Curse

Gabriel Kimura · Jun 19, 2008, 07:11 AM // 07:11

So I was explaining how runes and insignias to a new guy in our guild the other night and realized that there's still alot I need to learn. Right now I run a mix of Splinter/Barrage and Conjure/Glass builds and run all radiant insignias, 1 sup 2 minor skill point runes (different ones for each build) and the a vigor rune, plus whatever the + energy rune is in the empty spot. I've had more problems with energy than health so that's what I put into my armor but I've been reading and maybe this isn't the best idea?

Also, I currently have Factions and Prophecies. What is my best bet for Defend Droknar's Forge? Seems like a tough one lol

THanks,
Nathan

Gift3d · Jun 19, 2008, 07:39 AM // 07:39

i'll tell you this

all radiant and sup rune = you get slaughtered, very quickly.

one of the most common mistakes people really new to GW make, is run like 400 and something life.. that's really really bad. an extra 2-3 DAMMITCH isn't worth the loss of 75 life. and all radiant is bad on anything, regardless.

550+ life for pve. always.

edit: i just realized this was a waste because i'll be told all about troll unguent, healing breeze, and lightning reflexes. -.-

Stormlord Alex · Jun 19, 2008, 08:47 AM // 08:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabriel Kimura

I've had more problems with energy than health so that's what I put into my armor but I've been reading and maybe this isn't the best idea?

If you're having problems with energy, having +energy armour does not help.
High max energy =/= energy management - even with 8 extra energy, you're still gonna run your pool dry if you have problems anyway.
Buff up expertise higher, take less expensive skills, and simply learn to use skills wisely - smart play helps energy, not Radiant crap armour.

Likewise, generally the payoff you get is never worth sacrificing 75 health - Superior Marksmanship runes are one of the worst offenders, bow dps is rather bad and a sup rune doesn't help at all. On a ranger (and most classes), you stick to minors unless you need to hit a higher breakpoint (14 expertise and 10 wilderness are common) but your attribute spread won't allow getting said breakpoint with just minors.

Aldric · Jun 19, 2008, 08:56 AM // 08:56

"All radiant is bad on anything" is not really correct. For me it depends on your setup, build , playstyle and Area.

My normal setup is Sup Vig / Dual Minors (2 from Exp, BM or Marks) and all Radiants and generally have 3 weapon setups - Fortitude Bow/Enchanters Bow and Spear/Shield.

With Radiants my health goes from 540 at the base end to 600 with Spear/Shield which , with Ranger armour , stances and good positioning is pretty much sufficient in my view. At that level I find additional energy is more useful than additional health or armour.

I do have additional armour sets with Maj/Sup runes and/or No Radiants which I utylise on occasion dependant on the build but I dont do that very often as I rarely find the extra damage worth the -75 health from a Sup rune.

[I can also figure the EotN bonus's into that equation. In norn territory I will run radiants and a sup as I have 100 additonal health but In asura land I can change to more health/armour as I will have ~15 energy benefits etc.]

As long as you have 500+ health for PVE then I see no problem with maxing your energy with Radiants/Attunement but as Stormlord says , Expertise and skill choice will help alot more than just increasing your energy pool.

graverobber2 · Jun 19, 2008, 09:06 AM // 09:06

if you really need energy, just take a zealous weapon

+energy armor is only usefull for farming

Utaku · Jun 19, 2008, 09:11 AM // 09:11

Just run 14 expertise. You'll find that 25 energy is plenty.
My set up:
5x survivor's
Expertise mask
Runes : +1 expertise +1 marks +1 wild +50hp +10 hp

Aldric · Jun 19, 2008, 10:15 AM // 10:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Utaku

Just run 14 expertise. You'll find that 25 energy is plenty.
My set up:
5x survivor's
Expertise mask
Runes : +1 expertise +1 marks +1 wild +50hp +10 hp

If he's running splinter barrage there would be no need to waste points taking expertise up to 14 unless he's spamming 10e skills , which he won't be.

The Meth · Jun 19, 2008, 11:40 AM // 11:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormlord Alex

Likewise, generally the payoff you get is never worth sacrificing 75 health - Superior Marksmanship runes are one of the worst offenders, bow dps is rather bad and a sup rune doesn't help at all. On a ranger (and most classes), you stick to minors unless you need to hit a higher breakpoint (14 expertise and 10 wilderness are common) but your attribute spread won't allow getting said breakpoint with just minors.

Big-huge-important reason to get sup marksmanship: BHA. On bosses with reduced condition time (EotN bosses mostly) 16 marksmanship + 33% dazed gets you a 14 second daze duration. If thats not your reason for taking sup marksmanship though you are right, bow DPS has never mattered much anyway. Generally the health minus isn't too hard on rangers, if the ranger is dieing in the group its usually because most of the rest of the group is already dead

. Not to mention if the slightly lower health of the ranger gets enemies off beating the lower armor casters its a good thing.

Pleikki · Jun 19, 2008, 01:34 PM // 13:34

id use 2 radiant 3 survivor Or 5 survivor then health rune and all minor runes no sup/major ones.

Pleikki · Jun 19, 2008, 01:35 PM // 13:35

id use 2 radiant 3 survivor Or 5 survivor then health rune and all minor runes no sup/major ones.

Gabriel Kimura · Jun 19, 2008, 02:46 PM // 14:46

I've run with 2 sup runes for certain builds, I'm pretty good at the staying alive part.

Nathan

Oh, I realized last night that I skipped one of the 15 Attribute Point quests and that's why I've been forced to use more runage lol.

So what should my attribute spread be for Splinter/Barrage and also for Conjure/Glass?

Man... The conventional wisdom must have changed alot since when I first started playing... Back then everyone told me to have 1 superior in the attribute of your elite.

Luminarus · Jun 20, 2008, 09:42 AM // 09:42

Back then armor swaps were possible in pvp, so if u got DP you could swap youre armor. Also I think since then people have done the calculations and found that 75hp isnt worth it.

Finally the mobs have alot more damage now and so more HP = survive longer.

Orange Milk · Jun 20, 2008, 12:49 PM // 12:49

All Radinants is not bad, I guess most of you never played back when Druids Armor was equipt 99.9% of the time Rangers. Plus he's talking PvE here, not PvP where you need to be up near 600hp.

It depends on the build you are runing. With Conjur/Glass you won't need a ton of energy, unless you have a bunch of 10e attack skills, but you should be speced high in Exp for that build anyway. Use Zunjins Shot and Point Blank shot and DShot and you'll not need much in the way of energy.

Splinter/Barrage can get a bit energy taxing because of the constant applying of Splinter, (which means your not killing fast enough) use a Zealous bow, not always though only when you need a quick burst of E, and only use Splintter when its effective, if you opponets are not grouped up, don't cast Splinter.

I use Sup runes all the time in PvE, cause it's PvE, but most of the time it's not to get a 16 spec in something, its to get 14-15 and have more points to spread out elsewhere.

If your having energy problems be sure you are hitting the break points in Exp, 9 or 12 being the most common, basically never go less than 9 in a typicall build, and if you go above 9 go all the way to 12 or your wasting points. Barrage = 9, Interupter or High Dmg 10e skills = 12 minimum.

Also I typically don't run Survivors or Radiants in PvE, thanks to [skill]Dwarven Stability[/skill] I run Sentry's most of the time. I do have a few solo builds that require very high energy though so I do have a Radiant/Attunment set. I also have a solo build that needs high heath so I have a survivors set.

All in all, it's PvE, run whatever you want really theres not much in the way of tactics and specing involved in PvE.

chesterocks7 · Jun 20, 2008, 02:04 PM // 14:04

i agree with orange milk about running sup runes in pve. i dont think any of my builds use 16 in any one attribute, but i always use sup attribute runes just because of the extra points somewhere else. i run 515 health on my ranger and never have any problems staying alive, infact im usually the last one standing if my group gets wiped due to bad aggro or whatever. and i use all radiant insignias so that i dont need to put quite as much into expertise, although my expertise is never less than 10. but if youre having energy trouble as most ppl have said, up your expertise lvl.

in the end what it gets down to is your personal preference. most ppl dont like sup runes, however i dont run without them in pve. figure out your personal play style and taylor your runes/insignias to meet that style.

Tyla · Jun 20, 2008, 02:13 PM // 14:13

The only place I would consider a superior is on a Signet of Illusions Mesmer abusing PvE skills, or if it is requires / makes a farm easier.

And for radiant insignias, I would only use them on farming builds and if using skills which cause exhaustion on a non-caster. Moar Shock = Moar killz!