Starburster
From Guild Wars Wiki
Starburster refers to a special type of elementalist focused on the elite skill Star Burst.
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[edit] General Principle
The Starburster depends on fast application of multiple PBAoE skills from the fire magic line. Its success depends on overwhelming the enemy with a fast burst of damage, killing the opponent before he has time to react and exploit the Starbursters weaknesses.
[edit] Basis
Most Starbursters are secondary Assassins, to make use of shadow stepping skills, thus not giving the enemy time to kite away. As soon as the Starburster (or the Starbursters) have closed in on one target, they immediately start off a chain of PBAoE spells, including the eponymous starburst. Other skills which can be used are:
Another skill that is less commonly used is Flame Djinn's Haste this allows for fast activating damage in chain to Inferno with a speed increase allowing for a quick retreat if needed
The Starburster depends on killing the target with that one inital charge. The build is badly equiped to survive prolonged battles due to the lack of self-heals and the low armor of an elementalist in the front line.
[edit] Side skills
The skill bar usually includes energy management skills like Fire Attunement or Glyph of Lesser Energy, survival skills from the Assassin secondary profession, and other AoE fire magic skills, for example Meteor Shower, Searing Heat, Teinai's Heat or Fireball.
[edit] Battle behavior
Much of the Starbursters effectiveness and fame results from the very quick and large outburst of area of effect damage that can be applied to one region of the battle field. It is devastating for groups of enemies which fail to scatter quickly enough, containing enough damage to overwhelm the monks healing and kill several opponent in a few seconds. The side skills are used to apply additional pressure to the enemy.
Alliance Battles: Star bursters are heavily used in alliance battles, reaping benefits from the usually large concentration of enemies found there and the lack of proper kiting often prevalent. As an additional advantage, the starburster is able to solo enemy control point NPCs when including Meteor Shower.
Team Arenas & Heroes' Ascent: Teams of multiple starbursters can spike unaware opponents and win quickly there. However, they fare much worse against prepared teams.
GvG: Starbursters are not usually run in GvG, which sets a premium on prolonged battle.
PvE: The general principle of a starburster also works in PvE. However, due to the limitations of the AI, other elementalist builds which do not require the caster to be in the front line work just as well and are much safer.
[edit] Disadvantages
Despite the awe-inducing damage output, the starburster suffers from several large disadvantages. Elementalists make squishy targets in the front line. If the enemy is not killed fast, melee fighters can bring down a starburster team quickly. In a prolonged battle, the starburster additionally risks running out of energy. This can be avoided if skills like Fire Attunement and Elemental Attunement are used. this gives the caster a large energy gain from using skills reducing energy loss. Finally, like all pure casters, the starburster is prone to various forms of shutdown. But maybe most important, proper kiting can take away much of the fearsomeness of this build.
