Curse

mazey vorstagg · Nov 20, 2007, 06:25 AM // 06:25

I've been running this build since pretty much the end of NF. I hardly changed it for EOTN or any of my vanquishing/cartographing but occasionally I get a few odd comments from people I party with. So, I need to know. Is it bad, or are they just not used to a non nuker, earth ele.

[skill]Stone Daggers[/skill][skill]earth attunement[/skill][skill]eruption[/skill][skill]obsidian flame[/skill][skill]sandstorm[/skill][skill]armor of earth[/skill][skill]ward against melee[/skill][skill]mystic regeneration[/skill]

I often change ward against melee for something more situational, ie pain inverter, ward against elements, radiation field. It's my swing slot.

So, honestly is it any good?

Now me justifying myself: I use it because it can do a bit of everything. It's got major survivability which helps to take pressure off the monks. My ward and eruption really helps the team survive also preventing those dam Raptors/Jotun/Charr from chopping through my whole team. Obsidian flame is invaluable. It's the only exhaustion spell I have so that's not too bad. But it does tons of armor ignoring damage, so it can spike bosses/foes on low health with great easy. Also, it's pretty spammable given the amount of energy I get through energy storage. Sandstorm. Sandstorm is my one real nuke, but it normally performs very well, since the update long ago enemies always run out of aoe, so without a bit of luck and a good corner nuking en masse has it's limitations. Therefore I usually bunch up my team and stick sandstorm and eruption on the warriors close to us, hopefully hitting the most targets for the longest time. And since they'll be attacking I get the bonus damage too.

There you go, you've heard me out.

Critique please

Thanks,
Mazey

Coloneh · Nov 20, 2007, 06:43 AM // 06:43

needs a rez. the damage is mediocre. and it needs to pick a spot, front line or caster. so its a standard earth build.

zwei2stein · Nov 20, 2007, 07:57 AM // 07:57

Needs less obsidian flame, armor of earth and mystic regen and more wards and reses.

Wakka · Nov 20, 2007, 09:55 AM // 09:55

It needs GoLE ^_^ [skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill]

Cebe · Nov 20, 2007, 10:38 AM // 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazey vorstagg

I hardly changed it for EOTN or any of my vanquishing/cartographing but occasionally I get a few odd comments from people I party with.

People generally think the only element Eles have is Fire Magic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazey vorstagg

[skill]Stone Daggers[/skill][skill]earth attunement[/skill][skill]eruption[/skill][skill]obsidian flame[/skill][skill]sandstorm[/skill][skill]armor of earth[/skill][skill]ward against melee[/skill][skill]mystic regeneration[/skill]

I often change ward against melee for something more situational, ie pain inverter, ward against elements, radiation field. It's my swing slot.

So, honestly is it any good?

Well I've seen worse.
Stone Daggers...hmm.
Earth Attunement. Energy Management... good good, but could do with more Glyph of Lesser Energy.
Eruption. Sexy skill. It's an AoE with some useful utility when used on packs of physical damage dealers.
Obsidian Flame. I've rarely used this, I don't like it's 5 second recharge with it's exhaustion. Needs to be used with Caution but probably ok.
Sandstorm. Nice skill, shame monsters run out of AoE though. Even in Normal Mode it's not easy to keep them in it for it's full 10 seconds. The AoE damage after 5 seconds seems a bt of a waste since they monsters have mostly fled by then.
Armor of Earth. Selfish tanking skill.
Ward Against Melee. Yes, 95% of all PvE Earth Builds should always have at least one Ward, switched for whatever Ward best suits the occaision.
Mystic Regeneration. It's ok for clearing up splash damage I suppose, but generally it's the Monk's responsibility to keep your red bar up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazey vorstagg

Now me justifying myself: I use it because it can do a bit of everything.

When you're playing with heroes and hench, diversity can be beneficial, but generally I find it's better to concentrate on one focus for the build.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazey vorstagg

It's got major survivability which helps to take pressure off the monks. My ward and eruption really helps the team survive also preventing those dam Raptors/Jotun/Charr from chopping through my whole team.

It has major survivability, yes, but it's selfish survivability. Your party members don't gain anything from you using Armor of Earth and Mystic Regen, in my opinion you'd be better off with something else instead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazey vorstagg

Sandstorm is my one real nuke, but it normally performs very well, since the update long ago enemies always run out of aoe, so without a bit of luck and a good corner nuking en masse has it's limitations. Therefore I usually bunch up my team and stick sandstorm and eruption on the warriors close to us, hopefully hitting the most targets for the longest time.

If you're going to do that, why not use Grasping Earth or Ward Against Foes?

A res can always be handy when you're going with Humans. I go with Hench and never bother taking one personally.

Might I suggest the following build:

[skill]Earth Attunement[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Ward Against Melee[/skill][skill]Enfeebling Blood[/skill][skill]Glowstone[/skill][skill]Stoning[/skill][skill]Eruption[/skill][skill]Unsteady Ground[/skill]

Could take a Res instead of Enfeebling Blood if you're going with humans and someone else has it, or you're taking Ward of Weakness.

Yes, it has less survivability, and it's not a build I've used in Hard Mode so I don't know how it would fare. [wiki]Unsteady Ground[/wiki] is, of course, a leet Earth Magic skill, and adds to the Knock-down fun.

Pure Earth builds sometimes seem a bit limited so if Party Support through Wards is more your bag might I suggest thinking about the Mind Blast Warder that's been floating about quite a bit.

Moloch Vein · Nov 20, 2007, 10:43 AM // 10:43

I would use Stoneflesh Aura instead of Armor of Earth, and Unsteady Ground instead of Sandstorm.

I'd remove Stone Daggers and Obsidian Flame to include Ash Blast and maybe another ward, or GoLE.

Your starting build isn't terrible by any means.

mazey vorstagg · Nov 20, 2007, 01:19 PM // 13:19

Hmm, I've capped Unsteady Ground, so I might use that and ash blast (in exchange for Stone Daggers). I'm also close to dropping mystic regen and using another ward instead..

Thanks

-edit----- just playing around with brambles and unsteady ground. Works quite nicely

Dr Strangelove · Nov 20, 2007, 05:36 PM // 17:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

[skill]Earth Attunement[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Ward Against Melee[/skill][skill]Enfeebling Blood[/skill][skill]Glowstone[/skill][skill]Stoning[/skill][skill]Eruption[/skill][skill]Unsteady Ground[/skill]

Could take a Res instead of Enfeebling Blood if you're going with humans and someone else has it, or you're taking Ward of Weakness.

That's actually a pretty awesome looking use of of enfeebling blood, but is GoLE still needed with glowstone in there?

/insert token comment about lack of rez

Sir Pandra Pierva · Nov 20, 2007, 06:51 PM // 18:51

ok
1. lack of rez
2. sandstorm is good in hm if you can hold the enimies in it.
3. in my opinion in HM eles should stay middle to back line. enimies really hurt us, little squishy.
4. stone daggers you really only use to keep up kenetic armor drop both and you can run stoning and glowing earth, or whater the one the guy posted is.

tenshi_strife · Nov 21, 2007, 05:44 PM // 17:44

eh well its meh at best for the reasons listed above the no rez is ouch unless you have heros with hard rezs. and like pandra said eles should stay mid line, we can do some decenct solo tanking but eles are no tanks.

and about celestial beavers build, i dont like the enfeeble glowstone combo cause it has a net loss of 5 energy which is partial made up by earth attunement making it a net loss of 3 energy.

i would rather just bring a rez and earthquake, GoLE with earthqauke preserves energy and keeps your targets inside your aoe, and the rez is obvious for addtion. i would also drop stoning for aura of resto, but thats just me i like the pressure realiving minor heals, and rather major with EQ.

but for those who do not like aura of resto i would keep stoning cause even without the knockdown its good dmg for a 1 sec cast.

but thats just my opinion

Dr Strangelove · Nov 22, 2007, 01:01 AM // 01:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by tenshi_strife

and about celestial beavers build, i dont like the enfeeble glowstone combo cause it has a net loss of 5 energy which is partial made up by earth attunement making it a net loss of 3 energy.

Except you just did some damage and caused a ton of damage reduction.

mazey vorstagg · Nov 22, 2007, 06:40 AM // 06:40

When I'm doing H/H pve then I rarely take a res, but when I play with people res chant always goes in slot eight.

I've now got this

[skill]Ash Blast[/skill][skill]Earth Attunement[/skill][skill]Eruption[/skill][skill]Obsidian Flame[/skill][skill]Unsteady Ground[/skill][skill]Armor of Earth[/skill][skill]Ward against Melee[/skill][skill]Brambles[/skill]

When I play with humans brambles will be a res, and obviously in caster heavy areas WaM will be WaE.

I'm not changing obsidian flame, simply because it is one of the best skills on my bar, I can't see what's wrong with it. Seeing as we've got loads of energy to spare, the exhaustion is never a problem. And I never seem to run out of energy anyway.

Brambles is not decided yet

Cebe · Nov 22, 2007, 10:47 AM // 10:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

That's actually a pretty awesome looking use of of enfeebling blood, but is GoLE still needed with glowstone in there?

Using Stoning on recharge I found I needed additional energy management. Something more than just Attunement + Glowstone. You could always switch one out for a Res...

The thing I like about Enfeebling Blood is it's a guaranteed source of Weakness instead of having to rely on Ward of Weakness or Ebon Hawk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tenshi_strife

and about celestial beavers build, i dont like the enfeeble glowstone combo cause it has a net loss of 5 energy which is partial made up by earth attunement making it a net loss of 3 energy.

The reason I don't take Enfeeble (5 energy cost) over Enfeebling Blood (10 energy cost) despite the net loss of energy is so that I can weaken enemies in an area, so that I can switch targets with Stoning a couple of times before the Weakness needs to be re-applied. Glyph of Lesser Energy helps with the energy management of Enfeebling Blood. GoLE > EB > Stoning works nicely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mazey vorstagg

Brambles is not decided yet

You could always give Brambles to a Hero Ranger.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

/insert token comment about lack of rez

Ensign · Nov 22, 2007, 01:25 PM // 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove

/insert token comment about lack of rez

I haven't put a res on my Ele's bar in a long time, and the situations where I will put a res on my bar are pretty rare now.

The experiment that I did that justified this decision, and that you can repeat to see if it's the same for you, goes something like this:

Take the Res off of your bar and take a full rack of 8 skills. This is particularly valuable now that you get 3, usually very good PvE skills to play with. To compensate, go and craft, or do the quest for, a Resurrection Scroll. Put it somewhere easily accessible in your inventory. Note how long you're playing before you feel compelled to pop the Scroll.

In my case, the scroll lasted 3 days, well over 10 hours of play - and then I didn't use it, but stuffed it back into storage because I was tired of it chewing up an inventory slot.

At least in Eye of the North, or in the various endgame PvE areas, player ressigs are a waste of skillslots. I think you want 3, maybe 4 hard resses on a team, some combination of Signet of Return and Death Pact Signet for the most part. DPS and Signet of Return are good enough replacements for Ressigs that you simply don't use the sigs ever; the situation where you would be compelled to use a ressig is when all the hard resses are dead, the team has likely wiped, and you're trying to pick up the pieces so you can continue.

Except that simply isn't relevant in any of the content I've done. When that many people have died in EotN it's much more expedient to simply shrine res; the 'run around and piece together a res chain' tactic is irrelevant when doing Four Horsemen or the holdout. Unless I was going to be one of the 3 hard resses (I.E., I don't have heroes to do it) then there's no point in me taking a res at all.

If I was trying to do a mission with no time sensitivity, and I was really worried about wipe recovery, I'd put a couple scrolls in inventory and be done with it. Unless you want to be a hard res anchor, take a full rack of eight skills - ressigs are completely obsolete.

Dr Strangelove · Nov 23, 2007, 05:16 AM // 05:16

I'd be inclined to agree with you if you're leading a hero hench group. It's easy enough to make them bring the rez, and the player's bar is vastly more effective than any hero's.

However, I almost never play exclusively hero + hench (Seriously). When playing with 3-4 other people, it's just common sense to throw a hard rez on a class that can handle it really well, namely an ele.

ensoriki · Nov 23, 2007, 12:21 PM // 12:21

>.>
Crazy Idea, go dual element

Earth and Water. Earth has quite a few PBAOE's and Water has the snares for them.
Take a water snare (Aoe preferebly, 90% is great) for hm, and go in and unleash your pbaoe's, generally pve monsters cannot kite with that kind of snare as even in HM its a 40% snare =P

Cebe · Nov 23, 2007, 12:59 PM // 12:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by ensoriki

>.>
Crazy Idea, go dual element

Earth and Water. Earth has quite a few PBAOE's and Water has the snares for them.
Take a water snare (Aoe preferebly, 90% is great) for hm, and go in and unleash your pbaoe's, generally pve monsters cannot kite with that kind of snare as even in HM its a 40% snare =P

Dual Elements are fun, but if you're suggesting Snares to keep foes around you when you're going PBAoE, Earth Magic already has that covered, and better, than Water Magic with Grasping Earth and Ward Against Foes. Deep Freeze is nice, but for PBAoE, Earth Magic does it better and cheaper. The only advantage Water Snares have over Earth Snares is that you can get more than a 50% speed reduction, but you can't get a 90% AoE speed reduction - the 66% Deep Freeze snare is as good as it gets for AoE, but for me, Grasping Earth wins.