aero/hydro vs pyro/geo for single target damage?

[PunchBunny]

Strawpoll: https://strawpoll.com/1s29we5a (emphasis on single target, inducing combos, electrocution, explosion etc)

[Division by Zero]

More information required. Are these undead enemies? There are tons of undead so... If so, Hydro all da way.

[Djinn]

Hydro/Aero are going to give you better on demand CC and much better survivablity.

But fire/geo is likely more damage.

[Diablerie]

Pretty much what Bucky said. You may get more raw damage out of pyro/geo but not as much utility. On harder difficulties I'd opt for more crowd control, but eventually gear will put you at a point where the enemy is dead before a need for crowd control comes up.

[Ptolemy]

The utility of teleport (and nether swap to a lesser degree) probably makes it the best spell in the game. Even if you have to dip for it, it’s a must-have.

Enemies not grouped for your AOE? Just throw em into each other. Scary warrior is bearing down on you or that evasion aura is giving you trouble? Down the hill he goes. Enjoy your walk, buddy. Wow, good job getting out of that electrocuted blood/ necrofire... back in you go.

[corisai]

Before thunderstorm : pyro/geo > aero/hydro (ofk if enemy not immune to fire, because laser&whip deal a lot of single-target damage).

After thunderstorm : thunderstorm > meteor shower ~ pyroclastic erruption > pyro/geo > aero/hydra

Ice combo pretty strong too, but quite a lot (Fane strongly adviced)

[Колотун Бабай]

fire/geo -aoe dmg
aero/hydro - support and single target, mostly

[corisai]

Originally posted by Lol Kek Cheburek:

fire/geo -aoe dmg
aero/hydro - support and single target, mostly

Fire have - laser and fire whip. Both deal a ton of single-target (almost single for laser) damage.

Air have for single-target damage ... well, nothing behing basic spell? :)

[Колотун Бабай]

Originally posted by corisai:

Originally posted by Lol Kek Cheburek:

fire/geo -aoe dmg
aero/hydro - support and single target, mostly

Fire have - laser and fire whip. Both deal a ton of single-target (almost single for laser) damage.

Air have for single-target damage ... well, nothing behing basic spell? :)

Electric Discharge, Shocking Touch, Vacuum Touch = single target+debuff.
pyro = pure dmg without debuffs
air 6 aoe spells and fire 9 aoe spells, so yes i count fire school as aoe dmg oriented. And using laser on single target not so good as hitting few targets with laser, so its not a single target skill.

[w.f.schepel]

You can do whatever you want, really.

[corisai]

Originally posted by Lol Kek Cheburek:

Electric Discharge, Shocking Touch, Vacuum Touch = single target+debuff.
pyro = pure dmg without debuffs
air 6 aoe spells and fire 9 aoe spells, so yes i count fire school as aoe dmg oriented. And using laser on single target not so good as hitting few targets with laser, so its not a single target skill.

First, ST & VT is in melee range. Second - VT deal neglible damage so can't be counted as damage spell (on my support mage it's deal almost same damage as single wand attach). ED and ST not very stong too.

Third - pyro have "fire whip" that purely single target and "combustion". Don't counting stupid hybrid spells with other non-elemental school.

[Kroma]

Pyro geo deals way more thanks to explosion, the idea is to throw one geo spell, make it explode with 1 fire spell and then throw all your others geo spell on the fire surface which will make explode every single geo spell insane bonus damage due to all theses explosion. Then next turns you finish with all the fire spells.

Second, elemental affinity is way easier to use with geo / pyro since creating an elemental area for thoses 2 only cost 1 AP each. While for Aero it cost way more ( 3 AP ) and usually not worth doing.
Hydro can have an area for 1 AP with rain but the damage is not better due to no explosion.
So basicly pyro / geo deal almost three times more damage than hydro / aero if played well with elemental affinity when using 2 AP base cost spell and more like twice more dmg with 3 AP base spell.

Lastly dual wand poison + fire, deals probably more damage than aero / hydro spells. Hence the idea of playing dualwand for mono target dommage with aero / hydro build and save your spell for CC or AoE when the magic armor is destroyed.

I m not really considering source spell since they are all strong but costly. And it reflect only the end game fights where you can play with apotheosis and a lot of source spells to unleash havoc on multiple enemies.

[Grave Knight]

Hey, don't knock Geo's CC capabilities. Oil is one of the few CC powers that don't require you to break armour.

I'm actually messing around with an elementalist build on Lohse. I realized she's the only one with magic damage in my party so I'm turning her into a Swiss Magic Knife. The big problem is you end up spreading your skill points thin (about 3 points into each category), which isn't too bad a problem if you have a high Int stat to compensate for the damage lose. Just make sure you have one of each damage element spell and try to scout out the enemy before engaging so you can switch out your damage for element appropiate spells.

[Division by Zero]

Originally posted by Grave Knight:

Hey, don't knock Geo's CC capabilities. Oil is one of the few CC powers that don't require you to break armour.

I'm actually messing around with an elementalist build on Lohse. I realized she's the only one with magic damage in my party so I'm turning her into a Swiss Magic Knife. The big problem is you end up spreading your skill points thin (about 3 points into each category), which isn't too bad a problem if you have a high Int stat to compensate for the damage lose. Just make sure you have one of each damage element spell and try to scout out the enemy before engaging so you can switch out your damage for element appropiate spells.

So is Ice knockdown effect.

[Skatters]

Originally posted by Grave Knight:

Hey, don't knock Geo's CC capabilities. Oil is one of the few CC powers that don't require you to break armour.

I'm actually messing around with an elementalist build on Lohse. I realized she's the only one with magic damage in my party so I'm turning her into a Swiss Magic Knife. The big problem is you end up spreading your skill points thin (about 3 points into each category), which isn't too bad a problem if you have a high Int stat to compensate for the damage lose. Just make sure you have one of each damage element spell and try to scout out the enemy before engaging so you can switch out your damage for element appropiate spells.

Yeah I enjoyed making a mage like this to support my more melee-orientated party.

Pumping polymorph, even though you wont use many of the skills, can be handy as it lets you put extra points into Int - which allows the damage spells from your rank 3 / rank 2 schools to still be useful. You can still put hydro or geo higher on one of your other characters for bigger 'mends' etc.

And yeah, oil and frost are both fun for being useful through armour. They dont need to compete. A tank with no int and using geo for armor mending can cast an oil puddle with a rock too - he just wont also do damage with the rock. I think there is a oil-blob 'summon' (poly needed?) that has damage thats cales off of strength and also slows... of course it also summons - but thats just mor eoil when the weak little thing dies. :) Then you can use oil carapice to soak it up.

RE the topic title...
I prefer hydro/lighting for its effects and utility, and its damage. Though I think pyro probabaly causes more pain. Lighting bolts are fantastic too though.

I find I tend to give geo to melee dudes, for even more knockdowns/the armor regen bonus (which works, I think, with armor regen skills from poly and necro)

[PunchBunny]

how much of a damage diffrence is there?