My standard PvE group build -- Double Glyph

This is my standard build for taking my elementalist out in a PvE group. I've used it most often for SF farming, but also for FoW, missions, etc. While I'm certain other people play something similar, I haven't seen anything really similar posted before.

To play it you need Glyph of Energy, which means you need to skilcap in Mineral Springs. I did that with the help of one other live player plus henchies, if I recall correctly, and I'm sure it can be done with henchies alone if you don't mind a few Total Party Kills along the way ...

I've had little trouble getting into PUGs with this build. I just tell people I'm a nuker who also can spam 59-point Heal Parties for backup healing. It's also excellent to use with henchies.

The big benefits of this build are:

NO vulnerability to enchantment removal
No problem with exhaustion
Lots of AoE damage
Considerable burning (vs. just fire damage), for high AL opponents
Fully adequate supply of energy
Immediate full effectiveness if rezzed
Heal Party or a utility spell (plus a second slot if you hench it or otherwise are free not to take rez)
Edit: Some immunity to e-denial -- you can do a LOT in this build with 5-15 energy.

The main drawbacks are:

Not the tiptop amount of available energy, and hence not of damage either
Not a lot of knockdown/disruption
Little self-healing
Vulnerable to interrupts

Attributes:

Fire Magic -- 16 (headgear, sup rune)
Healing -- 11?
Energy Storage -- 11 (minor rune -- the precise level of this attribute is not very important)

Skills:

Glyph of Energy (E)
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Rodgort's Invocation
Meteor Shower
Incendiary Bonds
Fireball
Heal Party (or free slot)
Rez (or free slot)

Skills to consider for the free slots include:

Another fire damage spell
Gale (for more knockdown)
Mend Ailment
Remove Hex
Healing Breeze
Heal Area (to help out an MM, although I've never made this work well)

or if you go Ele/Me:

Arcane Echo
Mesmer interrupts
Mantra of Resolve

A couple of notes on playing the build:

1. You can cast a Glyph of Energy up to 14 seconds or so before actually using it. Thus you can easily start a fight with two straight 25-point spells and a 15-pointer, yet not even be using as much energy as your regen provides.

2. Therefore, it is very tempting to get impatient and shoot so fast that you draw aggro onto yourself.

3. There's a very natural rhythm coordinating your glyphs and your spells -- until your 20% chances of fast recharge kick in, and then it's all chaos.

4. If you wait until the party is in real trouble before you use Heal Party, it's probably too late. Basically, if you notice anybody going seriously unhealed for more than a few seconds, the monks are likely to be under some pressure (even if just energy management), and it could be a good time to help take that pressure off.

Bottom line: There are few areas if any where this is the single best nuker build, but it's versatile, effective, and group-friendly.

As you took the time to comment on my build...

Personally I'd ditch the healing aspect and put in an echo spell (renewal, arcane etc) so that I could double glyph of energy and save the exhaust on the second 25 pointer spell (rodgorts I would assume). Then you could save the lesser glyph for bonds and pretty much never run out of energy.

The only problem I can see with the build is just how suceptable it is to inturupts (as you've already mentioned) and also the speed of the damage output is quite slow I would guess.

What order would you cast the skills generally?

Well, it's not very practical to echo an elite. What's more, lack of energy is not typically a big problem.

Consider the following cycle:

4 Rodgort's Invocations, all with Glyph of Energy before them
4 Incendiary Bonds, two with Glyph of Lesser Energy before them

That's a total expenditure of 80 energy, and it's tough to make happen in much less than 80. Throw in one Meteor Shower every minute or so, and you're still just using up your regen. Your initial energy endowment (which IIRC is around 69) can go to Heal Party, Fireball, etc., as can the energy "saved" because you were too busy repositioning to cast in exactly the fastest manner.

(By the way -- exhaustion is a total non-issue. It doesn't matter whether the Glyph is used on Meteor Shower or Rodgort's.)

In terms of usage, there are three "lumps" that can go in almost any order:

Glyph of Energy (usually) + Rodgort's
Glyph of Energy (sometimes) + Meteor Shower
Glyph of Lesser Energy (sometimes) + Incendiary Bonds

A sequence I was gravitating to before I took a vacation from nuking was:

Glyph of Energy a few seconds before the fight
Meteor Shower
Glyph of Energy (already recharged)
Rodgort's Invocation
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Incendiary Bonds

Then check if Heal Party is already needed or justified (probably not, since mobs don't use a lot of AoE), throw a Fireball, and Glyph of Energy will be close to being recharged.

If a spell recharges early due to fast recharge, I may just cast it again, which is one way the "extra" energy gets used up.

Sometimes I'd impatiently throw a Fireball into the mix early just so I didn't feel I was being wasteful of regen by capping out at max energy, but I'm not sure that's entirely logical.

Edit: And remember not to cast Rodgort's too soon after Incendiary Bonds; read the skill descriptions to avoid overlapping periods of burning. That factor also makes it hard to efficiently swap Immolate into the skill bar.

Hmm, I like it. I tried it this morning and like you said, it rarely runs out of energy giving you a chance to assist the monks in healing.
The only problem I found, particulary when dealing with monks, was that the build was too slow in dealing damage. Then again I'm used to playing my pryobomb which is completely different.

But yes, I thought it was a great build

Glad you like it!

Just a guess, but are you talking about a henchie-heavy attack on SF?

I haven't used this build alone with henchies much in Sorrow's Furnace; I usually went there with one human partner, and between us we would have either a bunch of damage or a decent range of interrupts.

If I were henching it alone, and didn't bring Healing Breeze just for the sake of keeping Oro alive -- I think I'd probably bring Gale, because you can interrupt a lot of rezzes that way. (When I hench it I usually leave rez at home.)

This build is similar to the one i do as a fire ele.
But why use glyph of leser energy? Just put in there Fire Attunement. That way when u use the combo Glyph of Energy + Rodgort(Meteor) u get back 30% of 25 energy - 7 energy. And it is a lot helpful then glyph of energy who has a recharge time of 30 seconds.
U will never have energy problems, that is true. Glyph of energy is one my favourite elites for Ele I use it a lot in combination with Earthquake - yummy
Best regards,
Steve

Glyph of Lesser Energy costs 10 energy per minute and gives you back 30.

Fire Attunement costs 10 energy per minute (or 7 if you use an enchantment mod, but that's a nuisance if you swap and cuts your defense if you don't swap). It is hard-pressed to give back 15 energy per minute in this build even if you never cast Heal Party or another non-fire spell, although it also gives a once-per-fight return of 15+ energy points on the original energy endowment, which Glyph of Lesser Energy doesn't. And it can be stripped.

Overall, I find the second Glyph makes the build a lot more versatile and robust.

OK (let me try some math)
Fire Attunement in 1 minute:
meteor - 7 mana
Rodgort - 7 mana
Incendiary bonds - 15*30%=4 mana
Fireball - 10*30%=3 mana
Total=7+7+4+3=21 mana
And in 1 minute u will not cast these spels only 1 time... so u will get more energy.
Also Fire attunement is a fire spell, that means that if u use at leat 1 piece of 20% recharge fire, 1/5 of times the attunement will recharge faster.

I didn't say ur build wasn't good - i was suggesting an alternative
I tried glyph of lesser energy, i didn't like it. Besides in PvE partyes usually is also a necro with BR if u need extra energy. And in that case i give up fire attunement to get another nuke spell - what can i say i like to see the yellow numbers floating in air
Steve

Actually, those aren't the numbers.

You use Glyph of Energy four times to cast four Mark of Rodgorts. You spend 40 energy. You get 1 back from the Fire Attunement each time.

You use 10 energy to cast the Fire Attunement itself. Maybe you get 3 back.

You cast Incendiary Bonds three times. You get 4 energy back each time.

You now have grossed 95 energy spent. You've gotten 19 back, for a net gain of 9 after the casting cost of Fire Attunement (or only 6 if you didn't have the enchantment mod). Net was 76 (or 79 without the enchantment mod). You've used up your 80 per minute, basically.

Glyph of Lesser Energy has twice the benefit on a per-minute basis, more flexibly.

The only other benefit to Fire Attunement is that it also gives you a return on your initial endowment of energy, which can add up to 10-30 more net energy per fight (not per minute), depending on how you do the math.

And with the exception of Claude the henchie (well, Eve too), I've never had a necro cast BR on me.

But if you don't enjoy Glyph of Lesser Energy, it's not one of those amazing skills that you just have to learn to make your peace with.

Quote:

Actually, it's 20 less. So the spell cost is 5.

Are you saying that Fire Attunement returns 7 energy on a spell that cost 5? If so, I do need to test that.

The spell cost 25 energy. The fact that is cost 5 REAL energy to cast it because of Glyph doesn't influence Fire Attunement which will return back to u 25*30%=7 energy.

I use Glyph Of Energy mainly in my Earth Build in combination with Earthquake and obsidian flame. That way u get exhaustion from Obsidian flame, but not from earthquake and u can maintain ur energy quite easily.

Well, Sir -- I tested it and you are correct! Fire Attunement does return 7 energy from spells even when Glyph of Energy is used on them.

That would make Fire Attunement a worthy replacement for Glyph of Lesser Energy in this build, probably even if I want to keep throwing a few Heal Parties or whatever.

I forgot to test whether Aura of Restoration also returns the same as it would if the Glyph of Energy hadn't been used ...

I think it does. But Aura of Restoration is for solo farm builds anyway