So I have some extra points on a MM im making and I've decided to throw them into either elemental beacon (which lowers the targets elemental defense by about 60 per lvl) or elemental vision (which increases my elemental attack str by 15% per lvl). Assuming that I have approx 500 base (from gear, weapon+mods) to elemental attacks, which would be better? Anyone know how much elemental defense various monsters have in NM? How about Sydonai? This char is being built to do max elemental dmg to get ignites on him so that info would be kickass.

I'll throw some fg in the direction of anyone who can provde good insight on this.

I don't know any exact number for monster's elemental defenses, but I would suggest going for % rather than a base number. In NM, monsters have huge elemental defenses, so lowering it by 60 (or 600 at lvl10) wouldn't do as much as increasing your elemental damage by 15% (or 150% at lvl10).

NN both

Normal beacon is the way to go!

and both cant work together!

show me ur MM build and i´ll tell where to put last points!

but tomorrow, too tired for now.

1st off, i have normal beacon already maxed
2nd - elemental beacon works AS PART OF regular beacon
3rd - just fyi - normal and multi beacon stack so if you're under the impression that beacons cant be used simultaniously youre wrong
thanks for posting tho






thats what ive started doing (going for the % increase) basically on the asumption that the elemental def on syd must be high cuz it takes me forever to get an ignite with my other chars

i guess the main thing I'd like to know is:
-how much elemental defense do monsters have (especially sydonai/the lies)
-what are the mechanics of elemental attacks?



This post was edited by lito on Dec 29 2007 08:06pm

I think if you had to chose between these two, I would go with elemental beacon. I'm assuming if you're even considering elemental vision, you're a tactical stance build rather than a rapid fire/multishot build. Anyhow, I don't have all these mathematical equations and numbers to prove my point or to strengthen it, however, I am myself a tactical built and I myself was contemplating this for a while...but came to this conclusion. Obviously if skill points were plenty full, we would max these both out, but we all know they're not, so I decided to go with elemental beacon. First of all, Beacon is a skill we rely on most of the time, and since elemental beacon stacks with Beacon, it became the obvious choice. My playing style revolves around crouching down (tactical stance) and killing.....however, this style of play is not viable for the more important/harder boss mobs. You wouldn't sit there face to face w/ Sydonai in tactical stance would ya? Rather, you would kite the fella: Backing up...strafing side to side...ALL the while casting Beacon on the mob. (This is taking into account that you don't have a guardian tanking for you). And even if you had someone tanking for you, elemental beacon would be most beneficial not only to you, but to your partner...as the mob's resist will lower, therefore possibly having your partner increase his chance of igniting or phasing the mob. Anyways, I hope I'm making sense (I'm kinda drunk), I'll check tomorrow if you have any other questions.

therefore possibly having your partner increase his chance of igniting or phasing the mob

This was the point I was going to make. IMO Visions is the way to go if you're going pure solo, as it will continue to ramp up as you maximize your ignite attack str through more and more uber gear. However, in a group situation, beacon will have a much more welcome effect - multiplying it's usefulness with each additional party member.