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Author: everdream
3,878 Views
11 Comments
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AvA Air Elementalist:
Can’t hit what you can’t see… Unless you’re a Jedi!
Air Elementalist’s are a well known commodity, a lot of people play this build in some form or another, but few choose to explain it. This has been set up as a Damage and Avoidance of Damage through conditions from the Air Element line in the splendid arsenal of a pure Elementalist.
Character Layout:
Elementalist
Attributes:
Air Magic: 16 (12+3+1) Superior Rune and Storm’s Eye required.
Energy Storage: 13 (12+1) Minor Rune Required
Skill Bar:
1. Lightning Orb (Spell) (15e, 2sec, 5sec): Send out a Lightning Orb that strikes for 106 Lightning Damage, this spell has 25% armor penetration.
2. Lightning Strike (Spell) (5e, 1sec, 5sec): Strike Target foe for53 Lightning Damage, this spell has 25% armor penetration.
3. Enervating Charge (Spell) (10e, 1sec, 8sec): Target foe is struck for 53 Lightning Damage and suffers from weakness for 21 seconds, this spell has 25% armor penetration.
4. Blinding Flash (Spell) (15e, .75sec, 4sec): Target foe is blinded for 10 seconds.
5. Whirlwind/Tenai’s Wind (Spell) (10e, .75sec, 8sec): All adjacent foes take 63 cold damage, attacking foes are knocked down.
6. Aura of Restoration (Enchantment) (10e, .25sec, 5sec): For 60 seconds you are healed for 367% of the energy cost each time you cast a spell.
7. Air Attunement (Enchantment) (10e, 2sec, 45sec): For 62 seconds you gain 30% of the energy used to cast Air Magic spells.
8. Elemental Attunement (Elite Enchantment) (10e, 2sec, 45sec): For 52 seconds you are attuned to all elements and gain 50% of the energy back when casting any elemental spell.
Equipment:
20/20 Collectors Storm Artifact(Offhand) and a Brimstone/Wayward Air Wand.
Playing the Skill Bar:
The heavy hitter in this build is Lightning Orb, hitting up to and over 200 on certain foes. The usual damage versus another caster is 131-140. Against warriors and rangers it hits for less, but still considerable usually 81-106 (more if they’re frenzy). The downside to this spell is you need a clear line of sight for the most part, it does have some ark, but it’s difficult to get into a position to use it. Lightning Strike is the second most damaging as it is cast more frequently than Enervating Charge and costs less to cast. It’s line of sight doesn’t matter so it’s a good spell to hit a fleeing foe or if you’re behind an obstruction. It generally hits casters more than its rating, right around 70 and rangers, warriors and assassins can expect to be hit for around 32-61. Enervating Charge does the same amount of damage as Lightning Strike except it causes a weakness on the target for 21 seconds. Warriors that once hit you for 50-60 are now slapping you for 14-18. Weakness has effect on all attacking weapons, so even a staff’s damage will be decreased heavily if that foe is weakened. Blinding Flash does exactly as its name implies, it blinds. Blinded foes miss 90% of the time. Basically it takes an attacker and turns them into a pylon for 10 seconds. Couple this with enervate to make melee attackers irate. Its quick 4 second recharge means you can keep 2 attackers blind by rotating the charges properly. Since my Elementalist is Tyrian, I use the skill Whirlwind for when things get out of hand. It’s my escape spell for when melee chars (including touch rangers) are annoying me. Aura of Restoration is my only means of self-healing. I am rarely in groups with monks and this enchantment does just fine. I will often cast it over top of itself for heals along with spamming whirlwind whenever I need health if I’m not directly attacking someone. Because of the recharges on all the offensive spells I rarely find myself low on health. Continually casting is the only way to stay alive, which is where energy efficiency comes to play. With Air Attunement and Elemental Attunement cast, you’ll get 80% of the energy back from all your elemental spells in this build. Combine this with the natural +4 energy regeneration and large energy pool from Energy Storage and it’s almost difficult to run completely out. It is critical that the second they recharge that they are recast to keep fighting.
Tactics to Use:
Elementalists, like all casters they are often targeted by melee attackers. Elementalists have the weakest armor in the game so caution must be taken if you’re playing a build that has absolutely no armor increasing spells. Let other party members catch the attention of the enemy first. Spells have a long range and it’s much more fun to be left alone while you lay waste to anyone in your line of site. If you see a fellow caster being pestered by an attacker, blind the attacker and go back to attacking your initial target. If you’re being directly attacked, figure out what’s doing it, blind it, weaken it, cast Whirlwind if you’re near death and run. My specific order on a warrior or assassin attacking me is to first hit them with Blinding Flash, then Lightning Orb, followed by Enervating Charge and Lightning Strike. If they’re still there I’ll knock them down and do the cycle over again. Against other casters I simply spam spells until they fall. Usually 2 Cycles of the attack spells will finish off even a 500hp+ caster. I remember to spam Blinding Flash and Whirlwind against other casters, even if they are not near me because 367% of the cost goes to healing me. It is best to do this only if you’re dying because the attack spells charge quickly enough that cycles are usually a nice flow. Hit Skills 1, 2, and then 3. By the time skill 3 (enervating charge) has been cast, Lightning Orb will be ready to go again.
Degeneration based attackers are a pain though you can go toe-to-toe with them and beat them. Same goes with Touch Rangers. Best thing to do with them is let them attack someone else and then just sack them after they’re occupied. Mesmer’s will attempt to foil you, but you can inflict 280 damage on them in 4 seconds, so if you see one kill it quick, then focus on other enemies. There have been times when even with Backfire on me I’m able to take out a Mesmer because I use less spells to kill them before Backfire can kill me (even though as I mentioned before in a previous guide that casting through Backfire is moronic, I did it just to see who’d drop first because we were both alone). Dazed is bad for everyone, if I become dazed I just retreat until it wears off.
Anyone interested in playing an Offensive Elementalist should definitely take a look at something similar to this. Probably the best thing about this build is it’s effective against any enemy, which makes it a versatile and simple build for even elementary players.
Some Pictures from my last AvA Battle. 504-496.
A warrior goes toe-to-toe with Ashra, note the health bars of both.
He had enough and made a futile run to die only seconds later.
Met the same warrior a little later, he ran while a ranger tried to interupt my killing, knocked him down and with the help of a blood necro, made even quicker work of the Wammo.
Surprised i caught the Orb in mid-flight. I saw a sparkle in his eyes, then he was gone. /cry.
it's lovely when the enemy players say that knockdown was nice. Cookie pmed me shortly after the match and said that was deadly. i did need to run on that one, for obvious reasons, but stayed alive.
During the entire match only suffered one death and lost track of kills :D
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