credits: This level 80 Elestra PVE build is brought to us by Sieg from Freedom Guild.
Skill Build
Sorceress Tree
- Max MP and MP Recovery can be removed for people who don’t really solo and always party with Bringers as usual
- I don’t actually really need the CD on AE and Power Blink, but I like to use Power Blink to get out of stupid mechanics (I think it is used solely for that purpose in the coming video)
- Level 6 Wheeling Staff is probably what might surprise people
Sharp-eyed people would have noticed that compared to the initial release of Volcano Nest, the distance required for us to push the Lava Golems has shrunked. However, since I ran my sorceress before this change, all of them took Level 6 Wheeling Staff in order to push the Golems easier. It still isn’t a bad choice even after this change. What are the skills that push the Golems for us?
- Wheeling Staff (most effective)
- Flame Worm
- Shockwave
- Glacial Spike (weak effect)
- Book / No weapon right click
- Left click (weak effect)
Elestra
- Don’t bother using your EL skills for this. Totally ineffective, you might end up killing the party instead
Force User
- Gravity Ball
- Nine Tail Laser
Wheeling Staff (EX) pushes the Golem better than standard Wheeling Staff. It also has a faster CD than Shockwave. While it costs 2 SP more, this CD advantage can be huge, when your party has high burst. If you knock off 2X or more in 1 wave, you will have to repeat the mechanic. Shockwave might not CD in time. If you miss Wheeling Staff once for whatever reason, you can use it again DURING the same mechanic. Also, for FU, they can teleport to help with another Golem.
If you have the SP, Wheeling Staff (EX) is not too bad of an investment. Totally unnecessary now, but not too bad. Certainly not bad enough for me to waste resources for a reset.
Elemental Lord Tree
- Fireball > Chilling Mist EX
- For goodness sake, max Phoenix regardless of whether you use fire skills. (I have seen plenty of idiots go Level 1 Phoenix + 11/14 Ignite)
- Flame Spark is more useful than Frost Wind for soloing (I’ve had so much fun using Flame Spark to draw GDN Stage 1 Bishops back at 60 cap too)
- As usual just make sure Freezing Field EX is the highest levelled ice tree skill, minimum Level 12 (Icing Mass caps at 11, I definitely hope Alchemists don’t +1 it..)
I would like to have Flame Road for mobility, but SP is too tight. It is also nearly useless aside from Volcano Stage 1. I really miss having it though.
Flame Vortex – Just take it. Think about it this way. If you are going to die, Flame Vortex might save you. If it doesn’t, revive and Blizzard will be available again. ^^
Fireball – An individual choice really. It’s not too outstanding, but it is still better than SP investment in Freezing Sword and Chilling Mist. I also don’t feel like raising them to 11 because of Ice Pump Tower which caps at 9. They don’t deserve plates as well (PvE)
I switched from Fire Shield to Ice Shield not because of SP reasons – Chilling Mist EX costs 10 SP, of which I could have used 9 on Inferno, Firewall and Flame Road. It is because Fire Shield has just become more and more annoying. Breaks the crystals in Stage 3, and triggers the small mobs on Stage 4.
Frozen Burst doesn’t require any SP, not in the skill sim image.
Elestra Tree
- Ice Barrier… I cannot imagine why someone would add SP to it when the whole point of the EX is to shatter the Ice Barrier, wasting any SP investment
- Ice Sphere +1, duration increase is useful for our role in breaking past HP protection
- I honestly don’t think there’s any difference if you take Chilling Mist EX or not
Where to squeeze SP from this build if you really need it
- Wheeling Staff
- MP Recovery
- Fireball
- Chilling Mist (EX)
- Ignite
Plates
Ice Shield +Damage Reduction (You probably will have to face tank to ice stack at some point in time)
Glacial Wave + Duration (Really a required plate now)
Blizzard -CD (Not really necessary, but there aren’t really any good choices)
Ice Stab +DMG (Our best DPS skill)
For FB users, remember that FB mode skills do not benefit from DMG plates, so don’t do funny stuff like using DMG plates for Glacial Spike, Glacial Wave and Ice Sphere
Gear
Most people would probably go wtf when they see my Elestra’s stats and gear. I am using 70A Armor (+8/9) and +10 70A Weapons, all mid jades. Accessories I am using a Ice Sphere +1 Necklace (70A Max INT variant), Flame Road Earrings (although I no longer have the skill, 60A Vit+Fire/Ice variant), and some crap rings I had on my Eles, no jade on one of them even. (I moved my 50L Rings to Soul Eater and am lazy to switch them around)
This is entirely sufficient for me… It already gets me invited by people (although I don’t even like to run Volcano) and I have no desire to upgrade unless necessary. However this might not work for some people, so I will discuss some options that are cheap and useful.
80A +8 Armor, really easy to get at this cap since gear doesn’t degrade before +8. Use the free jellies from events or something. I don’t really care if it’s set or non-set… (When I examine Elestra, I find that the skill plates allow me to know how good they are 99% of the time regardless of other gear)
Weapons… use whatever since there aren’t INT weapons anymore.
Highly recommended by me to use for now is 4x 80A + 3x 70S. Cheap and effective. I really don’t like 5 piece FD sets, they aren’t really flexible to work with, nor is the additional FD anything impressive, particularly when 80 cap max FD is 4520.
Necklace highly recommended to use Ice Sphere +1.
Earring can be 70S (VIT or DEF… INT even) until 80A is released. Just get whatever by running Dragon Expedition.
Best rings would be 60L. The VIT+CRIT technique ring would interest me as well, priority Ice Shield +1 / Freezing Field +1, the latter to save SP.
Gear is imo, honestly just a luxury on Elestra. Would you take a geared Elestra with +DMG plates for Fireball, Ice Sphere, Chillimg Mist etc. or someone whom you know can survive and break HP protection reliably.
On a sidenote, Elestra has a ridiculous aggro value. Considering the amount of damage I do, I end up being the tank in many parties… ??? As an Elestra never assume that you will not pick up the aggro, because for some reason we do get targeted a lot.
You can check out Sieg's level 80 Elestra in action by watching the video below.