User:Malokai92/Guide Index/burst

Star Burst Elementalist, contradicting frontliners since 2005.

Attributes and Skills
[build prof=e/any fire=12+1+3 energy=9+1][star burst][inferno][flame burst][optional][flame djinn's haste][elemental lord][fire attune][optional][/build]
 * Tanking
 * ST Ritualist - The holy trinity of Shelter, Displacement, and Union serves as the equivalent to Protection Prayers. Spirits can't be removed like enchantments, making the extremely useful for pulling in high end areas that can kill you if Protective Spirit isn't up. This is ignoring the fact they provide broken defense to a team. On the other side, use it at your discretion for tanking, as any of the spirits can drop quickly under heavy pressure.
 * Prots - Use Protective Spirit and Shield of Absorption. In low end, a single copy of SoA may be all that's necessary to survive or in combination with your own tanking skills to relieve pressure during SoA downtime. This requires micro, so use other methods if it's excessive for the given task. Shielding Hands is also very useful in extreme cases and cases where enemies have lifestealing skills (e.g. Urgoz's Warren).
 * Dark Escape - Reduce all damage by 50% for the duration. Can be lengthened by Dwarven Stability and serves as an IMS if you drop Flame Djinn's Haste. The unconditional reduction makes this optimal against armor-ignoring skills such as Energy Surge. You typically kill groups be the duration ends; if not, enemies will be in such disarray, that Dark Escape isn't necessary anymore. Use your discretion on whether or not Dwarven Stability is necessary.
 * Armor of Earth - An extra 48 armor gives you similar armor to a Warrior or Paragon. This also leaves your secondary open for utility. Flame Djinn's Haste offsets the movement penalty quite nicely. This is when you want to use Death's Charge. 48 armor equates to 56.47% reduction in damage. Flame Djinn's Haste can be used to cover this. The movement penalty will be frustrating for spread out groups, so do not use this if it hurts your damage output.
 * Mantra of Earth - See below variant for elaboration on Terra Tank method.


 * Nuking
 * Fireball - Ranged AoE, especially useful when you don't want to jump in yet. The short cast, recharge, and cost are distinct advantages.
 * Phoenix - Powerful spiking skill and triggers of EBSoH twice as well. This gives you an option for a ranged attack, but you will only use this for spiking. The cast time is abhorring, so you'll need to sit Panic and anti-melee to use reliable or bring anti-interrupt in the form of Glyph of Concentration or Mantra of Resolve.
 * Glyph of Elemental Power - More damage to pump out. Cheap way to get extra unconditional damage. Long duration, short recharge, and low cost along with being a glyph means you can use this during a ball and under caster hate.
 * Ebon Battle Standard of Honor - Useful in spikes and armored targets. Because of Starburst's range, a single ward may be required to hit foes with Starburst.

Equipment

 * Full Blessed
 * 40/40 Fire Magic set
 * Defensive set

Usage

 * Spam Starburst on recharge. The in area range is huge while the damage and recharge are identical to Fireball.

Counters

 * Caster hate
 * Training by melee
 * Enchantment removal
 * Energy denial

E/Me
[build prof=e/me fire=12+1+3 ins=10 earth=8+1 energy=2][star burst][inferno][flame burst][optional][optional][flame djinn's haste][stone striker][mantra of earth][/build]

This is the variant you would expect for the typical tank n spank setup. It uses the Terra Tank combination of Mantra of Earth and Stone Striker to provide a substantial reduction in damage (Close to Dark Escape) and provide a nearly limitless supply of energy. There are a couple immediate drawbacks in this case. Enchant removal will completely fuck you up by removing Stone Striker. Stance removal is also an issue, but the long duration and relatively short recharge provides a buffer. Stance removal is limited mainly to melee, where you can count the number of enemies with Wild Blow on your fingers. Displacement and anti-melee prevent other skills like Wild Strike and Wild Throw from being a legitimate threat. The great thing about using Flame Djinn's Haste here is that it provides extra utility as a cover for Stone Striker as you nuke.

Here is the catch. You need enemies attacking you; multiple enemies. You don't have as much energy to work with because of the points dropped from Energy Storage. If you have to use Fire Attunement to maintain energy, you won't be much better of using the main build.