Elementalist - Who needs secondary?

Citrine

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jun 2005

I was wondering, I am currently a lowely level 10 Elementalist/Monk, and I was wondering if I should stop using monk abilities so I can go Pyromancer/Aeromancer build. Have both good aoe's and good single restoration. As for healing myself I can only come up with Aura Of Restoration. I think this would be both a good PvE and PvP build. I was just wondering if anyone else had tried and failed this idea, or if I shouldnt do it. Can someone please give me advice.

Z-Shinrei

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

USA

E/

Monk is a really good secondary, so I highly recommend that you not switch over to pyro/aero. As an aeromancer myself, I must say that you don;t get the good air skills until Quarrel Falls (or something close). Also, going pure offense is kind of dangerous unless you have good support. Finally, I woudl recommend not splitting your attribute points between fire and air now because there are plenty of fire skills that can deal huge damage too. (having a higher attribute in one area is better than having 2 low ones, especially damage wise)

Sry if this is a lil unclear.

Aalric

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2005

W/N

I agree with Z-Shinirei. Spells like Healing Breeze and other Monk spells are very powerful. And though Aura of Restoration is nice at the beginning, it soon becomes useless.

Myodato

Myodato

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2005

WOR

Mo/

Pure elementalist is a fine option, and Monk is a good secondary to have with no attribute points in (can still use ressurect etc.). I would not, however, recommend Fire/Air, as they are both heavy damage dealers (the difference being Fire is more AoE, air single target). I would choose which you want, then combine with Earth or Water to give more defensive options (wards, armour of mist etc.)

Fire/Air will not give a greatly larger damage output than just Fir or Air alone, but it will restrict your defensive options. Putting all your points is Energy Storage/Fire/Air will make you a very easy target.

Fate

Fate

Elite Guru

Join Date: Feb 2005

New England, USA

Shadow Knights [SK]

Mo/Me

By the time you cast all your air or fire spells, the firstof them wil be regened or you'll have no energy so just having purely damaging spells is pointless.

DarkAynjil

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

As an E/Mo I find my skill bar dedicated to nukes (Air Nukes) like Enervating Charge, Lightning Orb, etc. The last 2 slots are usually Healing Breeze (Who needs the crap heals of Aura of Restoration when you have the breeze?) and Rebirth for when things get ugly. Rebirth is protection prayers, but points in that attribute only lessen the time before the person you res can use skills again, so the skill is still useful with no pints in protection prayers. Hope that helps a bit. I never use Aura of Restoration anymore, as Healing Breeze costs the same to cast, and doesn't require me to spam spells for a heal.

Miridan

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jun 2005

Purgatory Syndicate

E/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aalric
I agree with Z-Shinirei. Spells like Healing Breeze and other Monk spells are very powerful. And though Aura of Restoration is nice at the beginning, it soon becomes useless. I highly disagree. Aura of Restoration is a great spell, and I take it everywhere (am 20, like PvP). At 13 storage, it gives me 367% of my energy back as health, and b/c i constantly spam spells, this is a great boon to my defence. Also, it costs only 10 energy for 60 seconds of healing, and has a short cast time and a quick regen (so u can recast it if it gets ripped).

As far as a secondary class, I agree that air/fire is a bad choice. Pick one and stick to it. As far as a support line is concerned, earth and water are excellent, as well as monk. Pick one that fits your play stile. I started as a E/Mo , but then wasn't using any Mo skills so I switched to Me, but I still just use ele skills. Ether renewal is probably the best ele skill out there, and so if you use that with aura of res like I do energy storage is like a support skill.

Dzan

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

The Black Dye Cartel

I second everyone who said don't go air/fire. I too am an e/mo level 20 and I've tried every combination of elements. Mixing fire and air will actually get you doing less DPS than focusing on one, believe me.

The amount of monk skills I bring really depends on the task. When I'm travelling to a far away town with henches, like Camp Raknor, there might be times when I have to run for it to the next zone. Times like that I bring Mending. Some missions, like Riverside, I would only bring Rebirth, ignoring other monk skills since there are so many warrior types and air magic slaughters them. Most of the time I pack Rebirth and Healing Breeze though, since that is the most general.

Bottom line, if you forego Healing Prayers in favor of a second element, make it water. I find Earth to be of dubious merit outside of pvp.

JoDiamonds

JoDiamonds

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

New England

Elmos are one of the most diverse classes. You have great flexibility to try different things, and you just SHOULD because refund points are cheap.

Seriously, while I think there were a ton of good ideas here, why don't you just TRY it? It will be a lot more fun that way. =)

Go ahead and play as Fire/Air/Energy Storage for a while, see what you like and don't like. You may find after only one mission / quest / whatever that you want to change it, but you probably still can. Refund points are cheap. =)

Elmo can switch to all healing, or all blasting, etc. I've taken my Elmo and put all points into Fire/Storage for one mission, and then Storage / Healing Hands / Protection for the next. Have some fun with it.

Raiddinn Beatdropper

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

Fire and Air are both mostly about damage, Air less so, but still...

If you are going one dimensional then pick one and stay with it.

However, I think you would be much better served splitting up 4 ways with one of each of these groups
Fire/Air
Water/Earth
Healing/Protection
Storage

I have a char I love to use, Elementalist/Monk with Air/Water/Healing/Storage/Protection, it can switch up spells to good effect for whatever the situation warrants.

In PVE she is usually a defender, going down into fissure and underworld, with 68 energy and gylph, enervate, blind, word of healing, heal other, restore life, and pacify she can really reduce the damage the group is taking. I had a group one time go into the underworld with 2 monks, one of them quit because he never got to heal anyone since nobody ever lost any life.

For PVP go for more of a support role to add damage when nessecary or healing when nessecary and you are golden.

YMMV though, what works for me might not work for others.

Tsunamii Starshine

Killjoy

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jun 2005

Personally I find Ele/Mes to be much more effective and the highest damage dealer.

Example: with a glyph or renewal, firestorm, Arcane Echo -> Firestorm, Firestorm

I can get 3 firestorms, sometimes 4 down on an area simultaneously.

Wyked007

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jun 2005

i second the ele/mes as a superbly effective combo.. all offense

NightBaron

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Jun 2005

Hi guys,
I just want the experienced players give me your opinion about 2nd profession E/Mo or E/Me. I know that there were several questions like this but I found the answers were depends on your characters and what you want to do. So here are what I want to do
- Play solo in quest to enjoy the game (except for team quest/mission). I dont like to play in team much since my internet connection is not so good. It went off and on quite often.
- Gain Exp as fast as possible by killing monsters. I like to try to kill monster by myself to practise skills.
- I prefer PvE more than PvP
So which path I should take? I am now at pre-searching and haven't choose the 2nd profession. I also know that you can change your 2nd profession later on but it is too far away. From now to that point of time, I need an advice to have a good profession suited to my type.

Thx a lot (for both reading and answering).

WNxTyphoon

WNxTyphoon

Academy Page

Join Date: Feb 2005

Warrior Nation

R/W

Ele/Monk is a PvE'ers dream class.

immolatus

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2005

FL

Gaelic Storm

W/

Anyone still use the ether renewal/divine boon combo anymore? I've used it with my E/Mo with a couple of other auras and it works well for me. I havent had a chance to test fully yet in the harder areas, but it seems to me that if you combine that with aura of restoration, ether renewal, boon and some other defensive aura you would get good enough regeneration/def and still have 4 slots for damage dealers. Just a thought

Spike

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2005

In front of my PC

Kai

E/Mo

I'm an ele/mez and do not use ANY mez spells, in fact I use ONLY fire spells. I have 15 fire and 14 energy storgae. I am thinking about chargeing to ele/monk so i can use rez and not have to reley on the signet.

JoDiamonds

JoDiamonds

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jun 2005

New England

I agree that ElMo is a much more flexible and useful class for PvE than ElMe. ElMe is a mighty and powerful class, but as its advocates have noted, it's all offense. Elementalists, however, are possibly the class which can inherently deal damage the fastest, and is mighty in PvE due the Fire attribute and related Area of Effect attacks. Given that, Monk has just enough healing (and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to repeatedly ressurect, even if it's henchmen) to go really well in PvE and "soloing" with henchmen.

ElMe is more powerful in a mixed group where you can depend on other players. If you are expecting to play a lot with henchmen, I think you want a more flexible class, so I recommend ElMo. If you are playing TRULY solo, then it's iffier call (healing is good, since no one else will do it, but mesmer have some good "Escape" skills like Distortion that you get relatively early on), but there's some parts of the game that will be incredibly difficult to do without at least some henchmen.

Raiddinn Beatdropper

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

Elementalist/Monk is better PVP and PVE than Elementalist/Mesmer is.

It would be a rediculous test, but I guarantee that 8 x Ele/Monk would own 8 x Ele/Mez.

The fact is that defense is much more powerful in this game than offense is.

Case in point, 8 Ele/Mez vs 8 Ele/Monk, 8 ele/monks start off with the spell limiting anything hitting them more than 10% or 5%, then they duke it out, the monks will win that. Dont even bring up backfire either, monks can remove it easily and with the pre-existing enchantments they wont take much damage doing it, if any.

Another case in point, and the reason I switched my PVP char to Ele/Monk. Group of warrior/monk, warrior/elementalist, monk/warrior, and what?

Elementalist/Monk can do good spike damage on low targets and also backup heal the monk when he is getting low... or is it better to leave the monk to his fate? You decide.

No explaination is needed why Ele/Monk is better PVE.

Tsunamii Starshine

Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Master of Beasts

Join Date: Mar 2005

Ottawa, Canada

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raiddinn Beatdropper
Elementalist/Monk is better PVP and PVE than Elementalist/Mesmer is.

It would be a rediculous test, but I guarantee that 8 x Ele/Monk would own 8 x Ele/Mez.

The fact is that defense is much more powerful in this game than offense is. I think that stopping a spell is a better defense that healing the effects of it. I'd take that bet.

Raiddinn Beatdropper

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

Ill be one of the 8 x Elementalist/Monk in the test.

I dont know if you ever played MTG, but a good example comes from there.

David Price, King of Beatdown Decks in MTG said something along these lines once - There are no wrong attacks, only wrong (or mistimed) responses.

With mesmer in order to do on defense what a monk can do on defense you must have the right target, and you must be able to react quick enough. In optimal situations, yes it could be better.

Can people bring that about in practice? I dont think so, not consistently. There will be 2 monks on 1 target, at some point, and the gap will be open. If 6 mez are attacking and 2 are stopping heals, there is no chance you could stop all the healing power on the enemy team, none at all.

The monks will have multiple rez too and the mez wont, if the mez are fast enough and play perfectly it wont be an advantage, but will they? I dont think they will be able to do so consistently in practice. Also, mez that are trying to babysit cant do damage, monks that are babysitting still can.

Tsunamii Starshine

Eclair

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2005

Question is, why would you want to have a team of 8x Ele/mo or 8x el/me? That's just wierd =P

Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Master of Beasts

Join Date: Mar 2005

Ottawa, Canada

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raiddinn Beatdropper
With mesmer in order to do on defense what a monk can do on defense you must have the right target, and you must be able to react quick enough. In optimal situations, yes it could be better. You are neglecting essential Mesmer skills. Mesmers can shutdown with interrupts, yes, but they also do energy denial which doesn't require timing, hex based shutdowns that require little timing and so on. A team fielded on an energy denial principle vs the monks might find it quite easy for example, and blackout has a place in such a contest as well. I won't argue the point too much, but I'd be on the mesmer team, thanks. Think of card denial decks in MtG, or land destruction. yeah, you might win the race through damage, by throwing yourself at the mesmers without trying too much to heal, but if they take out your energy pool and spells you don't have a lot left. Ether feast denies you energy while healing them, energy tap denies you energy while fueling them and so on.

Raiddinn Beatdropper

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

Its really not worth it to go through all this, but I have time to waste.

Aether Feast can only heal yourself, with monk heals one person can be healed by many.

The monks can answer anything serious with something like protective spirit or spell breaker.

Mez just really doesnt bring a whole lot to the table in this discussion, whereas monk seriously does.

Active is just better than reactive, there is a reason that there isnt that many mesmers in GW and nobody takes the mesmer NPCs, and its not because its a real hard class to play, or that the NPC cant play it.

Tsunamii Starshine

Raiddinn Beatdropper

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2005

Can we get a list of people who will actually put their money where their mouth is BTW?

I will start off the Elementalist/Monk team.

Tsunamii Starshine

Epinephrine

Epinephrine

Master of Beasts

Join Date: Mar 2005

Ottawa, Canada

Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

How the heck would you test it?

First of all it'd be hard to get equally skilled teams with equal access to skills and items, then youd have to get them into some setting in which you could guarantee them facing off. I'm not about to quit my guild to make an El/mes guild for the sole purpose of a guild challenge vs a team of El/Mos.

Yamat

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2005

San Diego, USA

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aalric
And though Aura of Restoration is nice at the beginning, it soon becomes useless. I'm not sure I agree with this... having an enchantment give you 3x the energy cost back (Energy Storage = 9) as a heal is not insignificant for a profession that should not be spending much time in harms way anyhow. If you've just taken damage and the monk sees you get out of the way and your health bar start going up, he can ignore you and move on...

Healing breeze is nice an all, but it means devoting points into Healing, and not in Ele attributes. At least with energy storage you benefit from having more energy... prime for Eles.

As for the build... my suggestion would be E/Mo, carry res (or better still, rebirth) as your only monk skill and go either Fire/Earth or Air/Earth.