Guild Wars 2

I’ve been told that eles just plain suck, they got nerfed too hard and now cant really do anything in pvp unless your player skill is really high.

What are some tips that an ele should do/try to do in pvp?
Whats the most successful role as an ele right now?

I’ve tried glass cannon – doesn’t seem like I can pepper anyone unless I land every single one of my skill shots and even then it’s unlikely to kill them after which I die.

I’ve tried balance builds which don’t do anything

And I’ve tried tankier builds which don’t seem to prevent much.

I can’t seem to fight any class 1on1. So what exactly is our role?

Is ele ever going to be buffed again to a usable state or should I just not play sPvP at all?

roll a warrior or a guardian ….

I think only glass cannon ele is somewhat viable. Get your burst rotation right, this needs lot of practise. Work on you timing and positioning. Also make sure that you have proper build and equipment.

PierPiero.9142:

roll a warrior or a guardian ….

a wasted comment here.

Now, talking seriously about elementalists situation it really depends on your skill. Actually eles are the most skill based class (maybe togheter with thief, not 2# spam, and rangers, not spirit) since you need to know “what can you do” and “when do it”.

I suggest you to run a 0/30/10/20/10 build with scepter/dagger set and a balanced equip (about 1400 toughness, since you get 700 more from skill/trait, about 15-16k and 40% crit chance). Here you need only to learn how to swap and activate your “air burst” then you can kill everyone.
The difference is that while almost every class need skill on “how to face another class”, so you have to learn how to move and act against someone, eles have to learn how to deal their damage. Basically when other classes need skill to avoid anemy attacks eles need skill to deal damage and avoid enemies… it’s harder but not impossible (it took about 5 days to learn how to maximize burst, defense and support at the same time (remembert that 33% of your skills also creates combo fields).

i think that i still play this class only because it requires ton of mental quickness and variety in combo variety to be played (in an optimal way, of course).

Kjeldoran.3849:

PierPiero.9142:

roll a warrior or a guardian ….

a wasted comment here.

Now, talking seriously about elementalists situation it really depends on your skill. Actually eles are the most skill based class (maybe togheter with thief, not 2# spam, and rangers, not spirit) since you need to know “what can you do” and “when do it”.

I suggest you to run a 0/30/10/20/10 build with scepter/dagger set and a balanced equip (about 1400 toughness, since you get 700 more from skill/trait, about 15-16k and 40% crit chance). Here you need only to learn how to swap and activate your “air burst” then you can kill everyone.
The difference is that while almost every class need skill on “how to face another class”, so you have to learn how to move and act against someone, eles have to learn how to deal their damage. Basically when other classes need skill to avoid anemy attacks eles need skill to deal damage and avoid enemies… it’s harder but not impossible (it took about 5 days to learn how to maximize burst, defense and support at the same time (remembert that 33% of your skills also creates combo fields).

i think that i still play this class only because it requires ton of mental quickness and variety in combo variety to be played (in an optimal way, of course).

Engineers are harder.

And no, not the stupid grenade spam engies. Three-kit engies.

Just roll an other class till meta shifts or they buff staff.Maybe go full damage and fresh air with focus.Just try to think what you cna do to help the team the most you can with what you have..So no 1vs1s unless its something like engi which you can manage if you go burst and you know how to play etc.Play it safe,stay at range try maxing dps without dieing ,maybe bringing mist form so you can stomp at least and good luck

Engineers are harder.

And no, not the stupid grenade spam engies. Three-kit engies.

Eles are harder ..and no ,not the stupid serious builds.4 conjure eles :P
Seriously though, rolling between 20 skills with no pentaly and cooldown to prevent you from mindlessy switching kits was never any skillfull.Playing 3 kit engi and thinking it requires skill cause of the immediate access to many skills is the same as saying wow or any other many skills hotkey mmos requires massive skill
At least nades need to be aimed and at least the other classes need to think and chose wise when they swap a skillset

by rerolling a warrior.

Jatacid.3725:

What are some tips that an ele should do/try to do in pvp?

Is ele ever going to be buffed again to a usable state or should I just not play sPvP at all?

Play Guild Wars.
Ele` in gw2 has been bent over & not even bought a drink or flowers for the pleasure.

The only way to suck at being an elementalist is to NOT play it and wait for Arenanet to actually do something about the mediocre hp, unneccesary high CD(s), converting conjures into kits, removing dependence on Water/arcane, fixing the fire traits, reducing the cast time/activation time for scepter&staff skill such as dragon’s too, fixing Churning Earth, making each attuenement actually represent a different style.

But since all of that requires work and I know how Arenanet is averse to actually doing any real work, just reroll to any other class until Arenanet mans up and or looking at guild wars 1 just wait 6 years when the class eventually gets overhauled.

Avead.5760:

Just roll an other class till meta shifts or they buff staff.Maybe go full damage and fresh air with focus.Just try to think what you cna do to help the team the most you can with what you have..So no 1vs1s unless its something like engi which you can manage if you go burst and you know how to play etc.Play it safe,stay at range try maxing dps without dieing ,maybe bringing mist form so you can stomp at least and good luck

Engineers are harder.

And no, not the stupid grenade spam engies. Three-kit engies.

Eles are harder ..and no ,not the stupid serious builds.4 conjure eles :P
Seriously though, rolling between 20 skills with no pentaly and cooldown to prevent you from mindlessy switching kits was never any skillfull.Playing 3 kit engi and thinking it requires skill cause of the immediate access to many skills is the same as saying wow or any other many skills hotkey mmos requires massive skill
At least nades need to be aimed and at least the other classes need to think and chose wise when they swap a skillset

I don’t really understand your train of thought here.

How does having more options make it any less skillful? In reality, it makes it harder given that more options = more ways to respond to even more situations.

Ele’s are restricted in a way given their much higher cooldowns. So most of the time, we’re just spamming our shorter ones while an engineer can pretty much rely on having the right skill at the right time, if they think of it.

Are you implying 3kit engies are bad? Are you? Because that’s just plain wrong. If anything, they are/should be the norm.

I’ve seen cleric staff eles push far node and decap anything and then not die to anything 1 v 1.

Eurantien.4632:

I’ve seen cleric staff eles push far node and decap anything and then not die to anything 1 v 1.

Haha, made me laugh. +1 for the joke!

Azunai.5974:

Eurantien.4632:

I’ve seen cleric staff eles push far node and decap anything and then not die to anything 1 v 1.

Haha, made me laugh. +1 for the joke!

Lol figured that would be the response. It’s happened. I’ve tried it and it sure isn’t easy but it can be done.

Eurantien.4632:

I’ve seen cleric staff eles push far node and decap anything and then not die to anything 1 v 1.

Can’t say I have seen that, but I wish I would have. I’m by no means an expert on ele’s, so I wonder how one would make that work?

I’d hazard a guess that it is something like a 0/0/10/30/30 build with 2-3 cantrips and Tornado. Healing output would be stupid high with decent toughness and access to stability a few ways. Next to no damage, but most of the close point defenders in the current meta would have a really tough time countering. If that is a correct guess at the build it also looks like a nightmare to play. Tons of attunement dancing for combo’s, stuns, blinds, movement skills… It’d have to be super twitchy to work well, but I can envision it. I certainly don’t have the stones to try it though.

Azunai.5974:

I don’t really understand your train of thought here.

How does having more options make it any less skillful? In reality, it makes it harder given that more options = more ways to respond to even more situations.

Ele’s are restricted in a way given their much higher cooldowns. So most of the time, we’re just spamming our shorter ones while an engineer can pretty much rely on having the right skill at the right time, if they think of it.

Are you implying 3kit engies are bad? Are you? Because that’s just plain wrong. If anything, they are/should be the norm.

Actually i think 3 kit engis arent the most optimal engis but they arent bad imo.
Anyway you talked about being “hard” to play ..not about versatility options etc..
By your logic d/p thief must be stupidly easy to play since it doesnt have even half the skills of a 3 kit engi..right??(actually it has more than half..my bad :P ) I hope you get where m getting to
Also attunements have strong effects (electric discharge) which makes the swap even more meaningful,though i agree the cd is way to high and it promotes spamming to keep up the damage and pressure .
But thats cause of the 16 base cd and the low damage on autoattacks.I wouldnt in any case want to lose the on swap effect and DEGRADE attunements into kits.In fact id hope they make the attunement effects even stronger so the choice is even more important

Eurantien.4632:

Azunai.5974:

Eurantien.4632:

I’ve seen cleric staff eles push far node and decap anything and then not die to anything 1 v 1.

Haha, made me laugh. +1 for the joke!

Lol figured that would be the response. It’s happened. I’ve tried it and it sure isn’t easy but it can be done.

Water auto is getting a considerable healing power increase(the considerable is my addition seeing how Jon Peters mentioned it first and put some emphasis on it )
Also water 3 is probably getting some radius increase and earth 4 a rework since in Jons words its terrible! So after next balance patch there would be more reasons to try something like that but i cant see why you would waste all the aoe healing,support and a bit damage in 1vs1!
Btw I ll just silently hide and wait till they remake conjures..That would be certainly fun

Eurantien.4632:

Azunai.5974:

Eurantien.4632:

I’ve seen cleric staff eles push far node and decap anything and then not die to anything 1 v 1.

Haha, made me laugh. +1 for the joke!

Lol figured that would be the response. It’s happened. I’ve tried it and it sure isn’t easy but it can be done.

I can see that working. Condi classes actually have a lot of trouble 1v1 vs. Staff Ele because of the water fields, Ether Renewal, and Rock Solid. I’ve been thinking about running a 0/0/20/30/20 build with Blasting Staff, Rock Solid, and Cleansing Water for support/condi 1v1s.

Avead.5760:

…So after next balance patch there would be more reasons to try something like that but i cant see why you would waste all the aoe healing,support and a bit damage in 1vs1!
…

It isn’t really wasting AoE. Supposing that you catch a petting zoo, engineer or an odd Necro MM defender at far point all alone. You will wipe the spirits/minions/pets/turrets (from Supply Crate) fairly quick (even in Cleric gear) since they don’t dodge or walk out of red circles on the ground. Pretty much anything that has a passive, AI summon strategy is going to struggle against that much AoE and healing capacity. For the most part, that just leaves the occasional Warrior defender that is going to try to stunlock you. After Balanced Stance expires he is a guaranteed decap too. You aren’t likely to kill any skilled player with it, but I can see how the skill set is there to sustain indefinitely and neut against just about anything. I suppose mobility could be problematic, and it is probably less than ideal at a team fight (too susceptible to hard focus). Just looks like a really hard play.

I know the staff ele combo can be done with 0/0/10/30/30 with triple cantrip. The elite is usually the elemental because with ice you will never die and you get an extra knockback, with fire you get the damage you are lacking. Tornado isn’t needed because the air pushback -> earth immo combo gets a neut no problem. There really aren’t that many combos that can be done but it wasn’t something that I could just pick up in a few games like d/d ele. I know this build can work because I’ve had it used against me when I was on spirit ranger. I wasn’t killing him, I couldn’t decap him, and if I wanted to keep that last tick I had to eat all the aoe to stay in the node which eventually would’ve killed me. Luckily, another spirit ranger came up and the ele (Readymade) just bunked for at least a minute and strolled off.

He claims that 1 v 1 he never loses and only condi + burst dps can kill him. Rationally speaking, the build has a lot of condi cleanse, a lot of heals, triple stunbreak, and stability at 50% which makes me think that warriors wouldn’t be a problem either. Plus, if you get forced into a team fight you can offer a kitten ton of support. The static field + HS spam thief is a nightmare to deal with (4 chain dazes and if they run they get stunned on the walls), not to mention the amount of water fields that are available for heals.

Ya that’s a pretty safe build to go for with Evasive Arcana and Cleansing Water.

I like Rock Solid a lot and I think Arcane Wave can actually increase survivability a bit more with Water Field blasts, as well as stack swiftness for teammates, might, etc on a 24s cooldown.

Ya the combo fields are a very underrated part of the staff. You get 4 combo fields in a teamfight you have so much utility if you teammates take advantage of them.

Eurantien.4632:

… There really aren’t that many combos that can be done but it wasn’t something that I could just pick up in a few games like d/d ele.

I would expect that you would want to combo the hell out of the water fields when you drop them with Earth #2 for the extra healz. It is a bit finisher starved and field rich, but you obviously blast the Lightning field when appropriate and always blast the ice field. You would have to dance water to earth a ton to make it work optimally getting the water heals and Frost armor up as much as you can.

Eurantien.4632:

I know this build can work because I’ve had it used against me when I was on spirit ranger. I wasn’t killing him, I couldn’t decap him, and if I wanted to keep that last tick I had to eat all the aoe to stay in the node which eventually would’ve killed me. Luckily, another spirit ranger came up and the ele (Readymade) just bunked for at least a minute and strolled off.

He claims that 1 v 1 he never loses and only condi + burst dps can kill him. Rationally speaking, the build has a lot of condi cleanse, a lot of heals, triple stunbreak, and stability at 50% which makes me think that warriors wouldn’t be a problem either. Plus, if you get forced into a team fight you can offer a kitten ton of support. The static field + HS spam thief is a nightmare to deal with (4 chain dazes and if they run they get stunned on the walls), not to mention the amount of water fields that are available for heals.

That makes sense. He has enough cleansing to keep up with really high condi pressure and enough mitigation + healing to bunker DPS pretty well, but he cant do both at the same time. He would get locked out of the attunement that he needed at the wrong moment if he had to fight both.

Elementalist is really hard to play atm, but the profession is ok. only the meta is totally anti-ele atm.
When the meta shifts elementalists will be in a good place again I believe.

Nevertheless playing elementalist is rather unrewarding at the moment. It feels like (I don´t claim this to be a fact) when playing elementalist you have to massively outplay your opponent and bring a lot more skill to the fight.
It took me a while to get the trick, but now I am able to beat most people 1o1 with at least a 50% chance. It is possible, however it feels like I have to be much better then my enemies to have an even battle.

At the moment I am running Scepter/Focus with 0 30 10 0 30, fresh air. Zerker amulet and scholar runes. It takes time getting used to focus, but its the most viable option we have. We get good defense while only sacrificing a little damage. You can burst from range and snare people. Also you have a reflection and can give your entire team immunity to projectile attacks.
Focus feels very slow in the beginning, but you will learn to use the delays for more powerful end well timed bursts.

Don’t play an Elementalist in sPvP. Really, don’t.

The entire use of the class is based around doing everything less well then other classes but at the same time do nothing else. So you can decide to become bursty (S/D) but end up with no sustainable damage or defensive skills. Which sounds a fair trade if it weren’t for the fact that other professions do a higher burst while maintaining more sustainable damage.

Don’t even bother with the class if you want to feel any kind of rewarding gameplay. If anyone you meet has the same skill-level as you have there are 2 options :
1. You lose
2. You run away.

This is genuinely true, I hope -anyone- can show me -any- example of where a skilled Elementalist beats a skilled /insert anything/. The class design does not allow this.

Adris.1859:

I think only glass cannon ele is somewhat viable. Get your burst rotation right, this needs lot of practise. Work on you timing and positioning. Also make sure that you have proper build and equipment.

This is sadly a naive comment. Even when you get your burst rotation entirely correct you will never manage to kill anyone who has the same skill level as you. Ever.

To get hit by an entire Elementalist S/D rotation it requires you to be absolutely blind and stand in everything. One dodge roll saves you 60 % of our “burst” damage. After that one dodge roll we have no longer any long term damage and become a fly which can be smashed (especially when berserker) in a few second.

@Lycus

Scepter Focus. Good burst, good sustain with fresh air. You can be bursty, have good sustain and sustained damage. But with the equal skillevel thing you might be right. Tho I do win most 1o1s with my ele.
And if you consider helseth skilled, I have beaten him 1o1 on my ele once or twice while he was on his mesmer

Lycus.2834:

.
Don’t even bother with the class if you want to feel any kind of rewarding gameplay. If anyone you meet has the same skill-level as you have there are 2 options :
1. You lose
2. You run away.

This is genuinely true, I hope -anyone- can show me -any- example of where a skilled Elementalist beats a skilled /insert anything/. The class design does not allow this.

Don’t know who you are Lycus, or even if you are an NA player, but I have played against Eurantien before, and the guy is definitely a legit player. If he says he got beaten by a Cleric/Staff Elementalist on his Spirit Ranger, then that is a perfect example of what you were looking for, and I am assuming his example is probably even from prior to the last patch which makes it even more interesting.

No doubt this meta is kitten ele. There isn’t a God Mode D/D Ele in the game anymore, and the class definitely needs some love so that it has some viability for the general gaming public. With that said I am absolutely certain that a dedicated team with a little practice and some skill can make any profession (even Mesmer and Ele) viable. The real issue is that this game doesn’t really allow for that kind of ingenuity to be rewarded in any serious way, so no team invests the effort after they find the “easiest” effective comp, they just do their best to perfect playing it. Before the June patch everyone said that Necro and Warrior were trash, and even though it was tough to find them you occasionally found a team built around these “weak” professions that would be seriously tough competitors. Ele is in the same state now.

If you can find a team (good luck) your best bet is either Staff support/ranged damage or maybe S/F although I have never gotten it to work. However, any role you can try to carve for an ele is better done by another profession. Want to build a S/D burst build into your team: you are better off with a thief or mesmer who can hit their burst more reliably and survive better on their own. Want to build D/D bunker into your team: just take a guardian as it survives better and supports it team more, while doing more damage. Want to take staff: you are probably better off taking necro to aoe everything, but maybe the heals and additional control of staff can help.

The best build I can start to think of involves using all your control/debuff abilities and snares to set up your team (glyph of elemental power with air/earth, signet of earth, staff water4/earth4/earth5/air5) while healing your team and raining down damage every once in a while. I really think something like this might be viable if you take a couple of dps builds that can pounce on a singled-out enemy and a couple of tanks that can benefit from the battlefield superiority and protect the ele.

Eurantien.4632:

Azunai.5974:

Eurantien.4632:

I’ve seen cleric staff eles push far node and decap anything and then not die to anything 1 v 1.

Haha, made me laugh. +1 for the joke!

Lol figured that would be the response. It’s happened. I’ve tried it and it sure isn’t easy but it can be done.

Funny thing is I have been in exact situation where Staff Eles push far and 1 on 1. Three kits Engineer, one of them is Nades roll them so hard…Then again, maybe I was dealing with a bad Eles. I bet that will be your response.

Jatacid.3725:

I’ve been told that eles just plain suck, they got nerfed too hard and now cant really do anything in pvp unless your player skill is really high.

What are some tips that an ele should do/try to do in pvp?
Whats the most successful role as an ele right now?

I’ve tried glass cannon – doesn’t seem like I can pepper anyone unless I land every single one of my skill shots and even then it’s unlikely to kill them after which I die.

I’ve tried balance builds which don’t do anything

And I’ve tried tankier builds which don’t seem to prevent much.

I can’t seem to fight any class 1on1. So what exactly is our role?

Is ele ever going to be buffed again to a usable state or should I just not play sPvP at all?

LOL omg I was playing with you a while back.
Like I told you, elem isn’t really a newb friendly class so play a ranger or something.

You cant. Even a monkey controlling a keyboard would beat the best ele in the world

Hey Jatacid! Eles are definitely in a tough spot right now but you can still be useful. It just seems to require a lot more effort than most other classes. My biggest tips on Ele are the following:

1. Play a good build. This is absolutely vital.
2. Know your limits. We have to stay disciplined and and respect the limits of the class.
3. learn the combos. It’s more important to know skill combos on Ele than any other class.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-k34;2BJ-V0c4gMFZ0;9;5TJ-J;156B57;240-LN;4G3G3G3G35Bi

This is the build I’ve found the most success with recently. It’s not an easy build to play by any means and there is a lot of things you need to pay attention to but it’s a blast to play. I will be doing another guide on intothemists.com/guides in the near future for this build (or something very similar). If you would like to see me playing this spec check out twitch.tv/blinxpvp. Also this video – http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2pvptv/b/456982494 – is me playing the spec with commentary. It’s not perfect gameplay as I was commentating live and watching chat but it should still be helpful. If you would like more info feel free to message me in game. I love Ele and I would be very happy to spend time to help others be effective and have fun playing the class. Good luck!

Get into the GvG side of the game eles are an outstanding must have choice for nearly all team setups.

Right now the only way to play an ele right now is to land all your skills shots. Otherwise you don’t do much.

Xom.9264:

Get into the GvG side of the game eles are an outstanding must have choice for nearly all team setups.

He’s asking about sPvP, though.

Mirsa.1628:

Xom.9264:

Get into the GvG side of the game eles are an outstanding must have choice for nearly all team setups.

He’s asking about sPvP, though.

Ahh yes, then my response would be wait for the next nerf/buffs from Anet to change the ‘meta’ and hope this turn of the wheel lands in Eles favor.

It’s not actually that bad though. If you know how to use it elem is as deadly as ever.

The problem is the class is just not newb friendly as the others and requires a steep learning curve to be good that many are put off just from that. But if you actually have the slightest clue what you’re doing, elem is probably still the strongest class in terms of versatility.

Ele is fun b/c you get to watch everyone else play while you are downed. :-)

But seriously, BLINX, thanks for sharing your build/video. You really do just go ball-to-the-wall trying to burst someone. However, I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t just play a thief to get more damage/evades/survivability (mobility + stealth) for a similar build. You play ele very well, but even watching you it looks like an exercise in futility. To have any chance, you have to have top-notch awareness and only engage in situations where you have some advantage ahead of time. If you don’t put yourself in that type of situation, you can’t really out-play your opponents.

Surprised no one has posted this yet. Im likely going to be banned due to making this public again. But I have to.
Its not really legal and the method used is outdated. For it to work nowadays you need to replace the “2” with a “3”.

What makes that even scarier, is that the devs are taking a look at them, but nerfing/fixing the S/? users, not the D/P users failol

Best advice I have is to just know what you’re up against. From there anticipate and react. Sometimes you have to accept that their build is strong against yours and it’s a fight that will end in you losing. Of course the players skill is a factor, but you should be able to figure out how they play within the first few moments of a fight. Also, don’t use everything on an attunement just because it’s off cooldown. However it really depends on what weapons you use as an Elementalist.

For example, I play Staff Elementalist.
If I go against something like an Engineer, you can almost guarantee they are going to open up with pretty much everything on their pistols within the first few seconds. Anticipate this and have Magnetic Aura ready. From there cast Erruption. Becauese of the reflection, most will attempt to dodge their own attacks (relfected back). Wait for this to happen (or don’t) and follow up with a Shockwave. If they are still in range of the Erruption they will be hit for a significant amount of damage. If they aren’t aware that you’re not a condition build they will freak out at the sight of 6 stacks of bleed and perhaps force out a heal.

Obviously there’s more to a fight than that, but that’s the general premise of what I’m talking about when I say anticipate and react.

On the other hand, if I fight a burst pistol/pistol Thief who is hyper aggressive I have a very hard time and there’s not much I can do once my Magnetic Aura goes on cooldown. I avoid those fights. Though it’s best to get distance and lock them down from a range with things like Static Field and nuke the area while they are stunned with Meteor Shower and see if they go on you.

I must say though, if you also play staff Elementalist it’s pretty much a uphill battle in 1v1 situations. I’d say positioning correctly and helping your team (usually with high AoE DPS) is most important with staff.

BlackBeard.2873:

Ele is fun b/c you get to watch everyone else play while you are downed. :-)

But seriously, BLINX, thanks for sharing your build/video. You really do just go ball-to-the-wall trying to burst someone. However, I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t just play a thief to get more damage/evades/survivability (mobility + stealth) for a similar build. You play ele very well, but even watching you it looks like an exercise in futility. To have any chance, you have to have top-notch awareness and only engage in situations where you have some advantage ahead of time. If you don’t put yourself in that type of situation, you can’t really out-play your opponents.

Thanks! I do agree with everything you said here. I mainly play ele because I love the complexity of the class and the high skill ceiling.