Guild Wars 2

The latest blog post says Elementalist Sceptre (and focus) will be receiving quality of life improvements. This is great, but for the sceptre, it lacks DAMAGING AUTOATTACKS. Having mostly single target tickle beams is what kills this weapon.

Fine. Get rid of the instant-cast stuff first.

It needs damage on all skills and speed on dragon tooth.

I still think Tempest needs a trait that changes the Scepter range to 1200 when wielding a warhorn. That way it could be used in WvW.

Impact.2780:

Fine. Get rid of the instant-cast stuff first.

Well this is what needs to happen. Technically, it needs more sustain, the burst is fine, but it needs to be more visible.

Scepter Ele is an unfortunate critter by design because without an actual “rebalance” of the tool kit, both buffs and nerfs, then it could easily get out of hand for spiking people down, especially with focus.

That said, I’d love to see Scepter Ele become a more respectable and viable option. Kinda sick of daggers. :P

The autoattack cast time is too long, without any good benefits. The damage is too low calling it wet noodles is actually an insult to noodles.

Impact.2780:

Fine. Get rid of the instant-cast stuff first.

Why? That has not been viable in PvP for months.

Xillllix.3485:

It needs damage on all skills and speed on dragon tooth.

I still think Tempest needs a trait that changes the Scepter range to 1200 when wielding a warhorn. That way it could be used in WvW.

Wth…

Axialbloom.8109:

Impact.2780:

Fine. Get rid of the instant-cast stuff first.

Why? That has not been viable in PvP for months.

If the damage is bumped up, it becomes extremely hard to deal with, because it cannot be evaded except by prediction.

not only does ele scepter need many good changes.. faster autos, more damage on lightning strike + making it dodgeable, shatterstone a chill field (i have made countless posts about that)

but dps ele also needs a role.

no matter what changes you’re going to give scepter and air traits, if there are other builds that can do the same + have an additional benefit for the team scepter dps ele will never be viable.

fresh air ele always used to be the neglected stepbrother of shatter mesmers which had access to boonrips, aoe stealth and portal.

cut the autoattacks’ cast times. it’s DPS increase by proxy and it helps make the weapon not feel clunky as hell.

then start wondering why half the skills on the kit are so bad.

Cecilia.5179:

Axialbloom.8109:

Impact.2780:

Fine. Get rid of the instant-cast stuff first.

Why? That has not been viable in PvP for months.

If the damage is bumped up, it becomes extremely hard to deal with, because it cannot be evaded except by prediction.

Cynz.9437:

Cecilia.5179:

Axialbloom.8109:

Impact.2780:

Fine. Get rid of the instant-cast stuff first.

Why? That has not been viable in PvP for months.

If the damage is bumped up, it becomes extremely hard to deal with, because it cannot be evaded except by prediction.

2 instant casts. Both in air attunment and one of them is just a single target blind. This also happens to be the only attunement where people are relatively satisfied with, aside from the auto which sucks in every attunement.

Of coursel, scepter needs more than just damage. It needs defensive plays and cc. right now it has blinds and that’s it.

Jekkt.6045:

fresh air ele always used to be the neglected stepbrother of shatter mesmers which had access to boonrips, aoe stealth and portal.

At a couple different times, it was kind of close to shatter mesmer:
1. When RtL had a 15s CD, it fell in-between thief and mesmer in terms of spike-damage with high mobility. RtL got neutered, taking away the only real form of defense this build had.
2. For a little while before the specialization update, s/f fresh air ele was like an equally-slow shatter mesmer, but one that could stand up against condition pressure better due to water-swaps and focus cleanse. It was still worse than mesmer and not taken seriously, but it was close. Nowadays, due to power-creep shatter mesmer can have way more cleanse Ez-pz (inspiration line instantly gives access to way more cleanse), while also having superior team support (alacrity + portal), boon strip (depending on build) and survivability due to stealth (which is superior to invulns when you are a spike build).

For fresh air ele to become a thing, mesmer would need some nerfs, or perhaps OH dagger would need some mobility buffs.

Something everyone is also forgetting:

The auto attacks need to not require a target to use otherwise any form of stealth class will shut it down very easily, especially if they keep the majority of the AoE as it is. Long and visible wind up which you’d have to be blind not to be able to walk out of.

Cecilia.5179:

Axialbloom.8109:

Impact.2780:

Fine. Get rid of the instant-cast stuff first.

Why? That has not been viable in PvP for months.

If the damage is bumped up, it becomes extremely hard to deal with, because it cannot be evaded except by prediction.

Auto-attacks…

BlackBeard.2873:

Nowadays, due to power-creep shatter mesmer can have way more cleanse Ez-pz (inspiration line instantly gives access to way more cleanse), while also having superior team support (alacrity + portal), boon strip (depending on build) and survivability due to stealth (which is superior to invulns when you are a spike build).

For fresh air ele to become a thing, mesmer would need some nerfs, or perhaps OH dagger would need some mobility buffs.

As a Mesmer you have to decide wether you want to have team alacrity, personal mobility trough blink or stealth(with decoy, otherwise you have 3 seconds with torch which has a higher cd than most reveals) since you only have 3 utility slots.
The well is just impractical then since you now only have one stunbreaker and if you want any stealth you don’t have shield either which means standing even close to a teamfights is pretty much instant death, so you have to chose between alacrity for you or the team.
And if the thief buffs are actually impactful that build would be nothing but dog food for thieves.
Fitting boon strips into the build means you have to take domination but without deceptive evasion, which you now can’t take, your clone generation is pretty poor and with that the boon strip from rending shatter aswell, atleast compared to the current boon spam.

I don’t think the right way to make scepter ele viable is to nerf shatter Mesmer, a build that isn’t even used in the current meta. Scepter ele should not aim for exactly the same role. You should rather focus on the difference between power ele and Mesmer, like the eles aoe condi cleanses, heals and access to boons like protection, while the Mesmer brings utility with Moa and portal.
With stealth and more teleports Mesmers should be better at +1 ing, bursting and boon strips, the ele should be better at even fights direct support, fighting on point and aoe damage.

apharma.3741:

Something everyone is also forgetting:

The auto attacks need to not require a target to use otherwise any form of stealth class will shut it down very easily, especially if they keep the majority of the AoE as it is. Long and visible wind up which you’d have to be blind not to be able to walk out of.

Then air needs to stop being channeled because it follows you in stealth very well.

Cynz.9437:

apharma.3741:

Something everyone is also forgetting:

The auto attacks need to not require a target to use otherwise any form of stealth class will shut it down very easily, especially if they keep the majority of the AoE as it is. Long and visible wind up which you’d have to be blind not to be able to walk out of.

Then air needs to stop being channeled because it follows you in stealth very well.

Well air actually air auto can say you only the direction where your target is, only with fire sigil proc you can see exactly where enemy is. And if a target is already stealthed it is useless. But im fine if air 1 will stop to track stealthed enemy if scepter will get something back

Cynz.9437:

apharma.3741:

Something everyone is also forgetting:

The auto attacks need to not require a target to use otherwise any form of stealth class will shut it down very easily, especially if they keep the majority of the AoE as it is. Long and visible wind up which you’d have to be blind not to be able to walk out of.

Then air needs to stop being channeled because it follows you in stealth very well.

To be honest arc lightening is so underwhelming in both damage, ramp up and everything else I honestly would change the entire skill tbh.

Turn it into something similar to Diablo 2 chain lightening or lightening (obviously not quite as ludicrously powerful) where it fires a bolt of lightening that bounces to 2 more enemies or just pierces 2 enemies in a line.

Arc Lightning is the best skill for being interrupted, though!

Fresh air doesn’t need added damage to auto attacks… Why do you guys even want that? The reason I enjoyed fresh air was how fast you could rotate and combo your skills. Also it doesn’t need more sustain.. You throw on water and arcane and you have more then enough, the problem with fresh air is a few things. First, they took all the damage out of air, you literally gain 0 damage from that trait line. Second, there are a lot of skills that are just unfortunately useless. And as someone said earlier they really don’t offer anything to a team, other than the ability to one shot, and reflects I guess. Oh and also zerker eles low hp pool is really hard to deal with, I know that’s a tough one too address though. Oh and lack of mobility

Sceptre, not fresh air.

apharma.3741:

Something everyone is also forgetting:

The auto attacks need to not require a target to use otherwise any form of stealth class will shut it down very easily, especially if they keep the majority of the AoE as it is. Long and visible wind up which you’d have to be blind not to be able to walk out of.

I remember when the forums told eles to equip a staff in their oother weapon slot, and change to it to AoE thieves. Ahh, good times…good times.

Jekkt.6045:

not only does ele scepter need many good changes.. faster autos, more damage on lightning strike + making it dodgeable, shatterstone a chill field (i have made countless posts about that)

but dps ele also needs a role.

no matter what changes you’re going to give scepter and air traits, if there are other builds that can do the same + have an additional benefit for the team scepter dps ele will never be viable.

fresh air ele always used to be the neglected stepbrother of shatter mesmers which had access to boonrips, aoe stealth and portal.

You mean thief, shatter mesmer is unviable with incoming thief dps buff.

Playing solely s/d on my ele, I’m not pro but I have a huge amount of experience with scepter.
The only way to do reasonable damage is do might stack hard using ring of fire.
Your heavy hitters need to be comboed really well between attunements and timed very well due to might duration. I can’t see tempest working well with scepter as is since its strengths, albeit small strengths are in attunement switching
Base ele with arcane is really helpful to be able to switch attunements when you need to in order to do what you need to.

You have to also be right up in melee range to do any damage, otherwise at range, your abilities will not hit and the only ones that will hit are the bad autos.

With celestial you have pretty reasonable defense for those unsure about scepter defenses, combined with dagger cc’s, however with celestial you pretty much need really high might stacks to become an actual threat, otherwise you’re just there as support which unless you’re a tempest, is pretty pointless.
You will have to run full cantrips to survive with a scepter, and the might removal from cantrips hurt scepter hard.

Autoattack buffs would help significant to apply general pressure but so many more skills need to be tweaked to be worth casting, shatterstone is the most obvious example, 5% vuln with miniscule damage and a long burst time? You’ll do more damage with the crappy autoattack.

Scepter fire abilities are reasonable tied with dagger, large potential for might stacks, dragons tooth ground target was a QoL godsend but even still if it hits, it packs less of a punch than most classes heavy hitter abilities, freakin UA which targets and evades hits harder. Not to single them out but a the DH bow 2 skill hits just as if not harder, and is player targeted.
Dragons tooth atm is only used for its blast finisher, cant really bait a dodge even unless the player isn’t great since they can just walk out of it.
Would do well to have a significant dmg increase since it is beyond obvious where it will hit , or reduce the damage a bit and make it a reliable dmg source.

Air auto needs work, the rest is ok.
Off topic but dagger RTL would benefit greatly from an evade during its cast. Too many times im getting burned down through that skill.

Earth could be so much more, rock barrier could be a few seconds block similar to a shield, or the shards from it could do more damage/poison/bleed and bump the toughness a bit. Or even heal the caster when the barrier shards hit a player?

Happy with the projectile finisher whirlwind blind unsure how to tune that if autos get buffed. If autos stay bad, maybe turn it into a short duration 1-2 pulse pbaoe blind minisandstorm?

Kind of excited to see what they’re doing with scepter, it can only get better.

I really think scepter need something more than simply increase of numbers. Surely they will be welcome ,but they will not change nothing.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Scepter-needs-more-than-damage/first#post5918770

Here some suggestion… I would like to see chilling pulses on shatterstone and earth 3 working as the same of warhorn 4 air, but insted pulling it could knock back (if the skill animation stay as it is, will be not hard to dodge, allowing counter play)

So you want fresh air to be new meta? srry ele is far too strong without another op build.

Ragnarox.9601:

So you want fresh air to be new meta? srry ele is far too strong without another op build.

We just want an viable dps spec for the Ele… And, if arenanet will touch our difensive abiliy like they said, we deserve it. And no one here is asking for an op build, and i really can’t say a way for a dps Ele being op. Maybe you can explain me that

Axialbloom.8109:

Sceptre, not fresh air.

Scepter is nothing without fresh air, imo.

Bitty.1409:

Axialbloom.8109:

Sceptre, not fresh air.

Scepter is nothing without fresh air, imo.

That’s the thing. We need to make Scepter viable without Fresh Air. If we tie the weapon to a trait line, then it kills so much build variety.

Sunshine.5014:

Bitty.1409:

Axialbloom.8109:

Sceptre, not fresh air.

Scepter is nothing without fresh air, imo.

That’s the thing. We need to make Scepter viable without Fresh Air. If we tie the weapon to a trait line, then it kills so much build variety.

I suppose I’m biased towards fresh air, I just think it fits so perfectly with scepter.

Jekkt.6045:

Profession Skills
Elementalist

• Flamestrike
  Cast time reduced from 1.25s to 0.5s. Burning duration reduced from 3s to 2s.

• Dragon’s Tooth
  Time for impact halved.

• Flamewall
  Duration decreased to 5s from 8s. Cooldown increased to 25s from 20s. Destroys projectiles and applies one might for 7s for each destroyed projectile.

• Ice Shards
  Added 4s of vulnerability per ice shard, resulting in a total of 3 stacks per auto attack.

• Shatterstone
  Increased cooldown from 2s to 25s. Removed vulnerability. Increased radius to 240 from 180. Added 1s of chill per pulse and a 1s stun on the final explosion. Increased damage by ~300%. currently crits for ~1500 on light golem.

• Freezing Gust
  Chills now aoe around the target, up to 3 targets.

• Comet
  Decreased cast time to 0.25s from 0.75s.

• Arc Lightning
  Sped up the duration to 2.25s from 3s.

• Lightning Strike
  Added a 0.75s delay before the skill hits its target. Added a visual effect to indicate which target will be hit: a small black cloud will appear over the target. Increased damage by ~250%. currently crits for ~2000 on light golem.

• Stone Shards
  Split up into individual stone shards. Cast time reduced to 0.25s from 1.25s. Base damage increased by ~50%. Bleeding duration reduced to 4s from 6s.

• Rock Barrier
  Increased duration to 60s from 30s.

Imo those are the scepter/focus changes that would put the weaponset into a top spot. of course utilities and traits also need changes.

Postign it here too so i will also add my opinion here.

I see scepter as a hybrid weapon not a pure power one. Also i see pushing lighning strike is to much.

My would be more this:
Fire: Decrease castign to 1s. Reduce direct damage 20%. (so its only a 5% boost and does more burn).

Dragon tooth: Decrese castign time to 1/2

Arc lightning: Lower channel would be great …

Shatterstone: Increased radius (240)

Stone shards: Faster aftercast and poison instead of bleed on the last hit (like necro)

Rock barrier: Permanent duration or 60s is also fine.

Dust devil: Instant cast.

Focus:
Reduce CD on fire shield to 30s and add 10s furry.

Reduce gust CD to 30

Make focus water 4 work like burning retreat but leaving an ice field insted fire field. Can be usede for evade, for blast an ice aura or as mobility tool