Advice from Air mages...

I am just wondering if lightening really does work better against individuals than fire. I switched to lightening for a while, but it didn't even seem to scratch the warriors it was hitting, and I had brought it up to the same level that I once had fire to. Admittendly I did not have all the lightening skills, but lightening strike, etc, didn't seem to do any real harm at all. I might as well have been rubbing my feet on the carpet and poking the warrior with my finger.


Poppinjay

Just wanted to bump this. Does anybody out there use lightening for its armor penetration?

Pop

after u try all the air skill then come back and tell us... should do that before asking things like this... i mean com'on, u havent even reach the full potential then u start doubting...

and the most dmging spell against warrior and ranger would be obsidian flame. However, most damage does not = good.

Air magic got the best spike in the game.

Hey buddy, if you object to a question then don't answer, but don't tell me what I "should" ask. It is not trivial to collect all the skills and switch back and forth between different types of magic, so I thought I would ask those people who followed that line on their own to share some of their expertise. I did this just as anyone might ask the opinion of somebody who has had experience already with something that they are thinking about trying.

If responding is such a chore, then don't respond. Nobody is obligated to, and it is not like this message was addressed to you specifically. Further, wasting even more of your time to flame the person who posted seems to contradict the notion that it was such a waste of prescious time for you to read and/or answer in the first place.

Jeeze, I can just imagine what your converstiaons are like in real life:

Inquisitive person: "I heard that the new dentist you use makes use of lasers instead of drills. Does that work well? Is it less painful? Is the price about the same?"

You: "You lazy bastard. Why don't you go try a procedure with him and see for yourself before you start asking me stupid questions."


Poppin

Well, I have gone the Air Magic route since day 1 so I really have no idea how it compares to Fire, but I can share some of what I know. First, Lightning Strike is weak, but combined with its quick recharge and very low energy cost, it ends up being a very energy efficient "nuke". If your looking for higher damage skills, Lightning Orb and Chain Lightning's base dmg is twice that of Lightning Strike and (for me anyway) will likely end up as your primary sources of dmg. So try and get the skills I mentioned and see what your dmg is like.

Air Magic is also very useful for its ability to blind/weaken/knockdown opponents. With the basic blind/gale spells you can remove a mob from the fight entirely while the rest of your party deals with more important targets.

Not sure what else to say, I've only recently begun playing with the Elite skills, so I really could'nt tell you much about those, but I hope I helped somehow =P.

Thanks velve,

I have yet to get an elite skill myself. My level 20 char seems to have hit a bottleneck. The guild I am in is small and there is almost never anybody from it online, and at this level using henchies is less than effective. My level 20 char is a ME/E and so is not very strong for solo, but can aid groups pretty well.

It is so hard to find skills in this game. I am working on a new elementalist too, but as far as I can tell, all the decent earth magic spells are deep into the game. Most elementalists are forced to start with fire since that is what most of the quests provide early on.

Pop

I used an air elementalist in PvP at one point and did enough damage - of course, this is with an 11 base air attribute and rune + headgear, so it should be good damage, heh.

I'd definitely pick Air over Fire - I just can't stand using Fire in PvP. Too many spells have me sitting as a Mesmer target, and I can't take advantage of the AoE. Air also lets me do stuff like Weakness/Blind/knockdown spam.

Yeah, the weakness from enervating charge is enough to all but take a warrior or ranger out of a fight. Blindness is the same way. Knockdown disrputs spells while not letting them attack back. So if you rationalize that every fight has 2 sides, then air magic is focusing on reducing the other sides offencive capabilities where fire just does damage, which may or may not hit depending on whats going on.

Ive played both fire and air, and am currently lvl18 in the air line. Fire feels much more damaging (visually), and forcing people to run out of an AoE has its advantages. If you've ever been attacked with Fire Storm or Searing Heat you know its annoying to run. However, the long casting times make it inefficient in pvp where a good team will always a have an interrupter, while air skills cast fast (I use enervating charge and lightning strike as basic damage skills). Lightning Orb is massive damage, despite its slightly longer cast time and 15 en cost. Mine does 99 damage at lvl 14 Air. I also have two knockdown spells, Whirlwind (Mostly for when i get surrounded), and Gale (To hunt down monks running away from me). So basically I function as a monk hunter or a tank killer, whereas fire magic used to just let me do damage mindlessly, which was fun in itself. I might go fire sometimes for fun sometime though. Run straight into a group and spam Lava Font and Inferno and watch them burn :P.

See the Elite Skill Locations thread in the Community Works forum to see where you can get them.

you dont use chain lighting..........

also does Lighting Surge actually do anything........statistically it suppose to be in the same league as lighing orb and chain lighting........but it seems like it doesn't do anything........(used it a couple times)

O my bad I don't have chain lightning yet...I will use it though definitely. And Lightning Surge...thats just a wierd concept...its like a delayed attack. It must combo with some other ability well...can't think of what though.

Dont use lighting at the start of the game...
I have ascended a long while ago now, for PVP i use lightning and farming i use fire.

Fire is obviously good for AoE on the monsters, but even the last couple missions of the game their armor is good enough that lightning really starts to pull ahead.

PVP there is no question, fire just cant pull off enough damage in a short period of time, monks can always head too damn fast. Lighting on the otherhand doesnt have that problem at all. Especially using lightning surge (an attack that doesnt do damage untill 3 seconds after the target is it) so you can make multiple spells hit at the same time (no chance to heal)

I dunno, I prefer spells that ignore armor immediately if I'm going for direct damage. I feel air is more useful for its various "effects" than just the damage.

Air is definately the go in PvP.......but do not under estimate Fire.......if used correctly........I was in a PvP match earlier........the warriors just blocked my team off and the ele was casting AoE........killed the team fast.......

I tried with 9 air magic again and the damage levels, at least against pve mobs are pathetic.

Also warriors deal out far more damage than elementalists. Clearly this is wrongheaded. Why be a "glass cannon" if you can be an iron one that deals more damage to boot?

Warriors in this game are quite overpowered. At the very least they should move more slowly than other characters because of all that armor.

Pop

I think you will find that most common baddies are more PRONE to fire based attacks, hence why air may not seem as good on the damage side to begin with.

Air is my favorite for use on my Warrior Elementalist. with Gale and Whirlwind providing excelent knockback.

I also keep lightning touch for pvp.. because we have a water elementalist, so when he gives the word.. bang 80points of damage with 25% armour penatration, across as many baddies who are close together.

so yea.. Air magic has more 'utility' kind of skills... but definatly not to be underestimated for its damage potential

(cant wait for conjure lightning)

The Snowman

Do not underestimate Water in PvP either.