Guild Wars 2

Ok, so I know Elementalists are pretty bad right now in it’s current state. They don’t deal enough damage for the amount of effort they put out. They are extremely squishy, even if specced for vit and toughness.

I play an elementalist and was going about with my PvE heart quest killing mobs 1 or 2 at a time when I saw a Thief approach the area. He then went around aggroing all the mobs around the place intentionally and gathered around 10 mobs on a train. He then used one of his skills that made him spin around throwing his daggers and pretty much killed all the mobs in one go…

I saw that and was like… wtf… my elementalist should be able to do that… afterall I am a caster class with several AoE’s… But sadly no… my elementalist can’t do jack all…

So disappointed with my class. =(

Elementalist is a support class; you have so many skills to cripple, stun, knockdown, chill, and heal, that no other class would DREAM of being able to offer a dungeon team the same benefits as you can.

Yes, us Elementalists don’t outrank anyone on the DPS meter, and we better keep our distance; but it’s about time people stop whining about that and start understanding what Elementalists are for. It’s been long enough for people to have figured it out.

MMO’s can’t work that way. You can’t have other classes skills too, you have some of your own.

Every class has a couple of spells/skills that are better than most and usually the best ones are on long cooldowns.

Your Ele isn’t nearly as weak as you make it out to be. Your meteor Storm is very powerful for example and you have essentially 4 weapons swaps(Air, Fire, Water, Earth) compared to most other classes who only have one or two.

Amnon.4769:

Elementalist is a support class; you have so many skills to cripple, stun, knockdown, chill, and heal, that no other class would DREAM of being able to offer a dungeon team the same benefits as you can.

Yes, us Elementalists don’t outrank anyone on the DPS meter, and we better keep our distance; but it’s about time people stop whining about that and start understanding what Elementalists are for. It’s been long enough for people to have figured it out.

I thought it was Anet’s philosiphy that you shouldn’t be locked into a specific role or play style due to your profession choice. If what you’re saying is true, then I think the least we deserve is a tiny asterisk that clarifies that elementalists are exclusively for support purposes.

I have to agree with the OP here.
I have specced primarily for power(Fire) with vitality(Water) second, and I have a hard time killing more than 2 mobs solo.

If I get 3 or more mobs on me I have to have to use 2 summoning skills and have my summoned minions hold the aggro while I try to kill the mobs.
And even then it sometimes only takes 1 or 2 hits with my weakest skill before I have aggo again.

At lvl 70 I have put 25 trait points into my fire skill which should give me a significant boost in my dps, yet I still see every other class being able to kill multiple mobs in the time it takes me to kill 1.

Not to mention when I fight underwater.
Underwater I cant summon any minions and my skills are even weaker.
It usually takes me minutes just to kill a single mob while underwater, and the odd thing is that despite being specced for fire I actually do most damage with water skills.

Personally, I agree with the OP for the most part. I started with an Elementalist, which I do love, but after awhile I got the itch to make a couple of alts. And my goodness, the difference was huge. My Ranger and my Necromancer have far better survivability and kill things with less effort than my Elementalist does. Things that I found difficult and dangerous on my Elementalist are simply things that I need to pay a little more attention to on my alts. IMHO, Elementalist is more difficult to play (squishiness + attunement juggling), yet does not make up for it with better results. Too much glass, not enough firepower! Or enough firepower, and too much glass. xD

To be clear, I am talking about this in comparison to other professions.

And if there were defined roles in this game, I’d expect to be the squishy mage that got a third of their HP taken in a hit but could either spam heals or kill mobs very, very quickly. As it is, I am a squishy mage that doesn’t do more damage or self healing than the heavily armored and high HP professions, and has to work harder at avoiding attacks because they hurt so much more.

Well I’ve just got to 80 with my staff ele..and all I can say is ..swap ur elements..a LOT! I see people sticking in fire all the time and then they wonder why they died. I can take out groups of mobs with my ele….it’s one of the biggest damage dealers in the game..not to mention snares, healing..Plus when u get tornadoi…thats just hilarious

I’ve been playing level 80 dual dagger Elementalist, and he can easily take on multiple enemies and destroy them. Like the guy above me said, the key to playing effectively is to swap elements a lot.
Though I will admit that Elementalist seem to be much riskier to play than some other profressions. It requires more skill to stay alive as an Elementalist. You have to be on the move, dodge a lot and use your skills wisely.

Well just think of it this way, sure you may have trouble soloing, but in group DE’s you’re also the only ones who get loot off mobs.

Signed,
Irritated DoT Class.

Alex Kelley.2748:

Amnon.4769:

Elementalist is a support class; you have so many skills to cripple, stun, knockdown, chill, and heal, that no other class would DREAM of being able to offer a dungeon team the same benefits as you can.

Yes, us Elementalists don’t outrank anyone on the DPS meter, and we better keep our distance; but it’s about time people stop whining about that and start understanding what Elementalists are for. It’s been long enough for people to have figured it out.

I thought it was Anet’s philosiphy that you shouldn’t be locked into a specific role or play style due to your profession choice. If what you’re saying is true, then I think the least we deserve is a tiny asterisk that clarifies that elementalists are exclusively for support purposes.

Anet’s philosophy is true. There isn’t a specific role for any class; however, there are builds and play styles that are more viable and more effective than others.

What really gets me is getting pulled into a mob and then getting two-shot…all within a matter of 1 second. There is absolutely no way to counter this and it happens a lot…this really needs to be fixed. Ele’s are really hard to play solo at this stage of the game.

I sort of agree. It is a pain in the butt to solo lots of mobs. My guardian, war, and ranger can do it much much better

Spiritus.3508:

What really gets me is getting pulled into a mob and then getting two-shot…all within a matter of 1 second. There is absolutely no way to counter this and it happens a lot…this really needs to be fixed. Ele’s are really hard to play solo at this stage of the game.

Arcane Shield. Armor of Earth. Mist Form. Any of these would help you survive much longer. However, if you ARE getting 2-shotted, then you need to replace some of your gear with Toughness/Vitality items.

Amnon.4769:

Spiritus.3508:

What really gets me is getting pulled into a mob and then getting two-shot…all within a matter of 1 second. There is absolutely no way to counter this and it happens a lot…this really needs to be fixed. Ele’s are really hard to play solo at this stage of the game.

Arcane Shield. Armor of Earth. Mist Form. Any of these would help you survive much longer. However, if you ARE getting 2-shotted, then you need to replace some of your gear with Toughness/Vitality items.

No, the stats aren’t going to make any difference. My health bubble goes to less than 50% in less than a second and then goes to zero before the second is up. All this after getting pulled in and immobilized, and therefore unable to cast any defensive skills.

This doesn’t happen with most mobs but it DOES happen, and it shouldn’t.

Amnon.4769:

Elementalist is a support class; you have so many skills to cripple, stun, knockdown, chill, and heal, that no other class would DREAM of being able to offer a dungeon team the same benefits as you can.

Yes, us Elementalists don’t outrank anyone on the DPS meter, and we better keep our distance; but it’s about time people stop whining about that and start understanding what Elementalists are for. It’s been long enough for people to have figured it out.

except are there are other classes can offer the same support faster, easier, and more effienctly and with out being squishiest class in the game. If we were ment to be support shouldn’t we be one of less squishy classes? i mean thats what gaurdians have heavy armor, and clerics in D&D get so many buff spells…because if your support is dead they cant support thats entire design behind it.

BESIDES i thought whole idea of class roles was gone and was spec to do what you want to do not go dps/tank/healz…. that would mean the trinity still existed! GAAASSSPPP!

An interesting thread.

I thought an Elementalist had some similarity to a Balenced Druid in WoW or a sort of Healing Mage soul build in Rift, on game entry here.

What I am finding is that in my opinion that seems to be true to a degree, using a staff I am finding I can pretty much take down individual mobs with no problems, even those 2 to 3 ish levels above me, also on auto mentoring down mass mobs are no problem either.

However I need to be careful when pulling aggro at my natural level, more so than normal, as it’s a death sentence if not.

I have specked fire and air (70/30) on trait and skill points and currently am level 40.

I find the elite wolf (1 min one) is very powerful.

However am stacking power.

But agreed I can be a glass cannon sometimes.

Should I stack more defence (health/damage MIT) or perhaps precision ?

Any class that wears cloth verses say a warrior needs some big type of buff or advantages to make up for that. Whether they have more escapes, better kiting abilities, or more DPS. They do need to have something and other classes all AOE so I dont think thats it.
I play elementalist also and maybe we are UP but its still kind of early no one really has 2 level 80 characters yet to compare against so maybe a little more time before buff/nerf things.

I felt the same way and as a result rolled a warrior. Life got a lot more ready for me after that. I can’t wait till all the class are a lot more balanced however. To the person that said ele is a support class. I’m sorry that I choose to not be blocked into that role, but that’s sad if that is the only role you can see an ele do..

Ele is 80 and warrior is 71, the difference is night and day between the two, though I will admit that ele in wvw is super fun.

I often feel the same way about my ele while playing around in Orr. Although I can usually kill up to 3 mobs at a time, it does bring me close to death if I don’t play perfectly.
Elementalist damage needs to be balanced in a way that we can deal enough damage to justify being so squishy. I have full confidence that Anet will address this in future patches, so hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.

The issue is that Elementalist has an almost absurdly high skill ceiling, it is far more complicated than other classes. If you aren’t constantly switching between the elements than you are doing it wrong. You have to work 3 times as hard to achieve the same results as some other classes but the power is there.
Check out this ele pvp vid where an ele takes on multiple enemies, this is GW2 so you can’t claim gear advantage or pocket healers. Warning: turn the music off

All i have to say for struggling eles: stack condition damage, apply bleeds, slow and burn and kite. The amount of damage conditions do is insane if specced correctly. Stop looking for big numbers and understand that to properly play an ele you have to take advantage of the massive amounts of control each tree gives you and keep every element on cd almost constantly.

ie: open with meteor shower, switch to lightning and throw an aoe stun to keep them in, switch to earth and apply bleed, then apply slow and kite while everything dies. That’s just one example, if you have ranged mobs, throw a shield while u apply conditions then go mist forms while they bleed away while sitting in your aoe.

Spamming fire spells while standing still will not work well.

Noktrin.8051:

All i have to say for struggling eles: stack condition damage, apply bleeds, slow and burn and kite. The amount of damage conditions do is insane if specced correctly. Stop looking for big numbers and understand that to properly play and ele you have to take advantage of the massive amounts of control each tree gives you and keep every element on cd almost constantly.

ie: open with meteor shower, switch to lightning and throw an aoe stun to keep them in, switch to earth and apply bleed, then apply slow and kite while everything dies. That’s just one example, if you have ranged mobs, throw a shield while u apply conditions then go mist forms while they bleed away while sitting in your aoe.

Spamming fire spells while standing still will not work well.

This is what I do, but in a different order. I start with earth cond. damage and switch to fire for more cond. and burst damage. Most mobs die pretty quickly. Planning on changing it up for either scepter/dagger or dual dagger though.

I think elementalist is just fine, sure you can’t do as much raw damage than warrior for example, but you have a lot of other tricks.

And if you want to solo mobs easier, build toughness or something.
I leveled up with crit based ele which i didn’t really like because of the squishiness ( and no, you can’t dodge everything) and maxium of mobs i could solo alone was something like 2 (70-79, with full lvl 70 yellow gear)
But now when i have max lvl ele with full yellow cleric set ( power, toughness, healing power) and i can easily solo 4 or more mobs, depending of the type.
E: and imo also more usefull in dungeons, with staff my 3 and 5 heal something like 7-8k combined

While the damage may be ‘meh’, support elementalists are amazing for dungeon groups etc.

Yeah I lost interest in my elementalist at 62 due to this. He’s fire/earth specced, and frankly he was just pathetic. My alt (a thief at just past 60) does much better than him, it’s not even a contest. The problem I had with elementalist was just what the OP described: for all that effort, we really don’t get a lot of payoff. Every single fight I had was the same, and I had to keep dodging as often as possible. DoT, Damage Field, kite, repeat.

It wasn’t difficult, but it was uninteresting.

I dont find Eles to be weak at all, It depends very much on your setup of weapon + utility kills + Heal Skill + Elite Skill, You have to actually mix and match them well enough and dont forget how important Traits are, Traits are even more important than Utility skills just because they can give you a huge advantage in the battlefield.

Even though Arenanet said that every profession can have any kind of a role, Elementalists are supposed to be support. You cant expect someone with Light armor and very high damaging moves to be a tank, Also, Elementalists are weak 1on1 in PVP but every class is golden in WvWvW and PVE.

I suggest what Arenanet is suggesting, Try it out thorougly before jumping to conclusions, the came has yet to be out a month.

PS. I have battled very strong eles in PVP, that actually can defeat me (Im a Ranger), it all depends on the build and how you move in the game.

As a level 80 elementalist, I really have no idea what you’re talking about when you say you lose half your health in 2 seconds. I’m specced with Vitality/Toughness gear, and 10 trait points in each, and I can take 3 Orrian zombies easily. You should consider upgrading your gear, and not going as a glass cannon.

And by the way, you can use Cantrips when you’re stunned, which is why I suggested them.

I’m leveling an elementalist (currently low 20s) alt intended to be a staff-based support type build for dungeon runs, but I’m finding the sceptre & dagger combo in landscape, with some nifty attunement switches, pushes out some absurdly satisfying spike damage.

And equipped mostly vit+toughness I’m not going down much more, possibly less, than my ranger main. So, I don’t really know what the OP is disliking about the class.

Its mainly the Staff that is vastly underpowered.
People judge it mainly based on one skill, Meteor shower. “omg meteor shower kills me in wvw”
While its actually not true, it just has a more visible effect, people dont “see” the arrow carts, ranger aoes, or other classes aoes that is also hitting them.

Apart from that, the rest of the staff skills are quite weak, ther actually arent that much CC in staff as people beleive, and most of them have a VERY short duration.
Also theres only 2 healing skills, with quite long cooldowns at that.

Almost every other class outdamages the staffuser if they use a dps build, yet elementalist are by far the squishiest class. Without using earth elemental, your dead if you get more then 2 mobs on you.

Also, for osme reason, the aoe skills seem to have HUGE agro generation.
As soon as you start using any of your AoEs, every mob comes running for you, that is something that should be changed.

Theres also the fact that most of the staff skills are groudn targeted, meaning enemies often run out of the attacks, for example, your meteor shower. Its not like you want to stand still taking the hits as aan elementalist, so you start kiting, and since mobs are fster then you, you need to kite…alot.
At the same time, other classes can use their aoes on the run, AoEs that does more damage at that, and have more ST damage, more HP, more toughness, more power, and higher crit chance.

Its kinda meh when i logg on my warrior, and he has more points in every stat, with basicly the same gear.

Funnily enough I’m not a huge fan of meteor shower, as the effect is too random for me outside of DEs, though I do enjoy the ele’s staff skills. Ground AoEs need to be targeted not where the enemy is, but rather where they will be when the damage/effect goes off.

Yes, you have to move, and lead your target, while adjusting for the delay of the individual skill. And yes that’s harder to achieve on the run than the 100 blades smash-um-face.

If you’re soloing multiple mobs try opening with earth to lock their movement down and then air to buff yours, then unleash the fire fury. Make sure to include yourself in the radius of the water healing skills. Also, prior to a tough fight, summon an Earth elemental, it’s my experience they hold aggro quite well.

It’s not a fair statement to say that one class has superior stats than another with the same gear as that’s not the way GW2’s maths works. A warrior will have more defense through heavy armour and more hit points than an ele, but that’s part of the class mechanics.

My main is an elementalist and I had no idea the disparity between professions until I rolled more characters as alts.
Ele is whacked, yo. Something needs to change.

honestly i don’t think Elementalist are weak… we just have to work ourkitten off more than other classes do because we need to constantly be switching atunements

My honest opinion is that the profession isn’t the best at kiting, or durability, or even damage.
So in actual fighting it does indeed take tons of work to achieve the same results as other professions. It has a lot of utility on-hand during any one fight, but that is not quite making up for it’s other shortcomings.

Did you happen to catch the name of that Thief? Being one I would love to talk to him and see how he is set up. Full on toughness I can go 3-4 at once, depending on the mob. Strong shooters are evil. But 10 would be awesome!

Take away the 15 second timer for swapping attunements and most of the problems will go away. If I am forced to swap attunements in order to get the best results, then I shouldn’t be penalized for it along with having skill cooldowns too.

Originally I wanted to main an Elementalist, but there high damage weapons was dagger / dagger. All close combat right in your face way to close for the armor, and Dagger / dagger has no range. It seemed to me ANet purposely hamstringed them allowing them to have some pretty huge gaping holes in every build. There gaping holes are not worth the cost. Wanted to play a direct damage build not a AoE build which I hate AoE builds of any class.

The only AoE builds I like are very small AoE builds with good damage. Elementalist have huge gaping hole in AoEs that half the time don’t hit a single thing on there large AoE’s and there small AoE’s have long cast and are EZ to avoid.

I like the guy above that said cast meter shower and stun the guy to keep him in it. OK, but you still have a good chance with all the effort you just did to keep him there, the guy will take ZERO damage from that AoE.

Anyone saying the elementalist is UP, clearly haven’t seen elementalist PvP videos.

VakarisJ.5619:

Anyone saying the elementalist is UP, clearly haven’t seen elementalist PvP videos.

Yea cos pve = pvp.
Yea cos 1 individual whose skill level is in the upper echelon can do something incredible, the rest of the proffesion base should be able to too.

Also, been hearing reports of ele’s not ebing taken in major tourny teams.

Kimhyuna.1035:

VakarisJ.5619:

Anyone saying the elementalist is UP, clearly haven’t seen elementalist PvP videos.

Yea cos pve = pvp.
Yea cos 1 individual whose skill level is in the upper echelon can do something incredible, the rest of the proffesion base should be able to too.

Also, been hearing reports of ele’s not ebing taken in major tourny teams.

My friend’s been doing great in PvE, only using the fire attunement and wielding a staff. That’s hardly master-level play, yet he didn’t find any glaring issues.

I agree, ele is terrible right now. It took me 6-8deaths to complete a personal story that I was downscaled to because I died in 2 sec flat so I have to kill one mob at a time, die, rinse and repeat.

It seems most complaining of the class being weak are staff users. The staff is primarily a support weapon. You have your AOE chill, cripple, stun and heal (which is pretty good with a blast finisher). You can do some light dps in fire while everything else is on cool down. I use it only in group settings where more support is needed or the boss is just way too hard to be in melee range. It’s also a pretty bad solo weapon compared to your other options.

In my experience the best weapon for damage is the sceptor (dagger/dagger is also good but I found I kill a little faster with the sceptor) with either a dagger or focus for off hand. I personally prefer the dagger for fire grab and the earth number 4 and 5 abilities and lighting’s ride the lightning.

Before completely writing the class off, try using a sceptor and learn how to stack might. Never have had a problem soloing veterans or destroying groups of regulars.

Elementalist is still great for random events since they could tap many mobs at once with fire or air skills, so at least it’s good for farming crafting materials that drop on escort quests and such.