Cost of Elementals

[taurus999s]

1. Do elementals cost more as you level up?

2. What is the projected elemental cost for each type at L50 (assume 5 in Mastery of Elements)?

[ViciousXUSMC]

1.) No
2.) 50% less than it cost now ;P

I found 2 guns each with lvl 2 master of elements so I can use lvl 5 of it now even tho I am lvl 32. I was able to summon 13 elementals with it.

But its not working well in nightmare mode. The more elementals you get the more downtime you have trying to resummon them all, and your dmg doesnt really go up much because the warper is doing all the work. In a big open area with the right kind of mobs (no AOE, no blink, no splash damage, ect) then having an army of dps mobs (fire, toxic, lightning) can do some decent damage but it hardly ever happens that way.

Most of the time they are lagging behind, so the warper kills first, or they are behind a corner/obsitcal/wall and not attacking at all, then just that 1 stray enemy that came from behind or has one of the prementioned abilities takes them all out....

I am starting to think summoner has a huge disadvantage in this mode, and against advanced mobs. So I am starting to think the best build is going to be a army of force elementals (as they are the only ones that stay alive long enought to do much, and the only ones usually attacking in all areas because they stay close and dont get blocked by things) with a warper.

The Force Elementals will do decent damage but mostly just keep all the mobs occupied while the warper goes in and owns up everything. Then you also have a potentail use for elemental nova too.

Infact I am so sure this is the best way to go, I am changing my battle plan to this and going for 8-10 force elementals and not using my ranged guys anymore and focusing on maxing out the warper.

My orginal plan was 3 force and 10 toxic, with spectral in there for good measure.

This is conserning high lvl areas and nightmare mode that I change my build, the standard mix of guys works great up untill then, since you cant respec tho you have to look at the big picture if you want to go all the way to 50.

The other reason I think summoner is at a disadvantage vs other classes is that we have the most limited equipment function. Nearly nothing is good for us. The only things I think really works for us is +minion stat gear and thats rare to find. All the + stat gear or high dmg weapons do us no good we are completly dependant on our summons, and like I said most of them are not worth much end game. just force and warper hold there own (even the reaper can get taken down in seconds in some areas, he was great untill the cooldown was fixed ;P)

[taurus999s]

Good feedback. Thank you.

I am also starting to think a mass of elementals is not the way to go. Comparing the following:

10 elementals with 100 hp each doing 10 pts of dmg each.

vs

5 elementals with 200 hp each doing 20 pts of dmg each.

An AoE/splash dmg will have half the effect on the 2nd group then on the first group. Also if the warper and the force elementals are doing most of the work, then those should get the most points.

I am thinking of maxing warper with maxed dmg, 10 force elementals with perhaps 5 force elementals for air support. This will be the 'staple'. Any other skills will be covered by equipment. For example, if I need some toxic, then slap on 2 x pistols with toxic mods.

Build Here (http://hellgate.ingame.de/skilltree/summoner/?l=50&s=000000000010a00005aa00440500).

If you then figured in approximately 250 spares power points to cast warper spells and spam elemental nova, the total power cost would come out to around 860.

Comments?

[Basu]

Are those upgrade spells to the warper really worth it, since you will be already spamming Ele Nova are you going to have the time and power to use those skills?

[Tulisin]

Comments?

Not always the best plan to build around no skill bonuses. +2 to skills are fairly common once you get to the 20s, with +3 after that, maybe even more later, and I've seen at least one item with +1 to all <class> skills. There's no reason you can't have both a massive and powerful army with skill bonuses.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Are those upgrade spells to the warper really worth it, since you will be already spamming Ele Nova are you going to have the time and power to use those skills?

I just said elemental nova would be an option with a large force build, not really a regular attack, as its a pretty crappy move really. Just a small AOE around you that the elementals must be in for the effect. This means you must be right next to the guys. It would be good for some really strong mobs or bosses but not great for every battle. I would rather keep my distance and focus the warper and his moves since he does aoe dmg and his position is determined by yours.

[ViciousXUSMC]

I dont know how well elemental nova scales I know from lvl 1 to lvl 2 it drops a huge chunk of time. I think lvl 2 of it would suit me just fine. I dont plan to use it that often.

I would rather max both of the warper's attacks. The first one does massive phase damage needed for super strong mobs and bosses, while the 2nd gives him more dmg as it goes up and more aoe radius. In nightmare mode when I get jumped by 20 guys it is an absolute godsend.

Here is my current build.

lvl 32 with one free skill point (http://hellgate.ingame.de/skilltree/summoner/?l=32&s=0300000000104000031703430100)

As for lvl 50 I dont know yet, I will slowly scale up the waper and the amount of force elementals untill I feel I hit a good spot. I dont want to say I will max warper skills for sure, or go for a full 10 force guys 6-8 could be plenty. As its stands now I only use 3 at a time instead of all 4 of them. As for elemental nova, like I said I may put one more point into it it drops like 13 seconds for the cooldown.

as for +skill items. I only use them for summoning and things, then switch back. I dont want to have to actively use a weapon with +skill on it because chances are its weaker or a weapon I dont want vs my +dmg or +XXX weapons I use now.

So I have my one set of attack weapons, then my 2nd set is my summoning set, and 3rd changes to another summoning set or +skill set that I need (right now I have it as the master of elements set, I summon my major army with it on, then swap to my fighting weapons, before I found those it was my summon witch doctor set)

If I had to guess my lvl 50 build tho for you guys it would probably be this:

lvl 50 (http://hellgate.ingame.de/skilltree/summoner/?l=50&s=0300000000108000032a03770500)

[merlinfire]

Actually Elements do cost more as you level up. Anyone who says otherwise needs to play a summoner. The power cost and power pool reduction both go up as your character levels.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Actually Elements do cost more as you level up. Anyone who says otherwise needs to play a summoner. The power cost and power pool reduction both go up as your character levels.

I have not noticed it personally, then again I never paid much attention.

I know I went from summoning 3 guys to now 9 guys before I run out of power.

[marconos]

1. Do elementals cost more as you level up?

2. What is the projected elemental cost for each type at L50 (assume 5 in Mastery of Elements)?

1. Yes, elemental summoning cost and maintenance cost up at 1% / level (observed during game not guaranteed to be 100% correct)

2. Project Elemental Cost at Level 50 is 50% more then at Level 1.
Projected cost for each type based on point 1 above (all values rounded up)

Fire = 30
Spectral = 54
Force = 42
Storm = 36
Toxic = 36