Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, following the recent trend of changes of the game has received, i’ve decided to come back and try it all out!

However, so much has changed since i last played, that instead of jumping on one of my current 80s, i’m going to re-learn the mechanics again as i play, thus i’ve chosen an elementalist as my starter class as they seem to have received some nice changes and are now pretty decent (from what i can gather from the forums)

However, the one thing i’m stumped on is the build.
I’ve never played an Elementalist before, and i have no idea how to do well with one, are they similar to the mesmer in that they start off rather cack and get better around the 40s?

What sort of build should i be going for while leveling to help make it as stress-free as possible? What weapon combos are the best? Any information would be greatly appreciated!

As someone who’s mained mesmer since beta and recently picked up elementalist, I can tell you ele feels more like engineer than mesmer, since you will be constantly swapping between attunements, and probably weapon bundles in order to capitalise on skills that suit the situation.

For me, the first game changers when leveling were access to conjured weapons which comes much sooner – ice bow 4 and lightning hammer 1 are devastating and should become close friends. In terms of painless leveling, I can’t speak authoritatively, but all end-game weapon sets seem to be viable from the outset. As a mesmer, D/D will probably be the most familiar to you assuming you made extensive use of swords as a mez. But the ele meta sees a lot of use of conjured weapons, and lightning hammer will get you a lot of mileage whatever weapon set you run with (As will ice bow 4 when dealing with massed enemies, or bosses)

Congrats on choosing an ele! You’ll enjoy it a lot and you’ll be able to put it to excellent use in PvE and WvW later on since they offer arguably the best DPS in the game and arguably the best ranged support in WvW.

Anyway as for leveling, I crafted 40 or 50 levels on my ele so I can tell you what I know from doing the early levels. Dagger/X is probably ideal since its got really nice cleave with lightning whip (which is Dagger’s strongest auto) and tons of PBoA to handle multiple mobs (which the scepter isn’t as good at), and focus gives you great surivability tools, while OH dagger gives you great burst damage tools. And ride the lightning for moving faster hahaha. Staff could probably work too if you either feel like kiting everything to death or if you feel comfortable with getting everything to stand in your lava fonts at all times.

As for traits, I’d definetly take water/arcane traits while leveling when you’re first learning the class, since that gives us so many boons and healing to help us survive when we’re on our own. Once you get more comfortable, try to put points into air, since thats where a lot of the damage for dagger builds comes from if you go that route (scepter/staff are more fire based) but having at least 20 in water and arcane for elemental attunement, renewing stamina, and then regen/condi cleanse traits for water OR vital striking for damage will give you enough survival for leveling in my opinion, since evasive arcana and cleansing water aren’t really all that necessary. Putting 10 points in earth is also great for damage to pick up the stone splinter trait, so you get more toughness and damage that way. As for utility skills, either signet of resto or ether renewal works for healing, depending on whether you want a more passive regen style heal or more condi renewal, although later on for pve arcane brilliance is typically better since its a blast finisher.

Anyway this stuff is just my opinion, but I hope it helps!

I’d say go dagger/dagger and keep a somewhat up-to-date staff in your bags. I like it for soloing elites/champs if there’s no one else around. Build can be adjusted on the fly, so go with what you got (major trait have to be unlocked so we can’t help really – I’m liking arcane and fire for what it’s worth).
Get signet of air asap. Get aether renewal even if you default another heal skill, or else kittening lvl 2 spiders can be life-threatening with their poison.
^I agree about the summoned weapons.
Fiery Greatsword for getting around the map.
Check which maps give good major traits: Gendarran Fields, Lornar’s Pass, EotM Zerg for a bit etc.
Power > Prec > Ferocity while leveling, just burn kitten to the ground, that’s your gear’s contribution to survivability.
Sigils of Bloodlust help a ton, on-crit is not worth it in the beginning.