Soul of the Ultimate Nation Elementalist PvP and GvG Guide

Soul of the Ultimate Nation Elementalist PvP and GvG Guide by killahmayne

1.INTRODUCTION

Well, nothing much to say here, other than I am back with a new guide and this time for the Elementalist. It has been in the works for about a month now. The Elementalist is probably the most popular class as of right now, even from their nerf from god mode in Episode 1. Hopefully this guide will give a bit of insight and understanding for those who are serious about playing an Elementalist or for those who are already playing one but would like to know more.

2.ABOUT THE ELEMENTALIST

The Elementalist is a ranged DPS/support/crowd-control class that mostly utilizes elemental skills to do their damage and incapacitate their opponents. They also have the ability to heal to increase the survivability and sustainability of themselves and their allies around them. Depending on the route that you want to follow, you can end up as a full support Elementalist or a full out glass cannon nuke. This guide however will attempt to emphasize the best of both worlds and discuss more of a well-rounded Elementalist for PvP/GvG.

3.PROS AND CONS

Like any class that you may encounter, each have their own strengths as well as their own weaknesses, and it is important to realize what these are in order to play your class effectively

PROS:

CONS:

4.GEAR

To be competitive in PvP and GvG, the least that you would probably want are Dark Elites +7 including the Dark Staff, etc. Or perhaps a CT set. This type of gear is desirable as it prevents you from getting melted so fast every time you step out to fight. But for the purposes of this guide, I will write it according to what most players have.

Minimum Gear Requirements

Intelligence – Increases your skill enhancement, which increases the damage that you do with your skills. Please do not confuse this with Skill Damage as this is different. Skill Enhancement seems to add a fixed value of damage to your skills, which would better the impact that %Skill Damage would have. Every 2 points of INT adds 1 to your Skill Enhancement.

Spirit – Increases your SP and your SP Recovery. Every point into SPI increases your SP by 6, not entirely sure about SP Recovery, but it does help ever so slightly from what I have noticed.

6.FURTHER NOTES ABOUT STATS

As an Elementalist, it is quite obvious that you need to pump some points into INT and SPI, as those are the requirements to wear your Elite Gear. At around Level 135 you should have around 675 Stat points to use. After allocating just enough points into INT and SPI this should hopefully leave you with around 400 free Stat Points in which you can dump them into whatever.

Remember that if you choose to put all of these stat points into VIT, you should end up with around 2,800+ more HP and around 40 more Basic Defense. If you choose to go this route this will probably enhance your survivability by quite a bit and save you from those sticky situations.

If you choose to pump it into AGI, the most significant increase you will see is probably the 20% extra Defense Success Rate. This will probably help you a bit in warding off those nasty auto-attacks. However, this probably will not save you from getting melted by those who use auto-attack to be honest as Eles have naturally very low Defense Success Rate and see less benefits from it then most other classes. You will also be quite a bit faster, but Attack Speed and Attack Success Rate for the most part is useless for Eles, and is part of the reason why some other classes go AGI.

If you choose to pump everything into Strength, you will see a bit of gains in Basic Damage, but that is as far as it goes. You will likely not see any huge benefits from Basic Damage anyway.

If you choose INT, you will see an increase of about 200 Skill Enhancement, which isn’t too shabby. This also synergizes with %skill damage as the more damage you do, the more %skill damage is going to help you. This can prove to be very nice and increase your damage by quite a bit.

If you choose SPI, you will have around 2,400+ more SP and pretty ridiculous SP recovery as well. The way I see it though, you will probably die before you run out of SP, especially if you have Regular Elites.

I leave it up to you to figure out and test which stat allocation is best for you. Pumping your extra points into multiple stats doesn’t seem like too bad of an idea either, just don’t dilute yourself too much. It is preference and really up to what you think you lack, and what you think will make you an overall better player and more effective.

7.SKILL DESCRIPTIONS AND COMMENTS

Here are just descriptions of all the skills that the Elementalist have at their disposal. Take note though that these are MY opinions on how good these skills are, others might think differently so I encourage you guys to test out these skills for yourself and to see if you like them.

Ether (Left Side of the Skill Tree)

Fireball – 4/10

An OK filler skill to use when the rest of your other skills are on cooldown. The damage on it isn’t too impressive compared to other skills, even when maxed. It does have an extremely low cooldown which is a plus. It will hit more than one person, but they literally have to be standing on top of each other. Very easily kitable as the missile speed is slow as well but decent range. However, the damage of this skill does seem to be impacted by every element.

Ice Bolt – 8.5/10

Probably one of my favourite skills to use. It is a very decent AoE, it will hit more then one person more often then not and it is deceptively strong. It has an extremely low cooldown and has a nifty little debuff which slows the enemy’s movement speed. Water damage will increase the damage of Ice Bolt, and for a Tier 1 skill, it is really impressive. A very good skill to max in general.

Fire Spear – 6/10

Not the best AoE for an Elementalist in terms of what it does, but at times it will get the job done for you. The damage isn’t too impressive, the range isn’t that great but it will hit a lot of targets provided that they are relatively close to each other. The KD% isn’t all that great but this would be a great all-around skill for any situation. The cooldown on it is fairly low for a point-and-click AoE and you could probably develop a pretty good stun-lock with this skill. Of course needs to be maxed to be effective and the element of this skill is fire.

Ice Blast – 5/10

Mostly a filler skill in between combos when you have nothing else to cast. Not very strong at all and the missile speed of this skill is painfully slow. It does have a low cooldown, and when maxed has a decent chance to freeze the opponent. Not sure of the element on this one, though it is probably water.

Inquiry – 8/10

The only semi-reliable stun an Elementalist has at her disposal. The stun % is fairly good, the range is high and the damage is OK. It is a single target skill and is a very good initiator in which you can land your combos. The stun effect lasts for 5 seconds which is really nice too and its damage seems to be impacted by every element. The semi-high cooldown of it kind of bothers me a bit though. Needs to be maxed for it to be effective.

Thorny Vines – 3/10

I am kind of disappointed at how bad they made this skill from Episode 1. The skill will hold people anywhere from 30%-70% of the time but the holding isn’t even that great, lasting about 7 seconds. The range is very bad, in addition to having to take a ***** ton of damage to even get close enough to hold multiple people. It is easily kited, probably the weakest damaging skill in the game, the wound status isn’t even 100% and it really doesn’t seem to deter people all that much. DoT skills in general are not too effective in this episode either. Plus you are pretty much asking to get Frozen Shielded and Defense Motioned when you use this skill, which can be very bad as the stun/freeze counter is reset for every tick. Not sure of the element of this skill, but it is probably impacted by every element.

Fire Pillar – 5/10

For a skill that is among the higher tiers, you would think this skill would be better, but it really isn’t. Damage is OK, range is pretty nice and it will hit a decent amount of people. Unfortunately this skill has a cast time as well, and to put it simply, there are definitely better skills to max then Fire Pillar. The element of this skill is probably fire, but I can’t always be too sure.

Electric Field – 6.5/10

It has a fairly low range, meaning you have to be up close and personal with the enemy, the dots are OK, provides no debuff at all so why did I rate this skill so highly? Mostly for the fact that you are sure to hit mostly everybody around you with the AoE, place DoTs on all of them as long as they are around you (which can add up to be quite a bit), does decent damage, and is still a fairly effective skill at Level 0. It has a low cooldown as well, a self-buff on you much like a Thorn-Skin that lasts for quite a bit of time. I like this skill as well, but like I said you have to be fairly close to the opponent for it to land the initial hit and its DoTs. Damage seems to be impacted from every element. Careful of that Frozen Shield and Defense Motion though.

Ether Spirit – 7.5/10

Now, many people have different opinions about this skill, and they do make some valid points. The damage Ether Spirit does is lacking severely, the cast time of this skill is horrid and you will often find yourself closer then 16 metres when trying to knockdown the most amount of people possible. In addition by the time you cast this skill your enemies may have shifted positions which would probably mean you would hit pure ground. People tend to forget though, it is a 49% chance to KD the opponent, which is more then most skills in the game. It is also a large massive AoE with a huge radius and the knockdown lasts 5 seconds to boot. This skill pretty much screams out ToB, which is where you will see the true value of this skill. Earthquake is better then this skill in pretty much every way but that isn’t the point. The point is that it gives you an extra AoE knockdown that compliments Earthquake when it is on cooldown. This skill seems to be impacted by every element as well. This skill overall has many weaknesses, but is still very good, but it needs to be maxed to be effective.

Rock Storm – 6.5/10

It is a decent skill, mass AoE, hits a lot of targets, has quite a bit of range to it, has a very long lasting debuff which is mediocre but still helps nonetheless. Also has a short cooldown time for it being an AoE and does decent damage coupled with DoTs. So why do I rate this skill so low then, despite all it can do? Mostly for the fact that you need to max a skill that is complete crap (Thorny Vines). In the end, this skill is only really raw damage and offers no knockdowns or stuns to go along with it. Some people leave this Level 0 just for the AoE damage, which isn’t really too bad as well. Its damage is also impacted by the earth element.

Starfall – 5.5/10

A slightly stronger version of Rock Storm, basically a Rock Storm without the Weaken debuff, so why do I rate this skill significantly lower? Because of the amount of points you have to sacrifice to get this skill. Now Fire Spear probably isn’t the best skill to invest in, Fire Pillar is pretty terrible and you have to spend an additional 5 points just to make Starfall an alright skill to use? That extra 15 points as an Elementalist you probably will need for other skills, and probably better skills. It is just a lot to give up. It has a very long cast time as well, though the AoE radius of this skill is pretty insane. A very good skill for PvE I will admit, but for PvP there is better. Starfall’s damage is impacted by the fire element

Earthquake – 9.5/10

A skill that is among a favourite of mine, and rightfully so. It is a mass AoE, a very good chance to knockdown, will hit a lot of targets, does an insane amount of damage along with a nifty debuff that slows an enemy’s attack speed and movement speed for quite a long time. That is all that needs to be said about this skill, you don’t need to max a specific skill to have access to this skill either, which makes it a must have. Despite this skill being called Earthquake, its element is actually fire, as misleading as this may be. The only reason this skill doesn’t get a 10/10 is because it has a cast time and has a bit of a cooldown. Nonetheless a great skill to have, must be maxed to be really effective.

Poison Thorn – 9/10

Another favourite skill of mine. Poison Thorn is by far your best single target burst damage skill. Though it has a long animation, the damage output you just get out of it is ridiculous and is the skill that I use most often to 1 shot people, if at the very least take out a chunk of their health. Cooldown is semi-long, and is probably the only skill in which I can say the DoT damage from it is respectable. Damage is increased through the Earth Attribute.

Circle (Right side of the tree)

Ressurrection – ?/10

Other then resurrecting a single person in ToB, which really isn’t worth the Earthquake I could have casted by then, this skill is pretty bad for a battle Ele. For a full healer it isn’t too bad as it does have a very long range when maxed and a low cooldown, alright for sustaining a push in ToB but me personally not worth giving up an icebolt.

Curing Hand – ?/10

Actually isn’t that bad of a heal when it is maxed, healing you for 1,500 HP and an additional 39 per second for 5 seconds (I think the DoT heal was put for the trololol). It is spammable at a 6 second cooldown, but this skill seems more fit for a full healer which is why I didn’t rate this skill.

Frozen Shield – 6/10

To most people, this skill probably isn’t very good. About a 25-35% chance of it actually working, and the freeze doesn’t last too long, but can be a difference maker in GvGs. It does reflect quite a bit of damage to the opponent which is pretty good too. However all that hit you will freeze and it could be a life saver, provided that it works. With holy elites, the duration of Frozen Shield lasts about 9 seconds which really is a lot and makes me like this skill a lot much more. It throws people’s timings off, gives me the extra time I need to get off extra skills and helps my stun combos. So to a person with holy elites, this skill is more like an 8/10.

Essence – 8/10

The effect of this skill is pretty simple, it gets your whole party out of stuns, burns and wounds. Yet it is very effective in what it does and you do not even need to invest a single point in this skill, though the range increases as you do so. The perfect counter to the dreaded Defense Motion. If you see somebody hit by Defense Motion, just pop this skill and they will be free, if you see somebody getting hit by a zerk, pop this as well as many zerk skills are stuns. A very low cooldown as well which means it is spammable. Now you wouldn’t really use this skill just to get people out of burns and wounds, but I guess that is a bonus.

Teleport – 7.5/10

Pretty simple as well, you blink from one place to another. Great for catching people, great for running away too if that is what you like to do as it makes up for the Elementalist’s lack of movement speed. It will often get you out of harm’s way, range is decent, even at level zero but the cooldown is quite a bit, meaning you can’t spam it. The range on this skill does become insane at level 5 but overall this is just icing on the cake as level zero is sufficient in my opinion. I will often use it to lure people and have them commit to me, only to have them waste their skills and inch closer into the fray.

Group Heal – ?/10

Seems like a very good heal if you want to go a healer build. Heals approximately 2000 HP, is an AoE, has decent range and a fairly low cooldown which isn’t too bad.

Magic Shield – 8.5/10

A skill that can make up for an Elementalist’s shortcomings in terms of HP and Defense by absorbing some of the incoming damage. The strength of your magic shield is a function of how much Elemental Resistance, Basic Defense and overall damage reduction you have plus the amount of %Skill damage you have. If you are relatively weak in both, Magic Shield will realistically only help you absorb 2-3 hits, which is still quite a bit. It does have a bit of a cooldown but it is still a lifesaver, especially if you have good defense to begin with. Must be at least level 3-4 to be effective.

Circle of Healing – 10/10

This is where the support side of what is mostly a PvP Elementalist kicks in. This skill is an AoE, DoT heal, which means it will heal yourself and your party members a constant amount for 10 seconds. And this DoT is 1,550 without any %Skill Damage which is amazing and trumps any other heal by far. Realistically the only heal you will need besides Saintly Aid as it gets the job done beautifully. Best part about it is that it has a large range and that it can be used in anticipation of taking damage so you don’t have to worry about support so much. You will save a lot of your party members, including yourself in GvGs and is pretty much the most essential skill when it comes to sustaining that push. Your survivability, and that of your party soars through the roof and can overall make you a nightmare to deal with. Only thing negative I have to say about this skill is the long cooldown. This skill alone makes you great support, as well as a pretty nice tank. Must be maxed to be effective.

Inability – 7.5/10

A decent skill for 1v1 or when you are outnumbered 2:1 or something like that. Not a skill that I rely on all the time but a 48% chance to leave your enemy hopping is nothing to laugh about. It also lasts 8 seconds as well. A great skill to place in your stun combo/rotation. Not a skill you would use often if you were in a GvG but still, leaving an inability on the strongest targets can be helpful. A low cooldown on this skill makes it good as well.

Battle Heal – ?/10

An ok skill I guess, you can heal yourself or an ally for a base amount of 3,000 HP, the cooldown on it isn’t too bad, but again, Circle of Healing is more then sufficient for yourself and your party.

Saintly Aid – 9.5/10

Everybody’s worst nightmare, well everybody except a Valk maybe. This skill fully restores your health when maxed, removes some debuffs off you (not all), and prevents most debuffs from being placed on you. For the most part, for 12 seconds if maxed people will be unable to stun/knock you down which is an absolute lifesaver and can easily turn the tides of battle in your favour. However, this skill does not make you god (ok I lied it might if you have Holy Elites) but you still take damage and still isn’t an excuse to tank if your defense is very low

8.PASSIVES

Passives are a very integral part of how effective an Elementalist can be in PvP or in the battlefield, and often vary according to the situation. Commonly used passives that are most effective for an Ele are Built of Steel, Ether Site, Critical Strike and Concentration Improvement. Often times it isn’t wise to stack any of these passives as you do build weaknesses in regards to other aspects. It is recommended that you get these passives to Level 5 ASAP to reap all of its benefits.

Ether Sites will help you tremendously against other Elementalists or classes that use Elemental Damage zards in their gear, as well as reducing your chances of getting knocked down highly. The only passive I would realistically stack all four as the benefits are just hard to pass up. Though auto-attacks will land more often on you, they will do reduced damage each time they do. I would recommend stacking at least two of them at all times.

Built of Steel is also a great passive for those pesky weaken debuffs that lower your armor as well as any classes that deal a lot of physical damage. Not as great as Ether Sites in my opinion, but is still a decent option. I wouldn’t stack more then two however as it does make you extremely slow.

Critical Passives is a great way to boost your critical rating, especially if you have low critical rating. Going from 4% to 10% is huge if you look at it like, instead of critting 1/25 times you are critting 1/10 times which is a pretty significant difference. Also provides a minor boost to your overall damage. I wouldn’t really stack more then two as you do start to lose a lot of skill damage.

Skill Passives are probably my favourite ones to use, as they do increase the damage of my skills quite a bit and increase the potency of my heals and Magic Shield. Stacking all four of them will make you lose a lot of crit, though the damage increase in your skills are quite noticeable, but not to mention that without any Ether Sites you are likely a two shot to anybody.

Other passives are a bit meh and don’t give you quite the benefit as these do. I guess you could try out HP and Defense Success Rate passives and see how they work out for you. Again though, assess the situation and adapt accordingly to what you feel is a major weakness for you in the PvP/GvG’s you are fighting in. Work out and test what combination of passives you feel most compliments your play style as well.

9.ZARDS

Zards can be tricky and confusing for some people as there are many choices that you can choose from. Some are obviously just not for an Elementalist period but depending on how you want to build and play your character, the Zards you choose are extremely important and can make or break you. But here I have listed a few good choices.

HP Zards – A great, but often overlooked choice when zarding up an elementalist. For just 50p you gain 2,400 HP which can do wonders for your survivability.

Fire/Water/Earth Damage Zards – Not the best choices in my opinion, since you are selectively increasing the damage of 1 or 2 skills. You will see a noticeable difference in Earthquake if say you put 50p Fire Damage, not so much in the skills that draws strength from all elemental types. Didn’t really suit my style, and I do think there are more beneficial zards then these, but still not too bad of a choice.

Fire/Water/Wind/Earth Resistance Zards – These zards are very interesting choices, are often overlooked and can work wonders on survivability. At 50p, each of these zards give you 50% resistance which will probably bring you at the cap of that particular elemental resistance, if not close. Seeing as most people use Fire Damage and Earth Damage Zards, their counterparts would be wise to invest in. You will find auto-attacks hurting a lot less, and you take reduced damage to an Ele’s 2 strongest skills which are Poison Thorn and Earthquake.

All Elemental Resistance Zards – These zards are very good choices, it makes you all around more resistant to elemental damage, whatever element that may be. Will do wonders for your survivability.

Critical Rate Zards – These zards are decent choices, especially for those Eles that rock the Ignis set and lack any critical rate. Six percent isn’t so huge if you already have a high critical rate.

Skill Damage Zards – These zards are very good choices, most Eles will have 50p of this and rightfully so. 10% skill damage is pretty huge.

The types of zards that aren’t listed here are the ones that I find not so good and don’t really provide much of a benefit or synergize well generally for an ele. I leave how you want to zard your ele up to you.

10.BASIC TIPS

1: Use Circle of Healing on yourself and your party whenever it is up.

2: Use Essence especially when you see your party members Defense Motioned, or whenever to get your party out of stuns.

3: Utilize your Teleport to move in and out of battle, in other words kite! Staying too long in one place casting skills will often land you a one way trip into the spawn zone, especially if you are undergeared. Be unpredictable with your movements and try to lure people and teleport at the last second so they may waste skills.

4: It is preferable that if you want to get a little bit close and personal, that you cast Saintly Aid yourself and use Circle of Healing, it allows you to move seamlessly out of battle if you are taking too much damage, as well as get people wasting knockdown skills which could have been used on someone else.

5: In GvG’s, try to focus more on hitting more targets with your AoE’s rather then single targeting people. Especially if that single target is somebody tanky like a Zerk or a DDK

6: If you are squishy, try and stay behind the tanks, support them with heals and AoE knockdowns, though that can be hard to do sometimes.

7: Feel free to give up your Saintly Aid to somebody else if they can be more effective with it then you can or if they are doing the major tanking for you or they are about to die.

8: If you do have to single-target somebody that is attacking you, single-target Valks as they can be forever a nuisance to you if they are allowed to live and will kill you faster than any other class. Be mindful of Defense Motion though. Squishies in general are also good single-targets, whomever that may be, but try not focus-fire for too long as you do have other priorities.

11.AGAINST OTHER CLASSES 1V1

Part of knowing how to play an Ele involves knowing how to fight and adjust according to the particular classes you are fighting. So a little bit of knowledge on how these other classes are built and played will definitely help you along the way. Also take into account the zards that they may have and their playstyle (i.e are they skill spammers or are they auto-attackers). Be wary though, if any of these classes have a CT set, it can be difficult for an ele to beat any of these classes if they don’t have good raw burst damage. At that point, an ele doesn’t really have a combo anymore as Inquiry is an integral initiator for getting off a combo.

Versus Zerks – Some Zerks are glass cannons, some are pure tanks and some can be both. One thing though is that if you get caught in a Zerk’s stun, it can last forever depending if they know how to combo correctly or if they are built that way. It is important to keep your distance and kite them whenever possible, while landing a few combos and healing in anticipation of getting stunned. Stacking Ether Sites can be a great way of avoiding these stun locks happening to you, but careful if they auto-attack as well.

Versus Valks – Sometimes, you just have to hang your hat and admit that more often times then not, a good Valk will beat a good Ele. Especially if they have a CT set, they are next to impossible to kill. Most Valks are auto-attack build, have more range then you and can rip through your Magic Shield, out-DPS your heals and kill you within seconds. If that wasn’t bad enough, any pet with Level 5 Adreanaline can melt you just as fast. Placing any dots on them such as Poison Thorn is futile as they will just Defense Motion and you will be stunned for a very long time, even with Saintly Aid on. Saintly Aid doesn’t scare Valks either as they will just keep attacking you and don’t really rely, or need to rely on knockdowns. If you kill their pet they can easily resummons it with ease. There is no best way of killing them, but using Circle of Healing, Frozen Shield (pray that it works) and using Teleport to initiate and hopefully stun them is your best chance. Valks can be squishy and they will die if you land a few of your best skills on them. Stacking Ether Sites or Defense Success Rate passives are not usually a great idea, but having 2 Ether Sites to mitigate some of the damage is a must have.

Versus Shadows – Shadows can be tricky as well to handle as they can keep you stunned for a long time and have many utility skills at their disposal. They do have hide but they will reveal themselves if they take damage so constantly cast Electric Field and your low cooldown AoE’s in hopes you can catch them off guard. Most Shadows you will encounter are melee-based and auto-attack, so keeping your distance is a must. However most shadows tend to be really squishy so if you can land an Inquiry and a few damage skills on them it can be lights out. Avoid standing still against them as this reduces their chances of landing stuns/knockdowns and they won’t be able to auto attack you. If you do plan on standing still and trying to out-DPS them, at least have Circle of Healing on and perhaps a Saintly Aid. Much like a Valk, you will probably want 2 Ether Sites, but mostly to mitigate their stuns.

Versus HDKs – Approaching an HDK is much like approaching a shadow, they can keep you stunned for a very long time, they do tend to be squishy, they may also use auto attacks but they can also finish you off faster then a Shadow can with their lethal debuffs. Built of Steel passives can help you survive their crippling debuffs if they use skills and Ether Sites can help you mitigate some of the damage from their auto-attacks or Defense Success Rate. HDK’s are probably the most unique class in the game in terms of people generally having their own styles, can have totally different builds so adjust accordingly.

Versus DDKs – Are fairly straight forward to fight, but if you are caught slipping they can melt you. This fight is easily winnable as they have no stuns. However, they are probably the hardest hitting auto-attackers in the game, so never stand still against them. Their skills can hit fairly hard as well but nothing that a Circle of Healing can’t cover. Fighting a DDK can feel like running a marathon as they are extremely resistant to elemental damage, but the hit-and-run technique will often eventually kill them. Stacking Ether Sites can help you if their skills are hitting really hard on you.

Versus Eles – These fights I kind of hate and tend to stay away from as a fight like this can turn into a healing and a Saintly Aid fest lasting for a very long time, especially when an Ele lacks an effective stun-locking combo. Be wary though that they can have incredible burst damage, try to space out when you use your Circle of Healing and Saintly Aid, having them both on cooldown for the least amount of time possible as this could be problematic in the event that you do get caught. Ether Sites are a must against other Eles, otherwise they will just hit you too hard. Fights like these are also like a mental chess game, the first one to screw up badly will often be the one that loses.

12.CASH SHOP OPTIONS

The first thing you probably want to do is buy two extra CS slots so you can equip up to five Cash Shop rings at a time. If you don’t mind spending the heim or real-life currency on this game, buying a Blood God Ring and two Rings of Protection can provide you with that extra needed HP and extra defense that Eles lack.

Rings of Vigorous Attack are also pretty nice boosts to your overall DPS and you can stack two of them as well. A Premium is also a very worthy investment that gives you various stat increases and increases the potency of your Cash Shop rings.

Now I don’t condone being a complete “CS wh0re”, what I mean by that is a player that is totally dependent on cash, thinks he is the new ***** because he can kill players that do not have cash and those that use it for the reason that they totally ***** and use it to replace their shortcomings in terms of skill. I am a big believer that CS should compliment your build, not become it. Note the difference here.

At the same time, please don’t become one of those immature kids that whine, cry and complain all day about people using CS. It really does get annoying and old and it is a reality of the game, get over it. If it is within your means to afford it, then by all means use it. The money you spend on this game is your business, not anybody elses. Just try not to turn into an arrogant d1ckhead and acknowledge that CS Rings and Premium really does make a difference and you do have the advantage over others that don’t, though this more often than not can’t replace a person who really knows how to build and play their class. Using CS as an excuse hurts you in the end, and it will limit you, treat it as a challenge and continue to improve.

Other CS that can help you as well are the Spirit of the Falcon, Snake, Cheetah, Coyote, Bear, etc. Especially the Falcon and the Snake as these increase your critical rating/damage and decrease the cooldown on your skills (most important as an Elementalist and I guess for every other class in general).

13.NOTE ON EPISODE 1 CS POTS

These pots were available on the previous episode of SUN and are no longer available in Cash Shop. They currently make the PvP in this game extremely unbalanced. They are so overpowered that even level 100s running around with these pots can kill players that are 40 levels higher then them. If you have these pots, consider yourself very lucky but use them sparingly as I don’t think Webzen will be getting rid of them any time soon. Having true skill cannot negate the shear overpoweredness that these pots have, especially the Falcon and the Snake. So if people are killing you over and over again with these pots on, it doesn’t mean you are a bad player, just a victim of a broken feature. It is my wish and I am sure many other people’s that these pots be removed or converted into pots of this episode. It will be then we can truly determine who the better players are.

14.PETS

With the Cherry Dragon being nerfed this episode, there are now a few fairly viable pets for you to choose from for your PvP or GvG needs.

The Cherry Dragon is still a decent choice as you do gain an extra 10% extra ignore effect and an extra 10% Defense Success Rate if the loyalty is at 100. Both bonuses being quite helpful for an Elementalist.

The Blowfish is also an ok choice, you gain 15% extra critical damage which is definitely quite a bit if you have a pretty high critical chance to begin with.

The Chick pet can also prove very helpful for providing you a 15% increase in all your elemental resistances, making you a lot more tanky.

In my opinion, the best pet for an Elementalist has to be the Lizardman. Not the crappy 10% Lizard but the one that gives you an extra 20% Skill Damage. 20% Skill Damage is a very significant increase, not only will you hit a lot harder but your Magic Shield will be able to take more of a beating and Circle of Healing will heal you and your party for more.

15.FAQ

Priest + Conq or Ignis Set?

This is the number one question I get asked all the time so I feel like I should address it here. For myself the Ignis Set is better, it may not be the same case for others. Skill Damage however also buffs up our Magic Shield and Circle of Healing so they are 30% stronger with the Ignis Set so it is also great support wise and defensively. Also, the higher your skill damage, the harder you are going to crit, remember that.

For a very crude example, say your Icebolt does 1,000 damage on a non-crit with a Priest + Conq Set. That would mean your Icebolt would do 1,300 damage on a non-crit with an Ignis Set due to the 30% extra Skill Damage. That would mean on criticals, your icebolt would do 2,000 dmg + 13% extra critical damage = 2,260 damage with a Priest + Conq Set while your Icebolt will do 2,600 dmg with your Ignis Set. Like I said, this was a very crude example and the actual damage calculations is much more complicated than this. The point I am trying to make is though the higher your skill damage, the higher you are going to crit anyways.

Now some people may get frustrated with the fact that they never crit using the Ignis Set, and that is understandable. I tend to use Level 3 Reckless potions a lot to increase my critical chance out there in GvGs as it brings my Crit Chance from 7 to 15%. If you have a 2% chance to crit with Ignis, it might better to roll with the Priest + Conq set as you will do more damage over time. I find that I can still hit pretty hard without crits but that is just me. If you have Crit Zards in your gear or if you are rocking Crit Passives then perhaps Ignis Set will be better for you. At this point it really depends how you are built, what kind of gear you have, what passives you usually use, how high your base critical chance is to begin with, etc. Test out for yourself and see how you like each one, then go from there. I can’t really say one is better than the other.

Which Dark Twisted Kalbus should I get for an Ele?

This again depends on how you are built as an ele, what passives you roll with, what kind of gear you have, etc. To me though, the Guarding Kalbus is probably best as Eles can be quite a squishy class, and gaining 15% extra Basic Defense and 10% to all Elemental Resistance is pretty significant. If you like to be the glass cannon type and feel like you lack a lot of crit chance, or maybe you already have a lot of elemental resistance; in that case go for the Falcon Kalbus. This one isn’t too bad either and can add an extra sting to your crits. Vigorous Attack Kalbus is a bit meh and so is Resolution.

CT set or Dark Elites?

The theme here seems to be that it is a matter of preference, however that is the truth. With the CT set keep in mind that you have lower HP, move slower, lower Elemental Resist, lower Basic Defense and lower Damage Reduction. However, you do gain nice immunities to Stuns and Knockdowns, and a pretty legit amount of SD. Great for those Zerks and other Eles that can be bothersome. However, Eles do have Saintly Aid which kind of defeats the purpose of having a CT set, though it does have a lengthy cooldown. If you can afford to constantly have SD Passives all the time, the CT set can make you even more tanky than somebody with a Dark Elite Set (12K SD is pretty ridiculous if you think about) and it might be better in that case. Overall, I prefer the Dark Set for GvGs because you have more survivability in general, looks nicer and gives you higher bonuses on those utility stats. 1v1’s, the CT set is better, up to you though, both are really good sets.

Staff or Orb?

The staff is slightly stronger then the orb in terms of basic damage, the orb has a -5% MP consumption. The benefits of either one don’t really outweigh the other, so in the end it doesn’t really matter which weapon you use.