Guild Wars 2

So, Anyway I started playing at launch and I thought the game was boring and the movement style was a bit slow and was not rubbing off on me so after playing for what seemed like maybe 8 days I decided that it wasn’t my game. I have recently returned (I’m really falling in love with the game) and I have been searching vigorously for certain answers, to no avail. When I first came back to the game I was searching to see what was the best and most popular class, the least boring, etc etc. So after not finding my answers I took it upon myself to seek the answers in game and give a some-what non-biased opinion about each profession. While doing so I discovered that some classes are very odd. In almost every game and other MMO (I know this is not built like every MMO but hear me out) the weaker the defense of a class the stronger it would be offensively I was completely wrong and some what baffled at the Elementalists defense and offense compared to other classes as well as base hp. I did some research and the base hp of all level 80 professions is =
Warrior and Necro at 18372hp
Engi, Ranger and Mesmer at 15082hp
Elem, Guardian and Thief at 10805hp
(Without armor)
Now for every class at the lower bracket of HP they have some way of making up for that loss of hp, Guardians with raw heals and plate armor and then thieves with more evasive skills, like shrouds etc and not to mention there burst. But I just don’t see how Elementalists stack up against that. (I know they have healing but you also have to take into affect they are wearing light armor and have one of the lowest hp pools.
Now right off the bat I knew that classes that are the ‘’spell-thrower’’ type are weaker but usually have high burst. The second part of my statement was wrong, the Elementalist can switch between the elements for a very varied play-style but I was wondering where is there burst? It’s not a glass cannon it’s more of a glass pellet gun, and to my surprise I looked up what class has the highest burst and saw Warrior, Mesmer Thief and then followed by Necro have the highest burst of every class if played correctly. I don’t know if that information is correct but I looked on multiple forums for the answers and that’s what was most commonly listed. Maybe I’m playing the class wrong or the information is outdated but I’m not fully understanding why the class with the least defense does not have more offense just because it has more skill and rotation options does not make it better. I don’t really know if my information is correct because it’s mostly based of this forum and other information gathered on the interwebs but I’m really willing to find out more about what each class has to offer. Thanks in advance!

• * Also I forgot to mention the cast time involved and the ever looming threat of endless shut down skills other classes have that can cause interrupts, silences etc. If there is a cast time involved in any skill there should by default be a bigger better result.

Technically ele does have the highest burst (though it will give you finger cramps like nothing else) but it’s something you have to sacrifice a lot for, more so than any other class, and it’s hard to make favorable trades for survivability because of how the keystone traits (and items) are laid out. It also has the highest PvE DPS with a very specific S/D or S/F (S/F tends to be a bit better just for utility) might-stacking LH build and rotation, and is the best zerg buffbot.
Elementalists suffer the fate of being horrifically difficult to balance, with twice the number of skills (or even more with conjures) that all have to be balanced so that no specific combination of them becomes overwhelmingly powerful. For the first couple of months of the game, they really were overpowered. They then got quite a few really hard nerfs that immediately moved them closer to the bottom end of balance. This last update has been the only really significant buff to them since that time, and the meta has still not settled so it’s hard to say where they’re at now.
That being said, ele is one of the few classes where skilled players can really shine. It just requires ungodly amounts of practice (more than I have, for sure, though I like to think I do well) to reach a point where you wouldn’t be better off using a meta class (except in PvE or a zerg, but those are pretty meh in difficulty to begin with).

That is my opinion on the ele, for now (and it will probably last all of a week).

What?

GC eles are NOT a pellet gun. They have maybe the biggest burst combo in the game. Ele is actually the only class that has ever melted me on guardian.

Eles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_S3_xQ8UdA&list=PL-llHC_MT9kdRpU4txCcrPpBpo579cw0F

Hamster.4861:

Eles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_S3_xQ8UdA&list=PL-llHC_MT9kdRpU4txCcrPpBpo579cw0F

Zergs OP.
Seriously though, zergs make all semblance of balance disappear.

Hamster.4861:

Eles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_S3_xQ8UdA&list=PL-llHC_MT9kdRpU4txCcrPpBpo579cw0F

I was talking about solo pvp, 1v1 encounters etc. But really cool video nonetheless. If someone had or knew of a video of 1v1 or solo pvp activity I would really like to see it! Thanks for the replys though!

I don’t get this logic.

Is there really nothing you can think of besides “Oi! The devs hate us! We’re being ignored on purpose!”? Hrm?

And sorry, but you’re talking about 1v1? A fully unsupported game mode?

Hi, Just to tell you ele are certainly the most bursty classe out there. No other class can do that for example :

But if an ele wanna be really tanky he have the tools to deal with this. Ele can heal themselve and their party a lot. But ele can also have as much armor than a full toughness guardian. All of that depends of your build.

PS : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_We0Kts8w-Q here the kind of video you wanted

The Elementalist has the best boon uptime in the game with Elemental Attunement for defensive boons and Persisting Flames for offensive boons.

This last patch has been a blessing to ele. The ease at which I killed people blew my mind. I have enough defense to maintain that ease under pressure too.

Neko.9021:

The Elementalist has the best boon uptime in the game with Elemental Attunement for defensive boons and Persisting Flames for offensive boons.

6 points in Fire and 4 points in Arcane. Lolchoice…

I’m not kidding. I killed two people before I even realized I was winning.

dietzero.3514:

Neko.9021:

The Elementalist has the best boon uptime in the game with Elemental Attunement for defensive boons and Persisting Flames for offensive boons.

6 points in Fire and 4 points in Arcane. Lolchoice…

You rarely run both in the same build.

But sorry, I guess I assumed that traits sort of make a build work, and the Ele has some very solid and valid ones.

Oh yeah by the way I never made that title post. The original title post was about red heads and step children and etc etc etc blah blah blah. I’m not whining about how this class has been forgotten or anything like that. The title has been edited to not offend anyone. Thanks for the replys and videos though. Cheers!

Dadnir.5038:

Hi, Just to tell you ele are certainly the most bursty classe out there. No other class can do that for example :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjWo9nbu7v0

But if an ele wanna be really tanky he have the tools to deal with this. Ele can heal themselve and their party a lot. But ele can also have as much armor than a full toughness guardian. All of that depends of your build.

PS : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_We0Kts8w-Q here the kind of video you wanted

This is nothing to do with ele. It is FGS and mostly the RUSH skill.

q what’s an interesting class
a elementalist
q what’s the worse class to play
a elementalist

thank you  arena net, thank you

Pain.7958:

Carighan.6758:

I don’t get this logic.

Is there really nothing you can think of besides “Oi! The devs hate us! We’re being ignored on purpose!”? Hrm?

And sorry, but you’re talking about 1v1? A fully unsupported game mode?

I don’t really get your logic. First where did I say anything you just did? Second, I made many attempts in my forum post to tell everyone here that I’m not fully aware of everything in the game. I came here to acquire knowledge about a class I have yet to get to 80 with and was simply wondering why things the way they are. So..? I don’t even know what to say because you probably won’t even read this like how you did not even read my previous post. I really wish small minded people came with small mouths too but I guess that will never happen. Have a good day buddy.

Hold on, you don’t even have this class to 80 and you’re this upset? O.o

Listen, the Elementalist has low HP and low armor because it has access to twice the weapon skills of other classes. This allows it to do long strings of skill combos while also having responses to various situations. I can burst in Fire and blast finish in Earth, and still move to Water for heals or Air for more damage as well as CC. The Elementalist can also be built for extreme damage for PvE and buff its team offensively better than any other class while also doing some of the highest damage in the game.

Get the class to 80, read some of the stickied Ele guides, learn to play in PvP as well, and I think you will see the potential of why the class must be capped and balanced with low stats. The Elementalist simply has more outs or responses to most situtations compared to Medium and High health classes, so it gets lower health to compensate, similar to how Thieves have low HP because of their evasion and stealth or a Guardian because of their blocks, boons, and heals.

Neko.9021:

Listen, the Elementalist has low HP and low armor because it has access to twice the weapon skills of other classes. This allows it to do long strings of skill combos while also having responses to various situations. I can burst in Fire and blast finish in Earth, and still move to Water for heals or Air for more damage as well as CC. The Elementalist can also be built for extreme damage for PvE and buff its team offensively better than any other class while also doing some of the highest damage in the game.

Get the class to 80, read some of the stickied Ele guides, learn to play in PvP as well, and I think you will see the potential of why the class must be capped and balanced with low stats. The Elementalist simply has more outs or responses to most situtations compared to Medium and High health classes, so it gets lower health to compensate, similar to how Thieves have low HP because of their evasion and stealth or a Guardian because of their blocks, boons, and heals.

hey i just wanna say thanks for sharing this info.

i have been playing since beta weekends and 3 days head start.
today i learned something new!

elementalists are the only ones to have access to 20 different weapon skills (engineers could have more but they sacrifice their utility skills slots or even healing slots for various kits) and everyone else only have access to 10 different weapon skills slots via standard weapon swap. O_O

i never thought about this before. O_O

in my mind, i always thought that the elementalists have lowest health, light armor because they have the ability to deal insane amount of burst damage.

oh yeah by the way i mainly play warrior only nowadays. recently, sometimes, i also play with my mm necro a bit.

i think warrior and elementalist belong to the far end of the difficulty scale yes?

easiest —-————————————————————————— hardest
warrior —-———- (insert other professions in here) —-———— elementalist

Actually I have met 1 ele in PVP, using staff, and he can tank up to a few enemy at once.
His healing power is superb, and he really sustained and won the fight.

So, I think ele is really good if u spec it correctly

rhodoc.2381:

Dadnir.5038:

Hi, Just to tell you ele are certainly the most bursty classe out there. No other class can do that for example :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjWo9nbu7v0

But if an ele wanna be really tanky he have the tools to deal with this. Ele can heal themselve and their party a lot. But ele can also have as much armor than a full toughness guardian. All of that depends of your build.

PS : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_We0Kts8w-Q here the kind of video you wanted

This is nothing to do with ele. It is FGS and mostly the RUSH skill.

Without an ele there are no FGS so it’s all about Ele. RUSH is probably the very best burst skill of this game and you can do and say whatever you want, without an ele you won’t ever see RUSH used. The fact that this skill is on a summoned weapon doesn’t change the fact that it is an elementalist skill.

No ele mean no FGS mean no RUSH. Simple.

Dadnir.5038:

rhodoc.2381:

Dadnir.5038:

Hi, Just to tell you ele are certainly the most bursty classe out there. No other class can do that for example :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjWo9nbu7v0

But if an ele wanna be really tanky he have the tools to deal with this. Ele can heal themselve and their party a lot. But ele can also have as much armor than a full toughness guardian. All of that depends of your build.

PS : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_We0Kts8w-Q here the kind of video you wanted

This is nothing to do with ele. It is FGS and mostly the RUSH skill.

Without an ele there are no FGS so it’s all about Ele. RUSH is probably the very best burst skill of this game and you can do and say whatever you want, without an ele you won’t ever see RUSH used. The fact that this skill is on a summoned weapon doesn’t change the fact that it is an elementalist skill.

No ele mean no FGS mean no RUSH. Simple.

The problem with the RUSH skill is that there is no reliable way of actually killing anyone with it, at least not anymore.

It is really hard to use RUSH as an arguement for the disadvantages the ele has compared to others when we talk anything else than a still standing target standing up against a wall, that is not designed to adapt to a situation (PVE)

elementalist is mediocre support that needs support to survive, it serves no practical purpose in this game

cheshirefox.7026:

elementalist is mediocre support that needs support to survive, it serves no practical purpose in this game

O.o Serves no purpose? There are a few things about ele thats lack luster imo… But to say the ele serves no purpose whatsoever?

Heres what you need to do Cheshire, go to the “Elemental Attunement” post under the Ele forums and +1 it.

cheshirefox.7026:

elementalist is mediocre support that needs support to survive, it serves no practical purpose in this game

You may want to try playing… well, basically anything which isn’t solo. :P