Guild Wars 2

So I have tried the Elementalist in game till about level 20. I love the class, and it’s probably one of my favorites except for one thing. Every time I go into PvP, whether structured or world, I am extremely squishy. I try to build with an emphasis on toughness but it never seems to work.
Lately I’ve been leaning towards a Mesmer because of their supposed increased durability.
The main thing I’m wondering is: If I roll as an Elementalist, will I be doomed to a purely squishy existence?

Not if you accept the way of the Earth my sun, then going S/F. You will become a movin DoT and you will be able to make a difference. Not a big one but yeah :>

Depends on your build
I run water/arcana/earth in sPvP and im really durable.

Lillian, just because you fail at being an effective Elementalist, that doesn’t mean the profession is at fault.

Actually, the profession is very much at fault. I honestly cannot understand the “elementalist defenders” right now. The class is in a sorry state to be in. It’s by far the weakest out of all 8.

Soylent.4197:

Actually, the profession is very much at fault. I honestly cannot understand the “elementalist defenders” right now. The class is in a sorry state to be in. It’s by far the weakest out of all 8.

Are not defender but just trolls.

Elementalists aren’t meant to take hits, plain and simple. There’s other ways to prevent and avoid damage.

DrakeWurrum.6049:

Elementalists aren’t meant to take hits, plain and simple. There’s other ways to prevent and avoid damage.

this isnt wow. everyone takes dmg in this game cause it has no tanks

Eles might not be the best but if u know what to do they can be very effective

You can make a super tanky ele for spvp with a toughness/healing water/earth focused staff build. Basically unkillable 1v1 even through quickness burst, assuming you manage your cds properly. The build puts out basically no damage and is really only good for holding a point vs 1-2, but still….

cardsinhand.9170:

You can make a super tanky ele for spvp with a toughness/healing water/earth focused staff build. Basically unkillable 1v1 even through quickness burst, assuming you manage your cds properly. The build puts out basically no damage and is really only good for holding a point vs 1-2, but still….

Precisely this.

We are already a glass. If we go full power/crit, we are somewhat glass cannon. We want survivability that is nowhere near other classes, we pour full Earth and Water, but has DPS of a kitten.

What’s the point? We still die somewhat slower, but we still cannot do enough dps worth anything. So survivability built is neither glass cannon nor hard tank rock either.

Other class can have somewhat both, decent survivability without sacrificing much dps. Don’t go telling me, then go play other class. I want to play mage style profession. This class is broke is you have to sacrifice much dps just to survive.

I have played an elle since beta and while it can be a fun class to play with the amount of spells you do have and the support you can give to a group, you do have to work 3 times harder then any other class just to kill a two standard mobs.
I remember my level 10 story mission as a human..I died 5 times lol

If you run around with a staff in WvW you do feel like you can turn the tide when attacking and defending with some great aoe but you can also die in the time it takes to cast it.

I stopped playing my ele at level 40, I changed my build and gear but nothing seemed to help….I hope they get some love…

Stronghold.8450:

I have played an elle since beta and while it can be a fun class to play with the amount of spells you do have and the support you can give to a group, you do have to work 3 times harder then any other class just to kill a two standard mobs.
I remember my level 10 story mission as a human..I died 5 times lol

I guess it is just the way our class is designed. We seemingly have the most skills at one time. 20 skills! Woohoo! We can do everything from dps, heal, defense and cc! It is a lot of work to switch attunements, but yet at the same time, neither of them are truly strong because of traits focus.

I was 30 Fire, 20 Air and 20 Arcane. It felt like your standard mage, not bad dps. But the survivability is totally crap. I switched to 30 Fire, 25 Earth, 15 Water. Slight survivability, but I still die fast. My DPS drop was very noticeable. A lot of earth’s spells has long CD and takes long to cast too. And at L80 Cursed Shores, mobs that DoTs, pull and do massive damage to you, your have endless fight, kiting etc. So much work to kill a standard mob.

Then a Warrior comes along … you know the rest of the story.

I’m running a 30 Fire/10 Air/10 Earth/20 Arcane build right now and I’m finding a moderate bit of survivability, without losing damage. I’m primarily a PvE’er and have no interest in playing a support build. I want to blow things up. Period.

I agree with the above poster in regards to Cursed Shores and similar places. We can win fights, but its with manic attunement switching and kiting that, may or may not have everything dead by the time things you killed to start begin respawning. I enjoy the challenge of it, but a little better damage mitigation would go a long way…something outside of being shuddered into a very heavy earth/water build.