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Icekiller

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No longer a real newbie, but

I started a thread a long time ago here on how to build a good character. I got some useful tips and just ploughed on into the game. Then I got busy in real life and only until recently did I leace fluffy land and got into the tougher levels.

I am now a lvl 11 elementalist/mesmer with skills in inspiration, fire and energy storage. I am doing a lot of quests to gain more skills and now I see why an elementalist often needs back up....or is that really so?

I am not quite sure if I just play things wrong or if I need better skill(combo)s. What I had hoped when I started playing an elementalist/mesmer, was that I could shutdown my attackers by kind of "freezing" them into place and then blast them to pieces.

I have the firestorm to blast them and ice spikes to slow them down a bit, but that just will not do with real opponents. I also have glimpsed at some interesting runes to put on equipment, but I do not have a clue which "ultimate" weapon/armor to take and what "ultimate" rune to put on.

In short I need some guidance here. What do I need to do from here to get to some kind of "control/shutdown" character?

10/19/05 04:58

Swamp_Fox

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Joined: 04/22/2005
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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

Well, for your profession combination the best build I can think of atm is "Echo Nuking" which is where you use the skills "Echo" and/or "Arcane Echo" and use them to copy a very high damaging skill, or atleast a very annoying one for pvp ;). Such as Firestorm, Fireball, Water Trident, Obsideon Flame. Although this build doesn't really work to well in my experiances for soloing. Though not very many elementalist builds should since in my opinion they are primarily damage chars and should leave tanking to the warriors.

Your "ultimate rune/weapon/armor" depends on your build (why wield a fire wand if you have all your points in water ;), the best place to get your armor would be droknars forge (although there are places after, but only difference is graphics).

Also here are some other builds ideas for an ele, for if you get to change your secondary profession (there are guides on it)

Elementalist/Necromancer: Soul barbs+water hexes. Sould barbs will make it so whenever they get hexed they will take +20dmg or so, and almost all of the ice spells cause hexes, so thats some additional dmg.

Elementalist/Monk: Just a Invinci-monk hiding in an elementalist shell, if you need to just google GW invincimonk and you will prolly find all the details there

Elementalist/Warrior: This would mostly work against warrior mobs, and pretty early in game. Just use shield stance then blurred vision, then all the AoEs you can.

Hope this helped

Joined: 04/22/2005, and that I'm back ^^

10/19/05 05:45

tmakinen

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

My E/Me soloed everything (i.e., not even taking henchmen with me) all the way to Yak's Bend at which point I gave up and started to learn teamwork, so soloing with an ele is possible to an extent (it was hard but manageable around Piken Square for a lv9 elementalist). It took much more time to do quests but it was not a wasted effort since I learned to be a sneaky b*stard, to avoid confrontation when not absolutely necessary, to manage my health and energy, to choose skills according to the requirements and overall to use sound tactics (pulling, noticing patrols, sweeping from flanks etc.) More often than not I was a PBAoE 'fire bomb', a tactic that raised some eyebrows when I initially used it in parties, too, before changing to 'safer' modes of operation.

10/19/05 06:06

Icekiller

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

Thanks, that did help.

I had hoped to find a way to play my ele/mes in a way to first shutdown my opponents or freeze them to a crawl and then blast them with e.g. firestorm. Judging from your response that is probably not easily or even just not managed.

I like the idea of the ele/necro and probably the idea of the ele/monk as well. I will look into that when I get to the point when I can change. By then I will ask more questions here.

What I need to know is what to do now. I have a few skills picked up here and there and I have "specialized" in three skills.

Inspiration at 4
Fire at 6
Energy Storage at 7 (+1 due to some item)

Now I use Flare to lure my opponents and then Ice Spikes and Lava Font and sometimes the occasional Fire Storm to finish them. Ofcourse my Aura of Restoration is on before all that. That works against weaker opponents or up til three opponents, but after that I get hurt a lot.

What should I do now? Invest in different skills? Get certain spells? Make some better armour/weapon? I have the elementalist's robes at 30 armour, but should I have better?

10/19/05 06:20

Icekiller

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

AoE....that is armour of elements. What is PB?

10/19/05 06:22

tmakinen

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

QUOTE

AoE....that is armour of elements. What is PB?

AoE = Area of Effect, spell that affects everybody around the target of casting
PBAoE = Point Blank Area of Effect, spell that affects everybody around the caster

The 'fire bomb' elementalist makes a counterintuitive move by going up front and personal with the enemy. Specifically, it is a (solo) tactic to cope with mobs of enemies that contain both ranged and melee attackers. The idea is to run straight to the ranged enemies (and thus have all the enemies in a tight group around you) and then dump all the area effect spells one after another. Like Lava Font, Inferno, Flame Burst ... (my low level E/Me had to use Lava Font, Chaos Storm and Fire Storm and then flare anything that was still kicking).

10/19/05 07:21

Icekiller

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

Heeey...that is exactly what I do now. Only I use Ice Spikes instead of Chaos Storm, so let me change that. I thought of adding that earth armour spell just before hitting them though. Might help some. Seems I will have to adjust to domination , I guess.

It is the only way to play it if you go solo, as otherwise you will get boxed in by some monsters and killed by the spellcasters/archers from a distance.

What did you use for armour and weapons around Piken Square and all? Because that area and some others are indeed very hard to play solo.

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

10/19/05 07:50

GW_Ranger

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Joined: 09/26/2005
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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

Imagined Burden slows a target foe by 50% I believe, but if you want area slow get Ward Against Foes, its an Earth Skill that slows all foes in its AoE by 50%. But 50% slow is still going to move them out of Firestorms AoE too quickly but maybe Ward Against Foes and Ice Spikes slows would stack and stop them cold for a few seconds.

I'm giving you negative credit for making me think of possible skill combos. J/K :)

Name That 'Mech!!(the one I use as an avatar)

10/19/05 12:02

Icekiller

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

Still much obliged though!

10/19/05 12:35

Icekiller

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

Just tried finding the build for the ele/monk but all I read is a bunch of people whining how this build is nerfed. That is probably just for PvP although I might be mistaken.

Could someone give me a good build for an ele/mesmer, an ele/necro and an ele/monk? Mind you, if you do not want to post it on the forum, you can either PM me or add me in the game. The name is Megan Stormweaver.

Thanks!

10/20/05 02:20

lani

GameAmp Staff
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Joined: 09/08/2005
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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

A general word on Builds here, and 2nd Professions too for that matter.

A Build is in essence a described set of Attibute Points, Skills and equipment used for a specific task. Meaning that it meets the requirements to do something specific. Now making a Build to do something not qualified is a bit of a brain-teaser. While it's possible to create some generic Builds for you, these would be so basic and simple that it might actualy be offensive to post the bleedingly obvious, so to speak.
Now, in my case my ability to state the bleedingly obvious is fast, but I'd really rather not offend :-)

So if you want information on Builds, please specify what you wish to do with it, which is the first step of making a Build. The other alternative is to start with what you have and ask, 'what kind of builds could I make with this set of prerequisites'. Which brings us to the 2nd Profession bit. If this one is set, and you aren't in the position of being able to change this at will yet, it's a limiting factor (prerequisite) on what you can do. So is the first prof, but that falls under the bleedingly obvious category :-)

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10/20/05 07:17

Balthamos

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

I have played an E/Me up to the RoF missions. I think these are the skills that i used (later in game)

1. Fireball
2. Meteor
3. Fire Storm
4. Meteor Shower
5. Energy Tap/Leech Signet
6. Mantra of Recall
7. Archane Echo
8. Ressurection Signet

2. can be changed for phoenix, another mesmer skill, aura of restoration.

Attribute Build

Fire Magic: 11+3+1
Energy Storage: 10+2
Inspiration Magic: 10

This is a simple PvE build which is used from the southern shiverpeaks, obviously you will only have some of the skills while you are Yaks Bend but the strategy remains essantially the same.

Start by activating mantra of recall, just before battle. Allow the creatures to gather around the tank and activate meteor shower. Follow with archane echo and 2 fireballs. Continue with firestorm and continue casting fireball. Activate mantra of recall as soon as it wears off. Use energy tap as apropriate. Meteor can be used to obtain knockdown on a boss or replaced with a skill such as ether feast for health management.

PBAoE also worked well in PvP

Firestorm, lava front, phonix, inferno, flame burst.

Each of these spells does a large amount of damage. Firestorm obviously is not PB but if you activate it then run next to your target, then activate lava front you can find yourself dealing 40 damage/second.

Edgwalkers is coming.

10/20/05 15:24

Icekiller

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

Thank you for making me getting you underway! Even the bleeding obvious can be completely impossible to see without some insights from your side.

I am now at lvl 12 which means in my case I struggle along Piken Square. I need a general build that will get me further ahead in the game. After reading some things at GW net I have seen some farming and solo builds for lvl 20 characters and even the illustrious invinci-monk, but that is not what I am looking for right now. Right now I merely want to get at that lvl 20.

I have enormous problems to solo further in the game. I try to play it safe by luring enemies and attacking them in smaller portions, but that luxury is fading nowadays. So I need a build that will get me further and a strat to go with it. Basically what I do now is lure a group, settle on the spellcaster, cast Armour, Lava and Firestorm and sometimes Chaos Storm. Then I will finish with Flare.

What I have now:

Air:
Blinding Flash
Lightning Javelin

Domination:
Backfire
Chaos Storm
Diversion
Energy Burn
Power Leak
Shatter Delusion
Shatter Hex

Earth:
Armor of Earth
Earth Attunement
Magnetic Aura
Ward Against Elements

Energy Storage:
Aura of Restoration

Fire:
Fire Ball
Fire Storm
Flare
Lava Font

Illusion:
Conjure Phantasm
Distortion
Illusion of Haste
Imagined Burden
Phantom Pain

Inspiration:
Energy Tap
Ether Feast
Mantra of Flame

Water:
Frozen Burst
Ice Spikes

No Attribute:
Glyph of Lesser Energy[B][/B]

***THIS POST HAS BEEN EDITED***

10/20/05 15:59

lani

GameAmp Staff
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Joined: 09/08/2005
Credibility: 28 pts

Re: No longer a real newbie, but

EHm, by Soloing, do you mean "Playing with henchies but no players" or "playing completely alone without either people or henchies"?
I'm beginning to suspect the latter. I'm not sure if that can be done.
You'll get a long way by picking the enemy off one at a time and 'strategical withdrawals', but there's going to be spots where you can't run away to recuperate and I very, very much doubt you would be able to hold your own in those area's.

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10/20/05 16:09

Icekiller

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Re: No longer a real newbie, but

Actually I did mean without henchies as well. Very perceptive!

I play with a friend of mine occasionally and he plays intelligently as well. Henchies are really stupid obviously, but what reallu surprises me is the enormous amount of stupid players. Blindly running into heaps of enemies, never taking the time to recharge or asking how your teammates are doing and even stabbing people in the back during quests.

But I think you are right about not being able to make it without henchies. Still, consider that I probably will be using them from now on. :)

10/20/05 16:17

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