Guild Wars 2

Hello guys. I have been playing GW2 a lot lately and really enjoying it. The only thing I can’t seem to be happy with is finding the right profession to work on for a great build. I used most of the professions in the game.

What I am looking to do is get a profession that allows me to hit hard with some magic. Not guardian type magic though elemental style magic.

I have been thinking about a mesmer or just working on my guardian. I am really stuck and would your help guys

What about an Elementalist?

Try it and just seems like it can’t any damage. Seems very soft. Or should I work on that harder.

The first question I have is what part of the game are you most focused on? PvE? WvW? Something else?

jknrich.1549:

Try it and just seems like it can’t any damage. Seems very soft. Or should I work on that harder.

Ele in early PvE is very hard on new players. It can’t stand and take hits like warrior or guardian, so you must stay mobile, learning how to use controls to keep the enemy away while dodging at the right times. Combine this with attunement swap and you have a very difficult class.

Once you do learn how to survive and use attunements, though, it becomes one of the toughest classes in the game. I died quite a bit when starting out, but several months later I can solo champions and AC story (first dungeon).

Overall, what kind of playstyle do you like? I will warn that if you choose to go the nigh-unkillable bunker route on ele, you won’t hit nearly as hard as other classes.

All previous rpg I played as a kinda ele style character. I been using a ranger and have loved the attacking from a distance. Maybe I should re look at ele and give it another go. Does it matter what race you choose or is race not really important. Also a good fire/earth ele would be good.

Race is not important.

With elementalist, you have the following weapon choices:

-Dagger (mainhand or offhand): Often referred to as the ele’s melee weapon, though this is partly incorrect- it is actually a short-range (250-400) weapon. Mobility is key to using daggers. Kiting is not only possible with daggers, but very important- you must use the maximum range of your skills while using movement controls (water 3, earth 2) to keep your enemy from reaching you. Daggers also have a good number of movement skills (fire 3, air 4, earth 3) that can be used to catch fleeing enemies or escape to recover.

-Scepter (mainhand only): Mid-ranged weapon (900). In contrast to dagger, scepter lends well to situations with less mobility. In fact, many of scepter’s attacks will not hit if the enemy is moving around. Fire 2, fire 3, water 2, water 3, and earth 3 all have a delay between the time they are cast and the time they activate, with fire 2 and earth 3 being the worst offenders. To make up for lack of mobility, scepter has two blinds (both on a relatively short cooldown) and a defensive boost in earth 2.

-Focus (offhand only): Like scepter, focus lends well to situations with less mobility, though it can also be used effectively on the move as well. Focus is almost purely defensive, with the majority of its skills oriented towards disrupting/slowing the enemy or blocking attacks rather than dealing damage. Notable focus skills are air 4, an AoE projectile blocker that lasts 6 seconds, and earth 5, a three-second invulnerability that does not interrupt you. It is possible to negate almost all of a ranged enemy’s attacks using focus, by cycling through the controls and blocks- however, this requires precise timing and is not as effective on champions and above.

-Staff (two-handed): The longest-ranged weapon, at 1200. It possesses many large, ground-targeted AoEs- AoE damage, yes, but also AoE healing and AoE controls. It also has the greatest variety of combo fields. For this reason, staff is arguably the best weapon for group support, and is invaluable in WvW keep defense/assault. It is possible to solo with staff, but difficult due to a lower damage output and longer cooldowns.

Due to having attunements, elementalists cannot weapon swap. As a result, you’re stuck in one optimal range until you leave combat. Keep that in mind when you’re choosing a set to focus on. Another difference is that, without a pet or heavy armor, you’ll have to learn how to avoid damage and stay mobile from the onset.

Finally, in order to be effective, elementalists must use ALL attunements regardless of their traits. Attunement swapping will both maximize your damage and keep you alive. For the easier encounters, it is all right to stay in one or two attunements, but in the harder content, you will find yourself needing all four.