Guild Wars 2

After viewing some post i saw lots of bad reactions on the elementalist class.
my question… is it really a bad class and dificult to lvl.
Or should I better Swap my ele with an other class?

Greets,
Killnarf

Depends on spec/weapon choice. I see the phrase “steep learning curve” thrown around alot but Ididn’t particulally find it so. I geared defensivly leveling up and didn’t really have a problem (you have tank pets that help alot if you use them).

As a D/D ele I can absolutely reccoment playing your ele through tot he end. It is great fun.

Elementalist is quite a strong class, not because it is uber-killer, but because of its versatility (but that heavily depends on players’ skill of course). It is very difficult to go full damage while leveling, but if you can manage the class weaknesses, you will be rewarded for it.
The only drawbacks I see in this class are quite a huge number of various bugs (skill/trait/mechanic ones), and the lack of reliable ranged option (staff is somewhat lackluster in the terms of soloing after beta and even more after some recent patches). So a lot of ppl (including me) are kinda uncomfortable with the thought of melee squishy caster (basically forces you to go heavily on defense attributes/traits to be effective).
Nevertheless, the class is fun and cannot be compared to any other in the terms of gameplay and challenge, period

Also, staff is just fine for leveling. The amount of self-combos you can pull is highest on staff, and if you use that in addition to normal attunement rotation, you can drop things with ease. It doesn’t have quite the spike damage a D/D set can have, but in PvE you don’t really need that as much as you need constant damage, and staff delivers in that regard. Keep the lightning hammer ready for when you get in over your head, it works really well with staff.

Also, as far as survivability goes, I find myself frequently outlasting the “tanky” classes… maybe because you learn to dodge and keep moving early on as an elementalist… you learn to dodge really well.

Gaudrath.6725:

Also, staff is just fine for leveling. The amount of self-combos you can pull is highest on staff…

And that’s the thing I was talking about, it’s not true since the EA nerf. Staff now has only one and only blast finisher for itself (not counting utilities and traits), while other sets have multiple of these. And that is one of those issues which made staff quite lackluster compared to other sets while levelling. Of course, it’s still good while doing DEs etc, where the number of AOEs and the range is helpful at marking mobs, but thet’s maybe the only advantage the Staff has now…

STRanger.5120:

Gaudrath.6725:

Also, staff is just fine for leveling. The amount of self-combos you can pull is highest on staff…

And that’s the thing I was talking about, it’s not true since the EA nerf. Staff now has only one and only blast finisher for itself (not counting utilities and traits), while other sets have multiple of these. And that is one of those issues which made staff quite lackluster compared to other sets while levelling. Of course, it’s still good while doing DEs etc, where the number of AOEs and the range is helpful at marking mobs, but thet’s maybe the only advantage the Staff has now…

Staff trades off finishers for 2 more field types. Ice field in itself is very good in itself and with blast finishers from EA, Eruption and Arcane Wave you can stack on some serious aura uptime. The static field can be devastating in PvP and WvW if your party members have access to leap finishers for dazing strikes. In PvE you can use it with a thief to eat away at a boss’ defiant buff. Compared to S/D or D/D it requires much more input for similar output though so that might be why it’s not our favored weapon set at the moment. Also given that it’s our archetypal weapon set, those starting out as an ele will likely go for a staff and therefore be more than frustrated at the skill floor required in using it.

TwoBit.5903:

Staff trades off finishers for 2 more field types.

Exactly, and that’s the main problem while leveling, if you don’t have a buddy to apply a finishers to your fields, also Staff does much less damage than Scepter or Dagger weapon sets unfortunately, but that’s been this way since the beta super-nerf (imho Anet brought it down too much, it was really strong then, but the nerf was quite brutal).

A quote form the december 14 patch notes:

“We see the elementalist as the king of versatility. The skill ceiling for the Ele is exceptional, as the ability to leverage all four attunements at the right time is crucial for understanding the elemetnalist. The Ele boasts some of the best team support and control abilities in the game, as well as some great area of effect damage.”

It really says it all:
Versatility: we are not the best at anything , but we can do everything
Four attunements: Swap through them to make the most out of your character
Team support: boons and combo’s all around
Control: we can chill, criple, stun, imobilize, knock down, knock back, blind, weaken
AoE: Every weapon we got is AoE, even the dagger and focus

It also says ‘exceptional skill ceiling’. The staff is my primary weapon since the first beta weekend and i’m still learning. I have been level 80 for months and just two days ago I started using a new skill sequence that gives me burst damage on the staff.

Areann.1304:

I have been level 80 for months and just two days ago I started using a new skill sequence that gives me burst damage on the staff.

It will be great if you share your experience with the rest of the community, thet’s why these forums are here imho ;-)
I think that it will be much appreciated even by other Eles out there

First of all I thank you for your fast replies and I think they where really helpfull.
At the moment I am a lvl 10 ELE and have Secpter/Focus equiped…
is dagger/dagger better or what other combinations or staff. I really enjoy the diversity in spells and abilities.

Thanks in advance,
Killnarf

You can time that the damage of eruption, ice spike and lightning surge hit at the exact same moment by taking advantage from the big delay on eruption and the minor delay on ice spike. It’s good for actually killing people on the walls in WvW instead of just damaging them so they run away, heal, and come back. I If the defenders pay attention they can notice the red circles or even the rocks. But usually they don’t start running/healing until they are at 50% health. ’m still figuring out at what % of their health I best launch this sequence.

This sequence also doesn’t use my fire spells which I save to take out siege weapons and build sites. Those are mainly the reason why I’m in staff range off the walls in the first place. It’s a risk but when I’m in danger of getting downed I use burning retreat to get out (or arcane shield/mistform).

You can apply your Arcane Wave or Eruption blast finishers on staff, more than enough in my opinion. What is important is what TwoBit said – you get more fields on staff, ergo more varied self-combos. You can also use Earth #1 for projectile self combos and apply single target weakness, chill, add extra damage to them, you can use blast finishers with Water #5 for area heal and regeneration, or Fire #2 for area might etc.

You can also use the Glyph of Elemental Power and add extra effects to all your spells, like burning to water spells or cripple to fire and so on. Also, in PvE when fighting tougher stuff like champions, it really helps to keep some distance, and staff again is great for kiting, although you could do the same with scepter… but then you get less self-comboing opportunities.

Anyway, staff can be used to great effect, especially in PvE, you just have to use it right.

And what about dagger/dagger I also see a lot of that, or scepter/dagger…
In short is dagger something good to use? cause I hear the good things of a staff but I want to compare staff with dagger/?. Any advice on that?

Greetz,
Killnarf

I am still a quite noob so my points do not have a lot of value but based on what I have experience while playing as elementalist as a main and several others as secondary, I think that the elementalist has a lot harder playstyle to master but when gotten used to, can inflict a lot of damage. I don´t suggest this class as a starter class to anyone who is new to MMO all though if you decide to do so, it will teach you very well as when you finally take another class to play as, they don´t feel nearly as difficult than you would have thought in the first place.
If you are going in a group even that has a lot of people in it like a dungeon, then take a staff. If defense is more your style then take a scepter and a focus.
Thee best combo is to use a dagger and dagger in my opinion, the attacks have short range but the skill set has a lot of gap closer abilities and is the best of the all to inflict heavy damage into a single target as well as giving you the most mobility while fighting which is viable.
The last weapons choice is the one I recommend the most to a starting elementalist.

Dagger/Dagger is most popular in PvP because it is highly mobile, full of PbAoE spells you don’t need a target to hit with, especially with #1 skills… basically the whole skillset requires no targeting whatsoever, so it is very responsive when everyone is moving around. Plus, you get awesome escape and gap closing skills.

Scepter/Dagger is somewhat less used for PvP since the biggest damage skills tend to be easily avoided, and it is more a single target set, so you can’t do tons of damage to a group of enemies. I use Scepter/Focus for certain PvE content, since it’s very defensive and survivability is great.

I don’t think anyone uses dagger/focus much, it just doesn’t work that well.

Areann.1304:

You can time that the damage of eruption, ice spike and lightning surge hit at the exact same moment by taking advantage from the big delay on eruption and the minor delay on ice spike. It’s good for actually killing people on the walls in WvW instead of just damaging them so they run away, heal, and come back. I If the defenders pay attention they can notice the red circles or even the rocks. But usually they don’t start running/healing until they are at 50% health. ’m still figuring out at what % of their health I best launch this sequence.

This sequence also doesn’t use my fire spells which I save to take out siege weapons and build sites. Those are mainly the reason why I’m in staff range off the walls in the first place. It’s a risk but when I’m in danger of getting downed I use burning retreat to get out (or arcane shield/mistform).

Haha, same thing happened to me: after months of playing with Staff Elementalist, the EA nerf made me try out some new builds where I finally realized the potential of this combo (crit damage+ helps). After Eruption > Ice Spike > Lightning Surge, I usually throw down a static field, which my target often runs into before they get the chance to heal, and follow that up with a Lava Font > Flame Blast > Fireball spam till they’re downed. Once dead, I’ll drop another Lava Font and a Meteor Shower to damage those rezzing my target. If I get lucky, I can repeat the rotation and take down a few of the rezzing people!

I keep wanting to start the rotation with Ice Spike for the vulnerability, but it seems to make most of my targets wake up and notice the Eruption that’s about to blow.

To the OP: Elementalist is fun. It may require more patience to figure out good combos and rotations, but for me, that was part of the fun that keeps bringing me back.

I started as a staff ele mostly, and even now i stick with it. Ele no matter the weapon, is as was said, about dodging, slowing, stopping and then popping alot of AOE. Its toughest( or was for me), especially with staff around 25-45.

It has seemed to me alot of the Ele has to do with all your gear, traits, etc coming together.

I actually run a burn/power build focused alot on Sustained AOE. I lightem on fire, pling them, and then rain down death. But as an ele, thats just the main focus. Every attunement needs to be put to use (though i use earth alot less.) And constant positioning and dodging is needed.

Even with the EA neft (which i miss, cause it gave me a good reason to get close once in a while, now i just chill towards the back) I still love my staff build. But in my eyes, if your an Ele, you must be constantly active.