Guild Wars 2

Minus having one in your team, when was it?

Im genuinely intrigued when was the last time you thought twice about fighting an ele in any situation, given that afraid doesnt mean fear but rather caution.

ele already had its moment. get over it. :P

The only time I am afraid of Elementalists would be in tournaments. In my opinion, Elementalists have the highest skill cap. And therefore the full potential of an Elementalist is rarely seen. In tournaments, I see Elementalists wreaking havoc on unsuspecting foes. They are much like Necromancers whom use staff. If you leave the Elementalist unchecked, they will bomb your team/surrounding allies with AoE damage. Unlike the Necromancer, however, this is raw damage, and cannot be mitigated by condition cleanse. They have been nerfed close to the ground, sure, but they are much in the state that thiefs are finding themselves. They are still a threat. But you need to be VERY skilled to play one effectively. Unfortunately this effectiveness comes from being cornered into a few builds. That is the main problem, Elementalists lack diversity in my opinion.

bobomb.5209:

That is the main problem, Elementalists lack diversity in my opinion.

As a main Elementalist, this. Fresh Air spike is trash, the new diamond skin is worthless.

There are absolutely 0 reasons to go 30 into Fire, Air or Earth. What we are let with is a bunker build or a gimmicky, high damage ranged build.

Elementalists have a high skill cap, I can hold my own and beat most classes and builds, I am very good with D/D Elementalist.

Then it becomes very apparent what is very overpowered.

People keep screaming for a Warrior nerf when I’ve seen Necromancers and Engineers wreck people with insane damage, CC and survivability that vastly outdoes any Warrior build.

Exactly. I have only recently started playing elementalist but even I. A new Elementalist, can see that there are some worthless traits. What I really don’t like is that I would like to use a conjure build, or glyph build. But there is simply no real reason to do this. You will almost always be forced to use cantrips. They are much like stances on Warriors. They are not bad skills. They are simply much better for any situation that you could name.

When they were used on the A/P spike and dual ele spike.
It was in a game mode called GvG

When I see an ele or mesmer I know it will most likely be an easy win.

Running S/P pistol whip early last year and the bloody eles with their stability and stun breaks I couldn’t get any kitten PW damage. Inf strike was shrugged off and black powder was ignored. Legit had to bail if I saw an ele and didn’t have a teammate for numbers advantage, auto attack damage got healed off while I took steady damage if I stayed engaged. The 100 nade engis and 100b wars were far more fun to bully.

Nova Stiker.8396:

There are absolutely 0 reasons to go 30 into Fire,

Thirty into Fire for Persisting Flames is actually what I run in pvp on a zerker staff spec. That extra [Lava Font] duration really defines an encounter and a play-style. The extra fury is also nice if I actually bother to waste a blast on it in mid-combat.

Swagg.9236:

Nova Stiker.8396:

There are absolutely 0 reasons to go 30 into Fire,

Thirty into Fire for Persisting Flames is actually what I run in pvp on a zerker staff spec. That extra [Lava Font] duration really defines an encounter and a play-style. The extra fury is also nice if I actually bother to waste a blast on it in mid-combat.

Persisting Flames should be in Master Fire Magic, not Grandmaster. Hell, replace it with Burning Rage and make it a minor Grandmaster trait.

You’re right about the Fury being pointless, 3 stacks of might plus 10 seconds of fury is nice but last time I checked blasting water fields with staff is nicer.

Actually earlier this evening in soloq, this ele was popping up next to me and bursted me down twice in ~1.5 sec (was playing a glass bs thief) (im not the best of thieves :p). I also observed him to be continuously fighting at mid, backing off, healing up and rejoining the fight.

So hats of to you- mysterious sneaky ele player!

Nova Stiker.8396:

Swagg.9236:

Nova Stiker.8396:

There are absolutely 0 reasons to go 30 into Fire,

Thirty into Fire for Persisting Flames is actually what I run in pvp on a zerker staff spec. That extra [Lava Font] duration really defines an encounter and a play-style. The extra fury is also nice if I actually bother to waste a blast on it in mid-combat.

Persisting Flames should be in Master Fire Magic, not Grandmaster. Hell, replace it with Burning Rage and make it a minor Grandmaster trait.

Given how much damage a full zerker [Lava Font] does, Persisting Flames is fine as a grandmaster trait.

Nova Stiker.8396:

You’re right about the Fury being pointless, 3 stacks of might plus 10 seconds of fury is nice but last time I checked blasting water fields with staff is nicer.

If I can get an [Eruption] and [Arcane Wave] going before an encounter starts, it’s definitely worth it to give myself and any nearby teammates 20 seconds of fury and 6 might. However, since I typically roam between points with the zerker DPS staff ele spec, I mostly just show up mid-fight for healing support and then start throwing out damage.

Zerker staff ele is really just there for swinging fights. It’s not really going to sit around on a point and wait for people to come to it.

Once, about a month ago, when I fought a high ranked, experienced ele. I didn’t know his spec well, he knew exactly when to time his air burst against my spec, and was certainly out-skilled me.

Even then, he had to do everything nigh perfectly to win. One lucky/well timed dodge on my part and he was running around in water/earth trying to survive until his burst came back up. If he didn’t see me coming, I could drop him in less than 4 seconds playing S/D thief, which isn’t known for its burst.

when i saw master splinter i shook in fear

I’m afraid when Rizadon bursts me into the dirt.

I agree with the guy who said that ele has high skill-cap. When played to perfection, it is right up there with anything else. But most won’t put up the effort to learn the class when you can get away with easier stuff.

Anytime there is actually a quality player on the ele and not just some complainer. The same goes for any class in the game.

GW1.

/15 chars

TheGreatA.4192:

I’m afraid when Rizadon bursts me into the dirt.

I agree with the guy who said that ele has high skill-cap. When played to perfection, it is right up there with anything else. But most won’t put up the effort to learn the class when you can get away with easier stuff.

If you strip away the player and just look at the class mechanics & numbers, ANY other class “played to perfection” has better potential than Elementalist in any given role.

It’s just that no other class NEEDS to be “played to perfection” to completely wreck an Ele. I don’t think you’ve seen what a pro Engineer is capable of.

Last time? it would be tonight when Lys one shotted me two times in 0.5 secs.

Eles hit kitten hard.

Elxdark.9702:

Lys one shotted me two times in 0.5 secs

How does that work?

entropy.9613:

Elxdark.9702:

Lys one shotted me two times in 0.5 secs

How does that work?

He died to phoenix as it passed then he randomly rallied and died to phoenix again as it was returning back??? :P

Wintel.4873:

If you strip away the player and just look at the class mechanics & numbers, ANY other class “played to perfection” has better potential than Elementalist in any given role.

It’s just that no other class NEEDS to be “played to perfection” to completely wreck an Ele. I don’t think you’ve seen what a pro Engineer is capable of.

I think I’ve seen what every class is capable of. And I can say that a good ele can potentially beat anybody.

The burst is insane and the sustained damage from fresh air/lightning autoattack chain is pretty big as well. If you avoid enemy burst, which isn’t impossible with perma vigor/dodge roll sigil/evasive arcana/focus off-hand, you can heal yourself up in seconds and have good resistance to condis.

When I’m frozen in a block of ice.

When I’m full berserker at half health, no defensive cds, but need to hold the point anyway. And the ele is fresh air and comes with a teammate

redslion.9675:

When I’m full berserker at half health, no defensive cds, but need to hold the point anyway. And the ele is fresh air and comes with a teammate

Emphasis on the teammate.

LelouchViBritannia.3607:

redslion.9675:

When I’m full berserker at half health, no defensive cds, but need to hold the point anyway. And the ele is fresh air and comes with a teammate

Emphasis on the teammate.

Well, that time I had a teammate too, but I was glassy, so ele burst plus teammate got me fast.

kekuso.5837:

When I’m frozen in a block of ice.

#2

I am always afraid of eles.Every time i see one in my team i just panic.

Well. Unfortunately there must be at least 15 letters before I post.

Other wise it was just going to be,

‘Never’

Well, I’m afraid to play ele. Does that count?

Why do people think ele’s have a high skill cap? There are already a few posts in this thread suggesting as much. One of the biggest problems with the class is that it has a very low skill cap.

Just think about it for a second. If ele’s had a high skill cap, then you would see them at high levels of play. Instead, high level ele’s are rerolling en masse. It takes double the effort to get the same reward other professions get. I think people are confusing “difficult to play” with “high skill cap”.

mini.6018:

I am always afraid of eles.Every time i see one in my team i just panic.

specially when it is 2 of them….

zilcho.7624:

Why do people think ele’s have a high skill cap? There are already a few posts in this thread suggesting as much. One of the biggest problems with the class is that it has a very low skill cap.

Just think about it for a second. If ele’s had a high skill cap, then you would see them at high levels of play. Instead, high level ele’s are rerolling en masse. It takes double the effort to get the same reward other professions get. I think people are confusing “difficult to play” with “high skill cap”.

A skill cap (skill ceiling) is the amount of skill required to get the most out of a profession. Skill floor is the minimum skill required to be considered effective.

Ele could be half as viable as the next worst class and still have the highest skill cap.

entropy.9613:

zilcho.7624:

Why do people think ele’s have a high skill cap? There are already a few posts in this thread suggesting as much. One of the biggest problems with the class is that it has a very low skill cap.

Just think about it for a second. If ele’s had a high skill cap, then you would see them at high levels of play. Instead, high level ele’s are rerolling en masse. It takes double the effort to get the same reward other professions get. I think people are confusing “difficult to play” with “high skill cap”.

A skill cap (skill ceiling) is the amount of skill required to get the most out of a profession. Skill floor is the minimum skill required to be considered effective.

Ele could be half as viable as the next worst class and still have the highest skill cap.

I think what he’s trying to say is that ele’s gameplay isn’t actually all that varied: there are less decent or more eles, but there isn’t much difference between a decent ele and a great one.

Just making a wild assumption, I know nothing about the ele, I never liked it, no matter how strong or hard it was.

redslion.9675:

I think what he’s trying to say is that ele’s gameplay isn’t actually all that varied: there are less decent or more eles, but there isn’t much difference between a decent ele and a great one.

Just making a wild assumption, I know nothing about the ele, I never liked it, no matter how strong or hard it was..

Personally I think there’s a massive difference between a bad ele and a good ele and that’s why I said the class has a high skillcap. A bad or average elementalist is, as others have said, useless in PvP competition, but from my experience a skilled elementalist still has its uses.

I’ve been playing in tPvP for a long time, with an elementalist being a key part of our group, and this ele has consistently been the most important “element”, able to take 1v1 and even 1v2 situations on his own against even the highest level of players and bursting out bunkers in a matter of seconds.

But I do consider this player an exception to the rule. A weaker ele player would unfortunately not be able to take the enemy focus while being able to deal damage, it takes a lot of experience to be able to maximize the limited amount of time you have to work with as a glass ele.

With a focus offhand, a stunbreak and some key traits, keeping appropriate distance from the action, I feel the ele can survive well enough in a team fight as long as he rotates his skills correctly and the team does its job in protecting the main damage dealer. When the enemy reaches for the “obvious” target, they should take severe aoe focus and cc from the rest of the team which will allow the ele to turn the tables with a quick burst that will take down even the most durable classes. If the team doesn’t do its job properly and they allow one of their players to be zerged down without a response then they deserve to lose.

I still feel that the ele burst/delivery is the most potent of all which is why I don’t understand that most players feel the class is useless in a game mode that rewards fast killing.

Yesterday when I came across a Bunker + Firesword Ele.

He instant-gibbed my Trebuchet with the Firesword 4 + Teleport combo (litterally killed it in a second) and then caught me out too.

Even in other fights his constant Blinds and stuns were a pita to deal with.

Well, one thing with eles is sure: when i find an ele in a group fight, I focus him first. Because he will probably be bursty and thus will cause trouble if left alone.
In general, I always keep an eye on them because they might surprise me.

TheGreatA.4192:

redslion.9675:

I think what he’s trying to say is that ele’s gameplay isn’t actually all that varied: there are less decent or more eles, but there isn’t much difference between a decent ele and a great one.

Just making a wild assumption, I know nothing about the ele, I never liked it, no matter how strong or hard it was..

Personally I think there’s a massive difference between a bad ele and a good ele and that’s why I said the class has a high skillcap. A bad or average elementalist is, as others have said, useless in PvP competition, but from my experience a skilled elementalist still has its uses.

I can imagine that. I was just trying to translate the idea of eles having low skill cap with the interpretation based on the assumption I got from some people talking about the importance of rotation for eles. And if a class is rotation dependant, has a less free gameplay. But as I said, I have no experience with eles (I know a bit about what I have to avoid), so i can’t tell a good one from a bad one.

Dee Jay.2460:

Yesterday when I came across a Bunker + Firesword Ele.

He instant-gibbed my Trebuchet with the Firesword 4 + Teleport combo (litterally killed it in a second) and then caught me out too.

Even in other fights his constant Blinds and stuns were a pita to deal with.

Eles neither have constant stuns nor constant blinds. You’re thinking of warriors and thieves.

From experience of playing the ele, there are 3 types (mostly) of ele.
The bunker one that does a worst job as a defender for the close node than a spirit ranger or a mesmer that can easily help in the teamfight with some cool skills. And for bunkering mid, guardian is the king.
The staff one that can do some nice damage but it requires not being focused, if there is a single decent thief or warrior, they will focus you, and good luck stopping a warrior with stability and condition immunity by throwing at him walls and conditions like freeze and cripple.
The intaburst one, can do a really good and mostly instant damage, but it dies quickly and needs to get pretty close to the target. It’s probably the best one, but it’s more or less a bursty thief without stealth. You go there, unleash ur combo to the target and hope it dies and u can escape from the aoe and the focus that u will get.

Right now the only reason to play an ele is because they are cool, if u care at the slightest about ur position in the leaderboards do NOT use an ele.

LelouchViBritannia.3607:

Dee Jay.2460:

Yesterday when I came across a Bunker + Firesword Ele.

He instant-gibbed my Trebuchet with the Firesword 4 + Teleport combo (litterally killed it in a second) and then caught me out too.

Even in other fights his constant Blinds and stuns were a pita to deal with.

Eles neither have constant stuns nor constant blinds. You’re thinking of warriors and thieves.

The FGS+LF thing is an exploitable bug, just like Chaos Storm+Dom30, but yes, it does take out things that don’t move very quickly.
On the other hand, the only conceivable way he could have more than one blind every 6-8 seconds is through Signet of Air (not particularly good in PvP), or earth attuned Glyph of Storms (which would require you to be sitting in his AoE, in which case it is your own fault).
About the stuns, an elementalist can have at maximum 3 skills that interrupt you, and they are pretty predictable and highly telegraphed.

bobomb.5209:

The only time I am afraid of Elementalists would be in tournaments. In my opinion, Elementalists have the highest skill cap. And therefore the full potential of an Elementalist is rarely seen. In tournaments, I see Elementalists wreaking havoc on unsuspecting foes. They are much like Necromancers whom use staff. If you leave the Elementalist unchecked, they will bomb your team/surrounding allies with AoE damage. Unlike the Necromancer, however, this is raw damage, and cannot be mitigated by condition cleanse. They have been nerfed close to the ground, sure, but they are much in the state that thiefs are finding themselves. They are still a threat. But you need to be VERY skilled to play one effectively. Unfortunately this effectiveness comes from being cornered into a few builds. That is the main problem, Elementalists lack diversity in my opinion.

No. Trickery thieves are top tier in viability. Eles are no where close to as effective team fighters as necromancers.

I’m afraid of ele if the player behind it is very skilled and perfected his class.
So yeah, maybe half a year ago?