channeling

If you take in account that elementalists currently have horrible DPS already, ritualists have even worse DPS, it's probably the only subclass that Elementalist could outdamage.

Granted, Rits have a spike going, but it's a spike that you can see comming, and one that is avoidable, you really need an overagressive whammo or assasin for it to work properly. In the time it takes to setup most spike builds would have killed you already.

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Basically, a channelling ritualist in most circumstances would be unable to deal more damage than she takes, which is untrue of almost any other class.

The line is a little weak but I was playing a channeler all the way from the beginning of the game through to vasburg armor.

Typically I would lay down use attunded was sonkai or mighty was vorizun. Then lay down recuperation, Spirit Rift, Channeled strike (they both hit at the same time making a nice spike) then essence strike and then spirit strike I guess.

I was quite disappointed that so many of the channeling skills required a spirit to be around, but as someone said above, if you did more direct dmg like that then you are basically an elementalist.

I haven't quite found a rit build that I really like yet.

The most damage I got from a Rit was

Rupture Soul + Destruction + Ritual Lord + Life

= Constant Blind and nice AoE dmg

I can see people's points on the matter. Channeling can be at least useful to a ritualist in the early (aka pre-rit lord cap) parts of cantha. For instance, my ritualist is playing a chanelling build for the moment almost entirely because Ritual Lord is so far off. I'm just glad you can make a build that't not totally crippled without a specific elite semi-early in the game.

The biggest problem I had with channeling and its ties to spirits is that, while the spirit has a larger area of effect, you essentially need to be standing right next to it to be able to use the bonuses you get from the channeling skills like essence strike and spirit strike. If you move a little bit away from the spirt, then you lose the ability to gain the bonuses.

Now that I have rit lord though, I have switched builds as Channeling just isn't as effective as I would like.

there are positives with channeling rits.

the energy cost is no where near what eles have to pay, and with a little e-management, you can consistantly hit for some pretty good dmg.

and with rupture soul/destruction, it is a fantastic combo to do 300dmg + blind.

I must agree that Channeling isn't really that good. But the, it shouldn't replace an Ele in the first place.

I can't find any good use of some skills. For Example Essence Strike. At Channeling 12 it does 17!!!! dmg to a Naga Archer and Warrior on the Luxon side. Ofcourse you get a bit amount of Energy back, 7, when standing near a spirit. However, the dmg is just redicilously low.

Destruction. Mobs have to be very very close to get affected by the dmg.

I really think they should've made the Channeling damage something with Shadow Damage instead of Lightning. Any basic lvl 20 Warrior can outheal the damage even with just a Healing Signet.

However, the skillcost of some 'decent' skills are just 5 or 10. In order to keep attacking perhaps Mesmers Elite's or Energy tap are most likely to be the only effective ways to regain Energy when using Channeling.

There's two sides of this really.

First of all, from a realistic point of view, Ritualist Probably have the worst DPS in the game with channeling, dare I say that even a smiter would outdamage them over a minute. Their spike is just merely decent and takes a long time to set up, so in short, yes it has its use... yes it can be powerful, but there are several classes who can do it a lot better.

With that said.

Ritualists have one of the best energy managements around, for a Channeling ritualist, Attuned Was S. or Spirit Channeling are pretty amazing. Also, if you prepare your strike and do a full combo you can do a shitload of damage in a short time, however, in order to do this you need pretty stupid opponents that 1. don't know what your skills do 2. don't have a clue what you are doing even after you planted doom.

If you have a channeling rit against you, best idea is just to kill him from afar, or just ignore him.

However, as a channeling ritualist you can do more things at once, like healing at the same time. You won't excel at either but you'll have a decent balance. Or spirit spam and do damage with that.

communing is fine at dmg. painful bond + five spirits easily = a sustainable 100dps for at least 10-20 seconds + disrupt blind and enchant removal. (its not effective in RA because of high setup time. but its absoulutly owns in AB and Fort whatitis

still elemental dmg as a whole is just kind of sad. the elmentals can't even outdmg warriors now. enter search on"why nuking sucks" plenty of math and info to prove me right in the thread.

oh well its a lost battle. I'll jsut have to stick to communing or resto =(

I was playing a defensive rit in aspenwood sitting at the top of the hill dropping spirits. An opposing rit down below me started hitting me with channelling attacks. Suffice to say, I was laughing it off and didn't move an inch to continue dropping me spirits. I knew channelling was weak as I've tried using it before so I knew I wasn't in any danger at all. Channelling badly needs some kind of buff to some of the offensive skills (not all of them) as most of them are absolutely pitiful damage dealers.

The only time channeling skills have ever actually scared me are from that rit naga boss on the beach back on the monestary island. You know, the one that's guarding that treasure chest and had a spirit rift that does like 200 dmg and makes the quest near impossible with 60 DP. Now if overall channelling skills could get that kind of buff (but not too much), maybe that skill line would be a little more intimidating.

at 16 channeling rift + ancestors is pretty amazing as a follow up to a meter shower or warrior spike, just time it right with your team and watch the fire works! Agree still some what situational and un reliable but fun none the less!

Signed Slight buff or bonus would be cool.

for the luxons, a destruction spirit at 4 damage per second, almost about to die+ rapture soul= bye bye door guards

you have to find a good combination of channeling skills for it to really work I guess

I found channeling pretty decent for certain situations. For example, I used a channeling build to farm faction to trade for jadeite for my Rit's 15k Luxon set in Fort Aspenwood. I could take out an amber mine or the first set of door guards by myself.

Prep Destruction with Soul Twisting{E} prior to start of battle. Holding Cruel Was Daoshen, rush up to guards and instacast Destruction, then drop ashes, Ancestor's Rage, plus other 1-sec cast time channeling skills, and pop Destruction again with Soul Twisting. Not a great build by any means, but it was pretty effective for a while.

After many runs the Kurzick side caught onto me and would send 2 warriors to take me out before I could get down to the door, and I started taking Grasping Was Kuurong and some other skills instead.

Now, I seldom use Channeling, mainly because I'd rather farm or Rit Lord to help guildies now that I've gone through all of Cantha.

whoa whoa hey I go chanelling rit all the time and I can solo a warrior until he dies.

I mean chanelling is designed to be able to perform a quickfire chain of skills that can do some awesome spiking damage. The most basic one is Cruel was Daoshen + Chanelled strike (which I don't really use - too much energy). There are skills in that attribute line that allow you to pull off some real nasty combos.

Lamentation deals direct damage, so it ignores armour.

Spirit rift has a 3 second delay, so you can use it in the same way as lightning surge i.e. cast another spell while it's in effect.

Desctruction is awesome, time it right, and you can have your target on the floor in a zap.

I tried Spirit Siphon, someone mentioned it was pretty useless, I have to agree^^. It doesn't give you that much energy to make it useful. Theres already one out there that deals damage and gives you just as much energy in return.

Also, Clamour of Souls is my favourite elite so far, it can strike spirits and minions because they dont class as 'strictly allies', so they get hit even if the numbers are uneven. Combo this with spirit rift, and you can easily take out a Rit Lord's spirits^^. Though, I'm saying that in a PvP instance.

Gaze from beyond can do up to 120 damage at the cost of 5.

I mean I've tested chanelling builds with many combinations, and while some just simply dont work, ive got a build that I love. Though, I can't seem to outpower a rit with Destruction + Rupture soul, but I can outpower them 'at range' ^^.

I still cant make Channeling work.

Let's make this thread more useful. Some of you say channeling is good because you can do combo on Luxon NPCs in Aspenwood. Or in PvE destruction+whatever. Puh-leeze! Everything works in pve including mending (as sad as it may be). We cant use PvE or static NPCs in Aspenwood as an argument of how great Channeling is.

Let's talk about PvP. It can be RA, it can be AB, or TA HA GvG.

So tell me, where is Channeling Rt equal or better than ele here? What builds do you use to make it work? How good does it works, ie how many consecutives you get with it in RA, and how often. What about TA, or how far you get in HA, what guilds do you beat with channeling in gvg.

Clamor of Souls i heard not to be better than Flame Burst. Since i dont really play eles (find em boring), i cannot tell. But seeing the stats .. well it does seem the same, except Flame Burst aint Elite and it has no requirements like "need to have allies close". So, why use CoS over Flame Burst?

Now, i can pick a few channeling skills which are pretty good on their own BUT we are not talking about that. Tell me of Channeling BUILDS. Tell me of full builds which work good.


Now, let me tell you my oppinion of why some skills aint as good as some of you make it look like:

1) Destruction. Awesome? I dont think so. It's decent, it's good in pve, but im looking at pvp only here. Where is destruction useful? Where? Who will stand near the spirit, which btw doesnt have big range at all. Sure u can stand near spirit hoping for warrior to come near, but how often will that happen to make it PRACTICALLY useful. Im not interesting in theory mind you, im interesting in whether a build or skill can constantly work in practice. If something works properly in 1/5 games, is it worth it? IMO, no, unless it's something groundbreaking. Also note that sometimes you may need to destroy this spirit before 30sec, which means dmg will be lower than statistical dmg.

2) Rupture Soul. Without "target closest spirit" UI command, i find this skill decent, but unpractical and slightly weaker (compared to the popular oppinion).

3) CoS vs Flame Burst. Hmm.

4) Lamentation. It's a great skill except... 30sec recharge just kills me. I suppose it could be a part of spike if a team is camping near spirits in HA.. but practically, i dont know. It's a cheap skill, with very fast cast time. That gives him potential. But it's also a situational skill, it has a requirement to cause any dmg in the first place. Even the armor ignoring doesnt justify it imo. Gaze beats this skill anytime, and i wont even compare ele skills.

etc


The way i see Channeling: it's a good energy-management line with... nothing to spend your energy on. Unless you're spamming Rift, what are you going to use your energy on? Cruel was Daoshen? No wait, 45sec recharge. Lamentation? Uh wait 30 sec recharge. Essense? Oh wait no dmg at all. Channeled Strike and Rift are more or less only skills which do dmg and have decent recharge.

I guess you could say that one could use that emanagement to do Restoration heals, but then again why not just use Attuned was Shongkai? At least u wont need to rely on spirits around you.

Conclusion: the few good skills dont make a good channeling build. Sorry. If im wrong, make channeling build and show me. Im open to suggestions, i've tried making channeling work myself but so far i failed.

well from my exp, using a channeling rit in any type of Pvp enviroment is not recommended for reason you mentioned and of course a few more, again not a viable option as far as i can see.....

I have yet to find a viable build for a Channelin g rit in Pvp!

Rits need a slight tweak to skills and recharges times IMO...

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Nah I don't use draw spirit with destruction. You're right about chanelling, you are able to create a build that will allow you to spam a multitude of skills and effectively keep a good reserve of energy.

In RA, I use this build many times, one time I made 22 consecutive wins with a group;

Clamour of Souls
Destruction
Spirit Burn
Lamentation
Gaze from Beyond
Essence Strike
Generous was Tsungrai
Res Sig

Now as for an ele, its not so much as the fact that I can kill him with the elite and then Lamentation, but using three of these combinations of skills, Essence strike, Spirit Burn and Gaze from Beyond, you are able to take them down at range, dealing a good 290 damage in 3 seconds (attr: rank 15), with another 170 damage every 3-5 seconds at the cost of 7 or less energy thanks to Essence strike. So in terms of dealing more damage than an ele, I can outpower a E/A that tries to come in range, and I can outpower a lightning ele thanks to my ability to spam faster than the ele can cast.

Against warriors, in RA, they are actually lame enough to attack me on the assumption that i'm a rit lord with shadowsong :P (and that whenever I go a Ritualist I hardly ever move, even as a restoration rit... Weapon of Warding ftw!!!). Anyway, I use the three combo as they charge in, then I use the elite, followed by lamentation, and finish off with the 3 chain combo again. This has worked for me many times, getting the warrior on the ground very easily.

The only problem with my build is that it relies on Destruction to support my capability of chaining these skills. Lamentation is also good for when, like for instance a warrior kills a monk and the warrior is low on life. Now that the monk is a Corpse...^^.

The only problem I face is being matched up with a ranger... stupid +30 elemental defense...

And like I mentioned before, CoS isn't affected by spirits, so they get hit just like flame burst..

Wait a minute, flame burst costs 15 energy, Ele's may have energy storage, but they can only do so much before they're forced to wand for a while.

EDIT: Had a little scrimmage against a Star Burst E/A, guess who won^^.

Attuned Channeler

This is my Channeling Rit Build. In practice I can out dish damage in comparison to a Elementalist using Air damage. Why do you ask? Attuned was Songkai lowers the cost of all of my spells by 44% at rank 13. Therefore my energy regeneration time required for recasting of spells increases by an exponential amount. In practice this build works

Channeling 12 +1 +3 = 16
Spawning 12 +1 = 13
Restoration 03 +1 = 04



Ancestors' Rage Spell. All foes adjacent to target ally are struck for 10...82 lightning damage.

Channeled Strike Spell. Target foe is struck for 5...77 lightning damage. That foe takes an additional 5...29 lightning damage if you are holding an item.

Destruction Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...8 Spirit that dies after 30 seconds. When this spirit dies, all foes in the area take 1...4 damage for each second the spirit was alive.

Gaze from Beyond Spell. The spirit nearest you loses 10...34 Health. Target foe is struck for 3 lightning damage for each point of health lost.

Spirit Burn Spell. Target foe is struck for 5...41 lightning damage. If any spirits are in the area around you, Spirit Burn deals +15...27 damage.

Spirit Rift Spell. Open a Spirit Rift at target foe's location. After 3 seconds, all adjacent foes are struck for 20...96 lightning damage.

Attuned Was Songkai Elite Item Spell. Hold Songkai's ashes for up to 45 seconds. While you hold her ashes, your spells and Binding Rituals cost -5...41% of the base Energy to cast.

Flesh of My Flesh Spell. Lose half your Health. Resurrect target ally with your current Health and 5%...17% energy.

read my reply to your PM.

i've played Rt as favorite class since i've been playing the game.(right when factions hit shelves) Not to claim lots of experiance. or to say channel rits can't do dmg, but are they really doing dmg that will actaully turn the game? they do teh least dmg of any dmg dealing build of any class. thats what im trying to say.

Monks! god forbid, are better at dishing the pain than a channel rit

its needs a buff. it needs help. it is not fine.

to say that it can't do dmg would be to ingore the facts. to claim as i have that armor makes you unable to even be a threat to anyone but a low armor class that is unprepared is a valid statement.

And RA opponants btw are not good examples of dueling with someone of skill. most people on this forum have double the experiance of random RA people. if not much more.

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I can see ppl are complaining about channeling rit...

Ritualist is character that can heal quite well. It is balanced char. He heals, protects and deals dmg. That is why i like it. Rt without channeling would be much worse. Purpose of channeling is not to deal HUGE amount of dmg not modified by armor to everything and to have energy management and best DPS in game.

I think u shouldn't compare skills of different professions. It makes no sense. Elem's flame burst may be better than CoS, but he can't cast spirits and heal/protect while pure Rt can have CoS and heal whole party. It would be unfair for the elem to make channeling more powerful.

U can't say that warrior deals more dmg than channeling Rt. There are really many ways to make warrior useless in battle. Also he must have adrenaline to deal dmg. If u have huge armor and physical dmg reduction warrior will have same problems than u in dealing dmg. So warrior must deal more dmg than Rt as it is easier to stop him.

Also remember that by being Rt you can freely chose your attributes. Even if MAYBE week, you CAN make pure Channeler. What about W or R? they have to put a lot of AP in marksmanship or Sword/Axe/Hammer to mean something. Can u imagine pure tactics/strength warrior? U can make channeling/communing, channeling/restoration, channeling/spawning power, etc. And can u make axe/sword warrior? Another reason why these shouldn't be compared.

Every profession has many useless skills so complaining about Rt having them is just silly. Maybe in future, when new professions will arrive these skills will be better.

As for spirit siphon -> there is not written that spirit must be yours, so maybe it is a good way for draining out of energy hostile spirits? I don't really know how it works as i haven't tried it yet.

Here is buld that i used to play on RA. I use both channeling and restoration to aid my party with healing/prot and surprise enemy with some dmg.

Preservation [E]
Recuperation

before engaging enemies i cast them so they heal my party. Preservation works better for small parties so it is cool in RA. more than 100hp every 4s. It really helps and the best is that u don't have to worry about healing. Spirits do this. U can concentrate on choosing good target. It is obvious that u need to chose casters as your primary target to deal as much dmg as u can.

Cruel was Daoshen

I LOVE it. I cast it before battle. U can hold them for 60s so no problem. The trick is to cast them again during battle while holding them and then immediately press drop item button. U deal 2x 100dmg to all nearby enemies. I mean 200dmg to monk with tatoos, and casters with 60 AL. If u are lucky u can hit whole enemy party with that. When W or A tries to hit me, I run to enemy's monk and do Double Cruel of Daoshen. W or A of course follows me and gets dmg as well. And what a surprise for enemy that was thinking Rt is pure healer :P And even if u die after that, your spirits will still heal your party. Now even better because there will be only 3 targets for preservation

Weapon of Warding

So warrior can't kill u too fast. To protect your mates etc. I like it.

Rest is up to you.
Maybe Essence strike to have some energy management and do same dmg while u hold ashes (because u can't hit with your staff then)
Vengeful Weapon is so cool
Lamentation?

Sure, u are not as good in healing as monk and not as good dmg dealer than other professions, but u help your party stay alive and can make some nice surprise dmg.

Anyway i posted it to show that channeling is not the only Rt attribute and it can be nice support. Painfull bond for communer is also nice. IMO channeling is not designed to be your only attribute. Same is for Necro curses, Mesmer inspiration, etc.

Now last question. Can u imagine Rt without channeling? IMO it would be much worse and much less interesting profession.

That is why channeling should not be buffed. IMO. Besides Anet is constantly watching over the skills. They lowered cost for some not used channeling spells like splinter weapon. (nice too as u can cast it 2 times in the row and dmg is area, not modified by armor, free and looks nice )

Hope i have convinced all that were complaining about channeling

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