Searing Critical Barrage

I just updated this to the skills I use in hard mode, with Sogolon, Herta, Mhenlo and Khim as henchmen

Not sure if anyone has posted this build before but its quite simply the best hero build I have found for an elementalist. You need Jin or Margrid, Zenmai, and Morgahn with fire bows and a fire spear, and R/W and A/R as secondaries.

The skill bars are as follows:


Elementalist: 16 fire, 13 ES
[skill]Searing Flames[/skill][skill]glowing gaze[/skill][skill]liquid flame[/skill][skill]fireball[/skill][skill]mark of rodgort[/skill][skill]glyph of lesser energy[/skill][skill]fire attunement[/skill][skill]resurrection signet[/skill]

R/W 15 marksmanship, 10 expertise, 10 tactics
[skill]barrage[/skill][skill]keen arrow[/skill][skill]crossfire[/skill][skill]savage shot[/skill][skill]distracting shot[/skill][skill]"watch yourself!"[/skill][skill]"shields up!"[/skill][skill]resurrection signet[/skill]

A/R 16 critical strikes, 12 marksmanship
[skill]barrage[/skill][skill]keen arrow[/skill][skill]crossfire[/skill][skill]savage shot[/skill][skill]distracting shot[/skill][skill]sharpen daggers[/skill][skill]critical eye[/skill][skill]resurrection signet[/skill]

Paragon 16 command 14 leadership
[skill]anthem of envy[/skill][skill]Signet of removal[/skill][skill]"They're on fire!"[/skill][skill]"stand your ground!"[/skill][skill]"Fall Back!"[/skill][skill]"go for the eyes!"[/skill][skill]"find their weakness!"[/skill][skill]signet of return[/skill]


The skills can be changed around if needed based on which area of the game your playing, but I've found this to be the most suitable throughout the game. The build relies on keeping enemies burning allong with bleeding and deep wound, while providing damage reduction and protection from they're on fire, stand your ground, watch yourself and shields up.

Add a selection of your favorite hench and its good to go.

I think thats enough typing for now, give it a try and feel free to comment

Is the Ele able to manage the energy well in big fights?

Yes, I can manage my energy well in big fights.

But in all honesty, fights dont last that long.

dont you need some sort of defense? monk/rit or something?
and also, why use zenmai when you can use both jin and margrid?

He used the assasin hero as a Critical Barrager. Hence the sharpen dagger, crit eye and 16 att point in critical strike. Barrage has a certain % in critical as well, so this way 70% of every arrows from barrage that hit will cause a lot of dmg + bleeding in one go.

Isn't anthem of flame a bit of a wasted skill slot when you have both searing flames and mark of rodgort?

Anthem of Flame + Barrage = Stronger than Searing Flames

It's nice, but do you really need the A/R? All it seems to bring is sharpen daggers. Wouldn't a second barrager or SF be more useful? And damaging?

I've found Throw Dirt to be quite problematic on a Hero since they won't use it defensively to protect the backline but will run in and try to blind every target. Has this behavior been fixed?

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Would this build work well if I'm the R/W, and Zhed/Sousuke the Ele?

I don't see any skills that the ele wouldn't use properly, but I've had heroes for exactly 3 days. ^_^

@kazjun: Ever saw a Crit Barrager in Tombs? They're almost as much fun as a Splinter Barrager

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I've run something similar for a long time, but my Para is also a barrager (Leadership maxed, 12 markmanship).
There's just something about 3 barragers and a nuker that seems...right.

Hi, Ive modified this build a bit for hard mode, and so far its working great.

Changes are:

Jin drops Throw dirt for Crossfire

Morgahn changes Anthem of flame for 'Fall Back', as it was a wasted skill anyway, and his elite to signet of removal (As solgolon already uses cautery sig and to add a cheap + quick hex removal)

And use Sogolon, Herta, Mhenlo, and Khim as henchies in NF, similar ones in the other campains.

Fireball is currently swapped to cap sig though as im now just 40 skills off Legendary skill hunter and my Koabd lol.

TY Anet for the new skill titles

Does this build work well in the "harder" areas of Hard Mode? For example I was getting my butt handed to me in some of the Vabbian explorables in Hard Mode. I'm wondering if this build will get me through it. I need to do some faction farming to get some of the skills needed.

Great concept. I have modified this a little bit for Hard Mode LB farming in the Domain of Secrets (+40% energy costs and because I am a Mesmer primary).

Me (a Me): 15 Inspiration, 12 Fire, 7 Fast Casting
[skill]Extend Conditions[/skill][skill]Epidemic[/skill][skill]Glyph of Lesser Energy[/skill][skill]Mark of Rodgort[/skill][skill]Glowing Gaze[/skill][skill]Lightbringers Gaze[/skill][skill]Power Drain[/skill][skill]Ether Signet[/skill]

Ranger Hero (R/Rt):
Same, but replaced [skill]"Shields Up!"[/skill] and [skill]"Watch Yourself!"[/skill] with [skill]Splinter Weapon[/skill] and [skill]Throw Dirt[/skill] (with 10 in Channeling).

Crit Barrager (A/R):
Same, but replaced [skill]Debilitating Shot[/skill] with [skill]Distracting Shot[/skill].
I rather like to have another (non-dam) Interrupt for 5e, than a semi-useless -10e shot (that costs even more for me in the DoS).

Paragon Hero (P/N):
Same, but replaced [skill]Signet of Removal[/skill] with [skill]Virulence[/skill] (with 8 in Death Magic).
[Gonna modify more here, since this build is still too energy-heavy for the Domain of Secrets. E.g. Morghan doesn't spam ToF like he should...].


Works pretty much the same, but with a bigger emphasis on conditions.
First off, I spread Mark of Rodgort as good as I can (with Glyph of Lesser Energy whenever possible).
Barragers, Morghan and me got Fire Damage weapons, so every attack should keep the enemies burning.

I try to find a target that's in the middle of bunched up foes, and cast extend conditions on it. If everything goes perfectly right, it should be burning, probably Deep Wounded and Bleeding when Morghan casts Virulence on it (for additional Poison, Disease and Weakness). All on a target with extend conditions, for 100% longer conditions.
Well, and this is where [skill]Epidemic[/skill] can be quite useful. Transfering all these conditions plus remaining (extended) duration to nearby foes.

Of course it will rarely ever work that perfect, but it still works quite well.
(And would even better, if Jin would use Splinter Weapon more often... on herself or Zenmai. And yes, manually activating it, is just a pain).


[e] Despite the infamous Fire Storm, I use Cynn (along with 2 Mo and 1 P henchman) to take advantage of Mark of Rodgort.

I find that giving Morghan any elite which costs even 5 energy is usually unusable with this build for some reason. He just never has any energy left. I used to use expel hexes or Cautery signet on him, now I prefer signet of removal as he can actually use it on every recharge.

Im still skill capping in hard mode using this, just some of the monk bosses are a nightmare.

Oh, I actually did swap debilitating shot on Zenmai to distracting a long while back, I just completely forgot to change it on here

When farming monk bosses, im giving morgahn Stunning strike for his elite for dazed.

i agree with the replacement of the A/R if you just wanted another barrage-user. perhaps splinter barrage. (if you can manage manually activating it since the hero ai has some problems with it)

having both used assassin and ranger barrage builds, my vote would go for the ranger. crit barrager was a bit fun until mid-game pve, although severly limited because of crits. even at 13cs, + crit eye; crit chances just drops to obscurity in hi-lvl/endgame pve where the enemies you'll face is commonly lvl 20+. and with crit chances dropping a whopping -50% for every 5 lvl difference, the addition of cs and c.e. just can't compensate. and without the crits, the overall effectiveness of the build suffers (sharpen, keen, energy gain).

on the other hand, splinter is armor ignoring; and with the investment in channeling, you can also add some more from that line (bloodsong, nightmare- great for splinter's weakness, lacks power with low number/ungrouped enemies)

just my 2 cents.

Too many Fire Weapons.... honestly.

I keep Acolyte Sousuke as E/R at all times and give him [skill]Greater Conflagration[/skill] with his [skill]Mark of Rodgort[/skill]. That way my folks can use any weapon they like and it'll still be a fire weapon... including MY zealous daggers.
Think it's a waste of an Elite Slot? Just see what it can do with Olias set up as Minion Master.... and the third hero slot either filled by Searing Flames Zhed.... or Minion Bomber Razah.... It is devastating... rest assured...
[Not to mention that Elementalists and Rangers can have special Fireproof armour... giving them an extra defensive measure that is usually applicable.]

Ive replaced the use of fire weps and take normal conflagration on Jin, or Greater Conglag on Morgahn. I came up with this idea when killing Glint on HM ro remove physical damage from the build.

i wander comparin to a triple searing flame group, which one kills mobs faster?