Guild Wars 2

So far ice/water elementalists have always been on the supporting side.
Even in offensive form the damage is mediocre compared to earth and fire.

So my request is, since ice attacks can be really cool (badum*tsss) for an elite spec on the elementalist that puts emphasis on the use of ice making it a viable element to wield.

So far the only way you’re accepted in group content with ice-related skills is the ice bow..

Considering I used an offensive Water Ele in GW1 PvP (all elements could be made into a DPS build) and was sad to see it 100% support in GW2 I’d love the idea. It’s disappointing when games shoehorn the water element into a healing only magic when it’s actually the most versatile and destructive element on Earth. City Of Heroes did it right with their full Control+DPS nuking Water power. :>

Doggie.3184:

Considering I used an offensive Water Ele in GW1 PvP (all elements could be made into a DPS build) and was sad to see it 100% support in GW2 I’d love the idea. It’s disappointing when games shoehorn the water element into a healing only magic when it’s actually the most versatile and destructive element on Earth. City Of Heroes did it right with their full Control+DPS nuking Water power. :>

And just to be clear, I’m really talking about ice: freezing people in their tracks, piercing them with lances, etc. No more healing, no support, just a straight old lance through the chest.

Sword: Short ranged weapon
1) Glaive: swings the blade, the motion is trailed by razor sharp hail.
2) Thrust: gains power (up to 5 stacks) for every previously cast Glaives, the thrust blows all the hail in a straight line to the enemy, piercing through and hitting other enemies along the way.
3) Bitfrost: Chill your enemy, deals extra damage like torment.
4) Pulse spikes out of the ground in a small circle around the targets location, causing cripple and bleeding, and explodes after for a chilling cloud.
5) Hail: create an AoE of hail

Elite spec skills:
6) Bloodshard: Freeze the opponents blood, healing you for every strike you deal
7-9) Hexes based on the element (change like signet, storm and elemental)
0) King Frozenwind’s Blessing: hex: the hexed foe is surrounded by a chilling cloud that does damage for chill. the cloud follows the target and inflicts chill on nearby enemies

instead of just focusing on water/ice, how about the elite spec be about dedicating yourself to becoming master of a single element?
you lose attunement swapping but all of your skills in your chosen element are much better than the current skills?
IE a Master of Flame would be very powerful with AoE damage skills.
Master of Ice would be pretty much what you’ve suggested, maybe a damage/healing hybrid.
Master of Earth could be a little tankier but have decent damage dealing.
Master of Lightning would be a single target dps machine.

this way those folks longing for the ice damage builds similar to GW1 could choose to become Masters of Ice, but those of us wishing to go “all-in” to summoning inferno and cataclysm at the cost of healing/sustain could choose to become fire masters

I love the idea of having the Ele lose the ability to attune to all elements at once while becoming master of a single one, as long as it was a single elite spec trait line (not 4, what about other classes?) and it was something like you can’t switch attunement during combat. I also totally agree it should be the sword, as it would fit the Warlock-ish overall theme of mastering the elements perfectly.

It’s not really possible to have a spec that loses all attunement except one. Doing so would require revamping or some alteration to every weapon and skill of the profession as well as various traits. Consider what it would take to make a good build with only air attunement and a staff equipped. What would other non air traits that require another attunement do?

Now i do see it’s possible to release a weapon that shifts the norm. Basically a sword or bow that uses strong dps related skills in water attunement, self protection in fire attunement, aoe and condition centric skills in air attunement and movement abilities in earth.

Liewec.2896:

instead of just focusing on water/ice, how about the elite spec be about dedicating yourself to becoming master of a single element?
you lose attunement swapping but all of your skills in your chosen element are much better than the current skills?
IE a Master of Flame would be very powerful with AoE damage skills.
Master of Ice would be pretty much what you’ve suggested, maybe a damage/healing hybrid.
Master of Earth could be a little tankier but have decent damage dealing.
Master of Lightning would be a single target dps machine.

this way those folks longing for the ice damage builds similar to GW1 could choose to become Masters of Ice, but those of us wishing to go “all-in” to summoning inferno and cataclysm at the cost of healing/sustain could choose to become fire masters

Maybe if you only lose the ability to attunement swap while in combat, but can still swap out of it to cater to each encounter, this would be a really cool spec.

@OP – If they turn water/ice into a DPS oriented attunement does that mean this spec would have no support from their (old) water weapon skills? Or are you envisioning it something similar to Reaper’s Shroud where you pop a button and enter the elite spec version of the attunement where your skills become entirely damage/control oriented and you can swap out if you need the support again?

In another game I play Ice is one of my favorite power sets. The ability to summon falling hail stones the size of oil drums, to create walls and structures of ice that can be caused to shatter explosively doing cold and shrapnel damage. Of course encasing targets in ice, projecting spears of ice, etc are all excellent effects. I would play my ele more if ice in GW2 played differently.

It would be awesome! Especially if there is a new elemental form for each element (like reaper shroud) that changes a bit the purpose of each element.

I’m a little disappointed about elementalist in this game. It’s cool and interesting, but I don’t know, it misses something. Also, some classes like mesmer or druid have even cooler skill animations. But that’s a different story.

If ele got an elite spec that could focus on one or two elements at the expense of attunement swapping, I might be tempted to make an ele alt.

The main thing I’ve never liked about ele is the non-stop attunement swapping.

Curunen.8729:

If ele got an elite spec that could focus on one or two elements at the expense of attunement swapping, I might be tempted to make an ele alt.

The main thing I’ve never liked about ele is the non-stop attunement swapping.

Well its just like swapping weapons. With tempest is you do not have to swap as much. Every 6-9sec depending on the situation.

An Ice spec elementalist would be interesting. Chill, vulnerability, cc but with attunement swaps it would be hard to make multiple single attunement spec per weapon. Our main hand weapons already have 12 skills, 20 with 2h weapons. If they made single attunement spec they would have to buff the skills for that attunement for each weapon or allow weapons swap; something like only buffed water attunement but with staff and D/F weapons skills. That is a lot of work and the balancing issues for one class.

Ele’s would still be subpar. Jack of all trades and a master of none (unless you’re a healbot which isn’t as great as it’s made out to think)

An elite where based on the element you currently have up- gives you a 100% bonus for that element whether it be damage or a condition dealt. So if you have water trait, it can freeze nearby enemies (much like the thiefs basilisk venom) And give you and nearby team a medium dealt heal boost. Fire elite causes everyone to recieve 10+ stacks of might and constant burning. Earth is aoe cripple and magnetic shields immediately and Air is a quick stun and aoe blindness with quickness to team. It sounds OP but the tempest elite should have worked something closer to this and not give you an Aura that only works if you’re critically hit (which you’re pretty much dead by the time you recieve the benefits) How about an elite that isn’t conditions met/ do a triple backflip to recieve a small bonus but an elite that is instant cast?

Chasind.3128:

Ele’s would still be subpar. Jack of all trades and a master of none (unless you’re a healbot which isn’t as great as it’s made out to think)

An elite where based on the element you currently have up- gives you a 100% bonus for that element whether it be damage or a condition dealt. So if you have water trait, it can freeze nearby enemies (much like the thiefs basilisk venom) And give you and nearby team a medium dealt heal boost. Fire elite causes everyone to recieve 10+ stacks of might and constant burning. Earth is aoe cripple and magnetic shields immediately and Air is a quick stun and aoe blindness with quickness to team. It sounds OP but the tempest elite should have worked something closer to this and not give you an Aura that only works if you’re critically hit (which you’re pretty much dead by the time you recieve the benefits) How about an elite that isn’t conditions met/ do a triple backflip to recieve a small bonus but an elite that is instant cast?

With that concept, I could see a specific [insert one of four attunements] spec that hinges on swapping to and from a specific element. However, making it a “choosable” decision which attunement that focuses on would have to be taken away from the player and given to the spec itself.

Brainstorming of my own, I think for the purpose of this elite spec, making a spec like a “Mirage” that has several methods of self-mitigation at the expense of support, healing and utility could be a possibility. To focus the spec, the mechanic would grant some sort of “Lich form” F5 that grants the self-mitigation and shifts depending on current attunement, however the spec has shortened swap cooldown for Water Attunement but gains specific effects for swapping to other attunements + their F5 effect with the cost of increased swap cooldown to those attunementes (fire, air, earth).

The weapon could be sword main-hand, greatsword, bow, etc and has a stronger focus on DPS while in water attunement with the other attunements focusing on other utilities such as movement and self-mitigation. This creates a rift of support, limiting the strength of support to allies through water attunement (if you organize the traits right) while siphoning off some of the strengths of the other attunements due to limited cooldowns. Other weapons would feel more hybrid-ish to allow for more utility within the attunements while the spec’s special weapon would specialize it to focus on high DPS and limited utility and group support. If the spec had a main-hand vs a two-hand, this could be further customized with off-hand selections. If you shore up weaknesses like self-mitigation through traits, the spec mechanic and weapons, you can leave the utility skills to sort of “shift” the other weapons’ hybrid nature to function within the spec’s perimeters (i.e. offering less support but better self-mitigation and damage). How this would all unfold, I’m unsure as to get a better picture, I’d need to write an outline of such a spec…

Thinking about chasind idea of 100% bonus for that attunement. Elementalist traits are related to specific attunements so an elite spec focused on enhancing attunements should be based on traits taken. So if you are Fire/Air you would only have access to those attunements but they will be buffed.

The minor traits would have to be improved with the elite trait line. The base trait for this elite should be something that would improve specific attunements over not a direct damage or heal increase. 50% increase to the minor adept trait lock out other attunements based on your trait line gain access to mace skills.

The minor master should effect the other minor master making them effect dodges 10s cd or so. If spec into arcane 15% attunement recharge would improve endurance. Arcane fury would give fury whenever you gain an endurance bar.

The minor grandmaster trait for this elite spec would buff or add conditions based on the normal condition that an attunement has. Something like: take reduce damage from a burning target, chilled targets can be frozen/broken if hit X times after they are chilled by you, proc torment whenever you hit a target that has 5 bleeds, or every 5 vulnerability causes blind. Frozen/broken would be a cc or damage.

Its easy to see how broken some spec would be when buffed this way. Its like a daredevil but more powerful support and AE skills from dodges. Its would be something like dodge AE electric discharge, dodge fire aura, dodge group buffs and with arcane traits dodges would give double cast abilities. This does not even cover the choose of traits the elite spec would have access too

Ulion.5476:

Its easy to see how broken some spec would be when buffed this way. Its like a daredevil but more powerful support and AE skills from dodges. Its would be something like dodge AE electric discharge, dodge fire aura, dodge group buffs and with arcane traits dodges would give double cast abilities. This does not even cover the choose of traits the elite spec would have access too

That’s probably why such an avenue is unlikely, not to mention the amount of combinations of traits that’d have to be balanced for (basically fire/plus another, air/plus another, water/plus another, earth/plus another and previous four/arcane). It’s simply asking too much on top of having extra heal/utility skills and more elite spec traits AND some sort of weapon/ its skills.

Further thinking on a spec, would it be better to write-up a spec that encapsulates our ideas to get garner more discussion on the topic? I think the ideas in the thread have merit.