

Ensign · May 22, 2007, 09:52 AM // 09:52

If you're new here, understand that anything from a secondary that an Elementalist can make really effective use out of, Celestial Beaver hates with a passion.

Played around with Churning Earth some more this evening. Paid close attention to when and how much it knocks down. Still didn't see anything that tells me it's worth 3c 30r. DoTAoEs that have to be used offensively start with a huge minus. The knockdowns from this don't add a significant amount of damage (I never saw one that knocked down before the 4th tick). It compares favorably to most of the other offensive options in Earth, but disfavorably to every other 240 targeted DoTAoE.

On the bright side, Unsteady Ground is excellent. If it were a Fire skill I'd consider using it more often. It's a finesse elite though, not a staple, power skill that fuels most of your gameplay...which Earth pretty thoroughly lacks.

Unsteady / Eruption / Stone Daggers / W. Melee / W. Elements is basically where it's at. I feel like a retard using Stone Daggers, but since Obsidian Flame isn't what I want in PvE there really isn't a better option. 70 for 5 isn't the worst deal at least.

Peace,
-CxE

Cebe · May 22, 2007, 10:09 AM // 10:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

If you're new here, understand that anything from a secondary that an Elementalist can make really effective use out of, Celestial Beaver hates with a passion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Why do people ALWAYS twist my words?

We have 8 skill slots. Why reduce that to 6 for the sake of a res? That's all I'm saying

On the subject of Churning Earth, I have also noticed it's rare knockdowns, although in Hard Mode it's pretty cool. The one main thing I use it for is when I'm playing on Normal Mode (never tried it in Hard Mode...never wanted to more to the point) in the Domain of Secrets, clearing out the Margonite City. Eruption > Sandstorm > Dragon's Stomp > Churning Earth is amazing vs Margonites. They're just too stupid to move out of the AoE. Maybe it's an ego thing..."we're too powerful to die" *shrugs*... Works like a charm there, but in Normal Mode it does cause very few knockdowns. Personally I use it for the AoE and the potential 210 earth damage over 5 seconds, if you can keep them in the AoE enough. Dragon's Stomp + Earthbind is very nice for that.

The 30 second recharge is a shame.

Moa Bird Cultist · May 22, 2007, 11:57 AM // 11:57

Lets not get ahead of ourselves, everyone. Okay, so as we know, there is no 'best' build for general use. Although there may be builds that are more favoured in general, they are not the be all and end all of the class. The most important thing is that you find a bar that you enjoy playing. So here are some skills that I favour on my heroes- Fire and Earth, fire being an example of an extremely focused group of skills with excellent attack synergy, earth being an example of mediocre damage, poor attack synergy, but excellent anti melee prot support;

Fire:

[skill]Searing Flames[/skill][skill]Glowing Gaze[/skill][skill]Fire Attunement[/skill][skill]Liquid Flame[/skill]

Fairly basic, but with those 4 skills and a Res, you could get through the whole game without anyone noticing that you have 3 skill slots empty.

Earth:

[skill]Sandstorm[/skill][skill]Eruption[/skill][skill]Ward Against Melee[/skill][skill]Earth Attunement[/skill]

Not as focused as the fire build and damage is mediocre by comparison. But to say it doesn't work would be an untruth. Basically, if all the enemies were as good at this game as ensign, this would suck beyond compare. But they're not that clever, as should be fairly obvious, hence, this will work fine.*

One other skill that is handy on both bars:

[skill]Glyph Of Lesser Energy[/skill]

A no - brainer really. Basically, not only does this serve as a backup for when your attunements get stripped, but it also lends itself excellently to splash investment in a secondary class, for example, Aegis, as ensign suggested already, or;

[skill]Convert Hexes[/skill],

IMO, a prot skill that was designed to be run by E/Mo secondaries. Primary monks have far better options available to them, but this skill suits the energy efficiency of a basic ele perfectly. It is also a godly skill later on in Nightfall due to just how many hexes you can get stacked on you.

And lastly:

[skill]Rebirth[/skill]

My opinion is 3 Res Signets to every Rebirth. Primary monks should be carrying a signet if they're carrying a res at all. Elementalists have the advantage of being able to attack from the back of a group, so provided you know what you're doing, with a little practice, you can avoid aggro even in the worst of pugs. Thats why Eles should take Rebirth. Yes, it reduces their combat ability, but if you're needing to use rebirth, chances are you're not gonna be in combat and besides, what gives the Ele the ability to cast so many high energy spells is not their increased energy pool, rather it is their superior ability to manage that pool.

Oh and my own personal build? Nah I'll pass on posting that up. Not only would everyone else in this thread have a field day with it**, but I'd lose what little credibility I have as a GW player...

*p.s, that was a compliment

**p.p.s, Hamstorm

Dr Strangelove · May 22, 2007, 06:41 PM // 18:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ensign

On the bright side, Unsteady Ground is excellent. If it were a Fire skill I'd consider using it more often. It's a finesse elite though, not a staple, power skill that fuels most of your gameplay...which Earth pretty thoroughly lacks.

Unsteady / Eruption / Stone Daggers / W. Melee / W. Elements is basically where it's at. I feel like a retard using Stone Daggers, but since Obsidian Flame isn't what I want in PvE there really isn't a better option. 70 for 5 isn't the worst deal at least.

Peace,
-CxE

It feels like Anet meant the ebon hawk/stoning combo to be the staple earth skills, but sadly, they just suck too much to get good use out of. Also, I'm not really sure why you'd bother with ward v. melee when you already have eruption and UG on your bar, which fulfill the same melee hate role. Obsidian flame does *ok* in that slot, as does churning earth. Earth really has too many useless tanking or niche utility skills to have much variety in bars.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

On the subject of Churning Earth, I have also noticed it's rare knockdowns, although in Hard Mode it's pretty cool. The one main thing I use it for is when I'm playing on Normal Mode (never tried it in Hard Mode...never wanted to more to the point) in the Domain of Secrets, clearing out the Margonite City. Eruption > Sandstorm > Dragon's Stomp > Churning Earth is amazing vs Margonites. They're just too stupid to move out of the AoE. Maybe it's an ego thing..."we're too powerful to die" *shrugs*... Works like a charm there, but in Normal Mode it does cause very few knockdowns. Personally I use it for the AoE and the potential 210 earth damage over 5 seconds, if you can keep them in the AoE enough. Dragon's Stomp + Earthbind is very nice for that.

The 30 second recharge is a shame.

I've run that earth combo before too, it works a lot like a savannah heat build where you toss a ward out instead of immolate in your spare time. It does seem like earthquake somehow resets their scatter AI for a few seconds after the KD, so everything hits the full duration.

I don't know why Anet insists on making all the ticking AoEs have a 30s recharge. I get why things like eruption are good enough to have the giant recharge, but dragon's breath on a 30s recharge? Come on.

As for death pact signet, if someone dies twice quickly, your party was probably wiping anyway, and so you just avoided DP.