Curse

bungusmaximus · Dec 20, 2006, 01:26 PM // 13:26

the Nooblet Harvester, SF Capping build for AB
-Fire magic: 11+3+1
-Energy Storage: 9+1
-Earth Magic: 5+1 (not sure, ill check at home since im at work atm)
-Earth prayers: 8

Skills
-Fire Attunement (energy management)
-Aura of Restoration (self heal, good synergy with SF spamming)
-Mystic Regeneration (self heal +9 health regen)
-Searing Flames (damage)
-Glowing Gaze (energy management)
-Grasping Earth (snare)
-Meteor Shower (nuke)
-Glyph of Lesser Energy (energy management)

Gear:
+20% enchant staff of shelter (armor bonus)
Sup. vigor rune
Sup. fire rune
Min. earth rune
Min. energy Storage rune

A little bit like a standard SF build, but I made it more defensive to fit into the AB environment.
The fun about this build is that it can either clear shrines in lesser then 5 seconds and apply pressure at the same time. It also includess some interesting defensive options.

Tricky point about AB can ce capping res shrines, npc monks can be a tough cookie and capping time must be minimalized. Same with the ele shrines, the NPC's do quite a lot of damage to players so theres a big risk of losing a group member over them. Meteor Shower solves this problem with a healthy amount of KD. Add SF on top of it and NPC's are barbequed in no-time. The rest of the NPC's should be easily taken care of by just using SF.

In case you might get attacked grasping earth comes in, ive experimented with other cheap snares that cause cripple, but touchers own you with plague touch that way. Grasping earth however, is a hex. Be sure to barbeque the slowed player yourself, cos nasty drawback about grasping is that it adds +20 armor against physical, it should be only used in emergencies anyway. Timing is of the essence, if an assassin wants your arse its imperitive not to get interrupted or you are a dead ele.

This is not a solo build, but GW is a teamsport anyway so who cares. Other players in the team should be outfitted for better single target damage. It's very durable however, +9 health regen from mystic regeneration+aura of restoration make your ele a tough nut to crack while it still does damage unlike the noobish geo-tanks.

Pros: in narrow quarters like saltspray beach or the Luxon/Kurzick fort maps this build is really too much fun, our team often wipes out 8 player mobs with ease because they get trapped in the meteor shower and bodyblock eachother. Single target damage is also decent. Good continuous pressure.

Cons: Skillbar has only one (spammable) damage skill. Interrupt rangers and mesmers totally own you. Spirits are immune to searing flames because burning isn't triggered and so are melandru's dervishes. Players at the moment also have the brain quite often to bring enchant hate (it's needed more and more with the abundance of eles in AB), mystic regen is a neat cover enchant but it's quite expensive with 10 energy. Bottom line: the moment a player with a brain comes in you should watch yourself.

Credit: myself and other players for tips.

erfweiss · Jan 13, 2007, 07:37 AM // 07:37

You're setting yourself up for the easiest defense to this: Signet of Humility.

I mention this because I always bring this into AB, as most of the eles I come up against are SF lately.

FoxBat · Jan 13, 2007, 08:12 AM // 08:12

Most AB players aren't that bright. Actually I rarely see mesmers there.

I use almost the same but I replace grasping earth for fire djinn's haste. Unless you have an actually coordinated (read: not pug) team with speed boost shouts, getting to defenseless shrines quick is generally more important than surviving encounters.

Riotgear · Jan 13, 2007, 09:15 AM // 09:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by erfweiss

You're setting yourself up for the easiest defense to this: Signet of Humility.

Oh pfft. Why do you even bother bringing that? Bring diversion. I have yet to see an SF ele in AB that didn't completely ignore it.

Meteor Shower isn't really neccessary if you have SF, though it is nice for pain reduction on the caster shrines. I'd say replace Grasping Earth with Flame Djinn's Haste.

erfweiss · Jan 14, 2007, 04:45 AM // 04:45

Well, I would bring diversion, but I loaned my domination staff to a guildie and haven't recovered that. So only playing with an Illusion staff. Domination spell.

(Note: I usually bring a Virulence spiker build)

bungusmaximus · Jan 15, 2007, 07:18 AM // 07:18

Mesmers own eles, no matter what, diversion isn't too much of a problem, I just cast something with a huge recast time. Sig. of humility really sucks tho, migraine is very nasty, and interrupts aren't very nice too. Much more productive to have an assassin sit on the mesmers face then to deal with him myself. SF is kind of a cheap build, completely agreed, and there are plenty of counters, but it saves tons of time clearing shrines that way. Some maps also force players to ball up like saltspray beach or the fort maps with the two bridges, then SF is so much fun

.
U are quite right about the speed buff though, I already swapped grasping for storm djinns hast (i like it better then flame djinns), better to keep your distance in the first place instead of letting them get too close. I never play in PUG's anymore anyway since they always run around like headless chicken and never stick together, guildies ftw.

Monk Gsb · Jan 16, 2007, 04:27 PM // 16:27

what i do is cast glyph of sacrifice and then cast met shower on a person ( does not matter who ) then go and stand in the shower. all the nooby sins and warriors that dont see the shower come and deaths charge or just wander into it. KD and it gives me enough time to sf and Glowing Gaze them to death. unless there smart and use an anti-KD skill, but what warrior / sin wants to bring one ?

bungusmaximus · Jan 16, 2007, 04:34 PM // 16:34

LOL that reminded me of the wammo that slapped on Dolyak Signet when I was nuking him with MS. I don't like Glyph of Sacrifice though, and i solely use MS to clear shrines. We mostly run a mesmer in our team too so shutting down sins and wammos isn't much of a problem. Shield of Absorption also does pretty well against sins

We mostly try to keep our team as balanced as possible so if a specific counter doesnt fit in my build theres another char that can take it.

Patrick Smit · Jan 26, 2007, 08:03 AM // 08:03

I use this for capping
-Immolate
-glowing gaze
-glyph of renewal
-meteor shower
-death charge
-bed of coals
-feigned neutrality
-dash/darkescape
the first two skills are for finishing of shrine survivors, GoR-->MS-->DC-->BoC will kill most, the warrior shrine is a bit more difficult though, my advice on pvp in alliance battles, DON'T. Only if u can finish of a loner that feels way too 'heroic', basically they are just plain stupid to think they can attack a team of three to 4 four.

whobitz · Jan 29, 2007, 04:00 AM // 04:00

The fastest single cap there is would probably be GoS->MS->SF->GG->SF. Of course, you can only do that once every minute and a half, but it does it well. Sitting for 5 seconds to cast MS is just stupid when you're trying to go fast. They'd probably almost be dead with just SF by that time.

I personally run an E/A with SoH, Deadly, and Feigned. Sadly, GoS->MS doesn't fit well, but if I ever run a coordinated team, then I'd go full fire and drop the assassin stuff.

Patrick Smit · Jan 29, 2007, 08:00 AM // 08:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by whobitz

The fastest single cap there is would probably be GoS->MS->SF->GG->SF. Of course, you can only do that once every minute and a half, but it does it well. Sitting for 5 seconds to cast MS is just stupid when you're trying to go fast. .....

don't say its stupid if you have no experience with the build. I cap quickly with it, and use staff with 20% HCT.

The cycle you describe can only be used once each 1.5 minutes, capping under good conditions* takes about 30 seconds so only 1 out of three shrines your tactic can be used. A straightforward SF+GG+SF+SF casting cycle doesn't kill NPCees outright, it does only 2*119+14*7+53 damage (389 total) in the mean time u have sustained 7 seconds of enemy fire as well, potentially leading to death in the case of the ele shrine. Your initial faster casting is in effect not faster, you need say 11 seconds at least to kill em,

With the slow MS followed by death charge and Bed of coals (5.45 + 1 + 1.45 secs) the damage will be in the first 6 seconds 714 (MS) + 62 (BoC) and some burning if they were knocked down allready. If they didn't die by then they will do after due burning, BoC and the last seconds of MS. A very few times they run out of the area forcing me to cast immolate glowing gaze on them. After the cast of this simple combination i can just stand there protected by dark escape, feigned neutrality. The damage output of my combination is much higher and allows less time of exposure to enemies (mitigating damage, reducing cost for healing, etc). Therfore resources will be kept in reserve for players that had the bad idea of interfering with your teams efforts. Don't say its a STUPID tactic, it works quite well.

* meaning all players enter the shrine's sphere to cap it, not unlike loads of casters and rangers that remain outside the cap radius therby not contributing to capping while in the fight.

whobitz · Jan 30, 2007, 03:56 AM // 03:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Smit

don't say its stupid if you have no experience with the build. I cap quickly with it, and use staff with 20% HCT.

The cycle you describe can only be used once each 1.5 minutes, capping under good conditions* takes about 30 seconds so only 1 out of three shrines your tactic can be used. A straightforward SF+GG+SF+SF casting cycle doesn't kill NPCees outright, it does only 2*119+14*7+53 damage (389 total) in the mean time u have sustained 7 seconds of enemy fire as well, potentially leading to death in the case of the ele shrine. Your initial faster casting is in effect not faster, you need say 11 seconds at least to kill em,

With the slow MS followed by death charge and Bed of coals (5.45 + 1 + 1.45 secs) the damage will be in the first 6 seconds 714 (MS) + 62 (BoC) and some burning if they were knocked down allready. If they didn't die by then they will do after due burning, BoC and the last seconds of MS. A very few times they run out of the area forcing me to cast immolate glowing gaze on them. After the cast of this simple combination i can just stand there protected by dark escape, feigned neutrality. The damage output of my combination is much higher and allows less time of exposure to enemies (mitigating damage, reducing cost for healing, etc). Therfore resources will be kept in reserve for players that had the bad idea of interfering with your teams efforts. Don't say its a STUPID tactic, it works quite well.

* meaning all players enter the shrine's sphere to cap it, not unlike loads of casters and rangers that remain outside the cap radius therby not contributing to capping while in the fight.

Pretty much everything I wrote to respond was off topic...so I'll just say I never meant your build in particular was stupid, but I just feel any elementalist that just uses MS without GoS wastes some time. With yours, thats just how it works, so it's all good, and you can use it to cap every time. SF's carry GoS and MS a lot because 1/4 second cast MS is leet.

I do not have any experience with your build though, so I'm sorry if I offended you.

P.S. aftercast is ~.75 secs IIRC.

Get back to the OP's build now...

Patrick Smit · Jan 30, 2007, 06:30 PM // 18:30

I was not offended, but the word stupid just didnt seem right to use. It was to using MS in general, even without GoS. 5 seconds loss is not much while after u have high DPS, in the first 5 secs u are safe anyway. NOI and none taken, sorry if it seemed offensive.

ABout the build of the OP, u rely quite heavily on attunements, not bad in itself as they give u great power to "spam" spells, but as necro its the first thing i strip using Gaze of contempt, i just love this spell. Thats why in PvP, actually try to rely as little as possible on enchants. Unless they recharge quite quickly. GoE is quite nice and i would have place for it i would take it as well. Instead of the snare u could replace that with a speed boost for yourself.