Guild Wars Forums - GW Guru
 
 

Go Back   Guild Wars Forums - GW Guru > The Hall of Knowledge > The Campfire

Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old Sep 02, 2007, 01:22 PM // 13:22   #1
Krytan Explorer
 
fujin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Hong Kong, all the way in Asia :O
Guild: Officer of United Jedi [UJ]
Profession: E/
Advertisement

Disable Ads
Default Sandstorm vs. Unsteady Ground

Hi everyone,

I was wondering what you guys would prefer to use when you compare these 2. Both of them give an advantage when your foes are attacking. Sandstorm hits harder to foes that are attacking, and Unsteady Ground knocks down foes that are attacking.

Sandstorm lasts longer (Note that enemies scatter), but won't hit as hard to foes that are casting spells etc.
fujin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 02, 2007, 01:28 PM // 13:28   #2
Grotto Attendant
 
Stormlord Alex's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island
Guild: Soul of Melandru [sOm]
Profession: W/E
Default

Unsteady Ground.
If I wanted actual damage, I'd be running Fire.
Earth excels at AoE anti-melee, which is what UG does.
Stormlord Alex is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 02, 2007, 03:38 PM // 15:38   #3
Furnace Stoker
 
Dr Strangelove's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Wasting away again in Margaritaville
Guild: [HOTR]
Default

Sandstorm is bad, unsteady ground is not.
Dr Strangelove is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 02, 2007, 03:46 PM // 15:46   #4
Frost Gate Guardian
 
Pericles's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Guild: [GoD]
Profession: R/
Default

I've set my Vekk up as an earth ele with UG, eruption, ward against foes, ebon hawk and a few more skills and i must say that i love UG, it recharges really fast the cost is not that high and the knockdown effect is extremely useful, it also acts a bit as a snare. I don't know that much about sandstorm but as alex said, i don't need the extra damage, often eruption or churning earth deals the extra damage.
hope i helped
Pericles is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 02, 2007, 08:35 PM // 20:35   #5
Wilds Pathfinder
 
frojack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: London, UK
Guild: Rite Of Passage [RP]
Profession: E/Mo
Default

The sad thing is Eruption is better than both, and it's non-elite...

25 energy you say? My GoLE says it doesn't care.
frojack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 02, 2007, 09:48 PM // 21:48   #6
Ascalonian Squire
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Profession: R/
Default

I absolutely love Unsteady Ground. Combined with Eruption and Churning Earth, you can decimate most enemy backlines in Normal Mode while you just ward the melee mobs to buy some time.

I think Sandstorm might be more useful in Hard Mode, where Churning Earth will have you covered for knockdowns. But I haven't done much Hard Mode TBH.

Earth FTW. By far my favorite type of Ele to play.
twentynine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 06, 2007, 02:14 AM // 02:14   #7
Desert Nomad
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: North Carolina
Profession: N/Me
Default

Sandstorm has its place. While yes earth excels at melee shutdown that's not all it is capable of doing. Sandstorm is a viable option for someone looking to dole out more damage as opposed to shutting down melee. Coupled with eruption, dragon stomp, churning earth, really just anything that does AoE Damage stacked on top of an area in rapid succession can do really nice damage.
Str0b0 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 06, 2007, 09:43 AM // 09:43   #8
Forge Runner
 
Longasc's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Default

The point of Unsteady ground is:

1. lower recharge
2. utility (knockdown)
3. It does full damage: When they get knocked down while attacking they are down 2 seconds - before they can get out you have dealt 5/5 seconds of the listed damage.

Sandstorm is not bad either, but Unsteady Ground keeps them down, ideal if someone else wants to pack another AoE of any kind on the mobs where Sandstorm would already cause AoE panic.
Longasc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 06, 2007, 09:54 AM // 09:54   #9
Ascalonian Squire
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Default

Always found Unsteady Ground more useful because of the knockdowns.
Dorling is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 06, 2007, 10:38 AM // 10:38   #10
The 5th Celestial Boss
 
Cebe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Inverness, Scotland
Guild: The Cult of Scaro [WHO]
Profession: E/
Default

Sandstorm is more Offensive. Unsteady Ground is Defensive.

Sandstorm just deals raw earth damage, Unsteady Ground has the Knock-Down utility.

Personally I prefer Unsteady Ground, and so does Sousuke.
Cebe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 06, 2007, 10:49 AM // 10:49   #11
Forge Runner
 
Etta's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Mancland, British Empire
Default

Before the nerf, I would have to go with sandstorm. Now unsteady ground is the way to go imo, cast UG then ash blast or any other condition earth spell, be it blind or weakness.
Etta is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 06, 2007, 04:55 PM // 16:55   #12
Furnace Stoker
 
bhavv's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Default

I echo unsteady ground when I ward in HM. Its really nice.
bhavv is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Sep 08, 2007, 09:21 AM // 09:21   #13
Jungle Guide
 
Darkpower Alchemist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NYC
Guild: The Circle Of Nine[NINE]
Profession: E/N
Default

Actually, I'm a Sandstorm/Churning Earth fan. Sandstorm has a longer duration and when a snare is employed, such as say ward against foes, their's no escaping the Ss/CE combo.

2 Ss/CE eles makes for major damage. it was even more fun to use my warrior to ward the area and my heroes to Ss/CE the whole place during an ugly margonite fight. let's just say overaggro wasn't an issue that time.

Yet, UG has its uses.
Darkpower Alchemist is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Share This Forum!  
 
 
           

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 05:21 PM // 17:21.


Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2016, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
jQuery(document).ready(checkAds()); function checkAds(){if (document.getElementById('adsense')!=undefined){document.write("_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'Adblock', 'Unblocked', 'false',,true]);");}else{document.write("