Guild Wars 2

Elementalist

Diamond Skin: This trait now removes conditions when you are struck while above the health threshold. The health threshold has been reduced from 90% to 75%. This effect has a 1-second internal cooldown.
Churning Earth: Reduced the casting time of this skill from 3.25 seconds to 2 seconds.
Auras: The durations of all skill-activated auras have been reduced to 4 seconds.
Powerful Aura: The durations of auras this trait applies have been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
Elemental Bastion: The duration of the frost aura this trait applies has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
Unstable Conduit: The durations of each aura applied by this trait have been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
Fire Shield: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 40 seconds to 25 seconds.
Rock Barrier: Reduced the aftercast delay of this skill by 0.6 seconds.
Rock Barrier—Hurl: The damage of the rocks thrown has been increased by 10%.
Shatterstone: Reduced the time for this skill to explode from 2 seconds to 1 second. Increased the recharge from 2 seconds to 3 seconds.
Gale: The cooldown of this skill has been reduced from 50 seconds to 40 seconds. This attack is now unblockable. The skill facts have been updated to correctly display the knockdown duration difference between PvP (1 second) and PvE (2 seconds).
Fresh Air: In addition to its current attunement recharge, this trait will now grant a ferocity bonus of up to 250 points (based on level) for 5 seconds when attuning to Air.
Lightning Rod: The attack that this trait produces will now trigger after a target has become disabled rather than simultaneously.

Tempest:

Overload Earth: Fixed a bug that caused this overload to deliver extra protection per pulse rather than the intended 1 second per pulse. Fixed a bug that caused the lingering damage to follow the elementalist around after the overload had completed.
Lightning Orb: Updated the skill fact to indicate the correct damage per strike. Increased the launch radius for missiles from 300 to 360.

What are your thoughts?

source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-January-26-2016

The buffs that focus got were far more significant than scepter…and it wasn’t even the one that needed buffs the most.

I’m only glad I’ll have B&S to satisfy my PvP needs for the time being.

Churning Earth cast time reduction is great, its a step in the right direction since the channeling time was ridiculously long. Not sure what to say about Diamond Skin since I haven’t tested it yet. I still prefer the old one but it is what it is.

The only thing I’m excited about is the unblockable gale…..the rest is meh, it won’t change much for current ele…really a huge disappointement

From now I will laugh every time the devs propose to buff ele scepter, by the way they’re going if we’re lucky, ele scepter will be viable by 2030

ahahaahahahahahahah lol

not bad tbh….

LOL DS just removing a condi when hit… they said 1 condi per second…

Removing of celestial stats without giving ele real defensive options = dead class.

DS got gutted.
That said, I play S/F marauder fresh air. So, Im loving these changes. nothing to complain.

Supreme.3164:

The only thing I’m excited about is the unblockable gale…..the rest is meh, it won’t change much for current ele…really a huge disappointement

From now I will laugh every time the devs propose to buff ele scepter, by the way they’re going if we’re lucky, ele scepter will be viable by 2030

In 2030 scepter could be viable for the actual metà, dont forget other profession will get improved too in the while, so it will still underperforming lol

So DS is useless now?!

oh wow, DS only removes conditions when struck
this was not advertised…

yeah DS is pretty useless now. and triply useless in pve. used to have uses in pve (random conditions on hit in higher fractals) but not anymore lol

Wow I missed the “when struck” part for DS. That’s complete poop.

Well the buffs to scepter are pretty useless as well. Think I’ll roll one of my other chars for a while or just play something else

That sceptre buff is a joke, not the funny kind either.

I have stronger words but I’ll get infarcted for putting them.

Fresh air update going to add a lot more burst to ele over all DS seems bugged atm. Scepter still a swap burst wepon not an auto attk wepon foces got a nice snip aura support update. Aura over all should not feel any different.
For the most part it was buff over all nothing game changing for the most part though i think we will see more dagger/foces ele/tempest both gank builds and aura support builds. We may see chrun bomb come back that could be fun.

While they added more buffs, it still doesn’t change anything.

Scepter is still trash.
Fresh air ele will still be subpar.

The only thing that changed was they completely destroyed the only support/bruiser build ele had.

That Diamond Skin Nerf is terrible lol. I thought it was supposed to remove a condition once a second which honestly felt like a net neutral because before you couldn’t have condi applied to you at all while above 90% (at all times)

Guess the complaining people got to the devs and they got cold feet. I see nothing wrong with removing a condi once per second above 75% considering Ele does not have all that much health or toughness with healing power after the changes to amulets. Not to mention the new change makes it useless in all game modes because if you get hit to remove a condition then you’ll likely drop below 75 anyway. If it had to be remove when hit it should have no internal cooldown and apply at all times because it is hot garbage.

Guess we’ll all just take Water then instead.

On a side note. The Raid build with warhorn got a buff thanks to the Fresh air buff =/ I guess I’ll have to make a warhorn now.

Epic removal of conditions when struck, i thought the whole point of a mage class was to be mobile/outside of the fight…

All this does is FORCE us into playing water builds, without real options to combine something else, like Air, Arcane and Tempest?

I love the churning earth change since i was crying about it yesterday.

I mean looking at the above it looks like we got buffed, too bad we won’t live long enough to make use of these “buffs” we got in pvp

I’m finding the overall Meta for Ele in PvP really hasn’t changed.

Condis (especially from Necros) are a bit more of a problem. So, you’re almost forced to keep the Water/Earth/Tempest build just to deal with them. Keeping the Soldier rune so that shouts clear condis helps a lot too. So, we’ll end up keeping that as well.

I’m disappointed that we didn’t get a little more offensive build wiggle room. The Ferocity bonus in Fresh Air times out by the time your overload charges (which is when you really want it). But, as stated previously, you almost have to stay in Earth/Water/Tempest for condi clear.

I’m also running the new Mender amulet. Eles need the vitality boost to keep from being one-shotted, plus the healing power helps heal through all the new damage we take from increased condi pressure. I feel like the Paladin Amulet has promise, but I haven’t figured it out yet.

Finally, I don’t think the scepter buffs are worth using it still. I’ll likely stick to staff. However, dagger/focus seems pretty decent if you trait auras properly to clear condis. Plus, Magnetic Wave grants extra condi clear (Can you tell that I’m having Necro problems? Dat boon corrupt.).

These are just my initial feelings on the Ele changes. We’ll see if someone figures out an interesting, new build later in the week.

Godservant.8736:

I’m finding the overall Meta for Ele in PvP really hasn’t changed.

Condis (especially from Necros) are a bit more of a problem. So, you’re almost forced to keep the Water/Earth/Tempest build just to deal with them. Keeping the Soldier rune so that shouts clear condis helps a lot too. So, we’ll end up keeping that as well.

I’m disappointed that we didn’t get a little more offensive build wiggle room. The Ferocity bonus in Fresh Air times out by the time your overload charges (which is when you really want it). But, as stated previously, you almost have to stay in Earth/Water/Tempest for condi clear.

I’m also running the new Mender amulet. Eles need the vitality boost to keep from being one-shotted, plus the healing power helps heal through all the new damage we take from increased condi pressure. I feel like the Paladin Amulet has promise, but I haven’t figured it out yet.

Finally, I don’t think the scepter buffs are worth using it still. I’ll likely stick to staff. However, dagger/focus seems pretty decent if you trait auras properly to clear condis. Plus, Magnetic Wave grants extra condi clear (Can you tell that I’m having Necro problems? Dat boon corrupt.).

These are just my initial feelings on the Ele changes. We’ll see if someone figures out an interesting, new build later in the week.

Don’t hold your hopes up…80% of PvP in GW2 is made up of condis, in a form or in another, every profession fart condis, these days you only see scrappers-druids-necro..all condi based; so it will be earth-water-tempest or arcana till they don’t fix the broken condi system which we all know, will never happen as that would result in a mass riot

My first impression was … dang, we are dead… then after an hour of rational thinking noticed that is not that bad, was already practicing last week witout DS, already tought of 2 new builds (one for damage, one for support and kinda possitive with the changes, specially foccus ones). .. stay tunned …will do some testing first…then publish some builds for those who may take interest in them)

I’m going for damage. Kill before get killed.

It’s too soon to tell for sure, but IMO this patch has harmed the Ele’s diversity, and maybe viability, in PvP.

By removing Cele and by nerfing Energy Sigil, they’ve hit the D/D bruiser hard. It remains to be seen if the new amulets will help it return to the meta, but I doubt it.

They’ve made condi spam by Necros/Reapers harder to counter. Whereas before you could at least entertain the idea of not taking Water by using Diamond Skin to counter the initial condi burst, now you’re pretty much forced into Water/Tempest to defend against condis. Doesn’t help that Attunement swap is still affected by Chill.

Diamond Skin is useless now because it requires the class with the lowest health/armor to be hit to even do anything, still has a stupid health threshold below which it is 100% useless (you’ll likely be below 75% after the trait procs once), and now has an ICD. Not to mention that it works against itself (you get hit when a condi is applied to you, you need to take more hits to lose condis, hits get you below 75%.) Pathetic!

S/X Fresh Air Eles have more damage now, but their damage was never the issue. Their survivability was bad even by glass cannon standards, Thieves countered them, and weak auto-attacks meant that there is no way for them to pressure their targets in between bursts. Not only did this patch not touch the Scepter auto-attacks, but it also buffed Thieves. I really don’t see S/X FA Eles coming back in serious PvP.

Tempest bunkers I guess will still be a thing. Their Auras are nerfed, Cele is gone, and Thieves and Necros have become much more dangerous to them, but I think they’ll still be fine with a coordinated team. But I fear that they will be the only semi-viable thing Eles will be able to play in PvP.

I’d love to be proven wrong. Maybe the new amulets will open up new builds, or help us play our old builds still. But I think I’m gonna stop playing till the next balance patch rolls around. Instagib meta with Reapers and Thieves running around all over the place is IMO almost as bad as bunker meta.

Scepter going to viability town at snail pace.
Churning earth buff is nice and no nerfs to “balance” the reduced cast time that’s a surprise.
Diamond Skin now is dead.
Lighting rod is fixed praise Lyssa.
Adios earth OL glitch.
Rebound still is a thing and I ask, why?
bonus : RTL should be renamed Ride the Nerfs.

Tempest bunker doesnt work anymore for me. Never really liked it anyway. I’ve had more success with a dps build with reasonnable sustain. Not pure glasscannon though; I have to stay alive long enough to kill things, as staff player i don’t have spike damage. Thieves haven’t been a major threat so far, necros as annoying as ever, but not unbeatable, chronoshatter a bit tricky on point because many ccs. Revs are overall less threatening, dh/war/scrapper i can’t tell yet. So far it’s much more fast paced, but I haven’t spotted anything op yet.

Disregard anything that I may have said about Diamond Skin. It is “when struck”, making the trait garbage tier. To keep a threshold, you do not want to get hit, so the trait is dangerously inneffective and counters itself.

DS is useless now.
No good amulets for ele.

Yeah…giving PvP a break for now.

Let’s not forget how Overload Earth’s protection duration for reduced drammatically from 20+ seconds to 8 ish seconds (Protection is gone when overload is at 12 seconds cooldown).

Please help us with buffing duration of Hardy Conduits.

The entire balance team is kittened, its not just any 1 person now. This whole balance patch is a disaster. Perhaps it was Jon Peters leaving I dunno.

Well, it seems if you take the old Tempest Auramancer with staff build and swap in the Sage or Mender Amulet, that’s about as good as it gets for now. At the moment, I like Sage over Mender.

(Here’s the old build for those that want it.)
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Tempest_-_Celestial_Auramancer

Do soft cc counts as disables now for lightning rod or still just the usual stun, daze etc? Need to know confirmation on this…and still no rework on scepter aa

Without celestial and without real hard defensive options (not just damage reduction and healing) ele is dead now.

Supreme.3164:

The only thing I’m excited about is the unblockable gale…..the rest is meh, it won’t change much for current ele…really a huge disappointement

From now I will laugh every time the devs propose to buff ele scepter, by the way they’re going if we’re lucky, ele scepter will be viable by 2030

By than, Shatterstone will oneshot xD.

40 seconds cooldown for a single target 1 second stun.

LOL. Just LOL.

OMG so much awesomeness in one patch!!!

Guys, guys, the frustration you all have is just a matter of L2P, a.k.a., learn to play.

You all fail to grasp a basic concept, these are changes brought to us by our benevolent overlords at ANET, who clearly have an in depth understanding of the complex mechanics of this game. To bad mouth or even refuse to accept these amazing gifts is unfathomable.

Take a moment to reflect next time you are about to click that game icon in your desktop and remember, this is all part of the ANET love for you.

I’m so glad I got my PS4 now so I can just not care anymore about how much of a mess this game is turning into. I mean I would launch it again if Anet would press the reset button and make the ele and trait systems as it was on launch, but I just read the patch notes and now it’s back to GTA5 for me.

See you in 3-9 months when the WvW overhaul or SAB get’s released again.

Can someone tell me that they really nerf auras to hell?

Unblockable Gale, what?… That’s broken.

So I’ve been messing around more with tempest builds and I don’t think were as screwed as everyone seems to think. I’ve been using Air/Arcane/Tempest with paladins amulet, soldiers runes, force and air sigils. Full shouts with Ether Renewal for heal as 8 condi clear on an 18 sec cool down isn’t bad…and with the condi removal on shouts I’m fine! I’ve been using D/D and I love it, churning earth is giant damage and actually usable now, as well RTL for mobility and decent damage in fire attunement. I’ve been running fresh air, plus might and weakness on shouts in the tempest line so you can actually get some decent burst and A LOT of sustainable DPS thanks to air overload…..with less tankiness amongst all specs in general I’ve noticed DPS tempest is really effective….at least so far!!!

While there are some “viable” (can played) builds revolving around I don’t think Elementalists will be meta in pvp anymore. First of all necro match up vs elementalist is a nightmare and now most teams will run at least 1 necro. While paladin amulet does support some toughness and vitality, lack of healing power and condi damage just doesn’t do ele anything. Basically ele scepter auto attacks should have gotten the thief’s auto attack buff treatment, but it didn’t.

Currently playing marauder ele is just suicidal regardless of weapon choice, paladin d/d, d/f, staff can be great if necros weren’t buffed. Compare to what other class gained or lost, ele lost way too much to gain so little. Scepter buffs? Please…

Fire Shield: The recharge of this skill has been reduced from 40 seconds to 25 seconds.

^ I like this. Rest are meh , Diamond Skin is a disaster more or less

hahaha… this is the scepter buff..? now i know which legendary weapon to craft :P

SchmendrickTheMagician.8247:

40 seconds cooldown for a single target 1 second stun.

LOL. Just LOL.

It’s not single target, nor it’s stun.

Chrn bombs maybe a thing agen its a lot easier to land them effectively and they have a more lasting impact due to the new rally system.

I hoped for a bit to scepter auto attacks. And i hate a nerf to fire aura duration. Its totaly unnecessary. Would wish a buff to one with fire giving 100% fire aura duration now which woul result in a slight buff, over the pre patch aura duration, to a skill not realy used.

Last night I could test 2 builds and this is what I found:
- PvP feels way more fun overall!! fast paced, player skills makes a wider difference, tighter matches, class variety, etc… fun, fun, fun
- Ele is still viable and not restricted to a single role!
- Tempest role is still there and it’s stronger!
- Focus is amazing for cc/lightning rod builds.
- Necros are not as scary are they seems to be (we relied too much on DS)
- Good thieves are deadly but normal ones are killable and even tankable with Stoneheart.

kuritsutian.2987:

- PvP feels way more fun overall!! fast paced, player skills makes a wider difference, tighter matches, class variety, etc… fun, fun, fun

There is only class variety because the balance patch has shaken things up so people try different stuff, in a month’s time that variety will be diminished as people work out what is strongest, see what “pro” teams use, start to copy and paste from metabattle, etc.

Yep in a few days metabattle will catch up and we will see clones running around ….

Supreme.3164:

The only thing I’m excited about is the unblockable gale…..the rest is meh, it won’t change much for current ele…really a huge disappointement

From now I will laugh every time the devs propose to buff ele scepter, by the way they’re going if we’re lucky, ele scepter will be viable by 2030

Actually, GW1 elementalists received significant updates and overhauls…
around five years after release anyway?

I think it was the last significant balance update before GW2 was released?

So, you might get what you wish for! …
(In the timescale you have suggested…)

Fast Attune swap burst damage is really the best play for s/f for def. And s/wh offense type of ele never really felt a lacking in damage esp on a zerk/marauder, I play mine with lightning rod trait arcane for faster attune recharge/water for more damage and survivability then tempest for cc and 2 glyphs of summon and watch those cc/lightning rod combo drop like theres no tomorrow…you just gotta learn to move a lot and not just depend on your AA, i only use aa for aggro and when all other skills are in cooldown…at least pve experience wise for me. Damage mitigation arcane shielding and frost aura are your bestfriend condi removal trait yourself with water and regen condi removal and you wont worry about taking DS. As for gale screw that 1enemy kb skill with 40 sec cd lol