Guild Wars 2

Today I was running my trap condi ranger build in pvp. Now not being familiar with elementalists I was unaware of their Diamond Skin trait. This trait is the most over powered thing I have ever seen. A single trait should never completely nullify a whole build. Who thought this was a good idea? They need to be smacked in the head!
Someone shouldn’t be able to sit in 3 traps and take several axes to the face and still be at full health.

Yep, that is exactly why eles take diamond skin… You might want to rethink your build or your approach and not hammer on some unbreakable doors (eles).

I realize that’s why they take it. Not taking it would be stupid. It’s overpowered. Every ele would take it. It needs to be reworked. Maybe reduce condi damage or remove them at intervals, but complete immunity is just stupid.

The thing is that the game isn’t balanced around 1 v 1 fights. There are SEVERAL hard counter builds in the game when it comes to 1 v 1. Since pvp is balanced around 5 v 5, however, this trait which only makes them immune to conditions if they can stay above 90% health (which isn’t much for eles) isn’t as good if you consider that in most teams there are 1 or 2 berserker characters that usually have high mobility on top of their high bursts.

You’re supposed to coordinate with your team to secure kills in pvp, not expect to win against everyone 1 v 1. Besides, 1 v 1s don’t happen that often in actual matches anyways because people are constantly +1ing fights and moving around.

Of course, if they were to implement an official dueling arena of some kind then all of the builds that completely hard-counter other builds would have to be tweaked.

If you really can’t deal around 2000 damage without conditions at all to take an ele out of the diamond skin range, then you probably do still have some way to go with your build if you want to make it ‘all purpose’. What you’ve done is made the build very much a ‘one trick pony’, so whilst you’re surely effective against some builds, there will also always be hard counters to that in 1v1 situations. No one build will be great against everything all of the time. It’s like how that ele has given up resistance against critical hits (Stone Heart) in order to have higher condi resistance, so now they’re much weaker against zerker builds as a tradeoff for being stronger against you.

Therefore Diamond skin is as overpowered as rock is to scissors.

The diamond trait has always been good, but I hesitate to say overpowered. Eles are extremely squishy – it really doesn’t take much burst to knock that 10% off. If a condition hits on a skill which also damages, the skill damage applies first and if the health drops below the 90% the condition then applies. AT least that’s how it always used to on me.

The only thing that has changed is more will be using it since ppl can commit to the full earth line without losing something elsewhere, although many still don’t like the earth line.

Good trait, but easily worked around in a skilled environment like pvp is meant to represent

Keeping their health above 90% is more tricky than you might think. It is far from OP. And since Gw2 is not based around 1v1 combat, you’re better off avoiding things that hard counter you.

As someone who spends most of her time solo roaming in WvW on a condition Necromancer, when I get “immune” from an Elementalist I immediately look for the nearest tower I can run in to because eff that noise. Just like I run like a scared little chicken when I see a Mesmer with Signet Of Humility.

If it hard counters you, either you can fight an uphill battle with a very slim chance of winning or you can haul kitten and call it a day.