Guild Wars 2

Elementalists don’t require a shred of skill, but the profession contains luxuries compared to the rest, they are able to even 1v3 successfully. They have an incredible arsenal of tricks which are exclusive to it. They have an ice shield with low cd that applies chills on every hit, also have other equally excellent auras. Their mobility is insane, ride the lightning, traits, swiftness, etc. Their numerous heals with all with low cd are incredible. Their ridiculous downed-state. They have all this and more, and they can still deal incredibly high and constant damage.

What is wrong with arenanet? Why can elementalists own everything with just a fart?

If by 1v3 you mean running away and surviving then yea. Nobody can outmatch their fleeing skillz.

Lol is this a joke? Have you tried the class? Please go play one before making false posts. If you got owned by an Ele, you found yourself out played.

Edit: After reviewing a lot of your previous posts and how you feel thief is stuck into two builds explains a lot. Your post is not constructive.

If you are talking about survivability, Thief has just as much speed / traits / stealth / etc.

Elementalist require a knowledge of when to use what skills and combo fields. Almost all of our hard hitting spells have a 30 – 45 second timer. Again, unlike a lot of professions.

If you’re talking about Survivability, how about invulnerability every 8 seconds on a mesmer + distortions + free stun breakers on staff phase retreat.

A lot of classes in this game can be either burst damage or survivability, however, Ele’s have learned to tri – spec to 30 Healing (water/condition removal traits) 30 Arcane (to reduce Attunement swap to 9 seconds + boon duration) + 10 Air for Fury/Swiftness on Aura use. Which is on a cooldown of 30 seconds or more.

Again, being out played is no reason for posts like these.

d/d ele right now is the most powerfull build a dps can have. tanky one is even better, with not so much dps lost

OP probs just some scrub thief crying about something he can’t kill in 2-3shots.

“Elementalists don’t require a shred of skill.”

And in another post OP comments

“Thief is the only class in this game that requires skill”

Lulz

Otaur.9268:

Lol is this a joke? Have you tried the class? Please go play one before making false posts. If you got owned by an Ele, you found yourself out played.

Edit: After reviewing a lot of your previous posts and how you feel thief is stuck into two builds explains a lot. Your post is not constructive.

If you are talking about survivability, Thief has just as much speed / traits / stealth / etc.

Elementalist require a knowledge of when to use what skills and combo fields. Almost all of our hard hitting spells have a 30 – 45 second timer. Again, unlike a lot of professions.

If you’re talking about Survivability, how about invulnerability every 8 seconds on a mesmer + distortions + free stun breakers on staff phase retreat.

A lot of classes in this game can be either burst damage or survivability, however, Ele’s have learned to tri – spec to 30 Healing (water/condition removal traits) 30 Arcane (to reduce Attunement swap to 9 seconds + boon duration) + 10 Air for Fury/Swiftness on Aura use. Which is on a cooldown of 30 seconds or more.

Again, being out played is no reason for posts like these.

D/D eles are the most powerful skirmishers of the game.

Not their fault tbh, if aNet has nerfed thief/ranger/warrior so bad from betas till now, and currently eles outshines other classes because the proff can do EVERYTHING, while other classes ( aside the guardian, the only class with ele capable to have multiple builds tPvP viable) are forced into very specific roles.

Maybe eles are a bit over the top, but since they require tons of skill to be played well, i’m kinda fine with it, at least until aNet is done with rough balance.

Don’t deny it, it makes you looking silly.

eles do not beat everything 1v1, and a 1v3 is not possible against decent players even if you’re the best ele in the world.

Please stop making troll threads that encourage people to not play spvp. Yes you’re original (and hilarious!) but it’s really hurting the community. Thank you.

Every profession can be built in a very defensive way ( yeah thief included) but nobody can hope to survive against 2 DECENT players, nobody..but against baddies? I can prob win 1vs2 using a glass cannon build or at the very least kill one of them

You will not know the balance of classes until you have properly ranked 1v1 que (death match).
It is much talk about nothing…..We all talk from out experience which is biased by the setup(s) we are running. Certain class/build can vary in difficulty greatly depending on how you spec.
It is big fail on ANET part for not givings us proper rankings for different settings (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 5v5…….. deathmatch, point capture, whatever other modes).

Because they inject themselves with apple juice, which gives them really bad farts :P

Ya know, fire attunement and farts are pretty lethal.

I can’t take this seriously, I’m sorry.

shrewd.5319:

They have an ice shield with low cd that applies chills on every hit

It’s a 40-second cd, by the way.

That fart you’re talking about is the secret #4 button on the most OP elite in the game: Tornado!

Right now, the majority of pug players are playing 0/10/0/30/30 or 0/0/10/30/30. Because of the insane amount of heals and condition removal, any half-decent elementalist can easily disregard positioning and uncoordinated focus.

Playing an elementalist as anything but the most tanky specs can be very punishing in pick ups, especially if there’s a large skill deficit between teams. I can’t speak to tournament play.

Ele is strong as heck. I’m almost jealous… I should make one… but then I couldnt stealth stomp people in front of their home boys….

In all seriousness thief does it sneaky where as ele does it in your face. Very strong in the right hands.

uwo.8197:

Right now, the majority of pug players are playing 0/10/0/30/30 or 0/0/10/30/30. Because of the insane amount of heals and condition removal, any half-decent elementalist can easily disregard positioning and uncoordinated focus.

Playing an elementalist as anything but the most tanky specs can be very punishing in pick ups, especially if there’s a large skill deficit between teams. I can’t speak to tournament play.

The problem is not that it’s hard to play a power ele..it’s impossible, as soon as you try to move away from water line and the corresponding vitality, you’ll get one-shotted by thieves.
Regardless of your thoughness level a thief is able to deal over 10k dmg with 2-3 hits done within 0.5-1s and here goes 90% of your HP bar for an ele, the current build for eles ( the only viable one in PvP) is direct cause of the outrageous burst of other professions

Sounds like you need to roll Engineer. It’s probably for the best since rolling engi is the leading cause of diabeetus in over 14 countries

Tank ele is pretty silly atm.

You know something is wrong when you press B before the start of a match, see that the enemy team does not have a thief and say ‘’Okay guys GG we’ve won, our ele will be able to go far without ever dying’’

You may doubt me on that but trust me, unless the enemy thief has double mesmer on point or mesmer+thief that ele is going to tank the 2v1 EASILY long enough for our team to win mid. Furthermore, anything but the mesmerthief are very unlikely to even get a kill on the ele, so there isnt even a punishment for the decap+attention you’ve wasted 2v1 on close.

This is by no means uncounterable since like I previously mentioned mesmer thief counters it pretty well but it’s still over the top, incredibly powerful in teamfights with uberheals, best roaming spec for sure and can also infinately tank a ton of different 2v1s

shrewd.5319:

Elementalists don’t require a shred of skill

I think anyone who comes to this thread will stop here..

Mrbig.8019:

Otaur.9268:

Lol is this a joke? Have you tried the class? Please go play one before making false posts. If you got owned by an Ele, you found yourself out played.

Edit: After reviewing a lot of your previous posts and how you feel thief is stuck into two builds explains a lot. Your post is not constructive.

If you are talking about survivability, Thief has just as much speed / traits / stealth / etc.

Elementalist require a knowledge of when to use what skills and combo fields. Almost all of our hard hitting spells have a 30 – 45 second timer. Again, unlike a lot of professions.

If you’re talking about Survivability, how about invulnerability every 8 seconds on a mesmer + distortions + free stun breakers on staff phase retreat.

A lot of classes in this game can be either burst damage or survivability, however, Ele’s have learned to tri – spec to 30 Healing (water/condition removal traits) 30 Arcane (to reduce Attunement swap to 9 seconds + boon duration) + 10 Air for Fury/Swiftness on Aura use. Which is on a cooldown of 30 seconds or more.

Again, being out played is no reason for posts like these.

D/D eles are the most powerful skirmishers of the game.

Not their fault tbh, if aNet has nerfed thief/ranger/warrior so bad from betas till now, and currently eles outshines other classes because the proff can do EVERYTHING, while other classes ( aside the guardian, the only class with ele capable to have multiple builds tPvP viable) are forced into very specific roles.

Maybe eles are a bit over the top, but since they require tons of skill to be played well, i’m kinda fine with it, at least until aNet is done with rough balance.

Don’t deny it, it makes you looking silly.

Actually if you go play one you will also learn Ele’s are forced into a very specific set of builds..
Both going into heavy vit.

People will argue that they can go glass cannon as an ele- but that doesnt work when you get sneezed on by every other class cause you cant suprise sneak attack people .

So anet needs to make going into other tree’s for the ele doable and as desirable, instead of shoe horning people into water ,arcana ,or earth

Oni.5429:

Tank ele is pretty silly atm.

You know something is wrong when you press B before the start of a match, see that the enemy team does not have a thief and say ‘’Okay guys GG we’ve won, our ele will be able to go far without ever dying’’

You may doubt me on that but trust me, unless the enemy thief has double mesmer on point or mesmer+thief that ele is going to tank the 2v1 EASILY long enough for our team to win mid. Furthermore, anything but the mesmerthief are very unlikely to even get a kill on the ele, so there isnt even a punishment for the decap+attention you’ve wasted 2v1 on close.

This is by no means uncounterable since like I previously mentioned mesmer thief counters it pretty well but it’s still over the top, incredibly powerful in teamfights with uberheals, best roaming spec for sure and can also infinately tank a ton of different 2v1s

You say tanky ele is silly…can you come with something different?

Before starting take the following factors in consideration:
- A base HP of 10k
- No in-built defense mechanism( you’ve got nothing outside to guarentee your survivability unless you trait heavily in it)
- Lowest base armour
- Lowest base direct dmg after necro

Now go and make a full offensive ele like you’d do with a thief or warrior, then go hot join and come back with a video, because yeah tournament gameplay doesn’t count, to say :" ele glass cannon can work in a team" really doesn’t cut it because in no way a glass cannon ele can substitute a thief in terms of dmg, escape tools and efficiency

Solori.6025:

shrewd.5319:

Elementalists don’t require a shred of skill

I think anyone who comes to this thread will stop here..

Ele’s need to get off their high horse. More buttons doesn’t mean harder, ele’s have simple rotations and there honestly is alot of room for mistakes seeing as they can just reset fights easily.

That being said, ele is easy to play but not as easy as some other classes.

Lol ppl still complain about eles, i bet the op plays a thief, he got pwnd by a good ele and the tactic “i spam some random skill” didn’t work.

NaturalPortman.9562:

Solori.6025:

shrewd.5319:

Elementalists don’t require a shred of skill

I think anyone who comes to this thread will stop here..

Ele’s need to get off their high horse. More buttons doesn’t mean harder, ele’s have simple rotations and there honestly is alot of room for mistakes seeing as they can just reset fights easily.

That being said, ele is easy to play but not as easy as some other classes.

LOLOLOL

Please go play one with that rotation..
That statement alone tell me you havent the slightest about this proffession.

A mesmer has a rotation..
a thief has a rotation.

An ele with a rotation is a predictable free kill..

Arheundel.6451:

The problem is not that it’s hard to play a power ele..it’s impossible, as soon as you try to move away from water line and the corresponding vitality, you’ll get one-shotted by thieves.
Regardless of your thoughness level a thief is able to deal over 10k dmg with 2-3 hits done within 0.5-1s and here goes 90% of your HP bar for an ele, the current build for eles ( the only viable one in PvP) is direct cause of the outrageous burst of other professions

I’m currently playing scepter/focus with a precision based condition build (Burn, vuln, bleed on crit + rabid amulet). With elemental surge and all arane utilities (shield, power, and blast), you can stack burning incredibly quick, and the other procs offer a little protection against cleansing.

Honestly i thought i was it was going to suck kitten, but it can really turn team fights if you don’t target players with immense condition removal, namely most ele’s right now. Focus offhand goes some way to make up for lack of cantrips, and you can kite decently if you get focused in a team fight, though nothing close to what a d/d s/d + 0/../../30/30 can do.

You have to target team fights – at least 2v2 – and if you’re team is seriously outranked, then you’re toast even if you’re a skillful player. The main problem, is as you said getting caught off-guard by thieves. If you could see them coming, i.e. if they telegraphed their burst, it would not be frustrating. But as it is, I can see why most players don’t enjoy experimenting with builds like this.

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

uwo.8197:

Arheundel.6451:

The problem is not that it’s hard to play a power ele..it’s impossible, as soon as you try to move away from water line and the corresponding vitality, you’ll get one-shotted by thieves.
Regardless of your thoughness level a thief is able to deal over 10k dmg with 2-3 hits done within 0.5-1s and here goes 90% of your HP bar for an ele, the current build for eles ( the only viable one in PvP) is direct cause of the outrageous burst of other professions

I’m currently playing scepter/focus with a precision based condition build (Burn, vuln, bleed on crit + rabid amulet). With elemental surge and all arane utilities (shield, power, and blast), you can stack burning incredibly quick, and the other procs offer a little protection against cleansing.

Honestly i thought i was it was going to suck kitten, but it can really turn team fights if you don’t target players with immense condition removal, namely most ele’s right now. Focus offhand goes some way to make up for lack of cantrips, and you can kite decently if you get focused in a team fight, though nothing close to what a d/d s/d + 0/../../30/30 can do.

You have to target team fights – at least 2v2 – and if you’re team is seriously outranked, then you’re toast even if you’re a skillful player. The main problem, is as you said getting caught off-guard by thieves. If you could see them coming, i.e. if they telegraphed their burst, it would not be frustrating. But as it is, I can see why most players don’t enjoy experimenting with builds like this.

If fire traits didnt suck I would go back to working on the power/vit build I was thinking up. But the need for the build to be in a 2+ group fight makes it not worth it, especially when you could just bring a thief or mes or warrior to that 2+ fight and they survive the splash damage twice as easy.

NaturalPortman.9562:

Solori.6025:

shrewd.5319:

Elementalists don’t require a shred of skill

I think anyone who comes to this thread will stop here..

Ele’s need to get off their high horse. More buttons doesn’t mean harder, ele’s have simple rotations and there honestly is alot of room for mistakes seeing as they can just reset fights easily.

That being said, ele is easy to play but not as easy as some other classes.

You’re confusing yourself with d/d set, where you go and burning speed in the middle of a zerg, furthermore eles don’t reset fights at all…again you’re confusing yourself with the fact that you use full survival build and in that case there are professions that do an equal if not better job ( engineers, guardian)….go play a full glass cannon build and try to say again that eles can reset fight easily.

It’s not a matter of having different opinions , when a profession got over 80% of all its skills on manual aiming plus slow cast animation in many cases(scepter/staff), it’s clear that the profession require more skills compared to a profession where the majority of the skills are managed by the game itself with auto-targeting/positioning.

Furthermore nobody asked Anet to create such absurd disparity between professions and then come with an equally absurd statement :" The skill ceiling of the ele is exceptionall" rather than admitting complete design failure, it’s not by coincidence if almost all eles play d/d ( people have started using d/d even in PvE), rather the other weapon sets are badly designed, the theory behind them has never been fully analysed

Solori.6025:

Mrbig.8019:

Otaur.9268:

Lol is this a joke? Have you tried the class? Please go play one before making false posts. If you got owned by an Ele, you found yourself out played.

Edit: After reviewing a lot of your previous posts and how you feel thief is stuck into two builds explains a lot. Your post is not constructive.

If you are talking about survivability, Thief has just as much speed / traits / stealth / etc.

Elementalist require a knowledge of when to use what skills and combo fields. Almost all of our hard hitting spells have a 30 – 45 second timer. Again, unlike a lot of professions.

If you’re talking about Survivability, how about invulnerability every 8 seconds on a mesmer + distortions + free stun breakers on staff phase retreat.

A lot of classes in this game can be either burst damage or survivability, however, Ele’s have learned to tri – spec to 30 Healing (water/condition removal traits) 30 Arcane (to reduce Attunement swap to 9 seconds + boon duration) + 10 Air for Fury/Swiftness on Aura use. Which is on a cooldown of 30 seconds or more.

Again, being out played is no reason for posts like these.

D/D eles are the most powerful skirmishers of the game.

Not their fault tbh, if aNet has nerfed thief/ranger/warrior so bad from betas till now, and currently eles outshines other classes because the proff can do EVERYTHING, while other classes ( aside the guardian, the only class with ele capable to have multiple builds tPvP viable) are forced into very specific roles.

Maybe eles are a bit over the top, but since they require tons of skill to be played well, i’m kinda fine with it, at least until aNet is done with rough balance.

Don’t deny it, it makes you looking silly.

Actually if you go play one you will also learn Ele’s are forced into a very specific set of builds..
Both going into heavy vit.

People will argue that they can go glass cannon as an ele- but that doesnt work when you get sneezed on by every other class cause you cant suprise sneak attack people .

So anet needs to make going into other tree’s for the ele doable and as desirable, instead of shoe horning people into water ,arcana ,or earth

you said it by yourself : builds.

thank aNet for that plural.
most classes have 1. maybe 2 at best viable builds ( as a thief we have basically only one with slight modifications).
I do play an ele
I can do everything a team requires, with at least 2 different builds per weap and/playstyles, as long as I put those simple 20 points in the water traitline.

hell you can even play as a glass cannon if you want, the only reason why you don’t see GC eles roaming is because a thief can do it as good as you and you have so many other useful builds that going GC would be a waste.

the ele is hands down the best proff in the game with the guardian, those two are the only proffs with 4-5 tpvp viable builds.

and they’re a lot, really. never seen a single class in any mmo with so much versatility than eles and guards in this game.

I really envy eles, and it’s saddening that I just keep on going back to thief and necro (which are kinda the most pigeonholed classes in the whole game)

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

Im going to take it that you put those amulets in on purpose..soo

Why would you use those instead of using the soldiers amulet which is going to give you more power for dps, and more vit and toughnes for survivability?!..

Also you are aware that this is still a standard 0/0/10/30/30 right..

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU *used*to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

any idea of why they stopped running it?

Valkyrie is an excellent amulet for Eles and they’ve been the standard for a long time.

First of all, eles have plenty of fury, giving them 20% critchance. This means you’ll get full use of the extra crit damage from valk, giving you more damage on valk than you get on soldier.

Second, elementalists arent easy to kill just because they got low hp pools. Mist+channel heal and you’re back on full hp, combined with the near constant protection, vigor and heals from water and you’ll see that ele is one of the harder targets.

They’re variations of the standard traitline, yes. But so what? On a decent level of play mesmers have one shatter spec with more or less one variation. Warriors have just one traitline and spec, necromancers have two different ways they can spec with little to no variations in them, thiefs have two specs and extremely minor variation

In terms of versitility eles are still on the top.

As for royal legion and their Berseker staff ele: I’m not sure if they actually did stop it. They’ve been inactive during the holidays. Last time we met them he was still running staff but it didnt feel like he put down the same pressure, felt like he had switched to valk. not sure though.

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

Oni.5429:

Valkyrie is an excellent amulet for Eles and they’ve been the standard for a long time.

First of all, eles have plenty of fury, giving them 20% critchance. This means you’ll get full use of the extra crit damage from valk, giving you more damage on valk than you get on soldier.

Second, elementalists arent easy to kill just because they got low hp pools. Mist+channel heal and you’re back on full hp, combined with the near constant protection, vigor and heals from water and you’ll see that ele is one of the harder targets.

They’re variations of the standard traitline, yes. But so what? On a decent level of play mesmers have one shatter spec with more or less one variation. Warriors have just one traitline and spec, necromancers have two different ways they can spec with little to no variations in them, thiefs have two specs and extremely minor variation

In terms of versitility eles are still on the top.

As for royal legion and their Berseker staff ele: I’m not sure if they actually did stop it. They’ve been inactive during the holidays. Last time we met them he was still running staff but it didnt feel like he put down the same pressure, felt like he had switched to valk. not sure though.

qft

Oni.5429:

Valkyrie is an excellent amulet for Eles and they’ve been the standard for a long time.

First of all, eles have plenty of fury, giving them 20% critchance. This means you’ll get full use of the extra crit damage from valk, giving you more damage on valk than you get on soldier.

The builds you linked had between 8 to 12 percent crit, so ~30%. Personally that’s not enough for me to build for crit damage.

I run valkyrie if I have arcane power on short cooldown, or high precision from lighting and runes.

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

Mrbig.8019:

Solori.6025:

Mrbig.8019:

Otaur.9268:

Lol is this a joke? Have you tried the class? Please go play one before making false posts. If you got owned by an Ele, you found yourself out played.

Edit: After reviewing a lot of your previous posts and how you feel thief is stuck into two builds explains a lot. Your post is not constructive.

If you are talking about survivability, Thief has just as much speed / traits / stealth / etc.

Elementalist require a knowledge of when to use what skills and combo fields. Almost all of our hard hitting spells have a 30 – 45 second timer. Again, unlike a lot of professions.

If you’re talking about Survivability, how about invulnerability every 8 seconds on a mesmer + distortions + free stun breakers on staff phase retreat.

A lot of classes in this game can be either burst damage or survivability, however, Ele’s have learned to tri – spec to 30 Healing (water/condition removal traits) 30 Arcane (to reduce Attunement swap to 9 seconds + boon duration) + 10 Air for Fury/Swiftness on Aura use. Which is on a cooldown of 30 seconds or more.

Again, being out played is no reason for posts like these.

D/D eles are the most powerful skirmishers of the game.

Not their fault tbh, if aNet has nerfed thief/ranger/warrior so bad from betas till now, and currently eles outshines other classes because the proff can do EVERYTHING, while other classes ( aside the guardian, the only class with ele capable to have multiple builds tPvP viable) are forced into very specific roles.

Maybe eles are a bit over the top, but since they require tons of skill to be played well, i’m kinda fine with it, at least until aNet is done with rough balance.

Don’t deny it, it makes you looking silly.

Actually if you go play one you will also learn Ele’s are forced into a very specific set of builds..
Both going into heavy vit.

People will argue that they can go glass cannon as an ele- but that doesnt work when you get sneezed on by every other class cause you cant suprise sneak attack people .

So anet needs to make going into other tree’s for the ele doable and as desirable, instead of shoe horning people into water ,arcana ,or earth

you said it by yourself : builds.

thank aNet for that plural.
most classes have 1. maybe 2 at best viable builds ( as a thief we have basically only one with slight modifications).
I do play an ele
I can do everything a team requires, with at least 2 different builds per weap and/playstyles, as long as I put those simple 20 points in the water traitline.

hell you can even play as a glass cannon if you want, the only reason why you don’t see GC eles roaming is because a thief can do it as good as you and you have so many other useful builds that going GC would be a waste.

the ele is hands down the best proff in the game with the guardian, those two are the only proffs with 4-5 tpvp viable builds.

and they’re a lot, really. never seen a single class in any mmo with so much versatility than eles and guards in this game.

I really envy eles, and it’s saddening that I just keep on going back to thief and necro (which are kinda the most pigeonholed classes in the whole game)

Ahh thats where your frustration comes from..

From the POI of an necro or thief yes,

The thief has at most 3 different builds they can successfully play, while I have found 4 good ones for my mes, 5 (not counting the ones that are just slight variations for traits and counting the one GC build that I refuse to play again.) for my ele, and 4 for my warrior.

So its not just the ele that has “Builds”.

Your just playing two professions that have a lack of them.
Which is something more people need to raise to A-Nets attention, because you cant play like you want to, if other spec’s are not viable.

Solori.6025:

NaturalPortman.9562:

Solori.6025:

shrewd.5319:

Elementalists don’t require a shred of skill

I think anyone who comes to this thread will stop here..

Ele’s need to get off their high horse. More buttons doesn’t mean harder, ele’s have simple rotations and there honestly is alot of room for mistakes seeing as they can just reset fights easily.

That being said, ele is easy to play but not as easy as some other classes.

LOLOLOL

Please go play one with that rotation..
That statement alone tell me you havent the slightest about this proffession.

A mesmer has a rotation..
a thief has a rotation.

An ele with a rotation is a predictable free kill..

Hm? I played D/D ele as a main early on in this games lifespan. I’m pretty sure I know a decent amount of this class. Every class in this game has a low skill cap and sorry to say but your little ele class is included as well.

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

The base dmg of the ele has been nerfed to the ground, that rotation will not insta-kill anything outside another extremely squishy target, a thief/mesmer can still almost one -shot you despite having a target with over 2k toughness.
Also the rotation would be :
earthquake – lightning flash ( used mid cast of earthquake)- cleansing fire/ring of fire – fire grab, that’s a lot of work which use long CD skills and doesn’t assure you the death of the target but will leave you defenseless in most cases

Arheundel.6451:

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

The base dmg of the ele has been nerfed to the ground, that rotation will not insta-kill anything outside another extremely squishy target, a thief/mesmer can still almost one -shot you despite having a target with over 2k toughness.
Also the rotation would be :
earthquake – lightning flash ( used mid cast of earthquake)- cleansing fire/ring of fire – fire grab, that’s a lot of work which use long CD skills and doesn’t assure you the death of the target but will leave you defenseless in most cases

The only reason people think ele and warrior is a hard class to play is because everyone is so kittening bad with them. Stop being trigger happy and know when to come in. A warrior who runs at you popping frenzy is basically free kills for you and your team right? A warrior who runs in with frenzy and 100b in a crowd of ressers with a downed person? Not so much.

And let’s see here, ele is all aoe damage and it’s quite alot of aoe damage. Ele is the last class atm that should be complaining.

Mrbig.8019:

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

Hmm, the only unavoidable burst in that combo is the arcane wave. Unless you’re unable to move, you should be consistently dodging teleport+ earthquake. Just look at the rumbling earth and the initial white circle and dodge right before the two coincide; the ele will teleport right before that happens and you’ll avoid the burst and the bleed.

Firegrab is aimed and if you’re not careful your target will simply strafe out of the way.

You’re definitely right, though, that ele’s have a lot of instant damage. The difference is that thieves don’t telegraph their burst (usu. cause they’re not visible).

Arheundel.6451:

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

The base dmg of the ele has been nerfed to the ground, that rotation will not insta-kill anything outside another extremely squishy target, a thief/mesmer can still almost one -shot you despite having a target with over 2k toughness.
Also the rotation would be :
earthquake – lightning flash ( used mid cast of earthquake)- cleansing fire/ring of fire – fire grab, that’s a lot of work which use long CD skills and doesn’t assure you the death of the target but will leave you defenseless in most cases

that is a good reason to pick 20points in fire (10% more damage in fire +5% damage to burning foes, which get burned when you switch to fire tnx to second minor in fire) and 30 in air to pick bolt to the heart and +20% damage to stunned foes. put the other 20 in water and you have your build. I do fairly regularly 10k + hits with fire grab, I literally one-oneshot most classes, even with high toughness, just like I do on my thief. again you don’t see GC eles simply because a thief is just as good, and you’ve many more useful builds for a team. unlike thieves

a) Eles are fantastic, and though there are some perhaps too strong elements to them, the overall package is just on the borderline given their skill cap

b) Guardians are perhaps too easy to bunker with effectively, adding to the skill cap while perhaps toning down some of the more egregious elements might help

c) Necros could do with more build variety for sure, and I expect they will be buffed/fixed; I don’t think thief is as limited as they do actually have multiple dd and one great condition spec all viable.

d) One of the main questions is the overall bunker vs GC meta, exacerbated by the point defender nature of the gameplay – how can Arenanet add more viable/working builds that move away from this duality.

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

That combo is a lot better if the target has burning before firegrab, meaning unless your lucky with a crit, you will want to use a signet of fire or cleansing flame ( cleansing flame would be better of course) during earthquake.

This combo will work on someone that is new to the game, in a losing group fight, afk, or in the middle of a cluster 8 v 8.
Their is a reason why no one uses this a GC build outside of WvW zergs or 8 v 8, same reason you dont see many people using DPS builds for necro, GC guardians, or GC warriors outside of said instances.
This is a great combo that will work on someone once..
Then in 45 seconds unless you have a team backing you, you will be stomped when you come back.
Doesnt stop it from being funny

NaturalPortman.9562:

Arheundel.6451:

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

The base dmg of the ele has been nerfed to the ground, that rotation will not insta-kill anything outside another extremely squishy target, a thief/mesmer can still almost one -shot you despite having a target with over 2k toughness.
Also the rotation would be :
earthquake – lightning flash ( used mid cast of earthquake)- cleansing fire/ring of fire – fire grab, that’s a lot of work which use long CD skills and doesn’t assure you the death of the target but will leave you defenseless in most cases

The only reason people think ele and warrior is a hard class to play is because everyone is so kittening bad with them. Stop being trigger happy and know when to come in. A warrior who runs at you popping frenzy is basically free kills for you and your team right? A warrior who runs in with frenzy and 100b in a crowd of ressers with a downed person? Not so much.

And let’s see here, ele is all aoe damage and it’s quite alot of aoe damage. Ele is the last class atm that should be complaining.

100b doesnt happen in most rezzing cases either.

I dont know of one team that doesnt run someone with a res signet.
Unless you mean in WvW…where as I stated before…anything works in a zerg..

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

The base dmg of the ele has been nerfed to the ground, that rotation will not insta-kill anything outside another extremely squishy target, a thief/mesmer can still almost one -shot you despite having a target with over 2k toughness.
Also the rotation would be :
earthquake – lightning flash ( used mid cast of earthquake)- cleansing fire/ring of fire – fire grab, that’s a lot of work which use long CD skills and doesn’t assure you the death of the target but will leave you defenseless in most cases

that is a good reason to pick 20points in fire (10% more damage in fire +5% damage to burning foes, which get burned when you switch to fire tnx to second minor in fire) and 30 in air to pick bolt to the heart and +20% damage to stunned foes. put the other 20 in water and you have your build. I do fairly regularly 10k + hits with fire grab, I literally one-oneshot most classes, even with high toughness, just like I do on my thief. again you don’t see GC eles simply because a thief is just as good, and you’ve many more useful builds for a team. unlike thieves

Thieves also have an easier way surviving if the burst sequence misses or you get targeted by someone else.

RTL is a great escape as long as you arent CC’d, or immobilized.
and as long as you arent running from a thief…
cause shortbow travel + shadow step is stupid -_-

Solori.6025:

NaturalPortman.9562:

Arheundel.6451:

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

The base dmg of the ele has been nerfed to the ground, that rotation will not insta-kill anything outside another extremely squishy target, a thief/mesmer can still almost one -shot you despite having a target with over 2k toughness.
Also the rotation would be :
earthquake – lightning flash ( used mid cast of earthquake)- cleansing fire/ring of fire – fire grab, that’s a lot of work which use long CD skills and doesn’t assure you the death of the target but will leave you defenseless in most cases

The only reason people think ele and warrior is a hard class to play is because everyone is so kittening bad with them. Stop being trigger happy and know when to come in. A warrior who runs at you popping frenzy is basically free kills for you and your team right? A warrior who runs in with frenzy and 100b in a crowd of ressers with a downed person? Not so much.

And let’s see here, ele is all aoe damage and it’s quite alot of aoe damage. Ele is the last class atm that should be complaining.

100b doesnt happen in most rezzing cases either.

I dont know of one team that doesnt run someone with a res signet.
Unless you mean in WvW…where as I stated before…anything works in a zerg..

lol wat. 100b is so kitten powerful if used in the right situations. Apparently 99% of warriors are not aware of their current situation and of peoples dodge rolls / evades.

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

Well, I do say brother… Your just absolutely wrong. I find these opinions of yours to be kinda funny and here’s why:

My tourny team consists of:
-100b Warrior
-D/D “Burst Ele”
-D/D Necro
-Shatter Mesmer
-Condi Clear/Shout Guard

3 of these specs we play are considered “not viable” by players such as yourself. But, we do it well and we consistently win. The fact is, it’s the player that makes the builds work and how well you teams build synergize with each other.

This game has evolved way past “TUNNELING” targets. Which, you seem to be stuck under.

<3 Vain

DevilsGlare.7658:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

Well, I do say brother… Your just absolutely wrong. I find these opinions of yours to be kinda funny and here’s why:

My tourny team consists of:
-100b Warrior
-D/D “Burst Ele”
-D/D Necro
-Shatter Mesmer
-Condi Clear/Shout Guard

3 of these specs we play are considered “not viable” by players such as yourself. But, we do it well and we consistently win. The fact is, it’s the player that makes the builds work and how well you teams build synergize with each other.

This game has evolved way past “TUNNELING” targets. Which, you seem to be stuck under.

<3 Vain

Sigh people still underestimating the aoe pressure of dps ele……..

Arheundel.6451:

Mrbig.8019:

Arheundel.6451:

Oni.5429:

I sure can! Here are a number of completely viable builds, obviously not all of them will make it at the top level of paids but you seem more concerned about hot join where all of these will do quite well.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?dDDPJAmWgMmMawwwgjDAjGm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^
Dagger dagger spec which has good burst. While it’s burst is not thief level it makes up for it with good survivability and excellent roaming capablities. One of the best skirmishers for sure. EU don’t really use these eles in paids but alot of american players do. It also provides good support for your teams with the aura share.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmObyxygjDAkHm8SJjCdUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^Tankier version of the spec above

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJAoYhMmKbyRygjDAkHm8SJiCPUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B
^more dps heavy version

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fEEQJArYhMmObyx5gjDAEFmgiQhFOUeMDO2A;ToAA0CnoQygkAJLSOkkINgY+B

Scepter dagger valk spec, decent damage and burst

There are also some more cheesy(but potentially very dangerous builds) such as berseker staff ele which Royal legion in EU used to run quite alot, in terms of dps that build does far more than a thief ever could.

Ele used to be a common pick for high level play back in the days when they didnt even have mist form to escape stomps and they’ve continued to be a core pick in setups, it’s power spiked even higher when their dueling capacity got buffed due to the channeling heal buff and after that(also before that) many had already voiced concerns that elementalists were possibly too strong (when played correctly, which honestly isnt as hard as many try to make it out to be.). This was all BEFORE we found the immortal scepter dagger heal allies from 20% to 80% spec.

edit; thanks to zoose for having his builds openly available c:

In tournaments as long as they don’t target you it’s easy, you could even use a “support” thief and call it viable…but it doesn’t cut it, because other professions can do it better.

A burst ele in tournaments is not viable because its spike not only is far too obvious but also leave the ele defenseless against counterattack, it’s very easy to neutralize the burst as you can see it coming from miles away, if you plan to use a hit and run tactic, why don’t use a thief who can stealth and pick off target more reliably?

Tried already these “burst” builds , at high level of paid you simply get destroyed by thieves who can deal over 15k dmg in 2s with that level of toughness on you.
The meta has evolved and people don’t get caught anymore by the old “burst” ele, it’s the same reason you don’t see many 100b warrior any longer, mesmer and thieves can reliably go burst and get away with it…an ele can’t

lightning flash +earthquake -switch to fire + fire grab + arcane wave

ele bust is instant, you have the same time of a thief burst to react.

maybe building as a glass cannon and using something different than Rtl -updraft (that any decent player would dodge 95% of the time ) is a good idea

The base dmg of the ele has been nerfed to the ground, that rotation will not insta-kill anything outside another extremely squishy target, a thief/mesmer can still almost one -shot you despite having a target with over 2k toughness.
Also the rotation would be :
earthquake – lightning flash ( used mid cast of earthquake)- cleansing fire/ring of fire – fire grab, that’s a lot of work which use long CD skills and doesn’t assure you the death of the target but will leave you defenseless in most cases

Actually the rotation big posted would work if earthquake or LF crit, giving the target burning, but if you dont want to wait for chance adding in cleansing fire during earthquake gaurantees a 9k+ firegrab, again this is a great build in zergs, not so great in teams, where a thief would outshine this 4 ways backwards.

Hmm? Not sure if that was directed at me. I’m not quite sure any tourny team underestimates the potent cleave damage of an ele o.O