earth elemental

[gilchristr]

What kind of spells do these cast? I was defeated by one last night basically from a 355 bolt AS, I think it was hurled boulders. He also did some maneuver that broke my neck and gave me a 6 round stun, dont know what the maneuver was. This is part of a an attunement reset "quest", and I am a 57 trained bard.

My plan is to go back with a tower shield and a runestaff, and self spelled, with a boost super and a boost enhancive up. If I do this, I calculate I can muster a bolt DS of 394 surprisingly (in stanc d), so I should be able to defend against the bolts ... but what else do I gotta deal with. I'll take some 20% impact resistance armor to try and deal with the maneuvers. Is it going to use CS spells on me?

As far as offense, my plan is to cast 413 to lower his TD, then cast 415 attuned to vibration flares over and over until it dies (I have a CS of ~330 with a heavy quartz orb, I checked the TD last night and I think its hittable with 413, and then should be low enough to 415 over and over). So I will never have to leave guarded and I can keep the runestaff and shield equipped. Will 415 with vibration crits be good on an earth elemental I would assume so but please let me know if it sounds like a crappy plan.

[gilchristr]

Also the calculations for DS were a pain in the ass, but even with only 1 dodging rank, 1 shield use rank, due to my good agility/dex/str enhanced DS states I calculated that:
- a 4x tower shield would give me 100 bolt DS with a boost supercharger on.
- a 6x runestaff (2x with an eblade) would give me EDIT: 47 bolt DS even with a shield in the left hand (my understanding is I loose all "weapon ranks" DS for item in left hand, but still get the stance bonus and enchant defense which comes out to 47).
- self spell with society powers I got 108 bolt DS, plus I can throw up a small statue I guess for 128.
- the 1 rank of dodging gives me 25 DS with my enhanced stats.

Kind of surprising.

EDIT - i guess when i account for the loss of runestaff DS for item in left hand, I'm barely up to 350 bolt DS in stanc d, so I would probably have to pick up some shield training and maybe a +30 tower shield before I can do this.

[Axhinde]

Those are 25 levels above you currently, at level 82. They hang out with jarls and elders and greater krynchs all of which can one shot you. Unless you specifically need to kill one of those for your attunement quest I would avoid that place. Even in your late 80s I would avoid that place. The bowels are one of the most notoriously infuriating hunting grounds.

[ArchSenex]

Have you considered taking a ruby amulet and popping it after you go in, or are you stunlocked prior to even getting out of the initial RT? I did that quest recently on my bard (didn't bother with the amulet), it took about 3 tries but I managed by just using Tonis and 1s RT slice and dice.

[Roblar]

Those are 25 levels above you currently, at level 82. They hang out with jarls and elders and greater krynchs all of which can one shot you. Unless you specifically need to kill one of those for your attunement quest I would avoid that place. Even in your late 80s I would avoid that place. The bowels are one of the most notoriously infuriating hunting grounds.

No, for the attunement reset quest they should scale to around your level.

[gilchristr]

Archsenex yes I brought a ruby amulet, but I am immediately put into roundtime (first time was 10 seconds, second time was 4 seconds). I will use it if I can.

Main thing I want to know is how else can it kill me besides bolts. What about melee DS do they have a high "pound attack". Do I need a high TD for an earth elemental? Any insight on the maneuvers (just wear 20% impact resist and hope for best?)

[gilchristr]

Ohh, and I have to make sure 415 works on them. I fear that perhaps elemental spells wont work on them because they are elemental? (I have a vague recollection that I did an ewave before I died and it did nothing to it)

[lordsmo]

415 works on them. They have no immunity to any element, although they appear to take little damage from fire and may have a slight resistance to it.

They have a TWC-type pound attack with both hands, with an AS roughly similar to their bolt AS.

They have a maneuver where they touch you and it freezes you, causing a status similar to bind. They have another maneuver where they hit the ground spraying rocks at you that causes impact damage, which is likely what gave you the 6 round stun. Also I think they might have a stomp/quake maneuver that causes knockdowns and RT. There's also various environmental effects that cause knockdowns, RT, stuns, etc. in the Confluence, although I can't remember if those were present when I did the attunement reset quest.

They fall towards you if you knock them down with a crit, and you have to dodge them or you get stunned/killed, similar to stone giants etc. If you knock them down with the 415 blast (not a crit from 415, but the "knocked over by the blast" messaging) the will not fall on you. They are immune to e-wave.

Their TD to elemental spells is slightly low, and their DS is very low. However they have full plate skin.

Lastly....

Are you sure you're going to get an earth elemental when you go back? I don't remember whether the elemental I faced for the attunement reset was the same as my original attunement. It might be random. In which case none of the above applies, as all of the elemental types are somewhat unique. Some have elemental immunities. Some have CS spells. All have maneuvers of various kinds. Air elementals have a multi-cast tonis bolt and tick every 2-3 seconds.

But none of the elemental types is immune to an earth-attuned 415, and they all have somewhat low elemental CS for their level, so that part of your plan may be good.

In the actual confluence keeping everything constantly RT locked with CMAN feint is how I fight them, but I vaguely recall the attunement reset elemental I faced having high defense against CMANs and that not working; however, it was way back when this was first released and I'm not certain. If I recall, I think I ended up using a ruby amulet and rapidfire hurl boulder.

[gilchristr]

Thank you. Well I am currently earth attuned, and both of my failed attempts have been an earth elemental. So I take it as the "quest" is for me to beat an elemental to "unlock" myself from my earth attunement (so that I can pick a new attunement... going to pick air)