[Neraphym]

Alpha's Ultimate Nuking Build:


Intro:

After several years in the business of burning enemies to cinders, I've decided to pass on my favorite build. This build is so well-balanced and effective, I rarely have to change a single skill regardless of where I'm going. It solves the big problems most nukers encounter, such as energy management and obstructions, without sacrificing the awesome damage output of the pyromancer's arsenol.


Equipment:

There are several different equipment options I'd suggest you use. The first is a Rago's set: Rago's Flame Wand and The Kinderlock (Focus Item). These have a 40% chance of a skill recharging in half the time, and 10% chance of halving the casting time, and a 20% chance of giving you a 17 in Fire, adding to your damage capablilities. The second option is a collecter's Fire Staff equiped with good Fortitude and Insightful mods. Fortitude for added health, and Insightful for some precious energy. The collector's fire staff offers a 20% chance of halving the casting speed and a 20% chance of halving the recharge time. The collecter can be found right outside of the Ice Caves of Sorrow and requires 5 Frigid Hearts, which are dropped by nearby Ice Imps. Also, this build can get away with you using one or even two mods that give you a big +15 energy but come with -1 energy regeneration. There are no 'Green' weapons with such mods, but if you can get your hands on one with some good mods, you'll have a serious advantage. Just make sure you bring a backup set incase you die and need to regenerate energy fast. Finally, just about any set of 'Green' weapons will do. In my opinion, none match the Rago's set or the collector's staff, but they are pretty good.


Attributes:

The fire attribute is the strongest one for nuking. There are a wide variety of effective fire spells that do a lot of damage when compared to the other attributes. That being said, maximizing your fire attribute to 16 is a must. To get fire to 16, put in all the attribute points you can into fire until it is at 12. Next get a Flame's Eye (headpiece armor). This will give you an extra point in fire magic, bringing it up for 13. Next buy a Elementalist's Superior Rune of Fire Magic and attatch it to a piece of your armor. Personally, I attatched it to the Flame's Eye. I own all of the different Eyes and have attatched their respective Superior Runes to them. That way, I can switch around the Eyes when I change from Fire to Earth, Air, or Water without having to buy more Superior Runes and constantly replacing them. The Superior Rune adds another 3 points to Fire, bringing it up to 16. This build requires that you always have a lot of energy, so invest attribute points in Energy Storage until you are at 12. Buy an Elementalist's Rune of Minor Energy Storage to bring that up to 13. If you aren't concerned with your HP, you can take a Major or Superior Energy Storage with you for even more energy. It's even possible for Elementalists to have over 100 energy, which is very useful for this build.


Fire Magic: 16
Energy Storage: 13


Skills:

Here is a list of skills that I commonly use for my nuker. The following descriptions of these skills are based on a build with a 16 in the Fire Attribute. E stands for Energy required to cast the spell, T stands for the Time it takes to cast the spell, and R stands for the time it takes for the spell to Recharge.

1. Mind Blast
2. Immolate
3. Glowing Gaze
4. Fireball
5. Meteor
6. Meteor Shower
7. Glyph of Sacrifice
8. Fire Attunement


Mind Blast (Elite)
E: 5
T: 1
R: 2
Target foe is struck for 63 fire damage. If you have more Energy than target foe, you gain 10 Energy.

Originally, I used to have Flare in this spot. Flare does 5 more damage, recharges instantly, and isn't an elite. That's where its advantages end. Flare is a projectile, meaning if something is in between you and the target, Flare can't hit. Mind Blast isn't, so as long as your target is within range, you can hit it. Also, Mind Blast gives you back 10 energy if you have more energy than the target. Because you are an Elementalist, odds are you will have much more energy than the target, thus triggering the energy gain. Normally, you'll experience a net gain of 5 energy every time you use this skill. Since the skill recharges in a quick 2 seconds, spam it frequently.


Immolate
E: 10
T: 1
R: 3
Target foe is struck for 63 fire damage and is set on fire for 3 seconds.

Immolate is as powerful as Mind Blast, but instead of energy, it has the added bonus of setting an opponent on fire. Fire from Immolate lasts 3 seconds, doing -7 health degeneration. In total, this will do an extra 42 damage to the target, bringing the total to 105 for this skill. Immolate can also go through walls.


Glowing Gaze
E: 5
T: 1
R: 8
Target foe takes 53 fire damage. If that foe is on fire, you gain 10 Energy.

This skill is extremely similar to Mind Blast. The only difference is the longer casting time and the energy bonus requirement. Glowing Gaze requires the target to be on fire to trigger the energy gain. Glowing Gaze, for some odd reason, also penetrates walls.



Fireball
E: 10
T: 2
R: 7
Send out a ball of fire that strikes target foe and all adjacent foes for 119 fire damage.

Fireball is a wonderful spell. It does a good amount of damage at a distance and to multiple enemies. Fireball has a short casting time and a relatively short recharge time, making it an extremely effective nuke. Unfortunatly, the target may not be obstructed by anything or the nuke will fail. An alternative to this is Liquid Flame, which takes 1 less second to cast, but takes twice as long to recharge. Liquid Flame cannot be obstructed, but if the target is not on the offensive, the damage will not spread to adjacent foes. Ultimately, the two skills are so similar, you can use whichever best suits your preference. For me, I like the reliability and reusability offered by Fireball.


Meteor
E: 5
T: 3
R: 30
Target foe and all adjacent foes are struck for 119 fire damage and knocked down. This spell causes Exhaustion.

Meteor is very similar to Fireball, with the exception that meteor knocks down all foes around where it hits. Meteor is also able to strike foes that are obstructed, and it costs less energy. The only downfalls are that it causes exhaustion and has a long, long recharge time. If use with a full energy pool, this will actually cost you up to 10 energy (from exhaustion), so don't open with this.


Meteor Shower
E: 25
T: 5
R: 60
Create a Meteor Shower at target foe's location. For 9 seconds, foes adjacent to that location are struck for 119 fire damage and knocked down every 3 seconds. This Spell causes Exhaustion.

Meteor Shower is the God of all Nukes. Although it has a long casting time, high energy cost, exhaustion, and a minute-long recharge, Meteor Shower is still one of the Elementalist's greatest assets. Meteor Shower essentially 3 meteors cast back-to-back-to-back on the same area. Not only does it do massive damage (357), it also knocks down the foes in the area. The knockdown both prevents the enemies from attacking you or healing other enemies, and it also prevents them from moving. While the enemies are getting trashed by the Meteor Shower, you can cast other nukes. The damage will pile up quickly. Very few monsters can survive a Meteor Shower coupled with other nukes.



Glyph of Sacrifice
E: 5
T: 1
R: 15
For 15 seconds, your next Spell may be cast instantly, but it takes an additional 30 seconds to recharge.

You can use this Glyph to reduce the painful cast times of the two Meteor spells, but you will have to endure an ungodly recharge time. I recommend using this before every Meteor Shower. It already has a long recharge, so making it a bit longer isn't gonna hurt your strategy. The instant cast, however, will help you completely avoid interrupts. You can use this with Meteor to give yourself an instant casting interrupt that would make any Mesmer jealous. I'm not sure what effect the Half-Recharge mods have on the added 30 seconds. I think it reduces it to 15 seconds, but I'm not sure.


Fire Attunement
E: 10
T: 2
R: 60
For 62 seconds, you are attuned to fire. You gain 30% of the energy cost of the skill each time you use Fire Magic.

You should try and keep Fire Attunement on you at all times. Cast it right before going into battle and you'll save a great deal of energy. Fire Attunement helps reduce the energy costs by 1/3. That's around 30 energy on a full Elementalist's energy bar. Fire Attunement lasts for 62 seconds and takes 60 seconds to recharge, so you can keep it on you indefinitely.



Using Your Skills:

Start with Fire Attunement, and keep it up at all times. Pick a target and start casting your first three spells on it. Start with Immolate to set it on fire, then hit it with Glowing Gaze to get all your energy back and more. Follow this up with a Mind Blast for more damage and energy, and to give Immolate a chance to recharge. Use Immolate again, but unfortunately, Glowing Gaze will not have recharged yet. There will be a 1/4 of a second gap between your second Immolate and Mind Blast (unless you get the recharge bonus), and then 5/4 seconds between your second Mind Blast and the start of your next chain. Use this time to reposition yourself if needed. To ensure this chain works, try to always stay above 50 energy. If you go below, wait until you have around 30 or more energy then use this chain on an enemy warrior. Here's the chain again...

Immolate -> Glowing Gaze -> Mind Blast -> Immolate -> Mind Blast -> REPEAT

Glowing Gaze may seem redundant, but again, this chain cannot be cast one after another. Glowing Gaze is there for two reasons. First, it allows you a more constant stream of energy flowing in and damge flowing out. Mind Blast requires you to have energy to get energy, and that won't be the cast if you die and get resurrected mid-battle. You can use Glowing Gaze to quickyl get energy back so you can use Mind Blast again. Secondly, Mind Blast can be disabled easily by certain skills, or it can get interrupted. Glowing Gaze ensures you have a backup. The best part about this chain is that it gives you energy rather than spends it.

While you spam away at a single target, you may notice a few enemies are clumping together. When such an opportunity arises, switch over to nuking mode. I prefer to start with a Meteor to knock them all down, followed quickly by a Fireball suprise for when they are getting back up. A 250 damage spike to multiple enemies is always fun to do. If they dont move even after that, Fireball will be ready again soon for another go. This is why I go with Fireball over Liquid Flame.

When you come up against a boss, its wise to kill off all the enemies around it and then gang up on the boss. Use your Glyph of Sacrifice and then Nuke it with Meteor Shower. After that, use the starndard energy combo to recover from the 30 energy cost of the two skills. Whent he boss dies, you get a morale boost that recharges your Meteor Shower, so you won't have to wait the extra 30 seconds from the Glyph of Sacrifice. This is really the only time I use the Sacrificed Meteor Shower, unless there is a pesky monk or an extremely tempting group of around 5 bunched up enemies.

With more experience, you can get this build to function well without Fire Attunement. Glowing Gaze becomes much more important then, and you need to keep a closer eye on your energy. Skip an Immolate here and there if you must. Without Fire Attunement, you can add another skill to your bar. For Hard Mode, I like to put a few points into Earth Magic from Energy Storage. I add Armor of Earth to help mitigate the nasty spikes from Hard Mode monsters. Otherwise, I recommend putting 3 points into Healing Prayers and add Rez Chant, for Monk Secondaries. Don't forget you can use Glyph of Sacrifice on your Rez Chant to quickly get them back in the fight. If you don't have the Monk option yet, a rez sig will do, but the Glyph only works on spells, not signets.

[Goto]

Interesting build, might have to try it some time. Not sure if I'd really call it the 'ultimate' nuking build though, for straight nuking against a clumped group of enemies my standard build looks like it'd get through them faster. In a situation without many enchant removals I also prefer dual attuning instead of something like Mind Blast or Glowing Gaze. You pay 1 energy for 5 energy or 10 energy spells, and even Meteor Shower only costs 6 energy. You can even get away with dual attuning in other areas if you cover it with another enchant, Aura of Restoration isn't bad for that. Mark of Rodgort is quite nice coupled with Meteor Shower. Since shower has an aftercast delay before they hit, you can actually get the entire group Marked after casting Meteor Shower, but before the first hit. Guildwiki is down so I can't check right now, but I believe Glowing Gaze checks if they're on fire after the damage is done, so something hexed with Mark will always give you an energy gain.

Not saying your build is bad, just that a lot of nuking is open to personal preference and yours seems a little light on area damage for my tastes, and a little high on exhaustion. You won't get Meteor Showe ror Meteor off very often, and it's difficult to kill a group with Fireball alone. Although I have to say I quite like the idea of Glyph of Sacrifice on Meteor Shower, haven't tried that one before. It'd be handy if you knew you were going into an area with a lot of interrupt rangers or mesmers.

[x..]

Wow. The skills even sound like nuking skills.

I might try it out.

[superchao]

My Ele uses the same strategy minus meteor, and the fireball. Liquid flame is a preference like you said, but 90% of the time the enemy is attacking or casting a spell, and it seems to be more deadly to strike that off than wait for a fireball projectile to reach them.

Other nuke capabilities are things such as Meteor Shower -> Savannah Heat, since they cant move, they'll probably die from those two skills alone

[Goto]

I probably should give Savannah Heat a try, hehe. I capped it but never got around to using it.

[Neraphym]

I call it Ultimate because it works perfectly no matter where I use it. Granted, certain areas can have more specific, and therefore stronger builds, but those will only work in those certain places. Alos, exhaustion isn't as much of a problem as you might think. You reclaim 1 max energy every 3 seconds, or 30 seconds for the full 10 points exhaustion takes. Meteor has 30 seconds to recharge, and Meteor Shower is 90 seoncds with the sacrifice. You will experience some exhaustion, but it won't build up much faster than it dissipates. Unless you're dumb like me and try to spam meteor on someone with spellbreaker...

Dual Attunement is awesome when there isn't any enchantment removal, and Meteor Shower/Savannah Heat is lethal in its own right. I'm actually going to try and use Liquid Flame some more and see if I like it better. I'm not a fan of the AoEDoT spells I've seen Goto using (Searing Heat I think it was). The AI is too smart, so they don't work well without knockdowns like Meteor Shower has. I've come to rely less on those massively damaging Ele nukes, as they are very ineffective with monsters fleeingthese days. I'm more of an opportunity nuker now.

[Moogalite]

Not exactly original - you have managed to sub one elite, and the exhaustion will add up after a double meteor shower and meteor, there subbing meteor would be optimal.

[Neraphym]

Again, I've used this build for a few months now, and exhaustion has never been a problem for me. As for Originality... yeah, at this point, original builds tend to be ones that don't work as well. Tried and true builds are what everyone uses.

[Goto]

I find a small amount of DoT AoE is quite useful. For a 5 second duration, if monsters are very quick on the uptake they might only get hit by 4 pulses of damage. If you couple it with some knockdowns (ideally Meteor Shower) then they don't even get that opportunity. I haven't used it very much in Hard Mode because I haven't played much Hard Mode. It might still be effective, it might not. I don't like Searing Heat very much, my preference is Breath of Fire (a Factions skill). It has adjacent range instead of nearby (which matches up with Meteor Shower and Fireball, meaning you're only disturbing enemies which have already been knocked down) and doesn't cause burning, but it has 5 energy cost instead of 15. In this case the burning is meaningless anyway as you're already causing burning. It's also cheap enough to use as a 'panic' spell if you get mobbed with Melee fighters to get them to run, or if you get enchants removed and don't want to use high-energy spells.

For those wondering, my usual dual attunement build combo is Meteor Shower, Mark of Rodgort, Breath of Fire, Fireball. Obviously you could put on Liquid Flame instead of Fireball, but since there's a pretty good chance the enemy is knocked down you won't get the extra damage, so I prefer Fireball. Just cast those as quickly as possible, and you should get a partial group spike from the meteors, breath of fire and Fireball timing lining up somewhat. It won't always kill off everything in a mob, but anything that might survive will be on pretty low health and burning.