How Powerful can a Channeling Ritualist be?

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

Ok, so I got bored and decided to perform a small test. Channeling Ritualist vs Air Elementalist. My test subjects were the first group of 3 Jade Brotherhood Knights outside The Marketplace in Wajjun Bazaar.

Channeling Rit went first.

After trying out a few differing builds and combinations of skills the best I could muster was getting the 3 JB Knights down to about two thirds of their original health. My method was to cast Destruction. Wait 20-30 seconds, cast Destructive was Glaive and aggro them, draw them over to the spirit, and, whilst doing so, cast Spirit Rift. I finished casting Spirit Rift by the time they got to me so I could drop Glaive's Ashes, use Ancestor's Rage and Feast of Souls to destroy Destruction. I then died.

Air Ele was up second.

The best I could manage here was getting the JB Knights down to about half health. I used Air Attunement followed by Aura of Restoration, then as I aggroed them cast Chain Lightning and when they got to me I used Whirlwind. I then cast Invoke Lightning > Tenai's Wind > Lightning Touch > Whirlwind...then I died.

So on the face of it the Air Ele won...sort of. I'd rather have actually managed to get the Jade Brotherhoods down. I decided to cheat afterwards and used the earth magic skill Stoneflesh Aura and with that on I could get them down to about one third health.

So. Some people claim Channeling Ritualists are more powerful than Air Elementalists. I don't see it. Aside from anything, my Ritualist's atempt to get down the Jade Brotherhood Knights also took far longer than the Elementalist's since she had to wait for Destruction to be alive long enough to do any sort of damage.

So onto my question. How powerful can a Channeling Ritualist actually be? Has anyone come up with any builds that are actually worth being used? I only play PvE...so...is there a Channeling build that is of any vague use here...that might have some form of respectable damage output? Earlier I tried using Generous was Tsungrai and Caretaker's Charge. Can someone tell me how that is a good elite? I mean, the energy gain is nice but other than that...the damage is just non existant. So if you're going to spam that you might as well just tickle the enemy.

I'd be interested to see if anyone can get those Jade Brotherhood's down. They are pretty tough as test subjects I guess...
[Edit: Oh yea, while I remember Vengeful was Khanhei isn't allowed, mmmkay? I already know that works...and it aint Channeling ]

I don't want a PvP vs PvE debate either...please keep it clean. I don't care who would win in a fight if you battled the two. In my search for Channeling builds GuildWiki seems useless... All I'm wanting is to know if I can get my Rit's PvE channeling capabilities as good as, if not better than my Air Ele. Any thoughts?

Alex Morningstar

Alex Morningstar

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: May 2006

Team Asshat [Hat] leader - [GR] Alliance

Mo/

Attributes:
Channeling Magic: 16 (1+3 headpiece)
Spawning Power: 13-15 (Depends on HP preference, I use 13)
Restoration Magic (or Healing Prayers/Protection Prayers, require /Mo secondary): 3

Skills:
Ancestor's Rage
Destruction
Essence Strike
Spirit Boon Strike
Spirit Rift
Spirit Burn
Spirit Channeling (Elite)
Flesh of my Flesh (or other res spell)

Give that one a try.

Oso Minar

Oso Minar

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

Zealots of Shiverpeak [ZoS]

Rt/

Are we talking about ONLY using skills in the Channeling Magic and Air Magic line? If so, why'd you use Aura of Restoration? Being a Channeling Ritualist doesn't mean we only draw from one tree.

skaspaakssa

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Sep 2006

Rt/Me

I think there are a couple things wrong with your test. Firstly, channeling is used more for single-target damage than AoE (well, for me at least). The builds you used here aren't really practical for normal play. Both builds would run out of energy pretty fast. Then, your Elementalist has survival skills (Aura of Restoration, Teinai's Wind, Whirlwind), but the Ritualist doesn't. It seems to me this is only half a test of damage, the other half is testing survival.

Just for fun, I tried to do it and I got to a bit past the 20. Although I did "cheat" a bit... but nothing more than your elementalist imho. I cast Grasping was Kuurong, waited a bit, cast Destruction, and waited more. Then when they came, I dropped GwK, Rupture Soul, Ancestor's, recast GwK, Ancestor's drop GwK... something like that.

Terra Xin

Terra Xin

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Mar 2006

New Zealand

Me/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oso Minar
Are we talking about ONLY using skills in the Channeling Magic and Air Magic line? If so, why'd you use Aura of Restoration? Being a Channeling Ritualist doesn't mean we only draw from one tree. You also used [skill=text]Feast of Souls[/skill] which is under Spawning Power. I would have actually used Rupture Soul myself, that heal for FoS isn't useful, the blind is, however.

I stand by my point that Channeling deals more damage than Air, but I had to learn the long way that having those conditions alongside Air Magic is what makes the difference. In terms of DPS, I still think that Channelling comes out on top.

You also left out one factor of channelling, it has great synergy with Restoration Magic specifically, but can also work with Communing and Spawning Power also. Air Magic has some combinations with Water Magic, and general synergy with Energy Storage, but compared to Ritualists?

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oso Minar
Are we talking about ONLY using skills in the Channeling Magic and Air Magic line? If so, why'd you use Aura of Restoration? Being a Channeling Ritualist doesn't mean we only draw from one tree.
Thought someone may ask that. I was sleepy when I wrote it so I apologise if I didn't get my point across. I guess "using Channeling skills on the whole" is what I meant...ie, dip into another attribute for some self heals/e-management etc... I mean, we know VwK works like a charm...but Channeling Rits, ie, a rit that doesn't heal, spam spirits, or use VwK just seem like a joke. Like I said, I tried using Generous was Tsungrai as a self heal with Caretaker's Charge but the damage was so piss-small that compared with taking my air ele out it just seemed negligable in comparison. I think my first attempt with the air ele didn't use Aura of Restoration - it didn't make a massive difference.

Quote: Originally Posted by skaspaakssa Just for fun, I tried to do it and I got to a bit past the 20 "past the 20"?

I wouldn't call GwK "cheating", it's Channeling after all...but the thing about channeling rits seems to be that you have to wait AGES for anything good to happen. For example, you need to wait for Destruction to "charge up"...a lot of ashes have massive recharges...with an Air Ele you just charge on in and deal the damage...no messing about waiting for spirits to become powerful enough to deal any sort of damage.

Quote: Originally Posted by skaspaakssa Then, your Elementalist has survival skills (Aura of Restoration, Teinai's Wind, Whirlwind), but the Ritualist doesn't. This is also a valid point. As I already discussed above I tried GwT + Caretaker's Charge....the damage was pittiful and the healing was nothing to shout about. The Ele does indeed have knockdowns and blinds...which personally I would have thought made it win hands down. True, Rits have Grasping was Kurrong but that has a big recharge...the Ele can knockdown....knockdown...knockdown... Perhaps if I used Thunderclap with her I'd fare even better...just never thought of that last night...

Quote: Originally Posted by Alex Morningstar
Skills:
Ancestor's Rage
Destruction
Essence Strike
Spirit Boon Strike
Spirit Rift
Spirit Burn
Spirit Channeling (Elite)
Flesh of my Flesh (or other res spell)

Give that one a try. Thanks, but how do you play it? I'm seeing very little point in Destruction. Monsters ALWAYS kill is before it "charges"...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terra Xin
You also used Feast of Souls which is under Spawning Power. Yea, I think I mentioned about this at the top. I was tired and probably didn't articulate myself very well. I think in terms of self-preservation and e-management I allowed myself to dip into another attribute... But like, with the ele, I didn't let her use water magic for instance. Yes, I used Stoneflesh aura at the end but just out of curiosity. I used to use Spirit Channeling a lot and like it...but I thought a Channeling elite may have been better...seems not.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terra Xin
I stand by my point that Channeling deals more damage than Air, but I had to learn the long way that having those conditions alongside Air Magic is what makes the difference. In terms of DPS, I still think that Channelling comes out on top. Eh? I'm confused as to what conditions you're talking about... Are you talking about conditions an Air Ele can impose on a foe or the condition that you have to allow Destruction to charge up...or something else? As for the DPS...When I play Air Ele, on the rare occaision I use Elemental Attunement (I generally don't use e-storage elites) I can pump out damage very fast. I aught to combine it all with Serpent's Quickness maybe. I just cannot get my Rit to deal that sort of damage.

Corinthian

Corinthian

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2005

Precasting Destruction is cheating. Aggro the mob first then try it. There's too many variables in this test to make it reliable...

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Corinthian
Precasting Destruction is cheating. Aggro the mob first then try it. There's too many variables in this test to make it reliable... I did try that It just goes to prove how bad Destruction actually is. Like I already said, Monsters kill the spirit before it can actually be of any vague use...so it's just plain not practical to use it in PvE. You can't really say "Sorry guys, can we wait for my Destruction to charge up for 25 seconds before we aggro them?"...apart from anything the Wammo will take no notice and charge straight on in anyway. By the time Destruction will have "charged" the mob will be dead.

Now don't get me wrong. I love my rit. It's one of my favourite characters, and when it comes to Spirit Summoning or Restoration she's fantastic...but Channeling REALLY doesn't seem powerful enough. Which is a shame...because I can see potential but it's all just so slow and weak when I actually try to use it.

Terra Xin

Terra Xin

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Mar 2006

New Zealand

Me/R

I really wish that this thread could take place a week from now, based on the test weekend, it got me really excited about the future potential of the Ritualists, but for now, I'll have to argue with what the class currently has.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Corinthian
Precasting Destruction is cheating. Aggro the mob first then try it. There's too many variables in this test to make it reliable...
That's a lame argument. Pre-casting Air Attunement would also be cheating, then. One charges for damage, the other supports damage availability.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver
Eh? I'm confused as to what conditions you're talking about
Quote:
Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver
The Ele does indeed have knockdowns and blinds
Quote:
As for the DPS...When I play Air Ele, on the rare occaision I use Elemental Attunement (I generally don't use e-storage elites) I can pump out damage very fast. I aught to combine it all with Serpent's Quickness maybe. I just cannot get my Rit to deal that sort of damage. Attuned Was Songkai + Serpent's Quickness. I'm stating similarities here, not whether or not its the only viable build for the channeler.

Quote:
Yea, I think I mentioned about this at the top. I was tired and probably didn't articulate myself very well. I think in terms of self-preservation and e-management I allowed myself to dip into another attribute... But like, with the ele, I didn't let her use water magic for instance. Yes, I used Stoneflesh aura at the end but just out of curiosity. I used to use Spirit Channeling a lot and like it...but I thought a Channeling elite may have been better...seems not. Destructive was Glaive isn't really a good skill to put on the chopping block anyway. Channeling Magic lacks in the elite department compared to Air Magic.

Quote:
Thanks, but how do you play it? I'm seeing very little point in Destruction. Monsters ALWAYS kill is before it "charges".. The biggest problem about Channeling Magic is that Destruction is the only spirit there. You have Gaze of Fury, but unless your relying 100% on other targets' spirits, then you have to take Destruction anyway. With that in mind, people are more likely to use this spirit as a utility to fuel their other Channeling skills, rather than use its damage. Its almost like having Air Attunement, you don't really need the skill, but having it increases your effectiveness.

As for the build? Um... *cough*

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terra Xin
I really wish that this thread could take place a week from now, based on the test weekend, it got me really excited about the future potential of the Ritualists, but for now, I'll have to argue with what the class currently has.

*snip*

Destructive was Glaive isn't really a good skill to put on the chopping block anyway. Channeling Magic lacks in the elite department compared to Air Magic.



The biggest problem about Channeling Magic is that Destruction is the only spirit there. You have Gaze of Fury, but unless your relying 100% on other targets' spirits, then you have to take Destruction anyway. With that in mind, people are more likely to use this spirit as a utility to fuel their other Channeling skills, rather than use its damage. Its almost like having Air Attunement, you don't really need the skill, but having it increases your effectiveness.

As for the build? Um... *cough* I should have played with Channeling during that weekend...I meant to just never found the time. Would Destructive was Glaive not be made more usable if it did keep that extra armor penetration etc..?

I have to say I was very disappointed when I say Bloodsong possibly moved to the Channeling line. It will hurt my rit a little since I like to take it when I go Summoning. But I guess I can see it's use in the Channeling line if it does get permanently moved.

Perhaps you would let me know of any worthwhile skills to look into in a week or so's time?

Terra Xin

Terra Xin

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Mar 2006

New Zealand

Me/R

Quote:
I should have played with Channeling during that weekend...I meant to just never found the time. Would Destructive was Glaive not be made more usable if it did keep that extra armor penetration etc..? That elite didn't get the testing it deserved, it was bugged through most of the weekend (actually had an AP of 40%), and then it was reduced to 5% on the last day.

frojack

frojack

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

London, UK

Rite Of Passage [RP]

E/Mo

This test is almost meaningless...

Iscana

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2006

I do have a Channeling Ritualist, but the damage you do to enemies in PvE is really low. Even with attribute 16 and being able to spike 150 damage I can't solo it. The boses easely reduce 150dmg done by a skill to just 60 whish makes uit quite useless to use channeling in PvE. Spirits are also not really usefull in PvE when solo, enemies just kill them in matter of seconds before they are recharged or even able to attack or do there job.

If you want some serious Solo PvE build, go Mesmer 2nd and use VwK, spam healing skills, and some energy denial and you can kill that Boss Ele close to Marketplace, I did it, althought I had to heal myself like crazy, but finally did it. (except that anoying Ritualist that walks around that dude)
I even solo Aflicted in de undercity with restoration skills and 2nd mesmer.

But channeling is really cool for PvP, you can make some insanely fast spikes which cost less then lightning skills from ele. Also Spikes from Rits are most of times a nice suprise for another PvP players. I use a spirit as energy battery to keep my energy all times in good conditions as well that certain channeling skills add some xtra damage output. To add some mobility there are some another spamable channeling skills. But all by all it's not to mend for tanking or whatever, more a build to get out of focus of the enemy team and spike team to death 1 by one. It works really well in AB, GvG and heard people about HA and HoH as well.

Jetdoc

Jetdoc

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Jul 2005

The Eyes of Texas [BEVO]

D/A

All this test did was prove that Air Elementalists do more damage over shorter periods of time. Channeling ritualists simply do more damage over longer periods of time.

Try the same test against a boss using the PvE wall trick...you'll see what I mean. Air elementalists have a hard time taking down a boss solo (especially if it has a healing skill) because if your initial spike fails, you simply don't have the energy to keep it going. Channeling ritualists can outdamage a boss's heals/natural regeneration because they can keep the pressure on them.

JoeKnowMo

JoeKnowMo

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Oct 2005

Wessst Siiide, USA

Mo/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetdoc
All this test did was prove that Air Elementalists do more damage over shorter periods of time. Channeling ritualists simply do more damage over longer periods of time. An Air Ele with Ele Attunement might be able to match a channeling rit for sustained dmg while also doing higher dmg.

Dr Strangelove

Dr Strangelove

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Dec 2005

Wasting away again in Margaritaville

[HOTR]

In another thread someone wrote that channeling rits suck because the class lacks any kind of flavor. The spells do a small amount of damage with no afteraffects, whereas an ele can chuck around blind and weakness like they're going out of style.

With the way the spells are now, the only way to buff them to usefulness is to make them do stupid amounts of damage. Only problem is, that leads to a 321disaster.

An air ele that doesn't have the energy to keep spamming spells all day long is clearly a retarded air ele.

The differerance between taking 3 seconds precasting destruction that's good for one spike and waiting 20 seconds for it to charge vs. taking 2 seconds precasting an air attunement good for a little over a minute then charging in and blowing the crap out of things should be pretty obvious.

frojack

frojack

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

London, UK

Rite Of Passage [RP]

E/Mo

Yeah, I remember Ensign (and others before him) saying the same thing to. However we don't need another Elementalist. The Channeling line has quite a few quirks people always want to forget about. Warmonger's Weapon, Nightmare Weapon (buffed version, yeah I know it's not 'real'), Splinter Weapon, Destruction, Essence Strike... Show me the Air skills that can compete with these in terms of quirky potential.
Sure enough, the air ele is generally better for straight up damage, but that's all they can really do (beyond knocking people over and blinding/weakening foes every now and then). A rit (even a blinkered, Channeling fool) can deliver so much more than that.
Also a lot of people don't like playing around with gimmicks (Dual-builds etc), but that's what the whole Rit class is. Nobody said Gimmicks were bad. A good few people have made these gimmicks work rather well (some admittedly better than others). If you don't like it, play another class...

Dr Strangelove

Dr Strangelove

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Dec 2005

Wasting away again in Margaritaville

[HOTR]

Quote:
Originally Posted by frojack
Yeah, I remember Ensign (and others before him) saying the same thing to. However we don't need another Elementalist. The Channeling line has quite a few quirks people always want to forget about. Warmonger's Weapon, Nightmare Weapon (buffed version, yeah I know it's not 'real'), Splinter Weapon, Destruction, Essence Strike... Show me the Air skills that can compete with these in terms of quirky potential.
Destruction is trash, and essence strike helps you support trash. That being said, the weapon spells, if they get buffed, will be somewhat interesting. That's more for buffing your physicals though. If you want to deal direct damage, you'd be better off grabbing spirit's strength and mauling things.

Quote:
That wasn't my original point.

My original, albeit slightly unfair, and rather sleepily carried out test was to try to ascertain which could deal the most damage. That is not the same as "which one is most quirky". My motive? I've seen a lot of people claiming that a Channeling Ritualist can out-damage an Air Ele. I wanted to see if I could justify that claim. In short, I couldn't. I believe if anyone can it would require a lot more time for skills to cast/spirits to charge up etc.. therefore although it would be technically more powerful, it sure aint an efficient way of playing in PvE (just to reinforce I'm talking about PvE here).

Also, on to your point. Let's look at the Air line vs the Channeling line:

[wiki]Lightning Javelin[/wiki] = [wiki]Wailing Weapon[/wiki]
Difference is Wailing Weapon costs more and has a stunningly bad recharge.

[wiki]Gale[/wiki], [wiki]Thunderclap[/wiki], [wiki]Whirlwind[/wiki] = [wiki]Grasping was Kuurong[/wiki]
Air magic has many knockdowns. More than I listed there. The only one I can see Channeling having is elite.

As for the weapon spells that interrupt non-attacking foes...you're forgetting Air Magic knockdowns can do that as well... Then again, Air Magic can blind foes. Yes, Restoration has a few spells for that but we're not talking about Restoration here. Blind was Mingston required getting up close to the mob, Weapon of Shadow has a rubbish recharge.

Channeling still just seems very conditional to me. If there is one thing out of place...like a spirit not being on top of you, or an ally who runs away just as you cast a weapon spell on him/her, it just doesn't seem to work as well as I think it could (and should).

Iscana

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Batou of Nine
How can yall be using [skill]Destruction[/skill] WITHOUT [skill]Rupture Soul[/skill]?!?! That's proposterous!

Attributes:
Channeling Magic: 16 (1+3)
Spawning Power: 13
Restoration Magic: the rest.

Skills:
Spirit Rift
Destruction
Rupture Soul
Essence Strike
Spirit Boon Strike
Grasping Was Kuurong (E) or any e-management elite.
Optional
Optional

If you work time right you can afford the full cycle once, but without any sort of e-management you can't recover from the energy usage very fast. Drop Destruction just outside of aggro range. Aggro, caste Grasping, upon arrival of foes to adjecant range caste Essence if a little energy is needed for Rupture. AFter at least 20 seconds cast Spirit Rift, use Rupture Soul, drop Grasping Was Kuurong, then use any self heal or e-management you may have brought...

All in all you just did 79 dmg from Grasping + 142 dmg from Rift + 146 dmg from Rupture + around 100 dmg from Destruction + KD + Blind = 467 Pre-Armor Lightning dmg. So of course if they will still be alive, you have some time to recover with 13 seconds of blind on them... Use Essence + whatever else you got for e-recovery, or use something for self heal... This is a general PvE AoE build...

As most said though, you can actually dish out a steady stream of DPS on single targets as a Channeling Rit... hehe. Ya so thats my 2 cent fun build...

cheers! Sounds nice, the build I use it:
Channeling: 12 + 3 + 1 (16)
Restoration: 12
Weapon: Ssyn's channeling staff (2x health +30, 20% faster cast and recharge, is very handy and usefull)

Skills:
Gaze from Beyond
Echo (elite)
Destruction
Channelled strike
Essence strike
Renewing Surge
Generous was Tsungrai
(res or flesh of my flesh)

Simply use destruction as energy battery, and find some nice out of the battle place and start spiking down some enemies. If you do the cycle well you'll not get out of energy that fast, and when destruction is dead because of Gaze, you can cast already a new one. Renewing surge does instand recharge when holding generous was tsungrai ashes, and can be usefull to kill enemies when you couldn't finish you real high damage spike cycle.

The damage you do is:
if spirit: Gaze from beyond = (42x3)126, Gaze Echo = 126, Channeled strike = (101+37) 138, essence strike= 66, Gaze from beyond = 126
Total of 1 cycle: (126x3) + 138 + 66 = 582 dmg for sure, and I did not even touch Renewing surge whish does 63 dmg spamable and when enemies are close Destruction does addition dmg which can be around 150.
The fun thing is that when you cast 3 times Gaze, your spirit dies, but cast him again, do essence strike and boem energy enough for extra cycle.
This is where Destructive was Glaive with 25% armor penestration was just awesome, I could do with only 1 Gaze from beyond, 150/200 dmg on armor 60 in 1 shot. Too bad they changed it back to 5% which does give you some extra dmg on spikes, but not that effective. (btw with that elite, just replace echo with archane echo)

Now 582dmg sounds awesome, but actually you'll do just around 400dmg or 350 to armor 100 warriors, and yes that's sad. Althought with some running, hide behind walls and touch my destruction tactics you can kill a warrior with ease. Also ele spike builds are a laught, they try to spike you, but around the time you're almost dead, they are already eating dust. Same for lots of builds, the only real counters are: Energy denial, interupts and big melee spikes. But well it's still a very nice build for GvG and AB, but totally not for PvE, then you can better go Restoration or Communing.

frojack

frojack

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

London, UK

Rite Of Passage [RP]

E/Mo

That wasn't directed at you ^_^!

What was directed at you was how meaningless this test is. I won't talk about the conditional nature of both classes (haha, no spirits. Oh? Did your Orb miss. Out of energy?).
What I will talk about is aoe vs. single target spiking...

Why take 2 class-lines which favour single target spiking and do an aoe test? There's only like 3 aoe damage spells in air. 2 of these are more utility than anything else. Besides, if you really want to test aoe, fire wipes the floor with both.
If your keen to test, then test the single target spiking. That's where both of these guys excel.

@ Dr. Strangelove...

^_^.... Who the hell uses Destruction for actual direct, non-suicidal damage? Not many... It has interesting quality simply because it ignores armour, never mind being a good drone for your Rit requirements. In situations where your damage is meaningless (heavy-armour foe) you can change your tactic by trying to employ Destruction to do your dirty work.
A messy, difficult solution to employ (quite gimmicky in fact!), but an option nonetheless. Some of the weapon spells fair much better at these 'changes of tact' however... Warmonger's is awesome. Simple as that. Wailing should be. Nightmare was also pretty exceptional over that weekend (despite the claims of over-powering effectiveness), Splinter can prove effective on several allies spiking a bunched group. Even though I dislike the skill, I recognise the ability to bolster your team with Weapon of Fury. Even better if you can use Weapon of Quickening.
The nice thing about channelling is the fact that you don't need an elite to fuel your damage. Meaning you can make use of other elites to help out (Weapon of Remedy, Tranquil Was Tanasen, Attuned Was Songkai etc.).

Some may argue that this really limits your ability to deal damage, having to sacrifice slots for utility. However, I would ask the question: how many damage spells do you really need? Can An elementalist (even a Ritualist) really support more than 4 or 5? Or a better question would be: Does a 5th damage spell really add that much to your repertoire? Wouldn't utility be more useful? Especially in circumstance where your damage fails to be of any use. We already know the answers to these questions...

How channelling compares to air is neither here nor there. If you want damage with built-in utility, you play an Elementalist, simple as that. You could argue that this makes ritualists useless in most serious play. You could also argue that people could just try and come up with different ways to play the game. Whatever...

Who knows... Perhaps this is all just too complicated. If it ain't broke, don't fix it right? The holy trinity do their job well enough I guess...

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by frojack
What was directed at you was how meaningless this test is. I won't talk about the conditional nature of both classes (haha, no spirits. Oh? Did your Orb miss. Out of energy?). I find this very funny.

No offense taken by the way

But really...My ele is my best character. First and favourite. My energy is around the 75 mark and rarely drops below 50...unless I die. So, no, I'm never out of energy during battle...unlike my Rit when she goes Channeling. Also, I'm not stupid enough to cast Lightning Orb on a warrior who is using sprint...because that's just dumb. When I take Lightning Orb I tend to use it on stationary foes. Orb is also not the only Elementalist spell So...really...Rits still have a much much bigger problem. Destruction is a rubbish spirit to take along - this I have already established. Empowerment seems a little pointless...

Symbol

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by frojack
Sure enough, the air ele is generally better for straight up damage, but that's all they can really do (beyond knocking people over and blinding/weakening foes every now and then). A rit (even a blinkered, Channeling fool) can deliver so much more than that. Air eles deal decent damage, cause extended kds, give out speed boosts, throw around blind like a toy, spam weakness, and have enough energy left over to aegis chain. A channeling rit can, um, cast destruction and hope someone stands by it 30 seconds from now. A restoration or communing rit can tear things up, a channeling rit can stand around and look pretty (If you have ancient armor )

draxynnic

draxynnic

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2005

[CRFH]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Strangelove
With the way the spells are now, the only way to buff them to usefulness is to make them do stupid amounts of damage. Only problem is, that leads to a 321disaster. Actually, from what someone in another thread (I think it was one of the test weekend threads) said is that the problem with Channeling rits isn't the blasty Channeling skills. They're all fairly good as they are, certainly if you can fulfill the conditions. The problem is that the pure Channeling rit has few decent skills to fulfill those conditions. So buffing the Channeling line doesn't require adding more and more to the damage of the zappy spells - it's more a question of improving the spirits, weapon spells and items available to a channeler so they're all useful in their own right rather than purely being there to fuel the condition.

Or you could just multispec into Communing or Restoration...

Batou of Nine

Batou of Nine

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

California, USA

Angel Sharks [AS] (RiP [KaiZ] T__T")

Mo/E

How can yall be using [skill]Destruction[/skill] WITHOUT [skill]Rupture Soul[/skill]?!?! That's proposterous!

Attributes:
Channeling Magic: 16 (1+3)
Spawning Power: 13
Restoration Magic: the rest.

Skills:
Spirit Rift
Destruction
Rupture Soul
Essence Strike
Spirit Boon Strike
Grasping Was Kuurong (E) or any e-management elite.
Optional
Optional

If you work time right you can afford the full cycle once, but without any sort of e-management you can't recover from the energy usage very fast. Drop Destruction just outside of aggro range. Aggro, caste Grasping, upon arrival of foes to adjecant range caste Essence if a little energy is needed for Rupture. AFter at least 20 seconds cast Spirit Rift, use Rupture Soul, drop Grasping Was Kuurong, then use any self heal or e-management you may have brought...

All in all you just did 79 dmg from Grasping + 142 dmg from Rift + 146 dmg from Rupture + around 100 dmg from Destruction + KD + Blind = 467 Pre-Armor Lightning dmg. So of course if they will still be alive, you have some time to recover with 13 seconds of blind on them... Use Essence + whatever else you got for e-recovery, or use something for self heal... This is a general PvE AoE build...

As most said though, you can actually dish out a steady stream of DPS on single targets as a Channeling Rit... hehe. Ya so thats my 2 cent fun build...

cheers!

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by frojack
Show me the Air skills that can compete with these in terms of quirky potential....

My original, albeit slightly unfair, and rather sleepily carried out test was to try to ascertain which could deal the most damage. That is not the same as "which one is most quirky". My motive? I've seen a lot of people claiming that a Channeling Ritualist can out-damage an Air Ele. I wanted to see if I could justify that claim. In short, I couldn't. I believe if anyone can it would require a lot more time for skills to cast/spirits to charge up etc.. therefore although it would be technically more powerful, it sure aint an efficient way of playing in PvE (just to reinforce I'm talking about PvE here But your test is just wrong. A cursory glance at the channelling nukes will illustrate that they are in almost all ways superior to anything in air.

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Symbol
But your test is just wrong. A cursory glance at the channelling nukes will illustrate that they are in almost all ways superior to anything in air. *rubs eyes*

Nope, still don't see much to back up that claim...

I'm not saying you're wrong....but I'm still very very unconvinced.

frojack

frojack

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

London, UK

Rite Of Passage [RP]

E/Mo

I'm glad. No offence was intended...

Energy? Blah... Depends on how good you are with pacing. Subjective...

Lightning Orb is funny because it can even miss a foe moving at normal speed. That's why the skill pisses everyone off... On target... On target... Side-step! Oh! it's missed the mark... _-_ Destruction is only rubbish if you try to replace say, Channelled Strike with it. It isn't used like that. You can't just drop it and expect it to kill stuff ^_^. Needs more work than that. Like I said though, it's not a primary offensive weapon. Perhaps not even secondary. It just pretty cheap to use and has a nasty 'kick' if the enemy get too close.
With the Earshot range, I hope to lure a lot more over-zealous melee into it's area since it won't be so obvious anymore...

Cebe

Cebe

The 5th Celestial Boss

Join Date: Jul 2006

Inverness, Scotland

The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by frojack
I'm glad. No offence was intended...

Energy? Blah... Depends on how good you are with pacing. Subjective...

Lightning Orb is funny because it can even miss a foe moving at normal speed. That's why the skill pisses everyone off... On target... On target... Side-step! Oh! it's missed the mark... _-_ Destruction is only rubbish if you try to replace say, Channelled Strike with it. It isn't used like that. You can't just drop it and expect it to kill stuff ^_^. Needs more work than that. Like I said though, it's not a primary offensive weapon. Perhaps not even secondary. It just pretty cheap to use and has a nasty 'kick' if the enemy get too close.
With the Earshot range, I hope to lure a lot more over-zealous melee into it's area since it won't be so obvious anymore...
Like I said, Air has more than just Orb. Lightning Hammer (yes, it's 25 energy but to an Ele that's nothing), Enervating Charge, Lightning Strike, Arc Lightning, Chain Lightning, Invoke Lightning, Gust, Lightning Surge . . . . don't miss.

Anyhoo, How does this sound? Something I tried yesterday:
[skill]Serpent's Quickness[/skill][skill]Attuned was Songkai[/skill][skill]Empowerment[/skill][skill]Spirit Rift[/skill][skill]Ancestors' Rage[/skill][skill]Channeled Strike[/skill][skill]Essence Strike[/skill][skill]Flesh of my Flesh[/skill]

It worked better than some Channeling builds I've tried. Things I don't like about it are:
  • Empowerment: 60 Second recharge? O.o Come off it. Even the 40 seconds after the reduction by SQ is too long really considering how fast you move through areas in PvE. Spirit Rift: By the time the 3 seconds are up all foes are either dead or have run off. Attuned was Songkai: I hate hate hate e-management elites. There should be no need for them...I would much rather take a more interesting and fun elite. Essence Strike: If you move more than about 1 step away from being right on top of Empowerment you don't get any energy back. So if your target runs a little too far away...no bonus energy for you...
    Any comments? Spirit Rift...good or bad? You're relying on foes to stay in the area for 3 seconds...it just doesn't happen.

    Dr Strangelove

    Dr Strangelove

    Furnace Stoker

    Join Date: Dec 2005

    Wasting away again in Margaritaville

    [HOTR]

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Symbol
    But your test is just wrong. A cursory glance at the channelling nukes will illustrate that they are in almost all ways superior to anything in air. On the surface, they are better - more damage for less energy. Good deal right? Only problem with that is, eles have some of the most ridiculously powerful energy management skills in the game. Rits have... attuned was songkai. So while eles can drop 15 and 25 energy nukes without batting an eye, tossing down even a couple spirit rifts *hurts*.

    It really hit me hardest when I played without my heroes with some friends. They would charge in and kill everything before I could even cast my destruction and ashes. When I finally did get them up, I had to hope something decided to come attack me.

    At any rate, if a rit wants to do damage, I don't know why you wouldn't run weapon of remedy/vengeful weapon or spirit's strength.

    Terra Xin

    Terra Xin

    Furnace Stoker

    Join Date: Mar 2006

    New Zealand

    Me/R

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver
    Like I said, Air has more than just Orb. Lightning Hammer (yes, it's 25 energy but to an Ele that's nothing), Enervating Charge, Lightning Strike, Arc Lightning, Chain Lightning, Invoke Lightning, Gust, Lightning Surge . . . . don't miss.

    Anyhoo, How does this sound? Something I tried yesterday:
    [skill]Serpent's Quickness[/skill][skill]Attuned was Songkai[/skill][skill]Empowerment[/skill][skill]Spirit Rift[/skill][skill]Ancestors' Rage[/skill][skill]Channeled Strike[/skill][skill]Essence Strike[/skill][skill]Flesh of my Flesh[/skill] Ancestors Rage is targettable, you shouldn't really be using that skill on yourself at all. It's a skill for tankers and other front liners. Spirit Rift has to be used sparingly, and you have to know how to time the movement of your targets. If you can predict that a target isn't going to move in the next three seconds, then use this skill immediately, otherwise you're wasting a skill slot. The problem with your build and Essence strike is that you're not likely going to be standing next to your spirit for the entire time. Essence strike is good for stationary purposes (but hopefully once the 'within earshot' takes place, I'll retract this statement) but you're build allows you free mobility, so you dont need to stand there as if you were bound by that one skill. I would suggest taking that out for another skill (you're using AwS anyway)... erm, I dont have any ideas for a replacement skill, however.

    Channeled Strike would have to be my least favourite skill in the channeling line. You're paying an extra 5 energy and an additional 1 second cast to deal, 20 more damage to a target? (compared to Ancestor's Rage, Spirit Burn and Wielder's Strike). You're also holding an item, that which already puts a damper on your energy pool. This is the build that I use, it has great DPS, I use it to go henching with my rit:

    Blue Lightning Baby!!
    Echo
    Destruction
    Gaze From Beyond
    Essence Strike
    Lamentation
    Spirit Burn
    Mend Body and Soul
    Resurrection Signet

    Echo has the biggest influence on the build (never echo Destruction btw...). Basically, you will almost always use echo with spirit burn, because it has the shortest recharge, so you can spam that more frequently than usual. Constantly use essence strike as often as you can, as that will keep your energy high. Only use lamentation when enemies are clumped around corpses which isn't too hard to accomplish when you're in a party.

    In another situation, if your party is coming under heavy fire, and your monks need a little help, you are still able to use your channeling skills, but instead of echoing Spirit Burn, you Echo MBS instead. This way, your damage is only reduced by a skill, but your healing has doubled in its effectiveness. Again, making sure that you are always channeling spells, thus keeping your energy afloat with Essence strike.

    In the last situation, Essence strike can also be echoed as a boost to energy recovery, and that's as far as I can go explaining that one :P.

    Echo priorities are those three skills, you shouldn't really echo Lamentation unless you're in RA or something, but then I wouldn't take Lamentation there. I know you can't echo all three of the skills at the same time, which is why, knowing which skill to echo at the right moment comes from experience.

    Unlike Air Magic, Channeling combines better with other professions, and again, unlike Air Magic and Energy Storage, you dont need to invest any points into Spawning Power in order to make it more effective.

    Batou of Nine

    Batou of Nine

    Desert Nomad

    Join Date: Aug 2005

    California, USA

    Angel Sharks [AS] (RiP [KaiZ] T__T")

    Mo/E

    Dude people if you learned NOTHING from my build in post #20... let me make it bluntly obvious!

    STOP USING DESTRUCTION WITHOUT RUPTURE SOUL!!!!

    Those skills were made for eachother. If you cant figure it out. Here is the skill descriptions AGAIN!

    [skill]Destruction[/skill][skill]Rupture Soul[/skill]

    Get it? If you dont use both, then do everyone a favor and dont use EITHER. One is pretty much a waste w/o the other. The combo serves multiple functions its really a no brainer.

    Cheers

    Terra Xin

    Terra Xin

    Furnace Stoker

    Join Date: Mar 2006

    New Zealand

    Me/R

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Batou of Nine
    Dude people if you learned NOTHING from my build in post #20... let me make it bluntly obvious!

    STOP USING DESTRUCTION WITHOUT RUPTURE SOUL!!!!

    Those skills were made for eachother. If you cant figure it out. Here is the skill descriptions AGAIN!

    [skill]Destruction[/skill][skill]Rupture Soul[/skill]

    Get it? If you dont use both, then do everyone a favor and dont use EITHER. One is pretty much a waste w/o the other. The combo serves multiple functions its really a no brainer.

    Cheers according to you, but a skill has more than one use.

    Calen The Civl

    Frost Gate Guardian

    Join Date: Nov 2006

    Rt/

    As a PvE ritualist, I find direct damage using channeling to only work at lower level areas. It just cannot deal with the higher level creatures (about levels 20-30 depending on the class)

    However, I did experiment over the testing weekend with indirect channeling builds. I found the ritualist can pour far more damaged indirectly than with direct channeling on higher level critters. Indirect damage includes the use of the changed Splinter Weapon (which i hope will remain as it was during the testing weekend) and other ally targeting spells.

    Three allies with splinter weapon attacking a mob did far more damage than direct channeling could have. It was entertaining to see the group I was with exclaim in surprise with the speed those mobs dropped. I hope with the upcoming skill change the rit will see this method of indirect damage remain similar to the last testing period.

    Cebe

    Cebe

    The 5th Celestial Boss

    Join Date: Jul 2006

    Inverness, Scotland

    The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

    E/

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Batou of Nine
    Dude people if you learned NOTHING from my build in post #20... let me make it bluntly obvious!

    STOP USING DESTRUCTION WITHOUT RUPTURE SOUL!!!!

    Those skills were made for eachother. If you cant figure it out. Here is the skill descriptions AGAIN!

    [skill]Destruction[/skill][skill]Rupture Soul[/skill]

    Get it? If you dont use both, then do everyone a favor and dont use EITHER. One is pretty much a waste w/o the other. The combo serves multiple functions its really a no brainer.

    Cheers I'm with Terra on this one...I don't want to be up close to the mobs with my AL60 armor... Neither do I want to "coax" the over to me...I wouldn't want to cast destruction next to an avicara who's stabbing my eyes out and try to get rupture soul off before he kills me. I'd rather stay on the backline.

    Thanks for the build Idea btw Terra, I'll give that a try tonight and see what I make of it.

    Dr Strangelove

    Dr Strangelove

    Furnace Stoker

    Join Date: Dec 2005

    Wasting away again in Margaritaville

    [HOTR]

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Calen The Civl
    As a PvE ritualist, I find direct damage using channeling to only work at lower level areas. It just cannot deal with the higher level creatures (about levels 20-30 depending on the class)

    However, I did experiment over the testing weekend with indirect channeling builds. I found the ritualist can pour far more damaged indirectly than with direct channeling on higher level critters. Indirect damage includes the use of the changed Splinter Weapon (which i hope will remain as it was during the testing weekend) and other ally targeting spells.

    Three allies with splinter weapon attacking a mob did far more damage than direct channeling could have. It was entertaining to see the group I was with exclaim in surprise with the speed those mobs dropped. I hope with the upcoming skill change the rit will see this method of indirect damage remain similar to the last testing period.
    QFT. I was really pleased with the buffs to the offensive buff, they made the class much more interesting, and kinda more how I though it would be when I started playing it. If those stay, I'd be surprised to see any channeling rits running lightning damage over weapon buffs.

    Terra's build up there seems like a nice idea. However, I think if you really want to see channeling nukes go berserk, just run an E/Rt with ether prodigy and a big pile of channeling nukes. Might actually be pretty interesting spamming spirit rift....

    frojack

    frojack

    Wilds Pathfinder

    Join Date: Nov 2005

    London, UK

    Rite Of Passage [RP]

    E/Mo

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Calen The Civl
    As a PvE ritualist, I find direct damage using channeling to only work at lower level areas. It just cannot deal with the higher level creatures (about levels 20-30 depending on the class)

    However, I did experiment over the testing weekend with indirect channeling builds. I found the ritualist can pour far more damaged indirectly than with direct channeling on higher level critters. Indirect damage includes the use of the changed Splinter Weapon (which i hope will remain as it was during the testing weekend) and other ally targeting spells.

    Three allies with splinter weapon attacking a mob did far more damage than direct channeling could have. It was entertaining to see the group I was with exclaim in surprise with the speed those mobs dropped. I hope with the upcoming skill change the rit will see this method of indirect damage remain similar to the last testing period. Exactly. Keep up the good work...

    Cebe

    Cebe

    The 5th Celestial Boss

    Join Date: Jul 2006

    Inverness, Scotland

    The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

    E/

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Calen The Civl
    Three allies with splinter weapon attacking a mob did far more damage than direct channeling could have. It was entertaining to see the group I was with exclaim in surprise with the speed those mobs dropped. I hope with the upcoming skill change the rit will see this method of indirect damage remain similar to the last testing period. I have to admit, Splinter Weapon does look pretty awesome if the changes remain... I was working on a weapon spell build the other day and it's all so changeable and malleable...very cool really. It just seems to have the following format:

    [wiki]Renewing Memories[/wiki]
    [wiki]Wielder's Remedy[/wiki]
    <Item Spell> (Ones I favour are [wiki]Generous was Tsungrai[/wiki], or [wiki]Tranquil was Tanasen[/wiki])
    [wiki]Soothing Memories[/wiki]
    <Weapon Spell>
    <Weapon Spell>
    <Weapon Spell>
    <Weapon Spell>

    Yes, Wielder's Zeal isn't there...I don't like E-management elites...as useful as they can be they're so boring. Wielder's Remedy is there primarily to cover Renewing Memories...in areas at high risk of enchantment removal.

    As for the weapon spells, I found [wiki]Splinter Weapon[/wiki] and [wiki]Weapon of Fury[/wiki] to be nice from the channeling line (amongst others)...or a restoration build with Vengeful weapon, weapon of warding, Resilient Weapon...although the restoration one didn't really do much for me...

    Anyone else tried a weapon-spell build with the new elonian skills?

    frojack

    frojack

    Wilds Pathfinder

    Join Date: Nov 2005

    London, UK

    Rite Of Passage [RP]

    E/Mo

    Weapon of Remedy is probably the best weapon spell in the game. Closely followed by Weapon of Warding, Resilient Weapon, and Vengeful.
    Most of the weapon spells are either good or okay. The only one that's really rubbish is Spirit Light Weapon...

    Cebe

    Cebe

    The 5th Celestial Boss

    Join Date: Jul 2006

    Inverness, Scotland

    The Cult of Scaro [WHO]

    E/

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by frojack
    Weapon of Remedy is probably the best weapon spell in the game. Closely followed by Weapon of Warding, Resilient Weapon, and Vengeful.
    Most of the weapon spells are either good or okay. The only one that's really rubbish is Spirit Light Weapon... Aye, I capped weapon of remedy the other day - looks pretty awesome...like Vengeful Weapon's Elite.

    I thought combining Serpent's Quickness with Vengeful Weapon / Weapon of Remedy would make them uber-spammable.

    Terra Xin

    Terra Xin

    Furnace Stoker

    Join Date: Mar 2006

    New Zealand

    Me/R

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver
    Aye, I capped weapon of remedy the other day - looks pretty awesome...like Vengeful Weapon's Elite.

    I thought combining Serpent's Quickness with Vengeful Weapon / Weapon of Remedy would make them uber-spammable. Its really strange with how Remedy acts towards the player's mindset. Normally, a healer would have less trouble if their targets who are under pressure started to kite, because kiting=less damage taken. Remedy weapon however, works better on targets who are stationary, because that way they have a higher change at getting hit, triggering remedy weapon. There have been many times that I couldnt get remedy weapon to trigger because someone kept kiting, so its an easy 5 energy gone to waste.

    Nightmare weapon was simply overpowered during the weekend. I think I ran this build:

    [skill=text]Nightmare Weapon[/skill]
    [skill=text]"You're All Alone!"[/skill]
    [skill=text]Flurry[/skill]
    [skill=text]Wielder's Boon[/skill]
    [skill=text]Soldier's Defense[/skill]
    [skill=text]Wielder's Strike[/skill]
    [skill=text]"Watch Yourself!"[/skill]
    [skill=text]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

    I pretty much used a spear for this, since the damage from my weapon didn't matter. 250 life-stealing damage every 10 seconds, with IAS, block, added armour, and snares. I could solo alot of targets during that weekend^^.

    I heard alot of BP Rangers used splinter weapon in... everywhere. And the damage was insane as well.