Guild Wars 2

The problem is that I can’t get a balance between damage and survivability.
Also the attunement swaps confuse me, I have more skills than all other classes but I don’t know when/how to use them.
I realy don’t understand this class… any tips/builds?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-ele-2-16-12/first

Tips:

1. Read the guide linked above.
2. Go to a zone where you out-level the content considerably.
3. Work on learning your skills, attunement swaps, combos, and dodging. Even though you don’t have to to kill the things you’re fighting, try to use every tool at your disposal as if you’re fighting for your life.
4. Move to a higher level zone when it feels easy, steadily working your way up to same-level (or higher) content as your skills improve.

Trying to master all those skills and interactions can be overwhelming under the pressure of death all the time. It helped me greatly to get them down in a low-risk environment and then steadily work up the threat level.

What level is your toon? If it’s still low level, and you have some cash to spare, I’d recommend capping two or three crafting disciplines to get you into your mid-thirties. Like several other professions/builds, traits make a huge difference in how D/D plays. Once you can start using master traits the ride gets smoother.

Or, you could use different weapons to level. Scepter/Focus works great leveling with alot of range and protection. Someone in a different thread used Conjures to help level.

You will hear alot about the d/d weapons, but few found them acceptable for leveling. Also, Most elementalists know how to use the other weapons. Skipping them entirely is a mistake imo.

Only problem with using a different weapon to level is that you get to 80 and have to start learning D/D fresh.

Once I got used to D/D, leveling with anything else was frustratingly slow. You can destroy so many mobs so quickly, and zip around the map at crazy speeds.

I leveled using a staff build 1-80 and didn’t have much problems learning D/D at 80. At very low levels D/D lacks a bit of survivability. At 80 you can put in all your trait points and get max boon duration gear.

You don’t have to level 1-80 with a D/D build. But when you do switch to D/D, look at guides, videos, play around with skills and combos.

Here are some tips I can give you. I only play d/d elementalist and feel rather comfortable playing it after all this time. One thing you should learn is how to use your abilities in the best way (obviously)…but I really mean is using them so they all work together in some way.

I usually always start a fight in fire attunement. The 3 ability lets you slide into the fight. A good thing to learn with the Fire 3 ability is the range, as you do an extra burst of damage where you stop sliding. So you want to make sure the enemies will get hit at the end of the slide. After using Fire 3 you can use Fire 2 which will set the enemies on fire and do some good damage. Setting enemies on fire will let Fire 5 do extra damage. Then use Fire 4 which will put down a ring of fire. This ring of fire is important! Switch to earth attunement and immediately use Earth 3. This will work with Fire 3’s fire field and give you a fire aura/shield. After you use Earth 3, use Earth 4 inside the ring of fire to give area might with a blast finisher. Set off an Earth 2 for some extra damage. You can use Earth 5 but that’s only if you feel like you can safely channel it.

From there it can be really up to you. You definitely want to be switching to water and air as much as you can because the auras you can activate from those attunements will give you fury(if you have your traits spec’d for that, which you should). You basically want to constantly have fury on you. You can do this by increasing your boon durations. In fights I always have fury on me. Swapping attunements also grants you fury if you are spec’d into it (which you should be).

Air is also really great for dps. The Air 1 ability puts out a lot of damage. If you ever use Air 5 make sure to instantly switch to fire attunement and use Fire 3 to get you right back into the fight. The distance Air 5 knocks you back is usually the perfect distance away for Fire 3.

It just really takes some practice to get down a good rhythm in fights. But the sequence I described from starting in fire to switching to earth is a pretty good place to start. Just make sure to never stay in one attument for too long as most d/d builds have you benefiting the most from constantly switching.

I run a rotation similar to Graybes but mine differs a bit.

I start in Air, use 4 to get to the target then 5 to knock it back. Switch to Fire use 3 to get back to the target then 2 then 5 (does extra damage to burning opponents) then 4. Switch to Earth, use 4 to knock down opponents (creates area might) then while opponents are down channel 5 (you may get hit but the toughness while attuned to earth should mitigate that. Then Earth 2 and 1 for bleeds. Finally to Water, 2 (heals while doing damage) 3 to chill and roll out to heal (if need) repeat…if needed.

I also agree with Gibson. Go somewhere safe and just mess around with the build.

It’s such a versatile class that as soon as you learn how to switch between attunements fluidly, every other class seems boring and dull by comparison.