Ever wondered how other Dragon Nest SEA players built their characters? How about why they build their characters that way? Then look no further, as we’ll (slowly) show you various different builds people have used, ranging from safe builds to OMGWTFBBQ builds. These builds are not meant to be taken as the best builds out there, but rather what a single average player found to be working for him or her which you may find adaptable to your style or you may build upon.
Today’s build: Tanky Elestra contributed by shuraragi3 from Springwood

The Tanky Elestra was designed with the follow philosophies in mind: a. PVE build; b. Maximize freezing capabilities; c. Rely on Ice Attack and; d. Survive. With this in mind, the skill build created for her largely eschewed fire-based skills, and leveled Ice Shield as much as possible. So without further adieu, the skill build:

Sorceress Tree:
Glacial Spike is a good Sorceress skill to put points into. Not only is the cool down fast at 7 seconds, it is also capable of doing multiple hits, maximizing its freezing probability. Note that freezing probability increases by 1% per level. While it may not seem much, remember it does multiple hits, at least 4 hits from what I know, so those 1% pays off if you put enough points. It is fairly normal to level this skill to at least make the probability 20%, but was increased to level 21 to reach the magic number.
No Counter Spell? Max Mental Mastery and Mind Conquer? Remember that this build relies heavily on Ice Shield. Ice Shield gives you super high Super Armor, so the situations you will fall on the ground should be very very minimal, thereby removing the need for Counter Spell. On the other hand, Ice Shield drains MP like mad, so you will likely need those extra MP and MP regen.
Elemental Lord Tree:
Icy Shards, Frozen Spikes and Chilling Mist are leveled to their highest possible magic number, which are 16, 16 and 11 respectively. If you’re not familiar, magic number levels are the levels where there is substantial increase in board damage or effect. These magic numbers are 6, 11, 16 and 21. These three skills are leveled in such a way to maximize their damage output.
Freezing Field is likewise leveled to its highest possible magic number, which is 16. However a skill ring would push that level to 17, as shown in the above skill build. The reason for that is due to Ice Resist debuff. Several Elestra skills can debuff the enemy to have less Ice Resistance, thereby increase your ice damage. However, the amount that will be debuffed varies from skill to skill. And since only one Ice Resist debuff can be applied, some skills will override the previous debuff applied. Freezing Field has one of the highest debuff value, so we prefer to have its debuff retained. In order to do so, it has to be the highest leveled skill that applied debuff. Hence, 1 level above the other skills like Icy Shards.
Ice Shield is just maxed with skill ring. You’d want that every extra bit of damage reduction.
Frost Wind and Flame Spark are added just for utility purposes. It’s rather pointless to put a lot of SP there, since the growth isn’t that high, and you need to sacrifice your Blink in order to cast the skill. I’m not a big fan of attack skills that needs your to sacrifice your evasion. On the other hand, this is kind of a shame since Frost Wind is the other skill with the highest Ice Resist debuff.
Hell Fire is a freebie. So get it.
Glacial Wave is a bit tricky. The freezing probability is fixed at 100%, so leveling it doesn’t do anything for that, unlike Glacial Spike. Moreover, it’s damage growth is laughable. The only real reason to level it is to increase its freeze time, which may or may not be helpful, depending on your enemy. The ice shatters anyway after a certain amount of hits, so chances are you won’t be able to maximize the freeze time. However, this can be useful against mobs, especially when doing solo runs. Point is, putting points here is purely optional. The only mandatory here is getting this to level 1.
Phoenix and Ignite are leveled to their highest magic number level, which is 11 for both. Phoenix’s actual damage is three times the board damage, as three birds are shot out. The idea behind getting these skills and leveling them is to use them as a combo: Phoenix and then Ignite. Phoenix will give you the burn status that Ignite feeds on. Even better, both skills have the same cool down of 18 seconds. That makes for a good combo sequence. Do note not to do this combo when partying with a Saleana, as you might end up casting Ignite on her Fiery Vortex burn.
No Flame Road? Simply put, learning Flame Road requires too much SP invested, and you end up learning lots of skills you’re likely not to use anyway as an Elestra.
No Fireball? Fireball actually has very high damage when leveled. However, Fireball also has a significant cast time to maximize its damage, and that’s something some players dislike. Compare this to Phoenix, which has quite a fast cast time. So for this particular build, Phoenix was preferred over Fireball as its token fire skill.
Mana Surge was taken simply because there is an extra SP available for this tree.
Elestra Tree:
Naturally, you learn all the EX skills. Frozen Spikes EX does give less damage per hit after the first 2 hits, but increasing the number of walls will actually yield more hits, and more overall damage for large bosses. Just think of it as a skill intended against bosses.
Ice Sphere is leveled to its highest possible magic number level. While the board damage looks low, it deals quite a decent amount of damage as it shoots numerous spikes. You just need to position it well against large enemies.
Ice Barrier is quite a weak skill to be honest. It has a long cool down with a rather short duration. Moreover, the amount of damage it absorbs isn’t that high. There’s not much point in putting points to it except for it being a prerequisite skill.
So there you have the Tanky Elestra build. What are your thoughts on this build? Do hit the comments.
6 Comments
YISSS!
pakyu sir with feelings
Hahahaha! ang hard mo ser :v
Here we go again :v
YISSS!
Saleana gamit ko eh pero para lang matrending :3