Talk:Invoke Lightning

1337 ver on chain lightning. Ride the lightning, B-Surge and dual attuning is better. Ninjas In The Sky 19:08, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

This is a spell for an lightning elementalist that wants to toast large numbers of enemies with lightning instead of teleporting to the front line and being squished, spending 4 seconds casting energy management enchantments and then having them removed, or fighting enemy casters who don't care about blind. - Elder Angelus 14:27, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

The deal is that bsurge used to be very important.You got melee to face EVERYWHERE Lilondra 09:56, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Oh my god! you're a genius! We didn't know that half of the professions in Guild Wars are weak to blind! Thank you for opening our eyes! On a more serious note: I use this with Blinding Flash in RA before the BSurge nerf, and it typically works better, because I deal more damage. Nothing is wrong with Invoke, and comparing it to Dual Attune is lol. =PRitualDoll 18:40, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Ritual dont troll ppl that have a point.Versatilythingie is what people want if they want damage they plat warrior or dervish if they dont care about balance.Now blinding flash happens to cost 15 energy and doesnt grant the extra aoe blind in some cases (WS derv hint hint).2 sec cast is baed and like i said if you have to choose between utility or damage utility always wins.(ensign also said that btw so if you disagree then just /uninstall) Lilondra *poke* 14:15, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

so what you are saying is that Spike skills or any other build with Damge is worse than a build with pure utility? 87.54.33.250 08:22, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Enisgn's a good guy, don't get me wring... but "Because Ensign said so" is not justification. And for the record, damage can ruin utility (utilize a dead player and prove me wrong, please) just as well as utility can ruin damage. It depends on what kind of and how much damage is being dealt and what the utility is prepared for. Balancedway is full of utility, but it gets rolled by SF almost every time. Think for yourself; I'm sure you've got some insight. Raine - talk 14:43, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I have nothing of value to add, I'm just here to lol @ "ensign said so" and make it known. --Kheraz Zarahi 12:05, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Pls thats because SF is a gimmick and balanced is often ran by people to sucky.Also in general i'm not saying you need to run a team full of utility :/ However it WAS funny (and sad at the same time) to see people run 7 ineptitude mesmers :p warriors couldnt do a thing and at vod it was npc farm time Lilondra *gale* 20:53, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Notes

I love the fact that the notes section states that it has good synergy with Air Attunement. It's excessively enlightening. That notes section is too 1337 for it's own good. 71.251.60.148 01:47, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Okay. Seriously, that note doesn't need to be there. Air Attunement has good synergy with every Air Magic spell; it doesn't need to be listed on the page. Okay, it also has the effect of making it not cause Exhaustion, and thus a second benefit; if that second benefit alone made it noteworthy, perhaps we should also list Intensity and Elemental Lord? Maybe Aura of Restoration, since it's an enchantment (therefore, preventing the Exhaustion) and it heals the caster when Invoke Lightning is cast? Or maybe we should leave obvious synergies like these off of the pages, because most people (and I'm assuming here) have the sense to be able to figure things like that out on their own? Raine - talk 05:12, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Removing the note. 72.243.251.77 08:06, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Incorrect skill descriptions and weird animation

The descriptions for both this skill and Chain Lightning state 'Target foe and up to two other foes near your target are struck for X lightning damage.' What actually happens is that first the target takes damage, then a foe near the target, then another foe near that foe. So the last foe to be struck can be 'in the area' of the original target.
I don't know if it's always been like this (never used the skill until now), but Invoke Lightning's animation is also slightly odd. The 'damage chain' moves from the target, to a nearby foe, to a foe near that foe (as in Chain Lightning), but then the 'animation chain' keeps going. So if you had a chain of 100 targets, each one near to the next, the chain would eventually strike them all, even though only the first 3 take damage. 86.139.144.161 13:02, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Thats really what this skill should be like. Its exactly the same as chain lighting now but does like what? 16 more dmg max? Should be "target foes and foes in the area take XX damage."--71.176.22.235 04:00, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

True, there was a time where this would deal around 135dmg per hit. ah well, don't forget the armor pen, that will hurt any class, yes...that means you rangers, fear the slight dmg reduction you have against this and all other air skills. lol =D but no seriously, this is quite nice. Compared to a AoE which takes time to reach that dmg this skill does it instantly instead of giving the enemy a chance to walk away and recharges much faster then a AoE, so you could easily deal 100 more dmg per cast then you can on a AoE in say PvP. Not to mention the fact that this coupled with other abilites and using them smartly can put a healer under a lot of pressure. Novos 00:07, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Hero AI

Last time discussion took place was almost 5 months ago. Im not sure if ANet has touched this elite. But if theres anyone out there who likes to test skills. I would apreciate your comment. I have read above about animation and effect. Although when I go to the field I dont see multiple hits. Even after agroing. I only see one lightning strike and one only hit. It doesnt spread to other foes at close range. Also, even giving my hero a 20^20/20^20+30hp modded staff, he uses other spells first (1 second CT), so the first strike impact is not as desired. Since you would want the hero to cast Invoke Lightning when foes are cloistered. Yoshida Keiji 13:04, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

1 second cast

lolz @ 60 armored random arena mobz... and even more with arcane echo. Zencow 08:49, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Only shitters use Arcane Echo in RA...

only shitters play RA. Zencow 07:12, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

I approve this message. Also, lol @ Shell Shock > Invoke Spike Ele teams in GvG now. This GvG weekend is gonna' be full of gimmicks.

tbh i like how the skill looks like a non-elite on Anets dev updates page. makes sense remembering the old functionality =)--92.106.74.45 11:00, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Gl spiking a target in GvG when your team gives away the spike with CA every single time >_>. Also, your team now has more 60 AL. I do however agree that adding this to a bar of a single EMo or something like that would be quite powerfull in adding to the spike. 79.203.92.18 21:36, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

In all honesty in GvG if anybody has 60AL they are doing it wrong. --frostels 22:19, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

60 ar is bad anywhere tbh. — Raine Valen 22:35, 12 Dec 2010 (UTC)

That's why you force them to have 60AL. Zencow 02:33, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Lightning shield is +18 or more on its own; anything with armor insigs and/or a defensive weapon is still not hitting 60 al, even after cracked armor. — Raine Valen 4:11, 16 Dec 2010 (UTC)

If they're using a lightning shield then they can't be using blunt/slashing/other element shield so most of your spike (2-3 other people assuming you're not ALL invoke nubz which would lose to any competent GvG group anyway) would be hitting 73(you)/63(teammates)AL on caster midliners assuming clean spike/no weapon and 63(you)/60(teammates)AL if you manage to cancel out certain insignias. But yes it should be impossible to get most other things down to 60AL. Zencow 09:29, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Oh joy! 6 seconds recharge!!!

Now facerollers can use it more often! Thanks for encouraging gimmick teams, ArenaNet! 128.119.169.132 19:52, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Undeserving of Elite status in PvE

With the damage change the only difference, at 16 air magic, is 1 second cast time and 95 lighting damage, compared with 2 second cast time and 90 lightning damage of Chain Lighting. I say split this for PvP and PvE. increase cast time to 2 seconds, bump the damage down to equal chain lighting, and remove Elite status in PvE, as Air Magic only has 2 damage dealing AoE spells compared with the many in Water, Earth, and Fire, but retain elite status for PvP. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.73.103.91 (talk).

no, because that's a shit idea. 90.206.126.33 19:17, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

That sounds terrible. 90.211.153.99 12:06, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Or just make it actually worth elite status, that works too. Adding a status effect like weakness wouldn't be a bad [edited to change massive fail] way to go and it shouldn't cause exhaustion ever. Pjwned 19:26, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

Its fine the way it is, but they're going to change it,in the upcoming elementalist update (was originally going to be during wintersday) probably for the worst. I hate it when they tinker. Ramei Arashi 21:26, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Looks like they changed it although not by much. 5pt of unconditional exhaust? I don't mind personally but surely some wil gripe. -Wrei110.175.241.56 13:01, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

It now deals 4 extra damage (at attribute 12) and has 1 sec less cast time than chain lightning. Still completely a waste of a skill slot.115.188.219.43 07:16, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Instead of making this elite-worthy, they nerfed it with exhaustion. Now Deathly Swarm is probably better than this and Chain Lightning... 76.242.77.240 16:31, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Deathly Swarm lacks the 25% armor penetration and therefore usually deals less damage than Chain Lightning at high attribute points. Random Weird Guy 16:40, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

I always had some mixed feelings about this skill and used it mainly because Air Magic had no good alternative for spike damage. The small difference in numbers with Chain Lightning is troublesome for it's elite status. With the change to Lightning Surge, Thunderclap, Glimmering Mark and Mind Shock now gives Air Magic superior alternatives for both spike damage and AoE damage. Anet needs to decide wich direction they want to take this skill to. Da Mystic Reaper 17:12, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Invoke Lightning has half the activation time. This means it's harder to interrupt, you can kill stuff one second faster (that could be used by enemies to cast Invoke on you), etc. Random Weird Guy 17:22, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

But it is no longer on equal terms with the other Air Magic elites. Mind Shock offers better damage and has a KD and the exhaustion is no longer a large drawback, it functions much better as a spike skill even with the conditional aditional damage. Thunderclap may have less damage and smaller range but it hits more foes, interrupts and inflicts cracked armor and weakness making it a better choise for AoE (and if you play AoE you are better off with Fire Magic). If you ask me Invoke Lightning either needs to inflict a condition like cracked armor or have the ammount of enemes it can hit increased (like hitting 2 more foes near the 2 aditional foes, a bit like how the range of Panic functions). Da Mystic Reaper 18:44, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Invoke does more damage than Mind Shock if you hit more than 1 enemy with it. I personally think that Invoke now serves the purpose it should - it's a basic elite that deals direct damage, has a short recharge and relatively low energy cost. It's neither wtfpwnage (like what Signet of Spirits is/was or even Word of Healing in small parties) or has severely limited usage (like Grenth's Balance or Life Barrier. Random Weird Guy 19:15, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

They should had kept the old exhaustion condition for PvE and use the new version for PvP, or at least remove it and put higher recharge. Running around with constant massive exhaustion is not worth the damage, I mean... it's an elite, what's the point of not using it often :>?, talking about PvE of course.Kougajin 20:41, 1 February 2012 (UTC)