Guild Wars 2

Hello! Now, I’ve been playing MMO’s for many, many years, and I’ve always wanted to be sort of a battle-mage archetype kind of character. Some games have gotten close, but none have really done this kind of thing yet. I don’t see why it couldn’t work, I think it’d be fun!

Anyway, I think the Elementalist should have the ability to use a sword in the main-hand. I’ve thought of a few sample skills that would work, and stay true to the individual attunements.

Fire + Sword

1 – Fiery Strikes > Flaming Slash > Fiery Burst: A simple auto-attack sequence chain for the sword while in Fire Attunement. The first attack is two swings, followed by a stronger swing, followed by a small AoE stab (maybe 80 radius), that applies burning for 2s.

2 – Fiery Spin: Spin around quickly, throwing several small fireballs – Whirl Finisher (applies burning, 2s per fireball)

3 – Shooting Star: Leap into the air and and land on your opponent in a fiery explosion – Blast Finisher (600 range) (applies burning, 5s, 180 radius)

Water + Sword

1 – Tidal Strike > Tidal Slash > Tidal Wave: First two strikes deal damage, third strike throw water around the target, applying 3s of regen to nearby allies (120 radius or so).

2 – Ice Lance: Lunge at your foe with an icy spear, chilling them for 4s – Leap Finisher (Similar to how they changed Kick, it gives a small lunge)

3 – Riptide: Throw water around you, and create tidal ripples, knocking back foes and healing allies for a small amount per pulse. (3-4 pulses)

Air + Sword

1 – Zephyr’s Strike > Zephyr’s Slash > Zephyr’s Speed: This is a chain sequence for Air Attunement, the Elementalist wraps their sword in wind / lightning and slices twice, followed by a longer cast strike that gives evade (similar to Ranger GS 1).

2 – Thunderbolt: Throw your sword at your foe like a bolt of lightning (think Zeus), applying cripple for 4 seconds – Physical Projectile Finisher.

3 – Lightning Rod: Call down lightning through your sword, and explode in a flash of electricity – Blast Finisher. Applies weakness to yourself, 4s, and stuns nearby foes for 1s.

Earth + Sword

1 – Magnetic Blades: Slash at your enemy with magnetic force, applying cripple for 2s.

2 – Magnetism: Focus magnetic energy on your foe, and yank them to you. 2/3s cast time, and 900 range.

3 – Earth Grab: Thrust your sword into the ground, causing rocky hands to erupt outwards, holding your foes immobilized (3s), and applying bleeding.

Now I am by no means a game developer, so I realize these skills may have serious flaws, but they fit the idea of how I think a “Battlemage” or “Spellblade” would fight.

Thanks for reading.

I’d just support a sword for Elementalist. I don’t need to see a moveset. The ele could whack them with elemental particle effects and I wouldn’t care because it’d be something new to play with in a game that desperately needs more weapon sets. So yes, add the bloody sword. Or greatsword. Or torch. Or have the Elementalist beat up his foes with a whiffle ball bat. Just something.

Need an Arcane Archer first. Give them Longbow or Shortbow.

Well, the Elementalist already has two ranged options, and the daggers are only pseudo-melee. We need a close-up option before we get more ranged. :P

If elementalists got a wiffle bat, I’d actually play one.

I’d love to see swords (and bows) being available to Elementalists and I hope ANet will introduce them in a future Expansion.

Edit: I just thought that I would be happy to see new weapons added to all professions, but I’d happier if ANer could fix and balance what’s already in game.

The bolt always looked like it was designed for an Ele… I just want this so bad.

I heard someone before say the mesmer is the ‘battle-mage’, the only problem is that I simply don’t like the illusion mechanic like I love the attunements.

I would prefer a Mace considering the game lacks Mace-users, and Mace users are usually associated with Healers in jRPGs. Considering the Elementalist is a healer, it would be a nice idea to add in a Mace for them.

Kunshu.5281:

Well, the Elementalist already has two ranged options, and the daggers are only pseudo-melee. We need a close-up option before we get more ranged. :P

But it’d have to be just as good as daggers to even be worth doing.

Maybe once they finally strike a good balance with Elementalist melee can another option be made viable (or you might be able to get away with pulling some of the functionality from daggers and infusing it into a sword option).

Right now, ranged options are woefully unpopular and range from “yeah, this 900 range isn’t going to do me any good” to “AoE overkill”. I’d hope a Longbow/shortbow option for Elementalist would have similar range to Staff (1200) but also not require ground targeting to do all its damage.

Kain Francois.4328:

I would prefer a Mace considering the game lacks Mace-users, and Mace users are usually associated with Healers in jRPGs. Considering the Elementalist is a healer, it would be a nice idea to add in a Mace for them.

“The Elementalist draws its powers of destruction from an affinity with the elements.”

Doesn’t sound like a healer to me. :P

As to the bow, I don’t think that really sounds like a weapon the Elementalist needs. We already conjure a lot of the weapons we can’t use – axes, bows, greatswords, hammers and shields. We can’t conjure a standard sword, so it’s a weapon we should be able to use.

And who says the staff and scepter aren’t viable? I love them, I just like the speed of daggers / melee. :P

Didn’t say staff or scepter isn’t viable but if you’re defending a keep, scepter’s range is too short and staff is primarily AoE…that and single target is highly overlooked and under-represented on Elementalist.

But in a fight against a foe who can/does dodge, staff lags in applied damage because people can just move out of their radii. If conjure icebow could fill in here (and it doesn’t), then perhaps I could agree with you.

What I want is a weapon I can use my attunements with at a good range and at my selected target for reasonable damage.

1st Half (Just my try, don’t take them too serious, just should sound more “epic” ^^)

Fire Sword

1) Red Lotus > Burning Passion > Incineration
Red Lotus is a piercing fiery leap attack that will hit all foes in a sight of line.
Followed by Burning Passion – a self centered spinning attack with the sword, creating a burning shock wave that will hit all enemies around you and set them on a long stacking burning, so nearer the enemy stood at you. After that comes Incineration, uprising fast Flame Pillars, that will strike all burning foes after 2 seconds for heavy damage, if they are still burning. If not the damage will be weaker, but enemies will suffer from Vulnerability and Weakness then.

2) Magma Slash
A swinging attack with your sword, that will shoot in a broad fan shape style magma balls in front of you being able to it with them multiple targets at once at a longer distance.

3) Searing Heat
Create a hot aura around yourself, that will damage enemies over time and becomes stronger with every second for the next 5 seconds. When using this in water AoE’s, Searing Heat will turn into “Steam Cloud”, that will burn and blind enemies as also heal yourself for the next 5 seconds.

4) Phoenix Down
A fiery attack guided by the spirit of a phoenix with its purifying flames.
You crush at your ground target with a big flame burst, that engulfs a big area.
If allies where in it suffering status ailments, these will be cured. If dead players where in it, they will receive a good amount of health back. This attack will also push back nearby enemies.

5) Infernal Blast.
The Elementalist will hold still for some time to channel its energy into a devastating ray like Blast Attack, that gets stronger, so longer the player can hold down the button to channel up energy for this attack, until a maximum point has been reached where the character unleashes its Infernal Blast, holding the sword in kind of like a rifle with 1 hand straight forward torwards the targeted enemy.
So longer this skill could get channeled, so longer will the burning hold afterwards.
——

Water Sword

1 ) Ice Coffin > Frost Breaker > Cold Heart
An ice cold strike begins this attack series, that will immobilize an enemy and take away their stamina for the next 10 seconds slowly, but they won’t suffer damage meanwhile as they will be surrounded in ice. After that follows Frost Breaker, an attack that will free the imprisoned enemy, deal a critical blow allways and deals a high long lasting stack of Vulnerability to them. Cold Heart is then a series of many very quick piercing stab attacks with the sword, each dealing Chill and healing a bit yourself, if you self are under buffs at that moment.

2) Mirror Blades
The Elementalist will create in a clock like pattern Ice Mirrors around a targeted enemy and attack all enemies in that circular ares piercing through them jumping from mirror to mirror for the next x times in regard of how many enemies are trapped in that area. (maximum 5 times)

3) Drowning Sphere
The Elementalist will shoot a big water sphere, that will drown a catched enemy damaging them over time and placing chill on them. This Skill turns after this into Aqua Detonation, launching the catched enemy into the air and damaging nearby enemies as also healing nearby allies

4) Acid Rain
The elementalist will swing its sword to shoot in a fan shape an acid wave that will weaken or blind enemies and deal armor ignoring damage.

5) Mist Aura
The Elementalist will create an area of mist around itself, that will give yourself and nearby allies regeneration and protections for some time and confuse enemies a bit at the moment of activation of this skill.
——

2nd Half

Earth Sword

1) Earth Grave > Shooting Star > Sand Grip
Earth Grave starts this series by petrifying a targeted enemy with a thrown sword.
Then the elementalist jumps into the air to shoot a big rock into the target, that will knock down the enemy. After landing, the elementalist claims his sword back with a sand hand, pulling the enemy including the sword that is stucking in the enemy back to hisself

2) Mud Bomb
The enementalist will shoot Mud Balls, that will cripple enemies or petrify them, when hit critical.

3) Sand Aura
A Sand Aura will be created around yourself, increasing your defense power, decreasing the chance of receiving critical hits and blinding enemies every 3 seconds over the next 9 seconds of suration.

4) Magnetic Resonance
A Sword Strike attack, with that you will push enemies away from you and create a short magnetic field around you, that will also reflect back projectiles and that 25% stronger, than normal.

5) Earth Ripper
You ram down your sword into the ground bringing the earth in a linear way to shake making rocks shoot up into the air that will deal damage and cause multiple hits with bleeding stacks.
——

Wind Sword

1) Sonic Boom > Flashlight > Hurricane Whirl
The Elementalist will swing the sword multiple times rapid fast shooting at a target several Sonic Blades that will rip through all enemies in line dealing damage and bleeding per hit ignoring armor. Then the elementalist teleports in a blink of an eye to the target perfoming a blinding flashlight to end the series with a Hurricane Whirl attack that has either a 50/50 chance of blowing all nearby foes away or sucking all nearby foes to you. The first will be weaker, but interrupts enemies by dazing them.
The second option is stronger as beign hit that way will result in additional bleeding stacks and is not able to be dodged out.

2) Sky Wing Strike
You catapult yourself into the air by the forces of the wind, landing at the targeted ground area performing an electrifying swing that will daze hitten enemies

3) Lightning Speed
A self buff, that will give you temporarely the reflexes of a lightning being able to auto dodge the next incoming attack and counter attacking it with a Lightning Blast that will also make your enemy shortly vulnerable with a high stack.

4) Ball of Lightning
A channeling skill similar to Infernal Blast, just with the difference, that this one is not a line of sight skill, but Ball of lightning is a kind of circular thunderstorm sphere, that gets stronger, so longer the skill could get channeled, before the player unleashes it.

5) Shockwave Thrust
The ultimate power of wind used in a sonic attack dealing damage to all enemies in line of sight having Fury and Might when performing this attack, that increases per hitten enemy that stood in your way.

Now, I know my example skillset could have a few flaws. But that just seems ridiculously strong. xD

As I mentioned, these were more meant as fun skills for being “epic” as thats what I envision when thinking about as Arcanists specialized Elementalists that use their elemental powers in melee combat, while also having skill mechanics for a Game like GW2 to be able to attack on distance, if needed, while also not loosign the fact, that they still should be the masters of AoE Damage, as thats mostly everything Elementalists are about special good for.

I’m missing in this game also Line of Sight Skills that can hit multiple targets.
GW2 has so far sadly only either circular AoEs, or horizontal line AoE and only a very few vertical line of sight skills.
I think thats the way how an Arcanist stylistic Elementalist should fight with a sword most of the time, as its a direct way for melee combat, full of action to rush into your foes and leave just death, devastation and despair behind you ^^

I support for ele sword, perhaps not the described moveset, but I do think a sword would be nice.

I’m surprised eles didn’t have a sword to begin with.