Guild Wars 2

Hi Everyone:

I thought I’d share a brief analysis on this profession, particularly, in PVP mode. My personal take on this class is – yes it does require skill BUT it also heavily relies on your enemy to be idle or move slow. Most of our most efficient dps spells(dagger/dagger) require the enemy to stay still or you to be in close range:

Drake’s breath: Channeled spell-4 ticks with burning attached. Must be near the enemy and have all 4 ticks hit for maximum damage output(wouldn’t the average player dodge this?)
Cone of Cold: Channeled spell-4 ticks. Must be near the enemy and have all 4 ticks hit for maximum damage output(wouldn’t the average player dodge this?)
Churning Earth-5 sec cast-enemy must stay within radius. (wouldn’t the average player dodge this? Or they can simply walk away with 5 second cast time)
Dragon’ Claw: Must be near enemy AND at right angle to ensure all 3 streams hit enemy.

Now assuming the opponent doesn’t dodge after 8 seconds of channeling, your Dragon’s Speeds lands, and the enemy is idle enough so you land all of your Dragon’s Claw spells-even then, against a thief, it’s null and void. Their dps output is near 100% higher ( I am not going to throw in stealth as Elementalists have snares/knockdowns) and it’s burst-no casting.

Elementalist Nerfs? .
I understand that during the initial BWE- Dragon’s Tooth and the Meteor Shower were nerfed . My question is why? For a game that requires players to be on the move-shouldn’t idle players be penalized for staying in one spot? I almost never land Dragon’s Tooth as most spvp opponents dodge, some even walk away from it(no need to dodge-it’s very slow). Even then, many instant abilities do more damage than Dragon’s Tooth. Why not nerf the arcane abilities via damage or very long recast times?

One of the many solutions would be to take away the requirement that “enemies must should be idle or slow to land” mechanic. IE CoC and DB-change the 4 sec channeling in two seconds or remove channel all together-make dragon’s claw one stream. This is one of many (rework traits)

A Call for nerfs?
On a side and personal note, I think it’s not fair for us to call for nerfs on other classes especially if we don’t have experience with them. IE Yes the Mesmer’s warlock can hit for higher than an Elementalist but the trick to taking down a Mesmer is looking for unique movement, control+t the target, and then aoeing the phantasms/clones while focusing on the target. Let’s focus on the challenges Elementalists face. Is there anything else that anyone can think of?

**The dps efficiency sheet is still in works. . As such I wouldn’t take it at 100% accurate. I am still trying to understand the mechanics in terms of casting, recast, activation times, etc… Even anyone has any corrections, please post and I will adjust. Any feedback is appreciated as this will help everyone. Maybe I will post a google doc once I fine tune it. The sheet uses a naked 80 character with no traits assigned. Also, I know it’s not all about dps-but offense is measurable. Also their some things you should take into consideration-like initiative acts a combined currency.

A very interesting analysis, but would you not also consider staying near your opponent “skill” even if he tries to move away?

I agree that Dragon’s Tooth is awful in PvP, but the dagger/dagger skills are more about you sticking on your enemy’s back and not letting him go anywhere, while circling him so he can’t hit you.

Yes except the profession doesn’t really have any slows, just knockdowns on very high cooldowns.

But even if they’re not trying to escape, I’d still consider being in melee range higher skill as dodging abilities becomes more difficult as you have to react sooner. Not to mention that the majority of classes have as many slows as you do, so if you slow them they can also slow you.

Things I’d point out.
-Shocking Aura: Anti skill really, considering it encourages you to get hit, which is horrendous to your playstyle. If you could use it when stunned to counteract the inevitable incoming damage(hundred blades for example) then I’d say that it would be a very useful ability. However in its current state I find it useless except for the fury and swiftness I get with it.
-Lightning Whip: Challenging because you not only have to be close but it consistently misses depending on how you kite.
-Lightning Touch: Has the same targeting as fire grab on a 10 second cooldown dealing minimal damage. I find I rarely use this skill except in boss fights.
-Ride the Lightning is Flat out broken. I had a clear line of sight and got stuck sparking there for a solid second and a half doing nothing. Quite frustrating

Toxification.8421:

-Shocking Aura: Anti skill really, considering it encourages you to get hit, which is horrendous to your playstyle. If you could use it when stunned to counteract the inevitable incoming damage(hundred blades for example) then I’d say that it would be a very useful ability. However in its current state I find it useless except for the fury and swiftness I get with it.
-Lightning Whip: Challenging because you not only have to be close but it consistently misses depending on how you kite.

-Ride the Lightning is Flat out broken. I had a clear line of sight and got stuck sparking there for a solid second and a half doing nothing. Quite frustrating

Shocking Aura, Ride the Lightning, and gust(RTL combo) are IMO the only reason to switch to the Air Attunement aside from the switfness from swapping. The other two spells do horrible dps. Ride the Lightning generally works for me (sometimes it overshoots and or stops-making sure you have a clear line of sight will reduce it. Magnetic Grasp bugs out more often for me(overshoots and almost acts as stun on yourself as enemies with take that advantage to unload to you).

Shocking Aura is great if you time it right. When a thief/warrior goes after you, look at their actions and determine whether they are unloading. If you form that telepathic bond, cast it – pops a 1 sec stun on them which is semi useful.

Amnon.4769:

A very interesting analysis, but would you not also consider staying near your opponent “skill” even if he tries to move away?

Yes it does take some skill to stay close without dying but one of my points is that having someone stay in line of drake’s breath for 4 seconds really requires the other person to be slow/idle. Each tick btw adds additional burning.

@Toxification
Actually, Water has an AoE chill (slow), and a chill-on-hit. Air gives you a passive movement buff. So utilizing your skills would, in effect, help you stick to your target.

@mcavellero
True about the air skills – but then again I think you need to see each attunement as having a purpose. Fire is for damage, water for healing/slowing, air for mobility, earth for defense and bleeds. Your two main damage dealers would be Fire and Earth presence (Churning Earth), just like you wouldn’t expect Water to be damaging, so you shouldn’t expect Air. Air is to get you where you want to be faster than your enemy can see it coming.

Ele requiring skill is kind of the entire problem. Namely you’re using twice as much of it to net the same performance as other classes.

Xhaiden.3891:

Ele requiring skill is kind of the entire problem. Namely you’re using twice as much of it to net the same performance as other classes.

That’s another way of looking at it although I don’t equate clicking on 5 buttons instead of 2 as “skill” – I view that as inefficient. Again this requires your opponent to be slow/non reactive as the 5 sec cc from MG and FB does not offset dps output. Smart players will heal and dodge – the burst is not there- I don’t see it number wise. What’s the highest number your Elementalist hit? I saw 5k on the forums? My mesmers phantasm-warlock)with enough conditions hits 7k+.