PvE Warding

Quote:

Well i personaly enjoy warding and have yet to run into energy problems when doing so, and alli take is:

Earth attunement
Ward against foes (mainly as there will be a trapper or nuker in the group)
Ward against melee/blured (depending on area)
Ward against harm
Armour of earth
Sliver Armour
Rtone daggers/crystal wave (depending on foes)
Ressurect (i hate when ele's take rebirth)

13 earth
13 water
rest in storage

Without at least two skills to maintain Energy, Ward Against Harm isn't that good. You CAN get all the wards out, but you'd be unable to do anything else. I'll recommend Prodigy, but you can bring Attunement.

With Prodigy, you can take Rebirth, too.

I generally only take ward against melee and ward against foes because those seem to be the most usefull. But I don't know how I can really fit Ward against Harm into it since it's water =(. THERE SHOULD BE AN ELITE WARD FOR EARTH MAGIC!

Perhaps, perhaps. Ellies revolve around elite e-management skill, really. So even if we do get a decent elite of any kind, I doubt you'd throw your Ether Prodigy or Elle Attune because of it. Don't even tempt me....

Quote:

Kinda says it all about the Ele class that its Elite must be hogged by an energy skill despite the so-called advantage of E-Storage. ELe really is the worst class by far.

Well, with the E-Management skill we become very effective. Don't forget that.

I've come to love playing Earth in Tombs these past 6 months now after playing Fire and seeing the benefits after having a Warder join our party once. Since then I've been using Earth everywhere. Once in FoW the other Ele chided me for joining the party under the pretense of being a 'Nuker', but the quickly changed their tune after seeing the benefits of being able to keep Wards up perpetually.

For Tombs being Earth is particularly handy as most Tanks there really don't know what skills to bring (seems that most have come strait on after ascending) and on each pull I just get the leading edge of my Ward/Melee around them and I stay in between them and the other casters behind. Most of the grasps that bypass the tanks are drawn to me but my Armor of Earth keeps me relatively safe and the other casters free to do their dirty work. I tried bringing Mantra of Resolve here once but found that my energy was sucked dry using it in about 5 seconds.

Tombs build - Stone Dags, Obsi Flame, Unsteady Earth(E), Aftershock, Ward/Stability, Ward/Melee, Armor of Earth, Earth Attune.

Aftershock is the least used skill in this Tombs build, but it is nice to have it as since I don't carry a rez I buy time for others to get away if we're being overrun due to a bad pull and can usually take out 1 or 2 grasps before I die. Ward/Stability is useful to help party members that I'm sure are about to be caught in a Meteor Shower and against the Wurms KD skill. Obsi Flame is always a great skill even though as you never want to use it flippantly for the exhaustion factor, you can spam it in an emergency and save the party if things get bad. I started using Unsteady Earth instead of Ele Attune for my Elite there in Tombs as it can basically stop a mob from attacking for a few crucial seconds, and is particularly effective for keeping the Scythes from E-Surging and interrupting while the party deals with the grasps all around us.

Of course very few balanced groups are nowhere near as effective as a b/p in Tombs, but it does make Tombs more of a challenge.

I actually run a quite different build that seems to be doing me alot of good.

E/Me
Build: Water Warder

Blurred Vision
Vapor Blade
Ward Against Harm {E}
Channeling/Glyph of Lesser E/Water Attunement (Some kind of E mgmt)
Drain Enchantment
Ether Feast
Mantra of Resolve
Rez

Weapon: Flint's Fleshcleaver
Water: 16
E Storage: 9
Inspiration: 10

Yes I know the spell costs are high, but drain enchant + vapor blade on an enchanted target gets you a cheap 120+ dmg and strips them. Use a glyph/attunement/channeling (In mass mob situations like Vizunah) to keep your ward up and use blurred vision to devastate warriors. Blurred is a GREAT spell due to it being a hex and spreading to adjacent targets. Wars can't just plague touch it off. In my experience Ward against Harm is a very powerful ward. It completely owns Hell's and Tombs. 25+ armor against all attacks? Hell yea! Try this build out, its fun as hell. I dominated 12 matches in random with this, almost everyone commented on how great the wards were. Dust off that old flint's and turn your party into a tanking fortress. In PvE this build is also effective in many situations due to the raw defense boost of the wards. Resolve is also great since its a stance that lasts an eternity and keeps people from screwing your ether feast to keep yourself alive. This build also rocks in aspenwood. Having a whole army of minions and a siege turtle/juggernaut in never-ending wards of harm = death to enemy team.

"Ward Against Melee -- huge. All the casters should stand in it at all times."

You should be careful saying things like that =P Sometimes they'll ball up if not carefull .

Quote:

Warding in cantha or tombs works so well, however I have to disagree with the whole issue of going part water for ward vs harm. Ward vs elements works much better, simply use a ranger secondary and get greater canflagration. Not only does this give you, at most attribute levels, a greater effect than ward vs harm, but your party is prepared for it, meaning they can bring mantra of flame and ele resistance, etc...
In addition, the attribute is wilderness survival, meaning storm chaser is affected too. I always bring kinetic armor so I can run around w/o worrying about being killed before I can get some wards up, and storm chaser allows you to get to the place where you need to cast a ward, faster. In addition, anytime you take elemental OR physical damage, you gain 4 energy, solving all energy management issue. Or, if you can get an ally to bring canflagration, you can use your elite for ward vs harm, meaning that allies in the area will gain an effective 60+ armor level vs physical damage.
Another option is a necromancer secondary. Use your elite for well of power. In a party of eight, this spell alone can single handedly win the battle. at 11 blood magic, any allies who stand in it for the entire duration gain additional energy, and 170 hp. At a 17 second duration, it can be kept active almost all the time. In this case, bring glyph of lesser energy and earth attunement, and use the glyph once every 30 seconds with a 15 energy cost skill.

Quote:

Quote: