Curse

whufc89 · Feb 28, 2008, 08:55 PM // 20:55

[skill]elemental attunement[/skill][skill]fire attunement[/skill][skill]immolate[/skill][skill]searing heat[/skill][skill]rodgort's invocation[/skill][skill]fireball[/skill][skill]arcane echo[/skill][skill]Sunspear Rebirth Signet[/skill]

Fire Magic - 16 (12+1+3)
Energy Storage - 12

First of all, as you can see it's full of skills from Prophecies (except the res) & even though I own all the campaigns + GW:EN, I seem to be sticking with this build as it hasn't failed me yet.

The thing is, I can't help but think it could be better somehow. Maybe in terms of energy management, damage, team support etc. To be honest, I'm one of those type of people who leave the majority of team support to the heroes/hench & just focus on massive AoE damage with my skillbar.

I have read through the "I am the best nuker build" thread many times & have tried using the advice in it, such as using Mind Blast instead of dual attunements, but it never felt right. I'd lose the majority of my energy after casting rodgort's around 3 times, and then I'd just have to stand there spamming mind blast for ages to get my energy back, only to lose all my energy again after another couple of rodgort's invocations. Running dual attunements let's meet just spam whatever I want to my heart's content, without worrying at all about energy, which is what I like as I like to be able to concentrate on the battle etc.

I've been looking a lot until PvE only skills and was wondering which of them could be useful for my type of play style, causing a lot of AoE damage etc. Even if there's any decent PvE skills you suggest using which don't cause AoE etc, please post them up. I even used "Finish Him" the other day, and found it quite decent but I scrapped it in the end as my team was killing enemies fast enough anyway, so by the time I checked to see if the enemy was below 50% health & then used FINISH HIM, it doesn't really make a difference as the team is already "finishing him" on their own so to speak

I realise that there are monsters out there with enchantment removal skills so a dual attune build may not be the best route to go down but as I said, it's served me well so far with the occasional monster here & there stripping me of my enchants, but if that ever happens I'm not out of the fight completely. I can still cast my low energy costing skills & wait until the enemies die or my dual attunes recharge etc.

Anyway, what do you guys think?

Oh & one more thing, the timing on that build is brilliant. By "timing" I mean, I cast a spell, then cast another, then another & by the time I've casted most of my spells, the first spell would be available to cast again & I can do the cycle all over again. So I'm never just stood there using my staff to attack whilst waiting on my skillbar to recharge, which is one thing that would shy me away from certain builds.

N1ghtstalker · Feb 28, 2008, 08:58 PM // 20:58

good damage should work well i think

Div · Feb 28, 2008, 09:00 PM // 21:00

You'd probably do better with a SF bar if you wanted pure damage like that. Also arcane echo seems a little out of place. The best thing you can echo is rodgorts, and the recharge on that is low enough as is (especially since you can use fireball/immolate in between).

whufc89 · Feb 28, 2008, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

You'd probably do better with a SF bar if you wanted pure damage like that. Also arcane echo seems a little out of place. The best thing you can echo is rodgorts, and the recharge on that is low enough as is (especially since you can use fireball/immolate in between).

Oh, I've been using Arcane Echo primarily to echo Searing Heat

Why do you suggest a SF bar as opposed to a savannah heat or something else? Isn't SF just basically a lower costing, lower recharging rodgort's? Sorry if I'm wrong, I haven't really researched on SF a lot.

BLOODGOAT · Feb 28, 2008, 09:05 PM // 21:05

E-Management a problem? Replace Searing Heat with Glowing Gaze. Echo spam Rodgort's until you actually need some more energy and just throw in a Glowing Gaze wherever. Hell, heroes can't even use this build incorrectly.

The Meth · Feb 28, 2008, 09:14 PM // 21:14

If you do decide to echo rodgorts, load up mindbender (Asuran PvE skill that gives you 50% reduced cast time). Fun
You can also take intensity, with mindbender and intensity you should be able to output enough damage in those 10-12 seconds to level anything.

There aren't many pve skills that do real, direct aoe damage, other then Cry of Pain, which is grossly overpowered if you can get multiple people using it, but for one ele its not worth taking it + trigger hex.

btw you aren't supposed to use mind blast after your whole spell chain, but in between every spell. Its not reliable when your energy is < 40 or so, you should try to keep it > 60 at all times so you can use all your spells. Also, once the enemy group has been basically destroyed (ie only 1 or 2 weak enemies left) there isn't much reason to use nukes unless you are at max energy, otherwise just use mindblast to regain energy for the next battle.

FIG TREE MAN · Feb 28, 2008, 10:08 PM // 22:08

seems like a super build..no waste time recharging or energy
bloody brilliant harry!

whufc89 · Feb 28, 2008, 10:08 PM // 22:08

OK I'm gonna try out a searing flames build. I found this one on PvXwiki, what do you think of it - http://www.pvxwiki.com/wiki/Build:E/...s_Elementalist

whufc89 · Feb 28, 2008, 10:09 PM // 22:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIG TREE MAN

seems like a super build..no waste time recharging or energy
bloody brilliant harry!

12chars.

Tyla · Feb 28, 2008, 10:11 PM // 22:11

Slap a Ward of Melee on that imo, that or Blinding Flash since you're running dual attune.

Gift3d · Feb 28, 2008, 10:18 PM // 22:18

Searing Heat screws up aggro and does minimal damage, i'd go with MS instead.

Echo is great for Rodgort's

And immolate's just really crappy, i'd use incendiary bonds or Liquid Flame.

Also, SF does not compare to dual attunement. Dual attunement = use any spell and have infinite energy. SF = spam for 30-40 seconds and no energy.

Cherng Butter · Feb 28, 2008, 10:18 PM // 22:18

It seems like you're waiting till you're under the energy threshold to start casting Mind Blast. Throw it in between Rodgorts and you should be ok (or just carry a high-energy set).

whufc89 · Feb 28, 2008, 10:39 PM // 22:39

Thanks guys

BLOODGOAT · Feb 28, 2008, 10:45 PM // 22:45

Personally, one of my favorite Proph-only fire magic nukes is casting Meteor Shower, Incendiary Bonds, then Rodgort's Invocation all one after the other. By the time Meteor Shower hits it's first knockdown, Incendiary Bonds will go off and Rodgort's around .5 to 1 second after that for a very nice spike, and with a tighly clumped mob, you can take them all down to ~25% health in just a few seconds. Great for NM. Not sure about HM.

Coloneh · Feb 28, 2008, 11:00 PM // 23:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by whufc89

I have read through the "I am the best nuker build" thread many times & have tried using the advice in it, such as using Mind Blast instead of dual attunements, but it never felt right. I'd lose the majority of my energy after casting rodgort's around 3 times, and then I'd just have to stand there spamming mind blast for ages to get my energy back, only to lose all my energy again after another couple of rodgort's invocations.

ur doin it wrong

spam MB on recharge, spam Rodgot's when MB is recharging. dont wait til you get low energy, it defeats the point.

anyways, if you lack the effort to use MB then this is the next best option, should be fine.

Div · Feb 29, 2008, 12:52 AM // 00:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by whufc89

Oh, I've been using Arcane Echo primarily to echo Searing Heat

You can bring teinai's heat and save your arcane echo energy

Granted, then it wouldn't be proph-only, but it's definitely superior in every way if you have factions.

Quote:

Why do you suggest a SF bar as opposed to a savannah heat or something else? Isn't SF just basically a lower costing, lower recharging rodgort's? Sorry if I'm wrong, I haven't really researched on SF a lot.

SF amounts of bigger damage output afaik compared to this bar simply because it's a lot more spammable. Since the point of this build was to have massive damage output and see big numbers as opposed to having the utility support of Mind Blast, SF would be a nice choice.

Captain Miken · Feb 29, 2008, 12:58 AM // 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by whufc89

Oh, I've been using Arcane Echo primarily to echo Searing Heat

That's silly!

[skill]Teinai's Heat[/skill][skill]Searing Heat[/skill]

whufc89 · Feb 29, 2008, 01:02 AM // 01:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

You can bring teinai's heat and save your arcane echo energy

Granted, then it wouldn't be proph-only, but it's definitely superior in every way if you have factions.

SF amounts of bigger damage output afaik compared to this bar simply because it's a lot more spammable. Since the point of this build was to have massive damage output and see big numbers as opposed to having the utility support of Mind Blast, SF would be a nice choice.

Nah I don't need it to be Prophecies only, it's just that my current skillbar IS prophecies only, as I'd never bothered using any of the otehr campaign skills.

Good idea on the teinai's heat instead of AE idea, I had forgotten about that skill

Oh and what do you think of using GOEP instead of teinai's simply for the fact that it will boost searing heat AND rodgorts which may be better in the long run than using searing & teinai's.

Yichi · Feb 29, 2008, 01:04 AM // 01:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by whufc89

Nah I don't need it to be Prophecies only, it's just that my current skillbar IS prophecies only, as I'd never bothered using any of the otehr campaign skills.

Good idea on the teinai's heat instead of AE idea, I had forgotten about that skill

Oh and what do you think of using GOEP instead of teinai's simply for the fact that it will boost searing heat AND rodgorts which may be better in the long run than using searing & teinai's.

the 4-5 damage it will add wouldn't be as effective as another skill would be.

Jenn · Feb 29, 2008, 01:14 AM // 01:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by whufc89

such as using Mind Blast instead of dual attunements, but it never felt right. I'd lose the majority of my energy after casting rodgort's around 3 times, and then I'd just have to stand there spamming mind blast for ages to get my energy back, only to lose all my energy again after another couple of rodgort's invocations. Running dual attunements let's meet just spam whatever I want to my heart's content, without worrying at all about energy, which is what I like as I like to be able to concentrate on the battle etc.

Then you're doing it wrong. There's 5 seconds of recharge time where you could be gaining your energy back from rodgorts. I don't know what you're doing in those 5 seconds, but it obviously isn't right. And to be blunt, don't be a numbskull in your casting order. If you cast all your high energy skills before you use mindblast, then of course you're shit out of luck because you've only got 10 energy left. ANY PvE monster will have more energy than that. Don't button mash, and put some common sense into the order in which you cast skills, because that makes a huge difference.

I run something more like this:

[skill]Fire Attunement[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Mind Blast[/skill][skill]Rodgort's Invocation[/skill][skill]Glowing Gaze[/skill]

Pick 3 other skills (1 damage, 1 utility, 1 res is a good combo, or 2 damage, 1 res) and you will be able to cast anything to your heart's desire, without energy problem, and maximizing your damage. If you still have energy problems with the four energy enhancers I listed (attunement, glyph, blast, gaze), then you should probably just give up ele and pick up Necromancer, put 16 into soul reaping, and use signets. Energy management is a basic but critical component to this game and there is no reason why Elementalists should have any problem with it given all the skills at their disposal.