Guild Wars 2

Well staff ele is no longer viable and hasn’t been for a while, and now rev utterly outclasses us in terms of support. No joke groups atm only want condi epi reapers, guardians and revenants (memsers and druids as focus group). If I’m ele main should I just quit wvw zerging till the next balance patch? I won’t but should I ? Meteor shower isn’t even good for clearing siege anymore, what a terrible balance atm tbh.

At least we are still sexy in havoc groups, S/F with FA is probably our best build atm which of course doesn’t work with zerging at all. Cele DD ele is amazing I have one but it never has the spike damage to kill anyone.

What about roaming? is the ele any good at roaming?
If ele = ok/good to roaming then go roaming build and get many bags

I think healer tempest is still quite useful in WvW groups, zerg or small group roaming.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Tempest_-_Midline_Auramancer

This has been a thing for a long while and with the popularity of epidemic, you really have to watch where you stand and also have a group with some resistance/cleanse. But in terms of healing it’s quite hard to beat.

Honestly FA ele may be the most underrated zerg buster/ ganker atm in gw2 so at least we have that.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBIhdSfJ0fJWgJ4gJwhJW2AM396f9wSsCuAVghHQAoAC-TlSDQBNTpRAVVBe6AAwDAIeaBYy+DL8EA0FlZAUtCvoEkUAZOGA-w

Was going to try zerging on this for a few weeks since we will never come close to the strait healing output of a rev, I’m taking a minimum amount of healing and have power instead. Hits the 3k armor sweetspot while in earth, pretty decent damage overall.

I think heal ele is still pretty strong even with the buffs to ventari rev, DPS ele is kinda outclassed by condi epi reaper, but then again every DPS is atm so its just a matter of 1 build making it look bad.

I have a lot of respect for elementalist/tempists in wvw. They are so powerful if you can’t get up on them. The eles I run into are good players that know their class and burn my butt a lot.

Healing rev is trash. Don’t fall for the hype m8

Honestly with the build I posted up top I feel as if in god mode while in zerging. It’s quite perfect if I say so myself, but no one wants my ele to be in their raid because they think ele sucks : ( itfeelsbad

Support ele is viable but its just barely viable it would not take much to push it out of the small meta nich it has now. If they add a few more aoe heal skills to the other support builds classes ele would have no use. There just realy nothing left for ele to do that has not simply been added from these balances patches.

Dmd ele has no places in wvw large group battles.

Did I miss something… isn’t a staff ele still the strongest zerg healer and able to spam some solid aoe damage?

I still make berserker/assassin staff ele work. using lightning rod and arcane for cc and aoe sniping 3-5k per hit.

Support ele is still viable- just. Every patch it feels more and more useless though- but then with the power creep everything feels less fun to play.

I tend to stay in water for most of the fights as my water auto heals quite nicely and water 2 is an underrated skill.

I’m still dissappointed in the number of eles I see in group fights that only switch out of fire and air when they need to heal themselves – usually after over half our squad has wiped for the want of a water field….

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWn0XC9XiFYCWYCcYiFRAzNtGXzrDBgBQCkICsBqAA-T1RWABVrE0WVCM9BA6AAY/hfvAAGr8bJ1dIFgf7tA-w

This is what i run and its still not enofe to deal with condis from small groups at least its got good healing and good protection up time (all though rev has perma protection with one passive utility). I find my self sitting in water a lot spaming 1 its not a bad heal on its own and with the shouts you realty do not need to swap out as often. You could run after shock to realty push it with the added blast for the light field but no stun brake is kind of scary out side of overloades.

But this build is not that powerful and running a rev maybe better off. Resistances is better then clear atm as long as you hit that point of having perma resistances. Fields over all have taking a back seat to just simple blunt on use effects. Even light field blasting is not the best thing its all about frost field and letting your necro spin to win in them.

Every time they buff support for rev gurd druded and mez is another step comply away from ele being viable in wvw. The bad thing is ele use to compete with necro war and eng for aoe dmg in wvw but it cant any more so its a pure support competing with classes who have better boons they just do not have better heals.

Ele in wvw is at an all time low.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWn0XCFOgdOAGYCcYilNAzdv+XPsErgMQFY4BEAKgA-TliFQBURJBAeAA67CAoJlBqb/hqoE0IKxwn6PoTHwBVKEAABwQH6QH6RPaF6QH6QTKANXGB-w

Draining sigils brah. Mist form is good to toss in. And more celestial if you’re afraid of dying.

ProDecius.2609:

Well staff ele is no longer viable and hasn’t been for a while, and now rev utterly outclasses us in terms of support. No joke groups atm only want condi epi reapers, guardians and revenants (memsers and druids as focus group). If I’m ele main should I just quit wvw zerging till the next balance patch? I won’t but should I ? Meteor shower isn’t even good for clearing siege anymore, what a terrible balance atm tbh.

At least we are still sexy in havoc groups, S/F with FA is probably our best build atm which of course doesn’t work with zerging at all. Cele DD ele is amazing I have one but it never has the spike damage to kill anyone.

What? Staff ele is perfectly viable, and still kills siege in 1-2 meteor showers and otherwise does a ton of damage. Revenants don’t outclass you in support at all. It is true that they have an extremely large heal now with the tablet, HOWEVER i would be confident in saying that most revs are going to be terrible at positioning the tablet keeping up with the heals and managing their energy and resistance, and even then with a good rev i wouldn’t expect it to replace ele in a groups comp at all, you’ll just be swapping the rev already in the party to the support build(guard/guard/rev/ele/x, party comps looking something like this with x being warrior,necro,ect, depending on group comp). Support ele is still arguably meta for most frontline groups, the sustain it brings and the damage reduction and other bonuses from auras are insanely powerful not to mention all the boons it gives. Both ele and rev have their uses in a frontline party and are both equally viable. To say that ele is weak right now or is in a terrible spot, or not viable is just straight up wrong.

TLDR: Your class is in an amazing spot and still perfectly viable in both a dps and a support role.

backline and auramancer are still good and mostly needed. The pressure by meteor and its ability to take out tricky placed siege is important.

Staff ele isn’t viable in any part of gw2 atm, ranged in gvg has been dead for a while now. Anet could delete the staff weapon for ele in this balance, and gw2 would be utterly unaffected. Melee meta is the thing nowadays, most commanders have absolutely no consideration for a ranged group, and in fact don’t want one.

“Meteor Shower: This skill now has a 0.5-second cooldown when hitting nonplayer targets.” Just delete the weapon if you don’t want people to play it anet xD

ProDecius.2609:

Staff ele isn’t viable in any part of gw2 atm, ranged in gvg has been dead for a while now. Anet could delete the staff weapon for ele in this balance, and gw2 would be utterly unaffected. Melee meta is the thing nowadays, most commanders have absolutely no consideration for a ranged group, and in fact don’t want one.

This is just untrue, staff ele is perfectly viable open field with large groups and sieging objectives in WvW. Full melee isn’t meta outside of GvG’s at all, open field is a lot more varied in game-play since its so different from a GvG or an organised scrim. Whats strong in GvG’s isn’t necessarily strong in open field and vice versa.

Our guild still uses D/WH frontline shout eles for sustain, cleansing and auras. Staff eles for ranged support (got buffed most recent patch), and the occasional D/D for roaming.

Mesmers aren’t focus group either what the heck

Revs may be more important, but I don’t think Revs make eles redundant. For one, Revs have to be babysat by guardians because their own stability is incredibly lacking. If you lose a guardian in the middle of a fight, both revs and necros start to lose lots of effectiveness. Unless the necros want to demean themselves by taking Foot in the Grave but nobody wants to stoop that low. (This is why I think Warriors are underrated)

And then there’s that whole thing where the most valuable things they give (boon spam and pain absorption) can suddenly turn them into huge liabilities. Namely, corruption and epidemic on a Herald that’s just used the aforementioned pain absorption. Try it! It’s funny.

Then we remember that Auras can’t be countered in the same sense.

Eles also have access to a blink and easy access to AOE Superspeed. Also, I know it’s silly, but the ability to move away when downed also occasionally matters.

Finally, if Revs are taking the tablet, it’s not like it goes free either. They either don’t have Glint (boons), or Dwarf for the cool kids with nice groups (damage reduction).

A lot of people seem to focus a lot on their raw damage or healing or whatnot but they gloss over the details. What good is it when you have all the best stats in the world but you can’t land anything?

jamesdolla.3954:

Healing rev is trash. Don’t fall for the hype m8

A guy over on the Rev forum posted scans showing healing spikes of 12-14k on allies. Thats basically handing out “immune to death” buffs right there.

GrahamW.5397:

ProDecius.2609:

Well staff ele is no longer viable and hasn’t been for a while, and now rev utterly outclasses us in terms of support. No joke groups atm only want condi epi reapers, guardians and revenants (memsers and druids as focus group). If I’m ele main should I just quit wvw zerging till the next balance patch? I won’t but should I ? Meteor shower isn’t even good for clearing siege anymore, what a terrible balance atm tbh.

At least we are still sexy in havoc groups, S/F with FA is probably our best build atm which of course doesn’t work with zerging at all. Cele DD ele is amazing I have one but it never has the spike damage to kill anyone.

What? Staff ele is perfectly viable, and still kills siege in 1-2 meteor showers and otherwise does a ton of damage. Revenants don’t outclass you in support at all. It is true that they have an extremely large heal now with the tablet, HOWEVER i would be confident in saying that most revs are going to be terrible at positioning the tablet keeping up with the heals and managing their energy and resistance, and even then with a good rev i wouldn’t expect it to replace ele in a groups comp at all, you’ll just be swapping the rev already in the party to the support build(guard/guard/rev/ele/x, party comps looking something like this with x being warrior,necro,ect, depending on group comp). Support ele is still arguably meta for most frontline groups, the sustain it brings and the damage reduction and other bonuses from auras are insanely powerful not to mention all the boons it gives. Both ele and rev have their uses in a frontline party and are both equally viable. To say that ele is weak right now or is in a terrible spot, or not viable is just straight up wrong.

TLDR: Your class is in an amazing spot and still perfectly viable in both a dps and a support role.

The nerf metor vs npc targets it takes you a lot more to kill off siege. Ele also one of the few classes that retaliation dose a major hit to there hp so though big dmg tends to kill you faster then most. Necros power dmg is a lot better as its unblock able and well ele has no true unblock able dmg. Ele is a support class more so with staff then any thing else. That and condi dmg is the only real dmg in gw2 wvw atm. Epi alone brakes the balancing if your not at least bring something that stacks more then 2 beyond another bleed (chill necor bleeds are ungodly now) you have no use in dps if any thing your more like to get in the way or eat up a spot that many other clases can fill better.

Ele is support not dps in real wvw groups even the gvg.

Has there ever been a three classes only meta like this before? this is the worst balance I have ever seen in wvw tbh. This last GW2 patch was unbelievably horrible, I’m shocked at the incompetence and neglect. I wonder if any anet devs play WvW in the slightest. They couldn’t even remember to make siege an exception for the meteor CD.

I only just got back into wvw, took a two month break to find that I have to wait for the next balance patch to not get kicked out of zergs. I here “stop playing ele” ever two minutes in TS. what a kitteng nightmare, why did you screw us like this anet? why?

Sigh. . . . tweaked my ele some more so it can perform well in it’s own party. (no one wants an ele in there party of a rev) http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBIhdSfJ0fJWgJ4gJwhJWEBM326cNvS0BSAHghAwA4+B-TlCEQBtTHg/UVRLKzQ4JAAAPAAlp0YLKBTy+DuTLQ/UrgUAZOGA-w liking this quite a lot.

ProDecius.2609:

Sigh. . . . tweaked my ele some more so it can perform well in it’s own party. (no one wants an ele in there party of a rev) http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBIhdSfJ0fJWgJ4gJwhJWEBM326cNvS0BSAHghAwA4+B-TlCEQBtTHg/UVRLKzQ4JAAAPAAlp0YLKBTy+DuTLQ/UrgUAZOGA-w liking this quite a lot.

Well ya support is the only thing ele can do no one is say that the thing is about support for ele is that its “just” able to be viable a lot of the other healing classes set up are close to out doing support ele.They are one buff or one ele nerf away from comply replacse ele from wvw altogether. Well ele lacks as a support is a strong boon. It has one aoe stab that is 1 stack and last for at best 3 sec the cd can be low but there a lot of lock in to even get it out there and its on a 240 range. If ele is going to stay a full support class though out gw2 time line its going to need something other then just protection and reg because there are many classes who give it out perma passively.

The problem is that power dmg or that ele’s dmg has not keeped up with other updates.

Ele as a class in wvw is in the worst places its near the point of being another thf for group play. At least thf is god level of roaming and ganking ele needs a group to even be viable. The support roll is the last chase for this class that or a major over hall of its core class even tempest and wepon that go along with it. Something more then just a simple cdr that was taking from them and then given back…..

Whom ever is on the ele team needs to stand up for this class because at this point it seems like there no one there or the person is so passive that they let the other ppl do what ever they want but ele takes the blunt end of keeping things fair.

Yep, this patch was a huge punch to the face, pretty much "hey you play ele? then kitten you we hate you ", idk why anet is so mean.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJArdhcMoyhdOwwB8RMIBY1ToJkEkFQAoCS9gVQNA-T1BFABIt/wVKB1X9HAOBAqrHggHAQSK/IEQ5xA-w At least for the few of us try hard ele players we have this for solo roaming.

I for one am glad ele is taking a back seat as the perceived top classes to bring. Its tiring seeing 5-6 eles in a 25 man group. Most eles i run into do not know much of their class except for what they find on meta battle, they are unable to fine tune their builds to match the raid, and they assume them living when their raid wipes means they are good.

I wouldn’t say they are not viable now. I play 3 versions of eles and i am always prepared to switch between the 3 in a raid. Its fairly easy to play a brain dead auramancer, but i often see people not positioning themselves correctly to benefit the group, so this could be the percieved reason why they are seen as not as good. A lot of time those eles that live when their group dies is because they stay way too back even when they have all their oh crap buttons available. With meteors nerf plus this wetnoodle gearing, you also suck at clearing siege

More often then not, i find myself playing a marauders/zerker set, and you can still play extremely aggressive even without the best raid comp. You may not be top DPS, but the CC you bring is unmatched. With running a cantrip(lightningp flash), a stunbreak (eye of the storm) and burning retreat, you easily can get out of the heat if your tag isn’t a backpedaller coward. Now where this class fails, once again, its people playing them thats the problem. If you cant manage your dodges, you’re dead. If you are too aggressive without the proper means of escape available you are dead. It doesn’t matter how big the numbers you see are, if you are dead, you are useless. I see these more often then the wet noodle auramancers who don’t know how to position.

Another failure i often see is people running too hybrid. They spec as if they are pure support, then they kitten themselves with DPS gear. You are not being the best of both worlds, you are just being subpar at everything. Eles advantage is being able to specialize in many areas with he right gear/traits/weapon.

Third set i run is for when theres already a support ele and the guild is going for a more roam style night. A d/f burn ele that brings nothing to the group except more burn stacks to epi (burst apply 13-18 stacks of burn on a target).

Ele still has a place in backline and frontline.

In 60vs60 blobfights good staff eles are worth all their money…….

I also play Marauder and swap out my trinkets depending on whats going on and how Im feeling. Been trying to play this dagger horn healing thing. Hate dagger. If I wanted to play melee I would have made a warrior.

I like my staff, like to burn, freeze, annoy, torture, control and round up mobs like sheep lol….. Cant do that with a soft willy dagger.

I have two staff ele builds myself, but ranged simply isn’t meta on any class atm in gvg’s and such. Sure when you have 60 and are just karma training but otherwise no one would want this in a 15-30 vs 15-30. Mara is good of course, but Valkyrie/zerker combo is nice as well for glass staff ele for max ferocity.

“Another failure i often see is people running too hybrid. They spec as if they are pure support, then they kitten themselves with DPS gear. You are not being the best of both worlds, you are just being subpar at everything. Eles advantage is being able to specialize in many areas with he right gear/traits/weapon.”

Celestial style eles are pretty strong tbh, and it’s classic. With front line on ele you want at least some healing just to keep yourself up, and 3k armor is recommended.

Screw those who tell us to re log to rev, ele is the best class everything else is kitten.

ProDecius.2609:

I have two staff ele builds myself, but ranged simply isn’t meta on any class atm in gvg’s and such. Sure when you have 60 and are just karma training but otherwise no one would want this in a 15-30 vs 15-30. Mara is good of course, but Valkyrie/zerker combo is nice as well for glass staff ele for max ferocity.

GvG is a dead fake game mode, any meta now is for zerging in wvw, not gvgs. If you watch a “GvG” nowadays its just 2 bunkered up groups circling each other and the spectators struggling to stay awake.

Zerk up and watch your positioning, staff ele is perfectly fine for high-end damage.

Best gate runners since beta. :/

I don’t read these boards often, but this thread caught my eye because I main ele and necro 99% of the time in zerg WvW.

First off, the trick to an ele build (and I won’t post mine here, but I will post enough info that you could come up with it on your own, if you wanted to do so) is to decide if you want to do damage, heals, or boon buff and stick to one. The mistake I see a lot of eles make is trying to be all things to all zergs, so to speak.

My ele is a straight heal ele and that’s what she does, although I do have a little condi damage thrown in with the ability to do some ranged damage, although not like a staff ele can do. She does major healing and can keep an entire zerg alive by herself, for the most part, as long as everyone stays on tag like they should be doing.

If I want to do damage, I switch to my necro.

As for the new rev tablet hype, yes, I’ve heard it and, yes, I have a rev. I have played with different stat and skill and armor and rune and trinket combinations over and over since the patch and I have not found a way to even come close to the overall zerg healing that my ele can do. I’m privy to healing rev builds from several different servers and I have tried them all and NOPE, not even close. Therefore, I’m not sure where all the hype is originating from, but I suspect it is coming from folks who have no real concept of the healing power of a true straight healing elementalist.

Don’t bother replying to me because I doubt I will read this thread again.

Best to you all!

Ele has like 10 percent of the healing potential a revenant does atm, rev can heal 11-14k every second. Good thing it’s automatically a kitten class since it’s not elementalist lol,

ele=best class. kitten it guys let’s just believe : D

Sigh most of you guys don’t even seem that in touch though, no commander wants pure range atm, and no commander wants anyone playing power stat over condition damage.

The epi meta sucks so much, it’s bound to change soon I guess.