02-12-2005, 08:06 AM
Quote:I do believe there is something wrong with one's playstyle, because, you know, you could be... Casting spells..?
It is by casting spells or by using bow attacks with Marksman's Wager that you keep you energy pool filled to the brink. Two examples of how my characters accomplish this:
Method 1:
Elementalist/Ranger:
Once this character gets low on energy, I switch to my flatbow and fire a Crippling Shot at the closest target (but not a Necro prime/sec, don't want "crippled" getting sent back at me), cast Marksman's Wager, start firing arrows enchanted with Conjure [Element] at the closes most convinient target. Not only do I refill my energy pool for my nuke spells, but I also do decent damage in the process. I'd usually get about 40 energy from one usage of Marksman's Wager, enough to get me almost to full energy. At which point I switch out to my Icon/Wand and start chain casting nukes until Marksman's Wager recharges again. Which is when I repeat the process.
This allows me to re-use multiple times that burst firepower of an elementalist (I prefer Air) that is supposed to be limited by the large but slow to rebuild energy pool. Usually, it only takes 2 uses of Marksman's Wager for the battle to have been decided.
While not as powerful as ether renewal, it's safe from enchantement removals.
Also, ironically, this character build grew out of an Elementalist Ranger that was mainly a Ranger who used the massive energy capacity to sustain Tiger's Fury (not affected by Expertise). Tiger's Fury + Read the Wind + Conjure Flame + Dual Shot = PAIN. You're doing 150% of normal arrow damage (~15 damage to a warrior armor) + each arrow does 25 damage.
When you interchange Dual Shot and Power Shot (while stil enchanted with Read the Wind and Conjure Flame), you end up doing 65+ damage every second and a half. It's basically the Guild Wars version of the Speedazon. Extremely effective.
But I wanted to see if Marksman's Wager could help bring an Elementalist up to the same damage output as that Ranger, and boy it did.
...
Method 2:
Elementalist/Mesmer
=Skillset=
Arcane Echo
Ether Renewal (ER)
Lightning Orb (LO)
Flare
Aura of Restoration
Air attunment
Blinding Flash (anti Warrior/Ranger defense)
Enervating Charge (anti Warrior/Ranger defense)
I cast my enchantements (Aura of Restoration, Air attunment, Ether Renewal) just as I see the enemy team incoming. When combat is about to begin, I target the closes enemy Monk. Then I cast Arcane Echo, then cast Ether Renewal. I then open up on the monk with Lightning Orb, spending 10 energy, gaining back 9 from Ether Renewal. I then spam Flare while LO recharges, which is free, since ER returns more energy than I spend with Flare. I repeat this until ER wears off. Then I cast my echoed ER and start the damage output all over again.
This allows me to basically always be at near maximum energy, so that if my enchantements get stripped, I can stil continue outputting damage until they can be recast. At which point I start spamming Flare non stop until I refill my energy back to the top.
The damage output (especially from LO) is such that unless the Monk is BIPed by a Necromancer, he's not going to live for very long.
I invest 8 into Energy Storage with that build (I need both fire and Air strong). I don't technically NEED it, as I could do the same thing with 40 energy (it doesn't really go down). The extra energy (24) is there as a safety net, incase my enchantements get removed.
(Speaking of the Warrior defense - I loved it when warriors would come at me, but be unable to hit me OR do much damage when they did manage a hit. I'd usually just heal up whatever they'd manage to do with Aura of Restoration, while I kill 'em with Flare and LO, although usually they ran away before I could finish them off :(. Some smart Warrior/Necromancers used plague touch on me, but blindness does nothing to an Elementalist of my sort, and neither does weakness. I'd just reapplied both on them :) . The key, though, was to get them blinded -before- they closed into melee range, otherwise disrupting chop/knockdown can be a problem)
...
I've also played around with an Elementalist/Mesmer using Mantra of Recall, but the need to have another stance to cancel Mantra of Recall (and so get it's energy) put this combo as my 3rd choice for "nearly unlimited energy" builds.
But ... nevermind.
Your mind is made up. My PvP experience obviously does not matter. So there's no reason to continue the conversation. I mainly posted the above info for the benefit of others.