Guild Wars 2

Am I the only one who has a hard time playing Elementalist?

I multiclass… and to me, Elementalist is the hardest class to play. Hands down… followed by Thief. But Ele is way harder.

D/D… I can’t kill anything.
Staff… It’s waaaaay easier bunkering on my Guardian so I don’t see the point. Staff Ele is also hard for me to play. I can’t get the whole combo thing.
S/F Fresh air FEELS a lot better because my attacks in Air attunement feel like they are actually doing damage but I melt whenever someone looks at me funny.
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I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that Ele and Thief might not be the classes for me, but I was wondering if there was anyone else out there who find Ele really difficult to play well?

I don’t play ele at a top level, but had no issues getting the standard builds up to an at least acceptable level.

Pro tip: Take the time to read the skill tool tips and familiarize yourself with where those skills are. Play, and in time you’ll begin to associate atunement swapping to the skills you need based on your relative needs at that time.

Also ele makes for a good skill spam class, so its pretty easy to pick up and just mash away like you’ve got boiled potatoes in a pot ;D

It will be very easy when you get used to it. And in the higher tiers it will be horribly hard again, against opponents who know and read an elementalist will be your worst nightmare. But it is fun, just endure a little more. I love celestial staff, the build that no one likes or respects, but you can try it if you want.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Pro tip: Take the time to read the skill tool tips and familiarize yourself with where those skills are. Play, and in time you’ll begin to associate atunement swapping to the skills you need based on your relative needs at that time.

Also ele makes for a good skill spam class, so its pretty easy to pick up and just mash away like you’ve got boiled potatoes in a pot ;D

I know where all the skills are, and I have everything keybound. I just don’t feel effective when I play Ele.

Spamming the skills doesn’t work.

Maybe all the people I play against are just really really good? I’m not sure but I don’t find Ele to be effective at all.

Never saw what the big fuss was over DD ele. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Shrug.

http://www.twitch.tv/phantaram copy what that dude is doing. he’s doing the thing eles should be doing

I don’t play casters because they make me bored, so I can’t give you any ele advice beyond how to not die in a zerg fight on full zerk ele.

I cannot play Ele to save my life either (D/D). It’s weird trying to maximize the might rotations while reacting and using skills you need. Ofc I have like maybe 10 hours on ele.

I do have a 100% win ratio on it though since I’ve only done one unranked game on it. Held a 2v1 at far on skyhammer for over 150 points (pre latest balance patch) by using mostly fire skills and then water when I got low.

I was a button mashing hero.

I can’t do fresh air well either but in WvW staff seemed much easier to acclimate to.

I’m with you Jasher. I play all eight professions, and I never have any difficulties picking any of them, except elementalist. It’s a matter of play style I guess. I only ever play kiting builds (mesmer, engineer, etc.), maybe that’s why I can’t even play d/d.

pre patch d/d ele was actually the celestial class with the lowest dps. now after the patch pyro d/d can hit for a decent amount but your main damage comes from smart burns that can tick for 2k/s.

I feel the same way about engi for some reason. Hardest class for me by a decent margin though the forums seem to think it is faceroll easy mode.

I had the most problems picking up Engineer and Mesmer (before patch), so it really is subjective to an extent.

I will say however, generally in terms of consistency the often most hard to learn professions are Ele, Engi, Mes and Thief. Some do deviate from this, however, I find this to be the most common occurrence.

PistolWhip.2697:

I had the most problems picking up Engineer and Mesmer (before patch), so it really is subjective to an extent.

I will say however, generally in terms of consistency the often most hard to learn professions are Ele, Engi, Mes and Thief. Some do deviate from this, however, I find this to be the most common occurrence.

I’ve played Mesmer for a long time so it comes really easy to me.

Jasher.6580:

PistolWhip.2697:

I had the most problems picking up Engineer and Mesmer (before patch), so it really is subjective to an extent.

I will say however, generally in terms of consistency the often most hard to learn professions are Ele, Engi, Mes and Thief. Some do deviate from this, however, I find this to be the most common occurrence.

I’ve played Mesmer for a long time so it comes really easy to me.

I didn’t say it was a rule, it is just the most common 4. With me I started on Thief when the game launched so I have never found it hard either, but some people do.

Hm, I dunno. The difficulty of the specs from lowest to highest imo:

1. Cele staff
2. Cele d/d, d/f
3. Fresh air

I can understand people might be having issues getting into the class, but I feel like that’s just about getting used to it. I wouldn’t say playing cele ele is hard, you definitely need to learn some things, but you can be very effective even on lower skill level. Fresh air on the other hand is not easy to play at all. While some of your damage is instant, you’re simply very squishy. Landing some of the skills also takes practice and being effective on that spec takes more effort than d/d. But after all, I’d say it’s all about practice.

Personally I don’t find either Elementalist or Engineer that hard. Maybe their Zerk builds, but D/D ele was very easy to pick up and play at decent level.

Maybe that’s because I used to play classes in MMOs with 50+ keybinds and simply managing more buttons and rotation isn’t anything harder than using burst Warrior mechanic for me.

You are absolutely bad at counting dodges if you think Ele is hard. That’s like literally all you need to pay attention to on Ele, and surviving is easy.

Thief is hard in a different way, it’s easy to land attacks but it’s not that easy to survive with all the cleave happening.

Ele requires a large amount of muscle memory for the many choices it faces, multiclassing may be your main opponent.

Jasher.6580:

PistolWhip.2697:

I had the most problems picking up Engineer and Mesmer (before patch), so it really is subjective to an extent.

I will say however, generally in terms of consistency the often most hard to learn professions are Ele, Engi, Mes and Thief. Some do deviate from this, however, I find this to be the most common occurrence.

I’ve played Mesmer for a long time so it comes really easy to me.

I think it REALLY comes down to your mindset as a player, and ele has a VERY different mindset. I can understand why fresh-air ele makes more “sense” to you, coming from maining a mesmer, as the classes play very similarly. You have great dps with range, and only get in close at certain times, while relying mostly on range/kiting to survive with only a few longer-CD defensive skills. The burst play-style revolves heavily around pushing out a LOT of damage quickly to put your opponent in a defensive position. It is very different playing against an opponent who has to be defensive versus one who is able to go HAM more often.

Cele ele (d/d, staff, s/x) is a tank build, and relies on stacking a lot of little defenses (prot, auras, projectile blocks, soft cc) with frequent heals to stay alive. However, because your offensive pressure is lower, you are stuck playing defensively more often while your opponent can be more offensive for most of the fight. This requires a completely different mindset and understanding of how to best mitigate damage while focused, or disengage when the pressure gets too high (and before it is already too late).

Personally, as an ele main, I find playing a thief quite challenging (due to more reliance on many ports, blinds, interrupts, stealth) because it is very different to ele. Meanwhile, Mesmer feels much more natural after playing fresh-air ele for a long time.

I am really trying to understand why people say Ele’s are OP or faceroll. I have been trying and for the life of me, I can’t get it to work. I’ve been playing Dagger Dagger Ele with the build from metabattle and watched Phantaram’s might stacking video…

I feel weak playing Ele.

Why do people say it is OP?

Jasher.6580:

I am really trying to understand why people say Ele’s are OP or faceroll. I have been trying and for the life of me, I can’t get it to work. I’ve been playing Dagger Dagger Ele with the build from metabattle and watched Phantaram’s might stacking video…

I feel weak playing Ele.

Why do people say it is OP?

Because “play style difficulty” and “relative class power” are 2 different and unrelated things. And the problem with the class is the latter not the former.

Apolo.5942:

Jasher.6580:

I am really trying to understand why people say Ele’s are OP or faceroll. I have been trying and for the life of me, I can’t get it to work. I’ve been playing Dagger Dagger Ele with the build from metabattle and watched Phantaram’s might stacking video…

I feel weak playing Ele.

Why do people say it is OP?

Because “play style difficulty” and “relative class power” are 2 different and unrelated things. And the problem with the class is the latter not the former.

Well if what you’re saying has any merit to it, it poses and even greater problem. If a novice player is having a hard time being effective with Ele, and they nerf it based on professional execution then the casual to intermediate players will feel even weaker than they currently do.

Jasher.6580:

Apolo.5942:

Jasher.6580:

I am really trying to understand why people say Ele’s are OP or faceroll. I have been trying and for the life of me, I can’t get it to work. I’ve been playing Dagger Dagger Ele with the build from metabattle and watched Phantaram’s might stacking video…

I feel weak playing Ele.

Why do people say it is OP?

Because “play style difficulty” and “relative class power” are 2 different and unrelated things. And the problem with the class is the latter not the former.

Well if what you’re saying has any merit to it, it poses and even greater problem. If a novice player is having a hard time being effective with Ele, and they nerf it based on professional execution then the casual to intermediate players will feel even weaker than they currently do.

Yes they likely will and no that is not a problem, if you cant execute the class mechanics, nerfs and opness not the real issue with you playing that class.
Also class mechanics can always be revised if they are exceedingly complex, much like the revenant now having access to 2 weapons instead of the original 1.

Jasher.6580:

Apolo.5942:

Jasher.6580:

I am really trying to understand why people say Ele’s are OP or faceroll. I have been trying and for the life of me, I can’t get it to work. I’ve been playing Dagger Dagger Ele with the build from metabattle and watched Phantaram’s might stacking video…

I feel weak playing Ele.

Why do people say it is OP?

Because “play style difficulty” and “relative class power” are 2 different and unrelated things. And the problem with the class is the latter not the former.

Well if what you’re saying has any merit to it, it poses and even greater problem. If a novice player is having a hard time being effective with Ele, and they nerf it based on professional execution then the casual to intermediate players will feel even weaker than they currently do.

That’s correct! The truth is that at the lowest skill level, out of all classes…the new ele player would never win a single fight

Apolo.5942:

Jasher.6580:

Apolo.5942:

Jasher.6580:

I am really trying to understand why people say Ele’s are OP or faceroll. I have been trying and for the life of me, I can’t get it to work. I’ve been playing Dagger Dagger Ele with the build from metabattle and watched Phantaram’s might stacking video…

I feel weak playing Ele.

Why do people say it is OP?

Because “play style difficulty” and “relative class power” are 2 different and unrelated things. And the problem with the class is the latter not the former.

Well if what you’re saying has any merit to it, it poses and even greater problem. If a novice player is having a hard time being effective with Ele, and they nerf it based on professional execution then the casual to intermediate players will feel even weaker than they currently do.

Yes they likely will and no that is not a problem, if you cant execute the class mechanics, nerfs and opness not the real issue with you playing that class.
Also class mechanics can always be revised if they are exceedingly complex, much like the revenant now having access to 2 weapons instead of the original 1.

It is a problem. Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EitZRLt2G3w

there was staff ele that won tourneys…. and they are a clicker… just saying~

You see Jasher, you are a tiny dancer and you need to make the ele dance through it’s rotation. Sometimes you have to change your dance based on the class you are dancing with. Sometimes you miss step in your dance and the rotation is messed up, so you need to reset or try to get back in the “groove”. But overall ele DD is a sustain build so you won’t really kill quickly and just work on your might stacks and keep burning up.
There is really no other point in playing other builds, maybe DF, but its almost the same as DD. Staff and SF can work but other classes do what they can better and survive better. Best of luck my friend.

Morderger.6298:

You see Jasher, you are a tiny dancer and you need to make the ele dance through it’s rotation. Sometimes you have to change your dance based on the class you are dancing with. Sometimes you miss step in your dance and the rotation is messed up, so you need to reset or try to get back in the “groove”. But overall ele DD is a sustain build so you won’t really kill quickly and just work on your might stacks and keep burning up.
There is really no other point in playing other builds, maybe DF, but its almost the same as DD. Staff and SF can work but other classes do what they can better and survive better. Best of luck my friend.

You sir are a very good dancer. Keep dancing!

Morderger.6298:

You see Jasher, you are a tiny dancer and you need to make the ele dance through it’s rotation. Sometimes you have to change your dance based on the class you are dancing with. Sometimes you miss step in your dance and the rotation is messed up, so you need to reset or try to get back in the “groove”. But overall ele DD is a sustain build so you won’t really kill quickly and just work on your might stacks and keep burning up.
There is really no other point in playing other builds, maybe DF, but its almost the same as DD. Staff and SF can work but other classes do what they can better and survive better. Best of luck my friend.

This is not strictly true but it mostly is. I have been playing cele staff for 3 years in wvw/gvg and spvp and I am very good with the build. I know every skill intimately and I can mostly stay alive in 1v2 situations against some specs indefinitely. The only class I have a problem with in spvp is power mesmer because they can almost one shot me from stealth. Same with thief but then after they don’t one shot me they continually run into all my CC and die.

D/D is probably the better build but it really depends on the pilot. I sometimes get kitten for playing cele staff but then I watch the people giving me kitten die from a lack of actual knowledge of their class/build and then also dying from an almost complete lack of situational awareness.

IDK where I am going with this other than to point our that yes, D/D is the “meta” but a really good staff brings a totally different ballgame to a match with tons more utility and cc.

To the OP, to get good at ele you are going to need to use that internal clock you have on every other class with weapon swap and memorize 4 weapons worth of cds. For me the easiest class to play after ele is engie because they have quite similar mechanics.

I started doing PvP in December after having played PvE since beta. In PvE I main Mesmer, but after trying Tradition Shatter and Double Ranged Shatter, I hated playing it in PvP. The other class I frequently ran in PvE was Elementalist for ease in Ascalonian Catacombs, so I decided try running Celestial D/D, and it just clicked with me in PvP, so I’ve been maining it ever since.

Jasher.6580:

Apolo.5942:

Jasher.6580:

Apolo.5942:

Jasher.6580:

I am really trying to understand why people say Ele’s are OP or faceroll. I have been trying and for the life of me, I can’t get it to work. I’ve been playing Dagger Dagger Ele with the build from metabattle and watched Phantaram’s might stacking video…

I feel weak playing Ele.

Why do people say it is OP?

Because “play style difficulty” and “relative class power” are 2 different and unrelated things. And the problem with the class is the latter not the former.

Well if what you’re saying has any merit to it, it poses and even greater problem. If a novice player is having a hard time being effective with Ele, and they nerf it based on professional execution then the casual to intermediate players will feel even weaker than they currently do.

Yes they likely will and no that is not a problem, if you cant execute the class mechanics, nerfs and opness not the real issue with you playing that class.
Also class mechanics can always be revised if they are exceedingly complex, much like the revenant now having access to 2 weapons instead of the original 1.

It is a problem. Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EitZRLt2G3w

Yes that is his opinion and he is entitled to be wrong, what is your point?.

It has very high survivability. It’s not OP at all. I play ele. I’m not pro but I feel it’s effective.

ele is mad strong. you should have some sort of cele ele on your team tbh. maybe even two.

I feel more effective on a 60 game d/d ele than on my 2500 game Ranger or 1200 game necro. Maybe it’s because I like close quarters melee/hybrid combat but really, ele (d/d in particular) just feels like easymode with spam heals, close to 70-80% protection uptime, and burst mobility.

I have no idea what I’m doing wrong then… I am having a rough time.

D/D Cele Ele has a huge skill gap compared to most classes. The better Eles basically roll through attunements skills every 3 seconds and faceroll their skills half a second in between, gaining might stacks and dealing damage at the same time.

The best Eles actually know which attunement to switch at any given time depending on the situation, while also able to kite and hold a 1v2 as if they were a bunker class.

Jasher.6580:

I have no idea what I’m doing wrong then… I am having a rough time.

Maybe you are rolling your face from right to left rather then from left to right across the keyboard?

I KEEEED!

I multi-class too.

Guardian – [Sword / Torch] [Staff]
Elementalist – [Scepter / Focus]
Thief – [Dagger / Pistol] [Short Bow]
Necro – [Axe/Warhorn][Dagger/Warhorn]

In terms of Elementalist, I also play in the Fresh air style. It took a few games for me to get my muscle memory accustomed to a layout every time I switched weapon sets. (Transitioned from D/D → S/D → S/F) Each time was rather difficult, and found one of the best ways to practice switching is to practice against Savnir and Chiefton. After you defeat one of the beasts in the PVP lobby, turn around and try not to anticipate the beast’s respawn until he hits you then try to recover from the attack. This will train up your awareness and force you learn to survive without ruining a match. Alternatively, you can PVE with your PVP build to get use to the multiple functions and combos you can create.

The same goes with Thief. I built a meta thief before the skill update and it took me a long time to get comfortable with the play style. I started with d/d then moved to p/p before settling with d/p. Like before, I would turn my back to the beasts and have them attack me. (Try surviving without stealth, then with stealth, then with teleports, ETC) However, utilizing the shortbow was a different story. The short bow has many uses, but usually it’s a form of travel for the thief. There are many little shortcuts on the map that you can use the short bow 5 skill on. (For instance, in The Battle of Kyloh, you can skill 5 to the ledge on the clock tower from the ground.) Running around PvE environments and trying to kill things with a shortbow is a good way to practice, but with thief it’s all about maximizing your mobility outside, and inside of battle.

Hope that helps.

Update, still trying to get in the groove of Ele. Is it normal to be hard countered by Necromancers?

I have a hard time against Thieves, DPS Guardians and Mesmers BUT I always lose 1 v 1 against Necromancers.

Jasher.6580:

Update, still trying to get in the groove of Ele. Is it normal to be hard countered by Necromancers?

I have a hard time against Thieves, DPS Guardians and Mesmers BUT I always lose 1 v 1 against Necromancers.

I think only a mesmer counters an ele in this meta.

Photinous.4628:

Jasher.6580:

Update, still trying to get in the groove of Ele. Is it normal to be hard countered by Necromancers?

I have a hard time against Thieves, DPS Guardians and Mesmers BUT I always lose 1 v 1 against Necromancers.

I think only a mesmer counters an ele in this meta.

How do you 1v1 a Necro successfully as Ele?

Jasher.6580:

Photinous.4628:

Jasher.6580:

Update, still trying to get in the groove of Ele. Is it normal to be hard countered by Necromancers?

I have a hard time against Thieves, DPS Guardians and Mesmers BUT I always lose 1 v 1 against Necromancers.

I think only a mesmer counters an ele in this meta.

How do you 1v1 a Necro successfully as Ele?

I don’t play ele much but I would recommend saving your water attunement and cleansing fire for when they transfer your burning back. Also try and dodge dark path when they go into shroud since the chill will really hurt you. Otherwise, you should be able to out sustain their damage and your damage should be higher as long as you don’t get burned by your own condis. Necros only have 2-3 transfers so they shouldn’t be able to last very long under continued condi pressure.

duster.7013:

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Bro.

I picked up S/F. Played it for a while. Loved it. Didn’t do well at it. Played marauder static discharge engi. Never looking back ever again. If you loved S/F, engi is your next move OP.

I’m still having a really rough time facing Necro’s and DPS Guardians.

no, you’re not the only one.

it has been 3 years and i can’t play elementalist well even in hotjoin.
followed by thief.

other professions i still can find some success.

Ele is the only thing I do not have to 80. I love the idea and animations, but cannot play it.

To those having trouble playing a d/d ele w/ water/arcana/X
Burning speed > Ring of Fire > Earth EA dodge > Magnetic grap (leap if you are in a good place to do so) > Frozen Burst > Lightning Touch > Air AA
Rinse, repeat.
This is your basic rotation through the elements, it gives you your might and provides good defense. Earth dagger 2 blocks projectiles. Do this while you are in combat, even if your enemy isn’t in range, and it gives you a good stack of might + fury + regen etc to fight with.
Obviously you have to do more than just mindlessly rotate with this, but it’s a good base to work from.

Have fun!

Ele is so easy to play at higher levels, it will make you lazy.

S/f about 2 years ago was hard, but this D/D meta? It’s just the same rotations, occasionally combined with lightning flash.

I don’t understand how you’re struggling to kill.. Every 10 seconds there’s fire attunement, which stacks burning, and there’s air AA to combine that with (strongest AA scaling in the game?).