[Neraphym]

Shatterblade:


Intro:

Sick of always being a pyromancer? Do you want to try out a new element, but are too afraid you wont be effective enough? Feeling too hot? Well, this build will definitely cool you off. This is the Shatterblade, a hydromancer's super-spike build meant to absolutely slaughter an unsuspecting foe. This build requires a primary profession of Elementalist, and I recommend the secondary of Mesmer, though Necromancer can work.


Equipment:

This build requires a lot of energy and uses two enchantments, so I recommend an ice staff with a +5 insightful and a 20% enchantment mods, as well as the standard 20/20 cast/recharge bonuses. Unfortunately, there are no Green Weapons with these stats, so you'll need the collector's staff and the staff mods, which could end up costing you a lot. Flint's Fleshcleaver will do, and the Kaolin Water Staff would be ok if you want to do even more damage at the cost of less energy.

Your armor isn't very relevant, but the runes you have on it are. Get a superior water magic, a minor energy storage, superior vigor, a vitae, and an attunement rune. If you are hurting for energy, switch to a superior energy storage, although you may end up being hurt for health now. If you can't afford a superior vigor, go with a major. You're headpiece should be the one that gives you +1 in water magic.


Attributes:

This build is a hydromancer's build, and as such we will be using water magic. Power up your water magic so you get a full 12 points in it. The water headpiece and superior rune of water magic should make it 16. The descriptions of abilities will all have their strengths listed as both 16 and 18 in water magic. The 18 is because we have a skill that increase your elemental magic by 2. Now increase your energy storage all the way up to 11. Your total energy storage will be either 12 or 14, depending on the rune you chose. Final, spend you remaining attribute points on Domination Magic, which will put it at 6.


Water Magic: 16 (12+1+3)
Energy Storage: 12 (11+1)
Domination Magic: 6


Skills:


1. Ice Spear
2. Shard Storm
3. Shatterstone (E)
4. Vapor Blade
5. Glyph of Elemental Power
6. Shatter Enchantment
7. Armor of Mist
8. Water Attunement




Ice Spear
E: 5
T: 1
R: -
Send out an Ice Spear, striking target foe for 74/82 cold damage if it hits. Ice Spear has half the normal Spell range.

This is the water equivalent of Flare, with a few differences. The damage is higher, but the range is shorter. The energy cost is low, the time and recharge are amazing, but its a projectile so it can miss, be doged or get obstructed.



Shard Storm
E: 10
T: 1
R: 10
Send out an ice shard that strikes target foe for 69/76 cold damage if it hits and causes target foe to move 66% slower for 6/7 seconds.

This skill does a small amount of damage, but also freezes the target to impare its movement. This prevents your target from escaping your vicious spiking.



Shatterstone (E)
E: 15
T: 2
R: 8
Target foe is struck for 105/115 cold damage and is Hexed with Shatterstone for 3 seconds. When Shatterstone ends, that foe is struck for 105/115 cold damage.

This skill does a great deal of damage for a decent amount of energy. The cast time is ok, and the recharge is pretty fast. There's also no way for the target to avoid this massive cold damage.



Vapor Blade
E: 15
T: 2
R: 7
Target foe is struck for 143/159 cold damage. Vapor Blade deals half damage if that foe has any Enchantments on them.

This is a powerful attack that does a lot of cold damage. The energy cost is a bit high, the cast time leaves a bit to be desired, and the target cannot have any enchants on them. It's recharge is pretty good, though.



Glyph of Elemental Power
E: 5
T: 1
R: 5
For 15 seconds, your elemental attributes are boosted by 2 for your next 5 spells.

This skill allows your next 5 spells to be slightly stronger. The duration is great, the cost and recharge are low and the benefits can be deadly when used right.



Shatter Enchantment
E: 15
T: 1
R: 25
Remove an "Enchantment" from target foe. If an Enchantment is removed, that foe takes 48 damage.

This skill is a basic enchantment remover. Although expensive, it does a decent bit of damage and is a great addition to your spike chain. The recharge time is somewhat long, so don't waste this.



Armor of Mist
E: 10
T: 2
R: 30
For 21/22 seconds, you gain +42/44 armor and move 33% faster.

The armor bonus is nice when it comes to reducing your squishyness, and the speed bonus helps for kiting. The duration is pretty good, and the energy cost is reasonable. The downfall is the long recharge time. There will be a small period where you lose this, but otherwise, keep this up as long as you can.



Water Attunement
E: 10
T: 2
R: 45
For 62/65 seconds, you are attuned to Water. You gain 1 Energy plus 30% of the base Energy cost of the Skill each time you use Water Magic.

This skill should help reduce the energy you burn casting water magic spells. Keep it up at all times.



Using Your Skills:

Energy Conservation:

You have a great deal of energy, but you can run out of it very quickly if you don't keep tabs on how much you're using. The most important thing you can do is use Water Attunement. This drastically cuts down on the amount of energy you will consume. Don't use Vapor Blade on foes you know have enchantments on. Use it only after using your enchantment removal for the maximum effect, otherwise you are wasting energy. Speaking of your enchantment removal, you can replace Shatter Enchantment with Drain Enchantment, which actually gives you 1 energy! Make sure you also switch Domination to Inspiration. I chose Shatter because its a better spiker, and its name fits in so well with the build.


Vs. Individuals:

Individuals are your primary targets. Get in close using Armor of Mist. This let's you run in fast and reduces the amount of damage you take. Freeze the target with a Shard Storm, then pummel it with your Ice Spears. When the target is getting low on Health, get ready to spike it hard. Make sure you have enough energy for this and Water Attunement is on, as it gets very expensive. Start with Glyph of Elemental Power to increase your water magic strength. Immediatly hit your target with Shatterstone. Quickly use Shatter Enchantment to do some damage and hopefully clear the way for Vaporblade, which is used next. At this time, Shatterstone will end and strike again. The combonation above should do 437 damage, but it costs you 50 energy (roughly 10 less if you have water attunement). If you went with drain enchantment, this won't do as much damage, but it would only cost around 20 energy. If the target survives the spike, Shatterstone will be around again soon, and you can hit it with a few Ice Spears in the meantime.


Vs. Groups:

Groups aren't your thing. In fact, your skills will only touch one target at a time. Try and find a straggler and take him out. Go for a monk and spike it to death, if you can. Try and avoid targets that tend to use lot's of enchantments, such as dervishes. Your vaporblade will do half if an enchantment remains after shatter enchantment.


Vs. Bosses:

Bosses aren't much different than any normal apponent for you. In fact, this build will help your team take down bosses a bit faster.


When getting attacked:

Thankfully, you have Armor of Mist, which will reduce the damage you receive. If it is still too much, you can use the speed bonus to run away.

[Moogalite]

Im not a fan of shatterstone myself as the second damage comes a while after first targeted... so the target could have been healed by this time?... its too much energy for the combo really to be that effective

[Neraphym]

The first damage is done when it is cast, and the next damage will come roughly when Vaporblade hits. In that respect, the first bit of damage is done with little notice, then the next two just take a huge chunck of HP away. If energy is really a problem, which I think it would be, switch shatter enchant for drain enchant. That knocks off like 20 energy from the overall cost.

[x..]

Well done!

I guess Mesmer works well with ele.

[Moogalite]

Drain enchantment wouldn't work as you cant target yourself with it.

[Neraphym]

Drain enchantment wouldn't work as you cant target yourself with it.

Drain Enchantment
E: 10
T: 1
R: 30
Remove an "Enchantment" from target foe. If an Enchantment is removed, you gain 5...17 Energy. (11 Energy @ 6 Inspiration)

It works perfectly...

[Moogalite]

you cannot cast enchantments on a foe.
also.
the whole process of this build of that is assuming that the foe has an enchantment upon them...
Basic PvP Scenario:
Prot monk.
RoF.
You cast shatterstone assuming that they dont interrupt with its 2 second casting time.
This triggers RoF. It is removed. You have nothing for drain to target.
No energy gain. He recasts RoF whilst you are casting vaporblade.
The damage is halved.
RoF kicks in your spike of vaporblade is neutralised.
Previous damage is quickly healed using divine favour and RoF spam.
Your 'spike' is neutralised.
Also if this is a PvE build. Having played through Factions and Prophecies only. They dont run many enchantments to target so thats good. Interrupts are high. You would probably end up being crippled, bleeding and deep wounded within getting close. Rangers instantly will target you for interrupts due to ele being a 'soft' target. Your not going to get much off from your spike.
Maybe you should run inspired enchantment or inspired hex instead if this is a PvE build a more efficient energy gain.
Imo there are too many interrupts to run this build effectively in a PvE environment.

Think about running a superior energy storage rune as well for those extra points of energy as well =/
Counter it with a Superior Vigor.
Rather than fiddling with it.
Its still a flawed build but good job (y)

[Neraphym]

Every build has glaring weaknesses. If it didn't, they'd just nerf the build. It just so happens that this is an Ele build, therefore we can expect the weakness to be interruptions.

Oh, now I get what your saying... Don't use enchantment removal if the target doesn't have an enchantment on them. The PvP scenario you show depicts a monk specifically acting to counter this exact string of events. While possible, he'd have to switch back and forth from your target to you to know when to cast RoF. Unless a monk gets lucky, it's unlikely he'll block both. Besides, I'm sticking with fire nukes. I just wanted a decent water build in case I got bored.

[Goto]

Very interesting build, I'm missing a skill or two but I might hunt them down at some point and give it a shot. I suspect it'd also be quite susceptible to energy denial, particularly since interrupted spells stop Water Attunement from giving you any of your energy back. However as you say all builds have weaknesses, and from a quick look this seems to be a fairly solid spiking build.