Guild Wars 2

Its basically worse than a ranger pew pewing you from 1500.

by dodging maybe?

Predict the burst and preemptively dodge.

Or, to use professional terminology, luckdodge.

most of ele’s damage come from fire attunement combo, they will tipically pin you down with earth signet while unleashing they’re tooth on you. it shouldn’t be too hard to save a stunbreak for when you’re immobilized.
Also if you have burning on you and ele is in fire attunement stay away from fire grab)

Basically hit them + put all condi you can (especially poison) as soon as they swap to water and keep pressure, keep in mind you’ll have probably have to deal with chill (frost aura) and be carefull of the only 2 hard CC they have which are earthquake (earth attunement) which is fairly telegraphed even if quite quick and updraft (air) which only works in melee range.

But most of all DODGE at all cost fire combos, don’t let him come too close to you if you have burning (or make sure you dodge it) because fire grab (melee range) hurts. A lot.

Delta Blues.8507:

most of ele’s damage come from fire attunement combo, they will tipically pin you down with earth signet while unleashing they’re tooth on you. it shouldn’t be too hard to save a stunbreak for when you’re immobilized.
Also if you have burning on you and ele is in fire attunement stay away from fire grab)

Basically hit them + put all condi you can (especially poison) as soon as they swap to water and keep pressure, keep in mind you’ll have probably have to deal with chill (frost aura) and be carefull of the only 2 hard CC they have which are earthquake (earth attunement) which is fairly telegraphed even if quite quick and updraft (air) which only works in melee range.

But most of all DODGE at all cost fire combos, don’t let him come too close to you if you have burning (or make sure you dodge it) because fire grab (melee range) hurts. A lot.

I think there’s a discrepancy between builds being used, possibly.

It’s the Air Attunement & Lightning Strike instant double hit that happens randomly, instantly, and doesn’t respect a cooldown due to Fresh Air’s mechanic.

The answer is that you can’t react to it, you have to pro-actively kill them before they can proc Fresh Air enough times to kill you. If you dodge the phoenix, which is possible, you buy yourself much more time before you double over to the Air damage.

S/F Fresh Air Ele (if that is the version of Scepter you’re referring to) operates under the assumption that there will be a substantial deal of pure instant damage. Be aggressive, get them on the defensive, and dodge the phoenix. That’s the best advice, don’t worry about dodging un-dodgeable things.

Chaith.8256:

I think there’s a discrepancy between builds being used, possibly.

It’s the Air Attunement & Lightning Strike instant double hit that happens randomly, instantly, and doesn’t respect a cooldown due to Fresh Air’s mechanic.

The answer is that you can’t react to it, you have to pro-actively kill them before they can proc Fresh Air enough times to kill you. If you dodge the phoenix, which is possible, you buy yourself much more time before you double over to the Air damage.

S/F Fresh Air Ele (if that is the version of Scepter you’re referring to) operates under the assumption that there will be a substantial deal of pure instant damage. Be aggressive, get them on the defensive, and dodge the phoenix. That’s the best advice, don’t worry about dodging un-dodgeable things.

Exactly, so how does one do that assuming he’s fighting something else. I mean, everyone is getting crazy about Rapid Fire, but this will most definitely one shot you assuming you are playing zerker.

Its not that I’m having real trouble in a 1v1 situation. It just bothers me that there is basically no tell of when the air spike is coming. Random dodge it is then.

Menzies The Heretic.3415:

Chaith.8256:

I think there’s a discrepancy between builds being used, possibly.

It’s the Air Attunement & Lightning Strike instant double hit that happens randomly, instantly, and doesn’t respect a cooldown due to Fresh Air’s mechanic.

The answer is that you can’t react to it, you have to pro-actively kill them before they can proc Fresh Air enough times to kill you. If you dodge the phoenix, which is possible, you buy yourself much more time before you double over to the Air damage.

S/F Fresh Air Ele (if that is the version of Scepter you’re referring to) operates under the assumption that there will be a substantial deal of pure instant damage. Be aggressive, get them on the defensive, and dodge the phoenix. That’s the best advice, don’t worry about dodging un-dodgeable things.

Exactly, so how does one do that assuming he’s fighting something else. I mean, everyone is getting crazy about Rapid Fire, but this will most definitely one shot you assuming you are playing zerker.

Its not that I’m having real trouble in a 1v1 situation. It just bothers me that there is basically no tell of when the air spike is coming. Random dodge it is then.

Honestly, you should most be ready to randomdodge (LOL) when the Ele is in Earth, and he’s 111111 spamming at you. They have a high rate of fire and are used often to proc fresh air, and then the inevitable Air and Lightning Strike.

But the thing is if the Ele is good, he will sink the swap & strike right after your random dodge ends. Random dodging gets worse and worse as your enemies get better.

If you aren’t having trouble beating them, then.. just shrug and accept it. lol.

Menzies The Heretic.3415:

Its basically worse than a ranger pew pewing you from 1500.

luck dodge, hope for the best.

end the fight before cooldowns are up.

gank wars 2, that elementalist dies a lot more than they’d like to admit

If you’re playing a thief, ho boy. It’s a tough fight, but a very fun one! Have you asked a decent scepter ele to duel? I dueled one for hours and only beat him a handful of times. I had to re-trait my shatter mesmer to fight him, though (zerk amulet vs assassin’s amulet, illusionary invigoration vs illusionary elasticity, mender’s purity vs shattered concentration). He can down me in less than a second if I stand still to let him burst me. :X Fun fights, though!

Personally I dodge. By maybe thats just me.

Edit: Or just rek them first.

I don’t consider myself the best thief (maybe I am tough). But seriously:
I guess in 1v1’s its L2P, and when about to get ganked its panic double dodge everything. I’m just going to play it myself, as its possibly the best way to learn the counters.

Thank you all for the advice!

Well “avoid” is practically impossible. But you can pack some decent regen and come out on top! (Which might be hard!)

Have you tried like looking in the general direction of the ele? They’re built so glassy that sneezing will put them in down state.

You see into the future and predict it like all the other amazing untelegraphed stuff in this game.

I think Karsaib is the best S/x Ele out there, and the only way I found to beat him reliably is with a DP set by hoping to fully land my first burst, which had to Crit (steal, bs from the back, 1-2 autos to proc sigils). This will do 90% of his hp. Then I have to Shadowstep away and stealth while LoS ing him.
SP with devourer Venom Is another way, as you can port to him after he dodges the initial PW strike while casting Devourer Venom, which will immobilize him and deal a good 60/70% of his hp.

If you’re playing a sustain spec (acro+trickery) I never won unless he messed up. Which can happen, mind me, but assuming perfect play vs perfect play, the only way to kill him is with a high burst spec, by Killing him Before he kills you.

Also, air attunement, air sigil proc, lightning bolt, lightning flash and arcane blast can all be cast instantly from point blank range and the whole Combo will do a good 10-12k hp of damage to you.

Rusc.4978:

Predict the burst and preemptively dodge.

Or, to use professional terminology, luckdodge.

Its actually been called “random dodge” from the start, since 5/8 classes had perma vigor.

Or sometimes “random doge” when you want to apply on the “much skill” your opponent used to “randomly dodge” your attack

an ele wont be able to kill u with just his air swap and air 2… the big dmg comes from (if offhand dagger: earth 4 and fire4+5, air 4) (if focus: reflects, chaining stuns while casting other stuff (air5 and water 5)) phoenix, dragontooth can one hit tiffs if both full glass (need to be chained w a cc)

anyway, the ele whos playing it, unless he is rly skilled, dies more than he kills other stuff most of the times

its not about dodging the airspike, its about dodging the hard hitting combos : one of em is earth 4(w dagger), lightning flash on enemy(the teleport deals dmg), fire 3, swap to air, air 2, air 4

or another one is (my favourite as most enemys dont rly watch out and expect most eles to be dd ) : fire 3, teleport, air , air 2, air 4 , arcan blast/wave (one of those)

here a vid of me doing my fav thingy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZeHZUI-UuM

tldr: watch out when enemy ele in fire or earth, the airattuneement+ air 2 is barely smth alone , dont be afraid to pressure.

Flumek.9043:

Rusc.4978:

Predict the burst and preemptively dodge.

Or, to use professional terminology, luckdodge.

Its actually been called “random dodge” from the start, since 5/8 classes had perma vigor.

Or sometimes “random doge” when you want to apply on the “much skill” your opponent used to “randomly dodge” your attack

I’ve always called it luckdodging, but that might be a carryover from some other game.

Neko.9021:

You see into the future and predict it like all the other amazing untelegraphed stuff in this game.

This. Maybe one day Anet will realise that all this instant non-telegraphed damage we can do to one another isn’t particular good for a game boasting such an active combat system.

Wyrden.4713:

its not about dodging the airspike, its about dodging the hard hitting combos

while this is true for the most professions, the super glass cannons in this game (thief, assassins mesmer, etc) can be downed alone by earthquakeblinkstonesplintersattunementswitch23 combo (4+2+3+2+3 = 15k crit without might), provided the ele bothered to stack a little might around the corner first.

s/d ele has up to this date the hardest and fastest hitting combo in this game. luckily it needs very much practice and the ele itself gets so super squishy, or else it would be veryvery OP

Knowledge is power and it plays a major role on avoiding ele spike. I have played burst ele spec for most weapon sets starting with d/d, d/f s/d and now s/f and I can tell you the ele has many different burst combos. You have to educate yourself on these rotations and pay attention to the current attunement to predict what’s coming. Part of being a skillful player is to learn how to counter all playstyles. Also most ele want to burst but are afraid to die easily so they will trait a lot of points in the defensive tress like water and arcana. This means they won’t burst as much as an ele that goes full glass on both amulet/gear and traits like me. Bunkers with decent amount of damage can still be beaten if they don’t avoid our burst rotations or fail to provide enough pressure.

tanztante.6532:

Wyrden.4713:

its not about dodging the airspike, its about dodging the hard hitting combos

while this is true for the most professions, the super glass cannons in this game (thief, assassins mesmer, etc) can be downed alone by earthquakeblinkstonesplintersattunementswitch23 combo (4+2+3+2+3 = 15k crit without might), provided the ele bothered to stack a little might around the corner first.

s/d ele has up to this date the hardest and fastest hitting combo in this game. luckily it needs very much practice and the ele itself gets so super squishy, or else it would be veryvery OP

in wvw if both go fullglass maybe, and wvw is probably the most unbalanced mode..

and spvp an s/x ele has to stack might if he wants to 1 hit mesmers w fresh air spike alone (air 2 and switching attunement, repeadetly ofc)

anyway, mesmer has probably one of best chances against any kind of ele build due to their nature of beeing able to dmg while in stealth due to phantasms, and ele beeing too glassy if zerker amu

if dd celestial , too boon reliant, shatterspec counters w spammable boon removal, etc

ofc its still a tough fight for a mesmer if both r experienced, just that mesmer has the more chances.