Guild Wars 2

Hello all, just picked up this game and going to start playing tomorrow but can’t decide on which profession to start with. It’s probably going to be between engineer ranger or elemental. I’m planing on doing mostly wvw and don’t really care much about viability. It’s strange for me because I normally play the supports/tanks/healers in these games so it’s exciting to take a damage role.
Anyways as the topic says, convince me as to why I should play your profession ^^

I would say ele ecspecially with the new healing skill

Ele has a high learning curb but can be incredibly useful . You’ll like it cause you get good damage and good group heals .

Ranger, survivabilty and damage.

Play an Elementalist! No other class has the ability to pull of extremely complex combos and tactical moves with such little effect!

Your character will be proficient in summoning ferocious elementals that will have you watching in awe as they melt in the heat of an AOE fuelled battle!

You will never need to worry about people on the forums crying about how OP an Elementalists moves are!

You don’t need to spend excess money on two weapon sets as you swap attunements and not weapons!

Half of your moves are buggy? Not a problem! You have four times as many moves as most classes!

You are able to provide almost permanent swiftness to your entire party, this will help you to run away faster!

I am glad I had the opportunity to talk you into choosing this fantastic class, see you in game.

I’m sorry, but not understanding a class doesn’t make it underpowered.

Elementalists are one of the most wanted classes in PvE and group WvW. In PvE, a properly played and built elementalist outdamages warriors, almost matches thieves in terms of single-target damage, deals higher sustained AoE damage than thieves, and has the ability to keep up 16-25 stacks of might and permanent fury on a group alone. Elementalists can also be built to be hella hard to kill and be a very strong defensive support anchor for inexperienced groups, and are capable of taking down many bosses solo.

In WvW zerg battles, staff elementalists are indispensable to any organized group. They are a ready source of air fields (AoE swiftness with blast finishers), water fields (AoE healing with blasts and a vital lifeline for an organized zerg), and fire fields (AoE might). Coordinated staff eles can lock down chunks of zergs with their AoE CC abilities (some of the best AoE CC in the game) and nuke them with focused AoE damage. A staff ele can hit 6k+ per meteor with Meteor Shower. Elementalists can also run directly in the heart of the zerg with D/D and support allies with boons and healing while providing frontline AoE damage.

Elementalists never slot the elite elemental summons save for small battles- in PvE, Fiery Greatsword provides crazy burst, and in WvW, FGS burns down gates, while Tornado scatters zergs while multiplying your damage. In 1v1, elementalists have weaker offensive power, but good luck trying to kill a good ele- you can damage one down to 800 HP, and in the next instant, they’ll be fully healed and laughing. And over, and over, and over.

Now, the thing about elementalists is that they have an extremely high skill floor. You have the most tools out of every class, but you must memorize all of them and know which one to pick for each situation. You’ll always have something to do and constantly be thinking about what to do next. It’s a very fast-paced class, and the only way to master it is through practice. Lots of practice.

(Also, a. good eles will carry every weapon to match the circumstance, and b. I honestly can’t think of any ele weapon skill that’s bugged, let alone half. Yay hyperbole?)

I agree with ele. As for bugged skills though, LH and FB are bugged ATM unless they fixed it in the last patch. It goes to full cool down if interrupted, versus the typical 5 second CD after interruption. But that is it.

I love my elementalist, will never find a class I like more.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

I agree with ele. As for bugged skills though, LH and FB are bugged ATM unless they fixed it in the last patch. It goes to full cool down if interrupted, versus the typical 5 second CD after interruption. But that is it.

I love my elementalist, will never find a class I like more.

Patch notes say the following: Conjure Frost Bow, Conjure Flame Axe, and Conjure Lightning Hammer: These abilities will no longer go on full cooldown when interrupted.

I do know FGS is bugged underwater (though in a harmless way- you can summon it underwater where you couldn’t before, and though you won’t get the weapon, you’ll get the power boost), but that’s the only bugged skill I can think of aside from RTL occasionally not hitting targets (which I think is a terrain issue rather than an actual bug).

EDIT: To the OP, I forgot to ask- what kind of playstyle do you prefer? High-speed, or something more relaxed. Frontline or backline? And so on.

Falunel.7645:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

I agree with ele. As for bugged skills though, LH and FB are bugged ATM unless they fixed it in the last patch. It goes to full cool down if interrupted, versus the typical 5 second CD after interruption. But that is it.

I love my elementalist, will never find a class I like more.

Patch notes say the following: Conjure Frost Bow, Conjure Flame Axe, and Conjure Lightning Hammer: These abilities will no longer go on full cooldown when interrupted.

I do know FGS is bugged underwater (though in a harmless way- you can summon it underwater where you couldn’t before, and though you won’t get the weapon, you’ll get the power boost), but that’s the only bugged skill I can think of aside from RTL occasionally not hitting targets (which I think is a terrain issue rather than an actual bug).

Ah did not see that in the notes… But yeah. Not that many bugs for us. Love the elementalist! Now for trying to find a new build with the trait changes

Falunel.7645:

Yay hyperbole?

Falunel.7645:

EDIT: To the OP, I forgot to ask- what kind of playstyle do you prefer? High-speed, or something more relaxed. Frontline or backline? And so on.

Probably should have said that. I really like flexibility, being able to be melee or ranged, tanky or burst. I really don’t like being pinned down into only one viable play style. I like making my own builds even if they don’t make sense or aren’t the most effective. And I also tend to prefer to play more reactively, see what they do and try and counter instead of going to a fight and hitting the same buttons hoping they die.

Thanks for all the replies ! Lots of elementals.

I’d recommend starting with a ranger at least until you get a feel for how the combat system works. If you don’t like it, then you can move to another class already having learned the “basics”.

Elementalists have a high skill floor (as someone already said I think), and engineers have a rather high skill ceiling. Starting with one of these and not picking up on the strengths of these classes quickly may deceive you into thinking the game is hard. That being said, my main is an elementalist, it was my first char and I don’t regret it at all. I found the challenge very enjoyable.