Team Build: 7H Raidway

Maerwen:

The reasons behind putting ghostmirror on ele are

1. when BiP necro sac his life, he should be healed by ele quickly, instead cast another heal by BiP himself.

2. reduce the energy usage on BiP in prolong battle.

3. I would like thunderclap ele cast offensive spell in monster encounter first, not recovery, so I put recovery on BiP.

But as the team build progress, I may change things around again

3 Esurge drains energy from monsters real quick, not to mention 4. The idea of aneurysm is to counter that issue.

I'm going to test out some of the new ele updates that just came out today and rework the team build if necessary. Lots of new ele stuffs updated

Cool thanks! The thunderclap ele still works fine atm

curious, what runes are you running on your sos bar? can't quite figure out, because theres only one communing skill, so not sure how much point to put in that.

Elegance:

I use superior channeling, 1 minor spawn, 1 minor commun, 1 vitae, 1 superior vigor.

I use 2 commun skills, armor of unfeeling and pain on my sos bar.



A new version of raidway has been updated. The new elementalist update introduced some interesting elements of changes to many skills. Unfortunately some builds I tried on heroes and their AI aren't too smart to run properly. So, instead of changing things dramatically, why fix something when it ain't broke. I will continue to explore the possibilities of new elementalist spells in the future.


The new build has been tested on SoS player bar in a few vanquish and 2 dungeons which are Darkrime Delves and Vloxen Excavations. The build feels rather durable and a bit stronger in firepower thanks to new elementalist update and no wipe. The overall clear time were faster.

thanks, its working really well for someone as lazy as me :P (often tab out to do other stuff)
would i be right to guess you're running 16 channeling, 13 communing, 4 spawning then?
I'm running something similar to your bar,except im using ebon standard of wisdom instead of evas.
Also, if you have the time, what weaps are you running?
I tried shield+ spear of enchantment on st, but xandra sometimes randomly runs around throwing spears :x
Also maybe post this on pvx as well, people there might have some ideas to improve =o

Elegance:

Sorry for late reply, got caught up in something lately. Glad to hear the hero builds work out for you. Raidway is hero build in attempt to be easy to run by every profession. I use evas to ball up monsters so I can clear them in a swipe. But I think standard of wisdom is excellent skill in its own right.

Yes you got it right I run 16 channeling, 13 comm and 4 spawn.

I'll just name weapons uses by my heroes. The weapons are not suggested in the hero setup because everyone has their own preference. 40/40 dom wand and focus for mesmers, 40/40 air wand and focus for bsurge ele. spear with armor mod and shield with fortitude mod for thunderclap ele. Resto staff with 20% enchant for necro, and com staff with 20% enchant for xandra.

Thanks for the suggestion posting hero build on pvx wiki, I will think about it depends on how much time I have

You are la lacking of individual damage at least for non spirit spammer player so I would drop the thunderclap and take a mix spirit spammer/ resto since you dont have enough rits take a necro with this build: 16 channeling/ 12 restauration/ 4 soul reaping.
sos
splinter weapon (melee players)/ bloodsong or agony (caster player)
Painfulbond
Mend body and soul
Spiritual light
Protector was kaolai
Ancestors rage(melee player)/ the other of bloodsong or agony(caster player)

Hope it helps!

Hmm, not sure if anyone else still reads these boards :P
But, I find myself having some trouble with elementalist mobs, and will have people die if I dont flag and pull very carefully.
I'm wondering if its worth dropping some physical shutdown for more caster shutdown, since physical mobs don't really seem to be an issue thanks to displacement.Also wondering if its worth dropping FomF on the ST rit for an interrupt skill.

After almost a year off guild war, finally I'm returning to my root again from diablo3 lol

I plan to revise some of the builds and offer some more flexible options for more situational play. I currently running some builds in dungeons and when I am done with testing, I will post up new builds. Don't expect it happen very soon though.

Elegance:
Since the elementalist buff, some area are not fool proof anymore, cannot just rush in and rambo like a boss ;p But like you said careful pull and flag are the way to handle that type of situation.

There is little problem with pawn2 as I couldn't update the file, saying server under DDoS attack. So I will post screenshot to some of the skills I have changed.

After careful observation and studying of AI behavior after changing every skill, I have decided to update the original Raidway to better suited to elementalist buff.

Note there are other builds that are work in progress, so I didn't test original raidway as much as I could, but it still works from my testing experience.

screenshot
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...ps298f3d57.jpg

So what changes did I make?

I've replaced signet of clumsiness on two mesmers with guilt, for more spell interruption and energy management. The death pact/flesh of my flesh on st rit has been replaced with leech signet. And probably something else that I switch around and you can see it yourself from screenshot.


What's coming next:

I will post up the builds I have been experimenting and running really good, but I would like to make sure they are ready so more tests are throwing in. Finally, the long overdue melee version Raidway will be posted as soon as I test it out to my satisfaction

Have you tried "when kappa attack" HM by any chance with this build?

That above would be interesting to see. Without cons.

I must blatantly say this build is designed for vanquish, mission and dungeons in mind, while it is not suitable for spellcasters heavy in kappa under attack, I did a modified build and was able to complete it in HM without cons (failed a few times before I got build order right)

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...pse2881906.jpg

So no the original Raidway is not gonna work in kappa attack in HM, but it is doable with some modification.

PS: I reset kappa attack HM just in case I could have some fun with it, glad I did

So after doing quite a number of dungeons, missions and vanquish, it's time to release one of the build I've been working on.

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...psbad83e11.jpg

As seen in screenshot, I've replaced St prot with MM, and air elementalist to water elemnetalist.

It is no mean to replace the original Raidway, but in some areas it does better job than original Raidway (namely Slaver's Exile, I can run this without Panic and Frozen Soil, quite easily go through it, sometimes aggro 2~3 groups).



The reason behind the build functionality:

After trying out varies of elementalist skills, the water elementalist dmg output though not as high as Fire magic, or to some extent air magic, but it provides snares, hex like blurred vision, and protection and healing like swirling aura, which provides useful asset against a variety of groups where sometimes direct damage shows limitation.

The thunderclap ele has skills that are in synergy with water ele and MM, cracked armor condition, and chilling wind which can prolong the duration of water hex.

Water ele has the ability to do AoE dmg, snares, healing and protection, which are useful in many monster encounters. Blurred vision and swirling aura can be switched around depends on the area going in.

I didn't want to use MM before, due to the slow speed of it, but after tweaking some stuffs out now MM isn't as slow as it used to be and still providing some firepower and protections.


The attributes:

-Memsers, thunderclap ele and necro rit remains untouched

-Water ele: water 12+4, energy storage 9+1, command 9

-MM: Death magci 12+4, soul reaping 9+1, protection 9


Now the disadvantage:

-The water ele won't do as good dmg in icy dungeons (Frostmaw's Burrows for one) and areas.

-This build face a lack of aoe protection from St rit, which make running dungeons like SoO, frostmaw, Selvetarm in Slaver's harder, still doable, but careful pull and hero flagging needed.

-In areas where corpses are scarce, mm is not as efficient, but we should know that by now


So what's the point of this build if it cannot be run in everywhere? It is an alternate build for original Raidway which can be used depends on area going in. And running a different build can be refreshing too


Let me know how this alternate build working for you, and sorry I have to use the screenshot to tell a build, as soon as team build builder program is online I'll make a better build format.

PS: This build has been tested extensively with SoS player bar, so if it doesn't work well for you for some reason, consider run SoS and try again.

Soothing Memories on a bar that already has SL and MBaS? I'd use Weapon of Warding over that.

Animate Bone Horror over Animate Bone Minions?

Deathly Swarm?

Cuilan:

Thank you for your feedback, weapon of warding could be another option, switch to it if you prefer it over smoothing memories.

As for bone minions are good for bomber type not really used as meatshield like bone horror. Deathly swarm is used to replace death nova, the skill that drives bomber necro but not suited for myself. You could also change skills to fit your play style. This team already kills everything fast so why waste time waiting for minions to explode when this build explode monsters. When no corpse around at least deathly swarm still can be used as offence, the lesser armor on monsters make elemental type spells better now. But I can see in some occasions where bombers can be useful, however overall speed bomber is slower for this build.




Now after I tested several builds, I want to mold together some of the builds I posted and not posted and changed a few skills around, the result is astonishing.


http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...pse9d5576f.jpg


As seen from screenshot, the blindsurge air ele has returned to replace 3rd mesmer. And I have dropped thunderclap ele in favor of fire ele. It's sad to let thunderclap ele go, but I found blindsurge has done a much better job keeping whole team alive. And fire ele adds a lot of firepower to compensate the loss of 3rd mesmer. I always feel Aneurysm is the skill I would like to change but couldn't lose it due to 3 copies of esurge. Change chaos storm to guilt if the area going in has no wand/staff type monsters.

Water ele has been very useful during battle so I found no reason to lose him. Memser lose 1 wandering eye to take hex eater signet, and also take chaos storm with memser.

There are some reasons I've incorporated DoT spells in the build. DoT effects can disrupt AI thinking, cause them try to scatter for few seconds (but they wouldn't really if they're snared), so hero team has better chance against spellcaster monsters.

============================Team skills

Necro/Rit - Blood is power, Signet of lost souls, Strip enchantment, Recovery, Life, Mend body and soul, Spirit light, PwK

Mesmer - Esurge/(Panic), Mistrust, Cry of Frustration, Unnatural signet, Shatter enchantment, Hex eater signet, We shall return, Fallback

Mesmer - Esurge, Mistrust, Cry of Frustration, Unnatural signet, Shatter hex, Chaos storm/(Guilt), Wandering eye, Flesh of my flesh

Air Ele - Air attunment, Blindsurge, Chain lightening, Arc lightening, Shell shock, Shock arrow, Stand on your ground, Fallback

Water ele - Elemental attunment, Deep freeze, Ice spikes, Maelstrom, Rust, Glowing ice, Swirling aura, Stand on your ground

Fire ele/Rit - Elemental attunment, Rogort's Invoation, Fireball, Liquid flame, Bed of coals, Spirit light, Mend body and soul, PwK


Now there are two options for prot, MM adds a bit firepower and meatshield or St prot for better protection.

*St Prot - Soul twisting, Boon of creation, Spirit's gift, Shelter, Displacement, Signet of clumsiness, Hex eater signet, Leech signet

*MM prot - Aura of the lich, Animate bone horror, Putrid bile, Deathly swarm, Masochism, Aegis, Spirit bond, Protective spirit


This build does not sacrifice firepower but also keep tons of utility, healing, protection and shutdown.