Build talk:E/any Earth Magic Hero

I actually have used an Earth Magic hero, but a bit different than this. I'm not sure if I would use those DoT AoE earth nukes, they just aren't that strong (and aren't armor ignoring), and foes are going to kite out of them anyways. I used the following: [build prof=E/? name="Earth Magic Hero" ear=12+1+3 wat=9+1 ene=9+1][Obsidian Flame@18][Magnetic Surge@18][Magnetic Aura@18][Blurred Vision@12][Ward Against Elements@18][Ward Against Melee@18][Elemental Attunement][Earth Attunement@18][/build] This actually works quite well with a pure caster team, because your casters are very likely to stay in the wards. The powerful armor-ignoring single target damage spells function similarly to Discord, but does not have the hex/condition requirement. I used this when I run a classic AP caller bar, and want to spike targets quickly. Honestly, the defense provided by this build is very strong, and the damage is pretty good, it's a decent alternative to minion master for ap caller players. I find the anti-melee here to be stronger than an illusion mesmer, because it handles scattered groups of enemies better. You might be able to sub some of these skills. Also, no exhaustion problems, hero manages it pretty well. Sonofthort (talk) 17:11, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
 * There is no reason to bring this if you have a ST + an illusion Mesmer tho. This bring way less damage and heroes don't care about wards, they just kite out of it. Still on topic of an Earth ele hero, just bring an air ele with Blinding surge? ZStepmother (talk) 19:22, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
 * The point is to be used in place of an Illusion Mesmer if you are lacking Zei Ri or Mercenaries. Blinding Surge is effective if you want to spec Air Magic, its recharge time is low enough to not need another blind alongside it but Air is lacking AoE. I'm going to try Magnetic Aura alongside Magnetic Surge, that seems powerful. I'm skeptical about Obsidian Flesh's Exhaustion but I'll give that another try. Zuphixavex29492 (talk) 19:33, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Air doesn't really lack aoe, it's still superior to Fire, Earth and Water in terms of damage. ZStepmother (talk) 19:51, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
 * To clarify, I agree with ZStepmother, if you are running this earth hero because of lack of an illusion mesmer, blinding surge is a much closer match to an illusion mesmer (Blinding Surge, Chain Lightning, Lightning Strike, Shell Shock). If you are running an illusion mesmer, your team is looking for that roll to perform 1) AoE 2) weapon shutdown on targeted clumps of enemies. I find this roll to be more common when you have a minion master in the team as well. The minions will do a great job of blocking/soaking up most melee, so the targeted shutdown and AoE is a good compliment (as minions lack AoE, and you don't need party wide blocking). I would use the earth bar I posted above to substitute an MM, not an illusion mesmer (so we're substituting one non-aoe defensive build for another). I would run 3x domination mesmers instead of 2x and 1x illusion, and then this earth hero instead of mm. There's two scenarios which will happen, 1) clean pull, enemies are pretty nicely clumped, domination mesmers will explode the clump in a couple of seconds, 2) not a nice pull, enemies from all directions, melee and rangers everywhere, the AoE in your team will do a good job of a taking out the clumps, but the stragglers which would normally be handled nicely by minions is now going to be handled by the earth hero. Quick note about wards, hero will cast Ward Against Elements as soon as battle begins, so if your team is all casters, you will all be balled together inside of the ward, this is great as an opener vs ele enemies. Hero's will pop Ward Against Melee in reaction to a melee threat. Its true that heroes have no logic to stay inside wards, but in a pure caster team, I have successfully used wards with good effect. I've compared builds with this earth bar, with mm, with illusion mesmer, etc, in difficult areas, and found that the earth hero definitely boosts survivability. And yes, I run a ST rit as well, they compliment each other. Sonofthort (talk) 17:51, 31 December 2018 (UTC)

Another variant
Somehow I never get to test this, so before I forget the bar completely I'll drop it here for later/other interested players. [build=OgVDwayDS0CpCYDpOnCOioCZA] Variants: 40/20/20 earth magic. Build would be meant as an alternative to minion masters in corpseless areas full of troublesome melees; should be more reliable than blinding surge in terms of protecting the team. --Krschkr (talk) 10:07, 4 September 2019 (UTC)
 * over [[Eruption@16] (hard mode only).
 * over [[Shockwave@16]
 * over [[Aura of Restoration@11] in case you're not using shockwave.
 * over [[Power Drain@8], probably the best choice in case of using the ward.
 * Use churning earth, drop restoration aura and power drain for "fall back!" and "stand your ground!". I worry about the energy of this, but it'd be most useful due to 75% uptime of +24 armor and the convenient IMS.

Thoughts
Some thoughts on this build: I have no idea if Ebon Hawk or Aura of Restoration/Glyph of Lesser Energy could be useful on this bar, but thought I would mention them. I would actually consider KD spam as a useful shutdown alternative. Works on both melee and casters since Unsteady synergizes with a low-medium amount of interrupts. Sacropedia (talk) 03:14, 23 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Churning Earth is purely for Hard Mode and should perhaps not be mainbar due to that reason + the recharge?
 * The biggest draw of Earth Magic other than the defensive wards (which may or may not work well with Hero AI) should be knockdown. Stone Sheath is the only exception because it can act as a replacement Enfeebling Blood with a melee player build.
 * Sandstorm is counterproductive to itself and can simply be removed. 10 seconds is nice, but causes scatters. Extra damage is nice but scatter will prevent attacking. To stop scatter you'd need snares (Deep Freeze) or knockdowns (Psychic Instability), but both of them will prevent attacking. Sandstorm also doesn't do anything extra to casters.
 * Magnetic Aura (and Surge) does not seem to be worth it. If it was blocking all attacks for a few seconds, sure, but one attack seems like very little for a skill slot. You'll rarely get multiple party blocks in such few seconds to make the damage worth it.
 * Earthquake's biggest drawback isn't the overcast or the energy cost. It's the cast time. The biggest reason to use it is the AoE knockdown, however with both Churning+Unsteady and by using Stoning spam instead, there should be plenty of knockdowns to make Earthquake obsolete. In that case, since Obsidian Flame is also not a good Hero skill due to overcast issues, and if we don't care about Magnetic Aura for reasons above, then we can ignore the Overcast skills entirely which results in more reliable energy pools.
 * If you want blind on the team, Eruption and Ash Blast are not the way to go. Eruption takes too much energy, scatters, and has a huge recharge, while Ash Blast is almost okay it is unfortunately only 5 second duration and not a full blind.
 * Stoning can't be mainbar without Ebon Hawk but is definitely the better optional skill since the whole point of an Earth Magic Hero should be spamming knockdowns. Works best with Stone Sheath or Enfeebling Blood as noted. Also prevents the hero from being idle so much.
 * The notes on Paragon shouts and the wards are good. Some people find that heroes use them well, and some people don't, but it's true that they are good skills if used correctly.