Guild Wars Guru

Help with my first character...

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T
The one Casey Squid
Wilds Pathfinder
• #1
Ok this is my first guy so I have some questions.

Ive decided on a fire elementalist/ranger so I have some questions.

1.When allocating points whats a good method of adding them? Should I go all fire mastery... or should I rotate between that energy storage and beast mastery?

2.Whats a good skill set up for this class?

3. Were is charm animal and how do I get a second class?

Thanx in advance
DeanBB
DeanBB
Forge Runner
• #2
>> 1.When allocating points whats a good method of adding them? Should I go all fire mastery... or should I rotate between that energy storage and beast mastery?

Fire and Energy Storage. Fire = increased damage from spells and Energy = more energy to use for casting. If you are really wanting a pet put any leftovers in BM and bring Charm. Otherwise focus on being an elementalist.

>> 2.Whats a good skill set up for this class?

Use the skills you're given, add to them as you progress. You don't have to figure it all out now and can experiment with new skills as you get them.

While you can do something weird like be a bow wielding elementalist, I don't know how effective that will be. Rangers already need a lot of attributes spread in Expertise, Marksmanship and Wilderness Survival, and if you substitute Energy Storage for Expertise you still have a lot to cover without using any elem skills. If you want to be a ranger with a bit of elem, go ra/el.

>> 3. Were is charm animal and how do I get a second class?

a) Skill trainer is in Regent Valley.
b) Any skill trainer will give you 2nd after completing a quest for them. You can do all the quests first to play with them and get a bit of XP then decide which one to pick.

Unless you invest in Beast Mastery and beast skills a pet won't be of too much value.
LaserLight
LaserLight
Wilds Pathfinder
• #3
Hm hm, might want to trying playing the game some as far as a second profession and Charm Animal goes :P. The in-game tutorial's pretty good about guiding you to the Second Profession quest, and once you snag Ranger it's just a matter of hunting down Nente and picking up the skill in a quest. You start out with a Melandru's Stalker as a pet via that quest, but you can snag a pig or a giant man-eating ostrich later on.

As for skills, I wonder why you're going Beast Mastery at all, really. Pets aren't exactly a caster-friendly discipline, especially for Pyromancers, since using pet attacks can suck up a good portion of the energy you'll need for casting your spells. Wilderness Survival and its various defensive stances and spells. is ususally a more solid, if also more common, choice. One particular skill combination you might want to look into for Fire spells is Energizing Wind (Nature Ritual, reduces Spell energy cost but increases rechargetime) + Serpent's Quickness (Stance, reduces skill recharge time).

As for attributes, experiment. Nothing's permanent there, ye can try whatever ye think would work for ye. Trust me, every first character in this game has likely gone through about a thousand attribute point shifts. I'm still doing it at regular intervals and I'm approaching two hundred hours game time :P
u
ump
Lion's Arch Merchant
• #4
Also, early on, don't be scared to used skills only from your primary class if it is more effective. My first character is a R/N who pretty much evenly distributed points in Marksmanship/Expertise/Wilderness and used one or two necro curse skills with 0 attributes in them. My second character is Mo/Me who pretty much evenly distributed points in Healing/Divine/Protection and used one or two mesmer inspiration skills with 0 attributes in them. My third character is a very early E/? who is planning on evenly distributing points in one elementalist line/energy storage. Only when I'm about level 15-18 do I even bother to put attribute points in my secondary class aside from leftover points.
Yakumo
Yakumo
Lion's Arch Merchant
• #5
Quote: Originally Posted by The one Casey Squid
Ive decided on a fire elementalist/ranger so I have some questions.

1.When allocating points whats a good method of adding them? Should I go all fire mastery... or should I rotate between that energy storage and beast mastery?

2.Whats a good skill set up for this class? I've stopped using a pet for my E/R in Post-Searing. Whilst I found it useful in Pre, it seemed to be less effective in Post. Also, by loosing the pet, I gained more slots for Fire skills.

At present, my points are allocated to Fire, Energy Storage, and Wilderness Survival (for Troll Urgent only).

I usually allocate points based on how well my character is performing. If I found that I was constantly waiting for my energy to rebuild during battle, then the points went into Energy Storage. If I was struggling to keep my health at a safe level, then the points went into Wilderness Survival. If neither of the above applied, then the points just went into Fire.

As you can always re-allocate your points in town/outposts, you can always experiment or fine-tune your allocation.

For awhile, I had points in Air or Water, as I found the skills were more beneficial at the time, so it made sense to put points in them. Once I gained more/better Fire skills, I dropped Air/Water and re-allocated the points back to Fire.

Not sure if this is a good skill set up, but currently, my skills line-up is: Flare, Aura of Restoration, Fireball, Lava Front, Phoenix, Fire Storm, Troll Urgent, Rez Sig.

I have 2 (self) healing skills and hoping to get Healing Spring at some point to replace Troll Urgent. Flare is one I'll not let go off any time soon, as it does a fair amount of damge with low cost and quick recharge. Lava Front is useful to disperse the crowd if surrounded, quicker to cast than Fire Storm. Fireball and Phoenix are good for group attacks without causing them to flee.

I did have Frozen Burst and Ice Spikes in my line-up for a period. They were mainly used in conjunction with Lava Front or Fire Storm. The tactic was to slow down the enemy and keep them in the Fire AoEs for a few seconds longer. It worked quite well, but as newer/better Fire skills came into play, I decided to drop Water and simply add to Fire to increase the damage.

The skills are changeable like the points, so you can't go wrong in finding a set up which suits your playing style.
a
asdar
Krytan Explorer
• #6
I think this is important in choosing your secondary class. Don't choose one you plan on playing, at least not permanently. Try them out and all as you want but when you go permanent go with a secondary that you don't want as a primary.

That's because when you finish this character and the next two and want to test out PvP you'll want all 6 classes.

Trust me, if you go PvP it's so much funner if you can test out builds willy nilly without the worry of whether you have the skill.
E Power
E Power
Wilds Pathfinder
• #7
Quote: Originally Posted by asdar
I think this is important in choosing your secondary class. Don't choose one you plan on playing, at least not permanently. Try them out and all as you want but when you go permanent go with a secondary that you don't want as a primary.

That's because when you finish this character and the next two and want to test out PvP you'll want all 6 classes.

Trust me, if you go PvP it's so much funner if you can test out builds willy nilly without the worry of whether you have the skill. Grammar FTW.

But yes, try out different types of classes with the template characters and look at one you enjoy playing.
i
immolatus
Academy Page
• #8
Like it was said before, dont worry too much about attribute points, every time you are in town you can change them wichever way you like ( thank God for that update). As far as pets, to me they suck and has a spellcaster I dont really see any usefullness to use one. When the pet dies all your skills are disable for a couple of secs and if usually spellcasters that are not casting, die. I'm on my 6th character and I pretty much have every single regular skill unlock for the game and some elites, My Elementalist went from E/Me, air, to E/Mo Smiter, to Gepmancer, then to Pyromancer. Experiment all you like. If you want to get a "feel" for a secondary class, try all their quests in pre searing and check out the Class skill section here in GWgurus and check out all the skills. Then go with what you think will work for your play style. If half way you feel like your secondary is not working, there are quests that let you change your secondary so dont wprry much about it. Anyways, Good luck.