Best elite when you were a beginner?

[Mantra of Recovery]
back in my bow-wielding mesmer days, I got to the famed Crystal Desert, and saw this purple snake thing... logically, I cast my super awesome Chaos Storm on it, and in mere hours, it dropped dead to the ground. I whipped out my handy dandy signet of capture, which I had gotten from my good friend back in Kryta after we killed some rock things together. I saw this shiny new skill with a border, and it never left my bar, until I realized that quick shot was a far better elite for a new Me/R.

I thought Life Transfer was pretty much the best skill ever invented.

I was like, "OMG I can do degens while heals? Haxx!"

and then when I was told about Arcane Echo, I almost died.

So fing true : p

Haha, oh wow.

[skill]Life Transfer[/skill] was something I first used quite a bit on my necromancer, but afterwards I switched to [skill]Spiteful Spirit[/skill], which is still awesome.

Shield of Deflection!

You just have to love that huge bubble that surrounded you whenever you casted it.

SS was my first elite, but i went through most of the game back in 05 on my necro with no elite at all

Maybe in the skill update they will return it to its former glory... or not lol

looks like a few of us felt the same way lol

[Melandru's Arrows]. It was a close competitor with [Melandru's Resilience], but I think I finally got rid of that one when I wanted a running stance.

Soul leech.
Soul leech + backfire would eat through casters... I went to a lot of effort to cap it too. Still run it on occassion in AB, most of the casters there just don't learn not to cast through it. <3

Having thought of that... and having thought of the blood magic line - I wonder how running a 4 necro build would be.... Might have to experiment.

Marksman's Wager [Marksman's Wager] for me.

And I would rave on about how it was an *essential* elite and the only thing worth bringing because Rangers have soooo many energy problems. At the time I was a R/E with not a single bow attack skill on my bar. Something like Charm, comfort, Marksman's, Meteor Shower, Firestorm, Whirlwind, Shard Storm, Rez was the build that got me through the game up to the fire islands.

Gee, no wonder I had energy issues! God I wish I could go back and slap myself

With the buff to Melendru's Resistance, I'd say that is still a good skill for anybody.

Anyway, Mantra of Energy. That was fun before Factions.

Mark of protection, on my necro

no damage is awesome ;0

I'm pretty sure this was the bar I ran for most of my early warrior days
[apply poison][cyclone axe][victory is mine][shield stance][flame trap][bonetti's defense][barbed trap]

Old school vim was lots of fun back before I realised I was supposed to be killing stuff.

Oh yeah I forgot about life transfer, one of my favorite elites.

My first elite was Star Burst on my ele.... I loved that skill... :X Just running into a mob and watching the giant red bubble flash was fun.

[hundred blades]

awesomeness in a can

[healing hands] and when I started pvp, [energy drain]
Energy Drain was pretty awesome then, especially with 40/40 inspiration set. Then everyone started using [Offering of Blood] with a mass blood recharge switch instead. Then OoB turned 20% health sac.

[Energy Surge] ftw <3 121212

Warrior's Endurance

Back in the day of running lava font and MS on your cyclone axe attack monster this elite was AMAZING! I could nuke as much as an ele with complete crap for e-management!

Now it actually turns out half decent for AoE again as a W/D, though.