An elite worth capping?

scythe slash death

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Oct 2007

Looking for a new one

D/

Hey all, I was getting my elonian grand master cartographer and while in the process I stumbled upon the acolyte of grenth. I later looked it up on wiki (I'm a conventional AoM, AoL, AoB guy and was only missing this one). I found the PvE version is quite ideal for those of you who don't know.

For 10...74...90 seconds you cannot be blocked by enchanted foes and your attacks deal cold damage and steal 5...17...20 life.

I find it interesting stealing health from 3 foes in a mob paired with mystic vigor could come out very well. Also paired with conjure frost from the elementalist side of things might be a fantastic derv build. My main is a derv and I am DEFINETLY trying this out. (I did cap AoG and I DO enjoy using it)

Any comments please post away.

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

Yeah, it can definitely be rather powerful in the right situations, and it works well with Conjure Frost. My brother uses Grenth pretty much exclusively now. I have it, and I can see the usefulness of it, but I tend to not use it much. I much prefer Lyssa

Going /Rt and using Grenth with Nightmare Weapon could also be fun. Hello there massive life-stealing.

scythe slash death

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Oct 2007

Looking for a new one

D/

Another great idea I'll write down

While the PvP version is just awful, it could prove useful at 10 energy less than AoM

IronSheik

IronSheik

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2008

Wolfenstein: Goldrush

Zombies Go Nom Nom [Nom]

N/

Isn't Grenth still bugged to where doesn't do cold damage? Or did they ever fix that.

Dre

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2007

Belgium

Dutch Doom Brigade

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by IronSheik View Post
Isn't Grenth still bugged to where doesn't do cold damage? Or did they ever fix that. they fixed it when they buffed it

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

Aside from the cold damage, it's a great skill. Unfortunately, the cold damage shuts you out of the whole MoP/Barbs/Orders paradigm that makes for good team builds. (Same thing with AoHM.) Its perhaps ideal for PUGs where you can use a strong standalone character and there's likely to be no intra-team synergies to mess up.

Ginger Hunter

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2008

England

HEH

A/D

Ive never really liked using avatars, having to stop and cast eternal aura avatar + any extra enchants before every battle drives me crazy. I like to stick with either zealous vow, Wounding Strike or reapers sweep

SuperCoha

SuperCoha

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2006

W Band of Brothers W [BoB]

D/Mo

I use Grenth a lot lately too. ~18 life steal and going through whatever enchantment they have on is cool. And Grenth looks badass, the best looking avatar IMHO. However, I prefer AoHM over conjures.. it doesn't require points in water magic, and you can go D/W for wild blow/whirlwind attack or whatever suits you.

Kerwyn Nasilan

Kerwyn Nasilan

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2007

WHERE DO YOU THINK

W/

It also is the most badass looking of the forms, if I still had a derv I would use it now with the buff.

majikmajikmajik

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2007

SATown~Tx

Guild Hopper!

R/

AoG, Conjure Frost, vamp weapon,hero w/ nightmare weapon right??

Verene

Verene

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2009

[SOTA]

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ginger Hunter View Post
Ive never really liked using avatars, having to stop and cast eternal aura avatar + any extra enchants before every battle drives me crazy. I like to stick with either zealous vow, Wounding Strike or reapers sweep Why not cast Eternal Aura during the battle? Since it does do rather decent PBAoE damage. That's what I always do - casting it before getting in a fight is rather a waste.

shoyon456

shoyon456

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2006

D/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verene View Post
Why not cast Eternal Aura during the battle? Since it does do rather decent PBAoE damage. That's what I always do - casting it before getting in a fight is rather a waste. I find this to be the "correct" usage.

To the OP, yes AoG is somewhat effective now with the life steal. However, if you look at it alongside the most effectively used avatars, Melandru, Dwayna, and Lyssa, it still falls a little short.

Yes, the cold damage is fine, but it makes no difference in PvE with Aura of Holy Might > everything is holy dmg anyways, and everyone knows AoHM beats Conjure Frost in almost every situation. Yeah, there are a few niche areas in PvE where it might be more useful, but they are rare.

I used to use Grenth exclusively for PvE aswell, because in areas with alot of wars/enemies with high armor and when you need guaranteed DPS, the lifesteal is nice to have. Overall if I even run an avatar now, I stick with Melandru for condition areas + Wearying dps, or Dwayna for areas with alot of hexes. I never use Lyssa now because I only do things in HM on my derv where its very unlikely you'll hit the +dmg. Like most Derv skills, AoG is a one-horse trick and you need to know when its a good time to switch it out for something better, in my opinion.

Ginger Hunter

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2008

England

HEH

A/D

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verene View Post
Why not cast Eternal Aura during the battle? Since it does do rather decent PBAoE damage. That's what I always do - casting it before getting in a fight is rather a waste. What i meant by it is that i'd rather spend my time inside and outside of battle swinging my scythe, and having to recast as little as possible I dont like having to cast, let the enemy kite away and have to catch them up again :P I find that dervs are one of the worst for doing this :P

Expherious

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2007

Wolfenstein Fuel Dump

Melandru's Elite Hunters [Hunt]

D/

D/Mo 9 healing 9 mysticism 12 scythe

Vigours spirit, AoG, Live Vicariously, Mystic Vigor, want some heals?

S'what I run once in awhile its a major tank in PvE and it pisses people off in RA you gain like 50 hp a hit then with victorious sweep its more ^_^

IronSheik

IronSheik

Forge Runner

Join Date: Mar 2008

Wolfenstein: Goldrush

Zombies Go Nom Nom [Nom]

N/

AoG that steals life in Pvp? Srs? I mean why use him if it doesn't?

Helix Dreadlock

Helix Dreadlock

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jan 2009

Imperial Sanctum

Legendary Drunken Masters [DUI]

E/Me

add it with a Vamp scythe and whirlwind attack or nightmare weapon, mystic vigor, and you got yourself a tank lol

Catchphrase

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by shoyon456
View Post
To the OP, yes AoG is somewhat effective now with the life steal. However, if you look at it alongside the most effectively used avatars, Melandru, Dwayna, and Lyssa, it still falls a little short. This. It is pointless to have your whole build compliment AoG when that avatar itself is mediocre. Majority of the annoying blockers are oft unenchanted and there are worse anti-melee skills than blocking. The only reason to use AoG is for the lifesteal since it negates damage reduction skills used by monsters but it is not compelling enough to use it still.

reaper with no name

reaper with no name

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2009

FaZ

D/

Is it a skill worth capping? Yes, it's a very fun skill, and very cool to have.

Is it worth using most of the time? No, the damage boost isn't worth the cost. And you can't use a conjure with it because of AoHM.

Drizzitdude

Drizzitdude

Academy Page

Join Date: Jul 2008

why would i tell you?

The Final Kingdom

D/W

I have all the avatars and I never use grenth. All about the melee here. Why use grenth when i could use wounding strike (then again i dont play PvE anymore)

Delehov89

Delehov89

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jul 2009

The space between realities.

[DArK]

D/

I use AoG a lot for my PvE but i find that using AoD while Vic Sweep and Mystic sweep with prot spirit and mystic vigor on you heal more and have hex removal on top