Guild Wars 2

Ive seen necros run a bit more power in their builds and hit my once or twice then spam condis on me. I’m really disappointed Anet. I also got yelled at for being a dd ele.

Did you honestly think Anet was going to give the Elementalist a completely OP buff?

I really believe Anet does not care about (and does not play) the Elementalist.

Shadowfall.6543:

Did you honestly think Anet was going to give the Elementalist a completely OP buff?

I really believe Anet does not care about (and does not play) the Elementalist.

I’ve always been a contender to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I am trading sides. Not sure I’m gonna come back to this game.

To be fair, I think that it would be more effective on S/D or S/F, since then you could stay out of the necro’s “power range”. Outside of 600 range, necros don’t have any half decent power option.

FrownyClown.8402:

Shadowfall.6543:

Did you honestly think Anet was going to give the Elementalist a completely OP buff?

I really believe Anet does not care about (and does not play) the Elementalist.

I’ve always been a contender to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I am trading sides. Not sure I’m gonna come back to this game.

If you quit can I have your account? I’d really like to play with my friend :P

I am trying S/F condi ele (inspired by you actually) with diamond skin:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArdhMmibyR0wjEI0DwQogAMeoBfQHWPkDA-ToAAzCuI+S9l7LzXyvsfNCY2B

Diamond skin works better here b/c its most useful for kiting (no controlling me, suckas!) Also, good condi application between doom sigil, GoEP, fire skills, water chills, etc. Lot of time spent in earth though.

Will report back on its efficacy with more testing, but seems promising.

Edit: Had a wrong trait, using serrated stones, not stone splinters.

BlackBeard.2873:

I am trying S/F condi ele (inspired by you actually) with diamond skin:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArdhMmibyR0wjEI0DwQogAMeoBfQHWPkDA-ToAAzCuI+S9l7LzXyvsfNCY2B

Diamond skin works better here b/c its most useful for kiting (no controlling me, suckas!) Also, good condi application between doom sigil, GoEP, fire skills, water chills, etc. Lot of time spent in earth though.

Will report back on its efficacy with more testing, but seems promising.

Edit: Had a wrong trait, using serrated stones, not stone splinters.

15 in arcane?

Oh no, the trait isn’t totally stupidly OP vs condi builds, the horrors, Anet clearly hates ele woe is me /end sarcasm.

i could have told you that before the patch went live
i’m not saying it’s a bad trait.. i’m just amazed at how people expect it to be used as something it isn’t
have you ever looked at the earth 25 pnt trait?
do you expect an elementalist to consistently maintain full endurance?

It’s a small victory since forcing necros to run a bit more power instead of balls to the wall condition/survivability makes them just slightly less effective in general. So while running diamond skin is still usually trash, our other builds got a slight buff compared to necro.

The should either lower the health threshold down to 75% or lower, 50 would be ideal, or make it like the engi trait where it kicks in when you drop to a certain amount of health. In which case it should be moved down to master tier and combined with rock solid. The way it is now, it’s not worth being a gm trait.

That would be laughably overpowered. However, 90% is a bit too high. 80 to 85% might be reasonable, but I would rather just see the current form moved to master tier.

dietzero.3514:

BlackBeard.2873:

I am trying S/F condi ele (inspired by you actually) with diamond skin:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArdhMmibyR0wjEI0DwQogAMeoBfQHWPkDA-ToAAzCuI+S9l7LzXyvsfNCY2B

Diamond skin works better here b/c its most useful for kiting (no controlling me, suckas!) Also, good condi application between doom sigil, GoEP, fire skills, water chills, etc. Lot of time spent in earth though.

Will report back on its efficacy with more testing, but seems promising.

Edit: Had a wrong trait, using serrated stones, not stone splinters.

15 in arcane?

Absolutely! I want the extra 120 toughness outside of earth, plus the fire-shield effect and soothing mist lingers. Normally the fire minor stinks, but in a condi build its actually pretty potent.

^not as overpowered as necros and mesmers and perplexity theives and engies are. I’m still in favor of them adding an additional accessory slot that just gives effects but no stats that you can add things in like regen or condition immunity. I would literally pay hundreds of dollars for something like that if they added an item in the gem store that would make me completely immune to conditions. I’d buy one for every single character i have, hell i’d buy several more for any future characters i may create. Hear that Anet? I’d be willing to pay hundred or possibly thousands of dollars for something like this.

Are we serious here or joking? Common sense will tell you people adapt and aren’t robots.

Remember when thieves all ran
30/30/put 10 points where ever you want backstab builds, and people cried about it?

I really think this trait will be better on another set /f not everything will work on D/D ele, abuse range with diamond skin in a S/F that is what effective condition classes like engi’s, and necro’s, p/d thieves.

Lets take it back remember D/D deathblossom spam thieves? That is complete trash now why? Cause people adapted and learned to move 2 steps to the left or right. P/D condi is way more effective than D/D.

Lay the smack down at range with S/F they try to spike pop earth 5 for invuln to physical and condition damage profit? I am not making a build around diamond skin just trying to give my fellow eles some inspiration.

I would rather lay condi down at range on someone applying pressure up front before they can even touch me.

My friend runs Dagger/Dagger necro in WvW. I’m like what are you doing? Sure you CAN do it but its not as good as S/x and staff.

Anyway by going 30 in Earth we are looking at giving up some healing possibly unless you want to put 30 earth and 30 water 10 somewhere else for a real bunker condi build. Probably wont die to a condi build with that setup but the question is if you can put out enough damage to kill someone else reasonably.

The trait was never meant to be auto win as soon as you fought someone with brains what is meant to do against smart players is basically give you a decent size window to go HAM on them before they break your threshold. Then you as the elementalist need to gauge if it is worth trying to blow skills to get back up over 90% or fight it out normally.

its terrible with s/d burst too.

Yea not sure what lightning tested it did say he didn’t have good success with it. Perhaps it is meant for S/F with earth 5 invuln on focus you can be immune to physical and condition damage and have a nice size window to put good damage down.

Once your earth 5 is up if you need to pop it. Go for control with the cc skills from Focus like gale, and comet, freeze to keep distance. Might have to see what I can cook up I always like S/F just hated the cooldowns.

oZii.2864:

Yea not sure what lightning tested it did say he didn’t have good success with it. Perhaps it is meant for S/F with earth 5 invuln on focus you can be immune to physical and condition damage and have a nice size window to put good damage down.

its helped me a lot in tpvp, but necros change up their build a little bit and they are actually able to kill me easier because i have little condi removal. I have killed pure condi necros easily with it.

I only played with it a bit, but 30 earth actually felt like more of a burst build to me, which is obviously counter-intuitive considering the stats you get are toughness and condi damage.

It doesn’t help a ton over the course of a fight because eventually you are going to drop below 90%, and then you’ll get dumped on unless you have just as much condi clear as before. Where it really makes a difference is at the very beginning of the fight. With 25 earth and stone splinters (and vital striking if you choose), you have +20% (30%) damage out the gate, and 30 earth gives you immunity on swap to every cc and condition that could stop your damage.

I don’t know for sure if it’s worth it, but I do think the real value from DS comes in the first few seconds of a fight.

dreztina.4820:

I only played with it a bit, but 30 earth actually felt like more of a burst build to me, which is obviously counter-intuitive considering the stats you get are toughness and condi damage.

It doesn’t help a ton over the course of a fight because eventually you are going to drop below 90%, and then you’ll get dumped on unless you have just as much condi clear as before. Where it really makes a difference is at the very beginning of the fight. With 25 earth and stone splinters (and vital striking if you choose), you have +20% (30%) damage out the gate, and 30 earth gives you immunity on swap to every cc and condition that could stop your damage.

I don’t know for sure if it’s worth it, but I do think the real value from DS comes in the first few seconds of a fight.

nice tip. went zerker trinket and surviving pretty well in spvp.

was a kitten stupid idea for a trait in the first place.

<<<< the only build i could think of for wvw using diamond skin…
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQFAWnEEVZYzBKHwjYAh8wFeBTY8QD2gOsUYHA-jUBBYiAppFRjtYqIas6ZER16jYA-w
It looks horrible…

I actually use it in wvw. Works better in group fights.

BlackBeard.2873:

I am trying S/F condi ele (inspired by you actually) with diamond skin:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArdhMmibyR0wjEI0DwQogAMeoBfQHWPkDA-ToAAzCuI+S9l7LzXyvsfNCY2B

Diamond skin works better here b/c its most useful for kiting (no controlling me, suckas!) Also, good condi application between doom sigil, GoEP, fire skills, water chills, etc. Lot of time spent in earth though.

Will report back on its efficacy with more testing, but seems promising.

Edit: Had a wrong trait, using serrated stones, not stone splinters.

I have confirmed that this build is trash. Looks good in theory. Performs like garbage against opponents. Don’t waste your time here.

If necros are barely running enough power to overcome this trait now have eles considered using weakness to negate whatever power they might have?

One life blast and you’re out of the Diamond Skin threshold.

I told ya that it will be useless … see how all diamond-skin-flame-topcis already vanished from the forums? There are so few elementalists out there that it wouldn’t matter anyway.

You may hold out a bit longer at the start of the fight against necros and engis but as soon as you drop below 90% you’ll melt as quickly as before and even 1v1 it’s hard to get back to 90% HP. In teamfights nobody will even notice that you specced diamond skin.

This “major balance-patch” has changed absolutely nothing. Still hambow-warriors, condi-spam-necros, spirit-rangers and condi-engi-bunkers all over the place.

i think im done with tpvp. literally every time my team loses i’m getting blamed for it lol.

FrownyClown.8402:

i think im done with tpvp. literally every time my team loses i’m getting blamed for it lol.

yeah, I’m getting flamed for joining solo-Q with my ele. Can provide screens if you don’t belive me.

sorrow.2364:

One life blast and you’re out of the Diamond Skin threshold.

Life Blast from a typical condi necro is only about 600. Even baseline ele health means DS is still active after one.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Life Blast from a typical condi necro is only about 600. Even baseline ele health means DS is still active after one.

That’s not true at all.
Dhumbfire necros deal at lest 1-1.5k per life blast, or even more. Carrion Necros deal even more damage.
2k damage is 10% of 20k HP, but sadly no ele gets this health pool.

1.4k damage is enough to kick out of Diamond Skin a valkyrie ele, 1.8k to kick out a Soldier ele.

Its an autodefense trait, what did you expect. Auto-defense traits usually range in effectiveness depending on how informed and skilled your opponent is. If they are neither, they will activate these passive defenses hundreds of times without learning anything and not even knowing why the ele is tumbling so much, or why their auto attack isn’t doing any damage, etc etc. Good players however, will know what traits to look out for and will be able to quickly deduce what your build is depending on what you’re using, what boons you have and how you obtain them. This will allow them to not only avoid, but possibly even use your defenses against you by activating them at inopportune times(necro realizes you have cleansing fire, auto attacks to stack bleed+poison+dhuumfire to force it to activate).

Why are people surprised? This trait was poorly thought out, it was clear from 200 miles away.

It scales with vitality, on the light class with the lowest HP pool. If you want to have a high hp pool you’ll almost do no damage, making the trait useless anyway.

And lol 300 condition damage, a complimentary offensive stat on elementalists. Please, stop building condition ele, how do you even apply more than THREE (being generous) conditions at once?

Shadowfall.6543:

Did you honestly think Anet was going to give the Elementalist a completely OP buff?

I really believe Anet does not care about (and does not play) the Elementalist.

I lolled at this bold post. Replace “Elementalist” with “Necromancer” and I’ve seen it on the necro forum for the same trait.

FrownyClown.8402:

Ive seen necros run a bit more power in their builds and hit my once or twice then spam condis on me. I’m really disappointed Anet. I also got yelled at for being a dd ele.

I switched to full power because of this buff on my necro =)

Razor.6392:

Why are people surprised? This trait was poorly thought out, it was clear from 200 miles away.

It scales with vitality, on the light class with the lowest HP pool. If you want to have a high hp pool you’ll almost do no damage, making the trait useless anyway.

And lol 300 condition damage, a complimentary offensive stat on elementalists. Please, stop building condition ele, how do you even apply more than THREE (being generous) conditions at once?

Perplex runes and torment sigils.

FrownyClown.8402:

i think im done with tpvp. literally every time my team loses i’m getting blamed for it lol.

your not running condi ele in spvp are you?

the whole trait should be removed again. passive immunities are bad

Fishbones.6914:

FrownyClown.8402:

i think im done with tpvp. literally every time my team loses i’m getting blamed for it lol.

your not running condi ele in spvp are you?

no i was running a bunkerish power build that happened to have 500 condition damage from traits.

This is a wvw setup, but I’ve been running it for a couple nights now and it feels pretty strong in all the situations I’ve used it (solo, small man, medium scale).

30 earth – stone splinters, rock solid, diamond skin
20 water – vital striking, cleansing wave
20 arcane – renewing stamina, elemental attunement

Utilities – ether renewal, mistform, arcane wave, lightning flash, avatar of melandru

Runes – 6/6 traveler
Sigils – hydromancy, bloodlust, force

Gear – I run a real mix, but final stats with food are:

1944 power
1531 prec (33% crit before fury)
1733 toughness
1436 vit
330 condi damage
230 healing
35% boon dur
50% crit damage

This is an all purpose build and could be specialized, but it does a good job covering the bases. It has quite a bit of survivability, but with the damage modifiers still hits kitten ed hard, especially if you get some might in there.

Diamond skin is actually extremely useful in this setup. Basically I go HAM at the beginning of the fight because they can’t stop me without popping defensive cooldowns, and the second my health drops below 90 I use ether renewal with rock solid which generally brings me back above the threshold and lets me go on the offensive again. Essentially the role of diamond skin in the build isn’t to make me immune to conditions, but rather to allow me to ignore a lot of the throwaway conditions that make it so difficult to be a d/d ele. You still have to bring a kittenload of condi clear, but your opponent has to make a concerted effort to land them on you instead of just spamming them nonstop.

I can’t give the trait/build a definite thumbs up yet since there’s obviously a severe lack of challenge in our current matchup, but at least right now I’m feeling stronger than I have in a long time.

Gorni.1764:

FrownyClown.8402:

i think im done with tpvp. literally every time my team loses i’m getting blamed for it lol.

yeah, I’m getting flamed for joining solo-Q with my ele. Can provide screens if you don’t belive me.

Yeah, the usual calls are:

“Hey ele do you mind switching to another profession?”

“We lost because we had more eles.”

FrownyClown.8402:

oZii.2864:

Yea not sure what lightning tested it did say he didn’t have good success with it. Perhaps it is meant for S/F with earth 5 invuln on focus you can be immune to physical and condition damage and have a nice size window to put good damage down.

its helped me a lot in tpvp, but necros change up their build a little bit and they are actually able to kill me easier because i have little condi removal. I have killed pure condi necros easily with it.

So bring some condition removal? Like, they changed their build up a little bit so they are actually able to kill you easier, why can’t you change your build up a little bit so you’re actually able to kill them easier?

Bsgapollo.5364:

diamond skin is dogkitten, every ele who is willing to spend 30 points into earth for that trait can have it, one of the worst traits you can possible go imo.

Posted 23 days ago, said from the start that it was a bad trait yet everyone complained about it lol.